Imatges de pàgina
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Thou slander of tay mother's heavy womb! Thou loathed issue of thy father's loins! Thou rag of honour! thou detested

Glo. Margaret.

Q. Mar.
Glo.

Q. Mar.

Richard!

Ha? I call thee not. Glo. I cry thee mercy then; for I did think, That thou hadst call'd me all these bitter names. Q. Mar. Why, so I did; but look'd for no reply. O, let me make the period to my curse.

Glo. 'Tis done by me; and ends in-Margaret. Q. Eliz. Thus have you breath'd your curse against yourself.

Q. Mar. Poor painted queen, vain flourish of my fortune!

Why strew'st thou sugar on that bottled spider,'
Whose deadly web ensnareth thee about?

Fool, fool! thou whet'st a knife to kill thyself.
The day will come, that thou shalt wish for me
To help thee curse this pois'nous bunch-back'd toad.
Hast. False-boding woman, end thy frantic

curse;

Lest, to thy harm, thou move our patience. Q. Mar. Foul shame upon you! you have all mov'd mine.

Riv. Were you well serv'd, you would be taught your duty.

Q. Mar. To serve me well, you all should do me duty,

Teach me to be your queen, and you my subjects: O, serve me well, and teach yourselves that duty. Dor. Dispute not with her, she is lunatic.

Q. Mar. Peace, master marquis, you are malapert:

Your fire-new stamp of honour is scarce current:2
O, that your young nobility could judge,
What 'twere to lose it, and be miserable!
They that stand high, have many blasts to shake

them;

And, if they fall, they dash themselves to pieces. Glo. Good counsel, marry ;-learn it, learn it, marquis.

Dor. It touches you, my lord, as much as me. Glo. Ay, and much more: But I was born so high,

Our aiery buildeth in the cedar's top,

And dallies with the wind, and scorns the sun.
Q. Mar. And turns the sun to shade;-alas!
alas!-

Witness my son, now in the shade of death;
Whose bright out-shining beams thy cloudy wrath
Hath in eternal darkness folded up.
Your aiery buildeth in our aiery's nest :-
O God, that see'st it, do not suffer it;
As it was won with blood, lost be it so!

Buck. Peace, peace, for shame, if not for charity.
Q. Mar. Urge neither charity nor shame to me;
Uncharitably with me have you dealt,
And shamefully by you my hopes are butcher'd.
My charity is outrage, life my shame,-
And in my shame still live my sorrow's rage!
Buck. Have done, have done.

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Q. Mar. O princely Buckingham, I kiss thy hand, In sign of league and amity with thee: Now fair befall thee, and thy noble house! Thy garments are not spotted with our blood, Nor thou within the compass of my curse. Buck. Nor no one here; for curses never pass The lips of those that breathe them in the air. Q. Mar. I'll not believe but they ascend the sky,

(1) Alluding to Gloster's form and venom. (2) He was just created marquis of Dorset.

And there awake God's gentle-sleeping peace.
O Buckingham, beware of yonder dog;
Look, when he fawns, he bites; and, when he bites
His venom tooth will rankle to the death:
Have not to do with him, beware of him;
Sin, death, and hell, have set their marks on him
And all their ministers attend on him.

Glo. What doth she say, my lord of Buckingham?
Buck. Nothing that I respect, my gracious lord.
Q. Mar. What, dost thou scorn me for my go

tle counsel ?

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Riv. And so doth mine; I muse, why she's at liberty.

Glo. I cannot blame her, by God's holy mother, She hath had too much wrong, and I repent My part thereof, that I have done to her.

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Q. Eliz. I never did her any, to my knowledge. Glo. Yet you have all the vantages of her wrong. was too hot to do somebody good, That is too cold in thinking of it now. Marry, as for Clarence, he is well repaid; He is frank'd up to fatting for his pains ;God pardon them that are the cause thereof! Riv. A virtuous and a Christian-like conclusion, To pray for them that have done scath' to us. Glo. So do I ever, being well advis'd ;

For had I curs'd now, I had curs'd myself. [Aside. Enter Catesby.

Cates. Madam, his maiesty doth call for you, And for your grace,-er 1 you, my noble lords. Q. Eliz. Catesby, I come:-Lords, will you ga with me?

Riv. Madam, we will attend upon your grace. [Exeunt all but Gloster Glo. I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl. The secret mischiefs that I set abroach, I lay unto the grievous charge of others. Clarence,-whom I, indeed, have laid in darkness,—— I do beweep to many simple gulls; Namely, to Stanley, Hastings, Buckingham; And tell them-'tis the queen and her allies, That stir the king against the duke my brother. Now they believe it; and withal whet me To be reveng'd on Rivers, Vaughan, Grey: But then I sigh, and, with a piece of Scripture, Tell them-that God bids us do good for evil: And thus I clothe my naked villany With old odd ends, stol'n forth of holy writ; And seem a saint when most I play the devil. Enter two Murderers.

But soft, here come my executioners.How now, my hardy, stout resolved mates? Are you now going to despatch this thing? 1 Murd. We are, my lord; and come to have the warrant,

me:

That we may be admitted where he is.
Glo. Well thought upon, I have it here about
[Gives the warrant.
When you have done, repair to Crosby-place.
But, sirs, be sudden in the execution,
Withal obdurate, do not hear him plead;

(3) Nest. (4) Wonder. (5) Advantage.
(6) Put in a sty.
(7) Harm.

For Clarence is well spoken, and, perhaps,
May move your hearts to pity, if you mark him.
1 Murd. Tut, tut, my lord, we will not stand to
prate,

Talkers are no good doers! be assur'd,
We go to use our hands, and not our tongues.
Glo. Your eyes drop mill-stones, when fools' eyes
drop tears:

I like you, lads-about your business straight;
Go, go, despatch.
I Murd.
We will, my noble lord. [Exe.
SCENE IV.-The same. A room in the Tower.
Enter Clarence and Brakenbury.

Brak. Why looks your grace so heavily to-day?
Clar. O, I have pass'd a miserable night,
So full of fearful dreams, of ugly sights,
That, as I am a Christian faithful man,
I would not spend another such a night,
Though 'twere to buy a world of happy days:
So full of dismal terror was the time.

Brak. What was your dream, my lord? I pray
you, tell me.

Clar. Methought, that I had broken from the

Tower,

And was embark'd to cross to Burgundy;
And, in my company, my brother Gloster:

Who from my cabin tempted me to walk

Clarence is come,--false, fleeting, perjur'd Cla
rence,-

That stabb'd me in the field by Tewksbury ;—
Seize on him, furies, take him to your torments!
With that, methought, a legion of foul fiends
Environ'd me, and howled in mine ears
Such hideous cries, that, with the very noise,
I trembling wak'd, and, for a season after,
Could not believe but that I was in hell;
Such terrible impression made my dream.
Brak. No marvel, lord, that it affrighted you;
I am afraid, methinks, to hear you tell it.
Clar. O, Brakenbury, I have done these things,-
That now give evidence against my soul,—
For Edward's sake; and, see, how he requites me..
O God! if any deep prayers cannot appease thee,
But thou wilt be aveng'd on my misdeeds,

Yet execute thy wrath on me alone:

O, spare my guiltless wife, and my poor children!-
I pray thee, gentle keeper, stay by me;
My soul is heavy, and I fain would sleep.

Brak. I will, my lord; God give your grace good
rest! [Cla. reposes himself on a chair.
Sorrow breaks seasons, and reposing hours,
Makes the night morning, and the noon-tide
night.

Princes have but their titles for their glories,
An outward honour for an inward toil;

Upon the hatches; thence we fook'd toward En- And, for unfelt imaginations,

gland,

And cited up a thousand heavy times,
During the wars of York and Lancaster
That had befall'n us. As we pac'd along
Upon the giddy footing of the hatches,

Methought, that Gloster stumbled; and, in falling,
Struck me, that thought to stay him, over-board,
Into the tumbling billows of the main.

O Lord! methought, what pain it was to drown!
What dreadful noise of water in mine ears!
What sights of ugly death within mine eyes!
Methought, I saw a thousand fearful wrecks;
A thousand men, that fishes gnaw'd upon;
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea.

Some lay in dead men's skulls; and, in those holes
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept,
(As 'twere in scorn of eyes,) reflecting gems,
That woo'd the slimy bottom of the deep,
And mock'd the dead bones that lay scatter'd by.
Brak. Had you such leisure in the time
death,

To gaze upon these secrets of the deep?
Clar. Methought, I had; and often did I strive
To yield the ghost: but still the envious flood
Kept in my soul, and would not let it forth
To seek the empty, vast, and wand'ring air;
But smother'd it within my panting bulk,'
Which almost burst to belch it in the sea.

of

Brak. Awak'd you not with this sore agony ?
Clar. O, no, my dream was lengthen'd after life;
O, then began the tempest to my soul;
I pass'd, methought, the melancholy flood,
With that grim ferryman which poets write of,
Unto the kingdom of perpetual night.

The first that there did greet my stranger soul,
Was my great father-in-law, renowned Warwick,
Who crv'd aloud,-What scourge for perjury
Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?
And so he vanish'd: Then came wand'ring by
A shadow like an angel, with bright hair
Dabbled in blood: and he shriek'd out aloud,-
(!) Body.

VOL. II.

They often feel a world of restless cares:
So that, between their titles, and low name,
There's nothing differs but the outward fame.

Enter the two Murderers.

1 Murd. Ho! who's here?

Brak. What would'st thou, fellow? and how cam'st thou hither?

1 Murd. I would speak with Clarence, and 】 came hither on my legs.

Brak. What, so brief?

2 Murd. O, sir, 'tis better to be brief than te
dious:-

Let him see our commission; talk no more.
[A paper is delivered to Brakenbury, who reads it.
Brak. I am, in this, commanded to deliver
The noble duke of Clarence to your hands:-
I will not reason what is meant hereby,
Because I will be guiltless of the meaning.
Here are the keys;-there sits the duke asleep :
I'll to the king; and signify to him,
That thus I have resign'd to you my charge.

1 Murd. You may, sir; 'tis a point of wisdom:
Fare vou well.
[Erit Brakenbury.

2 Murd. What, shall we stab him as he sleeps? 1 Murd. No; he'll say, 'twas done cowardly, when he wakes.

2 Murd. When he wakes! why, fool, he shall never wake until the great judgment day.

1 Murd. Why, then he'll say, we stabb'd him sleeping.

2 Murd. The urging of that word, judgment, hath bred a kind of remorse in me.

1 Murd. What! art thou afraid?

2 Murd. Not to kill him, having a warrant for it; but to be damn'd for killing him, from the which no warrant can defend me.

1 Murd. I thought thou hadst been resolute. 2 Murd. So I am to let him live.

1 Murd. I'll back to the duke of Gloster, and tell him so.

2 Murd. Nay, I pr'ythee, stav a little: I hope, this holy humour of mine will change; it was wont to hold me but while one would tell twenty.

1 Murd. How dost thou feel thyself now?

2 Murd. 'Faith, some certain dregs of conscience are yet within me.

1 Murd. Remember our reward, when the deed's done.

2 Murd. Come, he dies; I had forgot the reward.

1 Murd. Where's thy conscience now? 2 Murd. In the duke of Gloster's purse.

1 Murd. So when he opens his purse to give us our reward, thy conscience flies out.

2 Murd. 'Tis no matter; let it go; there's few, er none, will entertain it.

1 Murd. What, if it come to thee again?

What lawful quest' have given their verdict up
Unto the frowning judge? or who pronounc'd
The bitter sentence of poor Clarence' death?
Before I be convict by course of law,

To threaten me with death is most unlawful.
I charge you, as you hope for any goodness,
By Christ's dear blood shed for our grievous sins,
That you depart, and lay no hands on me;
The deed you undertake is damnable.

1 Murd. What we will do, we do upon command.
2 Murd. And he, that hath commanded, is our
king.

Clar. Erroneous vassal! the great King of kings 2 Murd. I'll not meddle with it, it is a danger- Hath in the table of his law commanded, ous thing, it makes a man a coward; a man cannot That thou shalt do no murder; Wilt thou then steal, but it accuseth him; a man cannot swear, but Spurn at his edict, and fulfil a man's? it checks him; a man cannot lie with his neighbour's Take heed; for he holds vengeance in his hand, wife, but it detects him: "Tis a blushing shame-faced To hurl upon their heads that break his law. spirit, that mutinies in a man's bosom; it fills one 2 Murd. And that same vengeance doth he hur full of obstacles: it made me once restore a purse on thee, of gold, that by chance I found; it beggars any man For false forswearing, and for murder too; that keeps it: it is turned out of all towns and cities Thou didst receive the sacrament, to fight for a dangerous thing; and every man, that means In quarrel of the house of Lancaster. to live well, endeavours to trust to himself, and live without it.

1 Murd. 'Zounds, it is even now at my elbow, persuading me not to kill the duke.

2 Murd. Take the devil in thy mind, and believe nim not he would insinuate with thee, but to make thee sigh.

1 Murd. I am strong-fram'd, he cannot prevail with me.

2 Murd. Spoke like a tall' fellow, that respects nis reputation. Come, shall we fall to work?

1 Murd. Take him over the costard with the nilts of thy sword, and then throw him into the malmsey-butt, in the next room.

2 Murd. O ́excellent device! and make a of him.

1 Murd. Soft! he wakes.

2 Murd. Strike.

1 Murd. No, we'll reason with him.

Clar. Where art thou, keeper? give me a of wine.

sop

cup

1 Murd. You shall have wine enough, my lord,

anon.

Clar. In God's name, what art thou?

1 Murd. A man, as you are.

Clar. But not, as am, royal.

Murd. Nor you, as we are, loyal.

Clar. Thy voice is thunder, but thy looks are humble.

1 Murd. My voice is now the king's, my looks mine own.

Clar. How darkly, and how deadly dost thou
speak!

Your eyes do menace me: Why look you pale?
Who sent you hither? Wherefore do you come?

Both Murd. Tu, to, to,

Clar. To murder me

Both Murd Av, av.

1 Murd. And, like a traitor to the name of God, Didst break that vow; and, with thy treacherous blade,

Unrip'dst the bowels of thy sovereign's son.

2 Murd. Whom thou wast sworn to cherish and defend.

1 Murd. How canst thou urge God's dreadful
law to us,

When thou hast broke it in such dear degree?
Clar. Alas! for whose sake did I that ill deed?
For Edward, for my brother, for his sake:
He sends you not to murder me for this;
For in that sin he is as deep as I.
If God will be avenged for the deed,
O, know you, that he doth it publicly;
Take not the quarrel from his powerful arm;
He needs no indirect nor lawless course,

To cut off those that have offended him.

1 Murd. Who made thee then a bloody minister, When gallant-springing, brave Plantagenet, That princely novice,' was struck dead by thee? Clar. My brother's love, the devil, and my rage. 1 Murd. Thy brother's love, our duty, and thy

fault,

Provoke us hither now to slaughter thee.

Clar. If you do love my brother, hate not me;
I am his brother and I love him well.
If you are hir'd for meed, go back again,
And I will send you to my bother Gloster;
Who shall reward you better for my life,
Than Edward will for tidings of my death.
2 Murd. You are deceiv'd, your brother Gloster
hates you.

Clar. O no; he loves me, and he holds me dear:
Go you to him from me.
Both Murd.
Ay, so we will.
Clar. Tell him when that our princely father
York

Clar. You scarcely have the hearts to tell me so, Bless'd his three sons with his victorious arm,
And therefore cannot have the hearts to do it.
Wherein, my friends, have 1 offended you?

1 Murd. Offended us you have not, but the king. Clar. I shall be reconcil'd to him again.

2 Murd. Never, my lord; therefore prepare to die.
Clar. Are you call'd forth from out a world of
men,

To slay the innocent? What is my offence?
Where is the evidence that doth accuse me?

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And charg'd us from his soul to love each other,
He little thought of this divided friendship:
Bid Gloster think on this, and he will weep.

1 Murd. Ay, mill-stones; as he lesson'd us to
weep.

Clar. O, do not slander him, for he is kind.
1 Murd. Right, as snow in harvest.-Come, you
deceive yourself;

'Tis he that sends us to destroy you here.
Clar. It cannot be; for he bewept my fortune,

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Scene II.

KING RICHARD III.

And hugg'd me in his arms, and swore, with sobs, That he would labour my delivery.

1 Murd. Why, so he doth, when he delivers you From this earth's thraldom to the joys of heaven. 2 Murd. Make peace with God, for you must die, my lord.

Clar. Hast thou that holy feeling in thy soul,
To counsel me to make my peace with God,
And art thou yet to thy own soul so blind,
That thou wilt war with God, by murd'ring me
Ah, sirs, consider, he, that sent you on

To do this deed, will hate you for the deed.
2 Murd. What shall we do?
Clar.

93

K. Edw. Take heed, you dally not before your
king;

Lest he, that is the supreme King of kings,
Confound your hidden falsehood, and award
Either of you to be the other's end.

Hast. So prosper I, as I swear perfect love!

Riv. And I, as I love Hastings with my heart!
K. Edw. Madam, yourself are not exempt in this
Nor your son Dorset,-Buckingham, nor you;-
Wife, love lord Hastings, let him kiss your hand;
?-You have been factious one against the other.
And what you do, do it unfeignedly.

Relent, and save your souls. 1 Murd. Relent! 'tis cowardly, and womanish. Clar. Not to relent, is beastly, savage, devilish.— Which of you, if you were a prince's son, Being pent from liberty, as I am now,—

If two such murderers as yourselves came to you,-
Would not entreat for life?

My friend, I spy some pity in thy looks;
O, if thine eye be not a flatterer,

Come thou on my side, and entreat for me,
As you would beg, were you in my distress.
A begging prince what beggar pities not?
2 Murd. Look behind you, my lord.

1 Murd. Take that, and that; if all this will not [Stabs him. do, I'll drown you in the malmsey-butt within. [Exit with the body. 2 Murd. A bloody deed, and desperately despatch'd!

How fain, like Pilate, would I wash my hands
Of this most grievous guilty murder done!

Re-enter first Murderer.

1 Murd. How now? what mean'st thou, that thou help'st me not?

By heaven, the duke shall know how slack you have been.

2 Murd. I would he knew, that I had sav'd his brother!

Take thou the fee, and tell him what I say;
For 1 repent me that the duke is slain.

[Exit.

1 Murd. So do not I; go, coward, as thou art.Well, I'll go hide the body in some hole, Till that the duke give order for his burial: And when I have my meed, I will away;

For this will out, and then I must not stay. [Exit.

ACT II.

SCENE 1-The same. A room in the palace.
Enter King Edward (led in sick,) Queen Eliza-
beth, Dorset, Rivers, Hastings, Buckingham,
Grey, and others.

K. Edio. Why, so:-now have I done a good
day's work;-

You peers, continue this united league:
I every day expect an embassage
From my Redeemer to redeem me hence;
And more in peace my soul shall part to heaven,
Since I have made my friends at peace on earth.
Rivers, and Hastings, take each other's hand;
Dissemble not your hatred, swear your love.
Riv. By heaven, my soul is purg'd from grudging
hate;

And with my hand I seal my true heart's love.
Hast. So thrive I, as I truly swear the like!

(1) Shut up.

Q. Eliz. There, Hastings; I will never more remember

K. Edw. Dorset, embrace him,-Hastings, love
Our former hatred, so thrive I, and mine!
lord marquis,

Dor. This interchange of love, I here protest,
Hast. And so swear I.
Upon my part shall be inviolable.

[Embraces Dorset. K. Edw. Now, princely Buckingham, seal thou,

this league

With thy embracements to my wife's allies,
And make me happy in your unity.

Buck. Whenever Buckingham doth turn his hate Upon your grace, [To the Queen.] but with all duteous love

Doth cherish you, and yours, God punish me
With hate in those where I expect most love!
When I have most need to employ a friend,
Deep, hollow, treacherous, and full of guile,
And most assured that he is a friend,
Be he unto me! this do I beg of heaven,
When I am cold in love, to you, or yours.

[Embracing Rivers, &c. K. Edw. A pleasing cordial, princely Buckingham,

Is this thy vow unto my sickly heart.
To make the blessed period of this peace.
There wanteth now our brother Gloster here,
Buck. And, in good time, here comes the noble
duke.

Enter Gloster.

Glo. Good-morrow to my sovereign king, and
queen;

And, princely peers, a happy time of day!
K. Edo. Happy, indeed, as we have spent the
day:-

Brother, we have done deeds of charity;
Made peace of enmity, fair love of hate,
Between these swelling wrong-incensed peers.
Glo. A blessed labour, my most sovereign liege.-
Among this princely heap, if any here,
By false intelligence, or wrong surmise,
If I unwittingly, or in my rage,
Hold me a foe;
Have aught committed that is hardly borne
By any in this presence, I desire
'Tis death to me, to be at enmity;
To reconcile me to his friendly peace:

I hate it, and desire all good men's love.-
First, madam, I entreat true peace of you,
Which I will purchase with my duteous service;➡
Of you, my noble cousin Buckingham,
If ever any grudge were lodg'd between us ;-
Of you, lord Rivers,-and, lord Grey, of you,-
That all without desert have frown'd on me ;-
I do not know that Englishman alive,
Dukes, earls, lords, gentlemen; indeed, of all.
With whom my soul is any jot at odds,
More than the infant that is born to-night;
thank my God for my humility.

Q. Eliz. A holy-day shall this be kept hereafter ·

I would to God, all strifes were well compounded.-
My sovereign lord, I do beseech your highness.
To take our brother Clarence to your grace.
Glo. Why, madam, have I offer'd love for this,
To be so flouted in this royal presence?
Who knows not, that the gentle duke is dead?
[They all start.
You do him injury, to scorn his corse.
K. Edw. Who knows not he is dead! who knows
he is?

2. Eliz. All-seeing heaven, what a world is this! Buck. Look I so pale, lord Dorset, as the rest? Dor. Ay, my good lord; and no man in the

presence,

But his red colour hath forsook his cheeks.

K. Edw. Is Clarence dead? the order was revers'd.

Glo. But he, poor man, by your first order died, And that a winged Mercury did bear; Some tardy cripple bore the countermand, That came too lag to see him buried: -

God grant, that some, less noble, and less loyal, Nearer in bloody thoughts, and not in blood, Deserve not worse than wretched Clarence did, And yet go current from suspicion.

Enter Stanley.

Stan. A boon, my sovereign, for my service done! K. Edw. I pr'ythee, peace; my soul is full of

sorrow.

Stan. I will not rise,unless your highness hear me. K. Edw. Then say at once, what is it thou request'st.

Stan. The forfeit, sovereign, of my servant's life; Who slew to-day a riotous gentleman, Lately attendant on the duke of Norfolk.

K. Edw. Have I tongue to doom my brother's death,

And shall that tongue give pardon to a slave?
My brother kill'd no man, his fault was thought,
And yet his punishment was bitter death.
Who sued to me for him? who, in my wrath,
Kncel'd at my feet, and bade me be advis'd?'
Who spoke of brotherhood? who spoke of love?
Who told me, how the poor soul did forsake
The mighty Warwick, and did fight for me?
Who told me, in the field at Tewksbury,
When Oxford had me down, he rescu'd me,
And said, Dear brother, live, and be a king?
Who told me, when we both lay in the field,
Frozen almost to death, how he did lap me
Even in his garments; and did give himself,
All thin and naked, to the numb-cold night?
All this from my remembrance brutish wrath
Sinfully pluck'd, and not a man of you
Had so much grace to put it in my mind.
But when your carters, or your waiting-vassals,
Have done a drunken slaughter, and defac'd
The precious image of our dear Redeemer,

You straight are on your knees for pardon, pardon;
And I, unjustly too, must grant it you:-
But for my brother, not a man would speak,-
Nor I (ungracious) speak unto myself
For him, poor soul.-The proudest of you all
Have been beholden to him in his life;

Yet none of you would once plead for his life.-
O God! I fear thy justice will take hold
On me, and you, and mine, and yours, for this.-
Come, Hastings, help me to my closet. 0,
Foor Clarence!

[Exeunt King Queen, Hastings, Rivers, Dorset, and Grey.

1) Ignorant.

Glo. This is the fruit of rashness !-Mark'd you not,

How that the guilty kindred of the queen
Look'd pale, when they did hear of Clarence' death?
O! they did urge it still unto the king:
God will revenge it. Come, lords; will you go,
To comfort Edward with our company?
Buck. We wait upon your grace.

SCENE II.-The same.

[Exeunt

Enter the Duchess of York, with a Son and Daughter of Clarence. Son. Good grandam, tell us, is our father dead? Duch. No, boy.

Daugh. Why do you weep so oft? and beat your breast;

And cry-O Clarence, my unhappy son!

Son. Why do you look on us, and shake your head,

And call us-orphans, wretches, cast-aways,
If that our noble father be alive?

Duch. My pretty cousins, you mistake me both; I do lament the sickness of the king,

As loth to lose him, not your father's death;
It were lost sorrow, to wai! one that's lost.
Son. Then, grandam, you conclude that he is dead.
The king my uncle is to blame for this:
God will revenge it; whom I will importune
With earnest prayers all to that effect.
Daugh. And so will I.

Duch. Peace, children, peace! the king doth love you well:

Incapable' and shallow innocents.

You cannot guess who caus'd your father's death. Son. Grandam, we can: for my good uncle

Gloster

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Son. I cannot think it. Hark! what noise is this?

Enter Queen Elizabeth distractedly; Rivers, and Dorset, following her.

Q. Eliz. Ah! who shall hinder me to wail and weep?

To chide my fortune, and torment myself?
I'll join with black despair against my soul,
And to myself become an enemy.

Duch. What means this scene of rude impatience?
Q. Eliz. To make an act of tragic violence:-
Edward, my lord, thy son, our king, is dead.
Why grow the branches, when the root is gone?
Why wither not the leaves, that want their sap?-
If you will live, lament; if die, be brief;
That our swift-winged souls may catch the king's,
Or, like obedient subjects, follow him
To his new kingdom of perpetual rest.

Duch. Ah, so much interest have I in thy sorrow, As I had title in thy noble husband!

I have bewept a noble husband's death,
And liv'd by looking on his images:
But now two mirrors of his princely semblance,
Are crack'd in pieces by malignant death.
And I for comfort have but one false glass,

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