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K.Edw. No more, than when my daughters call thee

mother.

Thou art a widow, and thou hast some children;
And, by God's mother, I, being but a bachelor,
Have other some; why, 'tis a happy thing
To be the father unto many sons.

Answer no more, for thou shalt be my queen.

Glo. The ghostly father now hath done his shrift. [Asi.
Clar. When he was made a shriver, 'twas for shift.

[Aside.
K.Ed. Brothers, you muse what chat we two have had.
Glo. The widow likes it not, for she looks sad.
K.Edw. You'd think it strange, if I should marry her.
Clar. To whom, my lord?

K.Edw. Why, Clarence, to myself.

Glo. That would be ten days' wonder, at the least. Clar. That's a day longer than a wonder lasts. Glo. By so much is the wonder in extremes. K.Edw. Well, jest on, brothers: I can tell you both, Her suit is granted for her husband's lands.

Enter a Nobleman.

Nob. My gracious lord, Henry your foe is taken,
And brought your prisoner to your palace gate.
K.Edw. See, that he be convey'd unto the Tower
And go we, brothers, to the man that took him,
To question of his apprehension.-

Widow, go you along ;-Lords, use her honourable.
[Exeunt King EDWARD, Lady GREY, CLAR-
ENCE, and Lord.

Glo. Ay, Edward will use women honourably.
'Would he were wasted, marrow, bones, and all,
That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring,
To cross me from the golden time I look for!
And yet, between my soul's desire, and me
(The lustful Edward's titles buried,)

Ìs Clarence, Henry, and his son young Edward,
And all the unlook'd-for issue of their bodies,
To take their rooms, ere I can place myself:
A cold premeditation for my purpose!
Why, then I do but dream on sovereignty;
Like one that stands upon a promontory,
And spies a far-off shore where he would tread,
Wishing his foot were equal with his eye;
And chides the sea that sunders him from thence,
Saying-he'll lade it dry to have his way:

So do I wish the crown, being so far off;
And so I chide the means that keep me from it;
And so I say, I'll cut the causes off,

Flattering me with impossibilities.—

My eye's too quick, my heart o'erweens too much,
Unless my hand and strength could equal them.
Well, say there is no kingdom then for Richard;
What other pleasure can the world afford?
I'll make my heaven in a lady's lap,

And deck my body in gay ornaments,

And witch sweet ladies with my words and looks.
O miserable thought! and more unlikely,
Than to accomplish twenty golden crowns!
Why, love fors wore me in my mother's womb :
And, for I should not deal in her soft laws,
She did corrupt frail nature with some bribe
To shrink my arm up like a wither'd shrub ;
To make an envious mountain on my back,
Where sits deformity to mock my body;
To shape my legs of an unequal size;
To disproportion me in every part,
Like to a chaos, or an unlick'd bear-whelp,6
That carries no impression like the dam.
And am I then a man to be belov'd?

O, monstrous fault, to harbour such a thought!
Then, since this earth affords no joy to me,
But to command, to check, to o'erbear such
As are of better person than myself, 7

I'll make my heaven-to dream upon the crown ;
And, whiles I live, to account this world but hell,
Until my mis-shap'd trunk, that bears this head,
Be round impaled with a glorious crown. 8

[6] It was an opinion, which, in spite of its absurdity, prevailed long, that the bear brings forth only shapeless lumps of animated flesh, which she licks into the form of bears. It is now well known that the whelps of the bear are produced in the same state with those of other creatures. JOHNS. [7] Richar i speaks here the language of nature. Whoever is stigmatized with deformity has a constant source of envy in his mind, and would counterbalance by some other superiority those advantages which he feels himself to want. Bacon remarks that the deformed are commonly daring; and it is almost proverbially observed that they are ill-natured. The truth is, that the deformed like all other men are displeased with inferiority, and endeavour to gain ground by good or bad means, as they are virtuous or corrupt. JOHNS. 5 6 7 8 "Until my mis-shap'd trunk that bears this head, Be round impaled, &c." A transposition seems to be necessary:

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"Until my head, that this mis-shap'd trunk bears."

Otherwise the trunk that bears the head is to be encircled with the crown, and not the head itself. STEEV.

And yet I know not how to get the crown,

For many lives stand between me and home:
And I,--like one lost in a thorny wood,

That rents the thorns, and is rent with the thorns;
Seeking a way, and straying from the way;
Not knowing how to find the open air,
But toiling desperately to find it out,-
Torment myself to catch the English crown :
And from that torment I will free myself,
Or hew my way out with a bloody axe.
Why, I can smile, and murder when I smile ;
And cry, content, to that which grieves my heart;
And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,

And frame my face to all occasions.

I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall;
I'll slay more gazers than the basilisk;
I'll play the orator as well as Nestor,
Deceive more slily than Ulysses could,
And, like a Simon, take another Troy :
I can add colours to the cameleon ;
Change shapes, with Proteus, for advantages,
And set the murderous Machiavel to school.
Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?
Tut were it further off, I'll pluck it down.

SCENE III.

[Exit.

France. A Room in the Palace. Flourish. Enter LEWIS the French King, and Lady BONA, attended; the King takes his State. Then enter Queen MARGARET, Prince EDWARD her son, and the Earl of OXFORD.

K.Lew. Fair queen of England, worthy Margaret, Sit down with us; it ill befits thy state, [Rising. And birth, that thou shouldst stand, while Lewis doth sit. Q.Mar. No, mighty king of France; now Margaret Must strike her sail, and learn a while to serve, Where kings command. I was, I must confess, Great Albion's queen in former golden days: But now mischance hath trod my title down, And with dishonour laid me on the ground; Where I must take like seat unto my fortune, And to my humble seat conform myself.

K.Lew. Why, say, fair queen, whence springs this deep despair?

Q.Mar. From such a cause as fills mine eyes with tears, And stops my tongue, while heart is drown'd in cares.

K.Lew. Whate'er it be, be thou still like thyself, And sit thee by our side: yield not thy neck

[Seats her by him. To fortune's yoke, but let thy dauntless mind Still ride in triumph over all mischance. Be plain, queen Margaret, and tell thy grief; It shall be eas'd, if France can yield relief.

Q.Mar. Those gracious words revive my drooping thoughts,

And give my tongue-ty'd sorrows leave to speak.
Now, therefore, be it known to noble Lewis,-
That Henry, sole possessor of my love,

Is, of a king, become a banish'd man,
And forc'd to live in Scotland a forlorn ;
While proud ambitious Edward, duke of York,
Usurps the regal title, and the seat

Of England's true-anointed lawful king.
This is the cause, that I, poor Margaret,-

With this my son, prince Edward, Henry's heir,-
Am come to crave thy just and lawful aid ;
And, if thou fail us, all our hope is done:
Scotland hath will to help, but cannot help ;
Our people and our peers are both misled,
Our treasure seiz'd, our soldiers put to flight,
And, as thou see'st, ourselves in heavy plight.
K.Lew. Renowned queen, with patience calm the
storm,

While we bethink a means to break it off.

Q.Mar. The more we stay, the stronger grows our foe. K.Lew. The more I stay, the more I'll succour thee. Q.Mar. O, but impatience waiteth on true sorrow : And see, where comes the breeder of my sorrow.

Enter WARWICK, attended.9

K.Lew. What's he, approacheth boldly to our pre

sence?

[9] This nobleman's embassy and commission, the insult he receives by the king's hasty marriage, and his consequent resolution to avenge it, with the capture, imprisonment, and escape of the king, Shakspeare, it is true, found in Hall and Holinshed; but later as well as earlier writers, of better authority, incline us to discredit the whole; and to refer the rupture between the king and his political creator, to causes which have not reached posterity, or to that jealousy and ingratitude so natural, perhaps, to those who are under great obligations too great to be discharged. There needs no other proof how little our common histories are to be depended upon than this fabulous story of Warwick and the Lady Bona. The king was privately married to Lady Elizabeth Widville, in 1463, and in February 1465, War wick actually stood sponsor to the princess Elizabeth their first child.

RITSON.

Q.Mar. Our earl of Warwick, Edward's greatest

friend.

K.Lew. Welcome, brave Warwick! What brings thee to France ?

[Descending from his state. Queen MARGARET rises.
Q.Mar. Ay, now begins a second storm to rise;
For this is he, that moves both wind and tide.

War. From worthy Edward, king of Albion,
My lord and sovereign, and thy vowed friend,
I come,-in kindness, and unfeigned love,-
First, to do greetings to thy royal person;
And then, to crave a league of amity ;
And, lastly, to confirm that amity

With nuptial knot, if thou vouchsafe to grant
That virtuous lady Bona, thy fair sister,

To England's king in lawful marriage.

Q.Mar. If that go forward, Henry's hope is done. War. And, gracious madam, [To BONA.] in our king's behalf,

I am commanded, with your leave and favour,
Humbly to kiss your hand, and with my tongue
To tell the passion of my sovereign's heart;
Where fame, late entering at his heedful ears,
Hath plac'd thy beauty's image, and thy virtue.
Q.Mar.King Lewis,-and lady Bona,-hear me speak,
Before you answer Warwick. His demand
Springs not from Edward's well-meant honest love,
But from deceit, bred by necessity;

For how can tyrants safely govern home,
Unless abroad they purchase great alliance?
To prove him tyrant, this reason may suffice,-
That Henry liveth still but were he dead,

Yet here prince Edward stands, king Henry's son.

Look therefore, Lewis, that by this league and marriage Thou draw not on thy danger and dishonour:

For though usurpers sway the rule a while,

Yet heavens are just, and time suppresseth wrongs.
War. Injurious Margaret!

Prince. And why not queen?

War. Because thy father Henry did usurp ;

And thou no more art prince, than she is queen.

Oxf. Then Warwick disannuls great John of Gaunt,

Which did subdue the greatest part of Spain ;

And, after John of Gaunt, Henry the Fourth,
Whose wisdom was a mirror to the wisest ;

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