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 loath to lose him, not your father's death; It were lost sorrow, to wail 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 impórtune With earnest prayers all to that effect. Duch. Peace, children, peace! the king doth love you well: Incapable and shallow innocents, You cannot guess who caus'd your father's death. Duch. Ah, that deceit should steal such gentle shapes, Son. Think you, my uncle did dissemble, grandam ? Duch. Ay, boy. 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? Earl of Warwick, to which Gloster became entitled on his marriage with the younger sister of the Duchess of Clarence, Lady Anne Neville, who had been betrothed to Edward Prince of Wales. MAL. [5] The Duchess is here addressing her grand-children, but cousin was the term used in Shakspeare's time, by uncles to nephews and nieces. grandfa thers to grandchildren, &c. It seems to have been used instead of our kinsman, and kinswoman, and to have supplied the place of both. MAL. Q. Eliz. To make an act of tragic violence :- That our swift-winged souls may catch the king's ; To his new kingdom of perpetual rest. Duch. Ah, so much interest have I in thy sorrow, I have bewept a worthy husband's death, But now, two mirrors of his princely semblance To over-go thy plaints, and drown thy cries? Son. Ah, aunt you wept not for our father's death; How can we aid you with our kindred tears ? Daugh. Our fatherless distress was left unmoan'd, Your widow-dolour likewise be unwept ! Q. Eliz. Give me no help in lamentation, I am not barren to bring forth laments: All springs reduce their currents to mine eyes, Chil. Ah, for our father, for our dear lord Clarence! rence ! Q. Eliz. What stay had I, but Edward? and he's gone. [6] The children by whom he was represented. JOHNS. [7] That I may live hereafter under the influence of the moon, which gov erns the tides, and by the help of that influence drown the world. The introduction of the moon is not very natural. JOHNS. Alas! I am the mother of these griefs : Dors. Comfort, dear mother; God is much displeas'd, That you take with unthankfulness his doing; In common worldly things, 'tis call'd-ungrateful, Which with a bounteous hand was kindly lent; Riv. Madam, bethink you, like a careful mother, Of the young prince your son : send straight for him, Let him be crown'd: in him your comfort lives: Drown desperate sorrow in dead Edward's grave, And plant your joys in living Edward's throne. Enter GLOSTER, BUCKINGHAM, STANLEY, HASTINGS, RATCLIFF, and others. Glo. Sister, have comfort: all of us have cause But none can cure their harms by wailing them.- I did not see your grace :-Humbly on my knee I crave your blessing. Duch. God bless thee; and put meekness in thy breast, Love, charity, obedience, and true duty! Glo. Amen; and make me die a good old man !— That is the butt-end of a mother's blessing; I marvel, that her grace did leave it out. [Aside. Buck. You cloudy princes, and heart-sorrowing peers, That bear this mutual heavy load of moan, Now cheer each other in each other's love : The broken rancour of your high-swoln hearts, 8 Hither to London, to be crown'd our king. Riv. Why with some little train, my lord of Buckingham? Buck. Marry, my lord, lest, by a multitude, By how much the estate is yet green, and ungovern'd ; Glo. I hope, the king made peace with all of us ; Riv. And so in me; and so, I think, in all : Yet, since it is but green, it should be put To no apparent likelihood of breach, Which, haply, by much company might be urg'd : That it is meet so few should fetch the prince. Glo. Then be it so; and go we to determine [Exeunt all but BUCKINGHAM and GLOSTER. Buck. My lord, whoever journies to the prince. For God's sake, let not us two stay at home: For, by the way, I'll sort occasion, As index to the story we late talk'd of, To part the queen's proud kindred from the prince. My oracle, my prophet! My dear cousin, Towards Ludlow then, for we'll not stay behind. SCENE III. [Exeunt. The same. A Street. Enter two Citizens, meeting. 1 Cit. Good-morrow, neighbour: Whither away so fast? [8] Edward the young prince, in his father's lifetime, and at his demise, kept his household at Ludlow, as Prince of Wales; under the governance of Antony Woodville, Earl of Rivers, his uncle by the mother's side. The intention of his being sent thither was to see justice done in the Marches ; and, by the authority of his presence, to restrain the Welshmen, who were wild, dissolare, and ill-disposed, from their accustomed murders and outrages. Vid. Hall, Holinshed, &c. THEOBALD. 2 Cit. I promise you, I scarcely know myself: Hear you the news abroad? 1 Cit. Yes; the king's dead. 2 Cit. Ill news, by'r lady; seldom comes the better: I fear, I fear, 'twill prove a giddy world. Enter another Citizen. 3 Cit. Neighbours, God speed! 1 Cit. Give you good morrow, sir. 3 Cit. Doth the news hold of good king Edward's death? 2 Cit. Ay, sir, it is too true; God help, the while! 3 Cit. Then, masters, look to see a troublous world. 1 Cit. No, no; by God's good grace, his son shall reign. 3 Cit. Woe to that land, that's govern'd by a child! 2 Cit. In him there is a hope of government; That, in his nonage, council under him, And, in his full and ripen'd years, himself, No doubt, shall then, and till then, govern well. 1 Cit. So stood the state, when Henry the Sixth Was crown'd in Paris but at nine months old. 3 Cit. Stood the state so? no, no, good friends,God wot; For then this land was famously enrich'd With politic grave counsel; then the king 1 Cit. Why, so hath this, both by his father and 3 Cit. Better it were, they all came by his father; Or, by his father, there were none at all: For emulation now, who shall be nearest, Will touch us all too near, if God prevent not. O, full of danger is the duke of Gloster; And the queen's sons, and brothers, haught and proud : And were they to be rul'd, and not to rule, This sickly land might solace as before: 1 Cit. Come, come, we fear the worst; all will be well. 3 Cit. When clouds are seen, wise men put on their cloaks; When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand; 2 Cit. Truly, the hearts of men are full of fear : You cannot reason almost with a man That looks not heavily, and full of dread. 29 VOL. V. |