Why should I live since my renown is lost? Away, thou wanton weed ! hence, world's delight! [Falls grovelling on the ground.

Longsh. L'orecchie abbassa*, come vinto e stanco Destrier c'ha in bocca il fren, gli sproni al fianco.— O sommo Dio, come i giudicii umani Spesso offuscati son da un nembo oscuro!— Hapless and wretched, lift up thy heavy head; Curse not so much at this unhappy chance; Unconstant Fortune still will have her course, Joan. My king, my king, let Fortune have her

course

Fly thou, my soul, and take a better course.
Ay's me, from royal state I now am fall'n!
You purple springs that wander in my veins,
And whilom wont § to feed my heavy heart,
Now all at once make haste, and pity me,
And stop your powers, and change your native

course;

Dissolve to air, you || lukewarm bloody streams,
And cease to be, that I may be no more.
You

curled locks, draw from this cursed head: Abase her pomp, for Joan is basely born!Ah, Glocester, thou, poor Glocester, hast the wrong!

Die, wretch! haste** death, for Joan hath liv'd too

long. [Suddenly dies at the Queen's bed's feet. Longsh. Revive thee, hapless lady; grieve not In vain speak I, for she revives no more. [thus. Poor hapless soul, thy own repeated †† moans Have wrought thy ‡‡ sudden and untimely Lords, ladies, haste! [death.Re-enter Ladies §§ with GLOCESTER and Lords, running. Ah, Glocester, art thou come?

Then must I now present a tragedy.

Thy Joan is dead: yet grieve thou not her fall;

She was too base a spouse for such a prince. Glocester. Conspire you, then, with heavens to work my harms?

O sweet assuager of our mortal 'miss,
Desirèd death, deprive me of my life,
That I in death may end my life and love!
Longsh. Glocester, thy king is partner of thy
heaviness,

Although nor tongue nor eyes bewray his mean t;
For I have lost a flower as fair as thine,

A love more dear, for Elinor is dead.
But since the heavenly ordinance decrees
That all things change in their prefixed time,
Be thou content, and bear it in thy breast,
Thy swelling grief, as need is § I must mine.
Thy Joan of Acon, and my queen deceas'd,
Shall have that honour as beseems their state.
You peers of England, see in royal pomp
These breathless bodies be entombed straight,
With 'tirèd colours cover'd all with black.
Let Spanish steeds, as swift as fleeting wind,
Convey these princes ¶ to their funeral:
Before them let a hundred mourners ride.
In every time of their enforc'd abode,
Rear up a cross in token of their worth,**
Whereon fair Elinor's picture shall be plac'd.
Arriv'd at London, near our palace-bounds,
Inter my lovely Elinor, late deceas'd;
And, in remembrance of her royalty,
Erect a rich and stately carved cross,

Whereon her stature + shall with glory shine,
And henceforth see you call it Charing-cross;
For why the chariest §§ and the choicest
queen,

assuager... mortal 'miss]-miss, i. e. misfortune, suffering. Both 4tos. "asswagers. . . martiall miss." † mean] i, e. moan.

tit in] Qy. "within "?

§ need is] Both 4tos. "needes."

'tired] Both 4tos. "tried."-I give the reading of the Editor of Dodsley's 0. P.

¶ princes] Qy. "princess'" (i. e. princesses)? **worth] Both 4tos. "worke."

tt stature] Our old poets frequently use stature in the sense of statue. For instances of that usage, see note on Marlowe's Works, p. 27, ed. Dyce, 1858.

1: For why] i. e. Because.

§§ chariest] Both 4tos. "chancest."-There is an absurd and vulgar tradition that Charing-cross was so named because the body of Edward's chere reine rested there: does Peele allude to it here?

"And henceforth see you call it Charing-cross;
For why the chariest," &c -

The Editor of Dodsley's 0. P. reads "chastest."

That ever did delight my royal eyes,
There dwells in darkness whilst I diet in grief.
But, soft! what tidings with these pursuivants?

Enter Messenger.

Mess. Sir Roger Mortimer, with all success,§ As erst your grace by message did command, Is bere at hand, in purpose to present Your highness with his signs of victory. And trothless Baliol, their accursed king, With fire and sword doth threat Northumberland.

Longsh. How one affliction calls another over! First death torments me, then I feel disgrace! And false Baliol means to brave me too; But I will find provision for them all: My constancy shall conquer death and shame.** [Exeunt all except GLOCESTER.

dwells] Both 4tos. "dwell." t die] Qy. "lie"?

these pursuivants] But only one person enters, --both 4tos, having "Enter Messenger approch from Mortimer."

"It seems evident ["Seems, madam! nay, it is,"] that the end of this play has been most deplorably mangled; and there is some reason to suppose that the printed copy was made up from two different MSS., and both very imperfect. The printing of the old quarto, too, bad in the commencement, has grown worse as it proceeded, and in some places, as the reader has seen, was quite unintelligible. In this stage-direction perhaps the reading ought to be, 'Enter Messenger, express from Mortimer.'" Editor of Dodsley's O. P.

$ success] Both 4tos. "Sussex."

And trothless Baliol, &c.] Before this line something

Glocester. Now, Joan of Acon, let me mourn

thy fall.

Sole, here alone, now sit thee down and sigh,
Sigh, hapless Glocester, for thy sudden loss:
Pale death, alas, hath banish'd all thy pride,
Thy wedlock-vows! How oft have I beheld
Thy eyes, thy looks, thy lips, and every part,
How nature strove in them to show her art,†
In shine, in shape, in colour, and compare!
But now hath death, the enemy of love,
Stain'd and deform'd the shine, the shape, the
red,

With pale and dimness, and my love is dead.
Ah, dead, my love! vile wretch, why am I

*Thy wedlock-vows, &c.] More corruption, and past cure. Both 4tos. ;

"Thy wedlocke vowes how ought haue 1 beheld? Enter Mortimor with the head [of Lluellen]. Thy eies, thy lookes," &c.—

Qy. is "looks" a misprint for "locks"?

"Perhaps ", says the Editor of Dodsley's 0. P., "at one time the play terminated differently, with a triumphant display of victory instead of the lamentations of Glocester, and the printer, in altering it by one MS. copy, omitted to take out parts that only belonged to the other."

+ strove in them to show her art] Both 4tos. "store in them to shew their Art."

why] The 4to. of 1599 "while."

§ fate] Both 4tos. "fates."

Exit] The last scene of this drama is such a mass of confusion, that we cannot determine when and by whom the bodies of Queen Elinor and Joan are carried out. (In an earlier stage-direction of the 4tos. Glocester "conuaies lone of Acon awaie", see note §§, p. 414, first col.)