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,
And most assured that he is a friend,
Deep, hollow, treacherous, and full of guile,
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.

There wanteth now our brother Gloster here,

To make the blessed period of this peace.

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. Edw. Happy, indeed, as we have spent the day: Gloster, 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 lord.

Among this princely heap, if any here,

By false intelligence or wrong surmise,

Hold me a foe;

If I unwittingly, or in my rage,

Have aught committed that is hardly borne

By any in this presence, I desire

To reconcile me to his friendly peace;

"Tis death to me to be at enmity;

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, and you, lord Rivers, and of Dorset-
That all without desert have frown'd on me ;-
Of you, lord Woodville, and lord Scales, of you,--
Dukes, earls, lords, gentlemen; indeed, of all,
I do not know that Englishman alive
With whom my soul is any jot at odds,
More than the infant that is born to-night;

I 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?

Q. 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 royal,
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 prithee, 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,1 sovereign, of my servant's life:
Who slew to-day a riotous gentleman,

Lately attendant on the duke of Norfolk.

K. Edw. Have I a 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,
Kneel'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 Tewkesbury,
When Oxford had me down, he rescued me,
And said, "Dear brother, live, and be a king?”

(1) The forfeit. He means the remission of the forfeit.
(2) Bade me be advis'd, i.e. bade me deliberate.

A A

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.

Ah! poor Clarence!

[Exeunt KING, QUEEN, HAST., RIV., DOR., and GREY. 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;
cry-"
"O Clarence, my unhappy son!"

And

Son. Why do you look on us, and shake your head, And call us orphans, wretches, castaways,

If that our noble father were 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 wail one that's lost.

(1) My pretty cousins. Cousin is here used for kinsfolk.

Son. Then you conclude, my grandam, 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
Incapable1 and shallow innocents,

You cannot guess who caus'd your father's death.

Son. Grandam, we can: for my good uncle Gloster
Told me, the king, provok'd to't by the queen,
Devis'd impeachments to imprison him:
And when my uncle told me so, he wept,
And pitied me, and kindly kiss'd my cheek;
Bade me rely on him as on my father,
And he would love me dearly as his child.

Duch. Ah, that deceit should steal such gentle shapes.
And with a virtuous visor hide deep vice!

He is my son, ay, and therein my shame,
Yet from my dugs he drew not this deceit.

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?
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 ne'er-changing night.

Duch. Ah, so much interest have I in thy sorrow,

As I had title in thy noble husband!

I have bewept a worthy husband's death,

And liv'd by looking on his images:1

But now, two mirrors of his princely semblance
Are cracked in pieces by malignant death;

(1) Incapable is here used for unintelligent.

(2) His images; i. e. his children who represented him.

And I for comfort have but one false glass,
That grieves me when I see my shame in him.
Thou art a widow; yet thou art a mother,
And hast the comfort of thy children left;

But death hath snatch'd my husband from mine arms,
And pluck'd two crutches from my feeble hands,
Clarence and Edward. O, what cause have I
(Thine being but a moiety of my moan)

To over-go thy woes, 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 complaints:
All springs reduce their currents to mine eyes,
That I, being govern'd by the watery moon,1
May send forth plenteous tears to drown the world!
Ah, for my husband, for my dear lord Edward!

Chil. Ah, for our father, for our dear lord Clarence!
Duch. Alas, for both, both mine, Edward and Clarence!
Q. Eliz. What stay had I but Edward? and he's gone.
Chil. What stay had we but Clarence? and he's gone.
Duch. What stays had I but they? and they are gone.
Q. Eliz. Was never widow had so dear a loss.

Chil. Were never orphans had so dear a loss.
Duch. Was never mother had so dear a loss.
Alas! I am the mother of these griefs;
Their woes are parcell'd, mine are general.
She for an Edward weeps, and so do I;
I for a Clarence weep, so doth not she;
These babes for Clarence weep, and so do I;
I for an Edward weep, so do not they :-
Alas! you three on me, threefold distress'd,
Pour all your tears, I am your sorrow's nurse,
And I will pamper it with lamentations.

Dor. Comfort, dear mother: God is much displeas'd
That you take with unthankfulness his doing;
In common worldly things 'tis called ungrateful,
With dull unwillingness to repay a debt,
Which with a bounteous hand was kindly lent;
Much more to be thus opposite with Heaven,
For it requires the royal debt it lent you.

(1) That I, being govern'd by the watery moon; i. e. that I may henceforth live under the influence of the moon which governs the tides, and so may I drown the world with my tears.