Springs not from Edward's well-meant honeft love,
But from deceit bred by neceffity:

For how can tyrants fafely govern home,
Unless abroad they purchase great alliance?
To prove him tyrant this reafon may fuffice,
That Henry liveth ftill; but were he dead,
Yet here Prince Edward ftands, King Henry's fon.
Look therefore, Lewis, that by this league and marriage
Thou draw not on thy danger and difhonour:
For tho' ufurpers fway the rule a while,

⚫ Yet heav'ns are juft, and time fuppreffeth wrongs.
War. Injurious Margaret!

Prince. And why not Queen ?

War. Because thy father Henry did ufurp, And thou no more art Prince, than fhe is Queen. Oxf. Then Warwick difanuls great John of Gaunt, Which did fubdue the greatest part of Spain; And, after John of Gaunt, Henry the fourth, Whose wisdom was a mirror to the wifeft; And, after that wife Prince, Henry the fifth, Who by his prowess conquered all France: From thefe our Henry lineally defcends.

War. Oxford, how haps it, in this fmooth difcourfe,
You told not, how Henry the fixth hath loft
All that which Henry the fifth hath gotten?

Methinks, thefe Peers of France fhould fmile at that.
But, for the reft; you tell a pedigree

Of threescore and two years, a filly time

To make prefcription for a kingdom's worth.

Oxf. Why, Warwick, canft thou fpeak against thy Liege, Whom thou obeyedft thirty and fix years,

And not bewray thy treafon with a blufh?

War: Can Oxford, that did ever fence the right,

Now buckler falfhood with a pedigree?

For fhame, leave Henry, and call Edward King.
Oxf. Call him my King, by whofe injurious doom
My elder brother, the Lord Aubrey Vere,
Was done to death? and more than fo, my father,
Even in the downfal of his mellow'd years,
When nature brought him to the door of death?
G 4

No,

No, Warwick, no; while life upholds this arm,
This arm upholds the houfe of Lancaster.
War. And I the houfe of York.

K. Lew. Queen Margaret, Prince Edward, and Oxford, Vouchsafe at our request to ftand afide,

While I ufe farther conference with Warwick.

Queen. Heav'ns grant, that Warwick's words bewitch him not!

[They stand aloof. K. Leu. Now, Warwick, tell me even upon thy conIs Edward your true King? for I were loth [fcience, To link with him, that were not lawful chofen. War. Thereon I pawn my credit and mine honour. K. Lew. But is he gracious in the people's eyes? War. The more, that Henry was unfortunate. K. Lew. Then further; all diffembling fet afide, Tell me for truth the measure of his love Unto our fifter Bona.

War. Such it feems,

As may befeen a monarch like himself:
Myfelf have often heard him fay, and fwear,
That this his love was an external plant,
Whereof the root was fix'd in virtue's ground,
The leaves and fruit maintain'd with beauty's fun;
Exempt from envy, but not from disdain,
Unless the Lady Bona quit his pain.

K. Lew. Now, fifter, let us hear your firm refolve.
Bona. Your grant, or your denial, fhall be mine.
Yet I confefs, that often ere this day,
[Speaks to War.
When I have heard your King's defert recounted,

Mine ear hath tempted judgment to defire.

K.Lew.Then, Warwick, this: our fifter fhall be Edward's. And now forthwith fhall articles be drawn

Touching the jointure that your King muft make,
Which with her dewry fhall be counterpois'd.
Draw near, Queen Margaret, and be a witness,
That Bona fhall be wife to th' English King,
Prince. To Edward, but not to the English King.
Queen. Deceitful Warwick, it was thy device
By this alliance to make void my fuit;
Before thy coming, Lewis was Henry's friend.

K. Leve

K. Lew. And ftill is friend to him and Margaret; But if your title to the crown be weak, As may appear by Edward's good fuccefs; Then 'tis but reafon, that I be releas'd From giving aid, which late I promised. Yet fhall you have all kindness at my hand, That your eftate requires, and mine can yield. War. Henry now lives in Scotland at his ease, Where having nothing, nothing can he lofe. And as for you yourfelf, our quondam Queen, You have a father able to maintain you: And better 'twere, you troubled him than France. Queen. Peace, impudent and fhameless Warwick, peace! Proud fetter-up and puller down of Kings! I will not hence, till with my talk and tears (Both full of truth) I make King Lervis behold Thy fly conveyance, and thy Lord's falfe love:

[Poft, blowving a horn within.

For both of you are birds of felf-fame feather.
K. Lew. Warwick, this is fome poít to us, or thee.

Enter a Poft.

Poft. My Lord Ambassador, these letters are for you;
[To Warwick.

Sent from your brother, Marquis Montague.
Thefe from our King unto your Majefty. [To K. Lew.
And, Madam, these for you; from whom I know not.
[To the Queen. They all read their letters.
Oxf. I like it well, that our fair Queen and mistress
Smiles at her news, while Warwick frowns at his.
Prince. Nay, mark, how Lewis ftamps as he were nettled.
I hope, all's for the beft.

[Queen ?
K. Lew. Warwick, what are thy news? and yours, fair
Queen. Mine fuch, as fills my heart with unhop'd joys.
War. Mine full of forrow and heart's difcontent.
K. Lew. What! has your King marry'd the Lady Gray?
And now, to footh your forgery and his,

Sends me a paper to perfuade me patience?

Is this th' alliance, that he feeks with France ?
Dare he prefume to fcorn us in this manner?
G 5

Queen.

Queen. I told your Majesty as much before;
This proveth Edward's love and Warwick's honesty.
War. King Lewis, I here proteft in fight of heav'n,
And by the hope I have of heav'nly blifs,

That I am clear from this mifdeed of Edrvard's:
No more my King; for he difhonours me,
But most himself, if he could fee his shame.
Did I forget, that by the houfe of York
My father came untimely to his death?
Did I let pafs th' abufe done to my niece?
Did I impale him with the regal crown?
Did I put Heary from his native right?
And am I guerdon'd at the laft with fhame?
Shame on himself, for my defert is honour!
And to repair my honour loft for him,
I here renounce him, and return to Henry.
My noble Queen, let former grudges pafs,
And henceforth, I am thy true fervitor:
I will revenge his wrong to Lady Boua,
And replant Henry in his former ftate.

Queen. Warwick, thefe words have turn'd my hate to love, And I forgive and quite forget old faults;

And joy, that thou becom'ft King Henry's friend.
War. So much his friend, ay, his unfeigned friend,
That if King Lewis vouchsafe to furnish us

With fome few bands of chofen foldiers,
I'll undertake to land them on our coaft,
And force the tyrant from his feat by war.
'Tis not his new-made bride fhall fuccour him;
And as for Clarence, as my letters tell me,
He's very likely now to fall from him,

For matching more for wanton luft than honour,
Or than for ftrength and safety of our country.
Bona. Dear brother, how fhall Bona be reveng'd,
But by thy help to this diftreffed Queen?

Queen. Renowned Prince, how thall poor Henry live, Unless thou refcue him from foul despair è

Bona. My quarrel, and this English Queen's, are one. War. And mine, fair Lady Bona, joins with yours. K. Lew. And mine with hers, and thine, and Margaret's.

Therefore

Therefore at laft I firmly am resolv❜d

You fhall have aid.

Queen. Let me give humble thanks for all at once.
K. Lew. Then, England's meffenger, return in post,
And tell falfe Edward, thy fuppofed King,

That Lewis of France is fending over maskers,
To revel it with him and his new bride.
Thou feeft what's paft, go fear thy King withal.

Bona. Tell him, in hope he'll prove a widower shortly, I wear the willow garland for his fake.

Queen. Tell him, my mourning weeds are laid afide; And I am ready to put armour on.

War. Tell him from me, that he hath done me wrong; And therefore I'll uncrown him ere't be long. There's thy reward, be gone.

K. Lew. But Warwick,

Thyfelf and Oxford with five thousand men

[Exit Poft.

Shall cross the feas, and bid falfe Edward battle:
And as occafion ferves, this noble Queen
And Prince fhall follow with a fresh fupply.
Yet ere thou go, but answer me one doubt:
What pledge have we of thy firm loyalty?

War. This fhall affure my conftant loyalty,
That if our Queen and this young Prince agree,
I'll join my younger daughter and my joy (17)
To him forthwith, in holy wedlock bands.

Queen. Yes, I agree, and thank you for your motion. Son Edward, he is fair and virtuous;

Therefore delay not, give thy hand to Warwick,

(17) I'll join my eldest daughter, and my joy,

To bim fortbaith,-] Surely, this is a mistake of the copyifts. Hall, in the 9th year of K. Edzard IV. fays, Edward, Prince of Wales, wedded Anne SECOND daughter to the Earl of Warwick-And the Duke of Clarence was in love with the ELDER, the Lady Isabel; and in reality was married to her five years before Prince Edward tɔok the Lady Anne to wife.

And in K. Richard 38, Gloucester, who married this Lady Anne when a widow, fays;

For then I'll marry Warwick's YOUNGEST daughter.

What tho' I kill'd her husband and her father?

i, e. Prince Edward, and K. Henry VI. her father in law. See likewife Holingshead in his chronicle; p. 671 and 674.