That from his loins no more young brats may
To cross me in the golden time I look for.

rise,

Enter LADY ANNE, in Mourning, LORD STANLEY,
TRESSEL, GUARDS, BEARERS, with KING HEN-
RY's Body, and Six LADIES in Mourning.

But see, my love appears-look where she shines,
Darting pale lustre, like the silver moon,
Thro' her dark veil of rainy sorrow!

So mourn'd the dame of Ephesus her love;
And thus the soldier, arm'd with resolution,
Told his soft tale, and was a thriving wooer.
"Tis true my form perhaps may little move her,
But I've a tongue, shall wheedle with the devil:
Why I can smile, and smile, and murder when I smile.
And cry content, to that, which grieves my heart;
And wet my cheek with artificial tears,

And suit my face to all occasions.

Yet hold, she mourns the man, that I have kill'd;
First let her sorrows take some vent-stand here,
I'll take her passion in its wain, and turn

This storm of grief to gentle drops of pity

For his repentant murderer.

[He retires. Lady A. Hung be the heav'ns with black; yield day to night;

Comets, importing change of times and states,
Brandish vour fiery tresses in the sky,

And wi them Scourge the bad revolting stars,
That have consented to King Henry's death.
Oh! be accurst the hand, that shed his blood,
Accurst the head, that had the heart to do it;
If ever he have wife, let her be made
More miserable by the life of him,

Than I am now by Edward's death, and thine.
Glost. Poor girl, what pains she takes to curse her-
self.

[Aside.

Lady 4. If ever he have child, abortive be it,

Prodigious and untimely brought to light;
Whose hideous form, whose most unnatural aspect,
May fright the hopeful mother at her view,
And that be heir to his unhappiness.

Now on to Chertsey, with your sacred load.

Glost. Stay, you that bear the corse, and set it down.

Lady A. What black magician conjures up this fiend,

To stop devo ted charitable deeds?

Glost. Villains, set down the corse, or by St. Paul, I'll make a corse of him that disobeys.

Guard. My lord, stand back, and let the coffin

pass.

Glost. Unmanner'd slave! stand thou, when I command,

Advance thy halbert higher than my breast,

Or, by St. Paul, I'll strike thee to my foot,
And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness.
Lady A. Why dost thou haunt him thus, unsated
fiend?

Thou hast but power over his mortal body;
His soul thou canst not reach, therefore begone.
Glost. Sweet saint, be not so hard for charity.
Lady A. If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds,
Behold this pattern of thy butcheries.

Why didst thou do this deed? could not the laws
Of man, of nature, nor of Heav'n dissuade thee?
No beast so fierce, but knows some touch "pity.
Glost. If want of pity be a crime so hateful,
Whence is it, thou, fair excellence, art guilty?
Lady A. What means the slanderer?

Glost. Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman,
Of these my crimes suppos'd, to give me leave,
By circumstance but to acquit myself.

Lady A. Then take that sword, whose bloody point

still reeks

With Henry's life, with my lov'd lord's, young Ed

ward's,

And here let out thy own, to appease their ghosts.

Glost. By such despair I should accuse myself. Lady A. Why by despairing only canst thou stand excus'd?

Didst thou not kill the king?

Glost. I grant ye.

Lady A. Oh! he was gentle, loving, mild, and virtuous;

But he's in heaven, where thou canst never come.
Glost. Was I not kind, to send him thither, then?
He was much fitter for that place than earth.
Lady A. And thou unfit for any place, but hell.
Glost. Yes, one place else- -If you will hear me

name it.

Lady A. Some dungeon.

Glost. Your bedchamber.

Lady A. Ill rest betide the chamber, where thou

liest.

Glost. So it will, madam, till I lie in yours.

Lady A. I hope so.

Glost. I know so. But, gentle Lady Anne,
To leave this keen encounter of our tongues,
And fall to something a more serious method,
Is not the causer of the untimely deaths,
Of these Plantagenets, Henry and Edward,
As blameful as the executioner?

Lady A. Thou wert the cause, and most accurs'd effect.

Glost. Your beauty was the cause of that effect,
Your beauty! that did haunt me in my sleep,
To undertake the death of all the world,

So I might live one hour in that soft bosom?

Lady A. If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide, These hands should rend that beauty from my

cheeks.

Glost. These eyes could not endure that beauty's
wreck;

You should not blemish it, if I stood by :
As all the world is nourish'd by the sun,
So I by that it is my day, my life!

Lady A. I would it were, to be reveng'd on thee.
Glost. It is a quarrel most unnatural,
To wish revenge on him that loves thee.
Lady A. Say rather 'tis my duty,
To seek revenge on him, that kill'd

my

husband.

Glost. Fair creature, he, that kill'd thy husband, Did it to help thee to a better husband.

Lady A. His better does not breathe upon the earth;

Glost. He lives, that loves thee better than he

could.

Lady A. Name him.

Glost. Plantagenet.

Lady A. Why, that was he.

Glost. The self-same name, but one of softer nature.

Lady A. Where is he?

Glost. Ah, take more pity in thy eyes, and see him

-here

Lady A. would they were basilisks, to strike thee dead!

Glost. I would they were, that I might die at

once,

For now they kill me with a living death:
Darting with cruel aim despair and love;
I never su'd to friend or enemy;

My tongue could never learn soft smoothing words;
But, now thy beauty is propos'd 'my fee,

My proud heart sues, and prompts my tongue to speak.

Lady A. Is there a tongue on earth, can speak for

thee?

Why dost thou court my hate?

D

Glost. Oh, teach not thy soft lips such cold contempt!

If thy relentless heart cannot forgive,

Lo, here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword,
Which, if thou please to hide in this true breast,
And let the honest soul out, that adores thee!
I lay it naked to the deadly stroke,

And humbly beg that death, upon my knee.

Lady A. What shall I say, or do? direct me,
Heav'n!

When stones weep, sure the tears are natural;
And Heav'n itself instructs us to forgive,

When they do flow from a sincere repentance. [Aside.
Glost. Nay, do not pause, for I did kill King
Henry,

But, 'twas thy wondrous beauty did provoke me;
Or, now dispatch-'twas I that stabb'd young Ed-
ward,

But, 'twas thy heav'nly face that set me on:
And I might still persist,, (so stubborn is
My temper) to rejoice at what I've done~
But that thy powerful eyes (as roaring seas
Obey the changes of the moon) have turn'd
My heart, and made it flow with penitence.

[She drops the Sword.

Take up the sword again, or take up me.
Lady A. No, though I wish thy death,

I will not be thy executioner.

Glost. Then bid me kill myself, and I will do it. Lady A. I have, already.

Glost. That was in thy rage;

Say it again, and even with thy word,

This guilty hand, that robb'd thee of thy love,
Shall, for thy love, revenge thee on thy lover:
To both their deaths shalt thou be accessary.
What! not a word, to pardon, or condemn me!
But thou art wise, and canst, with silence, kill me;