Come,-I have learn'd, that fearful commenting Delay leads impotent and snail-pac'd beggary: Jove's Mercury, and herald for a king! We must be brief, when traitors brave the field. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. The same. Before the Palace. Enter Queen MARGARET. Q. Mar. So, now prosperity begins to mellow, And will to France; hoping, the consequence Withdraw thee, wretched Margaret! who comes here? Enter Queen ELIZABETH and the Duchess of YORK. Q. Eliz. Ah, my poor princes! ah, my tender babes! My unblown flowers, new-appearing sweets! And be not fix'd in doom perpetual, Hover about me with your airy wings, 9 fearful commenting Is leaden servitor-] Timorous thought and cautious disquisition are the dull attendants on delay. 1 dire induction] Induction is preface, introduction, first part. It is so used by Sackville in our author's time. And hear your mother's lamentation! Q. Mar. Hover about her; say, that right for right2 Hath dimm'd your infant morn to aged night. Duch. So many miseries have craz'd my voice, That my woe-wearied tongue is still and mute,Edward Plantagenet, why art thou dead? Q. Mar. Plantagenet doth quit Plantagenet, Edward for Edward pays a dying debt. Q. Eliz. Wilt thou, O God, fly from such gentle lambs, And throw them in the entrails of the wolf? ghost, Woe's scene, world's shame, grave's due by life usurp'd, Brief abstract and record of tedious days, Rest thy unrest on England's lawful earth, [Sitting down. Unlawfully made drunk with innocent blood! Q. Eliz. Ah, that thou would'st as soon afford a grave, As thou canst yield a melancholy seat; Then would I hide my bones, not rest them here! Ah, who hath any cause to mourn, but we? [Sitting down by her. Q. Mar. If ancient sorrow be most reverent, Give mine the benefit of seniory,* 2 say, that right for right] Margaret now perhaps means to say, The right of me, an injured mother, whose son was slain at Tewksbury, has now operated as powerfully as that right which the death of Rutland gave you to divine justice, and has destroyed your children in their turn. When didst thou sleep, &c.] That is, When, before the present occasion, didst thou ever sleep during the commission of such an action? seniory,] For seniority. JOHNSON. And let my griefs frown on the upper hand. [Sitting down with them. Tell o'er your woes again by viewing mine:I had an Edward, till a Richard kill'd him; I had a husband, till a Richard kill'd him: Thou hadst an Edward, till a Richard kill'd him; Thou hadst a Richard, till a Richard kill'd him. Duch. I had a Richard too, and thou didst kill him; I had a Rutland too, thou holp'st to kill him. Q. Mar. Thou hadst a Clarence too, and Richard kill'd him. From forth the kennel of thy womb hath crept Q. Mar. Bear with me; I am hungry for revenge, her pew-fellow-] Pew-fellow seems to be companion. Young York he is but boot,] Boot is that which is thrown in to mend a purchase. And the beholders of this tragick play, Earth gapes, hell burns, fiends roar, saints pray, That I may live to say, The dog is dead! Q. Eliz. O, thou didst prophecy, the time would come, That I should wish for thee to help me curse I call'd thee then, poor shadow, painted queen; The flattering index of a direful pageant,7 Where is thy husband now? where be thy brothers? "The flattering index of a direful pageant,] Pageants are dumb shows, and the poet meant to allude to one of these, the index of which promised a happier conclusion. The pageants then displayed on publick occasions were generally preceded by a brief account of the order in which the characters were to walk. These indexes were distributed among the spectators, that they might understand the meaning of such allegorical stuff as was usually exhibited. The index of every book was anciently placed before the beginning of it. 8 a garish flag, To be the aim of every dangerous shot;] Alluding to the dangerous situation of those persons to whose care the standards of arinies were entrusted. STEEVENS. Where be thy two sons? wherein dost thou joy? Who sues, and kneels, and says-God save the queen? Where be the bending peers that flatter'd thee? Where be the thronging troops that follow'd thee? Decline all this, and see what now thou art. Now thy proud neck bears half my burden'd yoke; Farewell, York's wife,-and queen of sad mischance, These English woes shall make me smile in France. Q. Eliz. O thou well skill'd in curses, stay a while, And teach me how to curse mine enemies. Q. Mar. Forbear to sleep the night, and fast the day; Compare dead happiness with living woe; "Decline all this,] i. e. run through all this from first to last. |