Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

K. Edw. But stay thee, 'tis the fruits of love I mean. L. Grey. The fruits of love I mean, my loving liege. K. Edw. Ay, but, I fear me, in another sense. What love, think'st thou, I sue so much to get?

L. Grey. My love till death, my humble thanks, my prayers;

That love, which virtue begs, and virtue grants.

K. Edw. No, by my troth, I did not mean such love. L. Grey. Why, then you mean not as I thought you did.

K. Edw. But now you partly may perceive my mind. L. Grey. My mind will never grant what I perceive Your highness aims at, if I aim aright.

K. Edw. To tell thee plain, I aim to lie with thee.
L. Grey. To tell you plain, I had rather lie in prison.
K. Edw. Why then, thou shalt not have thy hus-
band's lands.

L. Grey. Why, then mine honesty shall be my For by that loss I will not purchase them. [dower; K. Edw. Therein thou wrong'st thy children mightily. L. Grey. Herein your highness wrongs both them and me.

But, mighty lord, this merry inclination,
Accords not with the sadness of my suit;
Please you dismiss me, either with ay, or no.

K. Edw. Ay; if thou wilt say ay, to my request:
No; if thou dost say no, to my demand.

L. Grey. Then, no, my lord. My suit is at an end. Glo. The widow likes him not, she knits her brows. [Aside. Clar. He is the bluntest wooer in Christendom. [Aside. K. Edw. [Aside] Her looks do argue her replete with Her words do show her wit incomparable; [modesty; All her perfections challenge sovereignty:

One way, or other, she is for a king;

And she shall be my love, or else my queen.-
Say, that king Edward take thee for his queen?

L. Grey. "Tis better said than done, my gracious

I am a subject fit to jest withal,

But far unfit to be a sovereign.

[lord:

K. Edw. Sweet widow, by my state, I swear to thee

I speak no more than what my soul intends;
And that is, to enjoy thee for my love.

L. Grey. And that is more than I will yield unto. I know, I am too mean to be your queen;

And yet too good to be your concubine.

K. Edw. You cavil, widow; I did mean, my queen. L. Grey. Twill grieve your grace, my sons should call you-father. [thee mother. K. Edw. No more, than when thy daughters call Thou art a widow, and thou hast some children; And, by God's mother, I, being but a bachelor, Have other some: why, 'tis a happy thing To be the father unto many sons.

Answer no more, for thou shalt be my queen.
Glo. The ghostly father now hath done his shrift.

[Aside.

Clar. When he was made a shriver, 'twas for shift.
[Aside.
K. Edw. Brothers, you muse what chat we two have
Glo. The widow likes it not, for she looks sad. [had.
K. Edw. You'd think it strange, if 1 should marry
Clar. To whom, my lord?

[her.

K. Edw.
Why, Clarence, to myself.
Glo. That would be ten days' wonder, at the least.
Clar. That's a day longer than a wonder lasts.
Glo. By so much is the wonder in extremes.

K. Edw. Well, jest on, brothers: I can tell you both, Her suit is granted for her husband's lands,

Enter a Nobleman.

Nob. My gracious lord, Henry your foe is taken, And brought your prisoner to your palace gate. K. Edw. See, that he be convey'd unto the Tower :And go we, brothers, to the man that took him, To question of his apprehension.

Widow, go you along;-Lords, use her honourable.

[Exeunt K. Edw. L. Grey, Cla. and Lord. Glo. Ay, Edward will use women honourably. 'Would he were wasted, marrow, bones, and all, That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring, To cross me from the golden time I look for!

And yet, between my soul's desire, and me,
(The lustful Edward's title buried,)

Is Clarence, Henry, and his son young Edward,
And all the unlook'd-for issue of their bodies,
To take their rooms, ere I can place myself:
A cold premeditation for my purpose!
Why, then I do but dream on sovereignty;
Like one that stands upon a promontory,
And spies a far-off shore where he would tread,
Wishing his foot were equal with his eye;
And chides the sea that sunders him from thence,
Saying-he'll lade it dry to have his way:
So do I wish the crown, being so far off;
And so I chide the means that keep me from it;
And so I say I'll cut the causes off,
Flattering me with impossibilities.

My eye's too quick, my heart o'erweens too much,
Unless my hand and strength could equal them.
Well, say there is no kingdom then for Richard;
What other pleasure can the world afford?
I'll make my heaven in a lady's lap,
And deck my body in gay ornaments,

And witch sweet ladies with my words and looks.
O miserable thought! and more unlikely,
Than to accomplish twenty golden crowns!
Why, love forswore me in my mother's womb:
And, for I should not deal in her soft laws,
She did corrupt frail nature with some bribe
To shrink mine arm up like a wither'd shrub;
To make an envious mountain on my back,
Where sits deformity to mock my body;
To shape my legs of an unequal size;
To disproportion me in every part,
Like to a chaos, or an unlick'd bear-whelp,
That carries no impression like the dam.
And am I then a man to be belov'd?

O, monstrous fault, to harbour such a thought!
Then, since this earth affords no joy to me,
But to command, to check, to o'erbear such
As are of better person than myself,

I'll make my heaven-to dream upon the crown;

Enter WARWICK, attended.

K. Lew. What's he, approacheth boldly to our presence? [friend. Q. Mar. Our earl of Warwick, Edward's greatest K. Lew. Welcome, brave Warwick! What brings thee to France?

[Descending from his State. Q. Margaret rises.
Q. Mar. Ay, now begins a second storm to rise;
For this is he, that moves both wind and tide.
War. From worthy Edward, king of Albion,
My lord and sovereign, and thy vowed friend,
I come,-in kindness, and unfeigned love,-
First, to do greetings to thy royal person;
And, then, to crave a league of amity;
And, lastly, to confirm that amity

With nuptial knot, if thou vouchsafe to grant
That virtuous lady Bona, thy fair sister,
To England's king in lawful marriage.

Q Mar. If that go forward, Henry's hope is done.
War. And, gracious madam, [To Bona] in our king's
I am commanded, with your leave and favour, [behalf,
Humbly to kiss your hand, and with my tongue
To tell the passion of my sovereign's heart:
Where fame, late entering at his heedful ears,
Hath plac'd thy beauty's image, and thy virtue.

Q. Mar. King Lewis,-and lady Bona,-hear me
Before you answer Warwick. His demand [speak,
Springs not from Edward's well-meaut honest love,
But from deceit, bred by necessity;

For how can tyrants safely govern home,
Unless abroad they purchase great alliance?
Το prove him tyrant, this reason may suffice,-
That Henry liveth still: but were he dead,

Yet here prince Edward stands, king Henry's son.
Look, therefore, Lewis, that by this league and marriage,
Thou draw not on thy danger and dishonour :
For though usurpers sway the rule awhile,

Yet heavens are just, and time suppresseth wrongs.
War. Injurious Margaret!

Prince.

And why not queen?

War. Because thy father Henry did usurp; And thou no more art prince, than she is queen.

Orf. Then Warwick disannuls great John of Gaunt, Which did subdue the greatest part of Spain; And, after John of Gaunt, Henry the fourth, Whose wisdom was a mirror to the wisest; And, after that wise prince, Henry the fifth, Who by his prowess conquered all France: From these our Henry lineally descends.

War. Oxford, how haps it, in this smooth discourse,
You told not, how Henry the sixth hath lost
All that which Henry the fifth had gotten?
Methinks, these peers of France should smile at that.
But for the rest,-You tell a pedigree

Of threescore and two years; a silly time
To make prescription for a kingdom's worth.

Oxf. Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy
Whom thou obey'dst thirty and six years,
And not bewray thy treason with a blush?

[liege,

War. Can Oxford, that did ever fence the right,
Now buckler falsehood with a pedigree?
For shame, leave Henry, and call Edward king.
Orf. Call him my king, by whose injurious doom
My elder brother, the lord Aubrey Vere,

Was done to death? and more than so, my father,
Even in the downfall of his mellow'd years,
When nature brought him to the door of death?
No, Warwick, no; while life upholds this arm,
This arm upholds the house of Lancaster.

War. And I the house of York.

K. Lew. Queen Margaret, prince Edward, and Vouchsafe, at our request, to stand aside,

[Oxford,

While I use further conference with Warwick. Q. Mar. Heaven grant, that Warwick's words bewitch him not!

[Retiring with the Prince and Oxford. K. Lew. Now, Warwick, tell me, even upon thy conscience,

Is Edward your true king? for I were loath,
To link with him that were not lawful chosen.
War. Thereon I pawn my credit and mine honour.

« ÎnapoiContinuă »