Your beauty, which did haunt me in my sleep,
To undertake the death of all the world,

So I might live one hour in your sweet bosom.

Anne. If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide, These nails should rend that beauty from my cheeks. Glo. These eyes could not endure that beauty's wreck. You should not blemish it, if I stood by:

As all the world is cheered by the sun,

So I by that; it is my day, my life.

Anne.Black night o'er-shade thy day,and death thy life!
Glo. Curse not thyself, fair creature; thou art both.
Anne. I would I were, to be reveng'd on thee.
Glo. It is a quarrel most unnatural,

To be reveng'd on him that loveth thee.

Anne. It is a quarrel just and reasonable,
To be reveng'd on him that kill'd my husband.
Glo. He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband,
Did it to help thee to a better husband.

Anne. His better doth not breathe upon the earth.
Glo. He lives, that loves you better than he could.
Anne. Name him.

Glo. Plantagenet.

Anne. Why, that was he.

Glo. The self-same name, but one of better nature. Anne. Where is he?

Glo.Here: [She spits at him.] Why dost thou spit at me? Anne. 'Would it were mortal poison for thy sake! Glo. Never came poison from so sweet a place. Anne. Never hung poison on a fouler toad. Out of my sight! thou dost infect mine eyes.

Glo. Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected mine. Anne. 'Would they were basilisks, to strike thee dead! Glo. I would they were, that I might die at once; For now they kill me with a living death. Those eyes of thine from mine have drawn salt tears, Sham'd their aspécts with store of childish drops: These eyes, which never shed remorseful tear,Not when my father York, and Edward wept, To hear the piteous moan that Rutland made, When black-fac'd Clifford shook his sword at him: Nor when thy warlike father, like a child, Told the sad story of my father's death; And twenty times made pause, to sob, and weep, That all the standers-by had wet their cheeks, Like trees bedash'd with rain in that sad time,

My manly eyes did scorn an humble tear;

And what these sorrows could not thence exhale,

Thy beauty hath, and made them blind with weeping.
I never sued to friend, nor enemy;

My tongue could never learn sweet soothing word;
But now thy beauty is propos'd my fee,

My proud heart sues, and prompts my tongue to speak. [She looks scornfully at him.

Teach not thy lip such scorn; for it was made

For kissing, lady, not for such contempt.

If thy revengeful 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 soul forth that adoreth thee,

I lay it naked to the deadly stroke,

And humbly beg the death upon my knee.

[He lays his Breast open; she offers at it with his sword. Nay, do not pause; for I did kill king Henry ;

But 'twas thy beauty that provoked me.4

Nay,now despatch; 'twas I that stabb'd youngEdward,

[She again offers at his Breast.

But 'twas thy heavenly face that set me on.

[She lets fall the sword.

Take up the sword again, or take up me.

Anne. Arise, dissembler; though I wish thy death,

I will not be thy executioner.

Glo. Then bid me kill myself, and I will do it.
Anne. I have already.

Glo. That was in thy rage:

Speak it again, and, even with the word,

This hand, which, for thy love, did kill thy love,

Shall, for thy love, kill a far truer love;

To both their deaths shalt thou be accessary.

Anne. I would, I knew thy heart.

Glo. 'Tis figur'd in

My tongue.

Anne. I fear me, both are false.

Glo. Then man

Was never true.

Anne. Well, well, put up your sword.
Glo. Say then, my peace is made.

Anne. That shall you know

Hereafter.

[4] Shakspeare countenances the observation, that no woman can ever be offended with the mention of her beauty. JOHNS.

Glo. But shall I live in hope.

Anne. All men,

I hope, live so.

Glo. Vouchsafe to wear this ring.

Anne. To take, is not to give. [She puts on the ring. Glo. Look, how this ring encompasseth thy finger,

Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart;

Wear both of them, for both of them are thine.
And if thy poor devoted servant may

But beg one favour at thy gracious hand,

Thou dost confirm his happiness forever.

Anne. What is it?

Glo. That it may please you leave these sad designs
To him that hath more cause to be a mourner,
And presently repair to Crosby-Place :5
Where-after I have solemnly interr'd,
At Chertsey monast'ry this noble king,
And wet his grave with my repentant tears,-
I will with all expedient duty see you:

For divers unknown reasons, I beseech you,
Grant me this boon.

Anne. With all my heart; and much it joys me too, To see you are become so penitent.

Tressel, and Berkley, go along with me.

Glo. Bid me farewel.

Anne. 'Tis more than you deserve ;

But, since you teach me how to flatter you,
Imagine I have said farewel already.6

[Exeunt Lady ANNE, TRESSEL, and BERKLEY.

[51 Crosby-Place is now Crosby-square in Bishopsgate Street; part of the house is yet remaining, and is a meeting place for a presbyterian congregation. SIR J. HAWKINS.

[6] Cibber, who altered King Richard III. for the stage, was so thorough. ly convinced of the ridiculousness and improbability of this scene, that he thought himself obliged to make Tressel say:

When future chronicles shall speak of this,
They will be thought romance, not history.

From an account of our late unsuccessful embassy to the Emperor of China, we learn, indeed, that a scene of equal absurdity was represented in a theatre at Tien-sing: "One of the dramas, particularly, attracted the attention of those who recollected scenes, somewhat similar. upon the English stage. The piece represented an Emperor of China and his Empress living in supreme felicity, when, on a sudden, his subjects revolt, a civil war ensues, battles are fought, and at last the arch-rebel, who was a general of cavalry, overcomes his sovereign, kills him with his own hand, and routs the imperial army. The captive Empress then appears upon the stage in all the agonies of despair, naturally resulting from the loss of her husband and of her dignity, as well as the apprehension for that of her honour. Whilst she is tearing her hair, and rending the skies with her complaints, the conqueror enters, approaches her with respect, addresses her in a gentle tone, soothes her sorrows with his compassion, talks of love and adoration, and

Glo. Take up the corse, sirs.

Gen. Towards Chertsey, noble lord?

Glo. No, to White-Friars; there attend my coming. [Exeunt the rest with the Corse.

-Was ever woman in this humour woo'd ?

Was ever woman in this humour won ?

I'll have her, but I will not keep her long.

What! I, that kill'd her husband, and his father,
To take her in her heart's extremest hate;
With curses in her mouth, tears in her eyes,

The bleeding witness of her hatred by ;

With God, her conscience, and these bars against me, And I no friends to back my suit withal,

But the plain devil, and dissembling looks,

And yet to win her,-all the world to nothing!

Ha!

Hath she forgot already that brave prince,

Edward, her lord, whom I some three months since,
Stabb'd in my angry mood at Tewksbury?

A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman,

Fram'd in the prodigality of nature,7

Young, wise, and valiant, and, no doubt, right royal,— The spacious world cannot again afford:

And will she yet abase her eyes on me,

That cropp'd the golden prime of this sweet prince,
And made her widow to a woeful bed?

On me, whose all not equals Edward's moiety?

On me, that halt, and am mis-shapen thus?

My dukedom to a beggarly denier, 8

I do mistake my person all this while :
Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot,
Myself to be a marvellous proper man.
I'll be at charges for a looking-glass;
And entertain a score or two of tailors,
To study fashions to adorn my body:
Since I am crept in favour with myself,
I will maintain it with some little cost.
But, first, I'll turn yon' fellow in his grave;
And then return lamenting to my love.

Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass,
That I may see my shadow as I pass.

[Exit.

like Richard the Third with Lady Anne, in Shakspeare, prevails in less than half an hour, on the Chinese Princess to dry up her tears, to forget her deceased consort, and yield to a consoling wooer."

2

STEEV.

WARB.

[7] That is, when nature was in a prodigal or lavish mood. [8] A denier is the twelfth part of a French sous, and appears to have been the usual request of a beggar. STEEV.

The same.

SCENE III.

A Room in the Palace. Enter Queen ELIZABETH,
Lord RIVERS and Lord GREY.

Riv. Have patience, madam; there's no doubt, his majesty

Will soon recover his accustom'd health.

Grey. In that you brook it ill, it makes him worse: Therefore, for God's sake, entertain good comfort, And cheer his grace with quick and merry words. Q.Eliz. If he were dead, what would betide of me? Grey. No other harm but loss of such a lord.

Q.Eliz. The loss of such a lord includes all harms. Grey. The heavens have bless'd you with a goodly son, To be your comforter, when he is gone.

Q.Eliz. Ah, he is young; and his minority

Is put into the trust of Richard Gloster,
A man that loves not me, nor none of you.
Riv. Is it concluded, he shall be protector?
Q. Eliz. It is determin'd, not concluded yet :
But so it must be, if the king miscarry.

Enter BUCKINGHAM and STANLEY.

Grey.Here come the lords of Buckingham andStanley.
Buck. Good time of day unto your royal grace!
Stan. God make your majesty joyful as you have been!
Q.Eliz. The countess Richmond, good my lord of
Stanley,

To your good prayer will scarcely say, Amen.
Yet, Stanley, notwithstanding she's your wife,
And loves not me, be you, good lord, assur'd,
I hate not you for her proud arrogance.

Stan. I do beseech you, either not believe
The envious slanders of her false accusers;
Or, if she be accus'd on true report,

Bear with her weakness, which, I think, proceeds
From wayward sickness, and no grounded malice.
Q.Eliz. Saw you the king to-day, my lord of Stanley?
Stan. But now, the duke of Buckingham, and I,
Are come from visiting his majesty.

Q.Eliz. What likelihood of his amendment, lords?
Buck. Madam,good hope; his grace speaks cheerfully.
Q.Eliz. God grant him health! Did you confer with

him?

Buck. Ay, madam; he desires to make atonement