ACT II.

SCENE I. London. A Room in the Palace.

Enter King EDWARD, led in sick; Queen ELIZABETH, DORSET, RIVERS, HASTINGS, BUCKINGHAM, GREY, and Others.

King. Why, so:-now have I done a good day's work.

You peers, continue this united league :

I every day expect an embassage

From my Redeemer to redeem me hence;

And now in peace' my soul shall part to heaven,
Since I have made my friends at peace on earth.
Rivers, and Hastings, take each other's hand;
Dissemble not your hatred,' swear your love.
Riv. By Heaven, my soul is purg'd from grudg-
ing hate;

And with my hand I seal my true heart's love.

Hast. So thrive I, as I truly swear the like.
King. Take heed, you dally not before your king;
Lest He that is the supreme King of kings
Confound your hidden falsehood, and award
Either of you to be the other's end.

Hast. So prosper I, as I swear perfect love!
Riv. And I, as I love Hastings with my heart!
King. Madam, yourself are not exempt from
this,

Nor your son Dorset,― Buckingham, nor you;

1 So the quartos; the folio, -"And more to peace." Doubtless a misprint.

H.

That is, do not merely cloak and conceal your ill-will, but eradicate it altogether, and swear to love each other.

You have been factious one against the other. Wife, love lord Hastings, let him kiss your hand; And what you do, do it unfeignedly.

Eliz. There, Hastings:-I will never more re member

Dur former hatred, so thrive I, and mine!

King. Dorset, embrace him,-Hastings, love lord

marquess.

Dor. This interchange of love, I here protest, Upon my part shall be inviolable.

Hast. And so swear I.

King. Now, princely Buckingham, seal thou this
league

With thy embracements to my wife's allies,
And make me happy in your unity.

Buck. [To the Queen.] Whenever Buckingham doth turn his hate

Upon your grace, but with all duteous love
Doth cherish you, and yours, God punish me
With hate in those where I expect most love!
When I have most need to employ a friend,
And most assured that he is a friend,
Deep, hollow, treacherous, and full of guile,
Be he unto me! this do I beg of Heaven,
When I am cold in love to you, or yours.

King. A pleasing cordial, princely Buckingham, Is this thy vow unto my sickly heart.

There wanteth now our brother Gloster here,
To make the blessed period of this peace.

Buck. And, in good time, here comes the noble duke.

Enter RICHARD.

Rich. Good-morrow to my sovereign king, and

queen;

And, princely peers, a happy time of day!

King. Happy, indeed, as we have spent the day:Gloster, we have done deeds of charity;

Made peace of enmity, fair love of hate,
Between these swelling wrong-incensed peers.

Rich. A blessed labour, my most sovereign lord.— Among this princely heap, if any here,

By false intelligence, or wrong surmise,
Hold me a foe; if I unwittingly, or in my rage,
Have aught committed that is hardly borne
By any in this presence, I desire

To reconcile me to his friendly peace:
"Tis death to me, to be at enmity;

I hate it, and desire all good men's love. -
First, madam, I entreat true peace of you,
Which I will purchase with my duteous service;
Of you, my noble cousin Buckingham,
If ever any grudge were lodg'd between us;
Of you, and you, lord Rivers, and of Dorset,
That all without desert have frown'd on me;
Of you, lord Woodville, and, lord Scales, of you;'
Dukes, earls, lords, gentlemen; indeed, of all.
I do not know that Englishman alive,

With whom my soul is any jot at odds,
More than the infant that is born to-night:
I thank my God for
my humility.

Eliz. A holy-day shall this be kept hereafter:— I would to God, all strifes were well compounded.My sovereign lord, I do beseech your highness To take our brother Clarence to your grace.

Rich. Why, madam, have I offer'd love for this,

3 This line is not in any of the quartos; and the second line before reads, - Of you, lord Rivers, and, lord Grey, of you." In both particulars, modern editions, until Knight's, follow the quartos. Rivers had married the heir of Lord Scales, so that that title would properly belong to his oldest son. Edward Lord Woodville was brother to Rivers and the queen

H

To be so flouted in this royal presence?
Who knows not that the gentle duke is dead?

[They all start.

You do him injury to scorn his corse.
King. Who knows not he is dead! who knows
he is?

Eliz. All-seeing Heaven, what a world is this!
Buck. Look I so pale, lord Dorset, as the rest!
Dor. Ay, my good lord; and no man in the
presence,

But his red colour hath forsook his cheeks.

King. Is Clarence dead? the order was revers'd. Rich. But he, poor man, by your first order died, And that a winged Mercury did bear;

Some tardy cripple bare the countermand,
That came too lag to see him buried:

God grant, that some, less noble, and less loyal,
Nearer in bloody thoughts, and not in blood,
Deserve not worse than wretched Clarence did,
And yet go current from suspicion.

Enter STANLEY.

Stan. A boon, my sovereign, for my service done!
King. I pr'ythee, peace! my soul is full of sor-

row.

Stan. I will not rise, unless your highness hear me. King. Then say at once, what is it thou request❜st? Stan. The forfeit,* sovereign, of my servant's life; Who slew to-day a riotous gentleman,

Lately attendant on the duke of Norfolk.

King. Have I a tongue to doom my brother's death,"

4 He means the remission of the forfeit.

"This lamentation," says Johnson, "is very tender and pathetic. The recollection of the good qualities of the dead is very

And shall that tongue give pardon to a slave?
My brother kill'd no man, his fault was thought,
And yet his punishment was bitter death.
Who sued to me for him? who, in my wrath,
Kneel'd at my feet, and bade me be advis'd?
Who spoke of brotherhood? who spoke of love?
Who told me, how the poor soul did forsake
The mighty Warwick, and did fight for me?
Who told me, in the field at Tewksbury
When Oxford had me down, he rescued me,
And said, "Dear brother, live, and be a king?”
Who told me, when we both lay in the field,
Frozen almost to death, how he did lap me
Even in his garments; and did give himself,
All thin and naked, to the numb-cold night?
All this from my remembrance brutish wrath
Sinfully pluck'd, and not a man of you
Had so much grace to put it in my mind.
But when your carters, or your waiting-vassals,
Have done a drunken slaughter, and defac'd
The precious image of our dear Redeemer,

You straight are on your knees for pardon, pardon;
And I, unjustly too, must grant it :
you
But for my brother, not a man would speak,
Nor I, ungracious, speak unto myself

all

For him, poor soul.-The proudest of you
Have been beholding to him in his life;
Yet none of you would once beg for his life.-

natural, and no less naturally does the king endeavour to communicate the crime to others." For this speech the Poet had the following hint in Holinshed: "Sure it is, that although king Edward were consenting to his death, yet he much did both lament his infortunate chance, and repent his sudden execution; insomuch that, when anie person sued to him for the pardon of malefactors condemned to death, he would accustomablie saie,Oh, infor tunate brother! for whose life not one would make sute!

H.