Please you
dismiss me, either with ay or no.
KING EDWARD. Ay, if thou wilt say ay to my request;
No, if thou dost say no to my demand.
LADY GREY. Then, no, my lord. My suit is at an end.
GLOUCESTER. The widow likes him not; she knits her brows.
CLARENCE. He is the bluntest wooer in Christendom.
KING EDWARD. [Aside] Her looks doth argue her replete with modesty;
Her words doth show her wit incomparable;
All her perfections
challengesovereignty.
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?
LADY GREY. 'Tis better said than done, my
gracious lord.
I am a subject fit to jest withal,
But far unfit to be a
sovereign.
KING EDWARD. 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.
LADY 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.
KING EDWARD. You cavil, widow; I did mean my queen.
LADY GREY. 'Twill
grieve your Grace my sons should call you father.
KING EDWARD.No more than when my daughters call thee mother.
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.
GLOUCESTER. The
ghostly father now hath done his shrift.
CLARENCE. When he was made a shriver, 'twas for shrift.
KING EDWARD. Brothers, you muse what chat we two have had.
GLOUCESTER. The widow likes it not, for she looks very sad.
KING EDWARD. You'd think it strange if I should marry her.
CLARENCE. To who, my lord?
KING EDWARD. Why, Clarence, to myself.
GLOUCESTER. That would be ten days' wonder at the least.
CLARENCE. That's a day longer than a wonder lasts.
GLOUCESTER. By so much is the wonder in extremes.
KING EDWARD. Well, jest on, brothers; I can tell you both
Her suit is granted for her husband's lands.
Enter a NOBLEMAN
NOBLEMAN. My
gracious lord, Henry your foe is taken
And brought your prisoner to your palace gate.
KING EDWARD. 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 honourably.
Exeunt all but GLOUCESTER
GLOUCESTER. 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 keeps 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,
And whiles I live t'
account this world but hell,
Until my misshap'd trunk that bear this head
Be round impaled with a
glorious crown.
And yet I know not how to get the crown,
For many lives stand between me and home;
And I- like one lost in a
thorny wood
That rents the thorns and is rent with the thorns,
Seeking a way and straying from the way
Not
knowing how to find the open air,
But toiling
desperately to find it out-
Torment myself to catch the English crown;
And from that
torment I will free myself
Or hew my way out with a
bloody axe.
Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile,
And cry 'Content!' to that which
grieves my heart,
And wet my cheeks with
artificial tears,
And frame my face to all occasions.
I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall;
I'll slay more gazers than the basilisk;
I'll play the
orator as well as Nestor,
Deceive more slily than Ulysses could,
And, like a Sinon, take another Troy.
I can add colours to the chameleon,
Change shapes with Protheus for advantages,
And set the
murderous Machiavel to school.
Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?
Tut, were it farther off, I'll pluck it down. Exit
SCENE III.
France. The KING'S palace
Flourish. Enter LEWIS the French King, his sister
BONA, his Admiral call'd BOURBON; PRINCE EDWARD,
QUEEN MARGARET, and the EARL of OXFORD. LEWIS
sits, and riseth up again
LEWIS. Fair Queen of England,
worthy Margaret,
Sit down with us. It ill befits thy state
And birth that thou shouldst stand while Lewis doth sit.
QUEEN MARGARET. No,
mighty King of France. Now Margaret
Must strike her sail and learn a while to serve
Where kings command. I was, I must confess,
Great Albion's Queen in former golden days;
But now mischance hath trod my title down
And with dishonour laid me on the ground,
Where I must take like seat unto my fortune,
And to my
humble seat
conform myself.
LEWIS. Why, say, fair Queen,
whence springs this deep despair?
QUEEN MARGARET. From such a cause as fills mine eyes with tears
And stops my tongue, while heart is drown'd in cares.
LEWIS. Whate'er it be, be thou still like thyself,
And sit thee by our side. [Seats her by him] Yield not thy neck
To fortune's yoke, but let thy
dauntless mind
Still ride in
triumph over all mischance.
Be plain, Queen Margaret, and tell thy grief;
It shall be eas'd, if France can yield relief.
QUEEN MARGARET. Those
gracious words
revive my drooping thoughts
And give my tongue-tied sorrows leave to speak.
Now
therefore be it known to noble Lewis
That Henry, sole possessor of my love,
Is, of a king, become a banish'd man,
And forc'd to live in Scotland a forlorn;
While proud
ambitious Edward Duke of York
Usurps the regal title and the seat
Of England's true-anointed
lawful King.
This is the cause that I, poor Margaret,
With this my son, Prince Edward, Henry's heir,
Am come to crave thy just and
lawful aid;
And if thou fail us, all our hope is done.
Scotland hath will to help, but cannot help;
Our people and our peers are both misled,
Our treasure seiz'd, our soldiers put to flight,
And, as thou seest, ourselves in heavy plight.
LEWIS. Renowned Queen, with
patience calm the storm,
While we
bethink a means to break it off.
QUEEN MARGARET. The more we stay, the stronger grows our foe.
LEWIS. The more I stay, the more I'll succour thee.
QUEEN MARGARET. O, but im
patience waiteth on true sorrow.
And see where comes the breeder of my sorrow!
Enter WARWICK
LEWIS. What's he approacheth
boldly to our presence?
QUEEN MARGARET. Our Earl of Warwick, Edward's greatest friend.
LEWIS. Welcome, brave Warwick! What brings thee to France?
[He descends. She ariseth]
QUEEN MARGARET. Ay, now begins a second storm to rise;
For this is he that moves both wind and tide.
WARWICK. 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.
QUEEN MARGARET. [Aside] If that go forward, Henry's hope is done.
WARWICK. [To BONA] And,
gracious madam, in our king's behalf,
I am commanded, with your leave and favour,
Humbly to kiss your hand, and with my tongue
To tell the
passion of my
sovereign's heart;
Where fame, late ent'ring at his heedful ears,
Hath plac'd thy beauty's image and thy virtue.
QUEEN MARGARET. King Lewis and Lady Bona, hear me speak
Before you answer Warwick. His demand
Springs not from Edward's well-meant honest love,
But from
deceit bred by necessity;
For how can
tyrants
safelygovern home
Unless
abroad they purchase great alliance?
To prove him
tyrant this reason may suffice,
That Henry liveth still; but were he dead,