酷兔英语

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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 impatience 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,



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