As yet I do not; but, as I can learn,

He hearkens after prophecies and dreams,
And from the cross-row plucks the letter G, 55
And says a wizard told him that by G
His issue disinherited should be;
And, for my name of George begins with G,
It follows in his thought that I am he.
These, as I learn, and such like toys as these 60
Have mov'd his Highness to commit me now.
Glou. Why, this it is, when men are rul'd by

Glou. Her husband, knave. Wouldst thou betray me?

Brak. I do beseech your Grace to pardon me, and withal

Forbear your conference with the noble Duke. Clar. We know thy charge, Brakenbury,

and will obey.

105

Glou. We are the Queen's abjects, and must

Enter GLOUCESTER.

With lies well steel'd with weighty arguments;
And, if I fail not in my deep intent,
Clarence hath not another day to live;
Which done, God take King Edward to his

mercy,

150

And leave the world for me to bustle in! For then I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter.

What though I kill'd her husband and her

father?

The readiest way to make the wench amends Is to become her husband and her father; The which will I; not all so much for love As for another secret close intent,

156

160

By marrying her which I must reach unto.
But yet I run before my horse to market.
Clarence still breathes; Edward still lives and
reigns;

When they are gone, then must I count my
gains.
[Exit.

SCENE II. [The same. Another street.] Enter the corpse of KING HENRY VI, [GENTLEMEN] with halberds to guard it, [among them TRESSEL and BERKELEY; LADY ANNE being the mourner.

Anne. Set down, set down your honourable

Glou. Stay, you that bear the corse, and set it down.

Anne. What black magician conjures up this fiend

To stop devoted charitable deeds?

35

Glou. Villains, set down the corse; or, by Saint Paul,

I'll make a corse of him that disobeys. Gent. My lord, stand back, and let the coffin pass.

Glou. Unmanner'd dog! stand thou, when I command.

Advance thy halberd higher than my breast, 40 Or, by Saint Paul, I'll strike thee to my foot, And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness. [The coffin is set down again.] Anne. What, do you tremble? Are you all afraid?

For thou hast made the happy earth thy hell, Fill'd it with cursing cries and deep exclaims. If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds, Behold this pattern of thy butcheries.

50

O, gentlemen, see, see! dead Henry's wounds 55
Open their congeal'd mouths and bleed afresh!
Blush, blush, thou lump of foul deformity;
For 't is thy presence that exhales this blood
From cold and empty veins, where no blood
dwells.

Thy deed, inhuman and unnatural,
Provokes this deluge most unnatural.

60

O God, which this blood mad'st, revenge his death!

O earth, which this blood drink'st, revenge his

death!

Either heaven with lightning strike the mur

derer dead,

65

Or earth gape open wide and eat him quick,
As thou dost swallow up this good king's blood,
Which his hell-govern'd arm hath butchered!
Glou. Lady, you know no rules of charity,
Which renders good for bad, blessings for

No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity.

Glou. But I know none, and therefore am

no beast.

Anne. O wonderful, when devils tell the truth!

Glou. More wonderful, when angels are so

angry.

Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman, Of these supposed crimes, to give me leave By circumstance but to acquit myself.

75

words;

170

174

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.

At Chertsey monastery 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.

215

To see you are become so penitent.
Tressel and Berkeley, go along with me.
Glou. Bid me farewell.
Anne.
'Tis more than you deserve;
But since you teach me how to flatter you,
Imagine I have said farewell already.

225

[Exeunt Lady Anne, Tressel, and Berkeley.

[Glou. Sirs, take up the corse.]

Gent.
Towards Chertsey, noble lord?
Glou. No, to White-Friars; there attend my
coming. [Exeunt all but Gloucester.
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. 230
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 my hatred by;
Having 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!

235

And made her widow to a woeful bed?
On me, whose all not equals Edward's moiety?
On me, that halts and am misshapen thus? 251
My dukedom to a beggarly denier,

255

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.

SCENE III. [The palace.]

260

That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch.

Since every Jack became a gentleman,
There's many a gentle person made a Jack.

Q. Eliz. Come, come, we know your meaning, brother Gloucester;

You envy my advancement and my friends'. #
God grant we never may have need of you!
Glou. Meantime, God grants that I have
need of you.

Our brother is imprison'd by your means,
Myself disgrac'd, and the nobility

Held in contempt; while great promotions
Are daily given to ennoble those

That scarce, some two days since, were worth a noble.

Q. Eliz. By Him that rais'd me to this careful height

From that contented hap which I enjoy'd,
I never did incense his Majesty

Against the Duke of Clarence, but have been
An earnest advocate to plead for him.

My lord, you do me shameful injury,
Falsely to draw me in these vile suspects.
Glou. You may deny that you were not the

mean

Of my Lord Hastings' late imprisonment.
Riv. She may, my lord, for-

Glou. She may, Lord Rivers! Why, who knows not so?

She may do more, sir, than denying that. She may help you to many fair preferments, And then deny her aiding hand therein,