Glo. Villains, fet down the corfe; or, by faint Paul, I'll make a corfe of him that disobeys.

1 Gent. My lord, stand back, and let the coffin pass. Glo. Unmanner'd dog! stand thou when I command; Advance thy halberd higher than my breast,

Or, by faint Paul, I'll strike thee to my foot,
And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness.

[The bearers fet down the coffin.

Anne. What, do you tremble? are you all afraid?
Alas, I blame you not; for you are mortal,
And mortal eyes cannot endure the devil.→
Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell!

Thou had' but power over his mortal body,
His foul thou canst not have; therefore, be gone.
Glo. Sweet faint, for charity, be not so curst.

Anne. Foul devil, for God's fake, hence, and trouble

us not;

For thou haft made the happy earth thy hell,
Fill'd it with curfing cries, and deep exclaims.
If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds,
Behold this pattern of thy butcheries :—
O, gentlemen, fee, fee! dead Henry's wounds
Open their congeal'd mouths, and bleed afresh !—
Blush, blush, thou lump of foul deformity;
For 'tis thy prefence that exhales this blood
From cold and empty veins, where no blood dwells;
Thy deed, inhuman, and unnatural,

Provokes this deluge most unnatural.

O God, which this blood mad'st, revenge his death!
O earth, which this blood drink'st, revenge his death!
Either, heaven, with lightning ftrike the murderer dead,
Or, earth, gape open wide, and eat him quick;
As thou doft swallow up this good king's blood,
Which his hell-govern'd arm hath butchered!

Glo. Lady, you know no rules of charity,

Which renders good for bad, bleffings for curses.

Anne, Villain, thou know'st no law of God nor man; No beast so fierce, but knows some touch of pity. Glo. But I know none, and therefore am no beast. Anne. O wonderful, when devils tell the truth! Glo. More wonderful, when angels are so angry.Vouchfafe, divine perfection of a woman, Of these supposed evils, to give me leave, By circumstance, but to acquit myself.

Anne. Vouchfafe, diffus'd infection of a man, For these known evils, but to give me leave,

By circumstance, to curse thy cursed self.

Glo. Fairer than tongue can name thee, let me have

Some patient leifure to excufe myself.

Anne. Fouler than heart can think thee, thou canst

make

No excuse current, but to hang thyself.

Gio. By fuch defpair, I should accuse myself.

Anne. And, by despairing, fhalt thou ftand excus'd; For doing worthy vengeance on thyself,

That didst unworthy flaughter upon others.

Glo. Say, that I flew them not?

Anne.

But dead they are, and, devilish flave, by thee.

Why then, they are not dead :

Why, then he is alive.

Glo. I did not kill your husband.

Anne.

Glo. Nay, he is dead; and flain by Edward's hand.

Anne. In thy foul's throat thou lieft; queen Margaret

faw

Thy murderous faulchion fmoking in his blood;

The which thou once didit bend against her breast,

But that thy brothers beat afide the point,

Glo.

Gla. I was provoked by her fland'rous tongue,
That laid their guilt upon my guiltless shoulders.
Anne. Thou waft provoked by thy bloody mind,
That never dreamt on aught but butcheries:
Didft thou not kill this king?

Glo.

I grant ye.

Anne. Doft grant me, hedge-hog? then, God grant me

too,

Thou may'st be damned for that wicked deed!

O, he was gentle, mild, and virtuous.

Glo. The fitter for the King of heaven that hath him. Anne. He is in heaven, where thou shalt never come. Glo. Let him thank me, that holp to send him thither; For he was fitter for that place, than earth.

Anne. And thou unfit for any place, but hell.

Glo. Yes, one place else, if you will hear me name it. Anne. Some dungeon.

Glo.

Your bedchamber.

Anne. Ill reft betide the chamber where thou lieft!
Glo. So will it, madam, 'till I lie with you.
Anne. I hope fò.

Glo.

I know fo.-But, gentle lady Anne,→

To leave this keen encounter of our wits,
And fall fomewhat into a flower method:-
Is not the caufer of the timeless deaths
Of these Plantagenets, Henry, and Edward,

As blameful as the executioner ?

Anne. Thou waft the cause, and most accurs'd effect. Glo. Your beauty was the cause of that effect; 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 bofom.

Anne. If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide, These nails should rend that beauty from my cheeks.

Gla.

Glo. Thefe eyes could not endure that beauty's wreck ; You should not blemish it, if I ftood by:

As all the world is cheered by the fun,
So I by that; it is my day, my life.

Anne. Black night o'er hade thy day, and death thy life!
Glo. Curfe 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.

Anne.

Plantagenet.

Why, that was he.

Glo. The felf-fame name, but one of better nature.

Anne. Where is he?

Glo.

Here: [She Spits at him.] Why doft

thou spit at me?

Anne. 'Would it were mortal poison, for thy fake!
Glo. Never came poifon from so sweet a place.
Anne. Never hung poifon on a fouler toad.
Out of my fight! thou dost infect mine eyes.

Glo. Thine eyes, fweet 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 falt tears,
Sham'd their aspects with store of childish drops :
These eyes, which never fhed remorseful tear,—
Not, when my father York and Edward wept,

Το

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 fad story of my father's death;

And twenty times made pause, to fob, and weep,
That all the ftanders-by had wet their cheeks,
Like trees bedash'd with rain: in that fad time,
My manly eyes did fcorn an humble tear;

And what thefe forrows could not thence exhale,
Thy beauty hath, and made them blind with weeping.
I never fu'd to friend, nor enemy;

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

My proud heart fues, and prompts my tongue to speak.

[She looks fcornfully at him. Teach not thy lip such scorn; for it was made For kiffing, lady, not for fuch contempt. If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive, Lo! here I lend thee this fharp-pointed sword; Which if thou please to hide in this true breast, And let the foul forth that adoreth thee,

I lay it naked to the deadly stroke,

And humbly beg the death upon my knee.

[He lays his breaft open; she offers at it with his fword.

Nay, do not pause; for I did kill king Henry;-
But 'twas thy beauty that provoked me.

Nay, now defpatch: 'twas I that stabb'd young Edward;

[She again offers at his breaft.

But 'twas thy heavenly face that fet me on.

[She lets fall the sword.

Take up the fword again, or take up me.

Anne. Arife, diffembler; though I wish thy death,

I will not be thy executioner.

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

Anne.