Take thou the fee, and tell him what I say;

For I repent me that the duke is slain.

[Exit.

1 Murd. So do not I; go, coward, as thou art.Well, I'll go hide the body in some hole, Till that the duke give order for his burial; And when I have my meed, I will away; For this will out, and then I must not stay.

[Exit.

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.

K. Edw. 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 purged from grudging hate;

And with my hand I seal my true heart's love.
Hast. So thrive I, as I truly swear the like!
K. Edw. 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!

1 i. e. do not merely cloak and conceal your ill-will to each other, but eradicate it altogether from your bosoms.

Riv. And I, as I love Hastings with my heart! K. Edw. Madam, yourself are not exempt in this,— Nor your son Dorset,-Buckingham, nor you;— You have been factious one against the other. Wife, love lord Hastings; let him kiss your hand; And what you do, do it unfeignedly.

Q. Eliz. There, Hastings;-I will never more remember

Our former hatred, so thrive I, and mine!

K. Edw. Dorset, embrace him,-Hastings, love lord marquis.

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

Hast. And so swear I.

[Embraces DoRset.

K. Edw. Now, princely Buckingham, seal thou this league

With thy embracements to my wife's allies,

And make me happy in your unity.

Buck. Whenever Buckingham doth turn his hate Upon your grace, [To the Queen.] 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.

[Embracing RIVers, &c. K. Edw. 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 GLOSTER.

Glo. Good-morrow to my sovereign king, and

queen;

And, princely peers, a happy time of day!

K. Edw. Happy, indeed, as we have spent the day.— Brother, we have done deeds of charity;

Made peace of enmity, fair love of hate,

Between these swelling, wrong-incensed peers.

Glo. A blessed labor, my most sovereign liege.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 lodged between us;-
Of you, lord Rivers, and lord Grey, of you,-
That all without desert have frowned on me ;-
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.

Q. Eliz. A holiday 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.

Glo. Why, madam, have I offered love for this, To be so flouted in this royal presence?

Who knows not that the gentle duke is dead?

You do him injury to scorn his corse.

[They all start.

K. Edw. Who knows not he is dead! who knows

he is?

Q. 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 color hath forsook his cheeks.

K. Edw. Is Clarence dead? The order was reversed. Glo. But he, poor man, by your first order died, And that a winged Mercury did bear;

Some tardy cripple bore 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! K. Edw. I pr'ythee, peace; my soul is full of sor

row.

Stan. I will not rise, unless your highness hear me. K. Edw. 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.

K. Edw. Have I a tongue to doom my brother's death,

And shall that tongue give pardon to a slave?
My brother killed no man; his fault was thought;
And yet his punishment was bitter death.
Who sued to me for him? who, in my wrath,
Kneeled at my feet, and bade me be advised?
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?

1 He means the remission of the forfeit.

All this from my remembrance brutish wrath
Sinfully plucked, 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 defaced
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
For him, poor soul. The proudest of
Have been beholden to him in his life;
Yet none of you would once plead for his life.-
O, God! I fear thy justice will take hold
On me, and you, and mine, and yours, for this.-
Come, Hastings, help me to my closet.
Poor Clarence!

you

all

O,

[Exeunt King, Queen, HASTINGs, Rivers, DORSET, and GREY.

Glo. This is the fruit of rashness!-Marked you

not,

How that the guilty kindred of the

queen

Looked pale, when they did hear of Clarence' death?

O! they did urge it still unto the king:

God will revenge it. Come, lords; will you go,

To comfort Edward with our company?

Buck. We wait upon your grace.

SCENE II. The same.

[Exeunt.

Enter the DUCHESS of YORK, with a Son and Daughter of CLARENCE.

Son. Good grandam, tell us, is our father dead?
Duch. No, boy.

1 Hastings was lord chamberlain to king Edward IV.

2 Cecily, daughter of Ralph Neville, first earl of Westmoreland, and widow of Richard duke of York, who was killed at the battle of Wakefield, 1460. She survived her husband thirty-five years, living till the year 1495.