Q. Mar. Plantagenet doth quit Plantagenet, Edward for Edward pays a dying debt. Q. Eliz. Wilt thou, O God, fly from such gentle lambs, And throw them in the entrails of the wolf? When didst thou sleep, when such a deed was done? Q. Mar. When holy Harry died, and my sweet son. Duch. Dead life, blind sight, poor, mortal-living ghost, Woe's scene, world's shame, grave's due by life usurped, [Sitting down. Unlawfully made drunk with innocent blood! Q. Eliz. Ah, that thou wouldst as soon afford a grave, As thou canst yield a melancholy seat; Then would I hide my bones, not rest them here! [Sitting down by her. [Sitting down with them. Tell o'er your woes again by viewing mine :I had an Edward, till a Richard killed him; I had a husband, till a Richard killed him : Thou hadst an Edward, till a Richard killed him : Thou hadst a Richard, till a Richard killed him. Duch. I had a Richard too, and thou didst kill him ; I had a Rutland too, thou holp'st to kill him. Q. Mar. Thou hadst a Clarence too, and Richard killed him ; From forth the kennel of thy womb hath crept That reigns in galled eyes of weeping souls, 2 Q. Mar. Bear with me, I am hungry for revenge, And now I cloy me with beholding it. Thy Edward he is dead, that killed my Edward; 3 Thy Clarence he is dead, that stabbed my Edward; The adulterate Hastings, Rivers, Vaughan, Grey, Earth gapes, hell burns, fiends roar, saints pray, Q. Eliz. O, thou didst prophesy, the time would come, That I should wish for thee to help me curse That bottled spider, that foul, bunch-backed toad. Q. Mar. I called thee then, vain flourish of my for tune; I called thee then, poor shadow, painted queen; 4 The flattering index of a direful pageant, 1 Sanguinary, fleshly-minded. 2 This word appears to have been used metaphorically for an equal, a companion. 3 ì. e. thrown into the bargain. 4 Mr. Nares suggests that the index of a pageant was probably a painted cloth hung up before a booth where a pageant was to be exhibited. One heaved a high, to be hurled down below; Where is thy husband now? where be thy brothers? Farewell, York's wife,—and queen of sad mischance,— Q. Mar. Forbear to sleep the night, and fast the day; Compare dead happiness with living woe: Think that thy babes were fairer than they were, 1 Alluding to the dangerous situation of those persons to whose care the standards of armies were intrusted. 2 i. e. run through all this from first to last. 1 Bettering thy loss makes the bad causer worse; Q. Eliz. My words are dull; O, quicken them with thine! like mine. Q. Mar. Thy woes will make them sharp, and pierce [Exit Q. MARGaret. Duch. Why should calamity be full of words? Q. Eliz. Windy attorneys to their client woes, Airy succeeders of intestate joys, Poor breathing orators of miseries! Let them have scope: though what they do impart Duch. If so, then be not tongue-tied: go with me, I hear his drum,-be copious in exclaims. Enter KING RICHARD and his Train, marching. K. Rich. Who intercepts me in my expedition? Duch. O, she, that might have intercepted thee, By strangling thee in her accursed womb, From all the slaughters, wretch, that thou hast done. Q. Eliz. Hid'st thou that forehead with a golden crown, Where should be branded, if that right were right, And little Ned Plantagenet, his son? Q. Eliz. Where is the gentle Rivers, Vaughan, Grey? Duch. Where is kind Hastings? K. Rich. A flourish, trumpets!-strike alarum, drums! Let not the heavens hear these telltale women Rail on the Lord's anointed. Strike, I say. [Flourish. Alarums. 1 Bettering is amplifying, magnifying thy loss. Either be patient and entreat me fair, K. Rich. Ay; I thank God, my father, and yourself. K. Rich. Madam, I have a touch of your condition, That cannot brook the accent of reproof. Duch. O, let me speak. K. Rich. Do, then; but I'll not hear. Duch. I will be mild and gentle in my words. K. Rich. And brief, good mother; for I am in haste. Duch. Art thou so hasty? I have staid for thee, God knows, in torment and in agony. ? K. Rich. And came I not at last to comfort you Duch. No, by the holy rood, thou know'st it well, Thou cam'st on earth to make the earth my hell. A grievous burden was thy birth to me; 1 Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy; Thy school-days, frightful, desperate, wild, and furious; Thy prime of manhood, daring, bold, and venturous ; Thy age confirmed, proud, subtle, sly, and bloody, More mild, but yet more harmful, kind in hatred; What comfortable hour canst thou name, That ever graced me in thy company? 2 K. Rich. 'Faith, none, but Humphrey Hour, that called your grace To breakfast once, forth of my company. If I be so disgracious in your sight, Let me march on, and not offend you, madam.— Duch. I pr'ythee, hear me speak. K. Rich. You speak too bitterly. 1 Touchy, fretful. 2 Steevens supposes that this is an allusion to some affair of gallantry of which the duchess had been suspected. There is no mention of any thing of the kind in the Chronicles. Malone conjectures that Humphrey Hour is merely used as a ludicrous periphrasis for hour, like Tom Troth, for truth, in Gabriel Harvey's Letter to Spenser. |