King Edward

Brother of Gloucester, at Saint Albans field

This lady's husband, Sir Richard Grey, was slain,

His land then seized on by the conqueror:

Her suit is now to repossess those lands;

Which we in justice cannot well deny,

Because in quarrel of the house of York

The worthy gentleman did lose his life.

Gloucester

Your highness shall do well to grant her suit;

It were dishonour to deny it her.

King Edward

It were no less; but yet I'll make a pause.

Gloucester

Aside to Clar.

Yea, is it so?

I see the lady hath a thing to grant,

Before the king will grant her humble suit.

Clarence

Aside to Glou.

He knows the game: how true he keeps the wind!

Gloucester

Aside to Clar.

Silence!

King Edward

Widow, we will consider of your suit;

And come some other time to know our mind.

Lady Grey

Right gracious lord, I cannot brook delay:

May it please your highness to resolve me now;

And what your pleasure is, shall satisfy me.

Gloucester

Aside to Clar.

Ay, widow? then

I'll warrant you all your lands,

An if what pleases him shall pleasure you.

Fight closer, or, good faith, you'll catch a blow.

Clarence

Aside to Glou.

I fear her not, unless she chance to fall.

Gloucester

Aside to Clar.

God forbid that! for he'll take vantages.

King Edward

How many children hast thou, widow? tell me.

Clarence

Aside to Glou.

I think he means to beg a child of her.

Gloucester

Aside to Clar.

Nay then, whip me: he'll rather give her two.

Lady Grey

Three, my most gracious lord.

Gloucester

Aside to Clar.

You shall have four, if you'll be ruled by him.

King Edward

'Twere pity they should lose their father's lands.

Lady Grey

Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant it then.

King Edward

Lords, give us leave: I'll try this widow's wit.

Gloucester

Aside to Clar.

Ay, good leave have you; for you will have leave,

Till youth take leave and leave you to the crutch. Glou. and Clar. retire.

King Edward

Now tell me, madam, do you love your children?

Lady Grey

Ay, full as dearly as I love myself.

King Edward

And would you not do much to do them good?

Lady Grey

To do them good, I would sustain some harm.

King Edward

Then get your husband's lands, to do them good.

Lady Grey

Therefore I came unto your majesty.

King Edward

I'll tell you how these lands are to be got.

Lady Grey

So shall you bind me to your highness' service.

King Edward

What service wilt thou do me, if I give them?

Lady Grey

What you command, that rests in me to do.

King Edward

But you will take exceptions to my boon.

Lady Grey

No, gracious lord, except I cannot do it.

King Edward

Ay, but thou canst do what I mean to ask.

Lady Grey

Why, then I will do what your grace commands.

Gloucester

Aside to Clar.

He plies her hard; and much rain wears the marble.

Clarence

Aside to Glou.

As red as fire! nay, then her wax must melt.

Lady Grey

Why stops my lord? shall I not hear my task?

King Edward

An easy task; 'tis but to love a king.

Lady Grey

That's soon performed, because I am a subject.

King Edward

Why, then, thy husband's lands I freely give thee.

Lady Grey

I take my leave with many thousand thanks.

Gloucester

Aside to Clar.

The match is made; she seals it with a curtsy.

King Edward

But stay thee, 'tis the fruits of love I mean.

Lady Grey

The fruits of love I mean, my loving liege.

King Edward

Ay, but, I fear me, in another sense.

What love think'st thou, I sue so much to get?

Lady Grey

My love till death, my humble thanks, my prayers;

That love which virtue begs and virtue grants.

King Edward

No, by my troth, I did not mean such love.

Lady Grey

Why, then you mean not as I thought you did.

King Edward

But now you partly may perceive my mind.

Lady Grey

My mind will never grant what I perceive

Your highness aims at, if I aim aright.

King Edward

To tell thee plain, I aim to lie with thee.

Lady Grey

To tell you plain, I had rather lie in prison.

King Edward

Why, then thou shalt not have thy husband's lands.

Lady Grey

Why, then mine honesty shall be my dower;

For by that loss I will not purchase them.

King Edward

Therein thou wrong'st thy children mightily.

Lady Grey

Herein your highness wrongs both them and me.

But, mighty lord, this merry inclination

Accords not with the sadness of my suit:

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

Aside to Clar.

The widow likes him not, she knits her brows.

Clarence

Aside to Glou.

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 challenge sovereignty:

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

Aside to Clar.

The ghostly father now hath done his shrift.

Clarence

Aside to Glou.

When he was made a shriver, 'twas for shift.

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 conveyed 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 unlooked-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 withered 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 unlicked bear-whelp

That carries no impression like the dam.

And am I then a man to be beloved?

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, to account this world but hell,

Until my misshaped trunk that bears 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 Proteus 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.