Glo. Your highness shall do well, to grant her suit; * It were dishonour, to deny it her. K. Edw. It were no less; but yet I'll make a pause. Glo. Yea! is it so? I see, the lady hath a thing to grant, Before the king will grant her humble suit. Clar. He knows the game; How true he keeps the wind? Glo. Silence! [Aside. [Aside. 'K. Edw. Widow, we will consider of your suit2; And come some other time, to know our mind. L. 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. Glo. [Aside.] Ay, widow? then I'll warrant you all your lands, And if what pleases him, shall pleasure you. Fight closer, or, good faith, you'll catch a blow, * Clar. I fear her not, unless she chance to fall. [Aside. *Glo. God forbid that! for he'll take vantages. [Aside. in fact seized by King Edward after his victory at Towton, 1461. The present scene is laid in 1464. Shakspeare followed the old play in this instance; but when he afterwards had occasion to mention this matter in writing his King Richard III. he stated it truly as he found it in the Chronicles. In Act i. Sc. 2 of that play, Richard, addressing himself to Queen Elizabeth (the Lady Grey of the present scene), says:— In all which time you and your husband Grey (And, Rivers, so were you :)-was not your husband Malone says that this circumstance, among numerous others, proves incontestably that Shakspeare was not the original author of this and the preceding play. 2 A very lively and spritely dialogue; the reciprocation is quicker than is common in Shakspeare.-Johnson. · K. Edw. How many children hast thou, widow? tell me. Clar. I think, he means to beg a child of her. [Aside. Glo. Nay, whip me then; he'll rather give her two. [Aside. L. Grey. Three, my most gracious lord. [Aside. 'K. Edw. Twere pity, they should lose their father's land. L. Grey. Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant it then. K. Edw. Lords, give us leave; I'll try this widow's wit. Glo. Ay, good leave3 have you; for you will have leave, 'Till youth take leave, and leave you to the crutch. [GLOSTER and CLARENCE retire to the other side. *K. Edw. Now tell me, madam, do you love your children? * L. Grey. Ay, full as dearly as I love myself. *K. Edw. And would you not do much, to do them good? * L. Grey. To do them good, I would sustain some harm. * K. Edw. Then get your husband's lands, to do them good. *L. Grey. Therefore I came unto your majesty. K. Edw. I'll tell you how these lands are to be got. * L. Grey. So shall you bind me to your highness' service. *K. Edw. What service wilt thou do me, if I give them? 3 This phrase implies readiness of assent. * L. Grey. What you command, that rests in me to do. *K. Edw. But you will take exceptions to my boon. * L. Grey. No, gracious lord, except I cannot do it. *K. Edw. Ay, but thou canst do what I mean to ask. * L. Grey. Why, then I will do what your grace commands. * Glo. He plies her hard; and much rain wears the marble. [Aside. * Clar. As red as fire! nay, then her wax must melt. [Aside. L. Grey. Why stops my lord? shall I not hear K. Edw. An easy task; 'tis but to love a king. L. Grey. That's soon perform'd, because I am a subject. K. Edw. Why then, thy husband's lands I freely give thee. L. Grey. I take thanks. my leave with many thousand Glo. The match is made; she seals it with a curt'sy. 'K. Edw. But stay thee, 'tis the fruits of love Į mean. * L. Grey. The fruits of love I mean, my loving liege. *K. Edw. Ay, but I fear me, in another sense. What love, think'st thou, I sue so much to get? 'L. Grey. My love till death, my humble thanks, my prayers; "That love, which virtue begs, and virtue grants. K. Edw. No, by my troth, I did not mean such love. * L. Grey. Why, then you mean not as I thought you did. *K. Edw. But now you partly may perceive my mind. * L. Grey. My mind will never grant what I ceive *Your highness aims at, if I aim aright. per K. Edw. To tell thee plain, I aim to lie with thee. * L. Grey. To tell you plain, I had rather lie in prison. K. Edw. Why, then thou shalt not have thy husband's lands. L. Grey. Why, then mine honesty shall be my dower; For by that loss I will not purchase them. 'K. Edw. Therein thou wrong'st thy children mightily. L. Grey. Herein your highness wrongs both them and me. But, mighty lord, this merry inclination 4 Accords not with the sadness of my suit; Please you dismiss me, either with ay, or no. K. Edw. Ay; if thou wilt say ay, to my request: No; if thou dost say no, to my demand. 6 L. Grey. Then, no, my lord. My suit is at an end. Glo. The widow likes him not, she knits her brows. Clar. He is the bluntest wooer in Christendom. 'K. Edw. [Aside.] Her looks do argue plete with modesty; *Her words do show her wit incomparable; *All her perfections challenge sovereignty: One way, or other, she is for a king; [Aside. [Aside, her re And she shall be my love, or else my queen.Say, that King Edward take thee for his queen? 4 i. e. seriousness. L. Grey. "Tis better said than done, my gracious lord: I am a subject fit to jest withal, K. Edw.Sweetwidow, by my state I swear to thee, L. 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. K. Edw. You cavil, widow; I did mean, my queen. L. Grey. Twill grieve your grace, my sons should call you-father. K. Edw. No more, than when thy daughters call thee mother. Thou art a widow, and thou hast some children; 'Answer no more, for thou shalt be my queen. [Aside. Clar. When he was made a shriver, 'twas for shift. [Aside. K. Edw. Brothers, you muse what chat we two have had. *Glo. The widow likes it not, for she looks very sad. K. Edw. You'd think it strange if I should marry her. Clar. To whom, my lord? K. Edw. Why, Clarence, to myself. Glo. That would be ten days' wonder, at the least. Clar. That's a day longer than a wonder lasts. 'Glo. By so much is the wonder in extremes. |