K. Edw. Now tell me, madam, do you love your children? 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. 40 K. Edw. I'll tell you how these lands are to be got. L. Grey. What you command, that rests in me to do. 45 Glou. [Aside to Clar.] He plies her hard: and much rain wears the marble. 50 Clar. [Aside to Glou.] As red as fire! nay, then her wax must .melt. L. Grey. Why stops my lord? shall I not hear my task? L. Grey. That's soon perform'd, because I am a subject. 42-45. I'll tell you • grant it them? La. But you will. 36-41. Now tell me.. your majesty] omitted Q. give them?. to do] 29-32. Ile tell thee . Euen what your highnesse shall command Q. 46-51. must melt] omitted Q. 52-57. Why stops my lord a curtsey] 39-44. Why stops my lord... Know my taske? cursie Q. is a passage in The Spanish Tragedy 66 By your leave, Sir. Hier. Good leave have you: nay, I pray you goe, For ile leave you if you can leave me so" (III. xi. 1-3). 36-59.] These lines are another example of the method of alternate dialogue in lines (σrixoμveía) already noted upon in 1 Henry VI. IV. v. 35-42, a practice in the classic drama. Kyd's Cornelia is largely framed on this plan, which is frequent in Shakespeare's early work. 46. take exceptions] disapprove. See 1 Henry VI. IV. i. 105 (note); and Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1. iii. 81. 50. He plies her hard] urges her wax hard. See Merchant of Venice, III. ii. 279. And see note at "well said" (2 Henry VI. 1. iv. 13) for an example from Peele. 50. much rain wears the marble] See above, II. i. 54, 55 (note). Compare T. Howell, Devises (Grosart, ii. 217), 1581: "The Marble stone in time by waterie drops is pierced deepe." And T. Watson, Passionate Centurie, xlvi. (Arber, p. 83), 1582: "In time the Marble weares with weakest sheures." Kyd, when he appropriated Watson's lines in The Spanish Tragedy (Hazlitt's Dodsley, v. 36) turned marble to flint. The old form is "Constant dropping wears a stone." Gloucester's proverbloving speech is displayed here. See Introduction, and below, III. ii. 113, IV. vii. 25, etc. Glou. [Aside to Clar.] The match is made; she seals it with a curtsey. K. Edw. But stay thee; 'tis the fruits of love I mean. What love think'st thou I sue so much to get? 60 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. 65 K. Edw. But now you partly may perceive my mind. L. Grey. My mind will never grant what I perceive Your highness aims at, if I aim aright. K. Edw. To tell thee plain, I aim to lie with thee. L. Grey. To tell you plain, I had rather lie in prison. 70 K. Edw. Why, then thou shalt not have thy husband's lands. L. Grey. Why, then mine honesty shall be my dower; K. Edw. Therein thou wrong'st thy children mightily. L. Grey. Herein your highness wrongs both them and me. 75 Accords not with the sadness of my suit: K. Edw. Ay, if thou wilt say ay to my request; L. Grey. Then, no, my lord. My suit is at an end. 80 Glou. [Aside to Clar.] The widow likes him not, she knits her brows. virtue 58-60. But stay... sense] omitted Q. 61-63. What love. grants] 45-47. Staie widdow staie, what loue dost thou thinke get? La. My humble seruice, such as subiects owes and the lawes commands Q. 64-69. No.. with thee] 48, 49. K. Ed. No. . . . I meant no such loue, But to tell thee troth, I... with thee Q (65 to 68 omitted). 71-78. Why,... shalt not have. Why, then . . . Therein. . . Accords not. or no] 50-58. Why canst not get Please it your highnes to . . I or no Q. dost say brow Q. ... ay Please you Then... Herein .. Agrees not 79-82. Ay. wilt say knits her brows] 59-62. I saie I... saie . . . bends the 58. I mean] See below, IV. vi. 51, and see Part I. v. v. 20. 59. The fruits of love] See Kyd's Spanish Tragedy: "Lorenzo. I thus, and thus these are the fruits of love. (They stab him)" (11. iv. 55). And in Part II. of Whetstone's Promos and Cassandra (II. ii.) :— Clar. [Aside to Glou.] He is the bluntest wooer in Christen dom. K. Edw. [Aside.] Her looks do argue her replete with modesty ; Her words do show her wit incomparable; All her perfections challenge sovereignty: 85 And she shall be my love, or else my queen.– Say that King Edward take thee for his queen ? L. Grey. 'Tis better said than done, my gracious lord: 90 K. Edw. Sweet widow, by my state I swear to thee L. Grey. And that is more than I will yield unto. 95 83, 84. He is... modesty] 63, 64. Why he is... lookes are all repleat with maiestie Q. 85, 86. Her words ... mean sovereignty] omitted Q. 87-99. One way take thee.. swear I speak .. soul my queen] 65-77. One waie tooke thee... sweare I speake bad my Queene Q. Q has here "she bends the brow" with the same meaning, frowns. See below, v. ii. 22: "when Warwick bent his brow." And 1 Henry VI. v. iii. 34. Also in Lucrece, 709, and King John. 83. the bluntest wooer in Christendom] A standard expression. See note at "the lyingest knave in Christendom in 2 Henry VI. 11. i. 126. A very old set phrase. Kyd (?) has "the braginst knave in Christendom " in Soliman and Perseda. And in Hall's Chronicle (p. 267), "the metest matrimony in Christendome " occurs. And Holinshed's England, iii. 292 (rept.): "The greatest prince in Christendom." Shakespeare drew it from the chroniclers. ... again below at Iv. vi. 71 (Q). Hence the alteration here. 90. better said than done] where we say "easier said than done." Oliphant (New English) gives a reference to Religious and Love Poems (Early English Text Soc.), circa 1450: "better saide thanne doon." I have not verified it. 98. too good to be your concubine] Hall continues (see above at "Sir Richard Gray," 1. 2): "This wydow. founde such grace in the Kynges eyes, that he not only fauoured her suyte, but muche more phantasied her person, for she was a woman more of formal countenaunce then of excellent beautie, but yet of such beautie and fauor, that with her sober demeanure, louely lokyng, and femynyne smylyng (neither to wanton nor to humble) besyde her tongue so eloquent, and her wit so pregnant, she was able to rauish the mynde of a meane person, when she allured and made subiect to her, ye hart of so great a Kyng. After that Kyng Eduard had well considered all the lineamentes he determined. ... K. Edw. You cavil, widow: I did mean, my queen. L. Grey. 'Twill grieve your grace my sons should call you father. 100 K. Edw. No more than when my daughters call thee mother. To be the father unto many sons. Answer no more, for thou shalt be my queen. 105 Glou. [Aside to Clar.] The ghostly father now hath done his shrift. Clar. [Aside to Glou.] When he was made a shriver, 'twas for shift. K. Edw. Brothers, you muse what chat we two have had. my sons . father unto ... Answer queen] 78 84. Your grace would be loath my sonnes father of manie children. Argue ... Queene Q. 107-109. The ghostly what chat ghostly what talke the Widdow And I have had Q. sad] omitted Q. III-114. You'd a. had] 85-88. The 110. The. very marry her. Clar. To whom That's lasts] 88-93. you would marrie her. Cla. Marrie her my Lord, to whom?... Why that's... lastes Q. that yf she would therunto condiscend, to be restored to suche smal landes as her husband had geuen her in ioynture. ... And finally after many a metyng and much avowyng... the Kyng... so muche esteemed her constancy and chastitye, that . . . he determined in haste to marry her." For the historical falseness, see note above at 1. 3. ... 104. other some] another lot or set. See again Measure for Measure, III. ii. 94, and Midsummer Night's Dream, 1. i. 226. It occurs twice at least in Golding's Ovid (books iv. and viii.). Not uncommon in early poetry. 106. my queen] Johnson says of this dialogue, closing here, that it is " very lively and spritely; the reciprocation is quicker than is common in Shakespeare." 107. ghostly father] Occurs again in Measure for Measure and Romeo and Juliet. "I'll have no ghostly fathers out of France" (Peele, Edward I. (410, a)). 107, 108. shrift . . . shriver] Compare this passage with 1 Henry VI. 1. ii. 119. Glou. That would be ten days' wonder at the least. Enter a Nobleman. 115 I 20 Nob. My gracious lord, Henry your foe is taken, Glou. Ay, Edward will use women honourably. Would he were wasted, marrow, bones, and all, ... ... 125 as 115. By . . extremes] 94. And so much more are the wonderes in extreames Q. 116, 117. Well. you both... lands] 95, 96. Well. you... lands Q. 118, 119. Enter a Nobleman. Nob. My... Henry • your prisoner gate] 97, 98. Enter a Messenger. Mes. And it please your grace, Henry prisoner gates Q. 120-123. See that... honourably] 99-102. Awaie with him and send him to the Tower, And let us go question with the man_about His apprehension. Lords along, and use this Ladie honourablie. Exeunt Omnes. Manet Gloster and speakes Q. 124-127. Ay, Edward... no hopeful. look for] 103-106. I, Edward looke for Q. cross me . hinder me. 113, 114. ten days' .. wonder] A wonder lasts nine days. Occurs again in As You Like It, III. ii. 185, and 2 Henry VI. II. iv. 69 (see note). See note at line 60 above. 118-120. Henry . . . taken... Tower] See above, III. i. 13 (note). 122. apprehension] seizure, arrest. Again in King Lear, III. v. 20. 124-195. Ay, Edward I'll pluck it down] Compare with II. v. 1-72. Here we have another great soliloquy, but it is full of import with regard to the subsequent history, and of character display in him that speaks it. When Henry VI. made his oration we knew all about him amply already, but not so here. They are meant to be set in contrast, these two speeches. It is very important to compare this with Q. The version here is more than double of that in Q, but every line in the latter is used up in the present composition. no issue might succeed To Amplification, addition and improvement take place, but only in such a way as an author would deal with his own work-which he approved of and improved. The two kings' characters, Henry VI. and Richard III., as Shakespeare conceived them, are sketched and contrasted in these two speeches. 126. loins... branch] "issue" of Q is preferable, and occurs in Richard III. I. iii. 232 and in Cymbeline, v. v. 330. 127. golden time] Again in Twelfth Night, v. i. 391. "Golden day" occurs in 1 Henry VI. 1. vi. 31, and below, III. iii. 7. Peele has "My golden days, my younger careless years (Battle of Alcazar, Act v. (439, a)); and he has 22 "that golden time . . . The blooming time, the spring of England's peace (Polyhymnia, 572, b). |