She may do more, sir, than denying that: Glo. If I should be ?-I had rather be a pedlar: Riv. What, marry, may she? That I enjoy, being the queen thereof. Glo. What, marry, may she? marry with a king, For I am she, and altogether joyless. I wis, your grandam had a worser match. Q. Eliz. My lord of Gloster, I have too long borne Your blunt upbraidings, and your bitter scoffs: By heaven, I will acquaint his majesty, Of those gross taunts I often have endur'd. I had rather be a country servant maid, Than a great queen, with this conditionTo be so baited, scorn'd, and stormed at: Small joy have I in being England's queen. Enter QUEEN MARGARET, behind. Q. Mar. And lessen'd be that small, God, I beseech thee! Thy honour, state, and seat, is due to me. Tell him, and spare not: look, what I have said Glo. Ere you were queen, ay, or your husband king, I was a packhorse in his great affairs; Q. Mar. Ay, and much better blood than his, or thine. Glo. In all which time, you, and your husband Were factious for the house of Lancaster ;- Ay, and forswore himself,-Which Jesu pardon! 4 Glo. To fight on Edward's party, for the crown: And, for his meed, poor lord, he is mew'd up: I would to God, my heart were flint like Edward's, Or Edward's soft and pitiful, like mine; I am too childish-foolish for this world. I can no longer hold me patient. [Advancing. Glo. Foul wrinkled witch, what mak'st' thou in Q. Mar. But repetition of what thou hast marr’d; That will I make, before I let thee go. Glo. Wert thou not banished on pain of death? Q. Mar. I was; but I do find more pain in banishment, Than death can yield me here by my abode. Glo. The curse my noble father laid on thee,When thou didst crown his warlike brows with paper, And with thy scorns drew'st rivers from his eyes; Q. Eliz. So just is God, to right the innocent. Dors. No man but prophesied revenge for it. Buck. Northumberland, then present, wept to see it.10 Though not by war, by surfeit die your king,12 As ours by murder, to make him a king! Edward, thy son, that now is prince of Wales, Q. Mar. Hie thee to hell for shame, and leave For Edward, my son, that was prince of Wales this world, Thou cacodamon! there thy kingdom is. Riv. My lord of Gloster, in those busy days, Which here you urge, to prove us enemies, We follow'd then our lord, our lawful king; So should we you, if you should be our king. 1 i. e. I think. 2 Labours. Die in his youth, by like untimely violence! Deck'd in thy rights, as thou art stall'd in mine! hibiting any of his subjects from aiding her return, or 3 See note on King Henry VI. Part III. Act iii. Sc. 2. harbouring her, should she attempt to revisit England. Margaret's battle is Margaret's army. 4 Reward. 5 To pill is to pillage. It is often used with to poll or strip. Kildare did use to pill and poll his friendes, tenants, and reteyners.'-Holinshed. 6 Gentle is here used ironically. 7 What dost thou in my sight. This phrase has been already explained in the notes to Love's Labour's Lost, Act iv. Sc. 3. In As You Like It, Act i. Sc. 1, Shakspeare again plays upon the word make, as in this instance : Now, sir, what make you here? Nothing: I am not taught to make any thing.' She remained abroad till April, 1471, when she landed at Weymouth. After the battle of Tewksbury, in May, 1471, she was confined in the Tower, where she continued a prisoner till 1475, when she was ransomed by her father Regnier, and removed to France, where she died in 1482. So that her introduction in the present scene is a mere poetical fiction. 9 To plague in ancient language is to punish. Hence the scriptural term of the plagues of Egypt. 10 See King Henry VI. Part III. Act 1, Sc. 2:What, weeping-ripe, my Lord Northumberland.' 11 But is here used in its exceptive sense: could all this only, or nothing but (i. e. be out or except) this an 8 Margaret fled into France after the battle of Hex-swer for the death of that brat. ham, in 1464, and Edward issued a proclamation pro 12 Alluding to his luxurious life And, after many lengthen'd hours of grief, Glo. Have done thy charm, thou hateful wither'd Q. Mar. And leave out thee? stay, dog, for thou If heaven have any grievous plague in store, On thee, the troubler of the poor world's peace! Q. Mar. Glo. Q. Mar. Richard! Ha? I call thee not. Glo. I cry thee mercy then; for I did think, That thou hadst call'd me all these bitter names. Q. Mar. Why, so I did: but look'd for no reply. O, let me make the period to my curse. Glo. Tis done by me; and ends in-Margaret. Q. Eliz. Thus have you breath'd your curse against yourself. Q. Mar. Poor painted queen, vain flourish of my fortune! Why strew'st thou sugar on that bottled spider,2 Hast. False-boding woman, end thy frantic curse; Lest, to thy harm, thou move our patience. Q. Mar. Foul shame upon you! you have all mov'd mine. Riv. Were you well serv'd, you would be taught your duty. Q. Mar. To serve me well, you all should do me duty, Teach me to be your queen, and you my subjects: O, serve me well, and teach yourselves that duty. Dors. Dispute not with her, she is lunatic. Q.Mar. Peace, master marquis, you are malapert: Your fire-new stamp of honour is scarce current; 1 Thou elvish-mark'd, abortive, rooting hog.' It was an old prejudice which is not yet quite extinct, that those who are defective or deformed, are marked by na. ture as prone to mischief. She calls him hog, in allu. #n to his cognizance, which was a boar. The expression (says Warburton) is fine; remembering her youngest son, she alludes to the ravage which hogs make with the finest flowers in gardens; and intimating that Elizabeth was to expect no other treatment for her sons.' The rhyme for which Collingborne was executed, as given by Heywood in his Metrical History of King Edward IV. will illustrate this : The cat, the rat, and Lovell our dog, O, that your young nobility could judge, them :. And, if they fall, they dash themselves to pieces. Glo. Good counsel, marry ;-learn it, learn it, marquis. Dors. It touches you, my lord, as much as me. Glo. Ay, and much more: But I was born so high, Our aiery buildeth in the cedar's top, And dallies with the wind, and scorns the sun. Q. Mar. And turns the sun to shade!-alas! alas! Witness my son, now in the shade of death; Your aiery buildeth in our aiery's nest :- Buck. Peace, peace, for shame, if not for charity. Q. Mar. O princely Buckingham, I kiss thy hand, In sign of league and amity with thee: Now fair befall thee, and thy noble house! Thy garments are not spotted with our blood, Nor thou within the compass of my curse. Buck. Nor no one here; for curses never pass The lips of those that breathe them in the air. Q. Mar. I'll not believe but they ascend the sky, And there awake God's gentle-sleeping peace. O Buckingham, beware of yonder dog; Look, when he fawns, he bites; and, when he bites, His venom tooth will rankle to the death: Have not to do with him, beware of him; Sin, death, and hell have set their marks on him; And all their ministers attend on him. Glo. What doth she say, my lord of Buckingham? And soothe the devil that I warn thee from? Glo. I cannot blame her, by God's holy mother; Q. Eliz. I never did her any, to my knowledge. 2 Alluding to Gloster's form and venom. A bottled spider is a large, bloated, glossy spider: supposed to contain venom proportionate to its size. 3 He was created marquis of Dorset in 1476. The scene is laid in 1477-8. 4 Aiery for brood. This word properly signified a brood of eagles, or hawks; though in later times often used for the nest of those birds of prey. Its etymology is from eyren, eggs; and we accordingly sometimes find it spelled eyry. The commentators explained it nest in this passage, according to which explanation the meaning a few lines lower would be, your nest buildeth in our nest's nest!' 5 It is evident, from the conduct of Shakspeare, that the house of Tudor retained all their Lancastrian prejudices, even in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He seems to deduce the woes of the house of York from the curses which Queen Margaret had ranted against them; The persons aimed at in this rhyme, were the king, and he could not give that weight to her curses, without Catesby, Ratcliff, and Lovell. supposing a right in her to utter them.-Walpole He is frank'd' up to fatting for his pains ;- Cates. Madam, his majesty aoth call for you,- with me? Riv. Madam, we will attend your grace. But soft, here come my executioners. 1 Murd. We are, my lord; and come to have the That we may be admitted where he is. Talkers are no great doers; be assur'd, I like lads-about your business straight; We will, my noble lord. [Exeunt. And was embark'd to cross to Burgundy ;4 SCENE IV. London. A Room in the Tower. Enter CLARENCE and BRAKENBURY. Brak. Why looks your grace so heavily to-day? Clar. O, I have pass'd a miserable night, So full of fearful dreams, of ugly sights, That, as I am a christian faithful man, I would not spend another such a night, Though 'twere to buy a world of happy days; So full of dismal terror was the time. And cited up a thousand heavy times, O lord! methought, what pain it was to drown Brak. What was your dream, my lord? I pray Clar. Methought, that I had broken from the A frank is a pen or coop in which hogs and other animals were confined while fatting. To be franked up was to be closely confined. To franch, or frank, was to stuff, to cram, to fatten. 2 Harm, mischief. 3 This appears to have been a proverbial saying. It occurs again in the tragedy of Cæsar and Pompey, 1607: 'Men's eyes must millstones drop, when fools shed tears.' Clar. Methought, I had; and often did I strive a Brak. Awak'd you not with this sore agony? Clar. O, no, my dream was lengthen'd after life } O, then began the tempest to my soul! pass'd, methought, the melancholy flood, With that grim ferryman which poets write of, Unto the kingdom of perpetual night. I The first that there did greet my stranger soul, I Such hideous cries, that, with the very noise, Brak. No, marvel, lord, though it affrighted you! I am afraid, methinks, to hear you tell it. Clar. O, Brakenbury, I have done these things- O God! if my deep prayers cannot appease thee, of the duke of Burgundy; but the match was opposed by Edward, who hoped to have obtained her for his bro ther-in-law, Lord Rivers, and this circumstance has been suggested as the principal cause of the breach between Edward and Clarence. Mary of Burgundy however chose a husband for herself, having married, in 1477, Maximilian, son of the Emperor Frederic. 5 See a note on Milton's Lycidas, v. 157. Milton's Minor Poems, by T. Warton, ed. 1791. 6 Unvalued for invaluable, not to be valued, inestimable. 7 Vast is waste, desolate. Vastum per inane. + Clarence was desirous to assist his sister Margaret against the French king, who invaded her jointure lands after the death of her husband, Charles duke of Bur-Act iv. Sc. 1. gundy, who was killed at Nancy, in January, 1476-7. Isabel, the wife of Clarence, being then dead (poisoned by the duke of Gloucester, as it has been conjectured,) he wished to have married Mary, the daughter and heir 10 Fleeting or flitting, in old language, was used for uncertain, inconstant, fluctuating. 11 The wife of Clarence died before he was appre hended and confined in the Tower. I pray thee, gentle keeper, stay by me; rest! [CLARENCE reposes himself on a Chair. They often feel a world of restless cares:2 1 Murd. Ho! who's here? Brak. What would'st thou fellow? and how cam'st thou hither? 2 Murd. I'll not meddle with it, it is a dangerous thing, it makes a man a coward; a man cannot steal, but it accuseth him; a man cannot swear, but it checks him; a man cannot lie with his neighbour's wife, but it detects him: 'Tis a blushing shamefaced spirit, that mutinies in a man's bosom; it fills one full of obstacles: it made me once restore a purse of gold, that by chance I found: it beggars any man that keeps it: it is turned out of all towns and cities for a dangerous thing; and every man that means to live well, endeavours to trust to himself, and live without it. 1 Murd. 'Zounds, it is even now at my elbow, persuading me not to kill the duke. 2 Murd. Take the devil in thy mind, and believe him not: he would insinuate with thee, but to make thee sigh.3 1 Murd. I am strong-fram'd, he cannot prevail 1 Murd, I would speak with Clarence, and I with me. came hither on my legs. Brak. What, so brief? 2 Murd. O, sir, 'tis better to be brief than tedious: Let him see our commission; talk no more. [A Paper is delivered to BRAKENBURY, who reads it. Brak. I am, in this, commanded to deliver That thus I have resign'd to you my charge. 1 Murd. You may, sir; 'tis a point of wisdom: Fare you well. [Exit BRAKENBURY. 2 Murd. What, shall we stab him as he sleeps ? 1 Murd. No; he'll say, 'twas done cowardly, when he wakes. 2 Murd. When he wakes! why, fool, he shall never wake until the great judgment day. 1 Murd. Why, then he'll say, we stabb'd him sleeping. 2 Murd. The urging of that word, judgment, hath bred a kind of remorse in me. 1 Murd. What? art thou afraid? 2 Murd. Not to kill him, having a warrant for it; but to be damn'd for killing him, from the which no warrant can defend me. 1 Murd. I thought, thou had'st been resolute. 2 Murd. So I am, to let him live. 1 Murd. I'll back to the duke of Gloster, and tell him so. 2 Murd. Nay, I pr'ythee, stay a little: I hope, this holy humour of mine will change; it was wont to hold me but while one would tell twenty. 1 Murd. How dost thou feel thyself now? 2 Murd. 'Faith, some certain dregs of conscience are yet within me. 1 Murd. Remember our reward, when the deed's done. 2 Murd. Come, he dies; I had forgot the reward. 1 Murd. So, when he opens his purse to give us our reward, thy conscience flies out. 2 Murd. 'Tis no matter; let it go; there's few, or none, will entertain it. 1 Murd. What, if it come to thee again? 2 Murd. Spoke like a tall fellow, that respects his reputation. Come, shall we fall to work? 1 Murd. Take him over the costards with the hilts of thy sword, and then throw him into the malmsey butt, in the next room. 2 Murd. O excellent device! and make a sop of 7 Quest was the term for a jury. A quest of twelve men, Duodecim viratus.'-Baret. In Hamlet we have ! This line may be thus understood, The glories of 'Princes have but their titles for their troubles.' 2 They often suffer real miseries for imaginary and unreal gratifications. Shakspeare has followed the current tale of his own time. But the truth is, that Clarence was tried and found guilty by his peers, and a bill of attainder was af terwards passed against him. According to Sir Tho mas More, his death was commanded by Edward; but 3 One villain says, Conscience is at his elbow, perhe does not assert that the duke of Gloster was the insuading him not to kill the duke. The other says, take strument. Polydore Virgil says, though he talked with the devil into thy mind, who will be a match for thy several persons who lived at the time, he never could conscience, and believe it not. Perhaps conscience is get any certain account of the motives that induced Ed. bere personified, as in Launcelot's dialogue in the Mer- ward to put his brother to death. chant of Venice; but however that may be, Shakspeare would have used him for it without scruple. ↓ i. e. a bold courageous fellow. N 8 Tis line was altered, and the subsequent line omitted, by the editors of the folio, to avoid the penalty of the statute. That you depart, and lay no hands on me; 1 Murd. What we will do, we do upon command. Clar. Erroneous vassal! the great King of kings Hath in the table of his law commanded, That thou shalt do no murder; Wilt thou then Spurn at his edict, and fulfil a man's? Take heed; for he holds vengeance in his hand, To hurl upon their heads that break his law. 2 Murd. And that same vengeance doth he hurl For false forswearing, and for murder too : 1 Murd. And, like a traitor to the name of God, Didst break that vow; and, with thy treacherous blade, Unrip'dst the bowels of thy sovereign's son. 2 Murd. Whom thou wast sworn to cherish and defend. 1 Murd. How canst thou urge God's dreadful When thou hast broke it in such dear' degree? If God will be avenged for the deed, 1 Murd. Who made thee then a bloody minister, When gallant springing, brave Plantagenet,2 That princely novice,3 was struck dead by thee? Clar. My brother's love, the devil, and my rage. 1 Murd. Thy brother's love, our duty, and thy fault, Provoke us hither now to slaughter thee? Clar. If you do love my brother, hate not me; I am his brother, and I love him well. If you are hired for meed,4 go back again, And I will send you to my brother Gloster; Who shall reward you better for my life, Than Edward will for tidings of my death. 2 Murd. You are deceiv'd, your brother Gloster hates you.' Clar. O, no; he loves me, and he holds me dear: Go you to him from me. Both Murd. Aye, so we will. Clar. Tell him, when that our princely father York Bless'd his three sons with his victorious arm, And charg'd us from his soul to love each other, He little thought of this divided friendship: Bid Gloster think on this, and he will weep. Clar. Hast thou that holy feeling in thy soul, To counsel me to make my peace with God, And art thou yet to thy own soul so blind, That thou wilt war with God, by murdering me?— Ah, sirs, consider, he, that set you on To do this deed, will hate you for the deed. 2 Murd. What shall we do? Clar. Relent, and save your souls. 1 Murd. Relent! 'tis cowardly, and womanish. Clar. Not to relent, is beastly, savage, devilish, Which of you, if you were a prince's son, Being pent from liberty, as I am now, If two such murderers as yourselves came to you, My friend, I spy some pity in thy looks; 1 Murd. Take that, and that; if all this will not I'll drown you in the malmsey-butt within. [Exit, with the body. 2 Murd. A bloody deed, and desperately despatch'd! How fain, like Pilate, would I wash my hands Re-enter first Murderer. SCENE I. London. A Room in the Palace. Enter K. Edw. Why, so :-now have I done a good You peers, continue this united league: 1 Murd. Ay, millstones; as he lesson'd us to Since I have made my friends at peace on earth. weep. Clar. O, do not slander him, for he is kind. 1 Murd. Right, as snow in harvest.-Come, you deceive yourself; "Tis he that sends us to destroy you here. Clar. It cannot be; for he bewept my fortune, And hugg'd me in his arms, and swore, with sobs, That he would labour my delivery. 1 Murd. Why, so he doth, when he delivers you From this earth's thraldom to the joys of heaven. 2 Murd. Make peace with God, for you must die, my lord. 1 See note on Twelfth Night, Act v. Sc. 1. Rivers, and Hastings, take each other's hand; And with my hand I seal my true heart's love. king; Lest he, that is the supreme King of kings, Hast. So prosper I, as I swear perfect love! 2 Blooming Plantagenet, a prince in the spring of from Sir John Paston to his brother, dated Feb 14, life. 3 Youth, one yet new to the world. 4 Reward. 1471-2:-Yesterday the king, the queen, my lords of Clarence and Gloucester went to Shene to pardon; men say, not all in charity. The king entreateth my lord of 5 Walpole rightly suggested, from the Chronicle of Clarence for my lord of Gloucester; and, as it is said, Croyland, that the true cause of Gloster's hatred to Cla- he answereth, that he may well have my lady his sis rence was, that Clarence was unwilling to share with ter-in-law, but they shall part no livelihood, as he his brother that moiety of the estate of the great earl of saith; so, what will fall, can I not say.'-Paston's LetWarwick, to which Gloster became entitled on his mar-ters, vol. ii. p. 91. iage with the younger sister of the duchess of Clarence, 6 i. e. do not merely cloke and conceal your ill-will to ady Anne Neville, who had been betrothed to Edward each other, but eradicate it altogether from your bosoms, prince of Wales. This is fully confirmed by a letter and swear to love each other. |