*1 Keep. We are true subjects to the king, king

Edward.

*K. Hen. So would you be again to Henry,

*If he were seated as king Edward is.

1 Keep. We charge you, in God's name, and in the king's,

To go with us unto the officers.

· K. Hen. In God's name, lead; your king's name be obeyed:

* And what God will, then let your king perform; * And what he will, I humbly yield unto.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. London. A Room in the Palace.

Enter KING EDWARD, GLOSTER, CLARENCE, and LADY GREY.

K. Edw. Brother of Gloster, at Saint Albans' field This lady's husband, sir John Grey, was slain, His lands 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.1

1

Glo. Your highness shall do well to grant her suit ; *It were dishonor to deny it her.

1 This is in every particular a falsification of history. Sir John Grey fell in the second battle of St. Albans, fighting on the side of king Henry; and so far is it from being true that his lands were seized by the conqueror (queen Margaret), that they were, 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

Were factious for the house of Lancaster;

(And, Rivers, so were you :)-was not your husband

In Margaret's battle at Saint Albans slain?"

Malone says that this circumstance, among numerous others, proves incontestably that Shakspeare was not the original author of this and the preceding play.

6

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 suit; And come some other time, to know our mind.

L. Grey. Right gracious lord, I cannot brook de

lay:

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.

*Glo. God forbid that! for he'll take vantages.

[Aside.

[Aside.

'K. Edw. How many children hast thou, widow?

tell me.

Clar. I think he means to beg a child of her.

[Aside.

[Aside.

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

L. Grey. Three, my most gracious lord.

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

[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 leave 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?

* 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 my task?

K. Edw. An easy task; 'tis but to love a king. L. Grey. That's soon performed, because I am a subject.

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

L. Grey. I take my leave with many thousand

thanks.

Glo. The match is made; she seals it with a curt'sy. · K. Edw. But stay thee; 'tis the fruits of love I

* 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 per

ceive

*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.

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

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.

L. Grey. Then, no, my lord. My suit is at an end. Glo. The widow likes him not; she knits her

brows.

[Aside.

Clar. He is the bluntest wooer in Christendom.

[Aside.

· K. Edw. [Aside.] Her looks do argue her replete

with modesty;

* Her words do 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?
L. Grey. Tis better said than done, my gracious
lord.

I am a subject fit to jest withal,

But far unfit to be a sovereign.

K. Edw. 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.

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 ;
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.

Glo. The ghostly father now hath done his shrift.

[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.