Glo. As much unto my good lord chamberlain!

Well are you welcome to the open air. How hath your lordship brook'd imprisonment?

Hast. With patience, noble lord, as prisoners must:

But I shall live, my lord, to give them thanks That were the cause of my imprisonment.

Glo. No doubt, no doubt; and so shall Clarence too;

For they that were your enemies are his, 130 And have prevail'd as much on1 him as you.

Hast. More pity that the eagle should be mew'd,2

While kites and buzzards prey at liberty.3

Glo. What news abroad?

Hast. No news so bad abroad as this at home,

The king is sickly, weak, and melancholy,
And his physicians fear him1 mightily.

Glo. Now, by Saint Paul, this news is bad indeed.

O, he hath kept an evil diet long,
And overmuch consum'd his royal person: 140
'Tis very grievous to be thought upon.
What, is he in his bed?

The corpse of KING HENRY THE SIXTH is brought in, borne in an open coffin, attended by TRESSEL, BERKELEY, and other Gentlemen with halberds guarding it; and LADY ANNE as mourner.

Anne. Set down, set down your honourable load,

If honour may be shrouded in a hearse,—
Whilst I awhile obsequiously 10 lament
Th' untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster.-
[The Bearers set down the coffin.
Poor key-cold figure of a holy king!
Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster!
Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood!
Be 't lawful that I invocate thy ghost,
To hear the lamentations of poor Anne,
Wife to thy Edward, to thy slaughter'd son,
Stabb'd by the selfsame hand that made these
wounds!

11

Advance thy halberd higher than my breast, Or, by Saint Paul, I'll strike thee to my foot, And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy bold

ness. [The Bearers set down the coffin. Anne. What, do you tremble? are you all afraid?

[Alas, I blame you not; for you are mortal, And mortal eyes cannot endure the devil.— ] Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell! Thou hadst but power over his mortal body,— His soul thou canst not have; therefore, be gone.

Glo. Sweet saint, for charity, be not so curst. Anne. Foul devil, for God's sake, hence, and trouble us not;

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60

Thy deed, inhuman and unnatural,
Provokes this deluge most unnatural.—
O God, which this blood mad'st, revenge his
death!

O earth, which this blood drink'st, revenge his death!

Either, heaven, with lightning strike the murderer dead;

Or, earth, gape open wide, and eat him quick,8 As thou dost swallow up this good king's blood, Which his hell-govern'd arm hath butchered! ]{ Glo. Lady, you know no rules of charity, Which renders good for bad, blessings for

For these known evils, but to give me leave,
By circumstance, to curse thy cursed self.
Glo. Fairer than tongue can name thee, let
me have

Some patient leisure to excuse myself.
Anne. Fouler than heart can think thee,
thou canst make

No excuse current, but to hang thyself.

Glo. Your beauty was the cause of that effect;

Your beauty, that did haunt me in my sleep
To undertake the death of all the world,
So I might live one hour in your sweet bosom.
Anne. If I thought that, I tell thee, homi-
cide,

These nails should rent that beauty from my cheeks.

Glo. These eyes could not endure that beauty's wreck;

You should not blemish it, if I stood by:
As all the world is cheered by the sun,
So I by that; it is my day, my life.

130

Anne. Black night o'ershade thy day, and death thy life!

Glo. Curse not thyself, fair creature; thou art both.

Anne. I would I were, to be reveng'd on thee. Glo. It is a quarrel most unnatural,

To be reveng'd on him that loveth thee.

Anne. It is a quarrel just and reasonable, To be reveng'd on him that kill'd my husband. Glo. He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband,

Did it to help thee to a better husband.

Anne. His better doth not breathe upon the earth.

140

Glo. He lives that loves thee better than hé could.

Anne. Name him.

Glo.

110

Anne.

Anne. Il rest betide the chamber where thou liest!

Glo. So will it, madam, till I lie with you. Anne. I hope so.

Plantagenet.

Why, that was he.

1 Worthy, deserved.

2 Bend against, present at.

Effect=doing, agency.

4 Timeless, untimely. Rent-rend.

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[She offers at his breast with his sword. But it was thy beauty that provoked me. Nay, now dispatch; 't was I that stabb'd young Edward,—

[She again offers at his breast. But 't was thy heavenly face that set me on. [She lets fall the sword.

Take up the sword again, or take up me. Anne. Arise, dissembler: though I wish thy death,

I will not be thy executioner.

Glo. Then bid me kill myself, and 1 will
do it. [Rises and takes up his sword.
Anne. I have already.
Glo.
That was in thy rage:
Speak it again, and, even with the word,
This hand, which for thy love did kill thy love,
Shall for thy love kill a far truer love;
To both their deaths shalt thou be accessary.
Anne. I would I knew thy heart.

Glo. Tis figur'd in my tongue.
Anne. I fear me both are false.

Glo. Then never man was true.
Anne. Well, well, put up your sword.
Glo. Say, then, my peace is made.
Anne. That shalt thou know hereafter.
Glo. But shall I live in hope?
Anne. All men, I hope, live so.
Glo. Vouchsafe to wear this ring.
Anne. To take, is not to give.

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200

[She puts on the ring. Glo. Look, how this ring encompasseth thy finger,

Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart;