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 I will do it. Anne. I have already.

Glo.

Tush, 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 thou shalt be accessary.
Anne. I would I knew thy heart.
Glo. 'Tis figured 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 shall you 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.

Glo. Look, how this ring encompasseth thy finger,
Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart;
Wear both of them, for both of them are thine.
And if thy poor devoted suppliant may
But beg one favour at thy gracious hand,
Thou dost confirm his happiness for ever.
Anne What is it?

Glo. That it would please thee leave these sud
designs

To him that hath more cause to be a mourner,
And presently repair to Crosby Place;

Where, after I have solemnly interred

At Chertsey monastery this noble king,
And wet his grave with my repentant tears,
I will with all expedient duty see you :
For divers unknown reasons, I beseech you,
Grant me this boon.

Anne. With all my heart; and much it joys me too,

To see you are become so penitent.

Tressel and Berkeley, go along with me.

Glo. Bid me farewell.

Anne.

'Tis more than you deserve;

But since you teach me how to flatter you,

Imagine I have said farewell already.

[Exeunt Lady ANNE, TRESSEL, and BERKELEY.

Glo. Sirs, take up the corse.

Gent.

Towards Chertsey, noble lord?

Glo. No, to Whitefriars; there attend my coming.

[Exeunt all but GLOSTER.

Was ever woman in this humour woo'd?

Was ever woman in this humour won?

I'll have her ;-but I will not keep her long.
What! I, that killed her husband and his father,
To take her in her heart's extremest hate,
With curses in her mouth, tears in her eyes,

The bleeding witness of her hatred by ;

Having God, her conscience, and these bars against

me,

And I no thing to back my suit withal

But the plain devil and dissembling looks,
And yet to win her,-all the world to nothing!
Ha!

Hath she forgot already that brave prince,
Edward, her lord, whom I, some three months since,
Stabbed in my angry mood at Tewksbury?

A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman,
Framed in the prodigality of nature,

Young, valiant, wise, and, no doubt, right royal,
The spacious world cannot again afford :
And will she yet debase her eyes on me,

That cropped the golden prime of this sweet prince,
And made her widow to a woful bed?

On me, whose all not equals Edward's moiety!
On me, that halt and am unshapen thus ?
My dukedom to a beggarly denier,

I do mistake my person all this while :
Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot,
Myself to be a marvellous proper man.
I'll be at charges for a looking-glass,
And entertain some score or two of tailors
To study fashions to adorn my body:
Since I am crept in favour with myself,
I will maintain it with some little cost.
But first I'll turn yon fellow in his grave;
And then return lamenting to my love.-
Shine out, fair sun; till I have bought a glass,
That I
shadow as I

may see my

pass.

[Exit.

SCENE III.-The Palace.

Enter Queen ELIZABETH, Lord RIVERS, and Lord

GREY.

Riv. Have patience, madam: there's no doubt his majesty

Will soon recover his accustomed health.

Grey. In that you brook it ill, it makes him

worse:

Therefore, for God's sake, entertain good comfort, And cheer his grace with quick and merry words. Q. Eliz. If he were dead, what would betide of me?

Riv. No other harm but loss of such a lord.

Q. Eliz. The loss of such a lord includes all harm. Grey. The heavens have blessed you with a goodly son

To be your comforter when he is

gone.
Q. Eliz. Oh, he is young, and his minority
Is put unto the trust of Richard Gloster,
A man that loves not me, nor none of you.
Riv. Is it concluded he shall be protector?
Q. Eliz. It is determined, not concluded yet:
But so it must be, if the king miscarry.

Enter BUCKINGHAM and STANLEY.

Grey. Here come the lords of Buckingham and Stanley.

Buck. Good time of day unto your royal grace! Stan. God make your majesty joyful as you have been!

Q. Eliz. The Countess Richmond, good my lord of Stanley,

To your good prayers will scarcely say amen.
Yet, Stanley, notwithstanding she's your wife.
And loves not me, be you, good lord, assured
I hate not you for her proud arrogance.

Stan. I do beseech yo", either not believe
The envious slanders of her false accusers;
Or, if she be accused in true report,

Bear with her weakness, which, I think, proceeds From wayward sickness, and no grounded malice.

Riv. Saw you the king to-day, my Lord of Stanley?

Stan. But now the Duke of Buckingham and I Are come from visiting his majesty.

Q. Eliz. What likelihood of his amendment, lords? Buck. Madam, good hope; his grace speaks cheerfully.

Q. Eliz. God grant him health! Did you confer with him?

Buck. Ay, madam : he desires to make atonement Betwixt the Duke of Gloster and your brothers, And betwixt them and my lord chamberlain ; And sent to warn them to his royal presence. Q. Eliz. Would all were well!-but that will never be :

I fear our happiness is at the height.

Enter GLOSTER, HASTINGS, and DORSET.

Glo. They do me wrong, and I will not endure 't: Who are they that complain unto the king That I, forsooth, am stern and love them not? By holy Paul, they love his grace but lightly That fill his ears with such dissentious rumours. Because I cannot flatter and speak fair, Smile in men's faces, smooth, deceive and cog, Duck with French nods and apish courtesy, I must be held a rancorous enemy. Cannot a plain man live and think no harm, But thus his simple truth must be abused By silken, sly, insinuating Jacks?

Riv. To whom in all this presence speaks your grace?

Glo. To thee, that hast nor honesty nor grace. When have I injured thee? when done thee wrong? Or thee or thee? or any of your faction? A plague upon you all! His royal person,