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For first he was contract to lady Lucy,
Your mother lives a witness to his vow;
And afterwards by substitute betroth'd
To Bona, sister to the king of France.9
These both put by, a poor petitioner,1
A care-craz'd mother to a many sons,
A beauty-waning and distressed widow,
Even in the afternoon of her best days,
Made prize and purchase of his wanton eye,
Seduc'd the pitch and height of all his thoughts
To base declension and loath'd bigamy:2

By her, in his unlawful bed, he got

This Edward, whom our manners call the prince.
More bitterly could I expostulate,

Save that, for reverence to some alive, 3

I gave a sparing limit to my tongue.

Then, good my lord, take to your royal self
This proffer'd benefit of dignity:

If not to bless us and the land withal,
Yet to draw forth your noble ancestry

9 To Bona, sister to the king of France.] See King Henry VI, P. III, Act III, sc. iii. Bona was daughter to the Duke of Savoy, and sister to Charlotte, wife to Lewis XI, King of France.

Malone.

1— a poor petitioner,] See Vol. X, King Henry VI, P. III, Act III, p. 356. Malone.

2 loath'd bigamy:] Bigamy, by a canon of the council of Lyons, A. D. 1274, (adopted in England by a statute in 4 Edw. 1.) was made unlawful and infamous. It differed from polygamy, or having two wives at once; as it consisted in either marrying two virgins successively, or once marrying a widow. Blackstone.

loath'd bigamy:] So Sir T. More, copied by Hall and Holinshed: "", the only widowhead of Elizabeth Grey, though she were in all other things convenient for you, should yet suffice, as me seemeth, to restraine you from her marriage, sith it is an unfitting thing, and a verie blemish and high disparagement to the sacred majestie of a prince, (that ought as nigh to approach priesthood in cleanness, as he doth in dignity,) to be defouled with bigamie in his first marriage." Malone.

3 More bitterly could I expostulate,

Save that, for reverence to some alive,] The Duke here hints at a topick which he had touched upon in his address to the citizens, the pretended bastardy of Edward and Clarence. By "some alive," is meant the Duchess of York, the mother of Edward and Richard. Malone.

From the corruption of abusing time,
Unto a lineal true-derived course.

May. Do, good my lord; your citizens entreat you. Buck. Refuse not, mighty lord, this proffer'd love. Cates. O, make them joyful, grant their lawful suit. Glo. Alas, why would you heap those cares on me? I am unfit for state and majesty :

I do beseech you, take it not amiss;

I cannot, nor I will not, yield to you.

Buck. If you refuse it,- -as in love and zeal,
Loth to depose the child, your brother's son;
As well we know your tenderness of heart,
And gentle, kind, effeminate remorse,
Which we have noted in you to your kindred,
And equally, indeed, to all estates,—
Yet know, whe'r you accept our suit or no,
Your brother's son shall never reign our king;
But we will plant some other in the throne,
To the disgrace and downfal of your house.
And, in this resolution, here we leave you;—
Come, citizens, we will entreat no more.

[Exeunt Buck. and Citizens. Cates. Call them again, sweet prince, accept their suit ; If you deny them, all the land will rue it.

Glo. Will you enforce me to a world of cares? Well, call them again; I am not made of stone,5 But penetrable to your kind entreaties,

[Exit CATES.

Albeit against my conscience and my soul.

Re-enter BUCKINGHAM, and the Rest.

Cousin of Buckingham,-and sage, grave men,—
Since you will buckle fortune on my back,
To bear her burden, whe'r I will, or no,
I must have patience to endure the load:
But if black scandal, or foul-fac'd reproach,
Attend the sequel of your imposition,

4

effeminate remorse,] i. e. pity. See our author, passim. Thus also, in The Miseries of enforced Marriage, 1600: "Be all his days, like winter, comfortless;

"Restless his nights, his wants remorseless."

i. e. unpitied. Steevens.

5

- I am not made of stone,] The quarto and folio havestones. Mr. Pope made the emendation. Malone.

Your mere enforcement shall acquittance me
From all the impure blots and stains thereof;
For God he knows, and you may partly see,
How far I am from the desire of this.

May. God bless your grace! we see it, and will say it. Glo. In saying so, you shall but say the truth. Buck. Then I salute you with this royal title,Long live king Richard, England's worthy king! All. Amen.

Buck. To-morrow may it please you to be crown'd? Glo. Even when you please, since you will have it so. Buck. To-morrow then we will attend your grace; And so, most joyfully, we take our leave. Glo. Come, let us to our holy work again :

[To the Bishops. Farewel, good cousin ;-farewel, gentle friends.

[Exeunt.

ACT IV..... SCENE I.

Before the Tower.

Enter, on one side, Queen ELIZABETH, Duchess of York, and Marquis of DORSET; on the other, ANNE, Duchess of Gloster, leading Lady MARGARET PLANTAGENET, Clarence's young Daughter.

Duch. Who meets us here?-my niece Plantagenet Led in the hand of her kind aunt of Gloster? 8

6 Farewel, good cousin;-farewel, gentle friends.] To this Act should, perhaps, be added the next scene, so will the coronation pass between the Acts; and there will not only be a proper interval of action, but the conclusion will be more forcible. Johnson. 7 Anne, Duchess of Gloster,] We have not seen this lady since the second scene of the first Act, in which she promised to meet Richard at Crosby-place. She was married about the year 1472. Malone.

8 Who meets us here?-my niece Plantagenet

Led in the hand of her kind aunt of Gloster?] Here is a manifest intimation, that the Duchess of Gloster leads in somebody in her hand; but there is no direction marked in any of the copies, from which we can learn who it is. I have ventured to guess it

[blocks in formation]

Now, for my life, she's wand'ring to the Tower,
On pure heart's love, to greet the tender prince.-
Daughter, well met.

Anne.

God give your graces both

A happy and a joyful time of day!

Q. Eliz. As much to you, good sister! Whither away? Anne. No further than the Tower; and, as I guess, Upon the like devotion as yourselves,

To gratulate the gentle princes there.

Q. Eliz. Kind sister, thanks; we'll enter all together:

Enter BRAKENBURY.

And, in good time, here the lieutenant comes.—
Master lieutenant, pray you, by your leave,
How doth the prince, and my young son of York?
Brak. Right well, dear madam: By your patience,
I may not suffer you to visit them;

The king hath strictly charg'd the contrary.

Q. Eliz. The king! who's that? Brak. I mean, the lord protector. Q. Eliz. The Lord protect him from that kingly title! Hath he set bounds between their love, and me? I am their mother, Who shall bar me from them? Duch. I am their father's mother, I will see them. Anne. Their aunt I am in law, in love their mother: Then bring me to their sights; I'll bear thy blame, And take thy office from thee, on my peril.

Brak. No, madam, no, I may not leave it so;9 I am bound by oath, and therefore pardon me.

Enter STANLEY.

[Exit BRAK.

Stan. Let me but meet you, ladies, one hour hence, And I'll salute your grace of York as mother, And reverend looker-on of two fair queens.

Come, madam, you must straight to Westminster.

[To the Duchess of Gloster.

There to be crowned Richard's royal queen.

must be Clarence's young daughter. The old Duchess of York calls her niece, i. e. grand-daughter; as grand-children are frequently called nephews. Theobald.

See note on Othello, Act I, sc. i. Steevens.

9 ―

I may not leave it so ;] That is, I may not so resign my office, which you offer to take on you at your peril. Johnson.

Q. Eliz. Ah, cut my lace asunder!

That my pent heart may have some scope to beat,
Or else I swoon with this dead-killing news.

Anne. Despiteful tidings! O unpleasing news!

Dor. Be of good cheer:-Mother, how fares your grace?

Q. Eliz. O Dorset, speak not to me, get thee gone,
Death and destruction dog thee at the heels;
Thy mother's name is ominous to children:
If thou wilt out-strip death, go cross the seas,
And live with Richmond, from the reach of hell.
Go, hie thee, hie thee from this slaughter-house,
Lest thou encrease the number of the dead;
And make me die the thrall to Margaret's curse,-
Nor mother, wife, nor England's counted queen.
Stan. Full of wise care is this your counsel, madam :-----
Take all the swift advantage of the hours;
You shall have letters from me to my son
In your behalf, to meet you on the way:
Be not ta'en tardy by unwise delay.

Duch. O ill-dispersing wind of misery!—
O my accursed womb, the bed of death;
A cockatrice hast thou hatch'd to the world,
Whose unavoided eye is murderous !2

Stan. Come, madam, come; I in all haste was sent.
Anne. And I with all unwillingness will go.—

O, would to God, that the inclusive verge

Of golden metal, that must round my brow,
Were red-hot steel, to sear me to the brain!3
Anointed let me be with deadly venom;

1 Nor mother, wife, &c.] See p. 39. Steevens.

2 A cockatrice

66

Whose unavoided eye is murderous!] So, in Romeo and Juliet": the death-darting eye of cockatrice." The cockatrice is a serpent supposed to originate from a cock's egg. Steevens.

3 Were red-hot steel, to sear me to the brain!] She seems to allude to the ancient mode of punishing a regicide, or any other egregious criminal, viz. by placing a crown of iron, heated redhot, upon his head. See Respublica et Status Hungaria, ex Offic. Elziv. 1634, p. 136. In the tragedy of Hoffman, 1631, this punishment is also introduced:

"Fix on thy master's head my burning crown."

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