Open their congeal'd mouths, and bleed afresh"!-
Blush, blush, thou lump of foul deformity,

For 'tis thy presence that exhales this blood

From cold and empty veins, where no blood dwells: 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,
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 curses.
Anne. Villain, thou know'st nor law of God nor man:
No beast so fierce, but knows some touch of pity.
Glo. But I know none, and therefore am no beast.
Anne. O wonderful, when devils tell the truth!
Glo. More wonderful, when angels are so angry.—
Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman,

Of these supposed evils to give me leave

By circumstance but to acquit myself.

Anne. Vouchsafe, diffus'd infection of a man, 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. By such despair, I should accuse myself.

Anne. And, by despairing, shalt thou stand excus'd;

For doing worthy vengeance on thyself,

7- and bleed afresh !] Innumerable proofs might be quoted from our old writers to show the prevalence of the superstition, that the wounds of a person murdered bled afresh at the appearance of the murderer.

8 Of these supposed EVILS] So the quartos: the folio, crimes; but Lady Anne, reiterating Gloster's words, repeats "evils."

That didst unworthy slaughter upon others.
Glo. Say, that I slew them not?

Anne.

Then say they were not slain':

But dead they are, and, devilish slave, by thee.

Glo. I did not kill your husband.
Anne.

Why, then he is alive.

Glo. Nay, he is dead; and slain by Edward's hand. Anne. In thy foul throat thou liest: queen Margaret

saw

Thy murderous falchion' smoking in his blood;
The which thou once didst bend against her breast,
But that thy brothers beat aside the point.

Glo. I was provoked by her sland'rous tongue,
That laid their guilt upon my guiltless shoulders.
Anne. Thou wast provoked by thy bloody mind,
That never dreamt on aught but butcheries.
Didst thou not kill this king?

Glo. I grant ye.

Anne. Dost grant me, hedge-hog? then, God grant me too,

Thou may'st be damned for that wicked deed!

O! he was gentle, mild, and virtuous.

Glo. The fitter for the King of heaven that hath him. Anne. He is in heaven, where thou shalt never come. Glo. Let him thank me, that holp to send him thither;

For he was fitter for that place than earth.

Anne. And thou unfit for any place but hell.

Glo. Yes, one place else, if you will hear me name it. Anne. Some dungeon.

Glo. Your bed-chamber.

9 Then say they were not slain.] We give the reading of the folio, which better preserves the antithesis than "Why, then, they are not dead" of the quarto impressions.

1 Thy MURDEROUS falchion-] Thus the folio: every quarto has “bloody falchion." Steevens read the preceding line, "In thy soul's throat," against every authority.

2 The FITTER— -] The folio reads, "the better;" but Gloster, just afterwards, uses "fitter" exactly in the same manner.

Anne. Ill rest betide the chamber where thou liest.
Glo. So will it, madam, till I lie with you.
Anne. I hope so.

Glo.

I know so. But, gentle lady Anne,

To leave this keen encounter of our wits,

And fall something into a slower method;

Is not the causer of the timeless deaths
Of these Plantagenets, Henry, and Edward,
As blameful as the executioner?

Anne. Thou wast the cause', and most accurs'd effect.
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, homicide,
These nails should rend 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.

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.

2 And fall SOMETHING-] The quarto editions read somewhat.

3 Thou WAST the cause,] The question of Gloster is in the present tense, and the quartos make Lady Anne answer in the present tense also, "Thou art the cause." Gloster's reply shows that of the folio to be the right reading.

So I might LIVE-] The quartos have rest for "live." In Gloster's next speech the quartos have, "These eyes could never endure sweet beauty's wreck," for the line in our text, which is from the folio.

That KILL'D my husband.] The quartos read, slew.

Anne. His better doth not breathe upon the earth.

6

Glo. He lives that loves you better than he could. Anne. Name him.

Glo.

Anne.

Plantagenet.

Why, that was he.

Glo. The self-same name, but one of better nature.

Anne. Where is he?

Glo.

Here: [She spits at him.] Why

dost thou spit at me?

Anne. 'Would it were mortal poison, for thy sake!
Glo. Never came poison from so sweet a place.
Anne. Never hung poison on a fouler toad.

Out of my sight! thou dost infect mine eyes.
Glo. Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected mine.
Anne. Would they were basilisks, to strike thee
dead!

Glo. I would they were, that I might die at once, For now they kill me with a living death.

Those eyes of thine from mine have drawn salt tears,
Sham'd their aspects with store of childish drops:
These eyes, which never shed remorseful tear;
No, when my father York, and Edward wept
To hear the piteous moan that Rutland made,
When black-fac'd Clifford shook his sword at him:
Nor when thy warlike father, like a child,
Told the sad story of my father's death,

And twenty times made pause to sob and weep,
That all the standers-by had wet their cheeks,
Like trees bedash'd with rain; in that sad time
My manly eyes did scorn an humble tear;

And what these sorrows could not thence exhale,
Thy beauty hath, and made them blind with weeping'.

He lives-] The quarto editions, to the injury of the regularity of the measure, insert "Go to" before "he lives."

7 Thy beauty hath, and made them blind with weeping.] This and the eleven preceding lines are not in any of the quarto impressions, not even in that of 1634, printed two years after the second folio. The differences between the quartos are seldom caused by anything but errors of the press.

I never sued to friend, nor enemy;

My tongue could never learn sweet smoothing word3;
But now thy beauty is propos'd my fee,

My proud heart sues, and prompts my tongue to speak.
[She looks scornfully at him.
Teach not thy lip such scorn; for it was made
For kissing, lady, not for such contempt.
If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive,

Lo! here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword;
Which if thou please to hide in this true breast,
And let the soul forth that adoreth thee,

I lay it naked to the deadly stroke,

And humbly beg the death upon my knee.

[He lays his Breast open: she offers at it with
his Sword.

Nay, do not pause; for I did kill king Henry;—
But 'twas thy beauty that provoked me.

Nay, now despatch; 'twas I that stabb'd young Ed

ward ;

But 'twas thy heavenly face that set me on3.

[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 I will do it.
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:

8 Sweet SMOOTHING WORD;] In sc. 3, Gloster uses the verb to smooth. The quartos read, "sweet soothing words." In the next line but two, the quartos have lips for "lip," and four lines lower, bosom for "breast.”

But 'twas thy heavenly face that set me on.] This and the three preceding

lines stand thus in all the quarto impressions :—

"Nay, do not pause; 'twas I that kill'd your husband,

But 'twas thy beauty that provoked me :

Nay, now dispatch; 'twas I that kill'd king Henry,

But 'twas thy heavenly face that set me on."