Henry VI, Part 3 (William Shakespeare) » p.14 » All Books Online Free

Why, then, thy husband’s lands I freely give thee.

55

LADY GREY

I take my leave with many thousand thanks.

56

RICHARD,

The match is made; she seals it with a cursy.

57

KING EDWARD

But stay thee; ’tis the fruits of love I mean.

58

LADY GREY

The fruits of love I mean, my loving liege.

59

KING EDWARD

Ay, but, I fear me, in another sense.

60

What love, think’st thou, I sue so much to get?

61

LADY GREY

My love till death, my humble thanks, my prayers,

62

That love which virtue begs and virtue grants.

63

KING EDWARD

No, by my troth, I did not mean such love.

64

LADY GREY

Why, then, you mean not as I thought you did.

65

KING EDWARD

But now you partly may perceive my mind.

66

LADY GREY

My mind will never grant what I perceive

67

Your Highness aims at, if I aim aright.

68

KING EDWARD

To tell thee plain, I aim to lie with thee.

69

LADY GREY

To tell you plain, I had rather lie in prison.

70

KING EDWARD

Why, then, thou shalt not have thy husband’s lands.

71

LADY GREY

Why, then, mine honesty shall be my dower,

72

For by that loss I will not purchase them.

73

KING EDWARD

Therein thou wrong’st thy children mightily.

74

LADY GREY

Herein your Highness wrongs both them and me.

75

But, mighty lord, this merry inclination

76

Accords not with the sadness of my suit.

77

Please you dismiss me either with ay or no.

78

KING EDWARD

Ay, if thou wilt say “ay” to my request;

79

No, if thou dost say “no” to my demand.

80

LADY GREY

Then no, my lord; my suit is at an end.

81

RICHARD,

The widow likes him not; she knits her brows.

82

CLARENCE,

He is the bluntest wooer in Christendom.

83

KING EDWARD,

Her looks doth argue her replete with modesty;

84

Her words doth show her wit incomparable;

85

All her perfections challenge sovereignty.

86

One way or other, she is for a king,

87

And she shall be my love or else my queen.—

88

Say that King Edward take thee for his queen?

89

LADY GREY

’Tis better said than done, my gracious lord.

90

I am a subject fit to jest withal,

91

But far unfit to be a sovereign.

92

KING EDWARD

Sweet widow, by my state I swear to thee

93

I speak no more than what my soul intends,

94

And that is, to enjoy thee for my love.

95

LADY GREY

And that is more than I will yield unto.

96

I know I am too mean to be your queen

97

And yet too good to be your concubine.

98

KING EDWARD

You cavil, widow; I did mean my queen.

99

LADY GREY

’Twill grieve your Grace my sons should call you

100

father.

101

KING EDWARD

No more than when my daughters call thee mother.

102

Thou art a widow and thou hast some children,

103

And, by God’s mother, I, being but a bachelor,

104

Have other some. Why, ’tis a happy thing

105

To be the father unto many sons.

106

Answer no more, for thou shalt be my queen.

107

RICHARD,

The ghostly father now hath done his shrift.

108

CLARENCE,

When he was made a shriver, ’twas for shift.

109

KING EDWARD

Brothers, you muse what chat we two have had.

110

RICHARD

The widow likes it not, for she looks very sad.

111

KING EDWARD

You’d think it strange if I should marry her.

112

CLARENCE

To who, my lord?

113

KING EDWARD Why, Clarence, to myself.

114

RICHARD

That would be ten days’ wonder at the least.

115

CLARENCE

That’s a day longer than a wonder lasts.

116

RICHARD

By so much is the wonder in extremes.

117

KING EDWARD

Well, jest on, brothers. I can tell you both

118

Her suit is granted for her husband’s lands.

119

Enter a Nobleman.

NOBLEMAN

My gracious lord, Henry, your foe, is taken

120

And brought your prisoner to your palace gate.

121

KING EDWARD

See that he be conveyed unto the Tower.

122

And go we, brothers, to the man that took him,

123

To question of his apprehension.—

124

Widow, go you along.—Lords, use her

125

They exit.

Richard remains.

RICHARD

Ay, Edward will use women honorably!

126

Would he were wasted—marrow, bones, and all—

127

That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring

128

To cross me from the golden time I look for.

129

And yet, between my soul’s desire and me,

130

The lustful Edward’s title burièd,

131

Is Clarence, Henry, and his son, young Edward,

132

And all the unlooked-for issue of their bodies

133

To take their rooms ere I can place myself.

134

A cold premeditation for my purpose.

135

Why, then, I do but dream on sovereignty

136

Like one that stands upon a promontory

137

And spies a far-off shore where he would tread,

138

Wishing his foot were equal with his eye,

139

And chides the sea that sunders him from thence,

140

Saying he’ll lade it dry to have his way.

141

So do I wish the crown, being so far off,

142

And so I chide the means that keeps me from it,

143

And so, I say, I’ll cut the causes off,

144

Flattering me with impossibilities.

145

My eye’s too quick, my heart o’erweens too much,

146

Unless my hand and strength could equal them.

147

Well, say there is no kingdom then for Richard,

148

What other pleasure can the world afford?

149

I’ll make my heaven in a lady’s lap

150

And deck my body in gay ornaments,

151

And ’witch sweet ladies with my words and looks.

152

O miserable thought, and more unlikely

153

Than to accomplish twenty golden crowns!

154

Why, Love forswore me in my mother’s womb,

155

And, for I should not deal in her soft laws,

156

She did corrupt frail Nature with some bribe

157

To shrink mine arm up like a withered shrub;

158

To make an envious mountain on my back,

159

Where sits Deformity to mock my body;

160

To shape my legs of an unequal size;

161

To disproportion me in every part,

162

Like to a chaos, or an unlicked bear-whelp,

163

That carries no impression like the dam.

164

And am I then a man to be beloved?

165

O monstrous fault to harbor such a thought!

166

Then, since this earth affords no joy to me

167

But to command, to check, to o’erbear such

168

As are of better person than myself,

169

I’ll make my heaven to dream upon the crown,

170

And, whiles I live, t’ account this world but hell

171

Until my misshaped trunk that bears this head

172

Be round impalèd with a glorious crown.

173

And yet I know not how to get the crown,

174

For many lives stand between me and home;

175

And I, like one lost in a thorny wood,

176

That rents the thorns and is rent with the thorns,

177

Seeking a way and straying from the way,

178

Not knowing how to find the open air,

179

But toiling desperately to find it out,

180

Torment myself to catch the English crown.

181

And from that torment I will free myself

182

Or hew my way out with a bloody axe.

183

Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile,

184

And cry “Content” to that which grieves my heart,

185

And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,

186

And frame my face to all occasions.

187

I’ll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall;

188

I’ll slay more gazers than the basilisk;

189

I’ll play the orator as well as Nestor,

190

Deceive more slyly than Ulysses could,

191

And, like a Sinon, take another Troy.

192

I can add colors to the chameleon,

193

Change shapes with Proteus for advantages,

194

And set the murderous Machiavel to school.

195

Can I do this and cannot get a crown?

196

Tut, were it farther off, I’ll pluck it down.

197

He exits.

Flourish. Enter Lewis the French king, his sister

Bona, his Admiral called Bourbon,

Prince Edward, Queen Margaret, and the Earl of Oxford,

Lewis sits, and riseth up again.

KING LEWIS

Fair Queen of England, worthy Margaret,

1

Sit down with us. It ill befits thy state

2

And birth that thou shouldst stand while Lewis

3

doth sit.

4

QUEEN MARGARET

No, mighty King of France. Now Margaret

5

Must strike her sail and learn awhile to serve

6

Where kings command. I was, I must confess,

7

Great Albion’s queen in former golden days,

8

But now mischance hath trod my title down

9

And with dishonor laid me on the ground,

10

Where I must take like seat unto my fortune

11

And to my humble seat conform myself.

12

KING LEWIS

Why, say, fair queen, whence springs this deep

13

despair?

14

QUEEN MARGARET

From such a cause as fills mine eyes with tears

15

And stops my tongue, while heart is drowned in cares.

16

KING LEWIS

Whate’er it be, be thou still like thyself,

17

And sit thee by our side.

18

Seats her by him.

Yield not thy neck

19

To Fortune’s yoke, but let thy dauntless mind

20

Still ride in triumph over all mischance.

21

Be plain, Queen Margaret, and tell thy grief.

22

It shall be eased if France can yield relief.

23

QUEEN MARGARET

Those gracious words revive my drooping thoughts

24

And give my tongue-tied sorrows leave to speak.

25

Now therefore be it known to noble Lewis

26

That Henry, sole possessor of my love,

27

Is, of a king, become a banished man

28

And forced to live in Scotland a forlorn;

29

While proud ambitious Edward, Duke of York,

30

Usurps the regal title and the seat

31

Of England’s true-anointed lawful king.

32

This is the cause that I, poor Margaret,

33

With this my son, Prince Edward, Henry’s heir,

34

Am come to crave thy just and lawful aid;

35

And if thou fail us, all our hope is done.

36

Scotland hath will to help but cannot help;

37

Our people and our peers are both misled,

Henry VI, Part 3, p.14

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