For by that loss73 I will not purchase them.

  KING EDWARD IV    Therein thou wrong’st thy children mightily.

  LADY GREY    Herein your highness wrongs both them and me.

  But, mighty lord, this merry inclination76

  Accords not with the sadness77 of my suit.

  Please you dismiss me either with ‘Ay’ or ‘No’.

  KING EDWARD IV    Ay, if thou wilt say ‘Ay’ to my request;

  No if thou dost say ‘No’ to my demand.

  LADY GREY    Then, no, my lord. My suit is at an end.

  GLOUCESTER    The widow likes him not, she knits her brows82.

  CLARENCE    He is the bluntest83 wooer in Christendom.

  Aside

  KING EDWARD IV    Her looks do argue her84 replete with modesty,

  Her words doth show her wit incomparable,

  All her perfections challenge86 sovereignty.

  One way or other, she is for a king,

  And she shall be my love88, or else my queen.—

  To her

  Say that King Edward take thee for his queen?

  LADY GREY    ’Tis better said than done, my gracious lord:

  I am a subject fit to jest withal,

  But far unfit to be a sovereign.

  KING EDWARD IV    Sweet widow, by my state93 I swear to thee,

  I speak no more than what my soul intends,

  And that is, to enjoy thee for my love.

  LADY GREY    And that is more than I will yield unto:

  I know I am too mean97 to be your queen

  And yet too good to be your concubine.

  KING EDWARD IV    You cavil99, widow: I did mean, my queen.

  LADY GREY    ’Twill grieve your grace my sons should call you father.

  KING EDWARD IV    No more than when my daughters call thee mother.

  Thou art a widow, and thou hast some children,

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

  Have other some104. Why, ’tis a happy thing

  To be the father unto many sons.

  Answer no more, for thou shalt be my queen.

  GLOUCESTER    The ghostly father now hath done his shrift107.

  CLARENCE    When he was made a shriver, ’twas for shift108.

  KING EDWARD IV    Brothers, you muse109 what chat we two have had.

  To Edward

  GLOUCESTER The Widow likes it not, for she looks very sad.

  KING EDWARD IV    You’ll think it strange if I should marry her.

  CLARENCE    To who, my lord?

  KING EDWARD IV    Why Clarence, to myself.

  GLOUCESTER    That would be ten days’ wonder at the least.114

  CLARENCE    That’s a day longer than a wonder lasts.

  GLOUCESTER    By so much is the wonder in extremes116.

  KING EDWARD IV    Well, jest on, brothers. I can tell you both

  Her suit is granted for her husband’s lands.

  Enter a Nobleman

  NOBLEMAN    My gracious lord, Henry your foe is taken119,

  And brought your prisoner to your palace gate.

  KING EDWARD IV    See that he be conveyed unto the Tower,

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

  To question of his apprehension123.—

  Widow, go you along.— Lords, use124 her honourably.

  Exeunt. Richard [of Gloucester] remains

  GLOUCESTER    Ay, Edward will use women honourably.

  Would he were wasted, marrow126, bones and all,

  That from his loins no hopeful branch127 may spring,

  To cross me from the golden time128 I look for.

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

  The lustful Edward’s title burièd130 —

  Is Clarence, Henry, and his son young Edward,

  And all the unlooked for issue132 of their bodies,

  To take their rooms133, ere I can place myself.

  A cold premeditation134 for my purpose.

  Why, then, I do but dream on sovereignty,

  Like one that stands upon a promontory136,

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

  Wishing his foot were equal with138 his eye,

  And chides the sea that sunders139 him from thence,

  Saying, he’ll lade140 it dry to have his way:

  So do I wish141 the crown, being so far off,

  And so I chide the means142 that keeps me from it,

  And so I say, I’ll cut the causes off,143

  Flattering me144 with impossibilities.

  My eye’s too quick, my heart o’erweens145 too much,

  Unless my hand and strength could equal them.

  Well, say there is no kingdom then for Richard:

  What other pleasure can the world afford?

  I’ll make my heaven in a lady’s lap,

  And deck my body in gay ornaments150,

  And witch151 sweet ladies with my words and looks.

  O, miserable thought, and more unlikely

  Than to accomplish153 twenty golden crowns.

  Why, love forswore154 me in my mother’s womb,

  And, for155 I should not deal in her soft laws,

  She did corrupt frail nature with some bribe,

  To shrink mine arm up like a withered shrub,

  To make an envious158 mountain on my back,

  Where sits deformity to mock my body;

  To shape my legs of an unequal size,

  To disproportion me in every part,

  Like to a chaos or an unlicked bear-whelp162,

  That carries no impression like the dam163.

  And am I then a man to be beloved?

  O, monstrous fault165, to harbour such a thought.

  Then, since this earth affords no joy to me,

  But to command, to check, to o’erbear167 such

  As are of better person168 than myself,

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

  And whiles I live, t’account170 this world but hell,

  Until my misshaped trunk171 that bears this head

  Be round impalèd172 with a glorious crown.

  And yet I know not how to get the crown,

  For many lives stand between me and home174,

  And I — like one lost in a thorny wood,

  That rents176 the thorns and is rent with the thorns,

  Seeking a way and straying from the way,

  Not knowing how to find the open air,

  But toiling desperately to find it out —

  Torment myself to catch180 the English crown:

  And from that torment I will free myself,

  Or hew my way out with a bloody axe.

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

  And cry ‘Content’ to that which grieves my heart,

  And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,

  And frame186 my face to all occasions.

  I’ll drown more sailors than the mermaid187 shall,

  I’ll slay more gazers than the basilisk188,

  I’ll play the orator as well as Nestor189,

  Deceive more slyly than Ulysses190 could,

  And, like a Sinon191, take another Troy.

  I can add colours to the chameleon,

  Change shapes with Proteus193 for advantages,

  And set the murderous Machevil to school194.

  Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?

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

  Exit

  [Act 3 Scene 3]

  running scene 8

  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,

  Sit down with us. It ill befits thy state2

  And birth, that thou shouldst stand while Lewis doth sit.

  QUEEN MARGARET    No, mighty King of France: now Margaret

  Must strike her sail5 and learn awhile to serve

  Where kings command. I was, I must confess,

  Great Albion’s7 queen in former golden days,

  But now mischance8 hath trod my title down

  And with dishonour laid me on the ground,

  Where I must take like seat unto10 my fortune,

  And to my humble seat conform myself.

  KING LEWIS    Why, say, fair queen, whence springs this deep despair?

  QUEEN MARGARET    From such a cause as fills mine eyes with tears

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

  KING LEWIS    Whate’er it be, be thou still like thyself15,

  And sit thee by our side:

  Seats her by him

                                               Yield not thy neck

  To fortune’s yoke, but let thy dauntless mind

  Still ride in triumph over all mischance.

  Be plain, Queen Margaret, and tell thy grief:

  It shall be eased, if France20 can yield relief.

  QUEEN MARGARET    Those gracious words revive my drooping thoughts

  And give my tongue-tied sorrows leave to speak.

  Now therefore be it known to noble Lewis,

  That Henry, sole possessor of my love,

  Is, of25 a king, become a banished man,

  And forced to live in Scotland a forlorn26;

  While proud ambitious Edward, Duke of York,

  Usurps the regal title and the seat

  Of England’s true-anointed lawful king.

  This is the cause that I, poor Margaret,

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

  Am come to crave thy just and lawful aid.

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

  Scotland hath will to help, but cannot help,

  Our people and our peers are both misled,

  Our treasures seized, our soldiers put to flight,

  And, as thou see’st, ourselves in heavy37 plight.

  KING LEWIS    Renownèd queen, with patience calm the storm38,

  While we bethink a means to break it off.

  QUEEN MARGARET    The more we stay40, the stronger grows our foe.

  KING LEWIS    The more I stay, the more I’ll succour41 thee.

  QUEEN MARGARET    O, but impatience waiteth on42 true sorrow.

  And see where comes the breeder of my sorrow!

  Enter Warwick

  KING LEWIS    What’s he approacheth boldly to our presence?

  QUEEN MARGARET    Our Earl of Warwick, Edward’s greatest friend.

  KING LEWIS    Welcome, brave Warwick! What brings thee to France?

  He descends. She ariseth

  QUEEN MARGARET    Ay, now begins a second storm to rise,

  For this is he that moves both wind and tide.

  WARWICK    From worthy Edward, King of Albion,

  My lord and sovereign, and thy vowèd friend,

  I come, in kindness and unfeignèd love,

  First, to do greetings to thy royal person,

  And then to crave a league of amity,

  And lastly, to confirm that amity

  With nuptial knot, if thou vouchsafe55 to grant

  That virtuous Lady Bona, thy fair sister,

  To England’s king in lawful marriage.

  Aside?

  QUEEN MARGARET    If that go forward, Henry’s hope is done.

  WARWICK    And, gracious madam, in59 our king’s behalf,

  Speaking to Bona

  I am commanded, with your leave and favour,

  Humbly to kiss your hand, and with my tongue

  To tell the passion of my sovereign’s heart;

  Where fame63, late ent’ring at his heedful ears,

  Hath placed thy beauty’s image and thy virtue.

  QUEEN MARGARET    King Lewis and Lady Bona, hear me speak,

  Before you answer Warwick. His demand

  Springs not from Edward’s well-meant honest love,

  But from deceit bred by necessity.

  For how can tyrants69 safely govern home,

  Unless abroad they purchase great alliance?

  To prove him tyrant this reason may suffice,

  That Henry liveth still: but were he dead,

  Yet here Prince Edward stands, King Henry’s son.

  Look74, therefore, Lewis, that by this league and marriage

  Thou draw not on thy75 danger and dishonour,

  For though usurpers sway the rule76 awhile,

  Yet heav’ns are just, and time suppresseth wrongs.

  WARWICK    Injurious78 Margaret.

  PRINCE EDWARD    And why not queen?

  WARWICK    Because thy father Henry did usurp,

  And thou no more art prince than she is queen.

  OXFORD    Then Warwick disannuls great John of Gaunt82,

  Which83 did subdue the greatest part of Spain;

  And, after John of Gaunt, Henry the Fourth,

  Whose wisdom was a mirror85 to the wisest,

  And after that wise prince, Henry the Fifth,

  Who by his prowess conquerèd all France:

  From these our Henry lineally descends.

  WARWICK    Oxford, how haps it, in this smooth89 discourse,

  You told not how Henry the Sixth hath lost

  All that which Henry Fifth had gotten?

  Methinks these peers of France should smile at that.

  But for the rest, you tell93 a pedigree

  Of threescore and two years, a silly94 time

  To make prescription95 for a kingdom’s worth.

  OXFORD    Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy liege,

  Whom thou obeyed’st thirty-and-six years97,

  And not bewray98 thy treason with a blush?

  WARWICK    Can Oxford, that did ever fence99 the right,

  Now buckler100 falsehood with a pedigree?

  For shame, leave Henry and call Edward king.

  OXFORD    Call him my king by whose injurious doom102

  My elder brother, the lord Aubrey Vere103,

  Was done to death? And more than so104, my father,

  Even in the downfall of his mellowed105 years,

  When nature brought him to the door of death?

  No, Warwick, no: while life upholds this arm,

  This arm upholds the House of Lancaster.

  WARWICK    And I the House of York.

  KING LEWIS    Queen Margaret, Prince Edward, and Oxford,

  Vouchsafe, at our request, to stand aside,

  While I use further conference112 with Warwick.

  They stand aloof

  QUEEN MARGARET    Heavens grant that Warwick’s words bewitch him not.

  KING LEWIS    Now Warwick, tell me, even114 upon thy conscience,

  Is Edward your true king? For I were loath

  To link with him that were not lawful chosen.

  WARWICK    Thereon I pawn my credit117 and mine honour.

  KING LEWIS    But is he gracious118 in the people’s eye?

  WARWICK    The more that119 Henry was unfortunate.

  KING LEWIS    Then further, all dissembling120 set aside,

  Tell me for truth the measure121 of his love

  Unto our sister Bona.

  WARWICK    Such it seems

  As may beseem124 a monarch like himself.

  Myself have often heard him say and swear

  That this his love was an external126 plant,

  Whereof the root was fixed in virtue’s ground,

  The leaves and fruit maintained with beauty’s sun,

  Exempt from envy, but not from disdain129,

  Unless the lady Bona quit130 his pain.

  KING LEWIS    Now, sister, let us hear your firm resolve.

  BONA    Your grant, or your denial, shall be mine132.—

  Yet I confess that often ere this day,

  Speaks to Warwick

  When I have heard your king’s desert134 recounted,

  Mine ear hath tempted judgement to desire.

  KING LEWIS    Then, Warwick, thus: our sister shall be Edward’s.

  And now forthwith shall articles be drawn137

  Touching the jointure138 that your king must make,

  Which with her dowry shall be counterpoised139.—

  Draw near, Queen Margaret, and be a witness

  That Bona shall be wife to the English king.

  PRINCE EDWARD    To Edward, but not to the English king.

  QUEEN MARGARET    Deceitful Warwick, it was thy device143

  By this alliance to make void my suit.

  Before thy coming Lewis was Henry’s friend.

  KING LEWIS    And still is friend to him and Margaret.

  But if your title to the crown be weak,

  As may appear by Edward’s good success148,

  Then ’tis but reason that I be released

  From giving aid which late150 I promisèd.

  Yet shall you have all kindness at my hand

  That your estate152 requires and mine can yield.