ACT I.

SCENE I.-London. A Street.

Enter GLOUCESTER. (1)

GLO. Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds, that lour'd upon our house,
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.

Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums chang'd to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visag'd war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front;
And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds,
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,-
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber,

To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.a

But I,-that am not shap'd for sportive tricks,
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;

I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty,
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable,
That dogs bark at me, as I halt by them ;-
Why I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time;
Unless to spy* my shadow in the sun,
And descant on mine own deformity:
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,-
I am determined to prove a villain,
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels, and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence and the king,
In deadly hate the one against the other:
And, if King Edward be as true and just,
As I am subtle, false, and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up,

About a prophecy, which says that G

Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be.

Dive, thoughts, down to my soul! here Clarence comes.

Enter CLARENCE, guarded, and BRAKENBURY.

Brother, good day: what means this armed guard,
That waits upon your grace?

CLAR.
His majesty,
Tendering my person's safety, hath appointed
This conduct to convey me to the Tower.
GLO. Upon what cause?
CLAR.

Because my name is George.
GLO. Alack, my lord, that fault is none of yours;
He should for that commit your godfathers:-
O, belike his majesty hath some intent,

That you shall be new-christened in the Tower.
But what's the matter, Clarence? may I know?

CLAR. Yea, Richard, when I know; for, † I protest,

As yet I do not: but, as I can learn,

He hearkens after prophecies and dreams;
And from the cross-row plucks the letter G,
And says a wizard told him that by G
His issue disinherited should be;

And for my name of George begins with G,
It follows in his thought that I am he:
These, as I learn, and such like toys as these,
Have mov'd his highness to commit me now.

GLO. Why this it is, when men are rul'd by women :—

"Tis not the king that sends you to the Tower; My lady Grey his wife, Clarence, 't is she,

That tempers him to this extremity.a

Was it not she, and that good man of worship,
Antony Woodville, her brother there,

That made him send lord Hastings to the Tower,
From whence this present day he is delivered?
We are not safe, Clarence; we are not safe.

CLAR. By heaven, I think there is no man secure,
But the queen's kindred, and night-walking heralds
That trudge betwixt the king and mistress Shore.
Heard you not, what an humble suppliant
Lord Hastings was to her for his delivery ?b
GLO. Humbly complaining to her deity

That tempers him to this extremity.] So the first quarto, 1597. The folio 1623 reads:

:

"That tempts him to this harsh extremity."

Lord Hastings was to her for his delivery?] The folio reads,―

"Lord Hastings was, for her delivery."

Got my lord chamberlain his liberty.
I'll tell you what,-I think it is our way,
If we will keep in favour with the king,
To be her men, and wear her livery:
The jealous o'er-worn widow and herself,
Since that our brother dubb'd them gentlewomen,
Are mighty gossips in this* monarchy.

BRAK. I beseech your graces both to pardon me;
His majesty hath straitly given in charge,
That no man shall have private conference
(Of what degree soever) with his† brother.

GLO. Even so, an please your worship; Brakenbury,
You may partake of anything we say:

We speak no treason, man ;-we say, the king
Is wise and virtuous; and his noble queen
Well struck in years, fair, and not jealous:-
We say that Shore's wife hath a pretty foot,

:

A cherry lip, a bonny eye, a passing pleasing tongue;
And that the queen's kindred are made gentlefolks:
How say you, sir? can you deny all this?

BRAK. With this, my lord, myself have nought to do.

GLO. Naught to do with mistress Shore? I tell thee, fellow, He that doth naught with her, excepting one,

Were best to do it secretly, alone.

BRAK. What one, my lord?

GLO. Her husband, knave:-wouldst thou betray me?
BRAK. I beseech your grace to pardon me; and, withal,
Forbear your conference with the noble duke.

CLAR. We know thy charge, Brakenbury, and will obey.
GLO. We are the queen's abjects, and must obey.

Brother, farewell; I will unto the king;

And whatsoe'er you will employ me in,—
Were it to call king Edward's widow, sister-
I will perform it to enfranchise you.
Meantime, this deep disgrace in brotherhood,
Touches me deeper than you can imagine.

CLAR. I know it pleaseth neither of us well.
GLO. Well, your imprisonment shall not be long;
I will deliver you, or § lie for you:a

Meantime, have patience.

CLAR.

I must perforce: farewell.

[Exeunt CLARENCE, BRAKENBURY, and Guard.

GLO. Go, tread the path that thou shalt ne'er return!

Simple, plain Clarence, I do love thee so,

That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven,

First folio, our.

First folio inserts, do.

Or lie for you :] Or lie imprisoned in your stead.

b Must perforce In allusion to the popular saying,-"Patience upon force is a medicine for a mad dog."

If heaven will take the present at our hands.-
But who comes here? the new-deliver'd Hastings!

Enter HASTINGS.

HAST. Good time of day unto my gracious lord!
GLO. As much unto my good lord chamberlain !
Well are you welcome to this open air.

How hath your lordship brook'd imprisonment?
HAST. With patience, noble lord, as prisoners must:
But I shall live, my lord, to give them thanks,
That were the cause of my imprisonment.

GLO. No doubt, no doubt; and so shall Clarence too;
For they that were your enemies are his,

And have prevail'd as much on him as you.

HAST. More pity that the eagle should be mew'd, While kites and buzzards prey † at liberty.

GLO. What news abroad?

HAST. No news so bad abroad as this at home;

The king is sickly, weak, and melancholy,

And his physicians fear him mightily.

GLO. Now, by Saint Paul, this news is bad indeed.

O, he hath kept an evil diet long,

And over-much consum'd his royal person;

"Tis very grievous to be thought upon.

What, is he in his bed?

GLO. Go you before, and I will follow you.
He cannot live, I hope; and must not die

Till George be pack'd with post-horse up to heaven.
I'll in, to urge his hatred more to Clarence,
With lies well-steel'd with weighty arguments;
And if I fail not in my deep intent,
Clarence hath not another day to live:

Which done, God take king Edward to his mercy,
And leave the world for me to bustle in!

For then I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter:
What though I kill'd her husband and her father;
The readiest way to make the wench amends,
Is to become her husband and her father:
The which will I; not all so much for love
As for another secret close intent,

By marrying her, which I must reach unto.
But yet I run before my horse to market:

Clarence still breathes, Edward still lives and reigns;
When they are gone, then must I count my gains.

[Exit HASTINGS.

[Exit.

(*) First folio, eagles.

(t) First folio, Whiles-play.

(+) First folio, Where.

Now, by Saint Paul, this news, &c.] So the quartos. The folio 1623 has,-" Now by S Iohn, that Newes," &c.

SCENE II.-The same. Another Street.

Enter the corpse of KING HENRY the SIXTH, borne upon a hearse, Gentlemen bearing halberds, to guard it; and LADY ANNE as

mourner.

ANNE. Set down, set down your honourable load,

If honour may be shrouded in a hearse,

a

Whilst I awhile obsequiously lament

The untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster.-
Poor key-cold figure of a holy king!
Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster!
Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood
Be it lawful that I invocate thy ghost,
To hear the lamentations of poor Anne,
Wife to thy Edward, to thy slaughter'd son,

Stabb'd by the self-same hand that made these wounds!*
Lo, in those windows, that let forth thy life,
I pour the helpless balm of my poor eyes:-
Curs'd be the hand, that made these fatal holes!
Curs'd be the heart, that had the heart to do it!b
[Cursed the blood, that let this blood from hence!]
More direful hap betide that hated wretch,
That makes us wretched by the death of thee,
Than I can wish to adders, spiders, toads,d
Or any creeping venom'd thing that lives!
If ever he have child, abortive be it,
Prodigious, and untimely brought to light,
Whose ugly and unnatural aspéct

May fright the hopeful mother at the view;
[And that be heir to his unhappiness!]
If ever he have wife, let her be made

As† miserable by the death of him,

As I am made by my young lord and thee!-
Come, now towards Chertsey with your holy load,
Taken from Paul's to be interred there;

And still, as you are weary of the § weight,
Rest you, whiles I lament king Henry's corse.

b

Quartos, holes.

(1) First folio, Than.

[Bearers take up the corpse, and move forward.

Obsequiously lament-] That is, funereally lament.

(+) First folio, More.

(S) First folio, this.

Curs'd be the hand, that made these fatal holes!
Curs'd be the heart, that had the heart to do it!]

The folio gives these lines as follows:

"O cursed be the hand that made these holes :
Cursed the Heart, that had the heart to do it."

e Cursed the blood, &c.] A line not in the quartos.

Than I can wish to adders, spiders, toads,-] Thus the quartos; the folio reads,—

"to Wolves, to Spiders," &c.

And that be, &c.] A line omitted in the quartos.