1 Crofty-place is now Croby-fquare in Bishopfgate-ftreet. prodigal or lavish mood.

And chear his grace with quick and merry words.
Queen. If he were dead, what would betide of me?
Grey. No other harm than lofs of fuch a lord.
Queen. The lofs of fuch a lord includes all harms.

Whom God preferve better than you would wish!--
Cannot be quiet fcarce a breathing while,
But you must trouble him with lewd complaints.
Queen. Brother of Gloster, you mistake the mat-

Grey. The heavens have blefs'd you with a good-The king-of his own royal difpofition,

ly fon,

To be your comforter, when he is gone.
Queen. Ah, he is young; and his minority
Is put into the truft of Richard Glofter,
A man that loves not me, nor none of you.
Riv. Is it concluded, he fhall be protector?
Queen. It is determin'd, not concluded yet :
But fo it must be, if the king mifcarry.

Enter Buckingham, and Stanley.
Grey. Here come the lords of Buckingham and
Stanley!

have been!

Buck. Good time of day unto your royal grace!
Stanley. God make your majesty joyful as you
[of Stanley,
Queen. The countefs Richmond, good my lord
To your good prayer wiil scarcely fay-Amen.
Yet, Stanley, notwithstanding she's your wife,
And loves not me, be you, good lord, affur'd,
I hate not you for her proud arrogance.

Stanley. I do befeech you, either not believe
The envious flanders of her falfe accufers;
Or, if the be accus'd on true report,

Bear with her weakness, which, I think, proceeds
From wayward fickness, and no grounded malice.
Queen. Saw you the king do-day, my lord of
Stanley?

Stanley. But now the duke of Buckingham, and I,
Are come from vifiting his majesty.

chearfully.

Queen. What likelihood of his amendment, lords ? Buck. Madam, good hope; his grace fpeaks [with him? Queen. God grant him health! Did you confer Buck. Ay, madam : he defires to make atonement Between the duke of Glofter and your brothers, And between them and my lord chamberlain ; And sent to warn 2 them to his royal prefence. Queen. 'Would all were well!-But that will never be ;

I fear, our happiness is at the height.

Enter Glofter, Haflings, and Dorfet.
Glo. They do me wrong, and I will not endure
Who are they, that complain unto the king, [it
That I, forfooth, am ftern, and love them not?
By holy Paul, they love his grace but lightly,
That fill his ears with fuch diffentious rumours.
Because I cannot flatter, and fpeak fair,
Smile in men's faces, smooth, deceive, and cog,
Duck with French nods and apish courtesy,
I must be held a rancorous enemy.
Cannot a plain man live, and think no harm,
But thus his fimple truth must be abus'd
By filken, fly, infinuating Jacks ?

[grace?

Grey. To whom in all this prefence fpeaks your
Glo. To thee, that haft nor honefty, nor grace.
When have I injur'd thee? when done thee wrong?--
Or thee?-or thee ?-er any of your faction?
A plague upon you all! His royal grace,———

[ter:

And not provok'd by any fuitor else;
Aiming, belike, at your interior hatred,
That in your outward action fhews itself,
Against my children, brothers, and myself;
Makes him to fend; that thereby he may gather
The ground of your ill-will, and fo remove it.

Glo. I cannot tell :-The world is grown fo bad,
That wrens may prey where eagles dare not perch:
Since every Jack became a gentleman,
There's many a gentle perfon made a Jack.

Queen. Come, come, we know your meaning,
brother Glofter;

You envy my advancement, and my friends:
God grant, we never may have need of you!
Glo. Meantime, God grants that we have need
of you:

Our brother is imprifon'd by your means,
Myfelf difgrac'd, and the nobility

Held in contempt; while great promotions
Are daily given, to enoble those

[noble. That fcarce, fome two days fince, were worth a Queen. By Him, that rais'd me to this careful From that contented hap which I enjoy'd, [height never did incenfe his majesty

I

Against the duke of Clarence, but have been
An earnest advocate to plead for him.
My lord, you do me fhameful injury,
Falfely to draw me in thefe vile fufpects.
Glo. You may deny that you were not the cause
Of my lord Haftings' late imprifonment.
Rio. She may, my lord; for

[not fo?
Glo. She may, lord Rivers ?-why, who knows
She may do more, fir, than denying that:
She may help you to many fair preferments;
And then deny her aiding hand therein,
And lay thofe honours on your high defert. [fhe,-
What may the not? She may, ay, marry, may
Riv. What, marry, may fhe?

Glo. What, marry, may the? marry with a king,
A batchelor, a handfome stripling too :
1 wis, your grandam had a worfer match.
Queen. My lord of Glofter, I have too long borne
Your blunt upbraidings, and your bitter fcoffs :
By heaven, I will acquaint his majesty
Of thofe grofs taunts I often have endur'd.
I had rather be a country fervant-maid,
Than a great queen, with this condition-
To be fo baited, fcorn'd, and stormed at:
Small joy have I in being England's queen.
Enter Queen Margaret, bebind.

Q. Mar. And leffen'd be that fmall, God, I be-
feech thee!

Thy honour, state, and feat, is due to me. [king?

Glo. What! threat you me with telling of the
Tell him, and spare not; look, what I have faid
I will avouch in prefence of the king:

I dare adventure to be fent to the Tower.

1 Determin'd fignifies the final conclufion of the will: concluded, what cannot be altered by reason of fome act confequent on the final judgment.

2 i. e. to fummon them.

1 i. e. my labours. 2 Out is an interjection of abhorrence or contempt, frequent in the mouths of the common people of the North. 3 i. e. to make royal. 4 i. e. pillaged. 5 Gentle in

this place implics high-born. An oppofition is meant between that and villain, which means at once Alluding to his luxurious life,

Thou elvish-mark'd 1 abortive, rooting hog 2!
Thou that waft feal'd in thy nativity
The flave of nature 3, and the fun of hell!
Thou flander of thy mother's heavy womb!
Thou loathed iffue of thy father's loins !
Thou rag of honour 4! thou detefted-
Glo. Margaret.

2. Mar. Richard!

Glo. Ha?

2. Mar. I call thee not.

Glo. I cry thee mercy then; for I did think, That thou had'ft call'd me all these bitter names. 2. Mar. Why, fo I did; but look'd for no reply.

O, let me make the period to my curfe.
Glo. 'Tis done by me; and ends in—Margaret.
Queen. Thus have you breath'd your curfe
against yourself.
[fortune!
Q. Mar. Poor painted queen, vain flourish of my
Why ftrew'ft thou fugar on that bottled 5 fpider,
Whofe deadly web enfnareth thee about?
Fool, fool thou whett'it a knife to kill thyfelf.
The day will come, that thou fhalt with for me
To help thee curfe this pois'nous bunch-back'd
[curfe;
Haft. Falfe-boding woman, end thy frantick
Left, to thy harm, thou move our patience.

toad.

2. Mar. Foul thame upon you! you have all mov'd mine.

Riv. Were you well ferv'd, you would be taught your duty. [me duty, 9. Mar. To ferve me well, you all thould do Teach me to be your queen, and you my fubjects: O, ferve me well, and teach yourselves that duty. Dorf. Difpute not with her, the is lunatic.

9. Mar. Peace, mafter marquis, you are mal

apert;

Your fire-new ftamp of honour is fcarce current:
O, that your young nobility could judge,
What 'twere to lofe it, and be miferable! [them;
They that ftand high, have many biafts to thake
And, if they fall, they dash themfelves to pieces.
Glo. Good counfel, marry ;-learn it, learn it,

marquis.

Dorf. It touches you, my lord, as much as me.
Glo. Ay, and much more: But I was born fo
Our aiery buildeth in the cedar's top, [high,
And dallies with the wind, and fcorns the fun.
9. Mar. And turns the fun to shade;-alas!
alas!-

Witnefs my fun, now in the fhade of death;
Whofe bright out-thining beams thy cloudy wrath

Hath in eternal darkness folded up.

Your aiery buildeth in our aiery's neft :--
O God, that fee'ft it, do not fuffer it;
As it was won with blood, loft be it fo!

Buck. Peace, peace, for fhame, if not for charity.
2. Mar. Urge neither charity nor shame to me;
Uncharitably with me have you dealt,
And shamefully by you my hopes are butcher'd.
My charity is outrage, life my fhame,-
And in my fhame ftill live my forrow's rage!
Buck. Have done, have done.
[hand,
2. Mar. O princely Buckingham, I'll kifs thy
In fign of league and amity with thee:
Now fair befal thee, and thy noble houfe!
Thy garments are not spotted with our blood,
Nor thou within the compass of my curíe.

Buck. Nor no one here; for curfes never país
The lips of thofe that breathe them in the air.

Q. Mar. I'll not believe but they afcend the sky,
And there awake God's gentle-fleeping peace.
O Buckingham, beware of yonder dog;
Look, when he fawns, he bites; and, when he bites,
His venom tooth will rankle to the death :
Have not to do with him, beware of him; [him;
Sin, death, and hell, have fet their marks upon
And all their minifters attend on him. [ham?

Gl. What doth the fay, my lord of Bucking-
Buck. Nothing that I respect, my gracious lord.
2. Mar. What, doft thou fcorn me for my gen-
tle counfel?

And footh the devil that I warn thee from ?
O. but remember this another day,
When he shall split thy very heart with forrow;
And fay, poor Margaret was a propheters.—
Live each of you the fubjects to his hate,
And he to yours, and all of you to God's! [Exit."
Buck. My hair doth stand on end to hear her curies.
Kiv. And fo doth mine; I wonder, fhe's at liberty.
Glo. I cannot blame her, by God's holy mother
She hath had too much wrong, and I repent
My part thereof, that I have done to her.

Queen. I never did her any, to my knowledge.
Glo. Yet you have all the vantage of her wrong.
I was too hot to do fome body good,
That is too cold in thinking of it now.
Marry, as for Clarence, he is well repay'd ;
He is frank'd up 7 to fatting for his pains;
God pardon them that are the cause thereof!

Rio. A virtuous and a chriftian-like conclufion,
To pray for them that have done fcathe to us.

Glo. So do I ever, being well advis'd;-
For had I curs'd now, I had curs'd myself. [Afide.

1 The common people in Scotland have fill an averfion to those who have any natural defect or redundancy, as thinking them mark'd out for mifchief. She calls him hag, as an appeilation more contemptuous than boar, as he is elsewhere termed from his enfigns armorial. 3 The expreffior is ftrong and noble, and alludes to the ancient custom of masters branding their profligate flaves : by which it is infinuated, that his mifhapen perfon was the mark that nature had let upon him to ftigmatize his ill conditions. 4 Intimating, that much of his honour was torn away. SA spider is called bottled, because, like other infects, he has a middle flender and a belly protuberant. Richard's form and venom make her liken him to a spider. An atery is a hawk's or an eagle's neit. 7 Mr. Pope fays, that a frank is an old English word for a log-five, and that 'tis poffible he uses this metaphor to Clarence, in allufion to the crest of the family of York, which was a boar, Mr. Steevens however alerts, that a frank was not a common hog-flye, but the pen in which thofe hogs were confined of whom brawn was to be made. i. e. harm, mifchiet.

Enter

Enter Catefoy.

Catef. Madam, his majefty doth call for you,-
And for your grace,—and you, my noble lords.
Queen. Catesby, I come :-Lords, will you go
with me?

Riv. Madam, we will attend your grace.
[Exeunt all but Glofter.
Glo. I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl.
The fecret mischiefs that I fet abroach,
I lay unto the grievous charge of others.
Clarence, whom I, indeed, have laid in darkness,
I do beweep to many fimple gulls;
Namely, to Stanley, Haftings, Buckingham;
And tell them-'tis the queen and her allies,
That ftir the king against the duke my brother.
Now they believe it; and withal whet me
To be reveng'd on Rivers, Vaughan, Grey:
But then I figh, and, with a piece of fcripture,
Tell them that God bids us do good for evil:
And thus I clothe my naked villainy
With old odd ends, ftol'n forth of holy writ;
And feem a faint, when moft I play the devil.
Enter two Murderers.

But foft, here come my executioners.-
How now, my hardy, ftout, refolved mates?
Are you now going to dispatch this thing?

1 Mur. We are, my lord; and come to have the warrant,

[me:

That we may be admitted where he is.
Glo. Well thought upon, I have it here about
When you have done, repair to Crofoy-place.
But, firs, be fudden in the execution,
Withal obdurate, do not hear him plead;
For Clarence is well spoken, and, perhaps,
May move your hearts to pity, if you mark him.
1 Mar. Tut, tut, my lord, we will not ftand
to prate,

Talkers are no good doers; be affur'd,
We go to use our hands, and not our tongues.
Glo. Your eyes drop mill-ftones, when fools'
eyes drop tears:

I like you, lads;—about your business straight;
Go, go, dispatch.

1 Mar. We will, my noble lord.

SCENE IV.

An Apartment in the Tower.

Enter Clarence, and Brakenbury.

[Exeunt.

Brak. Why looks your grace fo heavily to-day?
Clar. O, I have past a miserable night,
So full of fearful dreams, of ugly fights,
That, as I am a chriftian faithful man*,
I would not spend another such a night,
Though 'twere to buy a world of happy days;
So full of difmal terror was the time.

Brak. What was your dream, my lord? I pray
you, tell me.

And, in my company, my brother Glofter:
Who from my cabin tempted me to walk
Upon the hatches; thence we look'd towards
England,

And cited up a thoufand heavy times,
During the wars of York and Lancaster
That had befall'n us. As we pac'd along
Upon the giddy footing of the hatches,
Methought, that Glofter ftumbled; and, in falling,
Struck me, that thought to stay him, over-board,
Into the tumbling billows of the main.

O Lord! methought what pain it was to drown!
What dreadful noife of water in mine ears!
What fights of ugly death within mine eyes!
Methought, I faw a thousand fearful wrecks;
A thousand men, that fishes gnaw'd upon;
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Ineftimable ftones, unvalued 3 jewels,

All scatter'd in the bottom of the fea.

Some lay in dead men's skulls; and, in those holes,
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept
(As 'twere in fcorn of eyes) reflecting gems,
That woo'd the flimy bottom of the deep,
And mock'd the dead bones that lay fcatter'd by.
Brak. Had you fuch leisure in the time of death,
To gaze upon these secrets of the deep?

Clar. Methought, I had; and often did I ftrive
To yield the ghost: but still the envious flood
Kept in my foul, and would not let it forth
To feek the empty, vaft, and wand'ring air;
But fmother'd it within my panting bulk,
Which almoft burst to belch it in the fea.

Brak. Awak'd you not with this fore agony?
Clar. O, no, my dream was lengthen'd after life;
O, then began the tempeft to my foul!
I pafs'd, methought, the melancholy flood,
With that grim ferryman which poets write of,
Unto the kingdom of perpetual night.

The firft that there did greet my stranger foul,
Was my great father-in-law, renowned Warwick;
Who cry'd aloud,-What feourge for perjury
Can this dark monarchy afford falfe Clarence?
And fo he vanifh'd: Then came wand'ring by
A fhadow like an angel, with bright hair
Dabbled in blood; and he fhriek'd out aloud,-
Clarence is come,falfe, fleeting 4, perjur'd Clarence,
That ftabb'd me in the field by Tewksbury ;—
Seize on him, furies, take him to your torments!—
With that, methought, a legion of foul fiends
Environ'd me, and howled in mine ears
Such hideous cries, that, with the very noife,
I trembling wak'd, and, for a season after,
Could not believe but that I was in hell;
Such tertible impreffion made my dream.

Brak. No marvel, lord, that it affrighted you;

I am afraid, methinks, to hear you tell it.
Clar. O, Brakenbury, I have done thefe
things,-

Clar. Methought, that I had broken from the That now give evidence against my foul,

Tower,

For Edward's fake; and, fee, how he requites me!
O God! if my deep prayers cannot appease thee,