The Third Part Of King Henry The Sixth

1 Enter King Edward, Richard (Duke of Gloucester), George (Duke of
2 Clarence) and Lady Grey.
3 KING EDWARD.
4 Brother of Gloucester, at Saint Albans field
5 This lady’s husband, Sir John Grey, was slain,
6 His land then seized on by the conqueror.
7 Her suit is now to repossess those lands,
8 Which we in justice cannot well deny,
9 Because in quarrel of the house of York
10 The worthy gentleman did lose his life.
11 RICHARD.
12 Your Highness shall do well to grant her suit;
13 It were dishonour to deny it her.
14 KING EDWARD.
15 It were no less; but yet I’ll make a pause.
16 RICHARD.
17 [_Aside to George_.] Yea, is it so?
18 I see the lady hath a thing to grant
19 Before the King will grant her humble suit.
20 GEORGE.
21 [_Aside to Richard_.] He knows the game; how true he keeps the wind!
22 RICHARD.
23 [_Aside to George_.] Silence!
24 KING EDWARD.
25 Widow, we will consider of your suit,
26 And come some other time to know our mind.
27 LADY GREY.
28 Right gracious lord, I cannot brook delay.
29 May it please your Highness to resolve me now,
30 And what your pleasure is shall satisfy me.
31 RICHARD.
32 [_Aside to George_.] Ay, widow? Then I’ll warrant you all your lands,
33 An if what pleases him shall pleasure you.
34 Fight closer, or, good faith, you’ll catch a blow.
35 GEORGE.
36 [_Aside to Richard_.] I fear her not, unless she chance to fall.
37 RICHARD.
38 [_Aside to George_.] God forbid that, for he’ll take vantages.
39 KING EDWARD.
40 How many children hast thou, widow? Tell me.
41 GEORGE.
42 [_Aside to Richard_.] I think he means to beg a child of her.
43 RICHARD.
44 [_Aside to George_.] Nay, whip me then; he’ll rather give her two.
45 LADY GREY.
46 Three, my most gracious lord.
47 RICHARD.
48 [_Aside to George_.] You shall have four if you’ll be ruled by him.
49 KING EDWARD.
50 ’Twere pity they should lose their father’s lands.
51 LADY GREY.
52 Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant it then.
53 KING EDWARD.
54 Lords, give us leave; I’ll try this widow’s wit.
55 RICHARD.
56 [_Aside to George_.] Ay, good leave have you; for you will have leave
57 Till youth take leave and leave you to the crutch.
58 [_Richard and George stand aside._]
59 KING EDWARD.
60 Now tell me, madam, do you love your children?
61 LADY GREY.
62 Ay, full as dearly as I love myself.
63 KING EDWARD.
64 And would you not do much to do them good?
65 LADY GREY.
66 To do them good I would sustain some harm.
67 KING EDWARD.
68 Then get your husband’s lands to do them good.
69 LADY GREY.
70 Therefore I came unto your majesty.
71 KING EDWARD.
72 I’ll tell you how these lands are to be got.
73 LADY GREY.
74 So shall you bind me to your Highness’ service.
75 KING EDWARD.
76 What service wilt thou do me if I give them?
77 LADY GREY.
78 What you command that rests in me to do.
79 KING EDWARD.
80 But you will take exceptions to my boon.
81 LADY GREY.
82 No, gracious lord, except I cannot do it.
83 KING EDWARD.
84 Ay, but thou canst do what I mean to ask.
85 LADY GREY.
86 Why, then, I will do what your Grace commands.
87 RICHARD.
88 [_Aside to George_.] He plies her hard; and much rain wears the marble.
89 GEORGE.
90 [_Aside to Richard_.] As red as fire! Nay, then her wax must melt.
91 LADY GREY.
92 Why stops my lord? Shall I not hear my task?
93 KING EDWARD.
94 An easy task; ’tis but to love a king.
95 LADY GREY.
96 That’s soon performed, because I am a subject.
97 KING EDWARD.
98 Why, then, thy husband’s lands I freely give thee.
99 LADY GREY.
100 I take my leave with many thousand thanks.
101 RICHARD.
102 [_Aside to George_.] The match is made; she seals it with a curtsy.
103 KING EDWARD.
104 But stay thee; ’tis the fruits of love I mean.
105 LADY GREY.
106 The fruits of love I mean, my loving liege.
107 KING EDWARD.
108 Ay, but, I fear me, in another sense.
109 What love, thinkst thou, I sue so much to get?
110 LADY GREY.
111 My love till death, my humble thanks, my prayers;
112 That love which virtue begs, and virtue grants.
113 KING EDWARD.
114 No, by my troth, I did not mean such love.
115 LADY GREY.
116 Why, then, you mean not as I thought you did.
117 KING EDWARD.
118 But now you partly may perceive my mind.
119 LADY GREY.
120 My mind will never grant what I perceive
121 Your Highness aims at, if I aim aright.
122 KING EDWARD.
123 To tell thee plain, I aim to lie with thee.
124 LADY GREY.
125 To tell you plain, I had rather lie in prison.
126 KING EDWARD.
127 Why, then thou shalt not have thy husband’s lands.
128 LADY GREY.
129 Why, then mine honesty shall be my dower,
130 For by that loss I will not purchase them.
131 KING EDWARD.
132 Therein thou wrong’st thy children mightily.
133 LADY GREY.
134 Herein your Highness wrongs both them and me.
135 But, mighty lord, this merry inclination
136 Accords not with the sadness of my suit.
137 Please you dismiss me either with ay or no.
138 KING EDWARD.
139 Ay, if thou wilt say ay to my request;
140 No, if thou dost say no to my demand.
141 LADY GREY.
142 Then no, my lord. My suit is at an end.
143 RICHARD.
144 [_Aside to George_.] The widow likes him not, she knits her brows.
145 GEORGE.
146 [_Aside to Richard_.] He is the bluntest wooer in Christendom.
147 KING EDWARD.
148 [_Aside_.] Her looks doth argue her replete with modesty;
149 Her words doth show her wit incomparable;
150 All her perfections challenge sovereignty.
151 One way or other, she is for a king,
152 And she shall be my love, or else my queen.—
153 Say that King Edward take thee for his queen?
154 LADY GREY.
155 ’Tis better said than done, my gracious lord.
156 I am a subject fit to jest withal,
157 But far unfit to be a sovereign.
158 KING EDWARD.
159 Sweet widow, by my state I swear to thee,
160 I speak no more than what my soul intends;
161 And that is to enjoy thee for my love.
162 LADY GREY.
163 And that is more than I will yield unto.
164 I know I am too mean to be your queen,
165 And yet too good to be your concubine.
166 KING EDWARD.
167 You cavil, widow; I did mean my queen.
168 LADY GREY.
169 ’Twill grieve your Grace my sons should call you father.
170 KING EDWARD.
171 No more than when my daughters call thee mother.
172 Thou art a widow, and thou hast some children;
173 And, by God’s mother, I, being but a bachelor,
174 Have other some. Why, ’tis a happy thing
175 To be the father unto many sons.
176 Answer no more, for thou shalt be my queen.
177 RICHARD.
178 [_Aside to George_.] The ghostly father now hath done his shrift.
179 GEORGE.
180 [_Aside to Richard_.] When he was made a shriver, ’twas for shift.
181 KING EDWARD.
182 Brothers, you muse what chat we two have had.
183 Richard and George come forward.
184 RICHARD.
185 The widow likes it not, for she looks very sad.
186 KING EDWARD.
187 You’d think it strange if I should marry her.
188 GEORGE.
189 To whom, my lord?
190 KING EDWARD.
191 Why, Clarence, to myself.
192 RICHARD.
193 That would be ten days’ wonder at the least.
194 GEORGE.
195 That’s a day longer than a wonder lasts.
196 RICHARD.
197 By so much is the wonder in extremes.
198 KING EDWARD.
199 Well, jest on, brothers. I can tell you both
200 Her suit is granted for her husband’s lands.
201 Enter a Nobleman.
202 NOBLEMAN.
203 My gracious lord, Henry your foe is taken,
204 And brought your prisoner to your palace gate.
205 KING EDWARD.
206 See that he be conveyed unto the Tower.
207 And go we, brothers, to the man that took him,
208 To question of his apprehension.
209 Widow, go you along. Lords, use her honourably.
210 [_Exeunt all but Richard._]
211 RICHARD.
212 Ay, Edward will use women honourably.
213 Would he were wasted, marrow, bones, and all,
214 That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring,
215 To cross me from the golden time I look for!
216 And yet, between my soul’s desire and me—
217 The lustful Edward’s title buried—
218 Is Clarence, Henry, and his son young Edward,
219 And all the unlooked-for issue of their bodies,
220 To take their rooms ere I can place myself.
221 A cold premeditation for my purpose!
222 Why then I do but dream on sovereignty;
223 Like one that stands upon a promontory
224 And spies a far-off shore where he would tread,
225 Wishing his foot were equal with his eye,
226 And chides the sea that sunders him from thence,
227 Saying he’ll lade it dry to have his way.
228 So do I wish the crown, being so far off,
229 And so I chide the means that keeps me from it;
230 And so I say I’ll cut the causes off,
231 Flattering me with impossibilities.
232 My eye’s too quick, my heart o’erweens too much,
233 Unless my hand and strength could equal them.
234 Well, say there is no kingdom then for Richard,
235 What other pleasure can the world afford?
236 I’ll make my heaven in a lady’s lap,
237 And deck my body in gay ornaments,
238 And ’witch sweet ladies with my words and looks.
239 O miserable thought, and more unlikely
240 Than to accomplish twenty golden crowns.
241 Why, Love forswore me in my mother’s womb,
242 And, for I should not deal in her soft laws,
243 She did corrupt frail Nature with some bribe
244 To shrink mine arm up like a withered shrub;
245 To make an envious mountain on my back,
246 Where sits Deformity to mock my body;
247 To shape my legs of an unequal size;
248 To disproportion me in every part,
249 Like to a chaos, or an unlicked bear-whelp
250 That carries no impression like the dam.
251 And am I then a man to be beloved?
252 O monstrous fault to harbour such a thought!
253 Then, since this earth affords no joy to me
254 But to command, to check, to o’erbear such
255 As are of better person than myself,
256 I’ll make my heaven to dream upon the crown,
257 And, whiles I live, t’ account this world but hell
258 Until my misshaped trunk that bear this head
259 Be round impaled with a glorious crown.
260 And yet I know not how to get the crown,
261 For many lives stand between me and home;
262 And I, like one lost in a thorny wood,
263 That rents the thorns, and is rent with the thorns,
264 Seeking a way, and straying from the way,
265 Not knowing how to find the open air,
266 But toiling desperately to find it out,
267 Torment myself to catch the English crown.
268 And from that torment I will free myself,
269 Or hew my way out with a bloody axe.
270 Why, I can smile, and murder while I smile,
271 And cry “Content!” to that which grieves my heart,
272 And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,
273 And frame my face to all occasions.
274 I’ll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall,
275 I’ll slay more gazers than the basilisk;
276 I’ll play the orator as well as Nestor,
277 Deceive more slyly than Ulysses could,
278 And, like a Sinon, take another Troy.
279 I can add colours to the chameleon,
280 Change shapes with Proteus for advantages,
281 And set the murderous Machiavel to school.
282 Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?
283 Tut, were it farther off, I’ll pluck it down.
284 [_Exit._]