Glo. Your highness shall do well, to grant her suit; * It were dishonour, to deny it her. K. Edw. It were no less; but yet I'll make a pause. Glo. Yea! is it so ?6 I see, the lady hath a thing to grant, [Aside to CLAR. Before the king will grant her humble suit. Clar. He knows the game; How true he keeps the wind? Glo. Silence! Aside. Aside. K. Edw. Widow, we will consider" of your suit; And come some other time, to know our mind. L. Grey. Right gracious lord, I cannot brook delay: May it please your highness to resolve me now; And what your pleasure is, shall satisfy me. Glo. [aside] Ay, widow? then I'll warrant you all An if what pleases him, shall pleasure you. victory at Towton, on the 29th of March, 1461. The present scene is laid in 1464. Shakspeare in new moulding this play followed implicitly his author, (for these five lines, with only a slight variation in the third, and fifth, are found in the old play,) without giving himself the trouble to examine the history; but a few years afterwards, when he had occasion to write his Richard III, and was not warped by a preceding misrepresentation of another writer, he stated from the chronicles this matter truly as it was; and this is one of the numerous circumstances that prove incontestably, in my apprehension, that he was not the original author of this and the preceding play. In King Richard III, Act I, sc. iii, Richard addressing him-. self to Queen Elizabeth, (the lady Grey of the present scene) says: "In all which time you, and your husband Grey, He calls it Margaret's battle, because she was there victorious.. Malone. 6 Glo. Yea! is it so &c.] So, the folio. The quartos read with: the following variations: "Glo. I, Is the wind in that door? "Clar. I see the lady," &c. Steevens. 7 Widow, we will consider -] This is a very lively and spritely dialogue; the reciprocation is quicker than is common in Shake speare. Johnson. 1 * Clar. I fear her not, unless she chance to fall. Aside. *Glo. God forbid that! for he 'll take vantages. [Aside. K. Edw. How many childron hast thou, widow? tell me. Clar. I think, he means to beg a child of her. [Aside. Glo. Nay, whip me then; he 'll rather give her two. [Aside. L. Grey. Three, my most gracious lord. land. L. Grey. Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant it then. wit. Glo. Ay, good leave have you; for you will have leave, 'Till youth take leave, and leave you to the crutch. [GLO. and CLAR. retire to the other side. * K. Edw. Now tell me, madam, do you love your children? * L. Grey. Ay, full as dearly as I love myself. * K. Edw. And would you not do much, to do them good? *L. Grey. To do them good, I would sustain some harm. * K. Edw. Then get your husband's lands, to do them good. *L. Grey. Therefore I came unto your majesty. K. Edw. I'll tell you how these lands are to be got. * L. Grey. So shall you bind me to your highness' service. * K. Edw. What service wilt thou do me, if I give them? * L. Grey. What you command, that rests in me to do. * K. Edw. But you will take exceptions to my boon. * L. Grey. No, gracious lord, except I cannot do it. * K. Edw. Ay, but thou canst do what I mean to ask. * L. Grey. Why, then I will do what your grace commands. 3 good leave have you;] So, in King John: Good leave; good Philip." Good leave, are words implying readiness of assent. Steevens *Glo. He plies her hard; and much rain wears the marble.9 [Aside. * Clar. As red as fire! nay, then her wax must melt. [Aside. L. Grey. Why stops my lord? shall I not hear my task? ject. K. Edw. Why then, thy husband's lands I freely give thee. L. Grey. I take my leave, with many thousand thanks. Glo. The match is made; she seals it with a curt'sy. 'K. Edw. But stay thee, 'tis the fruits of love I mean. * L. Grey. The fruits of love I mean, my loving liege. * K. Edw. Ay, but, I fear me, in another sense. What love, think'st thou, I sue so much to get? L. Grey. My love till death,1 my humble thanks, my prayers; That love, which virtue begs, and virtue grants. K. Edw. No, by my troth, I did not mean such love. *L. Grey. Why, then you mean not as I thought you did. * K. Edw. But now you partly may perceive my mind. * L. Grey. My mind will never grant what I perceive * Your highness aims at, if I aim aright. K. Edw. To tell thee plain, I aim to lie with thee. * L. Grey. To tell you plain, I had rather lie in prison. K. Edw. Why, then thou shalt not have thy husband's lands. L. Grey. Why, then mine honesty shall be my dower; For by that loss I will not purchase them. • K. Edw. Therein thou wrong'st thy children mightily. L. Grey. Herein your highness wrongs both them and me. 9 much rain wears the marble.] So, in Watson's 47th Son net: "In time the marble weares with weakest showres." See note on Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays, edit. 1780, Vol. XII, p. 387. Steevens. 1 My love till death, &c.] The variation is here worth noting. In the old play we here find "My humble service, such as subjects owe, But, mighty lord, this merry inclination K. Edw. Ay; if thou wilt say ay, to my request: L. Grey. Then, no, my lord. My suit is at an end. Glo. The widow likes him not, she knits her brows. [Aside. Clar. He is the bluntest wooer in Christendom. [Aside. K. Edw. [aside] Her looks do argue her replete with modesty ;3 *Her words do show her wit incomparable; And she shall be my love, or else my queen.- L. Grey. 'Tis better said than done, my gracious lord: I am a subject fit to jest withal, But far unfit to be a sovereign. K. Edw. Sweet widow, by my state I swear to thee, I speak no more than what my soul intends; And that is, to enjoy thee for my love. L. Grey. And that is more than I will yield unto: I know, I am too mean to be your queen; And yet too good to be your concubine. 2 the sadness] i. e. the seriousness. So, in Romeo and Juliet: "Tell me in sadness who is she you love." Steevens. 3 Her looks do argue her replete with modesty;] So, the folio. The quartos read: "Her looks are all replete with majesty.” Steevens. 4 And yet too good to be your concubine.] So, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, B. VII, chap. xxxiv: "His plea was love, my suit was land: I plie him, he plies me; "Too bace to be his queen, too good his concubine to be." Shakspeare, however, adopted the words from Stowe's Chronicle. Steevens These words, which are found in the old play, (except that we there have bad, instead of mean,) were taken by the author of that piece from Hall's Chronicle: "—whiche demaund she so wisely and with so covert speeche aunswered and repugned, af fyrming that as she was for his honour far unable to be his spouse and bedfellowe, so for her awne poor honestie she was to good K. Edw. You cavil, widow; I did mean, my queen. L. Grey. 'Twill grieve your grace, my sons should call you-father. K. Edw. No more than when my daughters call thee mother. Thou art a widow,5 and thou hast some children; To be the father unto many sons. Answer no more, for thou shalt be my queen. [Aside. K. Edw. Brothers, you muse what chat we two have had. *Glo. The widow likes it not, for she looks sad." K. Edw. You'd think it strange, if I should marry her. Clar. To whom, my lord? K. Edw. Why, Clarence, to myself. Glo. That would be ten days' wonder, at the least. Clar. That's a day longer than wonder lasts.7 Glo. By so much is the wonder in extremes. K. Edw. Well, jest on, brothers: I can tell you both, Her suit is granted for her husband's lands. Enter a Nobleman. Nob. My gracious lord, Henry your foe is taken, And brought your prisoner to your palace gate. K. Edw. See, that he be convey'd unto the Tower:And go we, brothers, to the man that took him, to be either his concubine, or sovereigne lady; that were he was a littell before heated with the dart of Cupido, he was nowe," &c. Malone. 5 Thou art a widow, &c.] This is part of the King's reply to his mother in Stowe's Chronicle: "That she is a widow, and hath already children; by God's blessed lady I am a batchelor, and have some too, and so each of us hath a proofe that neither of us is like to be barrain;" &c. Steevens. 6 — she looks sad.] Old copy-very sad. For the sake of metre I have omitted this useless adverb. Steevens. That's a day longer &c.] A nine days wonder was proverbial. Thus, in a Sermon at Paul's Crosse, Nov. 25, 1621, by Henry King, p. 53: "Por mendacia diu non fallunt, and having arrived at nine days, the age of a wonder, died in laughter." Reed. |