Thou flander of thy mother's heavy womb!
Thou loathed iffue of thy father's loins!

Thou rag of honour! thou detested

Glo. I cry thee mercy then; for I did think,
That thou had'ft call'd me all these bitter names.
2. Mar. Why, so I did; but look'd for no reply.
O, let me make the period to my curse.

Glo. 'Tis done by me; and ends in-Margaret.

2. Eliz. Thus have you breath'd your curse against yourself.

2. Mar. Poor painted queen, vain flourish of my for

tune!

Why strew'st thou sugar on that bottled spider,

Whose deadly web ensnareth thee about?

Fool, fool! thou whet'ft a knife to kill thyself.

The day will come, that thou shalt wish for me
To help thee curfe this pois'nous bunch-back'd toad.
Haft. Falfe-boding woman, end thy frantick curfe;
Left, to thy harm, thou move our patience.

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

mine.

Riv. Were you well ferv'd, you would be taught your

duty.

2. Mar. To serve me well, you all should do me duty, Teach me to be your queen, and you my subjects: O, serve me well, and teach yourselves that duty. Dor. Difpute not with her, she is lunatick.

2. Mar. Peace, master marquis, you are malapert: Your fire-new stamp of honour is fcarce current: O, that your young nobility could judge,

What 'twere to lose it, and be miserable!

They that stand high, have many blasts to shake them; And, if they fall, they dash themselves to pieces.

Glo. Good counfel, marry ;-learn it, learn it, marquis. Dor. It touches you, my lord, as much as me. Glo. Ay, and much more: But I was born fo high, Our aiery buildeth in the cedar's top,

And dallies with the wind, and fcorns the fun.

2. Mar. And turns the fun to fhade ;-alas! alas!Witness my fon, now in the fhade of death; Whose bright outthining beams thy cloudy wrath Hath in eternal darkness folded up. Your aiery buildeth in our aiery's neft :O God, that fee'st it, do not suffer 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 fhame to me; Uncharitably with me have you dealt,

And shamefully by you my hopes are butcher'd.
My charity is outrage, life my shame,— ›
And in my shame still live my forrow's rage!
Buck. Have done, have done.

2. Mar. O princely Buckingham, I kiss thy hand, In fign of league and amity with thee:

Now fair befal thee, and thy noble house!

Thy garments are not spotted with our blood,
Nor thou within the compass of my curse.

Buck. Nor no one here; for curfes never pass
The lips of those that breathe them in the air.
2. Mar. I'll not believe but they ascend 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;

Sin, death, and hell, have fet their marks on him;
And all their minifters attend on him.

Glo. What doth the fay, my lord of Buckingham?
Buck. Nothing that I refpect, my gracious lord.

2. Mar. What, doft thou scorn me for my gentle coun

fel?

And footh the devil that I warn thee from?

O, but remember this another day,

When he shall split thy very heart wit forrow;
And say, poor Margaret was a prophe.efs.—
Live each of you the fubjects to his hate,

And he to yours, and all of you to God's!

[Exit.

Haft. My hair doth stand on end to hear her curfes.
Riv. And fo doth mine; I mufe, why the'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.

2. Eliz. 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 to fatting for his pains ;-
God pardon them that are the cause thereof!

Riv. A virtuous and a christian-like conclufion,
To pray for them that have done fcath to us.
Glo. So do I ever, being well advis'd ;—
For had I curs'd now, I had curs'd myself.

Enter CATESBY.

Catef. Madam, his majesty doth call for you,— And for your grace,—and you, my noble lords.

[Afide.

2. Eliz.

26

2. Eliz. Catesby, I come :-Lords, will you go with me? Riv. Madam, we will attend upon your grace.

[Exeunt all but GLOSTER.

Glo. I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl.
The fecret mifchiefs 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 stir 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 scripture,
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, stout, resolved mates?
Are you now going to despatch this thing?

1 Murd. We are, my lord; and come to have the war

rant,

That we may be admitted where he is.

Glo. Well thought upon, I have it here about me:

[Gives the warrant.

When you have done, repair to Crosby-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 Murd.

1 Murd. Tut, tut, my lord, we will not stand to prate, Talkers are no good doers; be afsur'd,

We go to use our hands, and not our tongues.

Glo. Your eyes drop millftones, when fools' eyes drop

tears:

I like you, lads;-about your business straight;

Brak, Why looks your grace so heavily to-day?
Clar. O, I have pafs'd a miferable night,
So full of fearful dreams, of ugly fights,
That, as I am a chriftian faithful man,
I would not spend another fuch 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.

Clar. Methought, that I had broken from the Tower, And was embark'd to cross to Burgundy;

And, in my company, my brother Glofter:

Who from my cabin tempted me to walk

Upon the hatches; thence we look'd toward England,
And cited up a thousand 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