| ACT III SCENE II | London. The palace. | |
| [
Enter KING EDWARD IV, GLOUCESTER, CLARENCE, and
LADY GREY
] |
| KING EDWARD IV | Brother of Gloucester, at Saint Alban's field |
| This lady's husband, Sir Richard Grey, was slain, |
| His lands then seized on by the conqueror: |
| Her suit is now to repossess those lands; |
| Which we in justice cannot well deny, | 5 |
| Because in quarrel of the house of York |
| The worthy gentleman did lose his life. |
| GLOUCESTER | Your highness shall do well to grant her suit; |
| It were dishonour to deny it her. |
| KING EDWARD IV | It were no less; but yet I'll make a pause. | 10 |
| GLOUCESTER | [Aside to CLARENCE] Yea, is it so?
|
| I see the lady hath a thing to grant, |
| Before the king will grant her humble suit. |
| CLARENCE | [Aside to GLOUCESTER] He knows the game: how true
|
| he keeps the wind! | 15 |
| GLOUCESTER | [Aside to CLARENCE] Silence!
|
| KING EDWARD IV | Widow, we will consider of your suit; |
| And come some other time to know our mind. |
| LADY GREY | Right gracious lord, I cannot brook delay: |
| May it please your highness to resolve me now; | 20 |
| And what your pleasure is, shall satisfy me. |
| GLOUCESTER | [Aside to CLARENCE] Ay, widow? then I'll warrant
|
| you all your lands, |
| An if what pleases him shall pleasure you. |
| Fight closer, or, good faith, you'll catch a blow. | 25 |
| CLARENCE | [Aside to GLOUCESTER] I fear her not, unless she
|
| chance to fall. |
| GLOUCESTER | [Aside to CLARENCE] God forbid that! for he'll
|
| take vantages. |
| KING EDWARD IV | How many children hast thou, widow? tell me. | 30 |
| CLARENCE | [Aside to GLOUCESTER] I think he means to beg a
|
| child of her. |
| GLOUCESTER | [Aside to CLARENCE] Nay, whip me then: he'll rather
|
| give her two. |
| LADY GREY | Three, my most gracious lord. | 35 |
| GLOUCESTER | [Aside to CLARENCE] You shall have four, if you'll
|
| be ruled by him. |
| KING EDWARD IV | 'Twere pity they should lose their father's lands. |
| LADY GREY | Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant it then. |
| KING EDWARD IV | Lords, give us leave: I'll try this widow's wit. | 40 |
| GLOUCESTER | [Aside to CLARENCE] Ay, good leave have you; for
|
| you will have leave, |
| Till youth take leave and leave you to the crutch. |
| [GLOUCESTER and CLARENCE retire] |
| KING EDWARD IV | Now tell me, madam, do you love your children? |
| LADY GREY | Ay, full as dearly as I love myself. | 45 |
| KING EDWARD IV | And would you not do much to do them good? |
| LADY GREY | To do them good, I would sustain some harm. |
| KING EDWARD IV | Then get your husband's lands, to do them good. |
| LADY GREY | Therefore I came unto your majesty. |
| KING EDWARD IV | I'll tell you how these lands are to be got. | 50 |
| LADY GREY | So shall you bind me to your highness' service. |
| KING EDWARD IV | What service wilt thou do me, if I give them? |
| LADY GREY | What you command, that rests in me to do. |
| KING EDWARD IV | But you will take exceptions to my boon. |
| LADY GREY | No, gracious lord, except I cannot do it. | 55 |
| KING EDWARD IV | Ay, but thou canst do what I mean to ask. |
| LADY GREY | Why, then I will do what your grace commands. |
| GLOUCESTER | [Aside to CLARENCE] He plies her hard; and much rain
|
| wears the marble. |
| CLARENCE | [Aside to GLOUCESTER] As red as fire! nay, then
| 60 |
| her wax must melt. |
| LADY GREY | Why stops my lord, shall I not hear my task? |
| KING EDWARD IV | An easy task; 'tis but to love a king. |
| LADY GREY | That's soon perform'd, because I am a subject. |
| KING EDWARD IV | Why, then, thy husband's lands I freely give thee. | 65 |
| LADY GREY | I take my leave with many thousand thanks. |
| GLOUCESTER | [Aside to CLARENCE] The match is made; she seals it
|
| with a curtsy. |
| KING EDWARD IV | But stay thee, 'tis the fruits of love I mean. |
| LADY GREY | The fruits of love I mean, my loving liege. | 70 |
| KING EDWARD IV | Ay, but, I fear me, in another sense. |
| What love, think'st thou, I sue so much to get?
|
| LADY GREY | My love till death, my humble thanks, my prayers; |
| That love which virtue begs and virtue grants. |
| KING EDWARD IV | No, by my troth, I did not mean such love. | 75 |
| LADY GREY | Why, then you mean not as I thought you did. |
| KING EDWARD IV | But now you partly may perceive my mind. |
| LADY GREY | My mind will never grant what I perceive |
| Your highness aims at, if I aim aright. |
| KING EDWARD IV | To tell thee plain, I aim to lie with thee. | 80 |
| LADY GREY | To tell you plain, I had rather lie in prison. |
| KING EDWARD IV | Why, then thou shalt not have thy husband's lands. |
| LADY GREY | Why, then mine honesty shall be my dower; |
| For by that loss I will not purchase them. |
| KING EDWARD IV | Therein thou wrong'st thy children mightily. | 85 |
| LADY GREY | Herein your highness wrongs both them and me. |
| But, mighty lord, this merry inclination |
| Accords not with the sadness of my suit: |
| Please you dismiss me either with 'ay' or 'no.' |
| KING EDWARD IV | Ay, if thou wilt say 'ay' to my request; | 90 |
| No if thou dost say 'no' to my demand. |
| LADY GREY | Then, no, my lord. My suit is at an end. |
| GLOUCESTER | [Aside to CLARENCE] The widow likes him not, she
|
| knits her brows. |
| CLARENCE | [Aside to GLOUCESTER] He is the bluntest wooer in
| 95 |
| Christendom. |
| KING EDWARD IV | [Aside] Her looks do argue her replete with modesty;
|
| Her words do show her wit incomparable; |
| All her perfections challenge sovereignty: |
| One way or other, she is for a king; | 100 |
| And she shall be my love, or else my queen.-- |
| Say that King Edward take thee for his queen? |
| LADY GREY | 'Tis better said than done, my gracious lord: |
| I am a subject fit to jest withal, |
| But far unfit to be a sovereign. | 105 |
| KING EDWARD IV | 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. |
| LADY GREY | And that is more than I will yield unto: |
| I know I am too mean to be your queen, | 110 |
| And yet too good to be your concubine. |
| KING EDWARD IV | You cavil, widow: I did mean, my queen. |
| LADY GREY | 'Twill grieve your grace my sons should call you father. |
| KING EDWARD IV | No more than when my daughters call thee mother. |
| Thou art a widow, and thou hast some children; | 115 |
| And, by God's mother, I, being but a bachelor, |
| Have other some: why, 'tis a happy thing |
| To be the father unto many sons. |
| Answer no more, for thou shalt be my queen. |
| GLOUCESTER | [Aside to CLARENCE] The ghostly father now hath done
| 120 |
| his shrift. |
| CLARENCE | [Aside to GLOUCESTER] When he was made a shriver,
|
| 'twas for shift. |
| KING EDWARD IV | Brothers, you muse what chat we two have had. |
| GLOUCESTER | The widow likes it not, for she looks very sad. | 125 |
| KING EDWARD IV | You'll think it strange if I should marry her. |
| CLARENCE | To whom, my lord? |
| KING EDWARD IV | Why, Clarence, to myself. |
| GLOUCESTER | That would be ten days' wonder at the least. |
| CLARENCE | That's a day longer than a wonder lasts. | 130 |
| GLOUCESTER | By so much is the wonder in extremes. |
| KING EDWARD IV | Well, jest on, brothers: I can tell you both |
| Her suit is granted for her husband's lands. |
| [Enter a Nobleman] |
| Nobleman | My gracious lord, Henry your foe is taken, |
| And brought your prisoner to your palace gate. | 135 |
| KING EDWARD IV | See that he be convey'd unto the Tower: |
| And go we, brothers, to the man that took him, |
| To question of his apprehension. |
| Widow, go you along. Lords, use her honourably. |
| [Exeunt all but GLOUCESTER] |
| GLOUCESTER | Ay, Edward will use women honourably. | 140 |
| Would he were wasted, marrow, bones and all, |
| That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring, |
| To cross me from the golden time I look for! |
| And yet, between my soul's desire and me-- |
| The lustful Edward's title buried-- | 145 |
| Is Clarence, Henry, and his son young Edward, |
| And all the unlook'd for issue of their bodies, |
| To take their rooms, ere I can place myself: |
| A cold premeditation for my purpose! |
| Why, then, I do but dream on sovereignty; | 150 |
| Like one that stands upon a promontory, |
| And spies a far-off shore where he would tread, |
| Wishing his foot were equal with his eye, |
| And chides the sea that sunders him from thence, |
| Saying, he'll lade it dry to have his way: | 155 |
| So do I wish the crown, being so far off; |
| And so I chide the means that keeps me from it; |
| And so I say, I'll cut the causes off, |
| Flattering me with impossibilities. |
| My eye's too quick, my heart o'erweens too much, | 160 |
| Unless my hand and strength could equal them. |
| Well, say there is no kingdom then for Richard; |
| What other pleasure can the world afford? |
| I'll make my heaven in a lady's lap, |
| And deck my body in gay ornaments, | 165 |
| And witch sweet ladies with my words and looks. |
| O miserable thought! and more unlikely |
| Than to accomplish twenty golden crowns! |
| Why, love forswore me in my mother's womb: |
| And, for I should not deal in her soft laws, | 170 |
| She did corrupt frail nature with some bribe, |
| To shrink mine arm up like a wither'd shrub; |
| To make an envious mountain on my back, |
| Where sits deformity to mock my body; |
| To shape my legs of an unequal size; | 175 |
| To disproportion me in every part, |
| Like to a chaos, or an unlick'd bear-whelp |
| That carries no impression like the dam. |
| And am I then a man to be beloved? |
| O monstrous fault, to harbour such a thought! | 180 |
| Then, since this earth affords no joy to me, |
| But to command, to cheque, to o'erbear such |
| As are of better person than myself, |
| I'll make my heaven to dream upon the crown, |
| And, whiles I live, to account this world but hell, | 185 |
| Until my mis-shaped trunk that bears this head |
| Be round impaled with a glorious crown. |
| And yet I know not how to get the crown, |
| For many lives stand between me and home: |
| And I,--like one lost in a thorny wood, | 190 |
| That rends the thorns and is rent with the thorns, |
| Seeking a way and straying from the way; |
| Not knowing how to find the open air, |
| But toiling desperately to find it out,-- |
| Torment myself to catch the English crown: | 195 |
| And from that torment I will free myself, |
| Or hew my way out with a bloody axe. |
| Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile, |
| And cry 'Content' to that which grieves my heart, |
| And wet my cheeks with artificial tears, | 200 |
| And frame my face to all occasions. |
| I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall; |
| I'll slay more gazers than the basilisk; |
| I'll play the orator as well as Nestor, |
| Deceive more slily than Ulysses could, | 205 |
| And, like a Sinon, take another Troy. |
| I can add colours to the chameleon, |
| Change shapes with Proteus for advantages, |
| And set the murderous Machiavel to school. |
| Can I do this, and cannot get a crown? | 210 |
| Tut, were it farther off, I'll pluck it down. |
[Exit] |
The Essential Student History Quiz (with answers and illustrations)