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O God, which this blood mad'ft, revenge his death! O earth, which this blood drink'ft, revenge his death! Either, heaven, with lightning ftrike the murderer

dead,

Or, earth, gape open wide, and eat him quick;
As thou doft fwallow up this good king's blood,
Which his hell-govern'd arm hath butchered!
Glo. Lady, you know no rules of charity,
Which renders good for bad, bleffings for curfes.
Anne. Villain, thou know'ft no law of God nor

man;.

No beast so fierce, but knows fome touch of pity.
Glo. But I know none, and therefore am no beast.
Anne. O wonderful, when devils tell the truth!
Glo. More wonderful, when angels are fo angry.-
Vouchfafe, divine perfection of a woman,
Of these supposed evils, to give me leave,
By circumftance, but to acquit myself.

Anne. Vouchfafe, diffus'd infection of a man,
For these known evils, but to give me leave,
By circumftance, to curfe thy cursed self.

Glo. Fairer than tongue can name thee, let me have Some patient leifure to excufe myself.

Anne. Fouler than heart can think thee, thou canst make

No excufe current, but to hang thyself.

Glo. By fuch despair, I should accuse myself.

8 Vouchsafe, diffus'd infection of a man,] I believe, diffus'd in this place fignifies irregular, uncouth; fuch is its meaning in other paffages of Shakespeare. JOHNSON.

Diffus'd infection of a man may mean, thou that art as dangerous as a peftilence, that infects the air by its diffufion. Diffus'd may, however, mean irregular. So, in The Merry Wives, &c.

66

rufh at once

"With fome diffused fong."

Again, in Green's Farewell to Follie, 1617:

"I have feen an English gentleman fo defufed in his futes; his doublet being for the weare of Caftile, his hose for Venice, &c."

STEEVENS.

Anne.

Anne. And, by despairing, fhalt thou ftand excus'd For doing worthy vengeance on thyself,

That didst unworthy flaughter upon others.
Glo. Say, that I flew them not?

Anne. Then fay, they were not flain :

But dead they are, and, devilish slave, by thee.
Glo. I did not kill your husband.

Anne. Why, then he is alive.

Glo. Nay, he is dead; and flain by Edward's hand. Anne. In thy foul throat thou ly'ft; queen Margaret faw

Thy murderous faulchion smoking in his blood; The which thou once didft bend against her breast, But that thy brothers beat afide the point.

Glo. I was provoked by her fland'rous tongue, ? That laid their guilt upon my guiltless fhoulders. Anne. Thou waft provoked by thy bloody mind, That never dreamt on aught but butcheries : Didft thou not kill this king?

Glo. I grant ye.

Anne. Doft grant me, hedge-hog? then, God grant

me too,

Thou may'ft be damned for that wicked deed!
O, he was gentle, mild, and virtuous '.-

Glo. The fitter for the King of heaven that hath

him.

Anne. He is in heaven, where thou fhalt never

come.

Glo. Let him thank me, that holp to fend him

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For he was fitter for that place, than earth.

9 That laid their guilt

] The crime of my brothers. He has just charged the murder of lady Anne's husband upon Edward. JOHNSON.

O, he was gentle,. mild, and virtuous.

Glo. The fitter for the king of heaven, &c.]

So, in Pericles Prince of Tyre, 1609:

"I'll do't: but yet fhe is a goodly creature.

“Dion. The fitter then the gods fhould have her." STEEVENS.

Anne.

Anne. And thou unfit for any place, but hell.
Glo. Yes, one place elfe, if you will hear me
name it.

Anne. Some dungeon.

Glo. Your bed-chamber.

Anne. Ill reft betide the chamber where thou lyeft!
Glo. So will it, madam, 'till I lie with you.
Anne. I hope fo.

Glo. I know fo.-But, gentle lady Anne,-
To leave this keen encounter of our wits,
And fall fomewhat into a flower methods;-
Is not the caufer of the timeless deaths

Of these Plantagenets, Henry, and Edward,
As blameful as the executioner ?

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Anne. Thou waft the caufe, and moft accurs'd effect.

Glo. Your beauty was the cause of that effect; Your beauty, which did haunt me in my fleep, To undertake the death of all the world,

So I might live one hour in your sweet bofom.
Anne. If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide,

2

a flower method;-] As quick was used for fprightly, fo flowver was put for ferious. In the next scene lord Grey defires the queen to

cheer his

grace

with quick and merry words.

STEEVENS.

3 Thou waft the caufe, and moft accurs' d effect;] Effect, for executioner. He asks, was not the caufer as ill as the executioner? She answers, Thou waft both. But, for caufer, ufing the word caufe, this led her to the word effect, for execution, or executioner. But the Oxford editor, troubling himself with nothing of this, will make a fine oratorical period of it:

Thou waft the cause. And most accurs'd th' effect!
WARBURTON.

I cannot but be rather of fir T. Hanmer's opinion than Dr. Warburton's, because effect is ufed immediately in its common fenfe, in answer to this line. JOHNSON.

I believe the old reading is the true one. So, in the Yorkshire Tragedy, 1608:

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thou art the cause,

"Effect, quality, property; thou, thou." STEEVENS.

: VOL. VII.

C

Thefe

These nails fhould rend that beauty from my cheeks. Glo. These eyes could not endure that beauty's wreck,

You should not blemish it, if I ftood by:
As all the world is cheered by the fun,
So I by that; it is my day, my life.

Anne. Black night o'er-fhade thy day, and death thy life!

Glo. Curfe not thyfelf, fair creature; thou art both.
Anne. I would I were, to be reveng'd on thee.
Glo. It is a quarrel moft unnatural,

To be reveng❜d on him that loveth thee..
Anne. It is a quarrel juft and reafonable,
To be reveng❜d on him that kill'd my husband.
Glo. He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband,
Did it to help thee to a better husband.

Anne. His better doth not breathe upon the earth.
Glo. He lives, that loves you better than he could.
Anne. Name him.

Glo. Plantagenet.

Anne. Why, that was he.

Glo. The felf-fame name, but one of better nature,
Anne. Where is he?

Glo. Here: [She fpits at him.] Why doft thou spit

at me?

Anne. Would it were mortal poifon, for thy fake! Glo. Never came poifon from fo fweet a place. Anne. Never hung poifon on a fouler toad. Out of my fight! thou doft infect mine eyes. Glo. Thine eyes, fweet lady, have infected mine. Anne. 'Would they were bafilifks, to ftrike thee dead!

Glo. I would they were, that I might die at once; For now they kill me with a living death 4.

4

-they kill me with a living death.] In imitation of thiapaffage, and, I fuppofe, of a thousand more, Pope writes: a living death I bear,

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"Says Dapperwit, and funk befide his chair." JOHNSON.

Thofe

Thofe eyes of thine from mine have drawn falt tears,
Sham'd their afpects with ftore of childish drops:
* These eyes, which never fhed remorfeful tear,-
Not, when my father York and Edward wept,
To hear the piteous moan that Rutland made,
When black-fac'd Clifford fhook his fword at him:
Nor when thy warlike father, like a child,
Told the fad story of my father's death;
And twenty times made pause, to fob, and weep,
That all the standers-by had wet their cheeks,
Like trees bedash'd with rain: in that fad time,
My manly eyes did fcorn an humble tear;
And what these forrows could not thence exhale,
Thy beauty hath, and made them blind with weeping.
I never fu'd to friend, nor enemy;

My tongue could never learn sweet foothing word;
But now thy beauty is propos'd my fee,

My proud heart fues, and prompts my tongue to fpeak.
[She looks fcornfully at him.
Teach not thy lip fuch fcorn; for it was made
For kiffing, lady, not for fuch contempt.
If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive,
Lo! here I lend thee this fharp-pointed fword;.
Which if thou please to hide in this true breast,
And let the foul forth that adoreth thee,

I lay it naked to the deadly stroke,

And humbly beg the death upon my knee.

[He lays his breaft open, fhe offers at it with his fword. Nay, do not pause; for I did kill king Henry ;But 'twas thy beauty that provoked me.

Nay, now dispatch; 'twas I that stabb'd young Edward;

Thefe eyes, which never &c.] The twelve following beautiful lines added after the first editions. POPE.

They were added with many more. JOHNSON.

• But 'twas thy beauty

-] Shakespeare countenances

the obfervation, that no woman can ever be offended with the mention of her beauty. JOHNSON.

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