*K. Hen. Let me embrace these our adversities; * For wise men say, it is the wisest course.

*2 Keep. Why linger we? let us lay hands upon him.

*1 Keep. Forbear awhile; we'll hear a little more. K. Hen. My queen and son are gone to France for aid

And, as I hear, the great, commanding Warwick
Is thither gone, to crave the French king's sister
To wife for Edward. If this news be true,
'Poor queen, and, son, your labor is but lost;
For Warwick is a subtle orator,

And Lewis a prince soon won with moving words.
By this account, then, Margaret may win him;
For she's a woman to be pitied much;

*Her sighs will make a battery in his breast;
*Her tears will pierce into a marble heart;
*The tiger will be mild, while she doth mourn;
* And Nero will be tainted with remorse,
To hear, and see, her plaints, her brinish tears.
Ay, but she's come to beg; Warwick, to give;
She, on his left side, craving aid for Henry;
He, on his right, asking a wife for Edward.
She weeps, and says-her Henry is deposed;
He smiles, and says-his Edward is installed;
*That she, poor wretch, for grief can speak no more;
* Whiles Warwick tells his title, smooths the wrong,
* Inferreth arguments of mighty strength;
And, in conclusion, wins the king from her,
With promise of his sister, and what else,
*To strengthen and support king Edward's place.
* O, Margaret, thus 'twill be; and thou, poor soul,
*Art then forsaken, as thou went'st forlorn.

2 Keep. Say, what art thou, that talk'st of kings and queens?

· K. Hen. More than I seem, and less than I was

born to;

A man at least, for less I should not be;

And men may talk of kings, and why not I?

2 Keep. Ay, but thou talk'st as if thou wert a king

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61

'K. Hen. Why, so I am, in mind; and that's enough.

2 Keep. But, if thou be a king, where is thy crown? K. Hen. My crown is in my heart, not on my head: *Not decked with diamonds, and Indian stones, *Nor to be seen: my crown is called content; A crown it is, that seldom kings enjoy.

6

2 Keep. Well, if you be a king crowned with

content,

Your crown content, and you, must be contented
To go along with us; for, as we think,

You are the king; king Edward hath deposed,
And we his subjects, sworn in all allegiance,

Will apprehend you as his enemy.

*K. Hen. But did you never swear, and break an oath?

*2 Keep. No, never such an oath, nor will not now. *K Hen. Where did you dwell, when I was king of England?

*2 Keep. Here in this country, where we now remain.

*K. Hen. I was anointed king at nine months old; * My father and my grandfather were kings;

* And you were sworn true subjects unto me;

* And, tell me then, have you not broke your oaths? * 1 Keep. No;

For we were subjects but while you were king.

*K Hen. Why, am I dead? do I not breathe a

man?

* Ah, simple men, you know not what you swear.
* Look, as I blow this feather from my face,
*And as the air blows it to me again,
* Obeying with my wind when I do blow,
* And yielding to another when it blows,
*Commanded always by the greater gust;
*Such is the lightness of you common men.
* But do not break your oaths; for of that sin
* My mild entreaty shall not make you guilty.
* Go where you will, the king shall be commanded;
* And be you kings; command, and I'll obey.

*1 Keep. We are true subjects to the king, king Edward.

*K. Hen. So would you be again to Henry, *If he were seated as king Edward is.

1 Keep. We charge you, in God's name, and in the king's,

To go with us unto the officers.

K. Hen. In God's name, lead; your king's name be obeyed:

* And what God will, then let your king perform; * And what he will, I humbly yield unto.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. London. A Room in the Palace.

Enter KING EDWARD, GLOSTER, CLARENCE, and LADY GREY.

K. Edw. Brother of Gloster, at Saint Albans' field This lady's husband, sir John 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, Because in quarrel of the house of York The worthy gentleman did lose his life.1

Glo. Your highness shall do well to grant her suit; * It were dishonor to deny it her.

1 This is in every particular a falsification of history. Sir John Grey fell in the second battle of St. Albans, fighting on the side of king Henry; and so far is it from being true that his lands were seized by the conqueror (queen Margaret), that they were, in fact, seized by king Edward after his victory at Towton, 1461. The present scene is laid in 1464. Shakspeare followed the old play in this instance; but when he afterwards had occasion to mention this matter in writing his King Richard III., he stated it truly as he found it in the Chronicles. In Act i. Sc. 2, of that play, Richard, addressing himself to queen Elizabeth (the lady Grey of the present scene), says :

"In all which time you and your husband Grey

Were factious for the house of Lancaster ;

(And, Rivers, so were you:)-was not your husband

In Margaret's battle at Saint Albans slain?"

Malone says that this circumstance, among numerous others, proves incontestably that Shakspeare was not the original author of this and the preceding play.

K. Edw. It were no less; but yet I'll make a pause.

Glo. Yea! is it so?

I see, the lady hath a thing to grant,

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 de-
lay:

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 your lands,

And if what pleases him shall pleasure you.

Fight closer, or, good faith, you'll catch a blow. *Clar. I fear her not, unless she chance to fall.

* Glo. God forbid that! for he'll take vantages.

[Aside.

[Aside.

K. Edw. How many children 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."

Glo. You shall have four, if you'll be ruled by him.

[Aside.

K. Edw. 'Twere pity they should lose their

father's land.

L. Grey. Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant it then.
K. Edw. Lords, give us leave; I'll try this widow's

wit.

Glo. Ay, good leave have you; for you will have

leave,

'Till youth take leave, and leave you to the crutch. [GLOSTER and CLARENCE retire to the

other side.