All springs reduce their currents to mine eyes,
That I, being governed by the watery moon,
May send forth plenteous tears to drown the world!
Ah, for my husband, for my dear lord Edward!

Chil. Ah, for our father, for our dear lord Clar

ence !

Duch. Alas, for both, both mine, Edward and Clarence!

Q. Eliz. What stay had I, but Edward? and he's

gone.

Chil. What stay had we, but Clarence? and he's

gone.

Duch. What stays had I, but they? and they are

gone.

Q. Eliz. Was never widow had so dear a loss.
Chil. Were never orphans had so dear a loss.
Duch. Was never mother had so dear a loss.
Alas! I am the mother of these griefs;
Their woes are parcelled, mine are general,
She for an Edward weeps, and so do I;
I for a Clarence weep, so doth not she:
These babes for Clarence weep, and so do I:
I for an Edward weep, so do not they :-
Alas, you three, on me, threefold distressed,
Pour all your tears, I am your sorrow's nurse,
And I will pamper it with lamentations.

Dor. Comfort, dear mother, God is much displeased,
That you take with unthankfulness his doing;
In common, worldly things, 'tis called-ungrateful,
With dull unwillingness to repay a debt,
Which with a bounteous hand was kindly lent;
Much more to be thus opposite with Heaven,
For it requires the royal debt it lent you.

Riv. Madam, bethink you, like a careful mother, Of the young prince your son: send straight for him; Let him be crowned; in him your comfort lives: Drown desperate sorrow in dead Edward's grave, And plant your joys in living Edward's throne.

Enter GLOSTER, BUCKINGHAM, STANLEY, HASTINGS,
RATCLIFF, and others.

Glo. Sister, have comfort: all of us have cause.
To wail the dimming of our shining star;
But none can cure their harms by wailing them.—
Madam, my mother, I do cry you mercy,

I did not see your grace ;-humbly on my knee
I crave your blessing.

Duch. God bless thee; and put meekness in thy breast,

Love, charity, obedience, and true duty!

Glo. Amen; and make me die a good old man!— That is the butt-end of a mother's blessing;

I marvel that her grace did leave it out.

[Aside.

Buck. You cloudy princes, and heart-sorrowing

peers,

That bear this mutual, heavy load of moan,
Now cheer each other in each other's love;
Though we have spent our harvest of this king,
We are to reap the harvest of his son.

The broken rancor of your high-swollen hearts,
But lately splinted, knit, and joined together,
Must gently be preserved, cherished, and kept.
Me seemeth good, that, with some little train,
Forthwith from Ludlow the young prince be fetched1
Hither to London, to be crowned our king.

Riv. Why with some little train, my lord of Buckingham?

Buck. Marry, my lord, lest, by a multitude, The new-healed wound of malice should break out; Which would be so much the more dangerous, By how much the estate is green, and yet ungoverned; Where every horse bears his commanding rein,

1 Edward, the young prince, in his father's lifetime, and at his demise, kept his household at Ludlow, as prince of Wales; under the governance of Anthony Woodville, earl of Rivers, his uncle by the mother's side. The intention of his being sent thither was to see justice done in the Marches; and, by the authority of his presence, to restrain the Welshmen, who were wild, dissolute, and ill-disposed, from their accustomed murders and outrages.-Vide Holinshed.

And may direct his course as please himself,
As well the fear of harm, as harm apparent,
In my opinion, ought to be prevented.

Glo. I hope the king made peace with all of us; And the compact is firm, and true, in me.

Riv. And so in me; and so, I think, in all;
Yet, since it is but green, it should be put
To no apparent likelihood of breach,

1

Which, haply, by much company might be urged.
Therefore I say, with noble Buckingham,

That it is meet so few should fetch the prince.
Hast. And so say I.

Glo. Then be it so; and go we to determine
Who they shall be that straight shall post to Ludlow.
Madam,—and you my mother, will you go
To give your censures in this weighty business?

[Exeunt all but BUCKINGHAM and GLOSTER. Buck. My lord, whoever journeys to the prince, For God's sake, let not us two stay at home; For, by the way, I'll sort occasion,

As index to the story we late talked of,

To part the queen's proud kindred from the prince.
Glo. My other self, my counsel's consistory,
My oracle, my prophet!-My dear cousin,
I, as a child, will go by thy direction.

Towards Ludlow then, for we'll not stay behind.

SCENE III. The same. A Street.

Enter two Citizens, meeting.

[Exeunt.

1 Cit. Good morrow, neighbor. Whither away so fast?

2 Cit. I promise you, I scarcely know myself. Hear you the news abroad?

1 This speech seems rather to belong to Hastings, who was of the duke of Gloster's party. The next speech might be given to Stanley. 2 i. e. your judgments, your opinions.

3 That is, preparatory, by way of prelude.

1 Cit.

Yes; that the king's dead.

2 Cit. Ill news, by'r lady; seldom comes the better;' I fear, I fear, 'twill prove a giddy world.

Enter another Citizen.

3 Cit. Neighbors, God speed.

1 Cit.

3 Cit.

2 Cit.

Give you good morrow, sir. Doth the news hold of good king Edward's death?

Ay, sir, it is too true; God help the while! 3 Cit. Then, masters, look to see a troublous world. 1 Cit. No, no; by God's good grace, his son shall reign.

3 Cit. Woe to that land, that's governed by a child! 2 Cit. In him there is a hope of government; That, in his nonage, council under him,

And, in his full and ripened years, himself,
No doubt, shall then, and till then, govern well.

1 Cit. So stood the state, when Henry the Sixth Was crowned in Paris but at nine months old.

3 Cit. Stood the state so? No, no, good friends, God wot;

For then this land was famously enriched
With politic, grave counsel; then the king
Had virtuous uncles to protect his grace.

1 Cit. Why, so hath this, both by his father and

mother.

3 Cit. Better it were they all came by his father,

Or, by his father, there were none at all;

For emulation now, who shall be nearest,

Will touch us all too near, if God prevent not.

O, full of danger is the duke of Gloster;

And the queen's sons, and brothers, haught and proud: And were they to be ruled, and not to rule,

This sickly land might solace as before.

1 Cit. Come, come, we fear the worst: all will be well.

1 An ancient proverbial saying.

3 Cit. When clouds are seen, wise men put on their

cloaks;

When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand;
When the sun sets, who doth not look for night?
Untimely storms make men expect a dearth.
All may be well; but, if God sort it so,
"Tis more than we deserve, or I expect.

2 Cit. Truly, the hearts of men are full of fear: You cannot reason almost with a man

That looks not heavily, and full of dread.

3 Cit. Before the days of change, still is it so.
By a divine instínct, men's minds mistrust
Ensuing danger; as, by proof, we see
The water swell before a boisterous storm.
But leave it all to God. Whither away?

2 Cit. Marry, we were sent for to the justices.
3 Cit. And so was I; I'll bear you company.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV. The same. A Room in the Palace.

Enter the ARCHBISHOP of YORK, the young DUKE of YORK, QUEEN ELIZABETH, and the DUCHESS of YORK.

Arch. Last night, I heard, they lay at Stony-Stratford;

And at Northampton they do rest to-night:1
To-morrow, or next day, they will be here.

1 This is the reading of the folio. The quarto of 1597 reads:-
"Last night I hear they lay at Northampton:

At Stony-Stratford will they be to-night."

By neither reading can the truth of history be preserved. According to the reading of the quarto, the scene would be on the day on which the king was journeying from Northampton to Stratford; and of course the messenger's account of the peers being seized, &c., which happened on the next day after the king had lain at Stratford, is inaccurate. If the folio reading be adopted, the scene is indeed placed on the day on which the king was seized; but the archbishop is supposed to be apprized of a fact which, before the entry of the messenger, he manifestly does not know; namely, the duke of Gloster's coming to Stratford the morning after the king had lain there, taking him forcibly back to Northampton, and seizing the lords Rivers, Grey, &c. The truth is, that the queen