*Then, since this earth affords no joy to me, Clar. That's a day longer than a wonder lasts. Her suit is granted for her husband's lands. Enter a Nobleman. Nob. My gracious lord, Henry your foe is taken, Tower : And go we, brothers, to the man that took him, [Exeunt KING EDWARD, LADY GREY, Glo. Ay, Edward will use women honourably. Is Clarence, Henry, and his son young Edward, A cold premeditation for my purpose! eye; Like one that stands upon a promontory, My eye's too quick, my heart o'erweens too much, To shape my legs of an unequal size; O, monstrous fault, to harbour such a thought. 1 It was an opinion which, in spite of its absurdity, prevailed long, that the bear brings forth only shapeless lumps of flesh, which she licks into the form of bears. It is now well known that the whelps of bears are produced in the same state with those of other animals. Johnson. 2 Richard speaks here the language of nature. Whoever is stigmatized with deformity has a constant source of envy in his mind, and would counterbalance by some other superiority those advantages which he feels himself to want. Bacon remarks that the deformed are commonly daring; and it is almost proverbially observed that they are ill-natured. The truth is that the deformed, like all other mer., are displeased with inferiority, and endeavour to gain ground by good or bad means, as they are virtuous or corrupt.-Johnson. 3 i.e. encircled. Steevens would read with Hanmer :-• Until my head that this misshap'd trunk bears.' * And yet I know not how to get the crown, And cry, content, to that which grieves my heart; I'll play the orator as well as Nestor, Change shapes, with Proteus, for advantages, 'K. Lew. Fair queen of England, worthy Mar- Sit down with us: it ill befits thy state, *Q. Mar. No, mighty king of France; now Mar- * Must strike her sail, and learn awhile to serve, *K. Lew. Why, say, fair queen, wheuce springs * Q. Mar. From such a cause as fills mine eyes with tears, * And stops my tongue, while heart is drown'd in cares. K. Lew. Whate'er it be, be thou still like thy- *And sit thee by our side: yield not thy neck Otherwise, he observes, the trunk that bears the head is to be encircled with the crown, and not the head itself 4 The old play reads with more propriety : And set the aspiring Cataline to school.' By which the anachronism is also avoided. Machiavel is mentioned in various books of the poet's age as the great exemplar of profound politicians. An amusing instance of the odium attached to his name is to be found in Gill's Logonomia Anglica, 1621 :-Et ne semper Sidneios loquamur, audi epilogum fabulæ quam docuit Boreali dialecto poeta, titulumque fuit reus Ma chiavellus: 'Machil iz hanged And brenned iz his buks: *Q. Mar. Those gracious words revive my droop-| * That Henry liveth still: but were he dead, ing thoughts, *And give my tongue-tied sorrows leave to speak. *Now, therefore, be it known to noble Lewis, That Henry, sole possessor of my love, * While proud ambitious Edward, duke of York, And, if thou fail us, all our hope is done: the storm, *While we bethink a means to break it off. *K. Lew. The more I stay, the more I'll succour * Q. Mar. O, but impatience waiteth on true est friend. K. Lew. Welcome, brave Warwick! What brings [Descending from his State, Queen Q. Mar. Ay, now begins a second storm to rise; War. From worthy Edward, king of Albion, To England's king in lawful marriage. Q. Mar. If that go forward, Henry's hope is done.2 War. And, gracions madam, [To BONA,] in our king's behalf, I am commanded, with your leave and favour, Humbly to kiss your hand, and with my tongue To tell the passion of my sovereign's heart; Where fame, late entering at his heedful ears, Hath plac'd thy beauty's image, and thy virtue. Q. Mar. King Lewis,-and Lady Bona,-hear me speak, Before you answer Warwick. His demand *Springs not from Edward's well meant honest love, *But from deceit, bred by necessity; *For how can tyrants safely govern home, * Unless abroad they purchase great alliance? *To prove him tyrant, this reason may suffice, * Yet here Prince Edward stands, King Henry's son. *Look therefore, Lewis, that by this league and marriage, *Thou draw not on thy danger and dishonour: * Yet heavens are just, and time suppresseth wrongs. Which did subdue the greatest part of Spain; Whose wisdom was a mirror to the wisest; War. Oxford, how haps it, in this smooth dis But for the rest,-You tell a pedigree Oxf. Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against Whom thou obey'dst thirty and six years, Orf. Call him my king, by whose injurious doom When nature brought him to the door of death?" K. Lew. Queen Margaret, Prince Edward, and Vouchsafe, at our request, to stand aside, [Retiring with the Prince and OXFORD, K. Lew. Now, Warwick, tell me, even upon thy conscience, Is Edward your true king? for I were loath 2 There is nearly the same line in a former speech of Margaret's. It is found in its present situation alone in the old play. 1 This nobleman's embassy and commission, the insult he receives by the king's hasty marriage, and his Annales of W. of Wyrcester, that no open rupture had consequent resolution to avenge it, with the capture, im-taken place between the king and Warwick, up to the prisonment, and escape of the king, Shakspeare found beginning of November, 1468; at least nothing appears in Hall and Holinshed; but later as well as earlier wri-to the contrary in that historian, whose work is unfor ters of better authority, incline us to discredit the whole; tunately defective from that period. and to refer the rupture between the king and his political creator to other causes. Perhaps we need seek no further than that jealousy and ingratitude which is but too often experienced in those who are under great obligations too great to be discharged There needs no other proof how little our common histories are to be depended on, than this fabulous story of Warwick and the Lady Bona. The king was privately married to the Lady Elizabeth Widville, in 1463, and in February, 1465, Warwick actually stood sponsor to the Princess Elizabeth, their first child. It should seem from the 3 This passage unavoidably brings to mind that ad. mirable image of old age in Sackville's Induction to the Mirror for Magistrates: His withered fist still knocking at death's door." 4 He means that Henry was unsuccessful in war,' having lost his dominions in France, &c. 5 In the language of Shakspeare's time, by an eter. nal olant was meant what we now call a perennial one. Exempt from envy,' but not from disdain, Unless the Lady Bona quit his pain. K. Lew. Now, sister, let us hear your firm resolve. Bona. Your grant, or your denial, shall be mine: Yet I confess, [To WAR.] that often ere this day, When I have heard your king's desert recounted, Mine ear hath tempted judgment to desire. *K. Lew. Then, Warwick, thus-Our sister shall be Edward's; * And now forthwith shall articles be drawn *Touching the jointure that your king must make, *Which with her dowry shall be counterpois'd: Draw near, queen Margaret; and be a witness, That Bona shall be wife to the English king. Prince. To Edward, but not to the English king. Q. Mar. Deceitful Warwick! it was thy device By this alliance to make void my suit * Before thy coming, Lewis was Henry's friend. *K. Lew. And still is friend to him and Margaret; But if your title to the crown be weak,*As may appear by Edward's good success,*Then 'tis but reason, that I he releas'd From giving aid, which late I promised. *Yet shall you have all kindness at my hand. That your estate requires, and mine can yield. War. Henry now lives in Scotland, at his ease; Where having nothing, nothing he can lose. And as for you yourself, our quondam queen,— You have a father able to maintain you;2And better 'twere, you troubled him than France. *Q. Mar. Peace, impudent and shameless Warwick, peace *Proud setter-up and puller-down of kings !3 *I will not hence, till with my talk and tears, *Both full of truth, I make King Lewis behold *Thy sly conveyance, and thy lord's false love; * For both of you are birds of self-same feather. [A Horn sounded within. K. Lew. Warwick, this is some post to us, or thee. Enter a Messenger. No more my king, for he dishonours me; And am I guerdon'd at the last with shame? *Shame on himself! for my desert is honour. *And, to repair my honour lost for him, * I here renounce him, and return to Henry : My noble queen, let former grudges pass, And henceforth I am thy true servitor; I will revenge his wrong to Lady Bona, And replant Henry in his former state. Q. Mar. Warwick, these words have turn'd my hate to love; And I forgive and quite forget old faults, And joy that thou becom'st King Henry's friend. War. So much his friend, ay, his unfeigned friend That, if King Lewis vouchsafe to furnish us With some few bands of chosen soldiers, I'll undertake to land them on our coast, And force the tyrant from his seat by war. 'Tis not his new-made bride shall succour him: * And as for Clarence,-as my letters tell me, * He's very likely now to fall from him; * For matching more for wanton lust than honour, *Or than for strength and safety of our country. *Bona. Dear brother, how shall Bona be reveng'd, *But by the help to this distressed queen? *Q. Mar. Renowned prince, how shall poor Henry live, * Unless thou rescue him from foul despair? *Bona. My quarrel, and this English queen's, are one. * War. And mine, fair Lady Bona, joins with yours. *K. Lew. And mine with hers, and thine, and Margaret's. Mess. My lord ambassador, these letters are for Therefore, at last, I firmly am resolv'd, you; Sent from your brother, Marquis Montague. [TO MARGARET. They all read their Letters. Oxf. I like it well, that our fair queen and mistress Smiles at her news, while Warwick frowns at his. Prince. Nay, mark, how Lewis stamps as he 1 were nettled: I hope, all's for the best. 'K. Lew. Warwick, what are thy news? and yours, fair queen? 'Q. Mar. Mine, such as fill my heart with unhop'd joys. War. Mine, full of sorrow and heart's discontent. K. Lew. What! has your king married the Lady Grey? War. King Lewis, I here protest,—in sight of heaven, And by the hope I have of heavenly bliss,- 1 Steevens thinks that envy in this place, as in many others, is put for malice or hatred. His situation places him above these, though it cannot secure him from female disdain. You shall have aid. wrong; And therefore I'll uncrown him, ere't be long. [Exit Mess. 5 To sooth, in ancient language, was to countenance a falsehood or forged tale, to uphold one in his talke, and affirme it to be true which he speaketh.' Baret. Malone blunders strangely, taking to sooth in its mo. dern acceptation of to soften. 6 King Edward did attempt a thing once in the 2 Johnson is inclined to think this ironical. The po-earle's house, which was much against the earle's ho verty of Margaret's father being a frequent topic of reproach. 3 The queen here applies to Warwick the very words that King Edward, p. 69, addresses to the Deity. It seems doubtful whether these words in the former instance are not in the old play addressed to Warwick also. 4 Conveyance is used for any crafty artifice. The word has already been explained. Vide King Henry VI. Part L. Act i. Sc. 3. nestie (whether he would have deflowred his daughter or his niece, the certaintie was not for both their honours revealed,) for surely such a thing was attempted by King Edward.'-Holinshed, p. 669. 7 Rewarded. 8 Fright. 9 Here we are to suppose that, according to ancient custom, Warwick makes a present to the herald or messenger, who in the old play is called a Post. See note on King Henry V. Act iii. Sc. vii. War. This shall assure my constant loyalty:That if our queen and this young prince agree, I'll join mine eldest daughter, and my joy, To him forthwith in holy wedlock bands. 'Q. Mar. Yes, I agree, and thank you for your motion: Son Edward, she is fair and virtuous, Therefore delay not, give thy hand to Warwick; And, with thy hand, thy faith irrevocable, That only Warwick's daughter shall be thine. *Prince. Yes, I accept her, for she well deserves it; * And here, to pledge my vow, I give my hand. [He gives his hand to WARWICK. 'K. Lew. Why stay we now? These soldiers shall be levied, And thou, Lord Bourbon, our high admiral, Shall waft them over with our royal fleet.'I long, till Edward fall by war's mischance, 'For mocking marriage with a dame of France. [Exeunt all but WARWICK. War. I came from Edward as embassador, But seek revenge on Edward's mockery. ACT IV. [Exit. Glo. Not I: No; God forbid, that I should wish them sever'd 1 This is a departure from the truth of history, for Edward prince of Wales was married to Anne, second daughter of the earl of Warwick. In fact Isabella, his eldest daughter, was married to Clarence in 1468. There is, however, no inconsistence in the present proposal; for at the time represented, when Warwick was in France, neither of his daughters were married. Shakspeare has here again followed the old play. In King Richard III. he has properly represented Lady Anne, the widow of Edward prince of Wales, as the youngest daughter of Warwick. 2 A stale here means a stalking horse, a pretence. 3 See King John, note on the final speech. riage. Hast. Why, knows not Montague, that of itself England is safe, if true within itself?" * Mont. Yes; but the safer, when 'tis back'd with France. *Hast. "Tis better using France, than trusting France: * Let us be back'd with God, and with the seas,* Which he hath given for fence impregnable, *And with their helps only defend ourselves; *In them, and in ourselves, our safety lies. Clar. For this one speech, Lord Hastings well To give the heir and daughter of Lord Scales Unto the brother of your loving bride ; She better would have fitted me, or Clarence: But in your bride you bury brotherhood. 'Clar. Or else you would not have bestow'd the heirs Of the Lord Bonville on your new wife's son, Which being shallow, you shall give me leave And to that end, I shortly mind to leave you. 'Q. Eliz. My lords, before it pleased his majesty * And meaner than myself have had like fortune. 4 This has been the advice of every man who in any age understood and favoured the interest of England.Johnson. 5 Until the Restoration minors coming into possession of great estates were in the wardship of the king, who bestowed them on his favourites, or in other words gave them up to plunder, and afterwards disposed of them in marriage as he pleased. I know not (says Johnson) when liberty gained more than by the abolition of the court of wards. 6 Her father was Sir Richard Widville, Knight, after. wards earl of Rivers; her mother Jaqueline, duchess dowager of Bedford, who was daughter of Peter of Lux. emburg, earl of St. Paul, and widow of John duke of Bedford, brother to King Henry V. K. Edw. My love, forbear to fawn upon their] frowns: What danger, or what sorrow can befall thee, more. Enter a Messenger. Tell him, in hope he'll prove a widower shortly, K. Edw. I blame not her, she could say little less; She had the wrong. But what said Henry's queen? For I have heard, that she was there in place.' Mess. Tell him, quoth she, my mourning weeds are done, And I am ready to put armour on. K. Edu. Belike, she minds to play the Amazon. But what said Warwick to these injuries? 'Mess. He, more incens'd against your majesty Then all the rest, discharg'd me with these words; Tell him from me, that he hath done me wrong, And therefore I'll uncrown him, ere't be long. K. Edw. Ha! durst the traitor breathe out so proud words? Well, I will arm me, being thus forewarn'd: They shall have wars, and pay for their presump But tion. say, is Warwick friends with Margaret? Mess. Ay, gracious sovereign; they are so link'd in friendship, That young Prince Edward marries Warwick's daughter. Clar. Belike, the elder; Clarence will have the [Aside. K. Ed. Clarence and Somerset both gone to Warwick! *Yet am I arm'd against the worst can happen; In place signifies there present. The expression is of frequent occurrence in old English writers. It is from the French en place. 2 i. e. my mourning is ended. 3 This is consonant with the former passage of this play, though at variance with what really happened. 4 Johnson has remarked upon the actual improbability of Clarence making this speech in the king's hearIng. Shakspeare followed the old play, where this line is also found. When the earl of Essex attempted to And haste is needful in this desperate case. [Exeunt PEMBROKE and STAFFORD. I rather wish you foes, than hollow friends; 'K. Edw. Now, brother Richard, will you stand by us? Glo. Ay, in despite of all that shall withstand you. Now therefore let us hence; and lose no hour, K. Edw. Why so; then am I sure of victory. Till we meet Warwick with his foreign power. [Exeunt. SCENE II. A Plain in Warwickshire. Enter WARWICK and OXFORD, with French and other Forces. War. Trust me, my lord, all hitherto goes well; The common people by numbers swarm to us. Enter CLARENCE and SOMERSET. But, see, where Somerset and Clarence come :Speak suddenly, my lords, are we all friends? Clar. Fear not that, my lord. War. Then, gentle Clarence, welcome unto Warwick; And welcome, Somerset :-I hold it cowardice, To rest mistrustful where a noble heart Hath pawn'd an open hand in sign of love; be thine. And now what rests, but, in night's coverture, steeds; At unawares may beat down Edward's guard, *So we, well cover'd with the night's black mantle, *And seize himself; I say not-slaughter him, * For I intend but only to surprise him.You, that will follow me to this attempt, Applaud the name of Henry, with your leader. [They all cry Henry! Why, then, let's on our way in silent sort: For Warwick and his friends, God and Saint George! [Exeunt. SCENE III. Edward's Camp, near Warwick. Enter certain Watchmen, to guard the King's Tent. *1 Watch. Come on my masters, each man take his stand; The king, by this, is set him down to sleep. *2 Watch. What, will he not to bed? *1 Watch. Why, no: for he hath made a solemn raise a rebellion in the city, with a design, as was supposed, to storm the queen's palace, he ran about the streets with his sword drawn, crying out, They that love me, follow me.' 5 See the tenth book of the Iliad. These circumstances were accessible, however, without reference to Homer in the original. 6 We are told by some of the writers of the Trojan story, that the capture of these horses was one of the 'necessary preliminaries of the fate of Troy. |