1 With lies well steel'd with weighty arguments; Which done, God take king Edward to his mercy, For then I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter: By marrying her, which I must reach unto. Clarence still breathes: Edward still lives, and reigns; When they are gone, then must I count my gains. SCENE II. [Exit. Another Street. Enter the Corpse of King HENRY the Sixth, borne in an open coffin; Gentlemen bearing halberds, to guard it; and Lady ANNE as Mourner. Anne. Set down, set down your honourable load, If honour may be shrouded in a hearse, To hear the lamentations of 5 With becoming reverence for the dead. Wife to thy Edward, to thy slaughter'd son, Stabb'd by the self-same hand that made these wounds! Lo, in these windows, that let forth thy life, May fright the hopeful mother at the view; If ever he have wife, let her be made Enter GLOSTER. Glo. Stay you, that bear the corse, and set it down. Anne. What black magician conjures up this fiend, To stop devoted charitable deeds? Glo. Villains, set down the corse; or, by Saint I'll make a corse of him that disobeys. 1. Gent. My lord, stand back, and let the coffin pass. Glo. Unmanner'd dog! stand thou when I com mand: Advance thy halberd higher than my breast, For thou hast made the happy earth thy hell, Provokes this deluge most unnatural. O Thou, which this blood mad'st, revenge his death! O earth, which this blood drink'st, revenge his death! Either, Heaven, with lightning strike the murderer dead, Of, earth, gape open wide, and eat him quick; Glo. Lady, you know no rules of charity, man; No beast so fierce, but knows some touch of pity. Glo. But I know none, and therefore am ho beast. Anne. O wonderful, when devils tell the truth! Glo. More wonderful, when angels are so an gry. Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman, Anne. Vouchsafe, diffus'd infection of a man,. Some patient leisure to excuse myself. Anne. Fouler than heart can think thee, thou canst make No excuse current, but to hang thyself. Glo. By such despair, I should accuse myself. Anne. And, by despairing, shalt thou stand ex-, cus'd; For doing worthy vengeance on thyself, That didst unworthy slaughter upon others." Glo. Say, that I slew them not? Anne. Why then, they are not dead : But dead they are, and, devilish slave, by thee. Glo. I did not kill your Anne. husband. Why, then he is alive. Glo. Nay, he is dead; and slain by Edward's hand. Anne. In thy soul's throat thou liest; queen Margaret saw Thy murd'rous faulchion smoking in his blood; Glo. I was provoked by her sland'rous tongue, Glo. I grant ye. Anne. 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 shalt never come. Glo. Let him thank me, that holp to send him thither; For he was fitter for that place, than earth. Anne. And thou unfit for any place but hell. Glo. Yes, one place else, if you will hear me rame it. Anne. Some dungeon. Glo. Your bed-chamber. Anne. Il rest betide the chamber where thou liest ! Glo. So will it, madam, till I lie with you. But, gentle lady Anne,— To leave this keen encounter of our wits, And fall somewhat into a slower method; Anne. Thou wast the cause, and most accurs'd effect. Glo. Your beauty was the cause of that effect; Your beauty, which did haunt me in my sleep, To undertake the death of all the world. Anne. If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide, These nails should rend that beauty from my cheeks. Glo.. These eyes could not endure that beauty's wreck ; You should not blemish it, if I stood by : As all the world is cheered by the sun, So I by that; it is my day, my life. Anne. Black night o'ershade thy day, and death thy life! |