King Henry VI, Part III

King Henry VI, Part III

ACT III SCENE II	London. The palace.
	Enter KING EDWARD IV, GLOUCESTER, CLARENCE, andLADY GREY
KING EDWARD IV	Brother of Gloucester, at Saint Alban's field
	This lady's husband, Sir Richard Grey, was slain,
	His lands then seized on by the conqueror:
	Her suit is now to repossess those lands;	5
	Which we in justice cannot well deny,
	Because in quarrel of the house of York
	The worthy gentleman did lose his life.
GLOUCESTER	Your highness shall do well to grant her suit;
	It were dishonour to deny it her.	10
KING EDWARD IV	It were no less; but yet I'll make a pause.
GLOUCESTER	Aside to CLARENCE
	I see the lady hath a thing to grant,
	Before the king will grant her humble suit.
CLARENCE	Aside to GLOUCESTER
	he keeps the wind!
GLOUCESTER	Aside to CLARENCE
KING EDWARD IV	Widow, we will consider of your suit;	15
	And come some other time to know our mind.
LADY GREY	Right gracious lord, I cannot brook delay:
	May it please your highness to resolve me now;
	And what your pleasure is, shall satisfy me.
GLOUCESTER	Aside to CLARENCE
	you all your lands,	20
	An if what pleases him shall pleasure you.
	Fight closer, or, good faith, you'll catch a blow.
CLARENCE	Aside to GLOUCESTER
	chance to fall.
GLOUCESTER	Aside to CLARENCE
	take vantages.
KING EDWARD IV	How many children hast thou, widow? tell me.	25
CLARENCE	Aside to GLOUCESTER
	child of her.
GLOUCESTER	Aside to CLARENCE
	give her two.
LADY GREY	Three, my most gracious lord.
GLOUCESTER	Aside to CLARENCE
	be ruled by him.
KING EDWARD IV	'Twere pity they should lose their father's lands.	30
LADY GREY	Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant it then.
KING EDWARD IV	Lords, give us leave: I'll try this widow's wit.
GLOUCESTER	Aside to CLARENCE
	you will have leave,
	Till youth take leave and leave you to the crutch.
	GLOUCESTER and CLARENCE retire
KING EDWARD IV	Now tell me, madam, do you love your children?	35
LADY GREY	Ay, full as dearly as I love myself.
KING EDWARD IV	And would you not do much to do them good?
LADY GREY	To do them good, I would sustain some harm.
KING EDWARD IV	Then get your husband's lands, to do them good.
LADY GREY	Therefore I came unto your majesty.	40
KING EDWARD IV	I'll tell you how these lands are to be got.
LADY GREY	So shall you bind me to your highness' service.
KING EDWARD IV	What service wilt thou do me, if I give them?
LADY GREY	What you command, that rests in me to do.
KING EDWARD IV	But you will take exceptions to my boon.	45
LADY GREY	No, gracious lord, except I cannot do it.
KING EDWARD IV	Ay, but thou canst do what I mean to ask.
LADY GREY	Why, then I will do what your grace commands.
GLOUCESTER	Aside to CLARENCE
	wears the marble.
CLARENCE	Aside to GLOUCESTER
	her wax must melt.	50
LADY GREY	Why stops my lord, shall I not hear my task?
KING EDWARD IV	An easy task; 'tis but to love a king.
LADY GREY	That's soon perform'd, because I am a subject.
KING EDWARD IV	Why, then, thy husband's lands I freely give thee.
LADY GREY	I take my leave with many thousand thanks.	55
GLOUCESTER	Aside to CLARENCE
	with a curtsy.
KING EDWARD IV	But stay thee, 'tis the fruits of love I mean.
LADY GREY	The fruits of love I mean, my loving liege.
KING EDWARD IV	Ay, but, I fear me, in another sense.
	What love, think'st thou, I sue so much to get?	60
LADY GREY	My love till death, my humble thanks, my prayers;
	That love which virtue begs and virtue grants.
KING EDWARD IV	No, by my troth, I did not mean such love.
LADY GREY	Why, then you mean not as I thought you did.
KING EDWARD IV	But now you partly may perceive my mind.	65
LADY GREY	My mind will never grant what I perceive
	Your highness aims at, if I aim aright.
KING EDWARD IV	To tell thee plain, I aim to lie with thee.
LADY GREY	To tell you plain, I had rather lie in prison.
KING EDWARD IV	Why, then thou shalt not have thy husband's lands.	70
LADY GREY	Why, then mine honesty shall be my dower;
	For by that loss I will not purchase them.
KING EDWARD IV	Therein thou wrong'st thy children mightily.
LADY GREY	Herein your highness wrongs both them and me.
	But, mighty lord, this merry inclination	75
	Accords not with the sadness of my suit:
	Please you dismiss me either with 'ay' or 'no.'
KING EDWARD IV	Ay, if thou wilt say 'ay' to my request;
	No if thou dost say 'no' to my demand.
LADY GREY	Then, no, my lord. My suit is at an end.	80
GLOUCESTER	Aside to CLARENCE
	knits her brows.
CLARENCE	Aside to GLOUCESTER
	Christendom.
KING EDWARD IV	Aside
	Her words do show her wit incomparable;
	All her perfections challenge sovereignty:
	One way or other, she is for a king;	85
	And she shall be my love, or else my queen.--
	Say that King Edward take thee for his queen?
LADY GREY	'Tis better said than done, my gracious lord:
	I am a subject fit to jest withal,
	But far unfit to be a sovereign.	90
KING EDWARD IV	Sweet widow, by my state I swear to thee
	I speak no more than what my soul intends;
	And that is, to enjoy thee for my love.
LADY GREY	And that is more than I will yield unto:
	I know I am too mean to be your queen,	95
	And yet too good to be your concubine.
KING EDWARD IV	You cavil, widow: I did mean, my queen.
LADY GREY	'Twill grieve your grace my sons should call you father.
KING EDWARD IV	No more than when my daughters call thee mother.
	Thou art a widow, and thou hast some children;	100
	And, by God's mother, I, being but a bachelor,
	Have other some: why, 'tis a happy thing
	To be the father unto many sons.
	Answer no more, for thou shalt be my queen.
GLOUCESTER	Aside to CLARENCE
	his shrift.	105
CLARENCE	Aside to GLOUCESTER
	'twas for shift.
KING EDWARD IV	Brothers, you muse what chat we two have had.
GLOUCESTER	The widow likes it not, for she looks very sad.
KING EDWARD IV	You'll think it strange if I should marry her.
CLARENCE	To whom, my lord?	110
KING EDWARD IV	Why, Clarence, to myself.
GLOUCESTER	That would be ten days' wonder at the least.
CLARENCE	That's a day longer than a wonder lasts.
GLOUCESTER	By so much is the wonder in extremes.
KING EDWARD IV	Well, jest on, brothers: I can tell you both	115
	Her suit is granted for her husband's lands.
	Enter a Nobleman
Nobleman	My gracious lord, Henry your foe is taken,
	And brought your prisoner to your palace gate.
KING EDWARD IV	See that he be convey'd unto the Tower:
	And go we, brothers, to the man that took him,	120
	To question of his apprehension.
	Widow, go you along. Lords, use her honourably.
	Exeunt all but GLOUCESTER
GLOUCESTER	Ay, Edward will use women honourably.
	Would he were wasted, marrow, bones and all,
	That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring,	125
	To cross me from the golden time I look for!
	And yet, between my soul's desire and me--
	The lustful Edward's title buried--
	Is Clarence, Henry, and his son young Edward,
	And all the unlook'd for issue of their bodies,	130
	To take their rooms, ere I can place myself:
	A cold premeditation for my purpose!
	Why, then, I do but dream on sovereignty;
	Like one that stands upon a promontory,
	And spies a far-off shore where he would tread,	135
	Wishing his foot were equal with his eye,
	And chides the sea that sunders him from thence,
	Saying, he'll lade it dry to have his way:
	So do I wish the crown, being so far off;
	And so I chide the means that keeps me from it;	140
	And so I say, I'll cut the causes off,
	Flattering me with impossibilities.
	My eye's too quick, my heart o'erweens too much,
	Unless my hand and strength could equal them.
	Well, say there is no kingdom then for Richard;	145
	What other pleasure can the world afford?
	I'll make my heaven in a lady's lap,
	And deck my body in gay ornaments,
	And witch sweet ladies with my words and looks.
	O miserable thought! and more unlikely	150
	Than to accomplish twenty golden crowns!
	Why, love forswore me in my mother's womb:
	And, for I should not deal in her soft laws,
	She did corrupt frail nature with some bribe,
	To shrink mine arm up like a wither'd shrub;	155
	To make an envious mountain on my back,
	Where sits deformity to mock my body;
	To shape my legs of an unequal size;
	To disproportion me in every part,
	Like to a chaos, or an unlick'd bear-whelp	160
	That carries no impression like the dam.
	And am I then a man to be beloved?
	O monstrous fault, to harbour such a thought!
	Then, since this earth affords no joy to me,
	But to command, to cheque, to o'erbear such	165
	As are of better person than myself,
	I'll make my heaven to dream upon the crown,
	And, whiles I live, to account this world but hell,
	Until my mis-shaped trunk that bears this head
	Be round impaled with a glorious crown.	170
	And yet I know not how to get the crown,
	For many lives stand between me and home:
	And I,--like one lost in a thorny wood,
	That rends the thorns and is rent with the thorns,
	Seeking a way and straying from the way;	175
	Not knowing how to find the open air,
	But toiling desperately to find it out,--
	Torment myself to catch the English crown:
	And from that torment I will free myself,
	Or hew my way out with a bloody axe.	180
	Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile,
	And cry 'Content' to that which grieves my heart,
	And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,
	And frame my face to all occasions.
	I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall;	185
	I'll slay more gazers than the basilisk;
	I'll play the orator as well as Nestor,
	Deceive more slily than Ulysses could,
	And, like a Sinon, take another Troy.
	I can add colours to the chameleon,	190
	Change shapes with Proteus for advantages,
	And set the murderous Machiavel to school.
	Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?
	Tut, were it farther off, I'll pluck it down.
	Exit