K. Edw.
Brother of Gloucester, at Saint Alban's field
This lady's husband, Sir Richard ^note Grey ^note, was slain,
His lands ^note 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.

Glou.
Your highness shall do well to grant her suit;
It were dishonour to deny it her.

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

Glou. [Aside to Clar. ^note]
Yea, is it so?
I see the lady hath a thing to grant,
Before the king will grant her humble suit.

Clar. [Aside to Glou. ^note]
He knows the game: how true he keeps the wind!

Glou. [Aside to Clar. ^note]
Silence!

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 delay:
May it please your highness to resolve me now;
And what your pleasure is, shall satisfy me.

Glou. [Aside to Clar. ^note]
Ay, widow? then I'll warrant you all your lands,
An if ^note what pleases him shall pleasure ^note you.

Fight closer, or, good faith, you'll catch a blow.

Clar. [Aside to Glou. ^note]
I fear her not, unless she chance to fall.

Glou. [Aside to Clar. ^note]
God forbid that! for he'll take vantages.

K. Edw.
How many children hast thou, widow? tell me.

Clar. [Aside to Glou. ^note]
I think he means to beg a child of her.

Glou. [Aside to Clar. ^note]
Nay, whip me then ^note: he'll rather give her two.

L. Grey.
Three, my most gracious lord.

Glou. [Aside to Clar. ^note]
You shall have four, if you'll be ruled by him.

K. Edw.
'Twere pity they should lose their father's lands ^note.

L. Grey.
Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant it then ^note.

K. Edw.
Lords, give us leave: I'll try this widow's wit.

Glou. [Aside to Clar. ^note]
Ay, good leave have you; for you will have leave,
Till youth take leave and leave you to the crutch. [Glou. and Clar. retire. ^note

K. Edw.
Now tell me, madam, do you love your children?

L. Grey.
Ay, full as dearly as I love myself.

K. Edw.
And would you not do much to do them good?

L. Grey.
To do them good, I would sustain some harm.

K. Edw.
Then get your husband's lands, to do them good.

L. Grey.
Therefore I came unto your majesty.

K. Edw.
I'll tell you how these lands are to be got.

L. Grey.
So shall you bind me to your highness' service.

K. Edw.
What service wilt thou do me, if I give them?

L. Grey.
What you command, that rests in me to do.

K. Edw.
But you will take exceptions to my boon. ^note

L. Grey.
No, gracious lord, except I cannot do it.

K. Edw.
Ay, but thou canst do what I mean to ask.

L. Grey.
Why, then I will do what your grace commands.

Glou. [Aside to Clar. ^note]
He plies her hard; and much rain wears the marble.

Clar. [Aside to Glou. ^note]
As red as fire! nay, then her wax must ^note melt.

L. Grey.
Why stops my lord? shall I not hear my task?

K. Edw.
An easy task; 'tis but to love a king.

L. Grey.
That's soon perform'd, because I am a subject.

K. Edw.
Why, then, thy husband's lands I freely give thee.

L. Grey.
I take my leave with many thousand thanks ^note.

Glou. [Aside to Clar. ^note]
The match is made; she seals it with a curt'sy ^note.

K. Edw.
But stay thee, 'tis the fruits of love I mean.

L. Grey.
The fruits of love I mean, my loving liege.

K. Edw.
Ay, but, I fear me, in another sense.
What love, think'st thou, I sue so much to get?

L. Grey.
My love till death, my humble thanks, my prayers;
That love which virtue begs and virtue grants.

K. Edw.
No, by my troth, I did not mean such love.

L. Grey.
Why, then you mean not as I thought you did.

K. Edw.
But now you partly may perceive my mind.

L. Grey.
My mind will never grant what I perceive
Your highness aims ^note at, if I aim aright.

K. Edw.
To tell thee plain, I aim to lie with thee.

L. Grey.
To tell you plain, I had ^note rather lie in prison.

K. Edw.
Why, then thou shalt not have thy husband's lands.

L. Grey.
Why, then mine honesty shall be my dower;
For by that loss I will not purchase them.

K. Edw.
Therein ^note thou wrong'st thy children mightily.

L. Grey.
Herein your highness wrongs both them and me.
But, mighty lord, this merry inclination
Accords not with the sadness of my suit:
Please you dismiss me, either, ^note with ‘ay’ or ‘no.’

K. Edw.
Ay, if thou wilt say ‘ay’ to my request;
No, if thou dost say ‘no’ to my demand.

L. Grey.
Then, no, my lord. My suit is at an end.

Glou. [Aside to Clar. ^note]
The widow likes him not, she ^note knits her brows.

Clar. [Aside to Glou. ^note]
He is the ^note bluntest wooer in Christendom.

K. Edw. [Aside ^note]
Her looks do ^note argue her replete with modesty;
Her words do ^note show her wit incomparable;
All her perfections challenge sovereignty:
One way or other, she is for a king;
And she shall be my love, or else my queen.—
Say that King Edward take thee for his queen?

L. Grey.
'Tis better said than done, my gracious lord:
I am a subject fit to jest withal,
But far unfit to be a sovereign.

K. Edw.
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.

L. Grey.
And that is more than I will yield unto:
I know I am too mean to be your queen,
And yet too good to be your concubine.

K. Edw.
You cavil, widow: I did mean, my queen.

L. Grey.
'Twill grieve your grace my sons should ^note call you father. ^note

K. Edw.
No more than when my ^note daughters call thee mother.
Thou art a widow, and thou hast some children;
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.

Glou. [Aside to Clar. ^note]
The ghostly father now hath done his shrift.

Clar. [Aside to Glou. ^note]
When he was made a shriver, 'twas for shift ^note.

K. Edw.
Brothers, you muse what chat we two have had.

Glou.
The widow likes it not, for she looks very ^note sad.

K. Edw.
You'ld think it strange if I should marry her.

Clar.
To whom ^note, my lord?

K. Edw.
Why, Clarence, to myself.

Glou.
That would be ten days' wonder at the least.

Clar.
That's a day longer than a wonder lasts.

Glou.
By so much is the wonder in extremes.

K. Edw.
Well, jest on, brothers: I can tell you both
Her suit is granted for her husband's lands. Enter a Nobleman.

Nob.
My gracious lord, Henry your foe is taken,
And brought your prisoner ^note to your palace gate.

K. Edw.
See that he be convey'd unto the Tower:
And go we, brothers, to the man that took him,
To question of his apprehension.
Widow, go you along. Lords, use her honourably ^note. [Exeunt ^note all but Gloucester. ^note

Glou.
Ay, Edward will use women honourably.
Would he were wasted, marrow, bones and all,
That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring,
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,
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,
Wishing his foot were equal with his eye,
And chides the sea that sunders him from thence,
Saying, he'll lade ^note it dry to have his way:
So do I wish the crown, being so far off;
And so I chide the means that keeps ^note me ^note from it;
And so I say, I'll cut the causes off,
Flattering me with impossibilities ^note.
My eye's ^note 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;
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 ^note sweet ladies with my words and looks.
O miserable thought! and more unlikely
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 ^note a wither'd shrub;
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 ^note unlick'd bear-whelp
That carries no impression like the dam.
And am I then a man to be ^note beloved?

O monstrous fault, to harbour such a thought!
Then, since this earth affords no joy to me,
But to command, to check, to o'erbear such
As are of better person than myself,
I'll make ^note my heaven to dream upon the crown,
And, whiles ^note I live, to account this world but hell,
Until my mis-shaped trunk that bears this head ^note
Be round impaled with a glorious crown.
And yet I know not how to get the crown ^note,
For many lives stand between me and home:
And I,—like one lost in a thorny wood,
That rends ^note the thorns and is rent with the thorns,
Seeking a way and straying from the way;
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.
Why, I can smile, and murder whiles ^note 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 ^note;
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 ^note the chameleon,
Change shapes with Proteus for advantages,
And set the murderous Machiavel ^{note note} to school.

Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?
Tut, were it farther off, I'll ^note pluck it down. [Exit. ^note

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