Riv.
Have patience, madam, there's no doubt, his Majesty
Will soon recover his accustom'd health.

Gray.
In that you brook it ill, it makes him worse,
Therefore for God's sake entertain good comfort,
And cheer his grace with quick and merry eyes.

Queen.
If he were dead, what would betide of me?

Gray.
No other harm, but loss of such a lord.

Queen.
The loss of such a lord includes all harms.

Gray.
The heav'ns have blest you with a goodly son
To be your comforter when he is gone.

Queen.
Ah! he is young, and his minority
Is put unto the trust of Richard Glo'ster,
A man that loves not me, nor none of you.

Riv.
Is it concluded, he shall be Protector?

Queen.
It is determin'd, not concluded yet:
But so it must be, if the King miscarry. Enter Buckingham and Derby.

Gray.
Here come the lords of Buckingham and Derby.

Buck.
Good time of day unto your Royal grace.

Derby.
God make your Majesty joyful as you have been.

Queen.
The Countess Richmond, good my lord of Derby,

To your good prayer will scarcely say Amen;
Yet Derby, notwithstanding she's your wife,
And loves not me, be you, good lord, assur'd,
I hate not you for her proud arrogance.

Derby.
I do beseech you, either not believe
The envious slanders of her false accusers:
Or if she be accus'd on true report,
Bear with her weakness; which I think proceeds
From wayward sickness, and no grounded malice.

Queen.
Saw you the King to-day, my lord of Derby?

Derby.
But now the Duke of Buckingham and I
Are come from visiting his Majesty.

Queen.
What likelihood of his amendment, lords?

Buck.
Madam, good hope, his grace speaks chearfully.

Queen.
God grant him health; did you confer with him?

Buck.
Madam, we did, he seeks to make atonement
Between the Duke of Glo'ster and your brothers,
And between them and my lord Chamberlain;
And sent to warn them to his royal presence.

Queen.
Would all were well—but that will never be—
I fear our happiness is at the height. Enter Gloucester.

Glo.
They do me wrong, and I will not endure it.
Who are they that complain unto the King,
That I, forsooth, am stern, and love them not?
By holy Paul, they love his grace but lightly
That fill his ears with such dissentious rumors.
Because I cannot flatter, and look fair,
Smile in men's faces, smooth, deceive and cog,
Duck with French nods, and apish courtesie,
I must be held a rancorous enemy.
Cannot a plain man live and think no harm,

But thus his simple truth must be abus'd
By silken, sly, insinuating jacks?

Gray.
To whom in all this presence speaks your grace?

Glo.
To thee, that hast nor honesty nor grace:
When have I injur'd thee? when done thee wrong?
Or thee? or thee? or any of your faction?
A plague upon you all. His royal person,
Whom God preserve better than you would wish,
Cannot be quiet scarce a breathing while,
But you must trouble him with lewd complaints.

Queen.
Brother of Glo'ster, you mistake the matter:
The King of his own royal disposition,
And not provok'd by any suitor else,
Aiming, belike, at your interior hatred,
That in your outward action shews it self
Against my children, brother, and my self
Makes him to send, that he may learn the ground
‡ ^noteOf your ill will, and thereby to remove it.

Glo.
I cannot tell; the world is grown so bad,
That wrens make prey, where eagles dare not perch.
Since every jack became a gentleman,
There's many a gentle person made a jack.

Queen.
Come, come, we know your meaning, brother Glo'ster.
You envy my advancement and my friends:
God grant we never may have need of you.

Glo.
Mean time God grants that we have need of you.
Our brother is imprison'd by your means,
My self disgrac'd, and the nobility
Held in contempt, while many fair promotions
Are daily given to enoble those,
That scarce, some two days since, were worth a noble.

Queen.
By him that rais'd me to this careful height,
From that contented hap which I enjoy'd;

I never did incense his Majesty
Against the Duke of Clarence, but have been
An earnest advocate to plead for him.
My lord, you do me shameful injury,
Falsely to draw me in these wild suspects.

Glo.
You may deny that you were not the ^{c note}cause
Of my lord Hastings' late imprisonment.

Riv.
She may, my lord, for—

Glo.
She may, lord Rivers, why who knows not so?
She may do more, Sir, than denying that:
She may help you to many fair preferments,
And then deny her aiding hand therein,
And lay those honours on your high desert.
What may she not? she may—ay marry may she—

Riv.
What marry may she?

Glo.
What marry may she? marry with a King,
A batchelor, a handsom stripling too:
I wis, your grandam had a worser match.

Queen.
My lord of Glo'ster, I have too long born
Your blunt upbraidings, and your bitter scoffs:
By heav'n I will acquaint his Majesty,
Of those gross taunts I often have endur'd.
I had rather be a country servant maid
Than a great Queen with this condition,
To be thus taunted, scorn'd and baited at.
Small joy have I in being England's Queen.

Previous section

Next section