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

Glo. Yea! is it so?

I see, the lady hath a thing to grant,

Before the king will grant her humble suit.

Clar. He knows the game; how true he keeps the wind!

Glo. Silence!

'K. Edw. Widow, we will consider of

[Aside. [Aside.

your suit;

And come some other time, to know our mind.

L. Grey. Right gracious lord, I cannot brook de

lay:

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

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Glo. [Aside.] Ay, widow? then I'll warrant you

all your lands,

And if what pleases him shall pleasure you.

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

* Clar. I fear her not, unless she chance to fall.

* Glo. God forbid that! for he'll take vantages.

[Aside.

[Aside.

'K. Edw. How many children hast thou, widow?

tell me.

Clar. I think he means to beg a child of her.

[Aside.

[Aside.

Glo. Nay, whip me then; he'll rather give her two.

L. Grey. Three, my most gracious lord.
Glo. You shall have four, if you'll be ruled by him.

[Aside.

K. Edw. "Twere pity they should lose their

father's land.

L. Grey. Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant it then.
K. Edw. Lords, give us leave; I'll try this widow's

wit.

Glo. Ay, good leave have you; for you will have

leave,

'Till youth take leave, and leave you to the crutch. [GLOSTER and CLARENCE retire to the other side.

*K. Edw. Now tell me, madam, do

children?

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*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.

* 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.

*Glo. He plies her hard; and much rain wears the

marble.

[Aside.

* Clar. As red as fire! nay, then her wax must melt.

[Aside.

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 performed, 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.

Glo. The match is made; she seals it with a curt'sy. 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 per

ceive

* Your highness aims 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 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 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 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. Glo. The widow likes him not; she knits her

brows.

[Aside.

Clar. He is the bluntest wooer in Christendom.

[Aside.

K. Edw. [Aside.] Her looks do argue her replete

with modesty ;

* Her words do 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 call you-father.

K. Edw. No more than when thy 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.
Glo. The ghostly father now hath done his shrift.

[Aside.

Clar. When he was made a shriver, 'twas for shift.

[Aside.

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

have had.

* Glo. The widow likes it not, for she looks very

sad.

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

her.

Clar. To whom, my lord?

K. Edw.

Why, Clarence, to myself.

Glo. That would be ten days' wonder, at the least. Clar. That's a day longer than a wonder lasts.

Glo. 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 to your palace gate. K. Edw. See that he be conveyed 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 honorable. [Exeunt KING EDWARD, LADY GREY, CLARENCE, and Lord.

Glo. Ay, Edward will use women honorably. Would he were wasted, marrow, bones, and all, That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring,

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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 unlooked-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 it dry to have his way.

*So do I wish the crown, being so far off;

* And so I chide the means that keep me from it; * 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 ; * What other pleasure can the world afford? I'll make my heaven in a lady's lap, And deck my body in gay ornaments,

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