SCENE II. The same.

Another street.

Enter the corpse of King HENRY the Sixth, borne in an open coffin, Gentlemen with halberds to guard it, among them TRESSEL and BERKELEY; Lady ANNE being the mourner.

Anne. Set down, set down your honourable
load,-

If honour may be shrouded in a hearse,-
Whilst I awhile obsequiously lament
The untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster.

[The bearers set down the coffin.

Poor key-cold figure of a holy king!
Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster !
Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood!
Be't lawful that I invocate thy ghost,

To hear the lamentations of poor Anne,
Wife to thy Edward, to thy slaughtered son,
Stabbed by the selfsame hand that made these
wounds!

Lo, in these windows that let forth thy life,

I

pour the helpless balm of my poor eyes.

O, curséd be the hand that made these holes!
Cursed the heart that had the heart to do it!
Curséd the blood that let this blood from hence!
More direful hap betide that hated wretch,
That makes us wretched by the death of thee,
Than I can wish to adders, spiders, toads,
Or any creeping venomed thing that lives!
If ever he have child, abortive be it,
Prodigious, and untimely brought to light,
Whose ugly and unnatural aspéct

May fright the hopeful mother at the view;
And that be heir to his unhappiness!

If ever he have wife, let her be made
As miserable by the death of him

As I am made by my poor lord and thee!
Come, now towards Chertsey with your holy load,
Taken from Paul's to be interréd there;

And still, as you are weary of the weight,
Rest you, whiles I lament King Henry's corse.

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 Paul,

I'll make a corse of him that disobeys.

Gent. My lord, stand back, and let the coffin

pass.

Glo. Unmannered dog! stand thou, when I command:

Advance thy halberd higher than my breast,
Or, by Saint Paul, I'll strike thee to my foot,
And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness.

[The bearers set down the coffin. Anne. What, do you tremble? are you all afraid?

Alas, I blame you not; for you are mortal,
And mortal eyes cannot endure the devil.
Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell!
Thou hadst but power o'er his mortal body,

His soul thou canst not have; therefore, be gone,

Glo. Sweet saint, for charity, be not so curst. Anne. Foul devil, for God's sake, hence, and trouble us not;

For thou hast made the happy earth thy hell,
Filled it with cursing cries and deep exclaims.
If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds,
Behold this pattern of thy butcheries.

O, gentlemen, see, see! dead Henry's wounds
Open their congealed mouths and bleed afresh!
Blush, blush, thou lump of foul deformity;
For 'tis thy presence that exhales this blood
From cold and empty veins, where no blood dwells;
Thy deed, inhuman and unnatural,

Provokes this deluge most unnatural.—

O God, 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,

Or earth, gape open wide, and eat him quick,
As thou dost swallow up this good king's blood,
Which his hell-governed arm hath butcheréd !

Glo. Lady, you know no rules of charity,
Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses.
Anne. Villain, thou know'st no law of God nor

man:

No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity. Glo. But I know none, and therefore am no

beast.

Anne. O wonderful, when devils tell the truth! Glo. More wonderful, when angels are so angry. Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman, Of these supposéd evils to give me leave By circumstance but to acquit myself.

Anne. Vouchsafe, defused infection of a man, For these known evils, but to give me leave, By circumstance, to curse thy cursed self.

Glo. Fairer than tongue can name thee, let me have

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, shouldst thou stand excused

For doing worthy vengeance on thyself,

Which didst unworthy slaughter upon others.
Glo. Say that I slew them not?

Anne.

But dead they are, and, devilish slave, by thee.

Why, then they are not dead :

husband.

Why, then he is alive.

Glo. I did not kill your
Anne.

Glo. Nay, he is dead; and slain by Edward's

hand.

Anne. In thy foul throat thou liest: Queen
Margaret saw

Thy murderous falchion smoking in his blood;
The which thou once didst bend against her breast,
But that thy brothers beat aside the point.

Glo. I was provoked by her slanderous tongue, Which laid their guilt upon my guiltless shoulders. Anne. Thou wast provokéd by thy bloody mind, Which never dreamt on aught but butcheries : Didst thou not kill this king?

Glo.

I grant ye.

Anne. Dost grant me, hedgehog? then, God grant

me too

Thou mayst be damnéd for that wicked deed!-
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 name it.

Anne. Some dungeon.

Glo.

Your bed-chamber.

Anne. Ill rest betide the chamber where thou

liest !

Glo. So will it, madam, till I lie with you.
Anne. I hope so.

Glo.
I know so. But, gentle Lady Anne,
To leave this keen encounter of our wits,
And fall somewhat into a slower method,-
Is not the causer of the timeless deaths
Of these Plantagenets, Henry and Edward,

As blameful as the executioner?

Anne. Thou art the cause, and most accursed 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, So I might live one hour in your sweet bosom. 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;