Glo. This is the fruit of rashness!. not, How that the guilty kindred of the queen Look'd pale, when they did hear of Clarence' death? O! they did urge it still unto the king; Heaven will revenge it. Come, lords; will you go, To comfort Edward with our company? Buck. We wait upon your grace. [Exeunt. SCENE II. The Same. Enter the Duchess of YORK, with a Son and Daughter of CLarence. Son. Good grandam, tell us, is our father dead? Duch. No, boy. Daugh. Why do you weep so oft? and beat your breast; And cry-O Clarence, my unhappy son! Son. Why do you look on us, and shake your head, And call us-orphans, wretches, cast-aways, Duch. My pretty cousins, you mistake me both I do lament the sickness of the king, As loath to lose him, not your father's death; Son. Then, grandam, you conclude that he is dead. The king my uncle is to blame for this. Duch. Peace, children, peace! the king doth love you well: Incapable and shallow innocents, You cannot guess who caus'd your father's death. 6 Ignorant. Son. Grandam, we can: for my good uncle Told me, the king, provok'd to't by the queen, And with a virtuous visor hide deep vice! Duch. Ay, boy. Son. I cannot think it. Hark! what noise is this! Enter Queen ELIZABETH distractedly; RIVERS and DORSET, following her. Q. Eliz. Ah! who shall hinder me to wail and To chide my fortune, and torment myself? Duch. What means this scene of rude impatience? If sap: ?. you will live, lament; if die, be brief; That our swift-winged souls may catch the king's; Or, like obedient subjects, follow him To his new kingdom of perpetual rest. Duch. Ah, so much interest have I in thy sorrow, As I had title in thy noble husband! But now two mirrors of his princely semblance my And hast the comfort of thy children left thee: To over-go thy plaints, and drown thy cries! How can we aid you with our kindred tears? Daugh. Our fatherless distress was left unmoan'd, Your widow-dolour likewise be unwept! Q. Eliz. Give me no help in lamentation, I am not barren to bring forth laments: All springs reduce their currents to mine eyes, That I, being govern'd by the watry moon, May send forth plenteous tears to drown the world! Ah, for my husband, for my dear lord Edward! Chil. Ah, for our father, for our dear lord Clarence ! Duch. Alas, for both, both mine, Edward and Clarence! Q. Eliz. What stay had I, but Edward? and he's gone. Chil. What stay had we, but Clarence? and he's gone. Duch. What stays had I, but they? and they are gone. Q. Eliz. Was never widow, had so dear a loss. Alas! I am the mother of these griefs; 7 Divided. I for a Clarence weep, so doth not she: Alas! you three, on me, threefold distress'd, Dor. Comfort, dear mother; God is much displeas'd, That you take with unthankfulness his doing; Riv. Madam, bethink you, like a careful mother, Of the young prince your son: send straight for him, Let him be crown'd; in him your comfort lives: Drown desperate sorrow in dead Edward's grave, And plant your joys in living Edward's throne. Enter GLOSTER, BUCKINGHAM, STANLEY, HASTINGS, RATCLIFF, and others. Glo. Sister have comfort: all of us have cause To wail the dimming of our shining star; But none can cure their harms by wailing them.— Madam, my mother, I do cry you mercy, I did not see your grace: I crave your blessing. Humbly on my knee Duch. God bless thee; and put meekness in thy breast, Love, charity, obedience, and true duty! Glo. Amen; and make me die a good old man!That is the butt-end of a mother's blessing; [Aside. I marvel that her grace did leave it out. Buck. You cloudy princes, and heart sorrowing peers, That bear this mutual heavy load of moan, Now cheer each other in each other's love: The broken rancour of your high-swoln hearts, Riv. Why with some little train, my lord of Buckingham? Buck. Marry, my lord, lest, by a multitude, The new-heal'd wound of malice should break out; Which would be so much the more dangerous, By how much the estate is green, and yet ungo vern'd: Where every horse bears his commanding rein, Glo. I hope, the king made peace with all of us; And the compáct is firm, and true, in me. Riv. And so in me; and so, I think, in all : Which, haply, by much company might be urg'd: That it is meet so few should fetch the prince. Glo. Then be it so; and go we to determine - [Exeunt all but BUCKINGHAM and GLOSTER. Buck. My lord, whoever journeys to the prince,, For heaven's sake, let not us two stay at home: For, by the way, I'll sort occasion, Opinions. |