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 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 a withered 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 unlicked bear-whelp,
That carries no impression like the dam.
And am I, then, a man to be 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 my

heaven-to dream upon the crown;
And, whiles I live, to account this world but hell,
Until my misshaped trunk, that bears this head,
Be round impaled 2 with a glorious crown,
And yet I know not how to get the crown,
For many lives stand between me and home:
And I,-like one lost in a thorny wood,

That rents the thorns, and is rent with the thorns,
Seeking a way, and straying from the way,
Not knowing how to find the open air,

1 For] See p. 53, note 3.

2 Impaled] Encircled. See p. 21, note 1.

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 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.1

I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall;
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 to2 the cameleon,
Change shapes with Proteus for advantages,
And set the murderous Machiavel to school.3
Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?

Tut! were it farther off, I'll pluck it down.

[Exit.

SCENE III.-France. Room in the Palace.

Flourish. Enter KING LEWIS and LADY BONA, attended; the KING takes his state. Then enter QUEEN MARGARET, PRINCE EDWARD her Son, and the EARL of OXFORD.

K. Lew. Fair queen of England, worthy Margaret,

Sit down with us; it ill befits thy state

[Rising.

1 Occasions] Shakspeare and other poets of his time very often made the terminations -tion, -sion, dissyllabic, especially when ending a line. On this subject see the Editor's Measure for Measure, p. 5, note 6.

2 Add colours to] That is, assume more colours than.

3 And set, &c.] Machiavel.

And excel in crafty policy the murderous

And birth, that thou should'st stand, while Lewis doth sit.

Q. Mar. No, mighty king of France; now Margaret
Must strike her sail, and learn awhile to serve
Where kings command. I was, I must confess,
Great Albion's queen in former golden days;
But now mischance hath trod my title down,
And with dishonour laid me on the ground,
Where I must take like seat unto1

my fortune, And to my humble seat conform myself.

K. Lew. Why, say, fair queen, whence springs this deep despair?

Q. Mar. From such a cause as fills mine eyes with tears, And stops my tongue, while heart is drowned in cares. K. Lew. Whate'er it be, be thou still like thyself, And sit thee2 by our side: yield not thy neck

[Seats her by him..

To fortune's yoke, but let thy dauntless mind
Still ride in triumph over all mischance.
Be plain, queen Margaret, and tell thy grief;
It shall be eased, if France can yield relief.

Q. Mar. Those gracious words revive my drooping thoughts,

And give my tongue-tied sorrows leave to speak.

Now, therefore, be it known to noble Lewis,—
That Henry, sole possessor of my love,

Is, of a king,3 become a banished man,
And forced to live in Scotland a forlorn;
While proud ambitious Edward, duke of York,
Usurps the regal title, and the seat

1 Like seat unto] Seat like unto. See p. 50, note 1.

2 Sit thee] Thee was often thus used instead of thou. It is still

so used in the expressions fare thee well, haste thee, hie thee.

Of a king] From being, or after being, a king.

Of England's true-anointed lawful king.
This is the cause that I, poor Margaret,—
With this my son, prince Edward, Henry's heir,-
Am come to crave thy just and lawful aid;
And if thou fail us, all our hope is done :
Scotland hath will to help, but cannot help;
Our people and our peers are both misled,
Our treasure seized, our soldiers put to flight,
And, as thou seest, ourselves in heavy plight.

K. Lew. Renowned queen, with patience calm the storm,

While we bethink a means to break it off.

Q. Mar. The more we stay, the stronger grows our foe. K. Lew. The more I stay, the more I'll succour thee. Q. Mar. O, but impatience waiteth on true sorrow! And see, where comes the breeder of my sorrow.

Enter WARWICK, attended.

K. Lew. What's he approacheth boldly to our presence? Q. Mar. Our earl of Warwick, Edward's greatest friend.

K. Lew. Welcome, brave Warwick! what brings thee to France?

[Descending from his state. QUEEN MARGARET rises. Q. Mar. Ay, now begins a second storm to rise; For this is he that moves both wind and tide.

War. From worthy Edward, king of Albion,
My lord and sovereign, and thy vowed friend,
I come,-in kindness and unfeigned love,—
First, to do greetings to thy royal person,
And, then, to crave a league of amity;
And lastly, to confirm that amity

With nuptial knot, if thou vouchsafe to grant

That virtuous lady Bona, thy fair sister,

To England's king in lawful marriage.

Q. Mar. [Aside.] If that go forward, Henry's hope is done.

War. And, gracious madam, [To BONA.] in our king's behalf,

I am commanded, with your leave and favour,
Humbly to kiss your hand, and with my tongue
To tell the passion of my sovereign's heart;
Where fame, late entering at his heedful ears,
Hath placed thy beauty's image and thy virtue.

Q. Mar. King Lewis,—and lady Bona,―hear me speak,
Before you answer Warwick. His demand
Springs not from Edward's well-meant honest love
But from deceit, bred by necessity:

For how can tyrants safely govern home,
Unless abroad they purchase great alliance?

To prove him tyrant, this reason may suffice,—

That Henry liveth still but were he dead,

Yet here prince Edward stands, king Henry's son.
Look therefore, Lewis, that by this league and marriage
Thou draw not on thy danger and dishonour:

For though usurpers sway the rule awhile,

Yet heavens are just, and time suppresseth wrongs.
War. Injurious Margaret!

Prince.

And why not queen

?

War. Because thy father Henry did usurp,

And thou no more art prince than she is queen.

Oxf. Then Warwick disannuls great John of Gaunt,
Which did subdue the greatest part of Spain;
And, after John of Gaunt, Henry the fourth,
Whose wisdom was a mirror to the wisest;
And, after that wise prince, Henry the fifth,