Anne. He is in heaven, where thou fhalt never

come.

Glo. Let him thank me, that holp to fend him thither;

For he was fitter for that place, than earth.

Anne. And thou unfit for any place, but hell. Glo. Yes, one place elfe, if you will hear me name it.

Anne. Some dungeon.

Glo. Your bed-chamber.

Anne. Ill reft betide the chamber where thou lyeft!
Glo. So will it, madam, 'till I lie with you.
Anne. I hope fo.

Glo. I know fo. -But, gentle lady Anne,-
To leave this keen encounter of our wits,
And fall fomewhat into a flower method 3;--
Is not the caufer of the timeless deaths

Of these Plantagenets, Henry, and Edward,
As blameful as the executioner?

Anne.

4

Thou waft the cause, and most accurs'd. effect.

3 a flower method ;] As quick was used for Sprightly, fo flower was put for ferious. In the next fcene lord Grey defires the queen to

-cheer his grace with quick and merry words. STEEVENS.

4 Thou waft the caufe, and most accurs'd effect;] Effect, for executioner. He afks, was not the caufer as ill as the executioner? She answers, Thou waft both. But, for caufer, ufing the word caufe, this led her to the word effect, for execution, or executioner. But the Oxford editor, troubling himfelf with nothing of this, will make a fine oratorical period of it:

Thou waft the caufe. And most accurs'd th' effect!`
WARBURTON.

I cannot but be rather of fir T. Hanmer's opinion than Dr. Warburton's, because effect is used immediately in its common fenfe, in answer to this line. JOHNSON.

I believe the old reading is the true one. So, in the Yorkshire Tragedy, 1608:

66

thou art the cause,

Effect, quality, property; thou, thou." STEEVENS. VOL. VII.

C

Gle

Glo. Your beauty was the cause of that effect; Your beauty, which did haunt me in my fleep, To undertake the death of all the world,

So I might live one hour in your sweet bofom.

Anne. If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide, Thefe nails fhould rend that beauty from my cheeks. Glo. These eyes could not endure that beauty's wreck,

You should not blemish it, if I ftood by:
As all the world is cheered by the fun,
So I by that; it is my day, my life.

Anne. Black night o'erfhade thy day, and death thy life!

Glo: Curfe not thyself, fair creature; thou art both. Anne. I would I were, to be reveng'd on thee.. Glo. It is a quarrel most unnatural,

To be reveng'd on him that loveth thee.

Anne. It is a quarrel juft and reasonable, To be reveng'd on him that kill'd my husband. Glo. He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband, Did it to help thee to a better husband.

Anne. His better doth not breathe upon the earth. Glo. He lives, that loves you better than he could. Anne. Name him.

Glo. Plantagenet.

Anne. Why, that was he.

Glo. The felf-fame name, but one of better nature. Anne. Where is he?

Glo. Here: [She fpits at him.] Why doft thou fpit at me?

Anne. Would it were mortal poifon, for thy fake! Glo. Never came poifon from fo fweet a place. Anne. Never hung poifon on a fouler toad. Out of my fight! thou doft infect mine eyes.

Glo. Thine eyes, fweet lady, have infected mine. Anne. 'Would they were bafilifks, to ftrike the

dead!

Glo.

Glo. I would they were, that I might die at once; For now they kill me with a living death ". Thofe eyes of thine from mine have drawn falt tears, Sham'd their aspects with itore of childish drops: These eyes, which never fhed remorseful tear,Not, when my father York and Edward wept, To hear the piteous moan that Rutland inade, When black-fac'd Clifford fhook his fword at him: Nor when thy warlike father, like a child, Told the fad ftory of my father's death; And twenty times made paufe, to fob, and weep, That all the ftanders by had wet their cheeks, Like trees bedafh'd with rain: in that fad time, My manly eyes did scorn an humble tear;

And what these forrows could not thence exhale,
Thy beauty hath, and made them blind with weeping.
I never fu'd to friend, nor enemy;

My tongue could never learn fweet foothing word;
But now thy beauty is propos'd my fee,
My proud heart fues, and prompts my tongue to fpeak.
[She looks fcornfully at him.
Teach not thy lip fuch fcorn; for it was made
For kiffing, lady, not for fuch contempt.
If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive,
Lo! here I lend thee this fharp-pointed fword;
Which if thou pleafe to hide in this true breaft,
And let the foul forth that adoreth thee,

5 they kill me with a living death.] In imitation of this paffage, and, I fuppofe, of a thoufand more, Pope writes: -a living death I bear,

JOHNSON.

"Says Dapperwit, and funk befide his chair." The fame conceit occurs in The trimming of Tho. Nah, 1597: How happy the rat, caught in a trap, and there dies a living "death ?" STEEVENS.

Again, in our author's Venus and Adonis :

"For I have heard it [love] is a life in death,

"That laughs, and weeps, and all but with a breath."

MALONE.

6 Thefe eyes, which never &c.] The twelve following beauti

ful lines added after the firft editions.

They were added with many more.
C 2

POPE.
JOHNSON.

I lay

t

I lay it naked to the deadly stroke,

And humbly beg the death upon my knee.

[He lays his breaft open, fhe offers at it with his fword. Nay, do not paufe; for I did kill king Henry ;But 'twas thy beauty that provoked me.

Nay, now dispatch; 'twas I that stabb'd

ward;

young Ed.

But 'twas thy heavenly face that set me on.

[She lets fall the fword. Take up the fword again, or take up me.

Anne. Arife, diffembler; though I wish thy death,

I will not be thy executioner.

Glo. Then bid me kill myself, and I will do it.
Anne. I have already.

Glo. That was in thy rage:

Speak it again, and, even with the word,

This hand, which for thy love, did kill thy love,
Shall, for thy love, kill a far truer love;
To both their deaths fhalt thou be acceffary.
Anne. I would, I knew thy heart.
Glo. 'Tis figur'd in my tongue.
Anne. I fear me, both are falfe.

Glo. Then never man was true.

Anne. Well, well, put up your fword.
Glo. Say then, my peace is made.
Anne. That fhall you know hereafter.
Glo. But fhall I live in hope?
Anne. All men, I hope, live fo.
Glo. Vouchfafe to wear this ring.

Anne. To take is not to give.

[She puts on the ring.

Glo. Look, how this ring encompaffeth thy finger,
Even fo thy breaft enclofeth my poor heart;

Wear both of them, for both of them are thine.
And if thy poor devoted fervant may

But 'twas thy beauty] Shakspeare countenances the obfervation, that no woman can ever be offended with the mention of her beauty. JOHNSON.,

}

But

But beg one favour at thy gracious hand,
Thou doft confirm his happinefs for ever.
Anne. What is it?

Glo. That it may please you leave thefe fad defigns To him that hath more caufe to be a mourner, And presently repair to Crofby-place: Where-after I have folemnly interr'd, At Chertsey monaft'ry this noble king, And wet his grave with my repentant tears,I will with all expedient duty fee you: For divers unknown reafons, I beseech you, Grant me this boon.

Anne. With all my heart; and much it joys me too, To fee you are become fo penitent.

Treffel, and Berkley, go along with me.

Glo. Bid me farewel.

Anne. 'Tis more than you deserve:

But, fince you teach me how to flatter you
Imagine I have said farewel already.

[Exeunt two, with lady Anne.

Glo. Take up the corfe, firs.

Gen. Towards Chertfey, noble lord?

Glo. No, to White-Fryars; there attend my coming. [Exeunt the reft, with the corfe.

Was ever woman in this humour woo'd?

Was ever woman in this humour won?

I'll have her, but I will not keep her long.
What! I, that kill'd her husband, and his father,

• Crosby-place:] A houfe near Bifhopfgate-ftreet, belong. ing to the duke of Glofter. JOHNSON.

Croby Place is now Crosby-fquare in Bishopfgate-ftreet; part of the house is yet remaining, and is a meeting place for a prefbyterian congregation. Sir J. HAWKINS.

9 Imagine I have faid farewel already.] Cibber, who altered Rich. III. for the ftage, was fo thoroughly convinced of the ridiculousness and improbability of this fcene, that he thought himself obliged to make Treffel fay;

When future chronicles shall speak of this,
They will be thought romance, not history.

STEVENS.