That cropp'd the golden prime of this fweet prince,
And made her widow to a woful bed?

On me, whofe all not equals Edward's moiety?
On me, that halt, and am misshapen thus ?
My dukedom to a beggarly denier,

I do mistake my perfon all this while :
Upon my life, fhe finds, although I cannot,
Myfelf to be a marvelous proper man.
I'll be at charges for a looking glafs;
And entertain a score or two of taylors,
To study fashions to adorn my body:
Since I am crept in favour with myself,
I will maintain it with fome little coft.
But first I'll turn yon' fellow in his grave,
And then return lamenting to my love.-
Shine out, fair fun, till I have bought a glass,
That I may fee my fhadow as I pafs.

SCENE III.

THE PALACE.

[Exit.

Enter the Queen, Lord Rivers her brother, and Lord Gray her fon.

Riv. Have patience, madam; there's no doubt his majefty

Will foon recover his accuftom'd health.

Gray. In that you brook it ill, it makes him worse: Therefore, for God's fake, entertain good comfort, And cheer his grace with quick and merry words.

Queen. If he were dead, what would betide of me? Gray. No other harm, but lofs of fuch a lord. Queen. The lofs of fuch a lord includes all harms. Gray. The heavens have bleft you with a goodly fon, To be your comforter, when he is gone.

Queen. Ah, he is young, and his minority
Is put into the truft of Richard Glofter,
A man that loves not me, nor none of

you.

Riv. Is it concluded, he fhall be protector? Queen. It is determin'd, not concluded yet : But so it must be, if the king miscarry.

Enter Buckingham and Stanley.

Gray. Here come the lords of Buckingham and Stanley, s

5

Buck. Good time of day unto your royal grace! Stanley. God make your majefty joyful as you have been!

Queen. The countess of Richmond, good my lord of Stanley,

Το your good prayer will scarcely fay, Amen.
Yet, Stanley, notwithstanding she's your wife,
And loves not me, be you, good lord, affur'd,
I hate not you for her proud arrogance.

Stanley. I do befeech you, either not believe
The envious flanders of her falfe accufers;
Or, if the be accus'd on true report,

Bear with her weaknefs, which, I think, proceeds,
From wayward fickness, and no grounded malice.
Queen. Saw you the king to-day, my lord of
Stanley?

Stanley. But now the duke of Buckingham and I

It is determin'd, not concluded yet :] Determin'd fignifies the final conclufion of the will: concluded, what cannot be altered by reafon of fome act, confequent on the final judgment. WARB.

5 Here come the lords of Buckingham and Derby.] This is a blunder of inadvertence, which has run through the whole chain of impreffions. It could not well be original in Shakespeare, who was moft minutely intimate with his hiftory, and the intermarriages of the nobility. The perfon here called Derby, was Thomas lord Stanley, lord fteward of king Edward the fourth's houfhold. But this Thomas lord Stanley was not created earl of Derby till after the acceffion of Henry the feventh; and accordingly, af terwards, in the fourth and fifth acts of this play, before the battle of Bofworth-field, he is every where called lord Stanley. This fufficiently juftifies the change I have made in his title.

C 3

THEOBALD.

Are

Are come from vifiting his majefty.

Queen. What likelihood of his amendment, lords? Buck. Madam, good hope; his grace fpeaks chearfully.

Queen. God grant him health! Did you confer with him?

Buck. Ay, madam: he defires to make atonement Between the duke of Glofter and your brothers, And between them and my lord chamberlain; And sent to warn them to his royal prefence. Queen. 'Would all were well!-But that will never be;

I fear our happiness is at the height.

Enter Gloucester, Hafstings, and Dorfet.

Glo. They do me wrong, and I will not endure it:→
Who are they that complain unto the king,
That I, forfooth, am stern, and love them not?
By holy Paul, they love his grace but lightly,
That fill his ears with fuch diffentious rumours,
Because I cannot flatter, and fpeak fair,
Smile in men's faces, fmooth, deceive, and cog,
Duck with French nods, and apifh courtesy,
I must be held a rancorous enemy.

Cannot a plain man live, and think no harm,
But thus his fimple truth muft be abus'd
By filken, fly, infinuating Jacks?

Gray. To whom in all this prefence speaks your grace?

Glo. To thee, that haft nor honefty nor grace. When have I injur'd thee? when done thee wrong?Or thee?or thee?or any of your faction? A plague upon you all! His royal perfon,→ Whom God preferve better than you would wish!Cannot be quiet fcarce a breathing while, But you must trouble him with lewd complaints. Queen. Brother of Glofter, you mistake the matter:

The

The king, of his own royal difpofition,
And not provok'd by any fuitor else;
Aiming, belike, at your interior hatred,
That in your outward action fhews itself
Against my children, brothers, and myself;
Makes him to fend, that thereby he may gather
The ground of your ill-will, and so remove it.
Glo. I cannot tell :-The world is grown fo bad,
That wrens may prey, where eagles dare not perch.
Since every Jack became a gentleman,

6

There's many a gentle perfon made a Jack.

Queen. Come, come, we know your meaning, brother Glofter.

You envy my advancement, and my friends:
God grant, we never may have need of you!
Glo. Mean time, God grants that we have need of

you:

Our brother is imprison'd by your means;

Myfelf disgrac'd, and the nobility

Held in contempt; while many fair promotions
Are daily given to enoble thofe,

That scarce, fome two days fince, were worth a noble,
Queen. By Him, that rais'd me to this careful height,
From that contented hap which I enjoy'd,

I never did incenfe his majesty

Against the duke of Clarence; but have been

An earnest advocate to plead for him.

My lord, you do me fhameful injury,
Falfly to draw me in these vile fufpects,

Of

6

Glo. You may deny that you were not the cause my lord Haftings' late imprisonment.

Riv. She may, my lord; for,

Glo. She may, lord Rivers?-why, who knows not fo?

Of your ill-will, &c.] This line is reftored from the firft edition. POPE.

She may do more, fir, than denying that:
She may help you to many fair preferments;
And then deny her aiding hand therein,
And lay those honours on your high desert.
What may fhe not? fhe may,-ay, marry, may fhe,-
Riv. What, marry, may fhe?

Glo. What, marry, may fhe? marry with a king, A batchelor, a handfome ftripling too:

I wis, your grandam had a worfer match.

Queen. My lord of Glofter, I have too long borne Your blunt upbraidings, and your bitter fcoffs; By heaven, I will acquaint his majefty, Of those grofs taunts I often have endur'd. I had rather be a country fervant-maid, Than a great queen with this condition; To be thus taunted, fcorn'd, and baited at. Small joy have I in being England's queen.

Enter Queen Margaret behind.

2. Mar. And leffen'd be that small, God, I beseech thee!

Thy honour, ftate, and feat, is due to me.

Glo. What! threat you me with telling of the king? "Tell him, and spare not; look, what I have said, I will avouch in prefence of the king:

I dare adventure to be fent to the Tower.

8

'Tis time to fpeak, my pains are quite forgot.

2. Mar. Out, devil! I remember them too well : Thou kill'dft my husband Henry in the Tower,

7 Tell him, and fpare not; look, what I have said,] This verfe

I have restored from the old quarto's. THEOBALD.

8 my pains-] My labours; my toils. JOHNSON.

9 Out, devil!-] Read, No. WARBURTON,

There is no need of change, but if there were, the commentator does not change enough. He fhould read,

I remember them too well;

that is, bis pains. JOHNSON,

And