He is my fon, ay, and therein my shame;
Yet from my dugs he drew not this deceit.

Son. Think you my uncle did diffemble, grandam?
Dutch. Ay, boy.

Son. I cannot think it. Hark! what noife is this?

Enter the Queen distractedly, Rivers and Dorfet after ber.

Queen. Ah! who fhall hinder me to wail and weep, To chide my fortune, and torment myself? I'll join with black defpair against my foul, And to myself become an enemy.

Dutch. What means this fcene of rude impatience? Queen. To make an act of tragic violence; Edward, my lord, thy fon, our king, is dead.Why grow the branches, when the root is gone? Why wither not the leaves, that want their fap?— you will live, lament; if die, be brief;

If

That our fwift-winged fouls may catch the king's; Or, like obedient fubjects, follow him

To his new kingdom of perpetual rest.

Dutch. Ah! fo much intereft have I in thy forrow,
As I had title in thy noble hufband!
I have bewept a worthy hufband's death,
And liv'd by looking on his images.

But now two mirrors of his princely femblance
Are crack'd in pieces by malignant death;
And I for comfort have but one false glass,
That grieves me when I fee my fhame in him.
Thou art a widow; yet thou art a mother,
And haft the comfort of thy children left thee:
But death hath fnatch'd my husband from mine arms,
And plucked two crutches from my feeble hands,
Clarence and Edward. O, what cause have I,

5

his images.] The children by whom he was reprefented. JOHNSON.

(Thine being but a moiety of my grief) To over-go thy plaints, and drown thy cries? Son. Ah! aunt! [To the Queen.] you wept not for our father's death

;

How can we aid you with our kindred tears?
Daugh. Our fatherless distress was left unmoan'd,
Your widow dolour likewise be unwept!

Queen. Give me no help in lamentation,

I am not barren to bring forth complaints :
All springs reduce their currents to mine eyes,
That I, being govern'd by the watry moon,
May fend 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!
Dutch. Alas, for both, both mine, Edward and
Clarence!

Queen. What stay had I, but Edward? and he's gone.

Chil. What stay had we, but Clarence? and he's

gone.

Dutch. What ftays had I, but they? and they are

gone.

Queen. Was never widow, had fo dear a lofs.
Chil. Were never orphans, had fo dear a lofs.
Dutch. Was never mother, had fo dear a lofs.
Alas! I am the mother of these griefs,
Their woes are parcell'd, mine are general.
She for an Edward weeps, and fo do I;
I for a Clarence weep, fo doth not she:
These babes for Clarence weep, and fo do I;
I for an Edward weep, fo do not they.
Alas! you three, on me, threefold diftrefs'd,

-being governed by the watry moon.] That I may live hereafter under the influence of the moon, which governs the tides, and by the help of that influence, drown the world. The introduction of the moon is not very natural. JOHNSON.

Pour all your tears; I am your forrow's nurse,
And I will pamper it with lamentations.

Dor. Comfort, dear mother; God is much dif pleas'd,

That with unthankfulness you take his doing.
In common worldly things, 'tis call'd ungrateful
With dull unwillingness to repay a debt,

Which with a bounteous hand was kindly lent;
Much more, to be thus oppofite with heaven,
For it requires the royal debt it lent you.

Riv. Madam, bethink you, like a careful mother,
Of the young prince your fon : fend ftrait for him,
Let him be crown'd; in him your comfort lives.
Drown defperate forrow in dead Edward's grave,
And plant your joys in living Edward's throne.
Enter Gloucester, Buckingham, Stanley, Haftings, and
Ratcliff.

Glo. Sifter, have comfort.

All of us have cause To wail the dimming of our fhining star;

But none can cure their harms by wailing them.-
Madam, my mother, I do cry you mercy;

I did not fee you.-Humbly on my knee

I crave your bleffing.

Dutch. 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 bleffing; [Afide. I marvel that her grace did leave it out.

Buck. You cloudy princes, and heart-forrowing

peers,

That bear this mutual heavy load of moan,
Now chear each other in each other's love :
Though we have spent our harveft of this king,
We are to reap the harvest of his fon.

The broken rancour of your high-fwoln hearts,

But

But lately splinted, knit, and join'd together,
Muft gently be preferv'd, cherish'd, and kept:
Me feemeth good, that, with fome little train,
7 Forthwith from Ludlow the young prince be fetch'd
Hither to London, to be crown'd our king.

Riv. Why with fome little train, my lord of Buckingham ?

Buck, Marry, my lord, left by a multitude The new-heal'd wound of malice fhould break out; Which would be fo much the more dangerous, By how much the estate is yet ungovern'd. Where every horse bears his commanding rein, And may direct his course as please himself. As well the fear of harm, as harm apparent, In my opinion, ought to be prevented.

Glo. I hope the king made peace with all of us;
And the compact is firm, and true, in me.

Riv. And fo in me; and fo, I think, in all,
Yet fince it is but green, it fhould be put
To no apparent likelihood of breach,

Which, haply, by much company might be urg'd:·
Therefore I fay, with noble Buckingham,
That it is meet so few should fetch the prince.
Haft. And fo fay I.

Glo. Then be it fo; and go we to determine,
Who they shall be that ftrait fhall poft to Ludiow.
-Madam, and you my mother, will you go
To give your cenfures in this weighty business?
[Exeunt.

7 Forthwith from Ludlow the young prince be fetch'd] Edward the young prince, in his father's life-time, and at his demife, kept his houfhold at Ludlow, as prince of Wales; under the governance of Antony Woodville, earl of Rivers, his uncle by the mother's fide. The intention of his being fent thither was to fee justice done in the Marches; and, by the authority of his prefence, to restrain the Welshmen, who were wild, diffolute, and ill-difpofed, from their accuftomed murders and outrages. Vid. Hall, Holing head, &c. THEOBALD.

Manent Buckingham and Gloucester.

Buck. My lord, whoever journies to the prince,
For God's fake, let not us two stay at home:
For by the way, I'll fort occafion,

As index to the story we late talk'd of,
To part

the queen's proud kindred from the prince.
Glo. My other felf, my counfel's confiftory,
My oracle, my prophet!-My dear coufin,
I, as a child, will go by thy direction.
Toward Ludlow then, for we'll not stay behind.

SCENE

III,

[Exeunt.

A ftreet near the court.

Enter two Citizens meeting.

1 Cit. Good morrow, neighbour: whither away fo faft?

2 Cit. I promise you, I hardly know myself: Hear you the news abroad?

1 Cit. Ay, that the king is dead.

2 Cit. Ill news, by'r lady; feldom comes a better: I fear, I fear, 'twill prove a giddy world.

Enter another Citizen.

3 Cit. Neighbours, God fpeed!
1 Cit. Give you good morrow, fir.

3 Cit, Doth the news hold of good king Edward's death?

2 Cit. Ay, fir, it is too true; God help, the while!

3

Cit. Then, mafters, look to see a troublous world.

1 Cit. No, no, by God's good grace, his fon fhall

reign.

3 Cit. Woe to that land, that's govern'd by a

child!

2 Cit. In him there is a hope of government,

That