She may help you to many fair preferments,
And then deny her aiding hand therein,

And to lay thofe honours on your high deferts. What may fhe not! fhe may-ay, marry, may sheRiv. What, marry, may the?

Glo. What, marry, may fhe? marry with a King, A bachelor, a handsome stripling 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 heav'n, I will acquaint his Majefty, Of those grofs taunts I often have endur'd. I had rather be a country servant-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.

Q. Mar. AND leffen'd be that small, God, I be

feech thee!

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

Glo. What! threat you me with telling of the King? Tell him, and fpare not: Look, what I have faid, I will avouch in presence of the King:

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

Q. Mar. No, Devil! I remember them too well:
Thou kill'dft my husband Henry in the Tower,
And Edward, my poor lon, at Tewksbury.

Glo. Ere you were Queen, ay, or your husband
King,

I was a pack-horfe in his great affairs;

A weeder out of his proud Adversaries,
A liberal rewarder of his friends;

To royalize his blood, I fpilt mine own.

Q. Mar. Ay, and much better blood than his or

thine.

Glo.

Glo. In all which time you and your husband Gray
Were factious for the Houfe of Lancaster;
And, Rivers, fo were you; -was not your husband,
In Margret's battle, at St. Alban's flain?

Let me put in your minds, if you forget,
What you have been ere now, and what you are:
Withal, what I have been, and what I am.

Q. Mar. A murd'rous villain, and fo still thou art. Glo. Poor Clarence did forfake his father Warwick, Ay, and forfwore himself, (which, Jefu, pardon!) Q. Mar. Which God revenge.

Glo. To fight on Edward's party for the crown; And for his meed, poor Lord, he is mew'd up: I would to God, iny heart were flint, like Edward's ; Or Edward's foft and pitiful, like mine;

I am too childish-foolish for this world.

[world, Q. Mar. Hie thee to hell for fhame, and leave this Thou Cacodæmon! there thy kingdom is.

Riv. My Lord of Glofter, in those busy days,
Which here you urge to prove us enemies,
We follow'd then our Lord, our lawful King;
So fhould we you, if you fhould be our King.
Glo. If I fhould be!-I had rather be a pedlar:
Far be it from my heart, the thought thereof.

Queen. As little joy, my Lord, as you fuppofe
You fhould enjoy, were you this country's King
As little joy you may fuppofe in me,

That I enjoy, being the Queen thereof.

Q. Mar. A little joy enjoys the Queen thereof; For I am fhe, and altogether joyless.

I can no longer hold me patient.

Hear me, you wrangling Pirates, that fall out
In fharing that which you have pill'd from me;
Which of you trembles not, that looks on me?
If not that I being Queen, you bow like fubjects;
Yet that by you depos'd, you quake like rebels ?
Ungentle villain, do not turn away!

Glo.

Glo. Foul wrinkled witch, what mak'ft thou in my

fight?

[To Glo.

Q. Mar. But repetition of what thou haft marr'd.
That will I make, before I let thee go.
A husband and a fon thou ow'st to me;
And thou, a kingdom; all of you, allegiance;
[To the Queen.

The forrow, that I have, by Right is yours;
And all the pleasures, you ufurp, are mine.

Glo. The curfe my noble father laid on thee,
When thou didft crown his warlike brows with paper,
And with thy fcorns drew'ft rivers from his eyes,
And then, to dry them, gav'ft the Duke a clout,
Steep'd in the faultlefs blood of pretty Rutland;
His curfes, then from bitterness of foul
Denounc'd against thee, are now fall'n upon
And God, not we, has plagu'd thy bloody deed.
* Queen. So juft is God, to right the innocent.
Haft. O, 'twas the fouleft deed to flay that babe,
And the moft merciless, that e'er was heard of.

thee;

Riv. Tyrants themselves wept, when it was reported.
Dorf. No man but prophefy'd revenge for it.
Buck. Northumberland, then prefent, wept to fee it.
Q. Mar. What! were you fnarling all before I came,
Ready to catch each other by the throat,
And turn you all your hatred now on me?
Did York's dread curfe prevail fo much with heav'n,
That Henry's death, my lovely Edward's death,
Their Kingdom's lofs, my woful banishment,
Could all but anfwer for that peevish brat?
Can curfes pierce the clouds, and enter heav'n?
Why, then give way, dull clouds, to my quick curfes!
If not by war, by furfeit die your King,

As ours by murder, to make him a King!
Edward thy fon, that now is Prince of Wales,
For Edward our fon, that was Prince of Wales,

Q. Mar. So juft is God, &c.] This Line fhould be given to Edward IVth's Queen.

VOL. VI.

L

Die

Die in his youth, by like untimely violence!
Thyfelf a Queen, for me that was a Queen,
Out-live thy glory, like my wretched felf!
Long may'st thou live to wail thy children's lofs,
And fee another, as I fee thee now,

Deck'd in thy rights, as thou art ftall'd in mine!
Long die thy happy days before thy death,
And after many length'ned hours of grief,
Die, neither mother, wife, nor England's Queen!
Rivers and Dorfet, you were ftanders-by,

And fo waft thou, lord Hastings, when my fon
Was ftabb'd with bloody daggers; God, I pray him,
That none of you may live your natural age,
But by fome unlook'd accident cut off!

Glo. Have done thy charm, thou hateful wither'd hag.

Q. Mar. And leave out thee? ftay, dog, for thou
fhalt hear me.

If heav'ns have any grievous plague in ftore,
Exceeding those that I can with upon thee,
O, let them keep it, till thy fins be ripe;
And then hurl down their indignation

On thee, thou troubler of the poor world's peace!
The worm of confcience ftill be-gnaw thy foul;
Thy friends fufpect for traitors while thou liv'ft,
And take deep traitors for thy dearest friends:
No fleep clofe up that deadly eye of thine,
Unless it be while fome tormenting dream
Affrights thee with a hell of ugly devils!
Thou elvish-markt abortive, rooting hog!
Thou that waft feal'd in thy nativity.
The flave of nature, and the son of hell!
Thou flander of thy heavy mother's womb!
Thou loathed issue of thy father's loins!
Thou wrack of honour, thou detefted

Glo. Margaret.

Q. Mar. Richard.

Glo. Ha?

Q. Mar. I call thee not.

Glo.

Glo. I cry thee mercy then; for, I did think, That thou had'ft call'd me all thefe bitter names. Q. Mar. Why, fo I did; but look'd for no reply. Oh, let me make the period to my curfe.

Glo. 'Tis done by me, and ends in Margaret. Queen. Thus have you breath'd your curse against yourself.

Q. Mar. Poor painted Queen, vain flourish of my fortune!

Why ftrew'st thou sugar on that bottled spider,
Whofe deadly web enfnareth thee about?

Fool, fool, thou whet'ft a knife to kill thyfelf:
The day will come, that thou shalt wish for me
To help thee curfe this pois'nous bunch-back'd toad.
Haft. Falfe-boading woman, end thy frantic curfe;
Left to thy harm thou move our patience.

Q. Mar. Foul fhame upon you! you have all mov'd mine.

Riv. Were you well ferv'd, you would be taught your duty,

Q. Mar. To ferve me well, you all should do me duty,

Teach me to be your Queen, and you my Subjects: O, serve me well, and teach yourselves that duty. Dorf. Difpute not with her, fhe is lunatic.

Q. Mar. Peace, mafter Marquifs, you are malapert; Your fire-new ftamp of honour is fcarce current. O, that your young nobility could judge What 'twere to lofe it, and be miferable!

They, that stand high, have many blasts to shake. them;

And, if they fall, they dash themselves to pieces. Glo. Good counsel, marry, learn it, learn it, Marquifs.

Dorf. It touches you, my Lord, as much as me. Glo. Ay, and much more; but I was born so high, Our Airy buildeth in the cedar's top,

And dallies with the wind, and fcorns the fun.