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K. Edw. Now tell me, madam, do you love your children?
L. Grey. Ay, full as dearly as I love myself.

K. Edw. And would you not do much to do them good?
L. Grey. To do them good I would sustain some harm.

K. Edw. Then get your husband's lands, to do them good. 40
L. Grey. Therefore I came unto your majesty.

K. Edw. I'll tell you how these lands are to be got.
L. Grey. So shall you bind me to your highness' service.
K. Edw. What service wilt thou do me, if I give them?
L. Grey. What you command, that rests in me to do.
K. Edw. But you will take exceptions to my boon.
L. Grey. No, gracious lord, except I cannot do it.
K. Edw. Ay, but thou canst do what I mean to ask.
L. Grey. Why, then I will do what your grace commands.

45

Glou. [Aside to Clar.] He plies her hard: and much rain

wears the marble.

50

Clar. [Aside to Glou.] As red as fire! nay, then her wax must melt.

L. Grey. Why stops my lord? shall I not hear my task?
K. Edw. An easy task; 'tis but to love a king.

L. Grey. That's soon perform'd, because I am a subject.
K. Edw. Why then, thy husband's lands I freely give thee. 55
L. Grey. I take my leave with many thousand thanks.

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42-45. I'll tell you grant it them? La. But you will.

36-41. Now tell me your majesty] omitted Q. give them? to do] 29-32. Ile tell thee... Euen what your highnesse shall command Q. 46-51. must melt] omitted Q. 52-57. Why stops my lord. a curtsey] 39-44. Why stops my lord... Know my taske? cursie Q.

...

is a passage in The Spanish Tragedy very strongly resembling this. It is broken in two by the arrival of Jonson's additions:

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"By your leave, Sir. Hier. Good leave have you: nay, I pray you goe, For ile leave you if you can leave me so (III. xi. 1-3). 36-59.] These lines are another example of the method of alternate dialogue in lines (σTIXOμveía) already noted upon in 1 Henry VI. IV. v. 35-42, a practice in the classic drama. Kyd's Cornelia is largely framed on this plan, which is frequent in Shakespeare's early work.

46. take exceptions] disapprove. See 1 Henry VI. IV. i. 105 (note); and Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. iii. 81.

50. He plies her hard] urges her

wax

hard. See Merchant of Venice, III. ii. 279. And see note at "well said " (2 Henry VI. 1. iv. 13) for an example from Peele.

50. much rain wears the marble] See above, II. i. 54, 55 (note). Compare T. Howell, Devises (Grosart, ii. 217), 1581: "The Marble stone in time by waterie drops is pierced deepe." And T. Watson, Passionate Centurie, xlvi. (Arber, p. 83), 1582: "In time the Marble weares with weakest sheures." Kyd, when he appropriated Watson's lines in The Spanish Tragedy (Hazlitt's Dodsley, v. 36) turned marble to flint. The old form is "Constant dropping wears a stone." Gloucester's proverbloving speech is displayed here. See Introduction, and below, III. ii. 113, IV. vii. 25, etc.

Glou. [Aside to Clar.] The match is made; she seals it with

a curtsey.

K. Edw. But stay thee; 'tis the fruits of love I mean.
L. Grey. The fruits of love I mean, my loving liege.
K. Edw. Ay, but, I fear me, in another sense.

What love think'st thou I sue so much to get?

60

L. Grey. My love till death, my humble thanks, my prayers: That love which virtue begs and virtue grants.

K. Edw. No, by my troth, I did not mean such love.

L. Grey. Why, then you mean not as I thought you did. 65

K. Edw. But now you partly may perceive my mind.

L. Grey. My mind will never grant what I perceive

Your highness aims at, if I aim aright.

K. Edw. To tell thee plain, I aim to lie with thee.

L. Grey. To tell you plain, I had rather lie in prison.

70

K. Edw. Why, then thou shalt not have thy husband's

lands.

L. Grey. Why, then mine honesty shall be my dower;
For by that loss I will not purchase them.

K. Edw. Therein thou wrong'st thy children mightily.

L. Grey. Herein your highness wrongs both them and me. 75
But, mighty lord, this merry inclination
Accords not with the sadness of my suit:
Please you dismiss me, either with ay or no.

K. Edw. Ay, if thou wilt say ay to my request;
No, if thou dost say no to my demand.

80

L. Grey. Then, no, my lord. My suit is at an end.
Glou. [Aside to Clar.] The widow likes him not, she knits

her brows.

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virtue

58-60. But stay sense] omitted Q. 61-63. What love grants] 45-47. Staie widdow staie, what loue dost thou thinke get? La. My humble seruice, such as subiects owes and the lawes commands Q. 64-69. No. with thee] 48, 49. K. Ed. No. . I meant no such loue, But to tell thee troth, I... with thee Q (65 to 68 omitted). 71-78. Why,... shalt not have... Why, then . . . Therein... Accords not. Please you or no] 50-58. Why canst not get Then. Herein... Agrees not Please it your highnes to ... I or no Q. 79-82. Ay wilt say

dost say

brow Q.

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knits her brows] 59-62. I . . . saie I .

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58. I mean] See below, IV. vi. 51, and see Part I. v. v. 20.

59. The fruits of love] See Kyd's Spanish Tragedy: "Lorenzo. I thus, and thus: these are the fruits of love. (They stab him)" (II. iv. 55). And in Part II. of Whetstone's Promos and Cassandra (II. ii.) :—

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Clar. [Aside to Glou.] He is the bluntest wooer in Christen

dom.

K. Edw. [Aside.] Her looks do argue her replete with

modesty ;

Her words do show her wit incomparable;

All her perfections challenge sovereignty :
One way or other, she is for a king;

85

And she shall be my love, or else my queen.

Say that King Edward take thee for his queen ?

L. Grey. 'Tis better said than done, my gracious lord :
I am a subject fit to jest withal,

90

But far unfit to be a sovereign.

K. Edw. Sweet widow, by my state I swear to thee
I speak no more than what my soul intends;
And that is, to enjoy thee for my love.

L. Grey. And that is more than I will yield unto.
I know I am too mean to be your queen,
And yet too good to be your concubine.

95

83, 84. He is . . . modesty] 63, 64. Why he is . . . lookes are all repleat with maiestie Q. 85, 86. Her words

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Sovereignty] omitted Q.

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I speak ... soul..
sweare I speake

One way
take thee. swear.
my queen] 65-77. One waie tooke thee
my Queene Q.

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Q has here "she bends the brow" with the same meaning, frowns. See below, v. ii. 22: "when Warwick bent his brow." And 1 Henry VI. v. iii. 34. Also in Lucrece, 709, and King John.

83. the bluntest wooer in Christendom] A standard expression. See note at "the lyingest knave in Christendom " in 2 Henry VI. 11. i. 126. A very old set phrase. Kyd (?) has "the braginst knave in Christendom" in Soliman and Perseda. And in Hall's Chronicle (p. 267), "the metest matrimony in Christendome" occurs. And Holinshed's England, iii. 292 (rept.): "The greatest prince in Christendom." Shakespeare

drew it from the chroniclers.

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87-99.

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again below at iv. vi. 71 (Q). Hence the alteration here.

90. better said than done] where we say "easier said than done." Oliphant (New English) gives a reference to Religious and Love Poems (Early English Text Soc.), circa 1450: "better saide thanne doon." I have not verified it.

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98. too good to be your concubine] Hall continues (see above at "Sir Richard Gray," 1. 2): "This wydow founde such grace in the Kynges eyes, that he not only fauoured her suyte, but muche more phantasied her person, for she was a woman more of formal countenaunce then of excellent beautie, but yet of such beautie and fauor, that with her sober demeanure, louely lokyng, and femynyne smylyng (neither to wanton nor to humble) besyde her tongue so eloquent, and her wit so pregnant, she was able to rauish the mynde of a meane person, when she allured and made subiect to her, ye hart of so great a Kyng. After that Kyng Eduard had well considered all the lineamentes . . . he determined. ..

K. Edw. You cavil, widow: I did mean, my queen.

L. Grey. 'Twill grieve your grace my sons should call you father.

100

K. Edw. No more than when my daughters call thee mother.
Thou art a widow, and thou hast some children;
And, by God's mother, I, being but a bachelor,
Have other some: why, 'tis a happy thing

To be the father unto many sons.

Answer no more, for thou shalt be my queen.

105

Glou. [Aside to Clar.] The ghostly father now hath done his

shrift.

Clar. [Aside to Glou.] When he was made a shriver, 'twas for

shift.

K. Edw. Brothers, you muse what chat we two have had.
Glou. The widow likes it not, for she looks very sad.
K. Edw. You'd think it strange if I should marry her.

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84. Your grace would be loath_my_sonnes

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IIO

queen] 78father of manie children. Argue

Queene Q. 107-109. The ghostly what chat. ghostly. what talke the Widdow And I have had Q.

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had] 85-88. The IIO. The

very

sad] omitted Q. III-114. You'd . marry her. Clar. To whom . That's lasts] 88-93. you would marrie her. Cla. Marrie her my Lord,

a

to whom?... Why that's ... lastes Q.

that yf she would therunto condiscend,
she might so fortune of his peramour
and concubyne to be chaunged to his
wyfe and lawful bedfellow; whiche
demaunde she so wisely, and with so
couert speache answered and repugned,
affirmynge that as she was for his honor
farre vnable to be hys spouse and bed-
fellow so for her awne poore honestie,
she was too good to be either hys con-
cubyne, or soueraigne lady: that where
he was a littell before heated with the
darte of Cupido, he was nowe set all on
a hote burnyng fire. . & without
any further deliberacion, he determyned
with him selfe clerely to marye with
her, after that askyng counsaill of them,
which he knewe neither woulde nor once
durst impugne his concluded purpose.
But the duches of Yorke hys mother
letted it as much as in her lay.
And so, priuilye in a mornyng he
maried her at Grafton, where he first
phantasied her visage " (p. 264). Later
in Hall (365) the story of this courtship
is again told, and how "she made suyte
to be restored to suche smal landes as

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her husband had geuen her in ioynture. And finally after many a metyng and much avowyng. the Kyng... so muche esteemed her constancy and chastitye, that . . . he determined in haste to marry her." For the historical falseness, see note above at 1. 3.

104. other some] another lot or set. See again Measure for Measure, III. ii. 94, and Midsummer Night's Dream, I. i. 226. It occurs twice at least in Golding's Ovid (books iv. and viii.). Not uncommon in early poetry.

106. my queen] Johnson says of this dialogue, closing here, that it is " very lively and spritely; the reciprocation is quicker than is common in Shakespeare."

107. ghostly father] Occurs again in Measure for Measure and Romeo and Juliet. "I'll have no ghostly fathers out of France" (Peele, Edward I. (410, a)).

107, 108. shrift . . . shriver] Compare this passage with 1 Henry VI. 1. ii. 119.

Glou. That would be ten days' wonder at the least.
Clar. That's a day longer than a wonder lasts.
Glou. By so much is the wonder in extremes.
K. Edw. Well, jest on, brothers: I can tell you both
Her suit is granted for her husband's lands.

Enter a Nobleman.

Nob. My gracious lord, Henry your foe is taken,
And brought your prisoner to your palace gate.
K. Edw. See that he be convey'd unto the Tower:
And go we, brothers, to the man that took him,
To question of his apprehension.
Widow, go you along.

Lords, use her honourably.

115

I 20

[Exeunt all but Gloucester.

Glou. Ay, Edward will use women honourably.
Would he were wasted, marrow, bones, and all,
That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring,
To cross me from the golden time I look for!

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you both

lands] 95, 96. Well.

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125

you... lands Q. • your prisoner

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115. By... extremes] 94. And so much more are the wonderes in extreames Q. 116, 117. Well. 118, 119. Enter a Nobleman. Nob. My... Henry gate] 97, 98. Enter a Messenger. Mes. And it please your grace, Henry prisoner gates Q. 120-123. See that... honourably] 99-102. Awaie with him and send him to the Tower, And let us go question with the man about His apprehension. Lords along, and use this Ladie honourablie. Exeunt Omnes. Manet Gloster and speakes Q. 124-127. Ay, Edward .. no hopeful. cross me. look for] 103-106. I, Edward. no issue might succeed To hinder me... looke for Q.

113, 114. ten days' . wonder] A wonder lasts nine days. Occurs again in As You Like It, III. ii. 185, and 2 Henry VI. II. iv. 69 (see note). See note at line 60 above.

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118-120. Henry . . . taken... Tower] See above, III. i. 13 (note).

122. apprehension] seizure, arrest. Again in King Lear, III. v. 20.

124-195. Ay, Edward I'll pluck it down] Compare with II. v. 1-72. Here we have another great soliloquy, but it is full of import with regard to the subsequent history, and of character display in him that speaks it. When Henry VI. made his oration we knew all about him amply already, but not so here. They are meant to be set in contrast, these two speeches. It is very important to compare this with Q. The version here is more than double of that in Q, but every line in the latter is used up in the present composition.

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Amplification, addition and improvement take place, but only in such a way as an author would deal with his own work-which he approved of and improved. The two kings' characters, Henry VI. and Richard III., as Shakespeare conceived them, are sketched and contrasted in these two speeches.

126. loins... branch] "issue" of Q is preferable, and occurs in Richard III. I. iii. 232 and in Cymbeline, v. v. 330.

127. golden time] Again in Twelfth Night, v. i. 391. "Golden day" occurs in 1 Henry VI. 1. vi. 31, and below, III. iii. 7. Peele has "My golden days, my younger careless years (Battle of Alcazar, Act v. (439, a)); and he has

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