K. HEN. In God's name, lead; your king's name be obey'd: * And what God will, then let your king perform; *And what he will, I humbly yield unto. [Exeunt. SCENE II. London. A Room in the Palace. Enter King EDWARD, GLOSTER, CLARENCE, and Lady GREY. "K. EDW. Brother of Glofter, at Saint Albans' field This lady's husband, fir John Grey,3 was flain, 2 In God's name, lead; &c.] So the folio. Inftead of this fpeech, the quartos have the following: 3 "God's name be fulfill'd, your king's name be "Obey'd; and be you kings; command, and I'll obey." STEEVENS. -fir John Grey,] Vid. Hall, Third Year of Edward IV. folio 5. It was hitherto falfely printed Richard. POPE. Sir John Grey was flain at the second battle of St. Albans, fighting on the fide of King Henry. MALONE. • His lands then feiz'd on by the conqueror : The worthy gentleman did lofe his life.] This is in every particular a falfification of hiftory. Sir John Grey, as has been already obferved, fell in the fecond battle of St. Albans, which GLO. Your highness fhall do well, to grant her fuit * It were dishonour, to deny it her. K. EDW. It were no lefs; but yet I'll make a paufe. GLO. Yea! is it fo ?5 I fee, the lady hath a thing to grant, Before the king will grant her humble fuit. CLAR. He knows the game; How true he keeps the wind? GLO. Silence! [Afide. [Afide. "K. EDW. Widow, we will confider of your fuit; was fought on Shrove-Tuesday, Feb. 17, 1460-1, fighting on the fide of king Henry; and fo far is it from being true that his lands were feized by the conqueror, (Queen Margaret,) that they were in fact feized by the very person who now speaks, after his great victory at Towton, on the 29th of March, 1461. The prefent fcene is laid in 1464. Shakspeare in new moulding this play followed implicitly his author, (for thefe five lines, with only a flight variation in the third, and fifth, are found in the old play,) without giving himfelf the trouble to examine the hiftory; but a few years afterwards, when he had occafion to write his Richard III. and was not warped by a preceding mifreprefentation of another writer, he stated from the chronicles this matter truly as it was; and this is one of the numerous circumftances that prove incontestably, in my apprehenfion, that he was not the original author of this and the preceding play. In King Richard III. A&t I. fc. iii. Richard addreffing himself to Queen Elizabeth, (the lady Grey of the prefent fcene,) fays: "In all which time you, and your husband Grey, "Were factious for the houfe of Lancaster ; (And Rivers fo were you :)--was not your husband "In Margaret's battle at Saint Albans flain ?” He calls it Margaret's battle, because the was there victorious. MALONE. 5 Glo. Yea! is it fo? &c.] So the folio. The quartos read with the following variations: "Glo. I, is the wind in that door? "Clarence. I fee the lady" &c. STEEVENS. Widow, we will confider-] This is a very lively and fpritely dialogue; the reciprocation is quicker than is common in Shakspeare. JOHNSON. And come fome other time, to know our mind. "L. GREY. Right gracious lord, I cannot brook delay: May it please your highness to refolve me now; An if what pleases him, fhall pleasure you. [Afide. *GLO. God forbid that! for he'll take vantages. 'K. EDW. How many tell me. [Afide. children haft thou, widow? CLAR. I think, he means to beg a child of her. [Afide. [Afide. GLO. Nay, whip me then; he'll rather give her two. L. GREY. Three, my moft gracious lord. GLO. You fhall have four, if you'll be rul'd by him. [Afide. 'K. EDW. 'Twere pity, they should lose their fa ther's land. L. GREY. Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant it then, K. EDW. Lords, give us leave; I'll try this widow's wit. GLO. Ay good leave have you ; for you will have leave, good leave have you ;] So, in King John: "Good leave; good Philip." Good leave, are words implying readiness of affent. STEEVENS. 'Till youth take leave, and leave you to the crutch. [GLOSTER and CLARENCE retire to the other fide. *K. EDW. Now tell me, madam, do you love *L. GREY. Ay, full as dearly as I love myself. *L. GREY. To do them good, I would sustain *K. Edw. Then get your husband's lands, to do them good. *L. GREY. Therefore I came unto your majefty. K. EDW. I'll tell you how these lands are to be got. * L. GREY. So fhall you bind me to your highnefs' service. *K. EDW. What fervice wilt thou do me, if I give them? *L. GREY. What you command, that refts 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 canft do what I mean to aík. *L. GREY. Why, then I will do what your grace commands. *GLO. He plies her hard; and much rain wears the marble.8 [Afide. ·much rain wears the marble.] So, in Watfon's 47th Sonnet : * CLAR. As red as fire! nay, then her wax must melt. [Afide. L. GREY. Why stops my lord? fhall I not hear my tafk? K. EDW. An eafy tafk; 'tis but to love a king. L. GREY. That's foon perform'd, because I am a fubject. K. EDW. Why then, thy husband's lands I freely give thee. L. GREY. I take my leave with many thousand thanks. GLO. The match is made; fhe feals it with a curt'fy. "K. EDW. But ftay 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'ft thou, I fue fo much to get? '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. "In time the marble weares with weakest showres." See note on Dodfley's Collection of Old Plays, edit. 1780, Vol. XII. p. 357. STEEVENS. My love till death, &c.] The variation is here worth noting. In the old play we here find My hable fervice, fuch as fubjects owe, "And the laws command." MALONE. |