And come fome other time, to know our mind.

'L. GREY. Right gracious lord, I cannot brook

delay:

May it please your highness to resolve me now; And what your pleasure is, fhall fatisfy me. 'GLO. [Afide.] Ay, widow? then I'll warrant you all your lands,

An if what pleases him, fhall pleasure you. "Fight closer, or, good faith, you'll catch a blow. * CLAR. I fear her not, unless fhe chance to fall.

[Afide. *GLO. God forbid that! for he'll take vantages.

[Afide. 'K. EDW. How many children haft thou, widow?

tell me.

CLAR. I think, he means to beg a child of her.

[Afide. GLO. Nay, whip me then; he'll rather give her

two.

[Afide.

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.

8

*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
fome harm.

*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' fervice.

*K. EDW. What fervice 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.

*GLO. He plies her hard; and much rain wears

Sonnet :

the marble.8

[Afide.

much rain wears the marble.] So, in Watson's 47th

*CLAR. As red as fire! nay, then her wax must

melt.

[Afide. L. GREY. Why ftops my lord? fhall I not hear my task?

K. EDW. An easy task; '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 fense. What love, think'ft thou, I fue fo much to get? 'L. GREY. My love till death," my humble thanks, my prayers;

6

That love, which virtue begs, and virtue grants. K. EDW. No, by my troth, I did not mean fuch 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. 387. STEEVENS.

My love till death, &c.] The variation is here worth noting. In the old play we here find

66

My humble fervice, fuch as fubjects owe, "And the laws command." MALONE.

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

*L. GREY. My mind will never grant what I per

ceive

*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 prifon.

K. EDW. Why, then thou shalt not have thy hufband's lands.

L. GREY. Why, then mine honesty shall be my dower;

For by that lofs I will not purchase them.

'K. EDW. Therein thou wrong'ft thy children mightily.

L. GREY. Herein your highness wrongs both them and me.

But, mighty lord, this merry inclination
'Accords not with the fadness' of my fuit;
Please you difmifs me, either with ay, or no.

K. EDW. Ay; if thou wilt fay ay, to my request: No; if thou doft fay no, to my demand.

L. GREY. Then, no, my lord. My fuit is at an

end.

'GLO. The widow likes him not, the knits her

brows.

CLAR. He is the blunteft wooer in Chriftendom.

[Afide.

[Afide.

the fadness-] i. e. the seriousness. So, in Romeo and

Juliet:

"Tell me in Sadness who is the you love."

STEEVENS,

'K. EDW. [Afide.] Her looks do argue her replete with modesty ;2

*Her words do fhow her wit incomparable;
*All her perfections challenge fovereignty:
One way, or other, fhe is for a king;
And the fhall be my love, or elfe my queen.-
Say, that king Edward take thee for his queen

?

L. GREY. 'Tis better said than done, my gracious lord:

I am a fubject fit to jeft withal,

But far unfit to be a fovereign.

K. EDW. Sweet widow, by my state I swear to thee,

I speak no more than what my foul 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.3

2 Her looks do argue her replete with modefty ;] So the folio. The quartos read:

"Her looks are all replete with majesty." STEEVENS. 3 And yet too good to be your concubine.] So, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, B. VII. chap. xxxiv:

"His plea was love, my fuit was land: I plie him, he plies me;

"Too bace to be his queen, too good his concubine to be." Shakspeare, however, adopted the words from Stowe's Chronicle. STEEVENS.

These words, which are found in the old play, (except that we there have bad, inftead of mean,) were taken by the author of that piece from Hall's Chronicle: " -whiche demaund fhe fo wyfely and with fo covert fpeeche aunswered and repugned, affyrmyng that as fhe was for his honour far unable to be his fpouse and bedfellowe, fo for her awne poor honeftie she was to good to be either his concubine, or fovereigne lady; that where he was a littel before heated with the dart of Cupido, he was nowe," &c. MALONE,