Her husband, knave:--wouldst thou betray me?

BRAKENBURY. I do beseech your grace to pardon me; and, withal, Forbear your conference with the noble duke.

CLARENCE. We know thy charge, Brakenbury, and will obey.

GLOSTER. We are the queen's abjects and must obey.-- Brother, farewell: I will unto the king; And whatsoe'er you will employ me in,-- Were it to call King Edward's widow sister,-- I will perform it to enfranchise you. Meantime, this deep disgrace in brotherhood Touches me deeper than you can imagine.

CLARENCE. I know it pleaseth neither of us well.

GLOSTER. Well, your imprisonment shall not be long; I will deliver or else lie for you: Meantime, have patience.

CLARENCE. I must perforce: farewell.

[Exeunt CLARENCE, BRAKENBURY, and guard.]

GLOSTER. Go tread the path that thou shalt ne'er return. Simple, plain Clarence!--I do love thee so That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven, If heaven will take the present at our hands.-- But who comes here? The new-delivered Hastings?

[Enter HASTINGS.]

HASTINGS. Good time of day unto my gracious lord!

GLOSTER. As much unto my good Lord Chamberlain! Well are you welcome to the open air. How hath your lordship brook'd imprisonment?

HASTINGS. With patience, noble lord, as prisoners must; But I shall live, my lord, to give them thanks That were the cause of my imprisonment.

GLOSTER. No doubt, no doubt; and so shall Clarence too; For they that were your enemies are his, And have prevail'd as much on him as you.

HASTINGS. More pity that the eagles should be mew'd Whiles kites and buzzards prey at liberty.

GLOSTER. What news abroad?

HASTINGS. No news so bad abroad as this at home,-- The king is sickly, weak, and melancholy, And his physicians fear him mightily.

GLOSTER. Now, by Saint Paul, that news is bad indeed. O, he hath kept an evil diet long, And overmuch consum'd his royal person: 'Tis very grievous to be thought upon. What, is he in his bed?

HASTINGS. He is.

GLOSTER. Go you before, and I will follow you.

[Exit HASTINGS.]

He cannot live, I hope; and must not die Till George be pack'd with posthorse up to heaven. I'll in, to urge his hatred more to Clarence With lies well steel'd with weighty arguments; And, if I fail not in my deep intent, Clarence hath not another day to live; Which done, God take King Edward to his mercy, And leave the world for me to bustle in! For then I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter: What though I kill'd her husband and her father? The readiest way to make the wench amends Is to become her husband and her father: The which will I; not all so much for love As for another secret close intent, By marrying her, which I must reach unto. But yet I run before my horse to market: Clarence still breathes; Edward still lives and reigns: When they are gone, then must I count my gains.

[Exit.]

SCENE II. London. Another street.

[Enter the corpse of King Henry the Sixth, borne in an open coffin, Gentlemen bearing halberds to guard it; and Lady Anne as mourner.]

ANNE. Set down, set down your honourable load,-- If honour may be shrouded in a hearse,-- Whilst I awhile obsequiously lament Th' untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster.-- Poor key-cold figure of a holy king! Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster! Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood! Be it lawful that I invocate thy ghost, To hear the lamentations of poor Anne, Wife to thy Edward, to thy slaughter'd son, Stabb'd by the self-same hand that made these wounds! Lo, in these windows that let forth thy life, I pour the helpless balm of my poor eyes:-- O, cursed be the hand that made these holes! Cursed the heart that had the heart to do it! Cursed the blood that let this blood from hence! More direful hap betide that hated wretch That makes us wretched by the death of thee, Than I can wish to adders, spiders, toads, Or any creeping venom'd thing that lives! If ever he have child, abortive be it, Prodigious, and untimely brought to light, Whose ugly and unnatural aspect May fright the hopeful mother at the view; And that be heir to his unhappiness! If ever he have wife, let her be made More miserable by the death of him Than I am made by my young lord and thee!-- Come, now towards Chertsey with your holy load, Taken from Paul's to be interred there; And still, as you are weary of this weight, Rest you, whiles I lament King Henry's corse.

[The Bearers take up the Corpse and advance.]

[Enter GLOSTER.]

GLOSTER. Stay, you that bear the corse, and set it down.

ANNE. What black magician conjures up this fiend, To stop devoted charitable deeds?

GLOSTER. Villains, set down the corse; or, by Saint Paul, I'll make a corse of him that disobeys!

FIRST GENTLEMAN. My lord, stand back, and let the coffin pass.

GLOSTER. Unmanner'd dog! stand thou, when I command: Advance thy halberd higher than my breast, Or, by Saint Paul, I'll strike thee to my foot And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness.

[The Bearers set down the coffin.]

ANNE. What, do you tremble? are you all afraid? Alas, I blame you not; for you are mortal, And mortal eyes cannot endure the devil.-- Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell! Thou hadst but power over his mortal body, His soul thou canst not have; therefore, be gone.

GLOSTER. Sweet saint, for charity, be not so curst.

ANNE. Foul devil, for God's sake, hence and trouble us not; For thou hast made the happy earth thy hell, Fill'd it with cursing cries and deep exclaims. If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds, Behold this pattern of thy butcheries.-- O, gentlemen, see, see! dead Henry's wounds Open their congeal'd mouths and bleed afresh! Blush, blush, thou lump of foul deformity; For 'tis thy presence that exhales this blood From cold and empty veins, where no blood dwells; Thy deeds, inhuman and unnatural, Provokes this deluge most unnatural.-- O God, which this blood mad'st, revenge his death! O earth, which this blood drink'st, revenge his death!