King Henry VI, Part 3 by William Shakespeare

Author:William Shakespeare
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ManyBooks.net

KING EDWARD.

But now you partly may perceive my mind.

LADY GREY.

My mind will never grant what I perceive

Your Highness aims at, if I aim aright.

KING EDWARD.

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

LADY GREY.

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

KING EDWARD.

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

LADY GREY.

Why, then mine honesty shall be my dower,

For by that loss I will not purchase them.

KING EDWARD.

Therein thou wrong'st thy children mightily.

LADY GREY.

Herein your highness wrongs both them and me.

But, mighty lord, this merry inclination

Accords not with the sadness of my suit;

Please you dismiss me either with ay or no.

KING EDWARD.

Ay, if thou wilt say ay to my request.

No, if thou dost say no to my demand.

LADY GREY.

Then no, my lord. My suit is at an end.

GLOSTER.

The widow likes him not, she knits her brows.

CLARENCE.

He is the bluntest wooer in Christendom.

KING EDWARD.

[Aside.] Her looks doth argue her replete with

modesty,

Her words doth show her wit incomparable,

All her perfections challenge sovereignty;

One way or other she is for a king,

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

Say that King Edward take thee for his queen?

LADY GREY.

'T is better said than done, my gracious lord;

I am a subject fit to jest withal,

But far unfit to be a sovereign.

KING EDWARD.

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.

LADY 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.

KING EDWARD.

You cavil, widow; I did mean my queen.

LADY GREY.

'T will grieve your grace my sons should call you

father.

KING EDWARD.

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, 't is a happy thing

To be the father unto many sons.

Answer no more, for thou shalt be my queen.

GLOSTER.

The ghostly father now hath done his shrift.

CLARENCE.

When he was made a shriver, 't was for shift.

KING EDWARD.

Brothers, you muse what chat we two have had.

[Gloster and Clarence come forward.]

GLOSTER.

The widow likes it not, for she looks very sad.

KING EDWARD.

You'd think it strange if I should marry her.

CLARENCE.

To whom, my lord?

KING EDWARD.

Why, Clarence, to myself.

GLOSTER.

That would be ten days' wonder, at the least.

CLARENCE.

That's a day longer than a wonder lasts.

GLOSTER.

By so much is the wonder in extremes.

KING EDWARD.

Well, jest on, brothers; I can tell you both,

Her suit is granted for her husband's lands.

[Enter a Nobleman.]

NOBLEMAN.

My gracious lord, Henry your foe is taken,

And brought your prisoner to your palace gate.

KING EDWARD.

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.

[Exeunt King Edward, Lady Grey, Clarence, and Nobleman.]

GLOSTER.

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!

And yet, between my soul's desire

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