TAE DUCHESS OF GLOSTER'S REMONSTRANCE TO HER

HUSBAND, WHEN DOING PENANCE.

For, whilst I think I am thy married wife,
And, thou a prince, protector of this land,
Methinks, I should not thus be led along,
Mail'd up in shame*, with papers on my back;
And follow'd with a rabble, that rejoice
To see my tears, and hear my deep-fett groans.
The ruthless fint doth cut my tender feet;
And, when I start, the envious people laugh,
And bid me be advised how I tread.

ACT III.

SILENT RESENTMENT DEEPEST. Smooth runs the water, where the brook is deep; And in his simple show he harbours treason.

A GUILTY COUNTENANCE.

Upon thy eyeballs murderous tyranny Sits in grim majesty, to fright the world.

* Wrapped up in disgrace; alluding to the sheet of penance. † Deep-fetched.

DESCRIPTION OF A MURDERED PERSON.

See how the blood is settled in his face! Oft have I seen a timely-parted ghost*, Of ashy semblance, meagre, pale, and bloodless, Being all descended to the labouring heart; Who, in the conflict that it holds with death, Attracts the same for aidance 'gainst the enemy; Which with the heart there cools and ne'er returneth To blush and beautify the cheek again. But, see, his face is black, and full of blood; His eyeballs further out than when he liv’d, Staring full ghastly like a strangled man: [gling; His hair uprear'd, his nostrils stretch'd with strugHis hands abroad display'd, as one that grasp'd And tugg'd for life, and was by strength subdu'd. Look on the sheets, his hair, you see, is sticking; His well-proportion'd beard made rough and rugged, Like to the surmer's corn by tempest lodg’d. It cannot be, but he was murder'd here; The least of all these signs were probable.

A GOOD CONSCIENCE.

What stronger breast-plate than a heart untainted? Thrice is he arm’d, that hath his quarrel just; And he but naked, though lock'd up in steel, Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.

REMORSELESS HATRED.

A plague upon them! wherefore should I curse them? Would curses kill, as doth the mandrake's groan, I would invent as bitter-searching terms, As curst, as harsh, and horrible to hear, Deliver'd strongly through my fixed teeth, With full as many signs of deadly hate, As lean-fac'd Envy in her loathsome cave: My tongue should stumble in mine earnest words:

* A body become inanimate in the common course of nature; to which violence has not brought a timeless end.

Mine eyes should sparkle like the beaten flint;
My hair be fix'd on end, as one distract;
Ay, every joint should seem to curse and ban:
And even now my burden'd heart would break,
Should I not curse them. Poison be their drink!
Gall, worse than gall, the daintiest that they taste!
Their sweetest shade, a grove of cypress trees !
Their chiefest prospect, murdering basilisks !
Their softest touch, as smart as lizards' stings !
Their music, frightful as the serpent's hiss;
And boding screech-owls make the concert full!
All foul terrors in dark-seated hell.

Now, by the ground that I am banish'd from,
Well could I curse away a winter's night,
Though standing naked on a mountain top,
Where biting cold would never let grass grow.

THE DEATH-BED HORRORS OF A GUILTY CONSCIENCE.

Bring me unto my trial when you will. Died he not in his bed? where should he die? Can I make men live, whe'r they will or no? 0! torture me no more, I will confess.Alive again? then show me where he is; I'll give a thousand pound to look upon him.He hath no eyes, the dust hath blinded them.Comb down his hair; look! look! it stands upright, Like lime-twigs set to catch my winged soul! Give me some drink: and bid the apothecary Bring the strong poison that I bought of him.

DYING WITH THE PERSON BELOVED PREFERABLE TO

PARTING.

If I depart from thee, I cannot live: And in thy sight to die, what were it else, But like a pleasant slumber in thy lap? Here could I breathe my soul into the air, As mild and gentle as the cradle-babe, Dying with mother's dug between its lips.

And banish'd I am, if but from thee. Go, speak not to me; even now be gone.O, go not yet! Even thus two friends condemn'd Embrace, and kiss, and take ten thousand leaves, Loather a hundred times to part than die. Yet now farewell; and farewell life with thee!

Suf. Thus is poor Suffolk ten times banished, Once by the king, and three times thrice by thee. 'Tis not the land I care for, wert thou hence ; A wilderness is populous enough, So Suffolk had thy heavenly company: For where thou art, there is the world itself, With every several pleasure in the world; And where thou art not, desolation.

ACT IV.

NIGHT.

The gaudy, blabbing, and remorseful * day
Is crept into the bosom of the sea;

And now loud-howling wolves arouse the jades
That drag the tragic melancholy night ;
Who with their drowsy, slow, and flagging wings
Clip dead men’s graves, and from their misty jaws
Breathe foul contagious darkness in the air.

KENT.

Kent, in the commentaries Cæsar writ,
Is term’d the civil'st place of all this isle:
Sweet is the country, because full of riches;
The people liberal, valiant, active, wealthy.

LORD SAY'S APOLOGY FOR HIMSELF.
Justice with favour have I always done;
Prayers and tears have mov'd me, gifts could never.
When have I aught exacted at your hands,
Kent to maintain, the king, the realm, and you?
Large gifts have I bestow'd on learned clerks,
Because my book preferrd me to the king:
And-seeing ignorance is the curse of God,
Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven,--
Unless you be possess'd with devilish spirits,
You cannot but forbear to murder me.

King Henry VI.

PART III.

ACT I.

THE TRANSPORTS OF A CROWN,

Do but think,
How sweet a thing it is to wear a crown;
Within whose circuit is Elysium,
And all that poets feign of bliss and joy.

Q