And yet

Be round-impaled with a glorious crown.
I know not how to get the crown,
For many lives ftand between me and home:
And I, (like one loft in a thorny wood,

That rends the thorns, and is rent with the thorns,
Seeking a way, and straying from the way,
Not knowing how to find the open air,
But toiling defp'rately to find it out)
Torment myself to catch the English crown.
And from that torment I will fee myself,
Or hew my way out with a bloody ax.

Why, I can fmile, and murder while I fmile;
And cry, content, to that which grieves my heart
And wet cheeks with artificial tears,
my

And frame my face to all occafions:

I'll drown more failors, than the mermaid fhall;
I'll flay more gazers, than the bafilisk;
I'll play the orator, as well as Neftor;
Deceive more flily, than Ulyffes could;
And, like a Sinon, take another Troy:
1 can add colours ev'n to the camelion;
Change fhapes with Proteus, for advantages;
And let the murd'rous Machiavel to fchool.
Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?
Tut, were it farther off, I'll pluck it down.

Flourish.

SCENE changes to France.

F

[Exit.

Enter King Lewis, Lady Bona, Bourbon, Edward Prince of Wales, Queen Margaret, and the Earl of Oxford. Lewis fits, and rifeth up again. K. Lew. Air Queen of England, worthy. Margaret, Sit down with us; it ill befits thy ftate, And birth, that thou should't stand, while Lewis fits. Racen No, mighty King of France; now Margaret Mult-trike her fail, and learn awhile to serve, Where Kings command. I was, I must confefs, Da Great Albion's Queen in former golden days: But now m fchance hath trod my title down, And with dishonour laid me on the ground;

Where

Where I must take like feat unto my fortune,
And to my humble feat conform myfel f.

K. Lew. Why, fay, fair Queen, whence fprings this deep defpair?

Queen. From fuch a caufe as fills mine eyes with tears; And ftops my tongue, while my heart's drown'd in cares. K. Lew. Whate'er it be, be thou ftill like thyself,, And fit thee by our fide. Yield not thy neck

[Seats her by him. To fortune's yoke, but let thy dauntless mind Still ride in triumph over all mifchance. Be plain, Queen Margaret, and tell thy grief; It fhall be eas'd, if France can yield relief.

Queen. Those gracious words revive my drooping thoughts,

And give my tongue-ty'd forrows leave to fpeak.
Now therefore be it known to noble Lewis,
That Henry, fole poffeffor of my love,

Is, of a King, become a banish'd man,
And forc'd to live in Scotland a forlorn;
While proud ambitious Edward Duke of York
Ufurps the regal title, and the feat
Of England's true-anointed lawful King.
This is the caufe, that I, poor Margaret,
With this my fon Prince Edward, Henry's heir,
Am come to crave thy juft and lawful aid:
And if thou fail us, all our hope is done.
Scotland hath will to help, but cannot help:
Our people and our Peers are both mif-led,
Our treasure feiz'd, our foldiers put to flight,
And, as thou feeft, ourselves in heavy plight.
K.Lew.Renowned Queen, with patience calm theftorm;
'While we bethink a means to break it off."

Queen. The more we stay, the stronger grows our foe, K. Lew. The more I ftay, the more I'll fuccour thee. Queen. O, but impatience waiteth on true forrow: (16) And fee, where comes the breeder of my forrow.

Enter

(16) O, but impatience waiteth on true forrow; And fee, where comes the breeder of my furrow. Tho' I have not

3

difturb'd

Enter Warwick.

K. Lew. What's he, approacheth boldly to our prefence?
Queen. Our Earl of Warwick, Edward's greateft friend.
K. Lew. Welcome, brave Warwick, what brings thee
to France?
[He defcends. She arifeth
Queen. Ay, now begins a fecond storm to rife;
For this is he, that moves both wind and tide.
War. From worthy Edward, King of Albion,
My Lord and Sov'reign, and thy vowed friend,
I come (in kindness and unfeigned love)
Firft to do greetings to thy royal perfon,
And then to crave a league of amity;
And lastly, to confirm that amity

With nuptial knot, if thou vouchfafe to grant
That virtuous Lady Bona, thy fair fifter,
To England's King in lawful marriage.

Queen. If that go forward, Henry's hope is done! A
War. And, gracious Madam, in our King's behalf,
[Speaking to Bona.
I am commanded, with your leave and favour,
Humbly to kifs your hand; and with my tongue
To tell the paffion of my Sov'reign's heart;
Where fame, late ent'ring at his heedful ears,
Hath plac'd thy beauty's image and thy virtue.

Queen King Lewis, and Lady Bona, hear me fpeak, Before you anfwer Warwick. His demand

difturb'd the text here, I cannot fmother an ingenious conjecture of my friend's on this paffage." How does impatience wait more particularly on true forrow? On the contrary, thofe forrows, fuch as this Queen's, which came gradually, by a long course of misfortunes, "are generally less impatient than that of thofe, who, having been unacquainted with misfortunes, fall into fudden miferies. Perhaps, "the true reading might be;"

O, but impatience, waiting, rues to-morrow:

And fee, where comes the breeder of my forrow.

i. e. When impatience waits and follicits for redrefs, there is nothing fhe fo much dreads as being put off till to-morrow; (a proverbial expreffion for procrastination) and a very proper reply to the "King. Befides, a rhyme is hereby added, in which cuftom the "poet fo much delighted; and a fentiment is convey'd truely worthy "of him." Mr. Warburton.

Springs

Springs not from Edward's well-meant honeft love,
But from deceit bred by neceffity:

For how can tyrants fafely govern home,

Unless abroad they purchase great alliance ied
To prove him tyrant this reafon may fuffice,
That Henry liveth ftill; but were he dead,

Yet here Prince Edward ftands, King Henry's fon. Look therefore, Leruis, that by this league and marriage Thou draw not on thy danger and dishonour:

For tho' uferpers fway the rule awhile,.

Yet heav'ns are juft, and time fuppreffeth wrongs.
War. Injurious Margaret!

Prince. And why not Queen ?

War. Because thy father Henry did ufurp, And thou no more art Prince, than fhe is Queen. Qxf. Then Warwick difannuls great John of Gaunt, Which did fubdue the greateft part of Spain; And, after John of Gaunt, Henry the fourth, Whose wisdom was a mirror to the wifeft; And, after that wife Prince, Henry the fifth, Who by his prowefs conquered all France: From these our Henry lineally defcends.

War. Oxford, how haps it, in this smooth difcourse, You told not, how Henry the fixth hath loft All that which Henry the fifth hath gotten?

Methinks, these Peers of France should smile at that..

But, for the reft; you tell a pedigree

Of threefcore and two years, a filly time

To make prefcription for a kingdom's worth.bdu

Oxf. Why, Warwick, canft thou speak against thy Liege, Whom thou obeyedft thirty and fix years,

And not bewray thy treafon with a blufh?;

War. Can Oxford, that did ever fence the right,
Now buckler falfhood with a pedigree?

For fhame, leave Henry, and call Edward King.
Oxf. Call him my King, by whofe injurious doom
My elder brother, the Lord Aubrey Vere,
Was done to death? and more than fo, my father,
Even in the downfal of his mellow'd years,
When nature brought him to the door of death?
G. 4

No,

No, Warwick, no; while life upholds this arm,
This arm upholds the houfe of Lancaster.
War. And I the houfe of York.

K. Ler. Queen Margaret, Prince Edward, and Oxford Vouchfafe at our request to ftand afide,

While I ufe farther conference with Warwick.

Queen. Heav'ns grant, that Warwick's words bewitch him not! [They stand aloof. K. Lew. Now, Warwick, tell me even upon thy conIs Edward your true King? for I were loth [fcience, To link with him, that were not lawful chofen.

War. Thereon I pawn my credit and mine honour.

K. Lew. But is he gracious in the people's eyes?

War. The more, that Henry was unfortunate.

K. Lew. Then further; all diffembling fet afide, Tell me for truth the measure of his love Unto our fifter Bona.

War. Such it seems,

As may beseem a monarch like himself:
Myfelf have often heard him fay, and fwear,
That this his love was an external plant,
Whereof the root was fix'd in virtue's ground,
The leaves and fruit maintain'd with beauty's fun;
Exempt from envy, but not from difdain,
Unless the Lady Bona quit his pain.

K. Lere. Now, fifter, let us hear your firm refolves` Bona. Your grant, or your denial, fhall be mine. Yet I confefs, that often ere this day, [Steaks to War. When I have heard your King's defert recounted, Mine ear hath tempted judgment to defire.

K.Lew. Then, Warwick, this:ourfifterfhall be Edward's. And now forthwith fhall articles be drawn

Touching the jointure that your King muft make,
Which with her dowry fhall be counterpois'd.
Draw near, Queen Margaret, and be a witnefs,
That Bona fhall be wife to th' English King.
Prince. To Edward, but not to the English King.
Queen. Deceitful Warwick, it was thy device
By this alliance to make void my fuit;
Before thy coming, Lewis was Henry's friend.

K. Lew