The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 5 of 9] · William Shakespeare
SCENE II. _The same. Another street_.
_Anne._ Arise, dissembler: though I wish thy death, ·fab185· I will not be the executioner. [fab186] _Glou._ Then bid me kill myself, and I will do it. _Anne._ I have already. _Glou._ Tush, that was in thy rage: [fab188] Speak it again, and, even with the word, [fab189] That hand, which, for thy love, did kill thy love, [fab190] Shall, for thy love, kill a far truer love; To both their deaths thou shalt be accessary. [fab192] _Anne._ I would I knew thy heart. [fab193] _Glou._ ’Tis figured in my tongue. _Anne._ I fear me both are false. ·fab195· _Glou._ Then never man was true. [fab196] _Anne._ Well, well, put up your sword. _Glou._ Say, then, my peace is made. _Anne._ That shall you know hereafter. [fab199] _Glou._ But shall I live in hope? [fab200] _Anne._ All men, I hope, live so. _Glou._ Vouchsafe to wear this ring. [fab202] _Anne._ To take is not to give. [fab203] _Glou._ Look, how this ring encompasseth thy finger, [fab204] Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart; [fab205] Wear both of them, for both of them are thine. [fab206] And if thy poor devoted suppliant may [fab207] But beg one favour at thy gracious hand, Thou dost confirm his happiness for ever. [fab209] _Anne._ What is it? [fab210] _Glou._ That it would please thee leave these sad designs [fab211] To him that hath more cause to be a mourner, [fab212] And presently repair to Crosby Place; [fab213] Where, after I have solemnly interr’d At Chertsey monastery this noble king, ·fab215· And wet his grave with my repentant tears, I will with all expedient duty see you: For divers unknown reasons, I beseech you, Grant me this boon.
_Anne._ With all my heart; and much it joys me too, ·fab220· To see you are become so penitent. Tressel and Berkeley, go along with me. [fab222] _Glou._ Bid me farewell. _Anne._ ’Tis more than you deserve; But since you teach me how to flatter you, Imagine I have said farewell already. [fab225] [_Exeunt Lady Anne, Tressel, and Berkeley._ _Glou._ Sirs, take up the corse. _Gent._ Towards Chertsey, noble lord? [fab226] _Glou._ No, to White-Friars; there attend my coming. [fab227] [_Exeunt all but Gloucester._ Was ever woman in this humour woo’d? [fab228] Was ever woman in this humour won? [fab229] I’ll have her; but I will not keep her long. ·fab230· What! I, that kill’d her husband and his father, [fab231] To take her in her heart’s extremest hate, [fab232] With curses in her mouth, tears in her eyes, The bleeding witness of her hatred by; [fab234] Having God, her conscience, and these bars against me, [fab235] And I nothing to back my suit at all, [fab236] But the plain devil and dissembling looks, And yet to win her, all the world to nothing! [fab238] Ha! [fab239] Hath she forgot already that brave prince, ·fab240· Edward, her lord, whom I, some three months since, Stabb’d in my angry mood at Tewksbury? A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman, [fab243] Framed in the prodigality of nature, Young, valiant, wise, and, no doubt, right royal, [fab245] The spacious world cannot again afford: [fab246] And will she yet debase her eyes on me, [fab247] That cropp’d the golden prime of this sweet prince, [fab248] And made her widow to a woful bed? [fab249] On me, whose all not equals Edward’s moiety? [fab250] On me, that halt and am unshapen thus? [fab251] My dukedom to a beggarly denier, [fab252] I do mistake my person all this while: Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot, Myself to be a marvellous proper man. ·fab255· I’ll be at charges for a looking-glass, [fab256] And entertain some score or two of tailors, [fab257] To study fashions to adorn my body: [fab258] Since I am crept in favour with myself, I will maintain it with some little cost. [fab260] But first I’ll turn yon fellow in his grave; [fab261] And then return lamenting to my love. Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass, [fab263] That I may see my shadow as I pass. [_Exit._
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.