• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Have all lim'd bushes to betray thy wings,

And, fly thou how thou canst, they'll tangle thee;

But fear not thou until thy foot be snar'd,

Nor never seek prevention of thy foes.

GLOUCESTER.

Ah, Nell, forbear! thou aimest all awry.

I must offend before I be attainted;

And had I twenty times so many foes,

And each of them had twenty times their power,

All these could not procure me any scath

So long as I am loyal, true, and crimeless.

Wouldst have me rescue thee from this reproach?

Why, yet thy scandal were not wip'd away,

But I in danger for the breach of law.

Thy greatest help is quiet, gentle Nell.

I pray thee, sort thy heart to patience;

These few days' wonder will be quickly worn.

[Enter a Herald.]

HERALD.

I summon your grace to his majesty's parliament,

Holden at Bury the first of this next month.

GLOUCESTER.

And my consent ne'er ask'd herein before!

This is close dealing.—Well, I will be there.—

[Exit Herald.]

My Nell, I take my leave;—and, master sheriff,

Let not her penance exceed the king's commission.

SHERIFF.

An 't please your grace, here my commission stays,

And Sir John Stanley is appointed now

To take her with him to the Isle of Man.

GLOUCESTER.

Must you, Sir John, protect my lady here?

STANLEY.

So am I given in charge, may 't please your grace.

GLOUCESTER.

Entreat her not the worse in that I pray

You use her well.

The world may laugh again,

And I may live to do you kindness if

You do it her; and so, Sir John, farewell!

DUCHESS.

What, gone, my lord, and bid me not farewell!

GLOUCESTER.

Witness my tears, I cannot stay to speak.

[Exeunt Gloucester and Servingmen.]

DUCHESS.

Art thou gone too? all comfort go with thee!

For none abides with me; my joy is death,

Death, at whose name I oft have been afeard,

Because I wish'd this world's eternity.—

Stanley, I prithee, go, and take me hence;

I care not whither, for I beg no favour,

Only convey me where thou art commanded.

STANLEY.

Why, madam, that is to the Isle of Man;

There to be us'd according to your state.

DUCHESS.

That's bad enough, for I am but reproach;

And shall I then be us'd reproachfully?

STANLEY.

Like to a duchess, and Duke Humphrey's lady;

According to that state you shall be us'd.

DUCHESS.

Sheriff, farewell, and better than I fare,

Although thou hast been conduct of my shame.

SHERIFF.

It is my office; and, madam, pardon me.

DUCHESS.

Ay, ay, farewell; thy office is discharg'd.—

Come, Stanley, shall we go?

STANLEY.

Madam, your penance done, throw off this sheet,

And go we to attire you for our journey.

DUCHESS.

My shame will not be shifted with my sheet;

No, it will hang upon my richest robes

And show itself, attire me how I can.

Go, lead the way; I long to see my prison.

[Exeunt.]

ACT III.

SCENE I. The Abbey at Bury St. Edmund's.

[Sound a sennet. Enter the KING, the QUEEN, CARDINAL BEAUFORT, SUFFOLK, YORK, BUCKINGHAM, SALISBURY, and WARWICK to the Parliament.]

KING.

I muse my Lord of Gloucester is not come;

'Tis not his wont to be the hindmost man,

Whate'er occasion keeps him from us now.

QUEEN.

Can you not see? or will ye not observe

The strangeness of his alter'd countenance?

With what a majesty he bears himself,

How insolent of late he is become,

How proud, how peremptory, and unlike himself?

We know the time since he was mild and affable,

And if we did but glance a far-off look,

Immediately he was upon his knee,

That all the court admir'd him for submission;

But meet him now, and be it in the morn

When every one will give the time of day,

He knits his brow, and shows an angry eye,

And passeth by with stiff unbowed knee,

Disdaining duty that to us belongs.

Small curs are not regarded when they grin,

But great men tremble when the lion roars;

And Humphrey is no little man in England.

First note that he is near you in descent,

And should you fall, he is the next will mount.

Me seemeth then it is no policy,

Respecting what a rancorous mind he bears

And his advantage following your