SCENE 3.London.The palace
Enter QUEEN ELIZABETH,LORD RIVERS,and LORD GREY
RIVERS.Have patience,madam;there's no doubt his Majesty Will soon recover his accustom'd health.GREY.In that you brook it ill,it makes him worse;Therefore,for God's sake,entertain good comfort,And cheer his Grace with quick and merry eyes.QUEEN ELIZABETH.If he were dead,what would betide on me?GREY.No other harm but loss of such a lord.QUEEN ELIZABETH.The loss of such a lord includes all harms.GREY.The heavens have bless'd you with a goodly son To be your comforter when he is gone.QUEEN ELIZABETH.Ah,he is young;and his minority Is put unto the trust of Richard Gloucester,A man that loves not me,nor none of you.RIVER.Is it concluded he shall be Protector?QUEEN ELIZABETH.It is determin'd,not concluded yet;But so it must be,if the King miscarry.
Enter BUCKINGHAM and DERBY
GREY.Here come the Lords of Buckingham and Derby.BUCKINGHAM.Good time of day unto your royal Grace!DERBY.God make your Majesty joyful as you have been.QUEEN ELIZABETH.The Countess Richmond,good my Lord of Derby,To your good prayer will scarcely say amen.Yet,Derby,notwithstanding she's your wife And loves not me,be you,good lord,assur'd I hate not you for her proud arrogance.DERBY.I do beseech you,either not believe The envious slanders of her false accusers;Or,if she be accus'd on true report,Bear with her weakness,which I think proceeds From wayward sickness and no grounded malice.QUEEN ELIZABETH.Saw you the King to-day,my Lord of Derby?DERBY.But now the Duke of Buckingham and I Are come from visiting his Majesty.QUEEN ELIZABETH.What likelihood of his amendment,Lords?BUCKINGHAM.Madam,good hope;his Grace speaks cheerfully.QUEEN ELIZABETH.God grant him health!Did you confer with him?BUCKINGHAM.Ay,madam;he desires to make atonement Between the Duke of Gloucester and your brothers,And between them and my Lord Chamberlain;And sent to warn them to his royal presence.QUEEN
ELIZABETH.Would all were well!But that will never be.I fear our happiness is at the height.
Enter GLOUCESTER,HASTINGS,and DORSET
GLOUCESTER.They do me wrong,and I will not endure it.Who is it that complains unto the King That I,forsooth,am stern and love them not?By holy Paul,they love his Grace but lightly That fill his ears with such dissentious rumours.Because I cannot flatter and look fair,Smile in men's faces,smooth,deceive,and cog,Duck with French nods and apish courtesy,I must be held a rancorous enemy.Cannot a plain man live and think no harm But thus his simple truth must be abus'd With silken,sly,insinuating Jacks?GREY.To who in all this presence speaks your Grace?GLOUCESTER.To thee,that hast nor honesty nor grace.When have I injur'd thee?when done thee wrong,Or thee,or thee,or any of your faction?A plague upon you all!His royal Grace-Whom God preserve better than you would wish!-Cannot be quiet searce a breathing while But you must trouble him with lewd complaints.QUEEN ELIZABETH.Brother of Gloucester,you mistake the matter.The King,on his own royal disposition And not provok'd by any suitor else-Aiming,belike,at your interior hatred That in your outward action shows itself Against my children,brothers,and myself-Makes him to send that he may learn the ground.GLOUCESTER.I cannot tell;the world is grown so bad That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch.Since every Jack became a gentleman,There's many a gentle person made a Jack.QUEEN ELIZABETH.Come,come,we know your meaning,brother Gloucester:You envy my advancement and my friends';God grant we never may have need of you!GLOUCESTER.Meantime,God grants that I have need of you.Our brother is imprison'd by your means,Myself disgrac'd,and the nobility Held in contempt;while great promotions Are daily given to ennoble those That scarce some two days since were worth a noble.QUEEN ELIZABETH.By Him that rais'd me to this careful height From that contented hap which I enjoy'd,I never did incense his Majesty Against the Duke of Clarence,but have been An earnest advocate to plead for him.My lord,you do me shameful injury Falsely to draw me in these vile suspects.GLOUCESTER.You may deny that you were not the mean
Of my Lord Hastings'late imprisonment.RIVERS.She may,my lord;for-GLOUCESTER.She may,Lord Rivers?Why,who knows not so?She may do more,sir,than denying that:She may help you to many fair preferments And then deny her aiding hand therein,And lay those honours on your high desert.What may she not?She may-ay,marry,may she-RIVERS.What,marry,may she?GLOUCESTER.What,marry,may she?Marry with a king,A bachelor,and a handsome stripling too.Iwis your grandam had a worser match.QUEEN ELIZABETH.My Lord of Gloucester,I have too long borne Your blunt upbraidings and your bitter scoffs.By heaven,I will acquaint his Majesty Of those gross taunts that oft I have endur'd.I had rather be a country servant-maid Than a great queen with this condition-To be so baited,scorn'd,and stormed at.