Start: KING EDWARD IV Now tell me, mada...

Start: KING EDWARD IV

Now tell me, madam, do you love your children?

LADY GREY

Ay, full as dearly as I love myself.

KING EDWARD IV

And would you not do much to do them good?

LADY GREY

To do them good, I would sustain some harm.

KING EDWARD IV

Then get your husband's lands, to do them good.

LADY GREY

Therefore I came unto your majesty.

KING EDWARD IV

I'll tell you how these lands are to be got.

LADY GREY

So shall you bind me to your highness' service.

KING EDWARD IV

What service wilt thou do me, if I give them?

LADY GREY

What you command, that rests in me to do.

KING EDWARD IV

But you will take exceptions to my boon.

LADY GREY

No, gracious lord, except I cannot do it.

KING EDWARD IV

Ay, but thou canst do what I mean to ask.

LADY GREY

Why, then I will do what your grace commands.

Why stops my lord, shall I not hear my task?

KING EDWARD IV

An easy task; 'tis but to love a king.

LADY GREY

That's soon perform'd, because I am a subject.

KING EDWARD IV

Why, then, thy husband's lands I freely give thee.

LADY GREY

I take my leave with many thousand thanks.

KING EDWARD IV

But stay thee, 'tis the fruits of love I mean.

LADY GREY

The fruits of love I mean, my loving liege.

KING EDWARD IV

Ay, but, I fear me, in another sense.

What love, think'st thou, I sue so much to get?

LADY GREY

My love till death, my humble thanks, my prayers;

That love which virtue begs and virtue grants.

KING EDWARD IV

No, by my troth, I did not mean such love.

LADY GREY

Why, then you mean not as I thought you did.

KING EDWARD IV

But now you partly may perceive my mind.

LADY GREY

My mind will never grant what I perceive

Your highness aims at, if I aim aright.

KING EDWARD IV

To tell thee plain, I aim to lie with thee.

LADY GREY

To tell you plain, I had rather lie in prison.

KING EDWARD IV

Why, then thou shalt not have thy husband's lands.

LADY GREY

Why, then mine honesty shall be my dower;

For by that loss I will not purchase them.

KING EDWARD IV

Therein thou wrong'st thy children mightily.

LADY GREY

Herein your highness wrongs both them and me.

But, mighty lord, this merry inclination

Accords not with the sadness of my suit:

Please you dismiss me either with 'ay' or 'no.'

KING EDWARD IV

Ay, if thou wilt say 'ay' to my request;

No if thou dost say 'no' to my demand.

LADY GREY

Then, no, my lord. My suit is at an end.

KING EDWARD IV

[Aside] Her looks do argue her replete with modesty;

Her words do show her wit incomparable;

All her perfections challenge sovereignty:

One way or other, she is for a king;

And she shall be my love, or else my queen.--

Say that King Edward take thee for his queen?

LADY GREY

'Tis better said than done, my gracious lord:

I am a subject fit to jest withal,

But far unfit to be a sovereign.

KING EDWARD IV

Sweet widow, by my state I swear to thee

I speak no more than what my soul intends;

And that is, to enjoy thee for my love.

LADY GREY

And that is more than I will yield unto:

I know I am too mean to be your queen,

And yet too good to be your concubine.

KING EDWARD IV

You cavil, widow: I did mean, my queen.

LADY GREY

'Twill grieve your grace my sons should call you father.

KING EDWARD IV

No more than when my daughters call thee mother.

Thou art a widow, and thou hast some children;

And, by God's mother, I, being but a bachelor,

Have other some: why, 'tis a happy thing

To be the father unto many sons.

Answer no more, for thou shalt be my queen.

Shakespeare, William, Henry VI Part 3, Act 3, Scene 2, http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2256/pg2256.html.

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