What good is cover'd with the face of heaven,To be discover'd,that can do me good?KING RICHARD.advancement of your children,gentle lady.QUEEN ELIZABETH.Up to some scaffold,there to lose their heads?KING RICHARD.Unto the dignity and height of Fortune,The high imperial type of this earth's glory.QUEEN ELIZABETH.Flatter my sorrow with report of it;Tell me what state,what dignity,what honour,Canst thou demise to any child of mine?KING RICHARD.Even all I have-ay,and myself and all Will I withal endow a child of thine;So in the Lethe of thy angry soul Thou drown the sad remembrance of those wrongs Which thou supposest I have done to thee.QUEEN ELIZABETH.Be brief,lest that the process of thy kindness Last longer telling than thy kindness'date.KING RICHARD.Then know,that from my soul I love thy daughter.QUEEN ELIZABETH.My daughter's mother thinks it with her soul.KING RICHARD.What do you think?
QUEEN ELIZABETH.That thou dost love my daughter from thy soul.So from thy soul's love didst thou love her brothers,And from my heart's love I do thank thee for it.KING RICHARD.Be not so hasty to confound my meaning.I mean that with my soul I love thy daughter And do intend to make her Queen of England.QUEEN ELIZABETH.Well,then,who dost thou mean shall be her king?KING RICHARD.Even he that makes her Queen.Who else should be?QUEEN ELIZABETH.What,thou?KING RICHARD.Even so.How think you of it?QUEEN ELIZABETH.How canst thou woo her?KING RICHARD.That would I learn of you,As one being best acquainted with her humour.QUEEN ELIZABETH.And wilt thou learn of me?KING RICHARD.Madam,with all my heart.QUEEN ELIZABETH.Send to her,by the man that slew her brothers,A pair of bleeding hearts;thereon engrave 'Edward'and 'York.'Then haply will she weep;Therefore present to her-as sometimes Margaret Did to thy father,steep'd in Rutland's blood-A handkerchief;which,say to her,did drain The purple sap from her sweet brother's body,And bid her wipe her weeping eyes withal.If this inducement move her not to love,Send her a letter of thy noble deeds;Tell her thou mad'st away her uncle Clarence,Her uncle Rivers;ay,and for her sake Mad'st quick conveyance with her good aunt Anne.KING RICHARD.You mock me,madam;this is not the way To win your daughter.QUEEN ELIZABETH.
There is no other way;Unless thou couldst put on some other shape And not be Richard that hath done all this.KING RICHARD.Say that I did all this for love of her.QUEEN ELIZABETH.Nay,then indeed she cannot choose but hate thee,Having bought love with such a bloody spoil.KING RICHARD.Look what is done cannot be now amended.Men shall deal unadvisedly sometimes,Which after-hours gives leisure to repent.If I did take the kingdom from your sons,To make amends I'll give it to your daughter.If I have kill'd the issue of your womb,To quicken your increase I will beget Mine issue of your blood upon your daughter.A grandam's name is little less in love Than is the doating title of a mother;They are as children but one step below,Even of your metal,of your very blood;Of all one pain,save for a night of groans Endur'd of her,for whom you bid like sorrow.Your children were vexation to your youth;But mine shall be a comfort to your age.The loss you have is but a son being King,And by that loss your daughter is made Queen.
I cannot make you what amends I would,Therefore accept such kindness as I can.Dorset your son,that with a fearful soul Leads discontented steps in foreign soil,This fair alliance quickly shall can home To high promotions and great dignity.The King,that calls your beauteous daughter wife,Familiarly shall call thy Dorset brother;Again shall you be mother to a king,And all the ruins of distressful times Repair'd with double riches of content.What!we have many goodly days to see.The liquid drops of tears that you have shed Shall come again,transform'd to orient pearl,Advantaging their loan with interest Of ten times double gain of happiness.Go,then,my mother,to thy daughter go;Make bold her bashful years with your experience;Prepare her ears to hear a wooer's tale;Put in her tender heart th'aspiring flame Of golden sovereignty;acquaint the Princes With the sweet silent hours of marriage joys.
And when this arm of mine hath chastised The petty rebel,dull-brain'd Buckingham,Bound with triumphant garlands will I come,And lead thy daughter to a conqueror's bed;To whom I will retail my conquest won,And she shall be sole victoress,Caesar's Caesar.QUEEN ELIZABETH.What were I best to say?Her father's brother Would be her lord?Or shall I say her uncle?Or he that slew her brothers and her uncles?Under what title shall I woo for thee That God,the law,my honour,and her love Can make seem pleasing to her tender years?
