RICHARD.
[Aside to George.] The widow likes him not, she knits her brows.
GEORGE.
[Aside to Richard.] He is the bluntest wooer in Christendom.
KING EDWARD.
[Aside.] Her looks doth argue her replete with modesty;
Her words doth 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.
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.
You cavil, widow; I did mean my queen.
LADY GREY.
’Twill grieve your Grace my sons should call you father.
KING EDWARD.
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.
RICHARD.
[Aside to George.] The ghostly father now hath done his shrift.