And make, no doubt, us happy by his reign.
On him I lay that you would lay on me,
The right and fortune of his happy stars;
Which God defend that I should wring from him! 172
Buck. My lord, this argues conscience in your Grace;
But the respects thereof are nice and trivial,
All circumstances well considered.
You say that Edward is your brother's son: 176
So say we too, but not by Edward's wife;
For first was he contract to Lady Lucy,—
Your mother lives a witness to his vow,—
And afterward by substitute betroth'd 180
To Bona, sister to the King of France.
These both put off, a poor petitioner,
A care-craz'd mother to a many sons,
A beauty-waning and distressed widow, 184
Even in the afternoon of her best days,
Made prize and purchase of his wanton eye,
Seduc'd the pitch and height of his degree
To base declension and loath'd bigamy: 188
By her, in his unlawful bed, he got
This Edward, whom our manners call the prince.
More bitterly could I expostulate,
Save that, for reverence to some alive, 192
I give a sparing limit to my tongue.
Then, good my lord, take to your royal self
This proffer'd benefit of dignity;
If not to bless us and the land withal, 196
Yet to draw forth your noble ancestry
171 happy stars; cf. n.
174 respects . . . nice: considerations on which your arguments are founded are overscrupulous
178 contract: contracted; cf. n. line 5
179 a witness; cf. n.
183 care-craz'd: shattered by care
186 purchase: booty
187 pitch; cf. n.
188 declension: gradual falling away from a high standard
bigamy; cf. n.
191 expostulate: expound
