MAT. Well, my good Lord of Oxford; pretty well: A little travail[360] more, and I shall rest, For I am almost at my journey's end. O that my head were rais'd a little up, My drowsy head, whose dim decaying lights Assure me it is almost time to sleep. [_Raise her head_. I thank your highness; I have now some ease. Be witness, I beseech your majesty, That I forgive the king with all my heart; With all the little of my living heart, That gives me leave to say I can forgive; And I beseech high heaven he long may live A happy king, a king belov'd and fear'd. Oxford, for God's sake, to my father write The latest commendations of his child; And say Matilda kept his honour's charge, Dying a spotless maiden undefil'd. Bid him be glad, for I am gone to joy, I, that did turn his weal to bitter woe. The king and he will quickly now grow friends, And by their friendship much content will grow. Sink, earth to earth; fade, flower ordain'd to fade, But pass forth, soul, unto the shrine of peace; Beg there atonement may be quickly made. Fair queen, kind Oxford, all good you attend. Fly forth, lay soul, heaven's King be there thy friend. [_Dies_. OX. O pity-moving sight![361] age pitiless! Are these the messages King John doth send? Keep in, my tears, for shame! your conduits keep, Sad woe-beholding eyes: no, will ye not? Why, then, a God's name, weep. [_Sit_. QUEEN. I cannot weep for ruth.[362] Here, here! take in The blessed body of this noble maid: In milk-white clothing let the same be laid Upon an open bier, that all may see King John's untimely lust and cruelty. [_Exeunt with the body_. OX. Ay, be it so; yourself, if so you please, Will I attend upon, and both us wait On chaste Matilda's body, which with speed To Windsor Castle we will hence convey. There is another spectacle of ruth, Old Bruce's famish'd lady and her son. QUEEN. There is the king besieging of young Bruce: His lords are there who, when they see this sight, I know will have small heart for John to fight. OX. But where's the murderer, ha? is not he stay'd? SER.[363] Borne with a violent rage he climb'd a tree, And none of us could hinder his intent; But getting to the top-boughs, fast he tied His garters to his neck and a weak branch; Which being unable to sustain his weight, Down to the ground he fell, where bones and flesh Lie pash'd[364] together in a pool of blood. OX. Alas for woe! but this is just heaven's doom On those that live by blood: in blood they die. Make[365] an example of it, honest friends: Do well, take pains, beware of cruelty. Come, madam, come: to Windsor let us go, And there to Bruce's grief add greater woe. [_Exeunt_. SCENE II. _Enter_ BRUCE _upon the walls_.