The Tragedy of Richard the Third

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Dramatis Personae KING EDWARD The Fourth EDWARD, Prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward V. RICHARD, Duke of York sons to the King. GEORGE, Duke of Clarence RICHARD, Duke of Gloucester, afterwards King Richard III. brothers to the King. A young son of Clarence. HENRY, Earl of Richmond, afterwards King Henry VII. CARDINAL BOURCHIER, Archbishop of Canterbury. THOMAS ROTHERHAM, Archbishop of York. JOHN MORTON, Bishop of Ely. DUKE of BUCKINGHAM DUKE of NORFOLK EARL of SURREY, His son. EARL RIVERS, Brother to Elizabeth. MARQUIS OF DORSET LORD GREY Sons to Elizabeth. EARL of OXFORD LORD HASTINGS LORD STANLEY, Called also EARL of DERBY. LORD LOVEL SIR THOMAS VAUGHAN SIR RICHARD RATCLIFF SIR WILLIAM CATESBY SIR JAMES TYRREL SIR JAMES BLOUNT SIR WALTER HERBERT SIR ROBERT BRAKENBURY, Lieutenant of the Tower. CHRISTOPHER URSWICK, A priest. Another Priest. TRESSEL BERKELEY Gentlemen attending on the Lady Anne. Lord Mayor of London. Sheriff of Wiltshire. ELIZABETH, Queen to King Edward IV. MARGARET, Widow of King Henry VI. DUCHESS of YORK, Mother to King Edward IV. LADY ANNE, Widow of Edward Prince of Wales, son to King Henry VI; afterwards married to Richard. A young Daughter of Clarence [MARGARET PLANTAGENET] Ghosts of those murdered by Richard III., Lords and other Attendants; a Pursuivant Scrivener, Citizens, Murderers, Messengers Soldiers, &c. SCENE England. KING RICHARD III ACT I SCENE I. London. A street. Enter GLOUCESTER, solus GLOUCESTER Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York; And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths; Our bruised arms hung up for monuments; Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings, Our dreadful marches to delightful measures. Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front; And now, instead of mounting barded steeds To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber To the lascivious pleasing of a lute. But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks, Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass; I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty To strut before a wanton ambling nymph; I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion, Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, Deformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time Into this breathing world, scarce half made up, And that so lamely and unfashionable That dogs bark at me as I halt by them; Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace, Have no delight to pass away the time, Unless to spy my shadow in the sun And descant on mine own deformity: And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover, To entertain these fair well-spoken days, I am determined to prove a villain And hate the idle pleasures of these days. Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous, By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams, To set my brother Clarence and the king In deadly hate the one against the other: And if King Edward be as true and just As I am subtle, false and treacherous, This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up, About a prophecy, which says that 'G' Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be. Dive, thoughts, down to my soul: here Clarence comes. Enter CLARENCE, guarded, and BRAKENBURY Brother, good day; what means this armed guard That waits upon your grace? CLARENCE His majesty Tendering my person's safety, hath appointed This conduct to convey me to the Tower. GLOUCESTER Upon what cause? CLARENCE Because my name is George. GLOUCESTER Alack, my lord, that fault is none of yours; He should, for that, commit your godfathers: O, belike his majesty hath some intent That you shall be new-christen'd in the Tower. But what's the matter, Clarence? may I know? CLARENCE Yea, Richard, when I know; for I protest As yet I do not: but, as I can learn, He hearkens after prophecies and dreams; And from the cross-row plucks the letter G. And says a wizard told him that by G His issue disinherited should be; And, for my name of George begins with G, It follows in his thought that I am he. These, as I learn, and such like toys as these Have moved his highness to commit me now. GLOUCESTER Why, this it is, when men are ruled by women: 'Tis not the king that sends you to the Tower: My Lady Grey his wife, Clarence, 'tis she That tempers him to this extremity. Was it not she and that good man of worship, Anthony Woodville, her brother there, That made him send Lord Hastings to the Tower, From whence this present day he is deliver'd? We are not safe, Clarence; we are not safe. CLARENCE By heaven, I think there's no man is secure But the queen's kindred and night-walking heralds That trudge betwixt the king and Mistress Shore. Heard ye not what an humble suppliant Lord hastings was to her for his delivery? GLOUCESTER Humbly complaining to her deity Got my lord chamberlain his liberty. I'll tell you what; I think it is our way, If we will keep in favour with the king, To be her men and wear her livery: The jealous o'erworn widow and herself, Since that our brother dubb'd them gentlewomen. Are mighty gossips in this monarchy. BRAKENBURY I beseech your graces both to pardon me; His majesty hath straitly given in charge That no man shall have private conference, Of what degree soever, with his brother. GLOUCESTER Even so; an't please your worship, Brakenbury, You may partake of any thing we say: We speak no treason, man: we say the king Is wise and virtuous, and his noble queen Well struck in years, fair, and not jealous; We say that Shore's wife hath a pretty foot, A cherry lip, a bonny eye, a passing pleasing tongue; And that the queen's kindred are made gentle-folks: How say you sir? Can you deny all this? BRAKENBURY With this, my lord, myself have nought to do. GLOUCESTER Naught to do with mistress Shore! I tell thee, fellow, He that doth naught with her, excepting one, Were best he do it secretly, alone. BRAKENBURY What one, my lord? GLOUCESTER Her husband, knave: wouldst thou betray me? BRAKENBURY I beseech your grace to pardon me, and withal Forbear your conference with the noble duke. CLARENCE We know thy charge, Brakenbury, and will obey. GLOUCESTER We are the queen's abjects, and must obey. Brother, farewell: I will unto the king; And whatsoever you will employ me in, Were it to call King Edward's widow sister, I will perform it to enfranchise you. Meantime, this deep disgrace in brotherhood Touches me deeper than you can imagine. CLARENCE I know it pleaseth neither of us well. GLOUCESTER Well, your imprisonment shall not be long; Meantime, have patience. CLARENCE I must perforce. Farewell. Exeunt CLARENCE, BRAKENBURY, and Guard GLOUCESTER Go, tread the path that thou shalt ne'er return. Simple, plain Clarence! I do love thee so, That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven, If heaven will take the present at our hands. But who comes here? the new-deliver'd Hastings? Enter HASTINGS HASTINGS Good time of day unto my gracious lord! GLOUCESTER As much unto my good lord chamberlain! Well are you welcome to the open air. How hath your lordship brook'd imprisonment? HASTINGS With patience, noble lord, as prisoners must: But I shall live, my lord, to give them thanks That were the cause of my imprisonment. GLOUCESTER No doubt, no doubt; and so shall Clarence too; For they that were your enemies are his, And have prevail'd as much on him as you. HASTINGS More pity that the eagle should be mew'd, While kites and buzzards prey at liberty. GLOUCESTER What news abroad? HASTINGS No news so bad abroad as this at home; The King is sickly, weak and melancholy, And his physicians fear him mightily. GLOUCESTER Now, by Saint Paul, this news is bad indeed. O, he hath kept an evil diet long, And overmuch consumed his royal person: 'Tis very grievous to be thought upon. What, is he in his bed? HASTINGS He is. GLOUCESTER Go you before, and I will follow you. Exit HASTINGS He cannot live, I hope; and must not die Till George be pack'd with post-horse up to heaven. I'll in, to urge his hatred more to Clarence, With lies well steel'd with weighty arguments; And, if I fall not in my deep intent, Clarence hath not another day to live: Which done, God take King Edward to his mercy, And leave the world for me to bustle in! For then I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter. What though I kill'd her husband and her father? The readiest way to make the wench amends Is to become her husband and her father: The which will I; not all so much for love As for another secret close intent, By marrying her which I must reach unto. But yet I run before my horse to market: Clarence still breathes; Edward still lives and reigns: When they are gone, then must I count my gains. Exit SCENE II. The same. Another street. Enter the corpse of KING HENRY the Sixth, Gentlemen with halberds to guard it; LADY ANNE being the mourner LADY ANNE Set down, set down your honourable load, If honour may be shrouded in a hearse, Whilst I awhile obsequiously lament The untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster. Poor key-cold figure of a holy king! Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster! Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood! Be it lawful that I invocate thy ghost, To hear the lamentations of Poor Anne, Wife to thy Edward, to thy slaughter'd son, Stabb'd by the selfsame hand that made these wounds! Lo, in these windows that let forth thy life, I pour the helpless balm of my poor eyes. Cursed be the hand that made these fatal holes! Cursed be the heart that had the heart to do it! Cursed the blood that let this blood from hence! More direful hap betide that hated wretch, That makes us wretched by the death of thee, Than I can wish to adders, spiders, toads, Or any creeping venom'd thing that lives! If ever he have child, abortive be it, Prodigious, and untimely brought to light, Whose ugly and unnatural aspect May fright the hopeful mother at the view; And that be heir to his unhappiness! If ever he have wife, let her he made A miserable by the death of him As I am made by my poor lord and thee! Come, now towards Chertsey with your holy load, Taken from Paul's to be interred there; And still, as you are weary of the weight, Rest you, whiles I lament King Henry's corse. Enter GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER Stay, you that bear the corse, and set it down. LADY ANNE What black magician conjures up this fiend, To stop devoted charitable deeds? GLOUCESTER Villains, set down the corse; or, by Saint Paul, I'll make a corse of him that disobeys. Gentleman My lord, stand back, and let the coffin pass. GLOUCESTER Unmanner'd dog! stand thou, when I command: Advance thy halbert higher than my breast, Or, by Saint Paul, I'll strike thee to my foot, And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness. LADY ANNE What, do you tremble? are you all afraid? Alas, I blame you not; for you are mortal, And mortal eyes cannot endure the devil. Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell! Thou hadst but power over his mortal body, His soul thou canst not have; therefore be gone. GLOUCESTER Sweet saint, for charity, be not so curst. LADY ANNE Foul devil, for God's sake, hence, and trouble us not; For thou hast made the happy earth thy hell, Fill'd it with cursing cries and deep exclaims. If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds, Behold this pattern of thy butcheries. O, gentlemen, see, see! dead Henry's wounds Open their congeal'd mouths and bleed afresh! Blush, Blush, thou lump of foul deformity; For 'tis thy presence that exhales this blood From cold and empty veins, where no blood dwells; Thy deed, inhuman and unnatural, Provokes this deluge most unnatural. O God, which this blood madest, revenge his death! O earth, which this blood drink'st revenge his death! Either heaven with lightning strike the murderer dead, Or earth, gape open wide and eat him quick, As thou dost swallow up this good king's blood Which his hell-govern'd arm hath butchered! GLOUCESTER Lady, you know no rules of charity, Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses. LADY ANNE Villain, thou know'st no law of God nor man: No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity. GLOUCESTER But I know none, and therefore am no beast. LADY ANNE O wonderful, when devils tell the truth! GLOUCESTER More wonderful, when angels are so angry. Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman, Of these supposed-evils, to give me leave, By circumstance, but to acquit myself. LADY ANNE Vouchsafe, defused infection of a man, For these known evils, but to give me leave, By circumstance, to curse thy cursed self. GLOUCESTER Fairer than tongue can name thee, let me have Some patient leisure to excuse myself. LADY ANNE Fouler than heart can think thee, thou canst make No excuse current, but to hang thyself. GLOUCESTER By such despair, I should accuse myself. LADY ANNE And, by despairing, shouldst thou stand excused; For doing worthy vengeance on thyself, Which didst unworthy slaughter upon others. GLOUCESTER Say that I slew them not? LADY ANNE Why, then they are not dead: But dead they are, and devilish slave, by thee. GLOUCESTER I did not kill your husband. LADY ANNE Why, then he is alive. GLOUCESTER Nay, he is dead; and slain by Edward's hand. LADY ANNE In thy foul throat thou liest: Queen Margaret saw Thy murderous falchion smoking in his blood; The which thou once didst bend against her breast, But that thy brothers beat aside the point. GLOUCESTER I was provoked by her slanderous tongue, which laid their guilt upon my guiltless shoulders. LADY ANNE Thou wast provoked by thy bloody mind. Which never dreamt on aught but butcheries: Didst thou not kill this king? GLOUCESTER I grant ye. LADY ANNE Dost grant me, hedgehog? then, God grant me too Thou mayst be damned for that wicked deed! O, he was gentle, mild, and virtuous! GLOUCESTER The fitter for the King of heaven, that hath him. LADY ANNE He is in heaven, where thou shalt never come. GLOUCESTER Let him thank me, that holp to send him thither; For he was fitter for that place than earth. LADY ANNE And thou unfit for any place but hell. GLOUCESTER Yes, one place else, if you will hear me name it. LADY ANNE Some dungeon. GLOUCESTER Your bed-chamber. LADY ANNE I'll rest betide the chamber where thou liest! GLOUCESTER So will it, madam till I lie with you. LADY ANNE I hope so. GLOUCESTER I know so. But, gentle Lady Anne, To leave this keen encounter of our wits, And fall somewhat into a slower method, Is not the causer of the timeless deaths Of these Plantagenets, Henry and Edward, As blameful as the executioner? LADY ANNE Thou art the cause, and most accursed effect. GLOUCESTER Your beauty was the cause of that effect; Your beauty: which did haunt me in my sleep To undertake the death of all the world, So I might live one hour in your sweet bosom. LADY ANNE If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide, These nails should rend that beauty from my cheeks. GLOUCESTER These eyes could never endure sweet beauty's wreck; You should not blemish it, if I stood by: As all the world is cheered by the sun, So I by that; it is my day, my life. LADY ANNE Black night o'ershade thy day, and death thy life! GLOUCESTER Curse not thyself, fair creature thou art both. LADY ANNE I would I were, to be revenged on thee. GLOUCESTER It is a quarrel most unnatural, To be revenged on him that loveth you. LADY ANNE It is a quarrel just and reasonable, To be revenged on him that slew my husband. GLOUCESTER He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband, Did it to help thee to a better husband. LADY ANNE His better doth not breathe upon the earth. GLOUCESTER He lives that loves thee better than he could. LADY ANNE Name him. GLOUCESTER Plantagenet. LADY ANNE Why, that was he. GLOUCESTER The selfsame name, but one of better nature. LADY ANNE Where is he? GLOUCESTER Here. She spitteth at him Why dost thou spit at me? LADY ANNE Would it were mortal poison, for thy sake! GLOUCESTER Never came poison from so sweet a place. LADY ANNE Never hung poison on a fouler toad. Out of my sight! thou dost infect my eyes. GLOUCESTER Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected mine. LADY ANNE Would they were basilisks, to strike thee dead! GLOUCESTER I would they were, that I might die at once; For now they kill me with a living death. Those eyes of thine from mine have drawn salt tears, Shamed their aspect with store of childish drops: These eyes that never shed remorseful tear, No, when my father York and Edward wept, To hear the piteous moan that Rutland made When black-faced Clifford shook his sword at him; Nor when thy warlike father, like a child, Told the sad story of my father's death, And twenty times made pause to sob and weep, That all the standers-by had wet their cheeks Like trees bedash'd with rain: in that sad time My manly eyes did scorn an humble tear; And what these sorrows could not thence exhale, Thy beauty hath, and made them blind with weeping. I never sued to friend nor enemy; My tongue could never learn sweet smoothing word; But now thy beauty is proposed my fee, My proud heart sues, and prompts my tongue to speak. She looks scornfully at him Teach not thy lips such scorn, for they were made For kissing, lady, not for such contempt. If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive, Lo, here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword; Which if thou please to hide in this true bosom. And let the soul forth that adoreth thee, I lay it naked to the deadly stroke, And humbly beg the death upon my knee. He lays his breast open: she offers at it with his sword Nay, do not pause; for I did kill King Henry, But 'twas thy beauty that provoked me. Nay, now dispatch; 'twas I that stabb'd young Edward, But 'twas thy heavenly face that set me on. Here she lets fall the sword Take up the sword again, or take up me. LADY ANNE Arise, dissembler: though I wish thy death, I will not be the executioner. GLOUCESTER Then bid me kill myself, and I will do it. LADY ANNE I have already. GLOUCESTER Tush, that was in thy rage: Speak it again, and, even with the word, That hand, which, for thy love, did kill thy love, Shall, for thy love, kill a far truer love; To both their deaths thou shalt be accessary. LADY ANNE I would I knew thy heart. GLOUCESTER 'Tis figured in my tongue. LADY ANNE I fear me both are false. GLOUCESTER Then never man was true. LADY ANNE Well, well, put up your sword. GLOUCESTER Say, then, my peace is made. LADY ANNE That shall you know hereafter. GLOUCESTER But shall I live in hope? LADY ANNE All men, I hope, live so. GLOUCESTER Vouchsafe to wear this ring. LADY ANNE To take is not to give. GLOUCESTER Look, how this ring encompasseth finger. Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart; Wear both of them, for both of them are thine. And if thy poor devoted suppliant may But beg one favour at thy gracious hand, Thou dost confirm his happiness for ever. LADY ANNE What is it? GLOUCESTER That it would please thee leave these sad designs To him that hath more cause to be a mourner, And presently repair to Crosby Place; Where, after I have solemnly interr'd At Chertsey monastery this noble king, And wet his grave with my repentant tears, I will with all expedient duty see you: For divers unknown reasons. I beseech you, Grant me this boon. LADY ANNE With all my heart; and much it joys me too, To see you are become so penitent. Tressel and Berkeley, go along with me. GLOUCESTER Bid me farewell. LADY ANNE 'Tis more than you deserve; But since you teach me how to flatter you, Imagine I have said farewell already. Exeunt LADY ANNE, TRESSEL, and BERKELEY GLOUCESTER Sirs, take up the corse. GENTLEMEN Towards Chertsey, noble lord? GLOUCESTER No, to White-Friars; there attend my coining. Exeunt all but GLOUCESTER Was ever woman in this humour woo'd? Was ever woman in this humour won? I'll have her; but I will not keep her long. What! I, that kill'd her husband and his father, To take her in her heart's extremest hate, With curses in her mouth, tears in her eyes, The bleeding witness of her hatred by; Having God, her conscience, and these bars against me, And I nothing to back my suit at all, But the plain devil and dissembling looks, And yet to win her, all the world to nothing! Ha! Hath she forgot already that brave prince, Edward, her lord, whom I, some three months since, Stabb'd in my angry mood at Tewksbury? A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman, Framed in the prodigality of nature, Young, valiant, wise, and, no doubt, right royal, The spacious world cannot again afford And will she yet debase her eyes on me, That cropp'd the golden prime of this sweet prince, And made her widow to a woful bed? On me, whose all not equals Edward's moiety? On me, that halt and am unshapen thus? My dukedom to a beggarly denier, I do mistake my person all this while: Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot, Myself to be a marvellous proper man. I'll be at charges for a looking-glass, And entertain some score or two of tailors, To study fashions to adorn my body: Since I am crept in favour with myself, Will maintain it with some little cost. But first I'll turn yon fellow in his grave; And then return lamenting to my love. Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass, That I may see my shadow as I pass. Exit SCENE III. The palace. Enter QUEEN ELIZABETH, RIVERS, and GREY RIVERS Have patience, madam: there's no doubt his majesty Will soon recover his accustom'd health. GREY In that you brook it in, it makes him worse: Therefore, for God's sake, entertain good comfort, And cheer his grace with quick and merry words. QUEEN ELIZABETH If he were dead, what would betide of me? RIVERS No other harm but loss of such a lord. QUEEN ELIZABETH The loss of such a lord includes all harm. GREY The heavens have bless'd you with a goodly son, To be your comforter when he is gone. QUEEN ELIZABETH Oh, he is young and his minority Is put unto the trust of Richard Gloucester, A man that loves not me, nor none of you. RIVERS Is it concluded that he shall be protector? QUEEN ELIZABETH It is determined, not concluded yet: But so it must be, if the king miscarry. Enter BUCKINGHAM and DERBY GREY Here come the lords of Buckingham and Derby. BUCKINGHAM Good time of day unto your royal grace! DERBY God make your majesty joyful as you have been! QUEEN ELIZABETH The Countess Richmond, good my Lord of Derby. To your good prayers will scarcely say amen. Yet, Derby, notwithstanding she's your wife, And loves not me, be you, good lord, assured I hate not you for her proud arrogance. DERBY I do beseech you, either not believe The envious slanders of her false accusers; Or, if she be accused in true report, Bear with her weakness, which, I think proceeds From wayward sickness, and no grounded malice. RIVERS Saw you the king to-day, my Lord of Derby? DERBY But now the Duke of Buckingham and I Are come from visiting his majesty. QUEEN ELIZABETH What likelihood of his amendment, lords? BUCKINGHAM Madam, good hope; his grace speaks cheerfully. QUEEN ELIZABETH God grant him health! Did you confer with him? BUCKINGHAM Madam, we did: he desires to make atonement Betwixt the Duke of Gloucester and your brothers, And betwixt them and my lord chamberlain; And sent to warn them to his royal presence. QUEEN ELIZABETH Would all were well! but that will never be I fear our happiness is at the highest. Enter GLOUCESTER, HASTINGS, and DORSET GLOUCESTER They do me wrong, and I will not endure it: Who are they that complain unto the king, That I, forsooth, am stern, and love them not? By holy Paul, they love his grace but lightly That fill his ears with such dissentious rumours. Because I cannot flatter and speak fair, Smile in men's faces, smooth, deceive and cog, Duck with French nods and apish courtesy, I must be held a rancorous enemy. Cannot a plain man live and think no harm, But thus his simple truth must be abused By silken, sly, insinuating Jacks? RIVERS To whom in all this presence speaks your grace? GLOUCESTER To thee, that hast nor honesty nor grace. When have I injured thee? when done thee wrong? Or thee? or thee? or any of your faction? A plague upon you all! His royal person,-- Whom God preserve better than you would wish!-- Cannot be quiet scarce a breathing-while, But you must trouble him with lewd complaints. QUEEN ELIZABETH Brother of Gloucester, you mistake the matter. The king, of his own royal disposition, And not provoked by any suitor else; Aiming, belike, at your interior hatred, Which in your outward actions shows itself Against my kindred, brothers, and myself, Makes him to send; that thereby he may gather The ground of your ill-will, and so remove it. GLOUCESTER I cannot tell: the world is grown so bad, That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch: Since every Jack became a gentleman There's many a gentle person made a Jack. QUEEN ELIZABETH Come, come, we know your meaning, brother Gloucester; You envy my advancement and my friends': God grant we never may have need of you! GLOUCESTER Meantime, God grants that we have need of you: Your brother is imprison'd by your means, Myself disgraced, and the nobility Held in contempt; whilst many fair promotions Are daily given to ennoble those That scarce, some two days since, were worth a noble. QUEEN ELIZABETH By Him that raised me to this careful height From that contented hap which I enjoy'd, I never did incense his majesty Against the Duke of Clarence, but have been An earnest advocate to plead for him. My lord, you do me shameful injury, Falsely to draw me in these vile suspects. GLOUCESTER You may deny that you were not the cause Of my Lord Hastings' late imprisonment. RIVERS She may, my lord, for-- GLOUCESTER She may, Lord Rivers! why, who knows not so? She may do more, sir, than denying that: She may help you to many fair preferments, And then deny her aiding hand therein, And lay those honours on your high deserts. What may she not? She may, yea, marry, may she-- RIVERS What, marry, may she? GLOUCESTER What, marry, may she! marry with a king, A bachelor, a handsome stripling too: I wis your grandam had a worser match. QUEEN ELIZABETH My Lord of Gloucester, I have too long borne Your blunt upbraidings and your bitter scoffs: By heaven, I will acquaint his majesty With those gross taunts I often have endured. I had rather be a country servant-maid Than a great queen, with this condition, To be thus taunted, scorn'd, and baited at: Enter QUEEN MARGARET, behind Small joy have I in being England's queen. QUEEN MARGARET And lessen'd be that small, God, I beseech thee! Thy honour, state and seat is due to me. GLOUCESTER What! threat you me with telling of the king? Tell him, and spare not: look, what I have said I will avouch in presence of the king: I dare adventure to be sent to the Tower. 'Tis time to speak; my pains are quite forgot. QUEEN MARGARET Out, devil! I remember them too well: Thou slewest my husband Henry in the Tower, And Edward, my poor son, at Tewksbury. GLOUCESTER Ere you were queen, yea, or your husband king, I was a pack-horse in his great affairs; A weeder-out of his proud adversaries, A liberal rewarder of his friends: To royalize his blood I spilt mine own. QUEEN MARGARET Yea, and much better blood than his or thine. GLOUCESTER In all which time you and your husband Grey Were factious for the house of Lancaster; And, Rivers, so were you. Was not your husband In Margaret's battle at Saint Alban's slain? Let me put in your minds, if you forget, What you have been ere now, and what you are; Withal, what I have been, and what I am. QUEEN MARGARET A murderous villain, and so still thou art. GLOUCESTER Poor Clarence did forsake his father, Warwick; Yea, and forswore himself,--which Jesu pardon!-- QUEEN MARGARET Which God revenge! GLOUCESTER To fight on Edward's party for the crown; And for his meed, poor lord, he is mew'd up. I would to God my heart were flint, like Edward's; Or Edward's soft and pitiful, like mine I am too childish-foolish for this world. QUEEN MARGARET Hie thee to hell for shame, and leave the world, Thou cacodemon! there thy kingdom is. RIVERS My Lord of Gloucester, in those busy days Which here you urge to prove us enemies, We follow'd then our lord, our lawful king: So should we you, if you should be our king. GLOUCESTER If I should be! I had rather be a pedlar: Far be it from my heart, the thought of it! QUEEN ELIZABETH As little joy, my lord, as you suppose You should enjoy, were you this country's king, As little joy may you suppose in me. That I enjoy, being the queen thereof. QUEEN MARGARET A little joy enjoys the queen thereof; For I am she, and altogether joyless. I can no longer hold me patient. Advancing Hear me, you wrangling pirates, that fall out In sharing that which you have pill'd from me! Which of you trembles not that looks on me? If not, that, I being queen, you bow like subjects, Yet that, by you deposed, you quake like rebels? O gentle villain, do not turn away! GLOUCESTER Foul wrinkled witch, what makest thou in my sight? QUEEN MARGARET But repetition of what thou hast marr'd; That will I make before I let thee go. GLOUCESTER Wert thou not banished on pain of death? QUEEN MARGARET I was; but I do find more pain in banishment Than death can yield me here by my abode. A husband and a son thou owest to me; And thou a kingdom; all of you allegiance: The sorrow that I have, by right is yours, And all the pleasures you usurp are mine. GLOUCESTER The curse my noble father laid on thee, When thou didst crown his warlike brows with paper And with thy scorns drew'st rivers from his eyes, And then, to dry them, gavest the duke a clout Steep'd in the faultless blood of pretty Rutland-- His curses, then from bitterness of soul Denounced against thee, are all fall'n upon thee; And God, not we, hath plagued thy bloody deed. QUEEN ELIZABETH So just is God, to right the innocent. HASTINGS O, 'twas the foulest deed to slay that babe, And the most merciless that e'er was heard of! RIVERS Tyrants themselves wept when it was reported. DORSET No man but prophesied revenge for it. BUCKINGHAM Northumberland, then present, wept to see it. QUEEN MARGARET What were you snarling all before I came, Ready to catch each other by the throat, And turn you all your hatred now on me? Did York's dread curse prevail so much with heaven? That Henry's death, my lovely Edward's death, Their kingdom's loss, my woful banishment, Could all but answer for that peevish brat? Can curses pierce the clouds and enter heaven? Why, then, give way, dull clouds, to my quick curses! If not by war, by surfeit die your king, As ours by murder, to make him a king! Edward thy son, which now is Prince of Wales, For Edward my son, which was Prince of Wales, Die in his youth by like untimely violence! Thyself a queen, for me that was a queen, Outlive thy glory, like my wretched self! Long mayst thou live to wail thy children's loss; And see another, as I see thee now, Deck'd in thy rights, as thou art stall'd in mine! Long die thy happy days before thy death; And, after many lengthen'd hours of grief, Die neither mother, wife, nor England's queen! Rivers and Dorset, you were standers by, And so wast thou, Lord Hastings, when my son Was stabb'd with bloody daggers: God, I pray him, That none of you may live your natural age, But by some unlook'd accident cut off! GLOUCESTER Have done thy charm, thou hateful wither'd hag! QUEEN MARGARET And leave out thee? stay, dog, for thou shalt hear me. If heaven have any grievous plague in store Exceeding those that I can wish upon thee, O, let them keep it till thy sins be ripe, And then hurl down their indignation On thee, the troubler of the poor world's peace! The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul! Thy friends suspect for traitors while thou livest, And take deep traitors for thy dearest friends! No sleep close up that deadly eye of thine, Unless it be whilst some tormenting dream Affrights thee with a hell of ugly devils! Thou elvish-mark'd, abortive, rooting hog! Thou that wast seal'd in thy nativity The slave of nature and the son of hell! Thou slander of thy mother's heavy womb! Thou loathed issue of thy father's loins! Thou rag of honour! thou detested-- GLOUCESTER Margaret. QUEEN MARGARET Richard! GLOUCESTER Ha! QUEEN MARGARET I call thee not. GLOUCESTER I cry thee mercy then, for I had thought That thou hadst call'd me all these bitter names. QUEEN MARGARET Why, so I did; but look'd for no reply. O, let me make the period to my curse! GLOUCESTER 'Tis done by me, and ends in 'Margaret.' QUEEN ELIZABETH Thus have you breathed your curse against yourself. QUEEN MARGARET Poor painted queen, vain flourish of my fortune! Why strew'st thou sugar on that bottled spider, Whose deadly web ensnareth thee about? Fool, fool! thou whet'st a knife to kill thyself. The time will come when thou shalt wish for me To help thee curse that poisonous bunchback'd toad. HASTINGS False-boding woman, end thy frantic curse, Lest to thy harm thou move our patience. QUEEN MARGARET Foul shame upon you! you have all moved mine. RIVERS Were you well served, you would be taught your duty. QUEEN MARGARET To serve me well, you all should do me duty, Teach me to be your queen, and you my subjects: O, serve me well, and teach yourselves that duty! DORSET Dispute not with her; she is lunatic. QUEEN MARGARET Peace, master marquess, you are malapert: Your fire-new stamp of honour is scarce current. O, that your young nobility could judge What 'twere to lose it, and be miserable! They that stand high have many blasts to shake them; And if they fall, they dash themselves to pieces. GLOUCESTER Good counsel, marry: learn it, learn it, marquess. DORSET It toucheth you, my lord, as much as me. GLOUCESTER Yea, and much more: but I was born so high, Our aery buildeth in the cedar's top, And dallies with the wind and scorns the sun. QUEEN MARGARET And turns the sun to shade; alas! alas! Witness my son, now in the shade of death; Whose bright out-shining beams thy cloudy wrath Hath in eternal darkness folded up. Your aery buildeth in our aery's nest. O God, that seest it, do not suffer it! As it was won with blood, lost be it so! BUCKINGHAM Have done! for shame, if not for charity. QUEEN MARGARET Urge neither charity nor shame to me: Uncharitably with me have you dealt, And shamefully by you my hopes are butcher'd. My charity is outrage, life my shame And in that shame still live my sorrow's rage. BUCKINGHAM Have done, have done. QUEEN MARGARET O princely Buckingham I'll kiss thy hand, In sign of league and amity with thee: Now fair befal thee and thy noble house! Thy garments are not spotted with our blood, Nor thou within the compass of my curse. BUCKINGHAM Nor no one here; for curses never pass The lips of those that breathe them in the air. QUEEN MARGARET I'll not believe but they ascend the sky, And there awake God's gentle-sleeping peace. O Buckingham, take heed of yonder dog! Look, when he fawns, he bites; and when he bites, His venom tooth will rankle to the death: Have not to do with him, beware of him; Sin, death, and hell have set their marks on him, And all their ministers attend on him. GLOUCESTER What doth she say, my Lord of Buckingham? BUCKINGHAM Nothing that I respect, my gracious lord. QUEEN MARGARET What, dost thou scorn me for my gentle counsel? And soothe the devil that I warn thee from? O, but remember this another day, When he shall split thy very heart with sorrow, And say poor Margaret was a prophetess! Live each of you the subjects to his hate, And he to yours, and all of you to God's! Exit HASTINGS My hair doth stand on end to hear her curses. RIVERS And so doth mine: I muse why she's at liberty. GLOUCESTER I cannot blame her: by God's holy mother, She hath had too much wrong; and I repent My part thereof that I have done to her. QUEEN ELIZABETH I never did her any, to my knowledge. GLOUCESTER But you have all the vantage of her wrong. I was too hot to do somebody good, That is too cold in thinking of it now. Marry, as for Clarence, he is well repaid, He is frank'd up to fatting for his pains God pardon them that are the cause of it! RIVERS A virtuous and a Christian-like conclusion, To pray for them that have done scathe to us. GLOUCESTER So do I ever: Aside being well-advised. For had I cursed now, I had cursed myself. Enter CATESBY CATESBY Madam, his majesty doth call for you, And for your grace; and you, my noble lords. QUEEN ELIZABETH Catesby, we come. Lords, will you go with us? RIVERS Madam, we will attend your grace. Exeunt all but GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl. The secret mischiefs that I set abroach I lay unto the grievous charge of others. Clarence, whom I, indeed, have laid in darkness, I do beweep to many simple gulls Namely, to Hastings, Derby, Buckingham; And say it is the queen and her allies That stir the king against the duke my brother. Now, they believe it; and withal whet me To be revenged on Rivers, Vaughan, Grey: But then I sigh; and, with a piece of scripture, Tell them that God bids us do good for evil: And thus I clothe my naked villany With old odd ends stolen out of holy writ; And seem a saint, when most I play the devil. Enter two Murderers But, soft! here come my executioners. How now, my hardy, stout resolved mates! Are you now going to dispatch this deed? First Murderer We are, my lord; and come to have the warrant That we may be admitted where he is. GLOUCESTER Well thought upon; I have it here about me. Gives the warrant When you have done, repair to Crosby Place. But, sirs, be sudden in the execution, Withal obdurate, do not hear him plead; For Clarence is well-spoken, and perhaps May move your hearts to pity if you mark him. First Murderer Tush! Fear not, my lord, we will not stand to prate; Talkers are no good doers: be assured We come to use our hands and not our tongues. GLOUCESTER Your eyes drop millstones, when fools' eyes drop tears: I like you, lads; about your business straight; Go, go, dispatch. First Murderer We will, my noble lord. Exeunt SCENE IV. London. The Tower. Enter CLARENCE and BRAKENBURY BRAKENBURY Why looks your grace so heavily today? CLARENCE O, I have pass'd a miserable night, So full of ugly sights, of ghastly dreams, That, as I am a Christian faithful man, I would not spend another such a night, Though 'twere to buy a world of happy days, So full of dismal terror was the time! BRAKENBURY What was your dream? I long to hear you tell it. CLARENCE Methoughts that I had broken from the Tower, And was embark'd to cross to Burgundy; And, in my company, my brother Gloucester; Who from my cabin tempted me to walk Upon the hatches: thence we looked toward England, And cited up a thousand fearful times, During the wars of York and Lancaster That had befall'n us. As we paced along Upon the giddy footing of the hatches, Methought that Gloucester stumbled; and, in falling, Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard, Into the tumbling billows of the main. Lord, Lord! methought, what pain it was to drown! What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears! What ugly sights of death within mine eyes! Methought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks; Ten thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon; Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels, All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea: Some lay in dead men's skulls; and, in those holes Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept, As 'twere in scorn of eyes, reflecting gems, Which woo'd the slimy bottom of the deep, And mock'd the dead bones that lay scatter'd by. BRAKENBURY Had you such leisure in the time of death To gaze upon the secrets of the deep? CLARENCE Methought I had; and often did I strive To yield the ghost: but still the envious flood Kept in my soul, and would not let it forth To seek the empty, vast and wandering air; But smother'd it within my panting bulk, Which almost burst to belch it in the sea. BRAKENBURY Awaked you not with this sore agony? CLARENCE O, no, my dream was lengthen'd after life; O, then began the tempest to my soul, Who pass'd, methought, the melancholy flood, With that grim ferryman which poets write of, Unto the kingdom of perpetual night. The first that there did greet my stranger soul, Was my great father-in-law, renowned Warwick; Who cried aloud, 'What scourge for perjury Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?' And so he vanish'd: then came wandering by A shadow like an angel, with bright hair Dabbled in blood; and he squeak'd out aloud, 'Clarence is come; false, fleeting, perjured Clarence, That stabb'd me in the field by Tewksbury; Seize on him, Furies, take him to your torments!' With that, methoughts, a legion of foul fiends Environ'd me about, and howled in mine ears Such hideous cries, that with the very noise I trembling waked, and for a season after Could not believe but that I was in hell, Such terrible impression made the dream. BRAKENBURY No marvel, my lord, though it affrighted you; I promise, I am afraid to hear you tell it. CLARENCE O Brakenbury, I have done those things, Which now bear evidence against my soul, For Edward's sake; and see how he requites me! O God! if my deep prayers cannot appease thee, But thou wilt be avenged on my misdeeds, Yet execute thy wrath in me alone, O, spare my guiltless wife and my poor children! I pray thee, gentle keeper, stay by me; My soul is heavy, and I fain would sleep. BRAKENBURY I will, my lord: God give your grace good rest! CLARENCE sleeps Sorrow breaks seasons and reposing hours, Makes the night morning, and the noon-tide night. Princes have but their tides for their glories, An outward honour for an inward toil; And, for unfelt imagination, They often feel a world of restless cares: So that, betwixt their tides and low names, There's nothing differs but the outward fame. Enter the two Murderers First Murderer Ho! who's here? BRAKENBURY In God's name what are you, and how came you hither? First Murderer I would speak with Clarence, and I came hither on my legs. BRAKENBURY Yea, are you so brief? Second Murderer O sir, it is better to be brief than tedious. Show him our commission; talk no more. BRAKENBURY reads it BRAKENBURY I am, in this, commanded to deliver The noble Duke of Clarence to your hands: I will not reason what is meant hereby, Because I will be guiltless of the meaning. Here are the keys, there sits the duke asleep: I'll to the king; and signify to him That thus I have resign'd my charge to you. First Murderer Do so, it is a point of wisdom: fare you well. Exit BRAKENBURY Second Murderer What, shall we stab him as he sleeps? First Murderer No; then he will say 'twas done cowardly, when he wakes. Second Murderer When he wakes! why, fool, he shall never wake till the judgment-day. First Murderer Why, then he will say we stabbed him sleeping. Second Murderer The urging of that word 'judgment' hath bred a kind of remorse in me. First Murderer What, art thou afraid? Second Murderer Not to kill him, having a warrant for it; but to be damned for killing him, from which no warrant can defend us. First Murderer I thought thou hadst been resolute. Second Murderer So I am, to let him live. First Murderer Back to the Duke of Gloucester, tell him so. Second Murderer I pray thee, stay a while: I hope my holy humour will change; 'twas wont to hold me but while one would tell twenty. First Murderer How dost thou feel thyself now? Second Murderer 'Faith, some certain dregs of conscience are yet within me. First Murderer Remember our reward, when the deed is done. Second Murderer 'Zounds, he dies: I had forgot the reward. First Murderer Where is thy conscience now? Second Murderer In the Duke of Gloucester's purse. First Murderer So when he opens his purse to give us our reward, thy conscience flies out. Second Murderer Let it go; there's few or none will entertain it. First Murderer How if it come to thee again? Second Murderer I'll not meddle with it: it is a dangerous thing: it makes a man a coward: a man cannot steal, but it accuseth him; he cannot swear, but it cheques him; he cannot lie with his neighbour's wife, but it detects him: 'tis a blushing shamefast spirit that mutinies in a man's bosom; it fills one full of obstacles: it made me once restore a purse of gold that I found; it beggars any man that keeps it: it is turned out of all towns and cities for a dangerous thing; and every man that means to live well endeavours to trust to himself and to live without it. First Murderer 'Zounds, it is even now at my elbow, persuading me not to kill the duke. Second Murderer Take the devil in thy mind, and relieve him not: he would insinuate with thee but to make thee sigh. First Murderer Tut, I am strong-framed, he cannot prevail with me, I warrant thee. Second Murderer Spoke like a tail fellow that respects his reputation. Come, shall we to this gear? First Murderer Take him over the costard with the hilts of thy sword, and then we will chop him in the malmsey-butt in the next room. Second Murderer O excellent devise! make a sop of him. First Murderer Hark! he stirs: shall I strike? Second Murderer No, first let's reason with him. CLARENCE Where art thou, keeper? give me a cup of wine. Second murderer You shall have wine enough, my lord, anon. CLARENCE In God's name, what art thou? Second Murderer A man, as you are. CLARENCE But not, as I am, royal. Second Murderer Nor you, as we are, loyal. CLARENCE Thy voice is thunder, but thy looks are humble. Second Murderer My voice is now the king's, my looks mine own. CLARENCE How darkly and how deadly dost thou speak! Your eyes do menace me: why look you pale? Who sent you hither? Wherefore do you come? Both To, to, to-- CLARENCE To murder me? Both Ay, ay. CLARENCE You scarcely have the hearts to tell me so, And therefore cannot have the hearts to do it. Wherein, my friends, have I offended you? First Murderer Offended us you have not, but the king. CLARENCE I shall be reconciled to him again. Second Murderer Never, my lord; therefore prepare to die. CLARENCE Are you call'd forth from out a world of men To slay the innocent? What is my offence? Where are the evidence that do accuse me? What lawful quest have given their verdict up Unto the frowning judge? or who pronounced The bitter sentence of poor Clarence' death? Before I be convict by course of law, To threaten me with death is most unlawful. I charge you, as you hope to have redemption By Christ's dear blood shed for our grievous sins, That you depart and lay no hands on me The deed you undertake is damnable. First Murderer What we will do, we do upon command. Second Murderer And he that hath commanded is the king. CLARENCE Erroneous vassal! the great King of kings Hath in the tables of his law commanded That thou shalt do no murder: and wilt thou, then, Spurn at his edict and fulfil a man's? Take heed; for he holds vengeance in his hands, To hurl upon their heads that break his law. Second Murderer And that same vengeance doth he hurl on thee, For false forswearing and for murder too: Thou didst receive the holy sacrament, To fight in quarrel of the house of Lancaster. First Murderer And, like a traitor to the name of God, Didst break that vow; and with thy treacherous blade Unrip'dst the bowels of thy sovereign's son. Second Murderer Whom thou wert sworn to cherish and defend. First Murderer How canst thou urge God's dreadful law to us, When thou hast broke it in so dear degree? CLARENCE Alas! for whose sake did I that ill deed? For Edward, for my brother, for his sake: Why, sirs, He sends ye not to murder me for this For in this sin he is as deep as I. If God will be revenged for this deed. O, know you yet, he doth it publicly, Take not the quarrel from his powerful arm; He needs no indirect nor lawless course To cut off those that have offended him. First Murderer Who made thee, then, a bloody minister, When gallant-springing brave Plantagenet, That princely novice, was struck dead by thee? CLARENCE My brother's love, the devil, and my rage. First Murderer Thy brother's love, our duty, and thy fault, Provoke us hither now to slaughter thee. CLARENCE Oh, if you love my brother, hate not me; I am his brother, and I love him well. If you be hired for meed, go back again, And I will send you to my brother Gloucester, Who shall reward you better for my life Than Edward will for tidings of my death. Second Murderer You are deceived, your brother Gloucester hates you. CLARENCE O, no, he loves me, and he holds me dear: Go you to him from me. Both Ay, so we will. CLARENCE Tell him, when that our princely father York Bless'd his three sons with his victorious arm, And charged us from his soul to love each other, He little thought of this divided friendship: Bid Gloucester think of this, and he will weep. First Murderer Ay, millstones; as be lesson'd us to weep. CLARENCE O, do not slander him, for he is kind. First Murderer Right, As snow in harvest. Thou deceivest thyself: 'Tis he that sent us hither now to slaughter thee. CLARENCE It cannot be; for when I parted with him, He hugg'd me in his arms, and swore, with sobs, That he would labour my delivery. Second Murderer Why, so he doth, now he delivers thee From this world's thraldom to the joys of heaven. First Murderer Make peace with God, for you must die, my lord. CLARENCE Hast thou that holy feeling in thy soul, To counsel me to make my peace with God, And art thou yet to thy own soul so blind, That thou wilt war with God by murdering me? Ah, sirs, consider, he that set you on To do this deed will hate you for the deed. Second Murderer What shall we do? CLARENCE Relent, and save your souls. First Murderer Relent! 'tis cowardly and womanish. CLARENCE Not to relent is beastly, savage, devilish. Which of you, if you were a prince's son, Being pent from liberty, as I am now, if two such murderers as yourselves came to you, Would not entreat for life? My friend, I spy some pity in thy looks: O, if thine eye be not a flatterer, Come thou on my side, and entreat for me, As you would beg, were you in my distress A begging prince what beggar pities not? Second Murderer Look behind you, my lord. First Murderer Take that, and that: if all this will not do, Stabs him I'll drown you in the malmsey-butt within. Exit, with the body Second Murderer A bloody deed, and desperately dispatch'd! How fain, like Pilate, would I wash my hands Of this most grievous guilty murder done! Re-enter First Murderer First Murderer How now! what mean'st thou, that thou help'st me not? By heavens, the duke shall know how slack thou art! Second Murderer I would he knew that I had saved his brother! Take thou the fee, and tell him what I say; For I repent me that the duke is slain. Exit First Murderer So do not I: go, coward as thou art. Now must I hide his body in some hole, Until the duke take order for his burial: And when I have my meed, I must away; For this will out, and here I must not stay. ACT II SCENE I. London. The palace. Flourish. Enter KING EDWARD IV sick, QUEEN ELIZABETH, DORSET, RIVERS, HASTINGS, BUCKINGHAM, GREY, and others KING EDWARD IV Why, so: now have I done a good day's work: You peers, continue this united league: I every day expect an embassage From my Redeemer to redeem me hence; And now in peace my soul shall part to heaven, Since I have set my friends at peace on earth. Rivers and Hastings, take each other's hand; Dissemble not your hatred, swear your love. RIVERS By heaven, my heart is purged from grudging hate: And with my hand I seal my true heart's love. HASTINGS So thrive I, as I truly swear the like! KING EDWARD IV Take heed you dally not before your king; Lest he that is the supreme King of kings Confound your hidden falsehood, and award Either of you to be the other's end. HASTINGS So prosper I, as I swear perfect love! RIVERS And I, as I love Hastings with my heart! KING EDWARD IV Madam, yourself are not exempt in this, Nor your son Dorset, Buckingham, nor you; You have been factious one against the other, Wife, love Lord Hastings, let him kiss your hand; And what you do, do it unfeignedly. QUEEN ELIZABETH Here, Hastings; I will never more remember Our former hatred, so thrive I and mine! KING EDWARD IV Dorset, embrace him; Hastings, love lord marquess. DORSET This interchange of love, I here protest, Upon my part shall be unviolable. HASTINGS And so swear I, my lord They embrace KING EDWARD IV Now, princely Buckingham, seal thou this league With thy embracements to my wife's allies, And make me happy in your unity. BUCKINGHAM Whenever Buckingham doth turn his hate On you or yours, To the Queen but with all duteous love Doth cherish you and yours, God punish me With hate in those where I expect most love! When I have most need to employ a friend, And most assured that he is a friend Deep, hollow, treacherous, and full of guile, Be he unto me! this do I beg of God, When I am cold in zeal to yours. KING EDWARD IV A pleasing cordial, princely Buckingham, is this thy vow unto my sickly heart. There wanteth now our brother Gloucester here, To make the perfect period of this peace. BUCKINGHAM And, in good time, here comes the noble duke. Enter GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER Good morrow to my sovereign king and queen: And, princely peers, a happy time of day! KING EDWARD IV Happy, indeed, as we have spent the day. Brother, we done deeds of charity; Made peace enmity, fair love of hate, Between these swelling wrong-incensed peers. GLOUCESTER A blessed labour, my most sovereign liege: Amongst this princely heap, if any here, By false intelligence, or wrong surmise, Hold me a foe; If I unwittingly, or in my rage, Have aught committed that is hardly borne By any in this presence, I desire To reconcile me to his friendly peace: 'Tis death to me to be at enmity; I hate it, and desire all good men's love. First, madam, I entreat true peace of you, Which I will purchase with my duteous service; Of you, my noble cousin Buckingham, If ever any grudge were lodged between us; Of you, Lord Rivers, and, Lord Grey, of you; That without desert have frown'd on me; Dukes, earls, lords, gentlemen; indeed, of all. I do not know that Englishman alive With whom my soul is any jot at odds More than the infant that is born to-night I thank my God for my humility. QUEEN ELIZABETH A holy day shall this be kept hereafter: I would to God all strifes were well compounded. My sovereign liege, I do beseech your majesty To take our brother Clarence to your grace. GLOUCESTER Why, madam, have I offer'd love for this To be so bouted in this royal presence? Who knows not that the noble duke is dead? They all start You do him injury to scorn his corse. RIVERS Who knows not he is dead! who knows he is? QUEEN ELIZABETH All seeing heaven, what a world is this! BUCKINGHAM Look I so pale, Lord Dorset, as the rest? DORSET Ay, my good lord; and no one in this presence But his red colour hath forsook his cheeks. KING EDWARD IV Is Clarence dead? the order was reversed. GLOUCESTER But he, poor soul, by your first order died, And that a winged Mercury did bear: Some tardy cripple bore the countermand, That came too lag to see him buried. God grant that some, less noble and less loyal, Nearer in bloody thoughts, but not in blood, Deserve not worse than wretched Clarence did, And yet go current from suspicion! Enter DERBY DORSET A boon, my sovereign, for my service done! KING EDWARD IV I pray thee, peace: my soul is full of sorrow. DORSET I will not rise, unless your highness grant. KING EDWARD IV Then speak at once what is it thou demand'st. DORSET The forfeit, sovereign, of my servant's life; Who slew to-day a righteous gentleman Lately attendant on the Duke of Norfolk. KING EDWARD IV Have a tongue to doom my brother's death, And shall the same give pardon to a slave? My brother slew no man; his fault was thought, And yet his punishment was cruel death. Who sued to me for him? who, in my rage, Kneel'd at my feet, and bade me be advised Who spake of brotherhood? who spake of love? Who told me how the poor soul did forsake The mighty Warwick, and did fight for me? Who told me, in the field by Tewksbury When Oxford had me down, he rescued me, And said, 'Dear brother, live, and be a king'? Who told me, when we both lay in the field Frozen almost to death, how he did lap me Even in his own garments, and gave himself, All thin and naked, to the numb cold night? All this from my remembrance brutish wrath Sinfully pluck'd, and not a man of you Had so much grace to put it in my mind. But when your carters or your waiting-vassals Have done a drunken slaughter, and defaced The precious image of our dear Redeemer, You straight are on your knees for pardon, pardon; And I unjustly too, must grant it you But for my brother not a man would speak, Nor I, ungracious, speak unto myself For him, poor soul. The proudest of you all Have been beholding to him in his life; Yet none of you would once plead for his life. O God, I fear thy justice will take hold On me, and you, and mine, and yours for this! Come, Hastings, help me to my closet. Oh, poor Clarence! Exeunt some with KING EDWARD IV and QUEEN MARGARET GLOUCESTER This is the fruit of rashness! Mark'd you not How that the guilty kindred of the queen Look'd pale when they did hear of Clarence' death? O, they did urge it still unto the king! God will revenge it. But come, let us in, To comfort Edward with our company. BUCKINGHAM We wait upon your grace. Exeunt SCENE II. The palace. Enter the DUCHESS OF YORK, with the two children of CLARENCE Boy Tell me, good grandam, is our father dead? DUCHESS OF YORK No, boy. Boy Why do you wring your hands, and beat your breast, And cry 'O Clarence, my unhappy son!' Girl Why do you look on us, and shake your head, And call us wretches, orphans, castaways If that our noble father be alive? DUCHESS OF YORK My pretty cousins, you mistake me much; I do lament the sickness of the king. As loath to lose him, not your father's death; It were lost sorrow to wail one that's lost. Boy Then, grandam, you conclude that he is dead. The king my uncle is to blame for this: God will revenge it; whom I will importune With daily prayers all to that effect. Girl And so will I. DUCHESS OF YORK Peace, children, peace! the king doth love you well: Incapable and shallow innocents, You cannot guess who caused your father's death. Boy Grandam, we can; for my good uncle Gloucester Told me, the king, provoked by the queen, Devised impeachments to imprison him : And when my uncle told me so, he wept, And hugg'd me in his arm, and kindly kiss'd my cheek; Bade me rely on him as on my father, And he would love me dearly as his child. DUCHESS OF YORK Oh, that deceit should steal such gentle shapes, And with a virtuous vizard hide foul guile! He is my son; yea, and therein my shame; Yet from my dugs he drew not this deceit. Boy Think you my uncle did dissemble, grandam? DUCHESS OF YORK Ay, boy. Boy I cannot think it. Hark! what noise is this? Enter QUEEN ELIZABETH, with her hair about her ears; RIVERS, and DORSET after her QUEEN ELIZABETH Oh, who shall hinder me to wail and weep, To chide my fortune, and torment myself? I'll join with black despair against my soul, And to myself become an enemy. DUCHESS OF YORK What means this scene of rude impatience? QUEEN ELIZABETH To make an act of tragic violence: Edward, my lord, your son, our king, is dead. Why grow the branches now the root is wither'd? Why wither not the leaves the sap being gone? If you will live, lament; if die, be brief, That our swift-winged souls may catch the king's; Or, like obedient subjects, follow him To his new kingdom of perpetual rest. DUCHESS OF YORK Ah, so much interest have I in thy sorrow As I had title in thy noble husband! I have bewept a worthy husband's death, And lived by looking on his images: But now two mirrors of his princely semblance Are crack'd in pieces by malignant death, And I for comfort have but one false glass, Which grieves me when I see my shame in him. Thou art a widow; yet thou art a mother, And hast the comfort of thy children left thee: But death hath snatch'd my husband from mine arms, And pluck'd two crutches from my feeble limbs, Edward and Clarence. O, what cause have I, Thine being but a moiety of my grief, To overgo thy plaints and drown thy cries! Boy Good aunt, you wept not for our father's death; How can we aid you with our kindred tears? Girl Our fatherless distress was left unmoan'd; Your widow-dolour likewise be unwept! QUEEN ELIZABETH Give me no help in lamentation; I am not barren to bring forth complaints All springs reduce their currents to mine eyes, That I, being govern'd by the watery moon, May send forth plenteous tears to drown the world! Oh for my husband, for my dear lord Edward! Children Oh for our father, for our dear lord Clarence! DUCHESS OF YORK Alas for both, both mine, Edward and Clarence! QUEEN ELIZABETH What stay had I but Edward? and he's gone. Children What stay had we but Clarence? and he's gone. DUCHESS OF YORK What stays had I but they? and they are gone. QUEEN ELIZABETH Was never widow had so dear a loss! Children Were never orphans had so dear a loss! DUCHESS OF YORK Was never mother had so dear a loss! Alas, I am the mother of these moans! Their woes are parcell'd, mine are general. She for an Edward weeps, and so do I; I for a Clarence weep, so doth not she: These babes for Clarence weep and so do I; I for an Edward weep, so do not they: Alas, you three, on me, threefold distress'd, Pour all your tears! I am your sorrow's nurse, And I will pamper it with lamentations. DORSET Comfort, dear mother: God is much displeased That you take with unthankfulness, his doing: In common worldly things, 'tis call'd ungrateful, With dull unwilligness to repay a debt Which with a bounteous hand was kindly lent; Much more to be thus opposite with heaven, For it requires the royal debt it lent you. RIVERS Madam, bethink you, like a careful mother, Of the young prince your son: send straight for him Let him be crown'd; in him your comfort lives: Drown desperate sorrow in dead Edward's grave, And plant your joys in living Edward's throne. Enter GLOUCESTER, BUCKINGHAM, DERBY, HASTINGS, and RATCLIFF GLOUCESTER Madam, have comfort: all of us have cause To wail the dimming of our shining star; But none can cure their harms by wailing them. Madam, my mother, I do cry you mercy; I did not see your grace: humbly on my knee I crave your blessing. DUCHESS OF YORK God bless thee; and put meekness in thy mind, Love, charity, obedience, and true duty! GLOUCESTER Aside Amen; and make me die a good old man! That is the butt-end of a mother's blessing: I marvel why her grace did leave it out. BUCKINGHAM You cloudy princes and heart-sorrowing peers, That bear this mutual heavy load of moan, Now cheer each other in each other's love Though we have spent our harvest of this king, We are to reap the harvest of his son. The broken rancour of your high-swoln hearts, But lately splinter'd, knit, and join'd together, Must gently be preserved, cherish'd, and kept: Me seemeth good, that, with some little train, Forthwith from Ludlow the young prince be fetch'd Hither to London, to be crown'd our king. RIVERS Why with some little train, my Lord of Buckingham? BUCKINGHAM Marry, my lord, lest, by a multitude, The new-heal'd wound of malice should break out, Which would be so much the more dangerous By how much the estate is green and yet ungovern'd: Where every horse bears his commanding rein, And may direct his course as please himself, As well the fear of harm, as harm apparent, In my opinion, ought to be prevented. GLOUCESTER I hope the king made peace with all of us And the compact is firm and true in me. RIVERS And so in me; and so, I think, in all: Yet, since it is but green, it should be put To no apparent likelihood of breach, Which haply by much company might be urged: Therefore I say with noble Buckingham, That it is meet so few should fetch the prince. HASTINGS And so say I. GLOUCESTER Then be it so; and go we to determine Who they shall be that straight shall post to Ludlow. Madam, and you, my mother, will you go To give your censures in this weighty business? QUEEN ELIZABETH DUCHESS OF YORK With all our harts. Exeunt all but BUCKINGHAM and GLOUCESTER BUCKINGHAM My lord, whoever journeys to the Prince, For God's sake, let not us two be behind; For, by the way, I'll sort occasion, As index to the story we late talk'd of, To part the queen's proud kindred from the king. GLOUCESTER My other self, my counsel's consistory, My oracle, my prophet! My dear cousin, I, like a child, will go by thy direction. Towards Ludlow then, for we'll not stay behind. Exeunt SCENE III. London. A street. Enter two Citizens meeting First Citizen Neighbour, well met: whither away so fast? Second Citizen I promise you, I scarcely know myself: Hear you the news abroad? First Citizen Ay, that the king is dead. Second Citizen Bad news, by'r lady; seldom comes the better: I fear, I fear 'twill prove a troublous world. Enter another Citizen Third Citizen Neighbours, God speed! First Citizen Give you good morrow, sir. Third Citizen Doth this news hold of good King Edward's death? Second Citizen Ay, sir, it is too true; God help the while! Third Citizen Then, masters, look to see a troublous world. First Citizen No, no; by God's good grace his son shall reign. Third Citizen Woe to the land that's govern'd by a child! Second Citizen In him there is a hope of government, That in his nonage council under him, And in his full and ripen'd years himself, No doubt, shall then and till then govern well. First Citizen So stood the state when Henry the Sixth Was crown'd in Paris but at nine months old. Third Citizen Stood the state so? No, no, good friends, God wot; For then this land was famously enrich'd With politic grave counsel; then the king Had virtuous uncles to protect his grace. First Citizen Why, so hath this, both by the father and mother. Third Citizen Better it were they all came by the father, Or by the father there were none at all; For emulation now, who shall be nearest, Will touch us all too near, if God prevent not. O, full of danger is the Duke of Gloucester! And the queen's sons and brothers haught and proud: And were they to be ruled, and not to rule, This sickly land might solace as before. First Citizen Come, come, we fear the worst; all shall be well. Third Citizen When clouds appear, wise men put on their cloaks; When great leaves fall, the winter is at hand; When the sun sets, who doth not look for night? Untimely storms make men expect a dearth. All may be well; but, if God sort it so, 'Tis more than we deserve, or I expect. Second Citizen Truly, the souls of men are full of dread: Ye cannot reason almost with a man That looks not heavily and full of fear. Third Citizen Before the times of change, still is it so: By a divine instinct men's minds mistrust Ensuing dangers; as by proof, we see The waters swell before a boisterous storm. But leave it all to God. whither away? Second Citizen Marry, we were sent for to the justices. Third Citizen And so was I: I'll bear you company. Exeunt SCENE IV. London. The palace. Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, young YORK, QUEEN ELIZABETH, and the DUCHESS OF YORK ARCHBISHOP OF YORK Last night, I hear, they lay at Northampton; At Stony-Stratford will they be to-night: To-morrow, or next day, they will be here. DUCHESS OF YORK I long with all my heart to see the prince: I hope he is much grown since last I saw him. QUEEN ELIZABETH But I hear, no; they say my son of York Hath almost overta'en him in his growth. YORK Ay, mother; but I would not have it so. DUCHESS OF YORK Why, my young cousin, it is good to grow. YORK Grandam, one night, as we did sit at supper, My uncle Rivers talk'd how I did grow More than my brother: 'Ay,' quoth my uncle Gloucester, 'Small herbs have grace, great weeds do grow apace:' And since, methinks, I would not grow so fast, Because sweet flowers are slow and weeds make haste. DUCHESS OF YORK Good faith, good faith, the saying did not hold In him that did object the same to thee; He was the wretched'st thing when he was young, So long a-growing and so leisurely, That, if this rule were true, he should be gracious. ARCHBISHOP OF YORK Why, madam, so, no doubt, he is. DUCHESS OF YORK I hope he is; but yet let mothers doubt. YORK Now, by my troth, if I had been remember'd, I could have given my uncle's grace a flout, To touch his growth nearer than he touch'd mine. DUCHESS OF YORK How, my pretty York? I pray thee, let me hear it. YORK Marry, they say my uncle grew so fast That he could gnaw a crust at two hours old 'Twas full two years ere I could get a tooth. Grandam, this would have been a biting jest. DUCHESS OF YORK I pray thee, pretty York, who told thee this? YORK Grandam, his nurse. DUCHESS OF YORK His nurse! why, she was dead ere thou wert born. YORK If 'twere not she, I cannot tell who told me. QUEEN ELIZABETH A parlous boy: go to, you are too shrewd. ARCHBISHOP OF YORK Good madam, be not angry with the child. QUEEN ELIZABETH Pitchers have ears. Enter a Messenger ARCHBISHOP OF YORK Here comes a messenger. What news? Messenger Such news, my lord, as grieves me to unfold. QUEEN ELIZABETH How fares the prince? Messenger Well, madam, and in health. DUCHESS OF YORK What is thy news then? Messenger Lord Rivers and Lord Grey are sent to Pomfret, With them Sir Thomas Vaughan, prisoners. DUCHESS OF YORK Who hath committed them? Messenger The mighty dukes Gloucester and Buckingham. QUEEN ELIZABETH For what offence? Messenger The sum of all I can, I have disclosed; Why or for what these nobles were committed Is all unknown to me, my gracious lady. QUEEN ELIZABETH Ay me, I see the downfall of our house! The tiger now hath seized the gentle hind; Insulting tyranny begins to jet Upon the innocent and aweless throne: Welcome, destruction, death, and massacre! I see, as in a map, the end of all. DUCHESS OF YORK Accursed and unquiet wrangling days, How many of you have mine eyes beheld! My husband lost his life to get the crown; And often up and down my sons were toss'd, For me to joy and weep their gain and loss: And being seated, and domestic broils Clean over-blown, themselves, the conquerors. Make war upon themselves; blood against blood, Self against self: O, preposterous And frantic outrage, end thy damned spleen; Or let me die, to look on death no more! QUEEN ELIZABETH Come, come, my boy; we will to sanctuary. Madam, farewell. DUCHESS OF YORK I'll go along with you. QUEEN ELIZABETH You have no cause. ARCHBISHOP OF YORK My gracious lady, go; And thither bear your treasure and your goods. For my part, I'll resign unto your grace The seal I keep: and so betide to me As well I tender you and all of yours! Come, I'll conduct you to the sanctuary. Exeunt ACT III SCENE I. London. A street. The trumpets sound. Enter the young PRINCE EDWARD, GLOUCESTER, BUCKINGHAM, CARDINAL, CATESBY, and others BUCKINGHAM Welcome, sweet prince, to London, to your chamber. GLOUCESTER Welcome, dear cousin, my thoughts' sovereign The weary way hath made you melancholy. PRINCE EDWARD No, uncle; but our crosses on the way Have made it tedious, wearisome, and heavy I want more uncles here to welcome me. GLOUCESTER Sweet prince, the untainted virtue of your years Hath not yet dived into the world's deceit Nor more can you distinguish of a man Than of his outward show; which, God he knows, Seldom or never jumpeth with the heart. Those uncles which you want were dangerous; Your grace attended to their sugar'd words, But look'd not on the poison of their hearts : God keep you from them, and from such false friends! PRINCE EDWARD God keep me from false friends! but they were none. GLOUCESTER My lord, the mayor of London comes to greet you. Enter the Lord Mayor and his train Lord Mayor God bless your grace with health and happy days! PRINCE EDWARD I thank you, good my lord; and thank you all. I thought my mother, and my brother York, Would long ere this have met us on the way Fie, what a slug is Hastings, that he comes not To tell us whether they will come or no! Enter HASTINGS BUCKINGHAM And, in good time, here comes the sweating lord. PRINCE EDWARD Welcome, my lord: what, will our mother come? HASTINGS On what occasion, God he knows, not I, The queen your mother, and your brother York, Have taken sanctuary: the tender prince Would fain have come with me to meet your grace, But by his mother was perforce withheld. BUCKINGHAM Fie, what an indirect and peevish course Is this of hers! Lord cardinal, will your grace Persuade the queen to send the Duke of York Unto his princely brother presently? If she deny, Lord Hastings, go with him, And from her jealous arms pluck him perforce. CARDINAL My Lord of Buckingham, if my weak oratory Can from his mother win the Duke of York, Anon expect him here; but if she be obdurate To mild entreaties, God in heaven forbid We should infringe the holy privilege Of blessed sanctuary! not for all this land Would I be guilty of so deep a sin. BUCKINGHAM You are too senseless--obstinate, my lord, Too ceremonious and traditional Weigh it but with the grossness of this age, You break not sanctuary in seizing him. The benefit thereof is always granted To those whose dealings have deserved the place, And those who have the wit to claim the place: This prince hath neither claim'd it nor deserved it; And therefore, in mine opinion, cannot have it: Then, taking him from thence that is not there, You break no privilege nor charter there. Oft have I heard of sanctuary men; But sanctuary children ne'er till now. CARDINAL My lord, you shall o'er-rule my mind for once. Come on, Lord Hastings, will you go with me? HASTINGS I go, my lord. PRINCE EDWARD Good lords, make all the speedy haste you may. Exeunt CARDINAL and HASTINGS Say, uncle Gloucester, if our brother come, Where shall we sojourn till our coronation? GLOUCESTER Where it seems best unto your royal self. If I may counsel you, some day or two Your highness shall repose you at the Tower: Then where you please, and shall be thought most fit For your best health and recreation. PRINCE EDWARD I do not like the Tower, of any place. Did Julius Caesar build that place, my lord? BUCKINGHAM He did, my gracious lord, begin that place; Which, since, succeeding ages have re-edified. PRINCE EDWARD Is it upon record, or else reported Successively from age to age, he built it? BUCKINGHAM Upon record, my gracious lord. PRINCE EDWARD But say, my lord, it were not register'd, Methinks the truth should live from age to age, As 'twere retail'd to all posterity, Even to the general all-ending day. GLOUCESTER Aside So wise so young, they say, do never live long. PRINCE EDWARD What say you, uncle? GLOUCESTER I say, without characters, fame lives long. Aside Thus, like the formal vice, Iniquity, I moralize two meanings in one word. PRINCE EDWARD That Julius Caesar was a famous man; With what his valour did enrich his wit, His wit set down to make his valour live Death makes no conquest of this conqueror; For now he lives in fame, though not in life. I'll tell you what, my cousin Buckingham,-- BUCKINGHAM What, my gracious lord? PRINCE EDWARD An if I live until I be a man, I'll win our ancient right in France again, Or die a soldier, as I lived a king. GLOUCESTER Aside Short summers lightly have a forward spring. Enter young YORK, HASTINGS, and the CARDINAL BUCKINGHAM Now, in good time, here comes the Duke of York. PRINCE EDWARD Richard of York! how fares our loving brother? YORK Well, my dread lord; so must I call you now. PRINCE EDWARD Ay, brother, to our grief, as it is yours: Too late he died that might have kept that title, Which by his death hath lost much majesty. GLOUCESTER How fares our cousin, noble Lord of York? YORK I thank you, gentle uncle. O, my lord, You said that idle weeds are fast in growth The prince my brother hath outgrown me far. GLOUCESTER He hath, my lord. YORK And therefore is he idle? GLOUCESTER O, my fair cousin, I must not say so. YORK Then is he more beholding to you than I. GLOUCESTER He may command me as my sovereign; But you have power in me as in a kinsman. YORK I pray you, uncle, give me this dagger. GLOUCESTER My dagger, little cousin? with all my heart. PRINCE EDWARD A beggar, brother? YORK Of my kind uncle, that I know will give; And being but a toy, which is no grief to give. GLOUCESTER A greater gift than that I'll give my cousin. YORK A greater gift! O, that's the sword to it. GLOUCESTER A gentle cousin, were it light enough. YORK O, then, I see, you will part but with light gifts; In weightier things you'll say a beggar nay. GLOUCESTER It is too heavy for your grace to wear. YORK I weigh it lightly, were it heavier. GLOUCESTER What, would you have my weapon, little lord? YORK I would, that I might thank you as you call me. GLOUCESTER How? YORK Little. PRINCE EDWARD My Lord of York will still be cross in talk: Uncle, your grace knows how to bear with him. YORK You mean, to bear me, not to bear with me: Uncle, my brother mocks both you and me; Because that I am little, like an ape, He thinks that you should bear me on your shoulders. BUCKINGHAM With what a sharp-provided wit he reasons! To mitigate the scorn he gives his uncle, He prettily and aptly taunts himself: So cunning and so young is wonderful. GLOUCESTER My lord, will't please you pass along? Myself and my good cousin Buckingham Will to your mother, to entreat of her To meet you at the Tower and welcome you. YORK What, will you go unto the Tower, my lord? PRINCE EDWARD My lord protector needs will have it so. YORK I shall not sleep in quiet at the Tower. GLOUCESTER Why, what should you fear? YORK Marry, my uncle Clarence' angry ghost: My grandam told me he was murdered there. PRINCE EDWARD I fear no uncles dead. GLOUCESTER Nor none that live, I hope. PRINCE EDWARD An if they live, I hope I need not fear. But come, my lord; and with a heavy heart, Thinking on them, go I unto the Tower. A Sennet. Exeunt all but GLOUCESTER, BUCKINGHAM and CATESBY BUCKINGHAM Think you, my lord, this little prating York Was not incensed by his subtle mother To taunt and scorn you thus opprobriously? GLOUCESTER No doubt, no doubt; O, 'tis a parlous boy; Bold, quick, ingenious, forward, capable He is all the mother's, from the top to toe. BUCKINGHAM Well, let them rest. Come hither, Catesby. Thou art sworn as deeply to effect what we intend As closely to conceal what we impart: Thou know'st our reasons urged upon the way; What think'st thou? is it not an easy matter To make William Lord Hastings of our mind, For the instalment of this noble duke In the seat royal of this famous isle? CATESBY He for his father's sake so loves the prince, That he will not be won to aught against him. BUCKINGHAM What think'st thou, then, of Stanley? what will he? CATESBY He will do all in all as Hastings doth. BUCKINGHAM Well, then, no more but this: go, gentle Catesby, And, as it were far off sound thou Lord Hastings, How doth he stand affected to our purpose; And summon him to-morrow to the Tower, To sit about the coronation. If thou dost find him tractable to us, Encourage him, and show him all our reasons: If he be leaden, icy-cold, unwilling, Be thou so too; and so break off your talk, And give us notice of his inclination: For we to-morrow hold divided councils, Wherein thyself shalt highly be employ'd. GLOUCESTER Commend me to Lord William: tell him, Catesby, His ancient knot of dangerous adversaries To-morrow are let blood at Pomfret-castle; And bid my friend, for joy of this good news, Give mistress Shore one gentle kiss the more. BUCKINGHAM Good Catesby, go, effect this business soundly. CATESBY My good lords both, with all the heed I may. GLOUCESTER Shall we hear from you, Catesby, ere we sleep? CATESBY You shall, my lord. GLOUCESTER At Crosby Place, there shall you find us both. Exit CATESBY BUCKINGHAM Now, my lord, what shall we do, if we perceive Lord Hastings will not yield to our complots? GLOUCESTER Chop off his head, man; somewhat we will do: And, look, when I am king, claim thou of me The earldom of Hereford, and the moveables Whereof the king my brother stood possess'd. BUCKINGHAM I'll claim that promise at your grace's hands. GLOUCESTER And look to have it yielded with all willingness. Come, let us sup betimes, that afterwards We may digest our complots in some form. Exeunt SCENE II. Before Lord Hastings' house. Enter a Messenger Messenger What, ho! my lord! HASTINGS Within Who knocks at the door? Messenger A messenger from the Lord Stanley. Enter HASTINGS HASTINGS What is't o'clock? Messenger Upon the stroke of four. HASTINGS Cannot thy master sleep these tedious nights? Messenger So it should seem by that I have to say. First, he commends him to your noble lordship. HASTINGS And then? Messenger And then he sends you word He dreamt to-night the boar had razed his helm: Besides, he says there are two councils held; And that may be determined at the one which may make you and him to rue at the other. Therefore he sends to know your lordship's pleasure, If presently you will take horse with him, And with all speed post with him toward the north, To shun the danger that his soul divines. HASTINGS Go, fellow, go, return unto thy lord; Bid him not fear the separated councils His honour and myself are at the one, And at the other is my servant Catesby Where nothing can proceed that toucheth us Whereof I shall not have intelligence. Tell him his fears are shallow, wanting instance: And for his dreams, I wonder he is so fond To trust the mockery of unquiet slumbers To fly the boar before the boar pursues, Were to incense the boar to follow us And make pursuit where he did mean no chase. Go, bid thy master rise and come to me And we will both together to the Tower, Where, he shall see, the boar will use us kindly. Messenger My gracious lord, I'll tell him what you say. Exit Enter CATESBY CATESBY Many good morrows to my noble lord! HASTINGS Good morrow, Catesby; you are early stirring What news, what news, in this our tottering state? CATESBY It is a reeling world, indeed, my lord; And I believe twill never stand upright Tim Richard wear the garland of the realm. HASTINGS How! wear the garland! dost thou mean the crown? CATESBY Ay, my good lord. HASTINGS I'll have this crown of mine cut from my shoulders Ere I will see the crown so foul misplaced. But canst thou guess that he doth aim at it? CATESBY Ay, on my life; and hopes to find forward Upon his party for the gain thereof: And thereupon he sends you this good news, That this same very day your enemies, The kindred of the queen, must die at Pomfret. HASTINGS Indeed, I am no mourner for that news, Because they have been still mine enemies: But, that I'll give my voice on Richard's side, To bar my master's heirs in true descent,