And for my sister, and her princely sons,
Be satisfied, dear God, with our true blood,
Which, as thou know'st, unjustly must be spilt.
Rat. Make haste, the hour of death is expiate1.
Riv. Come, Grey,-come, Vaughan;-let us here
embrace:
Farewell, until we meet again in heaven.
SCENE IV.-London. A Room in the Tower. BUCKINGHAM, STANLEY, HASTINGS, the Bishop of ELY, CATESBY, LOVEL, and others, sitting at a Table Officers of the Council attending.
There's some conceit or other likes him well,
When that he bids good morrow with such spirit.
I think, there's never a man in Christendom
Can lesser hide his love, or hate, than he ;
For by his face straight shall you know his heart.
Stan. What of his heart perceive you in his face,
By any livelihood' he show'd to-day?
Hast. Marry, that with no man here he is offended;
For, were he, he had shown it in his looks.
Re-enter GLOSTER and BUCKINGHAM.
Glo. I pray you all, tell me what they deserve, That do conspire my death with devilish plots Hast. Now, noble peers, the cause why we are met Of damned witchcraft? and that have prevail'd Is to determine of the coronation :
In God's name, speak, when is this royal day?
Buck. Are all things ready for the royal time?
Stan. They are; and want but nomination.
Ely. To-morrow, then, I judge a happy day.
Buck. Who knows the lord protector's mind herein ?
Who is most inward3 with the noble duke ?
Ely. Your grace, we think, should soonest know his
mind.
Buck. We know each other's faces; for our hearts,
He knows no more of mine, than I of yours;
Nor I of his, my lord, than you of mine.
Lord Hastings, you and he are near in love.
Upon my body with their hellish charms?
Hast. The tender love I bear your grace, my lord,
Makes me most forward in this princely presence
To doom th' offenders: whosoe'er they be,
say, my lord, they have deserved death.
Glo. Then, be your eyes the witness of their evil.—
Look how I am bewitch'd; behold mine arm
Is like a blasted sapling wither'd up:
And this is Edward's wife, that monstrous witch,
Consorted with that harlot, strumpet Shore,
That by their witchcraft thus have marked me.
Hast. If they have done this deed, my noble lord,—
Glo. If thou protector of this damned strumpet,
Hast. I thank his grace, I know he loves me well; Talk'st thou to me of ifs ?-Thou art a traitor :—
But for his purpose in the coronation,
I have not sounded him, nor he deliver'd
His gracious pleasure any way therein:
But you, my honourable lords, may name the time;
And in the duke's behalf I'll give my voice,
Which, I presume, he'll take in gentle part.
Enter GLOSTER.
Ely. In happy time here comes the duke himself.
Glo. My noble lords and cousins, all, good morrow.
have been long a sleeper; but, I trust,
My absence doth neglect no great design,
Which by my presence might have been concluded.
Buck. Had you not come upon your cue, my lord,
William lord Hastings had pronounc'd your part,
I mean, your voice, for crowning of the king.
Off with his head !-now, by Saint Paul I swear,
I will not dine until I see the same.-
Lovel, and Ratcliff, look that it be done :
The rest, that love me, rise, and follow me.
[Exeunt Council, with GLOSTER and BUCKINGHAM.
Hast. Woe, woe, for England! not a whit for me;
For I, too fond, might have prevented this.
Stanley did dream the boar did rase his helm;
And I did scorn it, and disdained to fly.
Three times to-day my foot-cloth horse did stumble,
And started when he look'd upon the Tower,
As loath to bear me to the slaughter-house.
O! now I need the priest that spake to me :
I now repent I told the pursuivant,
As too triumphing, how mine enemies,
Glo. Than my lord Hastings, no man might be To-day at Pomfret bloodily were butcher'd,
bolder:
His lordship knows me well, and loves me well.
My lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn,
I saw good strawberries in your garden there;
I do beseech you, send for some of them.
Ely. Marry, and will, my lord, with all my heart.
[Exit ELY.
Glo. Cousin of Buckingham, a word with you.
[Taking him aside.
Catesby hath sounded Hastings in our business,
And finds the testy gentleman so hot,
That he will lose his head, ere give consent,
His master's child, as worshipfully he terms it,
Shall lose the royalty of England's throne.
Buck. Withdraw yourself awhile; I'll go with you.
[Exeunt GLOSTER and BUCKINGHAM.
Stan. We have not yet set down this day of triumph.
To-morrow, in my judgment, is too sudden;
For I myself am not so well provided,
As else I would be, were the day prolong'd.
Re-enter Bishop of ELY.
Ely. Where is my lord, the duke of Gloster?
I have sent for these strawberries.
Hast. His grace looks cheerfully and smooth this morning:
![[blocks in formation]](https://books.google.com.tr/books/content?id=pjg3NS4YqaAC&hl=tr&output=html_text&pg=PA525&img=1&zoom=3&q=grace&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U3oTwGm--_S7d1I4cfagB62uz7wGQ&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=72,1353,426,34)
And I myself secure in grace and favour.
O, Margaret, Margaret! now thy heavy curse
Is lighted on poor Hastings' wretched head.
Rat. Come, come; despatch, the duke would be at
dinner :
Make a short shrift; he longs to see your head.
Hast. O, momentary grace of mortal men,
Which we more hunt for than the grace of God !
Who builds his hope in air of your good looks,
Lives like a drunken sailor on a mast;
Ready with every nod to tumble down
Into the fatal bowels of the deep.
Lov. Come, come, despatch: 't is bootless to exclaim.
Hust. O, bloody Richard !-miserable England!
I prophesy the fearfull'st time to thee,
That ever wretched age hath look'd upon.
Come, lead me to the block; bear him my head:
They smile at me, who shortly shall be dead. [Exeunt.
SCENE V.The Same. The Tower Walls. Enter GLOSTER and BUCKINGHAM, in rusty' armour, marvellous ill-favoured, and in haste. Glo. Come, cousin, canst thou quake, and change thy colour,
Murder thy breath in middle of a word,
4 noble in quartos. 5 likelihood: in quartos. 6 This and the three
7 rotten in folio. 8 The words "and in haste," are not in f. e.
And then again begin, and stop again,
As if thou wert distraught, and mad with terror?
Buck. Tut! I can counterfeit the deep tragedian ;
Speak and look back, and pry on every side,
Tremble and start at wagging of a straw,2
Intending3 deep suspicion: ghastly looks
Are at my service, like enforced smiles;
And both are ready in their offices,
At any time to grace my stratagems.
But what, is Catesby gone?
Glo. He is; and, see, he brings the mayor along.
Enter the Lord Mayor and CATESBY.
Buck. Lord Mayor,
Glo. Look to the drawbridge there!
Buck.
Glo. Catesby, o'erlook the walls.
Buck. Lord Mayor, the reason we have sent,-
Glo. Look back, defend thee: here are enemies.
Buck. God and our innocency defend and guard us!
Enter LovEL and RATCLIFF, with HASTINGS' Head, on a
Spear.
But I'll acquaint our duteous citizens
With all your just proceedings in this case.
Glo. And to that end we wish'd your lordship here,
To avoid the censures of the carping world.
Buck. But since you come too late of our intent,
Yet witness what you hear we did intend :
And so, my good lord mayor, we bid farewell.
[Exit Lord Mayor.
Glo. Go, after, after, cousin Buckingham.
The mayor towards Guildhall hies him in all post:
There, at your meetest vantage of the time,
Infer the bastardy of Edward's children:
Tell them, how Edward put to death a citizen,
Only for saying-he would make his son
Hark! a drum. Heir to the crown; meaning, indeed, his house,
Which by the sign thereof was termed so.
Moreover, urge his hateful luxury,
And bestial appetite in change of lust;
Which stretch'd unto their servants, daughters, wives,
Even where his raging eye, or savage heart,
Without control lusted to make a prey.
Nay, for a need, thus far come near my person:
Tell them, when that my mother went with child
Of that insatiate Edward, noble York,
Glo. Be patient, they are friends; Ratcliff, and Lovel.
Lov. Here is the head of that ignoble traitor,
The dangerous and unsuspected Hastings.
Glo. So dear I lov'd the man, that I must weep.
I took him for the plainest harmless creature,
That breath'd upon the earth a Christian;
Made him my book, wherein my soul recorded
The history of all her secret thoughts:
So smooth he daub'd his vice with show of virtue,
That, his apparent open guilt omitted,
I mean his conversation with Shore's wife,
He liv'd from all attainder of suspects.
My princely father, then had wars in France;
And by true computation of the time,
Found that the issue was not his begot;
Which well appeared in his lineaments,
Being nothing like the noble duke my father.
Yet touch this sparingly, as 't were far off;
Because, my lord, you know, my mother lives.
Buck. Doubt not, my lord, I'll play the orator,
As if the golden fee, for which I plead,
Buck. Well, well, he was the covert'st shelter'd Were for myself: and so, my lord, adieu.
Would you imagine, or almost believe,
Were 't not that by great preservation
We live to tell it, that the subtle traitor
This day had plotted, in the council house,
To murder me, and my good lord of Gloster?
May. Had he done so?
Glo. What! think you we are Turks, or infidels?
Or that we would, against the form of law,
Proceed thus rashly in the villain's death,
But that the extreme peril of the case,
The peace of England, and our persons' safety,
Enforc'd us to this execution?
May. Now, fair befal you! he deserv'd his death;
And your good graces both have well proceeded,
To warn false traitors from the like attempts.
Buck. I never look'd for better at his hands,
After he once fell in with mistress Shore;
Yet had we not determin'd he should die,
Until your lordship came to see his end1,
Which now the loving haste of these our friends,
Something against our meanings, hath prevented :
Because, my lord, I would have had you hear
The traitor speak, and timorously confess
The manner and the purpose of his treasons;
That you might well have signified the same
Unto the citizens, who, haply, may
Misconstrue us in him, and wail his death.
Glo. If you thrive well, bring them to Baynard's castle,
Where you shall find me well accompanied,
With reverend fathers, and well-learned bishops.
Buck. I go; and, towards three or four o'clock,
Look for the news that the Guildhall affords.
Which in a set hand fairly is engross'd,
That it may be to-day read o'er in Paul's:
And mark how well the sequel hangs together.
Eleven hours I have spent to write it over,
For yesternight by Catesby was it sent me.
The precedent was full as long a doing;
And yet within these five hours Hastings liv'd,
Untainted, unexamin'd, free, at liberty.
Here's a good world the while !-Who is so gross,
That cannot see this palpable device?
May. But, my good lord, your grace's words shall Yet who so bolds, but says he sees it not?
As well as I had seen, and heard him speak:
And do not doubt, right noble princes both,
1 Tut! fear not me: in quartos. 2 This line is not in the quartos.
Bad is the world; and all will come to nought,
When such ill dealing must be seen or thought. [Exit.
3 Pretending. 4 death: in quartos. 5 lustful in f. e. 6 This and the two previous lines, are not in the quartos. 7 The rest of this direction is not in f. e. 8 blind: in quartos. 9 in
Enter GLOSTER at one Door, and BUCKINGHAM at another.
Glo. How now, how now! what say the citizens ? Buck. Now by the holy mother of our Lord, The citizens are mum, say1 not a word.
Glo. Touch'd you the bastardy of Edward's children?
Buck. I did; with his contract with Lady Lucy,
And his contract by deputy in France :2
Th' insatiate greediness of his desires,
And his enforcement of the city wives:
His tyranny for trifles; his own bastardy,
As being got, your father then in France;
And dis-resemblance3, being not like the duke.*
Withal I did infer your lineaments,
Being the right idea of your father,
Both in your form and nobleness of mind:
Laid open all your victories in Scotland,
Your discipline in war, wisdom in peace,
Your bounty, virtue, fair humility;
Indeed, left nothing fitting for your purpose
Untouch'd, or slightly handled in discourse:
And, when my oratory drew toward end,
I bade them that did love their country's good,
Cry-“God save Richard, England's royal king !"
Glo. And did they so?
Buck. No, so God help me, they spake not a word;
But, like dumb statues, or breathing stones,
Star'd each on other, and look'd deadly pale.
Which when I saw, I reprehended them,
Í
And ask'd the mayor, what meant this wilful silence?
His answer was, the people were not us'd
To be spoke to, but by the recorder.
Then, he was urg'd to tell my tale again :-
"Thus saith the duke, thus hath the duke inferr'd ;"
But nothing spoke in warrant from himself.
When he had done, some followers of mine own,
At lower end of the hall, hurl'd up their caps,
And some ten voices cried, "God save king Richard !"
And thus I took the vantage of those few,-6
"Thanks, gentle citizens, and friends,” quoth I;
"This general applause, and cheerful shout,
Argues your wisdom, and your love to Richard :”
And even here brake off, and came away.
Glo. What tongueless blocks were they! would they not speak?
Will not the mayor, then, and his brethren, come?
Buck. The mayor is here at hand. Intend some fear;
Be not you spoke with, but by mighty suit :
And look you get a prayer-book in your hand,
And stand between two churchmen, good my lord ;
For on that ground I'll make a holy descant :
And be not easily won to our requests;
Play the maid's part, still answer nay, and take it.
Glo. I go; and if you plead as well for them,
As I can say nay to thee for myself,
No doubt we bring it to a happy issue.
![[blocks in formation]](https://books.google.com.tr/books/content?id=pjg3NS4YqaAC&hl=tr&output=html_text&pg=PA527&img=1&zoom=3&q=grace&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U39S356k8gc7Y64CSYn1mjd2FpBpQ&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=72,1189,448,148)
To visit him to-morrow, or next day.
Cate. He doth entreat your grace, my noble lord,
He is within, with two right reverend fathers,
Divinely bent to meditation;
And in no worldly suits would he be mov'd,
To draw him from his holy exercise.
Buck. Return, good Catesby, to the gracious duke :
Tell him, myself, the mayor, and aldermen,1o
In deep designs, in matter of great moment,
No less importing than our general good,
Are come to have some conference with his grace.
Cate. I'll signify so much unto him straight. [Exit.
Buck. Ah, ha! my lord, this prince is not an Edward:
He is not lulling on a lewd love-bed,11
But on his knees at meditation ;
Not dallying with a brace of courtezans,
But meditating with two deep divines;
Not sleeping to engross his idle body,
But praying to enrich his watchful soul.
Happy were England, would this virtuous prince
Take on his grace12 the sovereignty thereof;
But sore13 I fear, we shall not win him to it.
May. Marry, God defend his grace should say us nay! Buck. I fear, he will. Here Catesby comes again.— Re-enter CATESBY.
Now, Catesby, what says his grace?
Cate. He wonders to what end you have assembled
Such troops of citizens to come to him:
His grace not being warn'd thereof before,
He fears, my lord, you mean no good to him.
Buck. Sorry I am, my noble cousin should
Suspect me, that I mean no good to him:
By heaven, we come to him in perfect love;
And so once more return, and tell his grace.
When holy and devout religious men
Are at their beads, 't is much to draw them thence ;
So sweet is zealous contemplation.
Enter GLOSTER, with a book,11 in a Gallery above, be-
tween two Bishops. CATESBY returns.
May. See, where his grace stands 'tween two clergy-
men!
Buck. Two props of virtue for a Christian prince, To stay him from the fall of vanity; And, see, a book of prayer in his hand; True ornament to know a holy man.Famous Plantagenet, most gracious prince, Lend favourable ear to our requests, And pardon us the interruption Of thy devotion, and right-christian zeal.
Glo. My lord, there needs no such apology; I do beseech your grace to pardon me, Who, earnest in the service of my God, Deferr'd the visitation of my friends. But, leaving this, what is your grace's pleasure? Buck. Even that, I hope, which pleaseth God above, And all good men of this ungovern'd isle.
Glo. I do suspect, I have done some offence, That seems disgracious in the city's eye; And that you come to reprehend my ignorance. Buck. You have, my lord: would it might please your grace,
On our entreaties to amend your fault.
Glo. Else wherefore breathe I in a Christian land? Buck. Know then, it is your fault that you resign The supreme seat, the throne majestical, The scepter'd office of your ancestors,
spake not in quartos. This and the previous line, and also the next but one after, are not in the quartos. 3 his resemblance: in f. e. This line is not in the quartos. 5 Gaz'd: in quartos. 6 This line is not in the quartos. 7 8 loving: in quartos. 9 Not in f. e. 10 citizens: in quartos. 11 day-bed in quartos. 12 himself: in quartos. 13 sure in f. e. 14 The words, "with a book," are not in f. e. 16 This and the previous line, are not in the quartos.
Your state of fortune, and your due of birth,1
The lineal glory of your royal house,
To the corruption of a blemish'd stock;
Whiles, in the mildness of your sleepy thoughts,
Which here we waken to our country's good,
This noble isle doth want her proper limbs ;
Her face defac'd with scars of infamy,
Her royal stock graft with ignoble plants,
And almost shoulder'd in the swallowing gulf
Of dark2 forgetfulness, and deep3 oblivion.
Which to recure, we heartily solicit
Your gracious self to take on you the charge
And kingly government of this your land:
Not as protector, steward, substitute,
Or lowly factor for another's gain;
But as successively from blood to blood,
Your right of birth, your empery, your own.
For this, consorted with the citizens,
Your very worshipful and loving friends,
And by their vehement instigation,
In this just cause come I to move your grace.
Glo. I cannot tell, if to depart in silence,
Or bitterly to speak in your reproof,
Best fitteth my degree, or your condition:
If, not to answer,-you might haply think,
Tongue-tied ambition, not replying, yielded,
To bear the golden yoke of sovereignty,
Which fondly you would here impose on me :
If to reprove you for this suit of yours,
So season'd with your faithful love to me,
Then, on the other side, I check'd my friends.
Therefore, to speak, and to avoid the first,
And then, in speaking, not to incur the last,
Definitively thus I answer you.*
Your love deserves my thanks, but my desert,
Unmeritable, shuns your high request.
First, if all obstacles were cut away,
And that my path were even to the crown,
As the ripe revenue and due of birth;
Yet so much is my poverty of spirit,
So mighty, and so many, my defects,
That I would rather hide me from my greatness,
Being a bark to brook no mighty sea,
Than in my greatness covet to be hid,
And in the vapour of my glory smother'd.
But, God be thank'd, there is no need of me;
And much I need to help you, were there need:
The royal tree hath left us royal fruit,
Which, mellow'd by the stealing hours of time,
Will well become the seat of majesty,
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.
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:
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
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,
Even in the afternoon of her best days,
Made prize and purchase' of his wanton eye,
Seduc'd the pitch and height of his degrees
To base declension and loath'd bigamy.
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,
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,
Yet to draw forth your noble ancestry
From the corruption of abusing times,
Unto a lineal true-derived course.
May. Do, good my lord; your citizens entreat you.
Buck. Refuse not, mighty lord, this proffer'd love.9
Cate. O make them joyful grant their lawful suit
Glo. Alas! why would you heap this care on me ?
I am unfit for state and majesty :1
I do beseech you, take it not amiss;
I cannot, nor I will not, yield to you.
Buck. If you refuse it,-as in love and zeal, Loath to depose the child, your brother's son ; As well we know your tenderness of heart, And gentle, kind, effeminate remorse, Which we have noted in you to your kindred, And equally, indeed, to all estates,Yet know, whe'r you accept our suit or no, Your brother's son shall never reign our king; But we will plant some other in your throne, To the disgrace and downfall of your house, And, in this resolution, here we leave you. Zounds, citizens! we will entreat no more. Glo. O! do not swear, my cousin Buckingham.12 [Exit BUCKINGHAM.1 Cate. Call him again, sweet prince; accept their suit : If you deny them, all the land will rue it.
Glo. Will you enforce me to a world of cares?
Call him again: I am not made of stone,
But penetrable to your kind entreaties, [Exit CATESBY.
Albeit against my conscience, and my soul.-
Re-enter BUCKINGHAM.14
Cousin of Buckingham, and sage, grave men,
Since you will buckle fortune on my back,
To bear her burden, whe'r I will, or no,
I must have patience to endure the load:
But if black scandal, or foul-fac'd reproach,
Attend the sequel of your imposition,
Your mere enforcement shall acquittance me
From all the impure blots and stains thereof;
For God doth know,15 and you may partly, see,
How far I am from the desire of this.
May. God bless your grace! we see it, and will say it.
Glo. In saying so, you shall but say the truth. Buck. Then I salute you with this royal title, Long live king Richard, England's worthy king! All. Amen.
Buck. To-morrow may it please you to be crown'd? Glo. Even when you please, for you will have it so. Buck. To-morrow, then, we will attend your grace : And so, most joyfully, we take our leave. Glo. Come, let us to our holy work16 again. [To the Bishops. Farewell, my cousin :-farewell, gentle friends.
This line is not in the quartos. 2 blind: in quartos. 3 dark: in quartos. This and the nine preceding lines, are not in the quartos. my in quartos. 6 by: in quartos. 7 Booty. all his thoughts: in quartos. 9 This line is not in the quartos. 10 dignity: in quartos 11 Come: in f. e. 12 This line is only found in the quartos, (it there reads, "my lord of Buckingham,") and is not given in mod. eds. 13 f. e. add: and Citizens. · 14 f. e. add: and the rest. is he knows in quartos. 16 task: in quartos.
SCENE I.-Before the Tower.
Enter, on one side, Queen ELIZABETH, Duchess of YORK,
and Marquess of DORSET ; on the other, ANNE, Duchess
of GLOSTER, leading Lady MARGARET PLANTAGENET,
CLARENCE's young Daughter.
Duch. Who meets us here ?-my niece Plantagenet,
Led in the hand of her kind aunt of Gloster!
Now, for my life, she 's wandering to the Tower,
In pure heart's love, to greet the tender prince.---
Daughter, well met.
God give your graces both
A happy and a joyful time of day.
Q. Eliz. As much to you, good sister: whither away? Anne. No farther than the Tower; and, as I guess, Upon the like devotion as yourselves,
To gratulate the gentle princes there.
You shall have letters from me to my son
In your behalf, to meet you on the way :"
Be not ta'en tardy by unwise delay.
Duch. O ill-dispersing wind of misery !-
O, my accursed womb, the bed of death!
A cockatrice hast thou hatch'd to the world,
Whose unavoided eye is murderous!
Stan. Come, madam, come: I in all haste was sent.
Anne. And I with all unwillingness will go.-
O! would to God, that the inclusive verge
Of golden metal, that must round my brow,
Were red-hot steel to sear me to the brain!
Anointed let me be with deadly venom;
And die, ere men can say-God save the queen!
Q. Eliz. Go, go, poor soul, I envy not thy glory ;
To feed my humour, wish thyself no harm. [now,
Anne. No! why ?-When he, that is my husband
Q. Eliz. Kind sister, thanks: we 'll enter all together: Came to me, as I follow'd Henry's corse;
And in good time here the lieutenant comes.-
Master lieutenant, pray you, by your leave,
How doth the prince, and my young son of York ?1
Brak. Right well, dear madam. By your patience,"
I may not suffer you to visit them :
The king hath strictly charg'd the contrary.
Q. Eliz. The king! who's that?
Brak.
I mean the lord protector.
Q. Eliz. The Lord protect me from that kingly title!
Hath he set bounds between their love, and me?
I am their mother; who shall bar me from them?
Duch. I am their father's mother; I will see them.
Anne. Their aunt I am in law, in love their mother:
Then, bring me to their sights;3 I'll bear thy blame,
And take thy office from thee, on my peril.
Brak. No, madam, no; I may not leave it so :*
I am bound by oath, and therefore pardon me.
[Exit BRAKENBURY.
Enter STANLEY.
Stan. Let me but meet you, ladies, one hour hence,
And I'll salute your grace of York as mother,
And reverend looker-on of two fair queens.-
Come, madam, you must straight to Westminster,
[To the Duchess of GLOSTER.
There to be crowned Richard's royal queen.
Q. Eliz. Ah! cut my lace asunder,
That my pent heart may have some scope to beat,
Or else I swoon with this dead-killing news.
Anne. Despiteful tidings! O, unpleasing news!
Dor. Be of good cheer :-mother, how fares your
grace?
Q. Eliz. O Dorset ! speak not to me, get thee gone;
Death and destruction dog thee at thy heels :
Thy mother's name is ominous to her children.
If thou wilt outstrip death, go cross the seas,
And live with Richmond from the reach of hell.
Go, hie thee, hie thee, from this slaughter-house,
Lest thou increase the number of the dead,
And make me die the thrall of Margaret's curse,-
Nor mother, wife, nor England's counted queen.
Stan. Full of wise care is this your counsel, madam.
Take all the swift advantage of the hours :
When scarce the blood was well wash'd from his
Which issu'd from my other angel husband,
And that dear saint which, then, I weeping follow'd;
O! when, I say, I look'd on Richard's face,
This was my wish,-" Be thou," quoth I, "accurs'd,
For making me, so young, so old a widow!
And, when thou wedd'st, let sorrow haunt thy bed;
And be thy wife (if any be so mad)
More miserable by the life of thee,
Than thou hast made me by my dear lord's death !"
Lo! ere I can repeat this curse again,
Within so small a time1o my woman's heart
Grossly grew captive to his honey words,
And prov'd the subject of mine own soul's curse:
Which hitherto hath held mine eyes from rest;
For never yet one hour in his bed
Did I enjoy the golden dew of sleep,
But with his timorous dreams was still awak'd.
Besides, he hates me for my father Warwick;
And will, no doubt, shortly be rid of me.
Q. Eliz. Poor heart, adieu; I pity thy complaining.
Anne. No more than with my soul I mourn for
Dor. Farewell, thou woeful welcomer of glory.
Anne. Adieu, poor soul, that tak'st thy leave of it.
Duch. Go thou to Richmond, and good fortune guide
thee!-
[TO DORSET.
Go thou to Richard, and good angels tend11 thee!
[To ANNE.
Go thou to sanctuary, and good thoughts possess
thee!
[To Queen ELIZABETH.
I to my grave, where peace and rest lie with me!
Eighty odd years of sorrow have I seen,
And each hour's joy wreck'd with a week of teen12.
Q Eliz. Stay yet; look back, with me, unto the
Tower.-
Pity, you ancient stones, those tender babes,
Whom envy hath immur'd within your walls;
Rough cradle for such little pretty ones!
Rude ragged nurse, old sullen play-fellow
For tender princes, use my babies well!
So foolish sorrow bids your stones farewell. [Exeunt.
1 How fares the prince: in quartos. 2 Well, madam, and in health, but by your leave in quartos. 3 Then, fear not thou: in quartos. I do beseech your graces all, to pardon me in quartos. 5 Not in quartos. 6 time in quartos. 7 The quartos, for this line, read: To meet you on the way, and welcome you. 8 dead: in quartos. 9 death in quartos. 10 Even in so short a space: in quartos. 11 guard :
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