For never yet one hour in his bed Whose humble means match not his haughty mind: Gold were as good, as twenty orators, Page. His name, my lord, is- Tyrrel. [Exit Page. Dor. Farewell, thou woful welcomer of glory! The deep-revolving witty Buckingham Anne. Adieu, poor soul, that tak’st thy leave of it! No more shall be the neighbour to my counsels: [To Dorset. And stops he now for breath ?-well, be it so !Go thou to Richard, and good angels tend thee! Enter STANLEY. [To Anne. How now, lord Stanley? what's the news ? [To Q. Elizabeth. The marquis Dorset, as I hear, is fled K. Rich. Come hither, Catesby! Rumour it abroad, Inquire me out some mean-born gentleman, Look, how thou dream'st!- 1 say again, give out, About it; for it stands me much upon, [Exit Catesby. So far in blood, that sin will pluck on sin. Re-enter Page, with Tyrrel. Tyr. James Tyrrel, and your most obedient subject. K. Rich. Dar'st thou resolve to kill a friend of Tyr. Please you; but I had rather kill two enemies. Tyrrel, I mean those bastards in the Tower. Tyr. Let me have open means to come to them, K. Rich. Thou sing'st sweet music. Hark, come Shall I be plain? I wish the bastards dead; hither, Tyrrel! Go, by this token :-rise, and lend thine ear: [Whispers. Buck. Your grace may do your pleasure. There is no more but so. - Say, it is done, K. Rich. Tut, tut, thou art all ice, thy kindness And I will love thee, and prefer thee for it. freezes : Tyr. I will dispatch it straight. [Erit. Say, have I thy consent, that they shall die ? Re-enter BuckINGHAM. mind The late demand that you did sound me in. K. Rich. Well, let that rest. Dorset is fled to Rich- mond. [Exit Buckingham. Buck. I hear the news, my lord. Cate. The king is angry; see, he gnaws his lip. K. Rich. Stanley, he is your wife's son. - Well, [Aside. look to it! K. Rich. I will converse with iron-witted fools, Buck. My lord, I claim the gift, my due by promise, [Descends from his throne. For which your honour and your faith is pawa'd; And unrespective boys; none are for me, | The earldom of Hereford, and the moveables, Which you have promised I shall possess. Letters to Richmond, you shall answer it. Buck. What says your highness to my just request? K. Rich. Know'st thou not any, whom corrupting K. Rich. I do remember me, Henry the sixth gold Did prophecy, that Richmond should be king, A king! - perhaps — Boy, Buck. My lord, - I had K. Rich. How chance, the prophet could not at The sons of Edward sleep in Abraham's hosom, I had that time And Anne my wife hath bid the world good-night. Thou Have told me, I being by, that I should kill him? Now, for I know the Bretagne Richmond aims Thor Buck. My lord, your promise for the earldom, - At young Elizabeth, my brother's daughter, Tut K. Rich. Richmond! - When last I was at Exeter, And, by that knot, looks proudly on the crown; I had The mayor, in courtesy, show'd me the castle, To her go I, a jolly thriving wooer. l. And call'd it Rouge-mont: at which name, I Enter Catesby. started; Cate. My lord, From Because a bard of Ireland told me once, K. Rich. Good news or bad, that thou com’st in I should not live long after I saw Richmond. so bluntly? That Buck. My lord, Cate. Bad news, my lord! Morton is fled to Rich- To και K. Rich. Ay, what's o'clock? mond; That Buck. I am thus bold And Buckingham, back'd with the hardy Welshmen, That To put your grace in mind of what you promis'dm me. Is in the field, and still his power encreaseth. That K. Rich. Well, but what is't o'clock? K. Rich. Ely with Richmond troubles me more near, Buck. Upon the stroke of ten. Than Buckingham and his rash-levied strength. OUP K. Rich. Well, let it strike. Come, - I have learn’d, that fearful commenting How Buck. Why, let it strike? Is leaden servitor to dull delay; Prer K. Rich. Because that, like a Jack, thou keep'st Delay leads impotent and snail-pac'd beggary. the stroke Then fiery expedition be my wing, DIE Betwixt thy begging, and my meditation. Jove's Mercury, and herald for a king! God I am not in the giving vein to-day. Go, muster men! My council is my shield; . Buck. Why, then resolve me, whe'r you will, or no. We must be brief, when traitors brave the field. K. Rich. Thou troublest me; I am not in the vein. (Exeunt. T) (Exeunt King Richard and Train, SCENE IV. The same. Before the palace. T Buck. And is it thus? repays he my deep service Enter Queen MARGARET, Th To Brecknock, while my fearful head is on. (Exit. Here in these confines slily have I lurk’d, AB TH l'u RiTyr. The tyrannous and bloody act is done; Will prove as bitter, black, and tragical. OE The most arch deed of piteous massacre, Withdraw thee, wretched Margaret! who comes here ? Ai That ever yet this land was guilty of. Enter Queen Elizabeth and the Duchess of Yons. E. Dighton, and Forrest, whom I did suborn Q. Eliz. Ah, my poor princes! ah, my tender babes! Ea To do this piece of ruthless butchery, My unblown flowers, new-appearing sweets! TO Albeit they were flesh'd villains, bloody dogs, If yet your gentle souls fly in the air, CE Melting with tenderness and mild compassion, And be not fix'd in doom perpetual, TI Wept like two children, in their death's sad story. Hover about me with your airy wings, C O thus, quoth Dighton, lay the gentle babes, - And hear your mother's lamentation ! Thus, thus, quoth Forrest, girdling one another Q. Mar. Hover about her; say, that right for right TI Within their alabaster innocent arms: Hath dimm'd your infant morn to aged night. TE Their lips were four red roses on a stalk, Duch. So many miseries have craz'd my voice, Which, in their summer beauty, kiss'd each other. That my woe-wearied tongue is still and mute, A book of prayers on their pillow lay; Edward Plantagenet, why art thou dead ? Which once, quoth Forrest, almost chang'd my mind; Q. Mar. Plantagenet doth quit Plantagenet, But 0, the devil - there the villain stopp’d; Edward for Edward pays a dying debt. 1 When Dighton thus told on, we smothered l. Eliz. Wilt thou, o God, fly froin such gentle The most replenished sweet work of nature, lambs, That, from the prime creation, ere she fram’d. -- And throw them in the entrails of the wolf? Hence both are gone with conscience and remorse, When didst thou sleep, when such a deed was done? They could not speak; and so I left them both, Q. Mar. When holy Harry died, and my sweet son, To bear this tidings to the bloody king. Duch. Dead life, bliud sight, poor mörtal-living Enter King RICHARD, ghost, Rest thy unrest on England's lawful earth, Unlawfully made drunk with innocent blood! Q. Eliz. Ah, that thou would'st as soon afford a grare, As thou canst yield a melancholy seat; K. Rich. Come to me, Tyrrel, soon, at after supper, And let my griefs frown on the upper hand. If sorrow can admit society, [Exit. [Sitting down. (Sitting down by her 1 (Sitting down with them. I had an Edward, till a Richard kill'd him; Usurp the just proportion of my sorrow? Dutch. I had a Richard too, and thon didst kill him; Farewell, York's wife, and queen of sad mischance. And teach me, how to curse mine enemies ! Bettering thy loss makes the bad-causer worse; thine! Q. Mar. Thy woes will make them sharp, and pierce How do I thank thee, that this carnal cur like mine. [Exit . Margaret. Preys on the issue of his mother's body, Dutch. Why should calamity be full of words? Q. Mar. Bear with me! I am hungry for revenge, Let them have scope: though what they do impart Help nothing else, yet do they ease the heart. (Drum within. Enter King Richard, and his Train, marching. Durch. O, she, that might have intercepted thee, From all the slaughters, wretch, that thou hast done. crown, Where should be branded, if that right were right, The slaughter of the prince, that ow'd that crown, And the dire death of my poor sons, and brothers? Q. Eliz. O, thou didst prophecy, the time would Tell me, thou villain-slave, where are my children? Dutch. Thou toad, thou toad, where is thy brother come, Clarence? Dutch. Where is kind Hastings? K.Rich. A flourish,trumpets! ---strike alarum,drums! Let not the heavens hear these tell-tale women Rail on the Lord's anointed! Strike, I say ! - (Flourish. Alarums. A mother only mock'd with two fair babes, Either be patient, and entreat me fair, Or with the clamorous report of war Thus will I drowu your exclamations. Dutch. Art thou my son ? K. Rich. Ay; I thank God, my father, and yourself. K. Rich. Madam, I have a touch of your condition, Dutch. 0, let me speak! K. Rich. Do, then! but I'll not hear. Dutch. I will be mild and gentle in my words. K. Rich. And brief, good mother! for I am in haste. For joyful mother, one that wails the name; Dutch. Art thon so hasty? I have staid for thee, God knows, in torment and in agony. K. Rich. And came I not at last to comfort you? Dutch. No, by the holy rood, thou know'st it well, For one beivg fear'd of all, now fearing one; Thou cam’st on earth, to make the earth my hell. A grievous burden was thy birth to me; Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy; Thy school-days, frightful, desperate, wild, and furious; To torture thee the more, being what thou art. Thy prime of manhood, daring, bold, and venturous; Thou didst usurp my place; and dost thou not Thy age confirm’d, proud, subtle, sly, and bloody, End You I ca The ness More mild, but yet more harmful, kind in hatred : Than ever you or yours by me were harm'd! If I What comfortable hour canst thou name, Q. Eliz. What good is cov:r'd with the face of Το That ever grac'd me in thy company? heaven, Miu K. Rich. 'Faith, none, but Humphrey Hour, that To be discover'd, that can do me good ? call'd your grace K. Rich. The advancement of your children, gentle Thai To breakfast once, forth of my company. lady! TheIf I be so disgracious in your sight, Q. Eliž. Up to some scaffold, there to lose their Ever Let me march on, and not offend you, Of a Strike up the drum! K. Rich. No, to the dignity and height of fortune, The high imperial type of this eartlı’s glory. But Dutch. Hear mne a word ! Tell me, what state, what dignity, what honour, The For I shall never speak to thee again. Canst thou demise to any child of mine? And K. Rich. So, K. Rich. Even all I have; ay, and myself and all, Dor Thi Therefore, take with thee my most heavy curse, Q. Eliz. Be brief, lest that the process of thy kind- To Which, in the day of battle, tire thee more, Th Than all the complete armour, that thou wear'st! Last longer telling, than thy kindness' date! Far My prayers on the adverse party fight; K. Rich. Then know, that from my son) I love And there the litile sonls of Edward's children: thy daughter. Whisper the spirits of thine enemies, Q. Eliz. My daughter's mother thinks it with her he And promise them success and victory! soul. W Bloody thou art, bloody will be thy end; K. Rich. What do you T Shame serves thy life, and doth thy death attend. l. Eliz. That thou dost love my daughter from $ [Exit. A Q. Eliz. Though far more cause, yet much less 'So, from thy soul's love, didst thou love her brothers; 0 spirit to curse And, from my heart's love, I do thank thee for it. GO Abides in me, I say amen to her. [Going. K. Rich. Be not so hasty to confonnd my meaning: M K. Rich. Stay, madam, I must speak a word with I mean, that with my soul I love thy daughter, PE yoll. And do intend to make her queen of England. Р Q. Eliz. I have no more sous of the royal blood, Q. Eliz. Well then, who dost thou mean shall be For thee to murder: for my daughters, Richard, her king ? They shall be praying nuns, not weeping queens; K. Rich. Even he that makes her queen. Who And therefore level not to hit their lives! else should be? T K. Rich. You have a daughter callid – Elizabeth, Q. Eliz. What, thou? Virtuous and fair, royal and gracious. K. Rich. Even so. What think you of it, madam? Q. Eliz. And must she die for this ? 0, let her live, Q. Eliz. How canst thon woo her ? T And i'll corrupt her manuers, stain her beauty, K. Rich. That I would learn of you, Slander myself, as false to Edward's bed, As one being best acquainted with her humous. Q. Eliz. And wilt thou learn of me? If this inducement move her not to love, Send her a letter of thy noble deeds! Her uncle Rivers , ay, and for her sake, K. Rich. You mock me, madam; this is not the way Q. Eliz. There is no other way; K. Rich. Say, that I did all this for love of her? have thee, K. Rich. Look, what is done,cannot be now ameud- ed : Men shall deal onadvisedly sometimes, If I did take the kingdom froin your sons, that slew her : is past. If I have kill'd the issue of your womb, Q. Eliz. O, no, my reasons are too deep and dead ;- Too deep and dead, poor infants, in their graves. Q. Eliz. Harp on it still shall I, till heart-strings break. Even of your mettle,of your very blood ; K. Rich. Now, by my George, my garter, and my Of all one pain, — save for a night of groans crown, K. Rich. I swear. & Eliz. By nothing; for this is no oath. If something thou would'st swear to be believ'd, K. Rich. Now, by the world, – Q. Eliz. 'Tis full of thy foul wrongs. K. Rich. My father's death, K. Rich. Then, by myself, — Q. Eliz. Thyself is self misus'd. H. Rich. Why then, by God, - Q. Eliz. God's wrong is most of all. If thou had'st fear'd to break an oath by him, If thou had'st fear'd to break an oath by him, The imperial metal, circling now thy head, Had grac'd the tender temples of my child ; Make bold her bashful years with your experience! And both the princes had been breathing here, Prepare her ears to hear a wooer's tale! Which now, two tender bed-fellows for dust, Thy broken faith hath made a prey for worms. Q. Eliz. That thou hast wronged in the time o'erpast; er’d, old barren plants, to wail it with their age. K. Rich. As I intend to prosper, and repent! Be opposite all planets of good luck Immaculate devotion, holy thoughts, In her consists my happiness, and thine; Be the attorney of my love to her! Q. Eliz. Shall I be tempted of the devil thus ? K. Rich. Ay, if your self's remembrance wrong war. |