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RICHARD III
---
---
# RICHARD III
---
---
[Music plays]
---
## A SOLDIER:
Sound the alarm!
---
[Sounds of a raging battle]
---
[Shouting and battle cries]
---
[Swords clanging]
---
---
## GLOUCESTER:
I do but dream on sovereignty;
Like one that stands upon a promontory,
---
And spies a far-off shore where he would tread,
And chides the sea that sunders him from thence,
---
So do I wish the crown, being so far off;
And so I chide the means that keeps me from it;
---
Well, say there is no kingdom then for Richard;
What other pleasure can the world afford?
---
I'll make my heaven in a lady's lap,
And deck my body in gay ornaments,
---
And witch sweet ladies with my words and looks.
O monstrous fault, to harbour such a thought!
---
Then, since this earth affords no joy to me,
I'll make my heaven to dream upon the crown,
---
And yet I know not how to get the crown,
For many lives stand between me and home:
---
Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile,
I can add colours to the chameleon,
---
And set the murderous Machiavel to school.
Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?
---
Tut, were it farther off, I'll pluck it down.
---
---
## BUCKINGHAM
Richard!
---
[Celebration and applause]
---
[Acoustic cover of “It’s Good to Be King” by Tom Petty]
---
♪ It's good to be king, if just for a while ♪
---
♪ To be there in velvet, yeah, to give 'em a smile ♪
---
♪ It's good to get high and never come down ♪
---
♪ It's good to be king of your own little town ♪
---
♪ Yeah, the world would swing, oh, if you were king ♪
---
♪ Da, dada, dada, da, da ♪
## GLOUCESTER
♪ Can I help it if I... ♪
---
♪ Da, dada, dada, da, da ♪
## GLOUCESTER
♪ ...still dream time to time ♪
---
## GLOUCESTER
♪ It's good to be king and have your own world ♪
---
♪ It helps to make friends, it's good to meet girls ♪
---
♪ A sweet little queen who can't run away ♪
---
♪ It's good to be king, whatever it pays ♪
---
## COURT
♪ Da, dada, dada, da, da ♪
## GLOUCESTER
♪ Excuse me if I... ♪
---
## COURT
♪ Da, dada, dada, da, da ♪
## GLOUCESTER
♪ ...have some place in my mind ♪
---
## COURT
♪ Da, dada, dada, da, da ♪
## GLOUCESTER
♪ ...where I go time to time ♪
---
[Cheers and applause]
---
---
## GLOUCESTER:
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this son 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 barbed 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.
---
[Sigh offstage]
---
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 forefathers:
---
O, belike his majesty hath some intent
That you shall be imprison'd in the Tower.
---
But what's the matter, Clarence? may I know?
---
## CLARENCE:
He hearkens after prophecies and dreams;
---
And says a wizard told him that by G
His issue disinherited should be.
---
## 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.
---
We are not safe, Clarence; we are not safe.
---
## CLARENCE:
By heaven, I think there's no man is secure
---
Heard ye not what an humble suppliant
Lord Hastings was to her for his delivery?
---
## 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;
How say you sir? Can you deny all this?
---
## BRAKENBURY:
With this, my lord, myself have nought to do.
---
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;
---
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.
---
## 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,
---
But who comes here? the new-deliver'd 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.
---
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.
---
---
He cannot live, I hope; and must not die
Till George be pack'd with post-horse up to heaven.
---
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 Henry’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:
---
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.
---
---
[Drumming]
---
---
## LADY ANNE:
Set down, set down your honourable load,
---
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!
---
Cursed be the hand that made these fatal holes!
---
Cursed the heart that had the heart to do it;
---
Cursed the blood that let this blood from hence
---
If ever he have wife, let her be made
---
As 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;
---
(Offstage)
## GLOUCESTER:
Stay, you that bear the corse, and set it down.
---
## LADY ANNE:
What dark magician conjures up this fiend?
---
## GLOUCESTER:
Villains, set down the corse; or, by Saint Paul,
I'll make a corse of him that disobeys.
---
## GUARD:
My lord, stand back, and let the coffin pass.
---
## GLOUCESTER:
Unmanner'd dog! stand thou, when I command:
---
## 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!
---
## 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,
---
Behold this pattern of thy butcheries.
---
O, gentlemen, see, see! dead Henry's wounds
Open their congeal'd mouths and bleed afresh!
---
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:
I did not kill your husband.
---
## LADY ANNE:
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:
Ill rest betide the chamber where thou liest!
---
## GLOUCESTER:
So will it, madam till I lie with you.
But, gentle Lady Anne,
---
Is not the causer of these timeless deaths
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.
---
[Slap]
---
## 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!
---
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:
Where is he?
---
## GLOUCESTER:
Here.
---
[Lady Anne spits]
---
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.
For now they kill me with a living death.
---
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 blade;
---
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.
---
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.
---
Take up the blade 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 blade.
## 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,
---
Then, 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:
---
Grant me this boon.
---
## LADY ANNE:
With all my heart; and much it joys me too,
To see you are become so penitent.
---
## 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.
---
---
## GLOUCESTER
---
♪ It's good to be king and have your own world ♪
---
♪ It helps to make friends, it's good to meet girls ♪
---
♪ A sweet little queen who can't run away ♪
---
♪ It's good to be king, whatever it pays ♪
---
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;
---
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?
---
Me, that halt and am unshapen thus?
I do mistake my person all this while:
---
Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot,
Myself to be a marvellous proper man.
---
Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass,
That I may see my shadow as I pass.
---
---
[Drumming]
---
---
## 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, God's sake, entertain good comfort,
And cheer his grace with quick and merry words.
---
## QUEEN ELIZABETH:
If he were dead, what would become of me?
---
## RIVERS:
No other harm but loss of such a lord.
---
## 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.
---
## GREY:
Here come the lords of Buckingham and Stanley.
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
Good time of day unto your royal grace!
---
## STANLEY:
God make your majesty joyful as you have been!
---
## RIVERS:
Saw you the king to-day, Lord Stanley?
---
## STANLEY:
But now the Duke of Buckingham and I
Are come from visiting his majesty.
---
## 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.
---
## QUEEN ELIZABETH:
Would all were well! but that will never be
I fear our happiness is at the highest.
---
## 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?
---
Because I cannot flatter and speak fair,
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!
---
## 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:
---
My brother is imprison'd by your means.
---
## QUEEN ELIZABETH:
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:
---
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 wish 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.
---
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.
---
## QUEEN MARGARET:
Out, devil! I remember them too well:
---
Thou slewest my dearest husband Henry,
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;
---
To royalize his blood I spilt mine own.
---
In all which time you and your husband Grey
Were factious for the house of Lancaster;
---
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.
---
## RIVERS:
My Lord of Gloucester, in those busy days
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.
---
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?
O gentle villain, do not turn away!
---
## GLOUCESTER:
Foul wrinkled witch, what makest thou in my sight?
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.
---
For your young 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,
---
## 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!
---
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 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.
---
## RIVERS:
Were you well served, you would be taught your duty.
---
## HASTINGS:
Dispute not with her; she is lunatic.
---
## GLOUCESTER:
Good counsel, marry: learn it, learn it, Rivers.
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
Enough! 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.
---
[Crowd commotion]
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
Enough, enough.
---
## QUEEN MARGARET:
O princely Buckingham I'll kiss thy hand,
---
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:
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;
---
## 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!
---
---
## HASTINGS:
My hair doth stand on end to hear her curses.
---
## RIVERS:
And so doth mine: I muse why she's still free to speak.
---
## 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 advantages of her wrong.
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:
---
## 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.
---
---
## GLOUCESTER:
How now, my hardy, stout resolved mates!
Are you now going to dispatch the deed?
---
## LOVELL:
We are, my lord; and come to have the warrant
That we may be admitted where he is.
---
## GLOUCESTER:
But, sirs, be sudden in the execution,
Withal obdurate, do not hear him plead;
---
## LOVELL:
We will, my noble lord.
---
---
[Drumming]
---
---
## 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.
---
[An organ drone]
---
## 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:
---
As we paced along
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 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 painting 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.
---
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 prisons me!
---
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!
---
---
## RATCLIFFE:
Ho! who's here?
---
## BRAKENBURY:
In God's name what are you, and how came you hither?
---
## RATCLIFFE:
I would speak with Clarence, and I came hither on my legs.
---
## BRAKENBURY:
Yea, are you so brief?
---
## LOVELL:
O sir, it is better to be brief than tedious. Show
him our commission; talk no more.
---
## BRAKENBURY:
I am, in this, commanded to deliver
The noble Duke of Clarence to your hands:
---
Here are the keys, there sits the duke asleep:
Thus I have resign'd my charge to you.
---
## RATCLIFFE:
Fare you well.
---
## LOVELL:
What, shall we stab him as he sleeps?
No; then he will say ‘twas done cowardly, when he wakes
---
## RATCLIFFE:
When he wakes! why, fool, he shall never wake till
the judgement-day
---
## LOVELL:
Why, then he will say we stabbed him sleeping.
---
The urging of that word 'judgment' hath bred a kind
of remorse in me.
---
## RATCLIFFE:
What, art thou afraid?
---
## LOVELL:
Not to kill him, having a warrant for it; but to be
damned for killing him, from which no warrant can defend us.
---
## RATCLIFFE:
I thought thou hadst been resolute.
---
## LOVELL:
So I am, to let him live.
---
## RATCLIFFE:
Back to the Duke of Gloucester, tell him so.
---
## LOVELL:
I pray thee, stay a while: I hope my holy humour
will change.
---
## RATCLIFFE:
How dost thou feel thyself now?
---
## LOVELL:
'Faith, some certain dregs of conscience are yet
within me.
---
## RATCLIFFE:
Remember our reward, when the deed is done.
---
## LOVELL:
'Zounds, he dies: I had forgot the reward.
---
## RATCLIFFE:
Where is thy conscience now?
---
## LOVELL:
In the Duke of Gloucester's purse.
---
## RATCLIFFE:
So when he opens his purse to give us our reward,
thy conscience flies out.
---
## LOVELL:
Let it go; there's few or none will entertain it.
---
## RATCLIFFE:
How if it come to thee again?
---
## LOVELL:
I'll not meddle with it: it is a dangerous thing:
it makes a man a coward:
---
'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.
---
## RATCLIFFE:
Tut, I am strong-framed, it cannot prevail with me,
I warrant thee.
---
## CLARENCE:
Where art thou, keeper? give me a cup of wine.
---
## RATCLIFFE:
You shall have drink enough, my lord, anon.
---
## CLARENCE:
In God's name, what art thou?
---
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:
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?
The deed you undertake is damnable.
---
## RATCLIFFE:
What we will do, we do upon command.
---
## CLARENCE:
If you are hired for coin, 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
---
## LOVELL:
You are deceived, your brother Richard hates you.
---
## CLARENCE:
O, do not slander him, for he is kind.
---
## RATCLIFFE:
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 seek my release.
---
## RATCLIFFE:
Make peace with God, for you must die, my lord.
---
---
## CLARENCE:
Relent, and save your souls.
---
## RATCLIFFE:
Relent! 'tis cowardly.
---
Take that, and that: if all this will not do,
---
I'll drown you within.
---
[Shouting and grunting]
---
[Panting and gasping]
---
---
[Silence]
---
[Drum beats]
---
---
## KING EDWARD IV:
Why, so: now have I done a good day's work:
---
You peers, continue this united league:
---
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.
---
## 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;
---
---
## QUEEN ELIZABETH:
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
---
## 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, but with all duteous love
---
Doth cherish you and yours, God punish me
With hate in those where I expect most love!
---
## KING EDWARD IV:
A pleasing cordial, princely Buckingham,
is this thy vow unto my sickly heart.
---
There wanteth now my brother Gloucester here,
To make the perfect period of this peace.
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
And, in good time, here comes the noble duke.
---
## 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; I desire to reconcile me to his friendly peace:
---
First, madam, I entreat true peace of you,
Dukes, earls, lords, gentlemen; indeed, of all.
---
I thank my God for my humility.
---
## QUEEN ELIZABETH:
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 mocked in this royal presence?
---
Who knows not that the noble duke is dead?
---
[Gasps]
---
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!
---
## KING EDWARD IV:
Is Clarence dead? the order was reversed.
---
## GLOUCESTER:
But he, poor soul, by your first order died,
---
## STANLEY:
A boon, my sovereign, for my service done!
---
## KING EDWARD IV:
Stanley, I pray thee, peace: my soul is full of sorrow.
---
## STANLEY:
I will not rise, unless your highness grant.
---
## KING EDWARD IV:
Then speak at once what is it thou demand'st.
---
## STANLEY:
The forfeit, sovereign, of my servant's life;
Who slew to-day a righteous gentleman.
---
## 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, in the field by Tewksbury
---
When Oxford had me down, he rescued me,
And said, 'Dear brother, live, and be a king'?
---
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,
---
[Coughs]
---
O God, I fear thy justice will take hold
On me, and you, and mine, and yours for this!
---
Come, Rivers, help me to my bedroom.
---
Oh, poor Clarence!
---
---
## 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.
---
---
[Mournful music and drums]
---
---
## QUEEN ELIZABETH:
Oh, who shall hinder me to wail and weep,
To chide my fortune, and torment myself?
---
## DUCHESS OF YORK:
What means this scene of rude impatience?
---
## QUEEN ELIZABETH:
Edward, my lord, your son, our king, is dead.
---
[Sobbing]
---
## DUCHESS OF YORK:
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!
---
## QUEEN ELIZABETH:
Oh for my husband, for my dear lord Edward!
---
## DUCHESS OF YORK:
Alas for both, both mine, Edward and Clarence!
---
## DORSET:
Comfort, dear mother: God is much displeas’d
That you take with unthankfulness, his doing.
---
In common worldy things, ‘tis call’d ungrateful
With dull unwillingness 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:
---
## 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!
---
## 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,
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,
---
## 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:
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.
---
---
## 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,
To part the queen's proud kindred from the prince.
---
## GLOUCESTER:
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.
---
---
[Mournful music and drums]
---
---
## ARCHBISHOP:
Last night, I hear, they lay at Northampton;
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.
---
## 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.
---
## ARCHBISHOP:
Here comes Dorset. What news?
---
## DORSET:
Such news, my lord, as grieves me to unfold.
---
## QUEEN ELIZABETH:
How fares the prince?
---
## DORSET:
Well, mother, and in health.
---
## DUCHESS OF YORK:
What is thy news then?
---
## DORSET:
Lord Rivers and Lord Grey are sent to Pomfret, prisoners.
---
## DUCHESS OF YORK:
Who hath committed them?
---
## DORSET:
The mighty dukes Gloucester and Buckingham.
---
## QUEEN ELIZABETH:
For what offence?
---
## DORSET:
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;
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!
---
## QUEEN ELIZABETH:
Come, come, my boy; we will to sanctuary.
---
Madam, farewell.
---
## DUCHESS OF YORK:
I'll go along with you.
---
## ARCHBISHOP:
My gracious lady, go;
And thither bear your treasure and your goods.
---
Come, I'll conduct you to the sanctuary.
---
---
[Drumming]
---
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
Welcome, sweet prince, to London.
---
## GLOUCESTER:
Welcome, dear nephew, my thoughts' sovereign
The weary way hath made you melancholy.
---
## PRINCE EDWARD:
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
---
Those uncles which you want were dangerous;
---
## PRINCE EDWARD:
God keep me from false friends!
---
---
[Stately trumpet fanfare]
---
## GLOUCESTER:
My lord, the mayor of London comes to greet you.
---
## 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
---
## 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 Hastings, will your grace
---
Persuade the queen to send the Duke of York
Unto his princely brother presently?
---
If she deny, Lord Hastings,
From her jealous arms do pluck him perforce.
---
## HASTINGS:
I go, my lord.
---
## PRINCE EDWARD:
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:
---
## 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;
---
## PRINCE EDWARD:
That Julius Caesar was a famous man;
---
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.
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
Now, in good time, here comes the Duke of York.
---
---
## PRINCE EDWARD:
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 pray you, uncle, give me this dagger.
---
## GLOUCESTER:
My dagger, little cousin?
---
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.
---
## GLOUCESTER:
My lord, will't please you pass along to the Tower?
---
## 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.
---
## 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 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 fight 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,
---
As it were far off seek 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 Hastings,
tell him, Catesby,
---
His ancient knot of dangerous adversaries
To-morrow are let blood at Pomfret-castle.
---
## CATESBY:
My good lords both, with all the heed I may.
---
## 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.
---
[Drumming]
---
---
[HASTINGS singing a tune]
---
## HASTINGS:
♪ Imagine me and you, I do ♪
♪ I think about you day and night, it's only right ♪
---
♪ To think about the girl you love and hold her tight
♪ So happy together... ♪
---
## STANLEY:
What, ho! my lord!
---
## HASTINGS:
What is't o'clock?
---
## STANLEY:
Upon the stroke of four.
---
## HASTINGS:
Cannot you sleep these tedious nights?
---
## STANLEY:
So it should seem by that I have to say.
---
I dreamt to-night the duke had razed my helm:
Besides, there are two councils held;
---
And that may be determined at the one
which may make you and I rue at the other.
---
Therefore I needs must know your lordship's pleasure,
If presently you will take horse with me,
---
And with all speed post with me toward the north,
To shun the danger that my soul divines.
---
## HASTINGS:
Do not fear the separated councils
---
Your honour and myself are at the one,
And at the other is our good friend Catesby
---
And for your dreams, I wonder you are so fond
To trust the mockery of unquiet slumbers
---
Go, we will both together to the Tower,
Where, you will see, the boar will use us kindly.
---
---
## 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
Till 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,
---
God knows I will not do it, to the death.
---
## CATESBY:
God keep your lordship in that gracious mind!
---
## HASTINGS:
I tell thee, man, 'tis better with me now
Than when I met thee last where now we meet:
---
Then was I going prisoner to the Tower,
By the suggestion of the queen's allies;
---
This day those enemies are put to death,
And I in better state than e'er I was.
---
## CATESBY:
God hold it, to your honour's good content!
---
## HASTINGS:
Gramercy, fellow: there, drink that for me.
---
## CATESBY:
God save your lordship!
---
## HASTINGS:
♪ So happy together... ♪
---
---
[Drumming]
---
## RATCLIFF:
Come, bring forth the prisoners.
---
## RIVERS:
Sir Ratcliff, let me tell thee this:
---
To-day shalt thou behold a subject die
For truth, for duty, and for loyalty.
---
## GREY:
God keep the prince from all the pack of you!
---
A knot you are of damned blood-suckers!
---
## RATCLIFF:
Dispatch; the limit of your lives is out.
---
## RIVERS:
O Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison,
Fatal and ominous to noble peers!
---
Within the guilty closure of thy walls
We give thee up our guiltless blood to drink.
---
[Slow, ominous drum beats]
---
## GREY:
Now Margaret's curse is fall'n upon our heads,
For standing by when Richard stabb'd her son.
---
## RIVERS:
Then cursed she Hastings, then cursed she Buckingham,
---
Then cursed she Richard. O, remember, God
To hear her prayers for them, as now for us
---
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.
---
---
[Screams and crying]
---
[Slow drum beats continue]
---
---
## LOVELL:
Make haste; the hour of death is near.
---
---
## RIVERS:
Come, Grey, come, and let us embrace:
---
And take our leave, until we meet in heaven.
---
---
[Faster drum beats]
---
---
## HASTINGS:
My lords, at once: the cause why we are met
Is, to determine of the coronation.
---
In God's name, speak: when is the royal day?
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
Are all things fitting for that royal time?
---
## STANLEY:
It is, and wants but nomination.
---
## BISHOP OF ELY:
To-morrow, then, I judge a happy day.
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
Who knows the lord protector's mind herein?
Who is most inward with the royal duke?
---
## BISHOP OF ELY:
Your grace, we think, should soonest know his mind.
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
Who, I, my lord we know each other's faces,
---
But for our hearts, he knows no more of mine,
Than I of yours; Nor I no more of his, than you of mine.
---
Lord Hastings, you and he are near in love.
---
## HASTINGS:
I thank his grace, I know he loves me well;
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 noble 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.
---
## BISHOP OF ELY:
Now in good time, here comes the duke himself.
---
## GLOUCESTER:
My noble lords and cousins all, good morrow.
I have been long a sleeper;
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
Had not you come upon your cue, my lord
---
Hastings had pronounced your part,--
I mean, your voice,--for crowning of the king.
---
## GLOUCESTER:
Than my Lord Hastings no man might be bolder;
His lordship knows me well, and loves me well.
---
## HASTINGS:
I thank your grace.
---
## GLOUCESTER:
Good Bishop of Ely!
---
## BISHOP OF ELY:
My lord?
---
## GLOUCESTER:
When I was last in Holborn,
I saw good strawberries in your garden there
---
I do beseech you send for some of them.
---
## BISHOP OF ELY:
Marry, and will, my lord, with all my heart.
---
## GLOUCESTER:
Cousin of Buckingham, a word with you.
---
Catesby hath sounded Hastings in our business,
---
And finds the testy gentleman so hot,
As he will lose his head ere give consent
---
His master's son, as worshipful as he terms it,
Shall lose the royalty of England's throne.
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
Withdraw you hence, my lord, I'll follow you.
---
## HASTINGS:
His grace looks cheerfully and smooth to-day;
---
I think there's never a man in Christendom
That can less hide his love or hate than he;
---
For by his face straight shall you know his heart.
---
## STANLEY:
What of his heart perceive you in his face
By any likelihood he show'd to-day?
---
## HASTINGS:
Marry, that with no man here he is offended;
For, were he, he had shown it in his looks.
---
## STANLEY:
I pray God he be not, I say.
---
## GLOUCESTER:
I pray you all, tell me what they deserve
That do conspire my death with devilish plots?
---
## HASTINGS:
The tender love I bear your grace, my lord,
---
Makes me most forward in this noble presence
To doom the offenders, whatsoever they be
---
## GLOUCESTER:
Then be your eyes the witness of this ill:
---
See how I am bewitch'd; behold mine eye
Is, like a blasted sapling, wither'd up:
---
And this is Edward's wife, that monstrous witch,
That by their witchcraft thus have marked me.
---
## HASTINGS:
If they have done this thing, my gracious lord—
---
## GLOUCESTER:
If I thou protector of this damned strumpet--
Tellest thou me of 'ifs'? Thou art a traitor:
---
Off with his head! Now, by Saint Paul I swear,
I will not dine until I see the same.
---
Catesby and Ratcliffe, look that it be done:
The rest, that love me, rise and follow me.
---
---
## HASTINGS:
Woe, woe for England! not a whit for me;
For I, too fond, might have prevented this.
---
Stanley did dream the duke did raze his helm;
But I disdain'd it, and did scorn to fly:
---
I now repent I told you dear Catesby
As 'twere triumphing at mine enemies,
---
How they at Pomfret bloodily were butcher'd,
And I myself secure in grace and favour.
---
O Margaret, Margaret, now thy heavy curse
Is lighted on poor Hastings' wretched head!
---
## CATESBY:
Dispatch, my lord; the duke would be at dinner:
Make a short shrift; he longs to see your head.
---
## HASTINGS:
O bloody Richard! miserable England!
---
Come, lead me to the block; bear him my head.
They smile at me that shortly shall be dead.
---
---
## BISHOP OF ELY:
Where is my lord protector? I have sent for these strawberries.
---
[Cymbal crash]
---
[Drumming]
---
---
## GLOUCESTER:
Come, cousin, canst thou quake, and change thy colour,
As if thou wert distraught and mad with terror?
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
Tut, I can counterfeit the deep tragedian;
---
## CATESBY:
Here is the head of that ignoble traitor,
The dangerous and unsuspected Hastings.
---
## GLOUCESTER:
So dear I loved the man, that I must weep.
---
I took him for the plainest harmless creature
That breathed upon this earth a Christian;
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
Well, well, he was the covert'st shelter'd traitor that ever lived.
---
Would you imagine, or almost believe,
This day had plotted, in the council-house
---
To murder me and my good Lord of Gloucester?
---
## GLOUCESTER:
How now, my lord, what say the citizens?
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
The citizens are mum and speak not a word.
---
## GLOUCESTER:
Touch'd you the bastardy of Edward's children?
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
I did;
And his contract by deputy in France;
---
The insatiate greediness of his desires,
And his enforcement of the city wives;
---
His tyranny for trifles; his own bastardy,
His resemblance, being not like your father;
---
Withal I did infer your lineaments,
Both in your form and nobleness of mind;
---
Your dicipline in war, wisdom in peace,
Your bounty, virtue, fair humility:
---
And when mine oratory grew to an end
I bid them that did love their country's good
---
Cry 'God save Richard, England's royal king!'
---
## GLOUCESTER:
Ah! and did they so?
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
No, so God help me, they spake not a word;
But, like dumb statues or breathing stones,
---
Gazed each on other, and look'd deadly pale.
Which when I saw, I reprehended them;
---
## GLOUCESTER:
What tonguless blocks were they! would not they speak?
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
No, by my troth, my lord.
With the mayor 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 betwixt two churchmen, good my lord;
For on that ground I'll build a holy descant:
---
[Stately trumpet fanfare]
---
Welcome my lord; I dance attendance here;
I think the duke will not be spoke withal.
---
Here comes his servant: how now, Catesby,
What says he?
---
## CATESBY:
My lord: he doth entreat your grace;
To visit him to-morrow or next day:
---
He is within, with the right reverend father,
Divinely bent to meditation;
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
Return, good Catesby, to thy lord again;
---
Tell him, myself, the mayor and citizens,
Are come to have some conference with his grace.
---
## CATESBY:
I'll tell him what you say, my lord.
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
Ah, ha, my lord, this prince is not an Edward!
---
He is not lolling on a lewd day-bed,
But on his knees at meditation;
---
Not sleeping, to engross his idle body,
But praying, to enrich his watchful soul:
---
Happy were England, would this gracious prince
Take on himself the sovereignty thereof:
---
But, sure, I fear, we shall ne'er win him to it.
---
## LORD MAYOR:
Marry, God forbid his grace should say us nay!
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
I fear he will.
How now, Catesby, what says your lord?
---
## CATESBY:
My lord,
---
He wonders to what end you have assembled
Such troops of citizens to speak with him,
---
My lord, he fears you mean no good to him.
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
By heaven, I come in perfect love to him;
And so once more return and tell his grace.
---
When holy and devout religious men
Are at their beads, 'tis hard to draw them thence,
---
So sweet is zealous contemplation.
---
## LORD MAYOR:
See, where he stands beside the clergyman!
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
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 ornaments to know a holy man.
---
Famous devout Richard, most gracious prince,
Lend favourable ears to our request;
---
And pardon us the interruption
Of thy devotion and right Christian zeal.
---
## GLOUCESTER:
My lord, there needs no such apology:
I rather do beseech you pardon me,
---
Who, earnest in the service of my God,
Neglect the visitation of my friends.
---
But, leaving this, what is your grace's pleasure?
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
Even that, I hope, which pleaseth God above
And all good men of this ungoverned isle.
---
## GLOUCESTER:
I do suspect I have done some offense
And that you come to reprehend my ignorance.
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
Then know, it is your fault that you resign
The supreme seat, the throne majestical,
---
The scepter'd office of your ancestors,
Your state of fortune and your due of birth,
---
The lineal glory of your royal house,
To the corruption of a blemished stock:
[Crowd reacts]
---
Whilst, 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 defaced with scars of infamy,
[Crowd reacts]
---
And almost shoulder'd in the swallowing gulf
Of blind forgetfulness and dark 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,
---
But as successively from blood to blood,
Your right of birth, your empery, your own.
[Crowd cheers]
---
## GLOUCESTER:
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 my ripe revenue and due by birth
Yet so much is my poverty of spirit,
---
So mighty and so many my defects,
As I had rather hide me from my greatness.
---
But, God be thank'd, there's no need of me,
And much I need to help you, if need were;
---
The royal tree hath left us royal fruit,
On him I lay what you would lay on me.
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
You say that Edward is your brother's son:
So say we too, but not by Edward's wife;
[Crowd hoots]
---
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,
---
## LORD MAYOR:
Do, good my lord, your citizens entreat you.
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
Refuse not, mighty lord, this proffer'd love.
---
## CATESBY:
O, make them joyful, grant our lawful suit!
[Crowd reacts]
---
## GLOUCESTER:
Alas, why would you heap these cares on me?
I am unfit for state and majesty;
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
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
---
Yet whether you accept our suit or no,
Your brother's son shall never reign our king;
[Crowd agrees]
---
But we will plant some other in the throne,
To the disgrace and downfall of your house:
---
And in this resolution here we leave you.--
---
Come, citizens: 'zounds! I'll entreat no more.
---
## LORD MAYOR:
Stay, citizens, stay!
---
Call them again, my lord, and accept their suit.
Do, good my lord, lest all the land do rue it.
---
## GLOUCESTER:
Would you enforce me to a world of care?
Well, call them again. I am not made of stone,
---
---
Cousin of Buckingham, and you sage, grave men,
---
Since you will buckle fortune on my back,
I must be brave and endure the load:
---
## LORD MAYOR:
God bless your grace!
---
## BUCKINGHAM:
Then I salute you with this kingly title:
Long live Richard, England's royal king!
---
## LORD MAYOR AND CITIZENS:
Long live Richard, England's royal king!
---
[A hunting horn]
Long live Richard, England's royal king!
---
[Chanting continues]
Long live Richard, England's royal king!
---
Long live Richard, England's royal king!
---
[Thunder]
---
---
# RICHARD III PART ONE
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