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2
[Enter GLOUCESTER, solus]
3
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
4
Now is the winter of our discontent
5
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
6
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
7
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
8
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
9
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
10
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,
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Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
12
Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front;
13
And now, instead of mounting barded steeds
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To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,
15
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
16
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
17
But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks,
18
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
19
I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty
20
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
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I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,
22
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
23
Deformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time
24
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
25
And that so lamely and unfashionable
26
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them;
27
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
28
Have no delight to pass away the time,
29
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
30
And descant on mine own deformity:
31
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
32
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
33
I am determined to prove a villain
34
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
35
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
36
By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams,
37
To set my brother Clarence and the king
38
In deadly hate the one against the other:
39
And if King Edward be as true and just
40
As I am subtle, false and treacherous,
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This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up,
42
About a prophecy, which says that 'G'
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Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be.
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Dive, thoughts, down to my soul: here
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[Enter CLARENCE, guarded, and BRAKENBURY]
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Brother, good day; what means this armed guard
48
That waits upon your grace?
49
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
51
Tendering my person's safety, hath appointed
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This conduct to convey me to the Tower.
53
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
55
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
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Because my name is George.
57
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
58
Alack, my lord, that fault is none of yours;
59
He should, for that, commit your godfathers:
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O, belike his majesty hath some intent
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That you shall be new-christen'd in the Tower.
62
But what's the matter, Clarence? may I know?
63
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
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Yea, Richard, when I know; for I protest
65
As yet I do not: but, as I can learn,
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He hearkens after prophecies and dreams;
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And from the cross-row plucks the letter G.
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And says a wizard told him that by G
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His issue disinherited should be;
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And, for my name of George begins with G,
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It follows in his thought that I am he.
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These, as I learn, and such like toys as these
73
Have moved his highness to commit me now.
74
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
75
Why, this it is, when men are ruled by women:
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'Tis not the king that sends you to the Tower:
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My Lady Grey his wife, Clarence, 'tis she
78
That tempers him to this extremity.
79
Was it not she and that good man of worship,
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Anthony Woodville, her brother there,
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That made him send Lord Hastings to the Tower,
82
From whence this present day he is deliver'd?
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We are not safe, Clarence; we are not safe.
84
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
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By heaven, I think there's no man is secure
86
But the queen's kindred and night-walking heralds
87
That trudge betwixt the king and Mistress Shore.
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Heard ye not what an humble suppliant
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Lord hastings was to her for his delivery?
90
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
91
Humbly complaining to her deity
92
Got my lord chamberlain his liberty.
93
I'll tell you what; I think it is our way,
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If we will keep in favour with the king,
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To be her men and wear her livery:
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The jealous o'erworn widow and herself,
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Since that our brother dubb'd them gentlewomen.
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Are mighty gossips in this monarchy.
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Sir Robert Brakenbury.
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I beseech your graces both to pardon me;
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His majesty hath straitly given in charge
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That no man shall have private conference,
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Of what degree soever, with his brother.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
105
Even so; an't please your worship, Brakenbury,
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You may partake of any thing we say:
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We speak no treason, man: we say the king
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Is wise and virtuous, and his noble queen
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Well struck in years, fair, and not jealous;
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We say that Shore's wife hath a pretty foot,
111
A cherry lip, a bonny eye, a passing pleasing tongue;
112
And that the queen's kindred are made gentle-folks:
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How say you sir? Can you deny all this?
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Sir Robert Brakenbury.
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With this, my lord, myself have nought to do.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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Naught to do with mistress Shore! I tell thee, fellow,
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He that doth naught with her, excepting one,
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Were best he do it secretly, alone.
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Sir Robert Brakenbury.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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Her husband, knave: wouldst thou betray me?
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Sir Robert Brakenbury.
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I beseech your grace to pardon me, and withal
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Forbear your conference with the noble duke.
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George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
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We know thy charge, Brakenbury, and will obey.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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We are the queen's abjects, and must obey.
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Brother, farewell: I will unto the king;
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And whatsoever you will employ me in,
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Were it to call King Edward's widow sister,
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I will perform it to enfranchise you.
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Meantime, this deep disgrace in brotherhood
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Touches me deeper than you can imagine.
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George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
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I know it pleaseth neither of us well.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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Well, your imprisonment shall not be long;
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Meantime, have patience.
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George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
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I must perforce. Farewell.
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[Exeunt CLARENCE, BRAKENBURY, and Guard]
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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Go, tread the path that thou shalt ne'er return.
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Simple, plain Clarence! I do love thee so,
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That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven,
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If heaven will take the present at our hands.
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But who comes here? the new-deliver'd Hastings?
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Good time of day unto my gracious lord!
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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As much unto my good lord chamberlain!
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Well are you welcome to the open air.
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How hath your lordship brook'd imprisonment?
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With patience, noble lord, as prisoners must:
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But I shall live, my lord, to give them thanks
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That were the cause of my imprisonment.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
163
No doubt, no doubt; and so shall Clarence too;
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For they that were your enemies are his,
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And have prevail'd as much on him as you.
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More pity that the eagle should be mew'd,
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While kites and buzzards prey at liberty.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
172
No news so bad abroad as this at home;
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The King is sickly, weak and melancholy,
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And his physicians fear him mightily.
175
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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Now, by Saint Paul, this news is bad indeed.
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O, he hath kept an evil diet long,
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And overmuch consumed his royal person:
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'Tis very grievous to be thought upon.
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What, is he in his bed?
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
184
Go you before, and I will follow you.
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He cannot live, I hope; and must not die
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Till George be pack'd with post-horse up to heaven.
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I'll in, to urge his hatred more to Clarence,
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With lies well steel'd with weighty arguments;
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And, if I fall not in my deep intent,
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Clarence hath not another day to live:
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Which done, God take King Edward to his mercy,
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And leave the world for me to bustle in!
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For then I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter.
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What though I kill'd her husband and her father?
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The readiest way to make the wench amends
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Is to become her husband and her father:
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The which will I; not all so much for love
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As for another secret close intent,
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By marrying her which I must reach unto.
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But yet I run before my horse to market:
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Clarence still breathes; Edward still lives and reigns:
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When they are gone, then must I count my gains.
1
The same. Another street.
2
[Enter the corpse of KING HENRY the Sixth, Gentlemen] with halberds to guard it; LADY ANNE being the mourner]
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Set down, set down your honourable load,
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If honour may be shrouded in a hearse,
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Whilst I awhile obsequiously lament
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The untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster.
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Poor key-cold figure of a holy king!
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Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster!
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Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood!
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Be it lawful that I invocate thy ghost,
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To hear the lamentations of Poor Anne,
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Wife to thy Edward, to thy slaughter'd son,
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Stabb'd by the selfsame hand that made these wounds!
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Lo, in these windows that let forth thy life,
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I pour the helpless balm of my poor eyes.
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Cursed be the hand that made these fatal holes!
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Cursed be the heart that had the heart to do it!
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Cursed the blood that let this blood from hence!
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More direful hap betide that hated wretch,
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That makes us wretched by the death of thee,
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Than I can wish to adders, spiders, toads,
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Or any creeping venom'd thing that lives!
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If ever he have child, abortive be it,
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Prodigious, and untimely brought to light,
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Whose ugly and unnatural aspect
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May fright the hopeful mother at the view;
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And that be heir to his unhappiness!
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If ever he have wife, let her he made
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A miserable by the death of him
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As I am made by my poor lord and thee!
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Come, now towards Chertsey with your holy load,
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Taken from Paul's to be interred there;
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And still, as you are weary of the weight,
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Rest you, whiles I lament King Henry's corse.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
38
Stay, you that bear the corse, and set it down.
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What black magician conjures up this fiend,
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To stop devoted charitable deeds?
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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Villains, set down the corse; or, by Saint Paul,
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I'll make a corse of him that disobeys.
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My lord, stand back, and let the coffin pass.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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Unmanner'd dog! stand thou, when I command:
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Advance thy halbert higher than my breast,
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Or, by Saint Paul, I'll strike thee to my foot,
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And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness.
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What, do you tremble? are you all afraid?
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Alas, I blame you not; for you are mortal,
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And mortal eyes cannot endure the devil.
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Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell!
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Thou hadst but power over his mortal body,
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His soul thou canst not have; therefore be gone.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
60
Sweet saint, for charity, be not so curst.
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Foul devil, for God's sake, hence, and trouble us not;
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For thou hast made the happy earth thy hell,
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Fill'd it with cursing cries and deep exclaims.
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If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds,
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Behold this pattern of thy butcheries.
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O, gentlemen, see, see! dead Henry's wounds
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Open their congeal'd mouths and bleed afresh!
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Blush, Blush, thou lump of foul deformity;
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For 'tis thy presence that exhales this blood
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From cold and empty veins, where no blood dwells;
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Thy deed, inhuman and unnatural,
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Provokes this deluge most unnatural.
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O God, which this blood madest, revenge his death!
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O earth, which this blood drink'st revenge his death!
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Either heaven with lightning strike the
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Or earth, gape open wide and eat him quick,
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As thou dost swallow up this good king's blood
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Which his hell-govern'd arm hath butchered!
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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Lady, you know no rules of charity,
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Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses.
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Villain, thou know'st no law of God nor man:
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No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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But I know none, and therefore am no beast.
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O wonderful, when devils tell the truth!
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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More wonderful, when angels are so angry.
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Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman,
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Of these supposed-evils, to give me leave,
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By circumstance, but to acquit myself.
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Vouchsafe, defused infection of a man,
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For these known evils, but to give me leave,
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By circumstance, to curse thy cursed self.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
101
Fairer than tongue can name thee, let me have
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Some patient leisure to excuse myself.
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Fouler than heart can think thee, thou canst make
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No excuse current, but to hang thyself.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
107
By such despair, I should accuse myself.
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And, by despairing, shouldst thou stand excused;
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For doing worthy vengeance on thyself,
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Which didst unworthy slaughter upon others.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
113
Say that I slew them not?
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Why, then they are not dead:
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But dead they are, and devilish slave, by thee.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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I did not kill your husband.
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Why, then he is alive.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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Nay, he is dead; and slain by Edward's hand.
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In thy foul throat thou liest: Queen Margaret saw
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Thy murderous falchion smoking in his blood;
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The which thou once didst bend against her breast,
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But that thy brothers beat aside the point.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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I was provoked by her slanderous tongue,
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which laid their guilt upon my guiltless shoulders.
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Thou wast provoked by thy bloody mind.
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Which never dreamt on aught but butcheries:
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Didst thou not kill this king?
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
138
Dost grant me, hedgehog? then, God grant me too
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Thou mayst be damned for that wicked deed!
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O, he was gentle, mild, and virtuous!
141
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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The fitter for the King of heaven, that hath him.
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He is in heaven, where thou shalt never come.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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Let him thank me, that holp to send him thither;
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For he was fitter for that place than earth.
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And thou unfit for any place but hell.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
151
Yes, one place else, if you will hear me name it.
154
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
157
I'll rest betide the chamber where thou liest!
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
159
So will it, madam till I lie with you.
162
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
163
I know so. But, gentle Lady Anne,
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To leave this keen encounter of our wits,
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And fall somewhat into a slower method,
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Is not the causer of the timeless deaths
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Of these Plantagenets, Henry and Edward,
168
As blameful as the executioner?
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Thou art the cause, and most accursed effect.
171
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
172
Your beauty was the cause of that effect;
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Your beauty: which did haunt me in my sleep
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To undertake the death of all the world,
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So I might live one hour in your sweet bosom.
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If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide,
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These nails should rend that beauty from my cheeks.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
180
These eyes could never endure sweet beauty's wreck;
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You should not blemish it, if I stood by:
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As all the world is cheered by the sun,
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So I by that; it is my day, my life.
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Black night o'ershade thy day, and death thy life!
186
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
187
Curse not thyself, fair creature thou art both.
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I would I were, to be revenged on thee.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
191
It is a quarrel most unnatural,
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To be revenged on him that loveth you.
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It is a quarrel just and reasonable,
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To be revenged on him that slew my husband.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
197
He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband,
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Did it to help thee to a better husband.
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His better doth not breathe upon the earth.
201
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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He lives that loves thee better than he could.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
209
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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The selfsame name, but one of better nature.
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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[She spitteth at him]
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Why dost thou spit at me?
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Would it were mortal poison, for thy sake!
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Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
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Never came poison from so sweet a place.
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Never hung poison on a fouler toad.
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Out of my sight! thou dost infect my eyes.
224
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
225
Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected mine.
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Would they were basilisks, to strike thee dead!
228
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
229
I would they were, that I might die at once;
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For now they kill me with a living death.
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Those eyes of thine from mine have drawn salt tears,
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Shamed their aspect with store of childish drops:
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These eyes that never shed remorseful tear,
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No, when my father York and Edward wept,
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To hear the piteous moan that Rutland made
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When black-faced Clifford shook his sword at him;
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Nor when thy warlike father, like a child,
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Told the sad story of my father's death,
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And twenty times made pause to sob and weep,
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That all the standers-by had wet their cheeks
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Like trees bedash'd with rain: in that sad time
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My manly eyes did scorn an humble tear;
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And what these sorrows could not thence exhale,
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Thy beauty hath, and made them blind with weeping.
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I never sued to friend nor enemy;
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My tongue could never learn sweet smoothing word;
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But now thy beauty is proposed my fee,
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My proud heart sues, and prompts my tongue to speak.
249
[She looks scornfully at him]
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Teach not thy lips such scorn, for they were made
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For kissing, lady, not for such contempt.
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If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive,
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Lo, here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword;
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Which if thou please to hide in this true bosom.
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And let the soul forth that adoreth thee,
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I lay it naked to the deadly stroke,
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And humbly beg the death upon my knee.
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[He lays his breast open: she offers at it with his sword]
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Nay, do not pause; for I did kill King Henry,
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But 'twas thy beauty that provoked me.
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Nay, now dispatch; 'twas I that stabb'd young Edward,
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But 'twas thy heavenly face that set me on.
263
[Here she lets fall the sword]
264
Take up the sword again, or take up me.
266
Arise, dissembler: though I wish thy death,
267
I will not be the executioner.
268
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
269
Then bid me kill myself, and I will do it.
272
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
273
Tush, that was in thy rage:
274
Speak it again, and, even with the word,
275
That hand, which, for thy love, did kill thy love,
276
Shall, for thy love, kill a far truer love;
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To both their deaths thou shalt be accessary.
279
I would I knew thy heart.
280
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
281
'Tis figured in my tongue.
283
I fear me both are false.
284
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
285
Then never man was true.
287
Well, well, put up your sword.
288
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
289
Say, then, my peace is made.
291
That shall you know hereafter.
292
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
293
But shall I live in hope?
295
All men, I hope, live so.
296
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
297
Vouchsafe to wear this ring.
299
To take is not to give.
300
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
301
Look, how this ring encompasseth finger.
302
Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart;
303
Wear both of them, for both of them are thine.
304
And if thy poor devoted suppliant may
305
But beg one favour at thy gracious hand,
306
Thou dost confirm his happiness for ever.
309
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
310
That it would please thee leave these sad designs
311
To him that hath more cause to be a mourner,
312
And presently repair to Crosby Place;
313
Where, after I have solemnly interr'd
314
At Chertsey monastery this noble king,
315
And wet his grave with my repentant tears,
316
I will with all expedient duty see you:
317
For divers unknown reasons. I beseech you,
320
With all my heart; and much it joys me too,
321
To see you are become so penitent.
322
Tressel and Berkeley, go along with me.
323
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
326
'Tis more than you deserve;
327
But since you teach me how to flatter you,
328
Imagine I have said farewell already.
329
[Exeunt LADY ANNE, TRESSEL, and BERKELEY]
330
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
331
Sirs, take up the corse.
333
Towards Chertsey, noble lord?
334
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
335
No, to White-Friars; there attend my coining.
336
[Exeunt all but GLOUCESTER]
337
Was ever woman in this humour woo'd?
338
Was ever woman in this humour won?
339
I'll have her; but I will not keep her long.
340
What! I, that kill'd her husband and his father,
341
To take her in her heart's extremest hate,
342
With curses in her mouth, tears in her eyes,
343
The bleeding witness of her hatred by;
344
Having God, her conscience, and these bars
346
And I nothing to back my suit at all,
347
But the plain devil and dissembling looks,
348
And yet to win her, all the world to nothing!
350
Hath she forgot already that brave prince,
351
Edward, her lord, whom I, some three months since,
352
Stabb'd in my angry mood at Tewksbury?
353
A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman,
354
Framed in the prodigality of nature,
355
Young, valiant, wise, and, no doubt, right royal,
356
The spacious world cannot again afford
357
And will she yet debase her eyes on me,
358
That cropp'd the golden prime of this sweet prince,
359
And made her widow to a woful bed?
360
On me, whose all not equals Edward's moiety?
361
On me, that halt and am unshapen thus?
362
My dukedom to a beggarly denier,
363
I do mistake my person all this while:
364
Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot,
365
Myself to be a marvellous proper man.
366
I'll be at charges for a looking-glass,
367
And entertain some score or two of tailors,
368
To study fashions to adorn my body:
369
Since I am crept in favour with myself,
370
Will maintain it with some little cost.
371
But first I'll turn yon fellow in his grave;
372
And then return lamenting to my love.
373
Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass,
374
That I may see my shadow as I pass.
2
[Enter QUEEN ELIZABETH, RIVERS, and GREY]
4
Have patience, madam: there's no doubt his majesty
5
Will soon recover his accustom'd health.
7
In that you brook it in, it makes him worse:
8
Therefore, for God's sake, entertain good comfort,
9
And cheer his grace with quick and merry words.
11
If he were dead, what would betide of me?
13
No other harm but loss of such a lord.
15
The loss of such a lord includes all harm.
17
The heavens have bless'd you with a goodly son,
18
To be your comforter when he is gone.
20
Oh, he is young and his minority
21
Is put unto the trust of Richard Gloucester,
22
A man that loves not me, nor none of you.
24
Is it concluded that he shall be protector?
26
It is determined, not concluded yet:
27
But so it must be, if the king miscarry.
28
[Enter BUCKINGHAM and DERBY]
30
Here come the lords of Buckingham and Derby.
32
Good time of day unto your royal grace!
34
God make your majesty joyful as you have been!
36
The Countess Richmond, good my Lord of Derby.
37
To your good prayers will scarcely say amen.
38
Yet, Derby, notwithstanding she's your wife,
39
And loves not me, be you, good lord, assured
40
I hate not you for her proud arrogance.
42
I do beseech you, either not believe
43
The envious slanders of her false accusers;
44
Or, if she be accused in true report,
45
Bear with her weakness, which, I think proceeds
46
From wayward sickness, and no grounded malice.
48
Saw you the king to-day, my Lord of Derby?
50
But now the Duke of Buckingham and I
51
Are come from visiting his majesty.
53
What likelihood of his amendment, lords?
55
Madam, good hope; his grace speaks cheerfully.
57
God grant him health! Did you confer with him?
59
Madam, we did: he desires to make atonement
60
Betwixt the Duke of Gloucester and your brothers,
61
And betwixt them and my lord chamberlain;
62
And sent to warn them to his royal presence.
64
Would all were well! but that will never be
65
I fear our happiness is at the highest.
66
[Enter GLOUCESTER, HASTINGS, and DORSET]
67
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
68
They do me wrong, and I will not endure it:
69
Who are they that complain unto the king,
70
That I, forsooth, am stern, and love them not?
71
By holy Paul, they love his grace but lightly
72
That fill his ears with such dissentious rumours.
73
Because I cannot flatter and speak fair,
74
Smile in men's faces, smooth, deceive and cog,
75
Duck with French nods and apish courtesy,
76
I must be held a rancorous enemy.
77
Cannot a plain man live and think no harm,
78
But thus his simple truth must be abused
79
By silken, sly, insinuating Jacks?
81
To whom in all this presence speaks your grace?
82
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
83
To thee, that hast nor honesty nor grace.
84
When have I injured thee? when done thee wrong?
85
Or thee? or thee? or any of your faction?
86
A plague upon you all! His royal person,—
87
Whom God preserve better than you would wish!—
88
Cannot be quiet scarce a breathing-while,
89
But you must trouble him with lewd complaints.
91
Brother of Gloucester, you mistake the matter.
92
The king, of his own royal disposition,
93
And not provoked by any suitor else;
94
Aiming, belike, at your interior hatred,
95
Which in your outward actions shows itself
96
Against my kindred, brothers, and myself,
97
Makes him to send; that thereby he may gather
98
The ground of your ill-will, and so remove it.
99
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
100
I cannot tell: the world is grown so bad,
101
That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch:
102
Since every Jack became a gentleman
103
There's many a gentle person made a Jack.
105
Come, come, we know your meaning, brother
107
You envy my advancement and my friends':
108
God grant we never may have need of you!
109
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
110
Meantime, God grants that we have need of you:
111
Your brother is imprison'd by your means,
112
Myself disgraced, and the nobility
113
Held in contempt; whilst many fair promotions
114
Are daily given to ennoble those
115
That scarce, some two days since, were worth a noble.
117
By Him that raised me to this careful height
118
From that contented hap which I enjoy'd,
119
I never did incense his majesty
120
Against the Duke of Clarence, but have been
121
An earnest advocate to plead for him.
122
My lord, you do me shameful injury,
123
Falsely to draw me in these vile suspects.
124
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
125
You may deny that you were not the cause
126
Of my Lord Hastings' late imprisonment.
128
She may, my lord, for—
129
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
130
She may, Lord Rivers! why, who knows not so?
131
She may do more, sir, than denying that:
132
She may help you to many fair preferments,
133
And then deny her aiding hand therein,
134
And lay those honours on your high deserts.
135
What may she not? She may, yea, marry, may she—
137
What, marry, may she?
138
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
139
What, marry, may she! marry with a king,
140
A bachelor, a handsome stripling too:
141
I wis your grandam had a worser match.
143
My Lord of Gloucester, I have too long borne
144
Your blunt upbraidings and your bitter scoffs:
145
By heaven, I will acquaint his majesty
146
With those gross taunts I often have endured.
147
I had rather be a country servant-maid
148
Than a great queen, with this condition,
149
To be thus taunted, scorn'd, and baited at:
150
[Enter QUEEN MARGARET, behind]
151
Small joy have I in being England's queen.
153
And lessen'd be that small, God, I beseech thee!
154
Thy honour, state and seat is due to me.
155
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
156
What! threat you me with telling of the king?
157
Tell him, and spare not: look, what I have said
158
I will avouch in presence of the king:
159
I dare adventure to be sent to the Tower.
160
'Tis time to speak; my pains are quite forgot.
162
Out, devil! I remember them too well:
163
Thou slewest my husband Henry in the Tower,
164
And Edward, my poor son, at Tewksbury.
165
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
166
Ere you were queen, yea, or your husband king,
167
I was a pack-horse in his great affairs;
168
A weeder-out of his proud adversaries,
169
A liberal rewarder of his friends:
170
To royalize his blood I spilt mine own.
172
Yea, and much better blood than his or thine.
173
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
174
In all which time you and your husband Grey
175
Were factious for the house of Lancaster;
176
And, Rivers, so were you. Was not your husband
177
In Margaret's battle at Saint Alban's slain?
178
Let me put in your minds, if you forget,
179
What you have been ere now, and what you are;
180
Withal, what I have been, and what I am.
182
A murderous villain, and so still thou art.
183
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
184
Poor Clarence did forsake his father, Warwick;
185
Yea, and forswore himself,—which Jesu pardon!—
188
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
189
To fight on Edward's party for the crown;
190
And for his meed, poor lord, he is mew'd up.
191
I would to God my heart were flint, like Edward's;
192
Or Edward's soft and pitiful, like mine
193
I am too childish-foolish for this world.
195
Hie thee to hell for shame, and leave the world,
196
Thou cacodemon! there thy kingdom is.
198
My Lord of Gloucester, in those busy days
199
Which here you urge to prove us enemies,
200
We follow'd then our lord, our lawful king:
201
So should we you, if you should be our king.
202
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
203
If I should be! I had rather be a pedlar:
204
Far be it from my heart, the thought of it!
206
As little joy, my lord, as you suppose
207
You should enjoy, were you this country's king,
208
As little joy may you suppose in me.
209
That I enjoy, being the queen thereof.
211
A little joy enjoys the queen thereof;
212
For I am she, and altogether joyless.
213
I can no longer hold me patient.
215
Hear me, you wrangling pirates, that fall out
216
In sharing that which you have pill'd from me!
217
Which of you trembles not that looks on me?
218
If not, that, I being queen, you bow like subjects,
219
Yet that, by you deposed, you quake like rebels?
220
O gentle villain, do not turn away!
221
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
222
Foul wrinkled witch, what makest thou in my sight?
224
But repetition of what thou hast marr'd;
225
That will I make before I let thee go.
226
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
227
Wert thou not banished on pain of death?
229
I was; but I do find more pain in banishment
230
Than death can yield me here by my abode.
231
A husband and a son thou owest to me;
232
And thou a kingdom; all of you allegiance:
233
The sorrow that I have, by right is yours,
234
And all the pleasures you usurp are mine.
235
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
236
The curse my noble father laid on thee,
237
When thou didst crown his warlike brows with paper
238
And with thy scorns drew'st rivers from his eyes,
239
And then, to dry them, gavest the duke a clout
240
Steep'd in the faultless blood of pretty Rutland—
241
His curses, then from bitterness of soul
242
Denounced against thee, are all fall'n upon thee;
243
And God, not we, hath plagued thy bloody deed.
245
So just is God, to right the innocent.
247
O, 'twas the foulest deed to slay that babe,
248
And the most merciless that e'er was heard of!
250
Tyrants themselves wept when it was reported.
252
No man but prophesied revenge for it.
254
Northumberland, then present, wept to see it.
256
What were you snarling all before I came,
257
Ready to catch each other by the throat,
258
And turn you all your hatred now on me?
259
Did York's dread curse prevail so much with heaven?
260
That Henry's death, my lovely Edward's death,
261
Their kingdom's loss, my woful banishment,
262
Could all but answer for that peevish brat?
263
Can curses pierce the clouds and enter heaven?
264
Why, then, give way, dull clouds, to my quick curses!
265
If not by war, by surfeit die your king,
266
As ours by murder, to make him a king!
267
Edward thy son, which now is Prince of Wales,
268
For Edward my son, which was Prince of Wales,
269
Die in his youth by like untimely violence!
270
Thyself a queen, for me that was a queen,
271
Outlive thy glory, like my wretched self!
272
Long mayst thou live to wail thy children's loss;
273
And see another, as I see thee now,
274
Deck'd in thy rights, as thou art stall'd in mine!
275
Long die thy happy days before thy death;
276
And, after many lengthen'd hours of grief,
277
Die neither mother, wife, nor England's queen!
278
Rivers and Dorset, you were standers by,
279
And so wast thou, Lord Hastings, when my son
280
Was stabb'd with bloody daggers: God, I pray him,
281
That none of you may live your natural age,
282
But by some unlook'd accident cut off!
283
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
284
Have done thy charm, thou hateful wither'd hag!
286
And leave out thee? stay, dog, for thou shalt hear me.
287
If heaven have any grievous plague in store
288
Exceeding those that I can wish upon thee,
289
O, let them keep it till thy sins be ripe,
290
And then hurl down their indignation
291
On thee, the troubler of the poor world's peace!
292
The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul!
293
Thy friends suspect for traitors while thou livest,
294
And take deep traitors for thy dearest friends!
295
No sleep close up that deadly eye of thine,
296
Unless it be whilst some tormenting dream
297
Affrights thee with a hell of ugly devils!
298
Thou elvish-mark'd, abortive, rooting hog!
299
Thou that wast seal'd in thy nativity
300
The slave of nature and the son of hell!
301
Thou slander of thy mother's heavy womb!
302
Thou loathed issue of thy father's loins!
303
Thou rag of honour! thou detested—
304
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
308
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
312
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
313
I cry thee mercy then, for I had thought
314
That thou hadst call'd me all these bitter names.
316
Why, so I did; but look'd for no reply.
317
O, let me make the period to my curse!
318
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
319
'Tis done by me, and ends in 'Margaret.'
321
Thus have you breathed your curse against yourself.
323
Poor painted queen, vain flourish of my fortune!
324
Why strew'st thou sugar on that bottled spider,
325
Whose deadly web ensnareth thee about?
326
Fool, fool! thou whet'st a knife to kill thyself.
327
The time will come when thou shalt wish for me
328
To help thee curse that poisonous bunchback'd toad.
330
False-boding woman, end thy frantic curse,
331
Lest to thy harm thou move our patience.
333
Foul shame upon you! you have all moved mine.
335
Were you well served, you would be taught your duty.
337
To serve me well, you all should do me duty,
338
Teach me to be your queen, and you my subjects:
339
O, serve me well, and teach yourselves that duty!
341
Dispute not with her; she is lunatic.
343
Peace, master marquess, you are malapert:
344
Your fire-new stamp of honour is scarce current.
345
O, that your young nobility could judge
346
What 'twere to lose it, and be miserable!
347
They that stand high have many blasts to shake them;
348
And if they fall, they dash themselves to pieces.
349
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
350
Good counsel, marry: learn it, learn it, marquess.
352
It toucheth you, my lord, as much as me.
353
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
354
Yea, and much more: but I was born so high,
355
Our aery buildeth in the cedar's top,
356
And dallies with the wind and scorns the sun.
358
And turns the sun to shade; alas! alas!
359
Witness my son, now in the shade of death;
360
Whose bright out-shining beams thy cloudy wrath
361
Hath in eternal darkness folded up.
362
Your aery buildeth in our aery's nest.
363
O God, that seest it, do not suffer it!
364
As it was won with blood, lost be it so!
366
Have done! for shame, if not for charity.
368
Urge neither charity nor shame to me:
369
Uncharitably with me have you dealt,
370
And shamefully by you my hopes are butcher'd.
371
My charity is outrage, life my shame
372
And in that shame still live my sorrow's rage.
374
Have done, have done.
376
O princely Buckingham I'll kiss thy hand,
377
In sign of league and amity with thee:
378
Now fair befal thee and thy noble house!
379
Thy garments are not spotted with our blood,
380
Nor thou within the compass of my curse.
382
Nor no one here; for curses never pass
383
The lips of those that breathe them in the air.
385
I'll not believe but they ascend the sky,
386
And there awake God's gentle-sleeping peace.
387
O Buckingham, take heed of yonder dog!
388
Look, when he fawns, he bites; and when he bites,
389
His venom tooth will rankle to the death:
390
Have not to do with him, beware of him;
391
Sin, death, and hell have set their marks on him,
392
And all their ministers attend on him.
393
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
394
What doth she say, my Lord of Buckingham?
396
Nothing that I respect, my gracious lord.
398
What, dost thou scorn me for my gentle counsel?
399
And soothe the devil that I warn thee from?
400
O, but remember this another day,
401
When he shall split thy very heart with sorrow,
402
And say poor Margaret was a prophetess!
403
Live each of you the subjects to his hate,
404
And he to yours, and all of you to God's!
407
My hair doth stand on end to hear her curses.
409
And so doth mine: I muse why she's at liberty.
410
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
411
I cannot blame her: by God's holy mother,
412
She hath had too much wrong; and I repent
413
My part thereof that I have done to her.
415
I never did her any, to my knowledge.
416
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
417
But you have all the vantage of her wrong.
418
I was too hot to do somebody good,
419
That is too cold in thinking of it now.
420
Marry, as for Clarence, he is well repaid,
421
He is frank'd up to fatting for his pains
422
God pardon them that are the cause of it!
424
A virtuous and a Christian-like conclusion,
425
To pray for them that have done scathe to us.
426
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
430
For had I cursed now, I had cursed myself.
433
Madam, his majesty doth call for you,
434
And for your grace; and you, my noble lords.
436
Catesby, we come. Lords, will you go with us?
438
Madam, we will attend your grace.
439
[Exeunt all but GLOUCESTER]
440
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
441
I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl.
442
The secret mischiefs that I set abroach
443
I lay unto the grievous charge of others.
444
Clarence, whom I, indeed, have laid in darkness,
445
I do beweep to many simple gulls
446
Namely, to Hastings, Derby, Buckingham;
447
And say it is the queen and her allies
448
That stir the king against the duke my brother.
449
Now, they believe it; and withal whet me
450
To be revenged on Rivers, Vaughan, Grey:
451
But then I sigh; and, with a piece of scripture,
452
Tell them that God bids us do good for evil:
453
And thus I clothe my naked villany
454
With old odd ends stolen out of holy writ;
455
And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.
456
[Enter two Murderers]
457
But, soft! here come my executioners.
458
How now, my hardy, stout resolved mates!
459
Are you now going to dispatch this deed?
461
We are, my lord; and come to have the warrant
462
That we may be admitted where he is.
463
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
464
Well thought upon; I have it here about me.
466
When you have done, repair to Crosby Place.
467
But, sirs, be sudden in the execution,
468
Withal obdurate, do not hear him plead;
469
For Clarence is well-spoken, and perhaps
470
May move your hearts to pity if you mark him.
473
Fear not, my lord, we will not stand to prate;
474
Talkers are no good doers: be assured
475
We come to use our hands and not our tongues.
476
Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
477
Your eyes drop millstones, when fools' eyes drop tears:
478
I like you, lads; about your business straight;
481
We will, my noble lord.
2
[Enter CLARENCE and BRAKENBURY]
4
Why looks your grace so heavily today?
5
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
6
O, I have pass'd a miserable night,
7
So full of ugly sights, of ghastly dreams,
8
That, as I am a Christian faithful man,
9
I would not spend another such a night,
10
Though 'twere to buy a world of happy days,
11
So full of dismal terror was the time!
12
Sir Robert Brakenbury.
13
What was your dream? I long to hear you tell it.
14
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
15
Methoughts that I had broken from the Tower,
16
And was embark'd to cross to Burgundy;
17
And, in my company, my brother Gloucester;
18
Who from my cabin tempted me to walk
19
Upon the hatches: thence we looked toward England,
20
And cited up a thousand fearful times,
21
During the wars of York and Lancaster
22
That had befall'n us. As we paced along
23
Upon the giddy footing of the hatches,
24
Methought that Gloucester stumbled; and, in falling,
25
Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard,
26
Into the tumbling billows of the main.
27
Lord, Lord! methought, what pain it was to drown!
28
What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears!
29
What ugly sights of death within mine eyes!
30
Methought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks;
31
Ten thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon;
32
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
33
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
34
All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea:
35
Some lay in dead men's skulls; and, in those holes
36
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept,
37
As 'twere in scorn of eyes, reflecting gems,
38
Which woo'd the slimy bottom of the deep,
39
And mock'd the dead bones that lay scatter'd by.
40
Sir Robert Brakenbury.
41
Had you such leisure in the time of death
42
To gaze upon the secrets of the deep?
43
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
44
Methought I had; and often did I strive
45
To yield the ghost: but still the envious flood
46
Kept in my soul, and would not let it forth
47
To seek the empty, vast and wandering air;
48
But smother'd it within my panting bulk,
49
Which almost burst to belch it in the sea.
50
Sir Robert Brakenbury.
51
Awaked you not with this sore agony?
52
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
53
O, no, my dream was lengthen'd after life;
54
O, then began the tempest to my soul,
55
Who pass'd, methought, the melancholy flood,
56
With that grim ferryman which poets write of,
57
Unto the kingdom of perpetual night.
58
The first that there did greet my stranger soul,
59
Was my great father-in-law, renowned Warwick;
60
Who cried aloud, 'What scourge for perjury
61
Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?'
62
And so he vanish'd: then came wandering by
63
A shadow like an angel, with bright hair
64
Dabbled in blood; and he squeak'd out aloud,
65
'Clarence is come; false, fleeting, perjured Clarence,
66
That stabb'd me in the field by Tewksbury;
67
Seize on him, Furies, take him to your torments!'
68
With that, methoughts, a legion of foul fiends
69
Environ'd me about, and howled in mine ears
70
Such hideous cries, that with the very noise
71
I trembling waked, and for a season after
72
Could not believe but that I was in hell,
73
Such terrible impression made the dream.
74
Sir Robert Brakenbury.
75
No marvel, my lord, though it affrighted you;
76
I promise, I am afraid to hear you tell it.
77
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
78
O Brakenbury, I have done those things,
79
Which now bear evidence against my soul,
80
For Edward's sake; and see how he requites me!
81
O God! if my deep prayers cannot appease thee,
82
But thou wilt be avenged on my misdeeds,
83
Yet execute thy wrath in me alone,
84
O, spare my guiltless wife and my poor children!
85
I pray thee, gentle keeper, stay by me;
86
My soul is heavy, and I fain would sleep.
87
Sir Robert Brakenbury.
88
I will, my lord: God give your grace good rest!
90
Sorrow breaks seasons and reposing hours,
91
Makes the night morning, and the noon-tide night.
92
Princes have but their tides for their glories,
93
An outward honour for an inward toil;
94
And, for unfelt imagination,
95
They often feel a world of restless cares:
96
So that, betwixt their tides and low names,
97
There's nothing differs but the outward fame.
98
[Enter the two Murderers]
101
Sir Robert Brakenbury.
102
In God's name what are you, and how came you hither?
104
I would speak with Clarence, and I came hither on my legs.
105
Sir Robert Brakenbury.
106
Yea, are you so brief?
108
O sir, it is better to be brief than tedious. Show
109
him our commission; talk no more.
110
[BRAKENBURY reads it]
111
Sir Robert Brakenbury.
112
I am, in this, commanded to deliver
113
The noble Duke of Clarence to your hands:
114
I will not reason what is meant hereby,
115
Because I will be guiltless of the meaning.
116
Here are the keys, there sits the duke asleep:
117
I'll to the king; and signify to him
118
That thus I have resign'd my charge to you.
120
Do so, it is a point of wisdom: fare you well.
123
What, shall we stab him as he sleeps?
125
No; then he will say 'twas done cowardly, when he wakes.
127
When he wakes! why, fool, he shall never wake till
130
Why, then he will say we stabbed him sleeping.
132
The urging of that word 'judgment' hath bred a kind
135
What, art thou afraid?
137
Not to kill him, having a warrant for it; but to be
138
damned for killing him, from which no warrant can defend us.
140
I thought thou hadst been resolute.
142
So I am, to let him live.
144
Back to the Duke of Gloucester, tell him so.
146
I pray thee, stay a while: I hope my holy humour
147
will change; 'twas wont to hold me but while one
150
How dost thou feel thyself now?
152
'Faith, some certain dregs of conscience are yet
155
Remember our reward, when the deed is done.
157
'Zounds, he dies: I had forgot the reward.
159
Where is thy conscience now?
161
In the Duke of Gloucester's purse.
163
So when he opens his purse to give us our reward,
164
thy conscience flies out.
166
Let it go; there's few or none will entertain it.
168
How if it come to thee again?
170
I'll not meddle with it: it is a dangerous thing: it
171
makes a man a coward: a man cannot steal, but it
172
accuseth him; he cannot swear, but it cheques him;
173
he cannot lie with his neighbour's wife, but it
174
detects him: 'tis a blushing shamefast spirit that
175
mutinies in a man's bosom; it fills one full of
176
obstacles: it made me once restore a purse of gold
177
that I found; it beggars any man that keeps it: it
178
is turned out of all towns and cities for a
179
dangerous thing; and every man that means to live
180
well endeavours to trust to himself and to live
183
'Zounds, it is even now at my elbow, persuading me
184
not to kill the duke.
186
Take the devil in thy mind, and relieve him not: he
187
would insinuate with thee but to make thee sigh.
189
Tut, I am strong-framed, he cannot prevail with me,
192
Spoke like a tail fellow that respects his
193
reputation. Come, shall we to this gear?
195
Take him over the costard with the hilts of thy
196
sword, and then we will chop him in the malmsey-butt
199
O excellent devise! make a sop of him.
201
Hark! he stirs: shall I strike?
203
No, first let's reason with him.
204
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
205
Where art thou, keeper? give me a cup of wine.
207
You shall have wine enough, my lord, anon.
208
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
209
In God's name, what art thou?
212
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
213
But not, as I am, royal.
215
Nor you, as we are, loyal.
216
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
217
Thy voice is thunder, but thy looks are humble.
219
My voice is now the king's, my looks mine own.
220
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
221
How darkly and how deadly dost thou speak!
222
Your eyes do menace me: why look you pale?
223
Who sent you hither? Wherefore do you come?
226
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
230
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
231
You scarcely have the hearts to tell me so,
232
And therefore cannot have the hearts to do it.
233
Wherein, my friends, have I offended you?
235
Offended us you have not, but the king.
236
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
237
I shall be reconciled to him again.
239
Never, my lord; therefore prepare to die.
240
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
241
Are you call'd forth from out a world of men
242
To slay the innocent? What is my offence?
243
Where are the evidence that do accuse me?
244
What lawful quest have given their verdict up
245
Unto the frowning judge? or who pronounced
246
The bitter sentence of poor Clarence' death?
247
Before I be convict by course of law,
248
To threaten me with death is most unlawful.
249
I charge you, as you hope to have redemption
250
By Christ's dear blood shed for our grievous sins,
251
That you depart and lay no hands on me
252
The deed you undertake is damnable.
254
What we will do, we do upon command.
256
And he that hath commanded is the king.
257
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
258
Erroneous vassal! the great King of kings
259
Hath in the tables of his law commanded
260
That thou shalt do no murder: and wilt thou, then,
261
Spurn at his edict and fulfil a man's?
262
Take heed; for he holds vengeance in his hands,
263
To hurl upon their heads that break his law.
265
And that same vengeance doth he hurl on thee,
266
For false forswearing and for murder too:
267
Thou didst receive the holy sacrament,
268
To fight in quarrel of the house of Lancaster.
270
And, like a traitor to the name of God,
271
Didst break that vow; and with thy treacherous blade
272
Unrip'dst the bowels of thy sovereign's son.
274
Whom thou wert sworn to cherish and defend.
276
How canst thou urge God's dreadful law to us,
277
When thou hast broke it in so dear degree?
278
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
279
Alas! for whose sake did I that ill deed?
280
For Edward, for my brother, for his sake: Why, sirs,
281
He sends ye not to murder me for this
282
For in this sin he is as deep as I.
283
If God will be revenged for this deed.
284
O, know you yet, he doth it publicly,
285
Take not the quarrel from his powerful arm;
286
He needs no indirect nor lawless course
287
To cut off those that have offended him.
289
Who made thee, then, a bloody minister,
290
When gallant-springing brave Plantagenet,
291
That princely novice, was struck dead by thee?
292
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
293
My brother's love, the devil, and my rage.
295
Thy brother's love, our duty, and thy fault,
296
Provoke us hither now to slaughter thee.
297
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
298
Oh, if you love my brother, hate not me;
299
I am his brother, and I love him well.
300
If you be hired for meed, go back again,
301
And I will send you to my brother Gloucester,
302
Who shall reward you better for my life
303
Than Edward will for tidings of my death.
305
You are deceived, your brother Gloucester hates you.
306
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
307
O, no, he loves me, and he holds me dear:
308
Go you to him from me.
311
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
312
Tell him, when that our princely father York
313
Bless'd his three sons with his victorious arm,
314
And charged us from his soul to love each other,
315
He little thought of this divided friendship:
316
Bid Gloucester think of this, and he will weep.
318
Ay, millstones; as be lesson'd us to weep.
319
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
320
O, do not slander him, for he is kind.
323
As snow in harvest. Thou deceivest thyself:
324
'Tis he that sent us hither now to slaughter thee.
325
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
326
It cannot be; for when I parted with him,
327
He hugg'd me in his arms, and swore, with sobs,
328
That he would labour my delivery.
330
Why, so he doth, now he delivers thee
331
From this world's thraldom to the joys of heaven.
333
Make peace with God, for you must die, my lord.
334
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
335
Hast thou that holy feeling in thy soul,
336
To counsel me to make my peace with God,
337
And art thou yet to thy own soul so blind,
338
That thou wilt war with God by murdering me?
339
Ah, sirs, consider, he that set you on
340
To do this deed will hate you for the deed.
343
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
344
Relent, and save your souls.
346
Relent! 'tis cowardly and womanish.
347
George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence).
348
Not to relent is beastly, savage, devilish.
349
Which of you, if you were a prince's son,
350
Being pent from liberty, as I am now,
351
if two such murderers as yourselves came to you,
352
Would not entreat for life?
353
My friend, I spy some pity in thy looks:
354
O, if thine eye be not a flatterer,
355
Come thou on my side, and entreat for me,
356
As you would beg, were you in my distress
357
A begging prince what beggar pities not?
359
Look behind you, my lord.
361
Take that, and that: if all this will not do,
363
I'll drown you in the malmsey-butt within.
364
[Exit, with the body]
366
A bloody deed, and desperately dispatch'd!
367
How fain, like Pilate, would I wash my hands
368
Of this most grievous guilty murder done!
369
[Re-enter First Murderer]
371
How now! what mean'st thou, that thou help'st me not?
372
By heavens, the duke shall know how slack thou art!
374
I would he knew that I had saved his brother!
375
Take thou the fee, and tell him what I say;
376
For I repent me that the duke is slain.
379
So do not I: go, coward as thou art.
380
Now must I hide his body in some hole,
381
Until the duke take order for his burial:
382
And when I have my meed, I must away;
383
For this will out, and here I must not stay.
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