honour.

[heart. Hast. I thank thee, good sir John, with all my I am in your debt for your last exercise; Come the next Sabbath, and I will content you. Enter Buckingham. [berlain? Buck. What, talking with a priest, lord chamYour friends at Pomfret, they do need the Priest; Your honour hath no shriving work in hand. Hast. 'Good faith, and when I met this holy The men you talk of came into my mind. [man, What, go you toward the Tower? [there:

Buck. I do, my lord; but long I cannot stay I shall return before your lordship thence.

Hast. Nay, like enough, for I stay dinner there. Buck. And supper too, although thou know'st it not. [aside. Come, will you go?

Hast. I'll wait upon your lordship. [exeunt.

SCENE III. POMFRET. BEFORE THE CASTLE.

Enter Ratcliff with a guard, conducting Rivers,
Grey, and Vaughan, to execution.
Rat. Come, bring forth the prisoners. [this,-
Riv. Sir Richard Ratcliff, let me tell thee
To-day, shalt thou behold a subject die,
For truth, for duty, and for loyalty. [of you!
Grey. God keep the prince from all the pack
A knot you are of damned blood-suckers.
Vaugh. You live, that shall cry woe for this
hereafter.

[prison,

Rat. Despatch; the limit of your lives is out. Riv. O, Pomfret, Pomfret! O, thou bloody Fatal and ominous to noble peers! Within the guilty closure of thy walls, Richard the Second here was hack'd to death; And, for more slander to thy dismal seat, We give thee up our guiltless blood to drink. Grey. Now, Margaret's curse is fallen upon our heads,

When she exclaim'd on Hastings, you, and I, For standing by when Richard stabb'd her son. Riv. Then curs'd she Hastings, then curs'd she Buckingham.

Then curs'd she Richard:

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 bloods,
Which, as thou know'st, unjustly must be spilt!
Rat. Make haste, the hour of death is expiate.
Riv. Come, Gray,-come, Vaughan, let u
here embrace:

Farewell, until we meet again in heaven. [exeunt.

SCENE IV. LONDON. A ROOM IN THE TOWER.

Buckingham, Stanley, Hastings, the Bishop of
Ely, Catesby, Lovel, and others, sitting at a
table: Officers of the Council attending.
Hast. Now, noble peers, the cause why we
Is to determine of the coronation: Jare met
In God's name, speak, when is the royal day?
Buck. Are all things ready for that royal time?
Stan. They are; and wants but nomination.
Ely. To-morrow, then, I judge a happy day.
Buck. Who knows the lord protector's mind
herein ?

Who is most inward with the noble duke?
Ely. Your grace, we think, should soones:

know his mind.
[hearts-
Buck. We know each other's faces; for our
He knows no more of mine, than I of yours:
Nor I, of his, my lord, than you of mine:--
Lord Hastings, you and he are near in love.
Hast. I thank his grace, I know he loves me
But, for his purpose in the coronation, [well;
I have not sounded him, nor he deliver'd
His gracious pleasure any way therein :
But you, my noble lord, may name the time;
And in the duke's behalf I'll give my voice,
Which, I presume, he'll take in gentle part.
Enter Gloster.

[self.

Ely. In happy time, here comes the duke himGlo. My noble lords and cousins, all, good mor. I have been long a sleeper; but, I trust, [row. My absence doth neglect no great design, [cluded. Which by my presence might have been conBuck. Had you not come upon your cue, my

lord, [part.William lord Hastings had pronounc'd your I mean, your voice,-for crowning of the king.

Glo. Than my lord Hastings, no man might

be bolder;

His lordship knows me well, and loves me well.— My lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn, I saw good strawberries in your garden there; I do beseech you, send for some of them. Ely. Marry, and will, my lord, with all my heart. exit Ely.

Glo. Cousin of Buckingham, a word with you. [takes him aside. Catesby hath sounded Hastings in our business; And finds the testy gentleman so hot, That he will lose his head, ere give consent His master's child, as worshipfully he terms it, Shall lose the royalty of England's throne. Buck. Withdraw yourself awhile, I'll go with

you. [exeunt Gloster and Buckingham. Stan. We have not yet set down this day of triumph.

| To-morrow, in my judgment, is too sudden; For I myself am not so well provided,

As else I would be, were the lay prolong'd.

Re-enter Bishop of Ely. Ely. Where is my lord protector? I have sent For these strawberries. [this morning; Hast. His grace looks cheerfully and smooth There's some conceit or other like's him well, When he doth bid good morrow with such spirit. I think, there's ne'er a man in Christendom Can lesser hide his love, or hate, than he; For by his face straight shall you know his heart. Stan. What of his heart perceive you in his By any likelihood he showed to-day? [face, Hast. Marry, that with no man here he is offended;

For, were he, he had shown it in his looks.

Re-enter Gloster and Buckingham.

Glo. I pray you all, tell me what they deserve, That do conspire my death with devilish plots Of damned witchcraft; and that have prevail'd Upon my body with their hellish charms?

Hast. The tender love I bear your grace, my

lord,

Makes me most forward in this noble presence
To doom the offenders: whosoe'er they be,
I say, my lord, they have deserved death. [evil.
Glo. Then be your eyes the witness of their
Look how I am bewitch'd; behold mine arm
Is, like a blasted sapling, wither'd up:
And this is Edward's wife, that monstrous witch,
Consorted with that harlot, strumpet Shore,
That by their witchcraft thus have mark'd me.
Hast. If they have done this deed, my noble
lord,—
[pet,

Glo. If! thou protector of this damned strum-
Talk'st thou to 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.-
Lovel and Catesby, look, that it be done;
The rest that love me, rise, and follow me,
[exeunt Council, with Gloster and Buckingham.
Hast. Woe, woe, for England! not a whit for
For I, too fond, might have prevented this: [me;
Stanley did dream, the boar did rase his helm ;
But I disdain'd it, and did scorn to fly. [stumble,
Three times to-day my foot-cloth horse did
And startled, when he look'd upon the Tower,
As loth to bear me to the slaughter-house
O, now I want the priest that spake to me:
I now repent I told the pursuivant,
As too triumphing, how mine enemies
To-day 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.
Cate. Despatch, my lord, the duke would be at
dinner;

Make a short shrift, he longs to see your head.

Hast. O momentary grace of mortal men, Which we more hunt for than the grace of God! Who builds his hope in air of your fair looks, Lives like a drunken sailor on the mast; Ready, with every nod, to tumble down Into the fatal bowels of the deep.

[exclaim.

Lov. Come, come, despatch; 'tis bootless to Hast. O, bloody Richard!-miserable England! I prophecy the fearful'st time to thee, That ever wretched age hath look'd upon.—

SCENE V. THE SAME. THE TOWER WALLS.

Enter Gloster and Buckingham, in rusty armour, marvellous ill-favoured.

Glo. Come, cousin, canst thou quake and change thy colour?

Murder thy breath in middle of a word,—
And then again begin, and stop again,
As if thou wert distraught, and mad with terror.
Buck. Tut, I can counterfeit the deep tragedian;
Speak, and look back, and pry on every side,
Tremble and start at wagging of a straw,
Intending deep suspicion: ghastly looks
Are at my service, like enforced smiles;
And both are ready in their offices,
At any time, to grace my stratagems.
But what, is Catesby gone?

[along.
Glo. He is; and, see, he brings the mayor
Enter the Lord Mayor and Cateshy.
Buck. Let me alone to entertain them.-Lord
Glo. Look to the draw-bridge there. [mayor,—
Buck. Hark, hark! a drum.

Glo. Catesby, o'erlook the walls. [for you,Buck. Lord mayor, the reason we have sent Glo. Look back, defend thee, here are enemies. Buck. God and our innocence defend and guard us!

Enter Lovel and Ratcliff, with Hastings' head. Glo. Be patient, they are friends; Ratcliff and Lovel.

Lov. Here is the head of that ignoble traitor, The dangerous and unsuspected Hastings.

Glo. So dear I lov'd the man, that I must weep. I took him for the plainest harmless't creature, That breath'd upon the earth a Christian; Made him my book, wherein my soul recorded The history of all her secret thoughts: So smooth he daub'd his vice with show of virtue, That, his apparent open guilt omitted,-* I mean, his conversation with Shore's wife,He liv'd from all attainder of suspect. [traitor

Buck. Well, well, he was the covert'st shelter'd That ever liv'd.-Look you, my lord mayor, Would you imagine, or almost believe, (Were't not, that by great preservation We live to tell it you,) the subtle traitor This day had plotted, in the council-house, To murder me, and my good lord of Gloster? May. What! had he so?

Glo. What! think you we are Turks or infidels? Or that we would, against the form of law, Proceed thus rashly in the villain's death; But that the extreme peril of the case, The peace of England, and our persons' safety, Enforc'd us to this execution [death;

May. Now, fair befal you; he deserv'd his And your good graces both have well proceeded, To warn false traitors from the like attempts. I never look'd for better at his hands, After he once fell in with mistress Shore.

[die.

Buck. Yet had we not determin'd he should Until your lordship came to see his end; Which now the loving haste of these our friends, Somewhat against our meaning, hath prevented ·

For on that ground I'll make a holy descant:
And be not easily won to our requests; [it.
Play the maid's part, still answer nay, and take
Glo. I go; and if you plead as well for them,
As I can say nay to thee for myself,
No doubt we'll bring it to a happy issue.
Buck. Go, go, up to the leads; the lord mayor
knocks.
[exit Gloster.
Enter the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens.
Welcome, my lord: I dance attendance here;
I think, the duke will not be spoke withal.-

Enter, from the Castle, Catesby.

Now, Catesby! what says your lord to my request?
Cate. He doth entreat your grace, my noble
To visit him to-morrow, or next day: [lord,
He is within, with two right reverend fathers,
Divinely bent to meditation:

And in no worldly suit would he be mov'd,
To draw him from his holy exercise.

[duke;

Buck. Return, good Catesby, to the gracious Tell him, myself, the mayor and aldermen, In deep designs, in matter of great moment, No less importing than our general good, Are come to have some conference with his grace. Cate. I'll signify so much unto him straight. [exit. Buck. Ah, ha, my lord, this prince is not an He is not lolling on a lewd day-bed, [Edward? But on his knees at meditation: Not dallying with a brace of courtezans, But meditating with two deep divines; Not sleeping, to engross his idle body, But praying, to enrich his watchful soul: Happy were England, would this virtuous prince Take on himself the sovereignty thereof: But, sure, I fear we shall ne'er win him to't. May. Marry, god defend, his grace should say us nay! [again! Here Catesby comes Re-enter Catesby. Now, Catesby, what says his grace? [sembled Cate. He wonders to what end you have asSuch troops of citizens to come to him, His grace not being warn'd thereof before; He fears, my lord, you mean no good to him. Buck. Sorry I am, my noble cousin should Suspect me, that I mean no good to him. By heaven, we come to him in perfect love; And so once more return and tell his grace. [exit Catesby.

Buck. I fear, he will.

When holy and devout religious men
Are at their beads, 'tis hard to draw them thence;
So sweet is zealous contemplation.
Enter Gloster, in a gallery above, between two
Bishops. Catesby returns.

May. See, where his grace stands 'tween two
clergymen !
[prince,
Buck. Two props of virtue for a Christian
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 Plantagenet, most gracious prince,
Lend favourable ear to our requests;
And pardon us the interruption
Of thy devotion, and right Christian zeal.
Glo. My lord, there needs no such apology;

I 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?
Buck. Even that, I hope, which pleaseth God
And all good men of this ungovern'd isle. [above,
Glo. I do suspect, I have done some offence,
That seems disgracious in the city's eye;
And that you come to reprehend my ignorance.
Buck. You have, my lord: would it might

please your grace,

On our entreaties, to amend your fault! [land? Glo. Else wherefore breathe I in a Christian Buck. Know, then, it is your fault, that you The supreme seat, the throne majestical, [resign The sceptred 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 blemish'd stock : · Whilst, in the mildness of your sleepy thoughts, (Which here we waken to our country's good,) The noble isle doth want her proper limbs; Her face defac'd with scars of infamy, Her royal stock graft with ignoble plants, And almost shoulder'd in the swallowing gulf Of dark forgetfulness and deep oblivion. Which to recure, we heartily solicit Your gracious self to take on you the charge And kingly government of this your land. Not as protector, steward, substitute, Or lowly factor for another's gain; But as successively, from blood to blood, Your right of birth, your empery, your own. For this, consorted with the citizens, Your very worshipful and loving friends, And by their vehement instigation, In this just suit came I to move your grace. Glo. I cannot tell, if to depart in silence, Or bitterly to speak in your reproof, Best fitteth my degree, or your condition. If not to answer,—you might haply think, Tongue-tied ambition, not replying, yielded To bear the golden yoke of sovereignty, Which fondly you would here impose on me; If to reprove you for this suit of yours, So season'd with your faithful love to me, Then, on the other side, I check'd my friends. Therefore, to speak, and to avoid the first, And then, in speaking, not to incur the last,— Definitively thus I answer you. Your love deserves my thanks; but my desert, Unmeritable, shuns your high request. First, if all obstacles were cut away, And that my path were even to the crown, As the pe revenue and due of birth; Yet so much is my poverty of spirit, So mighty, and so many, my defects, That I would rather hide me from my greatness,~~ Being a bark to brook no mighty sea,Than in my greatness covet to be hid, And in the vapour of my glory smother'd. But, God be thank'd, there is no need of me; (And much I need to help you, if need were ;) The royal tree hath left us royal fruit, Which, mellow'd by the stealing hours of time, Will well become the seat of majesty

And make, no doubt, us happy by his reign.
On him I lay what you would lay on me,
The right and fortune of his happy stars,—
Which, God defend, that I should wring from
him!
[grace,
Buck. My lord, this argues conscience in your
But the respects thereof are nice and trivial,
All circumstances well considered.

You say, that Edward is your brother's son ;
So say we too, but not by Edward's wife;
For first he was contract to Lady Lucy,
Your mother lives a witness to his vow;
And afterwards by substitute betroth'd
To Bona, sister to the king of France.
These both put by, a poor petitioner,
A care-craz'd mother to a many sons,
A beauty-waning and distressed widow,
Even in the afternoon of her best days,
Made prize and purchase of his wanton eye,
Seduc'd the pitch and height of all his thoughts
To base declension and loath'd bigamy:
By her, in his unlawful bed, he got
This Edward, whom our manners
More bitterly could I expostulate,
Save that, for reverence to some alive,
I give a sparing limit to my tongue.
Then, good my lord, take to your royal self
This proffer'd benefit of dignity:
If not to bless us and the land withal,
Yet to draw forth your noble ancestry
From the corruption of abusing time,
Unto a lineal true-derived course.

call-the [prince.

you.

SCENE I. BEFORE THE TOWER.

And gentle, kind, effeminate remorse,
Which we have noted in you to your kindred,
And equally, indeed, to all estates,—
Yet know, whe'r you accept our suit or no,
Your brother's son shall never reign our «ing ;
But we will plant some other in your throne,
To the disgrace and downfal of your house.
And, in this resolution, here we leave you ;-
Come, citizens, we will entreat no more.

[exeunt Buckingham and Citizens Cate. Call them again, sweet prince, accept their suit;

If you deny them, all the land will rue it.
Glo. Will you enforce me to a world of cares.
Well, call them again; I am not made of stone,
But penetrable to your kind entreaties,

[exit Catesby.
Albeit against my conscience and my soul.-
Re-enter Buckingham and the rest.
Cousin of Buckingham, and sage, grave men,--
Since you will buckle fortune on my back,
To bear her burden, whe'r I will, or no,
I must have patience to endure the load:
But if black scandal, or foul-fac'd reproach,
Attend the sequel of your imposition,
Your mere enforcement shall acquittance me
From all the impure blots and stains thereof;
For, God he knows, and you may partly see,
How far I am from the desire of this. [will say it.
May. God bless your grace! we see it, and
Glo. In saying so, you shall but say the truth.
Buck. Then I salute you with this royal title,
Long live king Richard, England's worthy king'
All. Amen.
{crown'd

Buck. To-morrow may it please you to be Glo. Even when you please, since you will have it so. [grace; Buck. To-morrow then we will attend your And so, most joyfully, we take our leave.

Glo. Come, let us to our holy work again :[to the Bishops. Farewell, good cousin ;-farewell, gentle friends. [exeunt

[mother:

Anne. Their aunt I am in law, in love their Then bring me to their sights; I'll bear thy blame, And take thy office from thee, on my peril.

Brak. No madam, no, I may not leave it so; I am bound by oath, and therefore pardon me. [exit Brakenbury. Enter Stanley. [hence, Stan. Let me but meet you, ladies, one hour And I'll salute your grace of York as mother, And reverend looker-on of two fair queens.—