ACT II. SCENE 1.-The same.-A Room in the Palace. Enter King EDWARD, (led in sick,) Queen By false intelligence, or wrong surmise If I unwittingly, or in my rage, I hate it, and desire all good men's love. K. Edw. Why so :-now have I done a good Which I will purchase with my duteous ser Since I have made my friends at peace earth. vice ; Of you, my noble consin Buckingham, If ever any grudge were lodg'd between us; Of you, lord Rivers, and lord Grey, of you; hea-That all without desert have frown'd on me; Dukes, earls, lords, gentlemen ; on Rivers and Hastings, take each other's hand; And with my hand I seal my true heart's Hast. So thrive I, as I truly swear the like! Lest he, that is the supreme King of kings, Hast. So prosper I, as I swear perfect love! K. Edw. Madam, yourself are not exempt in Nor your son Dorset,-Buckingham, nor you ;- And what you do, do it unfeignedly. Q. Eliz. There, Hastings ;-1 will never more Our former hatred, So thrive I and mine! Dor. This interchange of love, I here protest, [Embraces DORSET. K. Edw. Now, princely Buckingham, seal thou this league With thy embracements to my wife's allies, Buck. Whenever Buckingham doth turn his Upon your grace, [To the QUEEN.] but with all duteous love Doth cherish you and your's, God punish me Is this thy vow unto my sickly heart. Enter GLOSTER. all. indeed of I do not know that Englishman alive, Q. Eliz. A holy-day shall this be kept here after : I would to God, all strifes were well com- My sovereign lord, I do beseech your highness Glo. Why, madam, have I offer'd love for To be so flouted in this royal presence? You do him injury to scorn his corse. Q. Eliz. All-seeing heaven, what a world is rest? Dor. Ay, my good lord: and no man in the But his red colour hath forsook his cheeks. Glo. But he, poor man, by your first order And that a winged Mercury did bear; Nearer in bloody thoughts, and not in blood, And yet go current from suspicion. hear me. K. Edw. Then say at once, what is it thou request❜st. Stan. The forfeit, sovereign, of my servant's Who slew to-day a riotous gentleman, K. Edw. Have I a tongue to doom my bro- And shall that tongue give pardon to a slave? My brother kill'd no man, his fault was thought, Glo. Good-morrow to my sovereign king and And yet his punishment was bitter death. Frozen almost to death, how he did lap me Have done a drunken slaughter, and defac'd You straight are on your knees for pardon, pardon; And I, unjustly too, must grant it you :- For him, poor soul.-The proudest of you all Yet none of you would once plead for his life. Duch. Ay, boy. Son. I cannot think it. Hark! what noise is this! Enter Queen ELIZABETH distractedy; RIVERS and DORSET, following her. Q. Eliz. Ah! who shall hinder me to wail and weep? To chide my fortune, and torment myself? Duch. What means this scene of rude impatience? Q. Eliz. To make an act of tragic violence :Edward, my lord, thy son, our king, is dead. Why grow the branches, when the root is gone? Why wither not the leaves, that want their sap? If you will live, lament; if die, be brief, On me, and you, and mine, and your's, for That our swift-winged souls may catch the this. Come, Hastings, help me to my closet. O [Exeunt KING, QUEEN, HASTINGS, RIVERS, DORSET, and GREY. Glo. 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? Oh! they did urge it still unto the king: king's; Or, like obedient subjects, follow him Duch. Ah! so much interest have I in thy sorrow, As I had title in thy noble husband! I have bewept a worthy husband's death, But now two mirrors of his princely semblance God will revenge it. Come, lords; will you That grieves me when I see my shame in him. Daugh. Why do you weep so oft? and beat your breast; And cry-O Clarence, my unhappy son! And call us-orphans, wretches, cast-aways, Duch. My pretty cousins, you mistake me both; I do lament the sickness of the king, As loath to lose him, not your father's death; Son. Then, grandam, you conclude that he is dead. The king my uncle is to blame for this: Duch. Peace, children, peace! the king doth love you well: Incapable and shallow innocents, You cannot guess who caus'd your father's death. Son. Graudam, we can: for my good uncle Told me, tle shapes, Thou art a widow; yet thou art a mother, arnis, And pluck'd two crutches from my feeble hands, (Thine being but a moiety of my grief,) Clarence and Edward. Oh! what cause have I, To over-go thy plaints, and drown thy cries ! Son. Ah! aunt, you wept not for our father's death; How can we aid you with our kindred tears? Daugh. Our fatherless distress was left unmoan'd Your widow-dolour likewise be unwept ! Q. Eliz. Give me no help in lamentation, I am not barren to bring forth laments: All springs reduce their currents to mine eyes, That I, being govern'd by the watery moon, May send forth plenteous tears to drown the world! Ah! for my husband, for my dear lord Edward! Chil. Ah! for our father, for our dear lord Clarence ! Duch. Alas! for both, both mine, Edward and Clarence! Q. Eliz. What stay had I, but Edward? and he's gone. Chil. What stay had we, but Clarence? and he's gone. Duch. What stays had I, but they? and they are gone. Q. Eliz. Was never widow, had so dear a loss. Chil. Were never orphans, had so dear a Duch. Was never mother had so dear a loss. And with a virtuous visor hide deep vice! • Ignorant. Alas! you three, on me, threefold distress'd, Pour all your tears, I am your sorrow's nurse. And I will pamper it with lamentations. Dor. Comfort, dear mother; God is much displeas'd, That you take with unthankfulness his doing; • Divide In common worldly things, 'tis call'd-ungrate- For, by the way, I'll sort occasion, With dull unwillingness to repay a debt, Ris. Madam, bethink you, like a careful Of the young prince your son: send straight for him, Let him be crown'd; in him your comfort lives Drown desperate sorrow in dead Edward's grave, And plant your joys in living Edward's throne. Enter GLOSTER, BUCKINGHAM, STANLEY, Glo. Sister, have comfort: all of us have cause To wail the dimming of our shining star; none can cure their harms by wailing them. [Aside. I marvel, that her grace did leave it out. That bear this mutual heavy load of moan, We are to reap the harvest of his son. The broken rancour of your high-swoln hearts, Hither to London, to be crown'd our king. Buck. Marry, my lord, lest, by a multitude, The new-heal'd wound of malice should break out; Which would be so much the more dangerous, Where every horse bears his commanding rein, Glo. I hope the king made peace with all of us; And the compact is firm, and true, in me. Riv. And so in me: and so, I think, in all : As index to the story we late talk'd of, Glo. My other self, my counsel's cousistory, SCENE III.-The same.-A Street. Enter two CITIZENS, meeting. 1 Cit. Good morrow, neighbour: Whither away so fast? 2 Cit. I promise you, I scarcely know ny self: Hear you the news abroad? 1 Cit. Yes; the king's dead. 2 Cit. Ill news, by'r lady; seldom comes the better: I fear, I fear, 'twill prove a giddy world. Enter another CITIZEN. 3 Cit. Neighbours, God speed! 3 Cit. Doth the news hold of good king Ed- 2 Cit. Ay, Sir, it is too true; God help, the while! 3 Cit. Then, masters, look to see a troublous world. 1 Cit. No, no; by God's good grace, his son shall reign. 3 Cit. Woe to that land, that's govern'd by a child! 2 Cit. In him there is a hope of government ; That, in his nonage, + council under him, And, in his full and ripen'd years, himself, No doubt, shall then, and till then, govern well. 1 Cit. So stood the state, when Henry the Was crown'd in Paris but at nine months old. For then this land was famously enrich'd 1 Cit. Why, so hath this, both by his father 2 Cit. Better it were they all came by his Or, by his father, there were none at all: proud: And were they to be rul'd, and not to rule, 1 Cit. Come, come, we fear the worst; all 3 Cit. When clouds are seen, wise men put en their cloaks; When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand; Which, haply, by much company might be When the sun sets, who doth not look for urged: Therefore I say, with noble Buckingham, That it is meet so few should fetch the prince. Glo. Then be it so; and go we to determine Madam, and you my mother, will you go [Exeunt all but BUCKINGHAM and Buck. My lord, whoever journeys to the For God's sake, let not us two stay at home: • Opinion. night? Untimely storms make men expect a dearth: 2 Cit. Truly, the hearts of men are full of You cannot reason almost with a man it so: By a divine instinct, men's minds mistrust • Preparatory 1 4 Min SCENE IV.-The same.-A Room in the Palace. Enter the Archbishop of YORK, the young Duke of YORK, Queen ELIZABETH, and the Duchess of YORK. Arch. Last night I heard, they lay at Stony- And at Northampton they do rest to-night: I hope, he is much grown since last I saw him. Hath almost overta'en him in his growth. Duch. How, my young York? I pr'ythee, let me hear it. 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. Grandam, this would have been a biting jest. Duch. I pr'ythee, pretty York, who told thee this? York. Grandam, his nurse. Duch. His nurse? why, she was dead ere thou wast born. York. If 'twere not she, I cannot tell who told me. Q. Eliz. A parlous boy: Go to, you are too shrewd. Arch. Good madam, be not angry with child. the Mess. Lord Rivers and lord Grey are sent to Pomfret, With them Sir Thomas Vaughan, prisoners. • Perilous, dangerous. Duch. Who hath committed them! Mess. The mighty dukes, Gloster and Buckingham. Q. Eliz. For what offence? Mess. The sum of all I can, I have disclos'd; Why, or for what, the nobles were committed, Is all unknown to me, my gracious lady. Q. Eliz. Ah! me, I see the ruin of my house! The tiger now hath seiz'd the gentle hind; Duch. Accursed and unquiet wrangling days Is this of her's?-Lord cardinal, will your grace If she deny,-lord Hastings, go with him, Can from his mother win the duke of York, Of blessed sanctuary! not for all this land, Prince. That Julius Cæsar was a famous man: With what his valour did enrich his wit, Glo. Short summers lightly + have a forward spring. [Aside. Enter YORK, HASTINGS, and the CARDINAL. Buck. Now, in good time, here comes the duke of York. Prince. Richard of York! how fares our loving brother? York. Well, my dread lord; so must I call you now. Prince. Ay, brother; to our grief, as it is your's: Too late t he died, that might have kept that title, Which by his death hath lost much majesty. Glo. How fares our cousin, noble lord of York? York. I thank you, gentle uncle. O my lord, You said that idle weeds are fast in growth: Buck. You are too senseless-obstinate, my The prince my brother hath outgrown me far. lord, Too ceremonious, and traditional; Weigh it but with the grossness of this age, To those whose dealings have deserv'd the place, And therefore, in mine opinion, cannot have it : Then, taking him from thence, that is not there, You break no privilege nor charter there. Card. My lord, you shall o'er-rule my mind for once. Come on, lord Hastings, will you go with me? Hast. I go, my lord. Prince. Good lords, make all the speedy haste you may. [Exeunt CARDINAL and HASTINGS. Say, uncle Gloster, if our brother come, Where shall we sojourn till our coronation? Glo. Where it seems best unto your royal self. If I may counsel you, some day, or two, For your best health and recreation. Prince. I do not like the Tower, of any place : Glo. He hath, my lord. York. And therefore is he idle ? Glo. O my fair cousin, I must not say so. York. Then is he more beholden to you, than I. Prince. My lord of York will still be cross in talk ; Uncle, your grace knows how to bear with him. York. You mean, to bear me, not to bear with me : Uncle, my brother mocks both you and me : He thinks that you should bear me on your shoulders. Buck. With what a sharp provided wit he reasons! To mitigate the scorn he gives his uncle, Glo. My gracious lord, will't please you pass along? Myself, and my good cousin Buckingham, • Commonly. • |