Part 46
_Stan._ Full of wise care is this your counsel, madam. Take all the swift advantage of the hours; [fda049] You shall have letters from me to my son [fda050] To meet you on the way, and welcome you. [fda051] Be not ta’en tardy by unwise delay. [fda052]
_Duch._ O ill-dispersing wind of misery! [fda053] O my accursed womb, the bed of death! A cockatrice hast thou hatch’d to the world, [fda055] Whose unavoided eye is murderous.
_Stan._ Come, madam, come; I in all haste was sent. [fda057]
_Anne._ And I in all unwillingness will go. [fda058] I would to God that the inclusive verge [fda059] Of golden metal that must round my brow ·fda060· Were red-hot steel, to sear me to the brain! [fda061] Anointed let me be with deadly venom, [fda062] And die, ere men can say, God save the queen!
_Q. Eliz._ Go, go, poor soul, I envy not thy glory; [fda064] To feed my humour, wish thyself no harm. ·fda065·
_Anne._ No! why? When he that is my husband now [fda066] Came to me, as I follow’d Henry’s corse, [fda067] When scarce the blood was well wash’d from his hands [fda068] Which issued from my other angel husband And that dead saint which then I weeping follow’d; [fda070] O, when, I say, I look’d on Richard’s face, This was my wish: ‘Be thou,’ quoth I, ‘accursed, For making me, so young, so old a widow! And, when thou wed’st, let sorrow haunt thy bed; And be thy wife--if any be so mad-- [fda075] As miserable by the life of thee [fda076] As thou hast made me by my dear lord’s death!’ Lo, ere I can repeat this curse again, [fda078] Even in so short a space, my woman’s heart [fda079] Grossly grew captive to his honey words [fda080] And proved the subject of my own soul’s curse, [fda081] Which ever since hath kept my eyes from rest; [fda082] For never yet one hour in his bed Have I enjoy’d the golden dew of sleep, [fda084] But have been waked by his timorous dreams. [fda085] Besides, he hates me for my father Warwick; And will, no doubt, shortly be rid of me. [fda087]
_Q. Eliz._ Poor heart, adieu! I pity thy complaining. [fda088]
_Anne._ No more than from my soul I mourn for yours. [fda089]
_Q. Eliz._ Farewell, thou woful welcomer of glory! [fda090]
_Anne._ Adieu, poor soul, that takest thy leave of it! [fda091]
_Duch._ [_To Dorset_] Go thou to Richmond, and good fortune guide thee! [fda092] [_To Anne_] Go thou to Richard, and good angels guard thee! [fda093] [_To Queen Eliz._] Go thou to sanctuary, and good thoughts possess thee! [fda094] I to my grave, where peace and rest lie with me! ·fda095· Eighty odd years of sorrow have I seen, [fda096] And each hour’s joy wreck’d with a week of teen. [fda097]
_Q. Eliz._ Stay, yet look back with me unto the Tower. [fda098] Pity, you ancient stones, those tender babes Whom envy hath immured within your walls! ·fda100· Rough cradle for such little pretty ones! Rude ragged nurse, old sullen playfellow [fda102] For tender princes, use my babies well! So foolish sorrow bids your stones farewell. [_Exeunt._ [fda104]
## SCENE II. _London. The Palace_.
_Sennet. Enter_ RICHARD, _in pomp, crowned;_ BUCKINGHAM, CATESBY, _a_ Page, _and others_.
_K. Rich._ Stand all apart. Cousin of Buckingham! [fdb001]
_Buck._ My gracious sovereign? [fdb002]
_K. Rich._ Give me thy hand. [_Here he ascendeth his throne._] Thus high, by thy advice [fdb003] And thy assistance, is king Richard seated: But shall we wear these honours for a day? [fdb005] Or shall they last, and we rejoice in them?
_Buck._ Still live they and for ever may they last! [fdb007]
_K. Rich._ O Buckingham, now do I play the touch, [fdb008] To try if thou be current gold indeed: Young Edward lives: think now what I would say. [fdb010]
_Buck._ Say on, my loving lord. [fdb011]
_K. Rich._ Why, Buckingham, I say, I would be king.
_Buck._ Why, so you are, my thrice renowned liege. [fdb013]
_K. Rich._ Ha! am I king? ’tis so: but Edward lives. [fdb014]
_Buck._ True, noble prince.
_K. Rich._ O bitter consequence, ·fdb015· That Edward still should live! ‘True, noble prince!’ [fdb016] Cousin, thou wert not wont to be so dull: [fdb017] Shall I be plain? I wish the bastards dead; And I would have it suddenly perform’d. What sayest thou? speak suddenly; be brief. [fdb020]
_Buck._ Your grace may do your pleasure.
_K. Rich._ Tut, tut, thou art all ice, thy kindness freezeth: [fdb022] Say, have I thy consent that they shall die?
_Buck._ Give me some breath, some little pause, my lord, [fdb024] Before I positively speak herein: [fdb025] I will resolve your grace immediately. [_Exit._ [fdb026]
_Cate._ [_Aside to a stander by._] The king is angry: see, he bites the lip. [fdb027]
_K. Rich._ I will converse with iron-witted fools [fdb028] And unrespective boys: none are for me That look into me with considerate eyes: ·fdb030· High-reaching Buckingham grows circumspect. [fdb031] Boy!
_Page._ My lord? [fdb033]
_K. Rich._ Know’st thou not any whom corrupting gold Would tempt unto a close exploit of death? [fdb035]
_Page._ My lord, I know a discontented gentleman, [fdb036] Whose humble means match not his haughty mind: [fdb037] Gold were as good as twenty orators, And will, no doubt, tempt him to any thing.
_K. Rich._ What is his name?
_Page._ His name, my lord, is Tyrrel. [fdb040]
_K. Rich._ I partly know the man: go, call him hither. [fdb041] [_Exit Page._ The deep-revolving witty Buckingham [fdb042] No more shall be the neighbour to my counsel: [fdb043] Hath he so long held out with me untired, And stops he now for breath? [fdb045]
_Enter_ STANLEY.
How now! what news with you? [fdb046]
_Stan._ My lord, I hear the Marquis Dorset’s fled [fdb047] To Richmond, in those parts beyond the sea Where he abides. [_Stands apart._ [fdb049]
_K. Rich._ Catesby! ·fdb050·
_Cate._ My lord?
_K. Rich._ Rumour it abroad [fdb052] That Anne, my wife, is sick and like to die: I will take order for her keeping close. Inquire me out some mean-born gentleman, [fdb055] Whom I will marry straight to Clarence’ daughter: [fdb056] The boy is foolish, and I fear not him. Look, how thou dream’st! I say again, give out [fdb058] That Anne my wife is sick, and like to die: [fdb059] About it; for it stands me much upon, ·fdb060· To stop all hopes whose growth may damage me. [fdb061] [_Exit Catesby._ I must be married to my brother’s daughter, [fdb062] Or else my kingdom stands on brittle glass. Murder her brothers, and then marry her! [fdb064] Uncertain way of gain! But I am in ·fdb065· So far in blood that sin will pluck on sin: [fdb066] Tear-falling pity dwells not in this eye. [fdb067]
_Re-enter_ Page, _with_ TYRREL.
Is thy name Tyrrel?
_Tyr._ James Tyrrel, and your most obedient subject.
_K. Rich._ Art thou, indeed?
_Tyr._ Prove me, my gracious sovereign. [fdb070]
_K. Rich._ Darest thou resolve to kill a friend of mine?
_Tyr._ Ay, my lord; [fdb072] But I had rather kill two enemies. [fdb073]
_K. Rich._ Why, there thou hast it: two deep enemies, [fdb074] Foes to my rest and my sweet sleep’s disturbers [fdb075] Are they that I would have thee deal upon: Tyrrel, I mean those bastards in the Tower.
_Tyr._ Let me have open means to come to them, [fdb078] And soon I’ll rid you from the fear of them.
_K. Rich._ Thou sing’st sweet music. Hark, come hither, Tyrrel: [fdb080] Go, by this token: rise, and lend thine ear: [_Whispers._ [fdb081] There is no more but so: say it is done, [fdb082] And I will love thee, and prefer thee too. [fdb083]
_Tyr._ ’Tis done, my gracious lord. [fdb084]
_K. Rich._ Shall we hear from thee, Tyrrel, ere we sleep. [fdb085]
_Tyr._ Ye shall, my lord. [_Exit._ [fdb086]
_Re-enter_ BUCKINGHAM.
_Buck._ My lord, I have consider’d in my mind [fdb087] The late demand that you did sound me in. [fdb088]
_K. Rich._ Well, let that pass. Dorset is fled to Richmond. [fdb089]
_Buck._ I hear that news, my lord. [fdb090]
_K. Rich._ Stanley, he is your wife’s son: well, look to it. [fdb091]
_Buck._ My lord, I claim your gift, my due by promise, [fdb092] For which your honour and your faith is pawn’d; The earldom of Hereford and the moveables [fdb094] The which you promised I should possess. [fdb095]
_K. Rich._ Stanley, look to your wife: if she convey [fdb096] Letters to Richmond, you shall answer it.
_Buck._ What says your highness to my just demand? [fdb098]
_K. Rich._ As I remember, Henry the Sixth [fdb099] Did prophesy that Richmond should be king, ·fdb100· When Richmond was a little peevish boy. A king, perhaps, perhaps,-- [fdb102]
_Buck._ My lord! [fdb103]
_K. Rich._ How chance the prophet could not at that time Have told me, I being by, that I should kill him? ·fdb105·
_Buck._ My lord, your promise for the earldom,--
_K. Rich._ Richmond! When last I was at Exeter, The mayor in courtesy show’d me the castle, [fdb108] And call’d it Rougemont: at which name I started, [fdb109] Because a bard of Ireland told me once, [fdb110] I should not live long after I saw Richmond.
_Buck._ My lord!
_K. Rich._ Ay, what’s o’clock?
_Buck._ I am thus bold to put your grace in mind Of what you promised me.
_K. Rich._ Well, but what’s o’clock? [fdb115]
_Buck._ Upon the stroke of ten.
_K. Rich._ Well, let it strike.
_Buck._ Why let it strike?
_K. Rich._ Because that, like a Jack, thou keep’st the stroke Betwixt thy begging and my meditation. I am not in the giving vein to-day. ·fdb120·
_Buck._ Why, then resolve me whether you will or no. [fdb121]
_R. Rich._ Tut, tut, [fdb122] Thou troublest me; I am not in the vein. [fdb123] [_Exeunt all but Buckingham._
_Buck._ Is it even so? rewards he my true service [fdb124] With such deep contempt? made I him king for this? [fdb125] O, let me think on Hastings, and be gone To Brecknock, while my fearful head is on! [_Exit._
## SCENE III. _The same_.
_Enter_ TYRREL.
_Tyr._ The tyrannous and bloody deed is done, [fdc001] The most arch act of piteous massacre [fdc002] That ever yet this land was guilty of. Dighton and Forrest, whom I did suborn [fdc004] To do this ruthless piece of butchery, [fdc005] Although they were flesh’d villains, bloody dogs, [fdc006] Melting with tenderness and kind compassion [fdc007] Wept like two children in their deaths’ sad stories. [fdc008] ‘Lo, thus,’ quoth Dighton, ‘lay those tender babes:’ [fdc009] ‘Thus, thus,’ quoth Forrest, ‘girdling one another [fdc010] Within their innocent alabaster arms: [fdc011] Their lips were four red roses on a stalk, [fdc012] Which in their summer beauty kiss’d each other. [fdc013] A book of prayers on their pillow lay; [fdc014] Which once,’ quoth Forrest, ‘almost changed my mind; [fdc015] But O! the devil’--there the villain stopp’d; [fdc016] Whilst Dighton thus told on: ‘We smothered [fdc017] The most replenished sweet work of nature That from the prime creation e’er she framed.’ [fdc019] Thus both are gone with conscience and remorse; [fdc020] They could not speak; and so I left them both, To bring this tidings to the bloody king. [fdc022] And here he comes.
_Enter_ KING RICHARD.
All hail, my sovereign liege! [fdc023]
_K. Rich._ Kind Tyrrel, am I happy in thy news? [fdc024]
_Tyr._ If to have done the thing you gave in charge [fdc025] Beget your happiness, be happy then, For it is done, my lord.
_K. Rich._ But didst thou see them dead? [fdc027]
_Tyr._ I did, my lord.
_K. Rich._ And buried, gentle Tyrrel?
_Tyr._ The chaplain of the Tower hath buried them; But how or in what place I do not know. [fdc030]
_K. Rich._ Come to me, Tyrrel, soon at after supper, [fdc031] And thou shalt tell the process of their death. [fdc032] Meantime, but think how I may do thee good, [fdc033] And be inheritor of thy desire. Farewell till soon. [_Exit Tyrrel._ [fdc035] The son of Clarence have I pent up close; [fdc036] His daughter meanly have I match’d in marriage; The sons of Edward sleep in Abraham’s bosom, And Anne my wife hath bid the world good night. [fdc039] Now, for I know the Breton Richmond aims [fdc040] At young Elizabeth, my brother’s daughter, And, by that knot, looks proudly o’er the crown, [fdc042] To her I go, a jolly thriving wooer. [fdc043]
_Enter_ Catesby.
_Cate._ My lord! [fdc044]
_K. Rich._ Good news or bad, that thou comest in so bluntly? [fdc045]
_Cate._ Bad news, my lord: Ely is fled to Richmond; [fdc046] And Buckingham, back’d with the hardy Welshmen, Is in the field, and still his power increaseth.
_K. Rich._ Ely with Richmond troubles me more near [fdc049] Than Buckingham and his rash-levied army. [fdc050] Come, I have heard that fearful commenting [fdc051] Is leaden servitor to dull delay; Delay leads impotent and snail-paced beggary: [fdc053] Then fiery expedition be my wing, [fdc054] Jove’s Mercury, and herald for a king! [fdc055] Come, muster men: my counsel is my shield; [fdc056] We must be brief when traitors brave the field. [_Exeunt._
## SCENE IV. _Before the palace_.
_Enter_ QUEEN MARGARET.
_Q. Mar._ So, now prosperity begins to mellow [fdd001] And drop into the rotten mouth of death. Here in these confines slily have I lurk’d, [fdd003] To watch the waning of mine adversaries. [fdd004] A dire induction am I witness to, ·fdd005· And will to France, hoping the consequence Will prove as bitter, black, and tragical. [fdd007] Withdraw thee, wretched Margaret: who comes here? [fdd008]
_Enter_ QUEEN ELIZABETH _and the_ DUCHESS OF YORK.
_Q. Eliz._ Ah, my young princes! ah, my tender babes! [fdd009] My unblown flowers, new-appearing sweets! [fdd010] If yet your gentle souls fly in the air And be not fix’d in doom perpetual, Hover about me with your airy wings [fdd013] And hear your mother’s lamentation!
_Q. Mar._ Hover about her; say, that right for right [fdd015] Hath dimm’d your infant morn to aged night.
_Duch._ So many miseries have crazed my voice, [fdd017] That my woe-wearied tongue is mute and dumb. [fdd018] Edward Plantagenet, why art thou dead?
_Q. Mar._ Plantagenet doth quit Plantagenet, [fdd020] Edward for Edward pays a dying debt.
_Q. Eliz._ Wilt thou, O God, fly from such gentle lambs, And throw them in the entrails of the wolf? When didst thou sleep when such a deed was done? [fdd024]
_Q. Mar._ When holy Harry died, and my sweet son. [fdd025]
_Duch._ Blind sight, dead life, poor mortal living ghost, [fdd026] Woe’s scene, world’s shame, grave’s due by life usurp’d, Brief abstract and record of tedious days, [fdd028] Rest thy unrest on England’s lawful earth, [fdd029] [_Sitting down._ Unlawfully made drunk with innocents’ blood! [fdd030]
_Q. Eliz._ O, that thou wouldst as well afford a grave [fdd031] As thou canst yield a melancholy seat! Then would I hide my bones, not rest them here. O, who hath any cause to mourn but I? [fdd034] [_Sitting down by her._
_Q. Mar._ If ancient sorrow be most reverend, [fdd035] Give mine the benefit of seniory, [fdd036] And let my woes frown on the upper hand. [fdd037] If sorrow can admit society, [_Sitting down with them._ [fdd038] Tell o’er your woes again by viewing mine: [fdd039] I had an Edward, till a Richard kill’d him; ·fdd040· I had a Harry, till a Richard kill’d him: [fdd041] Thou hadst an Edward, till a Richard kill’d him; Thou hadst a Richard, till a Richard kill’d him.
_Duch._ I had a Richard too, and thou didst kill him; I had a Rutland too, thou holp’st to kill him. [fdd045]
_Q. Mar._ Thou hadst a Clarence too, and Richard kill’d him. [fdd046] From forth the kennel of thy womb hath crept A hell-hound that doth hunt us all to death: That dog, that had his teeth before his eyes, To worry lambs and lap their gentle blood, [fdd050] That foul defacer of God’s handiwork, That excellent grand tyrant of the earth, [fdd052] That reigns in galled eyes of weeping souls, Thy womb let loose, to chase us to our graves. [fdd054] O upright, just, and true-disposing God, ·fdd055· How do I thank thee, that this carnal cur [fdd056] Preys on the issue of his mother’s body, And makes her pew-fellow with others’ moan! [fdd058]
_Duch._ O Harry’s wife, triumph not in my woes! [fdd059] God witness with me, I have wept for thine. [fdd060]
_Q. Mar._ Bear with me; I am hungry for revenge, And now I cloy me with beholding it. Thy Edward he is dead, that stabb’d my Edward; [fdd063] Thy other Edward dead, to quit my Edward; [fdd064] Young York he is but boot, because both they ·fdd065· Match not the high perfection of my loss: [fdd066] Thy Clarence he is dead that kill’d my Edward; [fdd067] And the beholders of this tragic play, [fdd068] The adulterate Hastings, Rivers, Vaughan, Grey, [fdd069] Untimely smother’d in their dusky graves. [fdd070] Richard yet lives, hell’s black intelligencer, [fdd071] Only reserved their factor, to buy souls [fdd072] And send them thither: but at hand, at hand, [fdd073] Ensues his piteous and unpitied end: Earth gapes, hell burns, fiends roar, saints pray, [fdd075] To have him suddenly convey’d away. [fdd076] Cancel his bond of life, dear God, I pray, [fdd077] That I may live to say, The dog is dead! [fdd078]
_Q. Eliz._ O, thou didst prophesy the time would come [fdd079] That I should wish for thee to help me curse ·fdd080· That bottled spider, that foul bunch-back’d toad! [fdd081]
_Q. Mar._ I call’d thee then vain flourish of my fortune; [fdd082] I call’d thee then poor shadow, painted queen; The presentation of but what I was; The flattering index of a direful pageant; [fdd085] One heaved a-high, to be hurl’d down below; [fdd086] A mother only mock’d with two sweet babes; [fdd087] A dream of what thou wert, a breath, a bubble, [fdd088] A sign of dignity, a garish flag To be the aim of every dangerous shot; ·fdd090· A queen in jest, only to fill the scene. Where is thy husband now? where be thy brothers? Where are thy children? wherein dost thou joy? [fdd093] Who sues to thee and cries ‘God save the queen’? [fdd094] Where be the bending peers that flatter’d thee? [fdd095] Where be the thronging troops that follow’d thee? [fdd096] Decline all this, and see what now thou art: For happy wife, a most distressed widow; For joyful mother, one that wails the name; For queen, a very caitiff crown’d with care; [fdd100] For one being sued to, one that humbly sues; [fdd101] For one that scorn’d at me, now scorn’d of me; [fdd102] For one being fear’d of all, now fearing one; [fdd103] For one commanding all, obey’d of none. Thus hath the course of justice wheel’d about, [fdd105] And left thee but a very prey to time; [fdd106] Having no more but thought of what thou wert, [fdd107] To torture thee the more, being what thou art. Thou didst usurp my place, and dost thou not Usurp the just proportion of my sorrow? ·fdd110· Now thy proud neck bears half my burthen’d yoke; [fdd111] From which even here I slip my weary neck, [fdd112] And leave the burthen of it all on thee. Farewell, York’s wife, and queen of sad mischance: These English woes will make me smile in France. [fdd115]
_Q. Eliz._ O thou well skill’d in curses, stay awhile, And teach me how to curse mine enemies!
_Q. Mar._ Forbear to sleep the nights, and fast the days; [fdd118] Compare dead happiness with living woe; [fdd119] Think that thy babes were fairer than they were, [fdd120] And he that slew them fouler than he is: Bettering thy loss makes the bad causer worse: [fdd122] Revolving this will teach thee how to curse.
_Q. Eliz._ My words are dull; O, quicken them with thine! [fdd124]
_Q. Mar._ Thy woes will make them sharp and pierce like mine. [_Exit._ [fdd125]
_Duch._ Why should calamity be full of words?
_Q. Eliz._ Windy attorneys to their client woes, [fdd127] Airy succeeders of intestate joys, [fdd128] Poor breathing orators of miseries! Let them have scope: though what they do impart [fdd130] Help not at all, yet do they ease the heart. [fdd131]
_Duch._ If so, then be not tongue-tied: go with me, [fdd132] And in the breath of bitter words let’s smother My damned son, which thy two sweet sons smother’d. [fdd134] I hear his drum: be copious in exclaims. [fdd135]
_Enter_ KING RICHARD, _marching, with drums and trumpets_.
_K. Rich._ Who intercepts my expedition? [fdd136]
_Duch._ O, she that might have intercepted thee, [fdd137] By strangling thee in her accursed womb, From all the slaughters, wretch, that thou hast done!
_Q. Eliz._ Hidest thou that forehead with a golden crown, [fdd140] Where should be graven, if that right were right, [fdd141] The slaughter of the prince that owed that crown, And the dire death of my two sons and brothers? [fdd143] Tell me, thou villain slave, where are my children?
_Duch._ Thou toad, thou toad, where is thy brother Clarence? [fdd145] And little Ned Plantagenet, his son? [fdd146]
_Q. Eliz._ Where is kind Hastings, Rivers, Vaughan, Grey? [fdd147]
_K. Rich._ A flourish, trumpets! strike alarum, drums! Let not the heavens hear these tell-tale women Rail on the Lord’s anointed: strike, I say! [fdd150] [_Flourish. Alarums._ Either be patient, and entreat me fair, Or with the clamorous report of war [fdd152] Thus will I drown your exclamations. [fdd153]
_Duch._ Art thou my son?
_K. Rich._ Ay, I thank God, my father, and yourself. [fdd155]
_Duch._ Then patiently hear my impatience. [fdd156]
_K. Rich._ Madam, I have a touch of your condition, Which cannot brook the accent of reproof. [fdd158]
_Duch._ O, let me speak!
_K. Rich._ Do then; but I’ll not hear. [fdd159]
_Duch._ I will be mild and gentle in my speech. [fdd160]
_K. Rich._ And brief, good mother; for I am in haste.
_Duch._ Art thou so hasty? I have stay’d for thee, [fdd162] God knows, in anguish, pain and agony. [fdd163]
_K. Rich._ And came I not at last to comfort you?
_Duch._ No, by the holy rood, thou know’st it well, ·fdd165· Thou camest on earth to make the earth my hell. A grievous burthen was thy birth to me; Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy; Thy school-days frightful, desperate, wild, and furious, Thy prime of manhood daring, bold, and venturous, [fdd170] Thy age confirm’d, proud, subtle, bloody, treacherous, [fdd171] More mild, but yet more harmful, kind in hatred: [fdd172] What comfortable hour canst thou name, That ever graced me in thy company? [fdd174]
_K. Rich._ Faith, none, but Humphrey Hour, that call’d your grace [fdd175] To breakfast once forth of my company. [fdd176] If I be so disgracious in your sight, [fdd177] Let me march on, and not offend your grace. [fdd178] Strike up the drum.
_Duch._ I prithee, hear me speak. [fdd179]
_K. Rich._ You speak too bitterly.
_Duch._ Hear me a word; ·fdd180· For I shall never speak to thee again.
_K. Rich._ So.
_Duch._ Either thou wilt die, by God’s just ordinance, [fdd183] Ere from this war thou turn a conqueror, [fdd184] Or I with grief and extreme age shall perish [fdd185] And never look upon thy face again. [fdd186] Therefore take with thee my most heavy curse; [fdd187] Which, in the day of battle, tire thee more Than all the complete armour that thou wear’st! My prayers on the adverse party fight; ·fdd190· And there the little souls of Edward’s children [fdd191] Whisper the spirits of thine enemies [fdd192] And promise them success and victory. [fdd193] Bloody thou art, bloody will be thy end; [fdd194] Shame serves thy life and doth thy death attend. [_Exit._ ·fdd195·