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Buck. Two props of virtue for a christian prince,
To ftay him from the fall of vanity:
And, fee, 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 fuch apology;
I rather do befeech you pardon me,

Who, earnest in the service of my God,
Deferr'd the vifitation of my friends.

But, leaving this, what is your grace's pleasure ?
Buck. Even that, I hope, which pleaseth God
above,

And all good men of this ungovern'd isle.

Glo. I do fufpect, I have done fome offence,
That feems difgracious in the city's eye;
And that you come to reprehend my ignorance.

And that my path were even to the crown,
As the ripe revenue and due of birth;
Yet fo much is my poverty of spirit,
So mighty, and fo many, my defects,
5 That I would rather hide me from my greatness,
Being a bark to brook no mighty fea,-
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;
10(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 feat of majesty,
And make, no doubt, us happy by his reign.
15 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!
Buck. My lord, this argues conscience in your
grace;

Buck. You have, my lord; would it might 20 But the respects thereof are nice and trivial,

please your grace,

On our entreaties, to amend your fault!

[fign 25

Gia. Elfe wherefore breathe I in a chriftian land?
Buck. Know, then, it is your fault, that you re-
The fupreme feat, the throne majestical,
The fcepter'd office of your ancestors,
Your state of fortune, and your due of birth,
The lineal glory of your royal house,
To the corruption of a blemish'd stock:
Whilft, in the mildness of your sleepy thoughts,
(Which here we waken to our country's good)
The noble ifle doth want her proper limbs ;
Her face defac'd with scars of infamy,
Her royal ftock graft with ignoble plants,
And almost shoulder'd 1 in the swallowing gulph
Of dark forgetfulness and deep oblivion.
Which to recure 2, we heartily folicit
Your gracious felf 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 fucceffively, from blood to blood,

Your right of birth, your empery, your own,
For this, conforted with the citizens,
Your very worshipful and loving friends,
And by their vehement instigation,

In this juft fuit come I to move your grace.
Glo. I cannot tell, if to depart in filence,
Or bitterly to fpeak in your reproof,
Beft fitteth my degree, or your condition:
For, not to answer, you might haply think,
Tongue-ty'd ambition, not replying, yielded
To bear the golden yoke of fovereignty,
Which fondly you would here impofe on me;
If to
reprove you for this fuit of yours,

So feafon'd with your faithful love to me,
Then, on the other fide, I check'd my friends,
Therefore, to fpeak, and to avoid the first;
And then, in fpeaking, not to incur the last,-
Definitively thus I answer you.

Your love deferves my thanks; but my desert
Unmeritable, fhuns your high request.
First, if all obftacles were cut away,

All circumstances well confidered.

You fay, that Edward is your brother's fon;
So fay we too, but not by Edward's wife :
For firft was he contract to lady Lucy,
Your mother lives a witness to his vow;
And afterwards by substitute betroth'd
To Bona, fifter to the king of France.
Thefe both put by, a poor petitioner,
A care craz'd mother to a many fons,
30 A beauty-waning and diftreffed 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 bafe declenfion and loath'd bigamy:

35 By her, in his unlawful bed, he got

This Edward, whom our manners call-the prince.
More bitterly could I expoftulate,

Save that, for reverence to fome alive,

I give a fparing limit to my tongue.

40 Then, good my lord, take to your royal felf
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 abufing time,
45 Unto a lineal true-derived course.

50

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Catef. O, make them joyful, grant their lawful Glo. Alas, why would you heap thefe cares on me? I am unfit for ftate and majefty :

I do befeech you, take it not amifs;

I cannot, nor I will not, yield to you.
Buck. If you refuse it,-as in love and zeal,
55 Loth to depofe the child, your brother's fon;
As well we know your tenderness of heart,
And gentle, kind, effeminate remorse 3,
Which we have noted in you to your kindred.
And equally, indeed, to all eftates,

60 Yet know, whe'r you accept our fuit or no,

1 i. e. immerfed up to the shoulders.

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And, in this resolution, here we leave you ;—
Come, citizens, we will entreat no more. [Exeunt.
Catef. Call them again, fweet prince, accept
their fuit;

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,
[Exit Catesby.

But penetrable to your kind entreaties,
Albeit against my confcience and my foul.
Re-enter Buckingham, and the reft.
Coufin of Buckingham,-and fage, 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:

10

15

But if black scandal, or foul-fac'd reproach,
Attend the fequel of your imposition,
Your meer enforcement shall acquittance me

From all the impure blots and stains thereof;
For God doth know, and you may partly fee,
How far I am from the defire of this.

Mayor. God bless your grace! we see it, and will fay it.

Glo. In faying fo, you shall but say the truth. Buck. Then I falute you with this royal title,Long live king Richard, England's worthy king! All. Amen.

Buck.To-morrow may it please you to be crown'd? Glo. Even when you pleafe, for you will have it fo. Buck. To-morrow then we will attend your grace; And fo, most joyfully, we take our leave.

Glo. [To the Clergymen.] Come, let us to our holy work again :

Farewel, good coufin ;-farewel, gentle friends. [Exeunt,

SCENE I. Before the Tower.

ACT IV.

Enter the Queen, Dutchess of York, and Marquis of 30 Dorfet, at one door; Anne Dutchess of Glafter, leading Lady Margaret Plantagenet, Clarence's young daughter, at the other.

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I am bound by oath, and therefore pardon me. [Exit Brakenbury. Enter Stanley.

Stan. Let me but meet you, ladies, one hour hence And I'll falute your grace of York as mother, And reverend looker-on, of two fair queens.Come, madam, you must straight to Westminster, [To the Dutchess of Glofter, 35 There to be crowned Richard's royal queen. Queen. Ah, cut my lace afunder! That my pent heart may have some scope to beat, Or elfe I fwoon with this dead-killing news.

40

[ther: 45

Queen. Kind fifter, thanks; we'll enter all toge-
Enter Brakenbury.

And, in good time, here the lieutenant comes.—
Mafter lieutenant, pray you, by your leave,
How doth the prince, and my young fon of York? 50
Brak. Right well, dear madam: By your patience,
I may not fuffer you to vifit them;
The king hath strictly charg'd the contrary.
Queen. The king! who's that?
Brak. I mean, the lord protector.

Anne. Defpightful tidings! O unpleafing news! Dor. Be of good chear :-Mother, how fares your grace?

Queen. O Dorfet, speak not to me, get thee gone, Death and deftruction dog thee at the heels; Thy mother's name is ominous to children; If thou wilt out-strip death, go cross the feas, And live with Richmond, from the reach of hell. Go, hie thee, hie thee from this flaughter-house, Left thou encrease the number of the dead; And make me die the thrall of Margaret's curse,Nor mother, wife, nor England's counted queen. Stanl. Full of wife care is this your counfel,

madam :

Take all the fwift advantage of the hours:
You fhall have letters from me to my fon
[title! 55 In your behalf, to meet you on the way:
Be not ta'en tardy by unwife delay.
Dutch. O ill-difperfing wind of mifery!-
O my accurfed womb, the bed of death;
A cockatrice haft thou hatch'd to the world,
Whofe unavoided eye is murderous!

Queen. The lord protect him from that kingly
Hath he fet bounds between their love and me?
I am their mother, Who fhall bar me from them?

Dutch. I am their father's mother, I will fee them.
Anne. Their aunt am I in law, in love their mo-60
ther:

Then bring me to their fights; I'll bear thy blame,
And take thy office from thee, on my peril.

Brak. No, madam, no, I may not leave it fo;

Stanl. Come, madam, come; I in all hafte was fent. Anne. And I with all unwillingness will go.O, would to God, that the inclufive verge Of golden metal, that must round my brow,

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Were red-hot fteel, to fear me to the brain!!
Anointed let me be with deadly venom;
And die, ere men can fay-God fave the queen!
Queen. Go, go, poor foul, I envy not thy glory;
To feed my humour, with thyself no harm.

Anne. No! why?-When he, that is my huf-
band now,

Came to me, as I follow'd Henry's corfe; [hands,
When scarce the blood was well wash'd from his
Which iffued from my other angel husband,
And that dead faint which then I weeping follow'd;
O, when, I fay, I look'd on Richard's face,
This was my wifh,~ Be thou, quoth I, accurs'd,
For making me, fa young, fo old a widow!
And, when thou wed fi, let forrow haunt thy bed;
And be thy wife (if any be fo mad)
Mare miferable by the life of thee,

Than thou baft made me by my dear lord's death!
Lo, ere I can repeat this curfe again,
Even in fo fhort a space, my woman's heart
Grofsly grew captive to his honey words,

And prov'd the subject of mine own soul's curfe :
Which ever fince hath held mine eyes from reft;
For never yet one hour in his bed
Did I enjoy the golden dew of sleep,

5

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And thy affiftance, is king Richard feated:-
But fhall we wear thefe glories for a day?
Or fhall they laft, and we rejoice in them?
Buck. Still live they, and for ever let them last!
K. Rich. Ah, Buckingham, now do I play the
touch 3,

To try if thou be current gold, indeed :— [fpeak.
Young Edward lives;-Think now what I would
Buck. Say on, my loving lord.

K. Rich. Why, Buckingham, I fay, I would be

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That Edward ftill fhould live--true! noble prince!--
Coufin, thou waft not wont to be fo dull :-
Shall I be plain? I wish the baftards dead;
And I would have it fuddenly perform'd.
20 What fay'st thou now? speak fuddenly, be brief.
Buck. Your grace may do your pleasure.

25

But with his timorous dreams was ftill awak'd.
Befides, he hates me for my father Warwick;
And will, no doubt, fhortly be rid of me.
Queen. Poor heart, adieu; I pity thy complaining.
Aune. No more than with my foul I mourn for 30
yours.

Der. Farewel, thou woful welcomer of glory!
Anne. Adieu, poor foul, that tak'st thy leave of it!
Dutch. Go thou to Richmond, and good fortune]
guide thee!-
[To Dorfet. 35
Go thou to Richard, and good angels tend thee!
[To Anne.
Go thou to fanctuary, and good thoughts poffefs
thee!
[To the Queen.
I to my grave, where peace and reft lie with me!
Eighty odd years of forrow have I seen,
And each hour's joy wreck'd with a week of teen 2.
Queen. Stay yet; look back, with me, unto the

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K. Rich. Tut, tut, thou art all ice, thy kindness
freezes :

Say, have I thy confent, that they shall die?
Buck. Give me fome breath, fome little paufe,
Before I pofitively speak in this: [dear lord,
will refolve your grace immediately.

[Exit Buckingham.

Catef. The king is angry; fee, he gnaws his lip.
K. Rich. I will converfe with iron-witted fools
And unrespective 4 boys; none are for me,
That look into me with confiderate eyes :-
High-reaching Buckingham grows circumspect.→
(Boy,-

Page. My lord.
[gold
K.Rich. Know'st thou not any, whom ccrrupting
Would tempt unto a close exploit 5 of death?
Page. I know a discontented gentleman,
Whofe humble means match not his haughty mind:
40 Gold were as good as twenty orators,
And will, no doubt, tempt him to any thing.
K. Rich. What is his name?

1451

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1501

[Exeunt.

How now, lord Stanley? what's the news?
Stan. Know, my loving lord,

Flearish of trumpets. Enter Richard, as King, Buck-
ingham, Catefby, a Page, and others.

K. Ricb. Stand all apart.-Coufin of Bucking-
Buck. My gracious fovereign.

[ham,

K. Rich. Give me thy hand. Thus high, by thy

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advice,

155

The marquis Dorfet, as I hear, is fled

To Richmond, in the parts where he abides.
K. Rich. Come hither, Catefby: rumour it
abroad,

That Anne my wife is very grievous fick;

I will take order for her keeping close.

Enquire me out fome mean-born gentleman,

This feems to allude to the ancient mode of punishing a regicide, viz. by placing a crown of iron heated red-hot, upon his head. 2 i. e. forrow. 3 To play the touch means, to represent the 4 i. e. inattentive, inconfiderate. 5 i. e. fecret act. 6 Witty implies in this place judicias, or cunning. A wit was not in our author's time employed to fignify a man of fancy, but was uled for wifdem or judgment.

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Whom I will marry ftraight to Clarence' daugh-
The boy is foolish, and I fear not him.-- [ter:
Look, how thou dream'st !--I say again, give out,
That Anne my queen is fick, and like to die:
About it; for it stands me much upon,
To stop all hopes,whofe growth may damage me.--
[Exit Catefby.

I must be marry'd to my brother's daughter,
Or elfe my kingdom ftands on brittle glass :---
Murder her brothers, and then marry her!
Uncertain way of gain! But I am in

So far in blood, that fin will pluck on fin.
Tear-falling pity dwells not in this eye.————

Enter Tyrrel.

Is thy name---Tyrrel?

5

10

[ject. 15

Tyr. James Tyrrel, and your moft obedient fub

K. Rich. Art thou, indeed?

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I am not in the giving vein to-day.
Buck. Why, then refolve me whe'r you will,
K. Rich. Thou troubleft me; I am not in the
[Exit.
Buck. Is it even fo? repays he my deep fervice
With fuch contempt? made I him king for this?

vein.

Tyr. Please you; but I had ṛather kill two ene-200, let me think on Hastings; and be gone

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Re-enter Buckingham.

[Exit.

25

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Tyr. The tyrannous and bloody act is done;
The moft arch deed of piteous malfacre,

That ever yet this land was guilty of.
Dighton, and Forrest, whom I did fuborn
To do this piece of ruthlefs butchery,
30 Albeit they were flesh'd villains, bloody dogs,
Melting with tenderness and mild compassion,
Wept like two children, in their deaths' sad story.
O thus, quoth Dighton, lay the gentle babes-
Thus, thus, quoth Forreft, girdling one another
35 Within their alabafter innocent arms:

Buck. My lord, I have confider'd in my mind The late demand that you did found me in. K. Rich. Well, let that reft. Dorfet is filed to Buck. I hear the news, my lord. [Richmond. K. Rich. Stanley, he is your wife's fon :-Well, 4 look to it. [mife,

Buck. My lord, I claim the gift, my due by proFor which your honour and your faith is pawn'd; The earldom of Hereford, and the moveables, Which you have promised I fhall poffefs.

K. Rich. Stanley, look to your wife, if the convey
Letters to Richmond, you fhall answer it.

Buck. What fays your highness to my just request?|
K. Rich. I do remember me,---Henry the fixth
Did prophefy, that Richmond should be king,
When Richmond was a little peevish boy.
A king!---perhaps---

Buck. My lord,

[that time

K. Rich. How chance, the prophet could not at
Have told me, I being by, that I fhould kill him?

Buck. My lord, your promife for the earldom,---
K. Rich. Richmond !--When laft I was at Exeter,
The mayor in court'fy fhew'd me the caftle,
And call'd it---Rouge-mont: at which name,
ftarted;

Their lips were four red roses on a stalk,
Which, in their fummer beauty, kiss'd each other.
A book of prayers on their pillow lay;
Which once, quoth Forrest, almost chang’d my mind:
But, 0, the devil---there the villain stopp'd;
When Dighton thus told on,---we smothered
The most replenished sweet work of nature,

That, from the prime creation, e'er fhe fram`d.---
Hence both are gone with confcience and remorfe,
45 They could not speak; and so I left them both,
To bear thefe tidings to the bloody king.
Enter King Richard.
And here he comes:---

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55

lord!

-All health, my fovereign

K. Rich. Kind Tyrrel! am I happy in thy news? Tyr. If to have done the thing you gave in charge Beget your happiness, be happy then,

For it is done.

K. Rich. But didst thou fee them dead?

Tyr. I did, my lord.

K. Rich. And buried, gentle Tyrrel?

Tyr.The chaplain of the Tower hath buried them; But where, to fay the truth, I do not know.

K. Rich. Come to me, Tyrrel, foon after fupper, 160 When thou shalt tell the process of their death.

An image like thofe at St. Dunstan's church in Fleet-ftrect, and at the market-houfes at feveral towns in this kingdom, was usually called a Jack of the clock-koufe. Perhaps these figures were called Jacks, because the engines of that name which turn the fpit were anciently ornamented with fuch a puppet.

Mean

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K. Rich. Good news or bad, that thou com'ft
in fo bluntly?
[Richmond;
Catef. Bad news, my lord: Morton is fied to
And Buckingham, back'd with the hardy Welfh-
Is in the field, and ftill his power encreaseth. [men, 2c
K. Ricb. Ely with Richmond troubles me more
near,

Than Buckingham and his rafh-levied strength.
Come,---I have learn'd, that fearful commenting
Is leaden fervitor to dull delay ';

Delay leads impotent and snail-pac'd beggary :
Then fiery expedition be my wing,
Jove's Mercury, and herald for a king!
Go, mufter men; My counfel is my fhield;

We must be brief, when traitors brave the field.

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2. Mar. So, now profperity begins to mellow,
And drop into the rotten mouth of death.
Here in thefe confines flily have I lurk'd,
To watch the waining of mine enemies.
A dire induction 2 am I witnefs to,
And will to France; hoping, the confequence
Will prove as bitter, black, and tragical. [here?
Withdraw thee, wretched Margaret! who comes

Enter the Queen and the Duchess of York.
Queen. Ah, my poor princes! ah,my tender babes'
My unblown flowers, new-appearing sweets!
If yet your gentle fouls fly in the air,
And be not fix'd in doom perpetual,

Hover about me with your airy wings,
And hear your mother's lamentation!

[right 3

25

[ghoft,

2. Mar. When holy Henry dy'd, and my sweet
fon?
Dutch. Dead life, blind fight, poor mortal living
Woe's fcene, world's fhame, grave's due by life
ufurp'd,

Brief abftract and record of tedious days,
Reft thy unreft on England's lawful earth,

[Sitting dron.
Unlawfully made drunk with innocent blood!
Queen. Ah, that thou wouldst as foon afford a
As thou canft yield a melancholy feat; [grave,
Then would I hide my bones, not reft them here!
Ah, who hath any cause to mourn, but we?

[Sitting down by ber.
2. Mar. If ancient forrow be most reverent,
Give mine the benefit of 4 figniory,
And let my griefs frown on the upper hand.
[Sitting down with them.

If forrow can admit fociety,
Tell o'er your woes again by viewing mine :---
I had an Edward, 'till a Richard kill'd him;
I had a husband, 'till a Richard kill'd him:
Thou hadst an Edward, 'till a Richard kill'd him;
Thou hadft a Richard, 'till a Richard kill'd him.
Dutch. I had a Richard too, and thou didst kill

him;

I had a Rutland too, thou holp'ft to kill him.
2. Mar. Thou hadst a Clarence too, and Richard
kill'd him.

30 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;
That foul defacer of God's handy-work;
35 That excellent grand tyrant of the earth,
That reigns in galled eyes of weeping fouls,
Thy womb let loofe, to chafe us to our graves..
O upright, just, and true-difpofing God,
How do I thank thee, that this carnal cur
40 Preys on the iffue of his mother's body,
And makes her 5 pue-fellow with others' moan!
Dutch. O, Harry's wife, triumph not in my
woes;

45

Mar. Hover about her; fay that right for 50
Hath dimm'd your infant morn to aged night.
Dutch. So many miferies have craz'd my voice,
That my woe-wearied tongue is ftill and mute.---
Edward Plantagenet, why art thou dead?

[lambs,

2. Mar. Plantagenet doth quit Plantagenet,
Edward for Edward pays a dying debt.
Queen. Wilt thou, O God, fly from fuch gentle
And throw them in the entrails of the wolf?
Why didft thou sleep, when fuch a deed was done?

justice.

55

God witnefs with me, I have wept for thine.
2. Mar. Bear with me; I am hungry for re-

venge,

And now I cloy me with beholding it.
Thy Edward he is dead, that kill'd my Edward ;
Thy other Edward dead, to quit my Edward;
Young York he is but boot, because both they
Match not the high perfection of my lofs.
Thy Clarence he is dead, that stabb'd my Edward;
And the beholders of this tragic play,
The adulterate 7 Haftings, Rivers, Vaughan, Grey,
Untimely fmother'd in their dusky graves.
Richard yet lives, hell's black intelligencer;
Only referv'd their factor, to buy fouls,
And fend them thither: But at hand, at hand,
Enfues his piteous and unpitied end:

2 In

1 Meaning, that timorous thought and cautious difquifition are the dull attendants on delay. duffion means preface, introduction, first part. 3 Right for right is justice anftvering to the claims of 4 Siguiary is here used for feniority. 5 Pue-fellow feems to be companion. We full fay of perfons in the fame difficulties, that they are in the fame box. 6 Beot is that which is thrown in to mend a purchase, 7 i. e. Faithless a or adulterate may be put for adulterer.

U u 2

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