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Your honour hath no shriving work in hand. HASTINGS. Good faith, and when I met this holy man, The men you talk of came into my mind. What, go you toward the Tower? BUCKINGHAM. I do, my lord, but long I cannot stay there. I shall return before your lordship thence. HASTINGS. Nay, like enough, for I stay dinner there.
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BUCKINGHAM. [_Aside_.] And supper too, although thou knowest it not. Come, will you go? HASTINGS. Ill wait upon your lordship. [_Exeunt._] SCENE III. Pomfret. Before the Castle Enter Sir Richard Ratcliffe, with Halberds, carrying the nobles Rivers, Grey and Vaughan to death at Pomfret. RIVERS. Sir Richard Ratcliffe, let me tell thee this: Today shalt thou behold a subject die
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For truth, for duty, and for loyalty. GREY. God bless the Prince from all the pack of you! A knot you are of damned bloodsuckers. VAUGHAN You live that shall cry woe for this hereafter. RATCLIFFE Dispatch. The limit of your lives is out. RIVERS. O Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison, Fatal and ominous to noble peers! Within the
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guilty closure of thy walls Richard the Second here was hacked to death; And, for more slander to thy dismal seat, We give to thee our guiltless blood to drink. GREY. Now Margarets curse is falln upon our heads, When she exclaimed on Hastings, you, and I, For standing by when Richard stabbed her son. RIVERS. Then cursed she Richard,
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then cursed she Buckingham, Then cursed she Hastings. O, remember, God, To hear her prayer for them, as now for us! And for my sister and her princely sons, Be satisfied, dear God, with our true blood, Which, as thou knowst, unjustly must be spilt. RATCLIFFE. Make haste. The hour of death is expiate. RIVERS. Come, Grey, come, Vaughan, let
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us here embrace. Farewell, until we meet again in heaven. [_Exeunt._] SCENE IV. London. A Room in the Tower Enter Buckingham, Stanley Earl of Derby, Hastings, the Bishop of Ely, Norfolk, Ratcliffe, Lovell with others, at a table. HASTINGS. Now, noble peers, the cause why we are met Is to determine of the coronation. In Gods name speak. When is
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the royal day? BUCKINGHAM. Is all things ready for that royal time? STANLEY. It is, and wants but nomination. ELY. Tomorrow, then, I judge a happy day. BUCKINGHAM. Who knows the Lord Protectors mind herein? Who is most inward with the noble Duke? ELY. Your Grace, we think, should soonest know his mind. BUCKINGHAM. We know each others faces; for
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our hearts, He knows no more of mine than I of yours, Or I of his, my lord, than you of mine. Lord Hastings, you and he are near in love. HASTINGS. I thank his Grace, I know he loves me well; But for his purpose in the coronation I have not sounded him, nor he delivered His gracious pleasure
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any way therein. But you, my honourable lords, may name the time, And in the Dukes behalf Ill give my voice, Which I presume hell take in gentle part. Enter Richard. ELY. In happy time, here comes the Duke himself. RICHARD. My noble lords and cousins all, good morrow. I have been long a sleeper; but I trust My absence
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doth neglect no great design Which by my presence might have been concluded. BUCKINGHAM. Had you not come upon your cue, my lord, William Lord Hastings had pronounced your part I mean your voice for crowning of the King. RICHARD. Than my Lord Hastings no man might be bolder. His lordship knows me well and loves me well. My lord
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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._] RICHARD. Cousin of Buckingham, a word with you. [_They move aside._] Catesby hath sounded Hastings in our business, And finds the testy gentleman so
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hot That he will lose his head ere give consent His masters child, as worshipfully he terms it, Shall lose the royalty of Englands throne. BUCKINGHAM. Withdraw yourself awhile. Ill go with you. [_Exeunt Richard and Buckingham._] STANLEY. We have not yet set down this day of triumph. Tomorrow, in my judgement, is too sudden, For I myself am not
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so well provided As else I would be, were the day prolonged. Enter Bishop of Ely. ELY. Where is my lord the Duke of Gloucester? I have sent for these strawberries. HASTINGS. His Grace looks cheerfully and smooth this morning. Theres some conceit or other likes him well When that he bids good morrow with such spirit. I think theres
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never a man in Christendom Can lesser hide his love or hate than he, For by his face straight shall you know his heart. STANLEY. What of his heart perceive you in his face By any livelihood he showed today? HASTINGS. Marry, that with no man here he is offended, For were he, he had shown it in his looks.
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Enter Richard and Buckingham. RICHARD. I pray you all, tell me what they deserve That do conspire my death with devilish plots Of damned witchcraft, and that have prevailed Upon my body with their hellish charms? HASTINGS. The tender love I bear your Grace, my lord, Makes me most forward in this princely presence To doom th offenders, whosoeer they
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be. I say, my lord, they have deserved death. RICHARD. Then be your eyes the witness of their evil. Look how I am bewitched! Behold, mine arm Is like a blasted sapling withered up! And this is Edwards wife, that monstrous witch, Consorted with that harlot, strumpet Shore, That by their witchcraft thus have marked me. HASTINGS. If they have
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done this deed, my noble lord RICHARD. If? Thou protector of this damned strumpet, Talkst 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. Lovell and Ratcliffe, look that it be done. The rest that love me, rise and follow me.
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[_Exeunt all but Lovell and Ratcliffe with the Lord Hastings._] HASTINGS. Woe, woe, for England! Not a whit for me, For I, too fond, might have prevented this. Stanley did dream the boar did raze his helm, And I did scorn it and disdain to fly. Three times today my foot-cloth horse did stumble, And started when he looked upon
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the Tower, As loath to bear me to the slaughter-house. O, now I need the priest that spake to me; I now repent I told the pursuivant, As too triumphing, how mine enemies Today at Pomfret bloodily were butchered, And I myself secure in grace and favour. O Margaret, Margaret, now thy heavy curse Is lighted on poor Hastings wretched
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head. RATCLIFFE. Come, come, dispatch. The Duke would be at dinner: Make a short shrift. He longs to see your head. HASTINGS. O momentary grace of mortal men, Which we more hunt for than the grace of God! Who builds his hope in air of your good looks Lives like a drunken sailor on a mast, Ready with every nod
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to tumble down Into the fatal bowels of the deep. LOVELL. Come, come, dispatch. Tis bootless to exclaim. HASTINGS. O bloody Richard! Miserable England, I prophesy the fearfullst time to thee That ever wretched age hath looked upon. Come, lead me to the block. Bear him my head. They smile at me who shortly shall be dead. [_Exeunt._] SCENE V.
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London. The Tower Walls Enter Richard and Buckingham in rotten armour, marvellous ill-favoured. RICHARD. 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 were distraught and mad with terror? BUCKINGHAM. Tut, I can counterfeit the deep tragedian; Speak, and look back, and
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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 anytime to grace my stratagems. But what, is Catesby gone? RICHARD. He is; and, see, he brings the Mayor along. Enter the Lord Mayor and Catesby. BUCKINGHAM. Lord
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Mayor RICHARD. Look to the drawbridge there! BUCKINGHAM. Hark, a drum. RICHARD. Catesby, oerlook the walls. BUCKINGHAM. Lord Mayor, the reason we have sent RICHARD. Look back! Defend thee, here are enemies. BUCKINGHAM. God and our innocence defend and guard us! Enter Lovell and Ratcliffe with Hastings head. RICHARD. Be patient, they are friends, Ratcliffe and Lovell. LOVELL. Here is
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the head of that ignoble traitor, The dangerous and unsuspected Hastings. RICHARD. So dear I loved the man that I must weep. I took him for the plainest harmless creature That breathed upon the earth a Christian; Made him my book, wherein my soul recorded The history of all her secret thoughts. So smooth he daubed his vice with show
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of virtue That, his apparent open guilt omitted I mean his conversation with Shores wife He lived from all attainder of suspects. BUCKINGHAM. Well, well, he was the covertst sheltered traitor That ever lived. Would you imagine, or almost believe, Weret not that by great preservation We live to tell it, that the subtle traitor This day had plotted, in
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the council-house, To murder me and my good lord of Gloucester? MAYOR. Had he done so? RICHARD. What, think you we are Turks or Infidels? Or that we would, against the form of law, Proceed thus rashly in the villains death, But that the extreme peril of the case, The peace of England, and our persons safety, Enforced us to
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this execution? MAYOR. Now, fair befall you! He deserved his death, And your good Graces both have well proceeded, To warn false traitors from the like attempts. BUCKINGHAM. I never looked for better at his hands After he once fell in with Mistress Shore. Yet had we not determined he should die Until your lordship came to see his end
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Which now the loving haste of these our friends, Something against our meanings, have prevented, Because, my lord, we would have had you heard The traitor speak, and timorously confess The manner and the purpose of his treasons, That you might well have signified the same Unto the citizens, who haply may Misconster us in him, and wail his death.
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MAYOR. But, my good lord, your Graces word shall serve As well as I had seen and heard him speak; And do not doubt, right noble princes both, But Ill acquaint our duteous citizens With all your just proceedings in this case. RICHARD. And to that end we wished your lordship here, T avoid the censures of the carping world.
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BUCKINGHAM. But since you come too late of our intent, Yet witness what you hear we did intend. And so, my good Lord Mayor, we bid farewell. [_Exit Lord Mayor._] RICHARD. Go, after, after, cousin Buckingham. The Mayor towards Guildhall hies him in all post. There, at your meetst advantage of the time, Infer the bastardy of Edwards children; Tell
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them how Edward put to death a citizen Only for saying he would make his son Heir to the Crownmeaning indeed his house, Which, by the sign thereof, was termed so. Moreover, urge his hateful luxury And bestial appetite in change of lust, Which stretched unto their servants, daughters, wives, Even where his raging eye or savage heart, Without control,
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lusted to make a prey. Nay, for a need, thus far come near my person: Tell them, when that my mother went with child Of that insatiate Edward, noble York My princely father then had wars in France, And, by true computation of the time, Found that the issue was not his begot; Which well appeared in his lineaments, Being
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nothing like the noble Duke, my father. Yet touch this sparingly, as twere far off; Because, my lord, you know my mother lives. BUCKINGHAM. Doubt not, my lord, Ill play the orator As if the golden fee for which I plead Were for myself. And so, my lord, adieu. RICHARD. If you thrive well, bring them to Baynards Castle, Where
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you shall find me well accompanied With reverend fathers and well-learned bishops. BUCKINGHAM. I go; and towards three or four oclock Look for the news that the Guildhall affords. [_Exit._] RICHARD. Go, Lovell, with all speed to Doctor Shaa. [_To Ratcliffe_.] Go thou to Friar Penker; bid them both Meet me within this hour at Baynards Castle. [_Exeunt Ratcliffe and
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Lovell._] Now will I go to take some privy order To draw the brats of Clarence out of sight, And to give order that no manner person Have any time recourse unto the Princes. [_Exit._] SCENE VI. London. A street Enter a Scrivener. SCRIVENER. Here is the indictment of the good Lord Hastings, Which in a set hand fairly is
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engrossed, That it may be today read oer in Pauls. And mark how well the sequel hangs together: Eleven hours I have spent to write it over, For yesternight by Catesby was it sent me; The precedent was full as long a-doing And yet within these five hours Hastings lived, Untainted, unexamined, free, at liberty. Heres a good world the
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while! Who is so gross That cannot see this palpable device? Yet who so bold but says he sees it not? Bad is the world, and all will come to naught When such ill dealing must be seen in thought. [_Exit._] SCENE VII. London. Court of Baynards Castle Enter Richard and Buckingham at several doors. RICHARD. How now, how now?
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What say the citizens? BUCKINGHAM. Now, by the holy mother of our Lord, The citizens are mum, say not a word. RICHARD. Touched you the bastardy of Edwards children? BUCKINGHAM. I did; with his contract with Lady Lucy, And his contract by deputy in France; Th insatiate greediness of his desire, And his enforcement of the city wives; His tyranny
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for trifles; his own bastardy, As being got, your father then in France, And his resemblance, being not like the Duke. Withal, I did infer your lineaments, Being the right idea of your father, Both in your form and nobleness of mind; Laid open all your victories in Scotland, Your discipline in war, wisdom in peace, Your bounty, virtue, fair
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humility; Indeed, left nothing fitting for your purpose Untouched or slightly handled in discourse. And when mine oratory drew toward end, I bid them that did love their countrys good Cry God save Richard, Englands royal King! RICHARD. And did they so? BUCKINGHAM. No, so God help me, they spake not a word, But, like dumb statues or breathing stones,
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Stared each on other, and looked deadly pale. Which when I saw, I reprehended them, And asked the Mayor what meant this wilful silence. His answer was, the people were not used To be spoke to but by the Recorder. Then he was urged to tell my tale again: Thus saith the Duke, thus hath the Duke inferred But nothing
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spoke in warrant from himself. When he had done, some followers of mine own, At lower end of the hall, hurled up their caps, And some ten voices cried, God save King Richard! And thus I took the vantage of those few. Thanks, gentle citizens and friends, quoth I; This general applause and cheerful shout Argues your wisdoms and your
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love to Richard. And even here brake off and came away. RICHARD. What, tongueless blocks were they! Would they not speak? Will not the Mayor then and his brethren, come? BUCKINGHAM. The mayor is here at hand. Intend some fear; Be not you spoke with but by mighty suit. And look you get a prayer-n your hand, And stand between
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two churchmen, good my lord, For on that ground Ill make a holy descant. And be not easily won to our requests. Play the maids part: still answer nay, and take it. RICHARD. I go, and if you plead as well for them As I can say nay to thee for myself, No doubt we bring it to a happy
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issue. BUCKINGHAM. Go, go, up to the leads, the Lord Mayor knocks. [_Exit Richard._] Enter the Lord Mayor and Citizens. Welcome, my lord. I dance attendance here. I think the Duke will not be spoke withal. Enter Catesby. Now, Catesby, what says your lord to my request? CATESBY. He doth entreat your Grace, my noble lord, To visit him tomorrow
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or next day. He is within, with two right reverend fathers, Divinely bent to meditation; And in no worldly suits would he be moved To draw him from his holy exercise. BUCKINGHAM. Return, good Catesby, to the gracious Duke; Tell him myself, the Mayor and aldermen, In deep designs, in matter of great moment, No less importing than our general
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good, Are come to have some conference with his Grace. CATESBY. Ill signify so much unto him straight. [_Exit._] BUCKINGHAM. Ah ha, my lord, this prince is not an Edward! He is not lolling on a lewd love-bed, But on his knees at meditation; Not dallying with a brace of courtesans, But meditating with two deep divines; Not sleeping, to
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engross his idle body, But praying, to enrich his watchful soul. Happy were England would this virtuous prince Take on his Grace the sovereignty thereof. But sure I fear we shall not win him to it. MAYOR. Marry, God defend his Grace should say us nay! BUCKINGHAM. I fear he will. Here Catesby comes again. Enter Catesby. Now, Catesby, what
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says his Grace? CATESBY. He wonders to what end you have assembled Such troops of citizens to come to him, His Grace not being warned thereof before. He fears, my lord, you mean no good to him. BUCKINGHAM. Sorry I am my noble cousin should Suspect me that I mean no good to him. By heaven, we come to him
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in perfect love, And so once more return and tell his Grace. [_Exit Catesby._] When holy and devout religious men Are at their beads, tis much to draw them thence, So sweet is zealous contemplation. Enter Richard aloft, between two Bishops. Catesby reenters. MAYOR. See where his Grace stands tween two clergymen! BUCKINGHAM. Two props of virtue for a Christian
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prince, 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. RICHARD. My lord, there needs no such apology. I do beseech your
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Grace to pardon me, Who, earnest in the service of my God, Deferred the visitation of my friends. But, leaving this, what is your Graces pleasure? BUCKINGHAM. Even that, I hope, which pleaseth God above, And all good men of this ungoverned isle. RICHARD. I do suspect I have done some offence That seems disgracious in the citys eye, And
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that you come to reprehend my ignorance. BUCKINGHAM. You have, my lord. Would it might please your Grace, On our entreaties, to amend your fault. RICHARD. Else wherefore breathe I in a Christian land? BUCKINGHAM. Know then, it is your fault that you resign The supreme seat, the throne majestical, The sceptered office of your ancestors, Your state of fortune,
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and your due of birth, The lineal glory of your royal house, To the corruption of a blemished stock; Whiles in the mildness of your sleepy thoughts, Which here we waken to our countrys good, The noble isle doth want her proper limbs; Her face defaced with scars of infamy, Her royal stock graft with ignoble plants, And almost shouldered
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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 anothers gain, But as successively, from blood to blood, Your right of birth, your empery, your own. For this,
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consorted with the citizens, Your very worshipful and loving friends, And by their vehement instigation, In this just cause come I to move your Grace. RICHARD. 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,
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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 seasoned with your faithful love to me, Then, on the other side, I checked my friends. Therefore, to speak, and to avoid the first, And then, in speaking, not to incur the last, Definitively
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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 ripe revenue and due of birth, Yet so much is my poverty of spirit, So mighty and so many my defects, That I would rather
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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 smothered. But, God be thanked, there is no need of me, And much I need to help you, were there need. The royal tree hath left us royal fruit, Which, mellowed by
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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 that you would lay on me, The right and fortune of his happy stars, Which God defend that I should wring from him. BUCKINGHAM. My lord, this argues conscience in your Grace; But the respects
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thereof are nice and trivial, All circumstances well considered. You say that Edward is your brothers son; So say we too, but not by Edwards wife. For first was he contract to Lady Lucy Your mother lives a witness to his vow, And afterward by substitute betrothed To Bona, sister to the King of France. These both put off, a
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poor petitioner, A care-crazed 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, Seduced the pitch and height of his degree To base declension and loathed bigamy. By her, in his unlawful bed, he got This Edward, whom our manners call the Prince.
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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 proffered benefit of dignity, If not to bless us and the land withal, Yet to draw forth your noble ancestry From the corruption of abusing times Unto a lineal true-derived
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course. MAYOR. Do, good my lord. Your citizens entreat you. BUCKINGHAM. Refuse not, mighty lord, this proffered love. CATESBY. O, make them joyful; grant their lawful suit. RICHARD. Alas, why would you heap those cares on me? I am unfit for state and majesty. I do beseech you, take it not amiss; I cannot, nor I will not, yield to
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you. BUCKINGHAM. If you refuse it, as in love and zeal Loath to depose the child, your brothers son As well we know your tenderness of heart And gentle, kind, effeminate remorse, Which we have noted in you to your kindred, And equally indeed to all estates Yet know, wheer you accept our suit or no, Your brothers son shall
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never reign our king, But we will plant some other in the throne, To the disgrace and downfall of your house. And in this resolution here we leave you. Come, citizens; zounds, Ill entreat no more. [_Exeunt Buckingham, the Mayor and citizens._] CATESBY. Call him again, sweet Prince; accept their suit. If you deny them, all the land will rue
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it. RICHARD. Will you enforce me to a world of cares? Call them again. I am not made of stones, But penetrable to your kind entreaties, Albeit against my conscience and my soul. Enter Buckingham and the rest. Cousin of Buckingham, and sage grave men, Since you will buckle Fortune on my back, To bear her burden, wheer I will
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or no, I must have patience to endure the load. But if black scandal or foul-faced reproach Attend the sequel of your imposition, Your mere enforcement shall acquittance me From all the impure blots and stains thereof, For God doth know, and you may partly see, How far I am from the desire of this. MAYOR. God bless your Grace!
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We see it, and will say it. RICHARD. In saying so, you shall but say the truth. BUCKINGHAM. Then I salute you with this royal title: Long live King Richard, Englands worthy King! ALL. Amen. BUCKINGHAM. Tomorrow may it please you to be crowned? RICHARD. Even when you please, for you will have it so. BUCKINGHAM. Tomorrow, then, we will
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attend your Grace; And so most joyfully we take our leave. RICHARD. [_To the Bishops_.] Come, let us to our holy work again. Farewell, my cousin, farewell, gentle friends. [_Exeunt._] ACT IV SCENE I. London. Before the Tower Enter Queen Elizabeth, the Duchess of York and Marquess of Dorset, at one door; Anne Duchess of Gloucester with Clarences young Daughter
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at another door. DUCHESS. Who meets us here? My niece Plantagenet Led in the hand of her kind aunt of Gloucester? Now, for my life, shes wandering to the Tower, On pure hearts love, to greet the tender Prince. Daughter, well met. ANNE. God give your Graces both A happy and a joyful time of day. QUEEN ELIZABETH. As much
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to you, good sister. Whither away? ANNE. No farther than the Tower, and, as I guess, Upon the like devotion as yourselves, To gratulate the gentle Princes there. QUEEN ELIZABETH. Kind sister, thanks; well enter all together. Enter Brakenbury. And in good time, here the Lieutenant comes. Master Lieutenant, pray you, by your leave, How doth the Prince and my
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young son of York? BRAKENBURY. Right well, dear madam. By your patience, I may not suffer you to visit them. The King hath strictly charged the contrary. QUEEN ELIZABETH. The King? Whos that? BRAKENBURY. I mean the Lord Protector. QUEEN ELIZABETH. The Lord protect him from that kingly title! Hath he set bounds between their love and me? I am
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their mother; who shall bar me from them? DUCHESS. I am their fathers mother. I will see them. ANNE. Their aunt I am in law, in love their mother. Then bring me to their sights. Ill bear thy blame, And take thy office from thee, on my peril. BRAKENBURY. No, madam, no. I may not leave it so. I am
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bound by oath, and therefore pardon me. [_Exit._] Enter Stanley. STANLEY. Let me but meet you, ladies, one hour hence, And Ill salute your Grace of York as mother And reverend looker-on of two fair queens. [_To Anne._] Come, madam, you must straight to Westminster, There to be crowned Richards royal queen. QUEEN ELIZABETH. Ah, cut my lace asunder That
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my pent heart may have some scope to beat, Or else I swoon with this dead-killing news! ANNE. Despiteful tidings! O unpleasing news! DORSET. Be of good cheer, mother. How fares your Grace? QUEEN ELIZABETH. O Dorset, speak not to me; get thee gone. Death and destruction dog thee at thy heels; Thy mothers name is ominous to children. If
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thou wilt outstrip death, go, cross the seas, And live with Richmond, from the reach of hell. Go, hie thee, hie thee from this slaughter-house, Lest thou increase the number of the dead, And make me die the thrall of Margarets curse, Nor mother, wife, nor Englands counted Queen. STANLEY. Full of wise care is this your counsel, madam. Take
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all the swift advantage of the hours; You shall have letters from me to my son In your behalf, to meet you on the way. Be not taen tardy by unwise delay. DUCHESS. O ill-dispersing wind of misery! O my accursed womb, the bed of death! A cockatrice hast thou hatched to the world, Whose unavoided eye is murderous. STANLEY.
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Come, madam, come. I in all haste was sent. ANNE. And I with all unwillingness will go. O, would to God that the inclusive verge Of golden metal that must round my brow Were red-hot steel, to sear me to the brains. Anointed let me be with deadly venom, And die ere men can say God save the Queen. QUEEN
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ELIZABETH. Go, go, poor soul; I envy not thy glory. To feed my humour, wish thyself no harm. ANNE. No? Why? When he that is my husband now Came to me as I followed Henrys corse, When scarce the blood was well washed from his hands Which issued from my other angel husband, And that dear saint which then I
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weeping followed; O, when, I say, I looked on Richards face, This was my wish: Be thou, quoth I, accursed For making me, so young, so old a widow; And when thou weddst, let sorrow haunt thy bed; And be thy wife, if any be so mad, More miserable by the life of thee Than thou hast made me by
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my dear lords death. Lo, ere I can repeat this curse again, Within so small a time, my womans heart Grossly grew captive to his honey words, And proved the subject of mine own souls curse, Which hitherto hath held my eyes from rest; For never yet one hour in his bed Did I enjoy the golden dew of sleep,
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But with his timorous dreams was still awaked. Besides, he hates me for my father Warwick, And will, no doubt, shortly be rid of me. QUEEN ELIZABETH. Poor heart, adieu; I pity thy complaining. ANNE. No more than with my soul I mourn for yours. DORSET. Farewell, thou woeful welcomer of glory. ANNE. Adieu, poor soul, that takst thy leave
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of it. DUCHESS. [_To Dorset._] Go thou to Richmond, and good fortune guide thee. [_To Anne._] Go thou to Richard, and good angels tend thee. [_To Queen Elizabeth._] Go thou to sanctuary, and good thoughts possess thee. I to my grave, where peace and rest lie with me. Eighty odd years of sorrow have I seen, And each hours joy
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wracked with a week of teen. QUEEN ELIZABETH. Stay, yet look back with me unto the Tower. Pity, you ancient stones, those tender babes Whom envy hath immured within your walls Rough cradle for such little pretty one, Rude ragged nurse, old sullen playfellow For tender princes, use my babies well. So foolish sorrows bids your stones farewell. [_Exeunt._] SCENE
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II. London. A Room of State in the Palace The trumpets sound a sennet. Enter Richard in pomp, Buckingham, Catesby, Ratcliffe, Lovell, a Page and others. KING RICHARD. Stand all apart. Cousin of Buckingham! BUCKINGHAM. My gracious sovereign! KING RICHARD. Give me thy hand. [_Here he ascendeth the throne. Sound trumpets._] Thus high, by thy advice And thy assistance is
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King Richard seated. But shall we wear these glories for a day, Or shall they last, and we rejoice in them? BUCKINGHAM. Still live they, and for ever let them last! KING RICHARD. Ah, Buckingham, now do I play the touch, To try if thou be current gold indeed. Young Edward lives; think now what I would speak. BUCKINGHAM. Say
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on, my loving lord. KING RICHARD. Why, Buckingham, I say I would be King. BUCKINGHAM. Why, so you are, my thrice-renowned lord. KING RICHARD. Ha! Am I King? Tis sobut Edward lives. BUCKINGHAM. True, noble Prince. KING RICHARD. O bitter consequence, That Edward still should live true noble prince! Cousin, thou wast not wont to be so dull. Shall I
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be plain? I wish the bastards dead, And I would have it suddenly performed. What sayst thou now? Speak suddenly, be brief. BUCKINGHAM. Your Grace may do your pleasure. KING RICHARD. Tut, tut, thou art all ice; thy kindness freezes. Say, have I thy consent that they shall die? BUCKINGHAM. Give me some little breath, some pause, dear lord, Before
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I positively speak in this. I will resolve you herein presently. [_Exit._] CATESBY. [_Aside_.] The King is angry. See, he gnaws his lip. KING RICHARD. [_Aside_.] I will converse with iron-witted fools And unrespective boys; none are for me That look into me with considerate eyes. High-reaching Buckingham grows circumspect. Boy! PAGE. My lord? KING RICHARD. Knowst thou not any
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whom corrupting gold Will tempt unto a close exploit of death? PAGE. I know a discontented gentleman Whose humble means match not his haughty spirit. Gold were as good as twenty orators, And will, no doubt, tempt him to anything. KING RICHARD. What is his name? PAGE. His name, my lord, is Tyrrel. KING RICHARD. I partly know the man.
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Go, call him hither, boy. [_Exit Page._] [_Aside_.] The deep-revolving witty Buckingham No more shall be the neighbour to my counsels. Hath he so long held out with me, untired, And stops he now for breath? Well, be it so. Enter Stanley. How now, Lord Stanley, whats the news? STANLEY. Know, my loving lord, The Marquess Dorset, as I hear,
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is fled To Richmond, in the parts where he abides. KING RICHARD. Come hither, Catesby. Rumour it abroad That Anne my wife is very grievous sick; I will take order for her keeping close. Inquire me out some mean poor gentleman, Whom I will marry straight to Clarence daughter. The boy is foolish, and I fear not him. Look how
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thou dreamst! I say again, give out That Anne, my Queen, is sick and like to die. About it, for it stands me much upon To stop all hopes whose growth may damage me. [_Exit Catesby._] I must be married to my brothers daughter, Or else my kingdom stands on brittle glass. Murder her brothers, and then marry her Uncertain
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way of gain! But I am in So far in blood that sin will pluck on sin. Tear-falling pity dwells not in this eye. Enter Tyrrel. Is thy name Tyrrel? TYRREL. James Tyrrel, and your most obedient subject. KING RICHARD. Art thou indeed? TYRREL. Prove me, my gracious lord. KING RICHARD. Darst thou resolve to kill a friend of mine?
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TYRREL. Please you. But I had rather kill two enemies. KING RICHARD. Why then thou hast it; two deep enemies, Foes to my rest, and my sweet sleeps disturbers, Are they that I would have thee deal upon. Tyrell, I mean those bastards in the Tower. TYRREL. Let me have open means to come to them, And soon Ill rid
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you from the fear of them. KING RICHARD. Thou singst sweet music. Hark, come hither, Tyrrel. Go, by this token. Rise, and lend thine ear. [_Whispers_.] There is no more but so. Say it is done, And I will love thee, and prefer thee for it. TYRREL. I will dispatch it straight. [_Exit._] Enter Buckingham. BUCKINGHAM. My lord, I have
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considered in my mind The late request that you did sound me in. KING RICHARD. Well, let that rest. Dorset is fled to Richmond. BUCKINGHAM. I hear the news, my lord. KING RICHARD. Stanley, he is your wifes son. Well, look unto it. BUCKINGHAM. My lord, I claim the gift, my due by promise, For which your honour and your
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faith is pawned: Th earldom of Hereford, and the movables Which you have promised I shall possess. KING RICHARD. Stanley, look to your wife. If she convey Letters to Richmond, you shall answer it. BUCKINGHAM. What says your Highness to my just request? KING RICHARD. I do remember me, Henry the Sixth Did prophesy that Richmond should be King, When
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