He dreamt the boar had razed off his helm:
Besides, he says there are two councils held;
And that may be determin'd at the one
Which may make you and him to rue at the other.
Therefore he sends to know your lordship's
pleasure,

If you will presently take horse with him,
And with all speed post with him toward the
north,

To shun the danger that his soul divines.

20

Hast. Go, fellow, go, return unto thy lord;
Bid him not fear the separated councils :
His honour and myself are at the one,
And at the other is my good friend Catesby;
Where nothing can proceed that toucheth us
Whereof I shall not have intelligence.
Tell him his fears are shallow, wanting instance:
And for his dreams, I wonder he's so simple
To trust the mockery of unquiet slumbers.
To fly the boar before the boar pursues,
Were to incense the boar to follow us
And make pursuit where he did mean no chase.
Go, bid thy master rise and come to me;
And we will both together to the Tower,
Where, he shall see, the boar will use us kindly.
Mess. I'll go, my lord, and tell him what you
Exit.

say.

Enter CATESBY.

31

[ACT III.

When men are unprepar'd and look not for it
Cates. "Tis a vile thing to die, my gracious lo d,
Hast. O monstrous, monstrous! and so falls
it out

With Rivers, Vaughan, Grey; and so 'twill do
As thou and I; who, as thou know'st, are dear
With some men else, who think themselves assafe
To princely Richard and to Buckingham.

Cates. The princes both make high account of
you;

Asile. For they account his head upon the bridge.
Hast. I know they do, and I have well deserv'd it.
Enter STANLEY.

Come on, come on; where is your boar-spear, man?
Fear you the boar, and go so unprovided!

Stan. My lord, good morrow; good morrow,
Catesby:

You may jest on, but, by the holy rood,
I do not like these several councils, I.
Host. My lord, I hold my life as dear as yours;
And never in my days, I do protest,
Was it so precious to me as 'tis now.
Think you but that I know our state secure
I would be so triumphant as I am?

8)

Stan. The lords at Pomfret, when they rode
from London,

Were jocund and suppos'd their state was sure,
And they indeed had no cause to mistrust;
But yet you see how soon the day o'ercast.
This sudden stab of rancour I misdoubt:
Pray God, I say, I prove a needless coward!
What, shall we toward the Tower? the day is spent.

Hast. Come, come, have with you. Wot you
what, my lord?

To-day the lords you talk of are beheaded.

90

Stan. They, for their truth, might better wear
their heads

Than some that have accus'd them wear their hats.
But come, my lord, let 's away.
Enter a Pursuivant.

Hast. Go on before; I'll talk with this good
fellow. Exeunt STANLEY and CATESBY.
How now, sirrah! how goes the world with thee'
Purs. The better that your lordship please to ask.
Hast. I tell thee, man, 'tis better with me now
Then was I going prisoner to the Tower,
Than when I met thee last where now we meet:
By the suggestion of the queen's allies;
But now, I tell thee, keep it to thyself,
And I in better state than e'er I was.
This day those enemies are put to death,
Purs. Godholdit to your honour's good content!
Hast. Gramercy, fellow: there, drink that for
Throws him his purse.
Purs. God save your lordship!
Exit.

me.

Enter a Priest.

100

Priest. Well met, my lord; I am glad to see your honour.

Hast. I thank thee, good Sir John, with all
my heart.

I am in your debt for your last exercise;
Come the next Sabbath, and I will content you.
Enter BUCKINGHAM.

Buck. What! talking with a priest, lord
chamberlain ;

111

Your honour hath no shriving work in hand.
Your friends at Pomfret, they do need the priest:

Hast. Good faith, and when I met this holy man,
Those men you talk of came into my mind.
What! go you toward the Tower?

Buck. I do, my lord; but long I shall not stay:
I shall return before your lordship thence.
Hast. 'Tis like enough, for I stay dinner there.
Buck. Aside. And supper too, although thou
know'st it not.
120
Come, will you go?
Hast.
I'll wait upon your lordship.
Exeunt.

SCENE III.-Pomfret. Before the Castle.
Enter RATCLIFF, with halberds, carrying RIVERS,
GREY, and VAUGHAN to death.

Riv. Sir Richard Ratcliff, let me tell thee this:
To-day shalt thou behold a subject die
For truth, for duty, and for loyalty.

Grey. God keep the prince from all the pack
of you!

A knot you are of damned blood-suckers.
Vaugh. You live that shall cry woe for this
hereafter.

Rat. Dispatch; the limit of your lives is out.
Riv. OPomfret, Pomfret! Othou bloody prison!

10

Fatal and ominous to noble peers.
Within the guilty closure of thy walls
Richard the Second here was hack'd to death;
And, for more slander to thy dismal seat,
We give to thee our guiltless blood to drink.
Grey. Now Margaret's curse is fall'n upon our
heads,

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

Then curs'd 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,

20

Which, as thou know'st, unjustly must be spilt.
Rat. Make haste: the hour of death is expiate.
Riv. Come, Grey, come, Vaughan; let us here
embrace :

And take our leave, until we meet in heaven.
Exeunt.

SCENE IV.-London. The Tower. BUCKINGHAM, STANLEY, HASTINGS, the Bishop of ELY, RATCLIFF, LOVEL, and Others, sitting at a table. Officers of the Council attending. Hast. My lords, at once: the cause why we

are met

Buck. Had you not come upon your cue, my
William Lord Hastings had pronounc'd your part,
lord,
I mean, your voice, for crowning of the king.

Glou. Than my Lord Hastings no man might
be bolder:

His lordship knows me well, and loves me well.
My lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn, 31
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.

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

40

Exeunt GLOUCESTER and BUCKINGHAM, Stan. We have not yet set down this day of triumph.

To-morrow, in my judgment, is too sudden;
For I myself am not so well provided
As else I would be, were the day prolong'd.
Re-enter Bishop of ELY.

Ely. Where is my lord, the Duke of Gloucester?
I have sent for these strawberries.

Hast. His grace looks cheerfully and smooth this morning:

51

There's some conceit or other likes him well,
When that he bids good morrow with such spirit.
I think there's never a man in Christendom
Can lesser hide his love or hate than he;
For by his face straight shall you know his heart.
Stan. What of his heart perceive you in his face
By any livelihood he show'd to-day?

Is, to determine of the coronation :
In God's name, speak, when is the royal day?
Buck. Is all things ready for the royal time?
Stan. It is; and wants but nomination.
Ely. To-morrow then I judge a happy day.
Buck. Who knows the lord protector's mind For, were he, he had shown it in his looks.

herein ?

Who is most inward with the noble duke?
Ely. Your grace, we think, should soonest
know his mind.

Buck. We know each other's faces; for our
hearts,

He knows no more of mine than I of yours;
Nor I of his, my lord, than you of mine.
Lord Hastings, you and he are near in love.

10

Hust. Marry, that with no man here he is offended;

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

61

Hast. The tender love I bear your grace, my lord,
Makes me most forward in this princely presence
To doom the offenders, whosoe'er they be:
I say, my lord, they have deserved death.

Glou. Then be your eyes the witness of their
evil.

Look how I am bewitch'd; behold mine arm
Is, like a blasted sapling, wither'd up:
And this is Edward's wife, that monstrous witch,
Consorted with that harlot strumpet Shore,
That by their witchcraft thus have marked me.
Hast. If they have done this thing, my gracious
lord,

70

Glou. If thou protector of this damned
strumpet,

Talk'st thou to me of 'ifs'? Thou art a traitor:
Off with his head! now, by Saint Paul I swear,
I will not dine until I see the same.
Lovel and Ratcliff, look that it be done :
The rest, that love me, rise and follow me.
Excunt all but HASTINGS, RATCLIFF
and LOVEL.
Hast. 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'd to fly.
Three times to-day my foot-cloth horse did
stumble,

80

And started when he look'd upon 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
To-day at Pomfret bloodily were butcher'd,
And I myself secure in grace and favour.
O Margaret, Margaret! now thy heavy curse
Is lighted on poor Hastings' wretched head.
Rat. Come, come, dispatch; the duke would
be at dinner :

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

90

Hast. O bloody Richard! miserable England!
I prophesy the fearfull'st time to thee
That ever wretched age hath look'd upon.
Come, lead me to the block; bear him my head:
They smile at me who shortly shall be dead.

Exeunt.

SCENE V.-The Same. The Tower Walls. Enter GLOUCESTER and BUCKINGHAM, in rotten armour, marvellous ill-favoured.

Lov. Here is the head of that ignoble traitor,
The dangerous and unsuspected Hastings.
Glou. So dear I lov'd the man, that I must weep.
I took him for the plainest harmless creature
That breath'd upon the earth a Christian;
Made him my book, wherein my soul recorded
The history of all her secret thoughts:
So smooth he daub'd his vice with show of virtue,
That, his apparent open guilt omitted,

I mean his conversation with Shore's wife, 30
He liv'd from all attainder of suspect.

Buck. Well, well, he was the covert'st shelter'd
traitor

That ever liv'd.

Would you imagine, or almost believe,
Were't not that by great preservation
We live to tell it, that the subtle traitor
This day had plotted, in the council-house
To murder me and my good Lord of Gloucester?
May. Had he done so?

Glou. What! think you we are Turks orinfidels?
Or that we would, against the form of law, 41
Proceed thus rashly in the villain's death,
But that the extreme peril of the case,
The peace of England, and our person's safety,
Enforc'd us to this execution?

May. Now, fair befall you! he deserv'd his
death;

And your good graces both have well proceeded,
To warn false traitors from the like attempts.
I never look'd for better at his hands,

After he once fell in with Mistress Shore.

50

Glou. Yet had we not determin`d he should die,
Until your lordship came to see his end;
Which now the loving haste of these our friends,
Something against our meaning, have prevented:
Because, my lord, I would have had you heard
The traitor speak, and timorously confess
The manner and the purpose of his treason:
That you might well have signified the same
Unto the citizens, who haply may

Glou. Come, cousin, canst thou quake, and Misconstrue us in him, and wail his death. change thy colour,

Murder thy breath in middle of a word,
And then again begin, and stop again,
As if thou wert distraught and mad with terror?
Buck. Tut! Ican counterfeit the deep tragedian,
Speak, and look back, and pry on every side,
Tremble and start at wagging of a straw,
Intending deep suspicion: ghastly looks
Are at my service, like enforced smiles;
And both are ready in their offices,

At any time to grace my stratagems.
But what is Catesby gone?

10

Glou. He is; and, see, he brings the mayor along.

May. But, my good lord, your grace's word
shall serve,

As well as I had seen and heard him speak:
And do not doubt, right noble princes both,
But I'll acquaint our duteous citizens
With all your just proceedings in this cause.
Glou. And to that end we wish'd your lordship

here,

To avoid the censures of the carping world.
Buck. 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 Lard Mavor.
Glou. Go after, after, cousin Buckingham. 7

The mayor towards Guildhall hies him in all post : | The citizens are mum, say not a word.
There, at your meetest vantage of the time,
Infer the bastardy of Edward's children :
Tell them how Edward put to death a citizen,
Only for saying he would make his son
Heir to the crown; meaning indeed his house,
Which by the sign thereof was termed so.
Moreover, urge his hateful luxury
And bestial appetite in change of lust;
Which stretch'd unto their servants, daughters,
wives,

Glou. Touch'd you the bastardy of Edward's
children?

Even where his raging eye or savage heart,
Without control lusted to make a prey.

80

90

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 just computation of the time,
Found that the issue was not his begot;
Which well appeared in his lineaments,
Being nothing like the noble duke my father.
Yet touch this sparingly, as 'twere far off;
Because you know, my lord, my mother lives.
Buck. Doubt not, my lord, I'll play the orator
As if the golden fee for which I plead
Were for myself: and so, my lord, adieu.

Glou. If you thrive well, bring them to Bay-
nard's castle;

Where you shall find me well accompanied
With reverend fathers and well-learned bishops.
Buck. I go; and towards three or four o'clock
Look for the news that the Guildhall affords.

Exit.
Glou. Go, Lovel, with all speed to Doctor Shaw;
To CATESBY. Go thou to Friar Penker; bid
them both

103

Meet me within this hour at Baynard's castle.
Exeunt LOVEL and CATESBY.
Now will I in, to take some privy order,
To draw the brats of Clarence out of sight;
And to give notice that no manner person
Have any time recourse unto the princes.

SCENE VI.-The Same. A Street.

Enter a Scrivener.

Exit.

10

Buck. I did; with his contract with Lady Lucy,
And his contract by deputy in France;
The insatiate greediness of his desires,
And his enforcement of the city wives;
His tyranny 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 humility;
Indeed, left nothing fitting for your purpose
Untouch'd or slightly handled in discourse;
And when mine oratory drew toward end,
I bade them that did love their country's good
Cry God save Richard, England's royal king!'
Glou. And did they so?

20

Buck. No, so God help me, they spake not a
word;

But, like dumb statuas or breathing stones,
Star'd each on other, and look'd deadly pale.
Which when I saw, I reprehended them,
And ask'd the mayor what meant this wilful
silence :

30

His answer was, the people were not wont
To be spoke to but by the recorder.
Then he was urg'd to tell my tale again :
Thus saith the duke, thus hath the duke inferr'd';
But nothing spake in warrant from himself.
When he had done, some followers of mine own,
At lower end of the hall, hurl'd 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 wisdom and your love to Richard: '
And even here brake off, and came away.
Glou. What tongueless blocks were they!
would they not speak?

41

Scriv. Here is the indictment of the good Lord Will not the mayor then and his brethren come?

Hastings;

Which in a set hand fairly is engross'd,
That it may be to-day read o'er in Paul's:
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 liv'd,
Untainted, unexamin'd, free, at liberty.
Here's a good world the 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.
The Court of Baynard's

SCENE VII.-The Same.

Castle. Enter GLOUCESTER and BUCKINGHAM at several doors.

11

Glou. How now! my lord, what say the citizens?

Buck. Now by the holy mother of our Lord,

Buck. The mayor is here at hand. Intend
some fear;

Be not you spoke with but by mighty suit:
And look you get a prayer-book in your hand,
And stand between two churchmen, good my
lord:

52

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

Now, Catesby! what says your lord to my request?
Cates. He doth entreat your grace, my noble
lord,

To visit him to-morrow or next day.

He is within, with two right reverend fathers, 60
Divinely bent to meditation;

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

Buck. Return, good Catesby, to the gracious
duke:

Tell him, myself, the mayor and aldermen,
In deep designs and matter of great moment,
No less importing than our general good,
Are come to have some conference with his grace.
Cates. I'll signify so much unto him straight.
Exit.
Buck. Ah, ah! my lord, this prince is not an
Edward,

70

He is not lolling on a lewd day-bed,
But on his knees at meditation ;
Not dallying with a brace of courtezans,
But meditating with two deep divines;
Not sleeping, to engross his idle body,
But praying, to enrich his watchful soul.
Happy were England, would this virtuous prince
Take on his grace the sovereignty thereof:
But, sure, I fear, we shall not win him to it.
May. Marry, God defend his grace should say
us nay!

80

Buck. I fear he will. Here Catesby comes again.
Re-enter CATESBY.

Now, Catesby, what says his grace?

Glou. Else wherefore breathe I in a Christian land?

Buck. Know then, it is your fault that you resign

130

The supreme seat, the throne majestical,
The sceptred office of your ancestors,
Your state of fortune and your due of birth
The lineal glory of your royal house,
To the corruption of a blemish'd stock;
Whiles, in the mildness of your sleepy thoughts,
Which here we waken to our country's good,
This noble isle doth want her proper limbs;
Her face defac'd with scars of infamy,
Her royal stock graft with ignoble plants,
And almost shoulder'd in the swallowing gulf
Of dark forgetfulness and deep oblivion.
Which to recure we heartily solicit
Your gracious self to take on you the charge
And kingly government of this your land;
Not as protector, steward, substitute,
Or lowly factor for another's gain;
But as successively from blood to blood,
Your right of birth, your empery, your own.
For this, consorted with the citizens,
Your very worshipful and loving friends,
And by their vehement instigation,
In this just cause come I to move your grace.
Glou. I cannot tell, if to depart in silence 140
Or bitterly to speak in your reproof,

Cates. He wonders to what end you have Best fitteth my degree or your condition:

assembled

Such troops of citizens to come to him,
His grace not being warn'd thereof before :
My lord, he fears you mean no good to him.
Buck. Sorry I am my noble cousin should
Suspect me that I mean no good to him:
By heaven, we come to him in perfect love;
And so once more return, and tell his grace. 90
Exit CATESBY.

If not to answer, you might haply think
Tongue-tied ambition, not replying, yielded
To bear the golden yoke of sovereignty,
Which fondly you would here impose on me;
If to reprove you for this suit of yours,
So season'd with your faithful love to me,
Then, on the other side, I check'd my friends.
Therefore, to speak, and to avoid the first,
And then, in speaking, not to incur the last,
Definitively thus I answer you.

When holy and devout religious men
Are at their beads, 'tis much to draw them thence; Your love deserves my thanks; but my desert
So sweet is zealous contemplation.

131

150

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 hide me from my greatness,
Being a bark to brook no mighty sea,
Than in my greatness covet to be hid,
And in the vapour of my glory smother'd.
But, God be thank'd, there is no need of me;
And much I need to help you, were there need;
The royal tree hath left us royal fruit,
Which, mellow'd by the stealing hours of time,
Will well become the seat of majesty,
And make, no doubt, us happy by his reign.
On him I lay that 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;

But the respects thereof are nice and trivial,
All circumstances well considered.
You say that Edward is your brother's son:
So say we too, but not by Edward's wife;
For first was he contract to Lady Lucy,
Your mother lives a witness to his vow,
And afterward by substitute betroth'd
To Bona, sister to the King of France.

199