SCENE III.-The same. A Room in the Palace. Enter Queen Elizabeth, Lord Rivers, and Lord Grey. Riv. Have patience, madam: there's no doubt, his majesty Will soon recover his accustom'd health. Grey. In that you brook it ill, it makes him worse: Therefore, for God's sake, entertain good comfort, And cheer his grace with quick and merry words. Q. Eliz. If he were dead, what would betide of me? son, To be your comforter, when he is gone. Q Eliz. Ah, he is young; and his minority Enter Buckingham and Stanley. Grey. Here come the lords of Buckingham and Stanley. Buck. Good time of day unto your royal grace! Stan. God make your majesty joyful as you have been! Q. Eliz. The countess Richmond, good my lord of To your good prayer will scarcely say, Amen. Stan. I do beseech you, either not believe Bear with her weakness, which, I think, proceeds Stan. But now, the duke of Buckingham, and I, Q. Eliz. What likelihood of his amendment, lords? Buck. Madam, good hope; his grace speaks cheerfully. Q. Eliz. God grant him health! Did you confer with him? Buck. Ay, madam; he desires to make atonement Between the duke of Gloster and your brothers, And between them and my lord chamberlain ; And sent to warn them to his royal presence. QEliz. 'Would all were well!-But that will nev er be :-- I fear, our happiness is at the height. Enter Gloster, Hastings, and Dorset. Glo. They do me wrong, and I will not endure it: -Who are they, that complain unto the king, That I, forsooth, am stern, and love them not? By holy Paul, they love his grace but lightly, That fill his ears with such dissensious rumours. Because I cannot flatter, and speak fair, Smile in men's faces, smooth, deceive, and cog, Duck with French nods and apish courtesy, I must be held a rancorous enemy. Cannot a plain man live, and think no harm, But thus his simple truth must be abus'd By silken, sly, insinuating Jacks? Grey. To whom in all this presence speaks your grace? Gle. To thee, that hast nor honesty, nor grace. When have I injur'd thee? when done thee wrong?- Glo. I cannot tell:-the world is grown so bad, That wrens may prey where eagles dare not perch: Since every Jack became a gentleman, There's many a gentle person made a Jack. Q. Eliz. Come, come, we know your meaning, brother Gloster; You envy my advancement, and my friends; Glo, Meantime, God grants that we have need of you; Our brother is imprison'd by your means, Held in contempt; while great promotions That scarce, some two days since, were worth a noble. I never did incense bis majesty Against the duke of Clarence, but have been An earnest advocate to plead for him. My lord, you do me shameful injury, Falsely to draw me in these vile suspects. Of Glo. You may deny that you were not the cause my lord Hastings' late imprisonment. Riv. She may, my lord; for Glo. She may, lord Rivers ?-why, who knows not so? She may do more, sir, than denying that: She may help you to many fair preferments; And then deny her aiding hand therein, And lay those honours on your high desert. What may she not ?-She may, ay, marry, may she,Riv. What, marry, may she? Glo. What, marry, may she? marry with a king, I wis, your grandam had a worser match. Q. Mar. And lessen'd be that small, God, I beseech thee! Thy honour, state, and seat, is due to me. Glo. What? threat you me with telling of the king? I dare adventure to be sent to the Tower. Glo. Ere you were queen, ay, or your husband king, I was a pack-horse in his great affairs; A weeder-out of his proud adversaries, A liberal rewarder of his friends; To royalize his blood, I spilt mine own. 2. Mar. Ay, and much better blood than his, or thine. Q. Mar. What! were you snarling all, before I came, Did York's dread curse prevail so much with heaven, Glo. In all which time, you, and your husband Grey, Could all but answer for that peevish brat? Were factious for the house of Lancaster ; And, Rivers, so were you :-Was not your husband In Margaret's battle at Saint Albans slain? Q. Mar. A murd'rous villain, and so still thou art, Glo. To fight on Edward's party for the crown; I would to God, my heart were flint, like Edward's, Q. Mar. Hie thee to hell for shame, and leave this world, Thou cacodæmon! there thy kingdom is. Riv. My lord of Gloster, in those busy days, Q. Eliz. As little joy, my lord, as you suppose [Advancing. Q. Mar. A little joy enjoys the queen thereof; Glo. Foul wrinkled witch, what mak'st thou in my sight? Q. Mar. But repetition of what thou hast marr'd; That will I make, before I let thee go. Glo. Wert thou not banished on pain of death? Than death can yield me here by my abode. Glo. The curse my noble father laid on thee,- Q. Eliz. So just is God, to right the innocent. Hast. O, 'twas the foulest deed to slay that babe, And the most merciless, that e'er was heard of. Riv. Tyrants themselves wept when it was reported. Dors. No man but prophesied revenge for it. Buck. Northumberland, then present, wept to see it. Can curses pierce the clouds, and enter heaven?Why, then give way, dull clouds, to my quick curs cs! Though not by war, by surfeit die your king, As ours by murder, to make him a king! Glo. Have done thy charm, thou hateful wither'd hag. hear me. If heaven have any grievous plague in store, Exceeding those that I can wish upon thee, O, let them keep it, till thy sins be ripe, And then hurl down their indignation On thee, the troubler of the poor world's peace! The worm of conscience still be-gnaw thy soul! || Thy friends suspect for traitors while thou liv'st, And take deep traitors for thy dearest friends! No sleep close up that deadly eye of thine, Unless it be while some tormenting dream Affrights thee with a hell of ugly devils! Thou elvish-mark'd, abortive, rooting hog! Thou that was seal'd in thy nativity The slave of nature, and the son of hell! Thou slander of thy mother's heavy womb! Thou loathed issue of thy father's loins! Thou rag of honour! thou detestedGlo. Margaret. Riv. Were you well serv'd, you would be taught your duty. Q. Mar. To serve me well, you all should do me duty, Teach me to be your queen, and you my subjects: O, serve me well, and teach yourselves that duty. Ders. Dispute not with her, she is lunatic. Q. Mar. Peace, master marquis, you are malapert; They that stand high, have many blasts to shake them; Dars. It touches you, my lord, as much as me. Glo. Ay, and much more: But I was born so high, Our aiery buildeth in the cedar's top, And dallies with the wind, and scorns the sun. Q. Mar. And turns the sun to shade ;-alas! alas !— Witness my son, now in the shade of death; Whose bright out-shining beams thy cloudy wrath Hath in eternal darkness folded up. Your aiery buildeth in our aiery's nest: O God, that see'st it, do not suffer it; As it was won with blood, lost be it so! Buck. Peace, peace, for shame, if not for charity. Q. Mar. Urge neither charity nor shame to me; Uncharitably with me have you dealt, And shamefully by you, my hopes are butcher'd. Q. Mar. O princely Buckingham, I kiss thy hand, Buck. Nor no one here; for curses never pass Look, when he fawns, he bites; and, when he bites, Glo. What doth she say, my lord of Buckingham ? And sooth the devil that I warn thee from? When he shall split thy very heart with sorrow; [Exit. Hast. My hair doth stand on end to hear her curses. Riv. And so doth mine; Imuse, why she's at liberty. Glo. I cannot blame her, by God's holy mother; She bath had too much wrong, and I repent My part thereof, that I have done to her. Q. Eliz. I never did her any, to my knowledge. Glo. Yet you have all the vantage of her wrong. I was too hot to do some body good, That is too cold in thinking of it now. Marry, as for Clarence, he is well repaid; He is frank'd up to fatting for his pains ;God pardon them that are the cause thereof! Riv. A virtuous and a Christian-like conclusion, Cates. Madam, his majesty doth call for you,And for your grace,—and you, my noble lords. Q. Eliz. Catesby, I come :-lords, will you go with me? Riv. Madam, we will attend upon your grace. [Exeunt all but Gloster. Glo. I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl. I lay unto the grievous charge of others. With old odd ends, stol'n forth of holy writ; But, soft, here come my exccutioners. 1 Mur. We are, my lord; and come to have the warrant, That we may be admitted where he is. Glo. Well thought upon, I have it here about me: [Gives the Warrant, When you have done, repair to Crosby-Place. But, sirs, be sudden in the execution, Withal obdurate, do not hear him plead ; For Clarence is well spoken, and, perhaps, May move your hearts to pity, if you mark him. 1 Mur. Tut, tut, my lord, we will not stand to prate, Talkers are no good doers; be assur'd, We go to use our hands, and not our tongues. I like you, lads ;-about your business straight; 1 Mur. We will, my noble lord. [Exeunt. SCENE IV.-The same. A Room in the Tower. Enter Clarence and Brakenbury. Brak. Why looks your grace so heavily to-day? So full of fearful dreams, of ugly sights, Brak. What was your dream, my lord? I pray you, tell me. Cla. Methought, that I had broken from the Tower, Upon the hatches; thence we look'd toward England, Upon the giddy footing of the hatches, Methought, that Gloster stumbled; and, in falling, Struck me, that thought to stay him, over-board, O Lord! methought, what pain it was to drown! All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea. Some lay in dead men's skulls; and, in those holes Cla. Methought. I had; and often did I strive Brak. Awak'd you not with this sore agony? O, then began the tempest to my soul! The first that there did greet my stranger soul, Cla. O, Brakenbury, I have done these things,- O, spare my guiltless wife, and my poor children! Brak. I will, my lord; God give your grace good And, for unfelt imaginations, They often feel a world of restless cares: So that, between their titles, and low name, There's nothing differs but the outward fame. Enter the two Murderers. 1 Mur. Ho! who's here? 1 Mur. I would speak with Clarence, and I came hither on my legs. Brak. What, so brief? 2 Mur. O, sir, 'tis better to be brief than tedious:Let him see our commission; talk no more. [A Paper is delivered to Brakenbury, whe Brak. I am, in this, commanded to deliver That thus I have resign'd to you my charge. 1 Mur. You may, sir; 'tis a point of wisdom: Fare you well. [Exit Brakenbury. 2 Mur. What, shall we stab him as he sleeps? 1 Mur. No, he'll say, 'twas done cowardly, when he wakes. 2 Mur. When he wakes! why, fool, he shall never wake until the great judgement day. 1 Mur. Why, then he'll say, we stabb'd him sleeping. 2 Mur. The urging of that word, judgement, hath bred a kind of remorse in me. 1 Mur. What? art thou afraid? 2 Mur. Not to kill him, having a warrant for it; but to be damn'd for killing him, from the which no warrant can defend me. 1 Mur. I thought, thou had'st been resolute. 2 Mur. So I am, to let him live. 1 Mur. I'll back to the duke of Gloster, and tell him so. 2 Mur. Nay, I pr'ythee, stay a little: I hope, this holy humour of mine will change; it was wont to hold me but while one would tell twenty. 1 Mur. How dost thou feel thyself now? 2 Mur. 'Faith, some certain dregs of conscience are yet within me. 1 Mur. Remember our reward, when the deed's done. 2 Mur. Come, he dies; I had forgot the reward. 1 Mur. Where's thy conscience now? 2 Mur. In the duke of Gloster's purse. 1 Mur. So, when he opens his purse to give us our reward, thy conscience flies out. 2 Mur. 'Tis no matter; let it go; there's few or none, will entertain it. 1 Mur. What, if it come to thee again? 2 Mur. I'll not meddle with it, it is a dangerous thing, it makes a man a coward; a man cannot steal, but it accuseth him; a man cannot swear, but it checks him a man cannot lie with his neighbour's wife, but it de tects him: "Tis a blushing shame-faced spirit, that mutinies in a man's bosom; it fills one full of obsta cles: it made me once restore a purse of gold, that by chance I found; it beggars any man that keeps it: it is turned out of all towns and cities for a dangerous thing; and every man, that means to live well, en deavours to trust to himself, and live without it. 1 Mur. 'Zounds, it is even now at my elbow, persuad ing me not to kill the duke. 2 Mur. Take the devil in thy mind, and believe him not: he would insinuate with thee, but to make thee sigh. 1 Mur. I am strong-fram'd, he cannot prevail with me. 2 Mur. Spoke like a tall fellow, that respects his reputation. Come, shall we fall to work? 1 Mur. Take him over the costard with the hilts of Brak. What wouldst thou, fellow? and how cam'st thy sword, and then throw him into the malmsey-butt, 2 Mur. O excellent device! and make a sop of him. 1 Mur. Soft! he wakes. 2 Mur. Strike. 1 Mur. No, we'll reason with him. Cla. Where art thou, keeper? give me a cup of wine 1 Mur. You shall have wine enough, my lord, anon. Cia. In God's name, what art thou? 1 Mur. A man, as you are. Cla. But not, as I am, royal. 1 Mur. Nor you, as we are, loyal. Cl Thy voice is thunder, but thy looks are humble. 1 Mur. My voice is now the king's, my looks mine Cla. You scarcely have the hearts to tell me so, And therefore cannot have the hearts to do it. Wherein, my friends, have I offended you? 1 Mur. Offended us you have not, but the king. Cla. I shall be reconcil'd to him again. 2 Mur. Never, my lord; therefore prepare to die. Cla. Are you call'd forth from out a world of men, To slay the innocent? What is my offence? Where is the evidence that doth accuse me? What lawful quest have given their verdict up Unto the frowning judge? or who pronoune'd The bitter sentence of poor Clarence' death? Before I be convict by course of law, To threaten me with death is most unlawful. I charge you, as you hope for any goodness, By Christ's dear blood, shed for our grievous sins, That you depart, and lay no hands on me; The deed you undertake is damnable. 1 Mur. What we will do, we do upon command. 2 Mur. And he, that hath commanded, is our king. Cla. Erroneous vassal! the great King of kings Hath in the table of his law commanded, That thou shalt do no murder; Wilt thou then Spurn at his ediet, and fulfil a man's ? Take heed; for he holds vengeance in his hand, To hurl upon their heads that break his law. 2 Mur. And that sanie vengeance doth he hurl on thee, For false forswearing, and for murder too: 1 Mur. And, like a traitor to the name of God, Didst break that vow; and, with thy treacherous blade, Unripp'dst the bowels of thy sovereign's son. 2 Mur. Whom thou wast sworn to cherish and defend. 1 Mur. How canst thou urge God's dreadful law to us, When thou hast broke it in such dear degree? Cla. Alas! for whose sake did I that ill deed? For in that sin he is as deep as I. Take not the quarrel from his powerful arm; 1 Mur. Who made thee then a bloody minister, When gallant-springing, brave Plantagenet, That princely novice, was struck dead by thee? Cla. My brother's love, the devil, and my rage. 1 Mur. Thy brother's love, om duty, and thy fault. Cla. Tell him, when that our princely father York Bless'd his three sons with his victorious arm, And charg'd us from his soul to love each other, He little thought of this divided friendship; Bid Gloster think on this, and he will weep. 1 Mur. Ay, mill-stones; as he lesson'd us to weep. Cla: O, do not slander him, for he is kind. 1 Mur. Right, as snow in harvest-Come, you deceive yourself; 'Tis he that sends us to destroy you here. Cla. It cannot be; for he bewept my fortune, And hugged me in his arms, and swore, with sobs, That he would labour my delivery. 1 Mur. Why, so he doth, when he delivers you From this earth's thraldom to the joys of heaven. 2 Mur. Make peace with God, for you must die, my lord. Cla. Hast thou that holy feeling in thy soul, To counsel me to make my peace with God, And art thou yet to thy own soul so blind, That thou wilt war with God, by murdering me?Ab, sirs, consider, he, that set you on To do this deed, will hate you for the deed. 2 Mur. What shall we do? Cla. Relent, and save your souls. 1 Mur. Relent! 'tis cowardly, and womanish, If two such murderers as yourselves came to you,- My friend, I spy some pity in thy looks; 2 Mur. Look behind you, my lord. 1 Mur. Take that, and that; if all this will not do, [Stabs him. I'll drown you in the malmsey-butt within. |