And promise them success and victory.
Bloody thou art, bloody will be thy end;
Shame serves thy life, and doth thy death attend. [Exit.
Q.Eli.Tho' far more cause, yet much less spirit to curse
Abides in me; I say Amen to her.
[Going.
K.Rich. Stay, madam, I must speak a word with you.
Q. Eliz. I have no more sons of the royal blood,
For thee to murder: for my daughters, Richard,-
They shall be praying nuns, not weeping queens ;
And therefore level not to hit their lives.
K.Rich. You have a daughter call'd-Elizabeth,
Virtuous and fair, royal and gracious.
Q. Eliz. And must she die for this? O, let her live,
And I'll corrupt her manners, stain her beauty;
Slander myself, as false to Edward's bed;
Throw over her the veil of infamy:
So she may live unscarr'd of bleeding slaughter,
I will confess she was not Edward's daughter.
K.Rich. Wrong not her birth, she is of royal blood.
Q.Eliz. To save her life, I'll say-she is not so.
K.Rich. Her life is safest only in her birth.
Q.Eliz. And only in that safety dy'd her brothers.
K.Rich. Lo, at their births good stars were opposite.
Q.Eliz. No, to their lives bad friends were contrary.
K.Rich. All unavoided is the doom of destiny.
Q.Eliz. True, when avoided grace makes destiny:
My babes were destin'd to a fairer death,
If grace had bless'd thee with a fairer life.
K.Rich. You speak, as if that I had slain my cousins.
Q.Eliz. Cousins, indeed; and by their uncle cozen'd
Of comfort, kingdom, kindred, freedom, life.
Whose hands soever lanc'd their tender hearts,
Thy head, all indirectly, gave direction :
No doubt the murderous knife was dull and blunt,
Till it was whetted on thy stone-hard heart,
To revel in the entrails of my lambs.
But that still use of grief makes wild grief tame,
My tongue should to thy ears not name my boys,
Till that my nails were anchor'd in thine eyes;
And I, in such a desperate bay of death,
Like a poor bark, of sails and tackling reft,
Rush all to pieces on thy rocky bosom.
K.Rich. Madam, so thrive I in my enterprize,
And dangerous success of bloody wars,
As I intend more good to you and your's,
Than ever you or your's by me were harm'd!
Q.Eliz. What good is cover'd with the face of heaven, To be discover'd, that can do me good?
K.Ric. The advancement of your children, gentle lady. Q.Eliz. Up to some scaffold, there to lose their heads? K.Rich. No, to the dignity and height of fortune, The high imperial type of this earth's glory.2
Q.Eliz. Flatter my sorrows with report of it; Tell me, what state, what dignity, what honour, Canst thou demise to any child of mine ?3
K.Rich. Even all I have; ay, and myself, and all, Will I withal endow a child of thine;
So in the Lethe of thy angry soul.
Thou drown the sad remembrance of those wrongs,
Which, thou supposest, I have done to thee.
Q.Eliz. Be brief, lest that the process of thy kindness Last longer telling than thy kindness' date.
K.Rich. Then know, that from my soul, I love thy daughter.
Q.Eliz. My daughter's mother thinks it with her soul. K.Rich. What do you think?
Q.Eli. That thou dost love my daughter, from thy soul: So, from thy soul's love, didst thou love her brothers; And, from my heart's love, I do thank thee for it.
K.Rich. Be not so hasty to confound my meaning :
I mean, that with my soul I love thy daughter,
And do intend to make her queen of England.
Q.Eli. Well then, who dost thou mean shall be her king? K.Rich. Even he, that makes her queen: Who else should be?
K.Rich. Even so: What think you of it, madam ?
Q. Eliz. How canst thou woo her?
K.Rich. That I would learn of you,
As one being best acquainted with her humour,
Q.Eliz. And wilt thou learn of me?
K.Rich. Madam, with all my heart.
Q. Eliz. Send to her, by the man that slew her brothers, A pair of bleeding hearts; thereon engrave, Edward, and York; then, haply, will she weep: Therefore present to her,—as sometime Margaret Did to thy father, steep'd in Rutland's blood,
A handkerchief; which, say to her, did drain
[2] Type is exhibition, show, display. JOHNS.
[3] To demise is to grant, from demittere, to devolve a right. STEEV VOL. V.
The purple sap from her sweet brothers' body,
And bid her wipe her weeping eyes withal.
If this inducement move her not to love,
Send her a letter of thy noble deeds;
Tell her, thou mad'st away her uncle Clarence,
Her uncle Rivers; ay, and, for her sake,
Mad'st quick conveyance with her good aunt Anne. K.Rich. You mock me, madam; this is not the way To win your daughter.
Q.Eliz. There is no other way;
Unless thou could'st put on some other shape,
And not be Richard that hath done all this.
K.Rich. Say, that I did all this for love of her?
Q. Eli.Nay,then indeed, she cannot choose but have thee, Having bought love with such a bloody spoil.4
K.Rich. Look, what is done cannot be now amended: Men shall deal unadvisedly sometimes,
Which after-hours give leisure to repent.
If I did take the kingdom from your sons,
To make amends, I'll give it to your daughter.
If I have kill'd the issue of your womb,
To quicken your increase, I will beget
Mine issue of your blood upon your daughter.
A grandam's name is little less in love,
Than is the doting title of a mother;
They are as children, but one step below,
Even of your mettle, of your very blood;
Of all one pain,-save for a night of groans
Endur'd of her, for whom you bid like sorrow.5
Your children were vexation to your youth,
But mine shall be a comfort to your age.
The loss, you have, is but-a son being king,
And, by that loss, your daughter is made queen.
I cannot make you what amends I would,
Therefore accept such kindness as I can.
Dorset, your son, that, with a fearful soul,
Leads discontented steps in foreign soil,
This fair alliance quickly shall call home
To high promotions and great dignity :
The king, that calls your beauteous daughter-wife,
Familiarly shall call thy Dorset-brother;
Again shall you be mother to a king,
And all the ruins of distressful times
[4] Waste, havoc. JOHN. [5] Bid is in the past tense from bide. JOHNS.
Repair'd with double riches of content.
What we have many goodly days to see
The liquid drops of tears that you have shed,
Shall come again, transform'd to orient pearl ;
Advantaging their loan, with interest
Of ten-times-double gain of happiness.
Go then, my mother, to thy daughter go;
Make bold her bashful years with your experience;
Prepare her ears to hear a wooer's tale ;
Put in her tender heart the aspiring flame
Of golden sov'reignty; acquaint the princess
With the sweet silent hours of marriage joys:
And when this arm of mine hath chástised
The petty rebel, dull-brain'd Buckingham,
Bound with triumphant garlands will I come,
And lead thy daughter to a conqueror's bed;
To whom I will retail my conquest won,
And she shall be sole victress, Cæsar's Cæsar.
Q. Eliz. What were I best to say? her father's brother
Would be her lord? Or shall I say, her uncle?
Or he that slew her brothers, and her uncles?
Under what title shall I woo for thee,
That God, the law, my honour, and her love,
Can make seem pleasing to her tender years?
K.Rich. Infer fair England's peace by this alliance."
Q. Eliz. Which she shall purchase with still lasting war,
K.Rich. Tell her, the king, that may command, entreats.
Q.Eli.That at her hands, which the king's King forbids.
K.Rich. Say, she shall be a high and mighty queen.
Q.Eliz. To wail the title, as her mother doth.
K.Rich. Say, I will love her everlastingly.
Q. Eliz. But how long shall that title, ever, last?
K.Rich. Sweetly in force unto her fair life's end.
Q.Eliz. But how long fairly shall her sweet life last?
K.Rich. As long as heaven, and nature, lengthens it.
Q.Eliz. As long as hell, and Richard, likes of it.
K.Rich. Say, I, her sov'reign, am her subject low.
Q.Eliz. But she, your subject, loaths such sov'reignty.
K.Rich. Be eloquent in my behalf to her.
Q. Eliz. An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told. K.Rich. Then, in plain terms tell her my loving tale. Q.Eliz. Plain, and not honest, is too harsh a style. K.Rich. Your reasons are too shallow and too quick. Q.Eliz. O, no, my reasons are too deep and dead ;Too deep and dead, poor infants, in their graves.
K.Rich. Harp not on that string,madam; that is past. Q. Eliz. Harp on it still shall I, till heart-strings break. K.Ric. Now,by my George, my garter,and my crownQ.Eliz. Profan'd, dishonour'd, and the third usurp'd. K.Rich. I swear.
Q.Eliz. By nothing; for this is no oath.
Thy George, profan'd, hath lost his holy honour;
The garter, blemish'd, pawn'd his knightly virtue;
Thy crown, usurp'd, disgrac'd his kingly glory :
If something thou would'st swear to be believ'd,
Swear then by something that thou hast not wrong'd.
K.Rich. Now by the world,—
Q.Eliz. 'Tis full of thy foul wrongs.
K.Rich. My father's death,-
Q.Eliz. Thy life hath that dishonour'd.
K.Rich. Then, by myself,-
Q.Eliz. Thyself is self-misus'd.
K.Rich. Why then, by God,—
Q.Eliz. God's wrong is most of all.
If thou had'st fear'd to break an oath by him,
The unity, the king thy brother made,
Had not been broken, nor my brother slain.
If thou hadst fear'd to break an oath by him,
The imperial metal, circling now thy head,
Had grac❜d the tender temples of my child;
And both the princes had been breathing here,
Which now, two tender bed-fellows for dust,
Thy broken faith hath made a prey for worms.
What canst thou swear by now?
K.Rich. By the time to come.
Q.Eliz. That thou hast wronged in the time o'erpast; For I myself have many tears to wash
Hereafter time, for time past, wrong'd by thee.
The children live, whose parents thou hast slaughter'd,
Ungovern'd youth, to wail it in their age:
The parents live, whose children thou hast butcher'd,
Old barren plants, to wail it with their age.
Swear not by time to come; for that thou hast
Misus'd ere used, by times ill-us'd o'er past.
K.Rich. As I intend to prosper, and repent!
So thrive I in my dangerous attempt
Of hostile arms! myself myself confound!
Heaven, and fortune, bar me happy hours!
Day, yield me not thy light; nor right, thy rest!
Be opposite all planets of good luck
To my proceeding, if, with pure heart's love,
|