All this from my remembrance brutish wrath you all [Exeunt King, Queen, Hastings, Rivers, Dorset, and Grey. Glo. This is the fruit of rashness!-Mark'd you not, How that the guilty kindred of the queen SCENE II. The same. [Exeunt. Enter the Duchess of YORK, with a Son and Son. Good grandam, tell us, is our father dead? Daugh. Why do you weep so oft? and beat your breast; And cry- Clarence, my unhappy son! Son. Why do you look on us, and shake your head, And call us-orphans, wretches, cast-aways, If that our noble father be alive? Duch. My pretty cousins, you mistake me both; I do lament the sickness of the king, As loath to lose him, not your father's death: Son. Then, grandam, you conclude that he is dead. The king my uncle is to blame for this: God will revenge it; whom I will importune Duck. Peace, children, peace! the king doth love you well: Incapable and shallow innocents, You cannot guess who caus'd your father's death. And with a virtuous visor hide deep vice! Son. Think you, my uncle did dissemble, grandam? Son. I cannot think it. Hark! what noise is this? Enter Queen ELIZABETH,distractedly; RIVERS, and DORSET, following her. Q. Eliz. Ah! who shall hinder me to wail and To chide my fortune, and torment myself? Duch. What means this scene of rude impatience? Q. Eliz. To make an act of tragick violence :Edward, my lord, thy son, our king, is dead.Why grow the branches, when the root is gone? Why wither not the leaves, that want their sap? If you will live, lament; if die, be brief; That our swift-winged souls may catch the king's; Duch. Ah, so much interest have I in thy sorrow, But now, two mirrors of his princely semblance Thou art a widow; yet thou art a mother, To over-go thy plaints, and drown thy cries? 2. Eliz. Give me no help in lamentation, Chil. Ah, for our father, for our dear lord Clarence! Duch. Alas, for both, both mine, Edward and Clarence! Q. Eliz. What stay had I, but Edward? and he's gone. Chil. What stay had we, but Clarence? and he's gone. Duch. What stay had I, but they? and they are gone. Q. Eliz. Was never widow, had so dear a loss. Chil. Were never orphans, had so dear a loss. Duck. Was never mother, had so dear a loss. Alas! I am the mother of these griefs; Their woes are parcell'd, mine are general. She for an Edward weeps, and so do I; I for a Clarence weep, so doth not she: These babes for Clarence weep, and so do I; I, for an Edward weep, so do not they :Alas! you three, on me, threefold distress'd, Pour all your tears, I am your sorrow's nurse, And I will pamper it with lamentations. Dor. Comfort, dear mother; God is much dis- That you take with unthankfulness his doing: Riv. Madam, bethink you, like a careful mother, Of the young prince your son: send straight for him, HASTINGS, RATCLIFF, and Others. Glo. Sister, have comfort: all of us have cause Duch. God bless thee; and put meekness in thy Love, charity, obedience, and true duty! Glo. Amen; and make me die a good old man!That is the butt-end of a mother's blessing; [Aside. I marvel, that her grace did leave it out. Buck. You cloudy princes, and heart-sorrowing That bear this mutual heavy load of moan, Riv. Why with some little train, my lord of Buck. Marry, my lord, lest, by a multitude, Glo. I hope, the king made peace with all of us; Riv. And so in me; and so, I think, in all: Which, haply, by much company might be urg'd: Therefore I say, with noble Buckingham, Glo. Then be it so; and go we to determine Who they shall be that straight shall post to Ludlow. Madam, and you my mother, will you go To give your censures in this weighty business? [Exeunt all but Buckinghain and Gloster. Buck. My lord, whoever journeys to the prince, For God's sake, let not us two stay at home: For, by the way, I'll sort occasion, As index to the story we late talk'd of, To part the queen's proud kindred from the prince. SCENE III. The same. A street. Enter two Citizens, meeting. [Exeunt. 1 Cit. Good morrow, neighbour: Whither away so fast? 2 C. I promise you, I scarcely know myself: Hear you the news abroad? 1 Cit. Yes; the king's dead. 2 Cit. Ill news, by'r lady; seldom comes the better: I fear, I fear, 'twill prove a giddy world. Enter another Citizen. 3 Cit. Neighbours, God speed! 1 Cit. Give you good morrow, sir. 3 Cit. Doth the news hold of good king Edward's death? 2 Cit. Ay, sir, it is too true; God help, the while! 3 Cit. Then, masters, look to see a troublous world. 1 Cit. No, no; by God's good grace, his son shall reign. 3 Cit. Woe to that land, that's govern'd by a child? 2 Cit. In him there is a hope of government; That, in his nonage, council under him, And, in his full and ripen'd years, himself, No doubt, shall then, and till then, govern well. 1 Cit. So stood the state, when Henry the sixth Was crown'd in Paris but at nine months old. |