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GLOSTER."See how my sword weeps for the poor king's death!"

SHAKESPEARE.

"King Henry VI."-Part III.

Act V., Scene VI., Page 554.

And seek their ruin that usurp'd our right?
The midwife wonder d, and the women cried
'O, Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!
And so I was; which plainly signined
That I should snarl and bite and play the dog.
Then, since the heavens have shaped my body so,
Let hell make crook'd my mind t› answer it.
I have no brother, I am like no brother: So
And this word 'love,' which graybeards call
Be resident in men like one another [divine,
And not in me: I am myself alone.
Clarence, beware; thou keep'st me from the light:
But I will sort a pitchy day for thee:
For I will buzz abroad such prophecies
That Edward shall be fearful of his life,
And then, to purge his fear, I'll be thy death.
King Henry and the prince his son are gone;
Clarence, thy turn is next, and then the rest, 9
Counting myself but bad till I be best.
I'll throw thy body in another room,
And triumph, Henry, in thy day of doom.
(Exit, with the body.

SCENE VII. London. The palace. Flourish. Enter KING EDWARD, QUEEN ELIZ ABETH, CLARENCE, GLOUCESTER, HASTINGS, a Nurse with the young Prince, and At

tendants.

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Glu. [Aside. I'll blast his harvest, if your head were laid:

For yet I am not look'd on in the world.
This shoulder was ordain'd so thick to heave;
And heave it shall some weight, or break my
back:

Work thou the way. -and thou shalt execute. K. Edw. Clarence and Gloucester, love my lovely queen;

And kiss your princely nephew, brothers both. Clar. The duty that I owe unto your majesty I seal upon the lips of this sweet babe.

Q. Elz Thanks, noble Clarence; worthy brother, thanks.

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Glon. And, that i love the tree from whence tho: sprang st,

Witness the loving kiss I give the fruit. [Asid To say the truth, so Judas kissed his

master,

And cried, all hail when as he meant all harm. K. Ew. Now am I scated as my soul delights,

Having my country's peace and brothers' loves. Clar. What will your grace have done with

Marraret?

Reignier, her father, to the king of France
Hath pawn'd the Sicils and Jerusalem,
And hither have the sent it for her rans m

K. Edw. Away with her, and waft her hence to France.

And now what rests but that we spend the tine
With stately triumphs, mirthful c...ic shows,
Such as befits the pleasure of the court?
Sound drums and trumpets! farewell sour annoy:
For here, I hope, begins our lasting joy.
¡Exeans

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ACT I.

SCENE I. London. A street.

SIR RICHARD RATCLIFF.
SIR WILLIAM CATESBY.
SIR JAMES TYRREL.

SIR JAMES BLOUNT.

SIR WALTER HERBERT.

SIR ROBERT BRAKENBURY, Lieutenant of the Tower.

CHRISTOPHER URSWICK, a priest.

Priest.

Another

TRESSEL and BERKELEY, gentlemen attending on the Lady Anne.

Lord Mayor of London. Sheriff of Wiltshire. ELIZABETH, queen to King Edward IV. MARGARET, widow of King Henry VI. DUCHESS OF YORK, mother to King Edward IV. LADY ANNE, widow of Edward, Prince of Wales, son to King Henry VI.; afterwards

married to Richard.

A young daughter of Clarence (Margaret PLANTAGENET).

Ghosts of those murdered by Richard III., Lords and other Attendants; a Pursuivant, Scrivener, Citizens, Murderers, Messengers, Soldiers, &c.

SCENE-England.

Enter RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, solus.
Glou. Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our browsbound with victoriouswreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled
front:

And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds 10
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks,
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
I, that amrudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable

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That dogs bark at me as I halt by them;
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time,
And descant on mine own deformity:
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence and the king
In deadly hate the one against the other:
And if King Edward be as true and just
As I am subtle, false and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up,
About a prophecy, which says that G
Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be.
Dive, thoughts, down to my soul: here Clarence

comes.

40

Enter CLARENCE, guarded, and BRAKENBURY.

Brother, good day: what means this armed guard
That waits upon your grace ?
Clar.
His majesty,
Tendering my person's safety, hath appointed
This conduct to convey me to the Tower.

Glou. Upon what cause? Clar.

Because my name is George. Glou. Alack, my lord, that fault is none of yours;

He should, for that, commit your godfathers:
O, belike his majesty hath some intent
That you shall be new-christen'd in the Tower. 50
But what's the matter, Clarence? may I know?
Clar. Yea, Richard, when I know; for I
protest

As yet I do not: but, as I can learn,
He hearkens after prophecies and dreams;
And from the cross-row plucks the letter G,
And says a wizard told him that by G
His issue disinherited should be;
And, for my name of George begins with G,
It follows in his thought that I am he.
These, as I learn, and such like toys as these 60
Have moved his highness to commit me now.
Glou. Why, this it is, when men are ruled
by women:

'Tis not the king that sends you to the Tower;
My Lady Grey his wife, Clarence, 'tis she
That tempers him to the extremity.
Was it not she and that good man of worship,
Anthony Woodville, her brother there,
That made him send Lord Hastings to the Tower,
From whence this present day he is deliver'd?
We are not safe, Clarence; we are not safe. 70
Clar. By heaven, I think there's no man is
[heralds
But the queen's kindred and night-walking
That trudge betwixt the king and Mistress Shore.
Heard you not what an humble suppliant
Lord Hastings was to her for his delivery?

secure

Glou. Humbly complaining to her deity Got my lord chamberlain his liberty. I'll tell you what; I think it is our way, If we will keep in favor with the king, To be her men and wear her livery: The jealous o'erworn widow and herself, Since that our brother dubb'd them gentlewomen, Are mighty gossips in this monarchy.

80

Brak. I beseech your graces both to pardon

me;

His majesty hath straitly given in charge
That no man shall have private conference,
Of what degree soever, with his brother.

Glou. Even so; an't please your worship,
Brakenbury,

You may partake of any thing we say:
We speak no treason, man: we say the king 90
Is wise and virtuous, and his noble queen
Well struck in years, fair, and not jealous;
We say that Shore's wife hath a pretty foot,
A cherry lip, a bonny eye, a passing pleasing

tongue;

And that the queen's kindred are made gentlefolks:

How say you, sir? can you deny all this? Brak. With this, my lord, myself have nought to do.

Glou. Naught to do with Mistress Shore! I tell thee, fellow,

He that doth naught with her, excepting one, Were best he do it secretly, alone.

Brak. What one, my lord?

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Brak. I beseech your grace to pardon me, and withal

Forbear your confereuce with the noble duke. Clar. We know thy charge, Brakenbury, and will obey.

Glou. We are the queen's abjects, and must obey.

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Brother, farewell: I will unto the king;
And whatsoever you will employ me in,
Were it to call King Edward's widow sister,
I will perform it to enfranchise you.
Meantime this deep disgrace in brotherhood
Touches me deeper than you can imagine.
Clar. I know it pleaseth neither of us well.
Glou. Well, your imprisonment shall not be
long:

I will deliver you, or else lie for you:
Meantiime, have patience.

Clar.
I must perforce. Farewell.
[Exeunt Clarence, Brakenbury, and guard.
Glou. Go, tread the path that thou shalt ne'er
return,

Simple, plain Clarence! I do love thee so,
That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven,
If heaven will take the present at our hands. 120
But who comes here? the new-deliver'd Hastings?

Enter LORD HASTINGS.

Hast. Good time of day unto my gracious lord! Glou. As much unto my good lord chamberWell are you welcome to the open air. [lain! How hath your lordship brook'd imprisonment? Hast. With patience, noble lord, as prisoners

must:

But I shall live, my lord, to give them thanks That were the cause of my imprisonment.

Glou. No doubt, no doubt; and so shall Clarence too;

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For they that were your enemies are his,
And have prevail'd as much on him as you
Hast. More pity that the eagle should be
mew'd,

While kites and buzzards prey at liberty.
Glou. What news abroad?

Hast. No news so bad abroad as this at home;
The king is sickly, weak and melancholy,
And his physicians fear him mightily.

Glou. Now, by Saint Paul, this news is bad indeed.

O, he hath kept an evil diet long,
And overmuch consumed his royal person: 140
"Tis very grievous to be thought upon.
What, is he in his bed?

Hast. He is.

Glou. Go you before, and I will follow you. [Exit Hastings.

He cannot live, I hope; and must not die Till George be pack'd with post-horse up to heaven.

159

I'll in, to urge his hatred more to Clarence,
With lies well steel'd with weighty arguments;
And, if I fail not in my deep intent,
Clarence hath not another day to live:
Which done, God take King Edward to his mercy,
And leave the world for me to bustle in!
For then I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter.
What though I kill'd her husband and her father!

Glou. Her husband, knave: wouldst thou The readiest way to make the wench amends

betray me?

Is to become her husband and her father;

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