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Re-enter Bishop of Ely.

Ely. Where is my Lord the Duke of Glocefter?

I have fent for thefe ftrawberries.

[morning;

Haft. His Grace looks chearfully and fmooth this There's fome conceit, or other, likes him well, When that he bids good-morrow with fuch fpirit. I think, there's ne'er a man in christendom (15) Can leffer hide his love, or hate, than he; For by his face ftrait fhall you know his heart. Stanl. What of his heart perceive you in his face, By any likelihood he fhew'd to-day ?

Haft. Marry, that with no man here he is offended: For were he, he had fhewn it in his looks.

Re-enter Glocefter and Buckingham.

Glo. I pray you all, tell me what they deferve,.
That do confpire my death with devilish plots
Of damned witchcraft; and that have prevailed
Upon my body with their hellish charms.

Haft. The tender love I bear your Grace, my Lord,
Makes me moft forward in this princely prefence,
To doom th' offenders, whofoe'er they be :

I fay, my Lord, they have deferved death.

Glo. Then be your eyes the witness of their evil;,
Look, how I am bewitch'd; behold, mine arm
Is, like a blafted fapling, wither'd up:

And this is Edward's wife, that monftrous witch,
Conforted with that harlot, ftrumpet Shore,

That by their witchcraft thus have marked me.

Haft. If they have done this deed, my noble Lord-
Glo. If thou protector of this damned ftrumpet,.

Talk'ft thou to me of Ifs? thou art a traitor-
Off with his head-now, by St. Paul I swear,,

(15) I think, there's ne'er a man in chriftendom ·

Can leffer hide bis love, or hate, than be:

For by bis face frait shall you know his heart.] The character here given of Richard, (tho' very falfly) exactly tallies with a fragment from one of Ennius's tragedies, quoted by Norius Marcellus..

-Ea Ego ingeniô

-Natus fum, Amicitiam atque Inimicitiam in frontem promptam gera.

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I will not dine until I fee the fame.
Lovel, and Catesby,-look, that it be done: (16)
The reft, that love me, rife and follow me. [Exeunt.

Manent Lovel and Catesby, with the Lord Haftings.
Haft. Woe, woe for England, not a whit for me,
For 1, too fond, might have prevented this:
Stanley did dream, the boar did raise our helms;
But I did fcorn it, and difdain to fly;

Three times to-day my foot-cloth horfe did stumble,
And ftarted when he look'd upon the Tower;
As loth to bear me to the flaughter-house.
O, now I need the priest that fpake to me:
I now repent, I told the purfuivant,
As too triumphing, how mine enemies
To-day at Pomfret bloodily were butcher'd,
And I myself fecure in grace and favour.
Oh, Margret, Margret, now thy heavy curfe
Is lighted on poor Haftings' wretched head.

[dinner.
Catef. Come, come, difpatch; the Duke would be at
Make a short shrift, he longs to fee your head.
Haft. O momentary grace of mortal men,
Which we more hunt for than the grace of God!
Who builds his hope in air of your fair looks,
Lives like a drunken failor on a mast,

Ready with every nod to tumble down
Into the fatal bowels of the deep.

Lov. Come, come, difpatch, 'tis bootlefs to exclaim.
Haft. Oh, bloody Richard! miferable England!
I prophefy the fearful'ft time to thee,

That ever wretched age hath look'd upon.

(16) Lovel and Ratcliff, look that it be done.] There are two things to be obferv'd, which will warrant the variation I have made upon this paffage. The scene is here in the Tower: and Lord Haftings was cut off on that very day, when Rivers, Gray and Vaughan fuffer'd at Pomfret. How then could Ratcliff at the fame inftant be both in Yorkshire and the Tower? In the very scene preceding this, we find him conducting thofe gentlemen to the block. The players in their edition firft made the blunder, as to Ratcliff attending Lord Haftings to death for, in the old quarto, we find it rightly;Exeunt: Manet Catesby with Hastings.

Come,

Come, lead me to the block, bear him my head:
They smile at me, who shortly shall be dead.

[Exeunt.

SCENE changes to the Tower-walls.

Enter Glocester and Buckingham in rusty armour,
marvellous ill-favour'd.

Glo.Come,

Ome, coufin, canft thou quake and change thy
colour,

Murder thy breath in middle of a word,
And then again begin, and ftop again,

As if thou wert diftraught, and mad with terror ?
Buck. Tut, I can counterfeit the deep tragedian,
Speak, and look back, and pry on every fide;
Tremble and start at wagging of a fraw,
Intending deep fufpicion; ghaftly looks
Are at my fervice, like enforced smiles;
And both are ready in their offices,
At any time to grace my ftratagems.
Glo. Here comes the Mayor.

Buck. Let me alone to entertain him. Lord Mayor,

Enter the Lord Mayor, attended.

Glo. Look to the draw-bridge there.

Buck. Hark, a drum!

Glo. Catefby; o'erlook the walls.

Buck. Lord Mayor, the reafon we have fent-
Glo. Look back, defend thee, here are enemies.
Buck. God and our innocence defend and guard us
Enter Lovel and Catefby with Haftings's head.
Glo. Be patient, they are friends; Catesby and Lovel.
Lov. Here is the head of that ignoble traitor,
The dangerous and unfufpected Haftings.

Glo. So dear I lov'd the man, that I muft weep:
I took him for the plainest, harmless creature,
That breath'd upon the earth a christian :
Made him my book, wherein my foul recorded
The hiftory of all her fecret thoughts;

So fmooth he daub'd his vice with fhew of virtue,
L 6

That

That (his apparent open guilt omitted,

I mean, his converfation with Shore's wife)
He liv'd from all attainder of fufpect.

Buck. Well, well, he was the covert'ft fhelter'd traitor-
Would you imagine, or almoft believe,
(Were't not, that by great prefervation
We live to tell it) that the fubtle traitor
This day had plotted, in the council-house,
To murder me and my good Lord of Glofter.
Mayor. What? had he fo?

Glo. What! think you, we are Turks or infidels ? Or that we would, against the form of law, Proceed thus rafhly to the villain's death;

But that the extreme peril of the cafe,

The peace of England, and our person's safety
Enforc'd us to this execution?

Mayor. Now, fair befal you! he deferv'd his death;
And your good Graces both have well proceeded,
To warn falfe traitors from the like attempts.

I never look'd for better at his hands,

After he once fell in with mistress Shore.

Buck. Yet had we not determin'd he should die,
Until your Lordship came to fee his end;
Which now the loving haste of these our friends,
Something againft our meaning, hath prevented;
Becaufe, my Lord, we would have had you heard
The traitor fpeak; and tim'roufly confefs
The manner and the purpose of his treafons:
That you might well have fignify'd the fame
Unto the citizens, who, haply, may
Mifconftrue us in him, and wail his death.

Mayor. But, my good Lord, your Grace's word fhall ferve, As well as I had feen and heard him speak :

And do not doubt, right-noble Princes both,

But I' acquaint our duteous citizens,

With all your juft proceedings in this cafe.

Glo. And to that end we wish'd your Lordfhip here, T'avoid the cenfures of the carping world.

Buck. But fince you come too late of our intent, Yet witnefs, what, you hear, we did intend:

And

And fo, my good Lord Mayor, we bid farewel.

Glo. Go after, after, coufin Buckingham.

[Exit Mayor.

The Mayor towards Guild-hall hies him in all post:
There, at your meeteft vantage of the time,
Infer the baftardy of Edward's children;
Tell them, how Edward put to death a citizen,
Only for faying he would make his fon

Heir to the crown; meaning, indeed, his house,
Which by the fign thereof was termed fo.
Moreover, urge his hateful luxury,

And beftial appetite in change of luft,

Which stretch'd unto their fervants, daughters, wives,. Ev'n where his ranging eye, or favage heart,

Without controll, lufted to make a prey.

Nay, for a need, thus far come near my perfon:
Tell them, when that my mother went with child
Of that infatiate Edward, noble York
My princely father then had wars in France:
And by juft computation of the time,
Found that the iffue was not his begot:
Which well appeared in his lineaments,
Being nothing like the noble Duke, my father:
Yet touch this fparingly, as 'twere far off,
Because, my Lord, you know, 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 fo, my Lord, adieu.

Glo. If you thrive well, bring them to Baynard's-caftle,
Where you shall find me well accompanied
With reverend fathers and well-learned bifhops.
Buck. I go, and towards three or four o'clock
Look for the news that the Guild-Hall affords.

[Exit Back. Glo. Go, Lovel, with all speed to doctor Shaw. Go thou to fryar Peuker; bid them both Meet me within this hour at Baynard's castle.

[Exeunt Lov. and Cates. feverally.

Now will I go to take fome privy order
To draw the brats of Clarence out of fight;

And

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