King Richard The Third

1 Enter King Edward, sick, Queen Elizabeth, Dorset, Rivers, Hastings,
2 Buckingham, Grey and others.
3 KING EDWARD.
4 Why, so. Now have I done a good day’s work.
5 You peers, continue this united league.
6 I every day expect an embassage
7 From my Redeemer, to redeem me hence;
8 And more at peace my soul shall part to heaven
9 Since I have made my friends at peace on earth.
10 Rivers and Hastings, take each other’s hand;
11 Dissemble not your hatred. Swear your love.
12 RIVERS.
13 By heaven, my soul is purged from grudging hate,
14 And with my hand I seal my true heart’s love.
15 HASTINGS.
16 So thrive I, as I truly swear the like.
17 KING EDWARD.
18 Take heed you dally not before your King,
19 Lest He that is the supreme King of kings
20 Confound your hidden falsehood, and award
21 Either of you to be the other’s end.
22 HASTINGS.
23 So prosper I, as I swear perfect love.
24 RIVERS.
25 And I, as I love Hastings with my heart.
26 KING EDWARD.
27 Madam, yourself is not exempt from this;
28 Nor you, son Dorset; Buckingham, nor you.
29 You have been factious one against the other.
30 Wife, love Lord Hastings, let him kiss your hand,
31 And what you do, do it unfeignedly.
32 QUEEN ELIZABETH.
33 There, Hastings, I will never more remember
34 Our former hatred, so thrive I and mine.
35 KING EDWARD.
36 Dorset, embrace him; Hastings, love lord Marquess.
37 DORSET.
38 This interchange of love, I here protest,
39 Upon my part shall be inviolable.
40 HASTINGS.
41 And so swear I.
42 [_They embrace._]
43 KING EDWARD.
44 Now, princely Buckingham, seal thou this league
45 With thy embracements to my wife’s allies,
46 And make me happy in your unity.
47 BUCKINGHAM.
48 Whenever Buckingham doth turn his hate
49 Upon your Grace, but with all duteous love
50 Doth cherish you and yours, God punish me
51 With hate in those where I expect most love.
52 When I have most need to employ a friend,
53 And most assured that he is a friend,
54 Deep, hollow, treacherous, and full of guile
55 Be he unto me: this do I beg of God,
56 When I am cold in love to you or yours.
57 [_Embrace._]
58 KING EDWARD.
59 A pleasing cordial, princely Buckingham,
60 Is this thy vow unto my sickly heart.
61 There wanteth now our brother Gloucester here,
62 To make the blessed period of this peace.
63 BUCKINGHAM.
64 And in good time,
65 Here comes Sir Ratcliffe and the Duke.
66 Enter Ratcliffe and Richard.
67 RICHARD.
68 Good morrow to my sovereign King and Queen;
69 And, princely peers, a happy time of day.
70 KING EDWARD.
71 Happy indeed, as we have spent the day.
72 Gloucester, we have done deeds of charity,
73 Made peace of enmity, fair love of hate,
74 Between these swelling wrong-incensed peers.
75 RICHARD.
76 A blessed labour, my most sovereign lord,
77 Among this princely heap, if any here
78 By false intelligence or wrong surmise
79 Hold me a foe,
80 If I unwittingly, or in my rage,
81 Have aught committed that is hardly borne
82 By any in this presence, I desire
83 To reconcile me to his friendly peace.
84 ’Tis death to me to be at enmity;
85 I hate it, and desire all good men’s love.
86 First, madam, I entreat true peace of you,
87 Which I will purchase with my duteous service;
88 Of you, my noble cousin Buckingham,
89 If ever any grudge were lodged between us;
90 Of you and you, Lord Rivers and of Dorset,
91 That all without desert have frowned on me;
92 Of you, Lord Woodville and Lord Scales;—of you,
93 Dukes, earls, lords, gentlemen; indeed, of all.
94 I do not know that Englishman alive
95 With whom my soul is any jot at odds
96 More than the infant that is born tonight.
97 I thank my God for my humility.
98 QUEEN ELIZABETH.
99 A holy day shall this be kept hereafter.
100 I would to God all strifes were well compounded.
101 My sovereign lord, I do beseech your Highness
102 To take our brother Clarence to your grace.
103 RICHARD.
104 Why, madam, have I offered love for this,
105 To be so flouted in this royal presence?
106 Who knows not that the gentle Duke is dead?
107 [_They all start._]
108 You do him injury to scorn his corse.
109 KING EDWARD.
110 Who knows not he is dead! Who knows he is?
111 QUEEN ELIZABETH.
112 All-seeing heaven, what a world is this!
113 BUCKINGHAM.
114 Look I so pale, Lord Dorset, as the rest?
115 DORSET.
116 Ay, my good lord, and no man in the presence
117 But his red colour hath forsook his cheeks.
118 KING EDWARD.
119 Is Clarence dead? The order was reversed.
120 RICHARD.
121 But he, poor man, by your first order died,
122 And that a winged Mercury did bear;
123 Some tardy cripple bore the countermand,
124 That came too lag to see him buried.
125 God grant that some, less noble and less loyal,
126 Nearer in bloody thoughts, and not in blood,
127 Deserve not worse than wretched Clarence did,
128 And yet go current from suspicion!
129 Enter Stanley Earl of Derby.
130 STANLEY.
131 A boon, my sovereign, for my service done!
132 KING EDWARD.
133 I prithee, peace. My soul is full of sorrow.
134 STANLEY.
135 I will not rise unless your Highness hear me.
136 KING EDWARD.
137 Then say at once what is it thou requests.
138 STANLEY.
139 The forfeit, sovereign, of my servant’s life
140 Who slew today a riotous gentleman
141 Lately attendant on the Duke of Norfolk.
142 KING EDWARD.
143 Have I a tongue to doom my brother’s death,
144 And shall that tongue give pardon to a slave?
145 My brother killed no man; his fault was thought,
146 And yet his punishment was bitter death.
147 Who sued to me for him? Who, in my wrath,
148 Kneeled at my feet, and bid me be advised?
149 Who spoke of brotherhood? Who spoke of love?
150 Who told me how the poor soul did forsake
151 The mighty Warwick, and did fight for me?
152 Who told me, in the field at Tewksbury,
153 When Oxford had me down, he rescued me,
154 And said, “Dear brother, live, and be a king”?
155 Who told me, when we both lay in the field
156 Frozen almost to death, how he did lap me
157 Even in his garments, and did give himself,
158 All thin and naked, to the numb-cold night?
159 All this from my remembrance brutish wrath
160 Sinfully plucked, and not a man of you
161 Had so much grace to put it in my mind.
162 But when your carters or your waiting vassals
163 Have done a drunken slaughter, and defaced
164 The precious image of our dear Redeemer,
165 You straight are on your knees for pardon, pardon,
166 And I, unjustly too, must grant it you.
167 But for my brother not a man would speak,
168 Nor I, ungracious, speak unto myself
169 For him, poor soul. The proudest of you all
170 Have been beholding to him in his life,
171 Yet none of you would once beg for his life.
172 O God, I fear Thy justice will take hold
173 On me, and you, and mine and yours for this!
174 Come, Hastings, help me to my closet.
175 Ah, poor Clarence!
176 [_Exeunt some with King and Queen._]
177 RICHARD.
178 This is the fruit of rashness. Marked you not
179 How that the guilty kindred of the Queen
180 Looked pale when they did hear of Clarence’ death?
181 O, they did urge it still unto the King.
182 God will revenge it. Come, lords, will you go
183 To comfort Edward with our company?
184 BUCKINGHAM.
185 We wait upon your Grace.
186 [_Exeunt._]