King Richard The Third

1 The trumpets sound a sennet. Enter Richard in pomp, Buckingham,
2 Catesby, Ratcliffe, Lovell, a Page and others.
3 KING RICHARD.
4 Stand all apart. Cousin of Buckingham!
5 BUCKINGHAM.
6 My gracious sovereign!
7 KING RICHARD.
8 Give me thy hand.
9 [_Here he ascendeth the throne. Sound trumpets._]
10 Thus high, by thy advice
11 And thy assistance is King Richard seated.
12 But shall we wear these glories for a day,
13 Or shall they last, and we rejoice in them?
14 BUCKINGHAM.
15 Still live they, and for ever let them last!
16 KING RICHARD.
17 Ah, Buckingham, now do I play the touch,
18 To try if thou be current gold indeed.
19 Young Edward lives; think now what I would speak.
20 BUCKINGHAM.
21 Say on, my loving lord.
22 KING RICHARD.
23 Why, Buckingham, I say I would be King.
24 BUCKINGHAM.
25 Why, so you are, my thrice-renowned lord.
26 KING RICHARD.
27 Ha! Am I King? ’Tis so—but Edward lives.
28 BUCKINGHAM.
29 True, noble Prince.
30 KING RICHARD.
31 O bitter consequence,
32 That Edward still should live “true noble prince!”
33 Cousin, thou wast not wont to be so dull.
34 Shall I be plain? I wish the bastards dead,
35 And I would have it suddenly performed.
36 What sayst thou now? Speak suddenly, be brief.
37 BUCKINGHAM.
38 Your Grace may do your pleasure.
39 KING RICHARD.
40 Tut, tut, thou art all ice; thy kindness freezes.
41 Say, have I thy consent that they shall die?
42 BUCKINGHAM.
43 Give me some little breath, some pause, dear lord,
44 Before I positively speak in this.
45 I will resolve you herein presently.
46 [_Exit._]
47 CATESBY.
48 [_Aside_.] The King is angry. See, he gnaws his lip.
49 KING RICHARD.
50 [_Aside_.] I will converse with iron-witted fools
51 And unrespective boys; none are for me
52 That look into me with considerate eyes.
53 High-reaching Buckingham grows circumspect.
54 Boy!
55 PAGE.
56 My lord?
57 KING RICHARD.
58 Know’st thou not any whom corrupting gold
59 Will tempt unto a close exploit of death?
60 PAGE.
61 I know a discontented gentleman
62 Whose humble means match not his haughty spirit.
63 Gold were as good as twenty orators,
64 And will, no doubt, tempt him to anything.
65 KING RICHARD.
66 What is his name?
67 PAGE.
68 His name, my lord, is Tyrrel.
69 KING RICHARD.
70 I partly know the man. Go, call him hither, boy.
71 [_Exit Page._]
72 [_Aside_.] The deep-revolving witty Buckingham
73 No more shall be the neighbour to my counsels.
74 Hath he so long held out with me, untired,
75 And stops he now for breath? Well, be it so.
76 Enter Stanley.
77 How now, Lord Stanley, what’s the news?
78 STANLEY.
79 Know, my loving lord,
80 The Marquess Dorset, as I hear, is fled
81 To Richmond, in the parts where he abides.
82 KING RICHARD.
83 Come hither, Catesby. Rumour it abroad
84 That Anne my wife is very grievous sick;
85 I will take order for her keeping close.
86 Inquire me out some mean poor gentleman,
87 Whom I will marry straight to Clarence’ daughter.
88 The boy is foolish, and I fear not him.
89 Look how thou dream’st! I say again, give out
90 That Anne, my Queen, is sick and like to die.
91 About it, for it stands me much upon
92 To stop all hopes whose growth may damage me.
93 [_Exit Catesby._]
94 I must be married to my brother’s daughter,
95 Or else my kingdom stands on brittle glass.
96 Murder her brothers, and then marry her—
97 Uncertain way of gain! But I am in
98 So far in blood that sin will pluck on sin.
99 Tear-falling pity dwells not in this eye.
100 Enter Tyrrel.
101 Is thy name Tyrrel?
102 TYRREL.
103 James Tyrrel, and your most obedient subject.
104 KING RICHARD.
105 Art thou indeed?
106 TYRREL.
107 Prove me, my gracious lord.
108 KING RICHARD.
109 Dar’st thou resolve to kill a friend of mine?
110 TYRREL.
111 Please you. But I had rather kill two enemies.
112 KING RICHARD.
113 Why then thou hast it; two deep enemies,
114 Foes to my rest, and my sweet sleep’s disturbers,
115 Are they that I would have thee deal upon.
116 Tyrell, I mean those bastards in the Tower.
117 TYRREL.
118 Let me have open means to come to them,
119 And soon I’ll rid you from the fear of them.
120 KING RICHARD.
121 Thou sing’st sweet music. Hark, come hither, Tyrrel.
122 Go, by this token. Rise, and lend thine ear.
123 [_Whispers_.] There is no more but so. Say it is done,
124 And I will love thee, and prefer thee for it.
125 TYRREL.
126 I will dispatch it straight.
127 [_Exit._]
128 Enter Buckingham.
129 BUCKINGHAM.
130 My lord, I have considered in my mind
131 The late request that you did sound me in.
132 KING RICHARD.
133 Well, let that rest. Dorset is fled to Richmond.
134 BUCKINGHAM.
135 I hear the news, my lord.
136 KING RICHARD.
137 Stanley, he is your wife’s son. Well, look unto it.
138 BUCKINGHAM.
139 My lord, I claim the gift, my due by promise,
140 For which your honour and your faith is pawned:
141 Th’ earldom of Hereford, and the movables
142 Which you have promised I shall possess.
143 KING RICHARD.
144 Stanley, look to your wife. If she convey
145 Letters to Richmond, you shall answer it.
146 BUCKINGHAM.
147 What says your Highness to my just request?
148 KING RICHARD.
149 I do remember me, Henry the Sixth
150 Did prophesy that Richmond should be King,
151 When Richmond was a little peevish boy.
152 A king perhaps—
153 BUCKINGHAM.
154 My lord—
155 KING RICHARD.
156 How chance the prophet could not at that time
157 Have told me, I being by, that I should kill him?
158 BUCKINGHAM.
159 My lord, your promise for the earldom—
160 KING RICHARD.
161 Richmond! When last I was at Exeter,
162 The Mayor in courtesy showed me the castle
163 And called it Rougemount, at which name I started,
164 Because a bard of Ireland told me once
165 I should not live long after I saw Richmond.
166 BUCKINGHAM.
167 My lord—
168 KING RICHARD.
169 Ay, what’s o’clock?
170 BUCKINGHAM.
171 I am thus bold to put your Grace in mind
172 Of what you promised me.
173 KING RICHARD.
174 Well, but what’s o’clock?
175 BUCKINGHAM.
176 Upon the stroke of ten.
177 KING RICHARD.
178 Well, let it strike.
179 BUCKINGHAM.
180 Why let it strike?
181 KING RICHARD.
182 Because that, like a jack, thou keep’st the stroke
183 Betwixt thy begging and my meditation.
184 I am not in the giving vein today.
185 BUCKINGHAM.
186 Why then, resolve me whether you will or no.
187 KING RICHARD.
188 Thou troublest me; I am not in the vein.
189 [_Exit followed by all save Buckingham._]
190 BUCKINGHAM.
191 And is it thus? Repays he my deep service
192 With such contempt? Made I him King for this?
193 O, let me think on Hastings, and be gone
194 To Brecknock while my fearful head is on!
195 [_Exit._]