1st Murd. We are, my lord; and come to have the warrant, That we may be admitted where he is. me. Glo. Well thought upon; I have it here about [Gives the warrant. When you have done, repair to Crosby-place. But, sirs, be sudden in the execution; Withal obdurate; do not hear him plead : For Clarence is well spoken, and perhaps May move your hearts to pity if you mark him. 1st Murd. Tut, tut, my lord, we will not stand to prate : Talkers are no good doers: be assured I like you, lads. About your business straight: We will, my noble lord. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. The same. A Room in the Tower. Enter CLARENCE and BRAKENBURY. Brak. Why looks your grace so heavily to-day? Clar. O I have passed a miserable night, So full of fearful dreams, of ugly sights, That, as I am a christian faithful man, I would not spend another such a night Though 't were to buy a world of happy days: So full of dismal terror was the time. Brak. What was your dream, my lord? I pray you tell me. Clar. Methought that I had broken from the And was embarked to cross to Burgundy; Who from my cabin tempted me to walk And cited up a thousand heavy times, O Lord, methought what pain it was to drown! Some lay in dead men's skulls: and in those holes Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept (As 't were in scorn of eyes) reflecting gems, That woo'd the slimy bottom of the deep, And mocked the dead bones that lay scattered by. Brak. Had you such leisure in the time of death To gaze upon these secrets of the deep? Clar. Methought I had; and often did I strive To yield the ghost: but still the envious flood Kept in my soul, and would not let it forth To seek the empty, vast, and wand'ring air: But smothered it within my panting bulk, Which almost burst to belch it in the sea. Brak. Awaked you not with this sore agony? Clar. O no, my dream was lengthened after life: O then began the tempest to my soul! The first that there did greet my stranger soul That stabbed me in the field by Tewkesbury: An outward honour for an inward toil: Enter the two Murderers. 1st Murd. Ho! who's here? Brak. What wouldst thou, fellow; and how cam'st thou hither? 1st Murd. I would speak with Clarence, and I came hither on my legs. Brak. What, so brief? 2nd Murd. O sir, 't is better to be brief than tedious. Shew him our commission; talk no more. [A paper is delivered to BRAKENBURY, who reads it. Brak. I am in this commanded to deliver The noble Duke of Clarence to your hands: That thus I have resigned to you my charge. 1st Murd. No: he 'll say 't was done cowardly when he wakes. 2nd Murd. When he wakes! why, fool, he shall never wake until the great judgment day. 1st Murd. Why, then he'll say we stabbed him sleeping. 2nd Murd. The urging of that word "judgment" hath bred a kind of remorse in me. 1st Murd. What! art thou afraid? 2nd Murd. Not to kill him, having a warrant for it but to be damned for killing him, from the which no warrant can defend me. 1st Murd. I thought thou hadst been resolute. 2nd Murd. So I am-to let him live. 1st Murd. I'll back to the Duke of Gloster, and tell him so. 2nd Murd. Nay, I pr'y thee stay a little. I hope this holy humour of mine will change: it was wont to hold me but while one would tell twenty. 1st Murd. How dost thou feel thyself now? 2nd Murd. 'Faith, some certain dregs of conscience are yet within me. 1st Murd. Remember our reward when the deed 's done. 2nd Murd. Come, he dies: I had forgot the reward. 1st Murd. Where's thy conscience now? 2nd Murd. In the Duke of Gloster's purse. 1st Murd. So, when he opens his purse to give us our reward, thy conscience flies out. 2nd Murd. "Tis no matter: let it go there's few or none will entertain it. 1st Murd. What if it come to thee again? 2nd Murd. I'll not meddle with it, it is a dangerous thing: it makes a man a coward. A man cannot steal but it accuseth him; a man cannot swear but it checks him; a man cannot lie with his neighbour's wife but it detects him. "T is a blushing shame-faced spirit, that mutinies in a man's bosom: it fills one full of obstacles: it made me once restore a purse of gold that by chance I found: it beggars any man that keeps it. It is turned out of all towns and cities for a dangerous thing; and every man that means to live well, endeavours to trust to himself and live without it. 1st Murd. Zounds, it is even now at my elbow, persuading me not to kill the duke. 2nd Murd. Take the devil in thy mind, and believe him not: he would insinuate with thee but to make thee sigh. 1st Murd. I am strong framed, he cannot prevail with me. 2nd Murd. Spoke like a tall fellow that respects his reputation. Come, shall we fall to work? 1st Murd. Take him over the costard with the hilts of thy sword, and then throw him into the malmsey-butt in the next room. 2nd Murd. O excellent device! and make a sop of him. 1st Murd. Soft! he wakes. 1st Murd. No, we 'll reason with him. Clar. Where art thou, keeper? give me a cup of wine. 1st Murd. You shall have wine enough, my lord, anon. Clar. In God's name, what art thou? 1st Murd. A man, as you are. Clar. But not, as I am, royal. 1st Murd. Nor you, as we are, loyal. Clar. Thy voice is thunder, but thy 100ks are humble. 1st Murd. My voice is now the King's, my looks mine own. Clar. How darkly and how deadly dost thou speak! Your eyes do menace me. Why look you pale? Who sent you hither? wherefore do you come? Both Murd. To, to, to Clar. To murder me? Both Murd. Ay, ay. To slay the innocent? What is my offence? To threaten me with death is most unlawful. 1st Murd. What we will do, we do upon com mand. 2nd Murd. And he that hath commanded is our king. Clar. Erroneous vassal! the great King of kings Hath in the table of his law commanded 2nd Murd. And that same vengeance doth he hurl on thee, For false forswearing, and for murder too: Thou didst receive the sacrament to fight In quarrel of the house of Lancaster. 1st Murd. And, like a traitor to the name of God, Didst break that vow; and with thy treacherous blade Unrip'dst the bowels of thy sovereign's son. 2nd Murd. Whom thou wast sworn to cherish and defend. 1st Murd. How canst thou urge God's dreadful law to us, When thou hast broke it in such dear degree? Take not the quarrel from his powerful arm. 1st Murd. Who made thee, then, a bloody minister, When gallant-springing, brave Plantagenet, That princely novice, was struck dead by thee? Clar. My brother's love, the devil, and my rage. 1st Murd. Thy brother's love, our duty, and thy fault, Provoke us hither now to slaughter thee. Clar. If you do love my brother, hate not me: I am his brother, and I love him well. If you are hired for meed, go back again, And I will send you to my brother Gloster; Who shall reward you better for my life Than Edward will for tidings of my death. 2nd Murd. You are deceived; your brother Gloster hates you. Clar. O no, he loves me, and he holds me dear: Go you to him from me. Both Murd. Ay, so we will. Clar. It cannot be: for he bewept my fortune, And hugged me in his arms, and swore with sobs That he would labour my delivery. 1st Murd. Why, so he doth, when he delivers you From this earth's thraldom to the joys of heaven. 2nd Murd. Make peace with God, for you must die, my lord. Clar. Hast thou that holy feeling in thy soul To counsel me to make my peace with God, And art thou yet to thy own soul so blind That thou wilt war with God, by murdering me? Ah sirs, consider, he that set you on To do this deed, will hate you for the deed. 2nd Murd. What shall we do? Clar. Relent, and save your souls. 1st Murd. Relent! 't is cowardly and womanish. Clar. Not to relent is beastly, savage, devilish. Which of you, if you were a prince's son, Being pent from liberty, as I am now, If two such murderers as yourselves came to you, Would not entreat for life?- My friend, I spy some pity in thy looks: O if thine eye be not a flatterer, Come thou on my side, and entreat for me, As you would beg were you in my distress. A begging prince what beggar pities not? 2nd Murd. Look behind you, my lord. 1st Murd. Take that, and that! If all this will not do, [Stabs him. I'll drown you in the malmsey-butt within. [Exit with the body. 2nd Murd. A bloody deed, and desperately despatched! How fain, like Pilate, would I wash my hands Of this most grievous guilty murder done! Re-enter first Murderer. 1st Murd. How now! what mean'st thou that thou help'st me not? By Heaven the duke shall know how slack you have been. 2nd Murd. I would he knew that I had saved his brother! Take thou the fee, and tell him what I say: For I repent me that the duke is slain. [Exit. 1st Murd. So do not I: go, coward as thou art. Well, I'll go hide the body in some hole Till that the duke give order for his burial: And when I have my meed, I will away; For this will out, and then I must not stay. Enter KING EDWARD (led in sick), QUEEN ELIZABETH, DORSET, RIVERS, HASTINGS, BUCKINGHAM, GREY, and others. K. Edw. Why, so: now have I done a good day's work: You peers, continue this united league. Riv. By Heaven, my soul is purged from grudging hate; And with my hand I seal my true heart's love Lest He that is the supreme King of kings, Hast. So prosper I as I swear perfect love. Dor. This interchange of love, I here protest, Upon my part shall be inviolable. Hast. And so swear I. [Embraces DORSET. K. Edw. Now, princely Buckingham, seal thou this league Why thy embracements to my wife's allies, Buck. Whenever Buckingham doth turn his Doth cherish you and yours, God punish me Is this thy vow unto my sickly heart. Enter GLOSTER. Glo. Good-morrow to my sovereign King and Queen: And, princely peers, a happy time of day. K. Edw. Happy, indeed, as we have spent the day. | Brother, we have done deeds of charity Made peace of enmity, fair love of hate, I Between these swelling wrong-incensed peers. |