In sharing that which you have pilled from ine: Glo. Foul wrinkled witch, what mak'st thou in my sight? Q. Mar. But repetition of what thou hast marred: That will I make before I let thee go. Glo. Wert thou not banishéd on pain of death? Q. Mar. I was: but I do find more pain in banishment Than death can yield me here by my abode. A husband and a son thou ow'st to me;And thou a kingdom :—all of you, allegiance. This sorrow that I have by right is yours; And all the pleasures you usurp are mine. Glo. The curse my noble father laid on thee, When thou didst crown his warlike brows with paper, And with thy scorns drew'st rivers from his eyes; And then, to dry them, gav'st the duke a clout Steeped in the faultless blood of pretty Rutland;— His curses, then from bitterness of soul Denounced against thee, are all fallen upon thee; And God, not we, hath plagued thy bloody deed. Q. Eliz. So just is God to right the innocent. Hast. O't was the foulest deed to slay that babe, And the most merciless, that e'er was heard of. Riv. Tyrants themselves wept when it was reported. Dors. No man but prophesied revenge for it. Buck. Northumberland, then present, wept to see it. Q. Mar. What! were you snarling all before Ready to catch each other by the throat, Heaven, That Henry's death, my lovely Edward's death, Though not by war, by surfeit die your king, Long die thy happy days before thy death; him That none of you may live your natural age, Glo. Have done thy charm, thou hateful withered hag. Q. Mar. And leave out thee? stay, dog, for thou shalt hear me. If heaven have any grievous plague in store Q. Mar. Richard! Q. Mar. I call thee not. Glo. I cry thee mercy, then; for I did think That thou had'st called me all these bitter names. Q. Mar. Why so I did, but looked for no reply. O let me make the period to my curse. Glo. "T is done by me, and ends in "Margaret." Q. Eliz. Thus have you breathed your curse against yourself. ! Q. Mar. Poor painted queen, vain flourish of my fortune! Why strew'st thou sugar on that bottled spider, Hast. False-boding woman, end thy frantic curse, Lest to thy harm thou move our patience. moved mine. Riv. Were you well served, you would be taught your duty. Q. Mar. To serve me well, you all should do me duty; Teach me to be your queen, and you my subjects. Your fire-new stamp of honour is scarce current. And if they fall, they dash themselves to pieces. marquis. Dor. It touches you, my lord, as much as me. Glo. Ay, and much more: but I was born so high, Our aiery buildeth in the cedar's top, And dallies with the wind, and scorns the sun. Q. Mar. And turns the sun to shade :-alas, alas ! Witness my son, now in the shade of death, Buck. Peace,peace, for shame, if not for charity. Q. Mar. O princely Buckingham, I kiss thy In sign of league and amity with thee. Buck. Nor no one here: for curses never pass And there awake God's gentle-sleeping peace. His venom tooth will rankle to the death. Glo. What doth she say, my lord of Bucking ham? Buck. Nothing that I respect, my gracious lord. Q. Mar. What, dost thou scorn me for my gentle counsel, And soothe the devil that I warn thee from? curses. Riv. And so doth mine: I muse why she's at liberty. Glo. I cannot blame her, by God's holy mother: She hath had too much wrong, and I repent My part thereof that I have done to her. Q. Eliz. I never did her any, to my knowledge. Glo. Yet you have all the 'vantage of her wrong. I was too hot to do somebody good, clusion, Το pray for them that have done scathe to us. Enter CATESBY. Riv. Madam, we will attend upon your grace. [Exeunt all but GLOSTER. Glo. I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl. The secret mischiefs that I set abroach, I lay unto the grievous charge of others. Clarence, whom I indeed have laid in darkness, I do beweep to many simple gulls; Namely, to Stanley, Hastings, Buckingham; And tell them 't is the Queen and her allies That stir the King against the duke my brother. Now they believe it; and withal whet me To be revenged on Rivers, Vaughan, Grey: But then I sigh, and, with a piece of scripture, Tell them that God bids us do good for evil. And thus I clothe my naked villany With old odd ends stol'n forth of holy writ, And seem a saint when most I play the devil. Enter two Murderers. But soft, here come my executioners.— 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 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. [4 paper is delivered to BRAKENBURY, who reads it. Brak. I am in this commanded to deliver The noble Duke of Clarence to your hands: I will not reason what is meant hereby, Because I will be guiltless of the meaning. Here are the keys;-there sits the duke asleep. I'll to the King, and signify to him That thus I have resigned to you my charge. 1st Murd. You may, sir; 'tis a point of wisdom: fare you well. Exit BRAKENBURY 2nd Murd. What, shall we stab him as he sleeps? 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. 2nd Murd. Strike. 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. My voice is now the King's, my Clar. How darkly and how deadly dost thou Your eyes do menace me. Why look you pale? Clar. You scarcely have the hearts to tell me so, Clar. I shall be reconciled to him again. 2nd Murd. Never, my lord: therefore prepare to die. Clar. Are you called forth from out a world of men 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. |