all But for my brother, not a man would speak, - [Exeunt KING, QUEEN, HASTINGS, Rivers, Glo. This is the fruit of rashness! not, Mark'd you How that the guilty kindred of the queen SCENE II. • The same. ? [Exeunt. Enter the DUCHESS OF YORK, with a Son and Daughter of CLARENCE. Son. Good grandam, tell us, is our father dead? Duch. No, boy. Daugh. Why, do you weep so oft? and beat your breast; And cry - O Clarence, my unhappy son! Son. Why do you look on us, and shake your head, And call us orphans, wretches, cast-aways, If that our noble father be alive? Duch. My pretty cousins, you mistake me both; I do lament the sickness of the king, As loath to lose him, not your father's death; Son. Then, grandam, you conclude that he is dead. Duch. Peace, children, peace! the king doth love you well: Incapable and shallow innocents, You cannot guess who caus'd your father's death. Told me, the king, provok'd to't by the queen, Bade me rely on him, as on my father, Duch. Ah, so much interest have I in thy sorrow, As I had title in thy noble husband! I have bewept a worthy husband's death, And liv'd by looking on his images : But now, two mirrors of his princely semblance Are crack'd in pieces by malignant death; And I for comfort have but one false glass, That grieves me when I see my shame in him. Thou art a widow; yet thou art a mother, And hast the comfort of thy children left thee: But death hath snatch'd my husband from my arms, And pluck'd two crutches from my feeble hands, Clarence and Edward. O, what cause have I, (Thine being but a moiety of my grief,) To over-go thy plaints, and drown thy cries? Son. Ah, aunt! you wept not for our father's death; How can we aid you with our kindred tears? Daugh. Our fatherless distress was left unmoan'd, Your widow-dolour likewise be unwept ! Q. Eliz. Give me no help in lamentation, I am not barren to bring forth laments : Chil. Ah, for our father, for our dear lord Clarence. Q. Eliz. What stay had I, but Edward? and he's gone. Chil. What stay had we, but Clarence? and he's gone. Duch. What stays had I, but they? and they are gone. Q. Eliz. Was never widow, had so dear a loss. I for a Clarence weep, so doth not she: Duch. Ah, that deceit should steal such gentle Pour all your tears, I am your sorrow's nurse, shapes, And with a virtuous visor hide deep vice! Son. Think you, my uncle did dissemble, grandam? Son. I cannot think it. Hark! what noise is this? Enter QUEEN ELIZABETH, distractedly; RIVERS and DORSET following her. Q. Eliz. Ah! who shall hinder me to wail and weep? To chide my fortune, and torment myself? And I will pamper it with lamentations. Dor. Comfort, dear mother: God is much displeas'd, That you take with unthankfulness his doing; Riv. Madam, bethink you, like a careful mother Of the young prince your son: send straight for him, 4 Let him be crown'd; in him your comfort lives: Drown desperate sorrow in dead Edward's grave, And plant your joys in living Edward's throne. Duch. God bless thee; and put meekness in thy breast, Love, charity, obedience, and true duty! Glo. Amen; and make me die a good old man!That is the butt-end of a mother's blessing; I marvel, that her grace did leave it out. [Aside. Buck. You cloudy princes, and heart-sorrowing peers, That bear this mutual heavy load of moan, Riv. Why with some little train, my lord of Buck. Marry, my lord, lest by a multitude, Where every horse bears his commanding rein, Glo. I hope, the king made peace with all of us; And the compact is firm, and true, in me. Riv. And so in me; and so, I think, in all: Yet, since it is but green, it should be put To no apparent likelihood of breach, Which, haply, by much company might he urg'd: Therefore I say, with noble Buckingham, That it is meet so few should fetch the prince. Hast. And so say I. Glo. Then be it so; and go we to determine Who they shall be that straight shall post to Ludlow. Madam, and you my mother, will you go To give your censures in this weighty business? [Exeunt all but BUCKINGHAM and GLOSTER. As index to the story we late talk'd of, I, as a child, will go by thy direction. [Exeunt. 1 Cit. 3 Cit. Give you good morrow, sir. Doth the news hold of good king Edward's death? 2 Cit. Ay, sir, it is too true; God help, the while! 3 Cit. Then, masters, look to see a troublous world. 1 Cit. No, no; by God's good grace, his son shall reign. 3 Cit. Woe to that land, that's govern'd by a child! 2 Cit. In him there is a hope of government; That, in his nonage, council under him, And, in his full and ripen'd years, himself, No doubt, shall then, and till then, govern well. 1 Cit. So stood the state, when Henry the Sixth Was crown'd in Paris but at nine months old. 3 Cit. Stood the state so? no, no, good friends, God wot; For then this land was famously enrich'd 1 Cit. Why, so hath this, both by his father and mother. 3 Cit. Better it were, they all came by his father Or, by his father, there were none at all: For emulation now, who shall be nearest, Will touch us all too near, if God prevent not. O, full of danger is the duke of Gloster; And the queen's sons, and brothers, haught and proud: And were they to be rul'd, and not to rule, 1 Cit. Come, come, we fear the worst; all will be well. 3 Cit. When clouds are seen, wise men put on their cloaks; When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand; 2 Cit. Truly, the hearts of men are full of fear: You cannot reason almost with a man That looks not heavily, and full of dread. 3 Cit. Before the days of change, still is it so: By a divine instinct, men's minds mistrust Ensuing danger; as, by proof, we see The water swell before a boist'rous storm. But leave it all to God. Whither away? 2 Cit. Marry, we were sent for to the justices. 3 Cit. And so was I; I'll bear you company. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. The same. A Room in the Palace. Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, the young DUKE OF YORK, QUEEN ELIZABETH, and the DUCHESS OF YORK. Arch. Last night, I heard, ney lay at Stony- And at Northampton they do rest to-night: Duch. 'Good faith, 'good faith, the saying did Why, or for what, the nobles were committed, not hold In him that did object the same to thee: He was the wretched'st thing, when he was young, So long a growing, and so leisurely, That, if his rule were true, he should be gracious. Arch. And so, no doubt, he is, my gracious madam. Duch. I hope, he is; but yet let mothers doubt. York. Now, by my troth, if I had been remember'd, I could have given my uncle's grace a flout, York. Marry, they say, my uncle grew so fast, Duch. His nurse! why, she was dead ere thou wast born. Is all unknown to me, my gracious lady. Q. Eliz. Ah me, I see the ruin of my house! The tiger now hath seiz'd the gentle hind; Insulting tyranny begins to jut Upon the innocent and awless throne: — Welcome, destruction, blood, and massacre! see, as in a map, the end of all. I Duch. Accursed and unquiet wrangling days! How many of you have mine eyes beheld? My husband lost his life to get the crown; And often up and down my sons were tost, For me to joy, and weep, their gain, and loss: And being seated, and domestick broils Clean over-blown, themselves, the conquerors, Make war upon themselves; brother to brother, Blood to blood, self 'gainst self : · · O, preposterous And frantick courage, end thy damned spleen : Or let me die, to look on death no more! Q. Eliz. Come, come, my boy, we will to sanctuary. Madam, farewell. Duch. Stay. I will go with you. My gracious lady, go, And thither bear your treasure and your goods. Glo. Welcome, dear cousin, my thoughts' sovereign: The weary way hath made you melancholy. Prince. No, uncle; but our crosses on the way Have made it tedious, wearisome, and heavy : I want more uncles here to welcome me. Glo. Sweet prince, the untainted virtue of your years Hath not yet div'd into the world's deceit : Those uncles, which you want, were dangerous; Prince. God keep me from false friends! but they were none. Glo. My lord, the mayor of London comes to greet you. Enter the Lord Mayor, and his Train. May. God bless your grace with health and happy days! Prince. I thank you, good my lord; —and thank you all. [Exeunt Mayor, &c. I thought, my mother, and my brother York, Would long ere this have met us on the way: Fye, what a slug is Hastings! that he comes noɩ To tell us, whether they will come, or no. Enter HASTINGS. With what his valour did enrich his wit, His wit set down to make his valour live: Buck. And in good time, here comes the sweating Death makes no conquest of this conquero, lord. Prince. Welcome, my lord: What, will our mother come? Hast. On what occasion, God he knows, not I, The queen your mother, and your brother York, Have taken sanctuary: The tender prince Would fain have come with me to meet your grace, But by his mother was perforce withheld. Buck. Fye! what an indirect and peevish course If she deny,-lord Hastings, go with him, Can from his mother win the duke of York, Of blessed sanctuary! not for all this land, Buck. You are too senseless-obstinate, my lord, Too ceremonious, and traditional : Weigh it but with the grossness of this age, To those whose dealings have deserv'd the place, Card. My lord, you shall o'er-rule my mind for once. Come on, lord Hastings, will you go with me? Prince. Good lords, make all the speedy haste you may. [Ereunt CARDINAL and HASTINGS. Say, uncle Gloster, if our brother come, Where shall we sojourn till our coronation? Glo. Where it seems best unto your royal self. If I may counsel you, some day, or two, Your highness shall repose you at the Tower: Then where you please, and shall be thought most fit For your best health and recreation. Prince. I do not like the Tower, of any place: Did Julius Cæsar build that place, my lord? Glo. He did, my gracious lord, begin that place; Which, since, succeeding ages have re-edified. Prince. Is it upon record? or else reported Successively from age to age, he built it? Buck. Upon record, my gracious lord. Prince. But say, my lord, it were not register'd; Methinks, the truth should live from age to age, As 'twere retail'd to all posterity, Even to the general all-ending day. Glo. So wise so young, they say, do ne'er live long. Prince. What say you, uncle? [Aside. Glo. I say, without charácters, fame lives long. Thus, like the formal vice, Iniquity, I moralize two meanings in one word. Aside. Prince. That Julius Cæsar was a famous man : For now he lives in fame, though not in life. Prince. An if I live until I be a man, Glo. Short summers lightly have a forward spring. [Aside Enter YORK, HASTINGS, and the CARDINAL. Buck. Now, in good time, here comes the duke of York. Prince. Richard of York! how fares our loving brother? York. Well, my dread lord; so must I call you now. Prince. Ay, brother; to our grief, as it is yours: Too late he died, that might have kept that title, Which by his death hath lost much majesty. Glo. How fares our cousin, noble lord of York? Glo. My dagger, little cousin? with all my heart. York. Of my kind uncle, that I know will give; Glo. It is too weighty for your grace to wear. York. I would, that I might thank you as you call me. Glo. How? York. Little. Prince. My lord of York will still be cross in talk ; Uncle, your grace knows how to bear with him. York. You mean, to bear me, not to bear with me: Uncle, my brother mocks both you and me; He thinks that you should bear me on your shoulders. Glo. My gracious lord, will't please you pass along? Myself, and my good cousin Buckingham, lord? Prince. My lord protector needs will have it so. York. I shall not sleep in quiet at the Tower. Glo. Why, sir, what should you fear? York. Marry, my uncle Clarence' angry ghost; My grandam told me, he was murder'd there. Prince. I fear no uncles dead. Glo. Nor none that live, I hope. Prince. An if they live, I hope, I need not fear. But come, my lord, and, with a heavy heart, Thinking on them, go I unto the Tower. [Exeunt PRINCE, YORK, HASTINGS, CARDINAL, and Attendants. Buck. Think you, my lord, this little prating York Was not incensed by his subtle mother, To taunt and scorn you thus opprobriously? Glo. No doubt, no doubt: O, 'tis a parlous boy; Bold, quick, ingenious, forward, capable; He's all the mother's, from the top to toe. Buck. Well, let them rest. Come hither, gentle Catesby; thou art sworn As closely to conceal what we impart : Cate. He for his father's sake so loves the prince, Cate. He will do all in all as Hastings doth. And, as it were far off, sound thou lord Hastings, If thou dost find him tractable to us, Glo. Commend me to lord William: tell him, His ancient knot of dangerous adversaries Cate. My good lords both, with all the heed I can. Glo. Shall we hear from you, Catesby, ere we sleep? Cate. You shall, my lord. Glo. At Crosby-place, there shall you find us both. [Exit CATESBY. Buck. Now, my lord, what shall we do, if we perceive Lord Hastings will not yield to our complets? will do: And, look, when I am king, claim thou of me Buck. I'll claim that promise at your grace's hand. ness If, presently, you will take horse with him, Hast. Go, fellow, go, return unto thy lord: Tell him, his fears are shallow, wanting instance: say. Enter CATESBY. Cate. Many good morrows to my noble lord! Hast. Good morrow, Catesby; you are early stirring : What news, what news, in this our tottering state? Cate. Ay, my good lord. Hast. I'll have this crown of mine cut from my shoulders, Before I'll see the crown so foul misplac'd. Cate. Ay, on my life; and hopes to find you forward Upon his party, for the gain thereof: Hast. Indeed, I am no mourner for that news, |