TPTT The Tragedy of Richard the Third: ACT II
Introduction
ACT I
ACT II
SCENE I. London. The palace.
SCENE II. The palace.
SCENE III. London. A street.
SCENE IV. London. The palace.
ACT III
ACT IV
ACT V
About the Play
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SCENE I. London. The palace.
Flourish. Enter KING EDWARD IV sick, QUEEN ELIZABETH, DORSET, RIVERS, HASTINGS, BUCKINGHAM, GREY, and others
KING EDWARD IV
      Why, so: now have I done a good day's work:
      You peers, continue this united league:
      I every day expect an embassage
      From my Redeemer to redeem me hence;
5     And now in peace my soul shall part to heaven,
      Since I have set my friends at peace on earth.
      Rivers and Hastings, take each other's hand;
      Dissemble not your hatred, swear your love.
RIVERS
      By heaven, my heart is purged from grudging hate:
10    And with my hand I seal my true heart's love.
HASTINGS
      So thrive I, as I truly swear the like!
KING EDWARD IV
      Take heed you dally not before your king;
      Lest he that is the supreme King of kings
      Confound your hidden falsehood, and award
15    Either of you to be the other's end.
HASTINGS
      So prosper I, as I swear perfect love!
RIVERS
      And I, as I love Hastings with my heart!
KING EDWARD IV
      Madam, yourself are not exempt in this,
      Nor your son Dorset, Buckingham, nor you;
20    You have been factious one against the other,
      Wife, love Lord Hastings, let him kiss your hand;
      And what you do, do it unfeignedly.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
      Here, Hastings; I will never more remember
      Our former hatred, so thrive I and mine!
KING EDWARD IV
25    Dorset, embrace him; Hastings, love lord marquess.
DORSET
      This interchange of love, I here protest,
      Upon my part shall be unviolable.
HASTINGS
      And so swear I, my lord
They embrace
KING EDWARD IV
      Now, princely Buckingham, seal thou this league
30    With thy embracements to my wife's allies,
      And make me happy in your unity.
BUCKINGHAM
      Whenever Buckingham doth turn his hate
      On you or yours,

To the Queen

      but with all duteous love
35    Doth cherish you and yours, God punish me
      With hate in those where I expect most love!
      When I have most need to employ a friend,
      And most assured that he is a friend
      Deep, hollow, treacherous, and full of guile,
40    Be he unto me! this do I beg of God,
      When I am cold in zeal to yours.
KING EDWARD IV
      A pleasing cordial, princely Buckingham,
      is this thy vow unto my sickly heart.
      There wanteth now our brother Gloucester here,
45    To make the perfect period of this peace.
BUCKINGHAM
      And, in good time, here comes the noble duke.
Enter GLOUCESTER
GLOUCESTER
      Good morrow to my sovereign king and queen:
      And, princely peers, a happy time of day!
KING EDWARD IV
      Happy, indeed, as we have spent the day.
50    Brother, we done deeds of charity;
      Made peace enmity, fair love of hate,
      Between these swelling wrong-incensed peers.
GLOUCESTER
      A blessed labour, my most sovereign liege:
      Amongst this princely heap, if any here,
55    By false intelligence, or wrong surmise,
      Hold me a foe;
      If I unwittingly, or in my rage,
      Have aught committed that is hardly borne
      By any in this presence, I desire
60    To reconcile me to his friendly peace:
      'Tis death to me to be at enmity;
      I hate it, and desire all good men's love.
      First, madam, I entreat true peace of you,
      Which I will purchase with my duteous service;
65    Of you, my noble cousin Buckingham,
      If ever any grudge were lodged between us;
      Of you, Lord Rivers, and, Lord Grey, of you;
      That without desert have frown'd on me;
      Dukes, earls, lords, gentlemen; indeed, of all.
70    I do not know that Englishman alive
      With whom my soul is any jot at odds
      More than the infant that is born to-night
      I thank my God for my humility.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
      A holy day shall this be kept hereafter:
75    I would to God all strifes were well compounded.
      My sovereign liege, I do beseech your majesty
      To take our brother Clarence to your grace.
GLOUCESTER
      Why, madam, have I offer'd love for this
      To be so bouted in this royal presence?
80    Who knows not that the noble duke is dead?

They all start

      You do him injury to scorn his corse.
RIVERS
      Who knows not he is dead! who knows he is?
QUEEN ELIZABETH
      All seeing heaven, what a world is this!
BUCKINGHAM
      Look I so pale, Lord Dorset, as the rest?
DORSET
85    Ay, my good lord; and no one in this presence
      But his red colour hath forsook his cheeks.
KING EDWARD IV
      Is Clarence dead? the order was reversed.
GLOUCESTER
      But he, poor soul, by your first order died,
      And that a winged Mercury did bear:
90    Some tardy cripple bore the countermand,
      That came too lag to see him buried.
      God grant that some, less noble and less loyal,
      Nearer in bloody thoughts, but not in blood,
      Deserve not worse than wretched Clarence did,
95    And yet go current from suspicion!
Enter DERBY
DORSET
      A boon, my sovereign, for my service done!
KING EDWARD IV
      I pray thee, peace: my soul is full of sorrow.
DORSET
      I will not rise, unless your highness grant.
KING EDWARD IV
      Then speak at once what is it thou demand'st.
DORSET
100   The forfeit, sovereign, of my servant's life;
      Who slew to-day a righteous gentleman
      Lately attendant on the Duke of Norfolk.
KING EDWARD IV
      Have a tongue to doom my brother's death,
      And shall the same give pardon to a slave?
105   My brother slew no man; his fault was thought,
      And yet his punishment was cruel death.
      Who sued to me for him? who, in my rage,
      Kneel'd at my feet, and bade me be advised
      Who spake of brotherhood? who spake of love?
110   Who told me how the poor soul did forsake
      The mighty Warwick, and did fight for me?
      Who told me, in the field by Tewksbury
      When Oxford had me down, he rescued me,
      And said, 'Dear brother, live, and be a king'?
115   Who told me, when we both lay in the field
      Frozen almost to death, how he did lap me
      Even in his own garments, and gave himself,
      All thin and naked, to the numb cold night?
      All this from my remembrance brutish wrath
120   Sinfully pluck'd, and not a man of you
      Had so much grace to put it in my mind.
      But when your carters or your waiting-vassals
      Have done a drunken slaughter, and defaced
      The precious image of our dear Redeemer,
125   You straight are on your knees for pardon, pardon;
      And I unjustly too, must grant it you
      But for my brother not a man would speak,
      Nor I, ungracious, speak unto myself
      For him, poor soul. The proudest of you all
130   Have been beholding to him in his life;
      Yet none of you would once plead for his life.
      O God, I fear thy justice will take hold
      On me, and you, and mine, and yours for this!
      Come, Hastings, help me to my closet.
135   Oh, poor Clarence!
Exeunt some with KING EDWARD IV and QUEEN MARGARET
GLOUCESTER
      This is the fruit of rashness! Mark'd you not
      How that the guilty kindred of the queen
      Look'd pale when they did hear of Clarence' death?
      O, they did urge it still unto the king!
140   God will revenge it. But come, let us in,
      To comfort Edward with our company.
BUCKINGHAM
      We wait upon your grace.
Exeunt
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