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 Feedback			Search: All the plays Hamlet Coriolanus Julius Caesar King Lear Macbeth Othello Romeo and Juliet Richard II Richard III Titus Andronicus Antony and Cleopatra Timon of Athens Henry IV Part 1 Henry IV Part 2 Henry the Fifth Henry VI Part 1 Henry VI Part 2 Henry VI Part 3 Henry VIII King John Pericles Troilus and Cressida All's Well... As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Cymbeline A Midsummer... Love's Labour's Lost Measure for Measure The Merry Wives... Much Ado about Nothing The Merchant of Venice Twelfth Night The Taming of... The Tempest The Two Gentlemen... The Winter's Tale    for: SCENE III. London. A street. Enter two Citizens meeting First Citizen       Neighbour, well met: whither away so fast? Second Citizen       I promise you, I scarcely know myself:       Hear you the news abroad? First Citizen       Ay, that the king is dead. Second Citizen 5     Bad news, by'r lady; seldom comes the better:       I fear, I fear 'twill prove a troublous world. Enter another Citizen Third Citizen       Neighbours, God speed! First Citizen       Give you good morrow, sir. Third Citizen       Doth this news hold of good King Edward's death? Second Citizen 10    Ay, sir, it is too true; God help the while! Third Citizen       Then, masters, look to see a troublous world. First Citizen       No, no; by God's good grace his son shall reign. Third Citizen       Woe to the land that's govern'd by a child! Second Citizen       In him there is a hope of government, 15    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. First Citizen       So stood the state when Henry the Sixth       Was crown'd in Paris but at nine months old. Third Citizen 20    Stood the state so? No, no, good friends, God wot;       For then this land was famously enrich'd       With politic grave counsel; then the king       Had virtuous uncles to protect his grace. First Citizen       Why, so hath this, both by the father and mother. Third Citizen 25    Better it were they all came by the father,       Or by the 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 Gloucester! 30    And the queen's sons and brothers haught and proud:       And were they to be ruled, and not to rule,       This sickly land might solace as before. First Citizen       Come, come, we fear the worst; all shall be well. Third Citizen       When clouds appear, wise men put on their cloaks; 35    When great leaves fall, the winter is at hand;       When the sun sets, who doth not look for night?       Untimely storms make men expect a dearth.       All may be well; but, if God sort it so,       'Tis more than we deserve, or I expect. Second Citizen 40    Truly, the souls of men are full of dread:       Ye cannot reason almost with a man       That looks not heavily and full of fear. Third Citizen       Before the times of change, still is it so:       By a divine instinct men's minds mistrust 45    Ensuing dangers; as by proof, we see       The waters swell before a boisterous storm.       But leave it all to God. whither away? Second Citizen       Marry, we were sent for to the justices. Third Citizen       And so was I: I'll bear you company. Exeunt Return to top of page ... or ... Go to next scene