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| SCENE IV. Before the palace. |
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Enter QUEEN MARGARET
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| QUEEN MARGARET |
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So, now prosperity begins to mellow
And drop into the rotten mouth of death.
Here in these confines slily have I lurk'd,
To watch the waning of mine adversaries.
5 A dire induction am I witness to,
And will to France, hoping the consequence
Will prove as bitter, black, and tragical.
Withdraw thee, wretched Margaret: who comes here?
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Enter QUEEN ELIZABETH and the DUCHESS OF YORK
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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Ah, my young princes! ah, my tender babes!
10 My unblown flowers, new-appearing sweets!
If yet your gentle souls fly in the air
And be not fix'd in doom perpetual,
Hover about me with your airy wings
And hear your mother's lamentation!
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| QUEEN MARGARET |
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15 Hover about her; say, that right for right
Hath dimm'd your infant morn to aged night.
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| DUCHESS OF YORK |
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So many miseries have crazed my voice,
That my woe-wearied tongue is mute and dumb,
Edward Plantagenet, why art thou dead?
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| QUEEN MARGARET |
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20 Plantagenet doth quit Plantagenet.
Edward for Edward pays a dying debt.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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Wilt thou, O God, fly from such gentle lambs,
And throw them in the entrails of the wolf?
When didst thou sleep when such a deed was done?
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| QUEEN MARGARET |
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25 When holy Harry died, and my sweet son.
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| DUCHESS OF YORK |
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Blind sight, dead life, poor mortal living ghost,
Woe's scene, world's shame, grave's due by life usurp'd,
Brief abstract and record of tedious days,
Rest thy unrest on England's lawful earth,
Sitting down
30 Unlawfully made drunk with innocents' blood!
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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O, that thou wouldst as well afford a grave
As thou canst yield a melancholy seat!
Then would I hide my bones, not rest them here.
O, who hath any cause to mourn but I?
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Sitting down by her
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| QUEEN MARGARET |
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35 If ancient sorrow be most reverend,
Give mine the benefit of seniory,
And let my woes frown on the upper hand.
If sorrow can admit society,
Sitting down with them
Tell o'er your woes again by viewing mine:
40 I had an Edward, till a Richard kill'd him;
I had a Harry, till a Richard kill'd him:
Thou hadst an Edward, till a Richard kill'd him;
Thou hadst a Richard, till a Richard killed him;
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| DUCHESS OF YORK |
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I had a Richard too, and thou didst kill him;
45 I had a Rutland too, thou holp'st to kill him.
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| QUEEN MARGARET |
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Thou hadst a Clarence too, and Richard kill'd him.
From forth the kennel of thy womb hath crept
A hell-hound that doth hunt us all to death:
That dog, that had his teeth before his eyes,
50 To worry lambs and lap their gentle blood,
That foul defacer of God's handiwork,
That excellent grand tyrant of the earth,
That reigns in galled eyes of weeping souls,
Thy womb let loose, to chase us to our graves.
55 O upright, just, and true-disposing God,
How do I thank thee, that this carnal cur
Preys on the issue of his mother's body,
And makes her pew-fellow with others' moan!
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| DUCHESS OF YORK |
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O Harry's wife, triumph not in my woes!
60 God witness with me, I have wept for thine.
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| QUEEN MARGARET |
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Bear with me; I am hungry for revenge,
And now I cloy me with beholding it.
Thy Edward he is dead, that stabb'd my Edward:
Thy other Edward dead, to quit my Edward;
65 Young York he is but boot, because both they
Match not the high perfection of my loss:
Thy Clarence he is dead that kill'd my Edward;
And the beholders of this tragic play,
The adulterate Hastings, Rivers, Vaughan, Grey,
70 Untimely smother'd in their dusky graves.
Richard yet lives, hell's black intelligencer,
Only reserved their factor, to buy souls
And send them thither: but at hand, at hand,
Ensues his piteous and unpitied end:
75 Earth gapes, hell burns, fiends roar, saints pray.
To have him suddenly convey'd away.
Cancel his bond of life, dear God, I prey,
That I may live to say, The dog is dead!
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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O, thou didst prophesy the time would come
80 That I should wish for thee to help me curse
That bottled spider, that foul bunch-back'd toad!
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| QUEEN MARGARET |
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I call'd thee then vain flourish of my fortune;
I call'd thee then poor shadow, painted queen;
The presentation of but what I was;
85 The flattering index of a direful pageant;
One heaved a-high, to be hurl'd down below;
A mother only mock'd with two sweet babes;
A dream of what thou wert, a breath, a bubble,
A sign of dignity, a garish flag,
90 To be the aim of every dangerous shot,
A queen in jest, only to fill the scene.
Where is thy husband now? where be thy brothers?
Where are thy children? wherein dost thou, joy?
Who sues to thee and cries 'God save the queen'?
95 Where be the bending peers that flatter'd thee?
Where be the thronging troops that follow'd thee?
Decline all this, and see what now thou art:
For happy wife, a most distressed widow;
For joyful mother, one that wails the name;
100 For queen, a very caitiff crown'd with care;
For one being sued to, one that humbly sues;
For one that scorn'd at me, now scorn'd of me;
For one being fear'd of all, now fearing one;
For one commanding all, obey'd of none.
105 Thus hath the course of justice wheel'd about,
And left thee but a very prey to time;
Having no more but thought of what thou wert,
To torture thee the more, being what thou art.
Thou didst usurp my place, and dost thou not
110 Usurp the just proportion of my sorrow?
Now thy proud neck bears half my burthen'd yoke;
From which even here I slip my weary neck,
And leave the burthen of it all on thee.
Farewell, York's wife, and queen of sad mischance:
115 These English woes will make me smile in France.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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O thou well skill'd in curses, stay awhile,
And teach me how to curse mine enemies!
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| QUEEN MARGARET |
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Forbear to sleep the nights, and fast the days;
Compare dead happiness with living woe;
120 Think that thy babes were fairer than they were,
And he that slew them fouler than he is:
Bettering thy loss makes the bad causer worse:
Revolving this will teach thee how to curse.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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My words are dull; O, quicken them with thine!
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| QUEEN MARGARET |
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125 Thy woes will make them sharp, and pierce like mine.
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Exit
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| DUCHESS OF YORK |
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Why should calamity be full of words?
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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Windy attorneys to their client woes,
Airy succeeders of intestate joys,
Poor breathing orators of miseries!
130 Let them have scope: though what they do impart
Help not all, yet do they ease the heart.
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| DUCHESS OF YORK |
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If so, then be not tongue-tied: go with me.
And in the breath of bitter words let's smother
My damned son, which thy two sweet sons smother'd.
135 I hear his drum: be copious in exclaims.
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Enter KING RICHARD III, marching, with drums and trumpets
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Who intercepts my expedition?
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| DUCHESS OF YORK |
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O, she that might have intercepted thee,
By strangling thee in her accursed womb
From all the slaughters, wretch, that thou hast done!
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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140 Hidest thou that forehead with a golden crown,
Where should be graven, if that right were right,
The slaughter of the prince that owed that crown,
And the dire death of my two sons and brothers?
Tell me, thou villain slave, where are my children?
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| DUCHESS OF YORK |
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145 Thou toad, thou toad, where is thy brother Clarence?
And little Ned Plantagenet, his son?
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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Where is kind Hastings, Rivers, Vaughan, Grey?
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| KING RICHARD III |
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A flourish, trumpets! strike alarum, drums!
Let not the heavens hear these tell-tale women
150 Rail on the Lord's enointed: strike, I say!
Flourish. Alarums
Either be patient, and entreat me fair,
Or with the clamorous report of war
Thus will I drown your exclamations.
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| DUCHESS OF YORK |
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Art thou my son?
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| KING RICHARD III |
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155 Ay, I thank God, my father, and yourself.
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| DUCHESS OF YORK |
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Then patiently hear my impatience.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Madam, I have a touch of your condition,
Which cannot brook the accent of reproof.
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| DUCHESS OF YORK |
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O, let me speak!
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| KING RICHARD III |
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160 Do then: but I'll not hear.
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| DUCHESS OF YORK |
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I will be mild and gentle in my speech.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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And brief, good mother; for I am in haste.
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| DUCHESS OF YORK |
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Art thou so hasty? I have stay'd for thee,
God knows, in anguish, pain and agony.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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165 And came I not at last to comfort you?
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| DUCHESS OF YORK |
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No, by the holy rood, thou know'st it well,
Thou camest on earth to make the earth my hell.
A grievous burthen was thy birth to me;
Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy;
170 Thy school-days frightful, desperate, wild, and furious,
Thy prime of manhood daring, bold, and venturous,
Thy age confirm'd, proud, subdued, bloody,
treacherous,
More mild, but yet more harmful, kind in hatred:
175 What comfortable hour canst thou name,
That ever graced me in thy company?
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Faith, none, but Humphrey Hour, that call'd
your grace
To breakfast once forth of my company.
180 If I be so disgracious in your sight,
Let me march on, and not offend your grace.
Strike the drum.
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| DUCHESS OF YORK |
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I prithee, hear me speak.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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You speak too bitterly.
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| DUCHESS OF YORK |
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185 Hear me a word;
For I shall never speak to thee again.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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So.
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| DUCHESS OF YORK |
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Either thou wilt die, by God's just ordinance,
Ere from this war thou turn a conqueror,
190 Or I with grief and extreme age shall perish
And never look upon thy face again.
Therefore take with thee my most heavy curse;
Which, in the day of battle, tire thee more
Than all the complete armour that thou wear'st!
195 My prayers on the adverse party fight;
And there the little souls of Edward's children
Whisper the spirits of thine enemies
And promise them success and victory.
Bloody thou art, bloody will be thy end;
200 Shame serves thy life and doth thy death attend.
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Exit
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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Though far more cause, yet much less spirit to curse
Abides in me; I say amen to all.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Stay, madam; I must speak a word with you.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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I have no more sons of the royal blood
205 For thee to murder: for my daughters, Richard,
They shall be praying nuns, not weeping queens;
And therefore level not to hit their lives.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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You have a daughter call'd Elizabeth,
Virtuous and fair, royal and gracious.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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210 And must she die for this? O, let her live,
And I'll corrupt her manners, stain her beauty;
Slander myself as false to Edward's bed;
Throw over her the veil of infamy:
So she may live unscarr'd of bleeding slaughter,
215 I will confess she was not Edward's daughter.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Wrong not her birth, she is of royal blood.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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To save her life, I'll say she is not so.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Her life is only safest in her birth.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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And only in that safety died her brothers.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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220 Lo, at their births good stars were opposite.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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No, to their lives bad friends were contrary.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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All unavoided is the doom of destiny.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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True, when avoided grace makes destiny:
My babes were destined to a fairer death,
225 If grace had bless'd thee with a fairer life.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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You speak as if that I had slain my cousins.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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Cousins, indeed; and by their uncle cozen'd
Of comfort, kingdom, kindred, freedom, life.
Whose hand soever lanced their tender hearts,
230 Thy head, all indirectly, gave direction:
No doubt the murderous knife was dull and blunt
Till it was whetted on thy stone-hard heart,
To revel in the entrails of my lambs.
But that still use of grief makes wild grief tame,
235 My tongue should to thy ears not name my boys
Till that my nails were anchor'd in thine eyes;
And I, in such a desperate bay of death,
Like a poor bark, of sails and tackling reft,
Rush all to pieces on thy rocky bosom.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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240 Madam, so thrive I in my enterprise
And dangerous success of bloody wars,
As I intend more good to you and yours,
Than ever you or yours were by me wrong'd!
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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What good is cover'd with the face of heaven,
245 To be discover'd, that can do me good?
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| KING RICHARD III |
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The advancement of your children, gentle lady.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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Up to some scaffold, there to lose their heads?
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| KING RICHARD III |
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No, to the dignity and height of honour
The high imperial type of this earth's glory.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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250 Flatter my sorrows with report of it;
Tell me what state, what dignity, what honour,
Canst thou demise to any child of mine?
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Even all I have; yea, and myself and all,
Will I withal endow a child of thine;
255 So in the Lethe of thy angry soul
Thou drown the sad remembrance of those wrongs
Which thou supposest I have done to thee.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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Be brief, lest that be process of thy kindness
Last longer telling than thy kindness' date.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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260 Then know, that from my soul I love thy daughter.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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My daughter's mother thinks it with her soul.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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What do you think?
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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That thou dost love my daughter from thy soul:
So from thy soul's love didst thou love her brothers;
265 And from my heart's love I do thank thee for it.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Be not so hasty to confound my meaning:
I mean, that with my soul I love thy daughter,
And mean to make her queen of England.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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Say then, who dost thou mean shall be her king?
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| KING RICHARD III |
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270 Even he that makes her queen who should be else?
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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What, thou?
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| KING RICHARD III |
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I, even I: what think you of it, madam?
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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How canst thou woo her?
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| KING RICHARD III |
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That would I learn of you,
275 As one that are best acquainted with her humour.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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And wilt thou learn of me?
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Madam, with all my heart.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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Send to her, by the man that slew her brothers,
A pair of bleeding-hearts; thereon engrave
280 Edward and York; then haply she will weep:
Therefore present to her--as sometime Margaret
Did to thy father, steep'd in Rutland's blood,--
A handkerchief; which, say to her, did drain
The purple sap from her sweet brother's body
285 And bid her dry her weeping eyes therewith.
If this inducement force her not to love,
Send her a story of thy noble acts;
Tell her thou madest away her uncle Clarence,
Her uncle Rivers; yea, and, for her sake,
290 Madest quick conveyance with her good aunt Anne.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Come, come, you mock me; this is not the way
To win our daughter.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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There is no other way
Unless thou couldst put on some other shape,
295 And not be Richard that hath done all this.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Say that I did all this for love of her.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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Nay, then indeed she cannot choose but hate thee,
Having bought love with such a bloody spoil.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Look, what is done cannot be now amended:
300 Men shall deal unadvisedly sometimes,
Which after hours give leisure to repent.
If I did take the kingdom from your sons,
To make amends, Ill give it to your daughter.
If I have kill'd the issue of your womb,
305 To quicken your increase, I will beget
Mine issue of your blood upon your daughter
A grandam's name is little less in love
Than is the doting title of a mother;
They are as children but one step below,
310 Even of your mettle, of your very blood;
Of an one pain, save for a night of groans
Endured of her, for whom you bid like sorrow.
Your children were vexation to your youth,
But mine shall be a comfort to your age.
315 The loss you have is but a son being king,
And by that loss your daughter is made queen.
I cannot make you what amends I would,
Therefore accept such kindness as I can.
Dorset your son, that with a fearful soul
320 Leads discontented steps in foreign soil,
This fair alliance quickly shall call home
To high promotions and great dignity:
The king, that calls your beauteous daughter wife.
Familiarly shall call thy Dorset brother;
325 Again shall you be mother to a king,
And all the ruins of distressful times
Repair'd with double riches of content.
What! we have many goodly days to see:
The liquid drops of tears that you have shed
330 Shall come again, transform'd to orient pearl,
Advantaging their loan with interest
Of ten times double gain of happiness.
Go, then my mother, to thy daughter go
Make bold her bashful years with your experience;
335 Prepare her ears to hear a wooer's tale
Put in her tender heart the aspiring flame
Of golden sovereignty; acquaint the princess
With the sweet silent hours of marriage joys
And when this arm of mine hath chastised
340 The petty rebel, dull-brain'd Buckingham,
Bound with triumphant garlands will I come
And lead thy daughter to a conqueror's bed;
To whom I will retail my conquest won,
And she shall be sole victress, Caesar's Caesar.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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345 What were I best to say? her father's brother
Would be her lord? or shall I say, her uncle?
Or, he that slew her brothers and her uncles?
Under what title shall I woo for thee,
That God, the law, my honour and her love,
350 Can make seem pleasing to her tender years?
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Infer fair England's peace by this alliance.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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Which she shall purchase with still lasting war.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Say that the king, which may command, entreats.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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That at her hands which the king's King forbids.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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355 Say, she shall be a high and mighty queen.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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To wail the tide, as her mother doth.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Say, I will love her everlastingly.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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But how long shall that title 'ever' last?
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Sweetly in force unto her fair life's end.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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360 But how long fairly shall her sweet lie last?
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| KING RICHARD III |
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So long as heaven and nature lengthens it.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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So long as hell and Richard likes of it.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Say, I, her sovereign, am her subject love.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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But she, your subject, loathes such sovereignty.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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365 Be eloquent in my behalf to her.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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An honest tale speeds best being plainly told.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Then in plain terms tell her my loving tale.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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Plain and not honest is too harsh a style.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Your reasons are too shallow and too quick.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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370 O no, my reasons are too deep and dead;
Too deep and dead, poor infants, in their grave.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Harp not on that string, madam; that is past.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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Harp on it still shall I till heart-strings break.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Now, by my George, my garter, and my crown,--
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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375 Profaned, dishonour'd, and the third usurp'd.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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I swear--
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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By nothing; for this is no oath:
The George, profaned, hath lost his holy honour;
The garter, blemish'd, pawn'd his knightly virtue;
380 The crown, usurp'd, disgraced his kingly glory.
if something thou wilt swear to be believed,
Swear then by something that thou hast not wrong'd.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Now, by the world--
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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'Tis full of thy foul wrongs.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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385 My father's death--
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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Thy life hath that dishonour'd.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Then, by myself--
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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Thyself thyself misusest.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Why then, by God--
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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390 God's wrong is most of all.
If thou hadst fear'd to break an oath by Him,
The unity the king thy brother made
Had not been broken, nor my brother slain:
If thou hadst fear'd to break an oath by Him,
395 The imperial metal, circling now thy brow,
Had graced the tender temples of my child,
And both the princes had been breathing here,
Which now, two tender playfellows to dust,
Thy broken faith hath made a prey for worms.
400 What canst thou swear by now?
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| KING RICHARD III |
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The time to come.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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That thou hast wronged in the time o'erpast;
For I myself have many tears to wash
Hereafter time, for time past wrong'd by thee.
405 The children live, whose parents thou hast
slaughter'd,
Ungovern'd youth, to wail it in their age;
The parents live, whose children thou hast butcher'd,
Old wither'd plants, to wail it with their age.
410 Swear not by time to come; for that thou hast
Misused ere used, by time misused o'erpast.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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As I intend to prosper and repent,
So thrive I in my dangerous attempt
Of hostile arms! myself myself confound!
415 Heaven and fortune bar me happy hours!
Day, yield me not thy light; nor, night, thy rest!
Be opposite all planets of good luck
To my proceedings, if, with pure heart's love,
Immaculate devotion, holy thoughts,
420 I tender not thy beauteous princely daughter!
In her consists my happiness and thine;
Without her, follows to this land and me,
To thee, herself, and many a Christian soul,
Death, desolation, ruin and decay:
425 It cannot be avoided but by this;
It will not be avoided but by this.
Therefore, good mother,--I must can you so--
Be the attorney of my love to her:
Plead what I will be, not what I have been;
430 Not my deserts, but what I will deserve:
Urge the necessity and state of times,
And be not peevish-fond in great designs.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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Shall I be tempted of the devil thus?
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Ay, if the devil tempt thee to do good.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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435 Shall I forget myself to be myself?
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| KING RICHARD III |
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Ay, if yourself's remembrance wrong yourself.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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But thou didst kill my children.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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But in your daughter's womb I bury them:
Where in that nest of spicery they shall breed
440 Selves of themselves, to your recomforture.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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Shall I go win my daughter to thy will?
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| KING RICHARD III |
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And be a happy mother by the deed.
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| QUEEN ELIZABETH |
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I go. Write to me very shortly.
And you shall understand from me her mind.
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| KING RICHARD III |
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445 Bear her my true love's kiss; and so, farewell.
Exit QUEEN ELIZABETH
Relenting fool, and shallow, changing woman!
Enter RATCLIFF; CATESBY following
How now! what news?
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