| ACT III SCENE IV | The Tower of London. | |
| | Enter BUCKINGHAM, DERBY, HASTINGS, the BISHOP OFELY, RATCLIFF, LOVEL, with others, and take their seats at a table. | |
| HASTINGS | My lords, at once: the cause why we are met | |
| | Is, to determine of the coronation. | |
| | In God's name, speak: when is the royal day? | |
| BUCKINGHAM | Are all things fitting for that royal time? |
| DERBY | It is, and wants but nomination. | | 5 |
| BISHOP OF ELY | To-morrow, then, I judge a happy day. | |
| BUCKINGHAM | Who knows the lord protector's mind herein? | |
| | Who is most inward with the royal duke? | |
| BISHOP OF ELY | Your grace, we think, should soonest know his mind. |
| BUCKINGHAM | Who, I, my lord I we know each other's faces, | | 10 |
| | But for our hearts, he knows no more of mine, | |
| | Than I of yours; | |
| | Nor I no more of his, than you of mine. | |
| | Lord Hastings, you and he are near in love. |
| HASTINGS | I thank his grace, I know he loves me well; | | 15 |
| | But, for his purpose in the coronation. | |
| | I have not sounded him, nor he deliver'd | |
| | His gracious pleasure any way therein: | |
| | But you, my noble lords, may name the time; |
| | And in the duke's behalf I'll give my voice, | | 20 |
| | Which, I presume, he'll take in gentle part. | |
| | Enter GLOUCESTER | |
| BISHOP OF ELY | Now in good time, here comes the duke himself. | |
| GLOUCESTER | My noble lords and cousins all, good morrow. | |
| | I have been long a sleeper; but, I hope, |
| | My absence doth neglect no great designs, | | 25 |
| | Which by my presence might have been concluded. | |
| BUCKINGHAM | Had not you come upon your cue, my lord | |
| | William Lord Hastings had pronounced your part,-- | |
| | I mean, your voice,--for crowning of the king. |
| GLOUCESTER | Than my Lord Hastings no man might be bolder; | | 30 |
| | His lordship knows me well, and loves me well. | |
| HASTINGS | I thank your grace. | |
| GLOUCESTER | My lord of Ely! | |
| BISHOP OF ELY | My lord? |
| GLOUCESTER | When I was last in Holborn, | | 35 |
| | I saw good strawberries in your garden there | |
| | I do beseech you send for some of them. | |
| BISHOP OF ELY | Marry, and will, my lord, with all my heart. | |
| | Exit | |
| GLOUCESTER | Cousin of Buckingham, a word with you. |
| | Drawing him aside. | | 40 |
| |
Catesby hath sounded Hastings in our business, | |
| | And finds the testy gentleman so hot, | |
| | As he will lose his head ere give consent | |
| | His master's son, as worshipful as he terms it, | |
| | Shall lose the royalty of England's throne. |
| BUCKINGHAM | Withdraw you hence, my lord, I'll follow you. | | 45 |
| | Exit GLOUCESTER, BUCKINGHAM following. | |
| DERBY | We have not yet set down this day of triumph. | |
| | To-morrow, in mine opinion, is too sudden; | |
| | For I myself am not so well provided | |
| | As else I would be, were the day prolong'd. |
| | Re-enter BISHOP OF ELY | |
| BISHOP OF ELY | Where is my lord protector? I have sent for these | | 50 |
| | strawberries. | |
| HASTINGS | His grace looks cheerfully and smooth to-day; | |
| | There's some conceit or other likes him well, | |
| | When he doth bid good morrow with such a spirit. |
| | I think there's never a man in Christendom | | 55 |
| | That can less hide his love or hate than he; | |
| | For by his face straight shall you know his heart. | |
| DERBY | What of his heart perceive you in his face | |
| | By any likelihood he show'd to-day? |
| HASTINGS | Marry, that with no man here he is offended; | | 60 |
| | For, were he, he had shown it in his looks. | |
| DERBY | I pray God he be not, I say. | |
| | Re-enter GLOUCESTER and BUCKINGHAM. | |
| GLOUCESTER | I pray you all, tell me what they deserve | |
| | That do conspire my death with devilish plots |
| | Of damned witchcraft, and that have prevail'd | | 65 |
| | Upon my body with their hellish charms? | |
| HASTINGS | The tender love I bear your grace, my lord, | |
| | Makes me most forward in this noble presence | |
| | To doom the offenders, whatsoever they be |
| | I say, my lord, they have deserved death. | | 70 |
| GLOUCESTER | Then be your eyes the witness of this ill: | |
| | See how I am bewitch'd; behold mine arm | |
| | Is, like a blasted sapling, wither'd up: | |
| | And this is Edward's wife, that monstrous witch, |
| | Consorted with that harlot strumpet Shore, | | 75 |
| | That by their witchcraft thus have marked me. | |
| HASTINGS | If they have done this thing, my gracious lord-- | |
| GLOUCESTER | If I thou protector of this damned strumpet-- | |
| | Tellest thou me of 'ifs'? Thou art a traitor: |
| | Off with his head! Now, by Saint Paul I swear, | | 80 |
| | I will not dine until I see the same. | |
| | Lovel and Ratcliff, look that it be done: | |
| | The rest, that love me, rise and follow me. | |
| | Exeunt all but HASTINGS, RATCLIFF, and LOVEL. | |
| HASTINGS | Woe, woe for England! not a whit for me; |
| | For I, too fond, might have prevented this. | | 85 |
| | Stanley did dream the boar did raze his helm; | |
| | But I disdain'd it, and did scorn to fly: | |
| | Three times to-day my foot-cloth horse did stumble, | |
| | And startled, when he look'd upon the Tower, |
| | As loath to bear me to the slaughter-house. | | 90 |
| | O, now I want the priest that spake to me: | |
| | I now repent I told the pursuivant | |
| | As 'twere triumphing at mine enemies, | |
| | How they at Pomfret bloodily were butcher'd, |
| | And I myself secure in grace and favour. | | 95 |
| | O Margaret, Margaret, now thy heavy curse | |
| | Is lighted on poor Hastings' wretched head! | |
| RATCLIFF | Dispatch, my lord; the duke would be at dinner: | |
| | Make a short shrift; he longs to see your head. |
| HASTINGS | O momentary grace of mortal men, | | 100 |
| | Which we more hunt for than the grace of God! | |
| | Who builds his hopes in air of your good looks, | |
| | Lives like a drunken sailor on a mast, | |
| | Ready, with every nod, to tumble down |
| | Into the fatal bowels of the deep. | | 105 |
| LOVEL | Come, come, dispatch; 'tis bootless to exclaim. | |
| HASTINGS | O bloody Richard! miserable England! | |
| | I prophesy the fearful'st time to thee | |
| | That ever wretched age hath look'd upon. |
| | Come, lead me to the block; bear him my head. | | 110 |
| | They smile at me that shortly shall be dead. | |
| | Exeunt | |
Abbreviations. — A.-S. = Anglo-Saxon: M.E. = Middle
English (from the 13th to the 15th century) ; Fr. = French ;
Ger. = German ; Gr. = Greek ; Cf. = compare (Lat. confer) ;
Abbott refers to the excellent Shakespearean Grammar of Dr.
Abbott; Schmidt, to Dr. Schmidt's invaluable Shakespeare Lexicon.
____
2. Determine of = decide about.
5. Wants. This is more probably intransitive than impersonal; = is wanting.
8. Inward, intimate.
25. Neglect, cause to be neglected.
27. Upon your cue. The last few words of a speech, by
which an actor knows when his part is coming, are called
his cue. Fr. queue, a tail.
33. The Bishop of Ely was John Morton, afterwards
Archbishop of Canterbury. Sir Thomas More, in early life,
was a member of his household, and no doubt learned from
his lips many of the incidents told in his Life of Richard III.
37. Marry and will = and so I will.
45. Prolong'd, put off.
59. Likelihood, sign from which any inference could be
drawn.
60. Marry = indeed, to be sure. This exclamation is derived from the name of the Virgin Mary.
75. Consorted, allied, associated.
85. Fond, foolish.
87. My foot-cloth horse = my horse with its housings or
trappings. The foot-cloth was the name given to such trappings, or caparison, of a horse as hung down near the
ground and were used only by the nobility.
93. Triumphing = triumphant.
99. Shrift, last confession.
100. Momentary grace, favor lasting but for a moment.
102. Cf. our phrase to build castles in the air.
