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.