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Richard III: Act IV, Scene 2

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Richard III
Act IV, Scene 2

London. The palace.

King Richard III

King Richard III

E. Goodwyn Lewis, 1863

  1. Sound a sennet. Enter Richard in pomp,
  2. crowned; Buckingham, Catesby, Ratcliffe,
  3. Lovel, a Page, and others.

King Richard III

1
  1. Stand all apart. Cousin of Buckingham—

Duke of Buckingham

2
  1. My gracious sovereign?

King Richard III

3 - 7
  1. Give me thy hand.
  2. Here he ascendeth the throne. Sound.
  3.                   Thus high, by thy advice
  4. And thy assistance, is King Richard seated;
  5. But shall we wear these glories for a day?
  6. Or shall they last, and we rejoice in them?

Duke of Buckingham

8
  1. Still live they, and forever let them last!

King Richard III

9 - 11
  1. Ah, Buckingham, now do I play the touch,
  2. To try if thou be current gold indeed.
  3. Young Edward lives: think now what I would speak.

Duke of Buckingham

12
  1. Say on, my loving lord.

King Richard III

13
  1. Why, Buckingham, I say I would be king.

Duke of Buckingham

14
  1. Why, so you are, my thrice-renowned lord.

King Richard III

15
  1. Ha? Am I king? ’Tis so—but Edward lives.

Duke of Buckingham

16
  1. True, noble prince.

King Richard III

17 - 22
  1.                     O bitter consequence,
  2. That Edward still should live true noble prince!
  3. Cousin, thou wast not wont to be so dull.
  4. Shall I be plain? I wish the bastards dead,
  5. And I would have it suddenly perform’d.
  6. What say’st thou now? Speak suddenly, be brief.

Duke of Buckingham

23
  1. Your Grace may do your pleasure.

King Richard III

24 - 25
  1. Tut, tut, thou art all ice, thy kindness freezes.
  2. Say, have I thy consent that they shall die?

Duke of Buckingham

26 - 28
  1. Give me some little breath, some pause, dear lord,
  2. Before I positively speak in this.
  3. I will resolve you herein presently.
  1. Exit Buckingham.

Catesby

29
  1. Aside to a stander-by.
  2. The King is angry, see, he gnaws his lip.

King Richard III

30 - 34
  1. I will converse with iron-witted fools
  2. And unrespective boys; none are for me
  3. That look into me with considerate eyes.
  4. High-reaching Buckingham grows circumspect.
  5. Boy!

Page

35
  1. My lord?

King Richard III

36 - 37
  1. Know’st thou not any whom corrupting gold
  2. Will tempt unto a close exploit of death?

Page

38 - 41
  1. I know a discontented gentleman
  2. Whose humble means match not his haughty spirit.
  3. Gold were as good as twenty orators,
  4. And will, no doubt, tempt him to any thing.

King Richard III

42
  1. What is his name?

Page

43
  1.                   His name, my lord, is Tyrrel.

King Richard III

44 - 49
  1. I partly know the man; go call him hither, boy.
  2. Exit Page.
  3. The deep-revolving witty Buckingham
  4. No more shall be the neighbor to my counsels.
  5. Hath he so long held out with me untir’d,
  6. And stops he now for breath? Well, be it so.
  7. Enter Stanley.
  8. How now, Lord Stanley, what’s the news?

Byam Shaw, 1901

Stanley

50 - 52
  1. Know, my loving lord,
  2. The Marquess Dorset, as I hear, is fled
  3. To Richmond, in the parts where he abides.
  1. Stands apart.

King Richard III

53 - 69
  1. Come hither, Catesby. Rumor it abroad
  2. That Anne, my wife, is very grievous sick;
  3. I will take order for her keeping close.
  4. Inquire me out some mean poor gentleman,
  5. Whom I will marry straight to Clarence’ daughter;
  6. The boy is foolish, and I fear not him.
  7. Look how thou dream’st! I say again, give out
  8. That Anne, my queen, is sick and like to die.
  9. About it, for it stands me much upon
  10. To stop all hopes whose growth may damage me.
  11. Exit Catesby.
  12. I must be married to my brother’s daughter,
  13. Or else my kingdom stands on brittle glass.
  14. Murder her brothers and then marry her—
  15. Uncertain way of gain! But I am in
  16. So far in blood that sin will pluck on sin.
  17. Tear-falling pity dwells not in this eye.
  18. Enter Page with Sir James Tyrrel.
  19. Is thy name Tyrrel?

Tyrrel

70
  1. James Tyrrel, and your most obedient subject.

King Richard III

71
  1. Art thou indeed?

Tyrrel

72
  1.                  Prove me, my gracious lord.

King Richard III

73
  1. Dar’st thou resolve to kill a friend of mine?

Tyrrel

74 - 75
  1. Please you;
  2. But I had rather kill two enemies.

King Richard III

76 - 79
  1. Why, there thou hast it; two deep enemies,
  2. Foes to my rest and my sweet sleep’s disturbers,
  3. Are they that I would have thee deal upon:
  4. Tyrrel, I mean those bastards in the Tower.

Tyrrel

80 - 81
  1. Let me have open means to come to them,
  2. And soon I’ll rid you from the fear of them.

King Richard III

82 - 85
  1. Thou sing’st sweet music. Hark, come hither, Tyrrel.
  2. Go, by this token. Rise, and lend thine ear.
  3. Whispers.
  4. There is no more but so; say it is done,
  5. And I will love thee and prefer thee for it.

Tyrrel

86
  1. I will dispatch it straight.
  1. Exit.
  1. Enter Buckingham.

Duke of Buckingham

87 - 88
  1. My lord, I have consider’d in my mind
  2. The late request that you did sound me in.

King Richard III

89
  1. Well, let that rest. Dorset is fled to Richmond.

Duke of Buckingham

90
  1. I hear the news, my lord.

King Richard III

91
  1. Stanley, he is your wive’s son: well, look unto it.

Duke of Buckingham

92 - 95
  1. My lord, I claim the gift, my due by promise,
  2. For which your honor and your faith is pawn’d,
  3. Th’ earldom of Herford, and the moveables,
  4. Which you have promised I shall possess.
John Philip Kemble as King Richard

But I am in so far in blood that sin will pluck on sin.

John Philip Kemble as King Richard

J. Thornthwaite; John Bell, publisher; Gilbert Stuart; Browne; 1786

King Richard III

96 - 97
  1. Stanley, look to your wife. If she convey
  2. Letters to Richmond, you shall answer it.

Duke of Buckingham

98
  1. What says your Highness to my just request?

King Richard III

99 - 102
  1. I do remember me, Henry the Sixth
  2. Did prophesy that Richmond should be king,
  3. When Richmond was a little peevish boy.
  4. A king—perhaps—perhaps—

Duke of Buckingham

103
  1. My lord—

King Richard III

104 - 105
  1. How chance the prophet could not at that time
  2. Have told me, I being by, that I should kill him?

Duke of Buckingham

106
  1. My lord, your promise for the earldom—

King Richard III

107 - 111
  1. Richmond! When last I was at Exeter,
  2. The mayor in courtesy show’d me the castle,
  3. And call’d it Rouge-mount, at which name I started,
  4. Because a bard of Ireland told me once
  5. I should not live long after I saw Richmond.

Duke of Buckingham

112
  1. My lord—

King Richard III

113
  1. Ay, what’s a’ clock?

Duke of Buckingham

114 - 115
  1. I am thus bold to put your Grace in mind
  2. Of what you promis’d me.

King Richard III

116
  1.                          Well, but what’s a’ clock?

Duke of Buckingham

117
  1. Upon the stroke of ten.

King Richard III

118
  1.                         Well, let it strike.

Duke of Buckingham

119
  1. Why let it strike?

King Richard III

120 - 122
  1. Because that like a Jack thou keep’st the stroke
  2. Betwixt thy begging and my meditation.
  3. I am not in the giving vein today.

Duke of Buckingham

123
  1. May it please you to resolve me in my suit.

King Richard III

124
  1. Thou troubles! Me, I am not in the vein.
  1. Exit with all but Buckingham.

Duke of Buckingham

125 - 128
  1. And is it thus? Repays he my deep service
  2. With such contempt? Made I him king for this?
  3. O, let me think on Hastings, and be gone
  4. To Brecknock while my fearful head is on!
  1. Exit.

Thou troubles! Me, I am not in the vein.

Edwin Austin Abbey, 1903

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