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Richard III: Act IV, Scene 4

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Richard III
Act IV, Scene 4

London. Before the palace.

Genevieve Ward as Margaret of Anjou

Genevieve Ward as Margaret of Anjou

Virtue & Co., circa 1921

  1. Enter old Queen Margaret.

Queen Margaret

1 - 8
  1. So now prosperity begins to mellow
  2. And drop into the rotten mouth of death.
  3. Here in these confines slyly have I lurk’d,
  4. To watch the waning of mine enemies.
  5. A dire induction am I witness to,
  6. And will to France, hoping the consequence
  7. Will prove as bitter, black, and tragical.
  8. Withdraw thee, wretched Margaret; who comes here?
  1. Retires.
  1. Enter Duchess of York and Queen Elizabeth.

Queen Elizabeth

9 - 14
  1. Ah, my poor princes! Ah, my tender babes!
  2. My unblown flow’rs, new-appearing sweets!
  3. If yet your gentle souls fly in the air
  4. And be not fix’d in doom perpetual,
  5. Hover about me with your aery wings
  6. And hear your mother’s lamentation!

Queen Margaret

15 - 16
  1. Aside.
  2. Hover about her; say that right for right
  3. Hath dimm’d your infant morn to aged night.

Duchess of York

17 - 19
  1. So many miseries have craz’d my voice
  2. That my woe-wearied tongue is still and mute.
  3. Edward Plantagenet, why art thou dead?

Queen Margaret

20 - 21
  1. Aside.
  2. Plantagenet doth quit Plantagenet,
  3. Edward for Edward pays a dying debt.

Queen Elizabeth

22 - 24
  1. Wilt thou, O God, fly from such gentle lambs,
  2. And throw them in the entrails of the wolf?
  3. When didst thou sleep when such a deed was done?

Queen Margaret

25
  1. Aside.
  2. When holy Harry died, and my sweet son.

Duchess of York

26 - 30
  1. Dead life, blind sight, poor mortal-living ghost,
  2. Woe’s scene, world’s shame, grave’s due by life usurp’d,
  3. Brief abstract and record of tedious days,
  4. Rest thy unrest on England’s lawful earth,
  5. Sitting down.
  6. Unlawfully made drunk with innocent blood!

Queen Elizabeth

31 - 34
  1. Ah, that thou wouldst as soon afford a grave
  2. As thou canst yield a melancholy seat!
  3. Then would I hide my bones, not rest them here.
  4. Ah, who hath any cause to mourn but we?
  1. Sitting down by her.

Queen Margaret

35 - 43
  1. Coming forward.
  2. If ancient sorrow be most reverent,
  3. Give mine the benefit of seniory,
  4. And let my griefs frown on the upper hand.
  5. If sorrow can admit society,
  6. Sitting down with them.
  7. Tell over your woes again by viewing mine:
  8. I had an Edward, till a Richard kill’d him;
  9. I had a Harry, till a Richard kill’d him:
  10. Thou hadst an Edward, till a Richard kill’d him;
  11. Thou hadst a Richard, till a Richard kill’d him.

Duchess of York

44 - 45
  1. I had a Richard too, and thou didst kill him;
  2. I had a Rutland too, thou holp’st to kill him.

Queen Margaret

46 - 58
  1. Thou hadst a Clarence too, and Richard kill’d him.
  2. From forth the kennel of thy womb hath crept
  3. A hell-hound that doth hunt us all to death:
  4. That dog, that had his teeth before his eyes
  5. To worry lambs and lap their gentle blood,
  6. That foul defacer of God’s handiwork,
  7. That excellent grand tyrant of the earth
  8. That reigns in galled eyes of weeping souls,
  9. Thy womb let loose to chase us to our graves.
  10. O upright, just, and true-disposing God,
  11. How do I thank thee that this carnal cur
  12. Preys on the issue of his mother’s body,
  13. And makes her pew-fellow with others’ moan!

Duchess of York

59 - 60
  1. O Harry’s wife, triumph not in my woes!
  2. God witness with me, I have wept for thine.

Queen Margaret

61 - 78
  1. Bear with me; I am hungry for revenge,
  2. And now I cloy me with beholding it.
  3. Thy Edward he is dead, that kill’d my Edward;
  4. Thy other Edward dead, to quit my Edward;
  5. Young York he is but boot, because both they
  6. Match’d not the high perfection of my loss.
  7. Thy Clarence he is dead that stabb’d my Edward,
  8. And the beholders of this frantic play,
  9. Th’ adulterate Hastings, Rivers, Vaughan, Grey,
  10. Untimely smoth’red in their dusky graves.
  11. Richard yet lives, hell’s black intelligencer,
  12. Only reserv’d their factor to buy souls
  13. And send them thither; but at hand, at hand,
  14. Ensues his piteous and unpitied end.
  15. Earth gapes, hell burns, fiends roar, saints pray,
  16. To have him suddenly convey’d from hence.
  17. Cancel his bond of life, dear God, I pray,
  18. That I may live and say, “The dog is dead.”

Queen Elizabeth

79 - 81
  1. O, thou didst prophesy the time would come
  2. That I should wish for thee to help me curse
  3. That bottled spider, that foul bunch-back’d toad!

Queen Margaret

82 - 115
  1. I call’d thee then vain flourish of my fortune;
  2. I call’d thee then poor shadow, painted queen,
  3. The presentation of but what I was;
  4. The flattering index of a direful pageant;
  5. One heav’d a-high, to be hurl’d down below;
  6. A mother only mock’d with two fair babes;
  7. A dream of what thou wast, a garish flag
  8. To be the aim of every dangerous shot;
  9. A sign of dignity, a breath, a bubble;
  10. A queen in jest, only to fill the scene.
  11. Where is thy husband now? Where be thy brothers?
  12. Where be thy two sons? Wherein dost thou joy?
  13. Who sues, and kneels, and says, “God save the Queen”?
  14. Where be the bending peers that flattered thee?
  15. Where be the thronging troops that followed thee?
  16. Decline all this, and see what now thou art:
  17. For happy wife, a most distressed widow;
  18. For joyful mother, one that wails the name;
  19. For one being sued to, one that humbly sues;
  20. For queen, a very caitiff crown’d with care;
  21. For she that scorn’d at me, now scorn’d of me;
  22. For she being feared of all, now fearing one;
  23. For she commanding all, obey’d of none.
  24. Thus hath the course of justice whirl’d about,
  25. And left thee but a very prey to time,
  26. Having no more but thought of what thou wast
  27. To torture thee the more, being what thou art.
  28. Thou didst usurp my place, and dost thou not
  29. Usurp the just proportion of my sorrow?
  30. Now thy proud neck bears half my burden’d yoke,
  31. From which even here I slip my weary head,
  32. And leave the burden of it all on thee.
  33. Farewell, York’s wife, and queen of sad mischance,
  34. These English woes shall make me smile in France.

Queen Elizabeth

116 - 117
  1. O thou well skill’d in curses, stay awhile,
  2. And teach me how to curse mine enemies!
Elizabeth Woodville, wife of King Edward IV

Elizabeth Woodville, wife of King Edward IV

Unknown artist, circa 1471

Queen Margaret

118 - 123
  1. Forbear to sleep the nights, and fast the days;
  2. Compare dead happiness with living woe;
  3. Think that thy babes were sweeter than they were,
  4. And he that slew them fouler than he is.
  5. Bett’ring thy loss makes the bad causer worse;
  6. Revolving this will teach thee how to curse.

Queen Elizabeth

124
  1. My words are dull, O, quicken them with thine!

Queen Margaret

125
  1. Thy woes will make them sharp and pierce like mine.
  1. Exit Queen Margaret.

Duchess of York

126
  1. Why should calamity be full of words?

Queen Elizabeth

127 - 131
  1. Windy attorneys to their client’s woes,
  2. Aery succeeders of intestate joys,
  3. Poor breathing orators of miseries,
  4. Let them have scope! Though what they will impart
  5. Help nothing else, yet do they ease the heart.

Duchess of York

132 - 135
  1. If so then, be not tongue-tied; go with me,
  2. And in the breath of bitter words let’s smother
  3. My damned son that thy two sweet sons smother’d.
  4. The trumpet sounds, be copious in exclaims.
  1. Enter King Richard and his Train marching, with
  2. Drums and Trumpets.

King Richard III

136
  1. Who intercepts me in my expedition?

Duchess of York

137 - 139
  1. O, she that might have intercepted thee,
  2. By strangling thee in her accursed womb,
  3. From all the slaughters, wretch, that thou hast done!

Queen Elizabeth

140 - 144
  1. Hid’st thou that forehead with a golden crown
  2. Where should be branded, if that right were right,
  3. The slaughter of the prince that ow’d that crown,
  4. And the dire death of my poor sons and brothers?
  5. Tell me, thou villain-slave, where are my children?

Duchess of York

145 - 146
  1. Thou toad, thou toad, where is thy brother Clarence?
  2. And little Ned Plantagenet, his son?

Queen Elizabeth

147
  1. Where is the gentle Rivers, Vaughan, Grey?

Duchess of York

148
  1. Where is kind Hastings?

King Richard III

149 - 154
  1. A flourish, trumpets! Strike alarum, drums!
  2. Let not the heavens hear these tell-tale women
  3. Rail on the Lord’s anointed. Strike, I say!
  4. Flourish. Alarums.
  5. Either be patient and entreat me fair,
  6. Or with the clamorous report of war
  7. Thus will I drown your exclamations.

Duchess of York

155
  1. Art thou my son?

King Richard III

156
  1. Ay, I thank God, my father, and yourself.

Duchess of York

157
  1. Then patiently hear my impatience.

King Richard III

158 - 159
  1. Madam, I have a touch of your condition,
  2. That cannot brook the accent of reproof.

Duchess of York

160
  1. O, let me speak!

King Richard III

161
  1.                  Do then, but I’ll not hear.

Duchess of York

162
  1. I will be mild and gentle in my words.

King Richard III

163
  1. And brief, good mother, for I am in haste.

Duchess of York

164 - 165
  1. Art thou so hasty? I have stay’d for thee,
  2. God knows, in torment and in agony.

King Richard III

166
  1. And came I not at last to comfort you?

Duchess of York

167 - 176
  1. No, by the holy rood, thou know’st it well,
  2. Thou cam’st on earth to make the earth my hell.
  3. A grievous burden was thy birth to me,
  4. Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy;
  5. Thy school-days frightful, desp’rate, wild, and furious,
  6. Thy prime of manhood daring, bold, and venturous;
  7. Thy age confirm’d, proud, subtle, sly, and bloody,
  8. More mild, but yet more harmful—kind in hatred.
  9. What comfortable hour canst thou name
  10. That ever grac’d me with thy company?

King Richard III

177 - 181
  1. Faith, none, but Humphrey Hour, that call’d your Grace
  2. To breakfast once, forth of my company.
  3. If I be so disgracious in your eye,
  4. Let me march on and not offend you, madam.
  5. Strike up the drum.

Duchess of York

182
  1.                     I prithee hear me speak.

King Richard III

183
  1. You speak too bitterly.

Duchess of York

184 - 185
  1.                         Hear me a word;
  2. For I shall never speak to thee again.

King Richard III

186
  1. So.

Duchess of York

187 - 199
  1. Either thou wilt die by God’s just ordinance
  2. Ere from this war thou turn a conqueror,
  3. Or I with grief and extreme age shall perish
  4. And never more behold thy face again.
  5. Therefore take with thee my most grievous curse,
  6. Which in the day of battle tire thee more
  7. Than all the complete armor that thou wear’st!
  8. My prayers on the adverse party fight,
  9. And there the little souls of Edward’s children
  10. Whisper the spirits of thine enemies
  11. And promise them success and victory.
  12. Bloody thou art, bloody will be thy end;
  13. Shame serves thy life and doth thy death attend.
  1. Exit.

Queen Elizabeth

200 - 201
  1. Though far more cause, yet much less spirit to curse
  2. Abides in me; I say amen to her.

King Richard III

202
  1. Stay, madam, I must talk a word with you.

Queen Elizabeth

203 - 206
  1. I have no more sons of the royal blood
  2. For thee to slaughter. For my daughters, Richard,
  3. They shall be praying nuns, not weeping queens;
  4. And therefore level not to hit their lives.

King Richard III

207 - 208
  1. You have a daughter call’d Elizabeth,
  2. Virtuous and fair, royal and gracious.

Queen Elizabeth

209 - 214
  1. And must she die for this? O, let her live!
  2. And I’ll corrupt her manners, stain her beauty,
  3. Slander myself as false to Edward’s bed,
  4. Throw over her the veil of infamy.
  5. So she may live unscarr’d of bleeding slaughter,
  6. I will confess she was not Edward’s daughter.

King Richard III

215
  1. Wrong not her birth, she is a royal princess.

Queen Elizabeth

216
  1. To save her life, I’ll say she is not so.

King Richard III

217
  1. Her life is safest only in her birth.

Queen Elizabeth

218
  1. And only in that safety died her brothers.

King Richard III

219
  1. Lo at their birth good stars were opposite.

Queen Elizabeth

220
  1. No, to their lives ill friends were contrary.

King Richard III

221
  1. All unavoided is the doom of destiny.

Queen Elizabeth

222 - 224
  1. True—when avoided grace makes destiny:
  2. My babes were destin’d to a fairer death,
  3. If grace had blest thee with a fairer life.

King Richard III

225
  1. You speak as if that I had slain my cousins!

Queen Elizabeth

226 - 238
  1. Cousins indeed, and by their uncle cozen’d
  2. Of comfort, kingdom, kindred, freedom, life.
  3. Whose hand soever lanch’d their tender hearts,
  4. Thy head (all indirectly) gave direction.
  5. No doubt the murd’rous knife was dull and blunt
  6. Till it was whetted on thy stone-hard heart
  7. To revel in the entrails of my lambs.
  8. But that still use of grief makes wild grief tame,
  9. My tongue should to thy ears not name my boys
  10. Till that my nails were anchor’d in thine eyes;
  11. And I, in such a desp’rate bay of death,
  12. Like a poor bark of sails and tackling reft,
  13. Rush all to pieces on thy rocky bosom.

Byam Shaw, 1901

King Richard III

239 - 242
  1. Madam, so thrive I in my enterprise
  2. And dangerous success of bloody wars,
  3. As I intend more good to you and yours
  4. Than ever you or yours by me were harm’d!

Queen Elizabeth

243 - 244
  1. What good is cover’d with the face of heaven,
  2. To be discover’d, that can do me good?

King Richard III

245
  1. Th’ advancement of your children, gentle lady.

Queen Elizabeth

246
  1. Up to some scaffold, there to lose their heads.

King Richard III

247 - 248
  1. Unto the dignity and height of fortune,
  2. The high imperial type of this earth’s glory.

Queen Elizabeth

249 - 251
  1. Flatter my sorrow with report of it;
  2. Tell me, what state, what dignity, what honor,
  3. Canst thou demise to any child of mine?

King Richard III

252 - 256
  1. Even all I have—ay, and myself and all—
  2. Will I withal endow a child of thine;
  3. So in the Lethe of thy angry soul
  4. Thou drown the sad remembrance of those wrongs
  5. Which thou supposest I have done to thee.

Queen Elizabeth

257 - 258
  1. Be brief, lest that the process of thy kindness
  2. Last longer telling than thy kindness’ date.

King Richard III

259
  1. Then know that from my soul I love thy daughter.

Queen Elizabeth

260
  1. My daughter’s mother thinks it with her soul.

King Richard III

261
  1. What do you think?

Queen Elizabeth

262 - 264
  1. That thou dost love my daughter from thy soul;
  2. So from thy soul’s love didst thou love her brothers,
  3. And from my heart’s love I do thank thee for it.

King Richard III

265 - 267
  1. Be not so hasty to confound my meaning:
  2. I mean that with my soul I love thy daughter,
  3. And do intend to make her Queen of England.

Queen Elizabeth

268
  1. Well then, who dost thou mean shall be her king?

King Richard III

269
  1. Even he that makes her queen. Who should be else?

Queen Elizabeth

270
  1. What, thou?

King Richard III

271
  1.             Even so. How think you of it?

Queen Elizabeth

272
  1. How canst thou woo her?

King Richard III

273 - 274
  1.                         That would I learn of you,
  2. As one being best acquainted with her humor.

Queen Elizabeth

275
  1. And wilt thou learn of me?

King Richard III

276
  1.                            Madam, with all my heart.

Queen Elizabeth

277 - 289
  1. Send to her by the man that slew her brothers
  2. A pair of bleeding hearts; thereon engrave
  3. “Edward” and “York”; then haply will she weep.
  4. Therefore present to her—as sometimes Margaret
  5. Did to thy father, steep’d in Rutland’s blood—
  6. A handkercher, which, say to her, did drain
  7. The purple sap from her sweet brother’s body,
  8. And bid her wipe her weeping eyes withal.
  9. If this inducement move her not to love,
  10. Send her a letter of thy noble deeds:
  11. Tell her thou mad’st away her uncle Clarence,
  12. Her uncle Rivers, ay (and for her sake!),
  13. Mad’st quick conveyance with her good aunt Anne.

King Richard III

290 - 291
  1. You mock me, madam, this is not the way
  2. To win your daughter.

Queen Elizabeth

292 - 294
  1.                       There is no other way,
  2. Unless thou couldst put on some other shape
  3. And not be Richard that hath done all this.

King Richard III

295
  1. Say that I did all this for love of her.

Queen Elizabeth

296 - 297
  1. Nay then indeed she cannot choose but hate thee,
  2. Having bought love with such a bloody spoil.

King Richard III

298 - 343
  1. Look what is done cannot be now amended:
  2. Men shall deal unadvisedly sometimes,
  3. Which after-hours gives leisure to repent.
  4. If I did take the kingdom from your sons,
  5. To make amends I’ll give it to your daughter;
  6. If I have kill’d the issue of your womb,
  7. To quicken your increase, I will beget
  8. Mine issue of your blood upon your daughter.
  9. A grandam’s name is little less in love
  10. Than is the doting title of a mother;
  11. They are as children but one step below,
  12. Even of your metal, of your very blood;
  13. Of all one pain, save for a night of groans
  14. Endur’d of her, for whom you bid like sorrow.
  15. Your children were vexation to your youth,
  16. But mine shall be a comfort to your age.
  17. The loss you have is but a son being king,
  18. And by that loss your daughter is made queen.
  19. I cannot make you what amends I would,
  20. Therefore accept such kindness as I can.
  21. Dorset your son, that with a fearful soul
  22. Leads discontented steps in foreign soil,
  23. This fair alliance quickly shall call home
  24. To high promotions and great dignity.
  25. The King, that calls your beauteous daughter wife,
  26. Familiarly shall call thy Dorset brother;
  27. Again shall you be mother to a king;
  28. And all the ruins of distressful times
  29. Repair’d with double riches of content.
  30. What? We have many goodly days to see:
  31. The liquid drops of tears that you have shed
  32. Shall come again, transform’d to orient pearl,
  33. Advantaging their love with interest
  34. Of ten times double gain of happiness.
  35. Go then, my mother, to thy daughter go,
  36. Make bold her bashful years with your experience;
  37. Prepare her ears to hear a wooer’s tale;
  38. Put in her tender heart th’ aspiring flame
  39. Of golden sovereignty; acquaint the Princess
  40. With the sweet silent hours of marriage joys;
  41. And when this arm of mine hath chastised
  42. The petty rebel, dull-brain’d Buckingham,
  43. Bound with triumphant garlands will I come
  44. And lead thy daughter to a conqueror’s bed;
  45. To whom I will retail my conquest won,
  46. And she shall be sole victoress, Caesar’s Caesar.

Queen Elizabeth

344 - 349
  1. What were I best to say? Her father’s brother
  2. Would be her lord? Or shall I say her uncle?
  3. Or he that slew her brothers and her uncles?
  4. Under what title shall I woo for thee,
  5. That God, the law, my honor, and her love
  6. Can make seem pleasing to her tender years?

King Richard III

350
  1. Infer fair England’s peace by this alliance.
Costume design for Richard Ratcliffe

Costume design for Richard Ratcliffe

Charles Hamilton Smith, Emma Hamilton Smith, 19th century

Queen Elizabeth

351
  1. Which she shall purchase with still-lasting war.

King Richard III

352
  1. Tell her the King, that may command, entreats.

Queen Elizabeth

353
  1. That at her hands which the King’s King forbids.

King Richard III

354
  1. Say she shall be a high and mighty queen.

Queen Elizabeth

355
  1. To vail the title, as her mother doth.

King Richard III

356
  1. Say I will love her everlastingly.

Queen Elizabeth

357
  1. But how long shall that title “ever” last?

King Richard III

358
  1. Sweetly in force unto her fair live’s end.

Queen Elizabeth

359
  1. But how long fairly shall her sweet life last?

King Richard III

360
  1. As long as heaven and nature lengthens it.

Queen Elizabeth

361
  1. As long as hell and Richard likes of it.

King Richard III

362
  1. Say I, her sovereign, am her subject low.

Queen Elizabeth

363
  1. But she, your subject, loathes such sovereignty.

King Richard III

364
  1. Be eloquent in my behalf to her.

Queen Elizabeth

365
  1. An honest tale speeds best being plainly told.

King Richard III

366
  1. Then plainly to her tell my loving tale.

Queen Elizabeth

367
  1. Plain and not honest is too harsh a style.

King Richard III

368
  1. Your reasons are too shallow and too quick.

Queen Elizabeth

369 - 370
  1. O no, my reasons are too deep and dead—
  2. Too deep and dead, poor infants, in their graves.

King Richard III

371
  1. Harp not on that string, madam, that is past.

Queen Elizabeth

372
  1. Harp on it still shall I till heart-strings break.

King Richard III

373
  1. Now by my George, my Garter, and my crown—

Queen Elizabeth

374
  1. Profan’d, dishonor’d, and the third usurp’d.

King Richard III

375
  1. I swear—

Queen Elizabeth

376 - 381
  1.          By nothing, for this is no oath:
  2. Thy George, profan’d, hath lost his lordly honor;
  3. Thy Garter, blemish’d, pawn’d his knightly virtue;
  4. Thy crown, usurp’d, disgrac’d his kingly glory.
  5. If something thou wouldst swear to be believ’d,
  6. Swear then by something that thou hast not wrong’d.

King Richard III

382
  1. Then by myself—

Queen Elizabeth

383
  1.                 Thyself is self-misus’d.

King Richard III

384
  1. Now by the world—

Queen Elizabeth

385
  1.                   ’Tis full of thy foul wrongs.

King Richard III

386
  1. My father’s death—

Queen Elizabeth

387
  1.                    Thy life hath it dishonor’d.

King Richard III

388
  1. Why then, by God—

Queen Elizabeth

389 - 399
  1.                   God’s wrong is most of all:
  2. If thou didst fear to break an oath with him,
  3. The unity the King my husband made
  4. Thou hadst not broken, nor my brothers died.
  5. If thou hadst fear’d to break an oath by him,
  6. Th’ imperial metal, circling now thy head,
  7. Had grac’d the tender temples of my child,
  8. And both the Princes had been breathing here,
  9. Which now, two tender bedfellows for dust,
  10. Thy broken faith hath made the prey for worms.
  11. What canst thou swear by now?

King Richard III

400
  1.                               The time to come.

Queen Elizabeth

401 - 409
  1. That thou hast wronged in the time o’erpast;
  2. For I myself have many tears to wash
  3. Hereafter time, for time past wrong’d by thee.
  4. The children live whose fathers thou hast slaughter’d,
  5. Ungovern’d youth, to wail it in their age;
  6. The parents live whose children thou hast butcher’d,
  7. Old barren plants, to wail it with their age.
  8. Swear not by time to come, for that thou hast
  9. Misus’d ere us’d, by times ill-us’d o’erpast.

King Richard III

410 - 430
  1. As I intend to prosper and repent,
  2. So thrive I in my dangerous affairs
  3. Of hostile arms! Myself myself confound!
  4. Heaven and fortune bar me happy hours!
  5. Day, yield me not thy light, nor, night, thy rest!
  6. Be opposite all planets of good luck
  7. To my proceeding, if with dear heart’s love,
  8. Immaculate devotion, holy thoughts,
  9. I tender not thy beauteous princely daughter!
  10. In her consists my happiness and thine;
  11. Without her, follows to myself and thee,
  12. Herself, the land, and many a Christian soul,
  13. Death, desolation, ruin, and decay.
  14. It cannot be avoided but by this;
  15. It will not be avoided but by this.
  16. Therefore, dear mother—I must call you so—
  17. Be the attorney of my love to her.
  18. Plead what I will be, not what I have been;
  19. Not my deserts, but what I will deserve.
  20. Urge the necessity and state of times,
  21. And be not peevish-fond in great designs.

Queen Elizabeth

431
  1. Shall I be tempted of the devil thus?

King Richard III

432
  1. Ay, if the devil tempt you to do good.

Queen Elizabeth

433
  1. Shall I forget myself to be myself?

King Richard III

434
  1. Ay, if yourself’s remembrance wrong yourself.

Queen Elizabeth

435
  1. Yet thou didst kill my children.

King Richard III

436 - 438
  1. But in your daughter’s womb I bury them;
  2. Where in that nest of spicery they will breed
  3. Selves of themselves, to your recomforture.

Queen Elizabeth

439
  1. Shall I go win my daughter to thy will?

King Richard III

440
  1. And be a happy mother by the deed.

Queen Elizabeth

441 - 442
  1. I go. Write to me very shortly,
  2. And you shall understand from me her mind.

King Richard III

443 - 445
  1. Bear her my true love’s kiss; and so farewell.
  2. Exit Queen Elizabeth.
  3. Relenting fool, and shallow, changing woman!
  4. Enter Ratcliffe, Catesby following.
  5. How now? What news?

Ratcliffe

446 - 452
  1. Most mighty sovereign, on the western coast
  2. Rideth a puissant navy; to our shores
  3. Throng many doubtful hollow-hearted friends,
  4. Unarm’d, and unresolv’d to beat them back.
  5. ’Tis thought that Richmond is their admiral;
  6. And there they hull, expecting but the aid
  7. Of Buckingham to welcome them ashore.

King Richard III

453 - 454
  1. Some light-foot friend post to the Duke of Norfolk;
  2. Ratcliffe, thyself—or Catesby—where is he?

Catesby

455
  1. Here, my good lord.

King Richard III

456
  1.                     Catesby, fly to the Duke.

Catesby

457
  1. I will, my lord, with all convenient haste.

King Richard III

458 - 461
  1. Ratcliffe, come hither. Post to Salisbury;
  2. When thou com’st thither—
  3. To Catesby.
  4.                           Dull unmindful villain,
  5. Why stay’st thou here, and go’st not to the Duke?

Catesby

462 - 463
  1. First, mighty liege, tell me your Highness’ pleasure,
  2. What from your Grace I shall deliver to him.

King Richard III

464 - 466
  1. O, true, good Catesby. Bid him levy straight
  2. The greatest strength and power that he can make,
  3. And meet me suddenly at Salisbury.

Catesby

467
  1. I go.
  1. Exit.
King Richard III at the Lyceum Theatre

Thou toad, thou toad, where is thy brother Clarence?

King Richard III at the Lyceum Theatre

John Jellicoe, Herbert Railton, circa 1896

Ratcliffe

468
  1. What, may it please you, shall I do at Salisbury?

King Richard III

469
  1. Why, what wouldst thou do there before I go?

Ratcliffe

470
  1. Your Highness told me I should post before.

King Richard III

471 - 472
  1. My mind is chang’d.
  2. Enter Lord Stanley.
  3.                     Stanley, what news with you?

Stanley

473 - 474
  1. None good, my liege, to please you with the hearing,
  2. Nor none so bad but well may be reported.

King Richard III

475 - 478
  1. Hoy-day, a riddle! Neither good nor bad!
  2. What need’st thou run so many miles about,
  3. When thou mayest tell thy tale the nearest way?
  4. Once more, what news?

Stanley

479
  1.                       Richmond is on the seas.

King Richard III

480 - 481
  1. There let him sink, and be the seas on him!
  2. White-liver’d runagate, what doth he there?

Stanley

482
  1. I know not, mighty sovereign, but by guess.

King Richard III

483
  1. Well, as you guess?

Stanley

484 - 485
  1. Stirr’d up by Dorset, Buckingham, and Morton,
  2. He makes for England, here to claim the crown.

King Richard III

486 - 490
  1. Is the chair empty? Is the sword unsway’d?
  2. Is the King dead? The empire unpossess’d?
  3. What heir of York is there alive but we?
  4. And who is England’s king but great York’s heir?
  5. Then tell me, what makes he upon the seas?

Stanley

491
  1. Unless for that, my liege, I cannot guess.

King Richard III

492 - 494
  1. Unless for that he comes to be your liege,
  2. You cannot guess wherefore the Welshman comes.
  3. Thou wilt revolt and fly to him, I fear.

Stanley

495
  1. No, my good lord, therefore mistrust me not.

King Richard III

496 - 499
  1. Where is thy power then, to beat him back?
  2. Where be thy tenants and thy followers?
  3. Are they not now upon the western shore,
  4. Safe-conducting the rebels from their ships?

Stanley

500
  1. No, my good lord, my friends are in the north.

King Richard III

501 - 502
  1. Cold friends to me! What do they in the north,
  2. When they should serve their sovereign in the west?

Stanley

503 - 506
  1. They have not been commanded, mighty King.
  2. Pleaseth your Majesty to give me leave,
  3. I’ll muster up my friends and meet your Grace
  4. Where and what time your Majesty shall please.

King Richard III

507 - 508
  1. Ay, thou wouldst be gone to join with Richmond;
  2. But I’ll not trust thee.

Stanley

509 - 511
  1.                          Most mighty sovereign,
  2. You have no cause to hold my friendship doubtful.
  3. I never was nor never will be false.

King Richard III

512 - 514
  1. Go then, and muster men; but leave behind
  2. Your son, George Stanley. Look your heart be firm,
  3. Or else his head’s assurance is but frail.

Stanley

515
  1. So deal with him as I prove true to you.
  1. Exit Stanley.
  1. Enter First Messenger.

First Messenger

516 - 520
  1. My gracious sovereign, now in Devonshire,
  2. As I by friends am well advertised,
  3. Sir Edward Courtney and the haughty prelate,
  4. Bishop of Exeter, his elder brother,
  5. With many more confederates, are in arms.
  1. Enter another Messenger.

Second Messenger

521 - 523
  1. In Kent, my liege, the Guilfords are in arms,
  2. And every hour more competitors
  3. Flock to the rebels, and their power grows strong.
  1. Enter another Messenger.

Third Messenger

524
  1. My lord, the army of great Buckingham—

King Richard III

525 - 526
  1. Out on you, owls! Nothing but songs of death?
  2. He striketh him.
  3. There, take thou that, till thou bring better news.

Third Messenger

527 - 531
  1. The news I have to tell your Majesty
  2. Is that by sudden floods and fall of waters
  3. Buckingham’s army is dispers’d and scatter’d,
  4. And he himself wand’red away alone,
  5. No man knows whither.

King Richard III

532 - 535
  1.                       I cry thee mercy;
  2. There is my purse to cure that blow of thine.
  3. Hath any well-advised friend proclaim’d
  4. Reward to him that brings the traitor in?

Third Messenger

536
  1. Such proclamation hath been made, my lord.
  1. Enter another Messenger.

Fourth Messenger

537 - 546
  1. Sir Thomas Lovel and Lord Marquess Dorset,
  2. ’Tis said, my liege, in Yorkshire are in arms.
  3. But this good comfort bring I to your Highness:
  4. The Britain navy is dispers’d by tempest.
  5. Richmond in Dorsetshire sent out a boat
  6. Unto the shore, to ask those on the banks
  7. If they were his assistants, yea or no;
  8. Who answer’d him, they came from Buckingham
  9. Upon his party. He, mistrusting them,
  10. Hois’d sail, and made his course again for Britain.

King Richard III

547 - 549
  1. March on, march on, since we are up in arms,
  2. If not to fight with foreign enemies,
  3. Yet to beat down these rebels here at home.
  1. Enter Catesby.

Catesby

550 - 553
  1. My liege, the Duke of Buckingham is taken—
  2. That is the best news. That the Earl of Richmond
  3. Is with a mighty power landed at Milford
  4. Is colder tidings, yet they must be told.

King Richard III

554 - 557
  1. Away towards Salisbury! While we reason here,
  2. A royal battle might be won and lost.
  3. Some one take order Buckingham be brought
  4. To Salisbury, the rest march on with me.
  1. Flourish. Exeunt.
Cassell's Illustrated Shakespeare

If ancient sorrow be most reverent,
Give mine the benefit of seniory

From: Cassell's Illustrated Shakespeare

Mary Cowden Clarke, Charles Cowden Clarke, 1870

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