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Is thy name-Tyrrel?

10

[subject. 15

Tyr. James Tyrrel, and your most obedient
K. Rich. Art thou, indeed?

Tyr. Prove me, my gracious lord.

[mine?

K. Rich. Dar'st thou resolve to kill a friend of

Because a bard of Ireland told me once,

I should not live long after I saw Richmond.
Buck. My lord,---

K. Rich. Av, what's o'clock?

Buck. I am thus bold to put your grace in mind Of what you promis'd me.

K. Rich. Well, but what's o'clock?

Buck. Upon the stroke of ten.

K. Rich. Well, let it strike.

Buck. Why let it strike?

K. Rich. Because that, like a Jack', thou
keep'st the stroke

Betwixt thy begging and my meditation.
I am not in the giving vein to-day.

[or no.

Buck. Why, then resolve me whe'r you will
K. Rich. Thou troublest me; I am not in the

vein.
[Exit.
Buck. Is it even so? repays he my deep service
With such contempt? made I him king for this?

Tyr. Please you, but I had rather kill two ene-200, let me think on Hastings; and be gone

[mies,

mies.
K. Rich. Why, then thou hast it; two deep ene-
Focs to my rest, and my sweet sleep's disturbers,
Are they that I would have thee deal upon :
Tyrrel, I mean those bastards in the Tower.

Tyr. Let me have open means to come to them,
And soon I'll rid you from the fear of them.
K. Rich. Thou sing'st sweet music. Hark,
come hither, Tyrrel;

Go, by this token :-Rise, and lend thine ear:
[Whispers.
There is no more but so :-Say, it is done,
And I will love thee, and prefer thee for it.
Tyr. I will dispatch it straight.

Re-enter Buckingham.

[Exit.

Buck. My lord, I have consider'd in my mind
The late demand that you did sound me in.
K. Rich. Well, let that rest. Dorset is fled to
Buck. I hear the news, my lord. [Richmond.
K. Rich. Stanley, he is your wife's son:-Well,
look to it.
Buck. My lord, I claim the gift, my due by pro-
For which your honour and your faith is pawn'd;
The earldom of Hereford, and the moveables,
Which you have promised I shall possess.

[mise,

K.Rich.Stanley, look to your wife, if she convey Letters to Richmond, you shall answer it.

To Brecknock, while my fearful head is on. [Exit.
SCENE IIL
Enter Tyrrel.

25 Tyr. The tyrannous and bloody act is done;
The most arch deed of piteous massacre,
That ever yet this land was guilty of!
Dighton, and Forrest, whom I did suborn
To do this piece of ruthless butchery,
30 Albeit they were flesh'd villains, bloody dogs,
Melting with tenderness and mild compassion,
Weptlike two children, in their deaths' sad story.
O thus, quoth Dighton, lay the gentle babes ;—
Thus, thus, quoth Forrest, girdling one another
35 Within their alabaster innocent arms:

40

Their lips were four red roses on a stalk,
Which, in their summer beauty, kiss'd each other.
A book of prayers on their pillow lay;
Which once,quoth Forrest,almost chang'dmy mind:
But, O, the devil-there the villain stopp'd;
When Dighton thus told on,-we smothered
The most replenished sweet work of nature,
That, from the prime creation, ere she fram❜d.—
Hence both are gone with conscience and remorse,
45They could not speak; and so I left them both,
To bear these tidings to the bloody king.

Buck.Whatsaysyour highness tomyjust request:
K. Rich. I do remember me,-Henry the sixth
Did prophesy, that Richmond should be king, 50}
When Richmond was a little peevish boy.
A king!--perhaps---

Buck. My lord,-

[that time!

K. Rich. How chance, the prophet could not at Have told me, I being by, that I should kill him Buck. My lord, your promise for the earldom,--K. Rich. Richmond!--When last I was at Exeter, The mayor in court'sy shew'd me the castle, And call'd it--Rouge-mont: at which name, I started;

55

Enter King Richard.
And here he comes:---All health, my sovereign

lord!

K. Rich. Kind Tyrrel! am I happy in thy news?
Tyr. If to have done the thing you gave in charge
Beget your happiness, be happy then,
For it is done.

K.Rich. But didst thou see them dead?
Tyr. I did, my lord.

K. Rich. And buried, gentle Tyrrel?
Tyr.The chaplain of the Tower hathburiedthem;
But where, to say the truth, I do not know.

K.Rich.Come to me, Tyrrel, soon after supper, 60 When thou shalt tell the process of their death.

An image like those at St. Dunstan's church in Fleet-street, and at the market-houses at several towns in this kingdom, was usually called a Jack of the clock-house.-Perhaps these figures were called Jacks, because the engines of that name which turn the spit were anciently ornamented with such a puppet.

Mean

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K. Rich. Good news or bad, that thou com'st in so bluntly? [Richmond; Cates. Bad news, my lord: Morton is fled to And Buckingham, back'd with the hardy WelshIs in the field, and still his power increaseth. [men, 20 K.Rich. Ely with Richmond troubles me more

near,

25

Than Buckingham and his rash-levied strength.
Come,-I have learn'd, that fearful commenting
Is leaden servitor to dull delay';
Delay leads impotent and snail-pac'd beggary:
Then fiery expedition be my wing,
Jove's Mercury, and herald for a king!
Go, muster men; My counsel is my shield;
We must be brief, when traitors brave the field. 30

SCENE IV.

Enter Queen Margaret.

[Exit.

son!

2. Mar. When holy Henry dy'd, and my sweet Lghost, Dutch. Deadlife, blind sight, porr mortal living Woe's scene, world's shame, grave's due by lite usurp❜d,

Brief abstract and record of tedious days,
Rest thy unrest on England's lawful earth,
[Sitting down.
Unlawfully made drunk with innocent blood!
Queen. Ah, that thou wouldst as soon afford a
As thou canst yield a melancholy seat; [grave,
Then would I hide my bones, not rest them here!
Ah, who hath any cause to mourn, but we?
[Sitting down by her.
2. Mar. If ancient sorrow be most reverent,
Give mine the benefit of signiory,
And let my griefs frown on the upper hand.
[Sitting down with them.

4

If sorrow can admit society,
Tell o'er your woes again by viewing mine :-
I had an Edward, 'till a Richard kill'd him;
I had a husband, 'till a Richard kill'd him:
Thou hadst an Edward, 'till a Richard kill'd him;
Thou hadst a Richard, 'till a Richard kill'd himn.
Dutch. I had a Richard too, and thou didst kill
him;

I had a Rutland too, thou holp'st to kill him.
2. Mar. Thou hadst a Clarence too, and Ri
chard 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,
To worry lambs, and lap their gentle blood;
That foul defacer of God's handy-work;

2. Mar. So, now prosperity begins to mellow, 3. That excellent grand tyrant of the earth,

And drop into the rotten mouth of death.
Here in these confines slily have I lurk'd,
To watch the waining of mine enemies.
A dire induction2 am I witness to,

And will to France; hoping, the consequence
Will prove as bitter, black, and tragical. [here?
Withdraw thee, wretched Margaret! who comes

Enter the Queen and the Dutchess of York.
Queen. Ah,my poor princes! ah,my tender babes!
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!

[right

That reigns in galled eyes of weeping souls,
Thy womb let loose, to chase us to our graves.--
O upright, just, and true-disposing God,
How do I thank thee, that this carnal cur
40 Preys on the issue of his mother's body,
And makes her pue-fellow with others' moan!
Dutch. O, Harry's wife, triumph not in my

woes;

God witness with me, I have wept for thine! 45 2. Mar. Bear with me; I ani hungry for re

2. Mar. Hover about her; say, that right for 50 Hath dimm'd your infant morn to aged night. Dutch. So many miseries have craz'd my voice, That my woe-wearied tongue is still and mute.Edward Plantagenet, why art thou dead?

2. Mar. Plantagenet doth quit Plantagenet, Edward for Edward pays a dying debt. [lambs, Queen. Wilt thou, O God! fly from such gentle And throw them in the entrails of the wolf? Why didst thou sleep, when such a deed was done?

55

venge,

And now I cloy me with beholding it.
Thy Edward he is dead, that kill'd my
Edward;
Thy other Edward dead, to quit my Edward;
Young York he is but boot', because both they
Match not the high perfection of my loss.
Thy Clarence he is dead, that stabb'dmy Edward;
And the beholders of this tragic play,
The adulterate' Hastings, Rivers, Vaughan, Grey,
Untimely smother'd in their dusky graves.
Richard yet lives, hell's black intelligencer;
Only reserv'd their factor, to buy souls,
And send them thither: But at hand, at hand,
Ensues his piteous and unpitied end:

'Meaning that timorous thought and cautious disquisition are the dull attendants on delay. Induction means preface, introduction, first part. Right for right is justice answering to the claims of justice. Signiory is here used for seniority. Pue-fellow seems to be companion.-We still say of persons in the same difficulties, that they are in the same box. thrown in to mend a purchase. 7.e. Faithless: or adulterate may be put for adulterer.

U u 2

"Boot is that which is

Earth

Earth gapes, hell burns, fiends roar, saints pray,
To have him suddenly convey'd from hence:-
Cancel his bond of life, dear God, I pray,
That I may live to say, The dog is dead! [come,
Queen. O, thou didst prophesy, the time would
That I should wish for thee to help me curse
That bottled spider, that foul bunch-back'd toad.
2. Mar. I call'd thee then vain flourish of my
fortune;

5

Queen. Windy attorneys to their client-woes,
Airy succeeders of intestate' joys,
Poor breathing orators of miseries!

[part

Let them have scope: though what they do imHelp nothing else, yet they do ease the heart. [me, Dutch. If so, then be not tongue-ty'd: go with And in the breath of bitter words let's smother My damned son, that thy two sweet sons smother'd. [Drum, within. 10I hear his drum,--be copious in exclaims.

Enter King Richard, and his train, marching. K.Rich. Who intercepts me in my expedition? Dutch. O, she, that might have intercepted thee, 15 By strangling thee in her accursed womb, From all the slaughters, wretch, that thou hast done. [crown,

I call'd thee then poor shadow, painted queen;
The presentation of but what I was,
The flatt'ring index of a direful pageant',
One heav'd a-high, to be hurl'd down below;
A mother only mock'd with two fair babes;
A dream of what thou wast; a garish flag,
To be the aim of every dangerous shot2;
A sign of dignity, a breath, a bubble;
A queen in jest, only to fill the scene.
Where is thyhusband now? where be thy brothers?
Where be thy two sons? wherein dost thou joy20
Who sues, and kneels, and says-God save the

queen?

Queen. Hid'st thou that forehead with a golden
Where should be branded, if that right were right,
The slaughter of the prince that ow'd that crown,
And the dire death of my poor sons, and brothers?
Tell me, thou villain-slave,where are my children?
Dutch. Thou toad, thou toad, where is thy bro-
ther Clarence?

25 And little Ned Plantagenet his son! [Grey?
Queen. Where is the gentle Rivers, Vaughan,
Dutch. Where is kind Hastings? [drums!
K. Rich. A flourish, trumpets! strike alarum,
Let not the heavens hear these tell-tale women
30 Rail on the Lord's anointed: 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.
Dutch. Art thou my son?

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;
For one being su'd to, one that humbly sues;
For queen, a very caitiff crown'd with care;
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.
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
Usurp the just proportion of my sorrow?
Nowthy proud neck bears half my burden'd yoke;
From which even here I slip my wearied head, 40
And leave the burden of it all on thee.
Farewell, York's wife, andqueen of sad mischance,
These English woes shall make me smile in France.
Queen. Othou well skill'd in curses! stay a while,
And teach me how to curse mine enemies..

2. Mar. Forbear to sleep the night, and fast
the day;

Compare dead happiness with living woe;
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.

Queen. My words are dull; O, quicken them
with thine!

35

45

150

2. Mar. Thy woes will make them sharp, and 55 pierce like mine. [Exit Margaret. Dutch. Why should calamity be full of words?

[self. K. Rich. Ay, I thank God, my father, and your Dutch. Then patiently hear my impatience. K.Rich. Madam, I have a touch of your condition,

That cannot brook the accent of reproof.
Dutch. O, let me speak.

K. Rich. Do, then; but I'll not hear.
Dutch. I will be mild and gentle in my words.
K. Rich. And brief, good mother; for I am in

haste

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Thou cam'st on earth to make the earth my hell.
A grievous burden was thy birth to me;
Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy;
Thy school-days, frightful, desperate, wild, and
furious;

[turous; Thy prime of manhood, daring, bold, and venThy age confirm'd, proud,subtle,sly,and bloody,

The pageants displayed on public occasions in those days, were generally preceded by a short account of the order in which the characters were to walk. These indexes were distributed among the spectators, that they might understand the meaning of the allegory exhibited. The index of every book was anciently placed before the beginning of it. 2 This alludes to the dangerous situation of those persons to whose care the standards of armies were entrusted. 'i.e. words, tun'd to complaints, succeed joys that are dead; and unbequeath'd to them, to whom they should properly descend, i.e.a spice or particle of your disposition.

More

More mild, but yet more harmful, kind in hatred:
What comfortable hour canst thou name,
That ever grac'd' me in thy company?

K. Rich. Faith, none, but Humphry Houre,
that call'd your grace

To breakfast once, forth of my company.
If I be so disgracious in your sight,

Let me march on, and not offend you, madam.-
Strike up the drum.

Dutch. I pr'ythee, hear me speak.
K. Rich. You speak too bitterly.
Dutch. Hear me a word;

For I shall never speak to thee again.

K. Rich. So.

[dinance,

5

Of comfort, kingdom, kindred, freedom, life.
Whose hands soever lanc'd their tender hearts,
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,
My tongue should to thy ears not name my boys,
Till that my nails were anchor'd in thine eyes;
10 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.
K. Rich. Madam, so thrive fin my enterprize,
And dangerous success of bloody wars,
As I intend more good to you and yours,
Than ever you or yours by me were harm'd!
Queen. What good is cover'd with the face of
heaven,

20

Dutch. Either thou wilt die, by God's just or-15
Ere from this war thou turn a conqueror;
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!
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;
Shame serves' thy life, and doth thy death attend.
[Exit.
Queen. Though far more cause, yet much less

spirit to curse

Abides in me; I say Amen to her. [Going.
K. Rich. Stay, madam, I must speak a word

with you.

To be discover'd, that can do me good?
K. Rich. The advancement of your children,
gentle lady.
[heads.
Queen. Up to some scaffold, there to lose their
K. Rich. No, to the dignity and height of

fortune,

4

25 The high imperial type of this earth's glory.
Queen. Flatter my sorrows with report of it;
Tell me, what state, what dignity, what honour,
Canst thou demise to any child of mine? [all,
K. Rich. Even all I have; ay, and myself and
30 Will I withal endow a child of thine;
So in the Lethe of thy angry soul
Thou drownthe sad remembrance of thosewrongs,
Which, thou supposest, I have done to thee.
Queen. Be brief, lest that the process of thy
kindness

Queen. I have no more sons of the royal blood, For thee to murder: for my daughters, Richard, 35| They shall be praying nuns, not weeping queens;| And therefore level not to hit their lives."

K.Rich. You have a daughter call'd-Elizabeth, Virtuous and fair, royal and gracious.

[live,

Queen. And must she die for this? O, let her 40
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,
I will confess she was not Edward's daughter.
K. Rich. Wrong not her birth, she is of royal
blood.

45

Queen. To save her life, I'll say-she is not so.
K, Rich. Her life is safest only in her birth.
Queen. And only in that safety dy'd her brothers. 50
K. Rich. Lo, at their births good stars were
[contrary.

opposite.

Queen. No, to their lives bad friends were
K. Rich. All unavoided is the doom of destiny.
Queen. True, when avoided grace makes destiny:55
My babes were destin'd to a fairer death,
If grace had bless'd thee with a fajrer life.

K. Rich. You speak, as if that I had slain my
cousins.
[cozen'd
Queen. Cousins, indeed; and by their uncle 60

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I mean, that with my soul I love thy daughter,
And do intend to make her queen of England.
Queen, Well then, who dost thou mean shall be

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1i.e. bless'd, or made me happy. 2 Mr. Steevens remarks, that this may probably be an allusion to some affair of gallantry of which the Dutchess had been suspected; or, that the poet's fondness for a quibble may perhaps have induced him at once to personify and christen that hour of the day which summon'd his mother to breakfast. 1i. e. accompanies. i. e. exhibition, shew. A pair

Uu3

5

A pair of bleeding hearts; thereon engrave,
Edward, and York; then, haply, will she 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 brothers' bodies,
And bid her wipe her weeping eyes withal,
If this inducement move her not to love,
Send her a letter of thy noble deeds;
Tell her, thou mad'st away her uncle Clarence, 10
Her uncle Rivers; ay, and, for her sake,
Mad'st quick conveyance with her good aunt
[the way

Anne.

K. Rich. You mock me, madam; this is not
To win your daughter.

Queen. There is no other way;
Unless thou could'st put on some other shape,
And not be Richard that hath done all this.

15

K. Rich. Say, that I did all this for love of her?
Queen. Nay, then indeed, she cannot chuse but 20
hate thee,

Having bought love with such a bloody spoil '.
K. Rich. Look, what is done cannot be now
amended:

Men shall deal unadvisedly sometimes, Which after-hours give leisure to repent.

If I did take the kingdom from your sons,

To inake amends, I'll give it to your daughter.
If I have kill'd the issue of your womb,
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,
Even of your metal, of your very blood;
Of all one pain, save for a night of groans
Endur'd of her, for whom you bid like sorrow.
Your children were vexation to your youth,
But mine shall be a comfort to your age.
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,
Leads discontented steps in foreign soil,
This fair alliance quickly shall call home
To high promotions and great dignity.
Theking,thatcalls yourbeauteousdaughter-wife,
Familiarly shall call thy Dorset-brother;
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,
Shall come again, transform'd to orient pearl;
Advantaging their loan, with interest
Of ten times double gain of happiness.

25

30

35

40

145

50

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Queen. That at her hands, which the king's
King forbids.
[queen.
K. Rich. Say, she shall be a high and mighty
Queen. To wail the title, as her mother doth.
K. Rich. Say, I will love her everlastingly.
Queen. But how long shall that title, ever, last?
K. Rich. Sweetly in force unto her fair life's end.
Queen. But how long fairly shall her sweet life

low.

told.

last? [it. K.Rich. As long as heaven, and nature, lengthens Queen. As long as hell, and Richard, likes of it. K, Rich. Say, I, her sov'reign, am her subject [sov'reignty. Queen. But she, your subject, loaths such K. Rich. Be eloquent in my behalf to her. Queen. An honest tale speeds best, being plainly [ving tale. K. Rich. Then, in plain terms tell her my loQueen. Plain, and not honest, is too harsh a style. K. Rich. Your reasons are too shallow and too quick. [dead;— Queen. O, no, my reasons are too deep and Two deep and dead, poor infants, in their graves. K. Rich. Harp not on that string, madam; that [break. Queen. Harp on it still shall I, 'till heart-strings K. Rich. Now, by my george, my garter, and

is past.

my crown, [usurp'd. Queen. Profan'd, dishonour'd, and the third K. Rich. I swear.

Queen. By nothing; for this is no oath. The

george, profan'd, hath lost his holy honour; The garter, blemish'd, pawn'd his knightly virtue; 55 The crown, usurp'd, disgrac'd his kingly glory: If something thou wouldst swear to be believ'd, Swear then by something that thou hast not wrong'd.

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60

K. Rich. Now by the world,

Queen. 'Tis full of thy foul wrongs.

1i. e. havock. 2 Bid is in the past sense from bide. Levitical law. See Leviticus xviii. 14.

1.

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