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SCENE II.

Enter a Meffenger to the Door of Hastings.

Mef. My Lord, my Lord.

Haft. Who knocks?

Mef. One from the Lord Stanly.

Haft. What is't a Clock?

Mef. Upon the ftroak of four.

Enter Lord Haftings.

Haft. Cannot my Lord Stanly fleep thefe tedious Nights? Mef. So it appears by what I have to say:

Firft, he commends him to your noble Self.

Haft. What then?

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Mef. Then certifies your Lordship, that this Night
He dreamt the Boar had rafed off his Helm:
Befides, he fays there are two Councils kept;
And that may be determin'd at the one,

Which may make you and him to rue at th'other.
Therefore he fends to know your Lordship's pleasure,
If you will presently take Horfe with him,
And with all speed poft with him toward the North,
To fhun the danger that his Soul divines.

Haft. Go Fellow, go, return unto thy Lord,
Bid him not fear the feparated Council:
His Honour and my felf are at the one,
And at the other is my good Friend Catesby;
Where nothing can proceed that toucheth us,
Whereof I fhall not have Intelligence:

Tell him his Fears are fhallow without inftance;
And for his Dreams, I wonder he's fo fimple
To truft the mock'ry of unquiet Slumbers.
To fly the Boar, before the Boar pursues,
Were to incenfe the Boar to follow us,
And make purfuit where he did mean no chase.
Go, bid thy Mafter rife and come to me,
And we will both together to the Tower.
Where he shall fee the Boar will ufe us kindly.

Mef. I'll go, my Lord, and tell him what you fay. [Exit.

Enter

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Enter Catesby.

Catef. Many good morrows to my Noble Lord.
Haft. Good morrow, Catesby, you are early stirring:
What News, what News in this our tott'ring State?
Catef. It is a reeling World indeed, my Lord;
And I believe will never ftand upright,

'Till Richard wear the Garland of the Realm.
Haft. How! wear the Garland?

Doft thou mean the Crown?

Catef Ay, my good Lord.

Haft. I'll have this Crown of mine cut from my Shoulders,

Before I'll fee the Crown fo foul mifplac'd;

But canft thou guess that he doth aim at it?

Catef. Ay, on my Life, and hopes to find you forward

Upon his Party, for the gain thereof;

And thereupon he fends you this good News,
That this fame very Day your Enemies,
The Kindred of the Queen, muft die at Pomfret.
Haft. Indeed I am no mourner for that News,
Because they have been ftill my Adverfaries;
But that I'll give my Voice on Richard's Side,
To bar my Mafter's Heirs in true Defcent,
God knows I will not do it to the death.

Catef. God keep your Lordship in that gracious Mind.
Haft. But I fhall laugh at this a Twelve-month hence,
That they which brought me in my Master's Hate,
I live to look upon their Tragedy.

Well Catesby, e'er a Fortnight make me older,
I'll fend fome packing that yet think not on't.
Catef. 'Tis a vile thing to dye, my gracious Lord,
When Men are unprepar'd and look not for it.

Haft. Omonftrous, monftrous! and fo falls it out
With Rivers, Vaughan, Gray; and fo 'twill do
With fome Men elfe, that think themselves as safe
As thou and I, who, as thou know'st, are dear
To Princely Richard and to Buckingham.

Catef. The Princes both make high account of you-
For they account his Head upon the Bridge.
Haft. I know they do, and I have well deferv'd it.

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[Afide.

Enter

Enter Lord Stanley.

Come on, come on, where is your Boar-fpear, Man?
Fear you the Boar, and go fo unprovided?

Stan. My Lord, good morrow, good morrow, Catesby;
You may jeft on, but by the holy Rood,

I do not like these feveral Councils, I.

Haft. My Lord, I hold my Life as dear as yours, And never in my Days, I do protest,

Was it fo precious to me as 'tis now;

Think you, but that I know the State fecure,

I would be fo triumphant as I am?

Stan. The Lords at Pomfret, when they rode from London,

Were jocund, and fuppos'd their States were fure,

And they indeed had no cause to mistrust;

But yet you fee how foon the Day o'er-cast.

The fudden ftab of Rancor I mifdoubt,

Pray God, I fay, I prove a needlefs Coward.

What, fhall we toward the Tower? the Day is spent.
Haft. Come, come, have with

Wot ye what, my Lord,

you:

To day, the Lords you'talk of are beheaded.

Stan. They, for their Truth, might better wear their Heads, Than fome that have accus'd them wear their Hats.

But come, my Lord, let's away.

Enter a Purfuivant.

Haft. Go on before, I'll talk with this good Fellow.

[Exeunt Lord Stanley and Catesby. How now, Sirrah? how goes the World with thee? Purf. The better, that you Lordship please to ask. Haft. I tell thee Man, 'tis better with me now, Than when thou met'ft me laft where now we meet; Then was I going Prifoner to the Tower, By the Suggeftion of the Queen's Allies. But now I tell thee, keep it to thy felf, This Day thofe Enemies are put to death, And I in better State than e'er I was.

Purf. God hold it to your Honour's good Content. Haft. Gramercy Fellow; there drink that for me. [Throws him his Purfe.

Purf. I thank your Honour.

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[Exit Pursuivant.

Enter

Enter a Prieft.

Prieft. Well met, my Lord, I am glad to fee your Honour.
Haft. I thank thee, good Sir John, with all my Heart.
I am in your debt for your last Exercise;

Come the next Sabbath, and I will content you.
Prieft. I'll wait upon your Lordship.

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Enter Buckingham.

Buck. What, talking with a Prieft, Lord Chamberlain?
Your Friends at Pomfret, they do need the Prieft,
Your Honour hath no fhriving work in hand.

Haft. Good faith, and when I met this holy Man,
The Men you talk of came into my mind.
What, go you toward the Tower?

Buck. I do, my Lord, but long I cannot stay there:
I fhall return before your Lordship thence.

Haft. Nay, like enough, for I'll ftay Dinner there. Buck. And Supper too, although thou know'st it not. [ Aside. Come, will you go?

Haft. I'll wait upon your Lordship.

SCENE III.

[Exeunt.

Enter Sir Richard Ratcliff, with Halberds, carrying the
Nobles to Death at Pomfret.

Riv. Sir Richard Ratcliff, let me tell thee this,
To day fhalt thou behold a Subject dye
For Truth, for Duty, and for Loyalty.

Gray. God bless the Prince from all the pack of you,

A Knot you are of damned Blood-fuckers.

Vaugh. You live that fhall cry woe for this hereafter.
Rat. Dispatch, the limit of your Lives is out.

Riv. O Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody Prifon!
Fatal and ominous to Noble Peers,

Within the guilty closure of thy Walls
Richard the Second here was hackt to Death:
And for more flander to thy difmal Scar,
We give to thee our guiltless Blood to drink.

Gray. Now Margaret's Curfe is faln upon our Heads,
When the exclaim'd on Haftings, you and I,
For ftanding by, when Richard ftab'd her Son.

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Riv.

Riv. Then curs'd fhe Richard,
Then curs'd the Buckingham,

Then curs'd fhe Haftings. O remember God
To hear her Prayer for them, as now for us:
As for my Sifter and her Princely Sons,

Be fatisfy'd, dear God, with our true Blood,"
Which, as thou know'ft, unjuftly must be spilt.

Rat. Make hafte, the hour of Death is now expir'd. Riv. Come Gray, come Vaughan, let us here embrace; Farewel, until we meet again in Heaven.

SCENE IV.

[Exeunt.

Enter Buckingham, Derby, Haftings, Bishop of Ely, Norfolk, Ratcliff, Lovel, with others, at a Table.

Haft. Now Noble Peers, the cause why we are met
Is to determine of the Coronation:

In God's Name fpeak, when is the Royal Day?
Buck. Are all things ready for the Royal time?
Derby. They are and want but Nomination.
Ely. To Morrow then I judge a happy Day.
Buck Who knows the Lord Protector's Mind herein?
Who is moft inward with the Noble Duke?

Ely. Your Grace, we think, fhould fooneft know his Mind.
Buck. We know each others Faces; for our Hearts,

He knows no more of mine than I of yours,

Or I of his, my Lord, than you of mine:
Lord Haftings, you and he are near in Love.

Haft. I thank his Grace, I know he loves me well:
But for his purpofe in the Coronation,

I have not founded him, nor he deliver'd

His gracious pleasure any way therein:

But you, my Honourable Lord, may name the time,
And in the Duke's behalf I'll give my Voice,
Which I prefume he'll take in gentle part.

Enter Gloucester.

Ely. In happy time here comes the Duke himself.
Glo. My Noble Lords and Coufins all, good morrow;

I have been long a fleeper; but I trust

My abfence doth neglect no great Defign,

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