SCENE III. Pomfret. Before the Castle. Enter RATCLIFF, with a Guard, conducting RIVERS, GREY, and VAUGHAN, to Execution. Rat. Come, bring forth the prisoners. Riv. Sir Richard Ratcliff, let me tell thee this,To-day, shalt thou behold a subject die, For truth, for duty, and for loyalty. Grey. God keep the prince from all the pack of you! A knot you are of damned blood-suckers. Vaugh. You live, that shall cry woe for this hereafter. Rat. Despatch; the limit of your lives is out. Riv. O Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison, Fatal and ominous to noble peers! Within the guilty closure of thy walls, Richard the second here was hack'd to death: And, for more slander to thy dismal seat, We give thee up our guiltless blood to drink. When she exclaim'd on Hastings, you, and I, Then curs'd she Richard:-O, remember, God, and ended. Riv. Come, Grey,—come, Vaughan,—let us here embrace: Farewell, until we meet again in heaven. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. London. A Room in the Tower. BUCKINGHAM, STANLEY, HASTINGS, the Bishop of Ely, CATESBY, LOVEL, and Others, sitting at a Table: Officers of the Council attending. Hast. Now, noble peers, the cause why we are met Is to determine of the coronation: In God's name, speak, when is the royal day? Who is most inward with the noble duke? Buck. We know each other's faces: for our hearts, He knows no more of mine, than I of yours; I have not sounded him, nor he deliver'd His gracious pleasure any way therein: 7 and wants but nomination.] i. e. the only thing wanting, is appointment of a particular day for the ceremony. 8 inward- i. e. intimate, confidential. But you, my noble lord, may name the time; Enter GLOSTer. Ely. In happy time, here comes the duke himself. Glo. My noble lords and cousins, all, good mor row: I have been long a sleeper; but, I trust, His lordship knows me well, and loves me well.— Ely. Marry, and will, my lord, with all my heart. [Exit ELY. Glo. Cousin of Buckingham, a word with you. [Takes him aside. Catesby hath sounded Hastings in our business; And finds the testy gentleman so hot, That he will lose his head, ere give consent, His master's child, as worshipfully he terms it, Shall lose the royalty of England's throne. Had you not come upon your cue,] This expression is borrowed from the theatre. The cue, queue, or tail of a speech, consists of the last words, which are the token for an entrance or answer. To come on the cue, therefore, is to come at the proper time. 'I saw good strawberries-] The reason why the Bishop was despatched on this errand, is not clearer in Holinshed, from whom Shakspeare adopted the circumstances, than in this scene, where it is introduced. Buck. Withdraw yourself awhile, I'll go with you. [Exeunt GLOSTER, and BUCKINGHAM. Stan. We have not yet set down this day of triumph. To-morrow, in my judgment, is too sudden Re-enter Bishop of Ely. Ely. Where is my lord protector? I have sent For these strawberries. Hast. His grace looks cheerfully and smooth this morning; There's some conceit or other likes him well, Hast. Marry, that with no man here he is offended; For, were he, he had shown it in his looks. Re-enter GLOSTER and BUCKINGHAM. Glo. I pray you all, tell me what they deserve, Hast. The tender love I bear your grace, my lord, Glo. Then be your eyes the witness of their evil, • There's some conceit or other] i. e. pleasant idea or fancy. Look how I am bewitch'd; behold mine arm Glo. If! thou protector of this damned strumpet, Lovel, and Catesby, look, that it be done; [Exeunt Council, with GLOSTER and BUCK INGHAM. Hast. Woe, woe, for England! not a whit for me; Three times to-day my foot-cloth horse did stumble,3 Cate. Despatch, my lord, the duke would be at dinner; Make a short shrift, he longs to see your head. Three times to-day my foot-cloth horse did stumble.] To stumble was anciently esteem'd a bad omen. The housings of a horse, and sometimes a horse himself, were anciently denominated a foot-cloth. |