Is this of hers!-Lord cardinal, will your grace If she deny,-lord Hastings, go with him, Anon expect him here. But if she be obdurate Of blessed sanctuary! Not for all this land, Buck. You are too senseless-obstinate, my lord, 2 Weigh it but with the grossness of this age, To those whose dealings have deserved the place, But sanctuary children, ne'er till now. Card. My lord, you shall o'errule my mind for Come on, lord Hastings, will you go with me? Hast. I go, my lord. Prince. Good lords, make all the speedy haste you [Exeunt Cardinal and HAST. may. Say, uncle Gloster, if our brother come, Where shall we sojourn till our coronation? Glo. Where it seems best unto your royal self. If I may counsel you, some day, or two, Your highness shall repose you at the Tower; Then where you please, and shall be thought most fit For your best health and recreation. 1 Ceremonious for superstitious; traditional for adherent to old customs. 2 Grossness here means plainness, simplicity. VOL. V. 8 Prince. I do not like the Tower, of any place.Did Julius Cæsar build that place, my lord? Glo. He did, my gracious lord, begin that place; Which, since, succeeding ages have reëdified. Prince. Is it upon record? or else reported Successively from age to age he built it? Buck. Upon record, my gracious lord. Prince. But say, my lord, it were not registered; Methinks the truth should live from age to age, As 'twere retailed' to all posterity, Even to the general all-ending day. Glo. So wise so young, they say, do ne'er live long. Prince. What say you, uncle? [Aside. Glo. I say, without charácters, fame lives long. Thus, like the formal 2 vice, Iniquity, I moralize two meanings in one word. [Aside. Prince. That Julius Cæsar was a famous man; With what his valor did enrich his wit, Glo. Short summers lightly 3 have a forward spring. [Aside. 1 i. e. recounted. Minsheu, in his Dictionary, 1617, besides the verb retail, in the mercantile sense, has the verb to retaile or retell. For a notice of the vice in old plays, see note on Twelfth Night, Act iv. Sc. 2. "He appears (says Mr. Gifford) to have been a perfect counterpart of the harlequin of the modern stage, and had a twofold office, to instigate the hero of the piece to wickedness, and, at the same time, to protect him from the devil, whom he was permitted to buffet and baffle with his wooden sword, till the process of the story required that both the protector and the protected should be carried off by the fiend, or the latter driven roaring from the stage by some miraculous interposition in favor of the repentant offender." 3 Commonly. Enter YORK, HASTINGS, and the Cardinal. Buck. Now, in good time, here comes the duke of York. Prince. Richard of York! how fares our loving brother? York. Well, my dread lord; so I must call you now. Prince. Ay, brother; to our grief, as it is yours. Too late he died, that might have kept that title, Which by his death hath lost much majesty. Glo. How fares our cousin, noble lord of York? York. I thank you, gentle uncle. O, my lord, You said that idle weeds are fast in growth. The prince my brother hath outgrown me far. Glo. He hath, my lord. York. And therefore is he idle? Glo. O, my fair cousin, I must not say so. York. Then is he more beholden to you, than I. Glo. He may command me, as my sovereign; you have power in me, as in a kinsman. York. I pray you, uncle, give me this dagger. Glo. My dagger, little cousin? with all my heart. Prince. A beggar, brother? But York. Of my kind uncle, that I know will give ; And, being but a toy, which is no grief to give. Glo. A greater gift than that I'll give my cousin. York. A greater gift! O, that's the sword to it? Glo. Ay, gentle cousin, were it light enough. York. Ŏ then, I see, you'll part but with light gifts. In weightier things you'll say a beggar, nay. Glo. It is too weighty for your grace to wear. York. I weigh it lightly, were it heavier.2 Glo. What, would you have my weapon, little lord? York. I would, that I might thank you as you call me. Glo. How? 1 Lately. 2 This taunting answer of the prince has been misinterpreted: he means to say, "I hold it cheap, or care but little for it, even were it heavier than it is." York. Little. Prince. My lord of York will still be cross in talk ;— Uncle, your grace knows how to bear with him. York. You mean to bear me, not to bear with me.Uncle, my brother mocks both you and me ; Because that I am little, like an ape, He thinks that you should bear me on your shoulders.1 Buck. With what a sharp, provided wit he reasons! To mitigate the scorn he gives his uncle, He prettily and aptly taunts himself. So cunning, and so young, is wonderful. Glo. My gracious lord, will't please you pass along? Myself, and my good cousin Buckingham, Will to your mother; to entreat of her To meet you at the Tower, and welcome you. York. What, will you go unto the Tower, my lord? York. Marry, my uncle Clarence' angry ghost; Glo. Nor none that live, I hope. Prince. An if they live, I hope, I need not fear. But come, my lord, and, with a heavy heart, Thinking on them, go I unto the Tower. [Exeunt Prince, YORK, HASTINGS, Cardinal, and Attendants. Buck. Think you, my lord, this little prating York Was not incensed by his subtle mother, To taunt and scorn you thus opprobriously? Glo. No doubt, no doubt. O, 'tis a parlous boy; Bold, quick, ingenious, forward, capable; He's all the mother's, from the top to toe. Come hither, gentle Catesby; thou art sworn 1 York alludes to the protuberance on Gloster's back, which was commodious for carrying burdens. As closely to conceal what we impart. Thou know'st our reasons urged upon the way ;- In the seat royal of this famous isle? Cate. He for his father's sake so loves the prince, That he will not be won to aught against him. Buck. What think'st thou then of Stanley? will not he? Cate. He will do all in all as Hastings doth. Buck. Well, then, no more but this; go, gentle And, as it were far off, sound thou lord Hastings, If thou dost find him tractable to us, Be thou so too; and so break off the talk, Wherein thyself shalt highly be employed. Glo. Commend me to lord William; tell him, Catesby, His ancient knot of dangerous adversaries To-morrow are let blood at Pomfret castle; And bid my friend, for joy of this good news, Give mistress Shore one gentle kiss the more. Buck. Good Catesby, go, effect this business soundly. Cate. My good lords both, with all the heed I can. Glo. Shall we hear from you, Catesby, ere we sleep? 1 "But the protectoure and the duke after they had sent to the lord cardinal, the lord Stanley, and the lord Hastings, then lord chamberlaine, with many other noblemen, to commune and devise about the coronation in one place, as fast were they in another place, contriving the contrarie to make the protectoure king. The lord Stanley, that was after earle of Darby, wisely mistrusted it, and said unto the lord Hastings that he much mislyked these two several councels."—Holinshed, from sir T. More. |