HARVARO COLLEGE LIBRARY
FROM THE BEQUEST OF EVERT JANSEN WENDELL
1918
King Edward the Fourth.
Edward, prince of Wales, afterwards King
Edward v.
Sons to the king.
Richard, duke of York.
George, duke of Clarence,
Richard,
duke of Gloster, afterwards Brothers to the king.
King Richard III.
A young Son of Clarence.
Henry, earl of Richmond, afterwards King Henry VII.
Cardinal Bourchier, archbishop of Canterbury.
Thomas Rotheram, archbishop of York.
John Morton, bishop of Ely.
Duke of Buckingham.
Duke of Norfolk: Earl of Surrey, his son.
Earl Rivers, brother to king Edward's queen :
Marquis of Dorset, and Lord Grey, her sons.
Earl of Oxford. Lord Hastings. Lord Stanley. Lord Lovel.
Sir Thomas Vaughan. Sir Richard Ratcliff.
Sir William Catesby. Sir James Tyrrel.
Sir James Blount. Sir Walter Herbert.
Sir Robert Brakenbury, lieutenant of the Tower.
Christopher Urswick, a priest. Another priest.
Lord Mayor of London. Sheriff of Wiltshire.
Elizabeth, qucen of king Edward IV.
Margaret, widow of king Henry VI.
Duchess of York, mother to king Edward IV., Clarence, and
Gloster.
Lady Anne, widow of Edward, prince of Wales, son to king
Henry VI.; afterwards married to the Duke of Gloster.
A young Daughter of Clarence.
Lords and other attendants; two Gentlemen, a Pursuivant,
Scrivener, Citizens, Murderers, Messengers, Ghosts, Sola diers, &c.
Scene, England.
SCENE I. London. A street.
Enter Gloster. Glo. Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorigys summer by this sun of York; And all the clouds, that lour'd upon our house, In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. Now.are our brows bound with victorious wreaths; Our bruised arms hung up for monuments ; Our stern alarums chang’d to merry meetings, Our dreadful marches to delightful measures*. Grim-visag'd war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front; And now,-instead of mounting barbedt steeds, To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber, To the lascivious pleasing of a lute. Byt 1,--that am not shap'd for sportive tricks, Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass; I, that am rudely stamp'd and want loye's majesty, To strut before a wanton anıbling nymph; I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion, Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, Deform’d, unfinish’d, sent before my time Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
† Armed.
And that so lamely and unfashionable,
That dogs bark at me, as I halt by them ;-
Why I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time;
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun,
And descant on mine own deformity;
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain,
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Plots have I laid, inductions* dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels, and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence, and the king,
In deadly hate, the one against the other :
And, if king Edward be as true and just,
As I am subtle, false, and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up :
About a prophecy, which says that G
Of Edward's heirs, the murderer shall be.
Dive, thoughts, down to my soul! here Clarence
comes.
Enter Clarence, guarded, and Brakenbury.
Brother, good day: What means this armed guard
That waits upon your grace?
Clar.
His majesty,
Tendering my person's safety, hath appointed
This conduct to convey me to the Tower.
Glo. Upon what cause ?
Because my name is-George.
Glo. Alack, my lord, that fault is none of yours;
He should, for that, commit your godfathers :--
O, belike, his majesty hath some intent,
That
you shall be new christen’d in the Tower. But what's the matter, Clarence? may I know?
Clar. Yea, Richard, when I know; for I protest, As yet I do not : But, as I can learn, He hearkens after prophecies, and dreams; And from the cross-row plucks the letter G,
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