Q. Eliz. O, no, my reasons are too deep and dead ;Too deep and dead, poor infants, in their graves. K. Rich. Harp not on that string, madam; that is past. Q. Eliz. Harp on it still shall I, till heart-strings break. K.Rich.Now, by my George, my garter, and my crown— Q. Eliz. Profan'd, dishonour'd, and the third usurp❜d. K. Rich. I swear. Q. Eliz. By nothing; for this is no oath. Thy George, profan'd, hath lost his holy honour; Q. Eliz. 'Tis full of thy foul wrongs. Q. Eliz. Thy life hath that dishonour'd. Q. Eliz. Thyself is self-misus'd. Q. Eliz. God's wrong is most of all. K. Rich. By the time to come. Q. Eliz. That thou hast wronged in the time o'erpast; For I myself have many tears to wash Hereafter time, for time past, wrong'd by thee. The children live, whose parents thou hast slaughter'd, The parents live, whose children thou hast butcher'd, K. Rich. As I intend to prosper, and repent! Heaven, and fortune, bar me happy hours! To my proceeding, if, with pure heart's love, I tender not thy beauteous princely daughter! Plead what I will be, not what I have been ; Q. Eliz. Shall I be tempted of the devil thus ? K. Rich. Ay, if your self's remembrance wrong yourself. Q. Eliz. But thou didst kill my children. K. Rich. But in your daughter's womb I bury them : Q. Eliz. Shall I go win my daughter to thy will? And you shall understand from me her mind. K. Rich. Bear her my true love's kiss, and so farewell. [Kissing her. Exit Q. ELIZ. Relenting fool, and shallow, changing-woman! How now? what news? Enter RATCLIFF ; CATESBY following. Rat. Most mighty sovereign, on the western coast Throng many doubtful hollow-hearted friends, [5] Such was the real character of this queen dowager, who would have married her daughter to king Richard, and did all in her power to alienate the Marquis of Dorset, her son, from the Earl of Richmond. STEEVENS. K.Ric. Some light-foot friend post to the duke of Norfolk: -Ratcliff, thyself,-or Catesby; where is he? Cate. Here, my good lord. K. Rich. Catesby, fly to the duke. Cate. I will, my lord, with all convenient haste. Why stay'st thou here, and go'st not to the duke ? K. Rich. O, true, good Catesby ;-Bid him levy straight Cate. I go. [Exit. Rat. What, may it please you, shall I do at Salisbury? Enter STANLEY. -Stanley, what news with you? Stan. None good, my liege, to please you with the Nor none so bad, but well may be reported. [hearing; K. Rich. Heyday, a riddle! neither good nor bad! When thou may'st tell thy tale the nearest way? Stan. Richmond is on the seas. K. Rich. There let him sink, and be the seas on him! White-liver'd runagate, what doth he there? Stan. I know not, mighty sovereign, but by guess. Stan. Stirr'd up by Dorset, Buckingham, and Morton, He makes for England, here to claim the crown. K. Rich. Is the chair empty? is the sword unsway'd? Is the king dead? the empire unpossess'd? What heir of York is there alive, but we? And who is England's king, but great York's heir? Stan. Unless for that, my liege, 1 cannot guess. [6] Richard's precipitation and confusion is in this scene very happily represented by inconsistent orders, and sudden variations of opinion. JOHNSON. Stan. No, mighty liege; therefore mistrust me not. Are they not now upon the western shore, Stan. No, my good lord, my friends are in the north. K. Rich. Cold friends to me: What do they in the north, When they should serve their sovereign in the west? Stan. They have not been commanded, mighty king : Pleaseth your majesty to give me leave, I'll muster up my friends; and meet your grace, Stan. Most mighty sovereign, You have no cause to hold my friendship doubtful; I never was, nor never will be false. K.Rich. Well, go, muster men. But, hear you, leave behind Your son, George Stanley; look your heart be firm, Or else his head's assurance is but frail. Stan. So deal with him, as I prove true to you. [Exit. Enter a Messenger. Mes. My gracious sovereign, now in Devonshire, As I by friends am well advértised, Sir Edward Courtney, and the haughty prelate, Bishop of Exeter, his elder brother, With many more confederates, are in arms. Enter another Messenger. 2 Mes. In Kent, my liege, the Guilfords are in arms; And every hour more competitors? Flock to the rebels, and their power grows strong. Enter another Messenger. 3 Mes. My lord, the army of great BuckinghamK. Rich. Out on ye, owls! nothing but songs of death? [He strikes him There, take thou that, till thou bring better news. 3 Mes. The news I have to tell your majesty, Is, that, by sudden floods and fall of waters, Buckingham's army is dispers'd and scattered; And he himself wander'd away alone, No man knows whither. K. Rich. O, I cry you mercy: There is my purse, to cure that blow of thine. [7] That is, more opponents. JOHNSON. Hath any well-advised friend proclaim'd 3 Mes. Such proclamation hath been made, my liege. Enter another Messenger. 4 Mes. Sir Thomas Lovel, and lord marquis Dorset, 'Tis said, my liege, in Yorkshire are in arms. But this good comfort bring I to your highness,— The Bretagne navy is dispers'd by tempest: Richmond, in Dorsetshire, sent out a boat Unto the shore, to ask those on the banks, If they were his assistants, yea, or no ; Who answer'd him, they came from Buckingham Hois'd sail, and made his course again for Bretagne." Yet to beat down these 'rebels here at home.. Enter CATESBY. Cate. My liege, the duke of Buckingham is taken, That is the best news; That the Earl of Richmond Is with a mighty power landed at Milford, Is colder news, but yet they must be told. K. Rich. Away towards Salisbury; while we reason here, A royal battle might be won and lost :Some one take order, Buckingham be brought To Salisbury ;-the rest march on with me. SCENE V. [Exeunt. A room in Lord STANLEY's house. Enter Stanley, and Sir CHRISTOPHER URSWICK. Stan. Sir Christopher, tell Richmond this from me :That, in the sty of this most bloody boar, My son George Stanley is frank'd up in hold; [8] Henry Tudor Earl of Richmond, the eldest son of Edmund of Hadham Earl of Richmond, (who was half-brother to King Henry VI.) by Margaret, the only daughter of John the first duke of Somerset, who was grandson to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster, was carried by his uncle Jasper Earl of Pembroke immediately after the battle of Tewksbury into Britany, where he was kept in a kind of honourable custody by the Duke of Bretagne, and where he remained till the year 1484, when he made his escape and fled for protection to the French court. Being considered at that time as nearest in blood to King Henry VI. all the Lancastrian party looked up to him even in the life-time of King Edward IV. who was extremely jealous of him; and after Richard usurped the throne, they with more confidence supported Richmond's claim. The claim of Henry Duke of Buckingham was in some respects inferior to that of Richmond; for he was descended by his mother from Edmund the second Duke of Somerset, the younger brother of Duke John; by his father from Thomas Duke of Gloster, the younger brother of John of Gaunt: but whatever priority the Earl of Richmond might claim by his mother, he could not plead any title through his father, who in fact had no Lancastrian blood whatsoever; nor was his maternal title of the purest kind, for John the first Earl of Somerset was an illegitimate son of John of Gaunt. MALONE. |