Richard III (Modern Library Classics) Read online

  ANNE Where is he?

  RICHARD Here.

  Spits at him

  Why dost thou spit at me?

  ANNE Would it were mortal poison, for thy sake.

  RICHARD Never came poison from so sweet a place.

  ANNE Never hung poison on a fouler toad.

  Out of my sight, thou dost infect mine eyes.

  RICHARD Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected mine.157

  ANNE Would they were basilisks158, to strike thee dead.

  RICHARD I would they were, that I might die159 at once,

  For now they kill me with a living death.

  Those eyes of thine from mine have drawn salt tears,

  Shamed their aspects162 with store of childish drops:

  These eyes, which never shed remorseful tear --

  No, when164 my father York and Edward wept,

  To hear the piteous moan that Rutland165 made

  When black-faced166 Clifford shook his sword at him,

  Nor when thy warlike father167, like a child,

  Told the sad story of my father's death,

  And twenty times made pause to sob and weep,

  That170 all the standers-by had wet their cheeks

  Like trees bedashed171 with rain: in that sad time,

  My manly eyes did scorn an humble172 tear.

  And what these sorrows could not thence exhale173,

  Thy beauty hath, and made them blind with weeping.

  I never sued175 to friend nor enemy:

  My tongue could never learn sweet smoothing176 word.

  But now thy beauty is proposed my fee177,

  My proud heart sues, and prompts my tongue to speak.

  She looks scornfully at him

  Teach not thy lip such scorn, for it was made

  For kissing, lady, not for such contempt.

  If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive,

  Lo, here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword,

  Gives her his sword

  Which if thou please to hide in this true breast.

  |Kneels|

  And let the soul forth that adoreth thee,

  I lay it naked to the deadly stroke

  And humbly beg the death upon my knee.

  He lays his breast open: she offers at [it] with his sword

  Nay, do not pause, for I did kill King Henry --

  But 'twas thy beauty that provoked me.

  Nay, now dispatch: 'twas I that stabbed young Edward --

  But 'twas thy heavenly face that set me on.190

  She falls the sword

  Take up the sword again, or take up me.191

  ANNE Arise, dissembler.192 Though I wish thy death,

  I will not be thy executioner.

  RICHARD Then bid me kill myself, and I will do it.

  Takes his sword back

  ANNE I have already.

  RICHARD That was in thy rage:

  Speak it again, and even with the word,

  This hand, which for thy love did kill thy love,

  Shall for thy love kill a far truer love.199

  To both their deaths shalt thou be accessory.

  ANNE I would I knew thy heart.

  RICHARD 'Tis figured in202 my tongue.

  ANNE I fear me both are false.

  RICHARD Then never man was true.

  ANNE Well, well, put up your sword.

  RICHARD Say, then, my peace is made.

  ANNE That shalt thou know hereafter.

  RICHARD But shall I live in hope?

  ANNE All men, I hope, live so.

  RICHARD Vouchsafe to wear this ring.

  Puts a ring on her

  Look how my ring encompasseth thy finger.

  Even so212 thy breast encloseth my poor heart:

  Wear both of them, for both of them are thine.

  And if thy poor devoted servant may

  But beg one favour at thy gracious hand,

  Thou dost confirm his happiness for ever.

  ANNE What is it?

  RICHARD That it may please you leave these sad designs

  To him that hath most cause to be a mourner,

  And presently repair to Crosby House220,

  Where after I have solemnly interred

  At Chertsey monast'ry this noble king,

  And wet his grave with my repentant tears --

  I will with all expedient duty224 see you.

  For divers unknown225 reasons, I beseech you,

  Grant me this boon.226

  ANNE With all my heart, and much it joys me too,

  To see you are become so penitent.--

  Tressell and Berkeley229, go along with me.

  RICHARD Bid me farewell.

  ANNE 'Tis more than you deserve,

  But since you teach me how to flatter you,

  Imagine I have said farewell already.

  Exeunt two [Tressell and Berkeley] with Anne

  GENTLEMEN Towards Chertsey, noble lord?

  RICHARD No, to Whitefriars.235 There attend my coming.

  Exit corpse [borne by the other gentlemen]

  Was ever woman in this humour236 wooed?

  Was ever woman in this humour won?

  I'll have her, but I will not keep her long.

  What? I, that killed her husband and his father,

  To take her in her heart's extremest hate,

  With curses in her mouth, tears in her eyes,

  The bleeding witness of my hatred by242,

  Having God, her conscience, and these bars243 against me,

  And I no friends to back my suit withal244,

  But the plain devil and dissembling looks?

  And yet to win her, all the world to nothing?246

  Ha!

  Hath she forgot already that brave248 prince,

  Edward, her lord, whom I, some three months since,

  Stabbed in my angry mood at Tewkesbury?250

  A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman,

  Framed in the prodigality of nature252,

  Young, valiant, wise, and, no doubt, right royal253,

  The spacious world cannot again afford.

  And will she yet abase her eyes on me,

  That cropped the golden prime256 of this sweet prince,

  And made her widow to a woeful bed?

  On me, whose all not equals Edward's moiety?258

  On me, that halts and am misshapen259 thus?

  My dukedom to a beggarly denier!260

  I do mistake my person all this while.

  Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot,

  Myself to be a marv'llous proper263 man.

  I'll be at charges for264 a looking-glass,

  And entertain a score or two of265 tailors

  To study fashions to adorn my body.

  Since I am crept in favour with myself,

  I will maintain it with some little cost.

  But first I'll turn yon fellow in269 his grave,

  And then return lamenting to my love.

  Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass271,

  That I may see my shadow272 as I pass.

  Exit

  Act 1 Scene 3

  running scene 2

  Enter [Elizabeth] the Queen Mother, Lord Rivers and Lord Grey

  RIVERS Have patience, madam. There's no doubt his majesty

  Will soon recover his accustomed health.

  To Queen Elizabeth

  GREY In that you brook it ill3, it makes him worse:

  Therefore, for God's sake, entertain good comfort4,

  And cheer his grace with quick and merry eyes.

  QUEEN ELIZABETH If he were dead, what would betide on6 me?

  GREY No other harm but loss of such a lord.

  QUEEN ELIZABETH The loss of such a lord includes8 all harms.

  GREY The heavens have blessed you with a goodly9 son

  To be your comforter when he is gone.

  QUEEN ELIZABETH Ah, he is young, and his minority

  Is put unto the trust of Ri
chard Gloucester,

  A man that loves not me, nor none of you.

  RIVERS Is it concluded he shall be Protector?14

  QUEEN ELIZABETH It is determined, not concluded yet:

  But so it must be, if the king miscarry.16

  Enter Buckingham and [Stanley, Earl of] Derby

  GREY Here come the lords of Buckingham and Derby.

  BUCKINGHAM Good time of day unto your royal grace.

  DERBY God make your majesty joyful as you have been.

  QUEEN ELIZABETH The Countess Richmond, good my20 lord of Derby,

  To your good prayer will scarcely say amen.

  Yet, Derby, notwithstanding she's your wife,

  And loves not me, be you, good lord, assured

  I hate not you for her proud arrogance.

  DERBY I do beseech you either not believe

  The envious26 slanders of her false accusers,

  Or, if she be accused on true report,

  Bear with her weakness, which I think proceeds

  From wayward29 sickness and no grounded malice.

  QUEEN ELIZABETH Saw you the king today, my lord of Derby?

  DERBY But now the Duke of Buckingham and I

  Are come from visiting his majesty.

  QUEEN ELIZABETH What likelihood of his amendment, lords?

  BUCKINGHAM Madam, good hope: his grace speaks cheerfully.

  QUEEN ELIZABETH God grant him health. Did you confer with him?

  BUCKINGHM Ay, madam. He desires to make atonement36

  Between the Duke of Gloucester and your brothers37,

  And between them and my Lord Chamberlain,

  And sent to warn39 them to his royal presence.

  QUEEN ELIZABETH Would all were well! But that will never be.

  I fear our happiness41 is at the height.

  Enter Richard [with Hastings and Dorset]

  RICHARD They do me wrong, and I will not endure it.

  Who is it that complains unto the king

  That I, forsooth, am stern44 and love them not?

  By holy Paul, they love his grace but lightly45

  That fill his ears with such dissentious46 rumours.

  Because I cannot flatter and look fair47,

  Smile in men's faces, smooth, deceive and cog48,

  Duck with French nods and apish49 courtesy,

  I must be held a rancorous enemy.

  Cannot a plain51 man live and think no harm,

  But thus his simple truth must be abused

  By silken, sly, insinuating jacks?53

  GREY To who in all this presence54 speaks your grace?

  RICHARD To thee, that hast nor honesty nor grace.55

  When have I injured thee? When done thee wrong?

  Or thee? Or thee? Or any of your faction?

  A plague upon you all! His royal grace --

  Whom God preserve better than you would wish --

  Cannot be quiet scarce a breathing-while60,

  But you must trouble him with lewd61 complaints.

  QUEEN ELIZABETH Brother of Gloucester, you mistake the matter.

  The king, on his own royal disposition,

  And not provoked by any suitor else,

  Aiming, belike65, at your interior hatred,

  That in your outward action shows itself

  Against my children, brothers, and myself,

  Makes him to send68, that he may learn the ground.

  RICHARD I cannot tell. The world is grown so bad

  That wrens70 make prey where eagles dare not perch.

  Since every Jack became a gentleman,

  There's many a gentle person made a jack.

  QUEEN ELIZABETH Come, come, we know your meaning, brother Gloucester:

  You envy my advancement and my friends'.74

  God grant we never may have need of you.

  RICHARD Meantime, God grants that I have need of you.

  Our brother77 is imprisoned by your means,

  Myself disgraced, and the nobility

  Held in contempt, while great promotions

  Are daily given to ennoble those

  That scarce some two days since were worth a noble.81

  QUEEN ELIZABETH By him that raised me to this careful82 height

  From that contented hap83 which I enjoyed,

  I never did incense his majesty

  Against the Duke of Clarence, but have been

  An earnest advocate to plead for him.

  My lord, you do me shameful injury,

  Falsely to draw me in these vile suspects.88

  RICHARD You may deny that you were not the mean

  Of my lord Hastings' late90 imprisonment.

  RIVERS She may, my lord, for--

  RICHARD She may, Lord Rivers? Why, who knows not so?

  She may do more, sir, than denying that.

  She may help you to many fair preferments94,

  And then deny her aiding hand therein,

  And lay those honours on your high desert.96

  What may she not? She may, ay, marry97, may she--

  RIVERS What, marry, may she?

  RICHARD What, marry, may she? Marry with a king,

  A bachelor and a handsome stripling100 too.

  Iwis your grandam101 had a worser match.

  QUEEN ELIZABETH My lord of Gloucester, I have too long borne

  Your blunt upbraidings and your bitter scoffs.

  By heaven, I will acquaint his majesty

  Of those gross105 taunts that oft I have endured.

  I had rather be a country servant-maid

  Than a great queen, with this condition,

  To be so bated, scorned and stormed at.

  Enter old Queen Margaret [unseen by the others]

  Small joy have I in being England's queen.

  Speaks aside throughout

  QUEEN MARGARET And lessened be that small, God, I beseech him!

  Thy honour, state and seat111 is due to me.

  To Queen Elizabeth

  RICHARD What? Threat112 you me with telling of the king?

  I will avouch't113 in presence of the king.

  I dare adventure114 to be sent to th'Tower.

  'Tis time to speak, my pains115 are quite forgot.

  QUEEN MARGARET Out116, devil! I do remember them too well:

  Thou kill'dst my husband Henry in the Tower,

  And Edward, my poor son, at Tewkesbury.

  To Queen Elizabeth

  RICHARD Ere119 you were queen, ay, or your husband king,

  I was a packhorse120 in his great affairs,

  A weeder-out of his proud121 adversaries,

  A liberal rewarder of his friends.

  To royalize his blood, I spent mine own.

  QUEEN MARGARET Ay, and much better blood than his or thine.

  RICHARD In all which time you and your husband Grey

  Were factious for126 the House of Lancaster.--

  And, Rivers, so were you.-- Was not your husband127

  In Margaret's battle128 at St Albans slain?

  Let me put in your minds, if you forget,

  What you have been ere this130, and what you are:

  Withal131, what I have been, and what I am.

  QUEEN MARGARET A murd'rous villain, and so still thou art.

  RICHARD Poor Clarence did forsake his father133, Warwick,

  Ay, and forswore himself134 -- which Jesu pardon! --

  QUEEN MARGARET Which God revenge!

  RICHARD To fight on Edward's party for the crown.

  And for his meed137, poor lord, he is mewed up.

  I would to God my heart were flint, like Edward's,

  Or Edward's soft and pitiful139, like mine.

  I am too childish-foolish140 for this world.

  QUEEN MARGARET Hie141 thee to hell for shame, and leave this world,

  Thou cacodemon!142 There thy kingdom is.

  RIVERS My lord of Gloucester, in those busy days

  Which here you urge144 to prove us enemies,

&nbs
p; We followed then our lord, our sovereign king.

  So should we you, if you should be our king.

  RICHARD If I should be? I had rather be a pedlar.

  Far be it from my heart, the thought thereof.

  QUEEN ELIZABETH As little joy, my lord, as you suppose

  You should enjoy were you this country's king,

  As little joy you may suppose in me,

  That I enjoy, being the queen thereof.

  QUEEN MARGARET A little joy enjoys the queen thereof,

  For I am she, and altogether joyless.

  I can no longer hold me patient.--

  Comes forward

  Hear me, you wrangling pirates, that fall out

  In sharing that which you have pilled157 from me.

  Which of you trembles not that looks on me?

  If not, that I am queen, you bow like subjects159,

  Yet that, by you deposed, you quake like rebels.

  To Richard

  Ah, gentle villain161, do not turn away.

  RICHARD Foul wrinkled witch, what mak'st thou162 in my sight?

  QUEEN MARGARET But repetition of what thou hast marred163,

  That will I make164 before I let thee go.

  RICHARD Wert thou not banished on pain of death?

  QUEEN MARGARET I was, but I do find more pain in banishment

  Than death can yield me here by my abode.167

  A husband and a son thou ow'st to me,

  And thou169 a kingdom; all of you allegiance.

  The sorrow that I have, by right is yours,

  And all the pleasures you usurp are mine.

  RICHARD The curse my noble father laid on thee172,

  When thou didst crown his warlike brows with paper

  And with thy scorns drew'st rivers from his eyes,

  And then, to dry them, gav'st the duke a clout175

  Steeped in the faultless blood of pretty Rutland176 --

  His curses then, from bitterness of soul

  Denounced against thee, are all fall'n upon thee,

  And God, not we, hath plagued179 thy bloody deed.

  QUEEN ELIZABETH So just is God, to right the innocent.

  HASTINGS O, 'twas the foulest deed to slay that babe181,

  And the most merciless that e'er was heard of!

  RIVERS Tyrants themselves wept when it was reported.

  DORSET No man but prophesied184 revenge for it.

  BUCKINGHAM Northumberland, then present, wept to see it.

  QUEEN MARGARET What? Were you snarling all before I came,

  Ready to catch187 each other by the throat,

  And turn you all your hatred now on me?

  Did York's dread curse prevail so much with heaven?

  That Henry's death, my lovely Edward's death,

  Their kingdom's loss, my woeful banishment,

  Should all but answer for that peevish192 brat?

  Can curses pierce the clouds and enter heaven?

  Why then give way, dull clouds, to my quick194 curses.

  Though not by war, by surfeit195 die your king,

  As ours by murder, to make him a king.--

  To Elizabeth

  Edward thy son, that now is Prince of Wales,

  For Edward our son, that was Prince of Wales,