King Richard III Part 11

Exeunt STANLEY and CATESBY How now, Hastings! How goes the world with thee?

PURSUIVANT. The better that your lords.h.i.+p please to ask.

HASTINGS. I tell thee, man, 'tis better with me now Than when thou met'st me last where now we meet: Then was I going prisoner to the Tower By the suggestion of the Queen's allies; But now, I tell thee-keep it to thyself- This day those enernies are put to death, And I in better state than e'er I was.

PURSUIVANT. G.o.d hold it, to your honour's good content!

HASTINGS. Gramercy, Hastings; there, drink that for me.

[Throws him his purse]

PURSUIVANT. I thank your honour. Exit

Enter a PRIEST

PRIEST. Well met, my lord; I am glad to see your honour.

HASTINGS. I thank thee, good Sir John, with all my heart.

I am in your debt for your last exercise; Come the next Sabbath, and I will content you.

[He whispers in his ear]

PRIEST. I'll wait upon your lords.h.i.+p.

Enter BUCKINGHAM

BUCKINGHAM. What, talking with a priest, Lord Chamberlain!

Your friends at Pomfret, they do need the priest: Your honour hath no shriving work in hand.

HASTINGS. Good faith, and when I met this holy man, The men you talk of came into my mind.

What, go you toward the Tower?

BUCKINGHAM. I do, my lord, but long I cannot stay there; I shall return before your lords.h.i.+p thence.

HASTINGS. Nay, like enough, for I stay dinner there.

BUCKINGHAM. [Aside] And supper too, although thou knowest it not.- Come, will you go?

HASTINGS. I'll wait upon your lords.h.i.+p. Exeunt

SCENE 3.

Pomfret Castle

Enter SIR RICHARD RATCLIFF, with halberds, carrying the n.o.bles, RIVERS, GREY, and VAUGHAN, to death

RIVERS. Sir Richard Ratcliff, let me tell thee this: To-day shalt thou behold a subject die For truth, for duty, and for loyalty.

GREY. G.o.d bless the Prince from all the pack of you!

A knot you are of d.a.m.ned blood-suckers.

VAUGHAN. You live that shall cry woe for this hereafter.

RATCLIFF. Dispatch; the limit of your lives is out.

RIVERS. O Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou b.l.o.o.d.y prison, Fatal and ominous to n.o.ble 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 to thee our guiltless blood to drink.

GREY. Now Margaret's curse is fall'n upon our heads, When she exclaim'd on Hastings, you, and I, For standing by when Richard stabb'd her son.

RIVERS. Then curs'd she Richard, then curs'd she Buckingham, Then curs'd she Hastings. O, remember, G.o.d, To hear her prayer for them, as now for us!

And for my sister, and her princely sons, Be satisfied, dear G.o.d, with our true blood, Which, as thou know'st, unjustly must be spilt.

RATCLIFF. Make haste; the hour of death is expiate.

RIVERS. Come, Grey; come, Vaughan; let us here embrace.

Farewell, until we meet again in heaven. Exeunt

SCENE 4

London. The Tower

Enter BUCKINGHAM, DERBY, HASTINGS, the BISHOP of ELY, RATCLIFF, LOVEL, with others and seat themselves at a table

HASTINGS. Now, n.o.ble peers, the cause why we are met Is to determine of the coronation.

In G.o.d's name speak-when is the royal day?

BUCKINGHAM. Is all things ready for the royal time?

DERBY. It is, and wants but nomination.

BISHOP OF ELY. To-morrow then I judge a happy day.

BUCKINGHAM. Who knows the Lord Protector's mind herein?

Who is most inward with the n.o.ble Duke?

BISHOP OF ELY. Your Grace, we think, should soonest know his mind.

BUCKINGHAM. We know each other's faces; for our hearts, He knows no more of mine than I of yours; Or I of his, my lord, than you of mine.

Lord Hastings, you and he are near in love.

HASTINGS. I thank his Grace, I know he loves me well; But for his purpose in the coronation I have not sounded him, nor he deliver'd His gracious pleasure any way therein.

But you, my honourable lords, may name the time; And in the Duke's behalf I'll give my voice, Which, I presume, he'll take in gentle part.

Enter GLOUCESTER

BISHOP OF ELY. In happy time, here comes the Duke himself.

GLOUCESTER. My n.o.ble lords and cousins an, good morrow.

I have been long a sleeper, but I trust My absence doth neglect no great design Which by my presence might have been concluded.

BUCKINGHAM. Had you not come upon your cue, my lord, WILLIAM Lord Hastings had p.r.o.nounc'd your part- I mean, your voice for crowning of the King.

GLOUCESTER. Than my Lord Hastings no man might be bolder; His lords.h.i.+p knows me well and loves me well.

My lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn I saw good strawberries in your garden there.

I do beseech you send for some of them.

BISHOP of ELY. Marry and will, my lord, with all my heart.

Exit GLOUCESTER. 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 wors.h.i.+pfully he terms it, Shall lose the royalty of England's throne.

BUCKINGHAM. Withdraw yourself awhile; I'll go with you.

Exeunt GLOUCESTER and BUCKINGHAM DERBY. We have not yet set down this day of triumph.

To-morrow, in my judgment, is too sudden; For I myself am not so well provided As else I would be, were the day prolong'd.

Re-enter the BISHOP OF ELY

BISHOP OF ELY. Where is my lord the Duke of Gloucester?

I have sent for these strawberries.

HASTINGS. His Grace looks cheerfully and smooth this morning; There's some conceit or other likes him well When that he bids good morrow with such spirit.

I think there's never a man in Christendom Can lesser hide his love or hate than he; For by his face straight shall you know his heart.

DERBY. What of his heart perceive you in his face By any livelihood he show'd to-day?

HASTINGS. Marry, that with no man here he is offended; For, were he, he had shown it in his looks.

Re-enter GLOUCESTER and BUCKINGHAM