And equally indeed to all estates—

Yet know, whe‘er you accept our suit or no,

Your brother’s son shall never reign our king,

But we will plant some other in the throne,

To the disgrace and downfall of your house.

And in this resolution here we leave you.—

Come, citizens. ‘Swounds, I’ll entreat no more.

RICHARD GLOUCESTER

O do not swear, my lord of Buckingham.

⌈Exeunt Buckingham and some others⌉

CATESBY

Call him again, sweet prince. Accept their suit.

⌈ANOTHER⌉

If you deny them, all the land will rue it.

RICHARD GLOUCESTER

Will you enforce me to a world of cares?

Call them again.

Exit one or more

I am not made of stone,

But penetrable to your kind entreats,

Albeit against my conscience and my soul.

Enter Buckingham and the rest

Cousin of Buckingham, and sage, grave men,

Since you will buckle fortune on my back,

To bear her burden, whe’er I will or no,

I must have patience to endure the load.

But if black scandal or foul-faced reproach

Attend the sequel of your imposition,

Your mere enforcement shall acquittance me

From all the impure blots and stains thereof;

For God doth know, and you may partly see,

How far I am from the desire of this.

MAYOR

God bless your grace! We see it, and will say it.

RICHARD GLOUCESTER

In saying so, you shall but say the truth.

BUCKINGHAM

Then I salute you with this royal title:

Long live kind Richard, England’s worthy king!

⌈ALL BUT RICHARD⌉ Amen.

BUCKINGHAM

Tomorrow may it please you to be crowned?

RICHARD GLOUCESTER

Even when you please, for you will have it so.

BUCKINGHAM

Tomorrow then, we will attend your grace.

And so, most joyfully, we take our leave.

RICHARD GLOUCESTER (to the bishops)

Come, let us to our holy work again.—

Farewell, my cousin. Farewell, gentle friends.

Exeunt Richard and bishops above, the rest below

4.1 Enter Queen Elizabeth, the old Duchess of York, and Marquis Dorset at one door; Lady Anne (Duchess of Gloucester) with Clarence’s daughter at another door

DUCHESS OF YORK

Who meets us here? My niece Plantagenet,

Led in the hand of her kind aunt of Gloucester?

Now for my life, she’s wand’ring to the Tower,

On pure heart’s love, to greet the tender Prince.—

Daughter, well met.

LADY ANNE

God give your graces both 5

A happy and a joyful time of day.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

As much to you, good sister. Whither away?

LADY ANNE

No farther than the Tower, and—as I guess—

Upon the like devotion as yourselves:

To gratulate the gentle princes there.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

Kind sister, thanks. We’ll enter all together—

Enter from the Tower ⌈Brackenbury⌉ the Lieutenant

And in good time, here the Lieutenant comes.

Master Lieutenant, pray you by your leave,

How doth the Prince, and my young son of York?

BRACKENBURY

Right well, dear madam. By your patience,

I may not suffer you to visit them.

The King hath strictly charged the contrary.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

The King? Who’s that?

BRACKENBURY

I mean, the Lord Protector.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

The Lord protect him from that kingly title.

Hath he set bounds between their love and me?

I am their mother; who shall bar me from them?

DUCHESS OF YORK

I am their father’s mother; I will see them.

LADY ANNE

Their aunt I am in law, in love their mother;

Then bring me to their sights. I’ll bear thy blame,

And take thy office from thee on my peril.

BRACKENBURY

No, madam, no; I may not leave it so.

I am bound by oath, and therefore pardon me. Exit

Enter Lord Stanley Earl of Derby

STANLEY

Let me but meet you ladies one hour hence,

And I’ll salute your grace of York as mother

And reverend looker-on of two fair queens.

(To Anne) Come, madam, you must straight to

Westminster,

There to be crowned Richard’s royal queen.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

Ah, cut my lace asunder, that my pent heart

May have some scope to beat, or else I swoon

With this dead-killing news.

LADY ANNE

Despiteful tidings! O unpleasing news!

DORSET (to Anne)

Be of good cheer.—Mother, how fares your grace?

QUEEN ELIZABETH

O Dorset, speak not to me. Get thee gone.

Death and destruction dogs thee at thy heels.

Thy mother’s name is ominous to children.

If thou wilt outstrip death, go cross the seas,

And live with Richmond from the reach of hell.

Go, hie thee! Hie thee from this slaughterhouse,

Lest thou increase the number of the dead,

And make me die the thrall of Margaret’s curses:

‘Nor mother, wife, nor counted England’s Queen’.

STANLEY

Full of wise care is this your counsel, madam.

(To Dorset) Take all the swift advantage of the hours.

You shall have letters from me to my son

In your behalf, to meet you on the way.

Be not ta’en tardy by unwise delay.

DUCHESS OF YORK

O ill-dispersing wind of misery!

O my accursed womb, the bed of death!

A cockatrice hast thou hatched to the world,

Whose unavoided eye is murderous.

STANLEY (to Anne)

Come, madam, come. I in all haste was sent.

LADY ANNE

And I in all unwillingness will go.

O would to God that the inclusive verge

Of golden metal that must round my brow

Were red-hot steel, to sear me to the brains.

Anointed let me be with deadly venom,