And die ere men can say ‘God save the Queen’.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

Go, go, poor soul. I envy not thy glory.

To feed my humour, wish thyself no harm.

LADY ANNE

No? Why? When he that is my husband now

Came to me as I followed Henry’s corpse,

When scarce the blood was well washed from his

hands,

Which issued from my other angel husband

And that dear saint which then I weeping followed—

O when, I say, I looked on Richard’s face,

This was my wish: ‘Be thou’, quoth I, ‘accursed

For making me, so young, so old a widow,

And when thou wedd’st, let sorrow haunt thy bed;

And be thy wife—if any be so mad—

More miserable made by the life of thee

Than thou hast made me by my dear lord’s death.’

Lo, ere I can repeat this curse again,

Within so small a time, my woman’s heart

Grossly grew captive to his honey words

And proved the subject of mine own soul’s curse,

Which hitherto hath held mine eyes from rest—

For never yet one hour in his bed

Did I enjoy the golden dew of sleep,

But with his timorous dreams was still awaked.

Besides, he hates me for my father Warwick,

And will, no doubt, shortly be rid of me.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

Poor heart, adieu. I pity thy complaining.

LADY ANNE

No more than with my soul I mourn for yours.

DORSET

Farewell, thou woeful welcomer of glory.

LADY ANNE

Adieu, poor soul, that tak’st thy leave of it.

DUCHESS OF YORK

Go thou to Richmond, and good fortune guide thee.

⌈Exit Dorset⌉

Go thou to Richard, and good angels tend thee.

⌈Exeunt Anne, Stanley, and Clarence’s daughter⌉

Go thou to sanctuary, and good thoughts possess thee.

⌈Exit Elizabeth⌉

I to my grave, where peace and rest lie with me.

Eighty odd years of sorrow have I seen,

And each hour’s joy racked with a week of teen.

⌈Exit⌉

4.2 Sound a sennet. Enter King Richard in pomp, the Duke of Buckingham, Sir William Catesby, ⌈other nobles⌉, and a Page

KING RICHARD

Stand all apart.—Cousin of Buckingham.

BUCKINGHAM My gracious sovereign?

KING RICHARD Give me thy hand.

Sound ⌈a sennet⌉. Here Richard ascendeth the throne

Thus high by thy advice

And thy assistance is King Richard seated.

But shall we wear these glories for a day?

Or shall they last, and we rejoice in them?

BUCKINGHAM

Still live they, and for ever let them last.

KING RICHARD

Ah, Buckingham, now do I play the touch,

To try if thou be current gold indeed.

Young Edward lives. Think now what I would speak.

BUCKINGHAM Say on, my loving lord.

KING RICHARD

Why, Buckingham, I say I would be king.

BUCKINGHAM

Why, so you are, my thrice-renownèd liege.

KING RICHARD

Ha? Am I king? ‘Tis so. But Edward lives.

BUCKINGHAM

True, noble prince.

KING RICHARD

O bitter consequence,

That Edward still should live ‘true noble prince’.

Cousin, thou wast not wont to be so dull.

Shall I be plain? I wish the bastards dead,

And I would have it immediately performed.

What sayst thou now? Speak suddenly, be brief.

BUCKINGHAM Your grace may do your pleasure.

KING RICHARD

Tut, tut, thou art all ice. Thy kindness freezes.

Say, have I thy consent that they shall die?

BUCKINGHAM

Give me some little breath, some pause, dear lord,

Before I positively speak in this.

I will resolve you herein presently. Exit

CATESBY (to another, aside)

The King is angry. See, he gnaws his lip.

KING RICHARD (aside)

I will converse with iron-witted fools

And unrespective boys. None are for me

That look into me with considerate eyes.

High-reaching Buckingham grows circumspect.—

Boy.

PAGE My lord?

KING RICHARD

Know’st thou not any whom corrupting gold

Will tempt unto a close exploit of death?

PAGE

I know a discontented gentleman

Whose humble means match not his haughty spirit.

Gold were as good as twenty orators,

And will no doubt tempt him to anything.

KING RICHARD

What is his name?

PAGE

His name, my lord, is Tyrrell.

KING RICHARD

I partly know the man. Go call him hither, boy.

Exit Page

⌈Aside⌉ The deep-revolving, witty Buckingham

No more shall be the neighbour to my counsels.

Hath he so long held out with me untired,

And stops he now for breath? Well, be it so.

Enter Lord Stanley Earl of Derby

How now, Lord Stanley? What’s the news?

STANLEY Know, my loving lord,

The Marquis Dorset, as I hear, is fled

To Richmond, in those parts beyond the seas

Where he abides.

KING RICHARD

Come hither, Catesby. (Aside to Catesby) Rumour it abroad

That Anne, my wife, is very grievous sick.

I will take order for her keeping close.

Enquire me out some mean-born gentleman,

Whom I will marry straight to Clarence’ daughter.

The boy is foolish, and I fear not him.

Look how thou dream’st. I say again, give out

That Anne, my queen, is sick, and like to die.

About it, for it stands me much upon

To stop all hopes whose growth may damage me.

⌈Exit Catesby⌉

(Aside) I must be married to my brother’s daughter,

Or else my kingdom stands on brittle glass.

Murder her brothers, and then marry her?

Uncertain way of gain, but I am in

So far in blood that sin will pluck on sin.