As too triumphing, how mine enemies,
To-day at Pomfret bloodily were butcher'd,
And I myself secure in grace and favour.

O, Margaret, Margaret, now thy heavy curse
Is lighted on poor Hastings' wretched head.

Buck. Well, well, he was the covert'st shelter'd traitor

That ever liv'd.-Look you, my lord mayor,
Would you imagine, or almost believe,
(Were't not, that by great preservation

dinner;

Make a short shrift, he longs to see your head.

Hast. O momentary grace of mortal men, Which we more hunt for than the grace of God! Who builds his hope in air of your fair looks,' Lives like a drunken sailor on a mast; Ready, with every nod, to tumble down Into the fatal bowels of the deep.

Lov. Come, come, despatch; 'tis bootless to exclaim.

Hast. O, bloody Richard !--miserable England! I prophesy the fearful'st time to thee, That ever wretched age hath look'd upon. Come, lead me to the block, bear him my head; They smile at me, who shortly shall be dead.2

SCENE V. The Same. The Tower Walls. Enter GLOSTER and BUCKINGHAM, in rusty armour, and marvellous ill-favoured.

Glo. Come, cousin, canst thou quake, and change thy colour?

Murder thy breath in middle of a word,—
And then again begin, and stop again,
As if thou wert distraught, and mad with terror?
Buck. Tut, I can counterfeit the deep tragedian ;
Speak, and look back, and pry on every side,
Tremble and start at wagging of a straw,
Intending3 deep suspicion: ghastly looks
Are at my service, like enforced smiles;
And both are ready in their offices,
At any time, to grace my stratagems.
But what, is Catesby gone?

Glo. He is; and, see, he brings the mayor along.

Enter the Lord Mayor and Catesby. Buck. Let me alone to entertain him.-Lord mayɔr,

Glo. Look to the drawbridge there.
Buck.

Hark, hark! a drum.
Glo. Catesby, o'erlook the walls.
Buck. Lord mayor, the reason we have sent for

you,

Glo. Look back, defend thee, here are enemies. Buck. God and our innocence defend and guard us!

Enter LovEL and RATCLIFF,4 with HASTINGS's Head

Glo. Be patient, they are friends; Ratcliff, and Lovel.

Lov. Here is the head of that ignoble traitor, The dangerous and unsuspected Hastings. Glo. So dear I lov'd the man, that I must weep. I took him for the plainest harmless creature, That breath'd upon the earth a Christian; Made him my book, wherein my soul recorded The history of all her secret thoughts:

So smooth he daub'd his vice with show of virtue,
That, his apparent open guilt omitted,-

I mean, his conversation with Shore's wife,-
He liv'd from all attainder of suspect.

3 i e. pretending

This day had plotted in the council-house,
To murder me, and my good lord of Gloster?
May. What! had he so?

Glo. What! think you we are Turks, or inti dels?

Or that we would, against the form of law,
Proceed thus rashly in the villain's death;
But that the extreme peril of the case,

The peace of England, and our persons' safety,
Enfort'd us to this execution?

May. Now, fair befall you! he deserv'd his death.
And your good graces both have well proceeded,
To warn false traitors from the like attempts.
I never look'd for better at his hands,
After he once fell in with mistress Shore.

Buck. Yet had we not determin'd he should die, Which now the loving haste of these our friends, Until your lordship came to see his end; Somewhat against our meaning, hath prevented : Because, my lord, we would have had you heard The traitor speak, and timorously confess The manner and the purpose of his treasons; That you might well have signified the same Unto the citizens, who, haply, may Misconstrue us in him, and wail his death. May. But, my good lord, your grace's word shall

serve,

As well as I had seen, and heard him speak
And do not doubt, right noble princes both,
But I'll acquaint our duteous citizens

With all your just proceedings in this case.
Glo. And to that end we wish'd your lordship
here,

To avoid the censures of the carping world.
Buck. But since you came too late of our intent,*
Yet witness what you hear we did intend:
And so, my good ford mayor, we bid farewell.
[Exit Lord Mayor

Glo. Go after, after, cousin Buckingham.
The mayor towards Guildhall hies him in all post
There, at your meetest vantage of the time,
Infer the bastardy of Edward's children:
Tell them, how Edward put to death a citizen,
Only for saying-he would make his son
Heir to the crown; meaning, indeed his house,
Which, by the sign thereof, was termed so."
Moreover, urge his hateful luxury,
And bestial appetite in change of lust;
Which stretch'd unto their servants, daughters,
wives,

Even where his lustful eye, or savage heart,
Without control, listed to make his prey.
Nay, for a need, thus far come near my person:
Tell them when that my mother went with child
Of that insatiate Edward, noble York,
My princely father, then had wars in France;
And, by just computation of the time,
Found, that the issue was not his begot;
Which well appeared in his lineaments,
Being nothing like the noble duke my
Yet touch this sparingly, as 'twere far off
Because, my lord, you know, my mother lives

father

Buck. Doubt not, my lord; I'll play the orator,

5 i. e. familiar intercourse: what is now called 'crim. inal conversation.'

6 'Too late of our intent.' In common speech a simi lar phrase is sometimes used; viz. 'to come short of a thing.' Mason would have changed of to for.

7 This person was one Walker, a substantial citizen and grocer, at the Crown in Cheapside. These topics of Edward's cruelty, lust, unlawful marriage, &c. are enlarged upon in that most extraordinary invective, the petition presented to Richard before his accession, which was afterwards turned into an act of parliament. Parl Hist. 2. p. 396. See also the duke of Buckingharı speech to the citizens in More's History, as copied b the Chronicles.

As if the golden fee, for which I plead,
Were for myself: and so, my lord, adieu.
Glo. If you thrive well, bring them to Baynard's
castle :1

Where you shall find me well accompanied,
With reverend fathers, and well learned bishops.
Buck. I go; and, towards three or four o'clock,
Look for the news that the Guildhall affords.
[Exit BUCKINGHAM.
Glo. Go, Lovel, with all speed to doctor Shaw,-
Go thou [To CAT.] to friar Penker ;-bid them both
Meet me,
within this hour, at Baynard's Castle.
[Exeunt LovEL and CATESEY.
Now will I in, to take some privy order
To draw the brats of Clarence2 out of sight;
And to give notice, that no manner of person
Have, any time, recourse unto the princes. [Exit.
SCENE VI. A Street. Enter a Scrivener.
Scriv. Here is the indictment of the good Lord
Hastings;

Which in a set hand fairly is engross'd,
That it may be to-day read o'er in Paul's.
And mark how well the sequel hangs together :-
Eleven hours I have spent to write it over,
For yesternight by Catesby was it sent me;
The precedent3 was full as long a doing:
And yet within these five hours Hastings liv'd,
Untainted, unexamin'd, free, at liberty.
Here's a good world the while!-Who is so gross,
That cannot see this palpable device?
Yet who so bold, but says-he sees it not?
Bad is the world; and all will come to nought,
When such bad dealing must be seen in thought.4

[Exit. SCENE VII. The same. Court of Baynard's Castle. Enter GLOSTER and BUCKINGHAM, meeting.

Glo. How now, how now? what say the citizens? Buck. Now by the holy mother of our Lord, The citizens are mum, say not a word.

Glo. Touch'd you the bastardy of Edward's children?

Buck. I did; with his contract with Lady Lucy," And his contract by deputy in France: The insatiate greediness of his desires, And his enforcement of the city wives; His tyranny for trifles; his own bastardy,As being got, your father then in France;" And his resemblance, being not like the duke, Withal, I did infer your lineaments,Being the right idea of your father,

1 Baynard's Castle was originally built by Baynard, a nobleman who (according to Stowe) came in with the conqueror. It had belonged to Richard duke of York, but was now Edward the Fifth's. This edifice, which stood in Thames Street, has been long pulled down; it is said that parts of its strong foundations may be seen at low water.

2 Edward Earl of Warwick, who, the day after the battle of Bosworth, was sent by Richard from his confinement at Sheriff-Hutton Castle to the Tower, without even the shadow of an allegation against him, and who was afterwards cruelly sacrificed to a scruple of Ferdinand king of Spain, who was unwilling to marry his daughter Katharine to Arthur prince of Wales while he lived, conceiving that his claim might interfere with Arthur's succession to the crown. He was beheaded in 1499. Margaret, afterwards married to Sir Richard Pole, the last princess of the house of Lancaster, who was restored in blood in the fifth year of Henry VIII. and afterwards,in the thirty-first year of his reign (1540,] | barbarously led to the block at the age of seventy, for some offence conceived at the conduct of her son Cardi

nal Pole.

3 i. e. the original draft from which the engrossment was made. This circumstance, like the others, in the play, is taken from Holinshed, who follows Sir Thomas More.

4 i. e. seen in silence, without notice or detection.

5 The king had been familiar with this lady before his marriage, to obstruct which his mother alleged a precontract between them. But Elizabeth Lucy, being sworn to speak the truth, declared that the king had not been affianced to her, though she owned she had been

Both in your form and nobleness of mind;
Laid open all your victories in Scotland,
Your discipline in war, wisdom in peace,
Your bounty, virtue, fair humility;
Indeed, left nothing, fitting for your purpose,
Untouch'd, or slightly handled, in discourse.
And, when my oratory grew to an end,
I bade them, that did love their country's good,
Cry-God save Richard, England's royal king!
Glo. And did they so?

Buck. No, so God help me, they spake në 1a word
But, like dumb statuas, or breathless stones,
Star'd on each other, and look'd deadly pale.
Which when I saw, I reprehended them;
And ask'd the mayor what meant this wilful silence:
His answer was-the people were not us'd
To be spoke to, but by the recorder.
Then he was urg'd to tell my tale again:
Thus saith the duke, thus hath the duke inferr'd ;
But nothing spoke in warrant from himself.
When he had done, some followers of mine
At lower end o'the hall, hurl'd up their caps,
And some ten voices cried, God save King Richard
And thus I took the vantage of those few,-
Thanks, gentle citizens, and friends, quoth I;
This general applause, and cheerful shout,
Argues your wisdom, and your love to Richard:
And even here brake off and came away.

own,

Glo. What tongueless blocks were they: Would they not speak?

Will not the mayor then, and his brethren, come? Buck. The mayor is here at hand; intend some fear;

Be not you spoke with, but by mighty suit:
And look you get a prayer-book in your hand,
And stand between two churchmen, good my lord;
For on that ground I'll make a holy descant:
And be not easily won to our requests;
Play the maid's part, still answer nay, and take it.
Glo. I go; And if you plead as well for them,
As I can say nay to thee for myself,
No doubt we'll bring it to a happy issue.
Buck. Go, go, up to the leads: the lord mayor
knocks.
[Exit GLOSTER.
Enter the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens.
Welcome, my lord; I dance attendance here
I think, the duke will not be spoke withal.-

Enter, from the Castle, CATESBY.
Now, Catesby! what says your lord to my request!
Cate. He doth entreat your grace, my noble lord
To visit him to-morrow, or next day:

He is within, with two right reverend fathers, his concubine. Edward, however, had been married to Lady Eleanor Butler, widow of Lord Butler of Sudely, and daughter to the great earl of Shrewsbury. On this ground his children were declared illegitimate by the only parliament assembled by King Richard III. ; but no mention was made of Elizabeth Lucy.

6 This tale is supposed to have been first propagated by the duke of Clarence when he obtained a settlement of the crown on himself and his issue after the death of Henry VI. Sir Thomas More says that the duke of Gloster, soon after Edward's death,revived this scandal. Walpole thinks it highly improbable that Richard should have urged such a topic to the people, or 'start doubts of his own legitimacy, which was too much connected with that of his brothers, to be tossed and bandied about before the multitude.' He has also shown that Richard lived in perfect harmony with his mother, and lodged with her in her palace at this very time.'-Historic Doubts, 4to. 1768.

7 It would not be difficult (says Mr. Reed) to fill whole pages with instances to prove that statue was formerly a word of three syllables; and there are several passages in Shakspeare where it is necessary so to pronounce it. It has been thought advisable in these instances to adhere to the old orthography, statua, which distinguishes it as a trisyllable, as in the present instance. 8 Pretend.

9 Buckingham is to plead for the citizens; and if (says Richard) you speak for them as plausibly as I in my own person, or for my own purposes shall seem to deny your suit, there is no doubt we shall bring all to a happy issue.