- Duchess of York. Why should calamity be full of words?
- Queen Elizabeth. Windy attorneys to their client woes,
Airy succeeders of intestate joys,
Poor breathing orators of miseries! 2925
Let them have scope: though what they do impart
Help not all, yet do they ease the heart.
- Duchess of York. If so, then be not tongue-tied: go with me.
And in the breath of bitter words let's smother
My damned son, which thy two sweet sons smother'd. 2930
I hear his drum: be copious in exclaims.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Who intercepts my expedition?
- Duchess of York. O, she that might have intercepted thee,
By strangling thee in her accursed womb 2935
From all the slaughters, wretch, that thou hast done!
- Queen Elizabeth. Hidest thou that forehead with a golden crown,
Where should be graven, if that right were right,
The slaughter of the prince that owed that crown,
And the dire death of my two sons and brothers? 2940
Tell me, thou villain slave, where are my children?
- Duchess of York. Thou toad, thou toad, where is thy brother Clarence?
And little Ned Plantagenet, his son?
- Queen Elizabeth. Where is kind Hastings, Rivers, Vaughan, Grey?
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). A flourish, trumpets! strike alarum, drums! 2945
Let not the heavens hear these tell-tale women
Rail on the Lord's enointed: strike, I say!
[Flourish. Alarums]
Either be patient, and entreat me fair,
Or with the clamorous report of war 2950
Thus will I drown your exclamations.
- Duchess of York. Art thou my son?
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Ay, I thank God, my father, and yourself.
- Duchess of York. Then patiently hear my impatience.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Madam, I have a touch of your condition, 2955
Which cannot brook the accent of reproof.
- Duchess of York. O, let me speak!
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Do then: but I'll not hear.
- Duchess of York. I will be mild and gentle in my speech.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). And brief, good mother; for I am in haste. 2960
- Duchess of York. Art thou so hasty? I have stay'd for thee,
God knows, in anguish, pain and agony.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). And came I not at last to comfort you?
- Duchess of York. No, by the holy rood, thou know'st it well,
Thou camest on earth to make the earth my hell. 2965
A grievous burthen was thy birth to me;
Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy;
Thy school-days frightful, desperate, wild, and furious,
Thy prime of manhood daring, bold, and venturous,
Thy age confirm'd, proud, subdued, bloody, 2970
treacherous,
More mild, but yet more harmful, kind in hatred:
What comfortable hour canst thou name,
That ever graced me in thy company?
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Faith, none, but Humphrey Hour, that call'd 2975
your grace
To breakfast once forth of my company.
If I be so disgracious in your sight,
Let me march on, and not offend your grace.
Strike the drum. 2980
- Duchess of York. I prithee, hear me speak.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). You speak too bitterly.
- Duchess of York. Hear me a word;
For I shall never speak to thee again.
- Duchess of York. Either thou wilt die, by God's just ordinance,
Ere from this war thou turn a conqueror,
Or I with grief and extreme age shall perish
And never look upon thy face again.
Therefore take with thee my most heavy curse; 2990
Which, in the day of battle, tire thee more
Than all the complete armour that thou wear'st!
My prayers on the adverse party fight;
And there the little souls of Edward's children
Whisper the spirits of thine enemies 2995
And promise them success and victory.
Bloody thou art, bloody will be thy end;
Shame serves thy life and doth thy death attend.
- Queen Elizabeth. Though far more cause, yet much less spirit to curse 3000
Abides in me; I say amen to all.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Stay, madam; I must speak a word with you.
- Queen Elizabeth. I have no more sons of the royal blood
For thee to murder: for my daughters, Richard,
They shall be praying nuns, not weeping queens; 3005
And therefore level not to hit their lives.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). You have a daughter call'd Elizabeth,
Virtuous and fair, royal and gracious.
- Queen Elizabeth. And must she die for this? O, let her live,
And I'll corrupt her manners, stain her beauty; 3010
Slander myself as false to Edward's bed;
Throw over her the veil of infamy:
So she may live unscarr'd of bleeding slaughter,
I will confess she was not Edward's daughter.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Wrong not her birth, she is of royal blood. 3015
- Queen Elizabeth. To save her life, I'll say she is not so.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Her life is only safest in her birth.
- Queen Elizabeth. And only in that safety died her brothers.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Lo, at their births good stars were opposite.
- Queen Elizabeth. No, to their lives bad friends were contrary. 3020
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). All unavoided is the doom of destiny.
- Queen Elizabeth. True, when avoided grace makes destiny:
My babes were destined to a fairer death,
If grace had bless'd thee with a fairer life.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). You speak as if that I had slain my cousins. 3025
- Queen Elizabeth. Cousins, indeed; and by their uncle cozen'd
Of comfort, kingdom, kindred, freedom, life.
Whose hand soever lanced their tender hearts,
Thy head, all indirectly, gave direction:
No doubt the murderous knife was dull and blunt 3030
Till it was whetted on thy stone-hard heart,
To revel in the entrails of my lambs.
But that still use of grief makes wild grief tame,
My tongue should to thy ears not name my boys
Till that my nails were anchor'd in thine eyes; 3035
And I, in such a desperate bay of death,
Like a poor bark, of sails and tackling reft,
Rush all to pieces on thy rocky bosom.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Madam, so thrive I in my enterprise
And dangerous success of bloody wars, 3040
As I intend more good to you and yours,
Than ever you or yours were by me wrong'd!
- Queen Elizabeth. What good is cover'd with the face of heaven,
To be discover'd, that can do me good?
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). The advancement of your children, gentle lady. 3045
- Queen Elizabeth. Up to some scaffold, there to lose their heads?
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). No, to the dignity and height of honour
The high imperial type of this earth's glory.
- Queen Elizabeth. Flatter my sorrows with report of it;
Tell me what state, what dignity, what honour, 3050
Canst thou demise to any child of mine?
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Even all I have; yea, and myself and all,
Will I withal endow a child of thine;
So in the Lethe of thy angry soul
Thou drown the sad remembrance of those wrongs 3055
Which thou supposest I have done to thee.
- Queen Elizabeth. Be brief, lest that be process of thy kindness
Last longer telling than thy kindness' date.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Then know, that from my soul I love thy daughter.
- Queen Elizabeth. My daughter's mother thinks it with her soul. 3060
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). What do you think?
- Queen Elizabeth. That thou dost love my daughter from thy soul:
So from thy soul's love didst thou love her brothers;
And from my heart's love I do thank thee for it.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Be not so hasty to confound my meaning: 3065
I mean, that with my soul I love thy daughter,
And mean to make her queen of England.
- Queen Elizabeth. Say then, who dost thou mean shall be her king?
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Even he that makes her queen who should be else?
- Queen Elizabeth. What, thou? 3070
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). I, even I: what think you of it, madam?
- Queen Elizabeth. How canst thou woo her?
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). That would I learn of you,
As one that are best acquainted with her humour.
- Queen Elizabeth. And wilt thou learn of me? 3075
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Madam, with all my heart.
- Queen Elizabeth. Send to her, by the man that slew her brothers,
A pair of bleeding-hearts; thereon engrave
Edward and York; then haply she will weep:
Therefore present to her—as sometime Margaret 3080
Did to thy father, steep'd in Rutland's blood,—
A handkerchief; which, say to her, did drain
The purple sap from her sweet brother's body
And bid her dry her weeping eyes therewith.
If this inducement force her not to love, 3085
Send her a story of thy noble acts;
Tell her thou madest away her uncle Clarence,
Her uncle Rivers; yea, and, for her sake,
Madest quick conveyance with her good aunt Anne.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Come, come, you mock me; this is not the way 3090
To win our daughter.
- Queen Elizabeth. There is no other way
Unless thou couldst put on some other shape,
And not be Richard that hath done all this.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Say that I did all this for love of her. 3095
- Queen Elizabeth. Nay, then indeed she cannot choose but hate thee,
Having bought love with such a bloody spoil.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Look, what is done cannot be now amended:
Men shall deal unadvisedly sometimes,
Which after hours give leisure to repent. 3100
If I did take the kingdom from your sons,
To make amends, Ill give it to your daughter.
If I have kill'd the issue of your womb,
To quicken your increase, I will beget
Mine issue of your blood upon your daughter 3105
A grandam's name is little less in love
Than is the doting title of a mother;
They are as children but one step below,
Even of your mettle, of your very blood;
Of an one pain, save for a night of groans 3110
Endured of her, for whom you bid like sorrow.
Your children were vexation to your youth,
But mine shall be a comfort to your age.
The loss you have is but a son being king,
And by that loss your daughter is made queen. 3115
I cannot make you what amends I would,
Therefore accept such kindness as I can.
Dorset your son, that with a fearful soul
Leads discontented steps in foreign soil,
This fair alliance quickly shall call home 3120
To high promotions and great dignity:
The king, that calls your beauteous daughter wife.
Familiarly shall call thy Dorset brother;
Again shall you be mother to a king,
And all the ruins of distressful times 3125
Repair'd with double riches of content.
What! we have many goodly days to see:
The liquid drops of tears that you have shed
Shall come again, transform'd to orient pearl,
Advantaging their loan with interest 3130
Of ten times double gain of happiness.
Go, then my mother, to thy daughter go
Make bold her bashful years with your experience;
Prepare her ears to hear a wooer's tale
Put in her tender heart the aspiring flame 3135
Of golden sovereignty; acquaint the princess
With the sweet silent hours of marriage joys
And when this arm of mine hath chastised
The petty rebel, dull-brain'd Buckingham,
Bound with triumphant garlands will I come 3140
And lead thy daughter to a conqueror's bed;
To whom I will retail my conquest won,
And she shall be sole victress, Caesar's Caesar.
- Queen Elizabeth. What were I best to say? her father's brother
Would be her lord? or shall I say, her uncle? 3145
Or, he that slew her brothers and her uncles?
Under what title shall I woo for thee,
That God, the law, my honour and her love,
Can make seem pleasing to her tender years?
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Infer fair England's peace by this alliance. 3150
- Queen Elizabeth. Which she shall purchase with still lasting war.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Say that the king, which may command, entreats.
- Queen Elizabeth. That at her hands which the king's King forbids.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Say, she shall be a high and mighty queen.
- Queen Elizabeth. To wail the tide, as her mother doth. 3155
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Say, I will love her everlastingly.
- Queen Elizabeth. But how long shall that title 'ever' last?
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Sweetly in force unto her fair life's end.
- Queen Elizabeth. But how long fairly shall her sweet lie last?
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). So long as heaven and nature lengthens it. 3160
- Queen Elizabeth. So long as hell and Richard likes of it.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Say, I, her sovereign, am her subject love.
- Queen Elizabeth. But she, your subject, loathes such sovereignty.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Be eloquent in my behalf to her.
- Queen Elizabeth. An honest tale speeds best being plainly told. 3165
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Then in plain terms tell her my loving tale.
- Queen Elizabeth. Plain and not honest is too harsh a style.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Your reasons are too shallow and too quick.
- Queen Elizabeth. O no, my reasons are too deep and dead;
Too deep and dead, poor infants, in their grave. 3170
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Harp not on that string, madam; that is past.
- Queen Elizabeth. Harp on it still shall I till heart-strings break.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Now, by my George, my garter, and my crown,—
- Queen Elizabeth. Profaned, dishonour'd, and the third usurp'd.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). I swear— 3175
- Queen Elizabeth. By nothing; for this is no oath:
The George, profaned, hath lost his holy honour;
The garter, blemish'd, pawn'd his knightly virtue;
The crown, usurp'd, disgraced his kingly glory.
if something thou wilt swear to be believed, 3180
Swear then by something that thou hast not wrong'd.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Now, by the world—
- Queen Elizabeth. 'Tis full of thy foul wrongs.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). My father's death—
- Queen Elizabeth. Thy life hath that dishonour'd. 3185
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Then, by myself—
- Queen Elizabeth. Thyself thyself misusest.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Why then, by God—
- Queen Elizabeth. God's wrong is most of all.
If thou hadst fear'd to break an oath by Him, 3190
The unity the king thy brother made
Had not been broken, nor my brother slain:
If thou hadst fear'd to break an oath by Him,
The imperial metal, circling now thy brow,
Had graced the tender temples of my child, 3195
And both the princes had been breathing here,
Which now, two tender playfellows to dust,
Thy broken faith hath made a prey for worms.
What canst thou swear by now?
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). The time to come. 3200
- Queen Elizabeth. That thou hast wronged in the time o'erpast;
For I myself have many tears to wash
Hereafter time, for time past wrong'd by thee.
The children live, whose parents thou hast
slaughter'd, 3205
Ungovern'd youth, to wail it in their age;
The parents live, whose children thou hast butcher'd,
Old wither'd plants, to wail it with their age.
Swear not by time to come; for that thou hast
Misused ere used, by time misused o'erpast. 3210
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). As I intend to prosper and repent,
So thrive I in my dangerous attempt
Of hostile arms! myself myself confound!
Heaven and fortune bar me happy hours!
Day, yield me not thy light; nor, night, thy rest! 3215
Be opposite all planets of good luck
To my proceedings, if, with pure heart's love,
Immaculate devotion, holy thoughts,
I tender not thy beauteous princely daughter!
In her consists my happiness and thine; 3220
Without her, follows to this land and me,
To thee, herself, and many a Christian soul,
Death, desolation, ruin and decay:
It cannot be avoided but by this;
It will not be avoided but by this. 3225
Therefore, good mother,—I must can you so—
Be the attorney of my love to her:
Plead what I will be, not what I have been;
Not my deserts, but what I will deserve:
Urge the necessity and state of times, 3230
And be not peevish-fond in great designs.
- Queen Elizabeth. Shall I be tempted of the devil thus?
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Ay, if the devil tempt thee to do good.
- Queen Elizabeth. Shall I forget myself to be myself?
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Ay, if yourself's remembrance wrong yourself. 3235
- Queen Elizabeth. But thou didst kill my children.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). But in your daughter's womb I bury them:
Where in that nest of spicery they shall breed
Selves of themselves, to your recomforture.
- Queen Elizabeth. Shall I go win my daughter to thy will? 3240
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). And be a happy mother by the deed.
- Queen Elizabeth. I go. Write to me very shortly.
And you shall understand from me her mind.
- Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). Bear her my true love's kiss; and so, farewell.
[Exit QUEEN ELIZABETH] 3245
Relenting fool, and shallow, changing woman!
[Enter RATCLIFF; CATESBY following]