William Shakespeare - KING RICHARD III

[She again offers at his breast.]

But ‘twas thy heavenly face that set me on.

[She lets fall the sword.]

Take up the sword again, or take up me.

ANNE

Arise, dissembler: though I wish thy death,

I will not be thy executioner.

GLOSTER

Then bid me kill myself, and I will do it.

ANNE

I have already.

GLOSTER

That was in thy rage:

Speak it again, and even with the word,

This hand, which for thy love did kill thy love;

Shall, for thy love, kill a far truer love;

To both their deaths shalt thou be accessary.

ANNE

I would I knew thy heart.

GLOSTER

‘Tis figured in my tongue.

ANNE

I fear me both are false.

GLOSTER

Then never was man true.

ANNE

Well, well, put up your sword.

GLOSTER

Say, then, my peace is made.

ANNE

That shalt thou know hereafter.

GLOSTER

But shall I live in hope?

ANNE

All men, I hope, live so.

GLOSTER

Vouchsafe to wear this ring.

ANNE

To take is not to give.

[She puts on the ring.]

GLOSTER

Look, how this ring encompasseth thy finger,

Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart;

Wear both of them, for both of them are thine.

And if thy poor devoted servant may

But beg one favour at thy gracious hand,

Thou dost confirm his happiness for ever.

ANNE

What is it?

GLOSTER

That it may please you leave these sad designs

To him that hath most cause to be a mourner,

And presently repair to Crosby Place;

Where,—after I have solemnly interr’d

At Chertsey monastery, this noble king,

And wet his grave with my repentant tears,—

I will with all expedient duty see you:

For divers unknown reasons, I beseech you,

Grant me this boon.

ANNE

With all my heart; and much it joys me too

To see you are become so penitent.—

Tressel and Berkeley, go along with me.

GLOSTER

Bid me farewell.

ANNE

‘Tis more than you deserve;

But since you teach me how to flatter you,

Imagine I have said farewell already.

[Exeunt Lady Anne, Tress, and Berk.]

GLOSTER

Sirs, take up the corse.

GENTLEMEN

Towards Chertsey, noble lord?

GLOSTER

No, to White Friars; there attend my coming.

[Exeunt the rest, with the Corpse.]

Was ever woman in this humour woo’d?

Was ever woman in this humour won?

I’ll have her; but I will not keep her long.

What! I that kill’d her husband and his father,

To take her in her heart’s extremest hate;

With curses in her mouth, tears in her eyes,

The bleeding witness of her hatred by;

Having God, her conscience, and these bars against me,

And I no friends to back my suit withal,

But the plain devil and dissembling looks,

And yet to win her,—all the world to nothing!

Ha!

Hath she forgot already that brave prince,

Edward, her lord, whom I, some three months since,

Stabb’d in my angry mood at Tewksbury?

A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman,—

Fram’d in the prodigality of nature,

Young, valiant, wise, and, no doubt, right royal,—

The spacious world cannot again afford:

And will she yet abase her eyes on me,

That cropp’d the golden prime of this sweet prince,

And made her widow to a woeful bed?

On me, whose all not equals Edward’s moiety?

On me, that halt and am misshapen thus?

My dukedom to a beggarly denier,

I do mistake my person all this while:

Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot,

Myself to be a marvellous proper man.

I’ll be at charges for a looking-glass;

And entertain a score or two of tailors,

To study fashions to adorn my body:

Since I am crept in favour with myself,

I will maintain it with some little cost.

But first I’ll turn yon fellow in his grave;

And then return lamenting to my love.—

Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass,

That I may see my shadow as I pass.

[Exit.]

[Enter QUEEN ELIZABETH, LORD RIVERS, and LORD GREY.]

RIVERS

Have patience, madam: there’s no doubt his majesty

Will soon recover his accustom’d health.

GREY.

In that you brook it ill, it makes him worse:

Therefore, for God’s sake, entertain good comfort,

And cheer his grace with quick and merry eyes.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

If he were dead, what would betide on me?

GREY

No other harm but loss of such a lord.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

The loss of such a lord includes all harms.

GREY

The heavens have bless’d you with a goodly son

To be your comforter when he is gone.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

Ah, he is young; and his minority

Is put unto the trust of Richard Gloster,

A man that loves not me, nor none of you.

RIVERS

Is it concluded he shall be protector?

QUEEN ELIZABETH

It is determin’d, not concluded yet:

But so it must be, if the king miscarry.

[Enter BUCKINGHAM and STANLEY.]

GREY

Here come the Lords of Buckingham and Stanley.

BUCKINGHAM

Good time of day unto your royal grace!

STANLEY

God make your majesty joyful as you have been!

QUEEN ELIZABETH

The Countess Richmond, good my Lord of Stanley,

To your good prayer will scarcely say amen.

Yet, Stanley, notwithstanding she’s your wife,

And loves not me, be you, good lord, assur’d

I hate not you for her proud arrogance.

STANLEY

I do beseech you, either not believe

The envious slanders of her false accusers;

Or, if she be accus’d on true report,

Bear with her weakness, which I think proceeds

From wayward sickness, and no grounded malice.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

Saw you the king to-day, my Lord of Stanley?

STANLEY

But now the Duke of Buckingham and I

Are come from visiting his majesty.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

What likelihood of his amendment, lords?

BUCKINGHAM

Madam, good hope; his grace speaks cheerfully.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

God grant him health! Did you confer with him?

BUCKINGHAM

Ay, madam; he desires to make atonement

Between the Duke of Gloster and your brothers,

And between them and my lord chamberlain;

And sent to warn them to his royal presence.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

Would all were well!—but that will never be:

I fear our happiness is at the height.

[Enter GLOSTER, HASTINGS, and DORSET.]

GLOSTER

They do me wrong, and I will not endure it:—

Who are they that complain unto the king

That I, forsooth, am stern and love them not?

By holy Paul, they love his grace but lightly

That fill his ears with such dissentious rumours.

Because I cannot flatter and look fair,

Smile in men’s faces, smooth, deceive, and cog,

Duck with French nods and apish courtesy,

I must be held a rancorous enemy.

Cannot a plain man live, and think no harm,

But thus his simple truth must be abus’d

With silken, sly, insinuating Jacks?

GREY

To who in all this presence speaks your grace?

GLOSTER

To thee, that hast nor honesty nor grace.

When have I injur’d thee? when done thee wrong?—

Or thee?—or thee?—or any of your faction?

A plague upon you all! His royal grace,—

Whom God preserve better than you would wish!—

Cannot be quiet scarce a breathing while,

But you must trouble him with lewd complaints.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

Brother of Gloster, you mistake the matter.

The king, on his own royal disposition,