KING RICHARD III. William Shakespeare

      SCENE III. London. A street

       [Enter two CITIZENS, meeting.]

       FIRST CITIZEN

       Good morrow, neighbour: whither away so fast?

       SECOND CITIZEN

       I promise you, I scarcely know myself:

       Hear you the news abroad?

       FIRST CITIZEN

       Yes,—that the king is dead.

       SECOND CITIZEN

       Ill news, by’r lady; seldom comes the better:

       I fear, I fear ‘twill prove a giddy world.

       [Enter third CITIZEN.]

       THIRD CITIZEN

       Neighbours, God speed!

       FIRST CITIZEN

       Give you good morrow, sir.

       THIRD CITIZEN

       Doth the news hold of good King Edward’s death?

       SECOND CITIZEN

       Ay, sir, it is too true; God help the while!

       THIRD CITIZEN

       Then, masters, look to see a troublous world.

       FIRST CITIZEN

       No, no; by God’s good grace, his son shall reign.

       THIRD CITIZEN

       Woe to that land that’s govern’d by a child!

       SECOND CITIZEN

       In him there is a hope of government,

       Which, in his nonage, council under him,

       And, in his full and ripen’d years, himself,

       No doubt, shall then, and till then, govern well.

       FIRST CITIZEN

       So stood the state when Henry the Sixth

       Was crown’d in Paris but at nine months old.

       THIRD CITIZEN

       Stood the state so? No, no, good friends, God wot;

       For then this land was famously enrich’d

       With politic grave counsel; then the king

       Had virtuous uncles to protect his grace.

       FIRST CITIZEN

       Why, so hath this, both by his father and mother.

       THIRD CITIZEN

       Better it were they all came by his father,

       Or by his father there were none at all;

       For emulation who shall now be nearest

       Will touch us all too near, if God prevent not.

       O, full of danger is the Duke of Gloster!

       And the queen’s sons and brothers haught and proud:

       And were they to be rul’d, and not to rule,

       This sickly land might solace as before.

       FIRST CITIZEN

       Come, come, we fear the worst; all will be well.

       THIRD CITIZEN

       When clouds are seen, wise men put on their cloaks;

       When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand;

       When the sun sets, who doth not look for night?

       Untimely storms make men expect a dearth.

       All may be well; but, if God sort it so,

       ‘Tis more than we deserve or I expect.

       SECOND CITIZEN

       Truly, the hearts of men are fun of fear:

       You cannot reason almost with a man

       That looks not heavily and fun of dread.

       THIRD CITIZEN

       Before the days of change, still is it so:

       By a divine instinct men’s minds mistrust

       Ensuing danger; as, by proof, we see

       The water swell before a boisterous storm.

       But leave it all to God.—Whither away?

       SECOND CITIZEN

       Marry, we were sent for to the justices.

       THIRD CITIZEN

       And so was I; I’ll bear you company.

       [Exeunt.]