This Edward, whom our manners call the prince.More bitterly could I expostulate,
Save that, for reverence to some alive,
I give a sparing limit to my tongue.
Then, good my lord, take to your royal self
This proffer’d benefit of dignity;
If not to bless us and the land withal,
Yet to draw forth your noble ancestry
From the corruption of abusing time
Unto a lineal true-derivèd course.
MAYOR
Do, good my lord; your citizens entreat you.
BUCKINGHAM
Refuse not, mighty lord, this proffer’d love.
CATESBY
O, make them joyful, grant their lawful suit!
GLOSTER
Alas, why would you heap those cares on me?
I am unfit for state and majesty:—
I do beseech you, take it not amiss:
I cannot nor I will not yield to you.
BUCKINGHAM
If you refuse it,—as, in love and zeal,
Loath to depose the child, your brother’s son—
As well we know your tenderness of heart
And gentle, kind, effeminate remorse,
Which we have noted in you to your kindred,
And equally, indeed, to all estates,—
Yet know, whe’er you accept our suit or no,
Your brother’s son shall never reign our king;
But we will plant some other in the throne,
To the disgrace and downfall of your house:
And in this resolution here we leave you.—
Come, citizens, we will entreat no more.
[Exeunt BUCKINGHAM, the MAYOR and citizens retiring.]
CATESBY
Call them again, sweet prince, accept their suit:
If you deny them, all the land will rue it.
GLOSTER
Will you enforce me to a world of cares?
Call them again.
[CATESBY goes to the MAYOR, &c., and then exit.]
I am not made of stone,
But penetrable to your kind entreaties,
Albeit against my conscience and my soul.
[Re-enter BUCKINGHAM and CATESBY, MAYOR, &c., coming forward.]
Cousin of Buckingham,—and sage grave men,
Since you will buckle fortune on my back,
To bear her burden, whe’er I will or no,
I must have patience to endure the load:
But if black scandal or foul-fac’d reproach
Attend the sequel of your imposition,
Your mere enforcement shall acquittance me
From all the impure blots and stains thereof;
For God doth know, and you may partly see,
How far I am from the desire of this.
MAYOR
God bless your grace! we see it, and will say it.
GLOSTER
In saying so, you shall but say the truth.
BUCKINGHAM
Then I salute you with this royal title,—
Long live King Richard, England’s worthy king!
ALL
Amen.
BUCKINGHAM
Tomorrow may it please you to be crown’d?
GLOSTER
Even when you please, for you will have it so.
BUCKINGHAM
Tomorrow, then, we will attend your grace:
And so, most joyfully, we take our leave.
GLOSTER
[To the BISHOPS.]
Come, let us to our holy work again.—
Farewell, my cousin;—farewell, gentle friends.
[Exeunt.]
ACT IV
SCENE I. London. Before the Tower
[Enter, on one side, QUEEN ELIZABETH, DUCHESS of YORK, and MARQUIS of DORSET; on the other, ANNE DUCHESS of GLOSTER, leading LADY MARGARET PLANTAGENET, CLARENCE’s young daughter.]
DUCHESS
Who meets us here?—my niece Plantagenet,
Led in the hand of her kind aunt of Gloster?
Now, for my life, she’s wandering to the Tower,
On pure heart’s love, to greet the tender princes.—
Daughter, well met.
ANNE
God give your graces both
A happy and a joyful time of day!
QUEEN ELIZABETH
As much to you, good sister! Whither away?
