KING RICHARD THE THIRD

Act 2 Scene 3

(Enter one Citizen at one door and another at the other)
l1l	First Citizen	 Good morrow, neighbour. Whither away so fast?
l2l	Second Citizen	I promise you, I scarcely know myself.
l3l		Hear you the news abroad?
	First Citizen	Yes, that the King is dead.
l4l	Second Citizen	Ill news, by ’r Lady# seldom comes the better.
l5l		I fear, I fear, ’twill prove a giddy world.
		(Enter another Citizen)
l6l	Third Citizen	 Neighbours, God speed.
	First Citizen	Give you good morrow, sir.
l7l	Third Citizen	Doth the news hold of good King Edward’s death?
l8l	Second Citizen	Ay, sir, it is too true. God help the while.
l9l	Third Citizen	Then, masters, look to see a troublous world.
l10l	First Citizen	No, no, by God’s good grace his son shall reign.
l11l	Third Citizen	Woe to that land that’s governed by a child.
l12l	Second Citizen	In him there is a hope of government,
l13l		Which in his nonage council under him,
l14l		And in his full and ripened years himself,
l15l		No doubt shall then, and till then, govern well.
l16l	First Citizen	So stood the state when Henry the Sixth
l17l		Was crowned in Paris but at nine months old.
l18l	Third Citizen	Stood the state so? No, no, good friends, God wot.
l19l		For then this land was famously enriched
l20l		With politic, grave counsel# then the King
l21l		Had virtuous uncles to protect his grace.
l22l	First Citizen	Why, so hath this, both by his father and mother.
l23l	Third Citizen	Better it were they all came by his father,
l24l		Or by his father there were none at all.
l25l		For emulation who shall now be near’st
l26l		Will touch us all too near, if God prevent not.
l27l		O full of danger is the Duke of Gloucester,
l28l		And the Queen’s sons and brothers haught and proud.
l29l		And were they to be ruled, and not to rule,
l30l		This sickly land might solace as before.
l31l	First Citizen	Come, come, we fear the worst. All will be well.
l32l	Third Citizen	When clouds are seen, wise men put on their cloaks#
l33l		When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand#
l34l		When the sun sets, who doth not look for night?
l35l		Untimely storms make men expect a dearth.
l36l		All may be well, but if God sort it so
l37l		’Tis more than we deserve, or I expect.
l38l	Second Citizen	Truly the hearts of men are full of fear.
l39l		You cannot reason almost with a man
l40l		That looks not heavily and full of dread.
l41l	Third Citizen	Before the days of change still is it so.
l42l		By a divine instinct men’s minds mistrust
l43l		Ensuing danger, as by proof we see
l44l		The water swell before a boist’rous storm.
l45l		But leave it all to God. Whither away?
l46l	Second Citizen	Marry, we were sent for to the justices.
l47l	Third Citizen	And so was I. I’ll bear you company.
		(Exeunt)