The Illustrated Works of Shakespeare/Illustrated Works of Shakespeare, The (1990)(Animated Pixels)[!][CDTV-PC].iso/shakes/text/03/02_01

Text File | 1991-04-10 | 7KB | 188 lines

London. A Room in the Palace.
 Flourish.
 Enter KING EDWARD sick, the QUEEN ELIZABETH, LORD MARQUIS DORSET,
 RIVERS, LORD HASTINGS, CATESBY, BUCKINGHAM, and GREY.

Edward IV    Why, so; now have I done a good day's work.
    You peers, continue this united league.
    I every day expect an embassage
    From my Redeemer to redeem me hence;
    And more in peace my soul shall part to heaven
    Since I have made my friends at peace on earth.
    Rivers and Hastings, take each other's hand;
    Dissemble not your hatred; swear your love.

Rivers    By heaven, my soul is purged from grudging hate,
    And with my hand I seal my true heart's love.

Lord Hastings    So thrive I, as I truly swear the like.

Edward IV    Take heed you dally not before your king,
    Lest He that is the supreme King of kings
    Confound your hidden falsehood, and award
    Either of you to be the other's end.

Lord Hastings    So prosper I, as I swear perfect love.

Rivers    And I, as I love Hastings with my heart.

Edward IV    Madam, yourself is not exempt from this;
    Nor you, son Dorset; Buckingham, nor you.
    You have been factious, one against the other.
    Wife, love Lord Hastings, let him kiss your hand;
    And what you do, do it unfeignedly.

Elizabeth    There, Hastings; I will never more remember
    Our former hatred, so thrive I and mine.

Edward IV    Dorset, embrace him. Hastings, love Lord Marquis.

Dorset    This interchange of love, I here protest,
    Upon my part shall be inviolable.

Lord Hastings    And so swear I.

Edward IV    Now, princely Buckingham, seal thou this league
    With thy embracements to my wife's allies,
    And make me happy in your unity.

Buckingham    [To ELIZABETH.] Whenever Buckingham doth turn his hate
    Upon your grace, but with all duteous love
    Doth cherish you and yours, God punish me
    With hate in those where I expect most love.
    When I have most need to employ a friend,
    And most assurd that he is a friend,
    Deep, hollow, treacherous, and full of guile
    Be he unto me. This do I beg of God
    When I am cold in love to you or yours.
                                                        [Embrace.
Edward IV    A pleasing cordial, princely Buckingham,
    Is this thy vow unto my sickly heart.
    There wanteth now our brother Gloucester here,
    To make the blessd period of this peace.

                       Enter RATCLIFFE and RICHARD.

Buckingham    And in good time-
    Here comes Sir Richard Ratcliffe and the duke.

Richard    Good morrow to my sovereign king and queen;
    And princely peers, a happy time of day.

Edward IV    Happy indeed, as we have spent the day.
    Gloucester, we have done deeds of charity,
    Made peace of enmity, fair love of hate,
    Between these swelling, wrong-incensd peers.

Richard    A blessd labour, my most sovereign lord.
    Among this princely heap, if any here
    By false intelligence or wrong surmise
    Hold me a foe,
    If I unwittingly, or in my rage,
    Have aught committed that is hardly borne
    By any in this presence, I desire
    To reconcile me to his friendly peace.
    'Tis death to me to be at enmity;
    I hate it, and desire all good men's love.
    First, madam, I entreat true peace of you,
    Which I will purchase with my duteous service;
    Of you, my noble cousin Buckingham,
    If ever any grudge were lodged between us;
    Of you, Lord Rivers, and Lord Grey, of you,
    That all without desert have frowned on me;
    Dukes, earls, lords, gentlemen - indeed, of all.
    I do not know that Englishman alive
    With whom my soul is any jot at odds
    More than the infant that is born tonight.
    I thank my God for my humility.

Elizabeth    A holy day shall this be kept hereafter.
    I would to God all strifes were well compounded.
    My sovereign lord, I do beseech your highness
    To take our brother Clarence to your grace.

Richard    Why, madam, have I offered love for this,
    To be so flouted in this royal presence?
    Who knows not that the gentle duke is dead?
                                                        [They all start.
    You do him injury to scorn his corse.

Rivers    Who knows not he is dead? Who knows he is?

Elizabeth    All-seeing heaven, what a world is this!

Buckingham    Look I so pale, Lord Dorset, as the rest?

Dorset    Ay, my good lord; and no man in the presence
    But his red colour hath forsook his cheeks.

Edward IV    Is Clarence dead? The order was reversed.

Richard    But he, poor man, by your first order died,
    And that a wingd Mercury did bear;
    Some tardy cripple bore the countermand,
    That came too lag to see him burid.
    God grant that some, less noble and less loyal,
    Nearer in bloody thoughts, but not in blood,
    Deserve not worse than wretched Clarence did,
    And yet go current from suspicion.

                    Enter Lord STANLEY Earl of Derby.

Stanley    [Kneeling.] A boon, my sovereign, for my service done.

Edward IV    I prithee peace; my soul is full of sorrow.

Stanley    I will not rise unless your highness hear me.

Edward IV    Then say at once what is it thou requests.

Stanley    The forfeit, sovereign, of my servant's life,
    Who slew today a riotous gentleman
    Lately attendant on the Duke of Norfolk.

Edward IV    Have I a tongue to doom my brother's death,
    And shall that tongue give pardon to a slave?
    My brother killed no man - his fault was thought;
    And yet his punishment was bitter death.
    Who sued to me for him? Who, in my wrath,
    Kneeled at my feet and bade me be advised?
    Who spoke of brotherhood? Who spoke of love?
    Who told me how the poor soul did forsake
    The mighty Warwick, and did fight for me?
    Who told me, in the field at Tewkesbury,
    When Oxford had me down, he rescued me
    And said "Dear brother, live and be a king"?
    Who told me, when we both lay in the field
    Frozen almost to death, how he did lap me
    Even in his garments, and did give himself
    All thin and naked to the numb-cold night?
    All this from my remembrance brutish wrath
    Sinfully plucked, and not a man of you
    Had so much grace to put it in my mind.
    But when your carters or your waiting vassals
    Have done a drunken slaughter and defaced
    The precious image of our dear Redeemer,
    You straight are on your knees for "pardon, pardon";
    And I, unjustly too, must grant it you.
    But for my brother not a man would speak,
    Nor I, ungracious, speak unto myself
    For him, poor soul. The proudest of you all
    Have been beholding to him in his life,
    Yet none of you would once beg for his life.
    O God, I fear Thy justice will take hold
    On me - and you, and mine and yours - for this.
    Come, Hastings, help me to my closet.
    Ah, poor Clarence!
                                   [Exeunt SOME with KING and QUEEN.

Richard    This is the fruits of rashness. Marked you not
    How that the guilty kindred of the queen
    Looked pale when they did hear of Clarence' death?
    O, they did urge it still unto the king.
    God will revenge it. Come, lords, will you go
    To comfort Edward with our company?

Buckingham    We wait upon your grace.
                                                        [Exeunt.