ARKCODEX
Act III, Scene 4
1The Tower of London.
2Enter Buckingham, Derby, Hastings, the Bishop of Ely, Ratcliff, Lovel, with others, and take their seats at a table.
3HastingsMy lords, at once: the cause why we are met
Is, to determine of the coronation.
In God’s name, speak: when is the royal day?
4BuckinghamAre all things fitting for that royal time?
5DerbyIt is, and wants but nomination.
6ElyTo-morrow, then, I judge a happy day.
7BuckinghamWho knows the lord protector’s mind herein?
Who is most inward with the noble duke?
8ElyYour grace, we think, should soonest know his mind.
9BuckinghamWho, I, my lord! we know each other’s faces,
But for our hearts, he knows no more of mine,
Than I of yours;
Nor I no more of his, than you of mine.
Lord Hastings, you and he are near in love.
10HastingsI thank his grace, I know he loves me well;
But, for his purpose in the coronation,
I have not sounded him, nor he deliver’d
His gracious pleasure any way therein:
But you, my noble lords, may name the time;
And in the duke’s behalf I’ll give my voice,
Which, I presume, he’ll take in gentle part.
11Enter Gloucester.
12ElyNow in good time, here comes the duke himself.
13GloucesterMy noble lords and cousins all, good morrow.
I have been long a sleeper; but, I hope,
My absence doth neglect no great designs,
Which by my presence might have been concluded.
14BuckinghamHad not you come upon your cue, my lord,
William Lord Hastings had pronounced your part—
I mean, your voice—for crowning of the king.
15GloucesterThan my Lord Hastings no man might be bolder;
His lordship knows me well, and loves me well.
16HastingsI thank your grace.
17GloucesterMy lord of Ely!
18ElyMy lord?
19GloucesterWhen I was last in Holborn,
I saw good strawberries in your garden there:
I do beseech you send for some of them.
20ElyMarry, and will, my lord, with all my heart. Exit.
21GloucesterCousin of Buckingham, a word with you. Drawing him aside.
Catesby hath sounded Hastings in our business,
And finds the testy gentleman so hot,
As he will lose his head ere give consent
His master’s son, as worshipful as he terms it,
Shall lose the royalty of England’s throne.
22BuckinghamWithdraw you hence, my lord, I’ll follow you. Exit Gloucester, Buckingham following.
23DerbyWe have not yet set down this day of triumph.
To-morrow, in mine opinion, is too sudden;
For I myself am not so well provided
As else I would be, were the day prolong’d.
24Reenter Bishop of Ely.
25ElyWhere is my lord protector? I have sent for these strawberries.
26HastingsHis grace looks cheerfully and smooth to-day;
There’s some conceit or other likes him well,
When he doth bid good morrow with such a spirit.
I think there’s never a man in Christendom
That can less hide his love or hate than he;
For by his face straight shall you know his heart.
27DerbyWhat of his heart perceive you in his face
By any likelihood he show’d to-day?
28HastingsMarry, that with no man here he is offended;
For, were he, he had shown it in his looks.
29DerbyI pray God he be not, I say.
30Reenter Gloucester and Buckingham.
31GloucesterI pray you all, tell me what they deserve
That do conspire my death with devilish plots
Of damned witchcraft, and that have prevail’d
Upon my body with their hellish charms?
32HastingsThe tender love I bear your grace, my lord,
Makes me most forward in this noble presence
To doom the offenders, whatsoever they be:
I say, my lord, they have deserved death.
33GloucesterThen be your eyes the witness of this ill:
See how I am bewitch’d; behold mine arm
Is, like a blasted sapling, wither’d up:
And this is Edward’s wife, that monstrous witch,
Consorted with that harlot strumpet Shore,
That by their witchcraft thus have marked me.
34HastingsIf they have done this thing, my gracious lord—
35GloucesterIf! thou protector of this damned strumpet,
Tellest thou me of “ifs”? Thou art a traitor:
Off with his head! Now, by Saint Paul I swear,
I will not dine until I see the same.
Lovel and Ratcliff, look that it be done:
The rest, that love me, rise and follow me. Exeunt all but Hastings, Ratcliff, and Lovel.
36HastingsWoe, woe for England! not a whit for me;
For I, too fond, might have prevented this.
Stanley did dream the boar did raze his helm;
But I disdain’d it, and did scorn to fly:
Three times to-day my foot-cloth horse did stumble,
And startled, when he look’d upon the Tower,
As loath to bear me to the slaughter-house.
O, now I want the priest that spake to me:
I now repent I told the pursuivant,
As ’twere triumphing at mine enemies,
How they at Pomfret bloodily were butcher’d,
And I myself secure in grace and favour.
O Margaret, Margaret, now thy heavy curse
Is lighted on poor Hastings’ wretched head!
37RatcliffDispatch, my lord; the duke would be at dinner:
Make a short shrift; he longs to see your head.
38HastingsO momentary grace of mortal men,
Which we more hunt for than the grace of God!
Who builds his hopes in air of your good looks,
Lives like a drunken sailor on a mast,
Ready, with every nod, to tumble down
Into the fatal bowels of the deep.
39LovelCome, come, dispatch; ’tis bootless to exclaim.
40HastingsO bloody Richard! miserable England!
I prophesy the fearfull’st time to thee
That ever wretched age hath look’d upon.
Come, lead me to the block; bear him my head:
They smile at me that shortly shall be dead. Exeunt.