ARKCODEX
Act III, Scene 1
1London. A street.
2The trumpets sound. Enter the young Prince, the Dukes ofGloucester and Buckingham, Cardinal Bourchier, Catesby, and others.
3BuckinghamWelcome, sweet prince, to London, to your chamber.
4GloucesterWelcome, dear cousin, my thoughts’ sovereign:
The weary way hath made you melancholy.
5PrinceNo, uncle; but our crosses on the way
Have made it tedious, wearisome, and heavy:
I want more uncles here to welcome me.
6GloucesterSweet prince, the untainted virtue of your years
Hath not yet dived into the world’s deceit:
Nor more can you distinguish of a man
Than of his outward show; which, God he knows,
Seldom or never jumpeth with the heart.
Those uncles which you want were dangerous;
Your grace attended to their sugar’d words,
But look’d not on the poison of their hearts:
God keep you from them, and from such false friends!
7PrinceGod keep me from false friends! but they were none.
8GloucesterMy lord, the mayor of London comes to greet you.
9Enter the Lord Mayor, and his train.
10MayorGod bless your grace with health and happy days!
11PrinceI thank you, good my lord; and thank you all.
I thought my mother, and my brother York,
Would long ere this have met us on the way:
Fie, what a slug is Hastings, that he comes not
To tell us whether they will come or no!
12Enter Lord Hastings.
13BuckinghamAnd, in good time, here comes the sweating lord.
14PrinceWelcome, my lord: what, will our mother come?
15HastingsOn what occasion, God he knows, not I,
The queen your mother, and your brother York,
Have taken sanctuary: the tender prince
Would fain have come with me to meet your grace,
But by his mother was perforce withheld.
16BuckinghamFie, what an indirect and peevish course
Is this of hers! Lord cardinal, will your grace
Persuade the queen to send the Duke of York
Unto his princely brother presently?
If she deny, Lord Hastings, go with him,
And from her jealous arms pluck him perforce.
17CardinalMy Lord of Buckingham, if my weak oratory
Can from his mother win the Duke of York,
Anon expect him here; but if she be obdurate
To mild entreaties, God in heaven forbid
We should infringe the holy privilege
Of blessed sanctuary! not for all this land
Would I be guilty of so deep a sin.
18BuckinghamYou are too senseless-obstinate, my lord,
Too ceremonious and traditional:
Weigh it but with the grossness of this age,
You break not sanctuary in seizing him.
The benefit thereof is always granted
To those whose dealings have deserved the place,
And those who have the wit to claim the place:
This prince hath neither claim’d it nor deserved it;
And therefore, in mine opinion, cannot have it:
Then, taking him from thence that is not there,
You break no privilege nor charter there.
Oft have I heard of sanctuary men;
But sanctuary children ne’er till now.
19CardinalMy lord, you shall o’er-rule my mind for once.
Come on, Lord Hastings, will you go with me?
20HastingsI go, my lord.
21PrinceGood lords, make all the speedy haste you may. Exeunt Cardinal and Hastings.
Say, uncle Gloucester, if our brother come,
Where shall we sojourn till our coronation?
22GloucesterWhere it seems best unto your royal self.
If I may counsel you, some day or two
Your highness shall repose you at the Tower:
Then where you please, and shall be thought most fit
For your best health and recreation.
23PrinceI do not like the Tower, of any place.
Did Julius Caesar build that place, my lord?
24BuckinghamHe did, my gracious lord, begin that place;
Which, since, succeeding ages have re-edified.
25PrinceIs it upon record, or else reported
Successively from age to age, he built it?
26BuckinghamUpon record, my gracious lord.
27PrinceBut say, my lord, it were not register’d,
Methinks the truth should live from age to age,
As ’twere retail’d to all posterity,
Even to the general all-ending day.
28GloucesterAside. So wise so young, they say, do never live long.
29PrinceWhat say you, uncle?
30GloucesterI say, without characters, fame lives long.
Aside. Thus, like the formal vice, Iniquity,
I moralize two meanings in one word.
31PrinceThat Julius Caesar was a famous man;
With what his valour did enrich his wit,
His wit set down to make his valour live:
Death makes no conquest of this conqueror;
For now he lives in fame, though not in life.
I’ll tell you what, my cousin Buckingham—
32BuckinghamWhat, my gracious lord?
33PrinceAn if I live until I be a man,
I’ll win our ancient right in France again,
Or die a soldier, as I lived a king.
34GloucesterAside. Short summers lightly have a forward spring.
35Enter young York, Hastings, and the Cardinal.
36BuckinghamNow, in good time, here comes the Duke of York.
37PrinceRichard of York! how fares our loving brother?
38YorkWell, my dread lord; so must I call you now.
39PrinceAy, brother, to our grief, as it is yours:
Too late he died that might have kept that title,
Which by his death hath lost much majesty.
40GloucesterHow fares our cousin, noble Lord of York?
41YorkI thank you, gentle uncle. O, my lord,
You said that idle weeds are fast in growth:
The prince my brother hath outgrown me far.
42GloucesterHe hath, my lord.
43YorkAnd therefore is he idle?
44GloucesterO, my fair cousin, I must not say so.
45YorkThen is he more beholding to you than I.
46GloucesterHe may command me as my sovereign;
But you have power in me as in a kinsman.
47YorkI pray you, uncle, give me this dagger.
48GloucesterMy dagger, little cousin? with all my heart.
49PrinceA beggar, brother?
50YorkOf my kind uncle, that I know will give;
And being but a toy, which is no grief to give.
51GloucesterA greater gift than that I’ll give my cousin.
52YorkA greater gift! O, that’s the sword to it.
53GloucesterAy, gentle cousin, were it light enough.
54YorkO, then, I see, you will part but with light gifts;
In weightier things you’ll say a beggar nay.
55GloucesterIt is too heavy for your grace to wear.
56YorkI weigh it lightly, were it heavier.
57GloucesterWhat, would you have my weapon, little lord?
58YorkI would, that I might thank you as you call me.
59GloucesterHow?
60YorkLittle.
61PrinceMy Lord of York will still be cross in talk:
Uncle, your grace knows how to bear with him.
62YorkYou mean, to bear me, not to bear with me:
Uncle, my brother mocks both you and me;
Because that I am little, like an ape,
He thinks that you should bear me on your shoulders.
63BuckinghamWith what a sharp-provided wit he reasons!
To mitigate the scorn he gives his uncle,
He prettily and aptly taunts himself:
So cunning and so young is wonderful.
64GloucesterMy lord, will’t please you pass along?
Myself and my good cousin Buckingham
Will to your mother, to entreat of her
To meet you at the Tower and welcome you.
65YorkWhat, will you go unto the Tower, my lord?
66PrinceMy lord protector needs will have it so.
67YorkI shall not sleep in quiet at the Tower.
68GloucesterWhy, what should you fear?
69YorkMarry, my uncle Clarence’ angry ghost:
My grandam told me he was murder’d there.
70PrinceI fear no uncles dead.
71GloucesterNor none that live, I hope.
72PrinceAn if they live, I hope I need not fear.
But come, my lord; and with a heavy heart,
Thinking on them, go I unto the Tower. A Sennet. Exeunt all but Gloucester, Buckingham and Catesby.
73BuckinghamThink you, my lord, this little prating York
Was not incensed by his subtle mother
To taunt and scorn you thus opprobriously?
74GloucesterNo doubt, no doubt: O, ’tis a parlous boy;
Bold, quick, ingenious, forward, capable:
He is all the mother’s, from the top to toe.
75BuckinghamWell, let them rest. Come hither, Catesby.
Thou art sworn as deeply to effect what we intend
As closely to conceal what we impart:
Thou know’st our reasons urged upon the way;
What think’st thou? is it not an easy matter
To make William Lord Hastings of our mind,
For the instalment of this noble duke
In the seat royal of this famous isle?
76CatesbyHe for his father’s sake so loves the prince,
That he will not be won to aught against him.
77BuckinghamWhat think’st thou, then, of Stanley? what will he?
78CatesbyHe will do all in all as Hastings doth.
79BuckinghamWell, then, no more but this: go, gentle Catesby,
And, as it were far off, sound thou Lord Hastings,
How doth he stand affected to our purpose;
And summon him to-morrow to the Tower,
To sit about the coronation.
If thou dost find him tractable to us,
Encourage him, and show him all our reasons:
If he be leaden, icy-cold, unwilling,
Be thou so too; and so break off your talk,
And give us notice of his inclination:
For we to-morrow hold divided councils,
Wherein thyself shalt highly be employ’d.
80GloucesterCommend me to Lord William: tell him, Catesby,
His ancient knot of dangerous adversaries
To-morrow are let blood at Pomfret-castle;
And bid my friend, for joy of this good news,
Give Mistress Shore one gentle kiss the more.
81BuckinghamGood Catesby, go, effect this business soundly.
82CatesbyMy good lords both, with all the heed I may.
83GloucesterShall we hear from you, Catesby, ere we sleep?
84CatesbyYou shall, my lord.
85GloucesterAt Crosby Place, there shall you find us both. Exit Catesby.
86BuckinghamNow, my lord, what shall we do, if we perceive
Lord Hastings will not yield to our complots?
87GloucesterChop off his head, man; somewhat we will do:
And, look, when I am king, claim thou of me
The earldom of Hereford, and the moveables
Whereof the king my brother stood possess’d.
88BuckinghamI’ll claim that promise at your grace’s hands.
89GloucesterAnd look to have it yielded with all willingness.
Come, let us sup betimes, that afterwards
We may digest our complots in some form. Exeunt.