Act II
Scene I
London. The palace.
Flourish. Enter King Edward sick, Queen Elizabeth, Dorset, Rivers, Hastings, Buckingham, Grey, and others. | |
King Edward |
Why, so: now have I done a good day’s work:
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Rivers |
By heaven, my heart is purged from grudging hate;
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Hastings | So thrive I, as I truly swear the like! |
King Edward |
Take heed you dally not before your king;
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Hastings | So prosper I, as I swear perfect love! |
Rivers | And I, as I love Hastings with my heart! |
King Edward |
Madam, yourself are not exempt in this,
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Queen Elizabeth |
Here, Hastings; I will never more remember
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King Edward | Dorset, embrace him; Hastings, love lord marquess. |
Dorset |
This interchange of love, I here protest,
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Hastings | And so swear I, my lord. They embrace. |
King Edward |
Now, princely Buckingham, seal thou this league
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Buckingham |
Whenever Buckingham doth turn his hate
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King Edward |
A pleasing cordial, princely Buckingham,
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Buckingham | And, in good time, here comes the noble duke. |
Enter Gloucester. | |
Gloucester |
Good morrow to my sovereign king and queen;
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King Edward |
Happy, indeed, as we have spent the day.
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Gloucester |
A blessed labour, my most sovereign liege:
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Queen Elizabeth |
A holy day shall this be kept hereafter:
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Gloucester |
Why, madam, have I offer’d love for this,
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Rivers | Who knows not he is dead! who knows he is? |
Queen 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 one in this presence
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King Edward | Is Clarence dead? the order was reversed. |
Gloucester |
But he, poor soul, by your first order died,
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Enter Derby. | |
Derby | A boon, my sovereign, for my service done! |
King Edward | I pray thee, peace: my soul is full of sorrow. |
Derby | I will not rise, unless your highness grant. |
King Edward | Then speak at once what is it thou demand’st. |
Derby |
The forfeit, sovereign, of my servant’s life;
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King Edward |
Have I a tongue to doom my brother’s death,
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Gloucester |
This is the fruit of rashness! Mark’d you not
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Buckingham | We wait upon your grace. Exeunt. |
Scene II
The palace.
Enter the Duchess of York, with the two children of Clarence. | |
Boy | Tell me, good grandam, is our father dead? |
Duchess | No, boy. |
Boy |
Why do you wring your hands, and beat your breast,
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Girl |
Why do you look on us, and shake your head,
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Duchess |
My pretty cousins, you mistake me much;
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Boy |
Then, grandam, you conclude that he is dead.
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Girl | And so will I. |
Duchess |
Peace, children, peace! the king doth love you well:
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Boy |
Grandam, we can; for my good uncle Gloucester
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Duchess |
Oh, that deceit should steal such gentle shapes,
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Boy | Think you my uncle did dissemble, grandam? |
Duchess | Ay, boy. |
Boy | I cannot think it. Hark! what noise is this? |
Enter Queen Elizabeth, with her hair about her ears; Rivers, and Dorset after her. | |
Queen Elizabeth |
Oh, who shall hinder me to wail and weep,
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Duchess | What means this scene of rude impatience? |
Queen Elizabeth |
To make an act of tragic violence:
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Duchess |
Ah, so much interest have I in thy sorrow
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Boy |
Good aunt, you wept not for our father’s death;
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Girl |
Our fatherless distress was left unmoan’d;
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Queen Elizabeth |
Give me no help in lamentation;
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Children | Oh for our father, for our dear lord Clarence! |
Duchess | Alas for both, both mine, Edward and Clarence! |
Queen Elizabeth | What stay had I but Edward? and he’s gone. |
Children | What stay had we but Clarence? and he’s gone. |
Duchess | What stays had I but they? and they are gone. |
Queen Elizabeth | Was never widow had so dear a loss! |
Children | Were never orphans had so dear a loss! |
Duchess |
Was never mother had so dear a loss!
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Dorset |
Comfort, dear mother: God is much displeased
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Rivers |
Madam, bethink you, like a careful mother,
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Enter Gloucester, Buckingham, Derby, Hastings, and Ratcliff. | |
Gloucester |
Madam, have comfort: all of us have cause
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Duchess |
God bless thee; and put meekness in thy mind,
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Gloucester |
Aside. Amen; and make me die a good old man!
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Buckingham |
You cloudy princes and heart-sorrowing peers,
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Rivers | Why with some little train, my Lord of Buckingham? |
Buckingham |
Marry, my lord, lest, by a multitude,
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Gloucester |
I hope the king made peace with all of us;
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Rivers |
And so in me; and so, I think, in all:
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Hastings | And so say I. |
Gloucester |
Then be it so; and go we to determine
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Queen Elizabeth Duchess |
With all our hearts. Exeunt all but Buckingham and Gloucester. |
Buckingham |
My lord, whoever journeys to the prince.
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Gloucester |
My other self, my counsel’s consistory,
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Scene III
London. A street.
Enter two Citizens, meeting. | |
First Citizen | Neighbour, well met: whither away so fast? |
Second Citizen |
I promise you, I scarcely know myself:
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First Citizen | Ay, that the king is dead. |
Second Citizen |
Bad news, by’r lady; seldom comes the better:
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Enter another Citizen. | |
Third Citizen | Neighbours, God speed! |
First Citizen | Give you good morrow, sir. |
Third Citizen | Doth this news hold of good King Edward’s death? |
Second Citizen | Ay, sir, it is too true; God help the while! |
Third Citizen | Then, masters, look to see a troublous world. |
First Citizen | No, no; by God’s good grace his son shall reign. |
Third Citizen | Woe to the land that’s govern’d by a child! |
Second Citizen |
In him there is a hope of government,
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First Citizen |
So stood the state when Henry the Sixth
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Third Citizen |
Stood the state so? No, no, good friends, God wot;
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First Citizen | Why, so hath this, both by the father and mother. |
Third Citizen |
Better it were they all came by the father,
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First Citizen | Come, come, we fear the worst; all shall be well. |
Third Citizen |
When clouds appear, wise men put on their cloaks;
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Second Citizen |
Truly, the souls of men are full of dread:
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Third Citizen |
Before the times of change, still is it so:
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Second Citizen | Marry, we were sent for to the justices. |
Third Citizen | And so was I: I’ll bear you company. Exeunt. |
Scene IV
London. The palace.
Enter the Archbishop of York, the young Duke of York, Queen Elizabeth, and the Duchess of York. | |
Archbishop |
Last night, I hear, they lay at Northampton;
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Duchess |
I long with all my heart to see the prince:
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Queen Elizabeth |
But I hear, no; they say my son of York
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York | Ay, mother; but I would not have it so. |
Duchess | Why, my young cousin, it is good to grow. |
York |
Grandam, one night, as we did sit at supper,
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Duchess |
Good faith, good faith, the saying did not hold
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Archbishop | Why, madam, so, no doubt, he is. |
Duchess | I hope he is; but yet let mothers doubt. |
York |
Now, by my troth, if I had been remember’d,
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Duchess | How, my pretty York? I pray thee, let me hear it. |
York |
Marry, they say my uncle grew so fast
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Duchess | I pray thee, pretty York, who told thee this? |
York | Grandam, his nurse. |
Duchess | His nurse! why, she was dead ere thou wert born. |
York | If ’twere not she, I cannot tell who told me. |
Queen Elizabeth | A parlous boy: go to, you are too shrewd. |
Archbishop | Good madam, be not angry with the child. |
Queen Elizabeth | Pitchers have ears. |
Enter a Messenger. | |
Archbishop | Here comes a messenger. What news? |
Messenger | Such news, my lord, as grieves me to unfold. |
Queen Elizabeth | How fares the prince? |
Messenger | Well, madam, and in health. |
Duchess | What is thy news then? |
Messenger |
Lord Rivers and Lord Grey are sent to Pomfret,
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Duchess | Who hath committed them? |
Messenger |
The mighty dukes
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Queen Elizabeth | For what offence? |
Messenger |
The sum of all I can, I have disclosed;
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Queen Elizabeth |
Ay me, I see the downfall of our house!
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Duchess |
Accursed and unquiet wrangling days,
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Queen Elizabeth |
Come, come, my boy; we will to sanctuary.
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Duchess | I’ll go along with you. |
Queen Elizabeth | You have no cause. |
Archbishop |
My gracious lady, go;
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