As well I tender you, and all of yours.
Go; I'll conduct you to the sanctuary.

[Exeunt.

ACT III. SCENE I.

London. A Street.

The Trumpets sound.

Enter the Prince of WALES, GLOSTER, BUCKINGHAM, Cardinal BOURCHIER, and Others.

Buck. Welcome, sweet prince, to London, to your chamber2.

Glo. Welcome, dear cousin, my thoughts' sovereign: The weary way hath made you melancholy.

Prince. No, uncle; but our crosses on the way
Have made it tedious, wearisome, and heavy :
I want more uncles here to welcome me.

Glo. Sweet prince, the untainted virtue of your years Hath not yet div'd into the world's deceit :

No 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!
Prince. God keep me from false friends! but they

2

were none.

Glo. My lord, the mayor of London comes to greet

you.

Enter the Lord Mayor, and his Train.

May. God bless your grace with health and happy days!

to London, to YOUR CHAMBER.] i, e. Camera Regis, as London was called from nearly the time of the Conquest downwards.

Prince. I thank you, good my lord; and thank you

all.

[Exeunt Mayor, &c.

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.

Enter HASTINGS.

Buck. And in good time here comes the sweating lord.

Prince. Welcome, my lord. What! will our mother come?

Hast. On 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.

Buck. Fie! 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.

Card. My 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 forbid3
We should infringe the holy privilege

Of blessed sanctuary! not for all this land,
Would I be guilty of so great a sin*.

Buck. You are too senseless-obstinate, my lord,

Too ceremonious, and traditional :

Weigh it but with the grossness of this age,

3 God IN HEAVEN forbid] So the quartos, 1597 and 1598: the later quartos, as well as the folio, omit " in heaven."

of so GREAT a sin.] The quartos, 1597 and 1598 have deep for "great," which last is the reading of the folio and of the later quartos.

You break not sanctuary in seizing him.
The benefit thereof is always granted

To those whose dealings have deserv'd the place,
And those who have the wit to claim the place:
This prince hath neither claim'd it, nor deserv'd 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.

Card. My lord, you shall o'er-rule my mind for once.Come on, lord Hastings; will you go with me? Hast. I go, my lord.

Prince. Good lords, make all the speedy haste you

may.

[Exeunt Cardinal and HASTINGS.

Say, uncle Gloster, if our brother come,

Where shall we sojourn till our coronation?

Glo. Where 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.

Prince. I do not like the Tower, of any place.Did Julius Cæsar build that place, my lord?

Buck. He did, my gracious lord, begin that place, Which, since, succeeding ages have re-edified.

Prince. Is it upon record, or else reported Successively from age to age, he built it? Buck. Upon record, my gracious lord.

5 Where it SEEMS best-] The folio reads, "Where it think'st best," in which it follows the quarto of 1602: the earlier quartos have it as in our text.

He did, my gracious lord, &c.] All the old editions, quarto and folio, give this reply to Buckingham, whom no doubt the prince addressed, turning from Gloster in some disgust at the mention of the Tower. Modern editors have conspired (against all authority, and without any information that they had deviated from the ancient distribution) to give the answer to Gloster, although they allow Buckingham to continue the subject afterwards, with " Upon record, my gracious lord." Gloster was an attentive listener, as appears by what he says subsequently.

Prince. But 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'.

Glo. So wise so young, they say, do never live long.

[Aside.

Prince. What say you, uncle?

Glo. I say without characters fame lives long.

Thus, like the formal Vice, Iniquity,

[Aside.

I moralize two meanings in one word.

Prince. That Julius Cæsar 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 his conqueror,
For now he lives in fame, though not in life.—
I'll tell you what, my cousin Buckingham.
Buck. What, my gracious lord?

Prince. An if I live until I be a man,
I'll win our ancient right in France again,
Or die a soldier, as I liv'd a king.

Glo. Short summers lightly' have a forward spring.

Enter YORK, HASTINGS, and the Cardinal.

[Aside.

Buck. Now, in good time, here comes the duke of York.

Prince. Richard of York! how fares our noble brother?

7 -ALL-ENDING day.] This compound is from the quarto, 1597: the other quartos and the folio omit all.

8 Thus, like the formal Vice, Iniquity,] The Vice or Jester in some of the old Moralities, was called Iniquity. In "King Darius," 1565, he bears that name, and he is mentioned by it in Ben Jonson's Staple of News, &c. He was also known by various other appellations, such as Courage in "Tide tarryeth no Man," 1576; Conditions in "Common Conditions," &c. The Vice figures in some of the later religious plays as well as in Moralities. See Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poetry and the Stage, Vol. ii. p. 265.

9

lightly-] i. e. Commonly or usually. In the next page, we have "lightly" used in a different sense-"I weigh it lightly, were it heavier;" meaning, "I should consider it a trifle, were it heavier.”

York. Well, my dread lord'; so must I call you

now.

Prince. Ay, 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.

Glo. How fares our cousin, noble lord of York?
York. I thank you, gentle uncle. O! my lord,
You said, that idle weeds are fast in growth:
The prince my brother hath outgrown me far.
Glo. He hath, my lord.
York.

And therefore is he idle?
Glo. O my fair cousin, I must not say so.
York. Then he is more beholding to you, than I.
Glo. He may command me as my sovereign,
But you have power in me as in a kinsman.
York. I pray you, uncle, give me this dagger.
Glo. My dagger, little cousin? with all my heart.
Prince. A beggar, brother?

York. Of my kind uncle, that I know will give;
And, being but a toy, which is no grief to give.

Glo. A greater gift than that I'll give my cousin.
York. A greater gift? O! that's the sword to it.
Glo. Ay, gentle cousin, were it light enough.
York. O then, I see, you'll part but with light
gifts:

In weightier things you'll say a beggar, nay.

Glo. It is too weighty for your grace to wear.
York. I weigh it lightly, were it heavier.

Glo. What! would you have my weapon, little lord?
York. I would, that I might thank you as you call

me.

Glo. How?

York. Little.

Prince. My lord of York will still be cross in talk.

1 Well, my DREAD lord ;] So the quartos, 1597 and 1598. The quarto, 1602, first introduced dear for dread, and the folio, 1623, copied it.