May. Marry, God defend, his grace should say us nay! Buck. I fear he will: Here Catesby comes again;— Re-enter CATESBY. Now, Catesby, what says his grace ? Cate. He wonders to what end you have assembled Such troops of citizens to come to him, His grace not being warn'd thereof before; He fears, my lord, you mean no good to him. Buck. Sorry I am, my noble cousin should Suspect me, that I mean no good to him: By heaven, we come to him in perfect love; And so once more return and tell his grace. [Exit CATESBY. When holy and devout religious men Enter GLOSTER, in a Gallery above, between two May. See, where his grace stands 'tween two clergymen! Buck. Two props of virtue for a christian prince, To stay him from the fall of vanity: And, see, a book of prayer in his hand; True ornaments to know a holy man.- Of thy devotion, and right-christian zeal. Glo. My lord, there needs no such apology; I rather do beseech you pardon me, Who earnest in the service of my God, But, leaving this, what is your grace's pleasure? Buck. Even that, I hope, which pleaseth God above, And all good men of this ungovern'd isle. Glo. I do suspect, I have done some offence, That seems disgracious in the city's eye; And that you come to reprehend my ignorance. Buck. You have, my lord; 'Would it might please your grace, On our entreaties to amend your fault! Glo. Else wherefore breathe I in a Christian land? Buck. Know, then, it is your fault, that you resign The supreme seat, the throne majestical, The scepter'd office of your ancestors, But as successively, from blood to blood, Your right of birth, your empery, your own. In this just suit come I to move your grace. Your love deserves my thanks; but my desert, First, if all obstacles were cut away, And that my path were even to the crown, As the ripe revenue and due of birth ; So mighty, and so many, my defects, That I would rather hide me from my greatness,- Which, mellow'd by the stealing hours of time, And make, no doubt, us happy by his reign. The right and fortune of his happy stars,— Which, God defend, that I should wring from him! Buck. My lord, this argues conscience in your grace; But the respects thereof are nice and trivial, All circumstances well considered. You say, that Edward is your brother's son; By her, in his unlawful bed, he got This Edward, whom our manners call-the prince. Save that, for reverence to some alive, I give a sparing limit to my tongue. Then, good my lord, take to your royal self This proffer'd benefit of dignity: If not to bless us and the land withal, Yet to draw forth your noble ancestry From the corruption of abusing time, Unto a lineal true-derived course. May. Do, good my lord; your citizens entreat you. Buck. Refuse not, mighty lord, this proffer'd love. Cate. O, make them joyful, grant their lawful suit. Glo. Alas, why would you heap those cares on me? I am unfit for state and majesty : I do beseech you, take it not amiss; I cannot, nor I will not, yield to you. Buck. If you refuse it, as in love and zeal, [Exeunt BUCKINGHAM and Citizens. Cate. Call them again, sweet prince, accept their suit; If you deny them, all the land will rue it. Glo. Will you enforce me to a world of cares? Well, call them again; I am not made of stone, But penetrable to your kind entreaties, [Exeunt CATESBY. Albeit against my conscience and my soul. |