FIRST MURD. We are, my lord; and come to have the warrant, 340 That we may be admitted where he is.

GLOU. Well thought upon; I have it here about me.

When you have done, repair to Crosby Place.

But, sirs, be sudden in the execution,
Withal obdurate, do not hear him plead ;
For Clarence is well-spoken, and perhaps

May move your hearts to pity, if you mark him.
FIRST MURD. Tush!

[Gives the warrant.

345

Fear not, my lord, we will not stand to prate ;

Talkers are no good doers: be assured

350

We come to use our hands and not our tongues.

GLOU. Your eyes drop millstones, when fools' eyes drop tears:

BRAK. Why looks your grace so heavily to-day?
CLAR. Oh, I have pass'd a miserable night,
So full of ugly sights, of ghastly dreams,
That, as I am a Christian faithful man,
I would not spend another such a night,

5

Though 'twere to buy a world of happy days,

So full of dismal terror was the time!

BRAK. What was your dream? I long to hear you tell it.

O CLAR. Methoughts that I had broken from the Tower,

And was embark'd to cross to Burgundy :

10

And, in my company, my brother Gloucester;

Who from my cabin tempted me to walk

Upon the hatches: thence we look'd toward England,

And cited up a thousand fearful times,

During the wars of York and Lancaster
That had befall'n us. As we paced along
Upon the giddy footing of the hatches,

15

Methought that Gloucester stumbled; and, in falling,
Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard,
Into the tumbling billows of the main.

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Lord, Lord! methought, what pain it was to drown!
What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears!

What ugly sights of death within mine eyes!
Methought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks;
Ten thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon;
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,

All scattered in the bottom of the sea:

Some lay in dead men's skulls; and in those holes
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept,
As 'twere in scorn of eyes, reflecting gems,
Which woo'd the slimy bottom of the deep,
And mock'd the dead bones that lay scattered by.
BRAK. Had you such leisure in the time of death
To gaze upon the secrets of the deep?

CLAR. Methought I had; and often did I strive
To yield the ghost: but still the envious flood
Kept in my soul, and would not let it forth
To seek the empty, vast, and wandering air;
But smothered it within my panting bulk,
Which almost burst to belch it in the sea.

BRAK. Awaked you not with this sore agony?
CLAR. Oh no, my dream was lengthened after life;
Oh, then began the tempest to my soul,
Who pass'd, methought, the melancholy flood,
With that grim ferryman which poets write of,
Unto the kingdom of perpetual night.
The first that there did greet my stranger soul,
Was my great father-in-law, renowned Warwick;
Who cried aloud, "What scourge for perjury
Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?"
And so he vanish'd; then came wandering by
A shadow like an angel, with bright hair
Dabbled in blood; and he squeak'd out aloud,
"Clarence is come; false, fleeting, perjured Clarence,
That stabb'd me in the field by Tewksbury;

Seize on him, Furies, take him to your torments!"
With that, methought, a legion of foul fiends
Environ'd me about, and howled in mine ears
Such hideous cries, that with the very noise
I trembling waked, and for a season after
Could not believe but that I was in hell,

Such terrible impression made the dream.

BRAK. No marvel, my lord, though it affrighted you :

I promise you, I am afraid to hear you tell it.

65

CLAR. O Brakenbury, I have done those things,

Which now bear evidence against my soul,

For Edward's sake; and see how he requites me!
O God! if my deep prayers cannot appease thee,
But thou wilt be avenged on my misdeeds,
Yet execute thy wrath in me alone,

Oh, spare my guiltless wife and my poor children!
I pray thee, gentle keeper, stay by me;

My soul is heavy, and I fain would sleep.

BRAK. I will, my lord: God give your grace good rest!

Sorrow breaks seasons and reposing hours,

70

75

[CLARENCE sleeps.

Makes the night morning, and the noon-tide night.
Princes have but their titles for their glories,

An outward honour for an inward toil;

And, for unfelt imagination,

They often feel a world of restless cares:
So that, betwixt their titles and low names,
There's nothing differs but the outward fame.

Enter the two Murderers.

FIRST MURD. Ho! who's here?

80

BRAK. In God's name what are you, and how came you hither? 85 FIRST MURD. I would speak with Clarence, and I came hither on my legs.

BRAK. Yea, are you so brief?

SEC. MURD. O sir, it is better to be brief than tedious. Show him our commission; talk no more.

BRAK. I am, in this, commanded to deliver
The noble Duke of Clarence to your hands:
I will not reason what is meant hereby,
Because I will be guiltless of the meaning.
Here are the keys, there sits the duke asleep.
I'll to the king; and signify to him
That thus I have resign'd my charge to you.

[BRAKENBURY reads it. 90

FIRST MURD. Do so, it is a point of wisdom: fare

you

well.

[Exit BRAKENBURY.

95

SEC. MURD. What, shall we stab him as he sleeps? FIRST MURD. No; then he will say 'twas done cowardly, when 100 he wakes.

SEC. MURD. When he wakes! why, fool, he shall never wake till the judgment-day.

FIRST MURD. Why, then he will say we stabbed him sleeping.

SEC. MURD. The urging of that word "judgment" hath bred a 105 kind of remorse in me.

FIRST MURD. What, art thou afraid?

SEC. MURD. Not to kill him, having a warrant for it; but to be
damned for killing him, from which no warrant can defend us.
FIRST MURD. I thought thou hadst been resolute.
SEC. MURD. So I am, to let him live.

FIRST MURD. Back to the Duke of Gloucester, tell him so.
SEC. MURD. I pray thee, stay a while: I hope my holy humour
will change; 'twas wont to hold me but while one would tell
twenty.

FIRST MURD. How dost thou feel thyself now?

SEC. MURD. 'Faith, some certain dregs of conscience are yet within me.

110

115

FIRST MURD. Remember our reward, when the deed is done.
SEC. MURD. 'Zounds, he dies: I had forgot the reward.
FIRST MURD. Where is thy conscience now?

120

SEC. MURD. In the Duke of Gloucester's purse.

FIRST MURD. So when he opens his purse to give us our reward, thy conscience flies out.

SEC. MURD. Let it go; there's few or none will entertain it.
FIRST MURD. How if it come to thee again?

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SEC. MURD. I'll not meddle with it: it is a dangerous thing: it makes a man a coward: a man cannot steal, but it accuseth him; he cannot swear, but it checks him; it is a blushing shamefast spirit that mutinies in a man's bosom; it fills one full of obstacles: 130 it made me once restore a purse of gold, that I found; it beggars any man that keeps it: it is turned out of all towns and cities for a dangerous thing; and every man that means to live well endeavours to trust to himself and to live without it.

FIRST MURD. 'Zounds, it is even now at my elbow, persuading 135 me not to kill the duke.

SEC. MURD. Take the devil in thy mind, and believe him not: he would insinuate with thee but to make thee sigh.

FIRST MURD. Tut, I am strong-framed, he cannot prevail with me, I warrant thee.

SEC. MURD. Spoke like a tall fellow that respects his reputation. Come, shall we to this gear?

FIRST MURD. Take him over the costard with the hilts of thy sword, and then we will chop him in the malmsey-butt in the next

room.

140

145

SEC. MURD. Oh, excellent device! make a sop of him.
FIRST MURD. Hark! he stirs: shall I strike?

SEC. MURD. No, first let's reason with him.

CLAR. Where art thou, keeper? give me a cup of wine.

SEC. MURD. You shall have wine enough, my lord, anon.
CLAR. In God's name, what art thou?
SEC. MURD. A man, as you are.

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CLAR. But not, as I am, royal.

SEC. MURD. Nor you, as we are, loyal.

CLAR. Thy voice is thunder, but thy looks are humble.

SEC. MURD. My voice is now the king's, my looks mine own.
CLAR. How darkly and how deadly dost thou speak!

Your eyes do menace me: why look you pale?

Who sent you hither? Wherefore do you come?

BOTH. To, to, to

CLAR. To murder me ?

ВоTн. Ay, ay.

CLAR. You scarcely have the hearts to tell me so, And therefore cannot have the hearts to do it.

Wherein, my friends, have I offended you ?

1

FIRST MURD. Offended us you have not, but the king.
CLAR. I shall be reconciled to him again.

SEC. MURD. Never, my lord; therefore prepare to die.
CLAR. Are you call'd forth from out a world of men
To slay the innocent? What is my offence?
Where are the evidence that do accuse me?
What lawful quest have given their verdict up
Unto the frowning judge? or who pronounced
The bitter sentence of poor Clarence' death?
Before I be convict by course of law,

To threaten me with death is most unlawful.
I charge you, as you hope to have redemption

1

By Christ's dear blood shed for our grievous sins,
That you depart and lay no hands on me:
The deed you undertake is damnable.

18

FIRST MURD. What we will do, we do upon command.

SEC. MURD. And he that hath commanded is the king.
CLAR. Erroneous vassal! the great King of kings

Hath in the tables of his law commanded

That thou shalt do no murder: and wilt thou then

18

Spurn at his edict, and fulfil a man's?

Take heed; for he holds vengeance in his hands,

To hurl upon their heads that break his law.

SEC. MURD. And that same vengeance doth he hurl on thee,

For false forswearing and for murder too:

19

Thou didst receive the holy sacrament,

To fight in quarrel of the house of Lancaster.

FIRST MURD. And, like a traitor to the name of God,

Didst break that vow; and with thy treacherous blade
Unrip'dst the bowels of thy sovereign's son.

19

SEC. MURD. Whom thou wert sworn to cherish and defend.

FIRST MURD. How canst thou urge God's dreadful law to us, When thou hast broke it in so dear degree?