noble ancestry

Yet to draw forth your

From the corruption of abusing time,
Unto a lineal true-derivéd course.

May. Do, good, my lord; your citizens entreat

you,

Buck. Refuse not, mighty lord, this proffered

love.

Cate. O, make them joyful, grant their lawful suit!

Glo. Alas, why would you heap these 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,
Loth to depose the child, your brother's son ;
As well we know your tenderness of heart,
And gentle, kind, effeminate remorse,
Which we have noted in you to your kin,
And egally indeed to all estates,—
Yet whether you accept our suit or no,
Your brother's son shall never reign our king;
But we will plant some other in the throne,
To the disgrace and downfall of your house:
And in this resolution here we leave you.—
Come, citizens: zounds, I'll entreat no more.
Glo. O, do not swear, my lord of Buckingham.

[Exit BUCKINGHAM with some of the Citizens. Cate. Call them again, sweet prince, accept their suit.

If you deny them all the land will rue it.

Glo. Would you enforce me to a world of care? Call them again. [CATESBY goes to the Mayor, &c., and then exit.] I am not made of stones,

ધ

But penetrable to your kind entreats,

Albeit against my conscience and my soul.

Re-enter BUCKINGHAM and CATESBY, the Mayor, &c., coming forward.

Cousin of Buckingham, and you sage, grave men,
Since you will buckle fortune on my back,
To bear her burden, whether I will or no,
I must have patience to endure the load:
But if black scandal or foul-faced reproach
Attend the sequel of your imposition,
Your mere enforcement shall acquittance me
From all the impure blots and stains thereof;
For God He knows, and you may partly see,
How far I am from the desire of this.

May. God bless your grace! we see it, and will
say it.

Glo. In saying so, you shall but say the truth. Buck. Then I salute you with this kingly title: Long live King Richard, England's worthy king! May. and Cit. Amen.

Buck. To-morrow may it please you to be

crowned?

Glo. Even when you please, since you will have it so.

Buck. To-morrow, then, we will attend your

grace:

And so most joyfully we take our leave.

Glo. Come, let us to our holy task again.Farewell, good cousin ;-farewell, gentle friends.

[Exeunt

ACT IV.

SCENE I.-London. Before the Tower.

Enter, on one side, Queen ELIZABETH, Duchess of YORK, and Marquess of DORSET; on the other, ANNE, Duchess of GLOSTER, leading Lady MARGARET PLANTAGENET, CLARENCE's young Daughter.

Duch. Who meets us here? my niece Plantagenet.

Led in the hand of her kind aunt of Gloster? Now, for my life, she's wandering to the Tower, On pure heart's love, to greet the tender princes. Daughter, well met.

Anne.

God give your graces both

A happy and a joyful time of day!

Q. Eliz. As much to you, good sister! Whither

away?

Anne. No farther than the Tower; and, as I

guess,

Upon the like devotion as yourselves,
To gratulate the gentle princes there.

Q. Eliz. Kind sister, thanks: we'll enter all together.

And, in good time, here the lieutenant comes.

Enter BRAKENBURY.

Master lieutenant, pray you, by your leave,
How doth the prince, and my young son of York?
Brak. Right well, dear madam. By your pa-
tience,

I may not suffer you to visit them;

The king hath straitly charged the contrary.
Q. Eliz. The king! who's that?

Brak. I mean the lord protector.

Q. Eliz. The Lord protect him from that kingly title!

Hath he set bounds between their love and me?
I am their mother; who shall bar me from them?
Duch. I am their father's mother; I will see

them.

Anne. Their aunt I am in law, in love their mother:

Then bring me to their sights; I'll bear thy blame And take thy office from thee, on my peril.

Brak. No, madam, no,-I may not leave it so : I'm bound by oath, and therefore pardon me.

Enter STANLEY.

[Exit.

Stan. Let me but meet you, ladies, one hour hence,

And I'll salute your grace of York as mother,
And reverend looker on, of two fair queens.
[To Anne] Come, madam, you must straight to
Westminster,

There to be crowned Richard's royal queen
Q. Eliz. Ah, cut my lace in sunder,

That my pent heart may have some scope to beat,
Or else I swoon with this dead-killing news!

Anne. Despiteful tidings! O unpleasing news! Dor. Be of good cheer-mother, how fares your grace?

Q. Eliz. O Dorset, speak not to me, get thee hence !

Death and destruction dog thee at the heels;

Thy mother's name is ominous to children.
If thou wilt outstrip death, go cross the seas,
And live with Richmond, from the reach of hell :
Go, hie thee, hie thee from this slaughter-house,
Lest thou increase the number of the dead,

And make me die the thrall of Margaret's curse,-
Nor mother, wife, nor England's counted queen.
Stan. Full of wise care is this your counsel,
madam.-

Take all the swift advantage of the hours;
You shall have letters from me to my son
In your behalf, to meet you on the way:
Be not ta'en tardy by unwise delay.

Duch. O ill-dispersing wind of misery!—
O my accurséd womb, the bed of death!
A cockatrice hast thou hatched to the world,
Whose unavoided eye is murderous.

Stan. Come, madam,come; I in all haste was sent.
Anne. And I in all unwillingness will go.-
I would to God that the inclusive verge
Of golden metal that must round my brow
Were red-hot steel, to sear me to the brain!
Anointed let me be with deadly venom,
And die, ere men can say, God save the queen!
Q. Eliz. Go, go, poor soul, I envy not thy glory;
To feed my humour, wish thyself no harm.
Anne. No! why?-When he that is my

now

Came to me, as I followed Henry's corse,

husband

When scarce the blood was well washed from his

hands

Which issued from my other angel husband

And that dead saint which then I weeping fol

lowed;