The trumpets sound.

A STREET

Enter the young PRINCE, the Dukes of

GLOUCESTER and BUCKINGHAM, CARDINAL BOURCHIER,

BUCKINGHAM

CATESBY, and others

ELCOME, SWEET PRINCE,
to London, to your chamber.
GLOU. 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.

GLOU. Sweet prince, the untainted virtue of your years

Hath not yet dived into the world's deceit :

Nor more can you distinguish of a man

1 chamber] London, the capital city of the kingdom, was formally called "camera regis."

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

were none.

GLOU. 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!

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

you all.

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 LORD 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

22 slug] sluggard.

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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 forbid
We should infringe the holy privilege

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

BUCK. You are too senseless-obstinate, my lord,
Too ceremonious and traditional:

Weigh it but with the grossness of this age,
You break not sanctuary in seizing him.
The benefit thereof is always granted

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

44 senseless-obstinate] unreasonable in obstinacy.

45 Too . . . traditional] Too much attached to ceremonies and traditions. 46 Weigh... age] Consider it in the light of the unlicensed temper of the times (which calls for high-handed action).

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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. 60

Say, uncle Gloucester, if our brother come,

Where shall we sojourn till our coronation?

GLOU. 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; 70 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.
PRINCE. But say, my lord, it were not register'd,
Methinks the truth should live from age to age,
As 't were retail'd to all posterity,

Even to the general all-ending day.

GLOU. [Aside] So wise so young, they say, do never live long.

PRINCE. What say you, uncle?

77 retail'd recounted, rehearsed.

80

GLOU. I say, without characters, fame lives long.
[Aside] Thus, like the formal vice, Iniquity,
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 this 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 lived a king.

GLOU. [Aside] Short summers lightly have a forward

spring.

81 without characters] without the help of letters or inscriptions. "Characters" is invariably accented by Shakespeare on the second syllable. 82 Thus ... Iniquity] In the old Morality plays the leading character in attendance on the Devil bore the conventional (“formal") designation of "The Vice," and indulged in persistent word-play. The character was occasionally known by the more specific name of "Iniquity" or "Hypocrisy" or some other sin.

83 I moralize ... word] I give this word a double interpretation. Gloucester is referring to the word "characters," which he has just used. It means both "written characters" (or "records"), and "individuality" of temperament. Gloucester is hazily suggesting that had his victim, the young prince, lacked character or individuality, there was no reason why he should not be suffered to live long. "Moralize," which is naturally suggested by Gloucester's reference to "the formal Vice, Iniquity", of the Morality play, often bore the sense of "interpret."

94 lightly] commonly; a rare usage deduced from the meaning of "easily" or "readily" which often attaches to the word.

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