GLOU. O, do not swear, my lord of Buckingham. 220 [Exit Buckingham with the Citizens. CATE. Call them again, my lord, and accept their suit: ANOTHER. Do, good my lord, lest all the land do rue it.

GLOU. Would you enforce me to a world of care? Well, call them again. I am not made of stones, But penetrable to your kind entreats,

Albeit against my conscience and my soul.

Re-enter BUCKINGHAM and the rest

Cousin of Buckingham, and you sage, grave men,
Since you will buckle fortune on my back,
To bear her burthen, 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 thereof.

MAY. God bless your grace! we see it, and will say it. GLOU. In saying so, you shall but say the truth. BUCK. Then I salute you with this kingly title: Long live Richard, England's royal king!

MAY. AND CIT. Amen.

BUCK. To-morrow will it please you to be crown'd?

225 entreats] Thus the Quartos. The Folios substitute the ordinary

form entreaties.

233 acquittance] acquit.

230

240

GLOU. 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.

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

[Exeunt.

245 And so leave] Thus the Folios. The line is omitted from the Quartos.

Enter, on one side, QUEEN ELIZABETH, DUCHESS OF YORK, and MARQUESS OF DORSET; on the other, ANNE, DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER, leading LADY MARGARET PLANTAGENET, CLARENCE's young daughter

DUCHESS

HO MEETS US HERE? MY

niece Plantagenet

Led in the hand of her kind aunt

Gloucester ?

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.

Enter BRAKENBURY

And, in good time, here the lieutenant comes.
Master lieutenant, pray you, by your leave,
How doth the prince, and my young son of York?
BRAK. Right well, dear madam. By your patience,
I may not suffer you to visit them;

The king hath straitly charged the contrary.

Q. ELIZ. The king! why, who's that?

BRAK. I cry you mercy: I mean the lord protector. Q. ELIZ. The Lord protect him from that kingly title!

Hath he set bounds betwixt their love and me?
I am their mother; who should keep 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.

1 niece] granddaughter.

2 aunt of Gloucester] This lady, Anne, widow, or rather affianced bride, of Prince Edward, Henry VI's son and heir, was solicited in marriage by Gloucester while acting as chief mourner at Henry VI's funeral. See I, ii, supra. The lady, who has not figured in the play since the second scene, has become in the meantime her crafty suitor's wife. Lady Margaret Plantagenet, whom she holds by the hand, was daughter of her sister, the late Duchess of Clarence; see II, ii, 2, supra, and note.

2-6 Led... day] Thus the Folios. The lines are omitted in the Quartos. 24 in law] by marriage.

10

20

BRAK. No, madam, no; I may not leave it so: I am bound by oath, and therefore pardon me. [Exit.

Enter LORD STANLEY

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. O, 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

27 leave it] part from my office, infringe my duty.