The plays (poems) of Shakespeare, ed. by H. Staunton, the illustr. by J. Gilbert engr. by the brothers Dalziel

Enter QUEEN Margaret.

Q. MAR. So; now prosperity begins to mellow, And drop into the rotten mouth of death. Here in these confines slily have I lurk'd, To watch the waning of mine enemies. A dire induction am I witness to, And will to France; hoping the consequence Will prove as bitter, black, and tragical.— Withdraw thee, wretched Margaret; who comes here? [Retires.

Enter QUEEN ELIZABETH and the DUCHESS of YORK.

Q. ELIZ. Ah, my poor princes! ah, my tender babes!

My unblown flowers, new-appearing sweets!
If yet your gentle souls fly in the air,
And be not fix'd in doom perpetual,
Hover about me with your airy wings,
And hear your mother's lamentation !

Q. MAR. [Aside.] Hover about her! say,
right for right

Hath dimm'd your infant morn to aged night.

that

DUCH. So many miseries have craz'd my voice, That my woe-wearied tongue is still and mute,Edward Plantagenet, why art thou dead?

Q. MAR. [Aside.] Plantagenet doth quit Plantagenet. Edward, for Edward, pays a dying debt.

Q. ELIZ. Wilt thou, O God, fly from such gentle lambs,

And throw them in the entrails of the wolf? When didst thou sleep, when such a deed was done?

Q. MAR. [Aside.] When holy Harry died, and

the truth.)

(1) First folio, A.

b I humbly take my leave.] Omitted in the quartos, e Brief abstract and record of tedious days,-] This line is omitted in the quartos.

ACT IV.]

KING RICHARD THE THIRD.

Then would I hide my bones, not rest them here!
0,* who hath any cause to mourn but I ? †
[Sitting down by her.
Q. MAR. [Coming forward.] If ancient sorrow
be most reverent,

Give mine the benefit of seniory,‡
And let my griefs frown on the
If sorrow can admit society,

upper hand.

[Sitting down with them.
Tell o'er your woes again by viewing mine:-
I had an Edward, till a Richard kill'd him ;
I had a Henry,§ till a Richard kill'd him :
Thou hadst an Edward, till a Richard kill'd him;
Thou hadst a Richard, till a Richard kill'd him.
DUCH. I had a Richard too, and thou didst kill
him ;

I had a Rutland too, thou holp'st || to kill him.
Q. MAR. Thou hadst a Clarence too, till
Richard kill'd him.

From forth the kennel of thy womb hath crept
A hell-hound that doth hunt us all to death:
That dog, that had his teeth before his eyes,
To worry lambs, and lap their gentle blood;
That foul defacer of God's handy-work;
Thy womb let loose, to chase us to our graves.-
O upright, just, and true-disposing God,
How do I thank thee, that this carnal cur
Preys on the issue of his mother's body,
And makes her pew-fellow with others' moan!
DUCH. O, Harry's wife, triumph not in my

woes!

God witness with me, I have wept for thine.

Q. MAR. Bear with me; I am hungry for
revenge,

And now I cloy me with beholding it.
Edward;
my
Thy Edward he is dead, that stabb'd **
Edward;
Thy other Edward dead, to quit my
Young York he is but boot, because both they
loss.
my
Match++ not the high perfection of
Thy Clarence he is dead that kill'd‡‡ my Edward;
And the beholders of this tragic§§ play,
The adulterate Hastings, Rivers, Vaughan, Grey,
Untimely smother'd in their dusky graves.
Richard yet lives, hell's black intelligencer;
Only reserv'd their factor, to buy souls,
And send them thither: but at hand, at hand,

Ensues his piteous and unpitied end:
saints
hell burns, fiends roar, pray,
Earth gapes,
To have him suddenly convey'd from hence:-
Cancel his bond of life, dear God, I pray,

That I may live to* say, The dog is dead!
Q. ELIZ. O, thou didst prophesy the time
would come,

That I should wish for thee to help me curse
That bottled spider, that foul bunch-back'd toad.
Q. MAR. I call'd thee then, vain flourish of my
fortune;

I call'd thee then, poor shadow, painted queen;
The presentation of but what I was,
The flattering index of a direful pageant,
One heav'd a-high, to be hurl'd down below:
A mother only mock'd with two sweet† babes;
A dream of what thou wast; a breath, a bubble ;*
A sign of dignity, a garish flag,

To be the aim of every dangerous shot;
A queen
in jest, only to fill the scene.
Where is thy husband now? where be thy
brothers?

Where be thy children? wherein dost thou joy?
Who sues to thee and cries-God save the
queen?

Where be the bending peers that flatter'd thee?
Where be the thronging troops that follow'd thee?
Decline all this, and see what now thou art.
For happy wife, a most distressed widow;
For joyful mother, one that wails the name;
For queen, a very caitiff crown'd with care:
For one being sued to, one that humbly sues;
For one commanding all, obey'd of none.
For one that scorn'd at me, now scorn'd of me;
Thus hath the course of justice wheel'd § about,
And left thee but a very prey to time;
Having no more but thought of what thou wert, ||
To torture thee the more, being what thou art.
Thou didst usurp my place, and dost thou not
Usurp the just proportion of my sorrow?
Now thy proud neck bears half my burden'd yoke;
From which even here I slip my weary neck,¶
And leave the burden of it all on thee.
and of sad mischance
Farewell, York's wife, queen
These English woes shall make me smile in
France.

(*) First folio, and.

(1) First folio, two Sonnes.
(1) Old text, art,-wast.

(+) First folio, faire.
(§) First folio, whirl'd.

(T) First folio, wearied head. a garish Flagge

To be the ayme of every dangerous Shot;
A signe of Dignity, a Breath, a Bubble."

d Who sues to thee and cries-] In the folio,

"Who sues, and kneeles and sayes."

e For queen, a very caitiff crown'd with care: &c.] The folio reads:

"For one being sued too, one that humbly sues:
For Queene, a very Caytiffe, crown'd with care:
For she that scorn'd at me, now scorn'd of me:
For she being feared of all, now fearing one:
For she commanding all, obey'd of none."
559

Q. ELIZ. O thou well skill'd in curses, stay awhile,

And teach me how to curse mine enemies.

Q. MAR. Forbear to sleep the night, and fast the day;

Compare dead happiness with living woe;
Think that thy babes were fairer than they were,
And he, that slew them, fouler than he is:
Bettering thy loss makes the bad-c
-causer worse;
Revolving this will teach thee how to curse.

Q. ELIZ. My words are dull, O, quicken them with thine!

Q. MAR. Thy woes will make them sharp, and pierce like mine. [Exit Q. MARGARET. DUCH. Why should calamity be full of words? Q. ELIZ. Windy attorneys to their client† woes, Airy succeeders of intestate‡ joys, Poor breathing orators of miseries!

Let them have scope; though what they do§

Drums and Trumpets. Enter KING RICHARD

and his Train, marching.

K. RICH. Who intercepts me in my expedition? DUCH. O, she that might have intercepted thee,

By strangling thee in her accursed womb,From all the slaughters, wretch, that thou hast done.

Q. ELIZ. Hid'st thou that forehead with a golden crown, [right, Where** should be graven,++ if that right were The slaughter of the prince that ow'd that crown, And the dire death of my poor‡‡ sons and brothers? Tell me, thou villain-slave, where are my children? DUCH. Thou toad! thou toad! where is thy brother Clarence?

And little Ned Plantagenet, his son?

Q. ELIZ. Where is kind Hastings, Rivers, Vaughan, Grey? *

K. RICH. A flourish, trumpets!-strike alarum, drums!

Let not the heavens hear these tell-tale women
Rail on the Lord's anointed: strike, I say!-
[Flourish. Alarums.
Either be patient, and entreat me fair,
Or with the clamorous report of war
Thus will I drown your exclamations.
DUCH. Art thou my son?

K. RICH. Ay, I thank God, my father, and yourself.

DUCH. Then patiently hear my impatience. K. RICH. Madam, I have a touch of your condition,

Which cannot brook the accent of reproof." DUCH. I will be mild and gentle in iny speech.+ K. RICH. And brief, good mother, for I am in haste.

DUCH. Art thou so hasty? I have stay'd for thee,

God knows, in anguish, pain, and agony.

K. RICH. And came I not at last to comfort you? DUCH. No, by the holy rood! thou know'st it well,

Thou cam❜st on earth to make the earth my hell.
A grievous burden was thy birth to me;
Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy;
Thy school-days frightful, desperate, wild, and
furious;

Thy prime of manhood, daring, bold, and ven

turous;

Thy age confirm'd, proud, subtle, bloody, treacherous, d

What comfortable hour canst thou name,
That ever grac'd me in thy company?

K. RICH. 'Faith, none, but Humphrey Hour,(5) that call'd your grace

To break fast once, forth of my company.
If I be so disgracious in your sight,||
Let me march on, and not offend you, madam.—
Strike up the drum.

DUCH. O, hear me speak; for I shall never see thee more.

[graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

K. RICH. Stay, madam, I must speak a word with you.

Q. ELIZ. I have no more sons of the royal blood, For thee to murder: for my daughters, Richard,―

They shall be praying nuns, not weeping queens; And therefore level not to hit their lives.

K. RICH. You have a daughter call'd Elizabeth, Virtuous and fair, royal and gracious.

Q. ELIZ. And must she die for this? O, let her
live,

And I'll corrupt her manners, stain her beauty;
Slander myself as false to Edward's bed;
Throw over her the veil of infamy:

So she may live unscarr❜d from § bleeding slaughter,
I will confess she was not Edward's daughter!
K. RICH. Wrong not her birth, she is of royal
blood."

Q. ELIZ. To save her life, I'll say she is not so.
K. RICH. Her life is only || safest in her birth.
Q. ELIZ. And only in that safety died her
brothers.

K. RICH. Lo, at their birth good stars were

opposite.

Q. ELIZ. No, to their lives bad¶ friends were contrary.

K. RICH. All unavoided is the doom of destiny. Q. ELIZ. True, when avoide l grace makes

destiny:

My babes were destin'd to a fairer death, If grace had bless'd thee with a fairer life. [K. RICH. You speak as if that I had slain my

cousins.

Q. ELIZ. Cousins, indeed; and by their uncle cozen'd

Of comfort, kingdom, kindred, freedom, life.
Whose hands soever lanc'd** their tender hearts,
Thy head, all indirectly, gave direction:

No doubt the murderous knife was dull and blunt,
Till it was whetted on thy stone-hard heart,
To revel in the entrails of my lambs.

But that still use of grief makes wild grief tame,
My tongue should to thy ears not name my boys,
Till that my nails were anchor'd in thine eyes;
And I, in such a desperate bay of death,
Like a poor bark, of sails and tackling reft,
Rush all to pieces on thy rocky bosom.]

K. RICH. Madam, so thrive I in my enterprize, And dangerous success of bloody wars,

As I intend more good to you and yours,
Than ever you or yours were by me wrong'd!*
Q. ELIZ. What good is cover'd with the face of
heaven,

To be discover'd, that can do me good?

K. RICH. The advancement of your children, gentle + lady.

Q. ELIZ. Up to some scaffold, there to lose their heads?

K. RICH. No, to the‡ dignity and height of honour,&

The high imperial type of this earth's glory.

Q. ELIZ. Flatter my sorrows || with report of it; Tell me, what state, what dignity, what honour, Canst thou demise to any child of mine?

K. RICH. Even all I have; ay, and myself and all,

Will I withal endow a child of thine;

So in the Lethe of thy angry soul
Thou drown the sad remembrance of those wrongs,
Which thou supposest I have done to thee.

Q. ELIZ. Be brief, lest that the process of thy
kindness

Last longer telling than thy kindness' date. K. RICH. Then know, that from my soul I love thy daughter.

Q. ELIZ. My daughter's mother thinks it with

her soul.

(*) First folio, and yours by me were harm'd.

(†) Quartos, mightie.

($) First folio, Fortune.

(T) First folio, Well.

heart.

(1) First folio, Unto the. () First folio, sorrow. (**) First folio, I would.

e Rush all to pieces on thy rocky bosom.] The lines within brackets are not in the quartos.

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The plays (poems) of Shakespeare, ed. by H. Staunton, the ..., 第 169 部分，第 2 卷