K. Rich. How chance, the prophet could not at that time, Have told me, I being by, that I should kill him? I should not live long after I saw Richmond. K. Rich. Buck. Ay, what's o'clock ? I am thus bold To put your grace in mind of what you promis'd me? K. Rich. Well, but what is't o'clock? Buck. Of ten. K. Rich. Well, let it strike.5 Buck. Upon the stroke Why, let it strike? 6 K. Rich. Because that, like a Jack, thou keep'st the stroke Betwixt thy begging and my meditation. Buck. Why, then resolve me whe'r you will, or no. 5 Well, let it strike.] This seems to have been a proverbial sentence. "Because that, like a Jack,-] An image, like those at St. Dunstan's church in Fleet Street, and at the market houses at several towns in this kingdom, was usually called a Jack of the clock-house. 7 To Brecknock,] To the Castle of Brecknock in Wales, where the Duke of Buckingham's estate lay. SCENE III. The same. Enter TYRREL. Tyr. The tyrannous and bloody act is done Their lips were four red roses on a stalk, Which once, quoth Forrest, almost chang'd my mind; Enter King RICHARD. And here he comes :-All health, my sovereign lord! K. Rich. Kind Tyrrel! am I happy in thy news? Tyr. If to have done the thing you gave in charge Beget your happiness, be happy then, For it is done. K. Rich. But didst thou see them dead? Tyr. I did, my lord. K. Rich. And buried, gentle Tyrrel? Tyr. The chaplain of the Tower hath buried them; But where, to say the truth, I do not know. K. Rich. Come to me, Tyrrel, soon, at after supper, When thou shalt tell the process of their death. Mean time, but think how I may do thee good, And be inheritor of thy desire. Farewell, till then. Tyr. I humbly take my leave. [Erit. K. Rich. The son of Clarence have I penn'd up close; His daughter meanly have I match'd in marriage; Cate. My lord, Enter CATESBY. K. Rich. Good news or bad, that thou com'st in so bluntly? Cate. Bad news, my lord: Morton is fled to Richmond; And Buckingham, back'd with the hardy Welshmen, Is in the field, and still his power encreaseth. K. Rich. Ely with Richmond troubles me more near, Than Buckingham and his rash-levied strength. 8 — the Bretagne Richmond -] He thus denominates Richmond, because after the battle of Tewksbury he had taken refuge in the court of Francis II. Duke of Bretagne, where by the procurement of King Edward IV. he was kept a long time in a kind of honourable custody. Come,-I have learn'd, that fearful commenting Delay leads impotent and snail-pac'd beggary: Jove's Mercury, and herald for a king! my Go, muster men: My counsel is shield; SCENE IV. The same. Before the Palace. Enter Queen MARGARET. [Exeunt. Q. Mar. So, now prosperity begins to mellow, And will to France; hoping, the consequence Withdraw thee, wretched Margaret! who comes here? Enter Queen ELIZABETH and the Duchess of YORK. Q. Eliz. Ah, my poor princes! ah, my tender babes! My unblown flowers, new-appearing sweets! 9 fearful commenting Is leaden servitor -] Timorous thought and cautious disquisition are the dull attendants on delay. dire induction -] Induction is preface, introduction, first part. It is so used by Sackville in our author's time. R VOL. VI. And hear your mother's lamentation! Q. Mar. Hover about her; say, that right for right' Hath dimm'd your infant morn to aged night. 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. Plantagenet doth quit Plantagenet, Edward for Edward pays a dying debt. Q. Eliz. Wilt thou, O God, fly from such gentle And throw them in the entrails of the wolf? ghost, Woe's scene, world's shame, grave's due by life usurp❜d, Brief abstract and record of tedious days, [Sitting down. Unlawfully made drunk with innocent blood! Q. Eliz. Ah, that thou would'st as soon afford a grave, As thou canst yield a melancholy seat; Then would I hide my bones, not rest them here! Ah, who hath any cause to mourn, but we? [Sitting down by her. Q. Mar. If ancient sorrow be most reverent, Give mine the benefit of seniory, 2 say, that right for right-] Margaret now perhaps means to say, The right of me, an injured mother, whose son was slain at Tewksbury, has now operated as powerfully as that right which the death of Rutland gave you to divine justice, and has destroyed your children in their turn. 3 When didst thou sleep, &c.] That is, When, before the present occasion, didst thou ever sleep during the commission of such an action? seniory,] For seniority. JOHNSON. |