KING RICHARD III. William Shakespeare

When the sun sets, who doth not look for night?

       Untimely storms make men expect a dearth.

       All may be well; but, if God sort it so,

       ‘Tis more than we deserve or I expect.

       SECOND CITIZEN

       Truly, the hearts of men are fun of fear:

       You cannot reason almost with a man

       That looks not heavily and fun of dread.

       THIRD CITIZEN

       Before the days of change, still is it so:

       By a divine instinct men’s minds mistrust

       Ensuing danger; as, by proof, we see

       The water swell before a boisterous storm.

       But leave it all to God.—Whither away?

       SECOND CITIZEN

       Marry, we were sent for to the justices.

       THIRD CITIZEN

       And so was I; I’ll bear you company.

       [Exeunt.]

      SCENE IV. London. A Room in the Palace

       [Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, the young DUKE OF YORK, QUEEN ELIZABETH, and the DUCHESS OF YORK.]

       ARCHBISHOP

       Last night, I hear, they at Northampton lay;

       And at Stony-Stratford they do rest tonight:

       Tomorrow or next day they will be here.

       DUCHESS

       I long with all my heart to see the prince:

       I hope he is much grown since last I saw him.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       But I hear no; they say my son of York

       Has almost overta’en him in his growth.

       YORK

       Ay, mother; but I would not have it so.

       DUCHESS

       Why, my good cousin? it is good to grow.

       YORK

       Grandam, one night as we did sit at supper,

       My uncle Rivers talk’d how I did grow

       More than my brother. “Ay,” quoth my uncle Gloster,

       “Small herbs have grace: great weeds do grow apace.”

       And since, methinks, I would not grow so fast,

       Because sweet flowers are slow and weeds make haste.

       DUCHESS

       Good faith, good faith, the saying did not hold

       In him that did object the same to thee:

       He was the wretched’st thing when he was young,

       So long a growing and so leisurely,

       That, if his rule were true, he should be gracious.

       ARCHBISHOP

       And so no doubt he is, my gracious madam.

       DUCHESS

       I hope he is; but yet let mothers doubt.

       YORK

       Now, by my troth, if I had been remember’d,

       I could have given my uncle’s grace a flout

       To touch his growth nearer than he touch’d mine.

       DUCHESS

       How, my young York? I pr’ythee let me hear it.

       YORK

       Marry, they say my uncle grew so fast

       That he could gnaw a crust at two hours old:

       ‘Twas full two years ere I could get a tooth.

       Grandam, this would have been a biting jest.

       DUCHESS

       I pr’ythee, pretty York, who told thee this?

       YORK

       Grandam, his nurse.

       DUCHESS

       His nurse! why she was dead ere thou wast born.

       YORK

       If ‘twere not she, I cannot tell who told me.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       A parlous boy!—go to, you are too shrewd.

       ARCHBISHOP

       Good madam, be not angry with the child.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       Pitchers have ears.

       ARCHBISHOP

       Here comes a messenger.

       [Enter a MESSENGER.]

       What news?

       MESSENGER

       Such news, my lord, as grieves me to report.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       How doth the prince?

       MESSENGER

       Well, madam, and in health.

       DUCHESS

       What is thy news?

       MESSENGER

       Lord Rivers and Lord Grey are sent to Pomfret,

       With them Sir Thomas Vaughan, prisoners.

       DUCHESS

       Who hath committed them?

       MESSENGER

       The mighty dukes,

       Gloster and Buckingham.

       ARCHBISHOP

       For what offence?

       MESSENGER

       The sum of all I can, I have disclos’d;

       Why or for what the nobles were committed

       Is all unknown to me, my gracious lady.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       Ah me, I see the ruin of my house!

       The tiger now hath seiz’d the gentle hind;

       Insulting tyranny begins to jet

       Upon the innocent and aweless throne:—

       Welcome, destruction, blood, and massacre!

       I see, as in a map, the end of all.

       DUCHESS

       Accursèd and unquiet wrangling days

       How many of you have mine eyes beheld?

       My husband lost his life to get the crown;

       And often up and down my sons were toss’d

       For me to joy and weep their gain and loss:

       And being seated, and domestic broils

       Clean overblown, themselves, the conquerors

       Make war upon themselves; brother to brother,

       Blood to blood, self against self: O, preposterous

       And frantic outrage, end thy damnèd spleen;

       Or let me die, to look on death no more!

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       Come, come, my boy; we will to sanctuary.—

       Madam, farewell.

       DUCHESS

       Stay, I will go with you.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       You have no cause.