KING RICHARD III. William Shakespeare

to a conqueror’s bed;

       To whom I will retail my conquest won,

       And she shall be sole victoress, Caesar’s Caesar.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       What were I best to say? her father’s brother

       Would be her lord? or shall I say her uncle?

       Or he that slew her brothers and her uncles?

       Under what title shall I woo for thee,

       That God, the law, my honour, and her love

       Can make seem pleasing to her tender years?

       KING RICHARD

       Infer fair England’s peace by this alliance.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       Which she shall purchase with still-lasting war.

       KING RICHARD

       Tell her the king, that may command, entreats.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       That at her hands which the king’s King forbids.

       KING RICHARD

       Say she shall be a high and mighty queen.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       To wail the title, as her mother doth.

       KING RICHARD

       Say I will love her everlastingly.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       But how long shall that title, “ever,” last?

       KING RICHARD

       Sweetly in force unto her fair life’s end.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       But how long fairly shall her sweet life last?

       KING RICHARD

       As long as heaven and nature lengthens it.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       As long as hell and Richard likes of it.

       KING RICHARD

       Say I, her sovereign, am her subject low.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       But she, your subject, loathes such sovereignty.

       KING RICHARD

       Be eloquent in my behalf to her.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       An honest tale speeds best being plainly told.

       KING RICHARD

       Then plainly to her tell my loving tale.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       Plain and not honest is too harsh a style.

       KING RICHARD

       Your reasons are too shallow and too quick.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       O, no, my reasons are too deep and dead;—

       Too deep and dead, poor infants, in their graves.

       KING RICHARD

       Harp not on that string, madam; that is past.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       Harp on it still shall I till heartstrings break.

       KING RICHARD

       Now, by my George, my garter, and my crown,—

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       Profan’d, dishonour’d, and the third usurp’d.

       KING RICHARD

       I swear,—

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       By nothing; for this is no oath:

       Thy George, profan’d, hath lost his lordly honour;

       Thy garter, blemish’d, pawn’d his knightly virtue;

       Thy crown, usurp’d, disgrac’d his kingly glory.

       If something thou wouldst swear to be believ’d,

       Swear then by something that thou hast not wrong’d.

       KING RICHARD

       Now, by the world,—

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       ‘Tis full of thy foul wrongs.

       KING RICHARD

       My father’s death,—

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       Thy life hath that dishonour’d.

       KING RICHARD

       Then, by myself,—

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       Thy self is self-misus’d.

       KING RICHARD

       Why, then, by God,—

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       God’s wrong is most of all.

       If thou hadst fear’d to break an oath by Him,

       The unity the king thy brother made

       Had not been broken, nor my brother slain:

       If thou hadst fear’d to break an oath by Him,

       The imperial metal, circling now thy head,

       Had grac’d the tender temples of my child;

       And both the princes had been breathing here,

       Which now, two tender bedfellows for dust,

       Thy broken faith hath made a prey for worms.

       What canst thou swear by now?

       KING RICHARD

       The time to come.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       That thou hast wrongèd in the time o’erpast;

       For I myself have many tears to wash

       Hereafter time, for time past wronged by thee.

       The children live whose fathers thou hast slaughter’d,

       Ungovern’d youth, to wail it in their age;

       The parents live whose children thou hast butcher’d,

       Old barren plants, to wail it with their age.

       Swear not by time to come: for that thou hast

       Misus’d ere used, by times ill-us’d o’erpast.

       KING RICHARD

       As I intend to prosper and repent!

       So thrive I in my dangerous attempt

       Of hostile arms! myself myself confound!

       Heaven and fortune bar me happy hours!

       Day, yield me not thy light; nor, night, thy rest!

       Be opposite all planets of good luck

       To my proceeding!—if, with pure heart’s love,

       Immaculate devotion, holy thoughts,

       I tender not thy beauteous princely daughter!

       In her consists my happiness and thine;

       Without her, follows to myself and thee,

       Herself, the land, and many a Christian soul,

       Death, desolation, ruin, and decay:

       It cannot be avoided but by this;

       It will not be avoided but by this.

       Therefore, dear mother,—I must call you so,—

       Be the attorney of my love to her:

       Plead what I will be, not what I have been;

       Not my deserts, but what I will deserve: