KING RICHARD III. William Shakespeare

Vouchsafe to wear this ring.

       ANNE

       To take is not to give.

       [She puts on the ring.]

       GLOSTER

       Look, how this ring encompasseth thy finger,

       Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart;

       Wear both of them, for both of them are thine.

       And if thy poor devoted servant may

       But beg one favour at thy gracious hand,

       Thou dost confirm his happiness for ever.

       ANNE

       What is it?

       GLOSTER

       That it may please you leave these sad designs

       To him that hath most cause to be a mourner,

       And presently repair to Crosby Place;

       Where,—after I have solemnly interr’d

       At Chertsey monastery, this noble king,

       And wet his grave with my repentant tears,—

       I will with all expedient duty see you:

       For divers unknown reasons, I beseech you,

       Grant me this boon.

       ANNE

       With all my heart; and much it joys me too

       To see you are become so penitent.—

       Tressel and Berkeley, go along with me.

       GLOSTER

       Bid me farewell.

       ANNE

       ‘Tis more than you deserve;

       But since you teach me how to flatter you,

       Imagine I have said farewell already.

       [Exeunt Lady Anne, Tress, and Berk.]

       GLOSTER

       Sirs, take up the corse.

       GENTLEMEN

       Towards Chertsey, noble lord?

       GLOSTER

       No, to White Friars; there attend my coming.

       [Exeunt the rest, with the Corpse.]

       Was ever woman in this humour woo’d?

       Was ever woman in this humour won?

       I’ll have her; but I will not keep her long.

       What! I that kill’d her husband and his father,

       To take her in her heart’s extremest hate;

       With curses in her mouth, tears in her eyes,

       The bleeding witness of her hatred by;

       Having God, her conscience, and these bars against me,

       And I no friends to back my suit withal,

       But the plain devil and dissembling looks,

       And yet to win her,—all the world to nothing!

       Ha!

       Hath she forgot already that brave prince,

       Edward, her lord, whom I, some three months since,

       Stabb’d in my angry mood at Tewksbury?

       A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman,—

       Fram’d in the prodigality of nature,

       Young, valiant, wise, and, no doubt, right royal,—

       The spacious world cannot again afford:

       And will she yet abase her eyes on me,

       That cropp’d the golden prime of this sweet prince,

       And made her widow to a woeful bed?

       On me, whose all not equals Edward’s moiety?

       On me, that halt and am misshapen thus?

       My dukedom to a beggarly denier,

       I do mistake my person all this while:

       Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot,

       Myself to be a marvellous proper man.

       I’ll be at charges for a looking-glass;

       And entertain a score or two of tailors,

       To study fashions to adorn my body:

       Since I am crept in favour with myself,

       I will maintain it with some little cost.

       But first I’ll turn yon fellow in his grave;

       And then return lamenting to my love.—

       Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass,

       That I may see my shadow as I pass.

       [Exit.]

      SCENE III. London. A Room in the Palace

       [Enter QUEEN ELIZABETH, LORD RIVERS, and LORD GREY.]

       RIVERS

       Have patience, madam: there’s no doubt his majesty

       Will soon recover his accustom’d health.

       GREY.

       In that you brook it ill, it makes him worse:

       Therefore, for God’s sake, entertain good comfort,

       And cheer his grace with quick and merry eyes.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       If he were dead, what would betide on me?

       GREY

       No other harm but loss of such a lord.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       The loss of such a lord includes all harms.

       GREY

       The heavens have bless’d you with a goodly son

       To be your comforter when he is gone.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       Ah, he is young; and his minority

       Is put unto the trust of Richard Gloster,

       A man that loves not me, nor none of you.

       RIVERS

       Is it concluded he shall be protector?

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       It is determin’d, not concluded yet:

       But so it must be, if the king miscarry.

       [Enter BUCKINGHAM and STANLEY.]

       GREY

       Here come the Lords of Buckingham and Stanley.

       BUCKINGHAM

       Good time of day unto your royal grace!

       STANLEY

       God make your majesty joyful as you have been!

       QUEEN ELIZABETH

       The Countess Richmond, good my Lord of Stanley,

       To your good prayer will scarcely say amen.

       Yet, Stanley, notwithstanding she’s your wife,

       And loves not me, be you, good lord, assur’d

       I hate not you for her proud arrogance.

       STANLEY

       I do beseech you, either not believe

       The envious slanders of her false accusers;

       Or, if she be accus’d on true report,

       Bear with her weakness, which I think proceeds

       From wayward sickness, and no grounded malice.

       QUEEN ELIZABETH