SCENE IV. Before the palace. The Life and Death of Richard the Third  Shakespeare homepage  |  Richard III  | Act 4, Scene 4 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE IV. Before the palace. 

 Enter QUEEN MARGARET  QUEEN MARGARET  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 adversaries. 

 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? 



 Enter QUEEN ELIZABETH and the DUCHESS OF YORK  QUEEN ELIZABETH  Ah, my young 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! 

 QUEEN MARGARET  Hover about her; say, that right for right 

 Hath dimm'd your infant morn to aged night. 

 DUCHESS OF YORK  So many miseries have crazed my voice, 

 That my woe-wearied tongue is mute and dumb, 

 Edward Plantagenet, why art thou dead? 

 QUEEN MARGARET  Plantagenet doth quit Plantagenet. 

 Edward for Edward pays a dying debt. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  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? 

 QUEEN MARGARET  When holy Harry died, and my sweet son. 

 DUCHESS OF YORK  Blind sight, dead life, poor mortal living ghost, 

 Woe's scene, world's shame, grave's due by life usurp'd, 

 Brief abstract and record of tedious days, 

 Rest thy unrest on England's lawful earth, 



 Sitting down  Unlawfully made drunk with innocents' blood! 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  O, that thou wouldst as well afford a grave 

 As thou canst yield a melancholy seat! 

 Then would I hide my bones, not rest them here. 

 O, who hath any cause to mourn but I? 



 Sitting down by her  QUEEN MARGARET  If ancient sorrow be most reverend, 

 Give mine the benefit of seniory, 

 And let my woes frown on the upper hand. 

 If sorrow can admit society, 



 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 Harry, till a Richard kill'd him: 

 Thou hadst an Edward, till a Richard kill'd him; 

 Thou hadst a Richard, till a Richard killed him; 

 DUCHESS OF YORK  I had a Richard too, and thou didst kill him; 

 I had a Rutland too, thou holp'st to kill him. 

 QUEEN MARGARET  Thou hadst a Clarence too, and 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 handiwork, 

 That excellent grand tyrant of the earth, 

 That reigns in galled eyes of weeping souls, 

 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! 

 DUCHESS OF YORK  O Harry's wife, triumph not in my woes! 

 God witness with me, I have wept for thine. 

 QUEEN MARGARET  Bear with me; I am hungry for revenge, 

 And now I cloy me with beholding it. 

 Thy Edward he is dead, that stabb'd my Edward: 

 Thy other Edward dead, to quit my Edward; 

 Young York he is but boot, because both they 

 Match not the high perfection of my loss: 

 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 reserved their factor, to buy souls 

 And send them thither: but at hand, at hand, 

 Ensues his piteous and unpitied end: 

 Earth gapes, hell burns, fiends roar, saints pray. 

 To have him suddenly convey'd away. 

 Cancel his bond of life, dear God, I prey, 

 That I may live to say, The dog is dead! 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  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! 

 QUEEN MARGARET  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 heaved a-high, to be hurl'd down below; 

 A mother only mock'd with two sweet babes; 

 A dream of what thou wert, 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 are 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 that scorn'd at me, now scorn'd of me; 

 For one being fear'd of all, now fearing one; 

 For one commanding all, obey'd of none. 

 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 burthen'd yoke; 

 From which even here I slip my weary neck, 

 And leave the burthen of it all on thee. 

 Farewell, York's wife, and queen of sad mischance: 

 These English woes will make me smile in France. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  O thou well skill'd in curses, stay awhile, 

 And teach me how to curse mine enemies! 

 QUEEN MARGARET  Forbear to sleep the nights, and fast the days; 

 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 causer worse: 

 Revolving this will teach thee how to curse. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  My words are dull; O, quicken them with thine! 

 QUEEN MARGARET  Thy woes will make them sharp, and pierce like mine. 



 Exit  DUCHESS OF YORK  Why should calamity be full of words? 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Windy attorneys to their client woes, 

 Airy succeeders of intestate joys, 

 Poor breathing orators of miseries! 

 Let them have scope: though what they do impart 

 Help not all, yet do they ease the heart. 

 DUCHESS OF YORK  If so, then be not tongue-tied: go with me. 

 And in the breath of bitter words let's smother 

 My damned son, which thy two sweet sons smother'd. 

 I hear his drum: be copious in exclaims. 



 Enter KING RICHARD III, marching, with drums and trumpets  KING RICHARD III  Who intercepts my expedition? 

 DUCHESS OF YORK  O, she that might have intercepted thee, 

 By strangling thee in her accursed womb 

 From all the slaughters, wretch, that thou hast done! 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Hidest thou that forehead with a golden crown, 

 Where should be graven, if that right were right, 

 The slaughter of the prince that owed that crown, 

 And the dire death of my two sons and brothers? 

 Tell me, thou villain slave, where are my children? 

 DUCHESS OF YORK  Thou toad, thou toad, where is thy brother Clarence? 

 And little Ned Plantagenet, his son? 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Where is kind Hastings, Rivers, Vaughan, Grey? 

 KING RICHARD III  A flourish, trumpets! strike alarum, drums! 

 Let not the heavens hear these tell-tale women 

 Rail on the Lord's enointed: 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. 

 DUCHESS OF YORK  Art thou my son? 

 KING RICHARD III  Ay, I thank God, my father, and yourself. 

 DUCHESS OF YORK  Then patiently hear my impatience. 

 KING RICHARD III  Madam, I have a touch of your condition, 

 Which cannot brook the accent of reproof. 

 DUCHESS OF YORK  O, let me speak! 

 KING RICHARD III  Do then: but I'll not hear. 

 DUCHESS OF YORK  I will be mild and gentle in my speech. 

 KING RICHARD III  And brief, good mother; for I am in haste. 

 DUCHESS OF YORK  Art thou so hasty? I have stay'd for thee, 

 God knows, in anguish, pain and agony. 

 KING RICHARD III  And came I not at last to comfort you? 

 DUCHESS OF YORK  No, by the holy rood, thou know'st it well, 

 Thou camest on earth to make the earth my hell. 

 A grievous burthen 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 venturous, 

 Thy age confirm'd, proud, subdued, bloody, 

 treacherous, 

 More mild, but yet more harmful, kind in hatred: 

 What comfortable hour canst thou name, 

 That ever graced me in thy company? 

 KING RICHARD III  Faith, none, but Humphrey Hour, that call'd 

 your grace 

 To breakfast once forth of my company. 

 If I be so disgracious in your sight, 

 Let me march on, and not offend your grace. 

 Strike the drum. 

 DUCHESS OF YORK  I prithee, hear me speak. 

 KING RICHARD III  You speak too bitterly. 

 DUCHESS OF YORK  Hear me a word; 

 For I shall never speak to thee again. 

 KING RICHARD III  So. 

 DUCHESS OF YORK  Either thou wilt die, by God's just ordinance, 

 Ere from this war thou turn a conqueror, 

 Or I with grief and extreme age shall perish 

 And never look upon thy face again. 

 Therefore take with thee my most heavy curse; 

 Which, in the day of battle, tire thee more 

 Than all the complete armour that thou wear'st! 

 My prayers on the adverse party fight; 

 And there the little souls of Edward's children 

 Whisper the spirits of thine enemies 

 And promise them success and victory. 

 Bloody thou art, bloody will be thy end; 

 Shame serves thy life and doth thy death attend. 



 Exit  QUEEN ELIZABETH  Though far more cause, yet much less spirit to curse 

 Abides in me; I say amen to all. 

 KING RICHARD III  Stay, madam; I must speak a word with you. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  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. 

 KING RICHARD III  You have a daughter call'd Elizabeth, 

 Virtuous and fair, royal and gracious. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  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 of bleeding slaughter, 

 I will confess she was not Edward's daughter. 

 KING RICHARD III  Wrong not her birth, she is of royal blood. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  To save her life, I'll say she is not so. 

 KING RICHARD III  Her life is only safest in her birth. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  And only in that safety died her brothers. 

 KING RICHARD III  Lo, at their births good stars were opposite. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  No, to their lives bad friends were contrary. 

 KING RICHARD III  All unavoided is the doom of destiny. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  True, when avoided grace makes destiny: 

 My babes were destined to a fairer death, 

 If grace had bless'd thee with a fairer life. 

 KING RICHARD III  You speak as if that I had slain my cousins. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Cousins, indeed; and by their uncle cozen'd 

 Of comfort, kingdom, kindred, freedom, life. 

 Whose hand soever lanced 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. 

 KING RICHARD III  Madam, so thrive I in my enterprise 

 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! 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  What good is cover'd with the face of heaven, 

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

 KING RICHARD III  The advancement of your children, gentle lady. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Up to some scaffold, there to lose their heads? 

 KING RICHARD III  No, to the dignity and height of honour 

 The high imperial type of this earth's glory. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Flatter my sorrows with report of it; 

 Tell me what state, what dignity, what honour, 

 Canst thou demise to any child of mine? 

 KING RICHARD III  Even all I have; yea, 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. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Be brief, lest that be process of thy kindness 

 Last longer telling than thy kindness' date. 

 KING RICHARD III  Then know, that from my soul I love thy daughter. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  My daughter's mother thinks it with her soul. 

 KING RICHARD III  What do you think? 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  That thou dost love my daughter from thy soul: 

 So from thy soul's love didst thou love her brothers; 

 And from my heart's love I do thank thee for it. 

 KING RICHARD III  Be not so hasty to confound my meaning: 

 I mean, that with my soul I love thy daughter, 

 And mean to make her queen of England. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Say then, who dost thou mean shall be her king? 

 KING RICHARD III  Even he that makes her queen who should be else? 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  What, thou? 

 KING RICHARD III  I, even I: what think you of it, madam? 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  How canst thou woo her? 

 KING RICHARD III  That would I learn of you, 

 As one that are best acquainted with her humour. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  And wilt thou learn of me? 

 KING RICHARD III  Madam, with all my heart. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Send to her, by the man that slew her brothers, 

 A pair of bleeding-hearts; thereon engrave 

 Edward and York; then haply she will weep: 

 Therefore present to her--as sometime Margaret 

 Did to thy father, steep'd in Rutland's blood,-- 

 A handkerchief; which, say to her, did drain 

 The purple sap from her sweet brother's body 

 And bid her dry her weeping eyes therewith. 

 If this inducement force her not to love, 

 Send her a story of thy noble acts; 

 Tell her thou madest away her uncle Clarence, 

 Her uncle Rivers; yea, and, for her sake, 

 Madest quick conveyance with her good aunt Anne. 

 KING RICHARD III  Come, come, you mock me; this is not the way 

 To win our daughter. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  There is no other way 

 Unless thou couldst put on some other shape, 

 And not be Richard that hath done all this. 

 KING RICHARD III  Say that I did all this for love of her. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Nay, then indeed she cannot choose but hate thee, 

 Having bought love with such a bloody spoil. 

 KING RICHARD III  Look, what is done cannot be now amended: 

 Men shall deal unadvisedly sometimes, 

 Which after hours give leisure to repent. 

 If I did take the kingdom from your sons, 

 To make amends, Ill give it to your daughter. 

 If I have kill'd the issue of your womb, 

 To quicken your increase, I will beget 

 Mine issue of your blood upon your daughter 

 A grandam's name is little less in love 

 Than is the doting title of a mother; 

 They are as children but one step below, 

 Even of your mettle, of your very blood; 

 Of an one pain, save for a night of groans 

 Endured of her, for whom you bid like sorrow. 

 Your children were vexation to your youth, 

 But mine shall be a comfort to your age. 

 The loss you have is but a son being king, 

 And by that loss your daughter is made queen. 

 I cannot make you what amends I would, 

 Therefore accept such kindness as I can. 

 Dorset your son, that with a fearful soul 

 Leads discontented steps in foreign soil, 

 This fair alliance quickly shall call home 

 To high promotions and great dignity: 

 The king, that calls your beauteous daughter wife. 

 Familiarly shall call thy Dorset brother; 

 Again shall you be mother to a king, 

 And all the ruins of distressful times 

 Repair'd with double riches of content. 

 What! we have many goodly days to see: 

 The liquid drops of tears that you have shed 

 Shall come again, transform'd to orient pearl, 

 Advantaging their loan with interest 

 Of ten times double gain of happiness. 

 Go, then my mother, to thy daughter go 

 Make bold her bashful years with your experience; 

 Prepare her ears to hear a wooer's tale 

 Put in her tender heart the aspiring flame 

 Of golden sovereignty; acquaint the princess 

 With the sweet silent hours of marriage joys 

 And when this arm of mine hath chastised 

 The petty rebel, dull-brain'd Buckingham, 

 Bound with triumphant garlands will I come 

 And lead thy daughter to a conqueror's bed; 

 To whom I will retail my conquest won, 

 And she shall be sole victress, 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 III  Infer fair England's peace by this alliance. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Which she shall purchase with still lasting war. 

 KING RICHARD III  Say that the king, which may command, entreats. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  That at her hands which the king's King forbids. 

 KING RICHARD III  Say, she shall be a high and mighty queen. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  To wail the tide, as her mother doth. 

 KING RICHARD III  Say, I will love her everlastingly. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  But how long shall that title 'ever' last? 

 KING RICHARD III  Sweetly in force unto her fair life's end. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  But how long fairly shall her sweet lie last? 

 KING RICHARD III  So long as heaven and nature lengthens it. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  So long as hell and Richard likes of it. 

 KING RICHARD III  Say, I, her sovereign, am her subject love. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  But she, your subject, loathes such sovereignty. 

 KING RICHARD III  Be eloquent in my behalf to her. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  An honest tale speeds best being plainly told. 

 KING RICHARD III  Then in plain terms tell her my loving tale. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Plain and not honest is too harsh a style. 

 KING RICHARD III  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 grave. 

 KING RICHARD III  Harp not on that string, madam; that is past. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Harp on it still shall I till heart-strings break. 

 KING RICHARD III  Now, by my George, my garter, and my crown,-- 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Profaned, dishonour'd, and the third usurp'd. 

 KING RICHARD III  I swear-- 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  By nothing; for this is no oath: 

 The George, profaned, hath lost his holy honour; 

 The garter, blemish'd, pawn'd his knightly virtue; 

 The crown, usurp'd, disgraced his kingly glory. 

 if something thou wilt swear to be believed, 

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

 KING RICHARD III  Now, by the world-- 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  'Tis full of thy foul wrongs. 

 KING RICHARD III  My father's death-- 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Thy life hath that dishonour'd. 

 KING RICHARD III  Then, by myself-- 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Thyself thyself misusest. 

 KING RICHARD III  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 brow, 

 Had graced the tender temples of my child, 

 And both the princes had been breathing here, 

 Which now, two tender playfellows to dust, 

 Thy broken faith hath made a prey for worms. 

 What canst thou swear by now? 

 KING RICHARD III  The time to come. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  That thou hast wronged in the time o'erpast; 

 For I myself have many tears to wash 

 Hereafter time, for time past wrong'd by thee. 

 The children live, whose parents thou hast 

 slaughter'd, 

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

 The parents live, whose children thou hast butcher'd, 

 Old wither'd plants, to wail it with their age. 

 Swear not by time to come; for that thou hast 

 Misused ere used, by time misused o'erpast. 

 KING RICHARD III  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 proceedings, 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 this land and me, 

 To thee, herself, 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, good mother,--I must can 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: 

 Urge the necessity and state of times, 

 And be not peevish-fond in great designs. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Shall I be tempted of the devil thus? 

 KING RICHARD III  Ay, if the devil tempt thee to do good. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Shall I forget myself to be myself? 

 KING RICHARD III  Ay, if yourself's remembrance wrong yourself. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  But thou didst kill my children. 

 KING RICHARD III  But in your daughter's womb I bury them: 

 Where in that nest of spicery they shall breed 

 Selves of themselves, to your recomforture. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  Shall I go win my daughter to thy will? 

 KING RICHARD III  And be a happy mother by the deed. 

 QUEEN ELIZABETH  I go. Write to me very shortly. 

 And you shall understand from me her mind. 

 KING RICHARD III  Bear her my true love's kiss; and so, farewell. 



 Exit QUEEN ELIZABETH  Relenting fool, and shallow, changing woman! 



 Enter RATCLIFF; CATESBY following  How now! what news? 

 RATCLIFF  My gracious sovereign, on the western coast 

 Rideth a puissant navy; to the shore 

 Throng many doubtful hollow-hearted friends, 

 Unarm'd, and unresolved to beat them back: 

 'Tis thought that Richmond is their admiral; 

 And there they hull, expecting but the aid 

 Of Buckingham to welcome them ashore. 

 KING RICHARD III  Some light-foot friend post to the Duke of Norfolk: 

 Ratcliff, thyself, or Catesby; where is he? 

 CATESBY  Here, my lord. 

 KING RICHARD III  Fly to the duke: 



 To RATCLIFF  Post thou to Salisbury 

 When thou comest thither-- 



 To CATESBY  Dull, unmindful villain, 

 Why stand'st thou still, and go'st not to the duke? 

 CATESBY  First, mighty sovereign, let me know your mind, 

 What from your grace I shall deliver to him. 

 KING RICHARD III  O, true, good Catesby: bid him levy straight 

 The greatest strength and power he can make, 

 And meet me presently at Salisbury. 

 CATESBY  I go. 



 Exit  RATCLIFF  What is't your highness' pleasure I shall do at 

 Salisbury? 

 KING RICHARD III  Why, what wouldst thou do there before I go? 

 RATCLIFF  Your highness told me I should post before. 

 KING RICHARD III  My mind is changed, sir, my mind is changed. 



 Enter STANLEY  How now, what news with you? 

 STANLEY  None good, my lord, to please you with the hearing; 

 Nor none so bad, but it may well be told. 

 KING RICHARD III  Hoyday, a riddle! neither good nor bad! 

 Why dost thou run so many mile about, 

 When thou mayst tell thy tale a nearer way? 

 Once more, what news? 

 STANLEY  Richmond is on the seas. 

 KING RICHARD III  There let him sink, and be the seas on him! 

 White-liver'd runagate, what doth he there? 

 STANLEY  I know not, mighty sovereign, but by guess. 

 KING RICHARD III  Well, sir, as you guess, as you guess? 

 STANLEY  Stirr'd up by Dorset, Buckingham, and Ely, 

 He makes for England, there to claim the crown. 

 KING RICHARD III  Is the chair empty? is the sword unsway'd? 

 Is the king dead? the empire unpossess'd? 

 What heir of York is there alive but we? 

 And who is England's king but great York's heir? 

 Then, tell me, what doth he upon the sea? 

 STANLEY  Unless for that, my liege, I cannot guess. 

 KING RICHARD III  Unless for that he comes to be your liege, 

 You cannot guess wherefore the Welshman comes. 

 Thou wilt revolt, and fly to him, I fear. 

 STANLEY  No, mighty liege; therefore mistrust me not. 

 KING RICHARD III  Where is thy power, then, to beat him back? 

 Where are thy tenants and thy followers? 

 Are they not now upon the western shore. 

 Safe-conducting the rebels from their ships! 

 STANLEY  No, my good lord, my friends are in the north. 

 KING RICHARD III  Cold friends to Richard: what do they in the north, 

 When they should serve their sovereign in the west? 

 STANLEY  They have not been commanded, mighty sovereign: 

 Please it your majesty to give me leave, 

 I'll muster up my friends, and meet your grace 

 Where and what time your majesty shall please. 

 KING RICHARD III  Ay, ay. thou wouldst be gone to join with Richmond: 

 I will not trust you, sir. 

 STANLEY  Most mighty sovereign, 

 You have no cause to hold my friendship doubtful: 

 I never was nor never will be false. 

 KING RICHARD III  Well, 

 Go muster men; but, hear you, leave behind 

 Your son, George Stanley: look your faith be firm. 

 Or else his head's assurance is but frail. 

 STANLEY  So deal with him as I prove true to you. 



 Exit 

 Enter a Messenger  Messenger  My gracious sovereign, now in Devonshire, 

 As I by friends am well advertised, 

 Sir Edward Courtney, and the haughty prelate 

 Bishop of Exeter, his brother there, 

 With many more confederates, are in arms. 



 Enter another Messenger  Second Messenger  My liege, in Kent the Guildfords are in arms; 

 And every hour more competitors 

 Flock to their aid, and still their power increaseth. 



 Enter another Messenger  Third Messenger  My lord, the army of the Duke of Buckingham-- 

 KING RICHARD III  Out on you, owls! nothing but songs of death? 



 He striketh him  Take that, until thou bring me better news. 

 Third Messenger  The news I have to tell your majesty 

 Is, that by sudden floods and fall of waters, 

 Buckingham's army is dispersed and scatter'd; 

 And he himself wander'd away alone, 

 No man knows whither. 

 KING RICHARD III  I cry thee mercy: 

 There is my purse to cure that blow of thine. 

 Hath any well-advised friend proclaim'd 

 Reward to him that brings the traitor in? 

 Third Messenger  Such proclamation hath been made, my liege. 



 Enter another Messenger  Fourth Messenger  Sir Thomas Lovel and Lord Marquis Dorset, 

 'Tis said, my liege, in Yorkshire are in arms. 

 Yet this good comfort bring I to your grace, 

 The Breton navy is dispersed by tempest: 

 Richmond, in Yorkshire, sent out a boat 

 Unto the shore, to ask those on the banks 

 If they were his assistants, yea or no; 

 Who answer'd him, they came from Buckingham. 

 Upon his party: he, mistrusting them, 

 Hoisted sail and made away for Brittany. 

 KING RICHARD III  March on, march on, since we are up in arms; 

 If not to fight with foreign enemies, 

 Yet to beat down these rebels here at home. 



 Re-enter CATESBY  CATESBY  My liege, the Duke of Buckingham is taken; 

 That is the best news: that the Earl of Richmond 

 Is with a mighty power landed at Milford, 

 Is colder tidings, yet they must be told. 

 KING RICHARD III  Away towards Salisbury! while we reason here, 

 A royal battle might be won and lost 

 Some one take order Buckingham be brought 

 To Salisbury; the rest march on with me. 



 Flourish. Exeunt  Shakespeare homepage  |  Richard III  | Act 4, Scene 4 

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