I fay, my lord, they have deferved death.
Glo. Then be your eyes the witness of their evil;
Look, how I am bewitch'd; behold, mine arm
Is, like a blafted Sapling, wither'd up:
And this is Edward's wife, that monftrous witch,
Conforted with that harlot, ftrumpet Shore,
That by their witchcraft thus have marked me
Haft. If they have done this deed, my noble lord-
Glo. If? thou Protector of this damned ftrumpet,
Talk'ft thou to me of Ifs? thou art a traitor-
Off with his head-
now, by St. Paul I swear,
I will not dine until I fee the fame.
Lovel, and Catesby, look that it be done : (8)
The reft that love me, rife and follow me.
Manent Lovel and Catesby, with the lord Haftings.
Haft. Woe, woe, for England, not a whit for me!
For I, too fond, might have prevented this:
Stanley did dream, the boar did rase our helms
But I did fcorn it, and difdain to fly :
Three times to day my foot-cloth horfe did stumble,
And started when he look'd upon the Tower;
As loth to bear me to the flaughter-house.
O, now I need the priest that fpake to me,
I now repent, I told the Purfuivant,
As too triumphing, how mine enemies
To day at Pomfret bloodily were butcher'd,
(8) Lovel and Ratcliff, look that it be done.] There are two Things to be observ'd, which will warrant the Variation I have made upon this Paffage. The Scene is here in the Tower and Lord Haftings was cut off on that very day, when Rivers, Gray and Vaughan suffer'd at Pomfret. How then could Ratcliff at the fame Inftant be both in Yorkshire and the Tower? In the very Scene preceding This, we find him conducting those Gentlemen to the Block. The Players in their Edition first made the Blunder, as to Ratcliff attending Lord Haftings to Death: for, in the old Quarto, we find it rightly ; —— ·Exeunt: Manet Catesby with Haftings. And in the next Scene, before the Tower-Walls, we find Lovel and Catesby come back from the Execution, bringing the head of Haftings.
And I myself fecure in grace and favour.
Oh, Margret, Margret, now thy heavy Curfe
Is lighted on poor Haftings' wretched head.
Catef. Come, come, difpatch; the Duke would be at dinner.
Make a fhort shrift, he longs to fee your head.
Haft. O momentary grace of mortal men,
Which we more hunt for than the grace of God!
Who builds his hope in air of your fair looks,
Lives like a drunken failor on a mast,
Ready with every Nod to tumble down
Into the fatal bowels of the deep.
Lov. Come, come, dispatch, 'tis bootless to exclaim. Haft. Oh, bloody Richard! miferable England!
I prophefie the fearful'ft time to thee,
That ever wretched Age hath look'd upon.
Come, lead me to the block, bear him my head:
They fmile at Me, who fhortly fhall be dead. [Exeunt.
SCENE changes to the Tower-walls. Enter Gloucester and Buckingham in rufty armour, marvellous ill-favour'd.
OM E, Coufin, canft thou quake and change
COME,
thy colour,
Murther thy breath in middle of a word,
And then again begin, and top again,
As if thou wert dillraught, and mad with terror?
Buck. Tut, I can counterfeit the deep Tragedian,
Speak and look back, and pry on every fide;
Tremble and start at wagging of a straw,
Intending deep fufpicion: ghaftly looks
Are at my fervice, like enforced fmiles.
And both are ready in their offices,
At any time to grace my ftratagems.
Glo. Here comes the Mayor.
Buck. Let me alone to entertain him. Lord Mayor,-
Enter the Lord Mayor, attended.
Glo. Look to the draw-bridge there..
Buck. Hark, a drum!
Glo. Catesby, o'erlook the walls.
Buck. Lord Mayor, the reafon we have fent
Glo. Look back, defend thee, here are enemies.
Buck. God and our innocence defend and guard us!
Enter Lovel and Catesby with Haftings's head.
Glo. Be patient, they are friends; Catesby and Lovel
Lov. Here is the head of that ignoble traitor,
The dangerous and unfufpected Haftings.
Glo. So dear I lov'd the man, that I must weep:
I took him for the plaineft, harmless creature,
That breath'd upon the earth a christian :
Made him my book, wherein my foul recorded
The hiftory of all her fecret thoughts;
So fmooth he daub'd his vice with fhew of virtue,
That (his apparent open guilt omitted,
I mean his converfation with Shore's wife)
He liv'd from all attainder of Suspect.
Buck. Well, well, he was the covert'ft fhelter'd traitor
Would you imagine, or almoft believe,
(Were't not, that by great preservation
We live to tell it) that the fubtle traitor
This day had plotted, in the Council house,
To murther me and my good lord of Glo'fter?
Mayor. What? had he fo?
Glo. What! think you, we are Turks or Infidels?
Or that we would, against the form of law,
Proceed thus rafhly to the villain's death;
But that the extreme peril of the cafe,
The peace of England, and our Perfon's fafety,
Enforc'd us to to this execution ?
Mayor. Now, fair befall you! he deferv'd his death
And your good Graces both have well proceeded,
To warn falfe traitors from the like attempts.
I never look'd for better at his hands,
After he once fell in with mistress Shore.
Buck. Yet had not we determin'd he should die,
Until your lordship came to fee his end;
Which now the loving hafte of these our friends,
Something againft our meaning, hath prevented?
Because, my lord, we would have had you heard
The traitor speak; and tim'roufly confefs
The manner and the purpose of his treasons:
That you might well have fignify'd the fame
Unto the Citizens, who, haply, may
Mifconftrue us in him, and wail his death.
Mayor. But, my good lord, your Grace's word fhall serve,
As well as I had seen and heard him speak :
And do not doubt, right-noble Princes both,
But I'll acquaint our duteous citizens,
With all your just proceedings in this cafe.
Glo. And to that end we wifh'd your lordship here, T'avoid the cenfures of the carping world.
Buck. But fince you come too late of our intent,
Yet witness, what, you hear, we did intend :
And fo, my good lord Mayor, we bid farewel.
[Exit Mayor.
Glo. Go after, after, Coufin Buckingham.
The Mayor towards Guild-Hall hies him in all poft :
There, at your meetest vantage of the time,
Infer the bastardy of Edward's children;
Tell them, how Edward put to death a Citizen,
Only for faying, he would make his fon
Heir to the Crown; meaning, indeed, his house,
Which by the fign thereof was termed fo.
Moreover, urge his hateful luxury,
And beftial appetite in change of luft,
Which ftretch'd unto their fervants, daughters, wives, Ev'n where his raging eye, or favage heart,
Without controul, lufted to make a prey.
Nay, for a need, thus far come near my perfon:
'Tell them, when that my mother went with child
Of that infatiate Edward, noble York
My Princely father then had wars in France;
And, by just computation of the time,
Found that the iffue was not his begot:
Which well appeared in his lineaments,
Being nothing like the noble Duke, my father:
Yet touch this fparingly, as 'twere far off,
Because, my lord, you know, my mother lives.
Buck. Doubt not, my lord, I'll play the orator
As if the golden fee, for which I plead.
Were for myself; and fo, my lord, adieu.
Glo. If you thrive well, bring them to Baynard's
Castle,
Where you fhall find me well accompanied
With reverend fathers and well learned bishops.
Buck, I go, and towards three or four o'clock
Look for the news that the Guild-Hall affords.
[Exit Buck.
Glo. Go, Lovel, with all speed to Doctor Shaw.
Go thou to Fryar Peuker; bid them both
Meet me within this Hour at Baynard's Caftle.
[Exeunt Lov. and Catef. feverally.
Now will I go to take some privy order
To draw the brats of Clarence out of fight;
And to give order, that no fort of perfon
Have, any time, recourfe unto the Princes.
Scriv. Here is th' Indictment of the good lord Haftings. Which in a fet hand fairly is engrofs'd;
That it may be to day read o'er in Pauls.
And, mark, how well the fequel hangs together:
Eleven hours I've spent to write it over,
For yefternight by Catesby was it fent me:
The precedent was full as long a doing.
And yet within thefe five hours Haftings liv'd
Untainted, unexamin'd, free at liberty.
Here's a good world the while ;-
That cannot fee this palpable device?
Yet who fo bold, but fays, he fees it not?
Bad is the world; and all will come to nought,
When fuch ill dealings must be seen in thought. [Exit.
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