Richard III - William Shakespeare (ebooks online reader txt) 📗

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 Infer fair England’s peace by this alliance. Queen Elizabeth Which she shall purchase with still lasting war. King Richard Say that the king, which 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 tide, 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 So long as heaven and nature lengthens it. Queen Elizabeth So long as hell and Richard likes of it. King Richard Say, I, her sovereign, am her subject love. 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 in plain terms tell her 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 grave.

King Richard Harp not on that string, madam; that is past. Queen Elizabeth Harp on it still shall I till heart-strings break. King Richard Now, by my George, my garter, and my crown⁠— Queen Elizabeth Profaned, dishonour’d, and the third usurp’d. King Richard 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 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 Thyself thyself misusest. 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 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 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

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 Ay, if the devil tempt thee to do good. Queen Elizabeth Shall I forget myself to be myself? King Richard Ay, if yourself’s remembrance wrong yourself. Queen Elizabeth But thou didst kill my children. King Richard

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 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

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