Besides, he says, there are two councils held; Which may make you and him to rue at the other. Tell him, his fears are shallow, wanting instance; 2 Where, he shall see, the boar will use us kindly. Mess. I'll go, my lord, and tell him what you say. Enter CATESBY. [Exit. Cate. Many good morrows to my noble lord! ring. What news, what news, in this our tottering state? And, I believe, will never stand upright, Till Richard wear the garland of the realm. Hast. How! wear the garland? dost thou mean the crown? Cate. Ay, my good lord. 1 This was the usual address to noblemen in Shakspeare's time; it was indifferently used with your lordship. See any old letter or dedication of that age. 2 Instance is here put for motive, cause. 3 Weak. Hast. I'll have this crown of mine cut from my shoulders, Before I'll see the crown so foul misplaced. But canst thou guess that he doth aim at it? Cate. Ay, on my life; and hopes to find you forward Upon his party, for the gain thereof: And, thereupon, he sends you this good news,- Cate. God keep your lordship in that gracious mind! Well, Catesby, ere a fortnight make me older, Cate. The princes doth make high account of you,For they account his head upon the bridge. [Aside. Hast. I know they do; and I have well deserved it. Enter STANLey. Come on, come on, where is your boar-spear, man? Fear you the boar, and go so unprovided? Stan. My lord, good morrow! and good morrow, You may jest on, but, by the holy rood,' 1 Cross. Hast. My lord, I hold my life as dear as you do yours; And never, in my life, I do protest, Was it more precious to me than 'tis now: I would be so triumphant as I am? Stan. The lords at Pomfret, when they rode from Were jocund, and supposed their states were sure, But yet, you see, how soon the day o'ercast. Pray God, I say, I prove a needless coward! What, shall we toward the Tower? The day is spent. Hast. Come, come, have with you.-Wot you what, my lord? To-day, the lords you talk of are beheaded. Stan. They, for their truth, might better wear their heads, Than some, that have accused them, wear their hats. But come, my lord, let's away. Enter a Pursuivant. Hast. Go on before; I'll talk with this good fellow. [Exeunt STAN. and CATESBY. How now, sirrah? how goes the world with thee? Purs. The better, that your lordship please to ask. Hast. I tell thee, man, 'tis better with me now, That when thou met'st me last where now we meet : Then was I going prisoner to the Tower, By the suggestion of the queen's allies; Purs. God hold it,' to your honor's good content! Hast. Gramercy, fellow. There, drink that for me [Throwing him his purse [Exit Pursuivant Purs. I thank your honor. Enter a Priest. Pr. Well met, my lord; I am glad to see your honor. Hast. I thank thee, good sir John,' with all my heart. I am in your debt for your last exercise; Enter BUCKINGHAM.2 Buck. What, talking with a priest, lord chamberlain ? Your friends at Pomfret, they do need the priest: Your honor hath no shriving work in hand. Hast. 'Good faith, and when I met this holy man, The men you talk of came into my mind. What, go you toward the Tower? Buck. I do, my lord; but long I cannot stay there. I shall return before your lordship thence. Hast. Nay, like enough, for I stay dinner there. Buck. And supper too, although thou know'st it not. Come, will you go? Hast. [Aside. SCENE III. Pomfret. Before the Castle. Enter RATCLIFF, with a Guard, conducting RIVERS, GREY, and VAUGHAN, to execution. Rat. Come, bring forth the prisoners. Riv. Sir Richard Ratcliff, let me tell thee this,— 1 See note 1 on the first scene of The Merry Wives of Windsor. 2 From the continuation of Harding's Chronicle, 1543, where the account given originally by sir Thomas More is transcribed with some additions, it appears that the person who held this conversation with Hastings was sir Thomas Howard, who is introduced in the last act of this play as earl of Surrey. 3 Queen Elizabeth Grey is deservedly pitied for the loss of her two sons; but the royalty of their birth has so engrossed the attention of historians, that they never reckon into the number of her misfortunes the murder of this her second son, sir Richard Grey. It is remarkable how To-day shalt thou behold a subject die, Grey. God keep the prince from all the pack of you! A knot you are of damned blood-suckers. Vaugh. You live, that shall cry woe for this here. after. Rat. Despatch; the limit of your lives is out. Riv. O, Pomfret, Pomfret! O, thou bloody prison, Fatal and ominous to noble peers! Within the guilty closure of thy walls, Richard the Second here was hacked to death ; We give thee up our guiltless blood to drink. Grey. Now Margaret's curse is fallen upon their heads, When she exclaimed on Hastings, you, and I, Then cursed she Richard :-O, remember, God, Farewell, until we meet again in heaven. [Exeunt. slightly the death of earl Rivers is always mentioned, though a man invested with such high offices of trust and dignity; and how much we dwell on the execution of the lord chamberlain Hastings, a man in every light his inferior. In truth, the generality draw their ideas of English story from the tragic rather than the historic authors.-Walpole. We have this word in the same sense again in Shakspeare's twentysecond sonnet: "Then look I death my days should expiate." Steevens thinks it an error of the press for expirate. |