Glo. My lord, there needs no such apology; Who, earnest in the service of my God, But, leaving this, what is your grace's pleasure? Buck. Even that, I hope, which pleaseth God above, And all good men of this ungovern'd isle. Glo. I do suspect, I have done some offence, And that you come to reprehend my ignorance. your grace, On our entreaties to amend your fault! Glo. Else wherefore breathe I in a Christian land? Buck. Know, then, it is your fault, that you resign The supreme seat, the throne majestical The scepter'd office of your ancestors, To the corruption of a blemish'd stock: Whilst, in the mildness of your sleepy thoughts, * And almost shoulder'd in the swallowing gulph-] Shoulder'd has the same meaning as rudely thrust into. 1 Which to recure,] To recure is to recover. But as successively, from blood to blood, Your love deserves my thanks; but my desert That I would rather hide me from my greatness,- 8 * And much I need to help you,] And I want much of the ability requisite to give you help, if help were needed. Will well become the seat of majesty, grace; But the respects thereof are nice and trivial,' You say, that Edward is your brother's son; This Edward, whom our manners call-the prince. Save that, for reverence to some alive, I give a sparing limit to my tongue. Then, good my lord, take to your royal self If not to bless us and the land withal, Yet to draw forth your noble ancestry 9 — are nice and trivial,] Nice is generally used by Shakspeare in the sense of minute, trifling, of petty import. 1 loath'd bigamy:] Bigamy, by a canon of the council of Lyons, A. D. 1274, (adopted in England by a statute in 4 Edw. I.) was made unlawful and infamous. It differed from polygamy, or having two wives at once: as it consisted in either marrying two virgins successively, or once marrying a widow. From the corruption of abusing time, May. Do, good my lord; your citizens entreat you. Buck. Refuse not, mighty lord, this proffer'd love. Cate. O, make them joyful, grant their lawful suit. Glo. Alas, why would you heap those cares on me? I am unfit for state and majesty: I do beseech you, take it not amiss; I cannot, nor I will not, yield to you. Buck. If you refuse it,—as in love and zeal, [Exeunt BUCKINGHAM and Citizens. Cate. Call them again, sweet prince, accept their suit; If you deny them, all the land will rue it. Glo. Will you enforce me to a world of cares? Well, call them again; I am not made of stone, But penetrable to your kind entreaties, [Exit CATESBY. Albeit against my conscience and my soul. Re-enter BUCKINGHAM, and the Rest. Cousin of Buckingham,-and sage, grave men,-Since will buckle fortune on my back, you To bear her burden, whe'r I will, or no, 2 effeminate remorse,] i. e. pity. I must have patience to endure the load: May. God bless your grace! we see it, and will say it. Glo. In saying so, you shall but say the truth. Buck. Then I salute you with this royal title,Long live king Richard, England's worthy king! All. Amen. Buck. To-morrow may it please you to be crown'd? Glo. Even when you please, since you will have it so. Buck. To-morrow then we will attend your grace; And so, most joyfully, we take our leave. Glo. Come, let us to our holy work again: [To the Bishops. Farewell, good cousin ;-farewell, gentle friends. [Exeunt. ACT IV. SCENE I. Before the Tower. Enter, on one side, Queen ELIZABETH, Duchess of YORK, and Marquis of DORSET; on the other, ANNE, Duchess of Gloster, leading Lady_MARGARET PLANTAGENET, Clarence's young Daugh ter. Duch. Who meets us here?-my niece Planta genet Led in the hand of her kind aunt of Gloster? |