Richard III by William Shakespeare (good novels to read txt) 📕

are unprepared and look not for it. Hastings

O monstrous, monstrous! and so falls it out
With Rivers, Vaughan, Grey: and so ’twill do
With some men else, who think themselves as safe
As thou and I; who, as thou know’st, are dear
To princely Richard and to Buckingham.

Catesby

The princes both make high account of you;
Aside. For they account his head upon the bridge.

Hastings I know they do; and I have well deserved it. Enter Lord Stanley.

Come on, come on; where is your boar-spear, man?
Fear you the boar, and go so unprovided?

Stanley

My lord, good morrow; good morrow, Catesby:
You may jest on, but, by the holy rood,
I do not like these several councils, I.

Hastings

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:
Think you, but that I know our state secure,
I would be so triumphant as I am?

Stanley

The lords at Pomfret, when they rode from London,
Were jocund, and supposed their state was sure,
And they indeed had no cause to mistrust;
But yet, you see how soon the day o’ercast.
This sudden stab of rancour I misdoubt:
Pray God, I say, I prove a needless coward!
What, shall we toward the Tower? the day is spent.

Hastings

Come, come, have with you. Wot you what, my lord?
To-day the lords you talk of are beheaded.

Stanley

They, for their truth, might better wear their heads
Than some that have accused them wear their hats.
But come, my lord, let us away.

Enter a Pursuivant. Hastings

Go on before; I’ll talk with this good fellow. Exeunt Stanley and Catesby.
How now, sirrah! how goes the world with thee?

Pursuivant The better that your lordship please to ask. Hastings

I tell thee, man, ’tis better with me now
Than when I met thee last where now we meet:
Then was I going prisoner to the Tower,
By the suggestion of the queen’s allies;
But now, I tell thee⁠—keep it to thyself⁠—
This day those enemies are put to death,
And I in better state than e’er I was.

Pursuivant God hold it, to your honour’s good content! Hastings Gramercy, fellow: there, drink that for me. Throws him his purse. Pursuivant God save your lordship! Exit. Enter a Priest. Priest Well met, my lord; I am glad to see your honour. Hastings

I thank thee, good Sir John, with all my heart.
I am in your debt for your last exercise;
Come the next Sabbath, and I will content you. He whispers in his ear.

Enter Buckingham. Buckingham

What, talking with a priest, lord chamberlain?
Your friends at Pomfret, they do need the priest;
Your honour hath no shriving work in hand.

Hastings

Good faith, and when I met this holy man,
Those men you talk of came into my mind.
What, go you toward the Tower?

Buckingham

I do, my lord; but long I shall not stay:
I shall return before your lordship thence.

Hastings ’Tis like enough, for I stay dinner there. Buckingham

Aside. And supper too, although thou know’st it not.
Come, will you go?

Hastings I’ll wait upon your lordship. Exeunt. Scene III

Pomfret Castle.

Enter Sir Richard Ratcliff, with halberds, carrying Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan to death. Ratcliff Come, bring forth the prisoners. Rivers

Sir Richard Ratcliff, let me tell thee this:
To-day shalt thou behold a subject die
For truth, for duty, and for loyalty.

Grey

God keep the prince from all the pack of you!
A knot you are of damned blood-suckers.

Vaughan You live that shall cry woe for this hereafter. Ratcliff Dispatch; the limit of your lives is out. Rivers

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 hack’d to death;
And, for more slander to thy dismal seat,
We give thee up our guiltless blood to drink.

Grey

Now Margaret’s curse is fall’n upon our heads,
For standing by when Richard stabb’d her son.

Rivers

Then cursed she Hastings, then cursed she Buckingham,
Then cursed she Richard. O, remember, God,
To hear her prayers for them, as now for us!
And for my sister and her princely sons,
Be satisfied, dear God, with our true blood,
Which, as thou know’st, unjustly must be spilt.

Ratcliff Make haste; the hour of death is expiate. Rivers

Come, Grey, come, Vaughan, let us all embrace:
And take our leave, until we meet in heaven. Exeunt.

Scene IV

The Tower of London.

Enter Buckingham, Derby, Hastings, the Bishop of Ely, Ratcliff, Lovel, with others, and take their seats at a table. Hastings

My lords, at once: the cause why we are met
Is, to determine of the coronation.
In God’s name, speak: when is the royal day?

Buckingham Are all things fitting for that royal time? Derby It is, and wants but nomination. Ely To-morrow, then, I judge a happy day. Buckingham

Who knows the lord protector’s mind herein?
Who is most inward with the noble duke?

Ely Your grace, we think, should soonest know his mind. Buckingham

Who, I, my lord! we know each other’s faces,
But for our hearts, he knows no more of mine,
Than I of yours;
Nor I no more of his, than you of mine.
Lord Hastings, you and he are near in love.

Hastings

I thank his grace, I know he loves me well;
But, for his purpose in the coronation,
I have not sounded him, nor he deliver’d
His gracious pleasure any way therein:
But you, my noble lords, may name the time;
And in the duke’s behalf I’ll give my voice,
Which, I presume, he’ll take in gentle part.

Enter Gloucester. Ely Now in good time, here comes the duke himself. Gloucester

My noble lords and cousins all, good morrow.
I have been long a sleeper; but, I hope,
My absence doth neglect no great designs,
Which by my presence might have been concluded.

Buckingham

Had not you come upon your cue, my lord,
William Lord Hastings had pronounced your part⁠—
I mean, your voice⁠—for crowning of the king.

Gloucester

Than my Lord Hastings no man might be bolder;
His lordship knows me well, and