Richard III

here to welcome me. Gloucester

Sweet prince, the untainted virtue of your years
Hath not yet dived into the world’s deceit:
Nor more can you distinguish of a man
Than of his outward show; which, God he knows,
Seldom or never jumpeth with the heart.
Those uncles which you want were dangerous;
Your grace attended to their sugar’d words,
But look’d not on the poison of their hearts:
God keep you from them, and from such false friends!

Prince God keep me from false friends! but they were none. Gloucester My lord, the mayor of London comes to greet you. Enter the Lord Mayor, and his train. Mayor God bless your grace with health and happy days! Prince

I thank you, good my lord; and thank you all.
I thought my mother, and my brother York,
Would long ere this have met us on the way:
Fie, what a slug is Hastings, that he comes not
To tell us whether they will come or no!

Enter Lord Hastings. Buckingham And, in good time, here comes the sweating lord. Prince Welcome, my lord: what, will our mother come? Hastings

On what occasion, God he knows, not I,
The queen your mother, and your brother York,
Have taken sanctuary: the tender prince
Would fain have come with me to meet your grace,
But by his mother was perforce withheld.

Buckingham

Fie, what an indirect and peevish course
Is this of hers! Lord cardinal, will your grace
Persuade the queen to send the Duke of York
Unto his princely brother presently?
If she deny, Lord Hastings, go with him,
And from her jealous arms pluck him perforce.

Cardinal

My Lord of Buckingham, if my weak oratory
Can from his mother win the Duke of York,
Anon expect him here; but if she be obdurate
To mild entreaties, God in heaven forbid
We should infringe the holy privilege
Of blessed sanctuary! not for all this land
Would I be guilty of so deep a sin.

Buckingham

You are too senseless-obstinate, my lord,
Too ceremonious and traditional:
Weigh it but with the grossness of this age,
You break not sanctuary in seizing him.
The benefit thereof is always granted
To those whose dealings have deserved the place,
And those who have the wit to claim the place:
This prince hath neither claim’d it nor deserved it;
And therefore, in mine opinion, cannot have it:
Then, taking him from thence that is not there,
You break no privilege nor charter there.
Oft have I heard of sanctuary men;
But sanctuary children ne’er till now.

Cardinal

My lord, you shall o’er-rule my mind for once.
Come on, Lord Hastings, will you go with me?

Hastings I go, my lord. Prince

Good lords, make all the speedy haste you may. Exeunt Cardinal and Hastings.
Say, uncle Gloucester, if our brother come,
Where shall we sojourn till our coronation?

Gloucester

Where it seems best unto your royal self.
If I may counsel you, some day or two
Your highness shall repose you at the Tower:
Then where you please, and shall be thought most fit
For your best health and recreation.

Prince

I do not like the Tower, of any place.
Did Julius Caesar build that place, my lord?

Buckingham

He did, my gracious lord, begin that place;
Which, since, succeeding ages have re-edified.

Prince

Is it upon record, or else reported
Successively from age to age, he built it?

Buckingham Upon record, my gracious lord. Prince

But say, my lord, it were not register’d,
Methinks the truth should live from age to age,
As ’twere retail’d to all posterity,
Even to the general all-ending day.

Gloucester Aside. So wise so young, they say, do never live long. Prince What say you, uncle? Gloucester

I say, without characters, fame lives long.
Aside. Thus, like the formal vice, Iniquity,
I moralize two meanings in one word.

Prince

That Julius Caesar was a famous man;
With what his valour did enrich his wit,
His wit set down to make his valour live:
Death makes no conquest of this conqueror;
For now he lives in fame, though not in life.
I’ll tell you what, my cousin Buckingham⁠—

Buckingham What, my gracious lord? Prince

An if I live until I be a man,
I’ll win our ancient right in France again,
Or die a soldier, as I lived a king.

Gloucester Aside. Short summers lightly have a forward spring. Enter young York, Hastings, and the Cardinal. Buckingham Now, in good time, here comes the Duke of York. Prince Richard of York! how fares our loving brother? York Well, my dread lord; so must I call you now. Prince

Ay, brother, to our grief, as it is yours:
Too late he died that might have kept that title,
Which by his death hath lost much majesty.

Gloucester How fares our cousin, noble Lord of York? York

I thank you, gentle uncle. O, my lord,
You said that idle weeds are fast in growth:
The prince my brother hath outgrown me far.

Gloucester He hath, my lord. York And therefore is he idle? Gloucester O, my fair cousin, I must not say so. York Then is he more beholding to you than I. Gloucester

He may command me as my sovereign;
But you have power in me as in a kinsman.

York I pray you, uncle, give me this dagger. Gloucester My dagger, little cousin? with all my heart. Prince A beggar, brother? York

Of my kind uncle, that I know will give;
And being but a toy, which is no grief to give.

Gloucester A greater gift than that I’ll give my cousin. York A greater gift! O, that’s the sword to it. Gloucester Ay, gentle cousin, were it light enough. York

O, then, I see, you will part but with light gifts;
In weightier things you’ll say a beggar nay.

Gloucester It is too heavy for your grace to wear. York I weigh it lightly, were it heavier. Gloucester What, would you have my weapon, little lord? York I would, that I might thank you as you call me. Gloucester How? York Little. Prince

My Lord of York will still be cross in talk:
Uncle, your grace knows how to bear with him.

York

You mean, to bear me, not to bear with me:
Uncle, my brother mocks both you and me;
Because that I am little, like an ape,
He thinks that you should bear me on your shoulders.

Buckingham

With what a sharp-provided wit he reasons!
To mitigate the scorn he gives his uncle,
He