66

Here's twentye groates out of my purse;
And twentye I have of thine :

And I have one more, which we will spend
Together at the wine.”

The king set a bugle horne to his mouthe,
And blewe both loud and shrille :

And soone came lords, and soone came knights,
Fast ryding over the hille.

66

'Nowe, out alas!" the tanner he cryde,

"That ever I sawe this daye!

Thou art a strong thiefe, yon come thy fellowes Will beare my cowe-hide away."

66

They are no thieves," the king replyde,
"I sweare, soe mote I thee:

But they are the lords of the north countrée
Here come to hunt with mee."

And soone before our king they came
And knelt downe on the grounde :
Then might the tanner have beene awaye,
He had lever than twentye pounde.

A coller, a coller, here:" sayd the king,
66 A coller," he loud gan crye:

Then woulde he lever than twentye pound,
He had not beene so nighe.

"A coller, a coller," the tanner he sayd, "I trowe it will breed sorrowe :

After a coller cometh a halter,

I trow I shall be hang'd to-morrowe."

“Be not afraid, tanner," said our king
"I tell thee, so mought I thee,
Lo here I make thee the best esquire
That is in the North countrie.

"For Plumpton-parke I will give thee,

With tenements faire beside :

"Tis worth three hundred markes by the yeare, To maintaine thy good cowe-hide."

66

Gramercye, my liege," the tanner replyde, "For the favour thou hast me showne ; If ever thou comest to merry Tamworth, Neates leather shall clout thy shoen."

KING EDWARD V (1483)

KING RICHARD III (1483-1485)

SELECTIONS FROM THE PLAY OF KING RICHARD III

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

ACT III. SCENE 1. London. A Street.

The trumpets sound. Enter the PRINCE OF WALES, GLOSTER, BUCKINGHAM, CARDINAL BOURCHIER, and others.

BUCK. Welcome, sweet prince, to London, to your chamber.

GLO. Welcome, dear cousin, my thoughts' sovereign :

The weary way

hath made you melancholy.

PRINCE. No, uncle; but our crosses on the way Have made it tedious, wearisome, and heavy :

I want more uncles here to welcome me.

GLO. Sweet prince, the untainted virtue of your years

Hath not yet dived into the world's deceit :

No 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.

GLO. My lord, the mayor of London comes to greet you.

Enter the LORD MAYOR, and his Train.

MAY. God bless your grace with health and happy days!

PRINCE. I thank you, good my lord;-and thank you all.— [Exeunt Mayor, etc. 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 HASTINGS.

BUCK. And in good time, here comes the sweating lord.

PRINCE. Welcome, my lord: What, will our mother come?

HAST. 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.

BUCK. 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

M

Unto his princely brother presently?

If she deny,-lord Hastings, go with him,
And from her jealous arms pluck him perforce.

*

*

CARD. My lord, you shall o'er-rule my mind for

once.

Come on, lord Hastings, will you go with me?

HAST. I go, my lord.

PRINCE. Good lords, make all the speedy haste [Exeunt Cardinal and Hastings.

you may.

Say, uncle Gloster, if our brother come,

Where shall we sojourn till our coronation?

GLO. 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

For

fit

your

best health and recreation.

PRINCE. I do not like the Tower, of any place :-
Did Julius Cæsar build that place, my lord?
GLO. 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?

BUCK. Upon record, my gracious lord.

Or die a so GLO. S

spring

PRINCE. But say, my lord, it were not register'd;
Methinks, the truth shall live from age to age,
As 'twere retail'd to all posterity,

Even to the general all-ending day.

Too late he Which by h GLO. H YORK.

You said, th

The prince

GLO. H

Ховк. GLO. O Ховк.

GLO. H

But you ha

(Aside.)

YORK.

dagger

GLO. M

heart.

PRINCE

YORK.

GLO. So wise, so young, they say, do ne'er live long.

PRINCE. What say you, uncle?

GLO. I say, without characters, fame lives long. Thus, like the formal vice, iniquity,

I moralize two meanings in one word.

}(Aside.)

PRINCE. That Julius Cæsar was a famous man;

With what his valour did enrich his wit,

And, being

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.
BUCK. 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.

GLO. Short summers lightly have a forward spring.

(Aside.)

Enter YORK, HASTINGS, and the CARDINAL.

BUCK. 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.

GLO. 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. GLO. He hath, my lord.

YORK. And therefore is he idle?

GLO. O, my fair cousin, I must not say so. YORK. Then he is more beholden to you than I. GLO. He may command me as my sovereign; But you have power in me as in a kinsman.

YORK. I pray you, uncle, then, give me this dagger.

GLO. 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.