Enter Richard and Buckingham at several doors. RICHARD
How now, how now? What say the citizens? BUCKINGHAM
Now, by the holy mother of our Lord,
The citizens are mum, say not a word. RICHARD
Touched you the bastardy of Edward’s children? BUCKINGHAM
I did; with his contract with Lady Lucy 5
And his contract by deputy in France;
Th’ unsatiate greediness of his desire
And his enforcement of the city wives;
His tyranny for trifles; his own bastardy,
As being got, your father then in France, 10
And his resemblance being not like the Duke.
Withal, I did infer your lineaments,
Being the right idea of your father,
Both in your form and nobleness of mind;
Laid open all your victories in Scotland, 15
Your discipline in war, wisdom in peace,
Your bounty, virtue, fair humility;
Indeed, left nothing fitting for your purpose
Untouched or slightly handled in discourse.
And when mine oratory drew toward end, 20
I bid them that did love their country’s good
Cry “God save Richard, England’s royal king!” | Richard and Buckingham meet at Baynard's Castle. Buckingham reports that the citizens weren't very excited about the big speech he made about why Richard should be crowned king. Nor were they buying his story about King Edward being illegitimate. |
RICHARD And did they so? BUCKINGHAM
No. So God help me, they spake not a word
But, like dumb statues or breathing stones, 25
Stared each on other and looked deadly pale;
Which when I saw, I reprehended them
And asked the Mayor what meant this willful silence.
His answer was, the people were not used
To be spoke to but by the Recorder. 30
Then he was urged to tell my tale again:
“Thus saith the Duke. Thus hath the Duke
inferred”—
But nothing spoke in warrant from himself.
When he had done, some followers of mine own, 35
At lower end of the hall, hurled up their caps,
And some ten voices cried “God save King Richard!”
And thus I took the vantage of those few.
“Thanks, gentle citizens and friends,” quoth I.
“This general applause and cheerful shout 40
Argues your wisdoms and your love to Richard”—
And even here brake off and came away. | Buckingham was a bit unnerved by this lack of enthusiasm for Richard's coronation, so he had the mayor speak to the people on his behalf. Rather than saying that he personally backed Richard, the mayor basically just kept repeating, "What Buckingham is saying is..." Not surprisingly, the people still weren't into it. Finally, though, about ten people in the back threw their hats in the air in praise of "King Richard." |
RICHARD
What tongueless blocks were they! Would they not
speak?
Will not the Mayor then and his brethren come? 45 BUCKINGHAM
The Mayor is here at hand. Intend some fear;
Be not you spoke with but by mighty suit.
And look you get a prayer book in your hand
And stand between two churchmen, good my lord,
For on that ground I’ll make a holy descant. 50
And be not easily won to our requests.
Play the maid’s part: still answer “nay,” and take it. RICHARD
I go. An if you plead as well for them
As I can say “nay” to thee for myself,
No doubt we bring it to a happy issue. 55 Knocking within. | Buckingham seized the moment and declared he had heard the will of the people: they all loved Richard. Then he ran out of there before anyone could argue with him. Richard is not pleased with the public's lackluster response, so he and Buckingham hatch yet another plan to get Richard onto the throne. Basically, they'll convince the mayor to speak to the people on Richard's behalf. Buckingham will tell the mayor that he had to beg Richard to be king – that Richard doesn't want to be king but might accept the crown if it's the will of the people. Richard, meanwhile, has sequestered himself with holy men and prayer books. He's supposed to look like he's been earnestly praying over the issue (the more to set him apart as a holy man, compared to Edward's now-bad reputation). |
BUCKINGHAM
Go, go, up to the leads. The Lord Mayor knocks.
Richard exits. Enter the Mayor and Citizens. Welcome, my lord. I dance attendance here.
I think the Duke will not be spoke withal. Enter Catesby. Now, Catesby, what says your lord to my request? CATESBY
He doth entreat your Grace, my noble lord, 60
To visit him tomorrow or next day.
He is within, with two right reverend fathers,
Divinely bent to meditation,
And in no worldly suits would he be moved
To draw him from his holy exercise. 65 BUCKINGHAM
Return, good Catesby, to the gracious duke.
Tell him myself, the Mayor, and aldermen,
In deep designs, in matter of great moment
No less importing than our general good,
Are come to have some conference with his Grace. 70 CATESBY
I’ll signify so much unto him straight. He exits. BUCKINGHAM
Ah ha, my lord, this prince is not an Edward!
He is not lolling on a lewd love-bed,
But on his knees at meditation;
Not dallying with a brace of courtesans, 75
But meditating with two deep divines;
Not sleeping, to engross his idle body,
But praying, to enrich his watchful soul.
Happy were England would this virtuous prince
Take on his Grace the sovereignty thereof. 80
But sure I fear we shall not win him to it. MAYOR
Marry, God defend his Grace should say us nay. BUCKINGHAM
I fear he will. Here Catesby comes again. Enter Catesby. Now, Catesby, what says his Grace? CATESBY
He wonders to what end you have assembled 85
Such troops of citizens to come to him,
His Grace not being warned thereof before.
He fears, my lord, you mean no good to him. BUCKINGHAM
Sorry I am my noble cousin should
Suspect me that I mean no good to him. 90
By heaven, we come to him in perfect love,
And so once more return and tell his Grace. Catesby exits. When holy and devout religious men
Are at their beads, ’tis much to draw them thence,
So sweet is zealous contemplation. 95 Enter Richard aloft, between two Bishops.
Catesby reenters. MAYOR
See where his Grace stands, ’tween two clergymen. BUCKINGHAM
Two props of virtue for a Christian prince,
To stay him from the fall of vanity;
And, see, a book of prayer in his hand,
True ornaments to know a holy man.— 100
Famous Plantagenet, most gracious prince,
Lend favorable ear to our requests,
And pardon us the interruption
Of thy devotion and right Christian zeal. RICHARD
My lord, there needs no such apology. 105
I do beseech your Grace to pardon me,
Who, earnest in the service of my God,
Deferred the visitation of my friends.
But, leaving this, what is your Grace’s pleasure? BUCKINGHAM
Even that, I hope, which pleaseth God above 110
And all good men of this ungoverned isle. RICHARD
I do suspect I have done some offense
That seems disgracious in the city’s eye,
And that you come to reprehend my ignorance. BUCKINGHAM
You have, my lord. Would it might please your 115
Grace,
On our entreaties, to amend your fault. RICHARD
Else wherefore breathe I in a Christian land? BUCKINGHAM
Know, then, it is your fault that you resign
The supreme seat, the throne majestical, 120
The sceptered office of your ancestors,
Your state of fortune, and your due of birth,
The lineal glory of your royal house,
To the corruption of a blemished stock,
Whiles in the mildness of your sleepy thoughts, 125
Which here we waken to our country’s good,
The noble isle doth want her proper limbs—
Her face defaced with scars of infamy,
Her royal stock graft with ignoble plants,
And almost shouldered in the swallowing gulf 130
Of dark forgetfulness and deep oblivion;
Which to recure, we heartily solicit
Your gracious self to take on you the charge
And kingly government of this your land,
Not as Protector, steward, substitute, 135
Or lowly factor for another’s gain,
But as successively, from blood to blood,
Your right of birth, your empery, your own.
For this, consorted with the citizens,
Your very worshipful and loving friends, 140
And by their vehement instigation,
In this just cause come I to move your Grace. | When Richard finally meets with the mayor and the assembled noblemen, Buckingham makes a dramatic (and deceitful) speech to Richard in front of everyone. Buckingham basically makes it sound like Richard would be committing treason if he didn't accept the crown, as he'd be turning over England's leadership to the children of a bastard. |
RICHARD
I cannot tell if to depart in silence
Or bitterly to speak in your reproof
Best fitteth my degree or your condition. 145
If not to answer, you might haply think
Tongue-tied ambition, not replying, yielded
To bear the golden yoke of sovereignty,
Which fondly you would here impose on me.
If to reprove you for this suit of yours, 150
So seasoned with your faithful love to me,
Then on the other side I checked my friends.
Therefore, to speak, and to avoid the first,
And then, in speaking, not to incur the last,
Definitively thus I answer you: 155
Your love deserves my thanks, but my desert
Unmeritable shuns your high request.
First, if all obstacles were cut away
And that my path were even to the crown
As the ripe revenue and due of birth, 160
Yet so much is my poverty of spirit,
So mighty and so many my defects,
That I would rather hide me from my greatness,
Being a bark to brook no mighty sea,
Than in my greatness covet to be hid 165
And in the vapor of my glory smothered.
But, God be thanked, there is no need of me,
And much I need to help you, were there need.
The royal tree hath left us royal fruit,
Which, mellowed by the stealing hours of time, 170
Will well become the seat of majesty,
And make, no doubt, us happy by his reign.
On him I lay that you would lay on me,
The right and fortune of his happy stars,
Which God defend that I should wring from him. 175 | Richard then makes a big show of waffling, as though he was really
hesitant to accept the crown. He talks about how unworthy he is and
really lays it on thick. |
BUCKINGHAM
My lord, this argues conscience in your Grace,
But the respects thereof are nice and trivial,
All circumstances well considerèd.
You say that Edward is your brother’s son;
So say we too, but not by Edward’s wife. 180
For first was he contract to Lady Lucy—
Your mother lives a witness to his vow—
And afterward by substitute betrothed
To Bona, sister to the King of France.
These both put off, a poor petitioner, 185
A care-crazed mother to a many sons,
A beauty-waning and distressèd widow,
Even in the afternoon of her best days,
Made prize and purchase of his wanton eye,
Seduced the pitch and height of his degree 190
To base declension and loathed bigamy.
By her in his unlawful bed he got
This Edward, whom our manners call “the Prince.”
More bitterly could I expostulate,
Save that, for reverence to some alive, 195
I give a sparing limit to my tongue.
Then, good my lord, take to your royal self
This proffered benefit of dignity,
If not to bless us and the land withal,
Yet to draw forth your noble ancestry 200
From the corruption of abusing times
Unto a lineal, true-derivèd course. MAYOR
Do, good my lord. Your citizens entreat you. BUCKINGHAM
Refuse not, mighty lord, this proffered love. CATESBY
O, make them joyful. Grant their lawful suit. 205 RICHARD
Alas, why would you heap this care 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. BUCKINGHAM
If you refuse it, as in love and zeal 210
Loath to depose the child, your brother’s son—
As well we know your tenderness of heart
And gentle, kind, effeminate remorse,
Which we have noted in you to your kindred
And equally indeed to all estates— 215
Yet know, whe’er you accept our suit or no,
Your brother’s son shall never reign our king,
But we will plant some other in the throne,
To the disgrace and downfall of your house.
And in this resolution here we leave you.— 220
Come, citizens. Zounds, I’ll entreat no more. RICHARD
O, do not swear, my lord of Buckingham! Buckingham and some others exit. | Buckingham says that he can see that Richard loves the young Edward too much to depose him, but he says the people will never stand for England being ruled by a bastard child. Buckingham then throws out an ultimatum: either Richard takes the throne or the throne will be left to young Edward, who will be promptly unseated by the people, meaning the York line will lose the throne all together. Having thrown this out there, Buckingham leaves in an apparent huff. |
CATESBY
Call him again, sweet prince. Accept their suit.
If you deny them, all the land will rue it. RICHARD
Will you enforce me to a world of cares? 225
Call them again. I am not made of stones,
But penetrable to your kind entreaties,
Albeit against my conscience and my soul. Enter Buckingham and the rest. Cousin of Buckingham and sage, grave men,
Since you will buckle Fortune on my back, 230
To bear her burden, whe’er I will or no,
I must have patience to endure the load;
But if black scandal or foul-faced reproach
Attend the sequel of your imposition,
Your mere enforcement shall acquittance me 235
From all the impure blots and stains thereof,
For God doth know, and you may partly see,
How far I am from the desire of this. | Richard, pretending he's very sad to upset anyone, finally relents and
says fine, he'll take the crown, even though he doesn't really want to
be a king. (Yeah right.) |
MAYOR
God bless your Grace! We see it and will say it. RICHARD
In saying so, you shall but say the truth. 240 BUCKINGHAM
Then I salute you with this royal title:
Long live Richard, England’s worthy king! ALL Amen. BUCKINGHAM
Tomorrow may it please you to be crowned? RICHARD
Even when you please, for you will have it so. 245 BUCKINGHAM
Tomorrow, then, we will attend your Grace,
And so most joyfully we take our leave. RICHARD, to the Bishops
Come, let us to our holy work again.—
Farewell, my cousin. Farewell, gentle friends. They exit. | Buckingham hails Richard as King of England, and everyone says "Amen." It's decided that Richard should take the throne the very next day. Richard keeps playing the innocent "Aw, shucks, I guess I'll be king if you really want me to." He quickly leaves with the Bishops to make a big show of how holy and pious and fit he is to be England's king. |