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KING RICHARD III.

VOL. VII.

B'

King Edward the Fourth.

Edward, Prince of Wales, after

wards King Edward V.

Richard, duke of York,

George, duke of Clarence,

Sons to the king.

Richard, duke of Gloster, after-Brothers to the king.

wards king Richard III.

A young son of Clarence.

Henry, earl of Richmond, afterwards K. Henry VII.
Cardinal Bouchier, archbishop of Canterbury.
Thomas Rotheram, archbishop of York.

John Morton, bishop of Ely.

Duke of Buckingham.

Duke of Norfolk: Earl of Surrey, his son.
Earl Rivers, brother to king Edward's queen.
Marquis of Dorset, and lord Grey, her sons.

Earl of Oxford. Lord Hastings. Lord Stanley. Lord
Lovel.

Sir Thomas Vaughan. Sir Richard Ratcliff.
Sir William Catesby. Sir James Tyrrel.
Sir James Blount Sir Walter Herbert.
Sir Robert Brakenbury, lieutenant of the Tower,
Christopher Urswick, a priest. Another priest.
Lord Mayor of London. Sheriff of Wiltshire.

Elizabeth, queen of king Edward IV.
Margaret, widow of king Henry VI.

Duchess of York, mother to king Edward IV. Clarence, and Gloster.

Lady Anne, widow of Edward, prince of Wales, son to king Henry VI.; afterwards married to the duke of Gloster.

A young daughter of Clarence.

Lords, and other Attendants; two Gentlemen, a Pursuivant, Scrivener, Citizens, murderers, messengers, Ghosts, Soldiers, &c.

SCENE, England.

LIFE AND DEATH

OF

KING RICHARD III.

ACT I.

SCENE I. London. A Street.

Enter GLOSTER.

Gloster.

Now is the winter of our discontent

Made glorious summer by this sun of York

;

And all the clouds, that lowr'd upon our house,

In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.

I

Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums chang'd to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visag'd war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front;
And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds,
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,-
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber,

To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.

But I, that am not shap'd for sportive tricks,
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;

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Į, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty,
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable,
That dogs bark at me, as I halt by them ;-
Why I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time;
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun,
And descant on mine own deformity;
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,-
I am determined to prove a villain,
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Plots have I laid, inductions 3 dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels, and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence, and the king,
In deadly hate the one against the other :
And, if king Edward be as true and just,
As I am subtle, false, and treacherous,

This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up;
About a prophecy, which says-that G

Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be.

Dive, thoughts, down to my soul! here Clarence

comes.

Enter CLARENCE, guarded, and BRAKENBURY.

Brother, good day: What means this armed guard, That waits upon your grace?

3 Preparations for mischief.

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