Rat. Make hafte, the hour of death is now expir'd. Riv. Come, Grey; come, Vaughan; let us all

embrace.

[They embrace. [Exeunt,

Farewell, until we meet again in heaven.

SCENE IV.

THE TOWER.

Buckingham, Stanley, Haftings, Bishop of Ely, Catesby, Lovel, with others, at a table.

Haft. Now, noble peers, the cause why we are met, Is to determine of the coronation :

In God's name speak, when is the royal day?
Buck. Are all things ready for that royal time?
Stanl. They are, and want but nomination.
Ely. To-morrow then I judge a happy day.
Buck. Who knows the lord protector's mind herein?
Who is most inward with the noble duke?

Ely. Your grace, we think, fhould fooneft know his mind.

Buck. We know each other's faces: for our hearts,
He knows no more of mine, than I of your's;
Nor I of his, my lord, than you of mine.
-Lord Haftings, you and he are near in love.
Haft. I thank his grace, I know he loves me well;
But, for his purpose in the coronation,
I have not founded him, nor he deliver'd
His gracious pleasure any way therein:
But you, my noble lord, may name the time;
And in the duke's behalf I'll give my voice,
Which, I prefume, he'll take in gentle part.
Enter Gloucester.

Ely. In happy time here comes the duke himself.
Glo. My noble lords and coufins, all good morrow:

I have been long a fleeper, but, I trust,

My abfence doth neglect no great design,

6

Which by my prefence might have been concluded. Buck. Had you not come upon your cue, my lord, William lord Haftings had pronounced your part,— I mean, your voice, for crowning of the king.

Glo. Than my lord Haftings no man might be bolder:

His lordship knows me well, and loves me well.
My lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn,
I faw good strawberries in your garden there;
I do befeech you, fend for fome of them.

Ely. Marry, and will, my lord, with all my heart.

[Exit Ely. Glo. Coufin of Buckingham, a word with you. -Catesby hath founded Haftings in our business; And finds the tefty gentleman fo hot,

That he will lofe his head, ere give confent
His master's fon, as worshipfully he terms it,
Shall lofe the royalty of England's throne.

Buck. Withdraw yourself a while, I'll go with you.
[Exeunt Gloucester and Buckingham.
Stanl. We have not yet fet down this day of triumph.
To-morrow, in my judgment, is too fudden :
For I myself am not so well provided,
As elfe I would be, were the day prolong'd.

Re-enter Bishop of Ely.

Ely. Where is my lord protector? I have fent For thefe fame ftrawberries.

Haft. His grace looks chearfully and smooth this morning;

There's fome conceit or other likes him well.

When he doth bid good morrow with fuch spirit.

• Had you not come upon your cue -] This expreffion is borrowed from the theatre. The cue, queue, or tail of a speech, confits of the last words, which are the token for an entrance or aníwer. To come on the cue, therefore, is to come at the proper time. JOHNSON.

I think,

I think, there's ne'er a man in Christendom
Can leffer hide his love, or hate, than he,
For by his face ftrait fhall you know his heart.
Stanl. What of his heart perceive you in his face,
By any likelihood he fhew'd to day?

Haft. Marry, that with no man here he is offended; For were he, he had fhewn it in his looks.

Re-enter Gloucester and Buckingham.

Glo. I pray you all, tell me what they deserve,
That do confpire my death with devilish plots
Of damned witchcraft; and that have prevail'd
Upon my body with their hellish charms?

Haft. The tender love I bear your grace, my lord,
Makes me moft forward in this noble prefence,
To doom the offenders. Whofoe'er they be,
I fay, my lord, they have deferved death.

Glo. Then be your eyes the witnefs of their evil,
Look, how I am bewitch'd; behold, mine arm
Is, like a blasted fapling, wither'd up:

And this is Edward's wife, that monftrous witch,
Conforted with that harlot, ftrumpet Shore,
That by their witchcraft thus have marked me.

Haft. If they have done this deed, my noble lord,-
Glo. If!-thou protector of this damned ftrumpet,
Talk'ft thou to me of ifs?-Thou art a traitor.
-Off with his head :-Now, by faint Paul I fwear,
I will not dine until I fee the fame.-

Lovel, and Catefby, look, that it be done :

7

The

Likelihood] Semblance; appearance. JOHNSON.

3 Lovel, and Catefby, lock, that it be done :] In former copies,

Lovel, and Ratcliff, look, that it be done.

The scene is here in the Tower and lord Haftings was cut off on that very day, when Rivers, Gray, and Vaughan fuffered at Pomfret. How then could Ratcliff be both in Yorkshire and the Tower? In the fcene preceding this, we find him conducting thofe gentlemen to the block. In the old quarto, we find it,

Excunt:

The reft, that love me, rife, and follow me.

[Exit Council with Richard and Buckingham.
Haft. Woe, woe, for England! not a whit for me;
For I, too fond, might have prevented this:
Stanley did dream, the boar did rafe his helm ;
But I did fcorn it, and difdain to fly.

Three times to day my foot-cloth horfe did ftumble
And started, when he look'd upon the Tower,
As loth to bear me to the flaughter-house.
-O, now I need the priest that spake to me:
-I now repent, I told the purfuivant,
As too triumphing, how mine enemies
To-day at Pomfret bloodily were butcher'd,
And I myself secure in grace and favour.
Oh, Margaret, Margaret, now thy heavy curfe
Is lighted on poor Haftings' wretched head.

Catef. Difpatch, my lord; the duke would be at

dinner;

Make a fhort fhrift; he longs to fee your head.

And in the next scene,

Exeunt: Manet Catesby with Haflings. before the Tower walls, we find Lovel and Catesby come back from the execution, bringing the head of Haftings. THEOBALD. 9 Three times to-day my foot-cloth horfe did ftumble, &c.] So in the Legend of Lord Haftings by M. D.

My palfrey, in the plainest javed fireet,

Thrice bored his bones, thrice kneeled on the floor,

Thrice fhunn'd (as Palaam's afs) the dreaded Tow'r.

The bouings of a horfe, and fometimes a horfe himself, were anciently called the four-cloth. So in Ben Jonfon's play called The Cafe is altered,

"I'll go on my foot-cloth, I'll turn gentleman.

So in the tragedy of Muleaffes the Turk, 1610,

"I have seen, fince my coming to Florence, the for of a 66 pedlar mounted on a foot cloth."

Again, in Afair Quarrel, by Middleton, 1617,

thou fhalt have a phyfician,

"The best that gold can fetch upon his foot-cloth,"

STEEVENS.

Haft:

Haft. O momentary grace of mortal men,
Which we more hunt for than the grace of God!
• Who builds his hope in air of your fair looks,
Lives, like a drunken failor on a maft,

Ready, with every nod, to tumble down
Into the fatal bowels of the deep.

Lov. Come, come, difpatch; 'tis bootlefs to exclaim.

Haft. Oh, bloody Richard! miferable England! I prophefy the fearful'ft time to thee,

That ever wretched age hath look'd upon.-
Come, lead me to the block, bear him my head;
They fmile at me who fhortly shall be dead. [Exeunt.

SCENE V.

Changes to the Tower-walls.

Enter Gloucester and Buckingham in rusty armour, marvelous ill-favour'd.

Glo. Come, coufin, canft thou quake, and change
thy colour;

Murder thy breath in middle of a word,-
And then again begin, and ftop again,

As if thou wert diftraught, and mad with terror?
Buck. Tut, I can counterfeit the deep tragedian;
Speak, and look back, and pry on every fide,
Tremble and start at wagging of a straw,
Intending deep fufpicion: ghaftly looks
Are at my fervice, like enforced fmiles;
And both are ready in their offices,
At any time, to grace my ftratagems.
But what, is Catesby gone?

Glo. He is; and fee he brings the mayor along.

2

Who builds, &c.] So Horace,

Nefcius aureæ fallacis.

JOHNSON.

Enter