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Gloucester complete text
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| Gloucester. Ay, Edward will use women honourably. | 3.2.140
| Would he were wasted, marrow, bones and all, | 3.2.141
| That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring, | 3.2.142
| To cross me from the golden time I look for! | 3.2.143
| And yet, between my soul's desire and me-- | 3.2.144
| The lustful Edward's title buried-- | 3.2.145
| Is Clarence, Henry, and his son young Edward, | 3.2.146
| And all the unlook'd for issue of their bodies, | 3.2.147
| To take their rooms, ere I can place myself: | 3.2.148
| A cold premeditation for my purpose! | 3.2.149
| Why, then, I do but dream on sovereignty; | 3.2.150
| Like one that stands upon a promontory, | 3.2.151
| And spies a far-off shore where he would tread, | 3.2.152
| Wishing his foot were equal with his eye, | 3.2.153
| And chides the sea that sunders him from thence, | 3.2.154
| Saying, he'll lade it dry to have his way: | 3.2.155
| So do I wish the crown, being so far off; | 3.2.156
| And so I chide the means that keeps me from it; | 3.2.157
| And so I say, I'll cut the causes off, | 3.2.158
| Flattering me with impossibilities. | 3.2.159
| My eye's too quick, my heart o'erweens too much, | 3.2.160
| Unless my hand and strength could equal them. | 3.2.161
| Well, say there is no kingdom then for Richard; | 3.2.162
| What other pleasure can the world afford? | 3.2.163
| I'll make my heaven in a lady's lap, | 3.2.164
| And deck my body in gay ornaments, | 3.2.165
| And witch sweet ladies with my words and looks. | 3.2.166
| O miserable thought! and more unlikely | 3.2.167
| Than to accomplish twenty golden crowns! | 3.2.168
| Why, love forswore me in my mother's womb: | 3.2.169
| And, for I should not deal in her soft laws, | 3.2.170
| She did corrupt frail nature with some bribe, | 3.2.171
| To shrink mine arm up like a wither'd shrub; | 3.2.172
| To make an envious mountain on my back, | 3.2.173
| Where sits deformity to mock my body; | 3.2.174
| To shape my legs of an unequal size; | 3.2.175
| To disproportion me in every part, | 3.2.176
| Like to a chaos, or an unlick'd bear-whelp | 3.2.177
| That carries no impression like the dam. | 3.2.178
| And am I then a man to be beloved? | 3.2.179
| O monstrous fault, to harbour such a thought! | 3.2.180
| Then, since this earth affords no joy to me, | 3.2.181
| But to command, to cheque, to o'erbear such | 3.2.182
| As are of better person than myself, | 3.2.183
| I'll make my heaven to dream upon the crown, | 3.2.184
| And, whiles I live, to account this world but hell, | 3.2.185
| Until my mis-shaped trunk that bears this head | 3.2.186
| Be round impaled with a glorious crown. | 3.2.187
| And yet I know not how to get the crown, | 3.2.188
| For many lives stand between me and home: | 3.2.189
| And I,--like one lost in a thorny wood, | 3.2.190
| That rends the thorns and is rent with the thorns, | 3.2.191
| Seeking a way and straying from the way; | 3.2.192
| Not knowing how to find the open air, | 3.2.193
| But toiling desperately to find it out,-- | 3.2.194
| Torment myself to catch the English crown: | 3.2.195
| And from that torment I will free myself, | 3.2.196
| Or hew my way out with a bloody axe. | 3.2.197
| Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile, | 3.2.198
| And cry 'Content' to that which grieves my heart, | 3.2.199
| And wet my cheeks with artificial tears, | 3.2.200
| And frame my face to all occasions. | 3.2.201
| I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall; | 3.2.202
| I'll slay more gazers than the basilisk; | 3.2.203
| I'll play the orator as well as Nestor, | 3.2.204
| Deceive more slily than Ulysses could, | 3.2.205
| And, like a Sinon, take another Troy. | 3.2.206
| I can add colours to the chameleon, | 3.2.207
| Change shapes with Proteus for advantages, | 3.2.208
| And set the murderous Machiavel to school. | 3.2.209
| Can I do this, and cannot get a crown? | 3.2.210
| Tut, were it farther off, I'll pluck it down. | 3.2.211
Exit
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| Gloucester. Now, my Lord Hastings and Sir William Stanley, | 4.5.1
| Leave off to wonder why I drew you hither, | 4.5.2
| Into this chiefest thicket of the park. | 4.5.3
| Thus stands the case: you know our king, my brother, | 4.5.4
| Is prisoner to the bishop here, at whose hands | 4.5.5
| He hath good usage and great liberty, | 4.5.6
| And, often but attended with weak guard, | 4.5.7
| Comes hunting this way to disport himself. | 4.5.8
| I have advertised him by secret means | 4.5.9
| That if about this hour he make his way | 4.5.10
| Under the colour of his usual game, | 4.5.11
| He shall here find his friends with horse and men | 4.5.12
| To set him free from his captivity. | 4.5.13
Enter KING EDWARD IV and a Huntsman with him
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| Gloucester. What, will the aspiring blood of Lancaster | 5.6.61
| Sink in the ground? I thought it would have mounted. | 5.6.62
| See how my sword weeps for the poor king's death! | 5.6.63
| O, may such purple tears be alway shed | 5.6.64
| From those that wish the downfall of our house! | 5.6.65
| If any spark of life be yet remaining, | 5.6.66
| Down, down to hell; and say I sent thee thither: | 5.6.67
Stabs him again
| | I, that have neither pity, love, nor fear. | 5.6.68
| Indeed, 'tis true that Henry told me of; | 5.6.69
| For I have often heard my mother say | 5.6.70
| I came into the world with my legs forward: | 5.6.71
| Had I not reason, think ye, to make haste, | 5.6.72
| And seek their ruin that usurp'd our right? | 5.6.73
| The midwife wonder'd and the women cried | 5.6.74
| 'O, Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!' | 5.6.75
| And so I was; which plainly signified | 5.6.76
| That I should snarl and bite and play the dog. | 5.6.77
| Then, since the heavens have shaped my body so, | 5.6.78
| Let hell make crook'd my mind to answer it. | 5.6.79
| I have no brother, I am like no brother; | 5.6.80
| And this word 'love,' which graybeards call divine, | 5.6.81
| Be resident in men like one another | 5.6.82
| And not in me: I am myself alone. | 5.6.83
| Clarence, beware; thou keep'st me from the light: | 5.6.84
| But I will sort a pitchy day for thee; | 5.6.85
| For I will buz abroad such prophecies | 5.6.86
| That Edward shall be fearful of his life, | 5.6.87
| And then, to purge his fear, I'll be thy death. | 5.6.88
| King Henry and the prince his son are gone: | 5.6.89
| Clarence, thy turn is next, and then the rest, | 5.6.90
| Counting myself but bad till I be best. | 5.6.91
| I'll throw thy body in another room | 5.6.92
| And triumph, Henry, in thy day of doom. | 5.6.93
Exit, with the body
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