The supreme seat, the throne majestical,
The sceptred office of your ancestors,

Your state of fortune, and your due of birth, 120
The lineal glory of your royal house,

To the corruption of a blemish'd stock;
Whiles, in the mildness of your sleepy thoughts,
Which here we waken to our country's good,
The noble isle doth want his proper limbs;
His face defac'd with scars of infamy,
His royal stock graft with ignoble plants,
And almost should'red in the swallowing gulf
Of dark forgetfulness and deep oblivion.
Which to recure, we heartily solicit

125

130

Your gracious self to take on you the charge

And kingly government of this your land,
Not as protector, steward, substitute,

Or lowly factor for another's gain;

But as successively from blood to blood,

135

Your right of birth, your empery, your own.

For this, consorted with the citizens,

Your very worshipful and loving friends,

And by their vehement instigation,

In this just cause come I to move your Grace. 140 Glou. I cannot tell if to depart in silence,

Or bitterly to speak in your reproof,
Best fitteth my degree or your condition.
If not to answer, you might haply think
Tongue-ti'd ambition, not replying, yielded

145

To bear the golden yoke of sovereignty,

Which fondly you would here impose on me.
If to reprove you for this suit of yours,

So season'd with your faithful love to me,

Then, on the other side, I check'd my friends. 150 Therefore, to speak, and to avoid the first,

And then, in speaking, not to incur the last,

Definitively thus I answer you:

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 my right revenue and due of birth;
Yet so much is my poverty of spirit,

So mighty and so many my defects,

155

160

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,
And in the vapour of my glory smother'd.

But, God be thank'd, there is no need of me, 165
And much I need to help you, were there need.
The royal tree hath left us royal fruit,
Which, mellow'd by the stealing hours of time,
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,

170

Which God defend that I should wring from him!

Buck. My lord, this argues conscience in your Grace;

But the respects thereof are nice and trivial,
All circumstances well considered.

You say that Edward is your brother's son:
So say we too, but not by Edward's wife;
For first was he contract to Lady Lucy —
Your mother lives a witness to his vow
And afterward by substitute betroth'd
To Bona, sister to the King of France.
These both put off, a poor petitioner,
A care-craz'd mother to a many sons,
A beauty-waning and distressed widow,
Even in the afternoon of her best days,
Made prize and purchase of his wanton eye,
Seduc'd the pitch and height of his degree

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180

185

To base declension and loath'd bigamy.

By her, in his unlawful bed, he got

190

This Edward, whom our manners call the Prince.

More bitterly could I expostulate,

Save that, for reverence to some alive,

I give a sparing limit to my tongue.

Then, good my lord, take to your royal self
This proffer'd benefit of dignity;

195

If not to bless us and the land withal,

Yet to draw forth your noble ancestry

From the corruption of abusing times,
Unto a lineal true-derived course.

200

May. Do, good my lord, your citizens entreat you.

Buck. Refuse not, mighty lord, this proffer'd love.
Cate. O, make them joyful, grant their lawful suit!
Glou. 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.
Buck. If you refuse it,

as, in love and zeal,
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,

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210

Yet know, whe'er you accept our suit or no,
Your brother's son shall never reign our king; 215
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.

Come, citizens! ['Zounds!] we'll entreat no

more.

[Glou. O, do not swear, my Lord of Buckingham.] 220 Exit Buckingham [with the Citizens]. Cate. Call them again, sweet prince, accept their suit. If you deny them all the land will rue it.

Glou. Will you enforce me to a world of cares?

Call them again. [Catesby goes to the Mayor, and
exit.] I am not made of stones,

But penetrable to your kind entreaties,
Albeit against my conscience and my soul.

225

Re-enter Buckingham, [Catesby] and the rest.

230

Cousin of Buckingham, and sage, grave men,
Since you will buckle Fortune on my back,
To bear her burden, whe'er I will or no,
I must have patience to endure the load.
But if black scandal or foul-fac'd reproach
Attend the sequel of your imposition,
Your mere enforcement shall acquittance me
From all the impure blots and stains thereof;
For God doth know, and you may partly see, 235
How far I am from the desire of this.

May. God bless your Grace! we see it, and will say it.
Glou. In saying so, you shall but say the truth.

Buck. Then I salute you with this royal title:

Long live King Richard, England's worthy king! All. Amen.

241

Buck. To-morrow may it please you to be crown'd?
Glou. Even when you please, for you will have it so.
Buck. To-morrow, then, we will attend your Grace;
And so most joyfully we take our leave.
Glou. [To the Bishops.] Come, let us to our holy work

again.

Farewell, my cousins; farewell, gentle friends.

245

Exeunt.