William Shakespeare: The Life and Death of King Richard III

ACT II. 3. SCENE III. London. A street.

[Enter two CITIZENS, meeting.]

FIRST CITIZEN.
Good morrow, neighbour: whither away so fast?

SECOND CITIZEN.
I promise you, I scarcely know myself:
Hear you the news abroad?

FIRST CITIZEN.
Yes,--that the king is dead.

SECOND CITIZEN.
Ill news, by'r lady; seldom comes the better:
I fear, I fear 'twill prove a giddy world.

[Enter third CITIZEN.]

THIRD CITIZEN.
Neighbours, God speed!

FIRST CITIZEN.
Give you good morrow, sir.

THIRD CITIZEN.
Doth the news hold of good King Edward's death?

SECOND CITIZEN.
Ay, sir, it is too true; God help the while!

THIRD CITIZEN.
Then, masters, look to see a troublous world.

FIRST CITIZEN.
No, no; by God's good grace, his son shall reign.

THIRD CITIZEN.
Woe to that land that's govern'd by a child!

SECOND CITIZEN.
In him there is a hope of government,
Which, in his nonage, council under him,
And, in his full and ripen'd years, himself,
No doubt, shall then, and till then, govern well.

FIRST CITIZEN.
So stood the state when Henry the Sixth
Was crown'd in Paris but at nine months old.

THIRD CITIZEN.
Stood the state so? No, no, good friends, God wot;
For then this land was famously enrich'd
With politic grave counsel; then the king
Had virtuous uncles to protect his grace.

FIRST CITIZEN.
Why, so hath this, both by his father and mother.