William Shakespeare: The Life and Death of King Richard III

ACT I. 3. SCENE III. London. A Room in the Palace. (continued)

QUEEN MARGARET.
And lessen'd be that small, God, I beseech Him!
Thy honour, state, and seat, is due to me.

GLOSTER.
What! Threat you me with telling of the king?
Tell him, and spare not: look what I have said
I will avouch in presence of the king:
I dare adventure to be sent to the Tower.
'Tis time to speak,--my pains are quite forgot.

QUEEN MARGARET.
Out, devil! I do remember them to well:
Thou kill'dst my husband Henry in the Tower,
And Edward, my poor son, at Tewksbury.

GLOSTER.
Ere you were queen, ay, or your husband king,
I was a pack-horse in his great affairs;
A weeder-out of his proud adversaries,
A liberal rewarder of his friends;
To royalize his blood I spilt mine own.

QUEEN MARGARET.
Ay, and much better blood than his or thine.

GLOSTER.
In all which time you and your husband Grey
Were factious for the house of Lancaster;--
And, Rivers, so were you: was not your husband
In Margaret's battle at Saint Albans slain?
Let me put in your minds, if you forget,
What you have been ere this, and what you are;
Withal, what I have been, and what I am.

QUEEN MARGARET.
A murderous villain, and so still thou art.

GLOSTER.
Poor Clarence did forsake his father, Warwick;
Ay, and forswore himself,--which Jesu pardon!--

QUEEN MARGARET.
Which God revenge!

GLOSTER.
To fight on Edward's party for the crown;
And for his meed, poor lord, he is mew'd up.
I would to God my heart were flint, like Edward's,
Or Edward's soft and pitiful, like mine:
I am too childish-foolish for this world.

QUEEN MARGARET.
Hie thee to hell for shame and leave this world,
Thou cacodemon! there thy kingdom is.

RIVERS.
My Lord of Gloster, in those busy days
Which here you urge to prove us enemies,
We follow'd then our lord, our sovereign king:
So should we you, if you should be our king.