No Fear Shakespeare
Richard III
Get this No Fear to go!
Act 3, Scene 5, Page 4
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BUCKINGHAM
Which since you come too late of our intent,
Yet witness what you hear we did intend.
And so, my good Lord Mayor, we bid farewell.
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BUCKINGHAM
But since you’ve come too late to see the execution as we intended, at least let people know what you hear we intended. And so, good Lord Mayor, we bid you goodbye.
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Exit LORD MAYOR
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The LORD MAYOR exits. |
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RICHARD
Go, after, after, cousin Buckingham.
The mayor towards Guildhall hies him in all post.
There, at your meetest vantage of the time,
Infer the bastardy of Edward’s children.
Tell them how Edward put to death a citizen
Only for saying he would make his son
Heir to the Crown—meaning indeed his house,
Which, by the sign thereof, was termèd so.
Moreover, urge his hateful luxury
And bestial appetite in change of lust,
Which stretched to their servants, daughters, wives,
Even where his raging eye or savage heart,
Without control, lusted to make his prey.
Nay, for a need, thus far come near my person:
Tell them when that my mother went with child
Of that insatiate Edward, noble York
My princely father then had wars in France,
And, by true computation of the time,
Found that the issue was not his begot,
Which well appearèd in his lineaments,
Being nothing like the noble duke my father.
Yet touch this sparingly, as ’twere far off,
Because, my lord, you know my mother lives.
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RICHARD
Follow him, Buckingham. He’s traveling at a gallop to the London meeting hall. There, as soon as you have a chance, drop the hint that Edward’s children are bastards. Tell the citizens how Edward put to death a citizen just because the citizen said he was going to make his own son “heir to the crown”—when all the citizen meant was that he owned a tavern called “the Crown” and was going to leave it to his son. And then point out what a lech Edward was and what a bestial appetite he had for women, which touched even the citizens' own servants, daughters, and wives. There was no limit to what his lustful eye and savage heart would prey on. And, if you need to, approach the subject of me: tell them that when my mother became pregnant with the insatiable Edward, my noble father was fighting in France. With a little calculating, it’s obvious that Edward is not in fact my father’s child—not a surprising revelation if you consider how my father the noble duke looked nothing like this man. But only hint at this vaguely, because, as you know, my mother’s still alive.
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