SCENE IV. London. A Room in the Tower

       [BUCKINGHAM, STANLEY, HASTINGS, the BISHOP of ELY, RATCLIFF, LOVEL, and others sitting at a table: Officers of the Council attending.]

       HASTINGS

       Now, noble peers, the cause why we are met

       Is to determine of the coronation.

       In God’s name speak,—when is the royal day?

       BUCKINGHAM

       Are all things ready for that royal time?

       STANLEY

       Thery are, and wants but nomination.

       ELY

       Tomorrow, then, I judge a happy day.

       BUCKINGHAM

       Who knows the lord protector’s mind herein?

       Who is most inward with the noble duke?

       ELY

       Your grace, we think, should soonest know his mind.

       BUCKINGHAM

       We know each other’s faces: for our hearts,

       He knows no more of mine than I of yours;

       Or I of his, my lord, than you of mine.—

       Lord Hastings, you and he are near in love.

       HASTINGS

       I thank his grace, I know he loves me well;

       But for his purpose in the coronation

       I have not sounded him, nor he deliver’d

       His gracious pleasure any way therein:

       But you, my honourable lords, may name the time;

       And in the duke’s behalf I’ll give my voice,

       Which, I presume, he’ll take in gentle part.

       ELY

       In happy time, here comes the duke himself.

       [Enter GLOSTER.]

       GLOSTER

       My noble lords and cousins all, good morrow.

       I have been long a sleeper; but I trust

       My absence doth neglect no great design

       Which by my presence might have been concluded.

       BUCKINGHAM

       Had you not come upon your cue, my lord,

       William Lord Hastings had pronounc’d your part,—

       I mean, your voice,—for crowning of the king.

       GLOSTER

       Than my Lord Hastings no man might be bolder;

       His lordship knows me well and loves me well.—

       My lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn

       I saw good strawberries in your garden there:

       I do beseech you send for some of them.

       ELY

       Marry, and will, my lord, with all my heart.

       [Exit.]

       GLOSTER

       Cousin of Buckingham, a word with you.

       [Takes him aside.]

       Catesby hath sounded Hastings in our business,

       And finds the testy gentleman so hot

       That he will lose his head ere give consent

       His master’s child, as worshipfully he terms it,

       Shall lose the royalty of England’s throne.

       BUCKINGHAM

       Withdraw yourself awhile; I’ll go with you.

       [Exeunt GLOSTER and BUCKINGHAM.]

       STANLEY

       We have not yet set down this day of triumph.

       Tomorrow, in my judgment, is too sudden;

       For I myself am not so well provided

       As else I would be, were the day prolong’d.

       [Re-enter BISHOP OF ELY.]

       ELY

       Where is my lord the Duke of Gloster?

       I have sent for these strawberries.

       HASTINGS

       His grace looks cheerfully and smooth this morning;

       There’s some conceit or other likes him well

       When that he bids good morrow with such spirit.

       I think there’s ne’er a man in Christendom

       Can lesser hide his love or hate than he;

       For by his face straight shall you know his heart.

       STANLEY

       What of his heart perceive you in his face

       By any livelihood he showed to-day?

       HASTINGS

       Marry, that with no man here he is offended;

       For, were he, he had shown it in his looks.

       [Re-enter GLOSTER and BUCKINGHAM.]

       GLOSTER

       I pray you all, tell me what they deserve

       That do conspire my death with devilish plots

       Of damnèd witchcraft, and that have prevail’d

       Upon my body with their hellish charms?

       HASTINGS

       The tender love I bear your grace, my lord,

       Makes me most forward in this princely presence

       To doom the offenders: whosoe’er they be.

       I say, my lord, they have deservèd death.

       GLOSTER

       Then be your eyes the witness of their evil:

       Look how I am bewitch’d; behold, mine arm

       Is, like a blasted sapling, wither’d up:

       And this is Edward’s wife, that monstrous witch,

       Consorted with that harlot-strumpet Shore,

       That by their witchcraft thus have markèd me.

       HASTINGS

       If they have done this deed, my noble lord,—

       GLOSTER

       If!—thou protector of this damnèd strumpet,

       Talk’st thou to me of “ifs”?—Thou art a traitor:—

       Off with his head!—now, by Saint Paul I swear,

       I will not dine until I see the same.—