SCENE I.
SALISBURY.
Enter the Sheriff, and Buckingham, with halberds, led to Execution.
Buckingham.
Will not King Richard let me speak with him?
Sher.
No, good my Lord, therefore be patient.
Buck.
Hastings, and Edward's children, Gray and Rivers,
Holy King Henry, and thy fair son Edward,
Vaughan, and all that have miscarried
By under-hand, corrupted, foul injustice;
If that your moody, discontented, souls
Do through the clouds behold this present hour,
-- 343 --
Ev'n for revenge mock my destruction.
This is All-Souls day, fellows, is it not?
Sher.
It is, my Lord.
Buck.
Why, then All-Souls day is my body's Doomsday.
This is the day, which in King Edward's time
I wish'd might fall on me, when I was found
False to his children, or his wife's allies.
This is the day, wherein I wish'd to fall
By the false faith of him whom most I trusted:
This, this All-Souls day to my fearful Soul,
4 note
Is the determin'd respite of my wrongs.
That high All-seer, which I dallied with,
Hath turn'd my feigned prayer on my head,
And giv'n in earnest, what I begg'd in jest.
Thus doth he force the swords of wicked men
To turn their own points on their masters' bosoms.
Thus Marg'ret's Curse falls heavy on my head.
When he, quoth she, shall split thy heart with sorrow,
Remember, Marg'ret was a Prophetess.
Come, Sirs, convey me to the block of shame;
Wrong hath but wrong, and 5 noteblame the due of blame.
[Exeunt Buckingham, Sheriff and Officers.
-- 344 --
Samuel Johnson [1765], The plays of William Shakespeare, in eight volumes, with the corrections and illustrations of Various Commentators; To which are added notes by Sam. Johnson (Printed for J. and R. Tonson [and] C. Corbet [etc.], London) [word count] [S11001].
