SCENE III.
11Q0771
The Same. A Street.
Enter Two Citizens, meeting.
1 Cit.
Good morrow, neighbour: whither away so fast?
2 Cit.
I promise you, I scarcely know myself.
Hear you the news abroad?
1 Cit.
Yes; that the king is dead.
-- 398 --
2 Cit.
Ill news, by'r lady; seldom comes the better:
I fear, I fear, 'twill prove a giddy world8 note.
Enter another Citizen.
3 Cit.
Neighbours, God speed!
1 Cit.
Give you good morrow, sir.
3 Cit.
Doth the news hold of good king Edward's death?
2 Cit.
Ay, sir, it is too true; God help, the while!
3 Cit.
Then, masters, look to see a troublous world.
1 Cit.
No, no; by God's good grace, his son shall reign.
3 Cit.
Woe to that land that's govern'd by a child!
2 Cit.
In him there is a hope of government;
That, in his nonage, council under him,
And, in his full and ripen'd years, himself,
No doubt, shall then, and till then, govern well.
1 Cit.
So stood the state, when Henry the Sixth
Was crown'd in Paris but at nine months old.
3 Cit.
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.
1 Cit.
Why, so hath this, both by his father and mother.
3 Cit.
Better it were they all came by his father,
Or by his father there were none at all;
For emulation, who shall now be nearest,
Will touch us all too near, if God prevent not.
O! full of danger is the duke of Gloster;
And the queen's sons, and brothers, haught and proud:
And were they to be rul'd, and not to rule,
-- 399 --
This sickly land might solace as before.
1 Cit.
Come, come; we fear the worst: all will be well.
3 Cit.
When clouds are seen, wise men put on their cloaks;
When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand:
When the sun sets, who doth not look for night?
Untimely storms make men expect a dearth.
All may be well; but, if God sort it so,
'Tis more than we deserve, or I expect.
2 Cit.
Truly, the hearts of men are full of fear:
You cannot reason almost with a man
That looks not heavily, and full of dread.
3 Cit.
Before the days of change, still is it so.
By a divine instinct men's minds mistrust
Pursuing danger9 note
; as by proof we see
The water swell before a boisterous storm.
But leave it all to God. Whither away?
2 Cit.
Marry, we were sent for to the justices.
3 Cit.
And so was I: I'll bear you company.
[Exeunt.
J. Payne Collier [1842–1844], The works of William Shakespeare. The text formed from an entirely new collation of the old editions: with the various readings, notes, a life of the poet, and a history of the Early English stage. By J. Payne Collier, Esq. F.S.A. In eight volumes (Whittaker & Co. [etc.], London) [word count] [S10101].
