Richard III by William Shakespeare
Act 2 - Scene 3
London. A street.
First Citizen : Neighbour, well met: whither away so fast?
Second Citizen : I promise you, I scarcely know myself:
[p]Hear you the news abroad?
First Citizen : Ay, that the king is dead.
Second Citizen : Bad news, by'r lady; seldom comes the better:
[p]I fear, I fear 'twill
prove a troublous world.
Third Citizen : Neighbours, God speed!
First Citizen : Give you good morrow, sir.
Third Citizen : Doth this news hold of good King Edward's death?
Second Citizen : Ay, sir, it is too true; God help the while!
Third Citizen : Then, masters, look to see a troublous world.
First Citizen : No, no; by God's good grace his son shall reign.
Third Citizen : Woe to the land that's govern'd by a child!
Second Citizen : In him there is a hope of government,
[p]That in his nonage council
under him,
[p]And in his full and ripen'd years himself,
[p]No doubt,
shall then and till then govern well.
First Citizen : So stood the state when Henry the Sixth
[p]Was crown'd in Paris but at
nine months old.
Third Citizen : Stood the state so? No, no, good friends, God wot;
[p]For then this
land was famously enrich'd
[p]With politic grave counsel; then the
king
[p]Had virtuous uncles to protect his grace.
First Citizen : Why, so hath this, both by the father and mother.
Third Citizen : Better it were they all came by the father,
[p]Or by the father there
were none at all;
[p]For emulation now, who shall be nearest,
[p]Will
touch us all too near, if God prevent not.
[p]O, full of danger is the
Duke of Gloucester!
[p]And the queen's sons and brothers haught and
proud:
[p]And were they to be ruled, and not to rule,
[p]This sickly
land might solace as before.
First Citizen : Come, come, we fear the worst; all shall be well.
Third Citizen : When clouds appear, wise men put on their cloaks;
[p]When great leaves
fall, the winter is at hand;
[p]When the sun sets, who doth not look
for night?
[p]Untimely storms make men expect a dearth.
[p]All may be
well; but, if God sort it so,
[p]'Tis more than we deserve, or I
expect.
Second Citizen : Truly, the souls of men are full of dread:
[p]Ye cannot reason almost
with a man
[p]That looks not heavily and full of fear.
Third Citizen : Before the times of change, still is it so:
[p]By a divine instinct
men's minds mistrust
[p]Ensuing dangers; as by proof, we see
[p]The
waters swell before a boisterous storm.
[p]But leave it all to God.
whither away?
Second Citizen : Marry, we were sent for to the justices.
Third Citizen : And so was I: I'll bear you company.
Previous: Act 2 - Scene 2
Next: Act 2 - Scene 4
