The Same. A Street. | |
| |
Enter two Citizens, meeting. | |
| First Cit. Good morrow, neighbour: whither away so fast? | |
| Sec. Cit. I promise you, I scarcely know myself: | 4 |
| Hear you the news abroad? | |
| First Cit. Ay; that the king is dead. | |
| Sec. Cit. Ill news, by’r lady; seldom comes the better: | |
| I fear, I fear, ’twill prove a giddy world. | 8 |
| |
Enter a third Citizen. | |
| Third Cit. Neighbours, God speed! | |
| First Cit. Give you good morrow, sir. | |
| Third Cit. Doth the news hold of good King Edward’s death? | 12 |
| Sec. Cit. Ay, sir, it is too true; God help the while! | |
| Third Cit. Then, masters, look to see a troublous world. | |
| First Cit. No, no; by God’s good grace, his son shall reign. | |
| Third Cit. Woe to that land that’s govern’d by a child! | 16 |
| Sec. 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. | 20 |
| First Cit. So stood the state when Henry the Sixth | |
| Was crown’d at Paris but at nine months old. | |
| Third Cit. Stood the state so? no, no, good friends, God wot; | |
| For then this land was famously enrich’d | 24 |
| With politic grave counsel; then the king | |
| Had virtuous uncles to protect his Grace. | |
| First Cit. Why, so hath this, both by his father and mother. | |
| Third Cit. Better it were they all came by his father, | 28 |
| 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 Gloucester! | 32 |
| And the queen’s sons and brothers haught and proud; | |
| And were they to be rul’d, and not to rule, | |
| This sickly land might solace as before. | |
| First Cit. Come, come, we fear the worst; all will be well. | 36 |
| Third 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. | 40 |
| All may be well; but, if God sort it so, | |
| ’Tis more than we deserve, or I expect. | |
| Sec. Cit. Truly, the hearts of men are full of fear: | |
| You cannot reason almost with a man | 44 |
| That looks not heavily and full of dread. | |
| Third Cit. Before the days of change, still is it so: | |
| By a divine instinct men’s minds mistrust | |
| Ensuing danger; as, by proof, we see | 48 |
| The waters swell before a boisterous storm. | |
| But leave it all to God. Whither away? | |
| Sec. Cit. Marry, we were sent for to the justices. | |
| Third Cit. And so was I: I’ll bear you company. [Exeunt. | 52 |
