Act 4, Scene 3

London. Another Room in the Palace.

[Enter TYRREL.]
Sir James Tyrrel
2550 The tyrannous and bloody act is done,—
2551 The most arch deed of piteous massacre
2552 That ever yet this land was guilty of.
2553 Dighton and Forrest, who I did suborn
2554 To do this piece of ruthless butchery,
2555 Albeit they were flesh'd villains, bloody dogs,
2556 Melted with tenderness and mild compassion,
2557 Wept like two children in their deaths' sad story.
2558 "O, thus," quoth Dighton, "lay the gentle babes,"—
2559 "Thus, thus," quoth Forrest, "girdling one another
2560 Within their alabaster innocent arms:
2561 Their lips were four red roses on a stalk,
2562 And in their summer beauty kiss'd each other.
2563 A book of prayers on their pillow lay;
2564 Which once," quoth Forrest, "almost chang'd my mind;
2565 But, O, the devil,"—there the villain stopp'd;
2566 When Dighton thus told on:—"We smothered
2567 The most replenished sweet work of nature
2568 That from the prime creation e'er she framed."—
2569 Hence both are gone; with conscience and remorse
2570 They could not speak; and so I left them both,
2571 To bear this tidings to the bloody king:—
2572 And here he comes:—
[Enter KING RICHARD.]
Sir James Tyrrel
2573 All health, my sovereign lord!
Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Richard III)
2574 Kind Tyrrel, am I happy in thy news?
Sir James Tyrrel
2575 If to have done the thing you gave in charge
2576 Beget your happiness, be happy then,
2577 For it is done.
Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Richard III)
2578 But didst thou see them dead?
Sir James Tyrrel
2579 I did, my lord.
Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Richard III)
2580 And buried, gentle Tyrrel?
Sir James Tyrrel
2581 The chaplain of the Tower hath buried them;
2582 But where, to say the truth, I do not know.
Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Richard III)
2583 Come to me, Tyrrel, soon, at after supper,
2584 When thou shalt tell the process of their death.
2585 Meantime, but think how I may do thee good,
2586 And be inheritor of thy desire.
2587 Farewell till then.
Sir James Tyrrel
2588 I humbly take my leave.
[Exit.]
Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Richard III)
2589 The son of Clarence have I pent up close;
2590 His daughter meanly have I match'd in marriage;
2591 The sons of Edward sleep in Abraham's bosom,
2592 And Anne my wife hath bid the world good-night.
2593 Now, for I know the Britagne Richmond aims
2594 At young Elizabeth, my brother's daughter,
2595 And by that knot looks proudly on the crown,
2596 To her go I, a jolly thriving wooer.
[Enter RATCLIFF.]
Sir Richard Ratcliff
2597 My lord,—
Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Richard III)
2598 Good or bad news, that thou com'st in so bluntly?
Sir Richard Ratcliff
2599 Bad news, my lord: Morton is fled to Richmond;
2600 And Buckingham, back'd with the hardy Welshmen,
2601 Is in the field, and still his power increaseth.
Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Richard III)
2602 Ely with Richmond troubles me more near
2603 Than Buckingham and his rash-levied strength.
2604 Come,—I have learn'd that fearful commenting
2605 Is leaden servitor to dull delay;
2606 Delay leads impotent and snail-pac'd beggary:
2607 Then fiery expedition be my wing,
2608 Jove's Mercury, and herald for a king!
2609 Go, muster men: my counsel is my shield;
2610 We must be brief when traitors brave the field.
[Exeunt.]

Notes

TLN 2553historical topical

“Dighton and Forrest, who I did suborn”

To 'suborn' someone is to bribe or secretly hire them to commit a crime. Tyrrel names his two underlings — Miles Forrest and John Dighton — by name, which matches Sir Thomas More's account of the murder almost exactly: More identifies Forrest as one of the keepers of the princes and Dighton as Tyrrel's household servant, and names smothering as the method. This is the scene's primary source-moment, confirming the princes are dead.

historical More's History of King Richard IIIhistorical The Princes in the Tower

TLN 2555archaic vocab

“flesh'd villains, bloody dogs”

'Flesh'd' is a term from falconry and hunting: a hawk or hound is 'flesh'd' when it has tasted blood for the first time, making it eager and hardened to the kill. Calling Forrest and Dighton 'flesh'd villains' means they were already blooded killers — experienced murderers — yet even they wept. The contrast makes the princes' innocence and the crime's horror all the sharper.

TLN 2591biblical allusion

“sons of Edward sleep in Abraham's bosom”

In the parable of Dives and Lazarus (Luke 16), 'Abraham's bosom' is the place of rest where the righteous dead go after death — a place of comfort, beside Abraham, the father of the faithful. Richard uses the phrase to confirm the princes are dead, but the euphemism is grimly ironic: he is the one who sent them there.

TLN 2592historical topical

“Anne my wife hath bid the world good-night”

In this single, almost casual line Richard announces that his wife Anne is dead. The euphemism 'bid the world good-night' hides that he had her murdered — or at least allowed her to waste away — so he could pursue a new marriage to his niece Elizabeth of York and thereby absorb the Yorkist claim. Anne was warned in 4.1 that the king had given out that she was 'sickly and like to die,' and she did: she died in March 1485. Richard treats her death as a political done.

historical More's History of King Richard III

TLN 2593historical topical

“Britagne Richmond aims / At young Elizabeth, my brother's daughter”

'Britagne' is Brittany, the French duchy where Richmond (Henry Tudor) had been living in exile since childhood, protected by the Duke Francis II. 'Young Elizabeth' is Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV — Richard's own niece. Richmond's plan to marry her would unite the Lancastrian and Yorkist claims to the throne, which is exactly what Richard fears and what eventually happens after Bosworth. Richard calls himself 'a jolly thriving wooer' — he intends to get her first.

historical Richmond and the Tudor Mythhistorical The Wars of the Roses

TLN 2607classical allusion

“fiery expedition be my wing, / Jove's Mercury, and herald for a king”

Mercury (Greek Hermes) was the swift messenger-god of the classical pantheon, whose winged sandals and helmet made him the fastest of the gods. 'Jove' is Jupiter, king of the gods; Mercury was his herald and personal envoy. Richard declares that swift action ('fiery expedition') shall be his own wings — his Mercury — against the spreading rebellion. The allusion caps his argument that delay is fatal: better to move like a god than sit and deliberate.