How hath your lordship brook'd imprisonment?
Hast. With patience, noble lord, as prisoners must:
But I shall live, my lord, to give them thanks
That were the cause of my imprisonment. 128
Rich. No doubt, no doubt; and so shall Clarence too;
For they that were your enemies are his,
And have prevail'd as much on him as you.
Hast. More pity that the eagles should be mew'd, 132
While kites and buzzards play at liberty.
Rich. What news abroad?
Hast. No news so bad abroad as this at home:
The king is sickly, weak, and melancholy, 136
And his physicians fear him mightily.
Rich. Now by Saint John, that news is bad indeed.
O! he hath kept an evil diet long,
And over-much consum'd his royal person: 140
'Tis very grievous to be thought upon.
Where is he, in his bed?
Hast. He is.
Rich. Go you before, and I will follow you.
Exit Hastings.
He cannot live, I hope; and must not die 144
Till George be pack'd with post-horse up to heaven.
I'll in, to urge his hatred more to Clarence,
With lies well steel'd with weighty arguments;
And, if I fail not in my deep intent, 148
Clarence hath not another day to live:
Which done, God take King Edward to his mercy,
And leave the world for me to bustle in!
For then I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter. 152
What though I kill'd her husband and her father?
133 play; cf. n.
137 fear him: fear for him
138 Saint John; cf. n.
139 diet: mode of life
145 post-horse: i.e. the speediest possible means
152 Warwick's . . . daughter: i.e. Lady Anne, the widow of Edward Prince of Wales
