RICHARD, as king, sounding BUCKINGHAM as to the murder of the two children.

"RICH.

Cousin, thou wast not wont to be so dull :

Shall I be plain? I wish the bastards dead;

And I would have it suddenly perform'd.

What say'st thou now?-speak suddenly—be brief!

BUCK. Give me some little breath, some little pause,

dear lord,

Before I positively speak in this:

I will resolve your grace immediately."

ACT IV. S. 2.

IX.

The murder of the two children in the Tower.

"O thus, quoth Dighton, lay the gentle babes,— Thus, thus, quoth Forrest, girdling one another Within their alabaster innocent arms:

We smother'd

The most replenished sweet work of Nature
That, from the prime creation, e'er she framed."

ACT IV. S. 3.

X.

BUCKINGHAM led to execution.

"BUCK. Thus Margaret's curse falls heavy on my neck:

When he, quoth she, shall split thy heart with sorrow,
Remember Margaret was a prophetess."

ACT V. S. 1.