The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 5 of 9] · William Shakespeare
SCENE III. _London. A street_.
_Enter two_ Citizens, _meeting_. _First Cit._ Neighbour, well met: whither away so fast? [fbc001] _Sec. Cit._ I promise you, I scarcely know myself: [fbc002] Hear you the news abroad? _First Cit._ Ay, that the king is dead. [fbc003] _Sec. Cit._ Bad news, by’r lady, seldom comes the better: [fbc004] I fear, I fear, ’twill prove a troublous world. [fbc005] _Enter another_ Citizen. _Third Cit._ Neighbours, God speed! _First Cit._ Give you good morrow, sir. [fbc006] _Third Cit._ Doth this news hold of good King Edward’s death? [fbc007] _Sec. Cit._ Ay, sir, it is too true; God help the while! [fbc008] _Third Cit._ Then, masters, look to see a troublous world. [fbc009] _First Cit._ No, no; by God’s good grace his son shall reign. [fbc010] _Third Cit._ Woe to that land that’s govern’d by a child! _Sec. Cit._ In him there is a hope of government, [fbc012] That in his nonage council under him, [fbc013] And in his full and ripen’d years himself, [fbc014] No doubt, shall then and till then govern well. ·fbc015· _First Cit._ So stood the state when Henry the Sixth [fbc016] Was crown’d in Paris but at nine months old. [fbc017] _Third Cit._ Stood the state so? No, no, good friends, God wot; [fbc018] For then this land was famously enrich’d [fbc019] With politic grave counsel; then the king [fbc020] Had virtuous uncles to protect his grace.
_First Cit._ Why, so hath this, both by the father and mother. [fbc022] _Third Cit._ Better it were they all came by the father, Or by the father there were none at all; For emulation now, who shall be nearest, [fbc025] Will touch us all too near, if God prevent not. [fbc026] O, full of danger is the Duke of Gloucester! And the queen’s sons and brothers haught and proud: [fbc028] And were they to be ruled, and not to rule, [fbc029] This sickly land might solace as before. [fbc030] _First Cit._ Come, come, we fear the worst; all shall be well. [fbc031] _Third Cit._ When clouds appear, wise men put on their cloaks; [fbc032] When great leaves fall, the winter is at hand; [fbc033] When the sun sets, who doth not look for night? Untimely storms make men expect a dearth. [fbc035] All may be well; but, if God sort it so, [fbc036] ’Tis more than we deserve, or I expect. _Sec. Cit._ Truly, the souls of men are full of dread: [fbc038] Ye cannot reason almost with a man [fbc039] That looks not heavily and full of fear. [fbc040] _Third Cit._ Before the times of change, still is it so: [fbc041] By a divine instinct men’s minds mistrust Ensuing dangers; as, by proof, we see [fbc043] The waters swell before a boisterous storm. [fbc044] But leave it all to God. Whither away? [fbc045] _Sec. Cit._ Marry, we were sent for to the justices. [fbc046] _Third Cit._ And so was I: I’ll bear you company. [_Exeunt._
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.