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Home  »  The Oxford Shakespeare  »  The Tragedy of King Richard the Third

William Shakespeare (1564–1616). The Oxford Shakespeare. 1914.

Act III. Scene VI.

The Tragedy of King Richard the Third

The Same.A Street.

Enter a Scrivener.

Scriv.Here is the indictment of the good Lord Hastings;

Which in a set hand fairly is engross’d,

That it may be to-day read o’er in Paul’s:

And mark how well the sequel hangs together.

Eleven hours I have spent to write it over,

For yesternight by Catesby was it sent me.

The precedent was full as long a-doing;

And yet within these five hours Hastings liv’d,

Untainted, unexamin’d, free, at liberty.

Here’s a good world the while! Who is so gross

That cannot see this palpable device?

Yet who so bold but says he sees it not?

Bad is the world; and all will come to naught,

When such ill dealing must be seen in thought.[Exit.