I.i.122-144
RICHARD
Go tread the path that thou shalt ne’er return.
Simple, plain Clarence, I do love thee so
That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven,
If heaven will take the present at our hands.
But who comes here? The new-delivered Hastings?
Enter Lord Hastings.
HASTINGS
Good time of day unto my gracious lord.
RICHARD
As much unto my good Lord Chamberlain.
Well are you welcome to ⟨the⟩ open air.
How hath your Lordship brooked imprisonment?
HASTINGS
With patience, noble lord, as prisoners must.
But I shall live, my lord, to give them thanks
That were the cause of my imprisonment.
RICHARD
No doubt, no doubt; and so shall Clarence too,
For they that were your enemies are his
And have prevailed as much on him as you.
HASTINGS
More pity that the eagles should be mewed,
Whiles kites and buzzards ⟨prey⟩ at liberty.
RICHARD What news abroad?
HASTINGS
No news so bad abroad as this at home:
The King is sickly, weak, and melancholy,
And his physicians fear him mightily.
RICHARD
Now, by Saint John, that news is bad indeed.
O, he hath kept an evil diet long,
And overmuch consumed his royal person.
’Tis very grievous to be thought upon.
Where is he, in his bed?
HASTINGS He is.
RICHARD
Go you before, and I will follow you.
Exit Hastings.