Tantalising mockery in Richard's fate.
From this point fate never ceases to tantalise and mock Richard. He engages in his measures of defence, and with their villainy his spirits begin to recover:
iv. iii. 38.
The sons of Edward sleep in Abraham's bosom,
And Anne my wife hath bid the world good night;
young Elizabeth is to be his next victim, and
To her I go, a jolly thriving wooer.
comp. 49. iv. iii. 45.
Suddenly the Nemesis appears again with the news that Ely, the shrewd bishop he dreads most of all men, is with Richmond, and that Buckingham has raised an army. Again, his defence is completing, and the wooing of Elizabeth—his masterpiece, since it is the second of its kind—has been brought to an issue that deserves his surprised exultation:
iv. iv. 431.