KING RICHARD.
You have a daughter called Elizabeth,
Virtuous and fair, royal and gracious.
QUEEN ELIZABETH.
And must she die for this? O, let her live,
And I’ll corrupt her manners, stain her beauty,
Slander myself as false to Edward’s bed,
Throw over her the veil of infamy.
So she may live unscarred of bleeding slaughter,
I will confess she was not Edward’s daughter.
KING RICHARD.
Wrong not her birth; she is a royal princess.
QUEEN ELIZABETH.
To save her life I’ll say she is not so.
KING RICHARD.
Her life is safest only in her birth.
QUEEN ELIZABETH.
And only in that safety died her brothers.
KING RICHARD.
Lo, at their births good stars were opposite.
QUEEN ELIZABETH.
No, to their lives ill friends were contrary.
KING RICHARD.
All unavoided is the doom of destiny.
QUEEN ELIZABETH.
True, when avoided grace makes destiny.
My babes were destined to a fairer death,
If grace had blessed thee with a fairer life.