Is it not more than shame, to shame it so? K. Rich. a lunatic lean-witted fool, Make pale our cheek; chasing the royal blood, Now by my seat's right royal majesty, Should run thy head from thy unreverend shoulders. Gaunt. O, spare me not, my brother Edward's son, For that I was his father Edward's son ; That blood already, like the pelican, Hast thou tapp'd out, and drunkenly carous'd: That thou respect'st not spilling Edward's blood : 1 Love they to live, that love and honour have. [Exit, borne out by his Attendants. K. Rich. And let them die, that age and sullens have ; For both hast thou, and both become the grave. York. 'Beseech your majesty, impute his words To wayward sickliness and age in him: He loves you, on my life, and holds you dear K.Rich.Right; you say true: as Hereford's love,so his : As theirs, so mine; and all be as it is. [9] The reasoning of Gaunt, I think, is this; " By setting thy royalties to farm thou hast reduced thyself to a state below sovereignty, thou art now no longer king but landlord of England, subject to the same restraint and limitations as other landlords; by making thy condition a state of law, a condition upon which the common rules of law can operate, thou art become a bond. slave to the law; thou hast made thyself amenable to laws from which thou wert originally exempt." JOHNS. [1] That is, Let them love. JOHNS, Enter NORTHUMBERLAND. North. My liege, old Gaunt commends him to your majesty. K. Rich. What says he now ? North. Nay, nothing; all is said: His tongue is now a stringless instrument; York. Be York the next that must be bankrupt so! Though death be poor, it ends a mortal woe. K. Rich. The ripest fruit first falls, and so doth he ; We must supplant those rough rug-headed kerns; And for these great affairs do ask some charge, About his marriage, 3 nor my own disgrace, Of whom thy father, prince of Wales, was first; [2] This alludes to a tradition that St. Patrick freed the kingdom of Ireland from venomous reptiles of every kind. STEEV. [3] When the duke of Hereford, after his banishment, went into France, he was honourably entertained at that court, and would have obtained in marri ge the only daughter of the duke of Berry, uncle to the French king had not Richard prevented the match. STEEV. But bloody with the enemies of his kin. K. Rich. Why, uncle, what's the matter? Pardon me, if you please; if not, I pleas'd Seek you to seize, and gripe into your hands, Take Hereford's rights away, and take from time His livery, and deny his offer'd homage, 4 And prick my tender patience to those thoughts K.Rich. Think what you will; we sieze into our hands His plate, his goods, his money, and his lands. York. I'll not be by, the while: My liege : farewell: What will ensue hereof, there's none can tell ; But by bad courses may be understood, That their events can never fall out good. [Exit. K. Rich. Go, Bushy, to the earl of Wiltshire straight ; Bid him repair to us to Ely-house, To see this business: to-morrow next We will for Ireland; and 'tis time, I trow: And we create, in absence of ourself, Our uncle York, lord governor of England, 541 That is, refuse to admit the hontage, by which he is to hold his lands. JOHNS. Come on, our queen: to-morrow must me part; [Flourish. [Exeunt King, Queen, BUSHY, AUMERLE, GREEN, and BAGOT. North. Well, lords, the duke of Lancaster is dead. Ross. And living too; for now his son is duke. Willo. Barely in title, not in revenue. North. Richly in both, if justice had her right. Ross. My heart is great; but it must break with silence, Ere't be disburden'd with a liberal tongue. North. Nay, speak thy mind; and let him ne'er speak more, That speaks thy words again, to do thee harm! Willo. Tends that thou'dst speak, to the duke of Hereford? If it be so, out with it boldly, man ; Quick is mine ear, to hear of good towards him. Unless you call it good, to pity him, Bereft and gelded of his patrimony. North. Now, afore heaven, 'tis shame, such wrongs are borne, In him a royal prince, and many more That will the king severely prosecute 'Gainst us, our lives, our children, and our heirs. Ross. The commons hath he pill'd with grievous taxes, And lost their hearts: the nobles hath he fin'd For ancient quarrels, and quite lost their hearts. Willo. And daily new exactions are devis'd; As blanks, benevolences, and I wot not what : But what, o'God's name, doth become of this? North. Wars have not wasted it, for warr'd he hath not, But basely yielded upon compromise That which his ancestors achiev'd with blows: Ross. The earl of Wiltshire hath the realm in farm. Ross. He hath not money for these Irish wars, His burdenous taxations notwithstanding, But by the robbing of the banish'd duke. North. His noble kinsman: most degenerate king! But, lords, we hear this fearful tempest sing, Yet seek no shelter to avoid the storm: We see the wind sit sore upon our sails, And yet we strike not, 5 but securely perish. Ross. We see the very wreck that we must suffer; And unavoided is the danger now, For suffering so the causes of our wreck. I North. Not so; even through the hollow eyes of death, spy life peering; but I dare not say How near the tidings of our comfort is. Willo. Nay, let us share thy thoughts, as thou dost ours. Ross. Be confident to speak, Northumberland : We three are but thyself; and, speaking so, Thy words are but as thoughts; therefore, be bold. North. Then thus I have, from Port le Blanc, a bay In Britanny, receiv'd intelligence, That Harry Hereford, Reignold lord Cobham, [The son of Richard Earl of Arundel,] That late broke from the duke of Exeter, His brother, archbishop late of Canterbury,6 Sir Thomas Erpingham, sir John Ramston, Sir John Norbery, sir Robert Waterton, and Francis All these well furnish'd by the duke of Bretagne, [5]strike the sails' is, to contract them when there is too much wind. JOHNS. [6] Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, brother to the Earl of Arundel who was beheaded in this reign, had been banished by the parliament, and was afterwards deprived by the Pope of his see, at the request of the King; whence he is here called, late of Canterbury. STEEV [7] As this expression frequently occurs in our author, it may not be amiss to explain the original meaning of it. When the wing feathers of a hawk were dropped, or forced out by accident, it was usual to supply as many as were deficient. This operation was called to imp a hawk. STEEV. |