Aum. Fitzwater, thou art damn'd to hell for this.
Percy.Aumerle, thou liest; his honour is as true,
In this appeal, as thou art all unjust:
And, that thou art so, there I throw my gage,
To prove it on thee to the extremest point
Of mortal breathing! Seize it, if thou dar'st.
Aum. And if I do not, may my hands rot off,
And never brandish more revengeful steel
Over the glittering helmet of my foe!
Another Lord. I take the earth' to the like, for-
sworn Aumerle;
And spur thee on with full as many lies
As may be halloo'd in thy treacherous ear
From sin to sin: there is my honour's pawn:
Engage it to the trial, if thōu dar'st.
Of good old Abraham!-Lords appellants,
Your differences shall all rest under gage,
Till we assign you to your days of trial.
Enter York, attended.
York. Great duke of Lancaster, I come to thee
From plume-pluck'd Richard; who with willing soul
Adopts thee heir, and his high scepter yields
To the possession of thy royal hand:
20 Ascend his throne, descending now from him,-
And long live Henry, of that name the fourth!
Boling. In God's name, I'll ascend the regal
Carl. Marry, God forbid!—
Worst in his royal presence may I speak,
Aum. Who sets me else? By heaven, I'll throw at 25 Yet best beseeming me to speak the truth.
I have a thousand spirits in one breast,
To answer twenty thousand such as you.
Surry. My lord Fitzwater, I do remember well
The very time Aumerle and you did talk.
Fitzw. Tis very true: you were in presence then; 30
And you can witness with me, this is true.
Surry. As false, by heaven, as heaven itself is true.
Fitzw. Surry, thou liest.
Surry. Dishonourable boy!
That lie shall lie so heavy on my sword,
That it shall render vengeance and revenge,
'Till thou the lie-giver, and that lie, do lie
In earth as quiet as thy father's scull.
In proof whereof, there is my honour's pawn;
Engage it to the trial, if thou darʼst. [horse
Fitzw. How fondly dost thou spur a forward]
If I dare eat, or drink, or breathe, or live,
I dare meet Surry in a wilderness,
And spit upon him, whilst I say, he lies,
And lies, and lies: there is my bond of faith,
To tie thee to my strong correction.-
As I intend to thrive in this new world',
Aumerle is guilty of my true appeal:
Besides, I heard the banish'd Norfolk say,
That thou, Aumerle, didst send two of thy men
To execute the noble duke at Calais.
Aum. Some honest Christian trust me with a gage,
That Norfolk lies: here do I throw down this,
If he may be repeal'd to try his honour.
Would God, that any in this noble presence
Were enough noble to be upright judge
Of noble Richard; then true nobleness would
Learn him forbearance from so foul a wrong.
What subject can give sentence on his king?
And who sits here, that is not Richard's subject?
Thieves are not judg'd, but they are by to hear,
Although apparent guilt be seen in them:
And shall the figure of God's majesty,
35 His captain, steward, deputy elect,
Anointed, crowned, planted many years,
Be judg'd by subject and inferior breath,
And he himself not present? O, forbid it, God,
That, in a Christian climate, souls refin'd
40 Should shew so heinous, black, obscene a deed!
I speak to subjects, and a subject speaks,
Stirr'd up by heaven thus boldly for his king.
My lord of Hereford here, whom you call king,
Is à foul traitor to proud Hereford's king:
45And it you crown him, let me prophesy,—
The blood of English shall manure the ground,
And future ages groan for this foul act;
Peace shall go sleep with Turks and infidels,
And, in this seat of peace, tumultuous wars
50 Shall kin with kin, and kind with kind confound;
Disorder, horror, fear, and mutiny,
Shall here inhabit, and this land be call'd
The field of Golgotha and dead men's sculls.
O, if you rear this house against this house,
Boling. These differences shall all rest under gage, 55 It will the wofullest division prove,
'Till Norfolk be repeal'd: repeal'd he shall be, And, though mine enemy, restor'd again
To all his land and signories; when he's return'd,
Against Aumerle we will enforce his trial.
Cur. That honourable day shall ne'er be seen.
Many a time hath bauis'd Norfolk fought
For Jesu Christ; in glorious Christian field
That ever fell upon this cursed earth:
Prevent, resist it, let it not be so,
Lest children's children cry against you-woe!
North. Well have you argu'd, sir: and, for
Of capital treason we arrest you here:
My lord of Westminster, be it your charge
Dr. Johnson supposes, that for the earth we should read thy outh. where I have just begun to be an actor. Surry has just before called him boy.
To keep him safely 'till his day of trial.- [suit
May't please you, lords, to grant the commons'
Boling. Fetch hither Richard, that in common
He may surrender; so we shall proceed [view]
Without suspicion.
York. I will be his conduct.
[Exit.
Boling. Lords, you that here are under our
arrest,
Procure your sureties for your days of answer:-
Little are we beholden to your love, [To Carlisle.
And little look'd for at your helping hands.
Re-enter York, with King Richard.
K. Rich. Alack, why am I sent for to a king.
Before I have skook off the regal thoughts
Wherewith I reign'd? I hardly yet have learn'd
To insinuate, flatter, bow, and bend my knee :-
Give sorrow leave a while to tutor me
To this submission. Yet I well remember
The favours' of these men: Were they not mine?
Did they not sometime cry, All hail! to me?
So Judas did to Christ: but, he in twelve,
Found truth in all, but one; I, in twelve thou-
God save the king!-Will no man say, Amen?
Am I both priest and clerk? Well then, Amen.
God save the king although I be not he;
And yet, Amen, if heaven do think him me.-
To do what service, am I sent for hither?
York. To do that office, of thine own good will,
Which tired majesty did make thee offer,-
The resignation of thy state and crown
To Henry Bolingbroke.
K. Rich. Give me the crown:-Here, cousin,
seize the crown;
With mine own tears I wash away my balm2,
With mine own hands I give away my crown,
With mine own tongue deny my sacred state,
With mine own breath release all duteous oaths:
All pomp and majesty I do forswear;
My manors, rents, revenues, I forego;
My acts, decrees, and statutes, I deny :
God pardon all oaths, that are broke to me!
God keep all vows unbroke, are made to thee!
Make me, that nothing have, with nothing griev'd;
And thou with all pleas'd, that hast all atchiev'd;
Long may'st thou live in Richard's seat to sit,
And soon lie Richard in an earthy pit!}
God save king Henry, unking'd Richard says,
15 And send him many years of sun-shine days!-
What more remains?
North. No more, but that you read
These accusations, and these grievous crimes,
Committed by your person and your followers,
20 Against the state and profit of this land;
That, by confessing them, the souls of men
May deem that you are worthily depos'd.
K. Rich. Must I do so? and must I ravel out My weav'd-up follies? Gentle Northumberland, 25 If thy offences were upon record,
Would it not shame thee, in so fair a troop,
To read a lecture of them? If thou would'st,
There should'st thou find an heinous article,-
Containing the deposing of a king,
30 And cracking the strong warrant of an oath,-
Mark'd with a blot, damn'd in the book of heaven: -
Nay, all of you, that stand and look upon me,
Whilst that my wretchednesss doth bait myself,-
Though some of you, with Pilate, wash your hands,
Shewing an outward pity; yet you Pilates
Hlave here deliver'd me to my sour cross,
And water cannot wash away your sin.
[thine.
Here, cousin, on this side, my hand; on that side, 35
Now is this golden crown like a deep well,
That owes two buckets filling one another;
The emptier ever dancing in the air,
The other down, unseen, and full of water:
The bucket down, and full of tears, am I,
Drinking my griefs, whilst you mount up on high.
Boling. I thought you had been willing to resign.
K. Rich. My crown, I am; but still my griefs
You may my glories and my state dispose,
But not my griefs; still am I king of those.
Boling. Part of your cares you give me with
K. Rich. Your cares set up, do not pluck my cares down.
North. My lord, dispatch; read o'er these ar-
K. Rich. Mine eyes are full of tears, I cannot see:
40 And yet salt-water blinds them not so much,
But they can see a sort' of traitors here.
Nay, if I turn mine eyes upon myself,
I find myself a traitor with the rest:
For I have given here my soul's consent,
45 To undeck the pompous body of a king;
Make glory base; a sovereign, a slave;
Proud majesty, a subject; state, a peasant.
North. My lord,-
My care is-loss of care, by old care done;
Your care is-gain of care, by new care won:
The cares I give, I have, though given away;
They tend the crown, yet still with me they stay.
Boling. Are you contented to resign the crown? 55
K. Rich. Ay, no;-no, ay;-for I must no-
thing be;
Therefore, no, no, for I resign to thee.
Now mark me how I will undo myself:-
I give this heavy weight from off my head,
And this unwieldy sceptre from my hand,
The pride of kingly sway from out my heart;
1i. e. the eircumstances; the features. haughty.
K. Rich. No lord of thine, thou haught, in-
sulting man,
Nor no man's lord; I have no name, no title,--
No, not that name was given me at the font,-
But 'tis usurp'd:-Alack the heavy day,
That I have worn so many winters out,
And know not now what name to call myself!
Oh, that I were a mockery king of snow,
Standing before the sun of Bolingbroke,
To melt myself away in water-drops!-
Goodking-great king-(and yet not greatlygood)
60 An if my word be sterling yet in England.
Let it command a mirror hither straight;
2 The oil of consecration,
There lies the substance: and I thank thee, king,
For thy great bounty, that not only giv'st
Me cause to wail, but teachest me the way
How to lament the cause. I'll beg one boon,
And then be gone, and trouble you no more.
Shall I obtain it?
Boling. Name it, fair cousin. [a king:
K. Rich. Fair cousin? Why, I am greater than
For, when I was a king, my flatterers
K. Rich. They shall be satisfy'd; I'll read enough, 10 Were then but subjects; being now a subject, When I do see the very book indeed
Where all my sins are writ, and that's-myself.
Enter one, with a glass.
Give me that glass, and therein will I read.—
No deeper wrinkles yet? Hath sorrow struck
So many blows upon this face of mine,
And made no deeper wounds?--Oh, flattering glass,
Like to my followers in prosperity,
Thou dost beguile me!-Was this face the face
That every day under his houshold roof
Did keep ten thousand men? Was this the face,
That, like the sun, did make beholders wink?
Was this the face that fac'd so many follies,
And was at last out-fac'd by Bolingbroke?
A brittle glory shineth in this face:
[Dashes the glass against the ground.
As brittle as the glory, is the face;
For there it is, crack'd in an hundred shivers.--
Mark, silent king, the moral of this sport,-
How soon my sorrow hath destroy'd my face.
Boling. The shadow of your sorrow hath destroy'd
The shadow of your face.
K. Rich. Say that again.
The shadow of my sorrow? Ha! let's see:-
'Tis very true, my grief lies all within;
And these external manners of lament,
Are merely shadows to the unseen grief,
That swells with silence in the tortur'd soul;
I have a king here to my flatterer.
Being so great, I have no need to beg.
Boling. Yet ask.
K. Rich. And shall I have?
Boling. You shall.
K. Rich. Then give me leave to go.
Boling. Whither?
Esights.
K. Rich. Whither you will, so I were from your
Boling Gosome of you,convey him to the Tower.
K. Rich. Oh, good! convey?-conveyors' are
That rise thus nimbly by a true king's fall. [Erit. Boling On Wednesday next, we solemnly set Our coronation: lords, prepare yourselves. [dowa 25 [Ex. all but the Abbot, Bishop of Carlisle, and Aumerle. Abbot. A woeful pageant have we here beheld. Carl. The woestocome; the childrenyet unborn Shall feel this day as sharp to them as thorn.
Aum. You holy clergymen, is there no plot 30 To rid the realm of this pernicious blot?
Abbot. Before I freely speak my mind herein,
You shall not only take the sacrament
To bury mine intents, but also to effect
Whatever I shall happen to devise:-
35I see, your brows are full of discontent,
Your hearts of sorrow, and your eyes of tears;
Come home with me to supper, and I'll lay
A plot, shall shew us all a merry day.
Ah, thou the model where old Troy did stand;
[To K. Rich. Thou map of honour; thou king Richard's tomb, And not king Richard; thou most beauteous, mi
Queen. THIS way the king will come; this is 50 Why should hard favour'd grief be lodg'dr
To Julius Cæsar's ill-erected tower',
To whose flint bosom my condemned lord
Is doom'd a prisoner by proud Bolingbroke:
Here let us rest, if this rebellious earth
Have any resting for her true king's queen.
Enter King Richard, and guards.
But soft, but see, or rather do not see,
My fair rose wither: Yet look up; behold;
That you in pity may dissolve to dew,
And wash him fresh again with true-love tears.
When triumph is become an ale-house gue
K.Rich.Join not with grief, fair woman, do
To make my end too sudden: learn, good soul,
To think our former state a happy dream;
55 From which awak'd, the truth of what we are
Shews us but this: I am sworn brother, sweet,
To grim necessity; and he and I
Will keep a league 'till death. Hiethee to France,
And cloister thee in some religious house:
60 Our holy lives must win a new world's crown,
Which our profane hours here have stricken down.
2 i. e. to conceal, 3 The Tower of London is said to have been erected by
Queen. What is my Richard both in shape and]
Transform'd and weakened? Hath Bolingbroke
Depos'dthine intellect? hath he been in thy heart?
The lion, dying, thrustest forth his paw,
And wounds the earth, if nothing else, with rage
To be o'erpower'd; and wilt thou, pupil-like,
Take thy correction mildly? kiss the rod?
And fawn on rage with base humility,
Which art a lion, and a king of beasts? [beasts,!0]
K. Rich. A king of beasts, indeed; if aught but
I had been still a happy king of men.
Good sometime queen, prepare thee hence for
France:
Think, I am dead; and that even here thou tak'st 15
As from my death-bed, my last living leave.
In winter's tedious nights, sit by the fire
With good old folks; and let them tell thee tales
Of woeful ages long ago betid:
And, ere thou bid good night, to quit their grief', 20
Tell thou the lamentable fall of me,
And send the hearers weeping to their beds.
For why, the senseless brands will sympathize
The heavy accent of thy moving tongue,
And, in compassion, weep the tire out:
And some will mourn in ashes, some coal-black,
For the deposing of a rightful king.
Enter Northumberland, attended.
North. My lord, the mind of Bolingbroke i.
You must to Pomfret, not unto the Tower.-
And, madam, there is order ta'en for you;
With all swift speed, you must away to France.
K. Rich. Northumberland, thou ladder where-
withal
The mounting Bolingbroke ascends my throne,-
The time shall not be many hours of age
More than it is, ere foul sin, gathering head,
Shall break into corruption: thou shalt think,
Though he divide the realin, and give thee half,
It is too little, helping him to all;
And he shall think, that thou, which know'st the
To plant unrightful kings, wilt know again,
Being ne'er so little urg'd, another way
To pluck him headlong from the usurped throne.
The love of wicked friends converts to fear:
That fear, to hate; and hate turns one, or both,
To worthy danger, and deserved death.
K. Rich. Twice for one step I'll groan, the way
being short,
And piece the way out with a heavy heart.
Come, come, in wooing sorrow let's be brief,
Since, wedding it, there is such length in grief.
One kiss shall stop our mouths, and dumbly part;-
Thus give I inine, and thus take I thy heart.
[They kiss. Queen. Give me mine own again; 'twere no good part,
To take on me to keep, and kill thy heart.
So, now I have mine own again, be gone, 25 That I may strive to kill it with a groan. K. Rich. We make woe wanton with this fond delay:
My guilt be on my head, and there an end. leave, and part; for you must part forthwith. 50 Rich. Doubly divorc'd-Badinen, ye violate A two-fold marriage; 'twixt my crown and me; And then betwixt me and my married wife.Let me unkiss the oath 'twixt thee and me:
[To the Queen. And yet not so, for with a kiss'twas made.— Part us, Northumberland; I towards the north, Where shivering cold and sickness pines the clime; My wife to France; from whence, set forth in pomp, She came adorned hither like sweet May, Sent back like Hollowmas', or short'st of day. Queen. And must we be divided? must we part
Once more adieu; the rest let sorrow say.
The Duke of York's Palace.
Enter York, with his Dutchess.
When weeping made you break the story off
Of our two cousins coming into London.
York. Where did I leave?
Dutch. At that sad stop, my lord,
Where rudemisgovern'd hands, from window tops,
Threw dust and rubbish on king Richard's head.
York. Then, as I said, the duke, great Boling-
Mounted upon a hot and fiery steed, [broke,-
Which his aspiring rider seem'd to know,-
With slow, but stately pace kept on his course,
While all tongues cry'd-God save thee, Boling-
You would have thought the very windows spake,
So many greedy looks of young and old
Through casements darted their desiring eyes
Upon his visage; and that all the walls,
With painted imag'ry, had said at once,―
Jesu
preserve thee! welcome Bolingbroke!
Whilst he, from one side to the other turning,
Bare-headed, lower than his proud steed's neck,
Bespake them thus,-I thank you, countrymen :
And thus still doing, thus he passed along.
Dutch. Alas, poor Richard! where rides he the while?
York. As, in a theatre, the eyes of men, After a well grac'd actor leaves the stage,
Meaning, to requite, or repay them for their mournful stories. 2 i. e. All-hallows, or allhall antide; the first of November. i. e. to be never the nigher: or, to make no advance towards the good desired.
Are idly bent' on him that enters next,
Thinking his prattle to be tedious:
Even so, or with much more contempt, men's eyes
Did scowlon Richard; no manery'd, God save him:
No joyful tongue gave him his welcome home:
But dust was thrown upon his sacred head;
Which with such gentle sorrow he shook off,-
His face still combating with tears and siniles,
The badges of his grief and patience,-
That had not God, for some strong purpose, steel'd 10
The heartsofmen,they must perforce,have melted,
And barbarism itself have pitied him.
But heaven hath a hand in these events;
To whose high will we bound our calm contents.
To Bolingbroke are we sworn subjects now,
Whose state and honour I for aye allow.
Enter Aumerle.
Dutch. Here comes my son Aumerle.
York. Aumerle that was';
But that is lost, for being Richard's friend,
And, madam, you must call him Rutland now:
I am in parliament pledge for his truth,
And lasting fealty to the new-made king.
Dutch. Iwi Inot peace:What is the matter, Aum. Good mother, be content; it is no more Than my poor life must answer.
Dutch. Thy life answer!
Enter Servant, with boots.
York. Bring me my boots, I will unto the king. Dutch. Strike him, Aumerle.-Poor boy, thou art amaz'd:
Hence, villain; never more come in my sight.-
[Speaking to the servant.
York. Give me my boots, I say.
Dutch. Why, York, what wilt thou do?
Wilt thou not hide the trespass of thine own?
Have we more sons? or are we like to have?
Is not my teeining date drunk up with time?
And wilt thou pluck my fair son from mine age,
20 And rob me of a happy mother's name?
Is he not like thee? is he not thine own?
York. Thou fond mad woman,
Dutch. Welcome, my son: Who are the violets
That strew the green-lap of the new-come spring: 25
Aum. Madam, I know not, nor I greatly care not;
God knows, I had as lief be none, as one. [time,
York. Well, bear you well' in this new spring of
Lest you be cropt before you come to prime.
What news from Oxford? Hold those justs and 30
triumphs?
Aum. For aught I know, my lord, they do.
York. You will be there, I know.
Aum. If God prevent me not; I purpose so.
York. What seal is that, that hangs without
thy bosom?
Yea, look'st thou pale? let me see the writing.
Aum. My lord, 'tis nothing.
York. No matter then who sees it:
I will be satisfy'd, let me see the writing.
Aum. I do beseech your grace to pardon me;
It is a matter of small consequence,
Which for some reasons I would not have seen.
York. Which for some reasons, sir, I mean to see.
I fear, I fear,
Dutch. What should you fear?
'Tis nothing but some bond, that he is enter'd into
For gay apparel, against the triumph. [bond
York. Bound to himself? what doth he with a
That he is bound to? Wife, thou art a fool.--
Boy, let me see the writing.
[shew it.
Aum. I do beseech you, pardon me; I may not
York. I will be satisfied; let me see it, I say.
[Snatches it and reads.
Treason! foul treason!-villain! traitor! slave!
Dutch. What is the matter, my lord?
York. Ho! who is within there? saddle my horse.
Heaven, for his mercy! what treachery is here!
Dutch Why, what is it, my lord?
Wilt thou conceal this da k conspiracy?
A dozen of them here have ta'en the sacrament,
And interchangeably set down their hands,
To kill the king at Oxford.
Dutch. He shall be none;
We'll keep him here: Then what is that to him?
York. Away, fond woman! were he twenty
My son, I would appeach him.
Dutch. Had'st thou groan'd for him,
As I have done, thoud st be more pitiful.
But now I know thy mind; thou dost suspect,
That I have been disloyal to thy bed,
35 And that he is a bastard, not thy son:
Sweet York, sweet husband, be not of that mind:
He is as like thee as a man may be,
Not like to me, or any of my kin,
And yet I love him.
York. Make way, unruly woman. [Exit. [horse;
Dutch. After, Aummerle: mount thee upon his
Spur, post; and get before him to the king,
And beg thy pardon ere he do accuse thee.
Ill not be long behind; though I be old,
45 I doubt not but to ride as fast as York:
And never will I rise up from the ground,
Till Bolingbroke have pardon'd thee: Away.
[Exeunt.
The Court at Windsor Castle.
Enter Bolingbroke, Percy, and other Lords.
Boling. Can no man tell of my unthrifty son?
Tis full three months, since I did see him last:-
55 If any plague hang over us, 'tis he..
I would to heaven, my lords, he might be found:
Enquire at London, 'mongst the taverns there,
For there, they say, he daily doth frequent,
With unrestrained loose companions;
York. Giveine my boots, I say; saddle my horse: 60 Even such, they say, as stand in narrow lanes, Now by mine honour, by my life, my troth, And beat our watch, and rob our passengers;
1i. e. carelessly turned. 2 From Holinshed we learn, that the dukes of Aumerle, Surry, and Exeter, were by an act of Henry's first parliament deprived of their dukedoms, but allowed to retain their earldoms of Rutland, Kent, and Huntingdon. i. e. conduct yourself with prudence.
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