ACT III.
Scene I. Bristol. Before the Castle.
Enter Bolingbroke, York, Northumberland, Ross, Percy,
Willoughby, with Bushy and Green, prisoners.[1290]
Boling. Bring forth these men.
Bushy and Green, I will not vex your souls—
Since presently your souls must part your bodies—
With too much urging your pernicious lives,[1291]
For 'twere no charity; yet, to wash your blood5
From off my hands, here in the view of men
I will unfold some causes of your deaths.[1292]
You have misled a prince, a royal king,
A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments,
By you unhappied and disfigured clean:10
You have in manner with your sinful hours
Made a divorce betwixt his queen and him,
Broke the possession of a royal bed[1293]
And stain'd the beauty of a fair queen's cheeks
With tears drawn from her eyes by your foul wrongs.[1294]15
Myself, a prince by fortune of my birth,
Near to the king in blood, and near in love
Till you did make him misinterpret me,[1295]
Have stoop'd my neck under your injuries,
And sigh'd my English breath in foreign clouds,[1296]20
Eating the bitter bread of banishment;
Whilst you have fed upon my signories,[1297]
Dispark'd my parks and fell'd my forest woods,
From my own windows torn my household coat,[1298]
Razed out my imprese, leaving me no sign,[1299]25
Save men's opinions and my living blood,
To show the world I am a gentleman.
This and much more, much more than twice all this,
Condemns you to the death. See them deliver'd over[1300]
To execution and the hand of death.30
Bushy. More welcome is the stroke of death to me
Than Bolingbroke to England. Lords, farewell.[1301]
Green. My comfort is that heaven will take our souls
And plague injustice with the pains of hell.
Boling. My Lord Northumberland, see them dispatch'd.35
[Exeunt Northumberland and others, with the prisoners.[1302]
Uncle, you say the queen is at your house;
For God's sake, fairly let her be entreated:[1303]
Tell her I send to her my kind commends;
Take special care my greetings be deliver'd.[1304]
York. A gentleman of mine I have dispatch'd40
With letters of your love to her at large.
Boling. Thanks, gentle uncle. Come, lords, away,[1305]
To fight with Glendower and his complices:[1306]
Awhile to work, and after holiday. [Exeunt.
Scene II. The coast of Wales. A castle in view.
Drums: flourish and colours. Enter King Richard, the Bishop
of Carlisle, Aumerle, and Soldiers.[1307]
K. Rich. Barkloughly castle call they this at hand?[1308]
Aum. Yea, my lord. How brooks your grace the air,[1309]
After your late tossing on the breaking seas?[1310]
K. Rich. Needs must I like it well: I weep for joy
To stand upon my kingdom once again.5
Dear earth, I do salute thee with my hand,
Though rebels wound thee with their horses' hoofs:
As a long-parted mother with her child[1311]
Plays fondly with her tears and smiles in meeting,[1312]
So, weeping, smiling, greet I thee, my earth,[1313]10
And do thee favours with my royal hands.[1314]
Feed not thy sovereign's foe, my gentle earth,
Nor with thy sweets comfort his ravenous sense;
But let thy spiders, that suck up thy venom,
And heavy-gaited toads lie in their way,15
Doing annoyance to the treacherous feet
Which with usurping steps do trample thee:
Yield stinging nettles to mine enemies;
And when they from thy bosom pluck a flower.[1315]
Guard it, I pray thee, with a lurking adder[1316]20
Whose double tongue may with a mortal touch
Throw death upon thy sovereign's enemies.
Mock not my senseless conjuration, lords:
This earth shall have a feeling and these stones
Prove armed soldiers, ere her native king25
Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms.[1317]
Car. Fear not, my lord: that Power that made you king
Hath power to keep you king in spite of all.
The means that heaven yields must be embraced,[1318][1319]
And not neglected; else, if heaven would,[1318][1320]30
And we will not, heaven's offer we refuse,[1318][1321]
The proffer'd means of succour and redress.[1318][1322]
Aum. He means, my lord, that we are too remiss;
Whilst Bolingbroke, through our security,[1323]
Grows strong and great in substance and in power.[1324]35
K. Rich. Discomfortable cousin! know'st thou not[1325]
That when the searching eye of heaven is hid,[1326]
Behind the globe, that lights the lower world,[1326][1327]
Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen
In murders and in outrage, boldly here;[1328]40
But when from under this terrestrial ball[1329]
He fires the proud tops of the eastern pines
And darts his light through every guilty hole,[1330]
Then murders, treasons and detested sins,
The cloak of night being pluck'd from off their backs,45
Stand bare and naked, trembling at themselves?
So when this thief, this traitor, Bolingbroke,
Who all this while hath revell'd in the night
Whilst we were wandering with the antipodes,[1331]
Shall see us rising in our throne, the east,50
His treasons will sit blushing in his face,[1332]
Not able to endure the sight of day,
But self-affrighted tremble at his sin.[1333]
Not all the water in the rough rude sea[1334]
Can wash the balm off from an anointed king;[1335]55
The breath of worldly men cannot depose[1336]
The deputy elected by the Lord:
For every man that Bolingbroke hath press'd[1337]
To lift shrewd steel against our golden crown,[1338]
God for his Richard hath in heavenly pay[1339]60
A glorious angel: then, if angels fight,
Weak men must fall, for heaven still guards the right.
Enter Salisbury.
Welcome, my lord: how far off lies your power?[1340]
Sal. Nor near nor farther off, my gracious lord,
Than this weak arm: discomfort guides my tongue65
And bids me speak of nothing but despair.
One day too late, I fear me, noble lord,[1341]
Hath clouded all thy happy days on earth:[1342]
O, call back yesterday, bid time return,
And thou shalt have twelve thousand fighting men![1343]70
To-day, to-day, unhappy day, too late,
O'erthrows thy joys, friends, fortune and thy state:[1344]
For all the Welshmen, hearing thou wert dead,
Are gone to Bolingbroke, dispersed and fled.[1345]
Aum. Comfort, my liege: why looks your grace so pale?75
K. Rich. But now the blood of twenty thousand men[1346]
Did triumph in my face, and they are fled;
And, till so much blood thither come again,[1347]
Have I not reason to look pale and dead?[1347]
All souls that will be safe fly from my side,80
For time hath set a blot upon my pride.
Aum. Comfort, my liege; remember who you are.
K. Rich. I had forgot myself: am I not king?
Awake, thou coward majesty! thou sleepest.[1348]
Is not the king's name twenty thousand names?[1349]85
Arm, arm, my name! a puny subject strikes
At thy great glory. Look not to the ground,
Ye favourites of a king: are we not high?
High be our thoughts: I know my uncle York
Hath power enough to serve our turn. But who comes here?[1350]90
Enter Scroop.
Scroop. More health and happiness betide my liege[1351]
Than can my care-tuned tongue deliver him!
K. Rich. Mine ear is open and my heart prepared:
The worst is worldly loss thou canst unfold.
Say, is my kingdom lost? why, 'twas my care;95
And what loss is it to be rid of care?
Strives Bolingbroke to be as great as we?
Greater he shall not be; if he serve God,
We'll serve Him too and be his fellow so:
Revolt our subjects? that we cannot mend;100
They break their faith to God as well as us:
Cry woe, destruction, ruin and decay;[1352]
The worst is death, and death will have his day.
Scroop. Glad am I that your highness is so arm'd
To bear the tidings of calamity.105
Like an unseasonable stormy day,
Which makes the silver rivers drown their shores,[1353]
As if the world were all dissolved to tears,
So high above his limits swells the rage[1354]
Of Bolingbroke, covering your fearful land110
With hard bright steel and hearts harder than steel.[1355]
White-beards have arm'd their thin and hairless scalps[1356]
Against thy majesty; boys, with women's voices,[1357]
Strive to speak big and clap their female joints[1358]
In stiff unwieldy arms against thy crown:[1359]115
Thy very beadsmen learn to bend their bows[1360]
Of double-fatal yew against thy state;[1361]
Yea, distaff-women manage rusty bills[1362]
Against thy seat: both young and old rebel,[1362]
And all goes worse than I have power to tell.120
K. Rich. Too well, too well thou tell'st a tale so ill.
Where is the Earl of Wiltshire? where is Bagot?[1363]
What is become of Bushy? where is Green?
That they have let the dangerous enemy
Measure our confines with such peaceful steps?125
If we prevail, their heads shall pay for it:[1364]
I warrant they have made peace with Bolingbroke.[1365]
Scroop. Peace have they made with him indeed, my lord.[1366]
K. Rich. O villains, vipers, damn'd without redemption!
Dogs, easily won to fawn on any man![1367]130
Snakes, in my heart-blood warm'd, that sting my heart!
Three Judases, each one thrice worse than Judas!
Would they make peace? terrible hell make war
Upon their spotted souls for this offence![1368]
Scroop. Sweet love, I see, changing his property,[1369]135
Turns to the sourest and most deadly hate:
Again uncurse their souls; their peace is made
With heads, and not with hands: those whom you curse[1370]
Have felt the worst of death's destroying wound[1371]
And lie full low, graved in the hollow ground.[1372]140
Aum. Is Bushy, Green and the Earl of Wiltshire dead?
Scroop. Ay, all of them at Bristol lost their heads.[1373]
Aum. Where is the duke my father with his power?
K. Rich. No matter where; of comfort no man speak:
Let's talk of graves, of worms and epitaphs;145
Make dust our paper and with rainy eyes
Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth.[1374]
Let's choose executors and talk of wills:
And yet not so, for what can we bequeath
Save our deposed bodies to the ground?150
Our lands, our lives and all are Bolingbroke's,
And nothing can we call our own but death
And that small model of the barren earth[1375]
Which serves as paste and cover to our bones.
For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground[1376]155
And tell sad stories of the death of kings:
How some have been deposed; some slain in war;
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed;[1377]
Some poison'd by their wives; some sleeping kill'd;
All murder'd: for within the hollow crown160
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court and there the antique sits,
Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp,
Allowing him a breath, a little scene,
To monarchize, be fear'd and kill with looks,165
Infusing him with self and vain conceit,
As if this flesh which walls about our life
Were brass impregnable, and humour'd thus
Comes at the last and with a little pin[1378]
Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king![1379]170
Cover your heads and mock not flesh and blood[1380]
With solemn reverence: throw away respect,[1380]
Tradition, form and ceremonious duty,[1381]
For you have but mistook me all this while:
I live with bread like you, feel want,[1382]175
Taste grief, need friends: subjected thus,[1382][1383][1384]
How can you say to me, I am a king?[1382][1384][1385]
Car. My lord, wise men ne'er sit and wail their woes,[1386]
But presently prevent the ways to wail.
To fear the foe, since fear oppresseth strength,180
Gives in your weakness strength unto your foe,
And so your follies fight against yourself.[1387]
Fear, and be slain; no worse can come to fight:[1388][1389]
And fight and die is death destroying death;[1388][1390]
Where fearing dying pays death servile breath.[1388]185
Aum. My father hath a power; inquire of him,[1388]
And learn to make a body of a limb.[1388]
K. Rich. Thou chidest me well: proud Bolingbroke, I come
To change blows with thee for our day of doom.[1391]
This ague fit of fear is over-blown;[1391]190
An easy task it is to win our own.[1391]
Say, Scroop, where lies our uncle with his power?
Speak sweetly, man, although thy looks be sour.[1392]
Scroop. Men judge by the complexion of the sky[1392]
The state and inclination of the day:[1392]195
So may you by my dull and heavy eye,[1392]
My tongue hath but a heavier tale to say.[1392]
I play the torturer, by small and small
To lengthen out the worst that must be spoken:
Your uncle York is join'd with Bolingbroke,[1393]200
And all your northern castles yielded up
And all your southern gentlemen in arms
Upon his party.
K. Rich. Thou hast said enough.[1394]
Beshrew thee, cousin, which didst lead me forth [To Aumerle.[1395]
Of that sweet way I was in to despair!205
What say you now? what comfort have we now?
By heaven, I'll hate him everlastingly
That bids me be of comfort any more.
Go to Flint castle: there I'll pine away;
A king, woe's slave, shall kingly woe obey.210
That power I have, discharge; and let them go[1396]
To ear the land that hath some hope to grow,[1397]
For I have none: let no man speak again
To alter this, for counsel is but vain.
Aum. My liege, one word.
K. Rich. He does me double wrong215
That wounds me with the flatteries of his tongue.
Discharge my followers: let them hence away,[1398]
From Richard's night to Bolingbroke's fair day.[1399] [Exeunt.
Scene III. Wales. Before Flint castle.
Enter, with drum and colours, Bolingbroke, York,
Northumberland, Attendants, and forces.[1400]
Boling. So that by this intelligence we learn
The Welshmen are dispersed; and Salisbury
Is gone to meet the king, who lately landed
With some few private friends upon this coast.
North. The news is very fair and good, my lord:5
Richard not far from hence hath hid his head.
York. It would beseem the Lord Northumberland
To say 'King Richard': alack the heavy day[1401]
When such a sacred king should hide his head.
North. Your grace mistakes; only to be brief,[1402]10
Left I his title out.[1403]
York. The time hath been,[1404]
Would you have been so brief with him, he would[1404][1405]
Have been so brief with you, to shorten you,[1406][1407]
For taking so the head, your whole head's length.[1406][1408]
Boling. Mistake not, uncle, further than you should.[1409]15
York. Take not, good cousin, further than you should,[1409]
Lest you mistake the heavens are o'er our heads.[1410]
Boling. I know it, uncle, and oppose not myself[1411]
Against their will. But who comes here?[1412]
Enter Percy.