The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Part 420

Exeunt NORTHUMBERLAND, and others, with the prisoners Uncle, you say the Queen is at your house; For G.o.d's sake, fairly let her be entreated.

Tell her I send to her my kind commends; Take special care my greetings be delivered.

YORK. A gentleman of mine I have dispatch'd With letters of your love to her at large.

BOLINGBROKE. Thanks, gentle uncle. Come, lords, away, To fight with Glendower and his complices.

Awhile to work, and after holiday. Exeunt

SCENE 2.

The coast of Wales. A castle in view

Drums. Flourish and colours. Enter the KING, the BISHOP OF CARLISLE, AUMERLE, and soldiers

KING RICHARD. Barkloughly Castle can they this at hand?

AUMERLE. Yea, my lord. How brooks your Grace the air After your late tossing on the breaking seas?

KING RICHARD. Needs must I like it well. I weep for joy To stand upon my kingdom once again.

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 Plays fondly with her tears and smiles in meeting, So weeping-smiling greet I thee, my earth, And do thee favours with my royal hands.

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, 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, Guard it, I pray thee, with a lurking adder, 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 king Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms.

CARLISLE. 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 embrac'd And not neglected; else, if heaven would, And we will not, heaven's offer we refuse, The proffered means of succour and redress.

AUMERLE. He means, my lord, that we are too remiss; Whilst Bolingbroke, through our security, Grows strong and great in substance and in power.

KING RICHARD. Discomfortable cousin! know'st thou not That when the searching eye of heaven is hid, Behind the globe, that lights the lower world, Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen In murders and in outrage boldly here; But when from under this terrestrial ball He fires the proud tops of the eastern pines And darts his light through every guilty hole, Then murders, treasons, and detested sins, The cloak of night being pluck'd from off their backs, 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 wand'ring with the Antipodes, Shall see us rising in our throne, the east, His treasons will sit blus.h.i.+ng in his face, Not able to endure the sight of day, But self-affrighted tremble at his sin.

Not all the water in the rough rude sea Can wash the balm off from an anointed king; The breath of worldly men cannot depose The deputy elected by the Lord.

For every man that Bolingbroke hath press'd To lift shrewd steel against our golden crown, G.o.d for his Richard hath in heavenly pay 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?

SALISBURY. Nor near nor farther off, my gracious lord, Than this weak arm. Discomfort guides my tongue, And bids me speak of nothing but despair.

One day too late, I fear me, n.o.ble lord, Hath clouded all thy happy days on earth.

O, call back yesterday, bid time return, And thou shalt have twelve thousand fighting men!

To-day, to-day, unhappy day, too late, O'erthrows thy joys, friends, fortune, and thy state; For all the Welshmen, hearing thou wert dead, Are gone to Bolingbroke, dispers'd, and fled.

AUMERLE. Comfort, my liege, why looks your Grace so pale?

KING RICHARD. But now the blood of twenty thousand men Did triumph in my face, and they are fled; And, till so much blood thither come again, Have I not reason to look pale and dead?

All souls that will be safe, fly from my side; For time hath set a blot upon my pride.

AUMERLE. Comfort, my liege; remember who you are.

KING RICHARD. I had forgot myself; am I not King?

Awake, thou coward majesty! thou sleepest.

Is not the King's name twenty thousand names?

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?

Enter SCROOP

SCROOP. More health and happiness betide my liege Than can my care-tun'd tongue deliver him.

KING RICHARD. Mine ear is open and my heart prepar'd.

The worst is worldly loss thou canst unfold.

Say, is my kingdom lost? Why, 'twas my care, 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 G.o.d, We'll serve him too, and be his fellow so.

Revolt our subjects? That we cannot mend; They break their faith to G.o.d as well as us.

Cry woe, destruction, ruin, and decay- 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.

Like an unseasonable stormy day Which makes the silver rivers drown their sh.o.r.es, As if the world were all dissolv'd to tears, So high above his limits swells the rage Of Bolingbroke, covering your fearful land With hard bright steel and hearts harder than steel.

White-beards have arm'd their thin and hairless scalps Against thy majesty; boys, with women's voices, Strive to speak big, and clap their female joints In stiff unwieldy arms against thy crown; Thy very beadsmen learn to bend their bows Of double-fatal yew against thy state; Yea, distaff-women manage rusty bills Against thy seat: both young and old rebel, And all goes worse than I have power to tell.

KING RICHARD. Too well, too well thou tell'st a tale so in.

Where is the Earl of Wilts.h.i.+re? Where is Bagot?

What is become of Bushy? Where is Green?

That they have let the dangerous enemy Measure our confines with such peaceful steps?

If we prevail, their heads shall pay for it.

I warrant they have made peace with Bolingbroke.

SCROOP. Peace have they made with him indeed, my lord.

KING RICHARD. O villains, vipers, d.a.m.n'd without redemption!

Dogs, easily won to fawn on any man!

Snakes, in my heart-blood warm'd, that sting my heart!

Three Judases, each one thrice worse than Judas!

Would they make peace? Terrible h.e.l.l make war Upon their spotted souls for this offence!

SCROOP. Sweet love, I see, changing his property, 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 Have felt the worst of death's destroying wound And lie full low, grav'd in the hollow ground.

AUMERLE. Is Bushy, Green, and the Earl of Wilts.h.i.+re dead?

SCROOP. Ay, all of them at Bristow lost their heads.

AUMERLE. Where is the Duke my father with his power?

KING RICHARD. No matter where-of comfort no man speak.

Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs; Make dust our paper, and with rainy eyes Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth.

Let's choose executors and talk of wills; And yet not so-for what can we bequeath Save our deposed bodies to the ground?

Our lands, our lives, and an, are Bolingbroke's.

And nothing can we can our own but death And that small model of the barren earth Which serves as paste and cover to our bones.

For G.o.d's sake let us sit upon the ground And tell sad stories of the death of kings: How some have been depos'd, some slain in war, Some haunted by the ghosts they have depos'd, Some poison'd by their wives, some sleeping kill'd, All murder'd-for within the hollow crown That rounds the mortal temples of a king Keeps Death his court; and there the antic 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; Infusing him with self and vain conceit, As if this flesh which walls about our life Were bra.s.s impregnable; and, humour'd thus, Comes at the last, and with a little pin Bores through his castle wall, and farewell, king!

Cover your heads, and mock not flesh and blood With solemn reverence; throw away respect, Tradition, form, and ceremonious duty; For you have but mistook me all this while.

I live with bread like you, feel want, Taste grief, need friends: subjected thus, How can you say to me I am a king?

CARLISLE. My lord, wise men ne'er sit and wail their woes, But presently prevent the ways to wail.

To fear the foe, since fear oppresseth strength, Gives, in your weakness, strength unto your foe, And so your follies fight against yourself.

Fear and be slain-no worse can come to fight; And fight and die is death destroying death, Where fearing dying pays death servile breath.

AUMERLE. My father hath a power; inquire of him, And learn to make a body of a limb.

KING RICHARD. Thou chid'st me well. Proud Bolingbroke, I come To change blows with thee for our day of doom.

This ague fit of fear is over-blown; An easy task it is to win our own.

Say, Scroop, where lies our uncle with his power?

Speak sweetly, man, although thy looks be sour.

SCROOP. Men judge by the complexion of the sky The state in inclination of the day; So may you by my dull and heavy eye, My tongue hath but a heavier tale to say.

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; And all your northern castles yielded up, And all your southern gentlemen in arms Upon his party.

KING RICHARD. Thou hast said enough.

[To AUMERLE] Beshrew thee, cousin, which didst lead me forth Of that sweet way I was in to despair!

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.