The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Part 426

YORK. It was, villain, ere thy hand did set it down.

I tore it from the traitor's bosom, King; Fear, and not love, begets his penitence.

Forget to pity him, lest thy pity prove A serpent that will sting thee to the heart.

BOLINGBROKE. O heinous, strong, and bold conspiracy!

O loyal father of a treacherous son!

Thou sheer, immaculate, and silver fountain, From whence this stream through muddy pa.s.sages Hath held his current and defil'd himself!

Thy overflow of good converts to bad; And thy abundant goodness shall excuse This deadly blot in thy digressing son.

YORK. So shall my virtue be his vice's bawd; And he shall spend mine honour with his shame, As thriftless sons their sc.r.a.ping fathers' gold.

Mine honour lives when his dishonour dies, Or my sham'd life in his dishonour lies.

Thou kill'st me in his life; giving him breath, The traitor lives, the true man's put to death.

d.u.c.h.eSS. [Within] I What ho, my liege, for G.o.d's sake, let me in.

BOLINGBROKE. What shrill-voic'd suppliant makes this eager cry?

d.u.c.h.eSS. [Within] A woman, and thine aunt, great King; 'tis I.

Speak with me, pity me, open the door.

A beggar begs that never begg'd before.

BOLINGBROKE. Our scene is alt'red from a serious thing, And now chang'd to 'The Beggar and the King.'

My dangerous cousin, let your mother in.

I know she is come to pray for your foul sin.

YORK. If thou do pardon whosoever pray, More sins for this forgiveness prosper may.

This fest'red joint cut off, the rest rest sound; This let alone will all the rest confound.

Enter d.u.c.h.eSS

d.u.c.h.eSS. O King, believe not this hard-hearted man!

Love loving not itself, none other can.

YORK. Thou frantic woman, what dost thou make here?

Shall thy old dugs once more a traitor rear?

d.u.c.h.eSS. Sweet York, be patient. Hear me, gentle liege.

[Kneels]

BOLINGBROKE. Rise up, good aunt.

d.u.c.h.eSS. Not yet, I thee beseech.

For ever will I walk upon my knees, And never see day that the happy sees Till thou give joy; until thou bid me joy By pardoning Rutland, my transgressing boy.

AUMERLE. Unto my mother's prayers I bend my knee.

[Kneels]

YORK. Against them both, my true joints bended be.

[Kneels]

Ill mayst thou thrive, if thou grant any grace!

d.u.c.h.eSS. Pleads he in earnest? Look upon his face; His eyes do drop no tears, his prayers are in jest; His words come from his mouth, ours from our breast.

He prays but faintly and would be denied; We pray with heart and soul, and all beside.

His weary joints would gladly rise, I know; Our knees still kneel till to the ground they grow.

His prayers are full of false hypocrisy; Ours of true zeal and deep integrity.

Our prayers do out-pray his; then let them have That mercy which true prayer ought to have.

BOLINGBROKE. Good aunt, stand up.

d.u.c.h.eSS. do not say 'stand up'; Say 'pardon' first, and afterwards 'stand up.'

An if I were thy nurse, thy tongue to teach, 'Pardon' should be the first word of thy speech.

I never long'd to hear a word till now; Say 'pardon,' King; let pity teach thee how.

The word is short, but not so short as sweet; No word like 'pardon' for kings' mouths so meet.

YORK. Speak it in French, King, say 'pardonne moy.'

d.u.c.h.eSS. Dost thou teach pardon pardon to destroy?

Ah, my sour husband, my hard-hearted lord, That sets the word itself against the word!

Speak 'pardon' as 'tis current in our land; The chopping French we do not understand.

Thine eye begins to speak, set thy tongue there; Or in thy piteous heart plant thou thine ear, That hearing how our plaints and prayers do pierce, Pity may move thee 'pardon' to rehea.r.s.e.

BOLINGBROKE. Good aunt, stand up.

d.u.c.h.eSS. I do not sue to stand; Pardon is all the suit I have in hand.

BOLINGBROKE. I pardon him, as G.o.d shall pardon me.

d.u.c.h.eSS. O happy vantage of a kneeling knee!

Yet am I sick for fear. Speak it again.

Twice saying 'pardon' doth not pardon twain, But makes one pardon strong.

BOLINGBROKE. With all my heart I pardon him.

d.u.c.h.eSS. A G.o.d on earth thou art.

BOLINGBROKE. But for our trusty brother-in-law and the Abbot, With all the rest of that consorted crew, Destruction straight shall dog them at the heels.

Good uncle, help to order several powers To Oxford, or where'er these traitors are.

They shall not live within this world, I swear, But I will have them, if I once know where.

Uncle, farewell; and, cousin, adieu; Your mother well hath pray'd, and prove you true.

d.u.c.h.eSS. Come, my old son; I pray G.o.d make thee new. Exeunt

SCENE 4.

Windsor Castle

Enter SIR PIERCE OF EXTON and a servant

EXTON. Didst thou not mark the King, what words he spake?

'Have I no friend will rid me of this living fear?'

Was it not so?

SERVANT. These were his very words.

EXTON. 'Have I no friend?' quoth he. He spake it twice And urg'd it twice together, did he not?

SERVANT. He did.

EXTON. And, speaking it, he wishtly look'd on me, As who should say 'I would thou wert the man That would divorce this terror from my heart'; Meaning the King at Pomfret. Come, let's go.

I am the King's friend, and will rid his foe. Exeunt

SCENE 5.

Pomfret Castle. The dungeon of the Castle

Enter KING RICHARD

KING RICHARD. I have been studying how I may compare This prison where I live unto the world And, for because the world is populous And here is not a creature but myself, I cannot do it. Yet I'll hammer it out.

My brain I'll prove the female to my soul, My soul the father; and these two beget A generation of still-breeding thoughts, And these same thoughts people this little world, In humours like the people of this world, For no thought is contented. The better sort, As thoughts of things divine, are intermix'd With scruples, and do set the word itself Against the word, As thus: 'Come, little ones'; and then again, 'It is as hard to come as for a camel To thread the postern of a small needle's eye.'

Thoughts tending to ambition, they do plot Unlikely wonders: how these vain weak nails May tear a pa.s.sage through the flinty ribs Of this hard world, my ragged prison walls; And, for they cannot, die in their own pride.

Thoughts tending to content flatter themselves That they are not the first of fortune's slaves, Nor shall not be the last; like silly beggars Who, sitting in the stocks, refuge their shame, That many have and others must sit there; And in this thought they find a kind of ease, Bearing their own misfortunes on the back Of such as have before endur'd the like.

Thus play I in one person many people, And none contented. Sometimes am I king; Then treasons make me wish myself a beggar, And so I am. Then crus.h.i.+ng penury Persuades me I was better when a king; Then am I king'd again; and by and by Think that I am unking'd by Bolingbroke, And straight am nothing. But whate'er I be, Nor I, nor any man that but man is, With nothing shall be pleas'd till he be eas'd With being nothing. [The music plays]

Music do I hear?

Ha, ha! keep time. How sour sweet music is When time is broke and no proportion kept!

So is it in the music of men's lives.

And here have I the daintiness of ear To check time broke in a disorder'd string; But, for the concord of my state and time, Had not an ear to hear my true time broke.