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SCENE I.-London. Westminster Hall." The Lords spiritual on the right side of the throne; the Lords temporal on the left the Commons below.

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In that dead time when Gloster's death was plotted,

I heard you say,-Is not my arm of length,
That reacheth from the restful English court
As far as Calais, to mine* uncle's head?
Amongst much other talk, that very time,
I heard you say, that you had rather refuse

The offer of an hundred thousand crowns,
Than Bolingbroke's return to England; adding
withal,

How bless'd this land would be in this your cousin's death.

AUM. Princes, and noble lords,

What answer shall I make to this base man?
Shall I so much dishonour my fair stars,b
On equal terms to give him chastisement?
Either I must, or have mine honour soil'd

(*) First folio, my.

term sometimes used to express the former. Thus, in "Richard." III." Sc. 7, Gloster, speaking of his nephew, the heir to the crown,

says:

"On him I lay what you would lay on me, The right and fortune of his happy stars."

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With the attainder of his slanderous lips.
There is my gage, the manual seal of death,
That marks thee out for hell: I say, thou liest,
And will maintain what thou hast said, is false,
In thy heart-blood, though being all too base
To stain the temper of my knightly sword.

BOLING. Bagot, forbear, thou shalt not take it. up.

AUM. Excepting one, I would he were the best

In all this presence, that hath mov'd me so.

FITZ. If that thy valour stand on sympathy,
There is my gage, Aumerle, in gage to thine:
By that fair sun which shows me where thou
stand'st,

I heard thee say, and vauntingly thou spak'st it,
That thou wert cause of noble Gloster's death.
If thou deny'st it, twenty times thou liest;
And I will turn thy falsehood to thy heart,
Where it was forged, with my rapier's point.

AUM. Thou dar'st not, coward, live to see the day.

FITZ. Now, by my soul, I would it were this hour.

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!

LORD. I task the earth to the like, forsworn
Aumerle;

And
spur thee on with full as many lies
As may be holla'd in thy treacherous ear
From sun to sun: there is my honour's pawn;
Engage it to the trial, if thou dar'st.

AUM. Who sets me else? by heaven, I'll throw at all:

I have a thousand spirits in one breast,
To answer twenty thousand such as you.
SURREY. My lord Fitzwater, I do remember
well

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a I say, thou liest,-] The folio, and other early editions, except the first quarto, omit the words, I say.

b If that thy valour stand on sympathy,-] The use of sympathy, in the sense of equality, is peculiar. Aumerle affects to think it a derogation from his high birth to accept the defiance of Bagot; whereupon Fitzwater, whose pretensions to blood equal Aumerle's, flings down his gauntlet, with the taunt,

"If that thy valour stand on sympathy,
There is my gage."

The folio 1623 reads, sympathize.

FITZ. "Tis very true: you were in presence then ;

And you can witness with me, this is true. SURREY. AS false, by heaven, as heaven itself is true.

FITZ. Surrey, thou liest.
SURREY.

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 skull.
In proof whereof, there is mine honour's pawn;
Engage it to the trial, if thou dar'st.

FITZ. How fondly dost thou spur a forward horse!

If I dare eat, or drink, or breathe, or live,-
I dare meet Surrey in a wilderness,

e

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Till Norfolk be repeal'd: repeal'd he shall be,
And, though mine enemy, restor❜d again
To all his land and seignories; when he's return'd,
Against Aumerle we will enforce his trial.

CAR. That honourable day shall ne'er be seen.
Many a time hath banish'd Norfolk fought
For Jesu Christ, in glorious Christian field,
Streaming the ensign of the Christian cross,
Against black pagans, Turks, and Saracens :
And, toil'd with works of war, retired himself
To Italy; and there, at Venice, gave
His body to that pleasant country's earth,
And his pure soul unto his captain Christ,
Under whose colours he had fought so long.
BOLING. Why, Bishop, is Norfolk dead?
CAR. As surely* as I live, my lord.
BOLING. Sweet peace conduct his sweet soul to
the bosom

(*) First folio, sure.

e LORD. I task the earth, &c.] This speech, and Aumerle's answer, are omitted in the folio. And all the quartos, except the first, read, "I take the earth."-By "task the earth," we are apparently to understand, "challenge the whole world."

d 'Tis very true:] So the quarto. The folio reads, My lord, 'tis very true.

e I dare meet Surrey in a wilderness,-] So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's play of" The Lovers' Progress," Act V. Sc. 2:"Maintain thy treason with thy sword? With what Contempt I hear it! in a wilderness

I durst encounter it."

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From plume-pluck'd Richard; who with willing
Adopts thee heir, and his high sceptre yields
To the possession of thy royal hand:
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
throne.

CAR. Marry, God forbid !—
Worst in this royal presence may I speak,
Yet best, beseeming me to speak the truth.
Would God, that any in this noble presence
Were enough noble to be upright judge

Of noble Richard; then true noblesse † 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,
His captain, steward, deputy elect,
Anointed, crowned, planted many years,
Be judg'd by subject and inferior breath,
And he himself not present? O, forfend ‡ it, God,
That, in a Christian climate, souls refin'd
Should show so heinous, black, obscene a deed!
I speak to subjects, and a subject speaks,
Stirr'd up by God thus boldly for his king.
My lord of Hereford here, whom you call king,
Is a foul traitor to proud Hereford's king:
And if 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
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 raise this house against this house,
It will the woefullest division prove
That ever fell upon this cursed earth :
Prevent it, resist it, let it not be so,
Lest child, child's children, cry against you-

(*) First folio, Heaven.

(1) First folio, forbid.

() First folio, rear.

[woe! (1)

(+) First folio, nobleness.

(§) First folio, his.

(4) First folio, and let.

a May't please you, lords, &c.] The remainder of this Act, with the exception of a few lines at the end (see p. 482), forms thenew additions of the parliament scene and the deposing of King Richard," first published in the quarto of 1608.

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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 ; *

On this side my hand, and on that side yours.
Now is this golden crown like a deep well,
That owes two buckets, filling one another;
The emptier ever dancing in the air,

d

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Drinking my griefs, whilst you mount up on high. BOLING. I thought you had been willing to resign. [are mine: K. RICH. My crown I am, but still my griefs You may my glories and my state depose, But not my griefs; still am I king of those. BOLING. Part of your cares you give me with your crown.

K. RICH. Your cares set up, do not pluck my cares down.

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?
K. RICH. Ay, no;-no, ay; for I must nothing
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.
With mine own tears I wash away my balm,
With mine own hands I give away my crown,
With mine own tongue deny my sacred state,
With mine own breath release all duties, rites: *
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 that swear † to thee !
Make me, that nothing have, with nothing griev'd;
And thou with all pleas'd, that hast all achiev'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,
And send him many years of sunshine days!
What more remains?

NORTH.

No more,

but that you read [Offering a paper. These accusations, and these grievous crimes, Committed by your person, and your followers, 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, If thy offences were upon record,

Would it not shame thee, in so fair a troop,
To read a lecture of them? If thou wouldst,

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a A sort of traitors-] That is, a gang, a knot, a crew. Thus, in "Richard III." Act V. Sc. 3:

"A sort of vagabonds, rascals, and runaways."

b Alack the heavy day,-] This is equivalent with, and serves to interpret, the old phrase "Wo the while."

e of his majesty.] With the old writers, his was neuter as well as personal; the genitive of his and it also. Its is found but

There shouldst thou find one heinous article,-
Containing the deposing of a king,

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 wretchedness doth bait myself,
Though some of you, with Pilate, wash your hands,
Showing an outward pity; yet you Pilates
Have here deliver'd me to my sour cross,
And water cannot wash away your sin.

articles.

a

NORTH. My lord, despatch; read o'er these [see: K. RICH. Mine eyes are full of tears, I cannot 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 To undeck the pompous body of a king; Made glory base, and* sovereignty a slave; Proud majesty, a subject; state, a peasant. NORTH. My lord,

K. RICH. No lord of thine, thou haught, insulting man,

Nort 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!
O, that I were a mockery king of snow,
Standing before the sun of Bolingbroke,
To melt myself away in water-drops!-
Good king, great king,-and yet not greatly
good,

An if my name be sterling yet in England,
Let it command a mirror hither straight,
That it may show me what a face I have,
Since it is bankrupt of his majesty.
BOLING. Go, some of you, and fetch a looking-
glass.
[Exit an Attendant.
NORTH. Read o'er this paper, while the glass
doth come.

[to hell. K. RICH. Fiend! thou torment'st me ere I conc BOLING. Urge it no more, my lord Northum

berland.

NORTH. The commons will not then be satisfied. K. RICH. They shall be satisfied: I'll read

enough,

When I do see the very book indeed
Where all my sins are writ, and that's myself.

(*) First folio, a.

(4) First folio, No, nor. (1) First folio, word.

rarely in Shakespeare, though in many more instances than Mr. Trench or Mr. Singer appear to suppose. In the authorized translation of the Bible the word is said never to occur, its place being always supplied by his or thereof:-"But if the salt have lost his savour" (Matt. chap. v. ver. 13). "But if the salt have lost his saltness" (Mark, chap. ix. ver. 50).

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Re-enter Attendant, 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?-O, flattering glass,
Like to my followers in prosperity,

Thou dost beguile me! Was this face the face
That every day under his household roof

Did keep ten thousand men? Was this the face
That, like the sun, did make beholders wink?
Was this the face that faced so many follies,
And was at last outfaced by Bolingbroke?
A brittle glory shineth in this face,
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 laments
Are merely shadows to the unseen grief,
That swells with silence in the tortur'd soul;
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

[Dashes the glass to the ground. How to lament the cause. I'll beg one boon,

(*) First folio, Is.

(+) First folio, That.

a And therein will I read.] These words, and two or three

(*) First folio, manner.

other lines of th's speech, are omitted in the quartos.

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