Enter Bolingbroke with the Lords ⌜Aumerle,
Northumberland, Harry Percy, Fitzwater, Surrey, the
Bishop of Carlisle, the Abbot of Westminster, and
another Lord, Herald, Officers⌝ to parliament.BOLINGBROKE Call forth Bagot.Enter ⌜Officers with⌝ Bagot. Now, Bagot, freely speak thy mind What thou dost know of noble Gloucester’s death, Who wrought it with the King, and who performed5 The bloody office of his timeless end.BAGOT Then set before my face the Lord Aumerle.BOLINGBROKE Cousin, stand forth, and look upon that man.⌜Aumerle steps forward.⌝BAGOT My Lord Aumerle, I know your daring tongue Scorns to unsay what once it hath delivered.10 In that dead time when Gloucester’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?”15 Amongst much other talk that very time
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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 blest this land would be20 In this your cousin’s death.AUMERLE Princes and noble lords, What answer shall I make to this base man? Shall I so much dishonor my fair stars On equal terms to give ⌜him⌝ chastisement?25 Either I must or have mine honor soiled With the attainder of his slanderous lips.⌜He throws down a gage.⌝ 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 false30 In thy heart-blood, though being all too base To stain the temper of my knightly sword.BOLINGBROKE Bagot, forbear. Thou shalt not take it up.AUMERLE Excepting one, I would he were the best In all this presence that hath moved me so.FITZWATER, ⌜throwing down a gage⌝ 35 If that thy valor 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,40 That thou wert cause of noble Gloucester’s death. If thou deniest it twenty times, thou liest, And I will turn thy falsehood to thy heart, Where it was forgèd, with my rapier’s point.AUMERLE, ⌜taking up the gage⌝ Thou dar’st not, coward, live to see that day.FITZWATER 45 Now, by my soul, I would it were this hour.
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AUMERLE Fitzwater, thou art damned to hell for this.PERCY Aumerle, thou liest! His honor is as true In this appeal as thou art all unjust; And that thou art so, there I throw my gage,⌜He throws down a gage.⌝50 To prove it on thee to the extremest point Of mortal breathing. Seize it if thou dar’st.AUMERLE, ⌜taking up the gage⌝ An if I do not, may my hands rot off And never brandish more revengeful steel Over the glittering helmet of my foe!ANOTHER LORD, ⌜throwing down a gage⌝ 55 I task the earth to the like, forsworn Aumerle, And spur thee on with full as many lies As may be holloed in thy treacherous ear From ⌜sun⌝ to ⌜sun.⌝ There is my honor’s pawn. Engage it to the trial if thou darest.AUMERLE, ⌜taking up the gage⌝ 60 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 The very time Aumerle and you did talk.FITZWATER 65 ’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.FITZWATER Surrey, thou liest.SURREY Dishonorable boy,70 That lie shall lie so heavy on my sword That it shall render vengeance and revenge
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Till thou the lie-giver and that lie do lie In earth as quiet as thy father’s skull.⌜He throws down a gage.⌝ In proof whereof, there is my honor’s pawn.75 Engage it to the trial if thou dar’st.FITZWATER, ⌜taking up the gage⌝ 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 And spit upon him whilst I say he lies,80 And lies, and lies. There is ⌜my⌝ bond of faith To tie thee to my strong correction.⌜He throws down a gage.⌝ As I intend to thrive in this new world, Aumerle is guilty of my true appeal.— Besides, I heard the banished Norfolk say85 That thou, Aumerle, didst send two of thy men To execute the noble duke at Calais.AUMERLE Some honest Christian trust me with a gage.⌜A Lord hands him a gage.Aumerle throws it down.⌝ That Norfolk lies, here do I throw down this, If he may be repealed to try his honor.BOLINGBROKE 90 These differences shall all rest under gage Till Norfolk be repealed. Repealed he shall be, And though mine enemy, restored again To all his lands and seigniories. When he is returned,95 Against Aumerle we will enforce his trial.CARLISLE That honorable day shall never be seen. Many a time hath banished Norfolk fought For Jesu Christ in glorious Christian field, Streaming the ensign of the Christian cross
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100 Against black pagans, Turks, and Saracens; And, toiled 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,105 Under whose colors he had fought so long.BOLINGBROKE Why, bishop, is Norfolk dead?CARLISLE As surely as I live, my lord.BOLINGBROKE Sweet peace conduct his sweet soul to the bosom Of good old Abraham! Lords appellants,110 Your differences shall all rest under gage Till we assign you to your days of trial.Enter York.YORK Great Duke of Lancaster, I come to thee From plume-plucked Richard, who with willing soul115 Adopts thee heir, and his high scepter yields To the possession of thy royal hand. Ascend his throne, descending now from him, And long live Henry, fourth of that name!BOLINGBROKE In God’s name, I’ll ascend the regal throne.CARLISLE 120Marry, 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 judge125 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 judged but they are by to hear,130 Although apparent guilt be seen in them; And shall the figure of God’s majesty,
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His captain, steward, deputy elect, Anointed, crowned, planted many years, Be judged by subject and inferior breath,135 And he himself not present? O, forfend it God That in a Christian climate souls refined Should show so heinous, black, obscene a deed! I speak to subjects and a subject speaks, Stirred up by God thus boldly for his king.140 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,145 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 called150 The field of Golgotha and dead men’s skulls. O, if you raise this house against this house, It will the woefullest division prove That ever fell upon this cursèd earth! Prevent it, resist it, let it not be so,155 Lest child, child’s children, cry against you woe!NORTHUMBERLAND Well have you argued, sir, and, for your pains, Of capital treason we arrest you here.— My Lord of Westminster, be it your charge To keep him safely till his day of trial.160 ⌜May it please you, lords, to grant the commons’ suit?BOLINGBROKE Fetch hither Richard, that in common view He may surrender. So we shall proceed Without suspicion.YORK 165 I will be his conduct.He exits.
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BOLINGBROKE Lords, you that here are under our arrest, Procure your sureties for your days of answer. Little are we beholding to your love And little looked for at your helping hands.Enter Richard and York.KING RICHARD 170 Alack, why am I sent for to a king Before I have shook off the regal thoughts Wherewith I reigned? I hardly yet have learned To insinuate, flatter, bow, and bend my knee. Give sorrow leave awhile to tutor me175 To this submission. Yet I well remember The favors 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 thousand,180 none. 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.185 To do what service am I sent for hither?YORK To do that office of thine own goodwill Which tired majesty did make thee offer: The resignation of thy state and crown To Henry Bolingbroke.KING RICHARD 190 Give me the crown.—Here, cousin, seize the crown. Here, cousin. On this side my hand, on that side thine. Now is this golden crown like a deep well That owes two buckets, filling one another,195 The emptier ever dancing in the air,
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The other down, unseen, and full of water. That bucket down and full of tears am I, Drinking my griefs, whilst you mount up on high.BOLINGBROKE I thought you had been willing to resign.KING RICHARD 200 My crown I am, but still my griefs are mine. You may my glories and my state depose But not my griefs; still am I king of those.BOLINGBROKE Part of your cares you give me with your crown.KING RICHARD Your cares set up do not pluck my cares down.205 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.BOLINGBROKE Are you contented to resign the crown?KING RICHARD 210 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 scepter from my hand,215 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 duteous oaths.220 All pomp and majesty I do forswear. My manors, rents, revenues I forgo; 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.225 Make me, that nothing have, with nothing grieved,
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And thou with all pleased that hast all achieved. Long mayst thou live in Richard’s seat to sit, And soon lie Richard in an earthy pit. God save King Henry, unkinged Richard says,230 And send him many years of sunshine days. What more remains?NORTHUMBERLAND, ⟨offering Richard a paper⟩ No more, but that you read These accusations and these grievous crimes Committed by your person and your followers235 Against the state and profit of this land; That, by confessing them, the souls of men May deem that you are worthily deposed.KING RICHARD Must I do so? And must I ravel out My weaved-up follies? Gentle Northumberland,240 If thy offenses were upon record, Would it not shame thee in so fair a troop To read a lecture of them? If thou wouldst, There shouldst thou find one heinous article Containing the deposing of a king245 And cracking the strong warrant of an oath, Marked with a blot, damned in the book of heaven.— Nay, all of you that stand and look upon me Whilst that my wretchedness doth bait myself,250 Though some of you, with Pilate, wash your hands, Showing an outward pity, yet you Pilates Have here delivered me to my sour cross, And water cannot wash away your sin.NORTHUMBERLAND My lord, dispatch. Read o’er these articles.KING RICHARD 255 Mine eyes are full of tears; I cannot see. And yet salt water blinds them not so much But they can see a sort of traitors here.
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Nay, if I turn mine eyes upon myself, I find myself a traitor with the rest,260 For I have given here my soul’s consent T’ undeck the pompous body of a king, Made glory base ⟨and⟩ sovereignty a slave, Proud majesty a subject, state a peasant.NORTHUMBERLAND My lord—KING RICHARD 265 No lord of thine, thou haught insulting man, Nor no man’s lord. I have no name, no title, No, not that name was given me at the font, But ’tis usurped. Alack the heavy day, That I have worn so many winters out270 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,275 An if my word 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.BOLINGBROKE Go, some of you, and fetch a looking-glass.⟨An Attendant exits.⟩NORTHUMBERLAND 280 Read o’er this paper while the glass doth come.KING RICHARD Fiend, thou torments me ere I come to hell!BOLINGBROKE Urge it no more, my Lord Northumberland.NORTHUMBERLAND The commons will not then be satisfied.KING RICHARD They shall be satisfied. I’ll read enough
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285 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.⟨He takes the mirror.⟩ No deeper wrinkles yet? Hath sorrow struck So many blows upon this face of mine290 And made no deeper wounds? O flatt’ring 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 face295 That like the sun did make beholders wink? Is this the face which faced so many follies, That was at last outfaced by Bolingbroke? A brittle glory shineth in this face. As brittle as the glory is the face,⟨He breaks the mirror.⟩300 For there it is, cracked in an hundred shivers.— Mark, silent king, the moral of this sport: How soon my sorrow hath destroyed my face.BOLINGBROKE The shadow of your sorrow hath destroyed The shadow of your face.KING RICHARD 305 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 grief310 That swells with silence in the tortured 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 How to lament the cause. I’ll beg one boon
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315 And then be gone and trouble you no more. Shall I obtain it?BOLINGBROKE Name it, fair cousin.KING RICHARD “Fair cousin”? I am greater than a king, For when I was a king, my flatterers320 Were then but subjects. Being now a subject, I have a king here to my flatterer. Being so great, I have no need to beg.BOLINGBROKE Yet ask.KING RICHARD And shall I have?BOLINGBROKE 325You shall.KING RICHARD Then give me leave to go.BOLINGBROKE Whither?KING RICHARD Whither you will, so I were from your sights.BOLINGBROKE Go, some of you, convey him to the Tower.KING RICHARD 330 O, good! “Convey”? Conveyers are you all, That rise thus nimbly by a true king’s fall.⟨Richard exits with Guards.⟩BOLINGBROKE On Wednesday next, we solemnly set down Our coronation. Lords, prepare yourselves.⌝They exit. ⌜The Abbot of⌝ Westminster, ⌜the Bishop of⌝
Carlisle, Aumerle remain.ABBOT A woeful pageant have we here beheld.CARLISLE 335 The woe’s to come. The children yet unborn Shall feel this day as sharp to them as thorn.AUMERLE You holy clergymen, is there no plot To rid the realm of this pernicious blot?
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ABBOT My lord,340 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. I see your brows are full of discontent,345 Your hearts of sorrow, and your eyes of tears. Come home with me to supper. I’ll lay A plot shall show us all a merry day.They exit.
