Richard II (11 page)

CARLISLE
    My lord, wise men ne’er wail their present woes,
    But
presently
¹⁷⁴
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
¹⁷⁷
.
    Fear and be slain.
No worse can come to fight
¹⁷⁸
.
    And fight and die is
death destroying death
¹⁷⁹
,
    Where fearing dying pays death servile breath.

AUMERLE
    My father hath a power. Enquire of him
    And learn to make
a body of a limb
¹⁸²
.

KING RICHARD
    Thou
chid’st
¹⁸³
me well. Proud Bullingbrook, I come
    To
change
¹⁸⁴
blows with thee for our day of doom:
    This
ague
¹⁸⁵
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 and inclination of the day;
    So may you by my dull and
heavy
¹⁹¹
eye,
    My tongue hath but a heavier tale to say.
    I play the torturer,
by small
¹⁹³
and small
    To lengthen out the worst that must be spoken.
    Your uncle York is joined with Bullingbrook,
    And all your northern castles yielded up,
    And all your southern gentlemen in arms
    Upon his faction.

KING RICHARD
    Thou hast said enough.
    
Beshrew
²⁰⁰
thee, cousin, which didst lead me forth

To Aumerle

    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
²⁰⁵
: there I’ll pine away.
    A king, woe’s slave, shall kingly woe obey.
    That
power
²⁰⁷
I have, discharge, and let ’em go
    To
ear
²⁰⁸
the land that hath some hope to grow,
    For I have none. Let no man speak again
    To alter this, for counsel is but vain.

AUMERLE
    My liege, one word.

KING RICHARD
    He does me double wrong
    That wounds me with the flatteries of his tongue.
    Discharge my followers. Let them hence away,
    From Richard’s night to Bullingbrook’s fair day.

Exeunt

Location:
outside Flint Castle

Enter, with Drum and Colours, Bullingbrook, York, Northumberland
[
and
]
Attendants

BULLINGBROOK
    
So that
¹
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.

NORTHUMBERLAND
    The news is very fair and good, my lord.
    Richard not far from hence hath hid his head.

YORK
    It would
beseem
⁷
the Lord Northumberland
    To say ‘King Richard’. Alack the heavy day
    When such a sacred king should hide his head.

NORTHUMBERLAND
    Your grace mistakes. Only to be brief
    Left I his title out.

YORK
    The time hath been,
    Would you have been so brief with him, he would
    Have been so brief with you
to
¹⁴
shorten you,
    For
taking so the head
¹⁵
, your whole head’s length.

BULLINGBROOK
    
Mistake
¹⁶
not, uncle, further than you should.

YORK
    
Take
¹⁷
not, good cousin, further than you should,
    Lest you
mistake
¹⁸
the heavens are o’er your head.

BULLINGBROOK
    I know it, uncle, and oppose not myself
    Against their will. But who comes here?

Enter Percy

    Welcome, Harry. What, will not this castle yield?

PERCY
    The castle royally is manned, my lord,
    Against thy entrance.

BULLINGBROOK
    Royally? Why, it contains no king?

PERCY
    Yes, my good lord,
    It doth contain a king: King Richard
lies
²⁶
    Within the limits of yond lime and stone,
    And with him the Lord Aumerle, Lord Salisbury,
    Sir Stephen Scroop, besides a clergyman
    Of holy reverence,
who
³⁰
, I cannot learn.

NORTHUMBERLAND
    O,
belike
³¹
it is the Bishop of Carlisle.

BULLINGBROOK
    Noble lord,
    Go to the
rude
³³
ribs of that ancient castle.
    Through
brazen
³⁴
trumpet send the breath of parle
    Into
his
³⁵
ruined ears, and thus deliver:
    Henry Bullingbrook
    Upon his knees doth kiss King Richard’s hand
    And sends allegiance and true faith of heart
    To his most royal person, hither come
    Even at his feet to lay my arms and power
    Provided that
my banishment repealed
    And lands restored again
⁴¹
be freely granted.
    If not, I’ll use
th’advantage of my power
⁴³
    And
lay
⁴⁴
the summer’s dust with showers of blood
    Rained from the wounds of slaughtered Englishmen;
    The which, how far off from the mind of Bullingbrook
    It is,
such
⁴⁷
crimson tempest should bedrench
    The fresh green lap of fair King Richard’s land,
    My stooping duty
tenderly
⁴⁹
shall show.
    Go signify as much, while here we march
    Upon the grassy carpet of this plain.
    Let’s march without the noise of threat’ning drum,
    That from this castle’s
tattered
⁵³
battlements
    Our
fair appointments
⁵⁴
may be well perused.
    Methinks King Richard and myself should meet
    With no less terror than the elements
    Of
fire and water
⁵⁷
, when their thund’ring smoke
    At meeting tears the cloudy cheeks of heaven.
    Be he the fire, I’ll be the yielding water;
    The rage be his, while on the earth I
rain
⁶⁰
    My waters on the earth, and not on him.
    March on, and
mark
⁶²
King Richard how he looks.

Parley without, and answer within. Then a flourish. Enter on the walls, Richard, Carlisle, Aumerle, Scroop
[
and
]
Salisbury

    See, see, King Richard doth himself appear,
    As doth the
blushing
⁶⁴
discontented sun
    From out the fiery portal of the east,
    When he perceives the
envious
⁶⁶
clouds are bent
    To dim his glory and to
stain
⁶⁷
the tract
    Of his bright passage to the
occident
⁶⁸
.

YORK
    Yet looks he like a king. Behold, his eye,
    As bright as is the eagle’s,
lightens forth
⁷⁰
    Controlling majesty. Alack, alack, for woe,
    That any harm should stain so fair a show!

KING RICHARD
    We are
amazed
⁷³
; and thus long have we stood

To Northumberland

    To
watch
⁷⁴
the fearful bending of thy knee
    Because we thought ourself thy lawful king.
    And if we be, how dare thy joints forget
    To pay their
awful
⁷⁷
duty to our presence?
    If we be not, show us the
hand
⁷⁸
of God
    That hath dismissed us from our stewardship,
    For well we know, no hand of blood and bone
    Can grip the sacred handle of our sceptre,
    Unless he do
profane
⁸²
, steal, or usurp.
    And though you think that all, as you have done,
    Have
torn
⁸⁴
their souls by turning them from us,
    And we are barren and bereft of friends,
    Yet know, my master, God omnipotent,
    Is must’ring in his clouds on our behalf
    Armies of pestilence, and they shall
strike
⁸⁸
    Your children yet unborn and
unbegot
⁸⁹
,
    
That
⁹⁰
lift your vassal hands against my head
    And threat the glory of my precious crown.
    Tell Bullingbrook — for yond methinks he is —
    That every stride he makes upon my land
    Is dangerous treason. He is come to
ope
⁹⁴
    The
purple testament
⁹⁵
of bleeding war;
    But ere the crown he looks for live in peace,
    Ten thousand bloody
crowns
⁹⁷
of mothers’ sons
    Shall ill become the flower of England’s face,
    Change the complexion of her
maid-pale
⁹⁹
peace
    To scarlet indignation and bedew
    Her
pastor’s
¹⁰¹
grass with faithful English blood.

NORTHUMBERLAND
    The king of heaven forbid our lord the king
    Should so with
civil
¹⁰³
and uncivil arms
    Be rushed upon! Thy thrice-noble cousin,
    Harry Bullingbrook, doth humbly kiss thy hand.
    And by the honourable tomb he swears,
    That stands upon your royal grandsire’s bones,
    And by the royalties of both your bloods —
    Currents that spring from one most gracious
head
¹⁰⁹
—
    And by the buried hand of warlike Gaunt,
    And by the worth and honour of himself,
    Comprising all that may be sworn or said,
    His coming hither hath no further
scope
¹¹³
    Than for his
lineal royalties
¹¹⁴
and to beg
    
Enfranchisement
¹¹⁵
immediate on his knees,
    Which on thy royal
party
¹¹⁶
granted once,
    His glittering arms he will
commend
¹¹⁷
to rust,
    His
barbèd
¹¹⁸
steeds to stables, and his heart
    To faithful service of your majesty.
    This swears he, as he
is
¹²⁰
a prince, is just:
    And, as I am a gentleman, I
credit
¹²¹
him.

KING RICHARD
    Northumberland, say thus the king
returns
¹²²
.
    His noble cousin is right welcome hither,
    And all the number of his fair demands
    Shall be
accomplished
¹²⁵
without contradiction.
    With all the
gracious
¹²⁶
utterance thou hast,
    Speak to his gentle hearing kind
commends
¹²⁷
.—
    We do debase ourself, cousin, do we not,

To Aumerle

    To look so
poorly
¹²⁹
and to speak so fair?
    Shall we call back Northumberland, and send
    Defiance to the traitor, and so die?

AUMERLE
    No, good my lord, let’s fight with gentle words
    Till time lend friends and friends their helpful swords.

KING RICHARD
    O God, O God, that
e’er
¹³⁴
this tongue of mine,
    That laid the sentence of dread banishment
    On
yond
¹³⁶
proud man, should take it off again
    With words of
sooth
¹³⁷
! O, that I were as great
    As is my grief, or lesser than my name!
    Or that I could forget what I have been,
    Or not remember what I must be now!
    Swell’st thou, proud heart? I’ll give thee
scope
¹⁴¹
to beat,
    Since foes have scope to
beat
¹⁴²
both thee and me.

AUMERLE
    Northumberland comes back from Bullingbrook.

KING RICHARD
    What must the king do now? Must he submit?
    The king shall do it. Must he be deposed?
    The king shall
be contented
¹⁴⁶
. Must he lose
    The name of king? O’God’s name, let it go.
    I’ll give my jewels for a
set of beads
¹⁴⁸
,
    My gorgeous palace for a hermitage,
    My gay apparel for an
almsman
¹⁵⁰
’s gown,
    My
figured
¹⁵¹
goblets for a dish of wood,
    My sceptre for a
palmer
¹⁵²
’s walking staff,
    My subjects for a pair of carvèd saints,
    And my large kingdom for a little grave,
    A little little grave, an obscure grave.
    Or I’ll be buried in the king’s highway,
    Some way of common
trade
¹⁵⁷
, where subjects’ feet
    May hourly trample on their sovereign’s head,
    For on my heart they tread now whilst I live,
    And
buried once
¹⁶⁰
, why not upon my head?—
    Aumerle, thou weep’st, my tender-hearted cousin!
    We’ll make foul weather with
despisèd
¹⁶²
tears,
    Our sighs and they shall
lodge
¹⁶³
the summer corn,
    And make a
dearth
¹⁶⁴
in this revolting land.
    Or shall we
play the wantons
¹⁶⁵
with our woes,
    And
make
¹⁶⁶
some pretty match with shedding tears?
    As thus, to drop them
still
¹⁶⁷
upon one place,
    Till they have
fretted us
¹⁶⁸
a pair of graves
    Within the earth, and, therein laid — there lies
    Two kinsmen digged their graves with weeping eyes.
    Would not this
ill
¹⁷¹
do well?— Well, well, I see
    I talk but idly, and you mock at me.—
    Most mighty prince, my lord Northumberland,
    What says King Bullingbrook? Will his majesty
    Give Richard leave to live till Richard die?
    You
make a leg
¹⁷⁶
, and Bullingbrook says ‘Ay’.