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As theirs, so mine; and all be as it is.

Enter Northumberland.

His plate, his goods, his money, and his lands. York. I'll not be by, the while: My liege, farewell:

North. My liege, old Gaunt commends him to What will ensue hereof, there's none can tell; your majesty. But by bad courses may be understood, K. Rich. What says he now? That their events can never fall out good. [Erit. North. Nay, nothing; all is said: K. Rich. Go, Bushy, to the earl of Wiltshire His tongue is now a stringless instrument; straight; Words, life, and all, old Lancaster has spent. York. Be York the next that must be bankrupt so! Though death be poor, it ends a mortal wo. K. Rich. The ripest fruit first falls, and so doth he; His time is spent, our pilgrimage must be: So much for that. -Now for our Irish wars: We must supplant those rough rug-headed kerns; Which live like venom, where no venom else, But only they, hath privilege to live.2 And for these great affairs do ask some charge, Towards our assistance, we do seize to us The plate, coin, revenues, and moveables, Whereof our uncle Gaunt did stand possess'd.

York. How long shall I be patient? Ah, how long
Shall tender duty make me suffer wrong?
Not Gloster's death, nor Hereford's banishment,
Not Gaunt's rebukes, nor England's private wrongs,
Nor the prevention of poor Bolingbroke
About his marriage, nor my own disgrace,
Have ever made me sour my patient cheek,
Or bend one wrinkle on my sovereign's face.-

I am the last of noble Edward's sons,

Of whom thy father, prince of Wales, was first;
In war, was never lion rag'd more fierce,
In peace, was never gentle lamb more mild,
Than was that young and princely gentleman:
His face thou hast, for even so look'd he,
Accomplish'd with the number of thy hours ;3
But, when he frown'd, it was against the French,
And not against his friends: his noble hand
Did win what he did spend, and spent not that
Which his triumphant father's hand had won:
His hands were guilty of no kindred's blood,
But bloody with the enemies of his kin.
O, Richard! York is too far gone with grief,
Or else he never would compare between.
K. Rich. Why, uncle, what's the matter?
York.
O, my liege,
Pardon me, if you please; if not, I pleas'd"
Not to be pardon'd, am content withal.
Seek you to seize, and gripe into your hands,
The royalties and rights of banish'd Hereford?
Is not Gaunt dead? and doth not Hereford live?
Was not Gaunt just? and is not Harry true?
Did not the one deserve to have an heir?
Is not his heir a well-deserving son?

Bid him repair to us, to Ely-house,
To see this business: To-morrow next
We will for Ireland; and 'tis time, I trow;
And we create, in absence of ourself,
Our uncle York, lord governor of England,
For he is just, and always loved us well.—
Come on, our queen: to-morrow must we part;
Be merry, for our time of stay is short. [Flourish.
[Exeunt King, Queen, Bushy, Aumerie,
Green, and Bagot.
North. Well, lords, the duke of Lancaster is

dead.

Ross. And living too; for now his son is duke.
Willo. Barely in title, not in revenue.
North. Richly in both, if justice had her right,
Ross. My heart is great; but it must break with
silence,

Ere't be disburden'd with a liberal' tongue.
North. Nay, speak thy mind; and let him ne'er
speak more,

That speaks thy words again, to do thee harm!
Willo. Tends that thou'dst speak, to the duke
of Hereford?

If it be so, out with it boldly, man;

Quick is mine ear to hear of good towards him.
Ross. No good at all, that I can do for him;
Unless you call it good to pity him,
Bereft and gelded of his patrimony.
North. Now, afore heaven, 'tis shame, such
wrongs are borne,

In him a royal prince, and many more
Of noble blood in this declining land.
The king is not himself, but basely led
By flatterers; and what they will inform,
Merely in hate, 'gainst any of us all,
That will the king severely prosecute
'Gainst us, our lives, our children, and our heirs.
Ross. The commons hath he pill'd' with grievous

taxes,

And lost their hearts: the nobles hath he fin'd,
For ancient quarrels, and quite lost their hearts.
Willo. And daily new exactions are devis'd;
As blanks, benevolences, and I wot not what:
But what, o'God's name, doth become of this?
North. Wars have not wasted it, for warr'd he
hath not,

Take Hereford's rights away, and take from time Birt basely yielded upon compromise,

His charters, and his customary rights;
Let not to-morrow then ensue to-day;

Be not thyself, for how art thou a king,
But by fair sequence and succession?
Now, afore God (God forbid, I say true!)
If you do wrongfully seize Hereford's rights,
Call in the letters patents that he hath
By his attornies-general to sue
His livery, and deny his offer'd homage,
You pluck a thousand dangers on your head,
You lose a thousand well-disposed hearts,
And prick my tender patience to those thoughts
Which honour and allegiance cannot think.
K. Rich. Think what you will; we seize into
our hands

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That which his ancestors achiev'd with blows:
More hath he spent in peace, than they in wars.
Ross. The earl of Wiltshire hath the realm in
farm.

Willo. The king's grown bankrupt, like a broken

man.

North. Reproach, and dissolution, hangeth over
him.

Ross. He hath not money for these Irish wars,
His burdenous taxations notwithstanding,
But by the robbing of the banish'd duke."
North. His noble kinsman: most degenerate king!
But, lords, we hear this fearful tempest sing,
Yet seek no shelter to avoid the storm:
We see the wind sit sore upon our sails,

(3) When of thy age.

(4) Taking possession. (5) Free.
(6) Deprived. (7) Pillaged.

And yet we strike not, but securely perish.i
Ross. We see the very wreck that we must suffer;
And unavoided is the danger now,
For suffering so the causes of our wreck.

North. Not so; even through the hollow eyes of death,

I spy life peering; but I dare not say
How near the tidings of our comfort is.

Willo. Nay, let us share thy thoughts, as thou dost ours.

Ross. Be confident to speak, Northumberland: We three are but thyself; and, speaking so, Thy words are but as thoughts; therefore, be bold. North. Then thus:-I have, from Port le Blanc, a bay

In Brittany, received intelligence,

That Harry Hereford, Reignold lord Cobham
[The son of Richard earl of Arundel,]
That late broke from the duke of Exeter,
His brother, archbishop late of Canterbury,
Sir Thomas Erpingham, sir John Ramston,
Sir John Norberry, sir Robert Waterton, and Fran-
cis Quoint,

All these well furnish'd by the duke of Bretagne,
With eight tall ships, three thousand men of war,
Are making hither with all due expedience,3
And shortly mean to touch our northern shore:
Perhaps, they had ere this; but that they stay
The first departing of the king for Ireland.
If then we shall shake off our slavish yoke,
Imp out our drooping country's broken wing,
Redeem from broking pawn the blemish'd crown,
Wipe off the dust that hides our sceptre's gilt,'
And make high majesty look like itself.
Away, with me, in post to Ravenspurg:

But if you faint, as fearing to do so,

Stay, and be secret, and myself will go.

More than your lord's departure weep not; more's not seen;

Or if it be, 'tis with false sorrow's eye,
Which, for things true, weeps things imaginary.
Queen. It may be so; but yet my inward soul,
Persuades me, it is otherwise: Howe'er it be,
cannot but be sad; so heavy sad,
As,-though, in thinking, on no thought I think,--
Makes me with heavy nothing faint and shrink.
Bushy. 'Tis nothing but conceit," my gracious

I

lady.

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worse,

Ross. To horse, to horse! urge doubts to them The lord Northumberland, his young son Henry

that fear.

there.

Willo. Hold out my horse, and I will first be [Exeunt. SCENE II.-The same. A room in the palace. Enter Queen, Bushy and Bagot.

Bushy. Madam, your majesty is too much sad: You promis'd, when you parted with the king, To lay aside life-harming heaviness, And entertain a cheerful disposition.

Queen. To please the king, I did; to please myself,

I cannot do it; yet I know no cause
Why I should welcome such a guest as grief,
Save bidding farewell to so sweet a guest
As my sweet Richard: Yet, again, methinks,
Some unborn sorrow, ripe in fortune's womb,
Is coming towards me; and my inward soul
With nothing trembles: at something it grieves,
More than with parting from my lord the king.
Bushy. Each substance of a grief hath twenty
shadows,
Which show like grief itself, but are not so:
For sorrow's eye, glazed with blinding tears,
Divides one thing entire to many objects;
Like perspectives, which, rightly gaz'd upon,
Show nothing but confusion; ey'd awry,
Distinguish form: so your sweet majesty,
Looking awry upon your lord's departure,
Finds shapes of grief, more than himself, to wail;
Which, look'd on as it is, is nought but shadows
Of what it is not. Then, thrice-gracious queen,

(1) Perish by confidence in our security.
(2) Stout.
(3) Expedition.
(4) Supply with new feathers." (5) Gilding.

Percy,

The lords of Ross, Beaumond, and Willoughby,
With all their powerful friends, are fled to him.
Bushy. Why have you not proclaim'd Northum
berland,

And all the rest of the revolting faction,
Traitors?

Green. We have: whereon the earl of Worcester
Hath broke his staff, resign'd his stewardship,
And all the household servants fled with him
To Bolingbroke.

Queen. So, Green, thou art the midwife to my wo, And Bolingbroke my sorrow's dismal heir: Now hath my soul brought forth her prodigy; And I, a gasping new-deliver'd mother, Have wo to wo, sorrow to sorrow join'd. Bushy. Despair not, madam. Queen.

Who shall hinder me?

I will despair, and be at enmity
With cozening hope; he is a flatterer,
Who gently would dissolve the bands of life,
A parasite, a keeper-back of death,
Which false hope lingers in extremity.

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Your husband he is gone to save far off,
Whilst others come to make him lose at home:
Here am I left to underprop his land;
Who, weak with age, cannot support myself:-
Now comes the sick hour that his surfeit made;
Now shall he try his friends that flatter'd him.

Enter a Servant.

Serv. My lord, your son was gone before I came. York. He was -Why, so!-go all which way it will !

The nobles they are fled, the commons cold,
And will, I fear, revolt on Hereford's side.-
Sirrah,

Get thee to Plashy, to my sister Gloster;
Bid her send me presently a thousand pound:
Hold, take my ring.

Serv. My lord, I had forgot to tell your lordship:
To-day, as I came by, I called there;
But I shall grieve you to report the rest.
York. What is it, knave?

Serv. An hour before I came, the duchess died. York. God for his mercy! what a tide of woes Comes rushing on this woful land at once! I know not what to do:-I would to God, (So my untruth' had not provok'd him to it,) The king had cut off my head with my brother's.What, are there posts despatch'd for Ireland ?— How shall we do for money for these wars?-Come, sister,-cousin, I would say: pray, pardon

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some carts,

And bring away the armour that is there.

[Erit Servant.
Gentlemen, will you go muster men? if I know
How, or which way, to order these affairs,
Thus thrust disorderly into my hands,
Never believe me. Both are my kinsmen ;-
The one's my sovereign, whom both my oath
And duty bids defend; the other again,

Is my kinsman, whom the king hath wrong'd;
Whom conscience and my kindred bids to right.
Well, somewhat we must do.-Come, cousin, I'll
Dispose of you:-Go, muster up your men,
And meet me presently at Berkley-castle.
I should to Plashy too;--

But time will not permit :-All is uneven,
And every thing left at six and seven.

[Exeunt York and Queen. Bushy. The wind sits fair for news to go to Ireland,

But none returns. For us to levy power,
Proportionable to the enemy,

Is all impossible.

Green. Besides, our nearness to the king in love,
Is near the hate of those love not the king.
Bagot. And that's the wavering commons: for
their love

Lics in their purses; and whoso empties them,
By so much fills their hearts with deadly hate."
Bushy. Wherein the king stands generally con-
demn'd.

Bagot. If judgment lie in them, then so do we, Because we ever have been near the king.

Green. Well, I'll for refuge straight to Bristol castle;

The earl of Wiltshire is already there.

Bagot. No; I'll to Ireland to his majesty. Farewell: if heart's presages be not vain, We three here part, that ne'er shall meet again. Bushy. That's as York thrives to beat back Bolingbroke.

Green. Alas, poor duke! the task he undertakes Is-numb'ring sands, and drinking oceans dry; Where one on his side fights, thousands will by. Bushy. Farewell at once; for once, for all, and

ever.

Green. Well, we may meet again.
Bagot.

I fear me, never. [Exeunt.

SCENE III.-The Wilds in Glostershire. Enter Bolingbroke and Northumberland, with Forces.

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Boling. How far is it, my lord, to Berkley now? North. Believe me, noble lord,

am a stranger here in Glostershire. These high wild hills, and rough uneven ways, Draw out our miles, and make them wearisome: And yet your fair discourse hath been as sugar, Making the hard way sweet and délectable. But, I bethink me, what a weary way From Ravenspurg to Cotswold, will be found In Ross and Willoughby, wanting your company; Which, I protest, hath very much beguil'd The tediousness and process of my travel: But theirs is sweeten'd with the hope to have The present benefit which I possess: And hope to joy, is little less in joy, Than hope enjoy'd: by this the weary lords Shall make their way seem short; as mine hath done By sight of what I have, your noble company. Boling. Of much less value is my company, Than your good words. But who comes here? Enter Harry Percy.

North. It is my son, young Harry Percy, Sent from my brother Worcester, whencesoever.Horry, how fares your uncle ?

Percy. I had thought, my lord, to have learn'd his health of you.

North. Why, is he not with the queen?
Percy. No, my good lord; he hath forsook the

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Percy. My gracious lord, I tender you my service, Such as it is, being tender, raw, and young; Which elder days shall ripen, and confirm

Bushy. Thither will I with you: for little office To more approv'd service and desert.

The hateful commons will perform for us; Except like curs to tear us all to pieces.

Will you go along with us?

(1) Disloyalty.

Boling. I thank thee, gentle Percy; and be sure, I count myself in nothing else so happy, As in a soul rememb'ring my good friends; And, as my fortune ripens with thy love, It shall be still thy true love's recompense

My heart this covenant makes, my hand thus Q, then, how quickly should this arm of mine,
seals it.
Now prisoner to the palsy, chástise thee,
And minister correction to thy fault!

North. How far is it to Berkley? And what stir
Keeps good old York there, with his men of war?
Percy. There stands the castle, by yon tuft of
trees,

Boling. My gracious uncle, let me know my
fault;

On what condition stands it, and wherein?
York. Even in condition of the worst degree,-

Mann'd with three hundred men, as I have heard:
And in it are the lords of York, Berkley, and Sey-In gross rebellion, and detested treason:

mour;

None else of name, and noble estimate.

Enter Ross and Willoughby.

North. Here come the lords of Ross and Willoughby,

Bloody with spurring, fiery-red with haste.

Thou art a banish'd man, and here art come,
Before the expiration of thy time,

In braving arms against thy sovereign.
Boling. As I was banish'd, I was banish'd Here-
ford;

But as I come, I come for Lancaster.
And, noble uncle, I beseech your grace,

Boling. Welcome, my lords: I wot,' your love Look on my wrongs with an indifferents eye;

pursues

A banish'd traitor; all my treasury

Is yet but unfelt thanks, which, more enrich'd,
Shall be your love and labour's recompense.
Ross. Your presence makes us rich, most noble

lord.

Willo. And far surmounts our labour to at

tain it.

Boling. Evermore thanks, the exchequer of the

poor;

Which, till my infant fortune comes to years,
Stands for my bounty. But who comes here?
Enter Berkley.

North. It is my lord of Berkley, as I guess.
Berk. My lord of Hereford, my message is to you.
Boling. My lord, my answer is to Lancaster;
And I am come to seek that name in England:
And I must find that title in your tongue,
Before I make reply to aught you say.

You are my father, for, methinks, in you
I see old Gaunt alive; O then, my father!
Will you permit that I shall stand condemn'd
Pluck'd from my arms perforce, and given away
A wand'ring vagabond; my rights and royalties
If that my cousin king be king of England,
To upstart unthrifts? Wherefore was I born?
You have a son, Aumerle, my noble kinsman;
It must be granted, I am duke of Lancaster.
Had you first died, and he been thus trod down,
He should have found his uncle Gaunt a father,
To rouse his wrongs, and chase them to the bay.
I am denied to sue my livery' here,
And yet my letters-patent give me leave:
My father's goods are all distrain'd, and sold;
What would you have me do? I am a subject,
And these, and all, are all amiss employ'd.
And challenge law: Attornies are denied ine;
And therefore personally I lay my claim

Berk. Mistake me not, my lord; 'tis not my To my inheritance of free descent.

meaning,

To raze one title of your honour out:-
To you, my lord, I come (what lord you will,)
From the most glorious regent of this land,
The duke of York; to know, what pricks you on
To take advantage of the absent time,2
And fright our native peace with self-born arms.
Enter York, attended.

Boling. I shall not need transport my words by
you;

Here comes his grace in person. My noble uncle! [Kneels. not thy

York. Show me thy humble heart, and
knee,

Whose duty is deceivable and false.
Boling. My gracious uncle!-

York. Tut, tut!

Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle:
I am no traitor's uncle; and that word-grace,
In an ungracious mouth, is but profane:
Why have those banish'd and forbidden legs
Dar'd once to touch a dust of England's ground?
But then more why;-Why have they dar'd to
march

So many miles upon her peaceful bosom ;
Frighting her pale-fac'd villages with war,
And ostentation of despised arms?

Com'st thou because the anointed king is hence?
Why, foolish boy, the king is left behind,
And in my loyal bosom lies his power.
Were I but now the lord of such hot youth,
As when brave Gaunt, thy father, and myself,
Rescued the Black Prince, that young Mars of men,
From forth the ranks of many thousand French;

(1) Know. (2) Time of the king's absence.
(3) Impartial. (4) The persons who wrong him.

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North. The noble duke hath been too much abus'd.

Ross. It stands your grace upon, to do him right.
Willo. Base men by his endowments are made
great.

York. My lords of England, let me tell you this,-
I have had feeling of my cousin's wrongs,
And labour'd all I could to do him right:
But in this kind to come, in braving arms,
Be his own carver, and cut out his way,
To find out right with wrong,-it may not be ;
And you, that do abet him in this kind,
Cherish rebellion, and are rebels all.

North. The noble duke hath sworn, his coming is
But for his own: and, for the right of that,
We all have strongly sworn to give him aid;
And let him ne'er see joy, that breaks that oath.
York. Well, well, I see the issue of these arms;
I cannot mend it, I must needs confess,
Because my power is weak, and all ill left:
But, if I could, by him that gave me life,
I would attach you all, and make you stoop
Unto the sovereign mercy of the king;
But, since I cannot, be it known to you,
I do remain as neuter. So, fare you well;-
Unless you please to enter in the castle,
And there repose you for this night.

Boling. An offer, uncle, that we will accept.
But we must win your grace, to go with us
To Bristol castle; which, they say, is held
By Bushy, Bagot, and their complices,
The caterpillars of the commonwealth,
Which I have sworn to weed, and pluck away.
York. It may be, I will go with you:-but yet
I'll pause;

(5) Possession of my land, &c.
(6) It is your interest.

For I am loath to break our country's laws.
Nor friends, nor foes, to me welcome you are:
Things past redress, are now with me past care.
[Exeunt.
SCENE IV.-A camp in Wales. Enter Salis-
bury, and a Captain.

Condemns you to the death:-See them deliver'd

over

To execution and the hand of death.
Bushy. More welcome is the stroke of death to me,
Than Bolingbroke to England.-Lords, farewell.
Green. My comfort is,-that heaven will take
our souls,

Capt. My lord of Salisbury, we have staid ten days, And plague injustice with the pains of hell.
And hardly kept our country men together,
And yet we hear no tidings from the king;
Therefore we will disperse ourselves: farewell.
Sal. Stay yet another day, thou trusty Welshman;
The king reposeth all his confidence

Boling. My lord Northumberland, see them
despatch'd.

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stay.

The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd,
And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven;
The pale-fac'd moon looks bloody on the earth,
And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change;
Rich men look sad, and ruffians dance and leap,-
The one, in fear to lose what they enjoy,
The other, to enjoy by rage and war:
These signs forerun the death or fall of kings.-
Farewell; our countrymen are gone and fled,
As well assur'd, Richard their king is dead. [Exit.
Sal. Ah, Richard! with the eyes of heavy mind,
I see thy glory, like a shooting star,
Fall to the base earth from the firmament!
Thy sun sets weeping in the lowly west,
"Witnessing storms to come, wo, and unrest:
Thy friends are fled, to wait upon thy foes;
And crossly to thy good all fortune goes.

ACT III.

[Exit.

SCENE I.-Bolingbroke's camp at Bristol. Enter
Bolingbroke, York, Northumberland, Percy, Wil-
loughby, Ross: officers behind with Bushy and
Green, prisoners.

Boling. Bring forth these men.-
Bushy, and Green, I will not vex your souls
(Since presently your souls must part your bodies,)
With too much urging your pernicious lives,
For 'twere no charity: yet, to wash your blood
From off my hands, here, in the view of men,
I will unfold some causes of your death.
You have misled a prince, a royal king,
A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments,
By you unhappied and disfigur'd clean.1

You have, in manner, with your sinful hours,
Made a divorce betwixt his queen and him;
Broke the possession of a royal bed,

And stain'd the beauty of a fair queen's cheeks
With tears drawn from her eyes by your foul
wrongs.

Myself-a prince, by fortune of my birth;
Near to the king in blood; and near in love,
Till you did make him misinterpret me,-
Have stoop'd my neck under your injuries,
And sigh'd my English breath in foreign clouds,
Eating the bitter bread of banishment:
Whilst you have fed upon my signories,
Dispark'd my parks, and fell'd my forest woods
From my own windows torn my household coat,
Raz'd out my impress, leaving me no sign,-
Save men's opinions, and my living blood,-
To show the world I am a gentleman.
This, and much more, much more than twice all this,
(1) Completely. (2) Thrown down the hedges.

(Exe. North. and others with prisoners.
Uncle, you say, the queen is at your house;
For heaven's sake, fairly let her be entreated:
Tell her, I send to her my kind commends ;*
Take special care my greetings be deliver'd.

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

Boling. Thanks, gentle uncle.-Come, lords, away ;

[Exeunt.

To fight with Glendower and his complices;
Awhile to work, and, after, holiday.
SCENE II.-The coast of Wales. A castle in
view. Flourish: drums and trumpets. Enter
King Richard, Bishop of Carlisle, Aumerle, and
soldiers.

K. Rich. Barkloughly castle call you this at
hand?

Aum. Yea, my lord: How brooks your grace the air,

After late tossing on the breaking seas?

K. Rich. 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 favour with my royal hands.
Feed not thy sovereign's foe, my gentle earth,
Nor with thy sweets comfort his rav'nous 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 rebellious arms.
Bishop. 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 proffer'd means of succour and redress.

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

K. Rich. Discomfortable cousin! know'st thou
not,

That when the searching eye of heaven is hid
Behind the globe, and lights the lower world,
Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen,
In murders and in outrage, bloody here;

(3) Of arms. (4) Motto. (5) Commendations.

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