Obedience bids I should not bid again.
KING RICHARD. Norfolk, throw down; we bid.
There is no boot.
MOWBRAY. Myself I throw, dread
sovereign, at thy foot;
My life thou shalt command, but not my shame:
The one my duty owes; but my fair name,
Despite of death, that lives upon my grave
To dark dishonour's use thou shalt not have.
I am disgrac'd,
impeach'd, and baffl'd here;
Pierc'd to the soul with slander's venom'd spear,
The which no balm can cure but his heart-blood
Which breath'd this poison.
KING RICHARD. Rage must be withstood:
Give me his gage-lions make leopards tame.
MOWBRAY. Yea, but not change his spots. Take but my shame,
And I
resign my gage. My dear dear lord,
The purest treasure
mortal times afford
Is spotless
reputation; that away,
Men are but gilded loam or painted clay.
A jewel in a ten-times barr'd-up chest
Is a bold spirit in a loyal breast.
Mine honour is my life; both grow in one;
Take honour from me, and my life is done:
Then, dear my liege, mine honour let me try;
In that I live, and for that will I die.
KING RICHARD. Cousin, throw up your gage; do you begin.
BOLINGBROKE. O, God defend my soul from such deep sin!
Shall I seem crest-fallen in my father's sight?
Or with pale beggar-fear
impeach my height
Before this outdar'd dastard? Ere my tongue
Shall wound my honour with such
feeble wrong
Or sound so base a parle, my teeth shall tear
The slavish
motive of recanting fear,
And spit it bleeding in his high disgrace,
Where shame doth harbour, even in Mowbray's face.
Exit GAUNT
KING RICHARD. We were not born to sue, but to command;
Which since we cannot do to make you friends,
Be ready, as your lives shall answer it,
At Coventry, upon Saint Lambert's day.
There shall your swords and lances arbitrate
The swelling difference of your settled hate;
Since we can not atone you, we shall see
Justice design the victor's chivalry.
Lord Marshal, command our officers-at-arms
Be ready to direct these home alarms. Exeunt
SCENE 2.
London. The DUKE OF LANCASTER'S palace
Enter JOHN OF GAUNT with the DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER
GAUNT. Alas, the part I had in Woodstock's blood
Doth more
solicit me than your exclaims
To stir against the
butchers of his life!
But since
correction lieth in those hands
Which made the fault that we cannot correct,
Put we our quarrel to the will of heaven;
Who, when they see the hours ripe on earth,
Will rain hot
vengeance on offenders' heads.
DUCHESS. Finds
brotherhood in thee no sharper spur?
Hath love in thy old blood no living fire?
Edward's seven sons,
whereof thyself art one,
Were as seven vials of his
sacred blood,
Or seven fair branches springing from one root.
Some of those seven are dried by nature's course,
Some of those branches by the Destinies cut;
But Thomas, my dear lord, my life, my Gloucester,
One vial full of Edward's
sacred blood,
One flourishing branch of his most royal root,
Is crack'd, and all the precious
liquor spilt;
Is hack'd down, and his summer leaves all faded,
By envy's hand and murder's
bloody axe.
Ah, Gaunt, his blood was thine! That bed, that womb,
That mettle, that self mould, that fashion'd thee,
Made him a man; and though thou livest and breathest,
Yet art thou slain in him. Thou dost consent
In some large
measure to thy father's death
In that thou seest thy
wretched brother die,
Who was the model of thy father's life.
Call it not
patience, Gaunt-it is despair;
In suff'ring thus thy brother to be slaught'red,
Thou showest the naked
pathway to thy life,
Teaching stern murder how to
butcher thee.
That which in mean men we
entitlepatienceIs pale cold
cowardice in noble breasts.
What shall I say? To
safeguard thine own life
The best way is to venge my Gloucester's death.
GAUNT. God's is the quarrel; for God's substitute,
His
deputy anointed in His sight,
Hath caus'd his death; the which if wrongfully,
Let heaven
revenge; for I may never lift
An angry arm against His minister.
DUCHESS. Where then, alas, may I
complain myself?
GAUNT. To God, the widow's
champion and defence.
DUCHESS. Why then, I will. Farewell, old Gaunt.
Thou goest to Coventry, there to behold
Our cousin Hereford and fell Mowbray fight.
O, sit my husband's wrongs on Hereford's spear,
That it may enter
butcher Mowbray's breast!
Or, if
misfortune miss the first career,
Be Mowbray's sins so heavy in his bosom
That they may break his foaming courser's back
And throw the rider
headlong in the lists,
A caitiff recreant to my cousin Hereford!
Farewell, old Gaunt; thy sometimes brother's wife,
With her
companion, Grief, must end her life.
GAUNT. Sister,
farewell; I must to Coventry.
As much good stay with thee as go with me!
DUCHESS. Yet one word more- grief boundeth where it falls,
Not with the empty hollowness, but weight.
I take my leave before I have begun,
For sorrow ends not when it seemeth done.
Commend me to thy brother, Edmund York.
Lo, this is all- nay, yet depart not so;
Though this be all, do not so quickly go;
I shall remember more. Bid him- ah, what?-
With all good speed at Plashy visit me.
Alack, and what shall good old York there see
But empty lodgings and unfurnish'd walls,
Unpeopled offices, untrodden stones?
And what hear there for
welcome but my groans?
Therefore
commend me; let him not come there
To seek out sorrow that dwells every where.
Desolate,
desolate, will I hence and die;
The last leave of thee takes my
weeping eye. Exeunt
SCENE 3.
The lists at Coventry
Enter the LORD MARSHAL and the DUKE OF AUMERLE
MARSHAL. My Lord Aumerle, is Harry Hereford arm'd?
AUMERLE. Yea, at all points; and longs to enter in.
MARSHAL. The Duke of Norfolk, spightfully and bold,
Stays but the summons of the appelant's trumpet.
AUMERLE. Why then, the
champions are prepar'd, and stay
For nothing but his Majesty's approach.
The trumpets sound, and the KING enters with his nobles,
GAUNT, BUSHY, BAGOT, GREEN, and others. When they are set,
enter MOWBRAY, Duke of Nor folk, in arms,
defendant, and
a HERALD
KING RICHARD. Marshal, demand of yonder
championThe cause of his
arrival here in arms;
Ask him his name; and
orderly proceed
To swear him in the justice of his cause.
MARSHAL. In God's name and the King's, say who thou art,
And why thou comest thus
knightly" target="_blank" title="a.&ad.骑士般的(地)">
knightly clad in arms;
Against what man thou com'st, and what thy quarrel.
Speak truly on thy
knighthood" target="_blank" title="n.骑士的地位(资格)">
knighthood and thy oath;
As so defend thee heaven and thy valour!
MOWBRAY. My name is Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk;
Who
hither come engaged by my oath-
Which God defend a
knight should violate!-
Both to defend my
loyalty and truth
To God, my King, and my succeeding issue,
Against the Duke of Hereford that appeals me;
And, by the grace of God and this mine arm,
To prove him, in defending of myself,
A
traitor to my God, my King, and me.
And as I truly fight, defend me heaven!
The trumpets sound. Enter BOLINGBROKE, Duke of Hereford,
appellant, in
armour, and a HERALD
KING RICHARD. Marshal, ask yonder
knight in arms,
Both who he is and why he cometh
hitherThus plated in habiliments of war;
And
formally, according to our law,
Depose him in the justice of his cause.
MARSHAL. What is thy name? and
wherefore com'st thou
hitherBefore King Richard in his royal lists?
Against whom comest thou? and what's thy quarrel?
Speak like a true
knight, so defend thee heaven!
BOLINGBROKE. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby,
Am I; who ready here do stand in arms
To prove, by God's grace and my body's valour,
In lists on Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk,
That he is a
traitor, foul and dangerous,
To God of heaven, King Richard, and to me.
And as I truly fight, defend me heaven!
MARSHAL. On pain of death, no person be so bold
Or daring-hardy as to touch the lists,
Except the Marshal and such officers
Appointed to direct these fair designs.
BOLINGBROKE. Lord Marshal, let me kiss my
sovereign's hand,
And bow my knee before his Majesty;
For Mowbray and myself are like two men
That vow a long and weary pilgrimage.
Then let us take a ceremonious leave
And
lovingfarewell of our several friends.
MARSHAL. The appellant in all duty greets your Highness,
And craves to kiss your hand and take his leave.
KING RICHARD. We will
descend and fold him in our arms.
Cousin of Hereford, as thy cause is right,
So be thy fortune in this royal fight!
Farewell, my blood; which if to-day thou shed,
Lament we may, but not
revenge thee dead.
BOLINGBROKE. O, let no noble eye
profane a tear
For me, if I be gor'd with Mowbray's spear.
As
confident as is the falcon's flight
Against a bird, do I with Mowbray fight.
My
loving lord, I take my leave of you;
Of you, my noble cousin, Lord Aumerle;
Not sick, although I have to do with death,
But lusty, young, and cheerly
drawing breath.
Lo, as at English feasts, so I regreet
The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet.
O thou, the
earthly author of my blood,