Whose
youthful spirit, in me regenerate,
Doth with a twofold
vigour lift me up
To reach at
victory above my head,
Add proof unto mine
armour with thy prayers,
And with thy blessings steel my lance's point,
That it may enter Mowbray's waxen coat
And furbish new the name of John o' Gaunt,
Even in the lusty haviour of his son.
GAUNT. God in thy good cause make thee prosperous!
Be swift like
lightning in the execution,
And let thy blows,
doubly redoubled,
Fall like
amazingthunder on the casque
Of thy
adversepernicious enemy.
Rouse up thy
youthful blood, be
valiant, and live.
BOLINGBROKE. Mine
innocence and Saint George to thrive!
MOWBRAY. However God or fortune cast my lot,
There lives or dies, true to King Richard's throne,
A loyal, just, and
upright gentleman.
Never did
captive with a freer heart
Cast off his chains of
bondage, and embrace
His golden uncontroll'd enfranchisement,
More than my dancing soul doth celebrate
This feast of battle with mine adversary.
Most
mighty liege, and my
companion peers,
Take from my mouth the wish of happy years.
As gentle and as
jocund as to jest
Go I to fight: truth hath a quiet breast.
KING RICHARD. Farewell, my lord,
securely I espy
Virtue with
valour couched in thine eye.
Order the trial, Marshal, and begin.
MARSHAL. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby,
Receive thy lance; and God defend the right!
BOLINGBROKE. Strong as a tower in hope, I cry amen.
MARSHAL. [To an officer] Go bear this lance to Thomas,
Duke of Norfolk.
FIRST HERALD. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby,
Stands here for God, his
sovereign, and himself,
On pain to be found false and recreant,
To prove the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray,
A
traitor to his God, his King, and him;
And dares him to set forward to the fight.
SECOND HERALD. Here standeth Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk,
On pain to be found false and recreant,
Both to defend himself, and to approve
Henry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby,
To God, his
sovereign, and to him disloyal,
Courageously and with a free desire
Attending but the signal to begin.
MARSHAL. Sound trumpets; and set forward, combatants.
[A
charge sounded]
Stay, the King hath thrown his warder down.
KING RICHARD. Let them lay by their helmets and their spears,
And both return back to their chairs again.
Withdraw with us; and let the trumpets sound
While we return these dukes what we decree.
A long
flourish, while the KING consults his Council
Draw near,
And list what with our council we have done.
For that our kingdom's earth should not be soil'd
With that dear blood which it hath fostered;
And for our eyes do hate the dire aspect
Of civil wounds plough'd up with neighbours' sword;
And for we think the eagle-winged pride
Of sky-aspiring and
ambitious thoughts,
With rival-hating envy, set on you
To wake our peace, which in our country's cradle
Draws the sweet
infantbreath of gentle sleep;
Which so rous'd up with boist'rous untun'd drums,
With harsh-resounding trumpets'
dreadful bray,
And
grating shock of wrathful iron arms,
Might from our quiet confines
fright fair peace
And make us wade even in our kindred's blood-
Therefore we
banish you our territories.
You, cousin Hereford, upon pain of life,
Till twice five summers have enrich'd our fields
Shall not regreet our fair dominions,
But tread the stranger paths of
banishment.
BOLINGBROKE. Your will be done. This must my comfort be-
That sun that warms you here shall shine on me,
And those his golden beams to you here lent
Shall point on me and gild my
banishment.
KING RICHARD. Norfolk, for thee remains a heavier doom,
Which I with some
unwillingness pronounce:
The sly slow hours shall not determinate
The dateless limit of thy dear exile;
The
hopeless word of 'never to return'
Breathe I against thee, upon pain of life.
MOWBRAY. A heavy
sentence, my most
sovereign liege,
And all unlook'd for from your Highness' mouth.
A dearer merit, not so deep a maim
As to be cast forth in the common air,
Have I deserved at your Highness' hands.
The language I have
learnt these forty years,
My native English, now I must forgo;
And now my tongue's use is to me no more
Than an unstringed viol or a harp;
Or like a
cunninginstrument cas'd up
Or, being open, put into his hands
That knows no touch to tune the harmony.
Within my mouth you have engaol'd my tongue,
Doubly portcullis'd with my teeth and lips;
And dull, unfeeling,
barren ignorance
Is made my gaoler to attend on me.
I am too old to fawn upon a nurse,
Too far in years to be a pupil now.
What is thy
sentence, then, but
speechless death,
Which robs my tongue from
breathing native
breath?
KING RICHARD. It boots thee not to be compassionate;
After our
sentence plaining comes too late.
MOWBRAY. Then thus I turn me from my countrv's light,
To dwell in
solemn shades of endless night.
KING RICHARD. Return again, and take an oath with thee.
Lay on our royal sword your
banish'd hands;
Swear by the duty that you owe to God,
Our part
therein we
banish with yourselves,
To keep the oath that we administer:
You never shall, so help you truth and God,
Embrace each other's love in
banishment;
Nor never look upon each other's face;
Nor never write, regreet, nor reconcile
This louring
tempest of your home-bred hate;
Nor never by advised purpose meet
To plot,
contrive, or complot any ill,
'Gainst us, our state, our subjects, or our land.
BOLINGBROKE. I swear.
MOWBRAY. And I, to keep all this.
BOLINGBROKE. Norfolk, so far as to mine enemy.
By this time, had the King permitted us,
One of our souls had wand'red in the air,
Banish'd this frail sepulchre of our flesh,
As now our flesh is
banish'd from this land-
Confess thy treasons ere thou fly the realm;
Since thou hast far to go, bear not along
The clogging burden of a
guilty soul.
MOWBRAY. No, Bolingbroke; if ever I were
traitor,
My name be blotted from the book of life,
And I from heaven
banish'd as from hence!
But what thou art, God, thou, and I, do know;
And all too soon, I fear, the King shall rue.
Farewell, my liege. Now no way can I stray:
Save back to England, an the world's my way. Exit
KING RICHARD. Uncle, even in the glasses of thine eyes
I see thy grieved heart. Thy sad aspect
Hath from the number of his
banish'd years
Pluck'd four away. [To BOLINGBROKE] Six
frozen winters spent,
Return with
welcome home from
banishment.
BOLINGBROKE. How long a time lies in one little word!
Four lagging winters and four
wanton springs
End in a word: such is the
breath of Kings.
GAUNT. I thank my liege that in regard of me
He shortens four years of my son's exile;
But little
vantage shall I reap thereby,
For ere the six years that he hath to spend
Can change their moons and bring their times about,
My oil-dried lamp and time-bewasted light
Shall be
extinct with age and endless night;
My inch of taper will be burnt and done,
And blindfold death not let me see my son.
KING RICHARD. Why, uncle, thou hast many years to live.
GAUNT. But not a minute, King, that thou canst give:
Shorten my days thou canst with
sullen sorrow
And pluck nights from me, but not lend a morrow;
Thou can'st help time to
furrow me with age,
But stop no
wrinkle in his pilgrimage;
Thy word is current with him for my death,
But dead, thy kingdom cannot buy my
breath.
KING RICHARD. Thy son is
banish'd upon good advice,
Whereto thy tongue a party-verdict gave.
Why at our justice seem'st thou then to lour?
GAUNT. Things sweet to taste prove in
digestion sour.
You urg'd me as a judge; but I had rather
You would have bid me argue like a father.
O, had it been a stranger, not my child,
To smooth his fault I should have been more mild.
A
partialslander sought I to avoid,
And in the
sentence my own life destroy'd.
Alas, I look'd when some of you should say
I was too
strict to make mine own away;
But you gave leave to my
unwilling tongue
Against my will to do myself this wrong.
KING RICHARD. Cousin,
farewell; and, uncle, bid him so.
Six years we
banish him, and he shall go.
Flourish. Exit KING with train
AUMERLE. Cousin,
farewell; what presence must not know,
From where you do remain let paper show.
MARSHAL. My lord, no leave take I, for I will ride
As far as land will let me by your side.
GAUNT. O, to what purpose dost thou hoard thy words,
That thou returnest no greeting to thy friends?
BOLINGBROKE. I have too few to take my leave of you,
When the tongue's office should be prodigal
To
breathe the
abundant dolour of the heart.
GAUNT. Thy grief is but thy
absence for a time.
BOLINGBROKE. Joy
absent, grief is present for that time.
GAUNT. What is six winters? They are quickly gone.
BOLINGBROKE. To men in joy; but grief makes one hour ten.
GAUNT. Call it a travel that thou tak'st for pleasure.
BOLINGBROKE. My heart will sigh when I miscall it so,
Which finds it an enforced pilgrimage.
GAUNT. The
sullen passage of thy weary steps
Esteem as foil
wherein thou art to set