I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace.
Rue, even for ruth, here
shortly shall be seen,
In the
remembrance of a
weeping queen. Exeunt
ACT IV. SCENE 1.
Westminster Hall
Enter, as to the Parliament, BOLINGBROKE, AUMERLE,
NORTHUMBERLAND, PERCY, FITZWATER, SURREY, the BISHOP
OF CARLISLE, the ABBOT OF WESTMINSTER, and others;
HERALD, OFFICERS, and BAGOT
BOLINGBROKE. Call forth Bagot.
Now, Bagot,
freely speak thy mind-
What thou dost know of noble Gloucester's death;
Who
wrought it with the King, and who perform'd
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.
BAGOT. My Lord Aumerle, I know your
daring tongue
Scorns to unsay what once it hath deliver'd.
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?'
Amongst much other talk that very time
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 be
In this your cousin's death.
AUMERLE. Princes, and noble lords,
What answer shall I make to this base man?
Shall I so much dishonour my fair stars
On equal terms to give him chastisement?
Either I must, or have mine honour soil'd
With the attainder of his slanderous lips.
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 false
In thy heart-blood, through 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 mov'd me so.
FITZWATER. If that thy
valour 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,
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 forged, with my rapier's point.
AUMERLE. Thou dar'st not,
coward, live to see that day.
FITZWATER. Now, by my soul, I would it were this hour.
AUMERLE. Fitzwater, thou art damn'd to hell for this.
PERCY. Aumerle, thou liest; his honour is as true
In this
appeal as thou art an unjust;
And that thou art so, there I throw my gage,
To prove it on thee to the extremest point
Of
mortal breathing. Seize it, if thou dar'st.
AUMERLE. An if I do not, may my hands rot of
And never
brandish more revengeful steel
Over the glittering
helmet of my foe!
ANOTHER LORD. I task the earth to the like, forsworn Aumerle;
And spur thee on with fun as many lies
As may be halloa'd in thy
treacherous ear
From sun to sun. There is my honour's pawn;
Engage it to the trial, if thou darest.
AUMERLE. 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. '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. Dis
honourable boy!
That lie shall lie so heavy on my sword
That it shall render
vengeance and revenge
Till thou the lie-giver and that lie do he
In earth as quiet as thy father's skull.
In proof
whereof, there is my honour's pawn;
Engage it to the trial, if thou dar'st.
FITZWATER. 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,
And lies, and lies. There is my bond of faith,
To tie thee to my strong correction.
As I intend to
thrive in this new world,
Aumerle is
guilty of my true
appeal.
Besides, I heard the banish'd Norfolk say
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
That Norfolk lies. Here do I throw down this,
If he may be repeal'd to try his honour.
BOLINGBROKE. These differences shall all rest under gage
Till Norfolk be repeal'd-repeal'd he shall be
And, though mine enemy, restor'd again
To all his lands and signories. When he is return'd,
Against Aumerle we will
enforce his trial.
CARLISLE. That
honourable day shall never be seen.
Many a time hath banish'd Norfolk fought
For Jesu Christ in
glorious Christian field,
Streaming the
ensign of the Christian cross
Against black pagans, Turks, and Saracens;
And, toil'd with works of war, retir'd himself
To Italy; and there, at Venice, gave
His body to that pleasant country's earth,
And his pure soul unto his captain, Christ,
Under whose colours 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,
Your differences shall all rest under gage
Till we
assign you to your days of trial
Enter YORK, attended
YORK. Great Duke of Lancaster, I come to the
From plume-pluck'd Richard, who with
willing soul
Adopts thee heir, and his high sceptre 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. Marry, 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 judge
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 judg'd but they are by to hear,
Although
apparent guilt be seen in them;
And shall the figure of God's
majesty,
His captain,
steward,
deputy elect,
Anointed, crowned, planted many years,
Be judg'd by subject and
inferior breath,
And he himself not present? O, forfend it, God,
That in a Christian
climate souls refin'd
Should show so heinous, black, obscene a deed!
I speak to subjects, and a subject speaks,
Stirr'd up by God, thus
boldly for his king.
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;
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 call'd
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 cursed earth.
Prevent it,
resist it, let it not be so,
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.
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. I will be his conduct. Exit
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 look'd for at your helping hands.
Re-enter YORK, with KING RICHARD, and OFFICERS
bearing the regalia
KING RICHARD. Alack, why am I sent for to a king,
Before I have shook off the regal thoughts
Wherewith I reign'd? I hardly yet have learn'd
To
insinuate,
flatter, bow, and bend my knee.
Give sorrow leave
awhile to tutor me
To this
submission. Yet I well remember
The favours 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, 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.
To do what service am I sent for
hither?
YORK. To do that office of thine own good will
Which tired
majesty did make thee offer-
The
resignation of thy state and crown
To Henry Bolingbroke.
KING RICHARD. Give me the crown. Here, cousin, seize the crown.
Here, cousin,
On this side my hand, and on that side thine.
Now is this golden crown like a deep well
That owes two buckets, filling one another;
The emptier ever dancing in the air,