Richard II (Folger Shakespeare Library)

by William Shakespeare

  Whereof our uncle Gaunt did stand possessed.

  YORK How long shall I be patient? O, how long

  Shall tender duty make me suffer wrong?

  Not Gloucester's death, nor Hereford's banishment,

  Nor Gaunt's rebukes167, nor England's private wrongs,

  Nor the prevention of poor Bullingbrook

  About his marriage168, nor my own disgrace

  Have ever made me sour my patient cheek,

  Or bend one wrinkle171 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 raged more fierce,

  In peace was never gentle lamb more mild,

  Than was that young and princely gentleman.

  His face thou hast, for even so looked he,

  Accomplished with the number of thy hours178.

  But when he frowned, 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.

  KING RICHARD Why, uncle, what's the matter?

  YORK O my liege,

  Pardon me, if you please; if not, I, pleased

  Not to be pardoned, am content withal190.

  Seek you to seize191 and grip into your hands

  The royalties192 and rights of banished Hereford?

  Is not Gaunt dead? And doth not Hereford live?

  Was not Gaunt just? And is not Harry true194?

  Did not the one deserve to have an heir?

  Is not his heir a well-deserving son?

  Take Hereford's rights away, and take from time

  His198 charters and his customary rights:

  Let not tomorrow then ensue199 today.

  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 right,

  Call in his letters patents204 that he hath

  By his attorneys-general to sue

  His livery205, and deny his offered homage206,

  You pluck207 a thousand dangers on your head,

  You lose a thousand well-disposed hearts

  And prick209 my tender patience to those thoughts

  Which honour and allegiance cannot think.

  KING RICHARD Think what you will, we seize into our hands

  His plate, his goods, his money and his lands.

  YORK I'll not be by213 the while. My liege, farewell:

  What will ensue hereof, there's none can tell.

  But by bad courses215 may be understood

  That their events216 can never fall out good.

  Exit

  KING RICHARD Go, Bushy, to the Earl of Wiltshire straight.

  Bid him repair218 to us to Ely House

  To see219 this business.-- Tomorrow next

  We will for Ireland, and 'tis time, I trow220.

  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. Tomorrow must we part.

  Be merry, for our time of stay is short.

  Flourish. [Exeunt all] except Northumberland, Willoughby and Ross

  NORTHUMBERLAND Well, lords, the Duke of Lancaster is dead.

  ROSS And living too, for now his son is duke.

  WILLOUGHBY Barely in title, not in revenue.

  NORTHUMBERLAND Richly in both, if justice had her right.

  ROSS My heart is great230, but it must break with silence,

  Ere't be disburdened with a liberal231 tongue.

  NORTHUMBERLAND Nay, speak thy mind, and let him ne'er speak more

  That speaks thy words again to do thee harm!

  WILLOUGHBY Tends that thou wouldst speak to234 th'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,

  Bereft239 and gelded of his patrimony.

  NORTHUMBERLAND 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 prosecute246

  Gainst us, our lives, our children, and our heirs.

  ROSS The commons hath he piled248 with grievous taxes,

  And quite lost their hearts. The nobles hath he fined

  For ancient250 quarrels, and quite lost their hearts.

  WILLOUGHBY And daily new exactions251 are devised,

  As blanks252, benevolences, and I wot not what.

  But what, o'God's name, doth become of this253?

  NORTHUMBERLAND Wars hath not wasted it, for warred he hath not,

  But basely yielded upon compromise255

  That which his ancestors achieved with blows.

  More hath he spent in peace than they in wars.

  ROSS The Earl of Wiltshire hath the realm in farm258.

  WILLOUGHBY The king's grown bankrupt, like a broken259 man.

  NORTHUMBERLAND 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 banished duke.

  NORTHUMBERLAND 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 sore267 upon our sails,

  And yet we strike268 not, but securely perish.

  ROSS We see the very wreck that we must suffer,

  And unavoided is the danger now,

  For suffering271 so the causes of our wreck.

  NORTHUMBERLAND Not so: even through the hollow eyes of death

  I spy life peering, but I dare not say

  How near the tidings274 of our comfort is.

  WILLOUGHBY 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.

  NORTHUMBERLAND Then thus: I have from Port le Blanc, a bay

  In Brittany, received intelligence

  That Harry Duke of Hereford, Rainold Lord Cobham281,

  That late broke282 from the Duke of Exeter,

  His283 brother, Archbishop late of Canterbury,

  Sir Thomas Erpingham, Sir John Rainston,

  Sir John Norbery, Sir Robert Waterton and Francis Quoint,

  All these well furnished286 by the Duke of Brittany

  With eight tall287 ships, three thousand men of war,

  Are making hither with all due expedience288

  And shortly mean to touch our northern shore.

  Perhaps they had ere this290, but that they stay

  The first departing of the king for Ireland.

  If then we shall shake off our slavish yoke,

  Imp out293 our drooping country's broken wing,

  Redeem from broking pawn294 the blemished crown,

  Wipe off the dust that hides our sceptre's gilt295

  And make high majesty look like itself,

  Away with me in post297 to Ravenspurgh.

  But if you faint298, as fearing to do so,

  Stay and be secret, and myself will go
.

  ROSS To horse, to horse! Urge doubts to them that fear.

  WILLOUGHBY Hold out my horse301, and I will first be there.

  Exeunt

  Act 2 Scene 2

  running scene 6

  Location: the royal court

  Enter Queen, Bushy and Bagot

  BUSHY Madam, your majesty is too much sad.

  You promised, when you parted with the king,

  To lay aside life-harming heaviness3

  And entertain4 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 shadows14,

  Which shows like grief itself, but is not so.

  For sorrow's eye, glazed16 with blinding tears,

  Divides one thing entire to17 many objects,

  Like perspectives18, which rightly gazed upon

  Show nothing but confusion: eyed awry19

  Distinguish form20. So your sweet majesty,

  Looking awry upon your lord's departure,

  Find shapes of grief, more than himself22 to wail,

  Which, looked on as it is, is naught but shadows

  Of what it is not. Then, thrice-gracious queen,

  More25 than your lord's departure weep not. More's not seen;

  Or if it be, 'tis with false sorrow's eye,

  Which for27 things true weeps things imaginary.

  QUEEN It may be so, but yet my inward soul

  Persuades me it is otherwise. Howe'er it be,

  I cannot but be sad, so heavy30 sad

  As though on thinking31 on no thought I think,

  Makes me with heavy nothing faint and shrink.

  BUSHY 'Tis nothing but conceit33, my gracious lady.

  QUEEN 'Tis nothing less34. Conceit is still derived

  From some forefather grief. Mine is not so,

  For nothing hath begot36 my something grief,

  Or something hath the nothing that I grieve37.

  'Tis in reversion38 that I do possess --

  But what it is, that is not yet known -- what

  I cannot name. 'Tis nameless woe, I wot40.

  Enter Green

  GREEN Heaven save your majesty! And well met, gentlemen.

  I hope the king is not yet shipped for Ireland.

  QUEEN Why hop'st thou so? 'Tis better hope he is,

  For his designs crave haste, his haste good hope.

  Then wherefore45 dost thou hope he is not shipped?

  GREEN That he, our hope, might have retired46 his power,

  And driven into despair an enemy's hope,

  Who strongly48 hath set footing in this land.

  The banished Bullingbrook repeals himself49,

  And with uplifted arms50 is safe arrived

  At Ravenspurgh.

  QUEEN Now God in heaven forbid!

  GREEN O, madam, 'tis too true. And that is worse,

  The Lord Northumberland, his son young Henry Percy,

  The Lords of Ross, Beaumond and Willoughby,

  With all their powerful friends, are fled to him.

  BUSHY Why have you not proclaimed Northumberland

  And the rest of the revolted faction, traitors?

  GREEN We have: whereupon the Earl of Worcester

  Hath broke his staff60, resigned his stewardship,

  And all the household61 servants fled with him

  To Bullingbrook.

  QUEEN So, Green, thou art the midwife of my woe,

  And Bullingbrook my sorrow's dismal heir64.

  Now hath my soul brought forth her prodigy65,

  And I, a gasping new-delivered mother,

  Have woe to woe, sorrow to sorrow joined.

  BUSHY Despair not, madam.

  QUEEN Who shall hinder me?

  I will despair, and be at enmity

  With cozening71 hope; he is a flatterer,

  A parasite, a keeper-back of death,

  Who gently would dissolve the bands73 of life,

  Which false hope lingers74 in extremity.

  Enter York

  GREEN Here comes the Duke of York.

  QUEEN With signs of war about his aged neck.

  O, full of careful77 business are his looks!

  Uncle, for heaven's sake, speak comfortable78 words.

  YORK Comfort's in heaven, and we are on the earth,

  Where nothing lives but crosses80, care and grief.

  Your husband, he is gone to save81 far off,

  Whilst others come to make him lose at home.

  Here am I left to underprop83 his land,

  Who, weak with age, cannot support myself.

  Now comes the sick hour that his surfeit85 made,

  Now shall he try86 his friends that flattered him.

  Enter a Servant

  SERVANT My lord, your son87 was gone before I came.

  YORK He was? Why, so! Go all which way it will!

  The nobles they are fled, the commons they are cold89,

  And will, I fear, revolt on Hereford's side.

  Sirrah91, get thee to Plashy, to my sister Gloucester:

  Bid her send me presently92 a thousand pound.

  Hold, take my ring93.

  SERVANT My lord, I had forgot to tell your lordship:

  Today as I came by, I called there --

  But I shall grieve you to report the rest.

  YORK What is't, knave?

  SERVANT An hour before I came, the duchess died.

  YORK Heav'n99 for his mercy! What a tide of woes

  Come rushing on this woeful land at once!

  I know not what to do. I would101 to heaven --

  So102 my untruth had not provoked him to it --

  The king had cut off my head with my brother's103.

  What, are there posts104 dispatched for Ireland?

  How shall we do105 for money for these wars?

  Come, sister -- cousin, I would say -- pray, pardon me.--

  To Queen

  Go, fellow, get thee home, provide some carts

  To Servant

  And bring away the armour that is there.--

  [Exit Servant]

  Gentlemen, will you muster109 men?

  If I know how or which way to order these affairs

  Thus disorderly thrust into my hands,

  Never believe me. Both are my kinsmen.

  Th'one is my sovereign, whom both my oath113

  And duty bids defend: th'other again

  Is my kinsman, whom the king hath wronged,

  Whom conscience and my kindred116 bids to right.

  Well, somewhat117 we must do.-- Come, cousin, I'll

  Dispose of118 you.--

  Gentlemen, go muster up your men,

  And meet me presently at Berkeley Castle120.

  I should to Plashy too,

  But time will not permit. All is uneven,

  And everything is left at six and seven123.

  Exeunt [York and Queen]

  BUSHY The wind sits124 fair for news to go to Ireland,

  But none returns. For us to levy power125

  Proportionable to th'enemy

  Is all impossible.

  GREEN Besides, our nearness to the king in love

  Is near the hate of those129 love not the king.

  BAGOT And that's the wavering commons, for their love

  Lies in their purses, and whoso empties them,

  By so much fills their hearts with deadly hate.

  BUSHY Wherein the king stands generally133 condemned.

  BAGOT If judgement l
ie in them, then so do we134,

  Because we have been ever near the king.

  GREEN Well, I will for refuge straight136 to Bristol Castle.

  The Earl of Wiltshire is already there.

  BUSHY Thither will I with you, for little office138

  Will the hateful139 commons perform for us,

  Except like curs140 to tear us all in pieces.

  Will you go along with us?

  To Bagot

  BAGOT No, I will to Ireland to his majesty.

  Farewell. If heart's presages143 be not vain,

  We three here part that ne'er shall meet again.

  BUSHY That's as145 York thrives to beat back Bullingbrook.

  GREEN Alas, poor duke! The task he undertakes

  Is numb'ring sands and drinking oceans dry.

  Where one on his side fights, thousands will fly.

  BUSHY Farewell at once, for once, for all, and ever.

  Well, we may meet again.

  BAGOT I fear me, never.

  Exeunt

  Act 2 Scene 3

  running scene 7

  Location: Gloucestershire

  Enter the Duke of Hereford [Bullingbrook] and Northumberland

  BULLINGBROOK How far is it, my lord, to Berkeley now?

  NORTHUMBERLAND Believe me, noble lord,

  I am a stranger here in Gloucestershire.

  These high wild hills and rough uneven ways

  Draws out our miles, and makes them wearisome.

  And yet our fair discourse hath been as sugar,

  Making the hard way sweet and delectable.

  But I bethink me what a weary way

  From Ravenspurgh to Cottshold9 will be found

  In10 Ross and Willoughby, wanting your company,

  Which, I protest, hath very much beguiled11

  The tediousness and process12 of my travel.

  But theirs is sweetened with the hope to have

  The present benefit that I possess;

  And hope to joy is little less in joy

  Than hope enjoyed. By this16 the weary lords

  Shall make their way seem short, as mine hath done

  By sight of what I have, your noble company.

  BULLINGBROOK Of much less value is my company

  Than your good words. But who comes here?

  Enter Harry Percy

  NORTHUMBERLAND It is my son, young Harry Percy,

  Sent from my brother Worcester, whencesoever22.--

  Harry, how fares your uncle?

  PERCY I had thought, my lord, to have learned his health of you.

  NORTHUMBERLAND Why, is he not with the queen?

  PERCY No, my good lord. He hath forsook26 the court,

  Broken his staff of office and dispersed

  The household of the king.

  NORTHUMBERLAND What was his reason?

  He was not so resolved when we last spake together.

  PERCY Because your lordship was proclaimed traitor.

  But he, my lord, is gone to Ravenspurgh

  To offer service to the Duke of Hereford,

  And sent me over by Berkeley to discover

  What power the Duke of York had levied35 there,

  Then with direction to repair36 to Ravenspurgh.

  NORTHUMBERLAND Have you forgot the Duke of Hereford, boy?

  PERCY No, my good lord, for that is not forgot

  Which ne'er I did remember: to my knowledge,

  I never in my life did look on him.

  NORTHUMBERLAND Then learn to know him now: this is the duke.