Richard II (Folger Shakespeare Library)

by William Shakespeare

  PERCY My gracious lord, I tender42 you my service,

  Such as it is, being tender, raw and young,

  Which elder days shall ripen and confirm

  To more approved45 service and desert.

  BULLINGBROOK I thank thee, gentle46 Percy, and be sure

  I count myself in nothing else so happy

  As in a soul rememb'ring my good friends.

  And as my fortune49 ripens with thy love,

  It shall be still50 thy true love's recompense.

  My heart this covenant makes, my hand thus seals it.

  Gives Percy his hand

  NORTHUMBERLAND How far is it to Berkeley? And what stir52

  Keeps good old York there with his men of war?

  PERCY There stands the castle, by yond54 tuft of trees,

  Manned with three hundred men, as I have heard.

  And in it are the Lords of York, Berkeley and Seymour,

  None else of name and noble estimate57.

  Enter Ross and Willoughby

  NORTHUMBERLAND Here come the Lords of Ross and Willoughby,

  Bloody with spurring59, fiery-red with haste.

  BULLINGBROOK Welcome, my lords. I wot60 your love pursues

  A banished traitor. All my treasury

  Is yet but unfelt62 thanks, which more enriched

  Shall be your love and labour's recompense.

  ROSS Your presence makes us rich, most noble lord.

  WILLOUGHBY And far surmounts our labour to attain it.

  BULLINGBROOK Evermore thanks -- th'exchequer of the poor66,

  Which, till my infant fortune comes to years67,

  Stands for my bounty. But who comes here?

  Enter Berkeley

  NORTHUMBERLAND It is my Lord of Berkeley, as I guess.

  BERKELEY My Lord of Hereford, my message is to you.

  BULLINGBROOK My lord, my answer is -- to Lancaster71,

  And I am come to seek that name in England.

  And I must find that title in your tongue,

  Before I make reply to aught74 you say.

  BERKELEY Mistake me not, my lord, 'tis not my meaning

  To raze76 one title of your honour out.

  To you, my lord, I come -- what lord you will77--

  From the most glorious78 of this land,

  The Duke of York, to know what pricks79 you on

  To take advantage of the absent time80

  And fright our native81 peace with self-born arms.

  Enter York [with Attendants]

  BULLINGBROOK I shall not need transport my words by you.

  Here comes his grace in person.-- My noble uncle!

  Kneels

  YORK Show me thy humble heart, and not thy knee,

  Whose duty is deceivable85 and false.

  BULLINGBROOK My gracious uncle--

  YORK Tut, tut! Grace87 me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle.

  I am no traitor's uncle; and that word 'grace'

  In an ungracious89 mouth is but profane.

  Why have these banished and forbidden legs

  Dared once to touch a dust91 of England's ground?

  But then more 'why': why have they dared to march

  So many miles upon her peaceful bosom,

  Frighting her pale-faced villages with war

  And ostentation of despised95 arms?

  Com'st thou because th'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 Prince101, that young Mars of men,

  From forth the ranks of many thousand French,

  O, then how quickly should this arm of mine,

  Now prisoner to the palsy104, chastise thee

  And minister correction to thy fault!

  BULLINGBROOK My gracious uncle, let me know my fault.

  On what condition stands it and wherein?107

  YORK Even in condition of the worst degree,

  In gross rebellion and detested treason.

  Thou art a banished man, and here art come

  Before th'expiration of thy time,

  In braving112 arms against thy sovereign.

  BULLINGBROOK As I was banished, I was banished Hereford,

  Stands

  But as I come, I come for114 Lancaster.

  And noble uncle, I beseech your grace

  Look on my wrongs with an indifferent116 eye.

  You are my father, for methinks in you

  I see old Gaunt alive. O then, my father,

  Will you permit that I shall stand condemned

  A wand'ring vagabond; my rights and royalties

  Plucked from my arms perforce121 and given away

  To upstart unthrifts122? Wherefore was I born?

  If that my cousin king be King of England,

  It must be granted I am Duke of Lancaster.

  You have a son, Aumerle, my noble kinsman:

  Had you first died, and he been thus trod down,

  He should have found his uncle Gaunt a father

  To rouse128 his wrongs and chase them to the bay.

  I am denied to sue my liv'ry129 here,

  And yet my letters patents130 give me leave.

  My father's goods are all distrained131 and sold,

  And these and all are all amiss132 employed.

  What would you have me do? I am a subject,

  And challenge law134. Attorneys are denied me;

  And therefore personally I lay my claim

  To my inheritance of free descent136.

  NORTHUMBERLAND The noble duke hath been too much abused.

  ROSS It stands your grace upon138 to do him right.

  WILLOUGHBY Base men by his endowments139 are made great.

  YORK My lords of England, let me tell you this:

  I have had feeling of my cousin's wrongs

  And laboured all I could to do him right.

  But in this kind143 to come, in braving arms,

  Be his own carver and cut out his way144,

  To find out right with wrongs, it may not be,

  And you that do abet him in this kind

  Cherish rebellion and are rebels all.

  NORTHUMBERLAND 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 issue152 of these arms.

  I cannot mend it, I must needs confess,

  Because my power154 is weak and all ill left.

  But if I could, by him that gave me life,

  I would attach156 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 neuter159. So, fare you well,

  Unless you please to enter in the castle

  And there repose you for this night.

  BULLINGBROOK An offer, uncle, that we will accept.

  But we must win163 your grace to go with us

  To Bristol Castle, which they say is held

  By Bushy, Bagot and their complices,

  The caterpillars166 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,

  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

  Act 2 Scene 4

  running scene 8

  Location: Wales

  Enter Salisbury and a [Welsh] Captain

  CAPTAIN My lord of Salisbury, we have stayed1 ten days,

  And hardly2 kept our countrymen together,

  And yet we hear no tidings from the king;r />
  Therefore we will disperse ourselves: farewell.

  SALISBURY Stay yet another day, thou trusty Welshman:

  The king reposeth all his confidence in thee.

  CAPTAIN 'Tis thought the king is dead: we will not stay.

  The bay-trees8 in our country all are withered

  And meteors9 fright the fixed stars of heaven;

  The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth

  And lean-looked11 prophets whisper fearful change;

  Rich men look sad and ruffians dance and leap,

  The one13 in fear to lose what they enjoy,

  The other to enjoy by rage and war.

  These signs forerun the death of kings.

  Farewell. Our countrymen are gone and fled,

  As well assured Richard their king is dead.

  Exit

  SALISBURY Ah, Richard, with eyes of heavy mind

  I see thy glory like a shooting star

  Fall to the base earth from the firmament20.

  Thy sun sets weeping in the lowly west,

  Witnessing22 storms to come, woe and unrest.

  Thy friends are fled to wait upon23 thy foes,

  And crossly24 to thy good all fortune goes.

  Exit

  Act 3 Scene 1

  running scene 9

  Location: Bristol

  Enter Bullingbrook, York, Northumberland, Ross, Percy, Willoughby, with Bushy and Green, prisoners

  BULLINGBROOK Bring forth these men.

  Bushy and Green, I will not vex your souls --

  Since presently3 your souls must part your bodies --

  With too much urging4 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 of7 your deaths.

  You have misled a prince, a royal king,

  A happy9 gentleman in blood and lineaments,

  By you unhappied10 and disfigured clean.

  You have in manner11 with your sinful hours

  Made a divorce12 betwixt his queen and him,

  Broke the possession of a royal bed13

  And stained the beauty of a fair queen's cheeks

  With tears drawn from her eyes with 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 stooped my neck under your injuries,

  And sighed my English breath in foreign clouds20,

  Eating the bitter bread of banishment;

  While you have fed upon my signories22,

  Disparked my parks23 and felled my forest woods,

  From mine own windows torn my household coat24,

  Razed out my imprese25, 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,

  Condemns you to the death29.-- See them delivered over

  To execution and the hand of death.

  BUSHY More welcome is the stroke of death to me

  Than Bullingbrook to England.

  GREEN My comfort is that heaven will take our souls

  And plague injustice with the pains of hell.

  BULLINGBROOK My Lord Northumberland, see them dispatched35.--

  [Exeunt Northumberland and others, with the prisoners]

  Uncle, you say the queen is at your house:

  For heaven's sake, fairly let her be entreated37.

  Tell her I send to her my kind commends38;

  Take special care my greetings be delivered.

  YORK A gentleman of mine I have dispatched

  With letters of your love to her at large41.

  BULLINGBROOK Thanks, gentle uncle.-- Come, lords, away.

  To fight with Glendower and his complices;

  A while to work, and after holiday.

  Exeunt

  Act 3 Scene 2

  running scene 10

  Location: Barkloughly (Harlech) Castle, northern Wales

  Drums. Flourish and colours. Enter Richard, Aumerle, Carlisle and Soldiers

  KING RICHARD Barkloughly Castle1 call you this at hand?

  AUMERLE Yea, my lord. How brooks2 your grace the air,

  After your late tossing on the breaking seas?

  KING RICHARD 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 fondly9 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 ravenous sense13,

  But let thy spiders14, that suck up thy venom,

  And heavy-gaited toads lie in their way,

  Doing annoyance16 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,

  Guard20 it, I prithee, with a lurking adder

  Whose double21 tongue may with a mortal touch

  Throw death upon thy sovereign's enemies.

  Mock not my senseless conjuration23, lords:

  This earth shall have a feeling and these stones

  Prove armed soldiers, ere her native25 king

  Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms.

  CARLISLE Fear not, my lord. That power that made you king

  Hath power to keep you king in spite of all.

  AUMERLE He means, my lord, that we are too remiss,

  Whilst Bullingbrook, through our security30,

  Grows strong and great in substance and in friends.

  KING RICHARD Discomfortable32 cousin! Know'st thou not

  That when the searching eye of heaven is hid,

  Behind the globe that lights the lower world33,

  Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen

  In murders and in outrage bloody here:

  But when from under this terrestrial ball

  He fires the proud tops of the eastern pines

  And darts his lightning through ev'ry guilty hole,

  Then murders, treasons and detested sins --

  The cloak of night being plucked from off their backs --

  Stand bare and naked, trembling at themselves?

  So when this thief, this traitor, Bullingbrook,

  Who all this while hath revelled in the night,

  Shall see us rising in our throne, the east,

  His treasons will sit blushing in his face,

  Not able to endure the sight of day,

  But, self-affrighted, tremble at his sin.

  Not all the water in the rough rude49 sea

  Can wash the balm50 from an anointed king;

  The breath of worldly men cannot depose

  The deputy elected by the Lord.

  For every man that Bullingbrook hath pressed53

  To lift shrewd54 steel against our golden crown,

  Heaven for his Richard hath in heavenly pay

  A glorious angel56. Then, if angels fight,

  Weak men must fall, for heaven still guards the right.

  Enter Salisbury

  Welcome, my lord. How far off lies your power?

  SALISBURY Nor near59 nor farther off, my gracious lord,

  Than this weak arm. Discomfort60 guides my tongue

  And bids me speak of nothing but despair.

  One day too late, I fear, my noble lord,

  Hath clouded all thy happy63 days on earth.

  O, call back yesterday, bid time return,

  And thou shalt have twelve thousand fig
hting men!

  Today, today, unhappy day too late,

  O'erthrows thy joys, friends, fortune and thy state67;

  For all the Welshmen, hearing thou wert dead,

  Are gone to Bullingbrook, dispersed and fled.

  AUMERLE Comfort, my liege. Why looks your grace so pale?

  KING RICHARD But now71 the blood of twenty thousand men

  Did triumph72 in my face, and they are fled.

  And till so much blood thither come again,

  Have I not reason to look pale and dead?

  All souls that will be safe fly from my side,

  For time hath set a blot upon my pride.

  AUMERLE Comfort, my liege. Remember who you are.

  KING RICHARD I had forgot myself. Am I not king?

  Awake, thou sluggard majesty, thou sleepest.

  Is not the king's name forty thousand names?

  Arm, arm, my name! A puny subject strikes

  At thy great glory. Look not to the ground,

  Ye favourites of a king. Are we not high83?

  High be our thoughts. I know my uncle York

  Hath power enough to serve our turn85. But who comes here?

  Enter Scroop

  SCROOP More health and happiness betide86 my liege

  Than can my care-tuned87 tongue deliver him!

  KING RICHARD Mine ear is open and my heart prepared.

  The worst is worldly loss thou canst unfold.

  Say, is my kingdom lost? Why, 'twas my care90,

  And what loss is it to be rid of care?

  Strives Bullingbrook to be as great as we?

  Greater he shall not be. If he serve God,

  We'll serve him too and be his fellow94 so.

  Revolt our subjects? That we cannot mend95.

  They break their faith to God as well as us.

  Cry woe, destruction, ruin, loss, decay.

  The worst is death, and death will have his day.

  SCROOP Glad am I that your highness is so armed

  To bear the tidings of calamity.

  Like an unseasonable stormy day,

  Which makes the silver rivers drown their shores,

  As if the world were all dissolved to tears,

  So high above his104 limits swells the rage

  Of Bullingbrook105, covering your fearful land

  With hard bright steel and hearts harder than steel.

  Whitebeards107 have armed their thin and hairless scalps

  Against thy majesty, and boys with women's voices

  Strive to speak big109 and clap their female joints

  In stiff unwieldy arms110 against thy crown.

  Thy very beadsmen111 learn to bend their bows

  Of double-fatal112 yew against thy state.

  Yea, distaff-women113 manage rusty bills

  Against thy seat114. Both young and old rebel,

  And all goes worse than I have power to tell.

  KING RICHARD Too well, too well thou tell'st a tale so ill.

  Where is the Earl of Wiltshire? Where is Bagot?

  What is become of Bushy, where is Green,

  That they have let the dangerous enemy

  Measure our confines120 with such peaceful steps?

  If we prevail, their heads shall pay for it.

  I warrant122 they have made peace with Bullingbrook.

  SCROOP Peace have they made with him indeed, my lord.

  KING RICHARD O, villains, vipers, damned without redemption!

  Dogs, easily won to fawn on any man!