1    Call forth Bagot.
2    Now, Bagot, freely speak thy mind;
3    What thou dost know of noble Gloucester's death,
4    Who wrought it with the king, and who perform'd
5    The bloody office of his timeless end.

6    Then set before my face the Lord Aumerle.

7    Cousin, stand forth, and look upon that man.

8    My Lord Aumerle, I know your daring tongue
9    Scorns to unsay what once it hath deliver'd.
10   In that dead time when Gloucester's death was plotted,
11   I heard you say, 'Is not my arm of length,
12   That reacheth from the restful English court
13   As far as Calais, to mine uncle's head?'
14   Amongst much other talk, that very time,
15   I heard you say that you had rather refuse
16   The offer of an hundred thousand crowns
17   Than Bolingbroke's return to England;
18   Adding withal how blest this land would be
19   In this your cousin's death.

20   Princes and noble lords,
21   What answer shall I make to this base man?
22   Shall I so much dishonour my fair stars,
23   On equal terms to give him chastisement?
24   Either I must, or have mine honour soil'd
25   With the attainder of his slanderous lips.
26   There is my gage, the manual seal of death,
27   That marks thee out for hell: I say, thou liest,
28   And will maintain what thou hast said is false
29   In thy heart-blood, though being all too base
30   To stain the temper of my knightly sword.

31   Bagot, forbear; thou shalt not take it up.

32   Excepting one, I would he were the best
33   In all this presence that hath moved me so.

34   If that thy valour stand on sympathy,
35   There is my gage, Aumerle, in gage to thine:
36   By that fair sun which shows me where thou stand'st,
37   I heard thee say, and vauntingly thou spakest it
38   That thou wert cause of noble Gloucester's death.
39   If thou deny'st it twenty times, thou liest;
40   And I will turn thy falsehood to thy heart,
41   Where it was forged, with my rapier's point.

42   Thou darest not, coward, live to see that day.

43   Now by my soul, I would it were this hour.

44   Fitzwater, thou art damn'd to hell for this.

45   Aumerle, thou liest; his honour is as true
46   In this appeal as thou art all unjust;
47   And that thou art so, there I throw my gage,
48   To prove it on thee to the extremest point
49   Of mortal breathing: seize it, if thou darest.

50   An if I do not, may my hands rot off
51   And never brandish more revengeful steel
52   Over the glittering helmet of my foe!

53   I task the earth to the like, forsworn Aumerle;
54   And spur thee on with full as many lies
55   As may be holloa'd in thy treacherous ear
56   From sun to sun: there is my honour's pawn;
57   Engage it to the trial, if thou darest.

58   Who sets me else? by heaven, I'll throw at all:
59   I have a thousand spirits in one breast,
60   To answer twenty thousand such as you.

61   My Lord Fitzwater, I do remember well
62   The very time Aumerle and you did talk.

63   'Tis very true: you were in presence then;
64   And you can witness with me this is true.

65   As false, by heaven, as heaven itself is true.

66   Surrey, thou liest.

67   Dishonourable boy!
68   That lie shall lie so heavy on my sword,
69   That it shall render vengeance and revenge
70   Till thou the lie-giver and that lie do lie
71   In earth as quiet as thy father's skull:
72   In proof whereof, there is my honour's pawn;
73   Engage it to the trial, if thou darest.

74   How fondly dost thou spur a forward horse!
75   If I dare eat, or drink, or breathe, or live,
76   I dare meet Surrey in a wilderness,
77   And spit upon him, whilst I say he lies,
78   And lies, and lies: there is my bond of faith,
79   To tie thee to my strong correction.
80   As I intend to thrive in this new world,
81   Aumerle is guilty of my true appeal:
82   Besides, I heard the banish'd Norfolk say
83   That thou, Aumerle, didst send two of thy men
84   To execute the noble duke at Calais.

85   Some honest Christian trust me with a gage
86   That Norfolk lies: here do I throw down this,
87   If he may be repeal'd, to try his honour.

88   These differences shall all rest under gage
89   Till Norfolk be repeal'd: repeal'd he shall be,
90   And, though mine enemy, restored again
91   To all his lands and signories: when he's return'd,
92   Against Aumerle we will enforce his trial.

93   That honourable day shall ne'er be seen.
94   Many a time hath banish'd Norfolk fought
95   For Jesu Christ in glorious Christian field,
96   Streaming the ensign of the Christian cross
97   Against black pagans, Turks, and Saracens:
98   And toil'd with works of war, retired himself
99   To Italy; and there at Venice gave
100  His body to that pleasant country's earth,
101  And his pure soul unto his captain Christ,
102  Under whose colours he had fought so long.

103  Why, bishop, is Norfolk dead?

104  As surely as I live, my lord.

105  Sweet peace conduct his sweet soul to the bosom
106  Of good old Abraham! Lords appellants,
107  Your differences shall all rest under gage
108  Till we assign you to your days of trial.

109  Great Duke of Lancaster, I come to thee
110  From plume-pluck'd Richard; who with willing soul
111  Adopts thee heir, and his high sceptre yields
112  To the possession of thy royal hand:
113  Ascend his throne, descending now from him;
114  And long live Henry, fourth of that name!

115  In God's name, I'll ascend the regal throne.

116  Marry. God forbid!
117  Worst in this royal presence may I speak,
118  Yet best beseeming me to speak the truth.
119  Would God that any in this noble presence
120  Were enough noble to be upright judge
121  Of noble Richard! then true noblesse would
122  Learn him forbearance from so foul a wrong.
123  What subject can give sentence on his king?
124  And who sits here that is not Richard's subject?
125  Thieves are not judged but they are by to hear,
126  Although apparent guilt be seen in them;
127  And shall the figure of God's majesty,
128  His captain, steward, deputy-elect,
129  Anointed, crowned, planted many years,
130  Be judged by subject and inferior breath,
131  And he himself not present? O, forfend it, God,
132  That in a Christian climate souls refined
133  Should show so heinous, black, obscene a deed!
134  I speak to subjects, and a subject speaks,
135  Stirr'd up by God, thus boldly for his king:
136  My Lord of Hereford here, whom you call king,
137  Is a foul traitor to proud Hereford's king:
138  And if you crown him, let me prophesy:
139  The blood of English shall manure the ground,
140  And future ages groan for this foul act;
141  Peace shall go sleep with Turks and infidels,
142  And in this seat of peace tumultuous wars
143  Shall kin with kin and kind with kind confound;
144  Disorder, horror, fear and mutiny
145  Shall here inhabit, and this land be call'd
146  The field of Golgotha and dead men's skulls.
147  O, if you raise this house against this house,
148  It will the woefullest division prove
149  That ever fell upon this cursed earth.
150  Prevent it, resist it, let it not be so,
151  Lest child, child's children, cry against you woe!

152  Well have you argued, sir; and, for your pains,
153  Of capital treason we arrest you here.
154  My Lord of Westminster, be it your charge
155  To keep him safely till his day of trial.
156  May it please you, lords, to grant the commons' suit.

157  Fetch hither Richard, that in common view
158  He may surrender; so we shall proceed
159  Without suspicion.

160  I will be his conduct.

161  Lords, you that here are under our arrest,
162  Procure your sureties for your days of answer.
163  Little are we beholding to your love,
164  And little look'd for at your helping hands.

165  Alack, why am I sent for to a king,
166  Before I have shook off the regal thoughts
167  Wherewith I reign'd? I hardly yet have learn'd
168  To insinuate, flatter, bow, and bend my limbs:
169  Give sorrow leave awhile to tutor me
170  To this submission. Yet I well remember
171  The favours of these men: were they not mine?
172  Did they not sometime cry, 'all hail!' to me?
173  So Judas did to Christ: but he, in twelve,
174  Found truth in all but one: I, in twelve thousand, none.
175  God save the king! Will no man say amen?
176  Am I both priest and clerk? well then, amen.
177  God save the king! although I be not he;
178  And yet, amen, if heaven do think him me.
179  To do what service am I sent for hither?

180  To do that office of thine own good will
181  Which tired majesty did make thee offer,
182  The resignation of thy state and crown
183  To Henry Bolingbroke.

184  Give me the crown. Here, cousin, seize the crown;
185  Here cousin:
186  On this side my hand, and on that side yours.
187  Now is this golden crown like a deep well
188  That owes two buckets, filling one another,
189  The emptier ever dancing in the air,
190  The other down, unseen and full of water:
191  That bucket down and full of tears am I,
192  Drinking my griefs, whilst you mount up on high.

193  I thought you had been willing to resign.

194  My crown I am; but still my griefs are mine:
195  You may my glories and my state depose,
196  But not my griefs; still am I king of those.

197  Part of your cares you give me with your crown.

198  Your cares set up do not pluck my cares down.
199  My care is loss of care, by old care done;
200  Your care is gain of care, by new care won:
201  The cares I give I have, though given away;
202  They tend the crown, yet still with me they stay.

203  Are you contented to resign the crown?

204  Ay, no; no, ay; for I must nothing be;
205  Therefore no no, for I resign to thee.
206  Now mark me, how I will undo myself;
207  I give this heavy weight from off my head
208  And this unwieldy sceptre from my hand,
209  The pride of kingly sway from out my heart;
210  With mine own tears I wash away my balm,
211  With mine own hands I give away my crown,
212  With mine own tongue deny my sacred state,
213  With mine own breath release all duty's rites:
214  All pomp and majesty I do forswear;
215  My manors, rents, revenues I forego;
216  My acts, decrees, and statutes I deny:
217  God pardon all oaths that are broke to me!
218  God keep all vows unbroke that swear to thee!
219  Make me, that nothing have, with nothing grieved,
220  And thou with all pleased, that hast all achieved!
221  Long mayst thou live in Richard's seat to sit,
222  And soon lie Richard in an earthly pit!
223  God save King Harry, unking'd Richard says,
224  And send him many years of sunshine days!
225  What more remains?

226  No more, but that you read
227  These accusations and these grievous crimes
228  Committed by your person and your followers
229  Against the state and profit of this land;
230  That, by confessing them, the souls of men
231  May deem that you are worthily deposed.

232  Must I do so? and must I ravel out
233  My weaved-up folly? Gentle Northumberland,
234  If thy offences were upon record,
235  Would it not shame thee in so fair a troop
236  To read a lecture of them? If thou wouldst,
237  There shouldst thou find one heinous article,
238  Containing the deposing of a king
239  And cracking the strong warrant of an oath,
240  Mark'd with a blot, damn'd in the book of heaven:
241  Nay, all of you that stand and look upon,
242  Whilst that my wretchedness doth bait myself,
243  Though some of you with Pilate wash your hands
244  Showing an outward pity; yet you Pilates
245  Have here deliver'd me to my sour cross,
246  And water cannot wash away your sin.

247  My lord, dispatch; read o'er these articles.

248  Mine eyes are full of tears, I cannot see:
249  And yet salt water blinds them not so much
250  But they can see a sort of traitors here.
251  Nay, if I turn mine eyes upon myself,
252  I find myself a traitor with the rest;
253  For I have given here my soul's consent
254  To undeck the pompous body of a king;
255  Made glory base and sovereignty a slave,
256  Proud majesty a subject, state a peasant.

257  My lord,--

258  No lord of thine, thou haught insulting man,
259  Nor no man's lord; I have no name, no title,
260  No, not that name was given me at the font,
261  But 'tis usurp'd: alack the heavy day,
262  That I have worn so many winters out,
263  And know not now what name to call myself!
264  O that I were a mockery king of snow,
265  Standing before the sun of Bolingbroke,
266  To melt myself away in water-drops!
267  Good king, great king, and yet not greatly good,
268  An if my word be sterling yet in England,
269  Let it command a mirror hither straight,
270  That it may show me what a face I have,
271  Since it is bankrupt of his majesty.

272  Go some of you and fetch a looking-glass.

273  Read o'er this paper while the glass doth come.

274  Fiend, thou torment'st me ere I come to hell!

275  Urge it no more, my Lord Northumberland.

276  The commons will not then be satisfied.

277  They shall be satisfied: I'll read enough,
278  When I do see the very book indeed
279  Where all my sins are writ, and that's myself.
Re-enter Attendant, with a glass
280  Give me the glass, and therein will I read.
281  No deeper wrinkles yet? hath sorrow struck
282  So many blows upon this face of mine,
283  And made no deeper wounds? O flattering glass,
284  Like to my followers in prosperity,
285  Thou dost beguile me! Was this face the face
286  That every day under his household roof
287  Did keep ten thousand men? was this the face
288  That, like the sun, did make beholders wink?
289  Was this the face that faced so many follies,
290  And was at last out-faced by Bolingbroke?
291  A brittle glory shineth in this face:
292  As brittle as the glory is the face;
Dashes the glass against the ground
293  For there it is, crack'd in a hundred shivers.
294  Mark, silent king, the moral of this sport,
295  How soon my sorrow hath destroy'd my face.

296  The shadow of your sorrow hath destroy'd
297  The shadow or your face.

298  Say that again.
299  The shadow of my sorrow! ha! let's see:
300  'Tis very true, my grief lies all within;
301  And these external manners of laments
302  Are merely shadows to the unseen grief
303  That swells with silence in the tortured soul;
304  There lies the substance: and I thank thee, king,
305  For thy great bounty, that not only givest
306  Me cause to wail but teachest me the way
307  How to lament the cause. I'll beg one boon,
308  And then be gone and trouble you no more.
309  Shall I obtain it?

310  Name it, fair cousin.

311  'Fair cousin'? I am greater than a king:
312  For when I was a king, my flatterers
313  Were then but subjects; being now a subject,
314  I have a king here to my flatterer.
315  Being so great, I have no need to beg.

316  Yet ask.

317  And shall I have?

318  You shall.

319  Then give me leave to go.

320  Whither?

321  Whither you will, so I were from your sights.

322  Go, some of you convey him to the Tower.

323  O, good! convey? conveyers are you all,
324  That rise thus nimbly by a true king's fall.

325  On Wednesday next we solemnly set down
326  Our coronation: lords, prepare yourselves.

327  A woeful pageant have we here beheld.

328  The woe's to come; the children yet unborn.
329  Shall feel this day as sharp to them as thorn.

330  You holy clergymen, is there no plot
331  To rid the realm of this pernicious blot?

332  My lord,
333  Before I freely speak my mind herein,
334  You shall not only take the sacrament
335  To bury mine intents, but also to effect
336  Whatever I shall happen to devise.
337  I see your brows are full of discontent,
338  Your hearts of sorrow and your eyes of tears:
339  Come home with me to supper; and I'll lay
340  A plot shall show us all a merry day.