1    Old John of Gaunt, time-honour'd Lancaster,
2    Hast thou, according to thy oath and band,
3    Brought hither Henry Hereford thy bold son,
4    Here to make good the boisterous late appeal,
5    Which then our leisure would not let us hear,
6    Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?

7    I have, my liege.

8    Tell me, moreover, hast thou sounded him,
9    If he appeal the duke on ancient malice;
10   Or worthily, as a good subject should,
11   On some known ground of treachery in him?

12   As near as I could sift him on that argument,
13   On some apparent danger seen in him
14   Aim'd at your highness, no inveterate malice.

15   Then call them to our presence; face to face,
16   And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear
17   The accuser and the accused freely speak:
18   High-stomach'd are they both, and full of ire,
19   In rage deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.

20   Many years of happy days befal
21   My gracious sovereign, my most loving liege!

22   Each day still better other's happiness;
23   Until the heavens, envying earth's good hap,
24   Add an immortal title to your crown!

25   We thank you both: yet one but flatters us,
26   As well appeareth by the cause you come;
27   Namely to appeal each other of high treason.
28   Cousin of Hereford, what dost thou object
29   Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?

30   First, heaven be the record to my speech!
31   In the devotion of a subject's love,
32   Tendering the precious safety of my prince,
33   And free from other misbegotten hate,
34   Come I appellant to this princely presence.
35   Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee,
36   And mark my greeting well; for what I speak
37   My body shall make good upon this earth,
38   Or my divine soul answer it in heaven.
39   Thou art a traitor and a miscreant,
40   Too good to be so and too bad to live,
41   Since the more fair and crystal is the sky,
42   The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly.
43   Once more, the more to aggravate the note,
44   With a foul traitor's name stuff I thy throat;
45   And wish, so please my sovereign, ere I move,
46   What my tongue speaks my right drawn sword may prove.

47   Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal:
48   'Tis not the trial of a woman's war,
49   The bitter clamour of two eager tongues,
50   Can arbitrate this cause betwixt us twain;
51   The blood is hot that must be cool'd for this:
52   Yet can I not of such tame patience boast
53   As to be hush'd and nought at all to say:
54   First, the fair reverence of your highness curbs me
55   From giving reins and spurs to my free speech;
56   Which else would post until it had return'd
57   These terms of treason doubled down his throat.
58   Setting aside his high blood's royalty,
59   And let him be no kinsman to my liege,
60   I do defy him, and I spit at him;
61   Call him a slanderous coward and a villain:
62   Which to maintain I would allow him odds,
63   And meet him, were I tied to run afoot
64   Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,
65   Or any other ground inhabitable,
66   Where ever Englishman durst set his foot.
67   Mean time let this defend my loyalty,
68   By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie.

69   Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage,
70   Disclaiming here the kindred of the king,
71   And lay aside my high blood's royalty,
72   Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except.
73   If guilty dread have left thee so much strength
74   As to take up mine honour's pawn, then stoop:
75   By that and all the rites of knighthood else,
76   Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,
77   What I have spoke, or thou canst worse devise.

78   I take it up; and by that sword I swear
79   Which gently laid my knighthood on my shoulder,
80   I'll answer thee in any fair degree,
81   Or chivalrous design of knightly trial:
82   And when I mount, alive may I not light,
83   If I be traitor or unjustly fight!

84   What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray's charge?
85   It must be great that can inherit us
86   So much as of a thought of ill in him.

87   Look, what I speak, my life shall prove it true;
88   That Mowbray hath received eight thousand nobles
89   In name of lendings for your highness' soldiers,
90   The which he hath detain'd for lewd employments,
91   Like a false traitor and injurious villain.
92   Besides I say and will in battle prove,
93   Or here or elsewhere to the furthest verge
94   That ever was survey'd by English eye,
95   That all the treasons for these eighteen years
96   Complotted and contrived in this land
97   Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring.
98   Further I say and further will maintain
99   Upon his bad life to make all this good,
100  That he did plot the Duke of Gloucester's death,
101  Suggest his soon-believing adversaries,
102  And consequently, like a traitor coward,
103  Sluiced out his innocent soul through streams of blood:
104  Which blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries,
105  Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth,
106  To me for justice and rough chastisement;
107  And, by the glorious worth of my descent,
108  This arm shall do it, or this life be spent.

109  How high a pitch his resolution soars!
110  Thomas of Norfolk, what say'st thou to this?

111  O, let my sovereign turn away his face
112  And bid his ears a little while be deaf,
113  Till I have told this slander of his blood,
114  How God and good men hate so foul a liar.

115  Mowbray, impartial are our eyes and ears:
116  Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir,
117  As he is but my father's brother's son,
118  Now, by my sceptre's awe, I make a vow,
119  Such neighbour nearness to our sacred blood
120  Should nothing privilege him, nor partialize
121  The unstooping firmness of my upright soul:
122  He is our subject, Mowbray; so art thou:
123  Free speech and fearless I to thee allow.

124  Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart,
125  Through the false passage of thy throat, thou liest.
126  Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais
127  Disbursed I duly to his highness' soldiers;
128  The other part reserved I by consent,
129  For that my sovereign liege was in my debt
130  Upon remainder of a dear account,
131  Since last I went to France to fetch his queen:
132  Now swallow down that lie. For Gloucester's death,
133  I slew him not; but to my own disgrace
134  Neglected my sworn duty in that case.
135  For you, my noble Lord of Lancaster,
136  The honourable father to my foe
137  Once did I lay an ambush for your life,
138  A trespass that doth vex my grieved soul
139  But ere I last received the sacrament
140  I did confess it, and exactly begg'd
141  Your grace's pardon, and I hope I had it.
142  This is my fault: as for the rest appeall'd,
143  It issues from the rancour of a villain,
144  A recreant and most degenerate traitor
145  Which in myself I boldly will defend;
146  And interchangeably hurl down my gage
147  Upon this overweening traitor's foot,
148  To prove myself a loyal gentleman
149  Even in the best blood chamber'd in his bosom.
150  In haste whereof, most heartily I pray
151  Your highness to assign our trial day.

152  Wrath-kindled gentlemen, be ruled by me;
153  Let's purge this choler without letting blood:
154  This we prescribe, though no physician;
155  Deep malice makes too deep incision;
156  Forget, forgive; conclude and be agreed;
157  Our doctors say this is no month to bleed.
158  Good uncle, let this end where it begun;
159  We'll calm the Duke of Norfolk, you your son.

160  To be a make-peace shall become my age:
161  Throw down, my son, the Duke of Norfolk's gage.

162  And, Norfolk, throw down his.

163  When, Harry, when?
164  Obedience bids I should not bid again.

165  Norfolk, throw down, we bid; there is no boot.

166  Myself I throw, dread sovereign, at thy foot.
167  My life thou shalt command, but not my shame:
168  The one my duty owes; but my fair name,
169  Despite of death that lives upon my grave,
170  To dark dishonour's use thou shalt not have.
171  I am disgraced, impeach'd and baffled here,
172  Pierced to the soul with slander's venom'd spear,
173  The which no balm can cure but his heart-blood
174  Which breathed this poison.

175  Rage must be withstood:
176  Give me his gage: lions make leopards tame.

177  Yea, but not change his spots: take but my shame.
178  And I resign my gage. My dear dear lord,
179  The purest treasure mortal times afford
180  Is spotless reputation: that away,
181  Men are but gilded loam or painted clay.
182  A jewel in a ten-times-barr'd-up chest
183  Is a bold spirit in a loyal breast.
184  Mine honour is my life; both grow in one:
185  Take honour from me, and my life is done:
186  Then, dear my liege, mine honour let me try;
187  In that I live and for that will I die.

188  Cousin, throw up your gage; do you begin.

189  O, God defend my soul from such deep sin!
190  Shall I seem crest-fall'n in my father's sight?
191  Or with pale beggar-fear impeach my height
192  Before this out-dared dastard? Ere my tongue
193  Shall wound my honour with such feeble wrong,
194  Or sound so base a parle, my teeth shall tear
195  The slavish motive of recanting fear,
196  And spit it bleeding in his high disgrace,
197  Where shame doth harbour, even in Mowbray's face.

198  We were not born to sue, but to command;
199  Which since we cannot do to make you friends,
200  Be ready, as your lives shall answer it,
201  At Coventry, upon Saint Lambert's day:
202  There shall your swords and lances arbitrate
203  The swelling difference of your settled hate:
204  Since we can not atone you, we shall see
205  Justice design the victor's chivalry.
206  Lord marshal, command our officers at arms
207  Be ready to direct these home alarms.