My noble uncle! [Kneels.

York. Show me thy humble heart, and not thy

knee,

Whose duty is deceivable and false.

Boling. My gracious uncle

York. Tut, tut!

Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle :

I am no traitor's uncle; and that word 'grace'
In an ungracious mouth is but profane.
Why have those banish'd and forbidden legs
Dared once to touch a dust 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 despised arms?

Comest thou because the 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 Prince, 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 palsy, chastise thee

And minister correction to thy fault!

Boling. My gracious uncle, let me know my fault:

On what condition stands it and wherein ?

York. Even in condition of the worst degree,

In gross

rebellion and detested treason:

84. deceivable, deceptive.

95. despised, despicable, base (as taking a mean advantage of the absent time').

100. As when brave Gaunt,

etc.

gined.

90

100

The incident is ima

107. On what condition, what is its nature and in what does it consist?

Thou art a banish'd man, and here art come
Before the expiration of thy time,

In braving arms against thy sovereign.

Boling. As I was banish'd, I was banish'd
Hereford;

eye:

But as I come, I come for Lancaster.
And, noble uncle, I beseech your grace
Look on my wrongs with an indifferent
You are my father, for methinks in you
I see old Gaunt alive; O, then, my father,
Will you permit that I shall stand condemn'd
A wandering vagabond; my rights and royalties
Pluck'd from my arms perforce and given away
To upstart unthrifts? 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 cousin ;
Had you first died, and he been thus trod down,
He should have found his uncle Gaunt a father,
To rouse his wrongs and chase them to the bay.
I am denied to sue my livery here,
And yet my letters-patents give me leave:
My father's goods are all distrain'd and sold,
And these and all are all amiss employ'd.
What would you have me do? I am a subject,
And I challenge law attorneys are denied me;
And therefore personally I lay my claim

To my inheritance of free descent.

North. The noble duke hath been too much abused.

Ross. It stands your grace upon to do him right. Willo. Base men by his endowments are made great.

ΙΙΟ

120

130

138. stands cumbent upon.

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 kind to come, in braving arms,
Be his own carver and cut out his way,

To find out right with wrong, it may not be;
And you that do abet him in this kind
Cherish rebellion and are rebels all.

North. 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 issue of these arms :

I cannot mend it, I must needs confess,
Because my power is weak and all ill left:
But if I could, by Him that gave me life,
I would attach 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 neuter. So, fare you well;
Unless you please to enter in the castle
And there repose you for this night.

Boling. An offer, uncle, that we will accept :
But we must win your grace to go with us
To Bristol castle, which they say is held
By Bushy, Bagot and their complices,
The caterpillars 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.

140

150

160

170

SCENE IV. A camp in Wales.

Enter SALISBURY and a Welsh Captain.

Cap. My Lord of Salisbury, we have stay'd ten
days,

And hardly kept our countrymen together,
And yet we hear no tidings from the king;
Therefore we will disperse ourselves: farewell.
Sal. Stay yet another day, thou trusty Welsh-

man:

The king reposeth all his confidence in thee.
Cap. 'Tis thought the king is dead; we will
not stay.

The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd
And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven;
The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth
And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change;
Rich men look sad and ruffians dance and leap,
The one in fear to lose what they enjoy,
The other to enjoy by rage and war:
These signs forerun the death or fall of kings.
Farewell our countrymen are gone and fled,
As well assured Richard their king is dead.

[Exit.

Sal. Ah, Richard, with the eyes of heavy mind
I see thy glory like a shooting star
Fall to the base earth from the firmament.
Thy sun sets weeping in the lowly west,
Witnessing storms to come, woe and unrest :
Thy friends are fled to wait upon thy foes,
And crossly to thy good all fortune goes.

11. lean-look'd, lean-looking.

[Exit.

ΤΟ

20

ACT III.

SCENE I. Bristol. Before the castle.

Enter BOLINGBROKE, YORK, NORTHUMBERLAND,
Ross, PERCY, WILLOUGHBY, with BUSHY and
GREEN, prisoners.

Boling. Bring forth these men.

Bushy and Green, I will not vex your souls-
Since presently your souls must part your bodies-
With too much urging 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 of your deaths.
You have misled a prince, a royal king,
A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments,
By you unhappied and disfigured clean:
You have in manner with your sinful hours
Made a divorce betwixt his queen and him,
Broke the possession of a royal bed

And stain'd the beauty of a fair queen's cheeks
With tears drawn from her eyes by 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 stoop'd my neck under your injuries,
And sigh'd my English breath in foreign clouds,
Eating the bitter bread of banishment;

3. part, depart from.
9. happy, well endowed (in
blood and lineaments).

ΤΟ

20

20. clouds. That sighs turn into clouds is a recurring fancy in Shakespeare's earlier work.