ACT IV. SCENE I.

LONDON.

WESTMINSTER HALL.

The Lords spiritual, on the right side of the throne; the Lords temporal, on the left; the Commons below. Enter Bolingbroke, Aumerle, Surry, Northumberland, Percy, Fitzwater, another Lord, Bishop of Carlisle, Abbot of Westminster, and Attendants. Officers behind, with Bagot.

Boling. Call forth Bagot:

Now, Bagot, freely speak thy mind;

What thou dost know of noble Glo'ster's death; Who wrought it with the king, and who perform'd The bloody office of his timeless end.

Bagot. Then set before my face the lord Aumerle. Boling. Cousin, stand forth, and look upon that

man.

Bagot. My lord Aumerle, I know, your daring

tongue

Scorns to unsay what once it hath deliver'd.
In that dead time when Glo'ster's death was plotted,
I heard you say,-Is not my arm of length,
That reacheth from the restful English court
As far as Calais, to my uncle's head?
Amongst much other talk, that very time,
I heard you say, that you had rather refuse
The offer of an hundred thousand crowns,
Than Bolingbroke's return to England;
Adding withal, how blest this land would be,

Princes, and noble lords,

In this your cousin's death.

Aum.
What answer shall I make to this base man?

Shall I so much dishonour my
fair stars,
On equal terms to give him chastisement?
Either I must, or have mine honour soil'd
With the attainder of his sland'rous lips.
There is my gage, the manual seal of death,
That marks thee out for hell: I say, thou liest,
And will maintain, what thou hast said, is false,
In thy heart-blood, though being all too base
To stain the temper of my knightly sword.

Boling. Bagot, forbear, thou shalt not take it up. Aum. Excepting one, I would he were the best In all this presence, that hath mov'd me so.

Fitz. If that thy valour stand on sympathies, There is my gage, Aumerle, in gage to thine: By that fair sun that shows me where thou stand'st, I heard thee say, and vauntingly thou spak'st it, That thou wert cause of noble Glo'ster's death. If thou deny'st it, twenty times thou liest; And I will turn thy falsehood to thy heart, Where it was forged, with my rapier's point.

Aum. Thou dar'st not, coward, live to see that day. Fitz. Now, by my soul, I would it were this hour. Aum. Fitzwater, thou art damn'd to hell for this. Percy. Aumerle, thou liest; his honour is as true, In this appeal, as thou art all unjust:

And, that thou art so, there I throw my gage,
To
prove it on thee to the extremest point
Of mortal breathing; seize it, if thou dar'st.

Aum. And if I do not, may my hands rot off,

And never brandish more revengeful steel

Over the glittering helmet of my foe!

Lord. I take the earth to the like, forsworn
Aumerle;

And spur thee on with full as many lies
As may be holla'd in thy treacherous ear
From sun to sun: there is my honour's
Engage it to the trial, if thou dar'st.

pawn;

Aum. Who sets me else? by heaven, I'll throw. at all:

I have a thousand spirits in one breast,

To answer twenty thousand such as you.

Surry. My lord Fitzwater, I do remember well The very time Aumerle and you did talk.

Fitz. My lord, 'tis true: you were in

presence then; And you can witness with me, this is true.

Surry. As false, by heaven, as heaven itself is

true.

Fitz. Surry, thou liest.

Surry.

Dishonourable boy!
That lie shall lie so heavy on my sword,
That it shall render vengeance and revenge,
Till thou the lie-giver, and that lie, do lie
In earth as quiet as thy father's scull.
In proof whereof, there is my honour's
Engage it to the trial, if thou dar'st.

pawn;

Fitz. How fondly dost thou spur a forward horse!

If I dare eat, or drink, or breathe, or live,

I dare meet Surry in a wilderness,

And spit upon him, whilst I say, he lies,

And lies, and lies: there is my bond of faith,

To tie thee to my strong correction.

As I intend to thrive in this new world,
Aumerle is guilty of my true appeal:

Besides, I heard the banish'd Norfolk say,
That thou, Aumerle, didst send two of thy men
To execute the noble duke at Calais.

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

Boling. These differences shall all rest under

gage,

Till Norfolk be repeal'd: repeal'd he shall be,
And, though mine enemy, restor❜d again

To all his land and signories; when he's return'd,
Against Aumerle we will enforce his trial.

Car. That honourable day shall ne'er be seen.Many a time hath banish'd Norfolk fought For Jesu Christ; in glorious Christian field Streaming the ensign of the Christian cross, Against black pagans, Turks, and Saracens: And, toil'd with works of war, retir'd himself To Italy; and there, at Venice, gave His body to that pleasant country's earth, And his pure soul unto his captain Christ, Under whose colours he had fought so long. Boling. Why, bishop, is Norfolk dead? Car. As sure as I live, my lord.

Boling. Sweet peace conduct his sweet soul to
the bosom

Of good old Abraham!-Lords appellants,
Your differences shall all rest under gage,

Till we assign you to your days of trial.

Enter York, attended.

York. Great duke of Lancaster, I come to thee From plume-pluck'd Richard; who with willing soul Adopts thee heir, and his high scepter yields

To the possession of thy royal hand:

Ascend his throne, descending now from him,— And long live Henry, of that name the fourth! Boling. In God's name, I'll ascend the regal throne.

Car. Marry, God forbid !—

Worst in this royal presence may I speak,
Yet best beseeming me to speak the truth.
Would God, that any in this noble presence
Were enough noble to be upright judge
Of noble Richard; then true nobless would
Learn him forbearance from so foul a wrong.
What subject can give sentence on his king?
And who sits here, that is not Richard's subject?
Thieves are not judg'd, but they are by to hear,
Although apparent guilt be seen in them:
And shall the figure of God's majesty,
His captain, steward, deputy elect,
Anointed, crowned, planted many years,
Be judg'd by subject and inferior breath,
And he himself not present? O, forbid it, God,
That, in a Christian climate, souls refin'd
Should show so heinous, black, obscene a deed!
I speak to subjects, and a subject speaks,
Stirr'd up by heaven thus boldly for his king.
My lord of Hereford here, whom you call king,
Is a foul traitor to proud Hereford's king: