And spur thee on with full as many

lies

As may be holloa'd in thy treacherous ear
From sun to sun: there is my honour's pawn;
Engage it to the trial, if thou darest.

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.

Surrey. My Lord Fitzwater, I do remember well 60 The very time Aumerle and you did talk.

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

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

true.

Fitz. Surrey, thou liest.

Surrey.

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 skull:

In proof whereof, there is my honour's pawn;
Engage it to the trial, if thou darest.

Fitz. How fondly dost thou spur a forward
horse!

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

I dare meet Surrey 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

53. full as many lies, giving thee to lie as many times.

55. sun to sun; Capell's emendation of Qq 'sinne to sinne.'

70

80

57. sets me, challenges me; properly said of challenging to a match by staking (at cards, dice, etc.).

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, restored again

To all his lands 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, retired 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 surely 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 sceptre yields

To the possession of thy royal hand:

Ascend his throne, descending now from him;
And long live Henry, fourth of that name!
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 noblesse 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 judged 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 judged by subject and inferior breath,
And he himself not present? O, forfend it, God,
That in a Christian climate souls refined
Should show so heinous, black, obscene a deed!
I speak to subjects, and a subject speaks,
Stirr'd up by God, thus boldly for his king.
My Lord of Hereford here, whom you call king,
Is a foul traitor to proud Hereford's king:
And if you crown him, let me prophesy :
The blood of English shall manure the ground,
And future ages groan for this foul act;

114 - 149. Carlisle's speech was actually delivered, according to Holinshed, after Richard had abdicated and Henry been proclaimed king. His subsequent arrest for treason (v. 151) becomes therefore in Shakespeare's version a more violent act.

120

130

115. Worst, meanest, least qualified (yet one whom it best beseems, etc.).

130. climate, region.

ib. refined, i.e. purified by their Christian faith.

131. obscene, foul.

Peace shall go sleep with Turks and infidels,
And in this seat of peace tumultuous wars
Shall kin with kin and kind with kind confound;
Disorder, horror, fear and mutiny

Shall here inhabit, and this land be call'd
The field of Golgotha and dead men's skulls.
O, if
you raise this house against this house,
It will the woefullest division prove
That ever fell upon this cursed earth.
Prevent it, resist it, let it not be so,

Lest child, child's children, cry against you 'woe!' North. Well have you argued, sir; and, for your pains,

Of capital treason we arrest you here.

My Lord of Westminster, be it your charge

To keep him safely till his day of trial.

May it please you, lords, to grant the commons' suit.

Boling. Fetch hither Richard, that in common view

He may surrender; so we shall proceed

Without suspicion.

York.

I will be his conduct. [Exit. Boling. Lords, you that here are under our

arrest,

Procure your sureties for your days of answer.
Little are we beholding to your love,

And little look'd for at your helping hands.

Re-enter YORK, with RICHARD, and Officers
bearing the regalia.

K. Rich. Alack, why am I sent for to a king,
Before I have shook off the regal thoughts

152. My Lord of Westminster, the Abbot of Westminster. According to Holinshed he was con

140

150

160

fined in the abbey of St. Alban's. 154-318. Omitted from Qq1, 2 See Introduction.

Wherewith I reign'd? I hardly yet have learn'd
To insinuate, flatter, bow, and bend my limbs :
Give sorrow leave awhile to tutor me

To this submission. Yet I well remember
The favours of these men were they not mine?
Did they not sometime cry, 'all hail!' to me?
So Judas did to Christ: but he, in twelve,
Found truth in all but one; I, in twelve thousand,

none.

God save the king! Will no man say amen?
Am I both priest and clerk? well then, amen.
God save the king! although I be not he;
And yet, amen, if heaven do think him me.
To do what service am I sent for hither?

York. To do that office of thine own good will
Which tired majesty did make thee offer,
The resignation of thy state and crown

To Henry Bolingbroke.

K. Rich. Give me the crown. Here, cousin,

seize the crown;

Here cousin ;

On this side my hand, and on that side yours.
Now is this golden crown like a deep well
That owes two buckets, filling one another,
The emptier ever dancing in the air,
The other down, unseen and full of water :
That bucket down and full of tears am I,

170

180

Drinking my griefs, whilst you mount up on high. Boling. I thought you had been willing to resign. 190 K. Rich. My crown I am; but still my griefs

are mine:

You may my glories and my state depose,

But not my griefs; still am I king of those,
Boling. Part of your cares you give me with
your crown.

168. favours, features.