Richard II (9 page)

YORK
    What is’t, knave?

SERVANT
    An hour before I came, the duchess died.

YORK
    
Heav’n
⁹⁹
for his mercy! What a tide of woes
    Come rushing on this woeful land at once!
    I know not what to do. I
would
¹⁰¹
to heaven —
    
So
¹⁰²
my untruth had not provoked him to it —
    The king had cut off my head with my
brother’s
¹⁰³
.
    What, are there
posts
¹⁰⁴
dispatched for Ireland?
    How shall we
do
¹⁰⁵
for money for these wars?
    Come, sister — cousin, I would say — pray, pardon me.—

To Queen

    Go, fellow, get thee home, provide some carts

To Servant

    And bring away the armour that is there.—

[
Exit Servant
]

    Gentlemen, will you
muster
¹⁰⁹
men?
    If I know how or which way to order these affairs
    Thus disorderly thrust into my hands,
    Never believe me. Both are my kinsmen.
    Th’one is my sovereign, whom both my
oath
¹¹³
    And duty bids defend: th’other again
    Is my kinsman, whom the king hath wronged,
    Whom conscience and my
kindred
¹¹⁶
bids to right.
    Well,
somewhat
¹¹⁷
we must do.— Come, cousin, I’ll
    
Dispose of
¹¹⁸
you.—
    Gentlemen, go muster up your men,
    And meet me presently at
Berkeley Castle
¹²⁰
.
    I should to Plashy too,
    But time will not permit. All is uneven,
    And everything is left
at six and seven
¹²³
.

Exeunt
[
York and Queen
]

BUSHY
    The wind
sits
¹²⁴
fair for news to go to Ireland,
    But none returns. For us to levy
power
¹²⁵
    Proportionable to th’enemy
    Is all impossible.

GREEN
    Besides, our nearness to the king in love
    Is near the hate of
those
¹²⁹
love not the king.

BAGOT
    And that’s the wavering commons, for their love
    Lies in their purses, and whoso empties them,
    By so much fills their hearts with deadly hate.

BUSHY
    Wherein the king stands
generally
¹³³
condemned.

BAGOT
    If
judgement lie in them, then so do we
¹³⁴
,
    Because we have been ever near the king.

GREEN
    Well, I will for refuge
straight
¹³⁶
to Bristol Castle.
    The Earl of Wiltshire is already there.

BUSHY
    Thither will I with you, for little
office
¹³⁸
    Will the
hateful
¹³⁹
commons perform for us,
    Except like
curs
¹⁴⁰
to tear us all in pieces.
    Will you go along with us?

To Bagot

BAGOT
    No, I will to Ireland to his majesty.
    Farewell. If heart’s
presages
¹⁴³
be not vain,
    We three here part that ne’er shall meet again.

BUSHY
    That’s
as
¹⁴⁵
York thrives to beat back Bullingbrook.

GREEN
    Alas, poor duke! The task he undertakes
    Is numb’ring sands and drinking oceans dry.
    Where one on his side fights, thousands will fly.

BUSHY
    Farewell at once, for once, for all, and ever.
    Well, we may meet again.

BAGOT
    I fear me, never.

Exeunt

Location:
Gloucestershire

Enter the Duke of Hereford
[
Bullingbrook
]
and Northumberland

BULLINGBROOK
    How far is it, my lord, to Berkeley now?

NORTHUMBERLAND
    Believe me, noble lord,
    I am a stranger here in Gloucestershire.
    These high wild hills and rough uneven ways
    Draws out our miles, and makes them wearisome.
    And yet our fair discourse hath been as sugar,
    Making the hard way sweet and delectable.
    But I bethink me what a weary way
    From Ravenspurgh to
Cottshold
⁹
will be found
    
In
¹⁰
Ross and Willoughby, wanting your company,
    Which, I protest, hath very much
beguiled
¹¹
    The
tediousness and process
¹²
of my travel.
    But theirs is sweetened with the hope to have
    The present benefit that I possess;
    And hope to joy is little less in joy
    Than hope enjoyed.
By this
¹⁶
the weary lords
    Shall make their way seem short, as mine hath done
    By sight of what I have, your noble company.

BULLINGBROOK
    Of much less value is my company
    Than your good words. But who comes here?

Enter Harry Percy

NORTHUMBERLAND
    It is my son, young Harry Percy,
    Sent from my brother Worcester,
whencesoever
²²
.—
    Harry, how fares your uncle?

PERCY
    I had thought, my lord, to have learned his health of you.

NORTHUMBERLAND
    Why, is he not with the queen?

PERCY
    No, my good lord. He hath
forsook
²⁶
the court,
    Broken his staff of office and dispersed
    The household of the king.

NORTHUMBERLAND
    What was his reason?
    He was not so resolved when we last spake together.

PERCY
    Because your lordship was proclaimèd traitor.
    But he, my lord, is gone to Ravenspurgh
    To offer service to the Duke of Hereford,
    And sent me over by Berkeley to discover
    What power the Duke of York had
levied
³⁵
there,
    Then with direction to
repair
³⁶
to Ravenspurgh.

NORTHUMBERLAND
    Have you forgot the Duke of Hereford, boy?

PERCY
    No, my good lord, for that is not forgot
    Which ne’er I did remember: to my knowledge,
    I never in my life did look on him.

NORTHUMBERLAND
    Then learn to know him now: this is the duke.

PERCY
    My gracious lord, I
tender
⁴²
you my service,
    Such as it is, being tender, raw and young,
    Which elder days shall ripen and confirm
    To more
approvèd
⁴⁵
service and desert.

BULLINGBROOK
    I thank thee,
gentle
⁴⁶
Percy, and be sure
    I count myself in nothing else so happy
    As in a soul rememb’ring my good friends.
    And as my
fortune
⁴⁹
ripens with thy love,
    It shall be
still
⁵⁰
thy true love’s recompense.
    My heart this covenant makes, my hand thus seals it.

Gives Percy his hand

NORTHUMBERLAND
    How far is it to Berkeley? And what
stir
⁵²
    Keeps good old York there with his men of war?

PERCY
    There stands the castle, by
yond
⁵⁴
tuft of trees,
    Manned with three hundred men, as I have heard.
    And in it are the Lords of York, Berkeley and Seymour,
    None else of name and noble
estimate
⁵⁷
.

Enter Ross and Willoughby

NORTHUMBERLAND
    Here come the Lords of Ross and Willoughby,
    Bloody with
spurring
⁵⁹
, fiery-red with haste.

BULLINGBROOK
    Welcome, my lords. I
wot
⁶⁰
your love pursues
    A banished traitor. All my treasury
    Is yet but
unfelt
⁶²
thanks, which more enriched
    Shall be your love and labour’s recompense.

ROSS
    Your presence makes us rich, most noble lord.

WILLOUGHBY
    And far surmounts our labour to attain it.

BULLINGBROOK
    Evermore
thanks — th’exchequer of the poor
⁶⁶
,
    Which, till my infant fortune
comes to years
⁶⁷
,
    Stands for my bounty. But who comes here?

Enter Berkeley

NORTHUMBERLAND
    It is my Lord of Berkeley, as I guess.

BERKELEY
    My Lord of Hereford, my message is to you.

BULLINGBROOK
    
My lord, my answer is — to Lancaster
⁷¹
,
    And I am come to seek that name in England.
    And I must find that title in your tongue,
    Before I make reply to
aught
⁷⁴
you say.

BERKELEY
    Mistake me not, my lord, ’tis not my meaning
    To
raze
⁷⁶
one title of your honour out.
    To you, my lord, I come —
what lord you will
⁷⁷
—
    From the most
glorious
⁷⁸
of this land,
    The Duke of York, to know what
pricks
⁷⁹
you on
    To take advantage of the
absent time
⁸⁰
    And fright our
native
⁸¹
peace with self-born arms.

Enter York
[
with Attendants
]

BULLINGBROOK
    I shall not need transport my words by you.
    Here comes his grace in person.— My noble uncle!

Kneels

YORK
    Show me thy humble heart, and not thy knee,
    Whose duty is
deceivable
⁸⁵
and false.

BULLINGBROOK
    My gracious uncle—

YORK
    Tut, tut!
Grace
⁸⁷
me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle.
    I am no traitor’s uncle; and that word ‘grace’
    In an
ungracious
⁸⁹
mouth is but profane.
    Why have these banished and forbidden legs
    Dared once to touch a
dust
⁹¹
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 despisèd
⁹⁵
arms?
    Com’st thou because th’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
¹⁰¹
, 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
¹⁰⁴
, chastise thee
    And minister correction to thy fault!

BULLINGBROOK
    My gracious uncle, let me know my fault.
    
On what condition stands it and wherein?
¹⁰⁷

YORK
    Even in condition of the worst degree,
    In gross rebellion and detested treason.
    Thou art a banished man, and here art come
    Before th’expiration of thy time,
    In
braving
¹¹²
arms against thy sovereign.

BULLINGBROOK
    As I was banished, I was banished Hereford,

Stands

    But as I come, I come
for
¹¹⁴
Lancaster.
    And noble uncle, I beseech your grace
    Look on my wrongs with an
indifferent
¹¹⁶
eye.
    You are my father, for methinks in you
    I see old Gaunt alive. O then, my father,
    Will you permit that I shall stand condemned
    A wand’ring vagabond; my rights and royalties
    Plucked from my arms
perforce
¹²¹
and given away
    To upstart
unthrifts
¹²²
? 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 kinsman:
    Had you first died, and he been thus trod down,
    He should have found his uncle Gaunt a father
    To
rouse
¹²⁸
his wrongs and chase them to the bay.
    I am
denied to sue my liv’ry
¹²⁹
here,
    And yet my
letters patents
¹³⁰
give me leave.
    My father’s goods are all
distrained
¹³¹
and sold,
    And these and all are all
amiss
¹³²
employed.
    What would you have me do? I am a subject,
    And
challenge law
¹³⁴
. Attorneys are denied me;
    And therefore personally I lay my claim
    To my inheritance
of free descent
¹³⁶
.