KING RICHARD II

PERSONS REPRESENTED

KING RICHARD THE SECOND.

JOHN OF GAUNT, Duke of Lancaster

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Uncles to the King.

EDMUND OF LANGLEY, Duke of York

HENRY BOLINGBROKE, Duke of Hereford, son to John of Gaunt;

afterwards King Henry IV.

DUKE OF AUMERLE, son to the Duke of York.

THOMAS MOWBRAY, Duke of Norfolk.

EARL OF SALISBURY.

LORD BERKLEY.

BUSHY

BAGOT Favourites of King Richard.
GREEN

EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND.

HENRY PERCY, his son.

LORD ROSS.

LORD WILLOUGHBY.

Bishop of Carlisle.

Abbot of Westminster.

Lord Marshal.

SIR PIERCE OF EXTON.

SIR STEPHEN SCROOP.

Queen to King Richard.
DUCHESS OF Gloster.
DUCHESS OF York.

Lady attending on the Queen.

KING RICHARD II

ACT I

SCENE I.-London. A Room in the Palace.

Enter KING RICHARD and JOHN OF GAUNT,
other Nobles, and Attendants.

with

K. Rich. Old John of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaster, Hast thou, according to thy oath and band, Brought hither Henry Hereford thy bold son Here to make good the boisterous late appeal, Which then our leisure would not let us hear, Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray ? Gaunt. I have, my liege.

K. Rich.

Tell me, moreover, hast thou sounded him

If he appeal the duke on ancient malice,

Or worthily, as a good subject should,

On some known ground of treachery in him?

Gaunt. As near as I could sift him on that argument,

On some apparent danger seen in him,

Aimed at your highness, -no inveterate malice.

K. Rich. Then call them to our presence; face to face, And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear

The accuser and the accuséd freely speak.—

[Exeunt some Attendants. High-stomached are they both and full of ire, In rage deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.

Re-enter Attendants, with BOLINGBROKE and Norfolk. Boling. May many years of happy days befall My gracious sovereign, my most loving liege! Nor. Each day still better other's happiness;

Until the heavens, envying earth's good hap,

Add an immortal title to your crown!

K. Rich.

We thank you both; yet one but flatters us,

As well appeareth by the cause you come;

Namely, to appeal each other of high treason.

Cousin of Hereford, what dost thou object

Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray ?

Boling. First,-Heaven be the record to my speech!— In the devotion of a subject's love,

Tendering the precious safety of my prince,
And free from other misbegotten hate,

Come I appellant to this princely presence.-
Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee,
And mark my greeting well; for what I speak,
My body shall make good upon this earth,
Or my divine soul answer it in heaven.
Thou art a traitor and a miscreant,
Too good to be so, and too bad to live,
Since the more fair and crystal is the sky
The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly.
Once more, the more to aggravate the note,
With a foul traitor's name stuff I thy throat,

And wish, so please my sovereign, ere I move,

What my tongue speaks my right-drawn sword may prove. Nor. Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal :

'Tis not the trial of a woman's war,

The bitter clamour of two eager tongues,

Can arbitrate this cause betwixt us twain:

The blood is hot that must be cooled for this.

Yet can I not of such tame patience boast

As to be hushed and nought at all to say.

First, the fair reverence of your highness curbs me
From giving reins and spurs to my free speech,
Which else would post until it had returned

These terms of treason doubled down his throat.
Setting aside his high blood's royalty,

And let him be no kinsman to my liege,

I do defy him, and I spit at him,

Call him a slanderous coward, and a villain;
Which to maintain, I would allow him odds,
And meet him were I tied to run afoot

Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,
Or any other ground inhabitable
Wherever Englishman durst set his foot.
Meantime, let this defend my loyalty,-
By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie.
Boling.

Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage, Disclaiming here the kindred of the king

And lay aside my high blood's royalty,
Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except :
If guilty dread have left thee so much strength
As to take up mine honour's pawn, then stoop.
By that and all the rites of knighthood else
Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,
What I have spoke, or thou canst worse devise.

Nor. I take it up; and by that sword I swear,
Which gently laid my knighthood on my shoulder,
I'll answer thee in any fair degree

Or chivalrous design of knightly trial:

And when I mount, alive may I not light

If I be traitor or unjustly fight!

K. Rich. What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray's charge? It must be great that can inherit us

So much as of a thought of ill in him.

Boling. Look, what I speak, my life shall prove it true :

That Mowbray hath received eight thousand nobles

In name of lendings for your highness' soldiers,

The which he hath detained for lewd employments,
Like a false traitor and injurious villain.
Besides, I say, and will in battle prove,

Or here, or elsewhere, to the farthest verge
That ever was surveyed by English eye,

That all the treasons for these eighteen years

Complotted and contrivéd in this land

Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring.

Further I say, and further will maintain

Upon his bad life to make all this good,

That he did plot the Duke of Gloster's death,

Sluiced out his innocent soul through streams of blood:

Which blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries,

Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth,

To me for justice and rough chastisement;