The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works

by William Shakespeare

  This blot that they object against your house

  Shall be wiped out in the next parliament,

  Called for the truce of Winchester and Gloucester.

  An if thou be not then created York,

  I will not live to be accounted Warwick.

  Meantime, in signal of my love to thee.

  Against proud Somerset and William Pole,

  Will I upon thy party wear this rose.

  And here I prophesy: this brawl today,

  Grown to this faction in the Temple garden,

  Shall send, between the red rose and the white,

  A thousand souls to death and deadly night.

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET

  Good Master Vernon, I am bound to you,

  That you on my behalf would pluck a flower.

  VERNON

  In your behalf still will I wear the same.

  LAWYER And so will I.

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET Thanks, gentles.

  Come, let us four to dinner. I dare say

  This quarrel will drink blood another day.

  Exeunt. The rose brier is removed

  2.5 Enter Edmund Mortimer, brought in a chair ⌈by⌉ his Keepers

  MORTIMER

  Kind keepers of my weak decaying age,

  Let dying Mortimer here rest himself.

  Even like a man new-haled from the rack,

  So fare my limbs with long imprisonment;

  And these grey locks, the pursuivants of death,

  Argue the end of Edmund Mortimer,

  Nestor-like aged in an age of care.

  These eyes, like lamps whose wasting oil is spent,

  Wax dim, as drawing to their exigent;

  Weak shoulders, overborne with burdening grief,

  And pithless arms, like to a withered vine

  That droops his sapless branches to the ground.

  Yet are these feet—whose strengthless stay is numb,

  Unable to support this lump of clay—

  Swift-winged with desire to get a grave,

  As witting I no other comfort have.

  But tell me, keeper, will my nephew come?

  KEEPER

  Richard Plantagenet, my lord, will come.

  We sent unto the Temple, unto his chamber,

  And answer was returned that he will come.

  MORTIMER

  Enough. My soul shall then be satisfied.

  Poor gentleman, his wrong doth equal mine.

  Since Henry Monmouth first began to reign—

  Before whose glory I was great in arms—

  This loathsome sequestration have I had;

  And even since then hath Richard been obscured,

  Deprived of honour and inheritance.

  But now the arbitrator of despairs,

  Just Death, kind umpire of men’s miseries,

  With sweet enlargement doth dismiss me hence.

  I would his troubles likewise were expired,

  That so he might recover what was lost.

  Enter Richard Plantagenet

  KEEPER

  My lord, your loving nephew now is come.

  MORTIMER

  Richard Plantagenet, my friend, is he come?

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET

  Ay, noble uncle, thus ignobly used:

  Your nephew, late despised Richard, comes.

  MORTIMER (to Keepers)

  Direct mine arms I may embrace his neck

  And in his bosom spend my latter gasp.

  O tell me when my lips do touch his cheeks,

  That I may kindly give one fainting kiss.

  He embraces Richard

  And now declare, sweet stem from York’s great stock,

  Why didst thou say of late thou wert despised?

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET

  First lean thine aged back against mine arm,

  And in that ease I’ll tell thee my dis-ease.

  This day in argument upon a case

  Some words there grew ’twixt Somerset and me;

  Among which terms he used his lavish tongue

  And did upbraid me with my father’s death;

  Which obloquy set bars before my tongue,

  Else with the like I had requited him.

  Therefore, good uncle, for my father’s sake,

  In honour of a true Plantagenet,

  And for alliance’ sake, declare the cause

  My father, Earl of Cambridge, lost his head.

  MORTIMER

  That cause, fair nephew, that imprisoned me,

  And hath detained me all my flow’ring youth

  Within a loathsome dungeon, there to pine,

  Was cursed instrument of his decease.

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET

  Discover more at large what cause that was,

  For I am ignorant and cannot guess.

  MORTIMER

  I will, if that my fading breath permit

  And death approach not ere my tale be done.

  Henry the Fourth, grandfather to this King,

  Deposed his nephew Richard, Edward’s son,

  The first begotten and the lawful heir

  Of Edward king, the third of that descent;

  During whose reign the Percies of the north,

  Finding his usurpation most unjust,

  Endeavoured my advancement to the throne.

  The reason moved these warlike lords to this

  Was for that—young King Richard thus removed,

  Leaving no heir begotten of his body—

  I was the next by birth and parentage,

  For by my mother I derived am

  From Lionel Duke of Clarence, the third son

  To King Edward the Third—whereas the King

  From John of Gaunt doth bring his pedigree,

  Being but fourth of that heroic line.

  But mark: as in this haughty great attempt

  They laboured to plant the rightful heir,

  I lost my liberty, and they their lives.

  Long after this, when Henry the Fifth,

  Succeeding his father Bolingbroke, did reign,

  Thy father, Earl of Cambridge then, derived

  From famous Edmund Langley, Duke of York,

  Marrying my sister that thy mother was,

  Again, in pity of my hard distress,

  Levied an army, weening to redeem

  And have installed me in the diadem;

  But, as the rest, so fell that noble earl,

  And was beheaded. Thus the Mortimers,

  In whom the title rested, were suppressed.

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET

  Of which, my lord, your honour is the last.

  MORTIMER

  True, and thou seest that I no issue have,

  And that my fainting words do warrant death.

  Thou art my heir. The rest I wish thee gather—

  But yet be wary in thy studious care.

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET

  Thy grave admonishments prevail with me.

  But yet methinks my father’s execution

  Was nothing less than bloody tyranny.

  MORTIMER

  With silence, nephew, be thou politic.

  Strong-fixed is the house of Lancaster,

  And like a mountain, not to be removed.

  But now thy uncle is removing hence,

  As princes do their courts, when they are cloyed

  With long continuance in a settled place.

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET

  O uncle, would some part of my young years

  Might but redeem the passage of your age.

  MORTIMER

  Thou dost then wrong me, as that slaughterer doth

  Which giveth many wounds when one will kill.

  Mourn not, except thou sorrow for my good.

  Only give order for my funeral.

  And so farewell, and fair be all thy hopes,

  And prosperous be thy life in peace and war. Dies

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET

 
And peace, no war, befall thy parting soul.

  In prison hast thou spent a pilgrimage,

  And like a hermit overpassed thy days.

  Well, I will lock his counsel in my breast,

  And what I do imagine, let that rest.

  Keepers, convey him hence, and I myself

  Will see his burial better than his life.

  Exeunt Keepers with Mortimer’s body

  Here dies the dusky torch of Mortimer,

  Choked with ambition of the meaner sort.

  And for those wrongs, those bitter injuries,

  Which Somerset hath offered to my house,

  I doubt not but with honour to redress.

  And therefore haste I to the Parliament,

  Either to be restored to my blood,

  Or make mine ill th’advantage of my good. Exit

  3.1 Flourish. Enter young King Henry, the Dukes of Exeter and Gloucester, the Bishop of Winchester; the Duke of Somerset and the Earl of Suffolk ⌈with⌉ red roses⌉; the Earl of Warwick and Richard Plantagenet ⌈with white roses⌉. Gloucester offers to put up a bill; Winchester snatches it, tears it

  WINCHESTER

  Com‘st thou with deep premeditated lines?

  With written pamphlets studiously devised?

  Humphrey of Gloucester, if thou canst accuse,

  Or aught intend’st to lay unto my charge,

  Do it without invention, suddenly,

  As I with sudden and extemporal speech

  Purpose to answer what thou canst object.

  GLOUCESTER

  Presumptuous priest, this place commands my

  patience,

  Or thou shouldst find thou hast dishonoured me.

  Think not, although in writing I preferred

  The manner of thy vile outrageous crimes,

  That therefore I have forged, or am not able

  Verbatim to rehearse the method of my pen.

  No, prelate, such is thy audacious wickedness,

  Thy lewd, pestiferous, and dissentious pranks,

  As very infants prattle of thy pride.

  Thou art a most pernicious usurer,

  Froward by nature, enemy to peace,

  Lascivious, wanton, more than well beseems

  A man of thy profession and degree.

  And for thy treachery, what’s more manifest?—

  In that thou laid’st a trap to take my life,

  As well at London Bridge as at the Tower.

  Beside, I fear me, if thy thoughts were sifted,

  The King thy sovereign is not quite exempt

  From envious malice of thy swelling heart.

  WINCHESTER

  Gloucester, I do defy thee.—Lords, vouchsafe

  To give me hearing what I shall reply.

  If I were covetous, ambitious, or perverse,

  As he will have me, how am I so poor?

  Or how haps it I seek not to advance

  Or raise myself, but keep my wonted calling?

  And for dissension, who preferreth peace

  More than I do ?—except I be provoked.

  No, my good lords, it is not that offends;

  It is not that that hath incensed the Duke.

  It is because no one should sway but he,

  No one but he should be about the King—

  And that engenders thunder in his breast

  And makes him roar these accusations forth.

  But he shall know I am as good—

  GLOUCESTER As good?—

  Thou bastard of my grandfather.

  WINCHESTER

  Ay, lordly sir; for what are you, I pray,

  But one imperious in another’s throne?

  GLOUCESTER

  Am I not Protector, saucy priest?

  WINCHESTER

  And am not I a prelate of the Church?

  GLOUCESTER

  Yes—as an outlaw in a castle keeps

  And useth it to patronage his theft.

  WINCHESTER

  Unreverent Gloucester.

  GLOUCESTER Thou art reverend

  Touching thy spiritual function, not thy life.

  WINCHESTER

  Rome shall remedy this.

  ⌈GLOUCESTER⌉ Roam thither then.

  ⌈WARWICK⌉ (to Winchester)

  My lord, it were your duty to forbear.

  SOMERSET

  Ay, so the bishop be not overborne:

  Methinks my lord should be religious,

  And know the office that belongs to such.

  WARWICK

  Methinks his lordship should be humbler.

  It fitteth not a prelate so to plead.

  SOMERSET

  Yes, when his holy state is touched so near.

  WARWICK

  State holy or unhallowed, what of that?

  Is not his grace Protector to the King?

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET (aside)

  Plantagenet, I see, must hold his tongue,

  Lest it be said, ‘Speak, sirrah, when you should;

  Must your bold verdict intertalk with lords?’

  Else would I have a fling at Winchester.

  KING HENRY

  Uncles of Gloucester and of Winchester,

  The special watchmen of our English weal,

  I would prevail, if prayers might prevail,

  To join your hearts in love and amity.

  O what a scandal is it to our crown

  That two such noble peers as ye should jar!

  Believe me, lords, my tender years can tell

  Civil dissension is a viperous worm

  That gnaws the bowels of the commonwealth.

  A noise within

  ⌈SERVINGMEN⌉ (within) Down with the tawny coats!

  KING HENRY

  What tumult’s this?

  WARWICK An uproar, I dare warrant,

  Begun through malice of the Bishop’s men.

  A noise again

  ⌈SERVINGMEN⌉ (within) Stones, stones!

  Enter the Mayor of London

  MAYOR

  O my good lords, and virtuous Henry,

  Pity the city of London, pity us! so

  The Bishop and the Duke of Gloucester’s men,

  Forbidden late to carry any weapon,

  Have filled their pockets full of pebble stones

  And, banding themselves in contrary parts,

  Do pelt so fast at one another’s pate

  That many have their giddy brains knocked out.

  Our windows are broke down in every street,

  And we for fear compelled to shut our shops.

  Enter in skirmish, with bloody pates, Winchester’s Servingmen in tawny coats and Gloucester’s in blue coats

  KING HENRY

  We charge you, on allegiance to ourself,

  To hold your slaught’ring hands and keep the peace.

  ⌈The skirmish ceases⌉

  Pray, Uncle Gloucester, mitigate this strife.

  FIRST SERVINGMAN Nay, if we be forbidden stones, we’ll fall to it with our teeth.

  SECOND SERVINGMAN

  Do what ye dare, we are as resolute.

  Skirmish again

  GLOUCESTER

  You of my household, leave this peevish broil,

  And set this unaccustomed fight aside.

  THIRD SERVINGMAN

  My lord, we know your grace to be a man

  Just and upright and, for your royal birth,

  Inferior to none but to his majesty;

  And ere that we will suffer such a prince,

  So kind a father of the commonweal,

  To be disgraced by an inkhorn mate,

  We and our wives and children all will fight

  And have our bodies slaughtered by thy foes.

  FIRST SERVINGMAN

  Ay, and the very parings of our nails

  Shall pitch a field when we are dead.

  They begin to skirmish again

  GLOUCESTER Stay, stay, I say!

  An if you love me as you say
you do,

  Let me persuade you to forbear a while.

  KING HENRY

  O how this discord doth afflict my soul!

  Can you, my lord of Winchester, behold o

  My sighs and tears, and will not once relent?

  Who should be pitiful if you be not?

  Or who should study to prefer a peace,

  If holy churchmen take delight in broils?

  WARWICK

  Yield, my lord Protector; yield, Winchester—

  Except you mean with obstinate repulse

  To slay your sovereign and destroy the realm.

  You see what mischief-and what murder, too—

  Hath been enacted through your enmity.

  Then be at peace, except ye thirst for blood.

  WINCHESTER

  He shall submit, or I will never yield.

  GLOUCESTER

  Compassion on the King commands me stoop,

  Or I would see his heart out ere the priest

  Should ever get that privilege of me.

  WARWICK

  Behold, my lord of Winchester, the Duke

  Hath banished moody discontented fury,

  As by his smoothed brows it doth appear.

  Why look you still so stern and tragical?

  GLOUCESTER

  Here, Winchester, I offer thee my hand.

  KING HENRY (to Winchester)

  Fie, Uncle Beaufort! I have heard you preach

  That malice was a great and grievous sin;

  And will not you maintain the thing you teach,

  But prove a chief offender in the same?

  WARWICK

  Sweet King! The Bishop hath a kindly gird.

  For shame, my lord of Winchester, relent.

  What, shall a child instruct you what to do?

  WINCHESTER

  Well, Duke of Gloucester, I will yield to thee

  Love for thy love, and hand for hand I give.

  GLOUCESTER (aside)

  Ay, but I fear me with a hollow heart.

  (To the others) See here, my friends and loving

  countrymen,

  This token serveth for a flag of truce

  Betwixt ourselves and all our followers.

  So help me God, as I dissemble not.

  WINCHESTER

  So help me God (aside) as I intend it not.

  KING HENRY

  O loving uncle, kind Duke of Gloucester,

  How joyful am I made by this contract!

  (To Servingmen) Away, my masters, trouble us no

  more,

  But join in friendship as your lords have done.

  first SERVINGMAN Content. I’ll to the surgeon’s.

  SECOND SERVINGMAN And so will I.