diff --git "a/train.txt" "b/train.txt" deleted file mode 100644--- "a/train.txt" +++ /dev/null @@ -1,20272 +0,0 @@ -First Citizen: -Before we proceed any further, hear me speak. - -All: -Speak, speak. - -First Citizen: -You are all resolved rather to die than to famish? - -All: -Resolved. resolved. - -First Citizen: -First, you know Caius Marcius is chief enemy to the people. - -All: -We know't, we know't. - -First Citizen: -Let us kill him, and we'll have corn at our own price. -Is't a verdict? - -All: -No more talking on't; let it be done: away, away! - -Second Citizen: -One word, good citizens. - -First Citizen: -We are accounted poor citizens, the patricians good. -What authority surfeits on would relieve us: if they -would yield us but the superfluity, while it were -wholesome, we might guess they relieved us humanely; -but they think we are too dear: the leanness that -afflicts us, the object of our misery, is as an -inventory to particularise their abundance; our -sufferance is a gain to them Let us revenge this with -our pikes, ere we become rakes: for the gods know I -speak this in hunger for bread, not in thirst for revenge. - -Second Citizen: -Would you proceed especially against Caius Marcius? - -All: -Against him first: he's a very dog to the commonalty. - -Second Citizen: -Consider you what services he has done for his country? - -First Citizen: -Very well; and could be content to give him good -report fort, but that he pays himself with being proud. - -Second Citizen: -Nay, but speak not maliciously. - -First Citizen: -I say unto you, what he hath done famously, he did -it to that end: though soft-conscienced men can be -content to say it was for his country he did it to -please his mother and to be partly proud; which he -is, even till the altitude of his virtue. - -Second Citizen: -What he cannot help in his nature, you account a -vice in him. You must in no way say he is covetous. - -First Citizen: -If I must not, I need not be barren of accusations; -he hath faults, with surplus, to tire in repetition. -What shouts are these? The other side o' the city -is risen: why stay we prating here? to the Capitol! - -All: -Come, come. - -First Citizen: -Soft! who comes here? - -Second Citizen: -Worthy Menenius Agrippa; one that hath always loved -the people. - -First Citizen: -He's one honest enough: would all the rest were so! - -MENENIUS: -What work's, my countrymen, in hand? where go you -With bats and clubs? The matter? speak, I pray you. - -First Citizen: -Our business is not unknown to the senate; they have -had inkling this fortnight what we intend to do, -which now we'll show 'em in deeds. They say poor -suitors have strong breaths: they shall know we -have strong arms too. - -MENENIUS: -Why, masters, my good friends, mine honest neighbours, -Will you undo yourselves? - -First Citizen: -We cannot, sir, we are undone already. - -MENENIUS: -I tell you, friends, most charitable care -Have the patricians of you. For your wants, -Your suffering in this dearth, you may as well -Strike at the heaven with your staves as lift them -Against the Roman state, whose course will on -The way it takes, cracking ten thousand curbs -Of more strong link asunder than can ever -Appear in your impediment. For the dearth, -The gods, not the patricians, make it, and -Your knees to them, not arms, must help. Alack, -You are transported by calamity -Thither where more attends you, and you slander -The helms o' the state, who care for you like fathers, -When you curse them as enemies. - -First Citizen: -Care for us! True, indeed! They ne'er cared for us -yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses -crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to -support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act -established against the rich, and provide more -piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain -the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and -there's all the love they bear us. - -MENENIUS: -Either you must -Confess yourselves wondrous malicious, -Or be accused of folly. I shall tell you -A pretty tale: it may be you have heard it; -But, since it serves my purpose, I will venture -To stale 't a little more. - -First Citizen: -Well, I'll hear it, sir: yet you must not think to -fob off our disgrace with a tale: but, an 't please -you, deliver. - -MENENIUS: -There was a time when all the body's members -Rebell'd against the belly, thus accused it: -That only like a gulf it did remain -I' the midst o' the body, idle and unactive, -Still cupboarding the viand, never bearing -Like labour with the rest, where the other instruments -Did see and hear, devise, instruct, walk, feel, -And, mutually participate, did minister -Unto the appetite and affection common -Of the whole body. The belly answer'd-- - -First Citizen: -Well, sir, what answer made the belly? - -MENENIUS: -Sir, I shall tell you. With a kind of smile, -Which ne'er came from the lungs, but even thus-- -For, look you, I may make the belly smile -As well as speak--it tauntingly replied -To the discontented members, the mutinous parts -That envied his receipt; even so most fitly -As you malign our senators for that -They are not such as you. - -First Citizen: -Your belly's answer? What! -The kingly-crowned head, the vigilant eye, -The counsellor heart, the arm our soldier, -Our steed the leg, the tongue our trumpeter. -With other muniments and petty helps -In this our fabric, if that they-- - -MENENIUS: -What then? -'Fore me, this fellow speaks! What then? what then? - -First Citizen: -Should by the cormorant belly be restrain'd, -Who is the sink o' the body,-- - -MENENIUS: -Well, what then? - -First Citizen: -The former agents, if they did complain, -What could the belly answer? - -MENENIUS: -I will tell you -If you'll bestow a small--of what you have little-- -Patience awhile, you'll hear the belly's answer. - -First Citizen: -Ye're long about it. - -MENENIUS: -Note me this, good friend; -Your most grave belly was deliberate, -Not rash like his accusers, and thus answer'd: -'True is it, my incorporate friends,' quoth he, -'That I receive the general food at first, -Which you do live upon; and fit it is, -Because I am the store-house and the shop -Of the whole body: but, if you do remember, -I send it through the rivers of your blood, -Even to the court, the heart, to the seat o' the brain; -And, through the cranks and offices of man, -The strongest nerves and small inferior veins -From me receive that natural competency -Whereby they live: and though that all at once, -You, my good friends,'--this says the belly, mark me,-- - -First Citizen: -Ay, sir; well, well. - -MENENIUS: -'Though all at once cannot -See what I do deliver out to each, -Yet I can make my audit up, that all -From me do back receive the flour of all, -And leave me but the bran.' What say you to't? - -First Citizen: -It was an answer: how apply you this? - -MENENIUS: -The senators of Rome are this good belly, -And you the mutinous members; for examine -Their counsels and their cares, digest things rightly -Touching the weal o' the common, you shall find -No public benefit which you receive -But it proceeds or comes from them to you -And no way from yourselves. What do you think, -You, the great toe of this assembly? - -First Citizen: -I the great toe! why the great toe? - -MENENIUS: -For that, being one o' the lowest, basest, poorest, -Of this most wise rebellion, thou go'st foremost: -Thou rascal, that art worst in blood to run, -Lead'st first to win some vantage. -But make you ready your stiff bats and clubs: -Rome and her rats are at the point of battle; -The one side must have bale. -Hail, noble Marcius! - -MARCIUS: -Thanks. What's the matter, you dissentious rogues, -That, rubbing the poor itch of your opinion, -Make yourselves scabs? - -First Citizen: -We have ever your good word. - -MARCIUS: -He that will give good words to thee will flatter -Beneath abhorring. What would you have, you curs, -That like nor peace nor war? the one affrights you, -The other makes you proud. He that trusts to you, -Where he should find you lions, finds you hares; -Where foxes, geese: you are no surer, no, -Than is the coal of fire upon the ice, -Or hailstone in the sun. Your virtue is -To make him worthy whose offence subdues him -And curse that justice did it. -Who deserves greatness -Deserves your hate; and your affections are -A sick man's appetite, who desires most that -Which would increase his evil. He that depends -Upon your favours swims with fins of lead -And hews down oaks with rushes. Hang ye! Trust Ye? -With every minute you do change a mind, -And call him noble that was now your hate, -Him vile that was your garland. What's the matter, -That in these several places of the city -You cry against the noble senate, who, -Under the gods, keep you in awe, which else -Would feed on one another? What's their seeking? - -MENENIUS: -For corn at their own rates; whereof, they say, -The city is well stored. - -MARCIUS: -Hang 'em! They say! -They'll sit by the fire, and presume to know -What's done i' the Capitol; who's like to rise, -Who thrives and who declines; side factions -and give out -Conjectural marriages; making parties strong -And feebling such as stand not in their liking -Below their cobbled shoes. They say there's -grain enough! -Would the nobility lay aside their ruth, -And let me use my sword, I'll make a quarry -With thousands of these quarter'd slaves, as high -As I could pick my lance. - -MENENIUS: -Nay, these are almost thoroughly persuaded; -For though abundantly they lack discretion, -Yet are they passing cowardly. But, I beseech you, -What says the other troop? - -MARCIUS: -They are dissolved: hang 'em! -They said they were an-hungry; sigh'd forth proverbs, -That hunger broke stone walls, that dogs must eat, -That meat was made for mouths, that the gods sent not -Corn for the rich men only: with these shreds -They vented their complainings; which being answer'd, -And a petition granted them, a strange one-- -To break the heart of generosity, -And make bold power look pale--they threw their caps -As they would hang them on the horns o' the moon, -Shouting their emulation. - -MENENIUS: -What is granted them? - -MARCIUS: -Five tribunes to defend their vulgar wisdoms, -Of their own choice: one's Junius Brutus, -Sicinius Velutus, and I know not--'Sdeath! -The rabble should have first unroof'd the city, -Ere so prevail'd with me: it will in time -Win upon power and throw forth greater themes -For insurrection's arguing. - -MENENIUS: -This is strange. - -MARCIUS: -Go, get you home, you fragments! - -Messenger: -Where's Caius Marcius? - -MARCIUS: -Here: what's the matter? - -Messenger: -The news is, sir, the Volsces are in arms. - -MARCIUS: -I am glad on 't: then we shall ha' means to vent -Our musty superfluity. See, our best elders. - -First Senator: -Marcius, 'tis true that you have lately told us; -The Volsces are in arms. - -MARCIUS: -They have a leader, -Tullus Aufidius, that will put you to 't. -I sin in envying his nobility, -And were I any thing but what I am, -I would wish me only he. - -COMINIUS: -You have fought together. - -MARCIUS: -Were half to half the world by the ears and he. -Upon my party, I'ld revolt to make -Only my wars with him: he is a lion -That I am proud to hunt. - -First Senator: -Then, worthy Marcius, -Attend upon Cominius to these wars. - -COMINIUS: -It is your former promise. - -MARCIUS: -Sir, it is; -And I am constant. Titus Lartius, thou -Shalt see me once more strike at Tullus' face. -What, art thou stiff? stand'st out? - -TITUS: -No, Caius Marcius; -I'll lean upon one crutch and fight with t'other, -Ere stay behind this business. - -MENENIUS: -O, true-bred! - -First Senator: -Your company to the Capitol; where, I know, -Our greatest friends attend us. - -TITUS: - -COMINIUS: -Noble Marcius! - -First Senator: - -MARCIUS: -Nay, let them follow: -The Volsces have much corn; take these rats thither -To gnaw their garners. Worshipful mutiners, -Your valour puts well forth: pray, follow. - -SICINIUS: -Was ever man so proud as is this Marcius? - -BRUTUS: -He has no equal. - -SICINIUS: -When we were chosen tribunes for the people,-- - -BRUTUS: -Mark'd you his lip and eyes? - -SICINIUS: -Nay. but his taunts. - -BRUTUS: -Being moved, he will not spare to gird the gods. - -SICINIUS: -Be-mock the modest moon. - -BRUTUS: -The present wars devour him: he is grown -Too proud to be so valiant. - -SICINIUS: -Such a nature, -Tickled with good success, disdains the shadow -Which he treads on at noon: but I do wonder -His insolence can brook to be commanded -Under Cominius. - -BRUTUS: -Fame, at the which he aims, -In whom already he's well graced, can not -Better be held nor more attain'd than by -A place below the first: for what miscarries -Shall be the general's fault, though he perform -To the utmost of a man, and giddy censure -Will then cry out of Marcius 'O if he -Had borne the business!' - -SICINIUS: -Besides, if things go well, -Opinion that so sticks on Marcius shall -Of his demerits rob Cominius. - -BRUTUS: -Come: -Half all Cominius' honours are to Marcius. -Though Marcius earned them not, and all his faults -To Marcius shall be honours, though indeed -In aught he merit not. - -SICINIUS: -Let's hence, and hear -How the dispatch is made, and in what fashion, -More than his singularity, he goes -Upon this present action. - -BRUTUS: -Lets along. - -First Senator: -So, your opinion is, Aufidius, -That they of Rome are entered in our counsels -And know how we proceed. - -AUFIDIUS: -Is it not yours? -What ever have been thought on in this state, -That could be brought to bodily act ere Rome -Had circumvention? 'Tis not four days gone -Since I heard thence; these are the words: I think -I have the letter here; yes, here it is. -'They have press'd a power, but it is not known -Whether for east or west: the dearth is great; -The people mutinous; and it is rumour'd, -Cominius, Marcius your old enemy, -Who is of Rome worse hated than of you, -And Titus Lartius, a most valiant Roman, -These three lead on this preparation -Whither 'tis bent: most likely 'tis for you: -Consider of it.' - -First Senator: -Our army's in the field -We never yet made doubt but Rome was ready -To answer us. - -AUFIDIUS: -Nor did you think it folly -To keep your great pretences veil'd till when -They needs must show themselves; which -in the hatching, -It seem'd, appear'd to Rome. By the discovery. -We shall be shorten'd in our aim, which was -To take in many towns ere almost Rome -Should know we were afoot. - -Second Senator: -Noble Aufidius, -Take your commission; hie you to your bands: -Let us alone to guard Corioli: -If they set down before 's, for the remove -Bring your army; but, I think, you'll find -They've not prepared for us. - -AUFIDIUS: -O, doubt not that; -I speak from certainties. Nay, more, -Some parcels of their power are forth already, -And only hitherward. I leave your honours. -If we and Caius Marcius chance to meet, -'Tis sworn between us we shall ever strike -Till one can do no more. - -All: -The gods assist you! - -AUFIDIUS: -And keep your honours safe! - -First Senator: -Farewell. - -Second Senator: -Farewell. - -All: -Farewell. - -VOLUMNIA: -I pray you, daughter, sing; or express yourself in a -more comfortable sort: if my son were my husband, I -should freelier rejoice in that absence wherein he -won honour than in the embracements of his bed where -he would show most love. When yet he was but -tender-bodied and the only son of my womb, when -youth with comeliness plucked all gaze his way, when -for a day of kings' entreaties a mother should not -sell him an hour from her beholding, I, considering -how honour would become such a person. that it was -no better than picture-like to hang by the wall, if -renown made it not stir, was pleased to let him seek -danger where he was like to find fame. To a cruel -war I sent him; from whence he returned, his brows -bound with oak. I tell thee, daughter, I sprang not -more in joy at first hearing he was a man-child -than now in first seeing he had proved himself a -man. - -VIRGILIA: -But had he died in the business, madam; how then? - -VOLUMNIA: -Then his good report should have been my son; I -therein would have found issue. Hear me profess -sincerely: had I a dozen sons, each in my love -alike and none less dear than thine and my good -Marcius, I had rather had eleven die nobly for their -country than one voluptuously surfeit out of action. - -Gentlewoman: -Madam, the Lady Valeria is come to visit you. - -VIRGILIA: -Beseech you, give me leave to retire myself. - -VOLUMNIA: -Indeed, you shall not. -Methinks I hear hither your husband's drum, -See him pluck Aufidius down by the hair, -As children from a bear, the Volsces shunning him: -Methinks I see him stamp thus, and call thus: -'Come on, you cowards! you were got in fear, -Though you were born in Rome:' his bloody brow -With his mail'd hand then wiping, forth he goes, -Like to a harvest-man that's task'd to mow -Or all or lose his hire. - -VIRGILIA: -His bloody brow! O Jupiter, no blood! - -VOLUMNIA: -Away, you fool! it more becomes a man -Than gilt his trophy: the breasts of Hecuba, -When she did suckle Hector, look'd not lovelier -Than Hector's forehead when it spit forth blood -At Grecian sword, contemning. Tell Valeria, -We are fit to bid her welcome. - -VIRGILIA: -Heavens bless my lord from fell Aufidius! - -VOLUMNIA: -He'll beat Aufidius 'head below his knee -And tread upon his neck. - -VALERIA: -My ladies both, good day to you. - -VOLUMNIA: -Sweet madam. - -VIRGILIA: -I am glad to see your ladyship. - -VALERIA: -How do you both? you are manifest house-keepers. -What are you sewing here? A fine spot, in good -faith. How does your little son? - -VIRGILIA: -I thank your ladyship; well, good madam. - -VOLUMNIA: -He had rather see the swords, and hear a drum, than -look upon his school-master. - -VALERIA: -O' my word, the father's son: I'll swear,'tis a -very pretty boy. O' my troth, I looked upon him o' -Wednesday half an hour together: has such a -confirmed countenance. I saw him run after a gilded -butterfly: and when he caught it, he let it go -again; and after it again; and over and over he -comes, and again; catched it again; or whether his -fall enraged him, or how 'twas, he did so set his -teeth and tear it; O, I warrant it, how he mammocked -it! - -VOLUMNIA: -One on 's father's moods. - -VALERIA: -Indeed, la, 'tis a noble child. - -VIRGILIA: -A crack, madam. - -VALERIA: -Come, lay aside your stitchery; I must have you play -the idle husewife with me this afternoon. - -VIRGILIA: -No, good madam; I will not out of doors. - -VALERIA: -Not out of doors! - -VOLUMNIA: -She shall, she shall. - -VIRGILIA: -Indeed, no, by your patience; I'll not over the -threshold till my lord return from the wars. - -VALERIA: -Fie, you confine yourself most unreasonably: come, -you must go visit the good lady that lies in. - -VIRGILIA: -I will wish her speedy strength, and visit her with -my prayers; but I cannot go thither. - -VOLUMNIA: -Why, I pray you? - -VIRGILIA: -'Tis not to save labour, nor that I want love. - -VALERIA: -You would be another Penelope: yet, they say, all -the yarn she spun in Ulysses' absence did but fill -Ithaca full of moths. Come; I would your cambric -were sensible as your finger, that you might leave -pricking it for pity. Come, you shall go with us. - -VIRGILIA: -No, good madam, pardon me; indeed, I will not forth. - -VALERIA: -In truth, la, go with me; and I'll tell you -excellent news of your husband. - -VIRGILIA: -O, good madam, there can be none yet. - -VALERIA: -Verily, I do not jest with you; there came news from -him last night. - -VIRGILIA: -Indeed, madam? - -VALERIA: -In earnest, it's true; I heard a senator speak it. -Thus it is: the Volsces have an army forth; against -whom Cominius the general is gone, with one part of -our Roman power: your lord and Titus Lartius are set -down before their city Corioli; they nothing doubt -prevailing and to make it brief wars. This is true, -on mine honour; and so, I pray, go with us. - -VIRGILIA: -Give me excuse, good madam; I will obey you in every -thing hereafter. - -VOLUMNIA: -Let her alone, lady: as she is now, she will but -disease our better mirth. - -VALERIA: -In troth, I think she would. Fare you well, then. -Come, good sweet lady. Prithee, Virgilia, turn thy -solemness out o' door. and go along with us. - -VIRGILIA: -No, at a word, madam; indeed, I must not. I wish -you much mirth. - -VALERIA: -Well, then, farewell. - -MARCIUS: -Yonder comes news. A wager they have met. - -LARTIUS: -My horse to yours, no. - -MARCIUS: -'Tis done. - -LARTIUS: -Agreed. - -MARCIUS: -Say, has our general met the enemy? - -Messenger: -They lie in view; but have not spoke as yet. - -LARTIUS: -So, the good horse is mine. - -MARCIUS: -I'll buy him of you. - -LARTIUS: -No, I'll nor sell nor give him: lend you him I will -For half a hundred years. Summon the town. - -MARCIUS: -How far off lie these armies? - -Messenger: -Within this mile and half. - -MARCIUS: -Then shall we hear their 'larum, and they ours. -Now, Mars, I prithee, make us quick in work, -That we with smoking swords may march from hence, -To help our fielded friends! Come, blow thy blast. -Tutus Aufidius, is he within your walls? - -First Senator: -No, nor a man that fears you less than he, -That's lesser than a little. -Hark! our drums -Are bringing forth our youth. We'll break our walls, -Rather than they shall pound us up: our gates, -Which yet seem shut, we, have but pinn'd with rushes; -They'll open of themselves. -Hark you. far off! -There is Aufidius; list, what work he makes -Amongst your cloven army. - -MARCIUS: -O, they are at it! - -LARTIUS: -Their noise be our instruction. Ladders, ho! - -MARCIUS: -They fear us not, but issue forth their city. -Now put your shields before your hearts, and fight -With hearts more proof than shields. Advance, -brave Titus: -They do disdain us much beyond our thoughts, -Which makes me sweat with wrath. Come on, my fellows: -He that retires I'll take him for a Volsce, -And he shall feel mine edge. - -MARCIUS: -All the contagion of the south light on you, -You shames of Rome! you herd of--Boils and plagues -Plaster you o'er, that you may be abhorr'd -Further than seen and one infect another -Against the wind a mile! You souls of geese, -That bear the shapes of men, how have you run -From slaves that apes would beat! Pluto and hell! -All hurt behind; backs red, and faces pale -With flight and agued fear! Mend and charge home, -Or, by the fires of heaven, I'll leave the foe -And make my wars on you: look to't: come on; -If you'll stand fast, we'll beat them to their wives, -As they us to our trenches followed. -So, now the gates are ope: now prove good seconds: -'Tis for the followers fortune widens them, -Not for the fliers: mark me, and do the like. - -First Soldier: -Fool-hardiness; not I. - -Second Soldier: -Nor I. - -First Soldier: -See, they have shut him in. - -All: -To the pot, I warrant him. - -LARTIUS: -What is become of Marcius? - -All: -Slain, sir, doubtless. - -First Soldier: -Following the fliers at the very heels, -With them he enters; who, upon the sudden, -Clapp'd to their gates: he is himself alone, -To answer all the city. - -LARTIUS: -O noble fellow! -Who sensibly outdares his senseless sword, -And, when it bows, stands up. Thou art left, Marcius: -A carbuncle entire, as big as thou art, -Were not so rich a jewel. Thou wast a soldier -Even to Cato's wish, not fierce and terrible -Only in strokes; but, with thy grim looks and -The thunder-like percussion of thy sounds, -Thou madst thine enemies shake, as if the world -Were feverous and did tremble. - -First Soldier: -Look, sir. - -LARTIUS: -O,'tis Marcius! -Let's fetch him off, or make remain alike. - -First Roman: -This will I carry to Rome. - -Second Roman: -And I this. - -Third Roman: -A murrain on't! I took this for silver. - -MARCIUS: -See here these movers that do prize their hours -At a crack'd drachm! Cushions, leaden spoons, -Irons of a doit, doublets that hangmen would -Bury with those that wore them, these base slaves, -Ere yet the fight be done, pack up: down with them! -And hark, what noise the general makes! To him! -There is the man of my soul's hate, Aufidius, -Piercing our Romans: then, valiant Titus, take -Convenient numbers to make good the city; -Whilst I, with those that have the spirit, will haste -To help Cominius. - -LARTIUS: -Worthy sir, thou bleed'st; -Thy exercise hath been too violent for -A second course of fight. - -MARCIUS: -Sir, praise me not; -My work hath yet not warm'd me: fare you well: -The blood I drop is rather physical -Than dangerous to me: to Aufidius thus -I will appear, and fight. - -LARTIUS: -Now the fair goddess, Fortune, -Fall deep in love with thee; and her great charms -Misguide thy opposers' swords! Bold gentleman, -Prosperity be thy page! - -MARCIUS: -Thy friend no less -Than those she placeth highest! So, farewell. - -LARTIUS: -Thou worthiest Marcius! -Go, sound thy trumpet in the market-place; -Call thither all the officers o' the town, -Where they shall know our mind: away! - -COMINIUS: -Breathe you, my friends: well fought; -we are come off -Like Romans, neither foolish in our stands, -Nor cowardly in retire: believe me, sirs, -We shall be charged again. Whiles we have struck, -By interims and conveying gusts we have heard -The charges of our friends. Ye Roman gods! -Lead their successes as we wish our own, -That both our powers, with smiling -fronts encountering, -May give you thankful sacrifice. -Thy news? - -Messenger: -The citizens of Corioli have issued, -And given to Lartius and to Marcius battle: -I saw our party to their trenches driven, -And then I came away. - -COMINIUS: -Though thou speak'st truth, -Methinks thou speak'st not well. -How long is't since? - -Messenger: -Above an hour, my lord. - -COMINIUS: -'Tis not a mile; briefly we heard their drums: -How couldst thou in a mile confound an hour, -And bring thy news so late? - -Messenger: -Spies of the Volsces -Held me in chase, that I was forced to wheel -Three or four miles about, else had I, sir, -Half an hour since brought my report. - -COMINIUS: -Who's yonder, -That does appear as he were flay'd? O gods -He has the stamp of Marcius; and I have -Before-time seen him thus. - -MARCIUS: - -COMINIUS: -The shepherd knows not thunder from a tabour -More than I know the sound of Marcius' tongue -From every meaner man. - -MARCIUS: -Come I too late? - -COMINIUS: -Ay, if you come not in the blood of others, -But mantled in your own. - -MARCIUS: -O, let me clip ye -In arms as sound as when I woo'd, in heart -As merry as when our nuptial day was done, -And tapers burn'd to bedward! - -COMINIUS: -Flower of warriors, -How is it with Titus Lartius? - -MARCIUS: -As with a man busied about decrees: -Condemning some to death, and some to exile; -Ransoming him, or pitying, threatening the other; -Holding Corioli in the name of Rome, -Even like a fawning greyhound in the leash, -To let him slip at will. - -COMINIUS: -Where is that slave -Which told me they had beat you to your trenches? -Where is he? call him hither. - -MARCIUS: -Let him alone; -He did inform the truth: but for our gentlemen, -The common file--a plague! tribunes for them!-- -The mouse ne'er shunn'd the cat as they did budge -From rascals worse than they. - -COMINIUS: -But how prevail'd you? - -MARCIUS: -Will the time serve to tell? I do not think. -Where is the enemy? are you lords o' the field? -If not, why cease you till you are so? - -COMINIUS: -Marcius, -We have at disadvantage fought and did -Retire to win our purpose. - -MARCIUS: -How lies their battle? know you on which side -They have placed their men of trust? - -COMINIUS: -As I guess, Marcius, -Their bands i' the vaward are the Antiates, -Of their best trust; o'er them Aufidius, -Their very heart of hope. - -MARCIUS: -I do beseech you, -By all the battles wherein we have fought, -By the blood we have shed together, by the vows -We have made to endure friends, that you directly -Set me against Aufidius and his Antiates; -And that you not delay the present, but, -Filling the air with swords advanced and darts, -We prove this very hour. - -COMINIUS: -Though I could wish -You were conducted to a gentle bath -And balms applied to, you, yet dare I never -Deny your asking: take your choice of those -That best can aid your action. - -MARCIUS: -Those are they -That most are willing. If any such be here-- -As it were sin to doubt--that love this painting -Wherein you see me smear'd; if any fear -Lesser his person than an ill report; -If any think brave death outweighs bad life -And that his country's dearer than himself; -Let him alone, or so many so minded, -Wave thus, to express his disposition, -And follow Marcius. -O, me alone! make you a sword of me? -If these shows be not outward, which of you -But is four Volsces? none of you but is -Able to bear against the great Aufidius -A shield as hard as his. A certain number, -Though thanks to all, must I select -from all: the rest -Shall bear the business in some other fight, -As cause will be obey'd. Please you to march; -And four shall quickly draw out my command, -Which men are best inclined. - -COMINIUS: -March on, my fellows: -Make good this ostentation, and you shall -Divide in all with us. - -LARTIUS: -So, let the ports be guarded: keep your duties, -As I have set them down. If I do send, dispatch -Those centuries to our aid: the rest will serve -For a short holding: if we lose the field, -We cannot keep the town. - -Lieutenant: -Fear not our care, sir. - -LARTIUS: -Hence, and shut your gates upon's. -Our guider, come; to the Roman camp conduct us. - -MARCIUS: -I'll fight with none but thee; for I do hate thee -Worse than a promise-breaker. - -AUFIDIUS: -We hate alike: -Not Afric owns a serpent I abhor -More than thy fame and envy. Fix thy foot. - -MARCIUS: -Let the first budger die the other's slave, -And the gods doom him after! - -AUFIDIUS: -If I fly, Marcius, -Holloa me like a hare. - -MARCIUS: -Within these three hours, Tullus, -Alone I fought in your Corioli walls, -And made what work I pleased: 'tis not my blood -Wherein thou seest me mask'd; for thy revenge -Wrench up thy power to the highest. - -AUFIDIUS: -Wert thou the Hector -That was the whip of your bragg'd progeny, -Thou shouldst not scape me here. -Officious, and not valiant, you have shamed me -In your condemned seconds. - -COMINIUS: -If I should tell thee o'er this thy day's work, -Thou'ldst not believe thy deeds: but I'll report it -Where senators shall mingle tears with smiles, -Where great patricians shall attend and shrug, -I' the end admire, where ladies shall be frighted, -And, gladly quaked, hear more; where the -dull tribunes, -That, with the fusty plebeians, hate thine honours, -Shall say against their hearts 'We thank the gods -Our Rome hath such a soldier.' -Yet camest thou to a morsel of this feast, -Having fully dined before. - -LARTIUS: -O general, -Here is the steed, we the caparison: -Hadst thou beheld-- - -MARCIUS: -Pray now, no more: my mother, -Who has a charter to extol her blood, -When she does praise me grieves me. I have done -As you have done; that's what I can; induced -As you have been; that's for my country: -He that has but effected his good will -Hath overta'en mine act. - -COMINIUS: -You shall not be -The grave of your deserving; Rome must know -The value of her own: 'twere a concealment -Worse than a theft, no less than a traducement, -To hide your doings; and to silence that, -Which, to the spire and top of praises vouch'd, -Would seem but modest: therefore, I beseech you -In sign of what you are, not to reward -What you have done--before our army hear me. - -MARCIUS: -I have some wounds upon me, and they smart -To hear themselves remember'd. - -COMINIUS: -Should they not, -Well might they fester 'gainst ingratitude, -And tent themselves with death. Of all the horses, -Whereof we have ta'en good and good store, of all -The treasure in this field achieved and city, -We render you the tenth, to be ta'en forth, -Before the common distribution, at -Your only choice. - -MARCIUS: -I thank you, general; -But cannot make my heart consent to take -A bribe to pay my sword: I do refuse it; -And stand upon my common part with those -That have beheld the doing. - -MARCIUS: -May these same instruments, which you profane, -Never sound more! when drums and trumpets shall -I' the field prove flatterers, let courts and cities be -Made all of false-faced soothing! -When steel grows soft as the parasite's silk, -Let him be made a coverture for the wars! -No more, I say! For that I have not wash'd -My nose that bled, or foil'd some debile wretch.-- -Which, without note, here's many else have done,-- -You shout me forth -In acclamations hyperbolical; -As if I loved my little should be dieted -In praises sauced with lies. - -COMINIUS: -Too modest are you; -More cruel to your good report than grateful -To us that give you truly: by your patience, -If 'gainst yourself you be incensed, we'll put you, -Like one that means his proper harm, in manacles, -Then reason safely with you. Therefore, be it known, -As to us, to all the world, that Caius Marcius -Wears this war's garland: in token of the which, -My noble steed, known to the camp, I give him, -With all his trim belonging; and from this time, -For what he did before Corioli, call him, -With all the applause and clamour of the host, -CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS! Bear -The addition nobly ever! - -All: -Caius Marcius Coriolanus! - -CORIOLANUS: -I will go wash; -And when my face is fair, you shall perceive -Whether I blush or no: howbeit, I thank you. -I mean to stride your steed, and at all times -To undercrest your good addition -To the fairness of my power. - -COMINIUS: -So, to our tent; -Where, ere we do repose us, we will write -To Rome of our success. You, Titus Lartius, -Must to Corioli back: send us to Rome -The best, with whom we may articulate, -For their own good and ours. - -LARTIUS: -I shall, my lord. - -CORIOLANUS: -The gods begin to mock me. I, that now -Refused most princely gifts, am bound to beg -Of my lord general. - -COMINIUS: -Take't; 'tis yours. What is't? - -CORIOLANUS: -I sometime lay here in Corioli -At a poor man's house; he used me kindly: -He cried to me; I saw him prisoner; -But then Aufidius was within my view, -And wrath o'erwhelm'd my pity: I request you -To give my poor host freedom. - -COMINIUS: -O, well begg'd! -Were he the butcher of my son, he should -Be free as is the wind. Deliver him, Titus. - -LARTIUS: -Marcius, his name? - -CORIOLANUS: -By Jupiter! forgot. -I am weary; yea, my memory is tired. -Have we no wine here? - -COMINIUS: -Go we to our tent: -The blood upon your visage dries; 'tis time -It should be look'd to: come. - -AUFIDIUS: -The town is ta'en! - -First Soldier: -'Twill be deliver'd back on good condition. - -AUFIDIUS: -Condition! -I would I were a Roman; for I cannot, -Being a Volsce, be that I am. Condition! -What good condition can a treaty find -I' the part that is at mercy? Five times, Marcius, -I have fought with thee: so often hast thou beat me, -And wouldst do so, I think, should we encounter -As often as we eat. By the elements, -If e'er again I meet him beard to beard, -He's mine, or I am his: mine emulation -Hath not that honour in't it had; for where -I thought to crush him in an equal force, -True sword to sword, I'll potch at him some way -Or wrath or craft may get him. - -First Soldier: -He's the devil. - -AUFIDIUS: -Bolder, though not so subtle. My valour's poison'd -With only suffering stain by him; for him -Shall fly out of itself: nor sleep nor sanctuary, -Being naked, sick, nor fane nor Capitol, -The prayers of priests nor times of sacrifice, -Embarquements all of fury, shall lift up -Their rotten privilege and custom 'gainst -My hate to Marcius: where I find him, were it -At home, upon my brother's guard, even there, -Against the hospitable canon, would I -Wash my fierce hand in's heart. Go you to the city; -Learn how 'tis held; and what they are that must -Be hostages for Rome. - -First Soldier: -Will not you go? - -AUFIDIUS: -I am attended at the cypress grove: I pray you-- -'Tis south the city mills--bring me word thither -How the world goes, that to the pace of it -I may spur on my journey. - -First Soldier: -I shall, sir. - -MENENIUS: -The augurer tells me we shall have news to-night. - -BRUTUS: -Good or bad? - -MENENIUS: -Not according to the prayer of the people, for they -love not Marcius. - -SICINIUS: -Nature teaches beasts to know their friends. - -MENENIUS: -Pray you, who does the wolf love? - -SICINIUS: -The lamb. - -MENENIUS: -Ay, to devour him; as the hungry plebeians would the -noble Marcius. - -BRUTUS: -He's a lamb indeed, that baes like a bear. - -MENENIUS: -He's a bear indeed, that lives like a lamb. You two -are old men: tell me one thing that I shall ask you. - -Both: -Well, sir. - -MENENIUS: -In what enormity is Marcius poor in, that you two -have not in abundance? - -BRUTUS: -He's poor in no one fault, but stored with all. - -SICINIUS: -Especially in pride. - -BRUTUS: -And topping all others in boasting. - -MENENIUS: -This is strange now: do you two know how you are -censured here in the city, I mean of us o' the -right-hand file? do you? - -Both: -Why, how are we censured? - -MENENIUS: -Because you talk of pride now,--will you not be angry? - -Both: -Well, well, sir, well. - -MENENIUS: -Why, 'tis no great matter; for a very little thief of -occasion will rob you of a great deal of patience: -give your dispositions the reins, and be angry at -your pleasures; at the least if you take it as a -pleasure to you in being so. You blame Marcius for -being proud? - -BRUTUS: -We do it not alone, sir. - -MENENIUS: -I know you can do very little alone; for your helps -are many, or else your actions would grow wondrous -single: your abilities are too infant-like for -doing much alone. You talk of pride: O that you -could turn your eyes toward the napes of your necks, -and make but an interior survey of your good selves! -O that you could! - -BRUTUS: -What then, sir? - -MENENIUS: -Why, then you should discover a brace of unmeriting, -proud, violent, testy magistrates, alias fools, as -any in Rome. - -SICINIUS: -Menenius, you are known well enough too. - -MENENIUS: -I am known to be a humorous patrician, and one that -loves a cup of hot wine with not a drop of allaying -Tiber in't; said to be something imperfect in -favouring the first complaint; hasty and tinder-like -upon too trivial motion; one that converses more -with the buttock of the night than with the forehead -of the morning: what I think I utter, and spend my -malice in my breath. Meeting two such wealsmen as -you are--I cannot call you Lycurguses--if the drink -you give me touch my palate adversely, I make a -crooked face at it. I can't say your worships have -delivered the matter well, when I find the ass in -compound with the major part of your syllables: and -though I must be content to bear with those that say -you are reverend grave men, yet they lie deadly that -tell you you have good faces. If you see this in -the map of my microcosm, follows it that I am known -well enough too? what barm can your bisson -conspectuities glean out of this character, if I be -known well enough too? - -BRUTUS: -Come, sir, come, we know you well enough. - -MENENIUS: -You know neither me, yourselves nor any thing. You -are ambitious for poor knaves' caps and legs: you -wear out a good wholesome forenoon in hearing a -cause between an orange wife and a fosset-seller; -and then rejourn the controversy of three pence to a -second day of audience. When you are hearing a -matter between party and party, if you chance to be -pinched with the colic, you make faces like -mummers; set up the bloody flag against all -patience; and, in roaring for a chamber-pot, -dismiss the controversy bleeding the more entangled -by your hearing: all the peace you make in their -cause is, calling both the parties knaves. You are -a pair of strange ones. - -BRUTUS: -Come, come, you are well understood to be a -perfecter giber for the table than a necessary -bencher in the Capitol. - -MENENIUS: -Our very priests must become mockers, if they shall -encounter such ridiculous subjects as you are. When -you speak best unto the purpose, it is not worth the -wagging of your beards; and your beards deserve not -so honourable a grave as to stuff a botcher's -cushion, or to be entombed in an ass's pack- -saddle. Yet you must be saying, Marcius is proud; -who in a cheap estimation, is worth predecessors -since Deucalion, though peradventure some of the -best of 'em were hereditary hangmen. God-den to -your worships: more of your conversation would -infect my brain, being the herdsmen of the beastly -plebeians: I will be bold to take my leave of you. -How now, my as fair as noble ladies,--and the moon, -were she earthly, no nobler,--whither do you follow -your eyes so fast? - -VOLUMNIA: -Honourable Menenius, my boy Marcius approaches; for -the love of Juno, let's go. - -MENENIUS: -Ha! Marcius coming home! - -VOLUMNIA: -Ay, worthy Menenius; and with most prosperous -approbation. - -MENENIUS: -Take my cap, Jupiter, and I thank thee. Hoo! -Marcius coming home! - -VOLUMNIA: -Nay,'tis true. - -VOLUMNIA: -Look, here's a letter from him: the state hath -another, his wife another; and, I think, there's one -at home for you. - -MENENIUS: -I will make my very house reel tonight: a letter for -me! - -VIRGILIA: -Yes, certain, there's a letter for you; I saw't. - -MENENIUS: -A letter for me! it gives me an estate of seven -years' health; in which time I will make a lip at -the physician: the most sovereign prescription in -Galen is but empiricutic, and, to this preservative, -of no better report than a horse-drench. Is he -not wounded? he was wont to come home wounded. - -VIRGILIA: -O, no, no, no. - -VOLUMNIA: -O, he is wounded; I thank the gods for't. - -MENENIUS: -So do I too, if it be not too much: brings a' -victory in his pocket? the wounds become him. - -VOLUMNIA: -On's brows: Menenius, he comes the third time home -with the oaken garland. - -MENENIUS: -Has he disciplined Aufidius soundly? - -VOLUMNIA: -Titus Lartius writes, they fought together, but -Aufidius got off. - -MENENIUS: -And 'twas time for him too, I'll warrant him that: -an he had stayed by him, I would not have been so -fidiused for all the chests in Corioli, and the gold -that's in them. Is the senate possessed of this? - -VOLUMNIA: -Good ladies, let's go. Yes, yes, yes; the senate -has letters from the general, wherein he gives my -son the whole name of the war: he hath in this -action outdone his former deeds doubly - -VALERIA: -In troth, there's wondrous things spoke of him. - -MENENIUS: -Wondrous! ay, I warrant you, and not without his -true purchasing. - -VIRGILIA: -The gods grant them true! - -VOLUMNIA: -True! pow, wow. - -MENENIUS: -True! I'll be sworn they are true. -Where is he wounded? -God save your good worships! Marcius is coming -home: he has more cause to be proud. Where is he wounded? - -VOLUMNIA: -I' the shoulder and i' the left arm there will be -large cicatrices to show the people, when he shall -stand for his place. He received in the repulse of -Tarquin seven hurts i' the body. - -MENENIUS: -One i' the neck, and two i' the thigh,--there's -nine that I know. - -VOLUMNIA: -He had, before this last expedition, twenty-five -wounds upon him. - -MENENIUS: -Now it's twenty-seven: every gash was an enemy's grave. -Hark! the trumpets. - -VOLUMNIA: -These are the ushers of Marcius: before him he -carries noise, and behind him he leaves tears: -Death, that dark spirit, in 's nervy arm doth lie; -Which, being advanced, declines, and then men die. - -Herald: -Know, Rome, that all alone Marcius did fight -Within Corioli gates: where he hath won, -With fame, a name to Caius Marcius; these -In honour follows Coriolanus. -Welcome to Rome, renowned Coriolanus! - -All: -Welcome to Rome, renowned Coriolanus! - -CORIOLANUS: -No more of this; it does offend my heart: -Pray now, no more. - -COMINIUS: -Look, sir, your mother! - -CORIOLANUS: -O, -You have, I know, petition'd all the gods -For my prosperity! - -VOLUMNIA: -Nay, my good soldier, up; -My gentle Marcius, worthy Caius, and -By deed-achieving honour newly named,-- -What is it?--Coriolanus must I call thee?-- -But O, thy wife! - -CORIOLANUS: -My gracious silence, hail! -Wouldst thou have laugh'd had I come coffin'd home, -That weep'st to see me triumph? Ay, my dear, -Such eyes the widows in Corioli wear, -And mothers that lack sons. - -MENENIUS: -Now, the gods crown thee! - -CORIOLANUS: -And live you yet? -O my sweet lady, pardon. - -VOLUMNIA: -I know not where to turn: O, welcome home: -And welcome, general: and ye're welcome all. - -MENENIUS: -A hundred thousand welcomes. I could weep -And I could laugh, I am light and heavy. Welcome. -A curse begin at very root on's heart, -That is not glad to see thee! You are three -That Rome should dote on: yet, by the faith of men, -We have some old crab-trees here -at home that will not -Be grafted to your relish. Yet welcome, warriors: -We call a nettle but a nettle and -The faults of fools but folly. - -COMINIUS: -Ever right. - -CORIOLANUS: -Menenius ever, ever. - -Herald: -Give way there, and go on! - -CORIOLANUS: - -VOLUMNIA: -I have lived -To see inherited my very wishes -And the buildings of my fancy: only -There's one thing wanting, which I doubt not but -Our Rome will cast upon thee. - -CORIOLANUS: -Know, good mother, -I had rather be their servant in my way, -Than sway with them in theirs. - -COMINIUS: -On, to the Capitol! - -BRUTUS: -All tongues speak of him, and the bleared sights -Are spectacled to see him: your prattling nurse -Into a rapture lets her baby cry -While she chats him: the kitchen malkin pins -Her richest lockram 'bout her reechy neck, -Clambering the walls to eye him: stalls, bulks, windows, -Are smother'd up, leads fill'd, and ridges horsed -With variable complexions, all agreeing -In earnestness to see him: seld-shown flamens -Do press among the popular throngs and puff -To win a vulgar station: or veil'd dames -Commit the war of white and damask in -Their nicely-gawded cheeks to the wanton spoil -Of Phoebus' burning kisses: such a pother -As if that whatsoever god who leads him -Were slily crept into his human powers -And gave him graceful posture. - -SICINIUS: -On the sudden, -I warrant him consul. - -BRUTUS: -Then our office may, -During his power, go sleep. - -SICINIUS: -He cannot temperately transport his honours -From where he should begin and end, but will -Lose those he hath won. - -BRUTUS: -In that there's comfort. - -SICINIUS: -Doubt not -The commoners, for whom we stand, but they -Upon their ancient malice will forget -With the least cause these his new honours, which -That he will give them make I as little question -As he is proud to do't. - -BRUTUS: -I heard him swear, -Were he to stand for consul, never would he -Appear i' the market-place nor on him put -The napless vesture of humility; -Nor showing, as the manner is, his wounds -To the people, beg their stinking breaths. - -SICINIUS: -'Tis right. - -BRUTUS: -It was his word: O, he would miss it rather -Than carry it but by the suit of the gentry to him, -And the desire of the nobles. - -SICINIUS: -I wish no better -Than have him hold that purpose and to put it -In execution. - -BRUTUS: -'Tis most like he will. - -SICINIUS: -It shall be to him then as our good wills, -A sure destruction. - -BRUTUS: -So it must fall out -To him or our authorities. For an end, -We must suggest the people in what hatred -He still hath held them; that to's power he would -Have made them mules, silenced their pleaders and -Dispropertied their freedoms, holding them, -In human action and capacity, -Of no more soul nor fitness for the world -Than camels in the war, who have their provand -Only for bearing burdens, and sore blows -For sinking under them. - -SICINIUS: -This, as you say, suggested -At some time when his soaring insolence -Shall touch the people--which time shall not want, -If he be put upon 't; and that's as easy -As to set dogs on sheep--will be his fire -To kindle their dry stubble; and their blaze -Shall darken him for ever. - -BRUTUS: -What's the matter? - -Messenger: -You are sent for to the Capitol. 'Tis thought -That Marcius shall be consul: -I have seen the dumb men throng to see him and -The blind to bear him speak: matrons flung gloves, -Ladies and maids their scarfs and handkerchers, -Upon him as he pass'd: the nobles bended, -As to Jove's statue, and the commons made -A shower and thunder with their caps and shouts: -I never saw the like. - -BRUTUS: -Let's to the Capitol; -And carry with us ears and eyes for the time, -But hearts for the event. - -SICINIUS: -Have with you. - -First Officer: -Come, come, they are almost here. How many stand -for consulships? - -Second Officer: -Three, they say: but 'tis thought of every one -Coriolanus will carry it. - -First Officer: -That's a brave fellow; but he's vengeance proud, and -loves not the common people. - -Second Officer: -Faith, there had been many great men that have -flattered the people, who ne'er loved them; and there -be many that they have loved, they know not -wherefore: so that, if they love they know not why, -they hate upon no better a ground: therefore, for -Coriolanus neither to care whether they love or hate -him manifests the true knowledge he has in their -disposition; and out of his noble carelessness lets -them plainly see't. - -First Officer: -If he did not care whether he had their love or no, -he waved indifferently 'twixt doing them neither -good nor harm: but he seeks their hate with greater -devotion than can render it him; and leaves -nothing undone that may fully discover him their -opposite. Now, to seem to affect the malice and -displeasure of the people is as bad as that which he -dislikes, to flatter them for their love. - -Second Officer: -He hath deserved worthily of his country: and his -ascent is not by such easy degrees as those who, -having been supple and courteous to the people, -bonneted, without any further deed to have them at -an into their estimation and report: but he hath so -planted his honours in their eyes, and his actions -in their hearts, that for their tongues to be -silent, and not confess so much, were a kind of -ingrateful injury; to report otherwise, were a -malice, that, giving itself the lie, would pluck -reproof and rebuke from every ear that heard it. - -First Officer: -No more of him; he is a worthy man: make way, they -are coming. - -MENENIUS: -Having determined of the Volsces and -To send for Titus Lartius, it remains, -As the main point of this our after-meeting, -To gratify his noble service that -Hath thus stood for his country: therefore, -please you, -Most reverend and grave elders, to desire -The present consul, and last general -In our well-found successes, to report -A little of that worthy work perform'd -By Caius Marcius Coriolanus, whom -We met here both to thank and to remember -With honours like himself. - -First Senator: -Speak, good Cominius: -Leave nothing out for length, and make us think -Rather our state's defective for requital -Than we to stretch it out. -Masters o' the people, -We do request your kindest ears, and after, -Your loving motion toward the common body, -To yield what passes here. - -SICINIUS: -We are convented -Upon a pleasing treaty, and have hearts -Inclinable to honour and advance -The theme of our assembly. - -BRUTUS: -Which the rather -We shall be blest to do, if he remember -A kinder value of the people than -He hath hereto prized them at. - -MENENIUS: -That's off, that's off; -I would you rather had been silent. Please you -To hear Cominius speak? - -BRUTUS: -Most willingly; -But yet my caution was more pertinent -Than the rebuke you give it. - -MENENIUS: -He loves your people -But tie him not to be their bedfellow. -Worthy Cominius, speak. -Nay, keep your place. - -First Senator: -Sit, Coriolanus; never shame to hear -What you have nobly done. - -CORIOLANUS: -Your horror's pardon: -I had rather have my wounds to heal again -Than hear say how I got them. - -BRUTUS: -Sir, I hope -My words disbench'd you not. - -CORIOLANUS: -No, sir: yet oft, -When blows have made me stay, I fled from words. -You soothed not, therefore hurt not: but -your people, -I love them as they weigh. - -MENENIUS: -Pray now, sit down. - -CORIOLANUS: -I had rather have one scratch my head i' the sun -When the alarum were struck than idly sit -To hear my nothings monster'd. - -MENENIUS: -Masters of the people, -Your multiplying spawn how can he flatter-- -That's thousand to one good one--when you now see -He had rather venture all his limbs for honour -Than one on's ears to hear it? Proceed, Cominius. - -COMINIUS: -I shall lack voice: the deeds of Coriolanus -Should not be utter'd feebly. It is held -That valour is the chiefest virtue, and -Most dignifies the haver: if it be, -The man I speak of cannot in the world -Be singly counterpoised. At sixteen years, -When Tarquin made a head for Rome, he fought -Beyond the mark of others: our then dictator, -Whom with all praise I point at, saw him fight, -When with his Amazonian chin he drove -The bristled lips before him: be bestrid -An o'er-press'd Roman and i' the consul's view -Slew three opposers: Tarquin's self he met, -And struck him on his knee: in that day's feats, -When he might act the woman in the scene, -He proved best man i' the field, and for his meed -Was brow-bound with the oak. His pupil age -Man-enter'd thus, he waxed like a sea, -And in the brunt of seventeen battles since -He lurch'd all swords of the garland. For this last, -Before and in Corioli, let me say, -I cannot speak him home: he stopp'd the fliers; -And by his rare example made the coward -Turn terror into sport: as weeds before -A vessel under sail, so men obey'd -And fell below his stem: his sword, death's stamp, -Where it did mark, it took; from face to foot -He was a thing of blood, whose every motion -Was timed with dying cries: alone he enter'd -The mortal gate of the city, which he painted -With shunless destiny; aidless came off, -And with a sudden reinforcement struck -Corioli like a planet: now all's his: -When, by and by, the din of war gan pierce -His ready sense; then straight his doubled spirit -Re-quicken'd what in flesh was fatigate, -And to the battle came he; where he did -Run reeking o'er the lives of men, as if -'Twere a perpetual spoil: and till we call'd -Both field and city ours, he never stood -To ease his breast with panting. - -MENENIUS: -Worthy man! - -First Senator: -He cannot but with measure fit the honours -Which we devise him. - -COMINIUS: -Our spoils he kick'd at, -And look'd upon things precious as they were -The common muck of the world: he covets less -Than misery itself would give; rewards -His deeds with doing them, and is content -To spend the time to end it. - -MENENIUS: -He's right noble: -Let him be call'd for. - -First Senator: -Call Coriolanus. - -Officer: -He doth appear. - -MENENIUS: -The senate, Coriolanus, are well pleased -To make thee consul. - -CORIOLANUS: -I do owe them still -My life and services. - -MENENIUS: -It then remains -That you do speak to the people. - -CORIOLANUS: -I do beseech you, -Let me o'erleap that custom, for I cannot -Put on the gown, stand naked and entreat them, -For my wounds' sake, to give their suffrage: please you -That I may pass this doing. - -SICINIUS: -Sir, the people -Must have their voices; neither will they bate -One jot of ceremony. - -MENENIUS: -Put them not to't: -Pray you, go fit you to the custom and -Take to you, as your predecessors have, -Your honour with your form. - -CORIOLANUS: -It is apart -That I shall blush in acting, and might well -Be taken from the people. - -BRUTUS: -Mark you that? - -CORIOLANUS: -To brag unto them, thus I did, and thus; -Show them the unaching scars which I should hide, -As if I had received them for the hire -Of their breath only! - -MENENIUS: -Do not stand upon't. -We recommend to you, tribunes of the people, -Our purpose to them: and to our noble consul -Wish we all joy and honour. - -Senators: -To Coriolanus come all joy and honour! - -BRUTUS: -You see how he intends to use the people. - -SICINIUS: -May they perceive's intent! He will require them, -As if he did contemn what he requested -Should be in them to give. - -BRUTUS: -Come, we'll inform them -Of our proceedings here: on the marketplace, -I know, they do attend us. - -First Citizen: -Once, if he do require our voices, we ought not to deny him. - -Second Citizen: -We may, sir, if we will. - -Third Citizen: -We have power in ourselves to do it, but it is a -power that we have no power to do; for if he show us -his wounds and tell us his deeds, we are to put our -tongues into those wounds and speak for them; so, if -he tell us his noble deeds, we must also tell him -our noble acceptance of them. Ingratitude is -monstrous, and for the multitude to be ingrateful, -were to make a monster of the multitude: of the -which we being members, should bring ourselves to be -monstrous members. - -First Citizen: -And to make us no better thought of, a little help -will serve; for once we stood up about the corn, he -himself stuck not to call us the many-headed multitude. - -Third Citizen: -We have been called so of many; not that our heads -are some brown, some black, some auburn, some bald, -but that our wits are so diversely coloured: and -truly I think if all our wits were to issue out of -one skull, they would fly east, west, north, south, -and their consent of one direct way should be at -once to all the points o' the compass. - -Second Citizen: -Think you so? Which way do you judge my wit would -fly? - -Third Citizen: -Nay, your wit will not so soon out as another man's -will;'tis strongly wedged up in a block-head, but -if it were at liberty, 'twould, sure, southward. - -Second Citizen: -Why that way? - -Third Citizen: -To lose itself in a fog, where being three parts -melted away with rotten dews, the fourth would return -for conscience sake, to help to get thee a wife. - -Second Citizen: -You are never without your tricks: you may, you may. - -Third Citizen: -Are you all resolved to give your voices? But -that's no matter, the greater part carries it. I -say, if he would incline to the people, there was -never a worthier man. -Here he comes, and in the gown of humility: mark his -behavior. We are not to stay all together, but to -come by him where he stands, by ones, by twos, and -by threes. He's to make his requests by -particulars; wherein every one of us has a single -honour, in giving him our own voices with our own -tongues: therefore follow me, and I direct you how -you shall go by him. - -All: -Content, content. - -MENENIUS: -O sir, you are not right: have you not known -The worthiest men have done't? - -CORIOLANUS: -What must I say? -'I Pray, sir'--Plague upon't! I cannot bring -My tongue to such a pace:--'Look, sir, my wounds! -I got them in my country's service, when -Some certain of your brethren roar'd and ran -From the noise of our own drums.' - -MENENIUS: -O me, the gods! -You must not speak of that: you must desire them -To think upon you. - -CORIOLANUS: -Think upon me! hang 'em! -I would they would forget me, like the virtues -Which our divines lose by 'em. - -MENENIUS: -You'll mar all: -I'll leave you: pray you, speak to 'em, I pray you, -In wholesome manner. - -CORIOLANUS: -Bid them wash their faces -And keep their teeth clean. -So, here comes a brace. -You know the cause, air, of my standing here. - -Third Citizen: -We do, sir; tell us what hath brought you to't. - -CORIOLANUS: -Mine own desert. - -Second Citizen: -Your own desert! - -CORIOLANUS: -Ay, but not mine own desire. - -Third Citizen: -How not your own desire? - -CORIOLANUS: -No, sir,'twas never my desire yet to trouble the -poor with begging. - -Third Citizen: -You must think, if we give you any thing, we hope to -gain by you. - -CORIOLANUS: -Well then, I pray, your price o' the consulship? - -First Citizen: -The price is to ask it kindly. - -CORIOLANUS: -Kindly! Sir, I pray, let me ha't: I have wounds to -show you, which shall be yours in private. Your -good voice, sir; what say you? - -Second Citizen: -You shall ha' it, worthy sir. - -CORIOLANUS: -A match, sir. There's in all two worthy voices -begged. I have your alms: adieu. - -Third Citizen: -But this is something odd. - -Second Citizen: -An 'twere to give again,--but 'tis no matter. - -CORIOLANUS: -Pray you now, if it may stand with the tune of your -voices that I may be consul, I have here the -customary gown. - -Fourth Citizen: -You have deserved nobly of your country, and you -have not deserved nobly. - -CORIOLANUS: -Your enigma? - -Fourth Citizen: -You have been a scourge to her enemies, you have -been a rod to her friends; you have not indeed loved -the common people. - -CORIOLANUS: -You should account me the more virtuous that I have -not been common in my love. I will, sir, flatter my -sworn brother, the people, to earn a dearer -estimation of them; 'tis a condition they account -gentle: and since the wisdom of their choice is -rather to have my hat than my heart, I will practise -the insinuating nod and be off to them most -counterfeitly; that is, sir, I will counterfeit the -bewitchment of some popular man and give it -bountiful to the desirers. Therefore, beseech you, -I may be consul. - -Fifth Citizen: -We hope to find you our friend; and therefore give -you our voices heartily. - -Fourth Citizen: -You have received many wounds for your country. - -CORIOLANUS: -I will not seal your knowledge with showing them. I -will make much of your voices, and so trouble you no further. - -Both Citizens: -The gods give you joy, sir, heartily! - -CORIOLANUS: -Most sweet voices! -Better it is to die, better to starve, -Than crave the hire which first we do deserve. -Why in this woolvish toge should I stand here, -To beg of Hob and Dick, that do appear, -Their needless vouches? Custom calls me to't: -What custom wills, in all things should we do't, -The dust on antique time would lie unswept, -And mountainous error be too highly heapt -For truth to o'er-peer. Rather than fool it so, -Let the high office and the honour go -To one that would do thus. I am half through; -The one part suffer'd, the other will I do. -Here come more voices. -Your voices: for your voices I have fought; -Watch'd for your voices; for Your voices bear -Of wounds two dozen odd; battles thrice six -I have seen and heard of; for your voices have -Done many things, some less, some more your voices: -Indeed I would be consul. - -Sixth Citizen: -He has done nobly, and cannot go without any honest -man's voice. - -Seventh Citizen: -Therefore let him be consul: the gods give him joy, -and make him good friend to the people! - -All Citizens: -Amen, amen. God save thee, noble consul! - -CORIOLANUS: -Worthy voices! - -MENENIUS: -You have stood your limitation; and the tribunes -Endue you with the people's voice: remains -That, in the official marks invested, you -Anon do meet the senate. - -CORIOLANUS: -Is this done? - -SICINIUS: -The custom of request you have discharged: -The people do admit you, and are summon'd -To meet anon, upon your approbation. - -CORIOLANUS: -Where? at the senate-house? - -SICINIUS: -There, Coriolanus. - -CORIOLANUS: -May I change these garments? - -SICINIUS: -You may, sir. - -CORIOLANUS: -That I'll straight do; and, knowing myself again, -Repair to the senate-house. - -MENENIUS: -I'll keep you company. Will you along? - -BRUTUS: -We stay here for the people. - -SICINIUS: -Fare you well. -He has it now, and by his looks methink -'Tis warm at 's heart. - -BRUTUS: -With a proud heart he wore his humble weeds. -will you dismiss the people? - -SICINIUS: -How now, my masters! have you chose this man? - -First Citizen: -He has our voices, sir. - -BRUTUS: -We pray the gods he may deserve your loves. - -Second Citizen: -Amen, sir: to my poor unworthy notice, -He mock'd us when he begg'd our voices. - -Third Citizen: -Certainly -He flouted us downright. - -First Citizen: -No,'tis his kind of speech: he did not mock us. - -Second Citizen: -Not one amongst us, save yourself, but says -He used us scornfully: he should have show'd us -His marks of merit, wounds received for's country. - -SICINIUS: -Why, so he did, I am sure. - -Citizens: -No, no; no man saw 'em. - -Third Citizen: -He said he had wounds, which he could show -in private; -And with his hat, thus waving it in scorn, -'I would be consul,' says he: 'aged custom, -But by your voices, will not so permit me; -Your voices therefore.' When we granted that, -Here was 'I thank you for your voices: thank you: -Your most sweet voices: now you have left -your voices, -I have no further with you.' Was not this mockery? - -SICINIUS: -Why either were you ignorant to see't, -Or, seeing it, of such childish friendliness -To yield your voices? - -BRUTUS: -Could you not have told him -As you were lesson'd, when he had no power, -But was a petty servant to the state, -He was your enemy, ever spake against -Your liberties and the charters that you bear -I' the body of the weal; and now, arriving -A place of potency and sway o' the state, -If he should still malignantly remain -Fast foe to the plebeii, your voices might -Be curses to yourselves? You should have said -That as his worthy deeds did claim no less -Than what he stood for, so his gracious nature -Would think upon you for your voices and -Translate his malice towards you into love, -Standing your friendly lord. - -SICINIUS: -Thus to have said, -As you were fore-advised, had touch'd his spirit -And tried his inclination; from him pluck'd -Either his gracious promise, which you might, -As cause had call'd you up, have held him to -Or else it would have gall'd his surly nature, -Which easily endures not article -Tying him to aught; so putting him to rage, -You should have ta'en the advantage of his choler -And pass'd him unelected. - -BRUTUS: -Did you perceive -He did solicit you in free contempt -When he did need your loves, and do you think -That his contempt shall not be bruising to you, -When he hath power to crush? Why, had your bodies -No heart among you? or had you tongues to cry -Against the rectorship of judgment? - -SICINIUS: -Have you -Ere now denied the asker? and now again -Of him that did not ask, but mock, bestow -Your sued-for tongues? - -Third Citizen: -He's not confirm'd; we may deny him yet. - -Second Citizen: -And will deny him: -I'll have five hundred voices of that sound. - -First Citizen: -I twice five hundred and their friends to piece 'em. - -BRUTUS: -Get you hence instantly, and tell those friends, -They have chose a consul that will from them take -Their liberties; make them of no more voice -Than dogs that are as often beat for barking -As therefore kept to do so. - -SICINIUS: -Let them assemble, -And on a safer judgment all revoke -Your ignorant election; enforce his pride, -And his old hate unto you; besides, forget not -With what contempt he wore the humble weed, -How in his suit he scorn'd you; but your loves, -Thinking upon his services, took from you -The apprehension of his present portance, -Which most gibingly, ungravely, he did fashion -After the inveterate hate he bears you. - -BRUTUS: -Lay -A fault on us, your tribunes; that we laboured, -No impediment between, but that you must -Cast your election on him. - -SICINIUS: -Say, you chose him -More after our commandment than as guided -By your own true affections, and that your minds, -Preoccupied with what you rather must do -Than what you should, made you against the grain -To voice him consul: lay the fault on us. - -BRUTUS: -Ay, spare us not. Say we read lectures to you. -How youngly he began to serve his country, -How long continued, and what stock he springs of, -The noble house o' the Marcians, from whence came -That Ancus Marcius, Numa's daughter's son, -Who, after great Hostilius, here was king; -Of the same house Publius and Quintus were, -That our beat water brought by conduits hither; -And -Twice being -Was his great ancestor. - -SICINIUS: -One thus descended, -That hath beside well in his person wrought -To be set high in place, we did commend -To your remembrances: but you have found, -Scaling his present bearing with his past, -That he's your fixed enemy, and revoke -Your sudden approbation. - -BRUTUS: -Say, you ne'er had done't-- -Harp on that still--but by our putting on; -And presently, when you have drawn your number, -Repair to the Capitol. - -All: -We will so: almost all -Repent in their election. - -BRUTUS: -Let them go on; -This mutiny were better put in hazard, -Than stay, past doubt, for greater: -If, as his nature is, he fall in rage -With their refusal, both observe and answer -The vantage of his anger. - -SICINIUS: -To the Capitol, come: -We will be there before the stream o' the people; -And this shall seem, as partly 'tis, their own, -Which we have goaded onward. - -CORIOLANUS: -Tullus Aufidius then had made new head? - -LARTIUS: -He had, my lord; and that it was which caused -Our swifter composition. - -CORIOLANUS: -So then the Volsces stand but as at first, -Ready, when time shall prompt them, to make road. -Upon's again. - -COMINIUS: -They are worn, lord consul, so, -That we shall hardly in our ages see -Their banners wave again. - -CORIOLANUS: -Saw you Aufidius? - -LARTIUS: -On safe-guard he came to me; and did curse -Against the Volsces, for they had so vilely -Yielded the town: he is retired to Antium. - -CORIOLANUS: -Spoke he of me? - -LARTIUS: -He did, my lord. - -CORIOLANUS: -How? what? - -LARTIUS: -How often he had met you, sword to sword; -That of all things upon the earth he hated -Your person most, that he would pawn his fortunes -To hopeless restitution, so he might -Be call'd your vanquisher. - -CORIOLANUS: -At Antium lives he? - -LARTIUS: -At Antium. - -CORIOLANUS: -I wish I had a cause to seek him there, -To oppose his hatred fully. Welcome home. -Behold, these are the tribunes of the people, -The tongues o' the common mouth: I do despise them; -For they do prank them in authority, -Against all noble sufferance. - -SICINIUS: -Pass no further. - -CORIOLANUS: -Ha! what is that? - -BRUTUS: -It will be dangerous to go on: no further. - -CORIOLANUS: -What makes this change? - -MENENIUS: -The matter? - -COMINIUS: -Hath he not pass'd the noble and the common? - -BRUTUS: -Cominius, no. - -CORIOLANUS: -Have I had children's voices? - -First Senator: -Tribunes, give way; he shall to the market-place. - -BRUTUS: -The people are incensed against him. - -SICINIUS: -Stop, -Or all will fall in broil. - -CORIOLANUS: -Are these your herd? -Must these have voices, that can yield them now -And straight disclaim their tongues? What are -your offices? -You being their mouths, why rule you not their teeth? -Have you not set them on? - -MENENIUS: -Be calm, be calm. - -CORIOLANUS: -It is a purposed thing, and grows by plot, -To curb the will of the nobility: -Suffer't, and live with such as cannot rule -Nor ever will be ruled. - -BRUTUS: -Call't not a plot: -The people cry you mock'd them, and of late, -When corn was given them gratis, you repined; -Scandal'd the suppliants for the people, call'd them -Time-pleasers, flatterers, foes to nobleness. - -CORIOLANUS: -Why, this was known before. - -BRUTUS: -Not to them all. - -CORIOLANUS: -Have you inform'd them sithence? - -BRUTUS: -How! I inform them! - -CORIOLANUS: -You are like to do such business. - -BRUTUS: -Not unlike, -Each way, to better yours. - -CORIOLANUS: -Why then should I be consul? By yond clouds, -Let me deserve so ill as you, and make me -Your fellow tribune. - -SICINIUS: -You show too much of that -For which the people stir: if you will pass -To where you are bound, you must inquire your way, -Which you are out of, with a gentler spirit, -Or never be so noble as a consul, -Nor yoke with him for tribune. - -MENENIUS: -Let's be calm. - -COMINIUS: -The people are abused; set on. This paltering -Becomes not Rome, nor has Coriolanus -Deserved this so dishonour'd rub, laid falsely -I' the plain way of his merit. - -CORIOLANUS: -Tell me of corn! -This was my speech, and I will speak't again-- - -MENENIUS: -Not now, not now. - -First Senator: -Not in this heat, sir, now. - -CORIOLANUS: -Now, as I live, I will. My nobler friends, -I crave their pardons: -For the mutable, rank-scented many, let them -Regard me as I do not flatter, and -Therein behold themselves: I say again, -In soothing them, we nourish 'gainst our senate -The cockle of rebellion, insolence, sedition, -Which we ourselves have plough'd for, sow'd, -and scatter'd, -By mingling them with us, the honour'd number, -Who lack not virtue, no, nor power, but that -Which they have given to beggars. - -MENENIUS: -Well, no more. - -First Senator: -No more words, we beseech you. - -CORIOLANUS: -How! no more! -As for my country I have shed my blood, -Not fearing outward force, so shall my lungs -Coin words till their decay against those measles, -Which we disdain should tatter us, yet sought -The very way to catch them. - -BRUTUS: -You speak o' the people, -As if you were a god to punish, not -A man of their infirmity. - -SICINIUS: -'Twere well -We let the people know't. - -MENENIUS: -What, what? his choler? - -CORIOLANUS: -Choler! -Were I as patient as the midnight sleep, -By Jove, 'twould be my mind! - -SICINIUS: -It is a mind -That shall remain a poison where it is, -Not poison any further. - -CORIOLANUS: -Shall remain! -Hear you this Triton of the minnows? mark you -His absolute 'shall'? - -COMINIUS: -'Twas from the canon. - -CORIOLANUS: -'Shall'! -O good but most unwise patricians! why, -You grave but reckless senators, have you thus -Given Hydra here to choose an officer, -That with his peremptory 'shall,' being but -The horn and noise o' the monster's, wants not spirit -To say he'll turn your current in a ditch, -And make your channel his? If he have power -Then vail your ignorance; if none, awake -Your dangerous lenity. If you are learn'd, -Be not as common fools; if you are not, -Let them have cushions by you. You are plebeians, -If they be senators: and they are no less, -When, both your voices blended, the great'st taste -Most palates theirs. They choose their magistrate, -And such a one as he, who puts his 'shall,' -His popular 'shall' against a graver bench -Than ever frown in Greece. By Jove himself! -It makes the consuls base: and my soul aches -To know, when two authorities are up, -Neither supreme, how soon confusion -May enter 'twixt the gap of both and take -The one by the other. - -COMINIUS: -Well, on to the market-place. - -CORIOLANUS: -Whoever gave that counsel, to give forth -The corn o' the storehouse gratis, as 'twas used -Sometime in Greece,-- - -MENENIUS: -Well, well, no more of that. - -CORIOLANUS: -Though there the people had more absolute power, -I say, they nourish'd disobedience, fed -The ruin of the state. - -BRUTUS: -Why, shall the people give -One that speaks thus their voice? - -CORIOLANUS: -I'll give my reasons, -More worthier than their voices. They know the corn -Was not our recompense, resting well assured -That ne'er did service for't: being press'd to the war, -Even when the navel of the state was touch'd, -They would not thread the gates. This kind of service -Did not deserve corn gratis. Being i' the war -Their mutinies and revolts, wherein they show'd -Most valour, spoke not for them: the accusation -Which they have often made against the senate, -All cause unborn, could never be the motive -Of our so frank donation. Well, what then? -How shall this bisson multitude digest -The senate's courtesy? Let deeds express -What's like to be their words: 'we did request it; -We are the greater poll, and in true fear -They gave us our demands.' Thus we debase -The nature of our seats and make the rabble -Call our cares fears; which will in time -Break ope the locks o' the senate and bring in -The crows to peck the eagles. - -MENENIUS: -Come, enough. - -BRUTUS: -Enough, with over-measure. - -CORIOLANUS: -No, take more: -What may be sworn by, both divine and human, -Seal what I end withal! This double worship, -Where one part does disdain with cause, the other -Insult without all reason, where gentry, title, wisdom, -Cannot conclude but by the yea and no -Of general ignorance,--it must omit -Real necessities, and give way the while -To unstable slightness: purpose so barr'd, -it follows, -Nothing is done to purpose. Therefore, beseech you,-- -You that will be less fearful than discreet, -That love the fundamental part of state -More than you doubt the change on't, that prefer -A noble life before a long, and wish -To jump a body with a dangerous physic -That's sure of death without it, at once pluck out -The multitudinous tongue; let them not lick -The sweet which is their poison: your dishonour -Mangles true judgment and bereaves the state -Of that integrity which should become't, -Not having the power to do the good it would, -For the in which doth control't. - -BRUTUS: -Has said enough. - -SICINIUS: -Has spoken like a traitor, and shall answer -As traitors do. - -CORIOLANUS: -Thou wretch, despite o'erwhelm thee! -What should the people do with these bald tribunes? -On whom depending, their obedience fails -To the greater bench: in a rebellion, -When what's not meet, but what must be, was law, -Then were they chosen: in a better hour, -Let what is meet be said it must be meet, -And throw their power i' the dust. - -BRUTUS: -Manifest treason! - -SICINIUS: -This a consul? no. - -BRUTUS: -The aediles, ho! -Let him be apprehended. - -SICINIUS: -Go, call the people: -in whose name myself -Attach thee as a traitorous innovator, -A foe to the public weal: obey, I charge thee, -And follow to thine answer. - -CORIOLANUS: -Hence, old goat! - -Senators, &C: -We'll surety him. - -COMINIUS: -Aged sir, hands off. - -CORIOLANUS: -Hence, rotten thing! or I shall shake thy bones -Out of thy garments. - -SICINIUS: -Help, ye citizens! - -MENENIUS: -On both sides more respect. - -SICINIUS: -Here's he that would take from you all your power. - -BRUTUS: -Seize him, AEdiles! - -Citizens: -Down with him! down with him! - -Senators, &C: -Weapons, weapons, weapons! -'Tribunes!' 'Patricians!' 'Citizens!' 'What, ho!' -'Sicinius!' 'Brutus!' 'Coriolanus!' 'Citizens!' -'Peace, peace, peace!' 'Stay, hold, peace!' - -MENENIUS: -What is about to be? I am out of breath; -Confusion's near; I cannot speak. You, tribunes -To the people! Coriolanus, patience! -Speak, good Sicinius. - -SICINIUS: -Hear me, people; peace! - -Citizens: -Let's hear our tribune: peace Speak, speak, speak. - -SICINIUS: -You are at point to lose your liberties: -Marcius would have all from you; Marcius, -Whom late you have named for consul. - -MENENIUS: -Fie, fie, fie! -This is the way to kindle, not to quench. - -First Senator: -To unbuild the city and to lay all flat. - -SICINIUS: -What is the city but the people? - -Citizens: -True, -The people are the city. - -BRUTUS: -By the consent of all, we were establish'd -The people's magistrates. - -Citizens: -You so remain. - -MENENIUS: -And so are like to do. - -COMINIUS: -That is the way to lay the city flat; -To bring the roof to the foundation, -And bury all, which yet distinctly ranges, -In heaps and piles of ruin. - -SICINIUS: -This deserves death. - -BRUTUS: -Or let us stand to our authority, -Or let us lose it. We do here pronounce, -Upon the part o' the people, in whose power -We were elected theirs, Marcius is worthy -Of present death. - -SICINIUS: -Therefore lay hold of him; -Bear him to the rock Tarpeian, and from thence -Into destruction cast him. - -BRUTUS: -AEdiles, seize him! - -Citizens: -Yield, Marcius, yield! - -MENENIUS: -Hear me one word; -Beseech you, tribunes, hear me but a word. - -AEdile: -Peace, peace! - -MENENIUS: - -BRUTUS: -Sir, those cold ways, -That seem like prudent helps, are very poisonous -Where the disease is violent. Lay hands upon him, -And bear him to the rock. - -CORIOLANUS: -No, I'll die here. -There's some among you have beheld me fighting: -Come, try upon yourselves what you have seen me. - -MENENIUS: -Down with that sword! Tribunes, withdraw awhile. - -BRUTUS: -Lay hands upon him. - -COMINIUS: -Help Marcius, help, -You that be noble; help him, young and old! - -Citizens: -Down with him, down with him! - -MENENIUS: -Go, get you to your house; be gone, away! -All will be naught else. - -Second Senator: -Get you gone. - -COMINIUS: -Stand fast; -We have as many friends as enemies. - -MENENIUS: -Sham it be put to that? - -First Senator: -The gods forbid! -I prithee, noble friend, home to thy house; -Leave us to cure this cause. - -MENENIUS: -For 'tis a sore upon us, -You cannot tent yourself: be gone, beseech you. - -COMINIUS: -Come, sir, along with us. - -CORIOLANUS: -I would they were barbarians--as they are, -Though in Rome litter'd--not Romans--as they are not, -Though calved i' the porch o' the Capitol-- - -MENENIUS: -Be gone; -Put not your worthy rage into your tongue; -One time will owe another. - -CORIOLANUS: -On fair ground -I could beat forty of them. - -COMINIUS: -I could myself -Take up a brace o' the best of them; yea, the -two tribunes: -But now 'tis odds beyond arithmetic; -And manhood is call'd foolery, when it stands -Against a falling fabric. Will you hence, -Before the tag return? whose rage doth rend -Like interrupted waters and o'erbear -What they are used to bear. - -MENENIUS: -Pray you, be gone: -I'll try whether my old wit be in request -With those that have but little: this must be patch'd -With cloth of any colour. - -COMINIUS: -Nay, come away. - -A Patrician: -This man has marr'd his fortune. - -MENENIUS: -His nature is too noble for the world: -He would not flatter Neptune for his trident, -Or Jove for's power to thunder. His heart's his mouth: -What his breast forges, that his tongue must vent; -And, being angry, does forget that ever -He heard the name of death. -Here's goodly work! - -Second Patrician: -I would they were abed! - -MENENIUS: -I would they were in Tiber! What the vengeance! -Could he not speak 'em fair? - -SICINIUS: -Where is this viper -That would depopulate the city and -Be every man himself? - -MENENIUS: -You worthy tribunes,-- - -SICINIUS: -He shall be thrown down the Tarpeian rock -With rigorous hands: he hath resisted law, -And therefore law shall scorn him further trial -Than the severity of the public power -Which he so sets at nought. - -First Citizen: -He shall well know -The noble tribunes are the people's mouths, -And we their hands. - -Citizens: -He shall, sure on't. - -MENENIUS: -Sir, sir,-- - -SICINIUS: -Peace! - -MENENIUS: -Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt -With modest warrant. - -SICINIUS: -Sir, how comes't that you -Have holp to make this rescue? - -MENENIUS: -Hear me speak: -As I do know the consul's worthiness, -So can I name his faults,-- - -SICINIUS: -Consul! what consul? - -MENENIUS: -The consul Coriolanus. - -BRUTUS: -He consul! - -Citizens: -No, no, no, no, no. - -MENENIUS: -If, by the tribunes' leave, and yours, good people, -I may be heard, I would crave a word or two; -The which shall turn you to no further harm -Than so much loss of time. - -SICINIUS: -Speak briefly then; -For we are peremptory to dispatch -This viperous traitor: to eject him hence -Were but one danger, and to keep him here -Our certain death: therefore it is decreed -He dies to-night. - -MENENIUS: -Now the good gods forbid -That our renowned Rome, whose gratitude -Towards her deserved children is enroll'd -In Jove's own book, like an unnatural dam -Should now eat up her own! - -SICINIUS: -He's a disease that must be cut away. - -MENENIUS: -O, he's a limb that has but a disease; -Mortal, to cut it off; to cure it, easy. -What has he done to Rome that's worthy death? -Killing our enemies, the blood he hath lost-- -Which, I dare vouch, is more than that he hath, -By many an ounce--he dropp'd it for his country; -And what is left, to lose it by his country, -Were to us all, that do't and suffer it, -A brand to the end o' the world. - -SICINIUS: -This is clean kam. - -BRUTUS: -Merely awry: when he did love his country, -It honour'd him. - -MENENIUS: -The service of the foot -Being once gangrened, is not then respected -For what before it was. - -BRUTUS: -We'll hear no more. -Pursue him to his house, and pluck him thence: -Lest his infection, being of catching nature, -Spread further. - -MENENIUS: -One word more, one word. -This tiger-footed rage, when it shall find -The harm of unscann'd swiftness, will too late -Tie leaden pounds to's heels. Proceed by process; -Lest parties, as he is beloved, break out, -And sack great Rome with Romans. - -BRUTUS: -If it were so,-- - -SICINIUS: -What do ye talk? -Have we not had a taste of his obedience? -Our aediles smote? ourselves resisted? Come. - -MENENIUS: -Consider this: he has been bred i' the wars -Since he could draw a sword, and is ill school'd -In bolted language; meal and bran together -He throws without distinction. Give me leave, -I'll go to him, and undertake to bring him -Where he shall answer, by a lawful form, -In peace, to his utmost peril. - -First Senator: -Noble tribunes, -It is the humane way: the other course -Will prove too bloody, and the end of it -Unknown to the beginning. - -SICINIUS: -Noble Menenius, -Be you then as the people's officer. -Masters, lay down your weapons. - -BRUTUS: -Go not home. - -SICINIUS: -Meet on the market-place. We'll attend you there: -Where, if you bring not Marcius, we'll proceed -In our first way. - -MENENIUS: -I'll bring him to you. -Let me desire your company: he must come, -Or what is worst will follow. - -First Senator: -Pray you, let's to him. - -CORIOLANUS: -Let them puff all about mine ears, present me -Death on the wheel or at wild horses' heels, -Or pile ten hills on the Tarpeian rock, -That the precipitation might down stretch -Below the beam of sight, yet will I still -Be thus to them. - -A Patrician: -You do the nobler. - -CORIOLANUS: -I muse my mother -Does not approve me further, who was wont -To call them woollen vassals, things created -To buy and sell with groats, to show bare heads -In congregations, to yawn, be still and wonder, -When one but of my ordinance stood up -To speak of peace or war. -I talk of you: -Why did you wish me milder? would you have me -False to my nature? Rather say I play -The man I am. - -VOLUMNIA: -O, sir, sir, sir, -I would have had you put your power well on, -Before you had worn it out. - -CORIOLANUS: -Let go. - -VOLUMNIA: -You might have been enough the man you are, -With striving less to be so; lesser had been -The thwartings of your dispositions, if -You had not show'd them how ye were disposed -Ere they lack'd power to cross you. - -CORIOLANUS: -Let them hang. - -A Patrician: -Ay, and burn too. - -MENENIUS: -Come, come, you have been too rough, something -too rough; -You must return and mend it. - -First Senator: -There's no remedy; -Unless, by not so doing, our good city -Cleave in the midst, and perish. - -VOLUMNIA: -Pray, be counsell'd: -I have a heart as little apt as yours, -But yet a brain that leads my use of anger -To better vantage. - -MENENIUS: -Well said, noble woman? -Before he should thus stoop to the herd, but that -The violent fit o' the time craves it as physic -For the whole state, I would put mine armour on, -Which I can scarcely bear. - -CORIOLANUS: -What must I do? - -MENENIUS: -Return to the tribunes. - -CORIOLANUS: -Well, what then? what then? - -MENENIUS: -Repent what you have spoke. - -CORIOLANUS: -For them! I cannot do it to the gods; -Must I then do't to them? - -VOLUMNIA: -You are too absolute; -Though therein you can never be too noble, -But when extremities speak. I have heard you say, -Honour and policy, like unsever'd friends, -I' the war do grow together: grant that, and tell me, -In peace what each of them by the other lose, -That they combine not there. - -CORIOLANUS: -Tush, tush! - -MENENIUS: -A good demand. - -VOLUMNIA: -If it be honour in your wars to seem -The same you are not, which, for your best ends, -You adopt your policy, how is it less or worse, -That it shall hold companionship in peace -With honour, as in war, since that to both -It stands in like request? - -CORIOLANUS: -Why force you this? - -VOLUMNIA: -Because that now it lies you on to speak -To the people; not by your own instruction, -Nor by the matter which your heart prompts you, -But with such words that are but rooted in -Your tongue, though but bastards and syllables -Of no allowance to your bosom's truth. -Now, this no more dishonours you at all -Than to take in a town with gentle words, -Which else would put you to your fortune and -The hazard of much blood. -I would dissemble with my nature where -My fortunes and my friends at stake required -I should do so in honour: I am in this, -Your wife, your son, these senators, the nobles; -And you will rather show our general louts -How you can frown than spend a fawn upon 'em, -For the inheritance of their loves and safeguard -Of what that want might ruin. - -MENENIUS: -Noble lady! -Come, go with us; speak fair: you may salve so, -Not what is dangerous present, but the loss -Of what is past. - -VOLUMNIA: -I prithee now, my son, -Go to them, with this bonnet in thy hand; -And thus far having stretch'd it--here be with them-- -Thy knee bussing the stones--for in such business -Action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant -More learned than the ears--waving thy head, -Which often, thus, correcting thy stout heart, -Now humble as the ripest mulberry -That will not hold the handling: or say to them, -Thou art their soldier, and being bred in broils -Hast not the soft way which, thou dost confess, -Were fit for thee to use as they to claim, -In asking their good loves, but thou wilt frame -Thyself, forsooth, hereafter theirs, so far -As thou hast power and person. - -MENENIUS: -This but done, -Even as she speaks, why, their hearts were yours; -For they have pardons, being ask'd, as free -As words to little purpose. - -VOLUMNIA: -Prithee now, -Go, and be ruled: although I know thou hadst rather -Follow thine enemy in a fiery gulf -Than flatter him in a bower. Here is Cominius. - -COMINIUS: -I have been i' the market-place; and, sir,'tis fit -You make strong party, or defend yourself -By calmness or by absence: all's in anger. - -MENENIUS: -Only fair speech. - -COMINIUS: -I think 'twill serve, if he -Can thereto frame his spirit. - -VOLUMNIA: -He must, and will -Prithee now, say you will, and go about it. - -CORIOLANUS: -Must I go show them my unbarbed sconce? -Must I with base tongue give my noble heart -A lie that it must bear? Well, I will do't: -Yet, were there but this single plot to lose, -This mould of Marcius, they to dust should grind it -And throw't against the wind. To the market-place! -You have put me now to such a part which never -I shall discharge to the life. - -COMINIUS: -Come, come, we'll prompt you. - -VOLUMNIA: -I prithee now, sweet son, as thou hast said -My praises made thee first a soldier, so, -To have my praise for this, perform a part -Thou hast not done before. - -CORIOLANUS: -Well, I must do't: -Away, my disposition, and possess me -Some harlot's spirit! my throat of war be turn'd, -Which quired with my drum, into a pipe -Small as an eunuch, or the virgin voice -That babies lulls asleep! the smiles of knaves -Tent in my cheeks, and schoolboys' tears take up -The glasses of my sight! a beggar's tongue -Make motion through my lips, and my arm'd knees, -Who bow'd but in my stirrup, bend like his -That hath received an alms! I will not do't, -Lest I surcease to honour mine own truth -And by my body's action teach my mind -A most inherent baseness. - -VOLUMNIA: -At thy choice, then: -To beg of thee, it is my more dishonour -Than thou of them. Come all to ruin; let -Thy mother rather feel thy pride than fear -Thy dangerous stoutness, for I mock at death -With as big heart as thou. Do as thou list -Thy valiantness was mine, thou suck'dst it from me, -But owe thy pride thyself. - -CORIOLANUS: -Pray, be content: -Mother, I am going to the market-place; -Chide me no more. I'll mountebank their loves, -Cog their hearts from them, and come home beloved -Of all the trades in Rome. Look, I am going: -Commend me to my wife. I'll return consul; -Or never trust to what my tongue can do -I' the way of flattery further. - -VOLUMNIA: -Do your will. - -COMINIUS: -Away! the tribunes do attend you: arm yourself -To answer mildly; for they are prepared -With accusations, as I hear, more strong -Than are upon you yet. - -CORIOLANUS: -The word is 'mildly.' Pray you, let us go: -Let them accuse me by invention, I -Will answer in mine honour. - -MENENIUS: -Ay, but mildly. - -CORIOLANUS: -Well, mildly be it then. Mildly! - -BRUTUS: -In this point charge him home, that he affects -Tyrannical power: if he evade us there, -Enforce him with his envy to the people, -And that the spoil got on the Antiates -Was ne'er distributed. -What, will he come? - -AEdile: -He's coming. - -BRUTUS: -How accompanied? - -AEdile: -With old Menenius, and those senators -That always favour'd him. - -SICINIUS: -Have you a catalogue -Of all the voices that we have procured -Set down by the poll? - -AEdile: -I have; 'tis ready. - -SICINIUS: -Have you collected them by tribes? - -AEdile: -I have. - -SICINIUS: -Assemble presently the people hither; -And when they bear me say 'It shall be so -I' the right and strength o' the commons,' be it either -For death, for fine, or banishment, then let them -If I say fine, cry 'Fine;' if death, cry 'Death.' -Insisting on the old prerogative -And power i' the truth o' the cause. - -AEdile: -I shall inform them. - -BRUTUS: -And when such time they have begun to cry, -Let them not cease, but with a din confused -Enforce the present execution -Of what we chance to sentence. - -AEdile: -Very well. - -SICINIUS: -Make them be strong and ready for this hint, -When we shall hap to give 't them. - -BRUTUS: -Go about it. -Put him to choler straight: he hath been used -Ever to conquer, and to have his worth -Of contradiction: being once chafed, he cannot -Be rein'd again to temperance; then he speaks -What's in his heart; and that is there which looks -With us to break his neck. - -SICINIUS: -Well, here he comes. - -MENENIUS: -Calmly, I do beseech you. - -CORIOLANUS: -Ay, as an ostler, that for the poorest piece -Will bear the knave by the volume. The honour'd gods -Keep Rome in safety, and the chairs of justice -Supplied with worthy men! plant love among 's! -Throng our large temples with the shows of peace, -And not our streets with war! - -First Senator: -Amen, amen. - -MENENIUS: -A noble wish. - -SICINIUS: -Draw near, ye people. - -AEdile: -List to your tribunes. Audience: peace, I say! - -CORIOLANUS: -First, hear me speak. - -Both Tribunes: -Well, say. Peace, ho! - -CORIOLANUS: -Shall I be charged no further than this present? -Must all determine here? - -SICINIUS: -I do demand, -If you submit you to the people's voices, -Allow their officers and are content -To suffer lawful censure for such faults -As shall be proved upon you? - -CORIOLANUS: -I am content. - -MENENIUS: -Lo, citizens, he says he is content: -The warlike service he has done, consider; think -Upon the wounds his body bears, which show -Like graves i' the holy churchyard. - -CORIOLANUS: -Scratches with briers, -Scars to move laughter only. - -MENENIUS: -Consider further, -That when he speaks not like a citizen, -You find him like a soldier: do not take -His rougher accents for malicious sounds, -But, as I say, such as become a soldier, -Rather than envy you. - -COMINIUS: -Well, well, no more. - -CORIOLANUS: -What is the matter -That being pass'd for consul with full voice, -I am so dishonour'd that the very hour -You take it off again? - -SICINIUS: -Answer to us. - -CORIOLANUS: -Say, then: 'tis true, I ought so. - -SICINIUS: -We charge you, that you have contrived to take -From Rome all season'd office and to wind -Yourself into a power tyrannical; -For which you are a traitor to the people. - -CORIOLANUS: -How! traitor! - -MENENIUS: -Nay, temperately; your promise. - -CORIOLANUS: -The fires i' the lowest hell fold-in the people! -Call me their traitor! Thou injurious tribune! -Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths, -In thy hand clutch'd as many millions, in -Thy lying tongue both numbers, I would say -'Thou liest' unto thee with a voice as free -As I do pray the gods. - -SICINIUS: -Mark you this, people? - -Citizens: -To the rock, to the rock with him! - -SICINIUS: -Peace! -We need not put new matter to his charge: -What you have seen him do and heard him speak, -Beating your officers, cursing yourselves, -Opposing laws with strokes and here defying -Those whose great power must try him; even this, -So criminal and in such capital kind, -Deserves the extremest death. - -BRUTUS: -But since he hath -Served well for Rome,-- - -CORIOLANUS: -What do you prate of service? - -BRUTUS: -I talk of that, that know it. - -CORIOLANUS: -You? - -MENENIUS: -Is this the promise that you made your mother? - -COMINIUS: -Know, I pray you,-- - -CORIOLANUS: -I know no further: -Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death, -Vagabond exile, raying, pent to linger -But with a grain a day, I would not buy -Their mercy at the price of one fair word; -Nor cheque my courage for what they can give, -To have't with saying 'Good morrow.' - -SICINIUS: -For that he has, -As much as in him lies, from time to time -Envied against the people, seeking means -To pluck away their power, as now at last -Given hostile strokes, and that not in the presence -Of dreaded justice, but on the ministers -That do distribute it; in the name o' the people -And in the power of us the tribunes, we, -Even from this instant, banish him our city, -In peril of precipitation -From off the rock Tarpeian never more -To enter our Rome gates: i' the people's name, -I say it shall be so. - -Citizens: -It shall be so, it shall be so; let him away: -He's banish'd, and it shall be so. - -COMINIUS: -Hear me, my masters, and my common friends,-- - -SICINIUS: -He's sentenced; no more hearing. - -COMINIUS: -Let me speak: -I have been consul, and can show for Rome -Her enemies' marks upon me. I do love -My country's good with a respect more tender, -More holy and profound, than mine own life, -My dear wife's estimate, her womb's increase, -And treasure of my loins; then if I would -Speak that,-- - -SICINIUS: -We know your drift: speak what? - -BRUTUS: -There's no more to be said, but he is banish'd, -As enemy to the people and his country: -It shall be so. - -Citizens: -It shall be so, it shall be so. - -CORIOLANUS: -You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate -As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize -As the dead carcasses of unburied men -That do corrupt my air, I banish you; -And here remain with your uncertainty! -Let every feeble rumour shake your hearts! -Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes, -Fan you into despair! Have the power still -To banish your defenders; till at length -Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels, -Making not reservation of yourselves, -Still your own foes, deliver you as most -Abated captives to some nation -That won you without blows! Despising, -For you, the city, thus I turn my back: -There is a world elsewhere. - -AEdile: -The people's enemy is gone, is gone! - -Citizens: -Our enemy is banish'd! he is gone! Hoo! hoo! - -SICINIUS: -Go, see him out at gates, and follow him, -As he hath followed you, with all despite; -Give him deserved vexation. Let a guard -Attend us through the city. - -Citizens: -Come, come; let's see him out at gates; come. -The gods preserve our noble tribunes! Come. - -CORIOLANUS: -Come, leave your tears: a brief farewell: the beast -With many heads butts me away. Nay, mother, -Where is your ancient courage? you were used -To say extremity was the trier of spirits; -That common chances common men could bear; -That when the sea was calm all boats alike -Show'd mastership in floating; fortune's blows, -When most struck home, being gentle wounded, craves -A noble cunning: you were used to load me -With precepts that would make invincible -The heart that conn'd them. - -VIRGILIA: -O heavens! O heavens! - -CORIOLANUS: -Nay! prithee, woman,-- - -VOLUMNIA: -Now the red pestilence strike all trades in Rome, -And occupations perish! - -CORIOLANUS: -What, what, what! -I shall be loved when I am lack'd. Nay, mother. -Resume that spirit, when you were wont to say, -If you had been the wife of Hercules, -Six of his labours you'ld have done, and saved -Your husband so much sweat. Cominius, -Droop not; adieu. Farewell, my wife, my mother: -I'll do well yet. Thou old and true Menenius, -Thy tears are salter than a younger man's, -And venomous to thine eyes. My sometime general, -I have seen thee stem, and thou hast oft beheld -Heart-hardening spectacles; tell these sad women -'Tis fond to wail inevitable strokes, -As 'tis to laugh at 'em. My mother, you wot well -My hazards still have been your solace: and -Believe't not lightly--though I go alone, -Like to a lonely dragon, that his fen -Makes fear'd and talk'd of more than seen--your son -Will or exceed the common or be caught -With cautelous baits and practise. - -VOLUMNIA: -My first son. -Whither wilt thou go? Take good Cominius -With thee awhile: determine on some course, -More than a wild exposture to each chance -That starts i' the way before thee. - -CORIOLANUS: -O the gods! - -COMINIUS: -I'll follow thee a month, devise with thee -Where thou shalt rest, that thou mayst hear of us -And we of thee: so if the time thrust forth -A cause for thy repeal, we shall not send -O'er the vast world to seek a single man, -And lose advantage, which doth ever cool -I' the absence of the needer. - -CORIOLANUS: -Fare ye well: -Thou hast years upon thee; and thou art too full -Of the wars' surfeits, to go rove with one -That's yet unbruised: bring me but out at gate. -Come, my sweet wife, my dearest mother, and -My friends of noble touch, when I am forth, -Bid me farewell, and smile. I pray you, come. -While I remain above the ground, you shall -Hear from me still, and never of me aught -But what is like me formerly. - -MENENIUS: -That's worthily -As any ear can hear. Come, let's not weep. -If I could shake off but one seven years -From these old arms and legs, by the good gods, -I'ld with thee every foot. - -CORIOLANUS: -Give me thy hand: Come. - -SICINIUS: -Bid them all home; he's gone, and we'll no further. -The nobility are vex'd, whom we see have sided -In his behalf. - -BRUTUS: -Now we have shown our power, -Let us seem humbler after it is done -Than when it was a-doing. - -SICINIUS: -Bid them home: -Say their great enemy is gone, and they -Stand in their ancient strength. - -BRUTUS: -Dismiss them home. -Here comes his mother. - -SICINIUS: -Let's not meet her. - -BRUTUS: -Why? - -SICINIUS: -They say she's mad. - -BRUTUS: -They have ta'en note of us: keep on your way. - -VOLUMNIA: -O, ye're well met: the hoarded plague o' the gods -Requite your love! - -MENENIUS: -Peace, peace; be not so loud. - -VOLUMNIA: -If that I could for weeping, you should hear,-- -Nay, and you shall hear some. -Will you be gone? - -VIRGILIA: - -SICINIUS: -Are you mankind? - -VOLUMNIA: -Ay, fool; is that a shame? Note but this fool. -Was not a man my father? Hadst thou foxship -To banish him that struck more blows for Rome -Than thou hast spoken words? - -SICINIUS: -O blessed heavens! - -VOLUMNIA: -More noble blows than ever thou wise words; -And for Rome's good. I'll tell thee what; yet go: -Nay, but thou shalt stay too: I would my son -Were in Arabia, and thy tribe before him, -His good sword in his hand. - -SICINIUS: -What then? - -VIRGILIA: -What then! -He'ld make an end of thy posterity. - -VOLUMNIA: -Bastards and all. -Good man, the wounds that he does bear for Rome! - -MENENIUS: -Come, come, peace. - -SICINIUS: -I would he had continued to his country -As he began, and not unknit himself -The noble knot he made. - -BRUTUS: -I would he had. - -VOLUMNIA: -'I would he had'! 'Twas you incensed the rabble: -Cats, that can judge as fitly of his worth -As I can of those mysteries which heaven -Will not have earth to know. - -BRUTUS: -Pray, let us go. - -VOLUMNIA: -Now, pray, sir, get you gone: -You have done a brave deed. Ere you go, hear this:-- -As far as doth the Capitol exceed -The meanest house in Rome, so far my son-- -This lady's husband here, this, do you see-- -Whom you have banish'd, does exceed you all. - -BRUTUS: -Well, well, we'll leave you. - -SICINIUS: -Why stay we to be baited -With one that wants her wits? - -VOLUMNIA: -Take my prayers with you. -I would the gods had nothing else to do -But to confirm my curses! Could I meet 'em -But once a-day, it would unclog my heart -Of what lies heavy to't. - -MENENIUS: -You have told them home; -And, by my troth, you have cause. You'll sup with me? - -VOLUMNIA: -Anger's my meat; I sup upon myself, -And so shall starve with feeding. Come, let's go: -Leave this faint puling and lament as I do, -In anger, Juno-like. Come, come, come. - -MENENIUS: -Fie, fie, fie! - -Roman: -I know you well, sir, and you know -me: your name, I think, is Adrian. - -Volsce: -It is so, sir: truly, I have forgot you. - -Roman: -I am a Roman; and my services are, -as you are, against 'em: know you me yet? - -Volsce: -Nicanor? no. - -Roman: -The same, sir. - -Volsce: -You had more beard when I last saw you; but your -favour is well approved by your tongue. What's the -news in Rome? I have a note from the Volscian state, -to find you out there: you have well saved me a -day's journey. - -Roman: -There hath been in Rome strange insurrections; the -people against the senators, patricians, and nobles. - -Volsce: -Hath been! is it ended, then? Our state thinks not -so: they are in a most warlike preparation, and -hope to come upon them in the heat of their division. - -Roman: -The main blaze of it is past, but a small thing -would make it flame again: for the nobles receive -so to heart the banishment of that worthy -Coriolanus, that they are in a ripe aptness to take -all power from the people and to pluck from them -their tribunes for ever. This lies glowing, I can -tell you, and is almost mature for the violent -breaking out. - -Volsce: -Coriolanus banished! - -Roman: -Banished, sir. - -Volsce: -You will be welcome with this intelligence, Nicanor. - -Roman: -The day serves well for them now. I have heard it -said, the fittest time to corrupt a man's wife is -when she's fallen out with her husband. Your noble -Tullus Aufidius will appear well in these wars, his -great opposer, Coriolanus, being now in no request -of his country. - -Volsce: -He cannot choose. I am most fortunate, thus -accidentally to encounter you: you have ended my -business, and I will merrily accompany you home. - -Roman: -I shall, between this and supper, tell you most -strange things from Rome; all tending to the good of -their adversaries. Have you an army ready, say you? - -Volsce: -A most royal one; the centurions and their charges, -distinctly billeted, already in the entertainment, -and to be on foot at an hour's warning. - -Roman: -I am joyful to hear of their readiness, and am the -man, I think, that shall set them in present action. -So, sir, heartily well met, and most glad of your company. - -Volsce: -You take my part from me, sir; I have the most cause -to be glad of yours. - -Roman: -Well, let us go together. - -CORIOLANUS: -A goodly city is this Antium. City, -'Tis I that made thy widows: many an heir -Of these fair edifices 'fore my wars -Have I heard groan and drop: then know me not, -Lest that thy wives with spits and boys with stones -In puny battle slay me. -Save you, sir. - -Citizen: -And you. - -CORIOLANUS: -Direct me, if it be your will, -Where great Aufidius lies: is he in Antium? - -Citizen: -He is, and feasts the nobles of the state -At his house this night. - -CORIOLANUS: -Which is his house, beseech you? - -Citizen: -This, here before you. - -CORIOLANUS: -Thank you, sir: farewell. -O world, thy slippery turns! Friends now fast sworn, -Whose double bosoms seem to wear one heart, -Whose house, whose bed, whose meal, and exercise, -Are still together, who twin, as 'twere, in love -Unseparable, shall within this hour, -On a dissension of a doit, break out -To bitterest enmity: so, fellest foes, -Whose passions and whose plots have broke their sleep, -To take the one the other, by some chance, -Some trick not worth an egg, shall grow dear friends -And interjoin their issues. So with me: -My birth-place hate I, and my love's upon -This enemy town. I'll enter: if he slay me, -He does fair justice; if he give me way, -I'll do his country service. - -First Servingman: -Wine, wine, wine! What service -is here! I think our fellows are asleep. - -Second Servingman: -Where's Cotus? my master calls -for him. Cotus! - -CORIOLANUS: -A goodly house: the feast smells well; but I -Appear not like a guest. - -First Servingman: -What would you have, friend? whence are you? -Here's no place for you: pray, go to the door. - -CORIOLANUS: -I have deserved no better entertainment, -In being Coriolanus. - -Second Servingman: -Whence are you, sir? Has the porter his eyes in his -head; that he gives entrance to such companions? -Pray, get you out. - -CORIOLANUS: -Away! - -Second Servingman: -Away! get you away. - -CORIOLANUS: -Now thou'rt troublesome. - -Second Servingman: -Are you so brave? I'll have you talked with anon. - -Third Servingman: -What fellow's this? - -First Servingman: -A strange one as ever I looked on: I cannot get him -out of the house: prithee, call my master to him. - -Third Servingman: -What have you to do here, fellow? Pray you, avoid -the house. - -CORIOLANUS: -Let me but stand; I will not hurt your hearth. - -Third Servingman: -What are you? - -CORIOLANUS: -A gentleman. - -Third Servingman: -A marvellous poor one. - -CORIOLANUS: -True, so I am. - -Third Servingman: -Pray you, poor gentleman, take up some other -station; here's no place for you; pray you, avoid: come. - -CORIOLANUS: -Follow your function, go, and batten on cold bits. - -Third Servingman: -What, you will not? Prithee, tell my master what a -strange guest he has here. - -Second Servingman: -And I shall. - -Third Servingman: -Where dwellest thou? - -CORIOLANUS: -Under the canopy. - -Third Servingman: -Under the canopy! - -CORIOLANUS: -Ay. - -Third Servingman: -Where's that? - -CORIOLANUS: -I' the city of kites and crows. - -Third Servingman: -I' the city of kites and crows! What an ass it is! -Then thou dwellest with daws too? - -CORIOLANUS: -No, I serve not thy master. - -Third Servingman: -How, sir! do you meddle with my master? - -CORIOLANUS: -Ay; 'tis an honester service than to meddle with thy -mistress. Thou pratest, and pratest; serve with thy -trencher, hence! - -AUFIDIUS: -Where is this fellow? - -Second Servingman: -Here, sir: I'ld have beaten him like a dog, but for -disturbing the lords within. - -AUFIDIUS: -Whence comest thou? what wouldst thou? thy name? -Why speak'st not? speak, man: what's thy name? - -CORIOLANUS: -If, Tullus, -Not yet thou knowest me, and, seeing me, dost not -Think me for the man I am, necessity -Commands me name myself. - -AUFIDIUS: -What is thy name? - -CORIOLANUS: -A name unmusical to the Volscians' ears, -And harsh in sound to thine. - -AUFIDIUS: -Say, what's thy name? -Thou hast a grim appearance, and thy face -Bears a command in't; though thy tackle's torn. -Thou show'st a noble vessel: what's thy name? - -CORIOLANUS: -Prepare thy brow to frown: know'st -thou me yet? - -AUFIDIUS: -I know thee not: thy name? - -CORIOLANUS: -My name is Caius Marcius, who hath done -To thee particularly and to all the Volsces -Great hurt and mischief; thereto witness may -My surname, Coriolanus: the painful service, -The extreme dangers and the drops of blood -Shed for my thankless country are requited -But with that surname; a good memory, -And witness of the malice and displeasure -Which thou shouldst bear me: only that name remains; -The cruelty and envy of the people, -Permitted by our dastard nobles, who -Have all forsook me, hath devour'd the rest; -And suffer'd me by the voice of slaves to be -Whoop'd out of Rome. Now this extremity -Hath brought me to thy hearth; not out of hope-- -Mistake me not--to save my life, for if -I had fear'd death, of all the men i' the world -I would have 'voided thee, but in mere spite, -To be full quit of those my banishers, -Stand I before thee here. Then if thou hast -A heart of wreak in thee, that wilt revenge -Thine own particular wrongs and stop those maims -Of shame seen through thy country, speed -thee straight, -And make my misery serve thy turn: so use it -That my revengeful services may prove -As benefits to thee, for I will fight -Against my canker'd country with the spleen -Of all the under fiends. But if so be -Thou darest not this and that to prove more fortunes -Thou'rt tired, then, in a word, I also am -Longer to live most weary, and present -My throat to thee and to thy ancient malice; -Which not to cut would show thee but a fool, -Since I have ever follow'd thee with hate, -Drawn tuns of blood out of thy country's breast, -And cannot live but to thy shame, unless -It be to do thee service. - -AUFIDIUS: -O Marcius, Marcius! -Each word thou hast spoke hath weeded from my heart -A root of ancient envy. If Jupiter -Should from yond cloud speak divine things, -And say 'Tis true,' I'ld not believe them more -Than thee, all noble Marcius. Let me twine -Mine arms about that body, where against -My grained ash an hundred times hath broke -And scarr'd the moon with splinters: here I clip -The anvil of my sword, and do contest -As hotly and as nobly with thy love -As ever in ambitious strength I did -Contend against thy valour. Know thou first, -I loved the maid I married; never man -Sigh'd truer breath; but that I see thee here, -Thou noble thing! more dances my rapt heart -Than when I first my wedded mistress saw -Bestride my threshold. Why, thou Mars! I tell thee, -We have a power on foot; and I had purpose -Once more to hew thy target from thy brawn, -Or lose mine arm fort: thou hast beat me out -Twelve several times, and I have nightly since -Dreamt of encounters 'twixt thyself and me; -We have been down together in my sleep, -Unbuckling helms, fisting each other's throat, -And waked half dead with nothing. Worthy Marcius, -Had we no quarrel else to Rome, but that -Thou art thence banish'd, we would muster all -From twelve to seventy, and pouring war -Into the bowels of ungrateful Rome, -Like a bold flood o'er-bear. O, come, go in, -And take our friendly senators by the hands; -Who now are here, taking their leaves of me, -Who am prepared against your territories, -Though not for Rome itself. - -CORIOLANUS: -You bless me, gods! - -AUFIDIUS: -Therefore, most absolute sir, if thou wilt have -The leading of thine own revenges, take -The one half of my commission; and set down-- -As best thou art experienced, since thou know'st -Thy country's strength and weakness,--thine own ways; -Whether to knock against the gates of Rome, -Or rudely visit them in parts remote, -To fright them, ere destroy. But come in: -Let me commend thee first to those that shall -Say yea to thy desires. A thousand welcomes! -And more a friend than e'er an enemy; -Yet, Marcius, that was much. Your hand: most welcome! - -First Servingman: -Here's a strange alteration! - -Second Servingman: -By my hand, I had thought to have strucken him with -a cudgel; and yet my mind gave me his clothes made a -false report of him. - -First Servingman: -What an arm he has! he turned me about with his -finger and his thumb, as one would set up a top. - -Second Servingman: -Nay, I knew by his face that there was something in -him: he had, sir, a kind of face, methought,--I -cannot tell how to term it. - -First Servingman: -He had so; looking as it were--would I were hanged, -but I thought there was more in him than I could think. - -Second Servingman: -So did I, I'll be sworn: he is simply the rarest -man i' the world. - -First Servingman: -I think he is: but a greater soldier than he you wot on. - -Second Servingman: -Who, my master? - -First Servingman: -Nay, it's no matter for that. - -Second Servingman: -Worth six on him. - -First Servingman: -Nay, not so neither: but I take him to be the -greater soldier. - -Second Servingman: -Faith, look you, one cannot tell how to say that: -for the defence of a town, our general is excellent. - -First Servingman: -Ay, and for an assault too. - -Third Servingman: -O slaves, I can tell you news,-- news, you rascals! - -First Servingman: -What, what, what? let's partake. - -Third Servingman: -I would not be a Roman, of all nations; I had as -lieve be a condemned man. - -First Servingman: -Wherefore? wherefore? - -Third Servingman: -Why, here's he that was wont to thwack our general, -Caius Marcius. - -First Servingman: -Why do you say 'thwack our general '? - -Third Servingman: -I do not say 'thwack our general;' but he was always -good enough for him. - -Second Servingman: -Come, we are fellows and friends: he was ever too -hard for him; I have heard him say so himself. - -First Servingman: -He was too hard for him directly, to say the troth -on't: before Corioli he scotched him and notched -him like a carbon ado. - -Second Servingman: -An he had been cannibally given, he might have -broiled and eaten him too. - -First Servingman: -But, more of thy news? - -Third Servingman: -Why, he is so made on here within, as if he were son -and heir to Mars; set at upper end o' the table; no -question asked him by any of the senators, but they -stand bald before him: our general himself makes a -mistress of him: sanctifies himself with's hand and -turns up the white o' the eye to his discourse. But -the bottom of the news is that our general is cut i' -the middle and but one half of what he was -yesterday; for the other has half, by the entreaty -and grant of the whole table. He'll go, he says, -and sowl the porter of Rome gates by the ears: he -will mow all down before him, and leave his passage polled. - -Second Servingman: -And he's as like to do't as any man I can imagine. - -Third Servingman: -Do't! he will do't; for, look you, sir, he has as -many friends as enemies; which friends, sir, as it -were, durst not, look you, sir, show themselves, as -we term it, his friends whilst he's in directitude. - -First Servingman: -Directitude! what's that? - -Third Servingman: -But when they shall see, sir, his crest up again, -and the man in blood, they will out of their -burrows, like conies after rain, and revel all with -him. - -First Servingman: -But when goes this forward? - -Third Servingman: -To-morrow; to-day; presently; you shall have the -drum struck up this afternoon: 'tis, as it were, a -parcel of their feast, and to be executed ere they -wipe their lips. - -Second Servingman: -Why, then we shall have a stirring world again. -This peace is nothing, but to rust iron, increase -tailors, and breed ballad-makers. - -First Servingman: -Let me have war, say I; it exceeds peace as far as -day does night; it's spritely, waking, audible, and -full of vent. Peace is a very apoplexy, lethargy; -mulled, deaf, sleepy, insensible; a getter of more -bastard children than war's a destroyer of men. - -Second Servingman: -'Tis so: and as war, in some sort, may be said to -be a ravisher, so it cannot be denied but peace is a -great maker of cuckolds. - -First Servingman: -Ay, and it makes men hate one another. - -Third Servingman: -Reason; because they then less need one another. -The wars for my money. I hope to see Romans as cheap -as Volscians. They are rising, they are rising. - -All: -In, in, in, in! - -SICINIUS: -We hear not of him, neither need we fear him; -His remedies are tame i' the present peace -And quietness of the people, which before -Were in wild hurry. Here do we make his friends -Blush that the world goes well, who rather had, -Though they themselves did suffer by't, behold -Dissentious numbers pestering streets than see -Our tradesmen with in their shops and going -About their functions friendly. - -BRUTUS: -We stood to't in good time. -Is this Menenius? - -SICINIUS: -'Tis he,'tis he: O, he is grown most kind of late. - -Both Tribunes: -Hail sir! - -MENENIUS: -Hail to you both! - -SICINIUS: -Your Coriolanus -Is not much miss'd, but with his friends: -The commonwealth doth stand, and so would do, -Were he more angry at it. - -MENENIUS: -All's well; and might have been much better, if -He could have temporized. - -SICINIUS: -Where is he, hear you? - -MENENIUS: -Nay, I hear nothing: his mother and his wife -Hear nothing from him. - -Citizens: -The gods preserve you both! - -SICINIUS: -God-den, our neighbours. - -BRUTUS: -God-den to you all, god-den to you all. - -First Citizen: -Ourselves, our wives, and children, on our knees, -Are bound to pray for you both. - -SICINIUS: -Live, and thrive! - -BRUTUS: -Farewell, kind neighbours: we wish'd Coriolanus -Had loved you as we did. - -Citizens: -Now the gods keep you! - -Both Tribunes: -Farewell, farewell. - -SICINIUS: -This is a happier and more comely time -Than when these fellows ran about the streets, -Crying confusion. - -BRUTUS: -Caius Marcius was -A worthy officer i' the war; but insolent, -O'ercome with pride, ambitious past all thinking, -Self-loving,-- - -SICINIUS: -And affecting one sole throne, -Without assistance. - -MENENIUS: -I think not so. - -SICINIUS: -We should by this, to all our lamentation, -If he had gone forth consul, found it so. - -BRUTUS: -The gods have well prevented it, and Rome -Sits safe and still without him. - -AEdile: -Worthy tribunes, -There is a slave, whom we have put in prison, -Reports, the Volsces with two several powers -Are enter'd in the Roman territories, -And with the deepest malice of the war -Destroy what lies before 'em. - -MENENIUS: -'Tis Aufidius, -Who, hearing of our Marcius' banishment, -Thrusts forth his horns again into the world; -Which were inshell'd when Marcius stood for Rome, -And durst not once peep out. - -SICINIUS: -Come, what talk you -Of Marcius? - -BRUTUS: -Go see this rumourer whipp'd. It cannot be -The Volsces dare break with us. - -MENENIUS: -Cannot be! -We have record that very well it can, -And three examples of the like have been -Within my age. But reason with the fellow, -Before you punish him, where he heard this, -Lest you shall chance to whip your information -And beat the messenger who bids beware -Of what is to be dreaded. - -SICINIUS: -Tell not me: -I know this cannot be. - -BRUTUS: -Not possible. - -Messenger: -The nobles in great earnestness are going -All to the senate-house: some news is come -That turns their countenances. - -SICINIUS: -'Tis this slave;-- -Go whip him, 'fore the people's eyes:--his raising; -Nothing but his report. - -Messenger: -Yes, worthy sir, -The slave's report is seconded; and more, -More fearful, is deliver'd. - -SICINIUS: -What more fearful? - -Messenger: -It is spoke freely out of many mouths-- -How probable I do not know--that Marcius, -Join'd with Aufidius, leads a power 'gainst Rome, -And vows revenge as spacious as between -The young'st and oldest thing. - -SICINIUS: -This is most likely! - -BRUTUS: -Raised only, that the weaker sort may wish -Good Marcius home again. - -SICINIUS: -The very trick on't. - -MENENIUS: -This is unlikely: -He and Aufidius can no more atone -Than violentest contrariety. - -Second Messenger: -You are sent for to the senate: -A fearful army, led by Caius Marcius -Associated with Aufidius, rages -Upon our territories; and have already -O'erborne their way, consumed with fire, and took -What lay before them. - -COMINIUS: -O, you have made good work! - -MENENIUS: -What news? what news? - -COMINIUS: -You have holp to ravish your own daughters and -To melt the city leads upon your pates, -To see your wives dishonour'd to your noses,-- - -MENENIUS: -What's the news? what's the news? - -COMINIUS: -Your temples burned in their cement, and -Your franchises, whereon you stood, confined -Into an auger's bore. - -MENENIUS: -Pray now, your news? -You have made fair work, I fear me.--Pray, your news?-- -If Marcius should be join'd with Volscians,-- - -COMINIUS: -If! -He is their god: he leads them like a thing -Made by some other deity than nature, -That shapes man better; and they follow him, -Against us brats, with no less confidence -Than boys pursuing summer butterflies, -Or butchers killing flies. - -MENENIUS: -You have made good work, -You and your apron-men; you that stood so up much -on the voice of occupation and -The breath of garlic-eaters! - -COMINIUS: -He will shake -Your Rome about your ears. - -MENENIUS: -As Hercules -Did shake down mellow fruit. -You have made fair work! - -BRUTUS: -But is this true, sir? - -COMINIUS: -Ay; and you'll look pale -Before you find it other. All the regions -Do smilingly revolt; and who resist -Are mock'd for valiant ignorance, -And perish constant fools. Who is't can blame him? -Your enemies and his find something in him. - -MENENIUS: -We are all undone, unless -The noble man have mercy. - -COMINIUS: -Who shall ask it? -The tribunes cannot do't for shame; the people -Deserve such pity of him as the wolf -Does of the shepherds: for his best friends, if they -Should say 'Be good to Rome,' they charged him even -As those should do that had deserved his hate, -And therein show'd like enemies. - -MENENIUS: -'Tis true: -If he were putting to my house the brand -That should consume it, I have not the face -To say 'Beseech you, cease.' You have made fair hands, -You and your crafts! you have crafted fair! - -COMINIUS: -You have brought -A trembling upon Rome, such as was never -So incapable of help. - -Both Tribunes: -Say not we brought it. - -MENENIUS: -How! Was it we? we loved him but, like beasts -And cowardly nobles, gave way unto your clusters, -Who did hoot him out o' the city. - -COMINIUS: -But I fear -They'll roar him in again. Tullus Aufidius, -The second name of men, obeys his points -As if he were his officer: desperation -Is all the policy, strength and defence, -That Rome can make against them. - -MENENIUS: -Here come the clusters. -And is Aufidius with him? You are they -That made the air unwholesome, when you cast -Your stinking greasy caps in hooting at -Coriolanus' exile. Now he's coming; -And not a hair upon a soldier's head -Which will not prove a whip: as many coxcombs -As you threw caps up will he tumble down, -And pay you for your voices. 'Tis no matter; -if he could burn us all into one coal, -We have deserved it. - -Citizens: -Faith, we hear fearful news. - -First Citizen: -For mine own part, -When I said, banish him, I said 'twas pity. - -Second Citizen: -And so did I. - -Third Citizen: -And so did I; and, to say the truth, so did very -many of us: that we did, we did for the best; and -though we willingly consented to his banishment, yet -it was against our will. - -COMINIUS: -Ye re goodly things, you voices! - -MENENIUS: -You have made -Good work, you and your cry! Shall's to the Capitol? - -COMINIUS: -O, ay, what else? - -SICINIUS: -Go, masters, get you home; be not dismay'd: -These are a side that would be glad to have -This true which they so seem to fear. Go home, -And show no sign of fear. - -First Citizen: -The gods be good to us! Come, masters, let's home. -I ever said we were i' the wrong when we banished -him. - -Second Citizen: -So did we all. But, come, let's home. - -BRUTUS: -I do not like this news. - -SICINIUS: -Nor I. - -BRUTUS: -Let's to the Capitol. Would half my wealth -Would buy this for a lie! - -SICINIUS: -Pray, let us go. - -AUFIDIUS: -Do they still fly to the Roman? - -Lieutenant: -I do not know what witchcraft's in him, but -Your soldiers use him as the grace 'fore meat, -Their talk at table, and their thanks at end; -And you are darken'd in this action, sir, -Even by your own. - -AUFIDIUS: -I cannot help it now, -Unless, by using means, I lame the foot -Of our design. He bears himself more proudlier, -Even to my person, than I thought he would -When first I did embrace him: yet his nature -In that's no changeling; and I must excuse -What cannot be amended. - -Lieutenant: -Yet I wish, sir,-- -I mean for your particular,--you had not -Join'd in commission with him; but either -Had borne the action of yourself, or else -To him had left it solely. - -AUFIDIUS: -I understand thee well; and be thou sure, -when he shall come to his account, he knows not -What I can urge against him. Although it seems, -And so he thinks, and is no less apparent -To the vulgar eye, that he bears all things fairly. -And shows good husbandry for the Volscian state, -Fights dragon-like, and does achieve as soon -As draw his sword; yet he hath left undone -That which shall break his neck or hazard mine, -Whene'er we come to our account. - -Lieutenant: -Sir, I beseech you, think you he'll carry Rome? - -AUFIDIUS: -All places yield to him ere he sits down; -And the nobility of Rome are his: -The senators and patricians love him too: -The tribunes are no soldiers; and their people -Will be as rash in the repeal, as hasty -To expel him thence. I think he'll be to Rome -As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it -By sovereignty of nature. First he was -A noble servant to them; but he could not -Carry his honours even: whether 'twas pride, -Which out of daily fortune ever taints -The happy man; whether defect of judgment, -To fail in the disposing of those chances -Which he was lord of; or whether nature, -Not to be other than one thing, not moving -From the casque to the cushion, but commanding peace -Even with the same austerity and garb -As he controll'd the war; but one of these-- -As he hath spices of them all, not all, -For I dare so far free him--made him fear'd, -So hated, and so banish'd: but he has a merit, -To choke it in the utterance. So our virtues -Lie in the interpretation of the time: -And power, unto itself most commendable, -Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair -To extol what it hath done. -One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail; -Rights by rights falter, strengths by strengths do fail. -Come, let's away. When, Caius, Rome is thine, -Thou art poor'st of all; then shortly art thou mine. - -MENENIUS: -No, I'll not go: you hear what he hath said -Which was sometime his general; who loved him -In a most dear particular. He call'd me father: -But what o' that? Go, you that banish'd him; -A mile before his tent fall down, and knee -The way into his mercy: nay, if he coy'd -To hear Cominius speak, I'll keep at home. - -COMINIUS: -He would not seem to know me. - -MENENIUS: -Do you hear? - -COMINIUS: -Yet one time he did call me by my name: -I urged our old acquaintance, and the drops -That we have bled together. Coriolanus -He would not answer to: forbad all names; -He was a kind of nothing, titleless, -Till he had forged himself a name o' the fire -Of burning Rome. - -MENENIUS: -Why, so: you have made good work! -A pair of tribunes that have rack'd for Rome, -To make coals cheap,--a noble memory! - -COMINIUS: -I minded him how royal 'twas to pardon -When it was less expected: he replied, -It was a bare petition of a state -To one whom they had punish'd. - -MENENIUS: -Very well: -Could he say less? - -COMINIUS: -I offer'd to awaken his regard -For's private friends: his answer to me was, -He could not stay to pick them in a pile -Of noisome musty chaff: he said 'twas folly, -For one poor grain or two, to leave unburnt, -And still to nose the offence. - -MENENIUS: -For one poor grain or two! -I am one of those; his mother, wife, his child, -And this brave fellow too, we are the grains: -You are the musty chaff; and you are smelt -Above the moon: we must be burnt for you. - -SICINIUS: -Nay, pray, be patient: if you refuse your aid -In this so never-needed help, yet do not -Upbraid's with our distress. But, sure, if you -Would be your country's pleader, your good tongue, -More than the instant army we can make, -Might stop our countryman. - -MENENIUS: -No, I'll not meddle. - -SICINIUS: -Pray you, go to him. - -MENENIUS: -What should I do? - -BRUTUS: -Only make trial what your love can do -For Rome, towards Marcius. - -MENENIUS: -Well, and say that Marcius -Return me, as Cominius is return'd, -Unheard; what then? -But as a discontented friend, grief-shot -With his unkindness? say't be so? - -SICINIUS: -Yet your good will -must have that thanks from Rome, after the measure -As you intended well. - -MENENIUS: -I'll undertake 't: -I think he'll hear me. Yet, to bite his lip -And hum at good Cominius, much unhearts me. -He was not taken well; he had not dined: -The veins unfill'd, our blood is cold, and then -We pout upon the morning, are unapt -To give or to forgive; but when we have stuff'd -These and these conveyances of our blood -With wine and feeding, we have suppler souls -Than in our priest-like fasts: therefore I'll watch him -Till he be dieted to my request, -And then I'll set upon him. - -BRUTUS: -You know the very road into his kindness, -And cannot lose your way. - -MENENIUS: -Good faith, I'll prove him, -Speed how it will. I shall ere long have knowledge -Of my success. - -COMINIUS: -He'll never hear him. - -SICINIUS: -Not? - -COMINIUS: -I tell you, he does sit in gold, his eye -Red as 'twould burn Rome; and his injury -The gaoler to his pity. I kneel'd before him; -'Twas very faintly he said 'Rise;' dismiss'd me -Thus, with his speechless hand: what he would do, -He sent in writing after me; what he would not, -Bound with an oath to yield to his conditions: -So that all hope is vain. -Unless his noble mother, and his wife; -Who, as I hear, mean to solicit him -For mercy to his country. Therefore, let's hence, -And with our fair entreaties haste them on. - -First Senator: -Stay: whence are you? - -Second Senator: -Stand, and go back. - -MENENIUS: -You guard like men; 'tis well: but, by your leave, -I am an officer of state, and come -To speak with Coriolanus. - -First Senator: -From whence? - -MENENIUS: -From Rome. - -First Senator: -You may not pass, you must return: our general -Will no more hear from thence. - -Second Senator: -You'll see your Rome embraced with fire before -You'll speak with Coriolanus. - -MENENIUS: -Good my friends, -If you have heard your general talk of Rome, -And of his friends there, it is lots to blanks, -My name hath touch'd your ears it is Menenius. - -First Senator: -Be it so; go back: the virtue of your name -Is not here passable. - -MENENIUS: -I tell thee, fellow, -The general is my lover: I have been -The book of his good acts, whence men have read -His name unparallel'd, haply amplified; -For I have ever verified my friends, -Of whom he's chief, with all the size that verity -Would without lapsing suffer: nay, sometimes, -Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground, -I have tumbled past the throw; and in his praise -Have almost stamp'd the leasing: therefore, fellow, -I must have leave to pass. - -First Senator: -Faith, sir, if you had told as many lies in his -behalf as you have uttered words in your own, you -should not pass here; no, though it were as virtuous -to lie as to live chastely. Therefore, go back. - -MENENIUS: -Prithee, fellow, remember my name is Menenius, -always factionary on the party of your general. - -Second Senator: -Howsoever you have been his liar, as you say you -have, I am one that, telling true under him, must -say, you cannot pass. Therefore, go back. - -MENENIUS: -Has he dined, canst thou tell? for I would not -speak with him till after dinner. - -First Senator: -You are a Roman, are you? - -MENENIUS: -I am, as thy general is. - -First Senator: -Then you should hate Rome, as he does. Can you, -when you have pushed out your gates the very -defender of them, and, in a violent popular -ignorance, given your enemy your shield, think to -front his revenges with the easy groans of old -women, the virginal palms of your daughters, or with -the palsied intercession of such a decayed dotant as -you seem to be? Can you think to blow out the -intended fire your city is ready to flame in, with -such weak breath as this? No, you are deceived; -therefore, back to Rome, and prepare for your -execution: you are condemned, our general has sworn -you out of reprieve and pardon. - -MENENIUS: -Sirrah, if thy captain knew I were here, he would -use me with estimation. - -Second Senator: -Come, my captain knows you not. - -MENENIUS: -I mean, thy general. - -First Senator: -My general cares not for you. Back, I say, go; lest -I let forth your half-pint of blood; back,--that's -the utmost of your having: back. - -MENENIUS: -Nay, but, fellow, fellow,-- - -CORIOLANUS: -What's the matter? - -MENENIUS: -Now, you companion, I'll say an errand for you: -You shall know now that I am in estimation; you shall -perceive that a Jack guardant cannot office me from -my son Coriolanus: guess, but by my entertainment -with him, if thou standest not i' the state of -hanging, or of some death more long in -spectatorship, and crueller in suffering; behold now -presently, and swoon for what's to come upon thee. -The glorious gods sit in hourly synod about thy -particular prosperity, and love thee no worse than -thy old father Menenius does! O my son, my son! -thou art preparing fire for us; look thee, here's -water to quench it. I was hardly moved to come to -thee; but being assured none but myself could move -thee, I have been blown out of your gates with -sighs; and conjure thee to pardon Rome, and thy -petitionary countrymen. The good gods assuage thy -wrath, and turn the dregs of it upon this varlet -here,--this, who, like a block, hath denied my -access to thee. - -CORIOLANUS: -Away! - -MENENIUS: -How! away! - -CORIOLANUS: -Wife, mother, child, I know not. My affairs -Are servanted to others: though I owe -My revenge properly, my remission lies -In Volscian breasts. That we have been familiar, -Ingrate forgetfulness shall poison, rather -Than pity note how much. Therefore, be gone. -Mine ears against your suits are stronger than -Your gates against my force. Yet, for I loved thee, -Take this along; I writ it for thy sake -And would have rent it. Another word, Menenius, -I will not hear thee speak. This man, Aufidius, -Was my beloved in Rome: yet thou behold'st! - -AUFIDIUS: -You keep a constant temper. - -First Senator: -Now, sir, is your name Menenius? - -Second Senator: -'Tis a spell, you see, of much power: you know the -way home again. - -First Senator: -Do you hear how we are shent for keeping your -greatness back? - -Second Senator: -What cause, do you think, I have to swoon? - -MENENIUS: -I neither care for the world nor your general: for -such things as you, I can scarce think there's any, -ye're so slight. He that hath a will to die by -himself fears it not from another: let your general -do his worst. For you, be that you are, long; and -your misery increase with your age! I say to you, -as I was said to, Away! - -First Senator: -A noble fellow, I warrant him. - -Second Senator: -The worthy fellow is our general: he's the rock, the -oak not to be wind-shaken. - -CORIOLANUS: -We will before the walls of Rome tomorrow -Set down our host. My partner in this action, -You must report to the Volscian lords, how plainly -I have borne this business. - -AUFIDIUS: -Only their ends -You have respected; stopp'd your ears against -The general suit of Rome; never admitted -A private whisper, no, not with such friends -That thought them sure of you. - -CORIOLANUS: -This last old man, -Whom with a crack'd heart I have sent to Rome, -Loved me above the measure of a father; -Nay, godded me, indeed. Their latest refuge -Was to send him; for whose old love I have, -Though I show'd sourly to him, once more offer'd -The first conditions, which they did refuse -And cannot now accept; to grace him only -That thought he could do more, a very little -I have yielded to: fresh embassies and suits, -Nor from the state nor private friends, hereafter -Will I lend ear to. Ha! what shout is this? -Shall I be tempted to infringe my vow -In the same time 'tis made? I will not. -My wife comes foremost; then the honour'd mould -Wherein this trunk was framed, and in her hand -The grandchild to her blood. But, out, affection! -All bond and privilege of nature, break! -Let it be virtuous to be obstinate. -What is that curt'sy worth? or those doves' eyes, -Which can make gods forsworn? I melt, and am not -Of stronger earth than others. My mother bows; -As if Olympus to a molehill should -In supplication nod: and my young boy -Hath an aspect of intercession, which -Great nature cries 'Deny not.' let the Volsces -Plough Rome and harrow Italy: I'll never -Be such a gosling to obey instinct, but stand, -As if a man were author of himself -And knew no other kin. - -VIRGILIA: -My lord and husband! - -CORIOLANUS: -These eyes are not the same I wore in Rome. - -VIRGILIA: -The sorrow that delivers us thus changed -Makes you think so. - -CORIOLANUS: -Like a dull actor now, -I have forgot my part, and I am out, -Even to a full disgrace. Best of my flesh, -Forgive my tyranny; but do not say -For that 'Forgive our Romans.' O, a kiss -Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge! -Now, by the jealous queen of heaven, that kiss -I carried from thee, dear; and my true lip -Hath virgin'd it e'er since. You gods! I prate, -And the most noble mother of the world -Leave unsaluted: sink, my knee, i' the earth; -Of thy deep duty more impression show -Than that of common sons. - -VOLUMNIA: -O, stand up blest! -Whilst, with no softer cushion than the flint, -I kneel before thee; and unproperly -Show duty, as mistaken all this while -Between the child and parent. - -CORIOLANUS: -What is this? -Your knees to me? to your corrected son? -Then let the pebbles on the hungry beach -Fillip the stars; then let the mutinous winds -Strike the proud cedars 'gainst the fiery sun; -Murdering impossibility, to make -What cannot be, slight work. - -VOLUMNIA: -Thou art my warrior; -I holp to frame thee. Do you know this lady? - -CORIOLANUS: -The noble sister of Publicola, -The moon of Rome, chaste as the icicle -That's curdied by the frost from purest snow -And hangs on Dian's temple: dear Valeria! - -VOLUMNIA: -This is a poor epitome of yours, -Which by the interpretation of full time -May show like all yourself. - -CORIOLANUS: -The god of soldiers, -With the consent of supreme Jove, inform -Thy thoughts with nobleness; that thou mayst prove -To shame unvulnerable, and stick i' the wars -Like a great sea-mark, standing every flaw, -And saving those that eye thee! - -VOLUMNIA: -Your knee, sirrah. - -CORIOLANUS: -That's my brave boy! - -VOLUMNIA: -Even he, your wife, this lady, and myself, -Are suitors to you. - -CORIOLANUS: -I beseech you, peace: -Or, if you'ld ask, remember this before: -The thing I have forsworn to grant may never -Be held by you denials. Do not bid me -Dismiss my soldiers, or capitulate -Again with Rome's mechanics: tell me not -Wherein I seem unnatural: desire not -To ally my rages and revenges with -Your colder reasons. - -VOLUMNIA: -O, no more, no more! -You have said you will not grant us any thing; -For we have nothing else to ask, but that -Which you deny already: yet we will ask; -That, if you fail in our request, the blame -May hang upon your hardness: therefore hear us. - -CORIOLANUS: -Aufidius, and you Volsces, mark; for we'll -Hear nought from Rome in private. Your request? - -VOLUMNIA: -Should we be silent and not speak, our raiment -And state of bodies would bewray what life -We have led since thy exile. Think with thyself -How more unfortunate than all living women -Are we come hither: since that thy sight, -which should -Make our eyes flow with joy, hearts dance -with comforts, -Constrains them weep and shake with fear and sorrow; -Making the mother, wife and child to see -The son, the husband and the father tearing -His country's bowels out. And to poor we -Thine enmity's most capital: thou barr'st us -Our prayers to the gods, which is a comfort -That all but we enjoy; for how can we, -Alas, how can we for our country pray. -Whereto we are bound, together with thy victory, -Whereto we are bound? alack, or we must lose -The country, our dear nurse, or else thy person, -Our comfort in the country. We must find -An evident calamity, though we had -Our wish, which side should win: for either thou -Must, as a foreign recreant, be led -With manacles thorough our streets, or else -triumphantly tread on thy country's ruin, -And bear the palm for having bravely shed -Thy wife and children's blood. For myself, son, -I purpose not to wait on fortune till -These wars determine: if I cannot persuade thee -Rather to show a noble grace to both parts -Than seek the end of one, thou shalt no sooner -March to assault thy country than to tread-- -Trust to't, thou shalt not--on thy mother's womb, -That brought thee to this world. - -VIRGILIA: -Ay, and mine, -That brought you forth this boy, to keep your name -Living to time. - -Young MARCIUS: -A' shall not tread on me; -I'll run away till I am bigger, but then I'll fight. - -CORIOLANUS: -Not of a woman's tenderness to be, -Requires nor child nor woman's face to see. -I have sat too long. - -VOLUMNIA: -Nay, go not from us thus. -If it were so that our request did tend -To save the Romans, thereby to destroy -The Volsces whom you serve, you might condemn us, -As poisonous of your honour: no; our suit -Is that you reconcile them: while the Volsces -May say 'This mercy we have show'd;' the Romans, -'This we received;' and each in either side -Give the all-hail to thee and cry 'Be blest -For making up this peace!' Thou know'st, great son, -The end of war's uncertain, but this certain, -That, if thou conquer Rome, the benefit -Which thou shalt thereby reap is such a name, -Whose repetition will be dogg'd with curses; -Whose chronicle thus writ: 'The man was noble, -But with his last attempt he wiped it out; -Destroy'd his country, and his name remains -To the ensuing age abhorr'd.' Speak to me, son: -Thou hast affected the fine strains of honour, -To imitate the graces of the gods; -To tear with thunder the wide cheeks o' the air, -And yet to charge thy sulphur with a bolt -That should but rive an oak. Why dost not speak? -Think'st thou it honourable for a noble man -Still to remember wrongs? Daughter, speak you: -He cares not for your weeping. Speak thou, boy: -Perhaps thy childishness will move him more -Than can our reasons. There's no man in the world -More bound to 's mother; yet here he lets me prate -Like one i' the stocks. Thou hast never in thy life -Show'd thy dear mother any courtesy, -When she, poor hen, fond of no second brood, -Has cluck'd thee to the wars and safely home, -Loaden with honour. Say my request's unjust, -And spurn me back: but if it be not so, -Thou art not honest; and the gods will plague thee, -That thou restrain'st from me the duty which -To a mother's part belongs. He turns away: -Down, ladies; let us shame him with our knees. -To his surname Coriolanus 'longs more pride -Than pity to our prayers. Down: an end; -This is the last: so we will home to Rome, -And die among our neighbours. Nay, behold 's: -This boy, that cannot tell what he would have -But kneels and holds up bands for fellowship, -Does reason our petition with more strength -Than thou hast to deny 't. Come, let us go: -This fellow had a Volscian to his mother; -His wife is in Corioli and his child -Like him by chance. Yet give us our dispatch: -I am hush'd until our city be a-fire, -And then I'll speak a little. - -CORIOLANUS: -O mother, mother! -What have you done? Behold, the heavens do ope, -The gods look down, and this unnatural scene -They laugh at. O my mother, mother! O! -You have won a happy victory to Rome; -But, for your son,--believe it, O, believe it, -Most dangerously you have with him prevail'd, -If not most mortal to him. But, let it come. -Aufidius, though I cannot make true wars, -I'll frame convenient peace. Now, good Aufidius, -Were you in my stead, would you have heard -A mother less? or granted less, Aufidius? - -AUFIDIUS: -I was moved withal. - -CORIOLANUS: -I dare be sworn you were: -And, sir, it is no little thing to make -Mine eyes to sweat compassion. But, good sir, -What peace you'll make, advise me: for my part, -I'll not to Rome, I'll back with you; and pray you, -Stand to me in this cause. O mother! wife! - -AUFIDIUS: - -CORIOLANUS: -Ay, by and by; -But we will drink together; and you shall bear -A better witness back than words, which we, -On like conditions, will have counter-seal'd. -Come, enter with us. Ladies, you deserve -To have a temple built you: all the swords -In Italy, and her confederate arms, -Could not have made this peace. - -MENENIUS: -See you yond coign o' the Capitol, yond -corner-stone? - -SICINIUS: -Why, what of that? - -MENENIUS: -If it be possible for you to displace it with your -little finger, there is some hope the ladies of -Rome, especially his mother, may prevail with him. -But I say there is no hope in't: our throats are -sentenced and stay upon execution. - -SICINIUS: -Is't possible that so short a time can alter the -condition of a man! - -MENENIUS: -There is differency between a grub and a butterfly; -yet your butterfly was a grub. This Marcius is grown -from man to dragon: he has wings; he's more than a -creeping thing. - -SICINIUS: -He loved his mother dearly. - -MENENIUS: -So did he me: and he no more remembers his mother -now than an eight-year-old horse. The tartness -of his face sours ripe grapes: when he walks, he -moves like an engine, and the ground shrinks before -his treading: he is able to pierce a corslet with -his eye; talks like a knell, and his hum is a -battery. He sits in his state, as a thing made for -Alexander. What he bids be done is finished with -his bidding. He wants nothing of a god but eternity -and a heaven to throne in. - -SICINIUS: -Yes, mercy, if you report him truly. - -MENENIUS: -I paint him in the character. Mark what mercy his -mother shall bring from him: there is no more mercy -in him than there is milk in a male tiger; that -shall our poor city find: and all this is long of -you. - -SICINIUS: -The gods be good unto us! - -MENENIUS: -No, in such a case the gods will not be good unto -us. When we banished him, we respected not them; -and, he returning to break our necks, they respect not us. - -Messenger: -Sir, if you'ld save your life, fly to your house: -The plebeians have got your fellow-tribune -And hale him up and down, all swearing, if -The Roman ladies bring not comfort home, -They'll give him death by inches. - -SICINIUS: -What's the news? - -Second Messenger: -Good news, good news; the ladies have prevail'd, -The Volscians are dislodged, and Marcius gone: -A merrier day did never yet greet Rome, -No, not the expulsion of the Tarquins. - -SICINIUS: -Friend, -Art thou certain this is true? is it most certain? - -Second Messenger: -As certain as I know the sun is fire: -Where have you lurk'd, that you make doubt of it? -Ne'er through an arch so hurried the blown tide, -As the recomforted through the gates. Why, hark you! -The trumpets, sackbuts, psalteries and fifes, -Tabours and cymbals and the shouting Romans, -Make the sun dance. Hark you! - -MENENIUS: -This is good news: -I will go meet the ladies. This Volumnia -Is worth of consuls, senators, patricians, -A city full; of tribunes, such as you, -A sea and land full. You have pray'd well to-day: -This morning for ten thousand of your throats -I'd not have given a doit. Hark, how they joy! - -SICINIUS: -First, the gods bless you for your tidings; next, -Accept my thankfulness. - -Second Messenger: -Sir, we have all -Great cause to give great thanks. - -SICINIUS: -They are near the city? - -Second Messenger: -Almost at point to enter. - -SICINIUS: -We will meet them, -And help the joy. - -First Senator: -Behold our patroness, the life of Rome! -Call all your tribes together, praise the gods, -And make triumphant fires; strew flowers before them: -Unshout the noise that banish'd Marcius, -Repeal him with the welcome of his mother; -Cry 'Welcome, ladies, welcome!' - -All: -Welcome, ladies, Welcome! - -AUFIDIUS: -Go tell the lords o' the city I am here: -Deliver them this paper: having read it, -Bid them repair to the market place; where I, -Even in theirs and in the commons' ears, -Will vouch the truth of it. Him I accuse -The city ports by this hath enter'd and -Intends to appear before the people, hoping -To purge herself with words: dispatch. -Most welcome! - -First Conspirator: -How is it with our general? - -AUFIDIUS: -Even so -As with a man by his own alms empoison'd, -And with his charity slain. - -Second Conspirator: -Most noble sir, -If you do hold the same intent wherein -You wish'd us parties, we'll deliver you -Of your great danger. - -AUFIDIUS: -Sir, I cannot tell: -We must proceed as we do find the people. - -Third Conspirator: -The people will remain uncertain whilst -'Twixt you there's difference; but the fall of either -Makes the survivor heir of all. - -AUFIDIUS: -I know it; -And my pretext to strike at him admits -A good construction. I raised him, and I pawn'd -Mine honour for his truth: who being so heighten'd, -He water'd his new plants with dews of flattery, -Seducing so my friends; and, to this end, -He bow'd his nature, never known before -But to be rough, unswayable and free. - -Third Conspirator: -Sir, his stoutness -When he did stand for consul, which he lost -By lack of stooping,-- - -AUFIDIUS: -That I would have spoke of: -Being banish'd for't, he came unto my hearth; -Presented to my knife his throat: I took him; -Made him joint-servant with me; gave him way -In all his own desires; nay, let him choose -Out of my files, his projects to accomplish, -My best and freshest men; served his designments -In mine own person; holp to reap the fame -Which he did end all his; and took some pride -To do myself this wrong: till, at the last, -I seem'd his follower, not partner, and -He waged me with his countenance, as if -I had been mercenary. - -First Conspirator: -So he did, my lord: -The army marvell'd at it, and, in the last, -When he had carried Rome and that we look'd -For no less spoil than glory,-- - -AUFIDIUS: -There was it: -For which my sinews shall be stretch'd upon him. -At a few drops of women's rheum, which are -As cheap as lies, he sold the blood and labour -Of our great action: therefore shall he die, -And I'll renew me in his fall. But, hark! - -First Conspirator: -Your native town you enter'd like a post, -And had no welcomes home: but he returns, -Splitting the air with noise. - -Second Conspirator: -And patient fools, -Whose children he hath slain, their base throats tear -With giving him glory. - -Third Conspirator: -Therefore, at your vantage, -Ere he express himself, or move the people -With what he would say, let him feel your sword, -Which we will second. When he lies along, -After your way his tale pronounced shall bury -His reasons with his body. - -AUFIDIUS: -Say no more: -Here come the lords. - -All The Lords: -You are most welcome home. - -AUFIDIUS: -I have not deserved it. -But, worthy lords, have you with heed perused -What I have written to you? - -Lords: -We have. - -First Lord: -And grieve to hear't. -What faults he made before the last, I think -Might have found easy fines: but there to end -Where he was to begin and give away -The benefit of our levies, answering us -With our own charge, making a treaty where -There was a yielding,--this admits no excuse. - -AUFIDIUS: -He approaches: you shall hear him. - -CORIOLANUS: -Hail, lords! I am return'd your soldier, -No more infected with my country's love -Than when I parted hence, but still subsisting -Under your great command. You are to know -That prosperously I have attempted and -With bloody passage led your wars even to -The gates of Rome. Our spoils we have brought home -Do more than counterpoise a full third part -The charges of the action. We have made peace -With no less honour to the Antiates -Than shame to the Romans: and we here deliver, -Subscribed by the consuls and patricians, -Together with the seal o' the senate, what -We have compounded on. - -AUFIDIUS: -Read it not, noble lords; -But tell the traitor, in the high'st degree -He hath abused your powers. - -CORIOLANUS: -Traitor! how now! - -AUFIDIUS: -Ay, traitor, Marcius! - -CORIOLANUS: -Marcius! - -AUFIDIUS: -Ay, Marcius, Caius Marcius: dost thou think -I'll grace thee with that robbery, thy stol'n name -Coriolanus in Corioli? -You lords and heads o' the state, perfidiously -He has betray'd your business, and given up, -For certain drops of salt, your city Rome, -I say 'your city,' to his wife and mother; -Breaking his oath and resolution like -A twist of rotten silk, never admitting -Counsel o' the war, but at his nurse's tears -He whined and roar'd away your victory, -That pages blush'd at him and men of heart -Look'd wondering each at other. - -CORIOLANUS: -Hear'st thou, Mars? - -AUFIDIUS: -Name not the god, thou boy of tears! - -CORIOLANUS: -Ha! - -AUFIDIUS: -No more. - -CORIOLANUS: -Measureless liar, thou hast made my heart -Too great for what contains it. Boy! O slave! -Pardon me, lords, 'tis the first time that ever -I was forced to scold. Your judgments, my grave lords, -Must give this cur the lie: and his own notion-- -Who wears my stripes impress'd upon him; that -Must bear my beating to his grave--shall join -To thrust the lie unto him. - -First Lord: -Peace, both, and hear me speak. - -CORIOLANUS: -Cut me to pieces, Volsces; men and lads, -Stain all your edges on me. Boy! false hound! -If you have writ your annals true, 'tis there, -That, like an eagle in a dove-cote, I -Flutter'd your Volscians in Corioli: -Alone I did it. Boy! - -AUFIDIUS: -Why, noble lords, -Will you be put in mind of his blind fortune, -Which was your shame, by this unholy braggart, -'Fore your own eyes and ears? - -All Conspirators: -Let him die for't. - -All The People: -'Tear him to pieces.' 'Do it presently.' 'He kill'd -my son.' 'My daughter.' 'He killed my cousin -Marcus.' 'He killed my father.' - -Second Lord: -Peace, ho! no outrage: peace! -The man is noble and his fame folds-in -This orb o' the earth. His last offences to us -Shall have judicious hearing. Stand, Aufidius, -And trouble not the peace. - -CORIOLANUS: -O that I had him, -With six Aufidiuses, or more, his tribe, -To use my lawful sword! - -AUFIDIUS: -Insolent villain! - -All Conspirators: -Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill him! - -Lords: -Hold, hold, hold, hold! - -AUFIDIUS: -My noble masters, hear me speak. - -First Lord: -O Tullus,-- - -Second Lord: -Thou hast done a deed whereat valour will weep. - -Third Lord: -Tread not upon him. Masters all, be quiet; -Put up your swords. - -AUFIDIUS: -My lords, when you shall know--as in this rage, -Provoked by him, you cannot--the great danger -Which this man's life did owe you, you'll rejoice -That he is thus cut off. Please it your honours -To call me to your senate, I'll deliver -Myself your loyal servant, or endure -Your heaviest censure. - -First Lord: -Bear from hence his body; -And mourn you for him: let him be regarded -As the most noble corse that ever herald -Did follow to his urn. - -Second Lord: -His own impatience -Takes from Aufidius a great part of blame. -Let's make the best of it. - -AUFIDIUS: -My rage is gone; -And I am struck with sorrow. Take him up. -Help, three o' the chiefest soldiers; I'll be one. -Beat thou the drum, that it speak mournfully: -Trail your steel pikes. Though in this city he -Hath widow'd and unchilded many a one, -Which to this hour bewail the injury, -Yet he shall have a noble memory. Assist. - -GLOUCESTER: -Now is the winter of our discontent -Made glorious summer by this sun of York; -And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house -In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. -Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths; -Our bruised arms hung up for monuments; -Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings, -Our dreadful marches to delightful measures. -Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front; -And now, instead of mounting barded steeds -To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, -He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber -To the lascivious pleasing of a lute. -But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks, -Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass; -I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty -To strut before a wanton ambling nymph; -I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion, -Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, -Deformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time -Into this breathing world, scarce half made up, -And that so lamely and unfashionable -That dogs bark at me as I halt by them; -Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace, -Have no delight to pass away the time, -Unless to spy my shadow in the sun -And descant on mine own deformity: -And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover, -To entertain these fair well-spoken days, -I am determined to prove a villain -And hate the idle pleasures of these days. -Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous, -By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams, -To set my brother Clarence and the king -In deadly hate the one against the other: -And if King Edward be as true and just -As I am subtle, false and treacherous, -This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up, -About a prophecy, which says that 'G' -Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be. -Dive, thoughts, down to my soul: here -Clarence comes. -Brother, good day; what means this armed guard -That waits upon your grace? - -CLARENCE: -His majesty -Tendering my person's safety, hath appointed -This conduct to convey me to the Tower. - -GLOUCESTER: -Upon what cause? - -CLARENCE: -Because my name is George. - -GLOUCESTER: -Alack, my lord, that fault is none of yours; -He should, for that, commit your godfathers: -O, belike his majesty hath some intent -That you shall be new-christen'd in the Tower. -But what's the matter, Clarence? may I know? - -CLARENCE: -Yea, Richard, when I know; for I protest -As yet I do not: but, as I can learn, -He hearkens after prophecies and dreams; -And from the cross-row plucks the letter G. -And says a wizard told him that by G -His issue disinherited should be; -And, for my name of George begins with G, -It follows in his thought that I am he. -These, as I learn, and such like toys as these -Have moved his highness to commit me now. - -GLOUCESTER: -Why, this it is, when men are ruled by women: -'Tis not the king that sends you to the Tower: -My Lady Grey his wife, Clarence, 'tis she -That tempers him to this extremity. -Was it not she and that good man of worship, -Anthony Woodville, her brother there, -That made him send Lord Hastings to the Tower, -From whence this present day he is deliver'd? -We are not safe, Clarence; we are not safe. - -CLARENCE: -By heaven, I think there's no man is secure -But the queen's kindred and night-walking heralds -That trudge betwixt the king and Mistress Shore. -Heard ye not what an humble suppliant -Lord hastings was to her for his delivery? - -GLOUCESTER: -Humbly complaining to her deity -Got my lord chamberlain his liberty. -I'll tell you what; I think it is our way, -If we will keep in favour with the king, -To be her men and wear her livery: -The jealous o'erworn widow and herself, -Since that our brother dubb'd them gentlewomen. -Are mighty gossips in this monarchy. - -BRAKENBURY: -I beseech your graces both to pardon me; -His majesty hath straitly given in charge -That no man shall have private conference, -Of what degree soever, with his brother. - -GLOUCESTER: -Even so; an't please your worship, Brakenbury, -You may partake of any thing we say: -We speak no treason, man: we say the king -Is wise and virtuous, and his noble queen -Well struck in years, fair, and not jealous; -We say that Shore's wife hath a pretty foot, -A cherry lip, a bonny eye, a passing pleasing tongue; -And that the queen's kindred are made gentle-folks: -How say you sir? Can you deny all this? - -BRAKENBURY: -With this, my lord, myself have nought to do. - -GLOUCESTER: -Naught to do with mistress Shore! I tell thee, fellow, -He that doth naught with her, excepting one, -Were best he do it secretly, alone. - -BRAKENBURY: -What one, my lord? - -GLOUCESTER: -Her husband, knave: wouldst thou betray me? - -BRAKENBURY: -I beseech your grace to pardon me, and withal -Forbear your conference with the noble duke. - -CLARENCE: -We know thy charge, Brakenbury, and will obey. - -GLOUCESTER: -We are the queen's abjects, and must obey. -Brother, farewell: I will unto the king; -And whatsoever you will employ me in, -Were it to call King Edward's widow sister, -I will perform it to enfranchise you. -Meantime, this deep disgrace in brotherhood -Touches me deeper than you can imagine. - -CLARENCE: -I know it pleaseth neither of us well. - -GLOUCESTER: -Well, your imprisonment shall not be long; -Meantime, have patience. - -CLARENCE: -I must perforce. Farewell. - -GLOUCESTER: -Go, tread the path that thou shalt ne'er return. -Simple, plain Clarence! I do love thee so, -That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven, -If heaven will take the present at our hands. -But who comes here? the new-deliver'd Hastings? - -HASTINGS: -Good time of day unto my gracious lord! - -GLOUCESTER: -As much unto my good lord chamberlain! -Well are you welcome to the open air. -How hath your lordship brook'd imprisonment? - -HASTINGS: -With patience, noble lord, as prisoners must: -But I shall live, my lord, to give them thanks -That were the cause of my imprisonment. - -GLOUCESTER: -No doubt, no doubt; and so shall Clarence too; -For they that were your enemies are his, -And have prevail'd as much on him as you. - -HASTINGS: -More pity that the eagle should be mew'd, -While kites and buzzards prey at liberty. - -GLOUCESTER: -What news abroad? - -HASTINGS: -No news so bad abroad as this at home; -The King is sickly, weak and melancholy, -And his physicians fear him mightily. - -GLOUCESTER: -Now, by Saint Paul, this news is bad indeed. -O, he hath kept an evil diet long, -And overmuch consumed his royal person: -'Tis very grievous to be thought upon. -What, is he in his bed? - -HASTINGS: -He is. - -GLOUCESTER: -Go you before, and I will follow you. -He cannot live, I hope; and must not die -Till George be pack'd with post-horse up to heaven. -I'll in, to urge his hatred more to Clarence, -With lies well steel'd with weighty arguments; -And, if I fall not in my deep intent, -Clarence hath not another day to live: -Which done, God take King Edward to his mercy, -And leave the world for me to bustle in! -For then I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter. -What though I kill'd her husband and her father? -The readiest way to make the wench amends -Is to become her husband and her father: -The which will I; not all so much for love -As for another secret close intent, -By marrying her which I must reach unto. -But yet I run before my horse to market: -Clarence still breathes; Edward still lives and reigns: -When they are gone, then must I count my gains. - -LADY ANNE: -Set down, set down your honourable load, -If honour may be shrouded in a hearse, -Whilst I awhile obsequiously lament -The untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster. -Poor key-cold figure of a holy king! -Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster! -Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood! -Be it lawful that I invocate thy ghost, -To hear the lamentations of Poor Anne, -Wife to thy Edward, to thy slaughter'd son, -Stabb'd by the selfsame hand that made these wounds! -Lo, in these windows that let forth thy life, -I pour the helpless balm of my poor eyes. -Cursed be the hand that made these fatal holes! -Cursed be the heart that had the heart to do it! -Cursed the blood that let this blood from hence! -More direful hap betide that hated wretch, -That makes us wretched by the death of thee, -Than I can wish to adders, spiders, toads, -Or any creeping venom'd thing that lives! -If ever he have child, abortive be it, -Prodigious, and untimely brought to light, -Whose ugly and unnatural aspect -May fright the hopeful mother at the view; -And that be heir to his unhappiness! -If ever he have wife, let her he made -A miserable by the death of him -As I am made by my poor lord and thee! -Come, now towards Chertsey with your holy load, -Taken from Paul's to be interred there; -And still, as you are weary of the weight, -Rest you, whiles I lament King Henry's corse. - -GLOUCESTER: -Stay, you that bear the corse, and set it down. - -LADY ANNE: -What black magician conjures up this fiend, -To stop devoted charitable deeds? - -GLOUCESTER: -Villains, set down the corse; or, by Saint Paul, -I'll make a corse of him that disobeys. - -Gentleman: -My lord, stand back, and let the coffin pass. - -GLOUCESTER: -Unmanner'd dog! stand thou, when I command: -Advance thy halbert higher than my breast, -Or, by Saint Paul, I'll strike thee to my foot, -And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness. - -LADY ANNE: -What, do you tremble? are you all afraid? -Alas, I blame you not; for you are mortal, -And mortal eyes cannot endure the devil. -Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell! -Thou hadst but power over his mortal body, -His soul thou canst not have; therefore be gone. - -GLOUCESTER: -Sweet saint, for charity, be not so curst. - -LADY ANNE: -Foul devil, for God's sake, hence, and trouble us not; -For thou hast made the happy earth thy hell, -Fill'd it with cursing cries and deep exclaims. -If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds, -Behold this pattern of thy butcheries. -O, gentlemen, see, see! dead Henry's wounds -Open their congeal'd mouths and bleed afresh! -Blush, Blush, thou lump of foul deformity; -For 'tis thy presence that exhales this blood -From cold and empty veins, where no blood dwells; -Thy deed, inhuman and unnatural, -Provokes this deluge most unnatural. -O God, which this blood madest, revenge his death! -O earth, which this blood drink'st revenge his death! -Either heaven with lightning strike the -murderer dead, -Or earth, gape open wide and eat him quick, -As thou dost swallow up this good king's blood -Which his hell-govern'd arm hath butchered! - -GLOUCESTER: -Lady, you know no rules of charity, -Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses. - -LADY ANNE: -Villain, thou know'st no law of God nor man: -No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity. - -GLOUCESTER: -But I know none, and therefore am no beast. - -LADY ANNE: -O wonderful, when devils tell the truth! - -GLOUCESTER: -More wonderful, when angels are so angry. -Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman, -Of these supposed-evils, to give me leave, -By circumstance, but to acquit myself. - -LADY ANNE: -Vouchsafe, defused infection of a man, -For these known evils, but to give me leave, -By circumstance, to curse thy cursed self. - -GLOUCESTER: -Fairer than tongue can name thee, let me have -Some patient leisure to excuse myself. - -LADY ANNE: -Fouler than heart can think thee, thou canst make -No excuse current, but to hang thyself. - -GLOUCESTER: -By such despair, I should accuse myself. - -LADY ANNE: -And, by despairing, shouldst thou stand excused; -For doing worthy vengeance on thyself, -Which didst unworthy slaughter upon others. - -GLOUCESTER: -Say that I slew them not? - -LADY ANNE: -Why, then they are not dead: -But dead they are, and devilish slave, by thee. - -GLOUCESTER: -I did not kill your husband. - -LADY ANNE: -Why, then he is alive. - -GLOUCESTER: -Nay, he is dead; and slain by Edward's hand. - -LADY ANNE: -In thy foul throat thou liest: Queen Margaret saw -Thy murderous falchion smoking in his blood; -The which thou once didst bend against her breast, -But that thy brothers beat aside the point. - -GLOUCESTER: -I was provoked by her slanderous tongue, -which laid their guilt upon my guiltless shoulders. - -LADY ANNE: -Thou wast provoked by thy bloody mind. -Which never dreamt on aught but butcheries: -Didst thou not kill this king? - -GLOUCESTER: -I grant ye. - -LADY ANNE: -Dost grant me, hedgehog? then, God grant me too -Thou mayst be damned for that wicked deed! -O, he was gentle, mild, and virtuous! - -GLOUCESTER: -The fitter for the King of heaven, that hath him. - -LADY ANNE: -He is in heaven, where thou shalt never come. - -GLOUCESTER: -Let him thank me, that holp to send him thither; -For he was fitter for that place than earth. - -LADY ANNE: -And thou unfit for any place but hell. - -GLOUCESTER: -Yes, one place else, if you will hear me name it. - -LADY ANNE: -Some dungeon. - -GLOUCESTER: -Your bed-chamber. - -LADY ANNE: -I'll rest betide the chamber where thou liest! - -GLOUCESTER: -So will it, madam till I lie with you. - -LADY ANNE: -I hope so. - -GLOUCESTER: -I know so. But, gentle Lady Anne, -To leave this keen encounter of our wits, -And fall somewhat into a slower method, -Is not the causer of the timeless deaths -Of these Plantagenets, Henry and Edward, -As blameful as the executioner? - -LADY ANNE: -Thou art the cause, and most accursed effect. - -GLOUCESTER: -Your beauty was the cause of that effect; -Your beauty: which did haunt me in my sleep -To undertake the death of all the world, -So I might live one hour in your sweet bosom. - -LADY ANNE: -If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide, -These nails should rend that beauty from my cheeks. - -GLOUCESTER: -These eyes could never endure sweet beauty's wreck; -You should not blemish it, if I stood by: -As all the world is cheered by the sun, -So I by that; it is my day, my life. - -LADY ANNE: -Black night o'ershade thy day, and death thy life! - -GLOUCESTER: -Curse not thyself, fair creature thou art both. - -LADY ANNE: -I would I were, to be revenged on thee. - -GLOUCESTER: -It is a quarrel most unnatural, -To be revenged on him that loveth you. - -LADY ANNE: -It is a quarrel just and reasonable, -To be revenged on him that slew my husband. - -GLOUCESTER: -He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband, -Did it to help thee to a better husband. - -LADY ANNE: -His better doth not breathe upon the earth. - -GLOUCESTER: -He lives that loves thee better than he could. - -LADY ANNE: -Name him. - -GLOUCESTER: -Plantagenet. - -LADY ANNE: -Why, that was he. - -GLOUCESTER: -The selfsame name, but one of better nature. - -LADY ANNE: -Where is he? - -GLOUCESTER: -Here. -Why dost thou spit at me? - -LADY ANNE: -Would it were mortal poison, for thy sake! - -GLOUCESTER: -Never came poison from so sweet a place. - -LADY ANNE: -Never hung poison on a fouler toad. -Out of my sight! thou dost infect my eyes. - -GLOUCESTER: -Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected mine. - -LADY ANNE: -Would they were basilisks, to strike thee dead! - -GLOUCESTER: -I would they were, that I might die at once; -For now they kill me with a living death. -Those eyes of thine from mine have drawn salt tears, -Shamed their aspect with store of childish drops: -These eyes that never shed remorseful tear, -No, when my father York and Edward wept, -To hear the piteous moan that Rutland made -When black-faced Clifford shook his sword at him; -Nor when thy warlike father, like a child, -Told the sad story of my father's death, -And twenty times made pause to sob and weep, -That all the standers-by had wet their cheeks -Like trees bedash'd with rain: in that sad time -My manly eyes did scorn an humble tear; -And what these sorrows could not thence exhale, -Thy beauty hath, and made them blind with weeping. -I never sued to friend nor enemy; -My tongue could never learn sweet smoothing word; -But now thy beauty is proposed my fee, -My proud heart sues, and prompts my tongue to speak. -Teach not thy lips such scorn, for they were made -For kissing, lady, not for such contempt. -If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive, -Lo, here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword; -Which if thou please to hide in this true bosom. -And let the soul forth that adoreth thee, -I lay it naked to the deadly stroke, -And humbly beg the death upon my knee. -Nay, do not pause; for I did kill King Henry, -But 'twas thy beauty that provoked me. -Nay, now dispatch; 'twas I that stabb'd young Edward, -But 'twas thy heavenly face that set me on. -Take up the sword again, or take up me. - -LADY ANNE: -Arise, dissembler: though I wish thy death, -I will not be the executioner. - -GLOUCESTER: -Then bid me kill myself, and I will do it. - -LADY ANNE: -I have already. - -GLOUCESTER: -Tush, that was in thy rage: -Speak it again, and, even with the word, -That hand, which, for thy love, did kill thy love, -Shall, for thy love, kill a far truer love; -To both their deaths thou shalt be accessary. - -LADY ANNE: -I would I knew thy heart. - -GLOUCESTER: -'Tis figured in my tongue. - -LADY ANNE: -I fear me both are false. - -GLOUCESTER: -Then never man was true. - -LADY ANNE: -Well, well, put up your sword. - -GLOUCESTER: -Say, then, my peace is made. - -LADY ANNE: -That shall you know hereafter. - -GLOUCESTER: -But shall I live in hope? - -LADY ANNE: -All men, I hope, live so. - -GLOUCESTER: -Vouchsafe to wear this ring. - -LADY ANNE: -To take is not to give. - -GLOUCESTER: -Look, how this ring encompasseth finger. -Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart; -Wear both of them, for both of them are thine. -And if thy poor devoted suppliant may -But beg one favour at thy gracious hand, -Thou dost confirm his happiness for ever. - -LADY ANNE: -What is it? - -GLOUCESTER: -That it would please thee leave these sad designs -To him that hath more cause to be a mourner, -And presently repair to Crosby Place; -Where, after I have solemnly interr'd -At Chertsey monastery this noble king, -And wet his grave with my repentant tears, -I will with all expedient duty see you: -For divers unknown reasons. I beseech you, -Grant me this boon. - -LADY ANNE: -With all my heart; and much it joys me too, -To see you are become so penitent. -Tressel and Berkeley, go along with me. - -GLOUCESTER: -Bid me farewell. - -LADY ANNE: -'Tis more than you deserve; -But since you teach me how to flatter you, -Imagine I have said farewell already. - -GLOUCESTER: -Sirs, take up the corse. - -GENTLEMEN: -Towards Chertsey, noble lord? - -GLOUCESTER: -No, to White-Friars; there attend my coining. -Was ever woman in this humour woo'd? -Was ever woman in this humour won? -I'll have her; but I will not keep her long. -What! I, that kill'd her husband and his father, -To take her in her heart's extremest hate, -With curses in her mouth, tears in her eyes, -The bleeding witness of her hatred by; -Having God, her conscience, and these bars -against me, -And I nothing to back my suit at all, -But the plain devil and dissembling looks, -And yet to win her, all the world to nothing! -Ha! -Hath she forgot already that brave prince, -Edward, her lord, whom I, some three months since, -Stabb'd in my angry mood at Tewksbury? -A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman, -Framed in the prodigality of nature, -Young, valiant, wise, and, no doubt, right royal, -The spacious world cannot again afford -And will she yet debase her eyes on me, -That cropp'd the golden prime of this sweet prince, -And made her widow to a woful bed? -On me, whose all not equals Edward's moiety? -On me, that halt and am unshapen thus? -My dukedom to a beggarly denier, -I do mistake my person all this while: -Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot, -Myself to be a marvellous proper man. -I'll be at charges for a looking-glass, -And entertain some score or two of tailors, -To study fashions to adorn my body: -Since I am crept in favour with myself, -Will maintain it with some little cost. -But first I'll turn yon fellow in his grave; -And then return lamenting to my love. -Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass, -That I may see my shadow as I pass. - -RIVERS: -Have patience, madam: there's no doubt his majesty -Will soon recover his accustom'd health. - -GREY: -In that you brook it in, it makes him worse: -Therefore, for God's sake, entertain good comfort, -And cheer his grace with quick and merry words. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -If he were dead, what would betide of me? - -RIVERS: -No other harm but loss of such a lord. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -The loss of such a lord includes all harm. - -GREY: -The heavens have bless'd you with a goodly son, -To be your comforter when he is gone. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Oh, he is young and his minority -Is put unto the trust of Richard Gloucester, -A man that loves not me, nor none of you. - -RIVERS: -Is it concluded that he shall be protector? - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -It is determined, not concluded yet: -But so it must be, if the king miscarry. - -GREY: -Here come the lords of Buckingham and Derby. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Good time of day unto your royal grace! - -DERBY: -God make your majesty joyful as you have been! - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -The Countess Richmond, good my Lord of Derby. -To your good prayers will scarcely say amen. -Yet, Derby, notwithstanding she's your wife, -And loves not me, be you, good lord, assured -I hate not you for her proud arrogance. - -DERBY: -I do beseech you, either not believe -The envious slanders of her false accusers; -Or, if she be accused in true report, -Bear with her weakness, which, I think proceeds -From wayward sickness, and no grounded malice. - -RIVERS: -Saw you the king to-day, my Lord of Derby? - -DERBY: -But now the Duke of Buckingham and I -Are come from visiting his majesty. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -What likelihood of his amendment, lords? - -BUCKINGHAM: -Madam, good hope; his grace speaks cheerfully. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -God grant him health! Did you confer with him? - -BUCKINGHAM: -Madam, we did: he desires to make atonement -Betwixt the Duke of Gloucester and your brothers, -And betwixt them and my lord chamberlain; -And sent to warn them to his royal presence. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Would all were well! but that will never be -I fear our happiness is at the highest. - -GLOUCESTER: -They do me wrong, and I will not endure it: -Who are they that complain unto the king, -That I, forsooth, am stern, and love them not? -By holy Paul, they love his grace but lightly -That fill his ears with such dissentious rumours. -Because I cannot flatter and speak fair, -Smile in men's faces, smooth, deceive and cog, -Duck with French nods and apish courtesy, -I must be held a rancorous enemy. -Cannot a plain man live and think no harm, -But thus his simple truth must be abused -By silken, sly, insinuating Jacks? - -RIVERS: -To whom in all this presence speaks your grace? - -GLOUCESTER: -To thee, that hast nor honesty nor grace. -When have I injured thee? when done thee wrong? -Or thee? or thee? or any of your faction? -A plague upon you all! His royal person,-- -Whom God preserve better than you would wish!-- -Cannot be quiet scarce a breathing-while, -But you must trouble him with lewd complaints. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Brother of Gloucester, you mistake the matter. -The king, of his own royal disposition, -And not provoked by any suitor else; -Aiming, belike, at your interior hatred, -Which in your outward actions shows itself -Against my kindred, brothers, and myself, -Makes him to send; that thereby he may gather -The ground of your ill-will, and so remove it. - -GLOUCESTER: -I cannot tell: the world is grown so bad, -That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch: -Since every Jack became a gentleman -There's many a gentle person made a Jack. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Come, come, we know your meaning, brother -Gloucester; -You envy my advancement and my friends': -God grant we never may have need of you! - -GLOUCESTER: -Meantime, God grants that we have need of you: -Your brother is imprison'd by your means, -Myself disgraced, and the nobility -Held in contempt; whilst many fair promotions -Are daily given to ennoble those -That scarce, some two days since, were worth a noble. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -By Him that raised me to this careful height -From that contented hap which I enjoy'd, -I never did incense his majesty -Against the Duke of Clarence, but have been -An earnest advocate to plead for him. -My lord, you do me shameful injury, -Falsely to draw me in these vile suspects. - -GLOUCESTER: -You may deny that you were not the cause -Of my Lord Hastings' late imprisonment. - -RIVERS: -She may, my lord, for-- - -GLOUCESTER: -She may, Lord Rivers! why, who knows not so? -She may do more, sir, than denying that: -She may help you to many fair preferments, -And then deny her aiding hand therein, -And lay those honours on your high deserts. -What may she not? She may, yea, marry, may she-- - -RIVERS: -What, marry, may she? - -GLOUCESTER: -What, marry, may she! marry with a king, -A bachelor, a handsome stripling too: -I wis your grandam had a worser match. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -My Lord of Gloucester, I have too long borne -Your blunt upbraidings and your bitter scoffs: -By heaven, I will acquaint his majesty -With those gross taunts I often have endured. -I had rather be a country servant-maid -Than a great queen, with this condition, -To be thus taunted, scorn'd, and baited at: -Small joy have I in being England's queen. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -And lessen'd be that small, God, I beseech thee! -Thy honour, state and seat is due to me. - -GLOUCESTER: -What! threat you me with telling of the king? -Tell him, and spare not: look, what I have said -I will avouch in presence of the king: -I dare adventure to be sent to the Tower. -'Tis time to speak; my pains are quite forgot. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -Out, devil! I remember them too well: -Thou slewest my husband Henry in the Tower, -And Edward, my poor son, at Tewksbury. - -GLOUCESTER: -Ere you were queen, yea, or your husband king, -I was a pack-horse in his great affairs; -A weeder-out of his proud adversaries, -A liberal rewarder of his friends: -To royalize his blood I spilt mine own. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -Yea, and much better blood than his or thine. - -GLOUCESTER: -In all which time you and your husband Grey -Were factious for the house of Lancaster; -And, Rivers, so were you. Was not your husband -In Margaret's battle at Saint Alban's slain? -Let me put in your minds, if you forget, -What you have been ere now, and what you are; -Withal, what I have been, and what I am. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -A murderous villain, and so still thou art. - -GLOUCESTER: -Poor Clarence did forsake his father, Warwick; -Yea, and forswore himself,--which Jesu pardon!-- - -QUEEN MARGARET: -Which God revenge! - -GLOUCESTER: -To fight on Edward's party for the crown; -And for his meed, poor lord, he is mew'd up. -I would to God my heart were flint, like Edward's; -Or Edward's soft and pitiful, like mine -I am too childish-foolish for this world. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -Hie thee to hell for shame, and leave the world, -Thou cacodemon! there thy kingdom is. - -RIVERS: -My Lord of Gloucester, in those busy days -Which here you urge to prove us enemies, -We follow'd then our lord, our lawful king: -So should we you, if you should be our king. - -GLOUCESTER: -If I should be! I had rather be a pedlar: -Far be it from my heart, the thought of it! - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -As little joy, my lord, as you suppose -You should enjoy, were you this country's king, -As little joy may you suppose in me. -That I enjoy, being the queen thereof. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -A little joy enjoys the queen thereof; -For I am she, and altogether joyless. -I can no longer hold me patient. -Hear me, you wrangling pirates, that fall out -In sharing that which you have pill'd from me! -Which of you trembles not that looks on me? -If not, that, I being queen, you bow like subjects, -Yet that, by you deposed, you quake like rebels? -O gentle villain, do not turn away! - -GLOUCESTER: -Foul wrinkled witch, what makest thou in my sight? - -QUEEN MARGARET: -But repetition of what thou hast marr'd; -That will I make before I let thee go. - -GLOUCESTER: -Wert thou not banished on pain of death? - -QUEEN MARGARET: -I was; but I do find more pain in banishment -Than death can yield me here by my abode. -A husband and a son thou owest to me; -And thou a kingdom; all of you allegiance: -The sorrow that I have, by right is yours, -And all the pleasures you usurp are mine. - -GLOUCESTER: -The curse my noble father laid on thee, -When thou didst crown his warlike brows with paper -And with thy scorns drew'st rivers from his eyes, -And then, to dry them, gavest the duke a clout -Steep'd in the faultless blood of pretty Rutland-- -His curses, then from bitterness of soul -Denounced against thee, are all fall'n upon thee; -And God, not we, hath plagued thy bloody deed. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -So just is God, to right the innocent. - -HASTINGS: -O, 'twas the foulest deed to slay that babe, -And the most merciless that e'er was heard of! - -RIVERS: -Tyrants themselves wept when it was reported. - -DORSET: -No man but prophesied revenge for it. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Northumberland, then present, wept to see it. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -What were you snarling all before I came, -Ready to catch each other by the throat, -And turn you all your hatred now on me? -Did York's dread curse prevail so much with heaven? -That Henry's death, my lovely Edward's death, -Their kingdom's loss, my woful banishment, -Could all but answer for that peevish brat? -Can curses pierce the clouds and enter heaven? -Why, then, give way, dull clouds, to my quick curses! -If not by war, by surfeit die your king, -As ours by murder, to make him a king! -Edward thy son, which now is Prince of Wales, -For Edward my son, which was Prince of Wales, -Die in his youth by like untimely violence! -Thyself a queen, for me that was a queen, -Outlive thy glory, like my wretched self! -Long mayst thou live to wail thy children's loss; -And see another, as I see thee now, -Deck'd in thy rights, as thou art stall'd in mine! -Long die thy happy days before thy death; -And, after many lengthen'd hours of grief, -Die neither mother, wife, nor England's queen! -Rivers and Dorset, you were standers by, -And so wast thou, Lord Hastings, when my son -Was stabb'd with bloody daggers: God, I pray him, -That none of you may live your natural age, -But by some unlook'd accident cut off! - -GLOUCESTER: -Have done thy charm, thou hateful wither'd hag! - -QUEEN MARGARET: -And leave out thee? stay, dog, for thou shalt hear me. -If heaven have any grievous plague in store -Exceeding those that I can wish upon thee, -O, let them keep it till thy sins be ripe, -And then hurl down their indignation -On thee, the troubler of the poor world's peace! -The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul! -Thy friends suspect for traitors while thou livest, -And take deep traitors for thy dearest friends! -No sleep close up that deadly eye of thine, -Unless it be whilst some tormenting dream -Affrights thee with a hell of ugly devils! -Thou elvish-mark'd, abortive, rooting hog! -Thou that wast seal'd in thy nativity -The slave of nature and the son of hell! -Thou slander of thy mother's heavy womb! -Thou loathed issue of thy father's loins! -Thou rag of honour! thou detested-- - -GLOUCESTER: -Margaret. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -Richard! - -GLOUCESTER: -Ha! - -QUEEN MARGARET: -I call thee not. - -GLOUCESTER: -I cry thee mercy then, for I had thought -That thou hadst call'd me all these bitter names. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -Why, so I did; but look'd for no reply. -O, let me make the period to my curse! - -GLOUCESTER: -'Tis done by me, and ends in 'Margaret.' - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Thus have you breathed your curse against yourself. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -Poor painted queen, vain flourish of my fortune! -Why strew'st thou sugar on that bottled spider, -Whose deadly web ensnareth thee about? -Fool, fool! thou whet'st a knife to kill thyself. -The time will come when thou shalt wish for me -To help thee curse that poisonous bunchback'd toad. - -HASTINGS: -False-boding woman, end thy frantic curse, -Lest to thy harm thou move our patience. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -Foul shame upon you! you have all moved mine. - -RIVERS: -Were you well served, you would be taught your duty. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -To serve me well, you all should do me duty, -Teach me to be your queen, and you my subjects: -O, serve me well, and teach yourselves that duty! - -DORSET: -Dispute not with her; she is lunatic. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -Peace, master marquess, you are malapert: -Your fire-new stamp of honour is scarce current. -O, that your young nobility could judge -What 'twere to lose it, and be miserable! -They that stand high have many blasts to shake them; -And if they fall, they dash themselves to pieces. - -GLOUCESTER: -Good counsel, marry: learn it, learn it, marquess. - -DORSET: -It toucheth you, my lord, as much as me. - -GLOUCESTER: -Yea, and much more: but I was born so high, -Our aery buildeth in the cedar's top, -And dallies with the wind and scorns the sun. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -And turns the sun to shade; alas! alas! -Witness my son, now in the shade of death; -Whose bright out-shining beams thy cloudy wrath -Hath in eternal darkness folded up. -Your aery buildeth in our aery's nest. -O God, that seest it, do not suffer it! -As it was won with blood, lost be it so! - -BUCKINGHAM: -Have done! for shame, if not for charity. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -Urge neither charity nor shame to me: -Uncharitably with me have you dealt, -And shamefully by you my hopes are butcher'd. -My charity is outrage, life my shame -And in that shame still live my sorrow's rage. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Have done, have done. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -O princely Buckingham I'll kiss thy hand, -In sign of league and amity with thee: -Now fair befal thee and thy noble house! -Thy garments are not spotted with our blood, -Nor thou within the compass of my curse. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Nor no one here; for curses never pass -The lips of those that breathe them in the air. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -I'll not believe but they ascend the sky, -And there awake God's gentle-sleeping peace. -O Buckingham, take heed of yonder dog! -Look, when he fawns, he bites; and when he bites, -His venom tooth will rankle to the death: -Have not to do with him, beware of him; -Sin, death, and hell have set their marks on him, -And all their ministers attend on him. - -GLOUCESTER: -What doth she say, my Lord of Buckingham? - -BUCKINGHAM: -Nothing that I respect, my gracious lord. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -What, dost thou scorn me for my gentle counsel? -And soothe the devil that I warn thee from? -O, but remember this another day, -When he shall split thy very heart with sorrow, -And say poor Margaret was a prophetess! -Live each of you the subjects to his hate, -And he to yours, and all of you to God's! - -HASTINGS: -My hair doth stand on end to hear her curses. - -RIVERS: -And so doth mine: I muse why she's at liberty. - -GLOUCESTER: -I cannot blame her: by God's holy mother, -She hath had too much wrong; and I repent -My part thereof that I have done to her. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -I never did her any, to my knowledge. - -GLOUCESTER: -But you have all the vantage of her wrong. -I was too hot to do somebody good, -That is too cold in thinking of it now. -Marry, as for Clarence, he is well repaid, -He is frank'd up to fatting for his pains -God pardon them that are the cause of it! - -RIVERS: -A virtuous and a Christian-like conclusion, -To pray for them that have done scathe to us. - -GLOUCESTER: -So do I ever: -being well-advised. -For had I cursed now, I had cursed myself. - -CATESBY: -Madam, his majesty doth call for you, -And for your grace; and you, my noble lords. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Catesby, we come. Lords, will you go with us? - -RIVERS: -Madam, we will attend your grace. - -GLOUCESTER: -I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl. -The secret mischiefs that I set abroach -I lay unto the grievous charge of others. -Clarence, whom I, indeed, have laid in darkness, -I do beweep to many simple gulls -Namely, to Hastings, Derby, Buckingham; -And say it is the queen and her allies -That stir the king against the duke my brother. -Now, they believe it; and withal whet me -To be revenged on Rivers, Vaughan, Grey: -But then I sigh; and, with a piece of scripture, -Tell them that God bids us do good for evil: -And thus I clothe my naked villany -With old odd ends stolen out of holy writ; -And seem a saint, when most I play the devil. -But, soft! here come my executioners. -How now, my hardy, stout resolved mates! -Are you now going to dispatch this deed? - -First Murderer: -We are, my lord; and come to have the warrant -That we may be admitted where he is. - -GLOUCESTER: -Well thought upon; I have it here about me. -When you have done, repair to Crosby Place. -But, sirs, be sudden in the execution, -Withal obdurate, do not hear him plead; -For Clarence is well-spoken, and perhaps -May move your hearts to pity if you mark him. - -First Murderer: -Tush! -Fear not, my lord, we will not stand to prate; -Talkers are no good doers: be assured -We come to use our hands and not our tongues. - -GLOUCESTER: -Your eyes drop millstones, when fools' eyes drop tears: -I like you, lads; about your business straight; -Go, go, dispatch. - -First Murderer: -We will, my noble lord. - -BRAKENBURY: -Why looks your grace so heavily today? - -CLARENCE: -O, I have pass'd a miserable night, -So full of ugly sights, of ghastly dreams, -That, as I am a Christian faithful man, -I would not spend another such a night, -Though 'twere to buy a world of happy days, -So full of dismal terror was the time! - -BRAKENBURY: -What was your dream? I long to hear you tell it. - -CLARENCE: -Methoughts that I had broken from the Tower, -And was embark'd to cross to Burgundy; -And, in my company, my brother Gloucester; -Who from my cabin tempted me to walk -Upon the hatches: thence we looked toward England, -And cited up a thousand fearful times, -During the wars of York and Lancaster -That had befall'n us. As we paced along -Upon the giddy footing of the hatches, -Methought that Gloucester stumbled; and, in falling, -Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard, -Into the tumbling billows of the main. -Lord, Lord! methought, what pain it was to drown! -What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears! -What ugly sights of death within mine eyes! -Methought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks; -Ten thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon; -Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, -Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels, -All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea: -Some lay in dead men's skulls; and, in those holes -Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept, -As 'twere in scorn of eyes, reflecting gems, -Which woo'd the slimy bottom of the deep, -And mock'd the dead bones that lay scatter'd by. - -BRAKENBURY: -Had you such leisure in the time of death -To gaze upon the secrets of the deep? - -CLARENCE: -Methought I had; and often did I strive -To yield the ghost: but still the envious flood -Kept in my soul, and would not let it forth -To seek the empty, vast and wandering air; -But smother'd it within my panting bulk, -Which almost burst to belch it in the sea. - -BRAKENBURY: -Awaked you not with this sore agony? - -CLARENCE: -O, no, my dream was lengthen'd after life; -O, then began the tempest to my soul, -Who pass'd, methought, the melancholy flood, -With that grim ferryman which poets write of, -Unto the kingdom of perpetual night. -The first that there did greet my stranger soul, -Was my great father-in-law, renowned Warwick; -Who cried aloud, 'What scourge for perjury -Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?' -And so he vanish'd: then came wandering by -A shadow like an angel, with bright hair -Dabbled in blood; and he squeak'd out aloud, -'Clarence is come; false, fleeting, perjured Clarence, -That stabb'd me in the field by Tewksbury; -Seize on him, Furies, take him to your torments!' -With that, methoughts, a legion of foul fiends -Environ'd me about, and howled in mine ears -Such hideous cries, that with the very noise -I trembling waked, and for a season after -Could not believe but that I was in hell, -Such terrible impression made the dream. - -BRAKENBURY: -No marvel, my lord, though it affrighted you; -I promise, I am afraid to hear you tell it. - -CLARENCE: -O Brakenbury, I have done those things, -Which now bear evidence against my soul, -For Edward's sake; and see how he requites me! -O God! if my deep prayers cannot appease thee, -But thou wilt be avenged on my misdeeds, -Yet execute thy wrath in me alone, -O, spare my guiltless wife and my poor children! -I pray thee, gentle keeper, stay by me; -My soul is heavy, and I fain would sleep. - -BRAKENBURY: -I will, my lord: God give your grace good rest! -Sorrow breaks seasons and reposing hours, -Makes the night morning, and the noon-tide night. -Princes have but their tides for their glories, -An outward honour for an inward toil; -And, for unfelt imagination, -They often feel a world of restless cares: -So that, betwixt their tides and low names, -There's nothing differs but the outward fame. - -First Murderer: -Ho! who's here? - -BRAKENBURY: -In God's name what are you, and how came you hither? - -First Murderer: -I would speak with Clarence, and I came hither on my legs. - -BRAKENBURY: -Yea, are you so brief? - -Second Murderer: -O sir, it is better to be brief than tedious. Show -him our commission; talk no more. - -BRAKENBURY: -I am, in this, commanded to deliver -The noble Duke of Clarence to your hands: -I will not reason what is meant hereby, -Because I will be guiltless of the meaning. -Here are the keys, there sits the duke asleep: -I'll to the king; and signify to him -That thus I have resign'd my charge to you. - -First Murderer: -Do so, it is a point of wisdom: fare you well. - -Second Murderer: -What, shall we stab him as he sleeps? - -First Murderer: -No; then he will say 'twas done cowardly, when he wakes. - -Second Murderer: -When he wakes! why, fool, he shall never wake till -the judgment-day. - -First Murderer: -Why, then he will say we stabbed him sleeping. - -Second Murderer: -The urging of that word 'judgment' hath bred a kind -of remorse in me. - -First Murderer: -What, art thou afraid? - -Second Murderer: -Not to kill him, having a warrant for it; but to be -damned for killing him, from which no warrant can defend us. - -First Murderer: -I thought thou hadst been resolute. - -Second Murderer: -So I am, to let him live. - -First Murderer: -Back to the Duke of Gloucester, tell him so. - -Second Murderer: -I pray thee, stay a while: I hope my holy humour -will change; 'twas wont to hold me but while one -would tell twenty. - -First Murderer: -How dost thou feel thyself now? - -Second Murderer: -'Faith, some certain dregs of conscience are yet -within me. - -First Murderer: -Remember our reward, when the deed is done. - -Second Murderer: -'Zounds, he dies: I had forgot the reward. - -First Murderer: -Where is thy conscience now? - -Second Murderer: -In the Duke of Gloucester's purse. - -First Murderer: -So when he opens his purse to give us our reward, -thy conscience flies out. - -Second Murderer: -Let it go; there's few or none will entertain it. - -First Murderer: -How if it come to thee again? - -Second Murderer: -I'll not meddle with it: it is a dangerous thing: it -makes a man a coward: a man cannot steal, but it -accuseth him; he cannot swear, but it cheques him; -he cannot lie with his neighbour's wife, but it -detects him: 'tis a blushing shamefast spirit that -mutinies in a man's bosom; it fills one full of -obstacles: it made me once restore a purse of gold -that I found; it beggars any man that keeps it: it -is turned out of all towns and cities for a -dangerous thing; and every man that means to live -well endeavours to trust to himself and to live -without it. - -First Murderer: -'Zounds, it is even now at my elbow, persuading me -not to kill the duke. - -Second Murderer: -Take the devil in thy mind, and relieve him not: he -would insinuate with thee but to make thee sigh. - -First Murderer: -Tut, I am strong-framed, he cannot prevail with me, -I warrant thee. - -Second Murderer: -Spoke like a tail fellow that respects his -reputation. Come, shall we to this gear? - -First Murderer: -Take him over the costard with the hilts of thy -sword, and then we will chop him in the malmsey-butt -in the next room. - -Second Murderer: -O excellent devise! make a sop of him. - -First Murderer: -Hark! he stirs: shall I strike? - -Second Murderer: -No, first let's reason with him. - -CLARENCE: -Where art thou, keeper? give me a cup of wine. - -Second murderer: -You shall have wine enough, my lord, anon. - -CLARENCE: -In God's name, what art thou? - -Second Murderer: -A man, as you are. - -CLARENCE: -But not, as I am, royal. - -Second Murderer: -Nor you, as we are, loyal. - -CLARENCE: -Thy voice is thunder, but thy looks are humble. - -Second Murderer: -My voice is now the king's, my looks mine own. - -CLARENCE: -How darkly and how deadly dost thou speak! -Your eyes do menace me: why look you pale? -Who sent you hither? Wherefore do you come? - -Both: -To, to, to-- - -CLARENCE: -To murder me? - -Both: -Ay, ay. - -CLARENCE: -You scarcely have the hearts to tell me so, -And therefore cannot have the hearts to do it. -Wherein, my friends, have I offended you? - -First Murderer: -Offended us you have not, but the king. - -CLARENCE: -I shall be reconciled to him again. - -Second Murderer: -Never, my lord; therefore prepare to die. - -CLARENCE: -Are you call'd forth from out a world of men -To slay the innocent? What is my offence? -Where are the evidence that do accuse me? -What lawful quest have given their verdict up -Unto the frowning judge? or who pronounced -The bitter sentence of poor Clarence' death? -Before I be convict by course of law, -To threaten me with death is most unlawful. -I charge you, as you hope to have redemption -By Christ's dear blood shed for our grievous sins, -That you depart and lay no hands on me -The deed you undertake is damnable. - -First Murderer: -What we will do, we do upon command. - -Second Murderer: -And he that hath commanded is the king. - -CLARENCE: -Erroneous vassal! the great King of kings -Hath in the tables of his law commanded -That thou shalt do no murder: and wilt thou, then, -Spurn at his edict and fulfil a man's? -Take heed; for he holds vengeance in his hands, -To hurl upon their heads that break his law. - -Second Murderer: -And that same vengeance doth he hurl on thee, -For false forswearing and for murder too: -Thou didst receive the holy sacrament, -To fight in quarrel of the house of Lancaster. - -First Murderer: -And, like a traitor to the name of God, -Didst break that vow; and with thy treacherous blade -Unrip'dst the bowels of thy sovereign's son. - -Second Murderer: -Whom thou wert sworn to cherish and defend. - -First Murderer: -How canst thou urge God's dreadful law to us, -When thou hast broke it in so dear degree? - -CLARENCE: -Alas! for whose sake did I that ill deed? -For Edward, for my brother, for his sake: Why, sirs, -He sends ye not to murder me for this -For in this sin he is as deep as I. -If God will be revenged for this deed. -O, know you yet, he doth it publicly, -Take not the quarrel from his powerful arm; -He needs no indirect nor lawless course -To cut off those that have offended him. - -First Murderer: -Who made thee, then, a bloody minister, -When gallant-springing brave Plantagenet, -That princely novice, was struck dead by thee? - -CLARENCE: -My brother's love, the devil, and my rage. - -First Murderer: -Thy brother's love, our duty, and thy fault, -Provoke us hither now to slaughter thee. - -CLARENCE: -Oh, if you love my brother, hate not me; -I am his brother, and I love him well. -If you be hired for meed, go back again, -And I will send you to my brother Gloucester, -Who shall reward you better for my life -Than Edward will for tidings of my death. - -Second Murderer: -You are deceived, your brother Gloucester hates you. - -CLARENCE: -O, no, he loves me, and he holds me dear: -Go you to him from me. - -Both: -Ay, so we will. - -CLARENCE: -Tell him, when that our princely father York -Bless'd his three sons with his victorious arm, -And charged us from his soul to love each other, -He little thought of this divided friendship: -Bid Gloucester think of this, and he will weep. - -First Murderer: -Ay, millstones; as be lesson'd us to weep. - -CLARENCE: -O, do not slander him, for he is kind. - -First Murderer: -Right, -As snow in harvest. Thou deceivest thyself: -'Tis he that sent us hither now to slaughter thee. - -CLARENCE: -It cannot be; for when I parted with him, -He hugg'd me in his arms, and swore, with sobs, -That he would labour my delivery. - -Second Murderer: -Why, so he doth, now he delivers thee -From this world's thraldom to the joys of heaven. - -First Murderer: -Make peace with God, for you must die, my lord. - -CLARENCE: -Hast thou that holy feeling in thy soul, -To counsel me to make my peace with God, -And art thou yet to thy own soul so blind, -That thou wilt war with God by murdering me? -Ah, sirs, consider, he that set you on -To do this deed will hate you for the deed. - -Second Murderer: -What shall we do? - -CLARENCE: -Relent, and save your souls. - -First Murderer: -Relent! 'tis cowardly and womanish. - -CLARENCE: -Not to relent is beastly, savage, devilish. -Which of you, if you were a prince's son, -Being pent from liberty, as I am now, -if two such murderers as yourselves came to you, -Would not entreat for life? -My friend, I spy some pity in thy looks: -O, if thine eye be not a flatterer, -Come thou on my side, and entreat for me, -As you would beg, were you in my distress -A begging prince what beggar pities not? - -Second Murderer: -Look behind you, my lord. - -First Murderer: -Take that, and that: if all this will not do, -I'll drown you in the malmsey-butt within. - -Second Murderer: -A bloody deed, and desperately dispatch'd! -How fain, like Pilate, would I wash my hands -Of this most grievous guilty murder done! - -First Murderer: -How now! what mean'st thou, that thou help'st me not? -By heavens, the duke shall know how slack thou art! - -Second Murderer: -I would he knew that I had saved his brother! -Take thou the fee, and tell him what I say; -For I repent me that the duke is slain. - -First Murderer: -So do not I: go, coward as thou art. -Now must I hide his body in some hole, -Until the duke take order for his burial: -And when I have my meed, I must away; -For this will out, and here I must not stay. - -KING EDWARD IV: -Why, so: now have I done a good day's work: -You peers, continue this united league: -I every day expect an embassage -From my Redeemer to redeem me hence; -And now in peace my soul shall part to heaven, -Since I have set my friends at peace on earth. -Rivers and Hastings, take each other's hand; -Dissemble not your hatred, swear your love. - -RIVERS: -By heaven, my heart is purged from grudging hate: -And with my hand I seal my true heart's love. - -HASTINGS: -So thrive I, as I truly swear the like! - -KING EDWARD IV: -Take heed you dally not before your king; -Lest he that is the supreme King of kings -Confound your hidden falsehood, and award -Either of you to be the other's end. - -HASTINGS: -So prosper I, as I swear perfect love! - -RIVERS: -And I, as I love Hastings with my heart! - -KING EDWARD IV: -Madam, yourself are not exempt in this, -Nor your son Dorset, Buckingham, nor you; -You have been factious one against the other, -Wife, love Lord Hastings, let him kiss your hand; -And what you do, do it unfeignedly. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Here, Hastings; I will never more remember -Our former hatred, so thrive I and mine! - -KING EDWARD IV: -Dorset, embrace him; Hastings, love lord marquess. - -DORSET: -This interchange of love, I here protest, -Upon my part shall be unviolable. - -HASTINGS: -And so swear I, my lord - -KING EDWARD IV: -Now, princely Buckingham, seal thou this league -With thy embracements to my wife's allies, -And make me happy in your unity. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Whenever Buckingham doth turn his hate -On you or yours, -but with all duteous love -Doth cherish you and yours, God punish me -With hate in those where I expect most love! -When I have most need to employ a friend, -And most assured that he is a friend -Deep, hollow, treacherous, and full of guile, -Be he unto me! this do I beg of God, -When I am cold in zeal to yours. - -KING EDWARD IV: -A pleasing cordial, princely Buckingham, -is this thy vow unto my sickly heart. -There wanteth now our brother Gloucester here, -To make the perfect period of this peace. - -BUCKINGHAM: -And, in good time, here comes the noble duke. - -GLOUCESTER: -Good morrow to my sovereign king and queen: -And, princely peers, a happy time of day! - -KING EDWARD IV: -Happy, indeed, as we have spent the day. -Brother, we done deeds of charity; -Made peace enmity, fair love of hate, -Between these swelling wrong-incensed peers. - -GLOUCESTER: -A blessed labour, my most sovereign liege: -Amongst this princely heap, if any here, -By false intelligence, or wrong surmise, -Hold me a foe; -If I unwittingly, or in my rage, -Have aught committed that is hardly borne -By any in this presence, I desire -To reconcile me to his friendly peace: -'Tis death to me to be at enmity; -I hate it, and desire all good men's love. -First, madam, I entreat true peace of you, -Which I will purchase with my duteous service; -Of you, my noble cousin Buckingham, -If ever any grudge were lodged between us; -Of you, Lord Rivers, and, Lord Grey, of you; -That without desert have frown'd on me; -Dukes, earls, lords, gentlemen; indeed, of all. -I do not know that Englishman alive -With whom my soul is any jot at odds -More than the infant that is born to-night -I thank my God for my humility. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -A holy day shall this be kept hereafter: -I would to God all strifes were well compounded. -My sovereign liege, I do beseech your majesty -To take our brother Clarence to your grace. - -GLOUCESTER: -Why, madam, have I offer'd love for this -To be so bouted in this royal presence? -Who knows not that the noble duke is dead? -You do him injury to scorn his corse. - -RIVERS: -Who knows not he is dead! who knows he is? - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -All seeing heaven, what a world is this! - -BUCKINGHAM: -Look I so pale, Lord Dorset, as the rest? - -DORSET: -Ay, my good lord; and no one in this presence -But his red colour hath forsook his cheeks. - -KING EDWARD IV: -Is Clarence dead? the order was reversed. - -GLOUCESTER: -But he, poor soul, by your first order died, -And that a winged Mercury did bear: -Some tardy cripple bore the countermand, -That came too lag to see him buried. -God grant that some, less noble and less loyal, -Nearer in bloody thoughts, but not in blood, -Deserve not worse than wretched Clarence did, -And yet go current from suspicion! - -DORSET: -A boon, my sovereign, for my service done! - -KING EDWARD IV: -I pray thee, peace: my soul is full of sorrow. - -DORSET: -I will not rise, unless your highness grant. - -KING EDWARD IV: -Then speak at once what is it thou demand'st. - -DORSET: -The forfeit, sovereign, of my servant's life; -Who slew to-day a righteous gentleman -Lately attendant on the Duke of Norfolk. - -KING EDWARD IV: -Have a tongue to doom my brother's death, -And shall the same give pardon to a slave? -My brother slew no man; his fault was thought, -And yet his punishment was cruel death. -Who sued to me for him? who, in my rage, -Kneel'd at my feet, and bade me be advised -Who spake of brotherhood? who spake of love? -Who told me how the poor soul did forsake -The mighty Warwick, and did fight for me? -Who told me, in the field by Tewksbury -When Oxford had me down, he rescued me, -And said, 'Dear brother, live, and be a king'? -Who told me, when we both lay in the field -Frozen almost to death, how he did lap me -Even in his own garments, and gave himself, -All thin and naked, to the numb cold night? -All this from my remembrance brutish wrath -Sinfully pluck'd, and not a man of you -Had so much grace to put it in my mind. -But when your carters or your waiting-vassals -Have done a drunken slaughter, and defaced -The precious image of our dear Redeemer, -You straight are on your knees for pardon, pardon; -And I unjustly too, must grant it you -But for my brother not a man would speak, -Nor I, ungracious, speak unto myself -For him, poor soul. The proudest of you all -Have been beholding to him in his life; -Yet none of you would once plead for his life. -O God, I fear thy justice will take hold -On me, and you, and mine, and yours for this! -Come, Hastings, help me to my closet. -Oh, poor Clarence! - -GLOUCESTER: -This is the fruit of rashness! Mark'd you not -How that the guilty kindred of the queen -Look'd pale when they did hear of Clarence' death? -O, they did urge it still unto the king! -God will revenge it. But come, let us in, -To comfort Edward with our company. - -BUCKINGHAM: -We wait upon your grace. - -Boy: -Tell me, good grandam, is our father dead? - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -No, boy. - -Boy: -Why do you wring your hands, and beat your breast, -And cry 'O Clarence, my unhappy son!' - -Girl: -Why do you look on us, and shake your head, -And call us wretches, orphans, castaways -If that our noble father be alive? - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -My pretty cousins, you mistake me much; -I do lament the sickness of the king. -As loath to lose him, not your father's death; -It were lost sorrow to wail one that's lost. - -Boy: -Then, grandam, you conclude that he is dead. -The king my uncle is to blame for this: -God will revenge it; whom I will importune -With daily prayers all to that effect. - -Girl: -And so will I. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Peace, children, peace! the king doth love you well: -Incapable and shallow innocents, -You cannot guess who caused your father's death. - -Boy: -Grandam, we can; for my good uncle Gloucester -Told me, the king, provoked by the queen, -Devised impeachments to imprison him : -And when my uncle told me so, he wept, -And hugg'd me in his arm, and kindly kiss'd my cheek; -Bade me rely on him as on my father, -And he would love me dearly as his child. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Oh, that deceit should steal such gentle shapes, -And with a virtuous vizard hide foul guile! -He is my son; yea, and therein my shame; -Yet from my dugs he drew not this deceit. - -Boy: -Think you my uncle did dissemble, grandam? - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Ay, boy. - -Boy: -I cannot think it. Hark! what noise is this? - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Oh, who shall hinder me to wail and weep, -To chide my fortune, and torment myself? -I'll join with black despair against my soul, -And to myself become an enemy. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -What means this scene of rude impatience? - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -To make an act of tragic violence: -Edward, my lord, your son, our king, is dead. -Why grow the branches now the root is wither'd? -Why wither not the leaves the sap being gone? -If you will live, lament; if die, be brief, -That our swift-winged souls may catch the king's; -Or, like obedient subjects, follow him -To his new kingdom of perpetual rest. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Ah, so much interest have I in thy sorrow -As I had title in thy noble husband! -I have bewept a worthy husband's death, -And lived by looking on his images: -But now two mirrors of his princely semblance -Are crack'd in pieces by malignant death, -And I for comfort have but one false glass, -Which grieves me when I see my shame in him. -Thou art a widow; yet thou art a mother, -And hast the comfort of thy children left thee: -But death hath snatch'd my husband from mine arms, -And pluck'd two crutches from my feeble limbs, -Edward and Clarence. O, what cause have I, -Thine being but a moiety of my grief, -To overgo thy plaints and drown thy cries! - -Boy: -Good aunt, you wept not for our father's death; -How can we aid you with our kindred tears? - -Girl: -Our fatherless distress was left unmoan'd; -Your widow-dolour likewise be unwept! - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Give me no help in lamentation; -I am not barren to bring forth complaints -All springs reduce their currents to mine eyes, -That I, being govern'd by the watery moon, -May send forth plenteous tears to drown the world! -Oh for my husband, for my dear lord Edward! - -Children: -Oh for our father, for our dear lord Clarence! - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Alas for both, both mine, Edward and Clarence! - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -What stay had I but Edward? and he's gone. - -Children: -What stay had we but Clarence? and he's gone. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -What stays had I but they? and they are gone. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Was never widow had so dear a loss! - -Children: -Were never orphans had so dear a loss! - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Was never mother had so dear a loss! -Alas, I am the mother of these moans! -Their woes are parcell'd, mine are general. -She for an Edward weeps, and so do I; -I for a Clarence weep, so doth not she: -These babes for Clarence weep and so do I; -I for an Edward weep, so do not they: -Alas, you three, on me, threefold distress'd, -Pour all your tears! I am your sorrow's nurse, -And I will pamper it with lamentations. - -DORSET: -Comfort, dear mother: God is much displeased -That you take with unthankfulness, his doing: -In common worldly things, 'tis call'd ungrateful, -With dull unwilligness to repay a debt -Which with a bounteous hand was kindly lent; -Much more to be thus opposite with heaven, -For it requires the royal debt it lent you. - -RIVERS: -Madam, bethink you, like a careful mother, -Of the young prince your son: send straight for him -Let him be crown'd; in him your comfort lives: -Drown desperate sorrow in dead Edward's grave, -And plant your joys in living Edward's throne. - -GLOUCESTER: -Madam, have comfort: all of us have cause -To wail the dimming of our shining star; -But none can cure their harms by wailing them. -Madam, my mother, I do cry you mercy; -I did not see your grace: humbly on my knee -I crave your blessing. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -God bless thee; and put meekness in thy mind, -Love, charity, obedience, and true duty! - -GLOUCESTER: - -BUCKINGHAM: -You cloudy princes and heart-sorrowing peers, -That bear this mutual heavy load of moan, -Now cheer each other in each other's love -Though we have spent our harvest of this king, -We are to reap the harvest of his son. -The broken rancour of your high-swoln hearts, -But lately splinter'd, knit, and join'd together, -Must gently be preserved, cherish'd, and kept: -Me seemeth good, that, with some little train, -Forthwith from Ludlow the young prince be fetch'd -Hither to London, to be crown'd our king. - -RIVERS: -Why with some little train, my Lord of Buckingham? - -BUCKINGHAM: -Marry, my lord, lest, by a multitude, -The new-heal'd wound of malice should break out, -Which would be so much the more dangerous -By how much the estate is green and yet ungovern'd: -Where every horse bears his commanding rein, -And may direct his course as please himself, -As well the fear of harm, as harm apparent, -In my opinion, ought to be prevented. - -GLOUCESTER: -I hope the king made peace with all of us -And the compact is firm and true in me. - -RIVERS: -And so in me; and so, I think, in all: -Yet, since it is but green, it should be put -To no apparent likelihood of breach, -Which haply by much company might be urged: -Therefore I say with noble Buckingham, -That it is meet so few should fetch the prince. - -HASTINGS: -And so say I. - -GLOUCESTER: -Then be it so; and go we to determine -Who they shall be that straight shall post to Ludlow. -Madam, and you, my mother, will you go -To give your censures in this weighty business? - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -With all our harts. - -BUCKINGHAM: -My lord, whoever journeys to the Prince, -For God's sake, let not us two be behind; -For, by the way, I'll sort occasion, -As index to the story we late talk'd of, -To part the queen's proud kindred from the king. - -GLOUCESTER: -My other self, my counsel's consistory, -My oracle, my prophet! My dear cousin, -I, like a child, will go by thy direction. -Towards Ludlow then, for we'll not stay behind. - -First Citizen: -Neighbour, well met: whither away so fast? - -Second Citizen: -I promise you, I scarcely know myself: -Hear you the news abroad? - -First Citizen: -Ay, that the king is dead. - -Second Citizen: -Bad news, by'r lady; seldom comes the better: -I fear, I fear 'twill prove a troublous world. - -Third Citizen: -Neighbours, God speed! - -First Citizen: -Give you good morrow, sir. - -Third Citizen: -Doth this news hold of good King Edward's death? - -Second Citizen: -Ay, sir, it is too true; God help the while! - -Third Citizen: -Then, masters, look to see a troublous world. - -First Citizen: -No, no; by God's good grace his son shall reign. - -Third Citizen: -Woe to the land that's govern'd by a child! - -Second Citizen: -In him there is a hope of government, -That in his nonage council under him, -And in his full and ripen'd years himself, -No doubt, shall then and till then govern well. - -First Citizen: -So stood the state when Henry the Sixth -Was crown'd in Paris but at nine months old. - -Third Citizen: -Stood the state so? No, no, good friends, God wot; -For then this land was famously enrich'd -With politic grave counsel; then the king -Had virtuous uncles to protect his grace. - -First Citizen: -Why, so hath this, both by the father and mother. - -Third Citizen: -Better it were they all came by the father, -Or by the father there were none at all; -For emulation now, who shall be nearest, -Will touch us all too near, if God prevent not. -O, full of danger is the Duke of Gloucester! -And the queen's sons and brothers haught and proud: -And were they to be ruled, and not to rule, -This sickly land might solace as before. - -First Citizen: -Come, come, we fear the worst; all shall be well. - -Third Citizen: -When clouds appear, wise men put on their cloaks; -When great leaves fall, the winter is at hand; -When the sun sets, who doth not look for night? -Untimely storms make men expect a dearth. -All may be well; but, if God sort it so, -'Tis more than we deserve, or I expect. - -Second Citizen: -Truly, the souls of men are full of dread: -Ye cannot reason almost with a man -That looks not heavily and full of fear. - -Third Citizen: -Before the times of change, still is it so: -By a divine instinct men's minds mistrust -Ensuing dangers; as by proof, we see -The waters swell before a boisterous storm. -But leave it all to God. whither away? - -Second Citizen: -Marry, we were sent for to the justices. - -Third Citizen: -And so was I: I'll bear you company. - -ARCHBISHOP OF YORK: -Last night, I hear, they lay at Northampton; -At Stony-Stratford will they be to-night: -To-morrow, or next day, they will be here. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -I long with all my heart to see the prince: -I hope he is much grown since last I saw him. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -But I hear, no; they say my son of York -Hath almost overta'en him in his growth. - -YORK: -Ay, mother; but I would not have it so. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Why, my young cousin, it is good to grow. - -YORK: -Grandam, one night, as we did sit at supper, -My uncle Rivers talk'd how I did grow -More than my brother: 'Ay,' quoth my uncle -Gloucester, -'Small herbs have grace, great weeds do grow apace:' -And since, methinks, I would not grow so fast, -Because sweet flowers are slow and weeds make haste. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Good faith, good faith, the saying did not hold -In him that did object the same to thee; -He was the wretched'st thing when he was young, -So long a-growing and so leisurely, -That, if this rule were true, he should be gracious. - -ARCHBISHOP OF YORK: -Why, madam, so, no doubt, he is. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -I hope he is; but yet let mothers doubt. - -YORK: -Now, by my troth, if I had been remember'd, -I could have given my uncle's grace a flout, -To touch his growth nearer than he touch'd mine. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -How, my pretty York? I pray thee, let me hear it. - -YORK: -Marry, they say my uncle grew so fast -That he could gnaw a crust at two hours old -'Twas full two years ere I could get a tooth. -Grandam, this would have been a biting jest. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -I pray thee, pretty York, who told thee this? - -YORK: -Grandam, his nurse. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -His nurse! why, she was dead ere thou wert born. - -YORK: -If 'twere not she, I cannot tell who told me. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -A parlous boy: go to, you are too shrewd. - -ARCHBISHOP OF YORK: -Good madam, be not angry with the child. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Pitchers have ears. - -ARCHBISHOP OF YORK: -Here comes a messenger. What news? - -Messenger: -Such news, my lord, as grieves me to unfold. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -How fares the prince? - -Messenger: -Well, madam, and in health. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -What is thy news then? - -Messenger: -Lord Rivers and Lord Grey are sent to Pomfret, -With them Sir Thomas Vaughan, prisoners. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Who hath committed them? - -Messenger: -The mighty dukes -Gloucester and Buckingham. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -For what offence? - -Messenger: -The sum of all I can, I have disclosed; -Why or for what these nobles were committed -Is all unknown to me, my gracious lady. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Ay me, I see the downfall of our house! -The tiger now hath seized the gentle hind; -Insulting tyranny begins to jet -Upon the innocent and aweless throne: -Welcome, destruction, death, and massacre! -I see, as in a map, the end of all. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Accursed and unquiet wrangling days, -How many of you have mine eyes beheld! -My husband lost his life to get the crown; -And often up and down my sons were toss'd, -For me to joy and weep their gain and loss: -And being seated, and domestic broils -Clean over-blown, themselves, the conquerors. -Make war upon themselves; blood against blood, -Self against self: O, preposterous -And frantic outrage, end thy damned spleen; -Or let me die, to look on death no more! - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Come, come, my boy; we will to sanctuary. -Madam, farewell. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -I'll go along with you. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -You have no cause. - -ARCHBISHOP OF YORK: -My gracious lady, go; -And thither bear your treasure and your goods. -For my part, I'll resign unto your grace -The seal I keep: and so betide to me -As well I tender you and all of yours! -Come, I'll conduct you to the sanctuary. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Welcome, sweet prince, to London, to your chamber. - -GLOUCESTER: -Welcome, dear cousin, my thoughts' sovereign -The weary way hath made you melancholy. - -PRINCE EDWARD: -No, uncle; but our crosses on the way -Have made it tedious, wearisome, and heavy -I want more uncles here to welcome me. - -GLOUCESTER: -Sweet prince, the untainted virtue of your years -Hath not yet dived into the world's deceit -Nor more can you distinguish of a man -Than of his outward show; which, God he knows, -Seldom or never jumpeth with the heart. -Those uncles which you want were dangerous; -Your grace attended to their sugar'd words, -But look'd not on the poison of their hearts : -God keep you from them, and from such false friends! - -PRINCE EDWARD: -God keep me from false friends! but they were none. - -GLOUCESTER: -My lord, the mayor of London comes to greet you. - -Lord Mayor: -God bless your grace with health and happy days! - -PRINCE EDWARD: -I thank you, good my lord; and thank you all. -I thought my mother, and my brother York, -Would long ere this have met us on the way -Fie, what a slug is Hastings, that he comes not -To tell us whether they will come or no! - -BUCKINGHAM: -And, in good time, here comes the sweating lord. - -PRINCE EDWARD: -Welcome, my lord: what, will our mother come? - -HASTINGS: -On what occasion, God he knows, not I, -The queen your mother, and your brother York, -Have taken sanctuary: the tender prince -Would fain have come with me to meet your grace, -But by his mother was perforce withheld. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Fie, what an indirect and peevish course -Is this of hers! Lord cardinal, will your grace -Persuade the queen to send the Duke of York -Unto his princely brother presently? -If she deny, Lord Hastings, go with him, -And from her jealous arms pluck him perforce. - -CARDINAL: -My Lord of Buckingham, if my weak oratory -Can from his mother win the Duke of York, -Anon expect him here; but if she be obdurate -To mild entreaties, God in heaven forbid -We should infringe the holy privilege -Of blessed sanctuary! not for all this land -Would I be guilty of so deep a sin. - -BUCKINGHAM: -You are too senseless--obstinate, my lord, -Too ceremonious and traditional -Weigh it but with the grossness of this age, -You break not sanctuary in seizing him. -The benefit thereof is always granted -To those whose dealings have deserved the place, -And those who have the wit to claim the place: -This prince hath neither claim'd it nor deserved it; -And therefore, in mine opinion, cannot have it: -Then, taking him from thence that is not there, -You break no privilege nor charter there. -Oft have I heard of sanctuary men; -But sanctuary children ne'er till now. - -CARDINAL: -My lord, you shall o'er-rule my mind for once. -Come on, Lord Hastings, will you go with me? - -HASTINGS: -I go, my lord. - -PRINCE EDWARD: -Good lords, make all the speedy haste you may. -Say, uncle Gloucester, if our brother come, -Where shall we sojourn till our coronation? - -GLOUCESTER: -Where it seems best unto your royal self. -If I may counsel you, some day or two -Your highness shall repose you at the Tower: -Then where you please, and shall be thought most fit -For your best health and recreation. - -PRINCE EDWARD: -I do not like the Tower, of any place. -Did Julius Caesar build that place, my lord? - -BUCKINGHAM: -He did, my gracious lord, begin that place; -Which, since, succeeding ages have re-edified. - -PRINCE EDWARD: -Is it upon record, or else reported -Successively from age to age, he built it? - -BUCKINGHAM: -Upon record, my gracious lord. - -PRINCE EDWARD: -But say, my lord, it were not register'd, -Methinks the truth should live from age to age, -As 'twere retail'd to all posterity, -Even to the general all-ending day. - -GLOUCESTER: - -PRINCE EDWARD: -What say you, uncle? - -GLOUCESTER: -I say, without characters, fame lives long. -Thus, like the formal vice, Iniquity, -I moralize two meanings in one word. - -PRINCE EDWARD: -That Julius Caesar was a famous man; -With what his valour did enrich his wit, -His wit set down to make his valour live -Death makes no conquest of this conqueror; -For now he lives in fame, though not in life. -I'll tell you what, my cousin Buckingham,-- - -BUCKINGHAM: -What, my gracious lord? - -PRINCE EDWARD: -An if I live until I be a man, -I'll win our ancient right in France again, -Or die a soldier, as I lived a king. - -GLOUCESTER: - -BUCKINGHAM: -Now, in good time, here comes the Duke of York. - -PRINCE EDWARD: -Richard of York! how fares our loving brother? - -YORK: -Well, my dread lord; so must I call you now. - -PRINCE EDWARD: -Ay, brother, to our grief, as it is yours: -Too late he died that might have kept that title, -Which by his death hath lost much majesty. - -GLOUCESTER: -How fares our cousin, noble Lord of York? - -YORK: -I thank you, gentle uncle. O, my lord, -You said that idle weeds are fast in growth -The prince my brother hath outgrown me far. - -GLOUCESTER: -He hath, my lord. - -YORK: -And therefore is he idle? - -GLOUCESTER: -O, my fair cousin, I must not say so. - -YORK: -Then is he more beholding to you than I. - -GLOUCESTER: -He may command me as my sovereign; -But you have power in me as in a kinsman. - -YORK: -I pray you, uncle, give me this dagger. - -GLOUCESTER: -My dagger, little cousin? with all my heart. - -PRINCE EDWARD: -A beggar, brother? - -YORK: -Of my kind uncle, that I know will give; -And being but a toy, which is no grief to give. - -GLOUCESTER: -A greater gift than that I'll give my cousin. - -YORK: -A greater gift! O, that's the sword to it. - -GLOUCESTER: -A gentle cousin, were it light enough. - -YORK: -O, then, I see, you will part but with light gifts; -In weightier things you'll say a beggar nay. - -GLOUCESTER: -It is too heavy for your grace to wear. - -YORK: -I weigh it lightly, were it heavier. - -GLOUCESTER: -What, would you have my weapon, little lord? - -YORK: -I would, that I might thank you as you call me. - -GLOUCESTER: -How? - -YORK: -Little. - -PRINCE EDWARD: -My Lord of York will still be cross in talk: -Uncle, your grace knows how to bear with him. - -YORK: -You mean, to bear me, not to bear with me: -Uncle, my brother mocks both you and me; -Because that I am little, like an ape, -He thinks that you should bear me on your shoulders. - -BUCKINGHAM: -With what a sharp-provided wit he reasons! -To mitigate the scorn he gives his uncle, -He prettily and aptly taunts himself: -So cunning and so young is wonderful. - -GLOUCESTER: -My lord, will't please you pass along? -Myself and my good cousin Buckingham -Will to your mother, to entreat of her -To meet you at the Tower and welcome you. - -YORK: -What, will you go unto the Tower, my lord? - -PRINCE EDWARD: -My lord protector needs will have it so. - -YORK: -I shall not sleep in quiet at the Tower. - -GLOUCESTER: -Why, what should you fear? - -YORK: -Marry, my uncle Clarence' angry ghost: -My grandam told me he was murdered there. - -PRINCE EDWARD: -I fear no uncles dead. - -GLOUCESTER: -Nor none that live, I hope. - -PRINCE EDWARD: -An if they live, I hope I need not fear. -But come, my lord; and with a heavy heart, -Thinking on them, go I unto the Tower. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Think you, my lord, this little prating York -Was not incensed by his subtle mother -To taunt and scorn you thus opprobriously? - -GLOUCESTER: -No doubt, no doubt; O, 'tis a parlous boy; -Bold, quick, ingenious, forward, capable -He is all the mother's, from the top to toe. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Well, let them rest. Come hither, Catesby. -Thou art sworn as deeply to effect what we intend -As closely to conceal what we impart: -Thou know'st our reasons urged upon the way; -What think'st thou? is it not an easy matter -To make William Lord Hastings of our mind, -For the instalment of this noble duke -In the seat royal of this famous isle? - -CATESBY: -He for his father's sake so loves the prince, -That he will not be won to aught against him. - -BUCKINGHAM: -What think'st thou, then, of Stanley? what will he? - -CATESBY: -He will do all in all as Hastings doth. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Well, then, no more but this: go, gentle Catesby, -And, as it were far off sound thou Lord Hastings, -How doth he stand affected to our purpose; -And summon him to-morrow to the Tower, -To sit about the coronation. -If thou dost find him tractable to us, -Encourage him, and show him all our reasons: -If he be leaden, icy-cold, unwilling, -Be thou so too; and so break off your talk, -And give us notice of his inclination: -For we to-morrow hold divided councils, -Wherein thyself shalt highly be employ'd. - -GLOUCESTER: -Commend me to Lord William: tell him, Catesby, -His ancient knot of dangerous adversaries -To-morrow are let blood at Pomfret-castle; -And bid my friend, for joy of this good news, -Give mistress Shore one gentle kiss the more. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Good Catesby, go, effect this business soundly. - -CATESBY: -My good lords both, with all the heed I may. - -GLOUCESTER: -Shall we hear from you, Catesby, ere we sleep? - -CATESBY: -You shall, my lord. - -GLOUCESTER: -At Crosby Place, there shall you find us both. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Now, my lord, what shall we do, if we perceive -Lord Hastings will not yield to our complots? - -GLOUCESTER: -Chop off his head, man; somewhat we will do: -And, look, when I am king, claim thou of me -The earldom of Hereford, and the moveables -Whereof the king my brother stood possess'd. - -BUCKINGHAM: -I'll claim that promise at your grace's hands. - -GLOUCESTER: -And look to have it yielded with all willingness. -Come, let us sup betimes, that afterwards -We may digest our complots in some form. - -Messenger: -What, ho! my lord! - -HASTINGS: - -Messenger: -A messenger from the Lord Stanley. - -HASTINGS: -What is't o'clock? - -Messenger: -Upon the stroke of four. - -HASTINGS: -Cannot thy master sleep these tedious nights? - -Messenger: -So it should seem by that I have to say. -First, he commends him to your noble lordship. - -HASTINGS: -And then? - -Messenger: -And then he sends you word -He dreamt to-night the boar had razed his helm: -Besides, he says there are two councils held; -And that may be determined at the one -which may make you and him to rue at the other. -Therefore he sends to know your lordship's pleasure, -If presently you will take horse with him, -And with all speed post with him toward the north, -To shun the danger that his soul divines. - -HASTINGS: -Go, fellow, go, return unto thy lord; -Bid him not fear the separated councils -His honour and myself are at the one, -And at the other is my servant Catesby -Where nothing can proceed that toucheth us -Whereof I shall not have intelligence. -Tell him his fears are shallow, wanting instance: -And for his dreams, I wonder he is so fond -To trust the mockery of unquiet slumbers -To fly the boar before the boar pursues, -Were to incense the boar to follow us -And make pursuit where he did mean no chase. -Go, bid thy master rise and come to me -And we will both together to the Tower, -Where, he shall see, the boar will use us kindly. - -Messenger: -My gracious lord, I'll tell him what you say. - -CATESBY: -Many good morrows to my noble lord! - -HASTINGS: -Good morrow, Catesby; you are early stirring -What news, what news, in this our tottering state? - -CATESBY: -It is a reeling world, indeed, my lord; -And I believe twill never stand upright -Tim Richard wear the garland of the realm. - -HASTINGS: -How! wear the garland! dost thou mean the crown? - -CATESBY: -Ay, my good lord. - -HASTINGS: -I'll have this crown of mine cut from my shoulders -Ere I will see the crown so foul misplaced. -But canst thou guess that he doth aim at it? - -CATESBY: -Ay, on my life; and hopes to find forward -Upon his party for the gain thereof: -And thereupon he sends you this good news, -That this same very day your enemies, -The kindred of the queen, must die at Pomfret. - -HASTINGS: -Indeed, I am no mourner for that news, -Because they have been still mine enemies: -But, that I'll give my voice on Richard's side, -To bar my master's heirs in true descent, -God knows I will not do it, to the death. - -CATESBY: -God keep your lordship in that gracious mind! - -HASTINGS: -But I shall laugh at this a twelve-month hence, -That they who brought me in my master's hate -I live to look upon their tragedy. -I tell thee, Catesby-- - -CATESBY: -What, my lord? - -HASTINGS: -Ere a fortnight make me elder, -I'll send some packing that yet think not on it. - -CATESBY: -'Tis a vile thing to die, my gracious lord, -When men are unprepared and look not for it. - -HASTINGS: -O monstrous, monstrous! and so falls it out -With Rivers, Vaughan, Grey: and so 'twill do -With some men else, who think themselves as safe -As thou and I; who, as thou know'st, are dear -To princely Richard and to Buckingham. - -CATESBY: -The princes both make high account of you; -For they account his head upon the bridge. - -HASTINGS: -I know they do; and I have well deserved it. -Come on, come on; where is your boar-spear, man? -Fear you the boar, and go so unprovided? - -STANLEY: -My lord, good morrow; good morrow, Catesby: -You may jest on, but, by the holy rood, -I do not like these several councils, I. - -HASTINGS: -My lord, -I hold my life as dear as you do yours; -And never in my life, I do protest, -Was it more precious to me than 'tis now: -Think you, but that I know our state secure, -I would be so triumphant as I am? - -STANLEY: -The lords at Pomfret, when they rode from London, -Were jocund, and supposed their state was sure, -And they indeed had no cause to mistrust; -But yet, you see how soon the day o'ercast. -This sudden stag of rancour I misdoubt: -Pray God, I say, I prove a needless coward! -What, shall we toward the Tower? the day is spent. - -HASTINGS: -Come, come, have with you. Wot you what, my lord? -To-day the lords you talk of are beheaded. - -LORD STANLEY: -They, for their truth, might better wear their heads -Than some that have accused them wear their hats. -But come, my lord, let us away. - -HASTINGS: -Go on before; I'll talk with this good fellow. -How now, sirrah! how goes the world with thee? - -Pursuivant: -The better that your lordship please to ask. - -HASTINGS: -I tell thee, man, 'tis better with me now -Than when I met thee last where now we meet: -Then was I going prisoner to the Tower, -By the suggestion of the queen's allies; -But now, I tell thee--keep it to thyself-- -This day those enemies are put to death, -And I in better state than e'er I was. - -Pursuivant: -God hold it, to your honour's good content! - -HASTINGS: -Gramercy, fellow: there, drink that for me. - -Pursuivant: -God save your lordship! - -Priest: -Well met, my lord; I am glad to see your honour. - -HASTINGS: -I thank thee, good Sir John, with all my heart. -I am in your debt for your last exercise; -Come the next Sabbath, and I will content you. - -BUCKINGHAM: -What, talking with a priest, lord chamberlain? -Your friends at Pomfret, they do need the priest; -Your honour hath no shriving work in hand. - -HASTINGS: -Good faith, and when I met this holy man, -Those men you talk of came into my mind. -What, go you toward the Tower? - -BUCKINGHAM: -I do, my lord; but long I shall not stay -I shall return before your lordship thence. - -HASTINGS: -'Tis like enough, for I stay dinner there. - -BUCKINGHAM: - -HASTINGS: -I'll wait upon your lordship. - -RATCLIFF: -Come, bring forth the prisoners. - -RIVERS: -Sir Richard Ratcliff, let me tell thee this: -To-day shalt thou behold a subject die -For truth, for duty, and for loyalty. - -GREY: -God keep the prince from all the pack of you! -A knot you are of damned blood-suckers! - -VAUGHAN: -You live that shall cry woe for this after. - -RATCLIFF: -Dispatch; the limit of your lives is out. - -RIVERS: -O Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison, -Fatal and ominous to noble peers! -Within the guilty closure of thy walls -Richard the second here was hack'd to death; -And, for more slander to thy dismal seat, -We give thee up our guiltless blood to drink. - -GREY: -Now Margaret's curse is fall'n upon our heads, -For standing by when Richard stabb'd her son. - -RIVERS: -Then cursed she Hastings, then cursed she Buckingham, -Then cursed she Richard. O, remember, God -To hear her prayers for them, as now for us -And for my sister and her princely sons, -Be satisfied, dear God, with our true blood, -Which, as thou know'st, unjustly must be spilt. - -RATCLIFF: -Make haste; the hour of death is expiate. - -RIVERS: -Come, Grey, come, Vaughan, let us all embrace: -And take our leave, until we meet in heaven. - -HASTINGS: -My lords, at once: the cause why we are met -Is, to determine of the coronation. -In God's name, speak: when is the royal day? - -BUCKINGHAM: -Are all things fitting for that royal time? - -DERBY: -It is, and wants but nomination. - -BISHOP OF ELY: -To-morrow, then, I judge a happy day. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Who knows the lord protector's mind herein? -Who is most inward with the royal duke? - -BISHOP OF ELY: -Your grace, we think, should soonest know his mind. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Who, I, my lord I we know each other's faces, -But for our hearts, he knows no more of mine, -Than I of yours; -Nor I no more of his, than you of mine. -Lord Hastings, you and he are near in love. - -HASTINGS: -I thank his grace, I know he loves me well; -But, for his purpose in the coronation. -I have not sounded him, nor he deliver'd -His gracious pleasure any way therein: -But you, my noble lords, may name the time; -And in the duke's behalf I'll give my voice, -Which, I presume, he'll take in gentle part. - -BISHOP OF ELY: -Now in good time, here comes the duke himself. - -GLOUCESTER: -My noble lords and cousins all, good morrow. -I have been long a sleeper; but, I hope, -My absence doth neglect no great designs, -Which by my presence might have been concluded. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Had not you come upon your cue, my lord -William Lord Hastings had pronounced your part,-- -I mean, your voice,--for crowning of the king. - -GLOUCESTER: -Than my Lord Hastings no man might be bolder; -His lordship knows me well, and loves me well. - -HASTINGS: -I thank your grace. - -GLOUCESTER: -My lord of Ely! - -BISHOP OF ELY: -My lord? - -GLOUCESTER: -When I was last in Holborn, -I saw good strawberries in your garden there -I do beseech you send for some of them. - -BISHOP OF ELY: -Marry, and will, my lord, with all my heart. - -GLOUCESTER: -Cousin of Buckingham, a word with you. -Catesby hath sounded Hastings in our business, -And finds the testy gentleman so hot, -As he will lose his head ere give consent -His master's son, as worshipful as he terms it, -Shall lose the royalty of England's throne. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Withdraw you hence, my lord, I'll follow you. - -DERBY: -We have not yet set down this day of triumph. -To-morrow, in mine opinion, is too sudden; -For I myself am not so well provided -As else I would be, were the day prolong'd. - -BISHOP OF ELY: -Where is my lord protector? I have sent for these -strawberries. - -HASTINGS: -His grace looks cheerfully and smooth to-day; -There's some conceit or other likes him well, -When he doth bid good morrow with such a spirit. -I think there's never a man in Christendom -That can less hide his love or hate than he; -For by his face straight shall you know his heart. - -DERBY: -What of his heart perceive you in his face -By any likelihood he show'd to-day? - -HASTINGS: -Marry, that with no man here he is offended; -For, were he, he had shown it in his looks. - -DERBY: -I pray God he be not, I say. - -GLOUCESTER: -I pray you all, tell me what they deserve -That do conspire my death with devilish plots -Of damned witchcraft, and that have prevail'd -Upon my body with their hellish charms? - -HASTINGS: -The tender love I bear your grace, my lord, -Makes me most forward in this noble presence -To doom the offenders, whatsoever they be -I say, my lord, they have deserved death. - -GLOUCESTER: -Then be your eyes the witness of this ill: -See how I am bewitch'd; behold mine arm -Is, like a blasted sapling, wither'd up: -And this is Edward's wife, that monstrous witch, -Consorted with that harlot strumpet Shore, -That by their witchcraft thus have marked me. - -HASTINGS: -If they have done this thing, my gracious lord-- - -GLOUCESTER: -If I thou protector of this damned strumpet-- -Tellest thou me of 'ifs'? Thou art a traitor: -Off with his head! Now, by Saint Paul I swear, -I will not dine until I see the same. -Lovel and Ratcliff, look that it be done: -The rest, that love me, rise and follow me. - -HASTINGS: -Woe, woe for England! not a whit for me; -For I, too fond, might have prevented this. -Stanley did dream the boar did raze his helm; -But I disdain'd it, and did scorn to fly: -Three times to-day my foot-cloth horse did stumble, -And startled, when he look'd upon the Tower, -As loath to bear me to the slaughter-house. -O, now I want the priest that spake to me: -I now repent I told the pursuivant -As 'twere triumphing at mine enemies, -How they at Pomfret bloodily were butcher'd, -And I myself secure in grace and favour. -O Margaret, Margaret, now thy heavy curse -Is lighted on poor Hastings' wretched head! - -RATCLIFF: -Dispatch, my lord; the duke would be at dinner: -Make a short shrift; he longs to see your head. - -HASTINGS: -O momentary grace of mortal men, -Which we more hunt for than the grace of God! -Who builds his hopes in air of your good looks, -Lives like a drunken sailor on a mast, -Ready, with every nod, to tumble down -Into the fatal bowels of the deep. - -LOVEL: -Come, come, dispatch; 'tis bootless to exclaim. - -HASTINGS: -O bloody Richard! miserable England! -I prophesy the fearful'st time to thee -That ever wretched age hath look'd upon. -Come, lead me to the block; bear him my head. -They smile at me that shortly shall be dead. - -GLOUCESTER: -Come, cousin, canst thou quake, and change thy colour, -Murder thy breath in the middle of a word, -And then begin again, and stop again, -As if thou wert distraught and mad with terror? - -BUCKINGHAM: -Tut, I can counterfeit the deep tragedian; -Speak and look back, and pry on every side, -Tremble and start at wagging of a straw, -Intending deep suspicion: ghastly looks -Are at my service, like enforced smiles; -And both are ready in their offices, -At any time, to grace my stratagems. -But what, is Catesby gone? - -GLOUCESTER: -He is; and, see, he brings the mayor along. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Lord mayor,-- - -GLOUCESTER: -Look to the drawbridge there! - -BUCKINGHAM: -Hark! a drum. - -GLOUCESTER: -Catesby, o'erlook the walls. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Lord mayor, the reason we have sent-- - -GLOUCESTER: -Look back, defend thee, here are enemies. - -BUCKINGHAM: -God and our innocency defend and guard us! - -GLOUCESTER: -Be patient, they are friends, Ratcliff and Lovel. - -LOVEL: -Here is the head of that ignoble traitor, -The dangerous and unsuspected Hastings. - -GLOUCESTER: -So dear I loved the man, that I must weep. -I took him for the plainest harmless creature -That breathed upon this earth a Christian; -Made him my book wherein my soul recorded -The history of all her secret thoughts: -So smooth he daub'd his vice with show of virtue, -That, his apparent open guilt omitted, -I mean, his conversation with Shore's wife, -He lived from all attainder of suspect. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Well, well, he was the covert'st shelter'd traitor -That ever lived. -Would you imagine, or almost believe, -Were't not that, by great preservation, -We live to tell it you, the subtle traitor -This day had plotted, in the council-house -To murder me and my good Lord of Gloucester? - -Lord Mayor: -What, had he so? - -GLOUCESTER: -What, think You we are Turks or infidels? -Or that we would, against the form of law, -Proceed thus rashly to the villain's death, -But that the extreme peril of the case, -The peace of England and our persons' safety, -Enforced us to this execution? - -Lord Mayor: -Now, fair befall you! he deserved his death; -And you my good lords, both have well proceeded, -To warn false traitors from the like attempts. -I never look'd for better at his hands, -After he once fell in with Mistress Shore. - -GLOUCESTER: -Yet had not we determined he should die, -Until your lordship came to see his death; -Which now the loving haste of these our friends, -Somewhat against our meaning, have prevented: -Because, my lord, we would have had you heard -The traitor speak, and timorously confess -The manner and the purpose of his treason; -That you might well have signified the same -Unto the citizens, who haply may -Misconstrue us in him and wail his death. - -Lord Mayor: -But, my good lord, your grace's word shall serve, -As well as I had seen and heard him speak -And doubt you not, right noble princes both, -But I'll acquaint our duteous citizens -With all your just proceedings in this cause. - -GLOUCESTER: -And to that end we wish'd your lord-ship here, -To avoid the carping censures of the world. - -BUCKINGHAM: -But since you come too late of our intents, -Yet witness what you hear we did intend: -And so, my good lord mayor, we bid farewell. - -GLOUCESTER: -Go, after, after, cousin Buckingham. -The mayor towards Guildhall hies him in all post: -There, at your meet'st advantage of the time, -Infer the bastardy of Edward's children: -Tell them how Edward put to death a citizen, -Only for saying he would make his son -Heir to the crown; meaning indeed his house, -Which, by the sign thereof was termed so. -Moreover, urge his hateful luxury -And bestial appetite in change of lust; -Which stretched to their servants, daughters, wives, -Even where his lustful eye or savage heart, -Without control, listed to make his prey. -Nay, for a need, thus far come near my person: -Tell them, when that my mother went with child -Of that unsatiate Edward, noble York -My princely father then had wars in France -And, by just computation of the time, -Found that the issue was not his begot; -Which well appeared in his lineaments, -Being nothing like the noble duke my father: -But touch this sparingly, as 'twere far off, -Because you know, my lord, my mother lives. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Fear not, my lord, I'll play the orator -As if the golden fee for which I plead -Were for myself: and so, my lord, adieu. - -GLOUCESTER: -If you thrive well, bring them to Baynard's Castle; -Where you shall find me well accompanied -With reverend fathers and well-learned bishops. - -BUCKINGHAM: -I go: and towards three or four o'clock -Look for the news that the Guildhall affords. - -GLOUCESTER: -Go, Lovel, with all speed to Doctor Shaw; -Go thou to Friar Penker; bid them both -Meet me within this hour at Baynard's Castle. -Now will I in, to take some privy order, -To draw the brats of Clarence out of sight; -And to give notice, that no manner of person -At any time have recourse unto the princes. - -Scrivener: -This is the indictment of the good Lord Hastings; -Which in a set hand fairly is engross'd, -That it may be this day read over in Paul's. -And mark how well the sequel hangs together: -Eleven hours I spent to write it over, -For yesternight by Catesby was it brought me; -The precedent was full as long a-doing: -And yet within these five hours lived Lord Hastings, -Untainted, unexamined, free, at liberty -Here's a good world the while! Why who's so gross, -That seeth not this palpable device? -Yet who's so blind, but says he sees it not? -Bad is the world; and all will come to nought, -When such bad dealings must be seen in thought. - -GLOUCESTER: -How now, my lord, what say the citizens? - -BUCKINGHAM: -Now, by the holy mother of our Lord, -The citizens are mum and speak not a word. - -GLOUCESTER: -Touch'd you the bastardy of Edward's children? - -BUCKINGHAM: -I did; with his contract with Lady Lucy, -And his contract by deputy in France; -The insatiate greediness of his desires, -And his enforcement of the city wives; -His tyranny for trifles; his own bastardy, -As being got, your father then in France, -His resemblance, being not like the duke; -Withal I did infer your lineaments, -Being the right idea of your father, -Both in your form and nobleness of mind; -Laid open all your victories in Scotland, -Your dicipline in war, wisdom in peace, -Your bounty, virtue, fair humility: -Indeed, left nothing fitting for the purpose -Untouch'd, or slightly handled, in discourse -And when mine oratory grew to an end -I bid them that did love their country's good -Cry 'God save Richard, England's royal king!' - -GLOUCESTER: -Ah! and did they so? - -BUCKINGHAM: -No, so God help me, they spake not a word; -But, like dumb statues or breathing stones, -Gazed each on other, and look'd deadly pale. -Which when I saw, I reprehended them; -And ask'd the mayor what meant this wilful silence: -His answer was, the people were not wont -To be spoke to but by the recorder. -Then he was urged to tell my tale again, -'Thus saith the duke, thus hath the duke inferr'd;' -But nothing spake in warrant from himself. -When he had done, some followers of mine own, -At the lower end of the hall, hurl'd up their caps, -And some ten voices cried 'God save King Richard!' -And thus I took the vantage of those few, -'Thanks, gentle citizens and friends,' quoth I; -'This general applause and loving shout -Argues your wisdoms and your love to Richard:' -And even here brake off, and came away. - -GLOUCESTER: -What tongueless blocks were they! would not they speak? - -BUCKINGHAM: -No, by my troth, my lord. - -GLOUCESTER: -Will not the mayor then and his brethren come? - -BUCKINGHAM: -The mayor is here at hand: intend some fear; -Be not you spoke with, but by mighty suit: -And look you get a prayer-book in your hand, -And stand betwixt two churchmen, good my lord; -For on that ground I'll build a holy descant: -And be not easily won to our request: -Play the maid's part, still answer nay, and take it. - -GLOUCESTER: -I go; and if you plead as well for them -As I can say nay to thee for myself, -No doubt well bring it to a happy issue. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Go, go, up to the leads; the lord mayor knocks. -Welcome my lord; I dance attendance here; -I think the duke will not be spoke withal. -Here comes his servant: how now, Catesby, -What says he? - -CATESBY: -My lord: he doth entreat your grace; -To visit him to-morrow or next day: -He is within, with two right reverend fathers, -Divinely bent to meditation; -And no worldly suit would he be moved, -To draw him from his holy exercise. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Return, good Catesby, to thy lord again; -Tell him, myself, the mayor and citizens, -In deep designs and matters of great moment, -No less importing than our general good, -Are come to have some conference with his grace. - -CATESBY: -I'll tell him what you say, my lord. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Ah, ha, my lord, this prince is not an Edward! -He is not lolling on a lewd day-bed, -But on his knees at meditation; -Not dallying with a brace of courtezans, -But meditating with two deep divines; -Not sleeping, to engross his idle body, -But praying, to enrich his watchful soul: -Happy were England, would this gracious prince -Take on himself the sovereignty thereof: -But, sure, I fear, we shall ne'er win him to it. - -Lord Mayor: -Marry, God forbid his grace should say us nay! - -BUCKINGHAM: -I fear he will. -How now, Catesby, what says your lord? - -CATESBY: -My lord, -He wonders to what end you have assembled -Such troops of citizens to speak with him, -His grace not being warn'd thereof before: -My lord, he fears you mean no good to him. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Sorry I am my noble cousin should -Suspect me, that I mean no good to him: -By heaven, I come in perfect love to him; -And so once more return and tell his grace. -When holy and devout religious men -Are at their beads, 'tis hard to draw them thence, -So sweet is zealous contemplation. - -Lord Mayor: -See, where he stands between two clergymen! - -BUCKINGHAM: -Two props of virtue for a Christian prince, -To stay him from the fall of vanity: -And, see, a book of prayer in his hand, -True ornaments to know a holy man. -Famous Plantagenet, most gracious prince, -Lend favourable ears to our request; -And pardon us the interruption -Of thy devotion and right Christian zeal. - -GLOUCESTER: -My lord, there needs no such apology: -I rather do beseech you pardon me, -Who, earnest in the service of my God, -Neglect the visitation of my friends. -But, leaving this, what is your grace's pleasure? - -BUCKINGHAM: -Even that, I hope, which pleaseth God above, -And all good men of this ungovern'd isle. - -GLOUCESTER: -I do suspect I have done some offence -That seems disgracious in the city's eyes, -And that you come to reprehend my ignorance. - -BUCKINGHAM: -You have, my lord: would it might please your grace, -At our entreaties, to amend that fault! - -GLOUCESTER: -Else wherefore breathe I in a Christian land? - -BUCKINGHAM: -Then know, it is your fault that you resign -The supreme seat, the throne majestical, -The scepter'd office of your ancestors, -Your state of fortune and your due of birth, -The lineal glory of your royal house, -To the corruption of a blemished stock: -Whilst, in the mildness of your sleepy thoughts, -Which here we waken to our country's good, -This noble isle doth want her proper limbs; -Her face defaced with scars of infamy, -Her royal stock graft with ignoble plants, -And almost shoulder'd in the swallowing gulf -Of blind forgetfulness and dark oblivion. -Which to recure, we heartily solicit -Your gracious self to take on you the charge -And kingly government of this your land, -Not as protector, steward, substitute, -Or lowly factor for another's gain; -But as successively from blood to blood, -Your right of birth, your empery, your own. -For this, consorted with the citizens, -Your very worshipful and loving friends, -And by their vehement instigation, -In this just suit come I to move your grace. - -GLOUCESTER: -I know not whether to depart in silence, -Or bitterly to speak in your reproof. -Best fitteth my degree or your condition -If not to answer, you might haply think -Tongue-tied ambition, not replying, yielded -To bear the golden yoke of sovereignty, -Which fondly you would here impose on me; -If to reprove you for this suit of yours, -So season'd with your faithful love to me. -Then, on the other side, I cheque'd my friends. -Therefore, to speak, and to avoid the first, -And then, in speaking, not to incur the last, -Definitively thus I answer you. -Your love deserves my thanks; but my desert -Unmeritable shuns your high request. -First if all obstacles were cut away, -And that my path were even to the crown, -As my ripe revenue and due by birth -Yet so much is my poverty of spirit, -So mighty and so many my defects, -As I had rather hide me from my greatness, -Being a bark to brook no mighty sea, -Than in my greatness covet to be hid, -And in the vapour of my glory smother'd. -But, God be thank'd, there's no need of me, -And much I need to help you, if need were; -The royal tree hath left us royal fruit, -Which, mellow'd by the stealing hours of time, -Will well become the seat of majesty, -And make, no doubt, us happy by his reign. -On him I lay what you would lay on me, -The right and fortune of his happy stars; -Which God defend that I should wring from him! - -BUCKINGHAM: -My lord, this argues conscience in your grace; -But the respects thereof are nice and trivial, -All circumstances well considered. -You say that Edward is your brother's son: -So say we too, but not by Edward's wife; -For first he was contract to Lady Lucy-- -Your mother lives a witness to that vow-- -And afterward by substitute betroth'd -To Bona, sister to the King of France. -These both put by a poor petitioner, -A care-crazed mother of a many children, -A beauty-waning and distressed widow, -Even in the afternoon of her best days, -Made prize and purchase of his lustful eye, -Seduced the pitch and height of all his thoughts -To base declension and loathed bigamy -By her, in his unlawful bed, he got -This Edward, whom our manners term the prince. -More bitterly could I expostulate, -Save that, for reverence to some alive, -I give a sparing limit to my tongue. -Then, good my lord, take to your royal self -This proffer'd benefit of dignity; -If non to bless us and the land withal, -Yet to draw forth your noble ancestry -From the corruption of abusing times, -Unto a lineal true-derived course. - -Lord Mayor: -Do, good my lord, your citizens entreat you. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Refuse not, mighty lord, this proffer'd love. - -CATESBY: -O, make them joyful, grant their lawful suit! - -GLOUCESTER: -Alas, why would you heap these cares on me? -I am unfit for state and majesty; -I do beseech you, take it not amiss; -I cannot nor I will not yield to you. - -BUCKINGHAM: -If you refuse it,--as, in love and zeal, -Loath to depose the child, Your brother's son; -As well we know your tenderness of heart -And gentle, kind, effeminate remorse, -Which we have noted in you to your kin, -And egally indeed to all estates,-- -Yet whether you accept our suit or no, -Your brother's son shall never reign our king; -But we will plant some other in the throne, -To the disgrace and downfall of your house: -And in this resolution here we leave you.-- -Come, citizens: 'zounds! I'll entreat no more. - -GLOUCESTER: -O, do not swear, my lord of Buckingham. - -CATESBY: -Call them again, my lord, and accept their suit. - -ANOTHER: -Do, good my lord, lest all the land do rue it. - -GLOUCESTER: -Would you enforce me to a world of care? -Well, call them again. I am not made of stone, -But penetrable to your. kind entreats, -Albeit against my conscience and my soul. -Cousin of Buckingham, and you sage, grave men, -Since you will buckle fortune on my back, -To bear her burthen, whether I will or no, -I must have patience to endure the load: -But if black scandal or foul-faced reproach -Attend the sequel of your imposition, -Your mere enforcement shall acquittance me -From all the impure blots and stains thereof; -For God he knows, and you may partly see, -How far I am from the desire thereof. - -Lord Mayor: -God bless your grace! we see it, and will say it. - -GLOUCESTER: -In saying so, you shall but say the truth. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Then I salute you with this kingly title: -Long live Richard, England's royal king! - -Lord Mayor: -Amen. - -BUCKINGHAM: -To-morrow will it please you to be crown'd? - -GLOUCESTER: -Even when you please, since you will have it so. - -BUCKINGHAM: -To-morrow, then, we will attend your grace: -And so most joyfully we take our leave. - -GLOUCESTER: -Come, let us to our holy task again. -Farewell, good cousin; farewell, gentle friends. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Who meets us here? my niece Plantagenet -Led in the hand of her kind aunt of Gloucester? -Now, for my life, she's wandering to the Tower, -On pure heart's love to greet the tender princes. -Daughter, well met. - -LADY ANNE: -God give your graces both -A happy and a joyful time of day! - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -As much to you, good sister! Whither away? - -LADY ANNE: -No farther than the Tower; and, as I guess, -Upon the like devotion as yourselves, -To gratulate the gentle princes there. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Kind sister, thanks: we'll enter all together. -And, in good time, here the lieutenant comes. -Master lieutenant, pray you, by your leave, -How doth the prince, and my young son of York? - -BRAKENBURY: -Right well, dear madam. By your patience, -I may not suffer you to visit them; -The king hath straitly charged the contrary. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -The king! why, who's that? - -BRAKENBURY: -I cry you mercy: I mean the lord protector. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -The Lord protect him from that kingly title! -Hath he set bounds betwixt their love and me? -I am their mother; who should keep me from them? - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -I am their fathers mother; I will see them. - -LADY ANNE: -Their aunt I am in law, in love their mother: -Then bring me to their sights; I'll bear thy blame -And take thy office from thee, on my peril. - -BRAKENBURY: -No, madam, no; I may not leave it so: -I am bound by oath, and therefore pardon me. - -LORD STANLEY: -Let me but meet you, ladies, one hour hence, -And I'll salute your grace of York as mother, -And reverend looker on, of two fair queens. -Come, madam, you must straight to Westminster, -There to be crowned Richard's royal queen. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -O, cut my lace in sunder, that my pent heart -May have some scope to beat, or else I swoon -With this dead-killing news! - -LADY ANNE: -Despiteful tidings! O unpleasing news! - -DORSET: -Be of good cheer: mother, how fares your grace? - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -O Dorset, speak not to me, get thee hence! -Death and destruction dog thee at the heels; -Thy mother's name is ominous to children. -If thou wilt outstrip death, go cross the seas, -And live with Richmond, from the reach of hell -Go, hie thee, hie thee from this slaughter-house, -Lest thou increase the number of the dead; -And make me die the thrall of Margaret's curse, -Nor mother, wife, nor England's counted queen. - -LORD STANLEY: -Full of wise care is this your counsel, madam. -Take all the swift advantage of the hours; -You shall have letters from me to my son -To meet you on the way, and welcome you. -Be not ta'en tardy by unwise delay. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -O ill-dispersing wind of misery! -O my accursed womb, the bed of death! -A cockatrice hast thou hatch'd to the world, -Whose unavoided eye is murderous. - -LORD STANLEY: -Come, madam, come; I in all haste was sent. - -LADY ANNE: -And I in all unwillingness will go. -I would to God that the inclusive verge -Of golden metal that must round my brow -Were red-hot steel, to sear me to the brain! -Anointed let me be with deadly venom, -And die, ere men can say, God save the queen! - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Go, go, poor soul, I envy not thy glory -To feed my humour, wish thyself no harm. - -LADY ANNE: -No! why? When he that is my husband now -Came to me, as I follow'd Henry's corse, -When scarce the blood was well wash'd from his hands -Which issued from my other angel husband -And that dead saint which then I weeping follow'd; -O, when, I say, I look'd on Richard's face, -This was my wish: 'Be thou,' quoth I, ' accursed, -For making me, so young, so old a widow! -And, when thou wed'st, let sorrow haunt thy bed; -And be thy wife--if any be so mad-- -As miserable by the life of thee -As thou hast made me by my dear lord's death! -Lo, ere I can repeat this curse again, -Even in so short a space, my woman's heart -Grossly grew captive to his honey words -And proved the subject of my own soul's curse, -Which ever since hath kept my eyes from rest; -For never yet one hour in his bed -Have I enjoy'd the golden dew of sleep, -But have been waked by his timorous dreams. -Besides, he hates me for my father Warwick; -And will, no doubt, shortly be rid of me. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Poor heart, adieu! I pity thy complaining. - -LADY ANNE: -No more than from my soul I mourn for yours. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Farewell, thou woful welcomer of glory! - -LADY ANNE: -Adieu, poor soul, that takest thy leave of it! - -DUCHESS OF YORK: - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Stay, yet look back with me unto the Tower. -Pity, you ancient stones, those tender babes -Whom envy hath immured within your walls! -Rough cradle for such little pretty ones! -Rude ragged nurse, old sullen playfellow -For tender princes, use my babies well! -So foolish sorrow bids your stones farewell. - -KING RICHARD III: -Stand all apart Cousin of Buckingham! - -BUCKINGHAM: -My gracious sovereign? - -KING RICHARD III: -Give me thy hand. -Thus high, by thy advice -And thy assistance, is King Richard seated; -But shall we wear these honours for a day? -Or shall they last, and we rejoice in them? - -BUCKINGHAM: -Still live they and for ever may they last! - -KING RICHARD III: -O Buckingham, now do I play the touch, -To try if thou be current gold indeed -Young Edward lives: think now what I would say. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Say on, my loving lord. - -KING RICHARD III: -Why, Buckingham, I say, I would be king, - -BUCKINGHAM: -Why, so you are, my thrice renowned liege. - -KING RICHARD III: -Ha! am I king? 'tis so: but Edward lives. - -BUCKINGHAM: -True, noble prince. - -KING RICHARD III: -O bitter consequence, -That Edward still should live! 'True, noble prince!' -Cousin, thou wert not wont to be so dull: -Shall I be plain? I wish the bastards dead; -And I would have it suddenly perform'd. -What sayest thou? speak suddenly; be brief. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Your grace may do your pleasure. - -KING RICHARD III: -Tut, tut, thou art all ice, thy kindness freezeth: -Say, have I thy consent that they shall die? - -BUCKINGHAM: -Give me some breath, some little pause, my lord -Before I positively herein: -I will resolve your grace immediately. - -CATESBY: - -KING RICHARD III: -I will converse with iron-witted fools -And unrespective boys: none are for me -That look into me with considerate eyes: -High-reaching Buckingham grows circumspect. -Boy! - -Page: -My lord? - -KING RICHARD III: -Know'st thou not any whom corrupting gold -Would tempt unto a close exploit of death? - -Page: -My lord, I know a discontented gentleman, -Whose humble means match not his haughty mind: -Gold were as good as twenty orators, -And will, no doubt, tempt him to any thing. - -KING RICHARD III: -What is his name? - -Page: -His name, my lord, is Tyrrel. - -KING RICHARD III: -I partly know the man: go, call him hither. -The deep-revolving witty Buckingham -No more shall be the neighbour to my counsel: -Hath he so long held out with me untired, -And stops he now for breath? -How now! what news with you? - -STANLEY: -My lord, I hear the Marquis Dorset's fled -To Richmond, in those parts beyond the sea -Where he abides. - -KING RICHARD III: -Catesby! - -CATESBY: -My lord? - -KING RICHARD III: -Rumour it abroad -That Anne, my wife, is sick and like to die: -I will take order for her keeping close. -Inquire me out some mean-born gentleman, -Whom I will marry straight to Clarence' daughter: -The boy is foolish, and I fear not him. -Look, how thou dream'st! I say again, give out -That Anne my wife is sick and like to die: -About it; for it stands me much upon, -To stop all hopes whose growth may damage me. -I must be married to my brother's daughter, -Or else my kingdom stands on brittle glass. -Murder her brothers, and then marry her! -Uncertain way of gain! But I am in -So far in blood that sin will pluck on sin: -Tear-falling pity dwells not in this eye. -Is thy name Tyrrel? - -TYRREL: -James Tyrrel, and your most obedient subject. - -KING RICHARD III: -Art thou, indeed? - -TYRREL: -Prove me, my gracious sovereign. - -KING RICHARD III: -Darest thou resolve to kill a friend of mine? - -TYRREL: -Ay, my lord; -But I had rather kill two enemies. - -KING RICHARD III: -Why, there thou hast it: two deep enemies, -Foes to my rest and my sweet sleep's disturbers -Are they that I would have thee deal upon: -Tyrrel, I mean those bastards in the Tower. - -TYRREL: -Let me have open means to come to them, -And soon I'll rid you from the fear of them. - -KING RICHARD III: -Thou sing'st sweet music. Hark, come hither, Tyrrel -Go, by this token: rise, and lend thine ear: -There is no more but so: say it is done, -And I will love thee, and prefer thee too. - -TYRREL: -'Tis done, my gracious lord. - -KING RICHARD III: -Shall we hear from thee, Tyrrel, ere we sleep? - -TYRREL: -Ye shall, my Lord. - -BUCKINGHAM: -My Lord, I have consider'd in my mind -The late demand that you did sound me in. - -KING RICHARD III: -Well, let that pass. Dorset is fled to Richmond. - -BUCKINGHAM: -I hear that news, my lord. - -KING RICHARD III: -Stanley, he is your wife's son well, look to it. - -BUCKINGHAM: -My lord, I claim your gift, my due by promise, -For which your honour and your faith is pawn'd; -The earldom of Hereford and the moveables -The which you promised I should possess. - -KING RICHARD III: -Stanley, look to your wife; if she convey -Letters to Richmond, you shall answer it. - -BUCKINGHAM: -What says your highness to my just demand? - -KING RICHARD III: -As I remember, Henry the Sixth -Did prophesy that Richmond should be king, -When Richmond was a little peevish boy. -A king, perhaps, perhaps,-- - -BUCKINGHAM: -My lord! - -KING RICHARD III: -How chance the prophet could not at that time -Have told me, I being by, that I should kill him? - -BUCKINGHAM: -My lord, your promise for the earldom,-- - -KING RICHARD III: -Richmond! When last I was at Exeter, -The mayor in courtesy show'd me the castle, -And call'd it Rougemont: at which name I started, -Because a bard of Ireland told me once -I should not live long after I saw Richmond. - -BUCKINGHAM: -My Lord! - -KING RICHARD III: -Ay, what's o'clock? - -BUCKINGHAM: -I am thus bold to put your grace in mind -Of what you promised me. - -KING RICHARD III: -Well, but what's o'clock? - -BUCKINGHAM: -Upon the stroke of ten. - -KING RICHARD III: -Well, let it strike. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Why let it strike? - -KING RICHARD III: -Because that, like a Jack, thou keep'st the stroke -Betwixt thy begging and my meditation. -I am not in the giving vein to-day. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Why, then resolve me whether you will or no. - -KING RICHARD III: -Tut, tut, -Thou troublest me; am not in the vein. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Is it even so? rewards he my true service -With such deep contempt made I him king for this? -O, let me think on Hastings, and be gone -To Brecknock, while my fearful head is on! - -TYRREL: -The tyrannous and bloody deed is done. -The most arch of piteous massacre -That ever yet this land was guilty of. -Dighton and Forrest, whom I did suborn -To do this ruthless piece of butchery, -Although they were flesh'd villains, bloody dogs, -Melting with tenderness and kind compassion -Wept like two children in their deaths' sad stories. -'Lo, thus' quoth Dighton, 'lay those tender babes:' -'Thus, thus,' quoth Forrest, 'girdling one another -Within their innocent alabaster arms: -Their lips were four red roses on a stalk, -Which in their summer beauty kiss'd each other. -A book of prayers on their pillow lay; -Which once,' quoth Forrest, 'almost changed my mind; -But O! the devil'--there the villain stopp'd -Whilst Dighton thus told on: 'We smothered -The most replenished sweet work of nature, -That from the prime creation e'er she framed.' -Thus both are gone with conscience and remorse; -They could not speak; and so I left them both, -To bring this tidings to the bloody king. -And here he comes. -All hail, my sovereign liege! - -KING RICHARD III: -Kind Tyrrel, am I happy in thy news? - -TYRREL: -If to have done the thing you gave in charge -Beget your happiness, be happy then, -For it is done, my lord. - -KING RICHARD III: -But didst thou see them dead? - -TYRREL: -I did, my lord. - -KING RICHARD III: -And buried, gentle Tyrrel? - -TYRREL: -The chaplain of the Tower hath buried them; -But how or in what place I do not know. - -KING RICHARD III: -Come to me, Tyrrel, soon at after supper, -And thou shalt tell the process of their death. -Meantime, but think how I may do thee good, -And be inheritor of thy desire. -Farewell till soon. -The son of Clarence have I pent up close; -His daughter meanly have I match'd in marriage; -The sons of Edward sleep in Abraham's bosom, -And Anne my wife hath bid the world good night. -Now, for I know the Breton Richmond aims -At young Elizabeth, my brother's daughter, -And, by that knot, looks proudly o'er the crown, -To her I go, a jolly thriving wooer. - -CATESBY: -My lord! - -KING RICHARD III: -Good news or bad, that thou comest in so bluntly? - -CATESBY: -Bad news, my lord: Ely is fled to Richmond; -And Buckingham, back'd with the hardy Welshmen, -Is in the field, and still his power increaseth. - -KING RICHARD III: -Ely with Richmond troubles me more near -Than Buckingham and his rash-levied army. -Come, I have heard that fearful commenting -Is leaden servitor to dull delay; -Delay leads impotent and snail-paced beggary -Then fiery expedition be my wing, -Jove's Mercury, and herald for a king! -Come, muster men: my counsel is my shield; -We must be brief when traitors brave the field. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -So, now prosperity begins to mellow -And drop into the rotten mouth of death. -Here in these confines slily have I lurk'd, -To watch the waning of mine adversaries. -A dire induction am I witness to, -And will to France, hoping the consequence -Will prove as bitter, black, and tragical. -Withdraw thee, wretched Margaret: who comes here? - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Ah, my young princes! ah, my tender babes! -My unblown flowers, new-appearing sweets! -If yet your gentle souls fly in the air -And be not fix'd in doom perpetual, -Hover about me with your airy wings -And hear your mother's lamentation! - -QUEEN MARGARET: -Hover about her; say, that right for right -Hath dimm'd your infant morn to aged night. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -So many miseries have crazed my voice, -That my woe-wearied tongue is mute and dumb, -Edward Plantagenet, why art thou dead? - -QUEEN MARGARET: -Plantagenet doth quit Plantagenet. -Edward for Edward pays a dying debt. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Wilt thou, O God, fly from such gentle lambs, -And throw them in the entrails of the wolf? -When didst thou sleep when such a deed was done? - -QUEEN MARGARET: -When holy Harry died, and my sweet son. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Blind sight, dead life, poor mortal living ghost, -Woe's scene, world's shame, grave's due by life usurp'd, -Brief abstract and record of tedious days, -Rest thy unrest on England's lawful earth, -Unlawfully made drunk with innocents' blood! - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -O, that thou wouldst as well afford a grave -As thou canst yield a melancholy seat! -Then would I hide my bones, not rest them here. -O, who hath any cause to mourn but I? - -QUEEN MARGARET: -If ancient sorrow be most reverend, -Give mine the benefit of seniory, -And let my woes frown on the upper hand. -If sorrow can admit society, -Tell o'er your woes again by viewing mine: -I had an Edward, till a Richard kill'd him; -I had a Harry, till a Richard kill'd him: -Thou hadst an Edward, till a Richard kill'd him; -Thou hadst a Richard, till a Richard killed him; - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -I had a Richard too, and thou didst kill him; -I had a Rutland too, thou holp'st to kill him. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -Thou hadst a Clarence too, and Richard kill'd him. -From forth the kennel of thy womb hath crept -A hell-hound that doth hunt us all to death: -That dog, that had his teeth before his eyes, -To worry lambs and lap their gentle blood, -That foul defacer of God's handiwork, -That excellent grand tyrant of the earth, -That reigns in galled eyes of weeping souls, -Thy womb let loose, to chase us to our graves. -O upright, just, and true-disposing God, -How do I thank thee, that this carnal cur -Preys on the issue of his mother's body, -And makes her pew-fellow with others' moan! - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -O Harry's wife, triumph not in my woes! -God witness with me, I have wept for thine. - -QUEEN MARGARET: -Bear with me; I am hungry for revenge, -And now I cloy me with beholding it. -Thy Edward he is dead, that stabb'd my Edward: -Thy other Edward dead, to quit my Edward; -Young York he is but boot, because both they -Match not the high perfection of my loss: -Thy Clarence he is dead that kill'd my Edward; -And the beholders of this tragic play, -The adulterate Hastings, Rivers, Vaughan, Grey, -Untimely smother'd in their dusky graves. -Richard yet lives, hell's black intelligencer, -Only reserved their factor, to buy souls -And send them thither: but at hand, at hand, -Ensues his piteous and unpitied end: -Earth gapes, hell burns, fiends roar, saints pray. -To have him suddenly convey'd away. -Cancel his bond of life, dear God, I prey, -That I may live to say, The dog is dead! - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -O, thou didst prophesy the time would come -That I should wish for thee to help me curse -That bottled spider, that foul bunch-back'd toad! - -QUEEN MARGARET: -I call'd thee then vain flourish of my fortune; -I call'd thee then poor shadow, painted queen; -The presentation of but what I was; -The flattering index of a direful pageant; -One heaved a-high, to be hurl'd down below; -A mother only mock'd with two sweet babes; -A dream of what thou wert, a breath, a bubble, -A sign of dignity, a garish flag, -To be the aim of every dangerous shot, -A queen in jest, only to fill the scene. -Where is thy husband now? where be thy brothers? -Where are thy children? wherein dost thou, joy? -Who sues to thee and cries 'God save the queen'? -Where be the bending peers that flatter'd thee? -Where be the thronging troops that follow'd thee? -Decline all this, and see what now thou art: -For happy wife, a most distressed widow; -For joyful mother, one that wails the name; -For queen, a very caitiff crown'd with care; -For one being sued to, one that humbly sues; -For one that scorn'd at me, now scorn'd of me; -For one being fear'd of all, now fearing one; -For one commanding all, obey'd of none. -Thus hath the course of justice wheel'd about, -And left thee but a very prey to time; -Having no more but thought of what thou wert, -To torture thee the more, being what thou art. -Thou didst usurp my place, and dost thou not -Usurp the just proportion of my sorrow? -Now thy proud neck bears half my burthen'd yoke; -From which even here I slip my weary neck, -And leave the burthen of it all on thee. -Farewell, York's wife, and queen of sad mischance: -These English woes will make me smile in France. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -O thou well skill'd in curses, stay awhile, -And teach me how to curse mine enemies! - -QUEEN MARGARET: -Forbear to sleep the nights, and fast the days; -Compare dead happiness with living woe; -Think that thy babes were fairer than they were, -And he that slew them fouler than he is: -Bettering thy loss makes the bad causer worse: -Revolving this will teach thee how to curse. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -My words are dull; O, quicken them with thine! - -QUEEN MARGARET: -Thy woes will make them sharp, and pierce like mine. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Why should calamity be full of words? - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Windy attorneys to their client woes, -Airy succeeders of intestate joys, -Poor breathing orators of miseries! -Let them have scope: though what they do impart -Help not all, yet do they ease the heart. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -If so, then be not tongue-tied: go with me. -And in the breath of bitter words let's smother -My damned son, which thy two sweet sons smother'd. -I hear his drum: be copious in exclaims. - -KING RICHARD III: -Who intercepts my expedition? - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -O, she that might have intercepted thee, -By strangling thee in her accursed womb -From all the slaughters, wretch, that thou hast done! - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Hidest thou that forehead with a golden crown, -Where should be graven, if that right were right, -The slaughter of the prince that owed that crown, -And the dire death of my two sons and brothers? -Tell me, thou villain slave, where are my children? - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Thou toad, thou toad, where is thy brother Clarence? -And little Ned Plantagenet, his son? - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Where is kind Hastings, Rivers, Vaughan, Grey? - -KING RICHARD III: -A flourish, trumpets! strike alarum, drums! -Let not the heavens hear these tell-tale women -Rail on the Lord's enointed: strike, I say! -Either be patient, and entreat me fair, -Or with the clamorous report of war -Thus will I drown your exclamations. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Art thou my son? - -KING RICHARD III: -Ay, I thank God, my father, and yourself. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Then patiently hear my impatience. - -KING RICHARD III: -Madam, I have a touch of your condition, -Which cannot brook the accent of reproof. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -O, let me speak! - -KING RICHARD III: -Do then: but I'll not hear. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -I will be mild and gentle in my speech. - -KING RICHARD III: -And brief, good mother; for I am in haste. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Art thou so hasty? I have stay'd for thee, -God knows, in anguish, pain and agony. - -KING RICHARD III: -And came I not at last to comfort you? - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -No, by the holy rood, thou know'st it well, -Thou camest on earth to make the earth my hell. -A grievous burthen was thy birth to me; -Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy; -Thy school-days frightful, desperate, wild, and furious, -Thy prime of manhood daring, bold, and venturous, -Thy age confirm'd, proud, subdued, bloody, -treacherous, -More mild, but yet more harmful, kind in hatred: -What comfortable hour canst thou name, -That ever graced me in thy company? - -KING RICHARD III: -Faith, none, but Humphrey Hour, that call'd -your grace -To breakfast once forth of my company. -If I be so disgracious in your sight, -Let me march on, and not offend your grace. -Strike the drum. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -I prithee, hear me speak. - -KING RICHARD III: -You speak too bitterly. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Hear me a word; -For I shall never speak to thee again. - -KING RICHARD III: -So. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Either thou wilt die, by God's just ordinance, -Ere from this war thou turn a conqueror, -Or I with grief and extreme age shall perish -And never look upon thy face again. -Therefore take with thee my most heavy curse; -Which, in the day of battle, tire thee more -Than all the complete armour that thou wear'st! -My prayers on the adverse party fight; -And there the little souls of Edward's children -Whisper the spirits of thine enemies -And promise them success and victory. -Bloody thou art, bloody will be thy end; -Shame serves thy life and doth thy death attend. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Though far more cause, yet much less spirit to curse -Abides in me; I say amen to all. - -KING RICHARD III: -Stay, madam; I must speak a word with you. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -I have no more sons of the royal blood -For thee to murder: for my daughters, Richard, -They shall be praying nuns, not weeping queens; -And therefore level not to hit their lives. - -KING RICHARD III: -You have a daughter call'd Elizabeth, -Virtuous and fair, royal and gracious. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -And must she die for this? O, let her live, -And I'll corrupt her manners, stain her beauty; -Slander myself as false to Edward's bed; -Throw over her the veil of infamy: -So she may live unscarr'd of bleeding slaughter, -I will confess she was not Edward's daughter. - -KING RICHARD III: -Wrong not her birth, she is of royal blood. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -To save her life, I'll say she is not so. - -KING RICHARD III: -Her life is only safest in her birth. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -And only in that safety died her brothers. - -KING RICHARD III: -Lo, at their births good stars were opposite. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -No, to their lives bad friends were contrary. - -KING RICHARD III: -All unavoided is the doom of destiny. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -True, when avoided grace makes destiny: -My babes were destined to a fairer death, -If grace had bless'd thee with a fairer life. - -KING RICHARD III: -You speak as if that I had slain my cousins. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Cousins, indeed; and by their uncle cozen'd -Of comfort, kingdom, kindred, freedom, life. -Whose hand soever lanced their tender hearts, -Thy head, all indirectly, gave direction: -No doubt the murderous knife was dull and blunt -Till it was whetted on thy stone-hard heart, -To revel in the entrails of my lambs. -But that still use of grief makes wild grief tame, -My tongue should to thy ears not name my boys -Till that my nails were anchor'd in thine eyes; -And I, in such a desperate bay of death, -Like a poor bark, of sails and tackling reft, -Rush all to pieces on thy rocky bosom. - -KING RICHARD III: -Madam, so thrive I in my enterprise -And dangerous success of bloody wars, -As I intend more good to you and yours, -Than ever you or yours were by me wrong'd! - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -What good is cover'd with the face of heaven, -To be discover'd, that can do me good? - -KING RICHARD III: -The advancement of your children, gentle lady. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Up to some scaffold, there to lose their heads? - -KING RICHARD III: -No, to the dignity and height of honour -The high imperial type of this earth's glory. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Flatter my sorrows with report of it; -Tell me what state, what dignity, what honour, -Canst thou demise to any child of mine? - -KING RICHARD III: -Even all I have; yea, and myself and all, -Will I withal endow a child of thine; -So in the Lethe of thy angry soul -Thou drown the sad remembrance of those wrongs -Which thou supposest I have done to thee. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Be brief, lest that be process of thy kindness -Last longer telling than thy kindness' date. - -KING RICHARD III: -Then know, that from my soul I love thy daughter. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -My daughter's mother thinks it with her soul. - -KING RICHARD III: -What do you think? - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -That thou dost love my daughter from thy soul: -So from thy soul's love didst thou love her brothers; -And from my heart's love I do thank thee for it. - -KING RICHARD III: -Be not so hasty to confound my meaning: -I mean, that with my soul I love thy daughter, -And mean to make her queen of England. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Say then, who dost thou mean shall be her king? - -KING RICHARD III: -Even he that makes her queen who should be else? - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -What, thou? - -KING RICHARD III: -I, even I: what think you of it, madam? - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -How canst thou woo her? - -KING RICHARD III: -That would I learn of you, -As one that are best acquainted with her humour. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -And wilt thou learn of me? - -KING RICHARD III: -Madam, with all my heart. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Send to her, by the man that slew her brothers, -A pair of bleeding-hearts; thereon engrave -Edward and York; then haply she will weep: -Therefore present to her--as sometime Margaret -Did to thy father, steep'd in Rutland's blood,-- -A handkerchief; which, say to her, did drain -The purple sap from her sweet brother's body -And bid her dry her weeping eyes therewith. -If this inducement force her not to love, -Send her a story of thy noble acts; -Tell her thou madest away her uncle Clarence, -Her uncle Rivers; yea, and, for her sake, -Madest quick conveyance with her good aunt Anne. - -KING RICHARD III: -Come, come, you mock me; this is not the way -To win our daughter. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -There is no other way -Unless thou couldst put on some other shape, -And not be Richard that hath done all this. - -KING RICHARD III: -Say that I did all this for love of her. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Nay, then indeed she cannot choose but hate thee, -Having bought love with such a bloody spoil. - -KING RICHARD III: -Look, what is done cannot be now amended: -Men shall deal unadvisedly sometimes, -Which after hours give leisure to repent. -If I did take the kingdom from your sons, -To make amends, Ill give it to your daughter. -If I have kill'd the issue of your womb, -To quicken your increase, I will beget -Mine issue of your blood upon your daughter -A grandam's name is little less in love -Than is the doting title of a mother; -They are as children but one step below, -Even of your mettle, of your very blood; -Of an one pain, save for a night of groans -Endured of her, for whom you bid like sorrow. -Your children were vexation to your youth, -But mine shall be a comfort to your age. -The loss you have is but a son being king, -And by that loss your daughter is made queen. -I cannot make you what amends I would, -Therefore accept such kindness as I can. -Dorset your son, that with a fearful soul -Leads discontented steps in foreign soil, -This fair alliance quickly shall call home -To high promotions and great dignity: -The king, that calls your beauteous daughter wife. -Familiarly shall call thy Dorset brother; -Again shall you be mother to a king, -And all the ruins of distressful times -Repair'd with double riches of content. -What! we have many goodly days to see: -The liquid drops of tears that you have shed -Shall come again, transform'd to orient pearl, -Advantaging their loan with interest -Of ten times double gain of happiness. -Go, then my mother, to thy daughter go -Make bold her bashful years with your experience; -Prepare her ears to hear a wooer's tale -Put in her tender heart the aspiring flame -Of golden sovereignty; acquaint the princess -With the sweet silent hours of marriage joys -And when this arm of mine hath chastised -The petty rebel, dull-brain'd Buckingham, -Bound with triumphant garlands will I come -And lead thy daughter to a conqueror's bed; -To whom I will retail my conquest won, -And she shall be sole victress, Caesar's Caesar. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -What were I best to say? her father's brother -Would be her lord? or shall I say, her uncle? -Or, he that slew her brothers and her uncles? -Under what title shall I woo for thee, -That God, the law, my honour and her love, -Can make seem pleasing to her tender years? - -KING RICHARD III: -Infer fair England's peace by this alliance. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Which she shall purchase with still lasting war. - -KING RICHARD III: -Say that the king, which may command, entreats. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -That at her hands which the king's King forbids. - -KING RICHARD III: -Say, she shall be a high and mighty queen. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -To wail the tide, as her mother doth. - -KING RICHARD III: -Say, I will love her everlastingly. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -But how long shall that title 'ever' last? - -KING RICHARD III: -Sweetly in force unto her fair life's end. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -But how long fairly shall her sweet lie last? - -KING RICHARD III: -So long as heaven and nature lengthens it. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -So long as hell and Richard likes of it. - -KING RICHARD III: -Say, I, her sovereign, am her subject love. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -But she, your subject, loathes such sovereignty. - -KING RICHARD III: -Be eloquent in my behalf to her. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -An honest tale speeds best being plainly told. - -KING RICHARD III: -Then in plain terms tell her my loving tale. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Plain and not honest is too harsh a style. - -KING RICHARD III: -Your reasons are too shallow and too quick. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -O no, my reasons are too deep and dead; -Too deep and dead, poor infants, in their grave. - -KING RICHARD III: -Harp not on that string, madam; that is past. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Harp on it still shall I till heart-strings break. - -KING RICHARD III: -Now, by my George, my garter, and my crown,-- - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Profaned, dishonour'd, and the third usurp'd. - -KING RICHARD III: -I swear-- - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -By nothing; for this is no oath: -The George, profaned, hath lost his holy honour; -The garter, blemish'd, pawn'd his knightly virtue; -The crown, usurp'd, disgraced his kingly glory. -if something thou wilt swear to be believed, -Swear then by something that thou hast not wrong'd. - -KING RICHARD III: -Now, by the world-- - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -'Tis full of thy foul wrongs. - -KING RICHARD III: -My father's death-- - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Thy life hath that dishonour'd. - -KING RICHARD III: -Then, by myself-- - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Thyself thyself misusest. - -KING RICHARD III: -Why then, by God-- - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -God's wrong is most of all. -If thou hadst fear'd to break an oath by Him, -The unity the king thy brother made -Had not been broken, nor my brother slain: -If thou hadst fear'd to break an oath by Him, -The imperial metal, circling now thy brow, -Had graced the tender temples of my child, -And both the princes had been breathing here, -Which now, two tender playfellows to dust, -Thy broken faith hath made a prey for worms. -What canst thou swear by now? - -KING RICHARD III: -The time to come. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -That thou hast wronged in the time o'erpast; -For I myself have many tears to wash -Hereafter time, for time past wrong'd by thee. -The children live, whose parents thou hast -slaughter'd, -Ungovern'd youth, to wail it in their age; -The parents live, whose children thou hast butcher'd, -Old wither'd plants, to wail it with their age. -Swear not by time to come; for that thou hast -Misused ere used, by time misused o'erpast. - -KING RICHARD III: -As I intend to prosper and repent, -So thrive I in my dangerous attempt -Of hostile arms! myself myself confound! -Heaven and fortune bar me happy hours! -Day, yield me not thy light; nor, night, thy rest! -Be opposite all planets of good luck -To my proceedings, if, with pure heart's love, -Immaculate devotion, holy thoughts, -I tender not thy beauteous princely daughter! -In her consists my happiness and thine; -Without her, follows to this land and me, -To thee, herself, and many a Christian soul, -Death, desolation, ruin and decay: -It cannot be avoided but by this; -It will not be avoided but by this. -Therefore, good mother,--I must can you so-- -Be the attorney of my love to her: -Plead what I will be, not what I have been; -Not my deserts, but what I will deserve: -Urge the necessity and state of times, -And be not peevish-fond in great designs. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Shall I be tempted of the devil thus? - -KING RICHARD III: -Ay, if the devil tempt thee to do good. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Shall I forget myself to be myself? - -KING RICHARD III: -Ay, if yourself's remembrance wrong yourself. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -But thou didst kill my children. - -KING RICHARD III: -But in your daughter's womb I bury them: -Where in that nest of spicery they shall breed -Selves of themselves, to your recomforture. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -Shall I go win my daughter to thy will? - -KING RICHARD III: -And be a happy mother by the deed. - -QUEEN ELIZABETH: -I go. Write to me very shortly. -And you shall understand from me her mind. - -KING RICHARD III: -Bear her my true love's kiss; and so, farewell. -Relenting fool, and shallow, changing woman! -How now! what news? - -RATCLIFF: -My gracious sovereign, on the western coast -Rideth a puissant navy; to the shore -Throng many doubtful hollow-hearted friends, -Unarm'd, and unresolved to beat them back: -'Tis thought that Richmond is their admiral; -And there they hull, expecting but the aid -Of Buckingham to welcome them ashore. - -KING RICHARD III: -Some light-foot friend post to the Duke of Norfolk: -Ratcliff, thyself, or Catesby; where is he? - -CATESBY: -Here, my lord. - -KING RICHARD III: -Fly to the duke: -Post thou to Salisbury -When thou comest thither-- -Dull, unmindful villain, -Why stand'st thou still, and go'st not to the duke? - -CATESBY: -First, mighty sovereign, let me know your mind, -What from your grace I shall deliver to him. - -KING RICHARD III: -O, true, good Catesby: bid him levy straight -The greatest strength and power he can make, -And meet me presently at Salisbury. - -CATESBY: -I go. - -RATCLIFF: -What is't your highness' pleasure I shall do at -Salisbury? - -KING RICHARD III: -Why, what wouldst thou do there before I go? - -RATCLIFF: -Your highness told me I should post before. - -KING RICHARD III: -My mind is changed, sir, my mind is changed. -How now, what news with you? - -STANLEY: -None good, my lord, to please you with the hearing; -Nor none so bad, but it may well be told. - -KING RICHARD III: -Hoyday, a riddle! neither good nor bad! -Why dost thou run so many mile about, -When thou mayst tell thy tale a nearer way? -Once more, what news? - -STANLEY: -Richmond is on the seas. - -KING RICHARD III: -There let him sink, and be the seas on him! -White-liver'd runagate, what doth he there? - -STANLEY: -I know not, mighty sovereign, but by guess. - -KING RICHARD III: -Well, sir, as you guess, as you guess? - -STANLEY: -Stirr'd up by Dorset, Buckingham, and Ely, -He makes for England, there to claim the crown. - -KING RICHARD III: -Is the chair empty? is the sword unsway'd? -Is the king dead? the empire unpossess'd? -What heir of York is there alive but we? -And who is England's king but great York's heir? -Then, tell me, what doth he upon the sea? - -STANLEY: -Unless for that, my liege, I cannot guess. - -KING RICHARD III: -Unless for that he comes to be your liege, -You cannot guess wherefore the Welshman comes. -Thou wilt revolt, and fly to him, I fear. - -STANLEY: -No, mighty liege; therefore mistrust me not. - -KING RICHARD III: -Where is thy power, then, to beat him back? -Where are thy tenants and thy followers? -Are they not now upon the western shore. -Safe-conducting the rebels from their ships! - -STANLEY: -No, my good lord, my friends are in the north. - -KING RICHARD III: -Cold friends to Richard: what do they in the north, -When they should serve their sovereign in the west? - -STANLEY: -They have not been commanded, mighty sovereign: -Please it your majesty to give me leave, -I'll muster up my friends, and meet your grace -Where and what time your majesty shall please. - -KING RICHARD III: -Ay, ay. thou wouldst be gone to join with Richmond: -I will not trust you, sir. - -STANLEY: -Most mighty sovereign, -You have no cause to hold my friendship doubtful: -I never was nor never will be false. - -KING RICHARD III: -Well, -Go muster men; but, hear you, leave behind -Your son, George Stanley: look your faith be firm. -Or else his head's assurance is but frail. - -STANLEY: -So deal with him as I prove true to you. - -Messenger: -My gracious sovereign, now in Devonshire, -As I by friends am well advertised, -Sir Edward Courtney, and the haughty prelate -Bishop of Exeter, his brother there, -With many more confederates, are in arms. - -Second Messenger: -My liege, in Kent the Guildfords are in arms; -And every hour more competitors -Flock to their aid, and still their power increaseth. - -Third Messenger: -My lord, the army of the Duke of Buckingham-- - -KING RICHARD III: -Out on you, owls! nothing but songs of death? -Take that, until thou bring me better news. - -Third Messenger: -The news I have to tell your majesty -Is, that by sudden floods and fall of waters, -Buckingham's army is dispersed and scatter'd; -And he himself wander'd away alone, -No man knows whither. - -KING RICHARD III: -I cry thee mercy: -There is my purse to cure that blow of thine. -Hath any well-advised friend proclaim'd -Reward to him that brings the traitor in? - -Third Messenger: -Such proclamation hath been made, my liege. - -Fourth Messenger: -Sir Thomas Lovel and Lord Marquis Dorset, -'Tis said, my liege, in Yorkshire are in arms. -Yet this good comfort bring I to your grace, -The Breton navy is dispersed by tempest: -Richmond, in Yorkshire, sent out a boat -Unto the shore, to ask those on the banks -If they were his assistants, yea or no; -Who answer'd him, they came from Buckingham. -Upon his party: he, mistrusting them, -Hoisted sail and made away for Brittany. - -KING RICHARD III: -March on, march on, since we are up in arms; -If not to fight with foreign enemies, -Yet to beat down these rebels here at home. - -CATESBY: -My liege, the Duke of Buckingham is taken; -That is the best news: that the Earl of Richmond -Is with a mighty power landed at Milford, -Is colder tidings, yet they must be told. - -KING RICHARD III: -Away towards Salisbury! while we reason here, -A royal battle might be won and lost -Some one take order Buckingham be brought -To Salisbury; the rest march on with me. - -DERBY: -Sir Christopher, tell Richmond this from me: -That in the sty of this most bloody boar -My son George Stanley is frank'd up in hold: -If I revolt, off goes young George's head; -The fear of that withholds my present aid. -But, tell me, where is princely Richmond now? - -CHRISTOPHER: -At Pembroke, or at Harford-west, in Wales. - -DERBY: -What men of name resort to him? - -CHRISTOPHER: -Sir Walter Herbert, a renowned soldier; -Sir Gilbert Talbot, Sir William Stanley; -Oxford, redoubted Pembroke, Sir James Blunt, -And Rice ap Thomas with a valiant crew; -And many more of noble fame and worth: -And towards London they do bend their course, -If by the way they be not fought withal. - -DERBY: -Return unto thy lord; commend me to him: -Tell him the queen hath heartily consented -He shall espouse Elizabeth her daughter. -These letters will resolve him of my mind. Farewell. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Will not King Richard let me speak with him? - -Sheriff: -No, my good lord; therefore be patient. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Hastings, and Edward's children, Rivers, Grey, -Holy King Henry, and thy fair son Edward, -Vaughan, and all that have miscarried -By underhand corrupted foul injustice, -If that your moody discontented souls -Do through the clouds behold this present hour, -Even for revenge mock my destruction! -This is All-Souls' day, fellows, is it not? - -Sheriff: -It is, my lord. - -BUCKINGHAM: -Why, then All-Souls' day is my body's doomsday. -This is the day that, in King Edward's time, -I wish't might fall on me, when I was found -False to his children or his wife's allies -This is the day wherein I wish'd to fall -By the false faith of him I trusted most; -This, this All-Souls' day to my fearful soul -Is the determined respite of my wrongs: -That high All-Seer that I dallied with -Hath turn'd my feigned prayer on my head -And given in earnest what I begg'd in jest. -Thus doth he force the swords of wicked men -To turn their own points on their masters' bosoms: -Now Margaret's curse is fallen upon my head; -'When he,' quoth she, 'shall split thy heart with sorrow, -Remember Margaret was a prophetess.' -Come, sirs, convey me to the block of shame; -Wrong hath but wrong, and blame the due of blame. - -RICHMOND: -Fellows in arms, and my most loving friends, -Bruised underneath the yoke of tyranny, -Thus far into the bowels of the land -Have we march'd on without impediment; -And here receive we from our father Stanley -Lines of fair comfort and encouragement. -The wretched, bloody, and usurping boar, -That spoil'd your summer fields and fruitful vines, -Swills your warm blood like wash, and makes his trough -In your embowell'd bosoms, this foul swine -Lies now even in the centre of this isle, -Near to the town of Leicester, as we learn -From Tamworth thither is but one day's march. -In God's name, cheerly on, courageous friends, -To reap the harvest of perpetual peace -By this one bloody trial of sharp war. - -OXFORD: -Every man's conscience is a thousand swords, -To fight against that bloody homicide. - -HERBERT: -I doubt not but his friends will fly to us. - -BLUNT: -He hath no friends but who are friends for fear. -Which in his greatest need will shrink from him. - -RICHMOND: -All for our vantage. Then, in God's name, march: -True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings: -Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings. - -KING RICHARD III: -Here pitch our tents, even here in Bosworth field. -My Lord of Surrey, why look you so sad? - -SURREY: -My heart is ten times lighter than my looks. - -KING RICHARD III: -My Lord of Norfolk,-- - -NORFOLK: -Here, most gracious liege. - -KING RICHARD III: -Norfolk, we must have knocks; ha! must we not? - -NORFOLK: -We must both give and take, my gracious lord. - -KING RICHARD III: -Up with my tent there! here will I lie tonight; -But where to-morrow? Well, all's one for that. -Who hath descried the number of the foe? - -NORFOLK: -Six or seven thousand is their utmost power. - -KING RICHARD III: -Why, our battalion trebles that account: -Besides, the king's name is a tower of strength, -Which they upon the adverse party want. -Up with my tent there! Valiant gentlemen, -Let us survey the vantage of the field -Call for some men of sound direction -Let's want no discipline, make no delay, -For, lords, to-morrow is a busy day. - -RICHMOND: -The weary sun hath made a golden set, -And by the bright track of his fiery car, -Gives signal, of a goodly day to-morrow. -Sir William Brandon, you shall bear my standard. -Give me some ink and paper in my tent -I'll draw the form and model of our battle, -Limit each leader to his several charge, -And part in just proportion our small strength. -My Lord of Oxford, you, Sir William Brandon, -And you, Sir Walter Herbert, stay with me. -The Earl of Pembroke keeps his regiment: -Good Captain Blunt, bear my good night to him -And by the second hour in the morning -Desire the earl to see me in my tent: -Yet one thing more, good Blunt, before thou go'st, -Where is Lord Stanley quarter'd, dost thou know? - -BLUNT: -Unless I have mista'en his colours much, -Which well I am assured I have not done, -His regiment lies half a mile at least -South from the mighty power of the king. - -RICHMOND: -If without peril it be possible, -Good Captain Blunt, bear my good-night to him, -And give him from me this most needful scroll. - -BLUNT: -Upon my life, my lord, I'll under-take it; -And so, God give you quiet rest to-night! - -RICHMOND: -Good night, good Captain Blunt. Come gentlemen, -Let us consult upon to-morrow's business -In to our tent; the air is raw and cold. - -KING RICHARD III: -What is't o'clock? - -CATESBY: -It's supper-time, my lord; -It's nine o'clock. - -KING RICHARD III: -I will not sup to-night. -Give me some ink and paper. -What, is my beaver easier than it was? -And all my armour laid into my tent? - -CATESBY: -If is, my liege; and all things are in readiness. - -KING RICHARD III: -Good Norfolk, hie thee to thy charge; -Use careful watch, choose trusty sentinels. - -NORFOLK: -I go, my lord. - -KING RICHARD III: -Stir with the lark to-morrow, gentle Norfolk. - -NORFOLK: -I warrant you, my lord. - -KING RICHARD III: -Catesby! - -CATESBY: -My lord? - -KING RICHARD III: -Send out a pursuivant at arms -To Stanley's regiment; bid him bring his power -Before sunrising, lest his son George fall -Into the blind cave of eternal night. -Fill me a bowl of wine. Give me a watch. -Saddle white Surrey for the field to-morrow. -Look that my staves be sound, and not too heavy. -Ratcliff! - -RATCLIFF: -My lord? - -KING RICHARD III: -Saw'st thou the melancholy Lord Northumberland? - -RATCLIFF: -Thomas the Earl of Surrey, and himself, -Much about cock-shut time, from troop to troop -Went through the army, cheering up the soldiers. - -KING RICHARD III: -So, I am satisfied. Give me a bowl of wine: -I have not that alacrity of spirit, -Nor cheer of mind, that I was wont to have. -Set it down. Is ink and paper ready? - -RATCLIFF: -It is, my lord. - -KING RICHARD III: -Bid my guard watch; leave me. -Ratcliff, about the mid of night come to my tent -And help to arm me. Leave me, I say. - -DERBY: -Fortune and victory sit on thy helm! - -RICHMOND: -All comfort that the dark night can afford -Be to thy person, noble father-in-law! -Tell me, how fares our loving mother? - -DERBY: -I, by attorney, bless thee from thy mother -Who prays continually for Richmond's good: -So much for that. The silent hours steal on, -And flaky darkness breaks within the east. -In brief,--for so the season bids us be,-- -Prepare thy battle early in the morning, -And put thy fortune to the arbitrement -Of bloody strokes and mortal-staring war. -I, as I may--that which I would I cannot,-- -With best advantage will deceive the time, -And aid thee in this doubtful shock of arms: -But on thy side I may not be too forward -Lest, being seen, thy brother, tender George, -Be executed in his father's sight. -Farewell: the leisure and the fearful time -Cuts off the ceremonious vows of love -And ample interchange of sweet discourse, -Which so long sunder'd friends should dwell upon: -God give us leisure for these rites of love! -Once more, adieu: be valiant, and speed well! - -RICHMOND: -Good lords, conduct him to his regiment: -I'll strive, with troubled thoughts, to take a nap, -Lest leaden slumber peise me down to-morrow, -When I should mount with wings of victory: -Once more, good night, kind lords and gentlemen. -O Thou, whose captain I account myself, -Look on my forces with a gracious eye; -Put in their hands thy bruising irons of wrath, -That they may crush down with a heavy fall -The usurping helmets of our adversaries! -Make us thy ministers of chastisement, -That we may praise thee in the victory! -To thee I do commend my watchful soul, -Ere I let fall the windows of mine eyes: -Sleeping and waking, O, defend me still! - -Ghost of Prince Edward: - -Ghost of King Henry VI: - -Ghost of CLARENCE: - -Ghost of RIVERS: - -Ghost of GREY: - -Ghost of VAUGHAN: - -All: - -Ghost of HASTINGS: - -Ghosts of young Princes: - -Ghost of LADY ANNE: - -Ghost of BUCKINGHAM: - -KING RICHARD III: -Give me another horse: bind up my wounds. -Have mercy, Jesu!--Soft! I did but dream. -O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me! -The lights burn blue. It is now dead midnight. -Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh. -What do I fear? myself? there's none else by: -Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I. -Is there a murderer here? No. Yes, I am: -Then fly. What, from myself? Great reason why: -Lest I revenge. What, myself upon myself? -Alack. I love myself. Wherefore? for any good -That I myself have done unto myself? -O, no! alas, I rather hate myself -For hateful deeds committed by myself! -I am a villain: yet I lie. I am not. -Fool, of thyself speak well: fool, do not flatter. -My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, -And every tongue brings in a several tale, -And every tale condemns me for a villain. -Perjury, perjury, in the high'st degree -Murder, stem murder, in the direst degree; -All several sins, all used in each degree, -Throng to the bar, crying all, Guilty! guilty! -I shall despair. There is no creature loves me; -And if I die, no soul shall pity me: -Nay, wherefore should they, since that I myself -Find in myself no pity to myself? -Methought the souls of all that I had murder'd -Came to my tent; and every one did threat -To-morrow's vengeance on the head of Richard. - -RATCLIFF: -My lord! - -KING RICHARD III: -'Zounds! who is there? - -RATCLIFF: -Ratcliff, my lord; 'tis I. The early village-cock -Hath twice done salutation to the morn; -Your friends are up, and buckle on their armour. - -KING RICHARD III: -O Ratcliff, I have dream'd a fearful dream! -What thinkest thou, will our friends prove all true? - -RATCLIFF: -No doubt, my lord. - -KING RICHARD III: -O Ratcliff, I fear, I fear,-- - -RATCLIFF: -Nay, good my lord, be not afraid of shadows. - -KING RICHARD III: -By the apostle Paul, shadows to-night -Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard -Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers -Armed in proof, and led by shallow Richmond. -It is not yet near day. Come, go with me; -Under our tents I'll play the eaves-dropper, -To see if any mean to shrink from me. - -LORDS: -Good morrow, Richmond! - -RICHMOND: -Cry mercy, lords and watchful gentlemen, -That you have ta'en a tardy sluggard here. - -LORDS: -How have you slept, my lord? - -RICHMOND: -The sweetest sleep, and fairest-boding dreams -That ever enter'd in a drowsy head, -Have I since your departure had, my lords. -Methought their souls, whose bodies Richard murder'd, -Came to my tent, and cried on victory: -I promise you, my soul is very jocund -In the remembrance of so fair a dream. -How far into the morning is it, lords? - -LORDS: -Upon the stroke of four. - -RICHMOND: -Why, then 'tis time to arm and give direction. -More than I have said, loving countrymen, -The leisure and enforcement of the time -Forbids to dwell upon: yet remember this, -God and our good cause fight upon our side; -The prayers of holy saints and wronged souls, -Like high-rear'd bulwarks, stand before our faces; -Richard except, those whom we fight against -Had rather have us win than him they follow: -For what is he they follow? truly, gentlemen, -A bloody tyrant and a homicide; -One raised in blood, and one in blood establish'd; -One that made means to come by what he hath, -And slaughter'd those that were the means to help him; -Abase foul stone, made precious by the foil -Of England's chair, where he is falsely set; -One that hath ever been God's enemy: -Then, if you fight against God's enemy, -God will in justice ward you as his soldiers; -If you do sweat to put a tyrant down, -You sleep in peace, the tyrant being slain; -If you do fight against your country's foes, -Your country's fat shall pay your pains the hire; -If you do fight in safeguard of your wives, -Your wives shall welcome home the conquerors; -If you do free your children from the sword, -Your children's children quit it in your age. -Then, in the name of God and all these rights, -Advance your standards, draw your willing swords. -For me, the ransom of my bold attempt -Shall be this cold corpse on the earth's cold face; -But if I thrive, the gain of my attempt -The least of you shall share his part thereof. -Sound drums and trumpets boldly and cheerfully; -God and Saint George! Richmond and victory! - -KING RICHARD III: -What said Northumberland as touching Richmond? - -RATCLIFF: -That he was never trained up in arms. - -KING RICHARD III: -He said the truth: and what said Surrey then? - -RATCLIFF: -He smiled and said 'The better for our purpose.' - -KING RICHARD III: -He was in the right; and so indeed it is. -Ten the clock there. Give me a calendar. -Who saw the sun to-day? - -RATCLIFF: -Not I, my lord. - -KING RICHARD III: -Then he disdains to shine; for by the book -He should have braved the east an hour ago -A black day will it be to somebody. Ratcliff! - -RATCLIFF: -My lord? - -KING RICHARD III: -The sun will not be seen to-day; -The sky doth frown and lour upon our army. -I would these dewy tears were from the ground. -Not shine to-day! Why, what is that to me -More than to Richmond? for the selfsame heaven -That frowns on me looks sadly upon him. - -NORFOLK: -Arm, arm, my lord; the foe vaunts in the field. - -KING RICHARD III: -Come, bustle, bustle; caparison my horse. -Call up Lord Stanley, bid him bring his power: -I will lead forth my soldiers to the plain, -And thus my battle shall be ordered: -My foreward shall be drawn out all in length, -Consisting equally of horse and foot; -Our archers shall be placed in the midst -John Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Earl of Surrey, -Shall have the leading of this foot and horse. -They thus directed, we will follow -In the main battle, whose puissance on either side -Shall be well winged with our chiefest horse. -This, and Saint George to boot! What think'st thou, Norfolk? - -NORFOLK: -A good direction, warlike sovereign. -This found I on my tent this morning. - -KING RICHARD III: - -Messenger: -My lord, he doth deny to come. - -KING RICHARD III: -Off with his son George's head! - -NORFOLK: -My lord, the enemy is past the marsh -After the battle let George Stanley die. - -KING RICHARD III: -A thousand hearts are great within my bosom: -Advance our standards, set upon our foes -Our ancient word of courage, fair Saint George, -Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons! -Upon them! victory sits on our helms. - -CATESBY: -Rescue, my Lord of Norfolk, rescue, rescue! -The king enacts more wonders than a man, -Daring an opposite to every danger: -His horse is slain, and all on foot he fights, -Seeking for Richmond in the throat of death. -Rescue, fair lord, or else the day is lost! - -KING RICHARD III: -A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! - -CATESBY: -Withdraw, my lord; I'll help you to a horse. - -KING RICHARD III: -Slave, I have set my life upon a cast, -And I will stand the hazard of the die: -I think there be six Richmonds in the field; -Five have I slain to-day instead of him. -A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! - -RICHMOND: -God and your arms be praised, victorious friends, -The day is ours, the bloody dog is dead. - -DERBY: -Courageous Richmond, well hast thou acquit thee. -Lo, here, this long-usurped royalty -From the dead temples of this bloody wretch -Have I pluck'd off, to grace thy brows withal: -Wear it, enjoy it, and make much of it. - -RICHMOND: -Great God of heaven, say Amen to all! -But, tell me, is young George Stanley living? - -DERBY: -He is, my lord, and safe in Leicester town; -Whither, if it please you, we may now withdraw us. - -RICHMOND: -What men of name are slain on either side? - -DERBY: -John Duke of Norfolk, Walter Lord Ferrers, -Sir Robert Brakenbury, and Sir William Brandon. - -RICHMOND: -Inter their bodies as becomes their births: -Proclaim a pardon to the soldiers fled -That in submission will return to us: -And then, as we have ta'en the sacrament, -We will unite the white rose and the red: -Smile heaven upon this fair conjunction, -That long have frown'd upon their enmity! -What traitor hears me, and says not amen? -England hath long been mad, and scarr'd herself; -The brother blindly shed the brother's blood, -The father rashly slaughter'd his own son, -The son, compell'd, been butcher to the sire: -All this divided York and Lancaster, -Divided in their dire division, -O, now, let Richmond and Elizabeth, -The true succeeders of each royal house, -By God's fair ordinance conjoin together! -And let their heirs, God, if thy will be so. -Enrich the time to come with smooth-faced peace, -With smiling plenty and fair prosperous days! -Abate the edge of traitors, gracious Lord, -That would reduce these bloody days again, -And make poor England weep in streams of blood! -Let them not live to taste this land's increase -That would with treason wound this fair land's peace! -Now civil wounds are stopp'd, peace lives again: -That she may long live here, God say amen! - -KING RICHARD II: -Old John of Gaunt, time-honour'd 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? - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -I have, my liege. - -KING RICHARD II: -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? - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -As near as I could sift him on that argument, -On some apparent danger seen in him -Aim'd at your highness, no inveterate malice. - -KING RICHARD II: -Then call them to our presence; face to face, -And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear -The accuser and the accused freely speak: -High-stomach'd are they both, and full of ire, -In rage deaf as the sea, hasty as fire. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Many years of happy days befal -My gracious sovereign, my most loving liege! - -THOMAS MOWBRAY: -Each day still better other's happiness; -Until the heavens, envying earth's good hap, -Add an immortal title to your crown! - -KING RICHARD II: -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? - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -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. - -THOMAS MOWBRAY: -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 cool'd for this: -Yet can I not of such tame patience boast -As to be hush'd 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 return'd -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, -Where ever Englishman durst set his foot. -Mean time let this defend my loyalty, -By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -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. - -THOMAS MOWBRAY: -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! - -KING RICHARD II: -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. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -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 detain'd for lewd employments, -Like a false traitor and injurious villain. -Besides I say and will in battle prove, -Or here or elsewhere to the furthest verge -That ever was survey'd by English eye, -That all the treasons for these eighteen years -Complotted and contrived 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 Gloucester's death, -Suggest his soon-believing adversaries, -And consequently, like a traitor coward, -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; -And, by the glorious worth of my descent, -This arm shall do it, or this life be spent. - -KING RICHARD II: -How high a pitch his resolution soars! -Thomas of Norfolk, what say'st thou to this? - -THOMAS MOWBRAY: -O, let my sovereign turn away his face -And bid his ears a little while be deaf, -Till I have told this slander of his blood, -How God and good men hate so foul a liar. - -KING RICHARD II: -Mowbray, impartial are our eyes and ears: -Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir, -As he is but my father's brother's son, -Now, by my sceptre's awe, I make a vow, -Such neighbour nearness to our sacred blood -Should nothing privilege him, nor partialize -The unstooping firmness of my upright soul: -He is our subject, Mowbray; so art thou: -Free speech and fearless I to thee allow. - -THOMAS MOWBRAY: -Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart, -Through the false passage of thy throat, thou liest. -Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais -Disbursed I duly to his highness' soldiers; -The other part reserved I by consent, -For that my sovereign liege was in my debt -Upon remainder of a dear account, -Since last I went to France to fetch his queen: -Now swallow down that lie. For Gloucester's death, -I slew him not; but to my own disgrace -Neglected my sworn duty in that case. -For you, my noble Lord of Lancaster, -The honourable father to my foe -Once did I lay an ambush for your life, -A trespass that doth vex my grieved soul -But ere I last received the sacrament -I did confess it, and exactly begg'd -Your grace's pardon, and I hope I had it. -This is my fault: as for the rest appeall'd, -It issues from the rancour of a villain, -A recreant and most degenerate traitor -Which in myself I boldly will defend; -And interchangeably hurl down my gage -Upon this overweening traitor's foot, -To prove myself a loyal gentleman -Even in the best blood chamber'd in his bosom. -In haste whereof, most heartily I pray -Your highness to assign our trial day. - -KING RICHARD II: -Wrath-kindled gentlemen, be ruled by me; -Let's purge this choler without letting blood: -This we prescribe, though no physician; -Deep malice makes too deep incision; -Forget, forgive; conclude and be agreed; -Our doctors say this is no month to bleed. -Good uncle, let this end where it begun; -We'll calm the Duke of Norfolk, you your son. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -To be a make-peace shall become my age: -Throw down, my son, the Duke of Norfolk's gage. - -KING RICHARD II: -And, Norfolk, throw down his. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -When, Harry, when? -Obedience bids I should not bid again. - -KING RICHARD II: -Norfolk, throw down, we bid; there is no boot. - -THOMAS MOWBRAY: -Myself I throw, dread sovereign, at thy foot. -My life thou shalt command, but not my shame: -The one my duty owes; but my fair name, -Despite of death that lives upon my grave, -To dark dishonour's use thou shalt not have. -I am disgraced, impeach'd and baffled here, -Pierced to the soul with slander's venom'd spear, -The which no balm can cure but his heart-blood -Which breathed this poison. - -KING RICHARD II: -Rage must be withstood: -Give me his gage: lions make leopards tame. - -THOMAS MOWBRAY: -Yea, but not change his spots: take but my shame. -And I resign my gage. My dear dear lord, -The purest treasure mortal times afford -Is spotless reputation: that away, -Men are but gilded loam or painted clay. -A jewel in a ten-times-barr'd-up chest -Is a bold spirit in a loyal breast. -Mine honour is my life; both grow in one: -Take honour from me, and my life is done: -Then, dear my liege, mine honour let me try; -In that I live and for that will I die. - -KING RICHARD II: -Cousin, throw up your gage; do you begin. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -O, God defend my soul from such deep sin! -Shall I seem crest-fall'n in my father's sight? -Or with pale beggar-fear impeach my height -Before this out-dared dastard? Ere my tongue -Shall wound my honour with such feeble wrong, -Or sound so base a parle, my teeth shall tear -The slavish motive of recanting fear, -And spit it bleeding in his high disgrace, -Where shame doth harbour, even in Mowbray's face. - -KING RICHARD II: -We were not born to sue, but to command; -Which since we cannot do to make you friends, -Be ready, as your lives shall answer it, -At Coventry, upon Saint Lambert's day: -There shall your swords and lances arbitrate -The swelling difference of your settled hate: -Since we can not atone you, we shall see -Justice design the victor's chivalry. -Lord marshal, command our officers at arms -Be ready to direct these home alarms. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -Alas, the part I had in Woodstock's blood -Doth more solicit me than your exclaims, -To stir against the butchers of his life! -But since correction lieth in those hands -Which made the fault that we cannot correct, -Put we our quarrel to the will of heaven; -Who, when they see the hours ripe on earth, -Will rain hot vengeance on offenders' heads. - -DUCHESS: -Finds brotherhood in thee no sharper spur? -Hath love in thy old blood no living fire? -Edward's seven sons, whereof thyself art one, -Were as seven vials of his sacred blood, -Or seven fair branches springing from one root: -Some of those seven are dried by nature's course, -Some of those branches by the Destinies cut; -But Thomas, my dear lord, my life, my Gloucester, -One vial full of Edward's sacred blood, -One flourishing branch of his most royal root, -Is crack'd, and all the precious liquor spilt, -Is hack'd down, and his summer leaves all faded, -By envy's hand and murder's bloody axe. -Ah, Gaunt, his blood was thine! that bed, that womb, -That metal, that self-mould, that fashion'd thee -Made him a man; and though thou livest and breathest, -Yet art thou slain in him: thou dost consent -In some large measure to thy father's death, -In that thou seest thy wretched brother die, -Who was the model of thy father's life. -Call it not patience, Gaunt; it is despair: -In suffering thus thy brother to be slaughter'd, -Thou showest the naked pathway to thy life, -Teaching stern murder how to butcher thee: -That which in mean men we intitle patience -Is pale cold cowardice in noble breasts. -What shall I say? to safeguard thine own life, -The best way is to venge my Gloucester's death. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -God's is the quarrel; for God's substitute, -His deputy anointed in His sight, -Hath caused his death: the which if wrongfully, -Let heaven revenge; for I may never lift -An angry arm against His minister. - -DUCHESS: -Where then, alas, may I complain myself? - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -To God, the widow's champion and defence. - -DUCHESS: -Why, then, I will. Farewell, old Gaunt. -Thou goest to Coventry, there to behold -Our cousin Hereford and fell Mowbray fight: -O, sit my husband's wrongs on Hereford's spear, -That it may enter butcher Mowbray's breast! -Or, if misfortune miss the first career, -Be Mowbray's sins so heavy in his bosom, -They may break his foaming courser's back, -And throw the rider headlong in the lists, -A caitiff recreant to my cousin Hereford! -Farewell, old Gaunt: thy sometimes brother's wife -With her companion grief must end her life. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -Sister, farewell; I must to Coventry: -As much good stay with thee as go with me! - -DUCHESS: -Yet one word more: grief boundeth where it falls, -Not with the empty hollowness, but weight: -I take my leave before I have begun, -For sorrow ends not when it seemeth done. -Commend me to thy brother, Edmund York. -Lo, this is all:--nay, yet depart not so; -Though this be all, do not so quickly go; -I shall remember more. Bid him--ah, what?-- -With all good speed at Plashy visit me. -Alack, and what shall good old York there see -But empty lodgings and unfurnish'd walls, -Unpeopled offices, untrodden stones? -And what hear there for welcome but my groans? -Therefore commend me; let him not come there, -To seek out sorrow that dwells every where. -Desolate, desolate, will I hence and die: -The last leave of thee takes my weeping eye. - -Lord Marshal: -My Lord Aumerle, is Harry Hereford arm'd? - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Yea, at all points; and longs to enter in. - -Lord Marshal: -The Duke of Norfolk, sprightfully and bold, -Stays but the summons of the appellant's trumpet. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Why, then, the champions are prepared, and stay -For nothing but his majesty's approach. - -KING RICHARD II: -Marshal, demand of yonder champion -The cause of his arrival here in arms: -Ask him his name and orderly proceed -To swear him in the justice of his cause. - -Lord Marshal: -In God's name and the king's, say who thou art -And why thou comest thus knightly clad in arms, -Against what man thou comest, and what thy quarrel: -Speak truly, on thy knighthood and thy oath; -As so defend thee heaven and thy valour! - -THOMAS MOWBRAY: -My name is Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk; -Who hither come engaged by my oath-- -Which God defend a knight should violate!-- -Both to defend my loyalty and truth -To God, my king and my succeeding issue, -Against the Duke of Hereford that appeals me -And, by the grace of God and this mine arm, -To prove him, in defending of myself, -A traitor to my God, my king, and me: -And as I truly fight, defend me heaven! - -KING RICHARD II: -Marshal, ask yonder knight in arms, -Both who he is and why he cometh hither -Thus plated in habiliments of war, -And formally, according to our law, -Depose him in the justice of his cause. - -Lord Marshal: -What is thy name? and wherefore comest thou hither, -Before King Richard in his royal lists? -Against whom comest thou? and what's thy quarrel? -Speak like a true knight, so defend thee heaven! - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Harry of Hereford, Lancaster and Derby -Am I; who ready here do stand in arms, -To prove, by God's grace and my body's valour, -In lists, on Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, -That he is a traitor, foul and dangerous, -To God of heaven, King Richard and to me; -And as I truly fight, defend me heaven! - -Lord Marshal: -On pain of death, no person be so bold -Or daring-hardy as to touch the lists, -Except the marshal and such officers -Appointed to direct these fair designs. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Lord marshal, let me kiss my sovereign's hand, -And bow my knee before his majesty: -For Mowbray and myself are like two men -That vow a long and weary pilgrimage; -Then let us take a ceremonious leave -And loving farewell of our several friends. - -Lord Marshal: -The appellant in all duty greets your highness, -And craves to kiss your hand and take his leave. - -KING RICHARD II: -We will descend and fold him in our arms. -Cousin of Hereford, as thy cause is right, -So be thy fortune in this royal fight! -Farewell, my blood; which if to-day thou shed, -Lament we may, but not revenge thee dead. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -O let no noble eye profane a tear -For me, if I be gored with Mowbray's spear: -As confident as is the falcon's flight -Against a bird, do I with Mowbray fight. -My loving lord, I take my leave of you; -Of you, my noble cousin, Lord Aumerle; -Not sick, although I have to do with death, -But lusty, young, and cheerly drawing breath. -Lo, as at English feasts, so I regreet -The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet: -O thou, the earthly author of my blood, -Whose youthful spirit, in me regenerate, -Doth with a twofold vigour lift me up -To reach at victory above my head, -Add proof unto mine armour with thy prayers; -And with thy blessings steel my lance's point, -That it may enter Mowbray's waxen coat, -And furbish new the name of John a Gaunt, -Even in the lusty havior of his son. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -God in thy good cause make thee prosperous! -Be swift like lightning in the execution; -And let thy blows, doubly redoubled, -Fall like amazing thunder on the casque -Of thy adverse pernicious enemy: -Rouse up thy youthful blood, be valiant and live. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Mine innocency and Saint George to thrive! - -THOMAS MOWBRAY: -However God or fortune cast my lot, -There lives or dies, true to King Richard's throne, -A loyal, just and upright gentleman: -Never did captive with a freer heart -Cast off his chains of bondage and embrace -His golden uncontroll'd enfranchisement, -More than my dancing soul doth celebrate -This feast of battle with mine adversary. -Most mighty liege, and my companion peers, -Take from my mouth the wish of happy years: -As gentle and as jocund as to jest -Go I to fight: truth hath a quiet breast. - -KING RICHARD II: -Farewell, my lord: securely I espy -Virtue with valour couched in thine eye. -Order the trial, marshal, and begin. - -Lord Marshal: -Harry of Hereford, Lancaster and Derby, -Receive thy lance; and God defend the right! - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Strong as a tower in hope, I cry amen. - -Lord Marshal: -Go bear this lance to Thomas, Duke of Norfolk. - -First Herald: -Harry of Hereford, Lancaster and Derby, -Stands here for God, his sovereign and himself, -On pain to be found false and recreant, -To prove the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray, -A traitor to his God, his king and him; -And dares him to set forward to the fight. - -Second Herald: -Here standeth Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, -On pain to be found false and recreant, -Both to defend himself and to approve -Henry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, -To God, his sovereign and to him disloyal; -Courageously and with a free desire -Attending but the signal to begin. - -Lord Marshal: -Sound, trumpets; and set forward, combatants. -Stay, the king hath thrown his warder down. - -KING RICHARD II: -Let them lay by their helmets and their spears, -And both return back to their chairs again: -Withdraw with us: and let the trumpets sound -While we return these dukes what we decree. -Draw near, -And list what with our council we have done. -For that our kingdom's earth should not be soil'd -With that dear blood which it hath fostered; -And for our eyes do hate the dire aspect -Of civil wounds plough'd up with neighbours' sword; -And for we think the eagle-winged pride -Of sky-aspiring and ambitious thoughts, -With rival-hating envy, set on you -To wake our peace, which in our country's cradle -Draws the sweet infant breath of gentle sleep; -Which so roused up with boisterous untuned drums, -With harsh resounding trumpets' dreadful bray, -And grating shock of wrathful iron arms, -Might from our quiet confines fright fair peace -And make us wade even in our kindred's blood, -Therefore, we banish you our territories: -You, cousin Hereford, upon pain of life, -Till twice five summers have enrich'd our fields -Shall not regreet our fair dominions, -But tread the stranger paths of banishment. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Your will be done: this must my comfort be, -Sun that warms you here shall shine on me; -And those his golden beams to you here lent -Shall point on me and gild my banishment. - -KING RICHARD II: -Norfolk, for thee remains a heavier doom, -Which I with some unwillingness pronounce: -The sly slow hours shall not determinate -The dateless limit of thy dear exile; -The hopeless word of 'never to return' -Breathe I against thee, upon pain of life. - -THOMAS MOWBRAY: -A heavy sentence, my most sovereign liege, -And all unlook'd for from your highness' mouth: -A dearer merit, not so deep a maim -As to be cast forth in the common air, -Have I deserved at your highness' hands. -The language I have learn'd these forty years, -My native English, now I must forego: -And now my tongue's use is to me no more -Than an unstringed viol or a harp, -Or like a cunning instrument cased up, -Or, being open, put into his hands -That knows no touch to tune the harmony: -Within my mouth you have engaol'd my tongue, -Doubly portcullis'd with my teeth and lips; -And dull unfeeling barren ignorance -Is made my gaoler to attend on me. -I am too old to fawn upon a nurse, -Too far in years to be a pupil now: -What is thy sentence then but speechless death, -Which robs my tongue from breathing native breath? - -KING RICHARD II: -It boots thee not to be compassionate: -After our sentence plaining comes too late. - -THOMAS MOWBRAY: -Then thus I turn me from my country's light, -To dwell in solemn shades of endless night. - -KING RICHARD II: -Return again, and take an oath with thee. -Lay on our royal sword your banish'd hands; -Swear by the duty that you owe to God-- -Our part therein we banish with yourselves-- -To keep the oath that we administer: -You never shall, so help you truth and God! -Embrace each other's love in banishment; -Nor never look upon each other's face; -Nor never write, regreet, nor reconcile -This louring tempest of your home-bred hate; -Nor never by advised purpose meet -To plot, contrive, or complot any ill -'Gainst us, our state, our subjects, or our land. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -I swear. - -THOMAS MOWBRAY: -And I, to keep all this. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Norfolk, so far as to mine enemy:-- -By this time, had the king permitted us, -One of our souls had wander'd in the air. -Banish'd this frail sepulchre of our flesh, -As now our flesh is banish'd from this land: -Confess thy treasons ere thou fly the realm; -Since thou hast far to go, bear not along -The clogging burthen of a guilty soul. - -THOMAS MOWBRAY: -No, Bolingbroke: if ever I were traitor, -My name be blotted from the book of life, -And I from heaven banish'd as from hence! -But what thou art, God, thou, and I do know; -And all too soon, I fear, the king shall rue. -Farewell, my liege. Now no way can I stray; -Save back to England, all the world's my way. - -KING RICHARD II: -Uncle, even in the glasses of thine eyes -I see thy grieved heart: thy sad aspect -Hath from the number of his banish'd years -Pluck'd four away. -Six frozen winter spent, -Return with welcome home from banishment. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -How long a time lies in one little word! -Four lagging winters and four wanton springs -End in a word: such is the breath of kings. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -I thank my liege, that in regard of me -He shortens four years of my son's exile: -But little vantage shall I reap thereby; -For, ere the six years that he hath to spend -Can change their moons and bring their times about -My oil-dried lamp and time-bewasted light -Shall be extinct with age and endless night; -My inch of taper will be burnt and done, -And blindfold death not let me see my son. - -KING RICHARD II: -Why uncle, thou hast many years to live. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -But not a minute, king, that thou canst give: -Shorten my days thou canst with sullen sorrow, -And pluck nights from me, but not lend a morrow; -Thou canst help time to furrow me with age, -But stop no wrinkle in his pilgrimage; -Thy word is current with him for my death, -But dead, thy kingdom cannot buy my breath. - -KING RICHARD II: -Thy son is banish'd upon good advice, -Whereto thy tongue a party-verdict gave: -Why at our justice seem'st thou then to lour? - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -Things sweet to taste prove in digestion sour. -You urged me as a judge; but I had rather -You would have bid me argue like a father. -O, had it been a stranger, not my child, -To smooth his fault I should have been more mild: -A partial slander sought I to avoid, -And in the sentence my own life destroy'd. -Alas, I look'd when some of you should say, -I was too strict to make mine own away; -But you gave leave to my unwilling tongue -Against my will to do myself this wrong. - -KING RICHARD II: -Cousin, farewell; and, uncle, bid him so: -Six years we banish him, and he shall go. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Cousin, farewell: what presence must not know, -From where you do remain let paper show. - -Lord Marshal: -My lord, no leave take I; for I will ride, -As far as land will let me, by your side. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -O, to what purpose dost thou hoard thy words, -That thou return'st no greeting to thy friends? - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -I have too few to take my leave of you, -When the tongue's office should be prodigal -To breathe the abundant dolour of the heart. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -Thy grief is but thy absence for a time. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Joy absent, grief is present for that time. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -What is six winters? they are quickly gone. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -To men in joy; but grief makes one hour ten. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -Call it a travel that thou takest for pleasure. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -My heart will sigh when I miscall it so, -Which finds it an inforced pilgrimage. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -The sullen passage of thy weary steps -Esteem as foil wherein thou art to set -The precious jewel of thy home return. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Nay, rather, every tedious stride I make -Will but remember me what a deal of world -I wander from the jewels that I love. -Must I not serve a long apprenticehood -To foreign passages, and in the end, -Having my freedom, boast of nothing else -But that I was a journeyman to grief? - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -All places that the eye of heaven visits -Are to a wise man ports and happy havens. -Teach thy necessity to reason thus; -There is no virtue like necessity. -Think not the king did banish thee, -But thou the king. Woe doth the heavier sit, -Where it perceives it is but faintly borne. -Go, say I sent thee forth to purchase honour -And not the king exiled thee; or suppose -Devouring pestilence hangs in our air -And thou art flying to a fresher clime: -Look, what thy soul holds dear, imagine it -To lie that way thou go'st, not whence thou comest: -Suppose the singing birds musicians, -The grass whereon thou tread'st the presence strew'd, -The flowers fair ladies, and thy steps no more -Than a delightful measure or a dance; -For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite -The man that mocks at it and sets it light. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -O, who can hold a fire in his hand -By thinking on the frosty Caucasus? -Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite -By bare imagination of a feast? -Or wallow naked in December snow -By thinking on fantastic summer's heat? -O, no! the apprehension of the good -Gives but the greater feeling to the worse: -Fell sorrow's tooth doth never rankle more -Than when he bites, but lanceth not the sore. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -Come, come, my son, I'll bring thee on thy way: -Had I thy youth and cause, I would not stay. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Then, England's ground, farewell; sweet soil, adieu; -My mother, and my nurse, that bears me yet! -Where'er I wander, boast of this I can, -Though banish'd, yet a trueborn Englishman. - -KING RICHARD II: -We did observe. Cousin Aumerle, -How far brought you high Hereford on his way? - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -I brought high Hereford, if you call him so, -But to the next highway, and there I left him. - -KING RICHARD II: -And say, what store of parting tears were shed? - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Faith, none for me; except the north-east wind, -Which then blew bitterly against our faces, -Awaked the sleeping rheum, and so by chance -Did grace our hollow parting with a tear. - -KING RICHARD II: -What said our cousin when you parted with him? - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -'Farewell:' -And, for my heart disdained that my tongue -Should so profane the word, that taught me craft -To counterfeit oppression of such grief -That words seem'd buried in my sorrow's grave. -Marry, would the word 'farewell' have lengthen'd hours -And added years to his short banishment, -He should have had a volume of farewells; -But since it would not, he had none of me. - -KING RICHARD II: -He is our cousin, cousin; but 'tis doubt, -When time shall call him home from banishment, -Whether our kinsman come to see his friends. -Ourself and Bushy, Bagot here and Green -Observed his courtship to the common people; -How he did seem to dive into their hearts -With humble and familiar courtesy, -What reverence he did throw away on slaves, -Wooing poor craftsmen with the craft of smiles -And patient underbearing of his fortune, -As 'twere to banish their affects with him. -Off goes his bonnet to an oyster-wench; -A brace of draymen bid God speed him well -And had the tribute of his supple knee, -With 'Thanks, my countrymen, my loving friends;' -As were our England in reversion his, -And he our subjects' next degree in hope. - -GREEN: -Well, he is gone; and with him go these thoughts. -Now for the rebels which stand out in Ireland, -Expedient manage must be made, my liege, -Ere further leisure yield them further means -For their advantage and your highness' loss. - -KING RICHARD II: -We will ourself in person to this war: -And, for our coffers, with too great a court -And liberal largess, are grown somewhat light, -We are inforced to farm our royal realm; -The revenue whereof shall furnish us -For our affairs in hand: if that come short, -Our substitutes at home shall have blank charters; -Whereto, when they shall know what men are rich, -They shall subscribe them for large sums of gold -And send them after to supply our wants; -For we will make for Ireland presently. -Bushy, what news? - -BUSHY: -Old John of Gaunt is grievous sick, my lord, -Suddenly taken; and hath sent post haste -To entreat your majesty to visit him. - -KING RICHARD II: -Where lies he? - -BUSHY: -At Ely House. - -KING RICHARD II: -Now put it, God, in the physician's mind -To help him to his grave immediately! -The lining of his coffers shall make coats -To deck our soldiers for these Irish wars. -Come, gentlemen, let's all go visit him: -Pray God we may make haste, and come too late! - -All: -Amen. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -Will the king come, that I may breathe my last -In wholesome counsel to his unstaid youth? - -DUKE OF YORK: -Vex not yourself, nor strive not with your breath; -For all in vain comes counsel to his ear. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -O, but they say the tongues of dying men -Enforce attention like deep harmony: -Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain, -For they breathe truth that breathe their words in pain. -He that no more must say is listen'd more -Than they whom youth and ease have taught to glose; -More are men's ends mark'd than their lives before: -The setting sun, and music at the close, -As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last, -Writ in remembrance more than things long past: -Though Richard my life's counsel would not hear, -My death's sad tale may yet undeaf his ear. - -DUKE OF YORK: -No; it is stopp'd with other flattering sounds, -As praises, of whose taste the wise are fond, -Lascivious metres, to whose venom sound -The open ear of youth doth always listen; -Report of fashions in proud Italy, -Whose manners still our tardy apish nation -Limps after in base imitation. -Where doth the world thrust forth a vanity-- -So it be new, there's no respect how vile-- -That is not quickly buzzed into his ears? -Then all too late comes counsel to be heard, -Where will doth mutiny with wit's regard. -Direct not him whose way himself will choose: -'Tis breath thou lack'st, and that breath wilt thou lose. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -Methinks I am a prophet new inspired -And thus expiring do foretell of him: -His rash fierce blaze of riot cannot last, -For violent fires soon burn out themselves; -Small showers last long, but sudden storms are short; -He tires betimes that spurs too fast betimes; -With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder: -Light vanity, insatiate cormorant, -Consuming means, soon preys upon itself. -This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle, -This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, -This other Eden, demi-paradise, -This fortress built by Nature for herself -Against infection and the hand of war, -This happy breed of men, this little world, -This precious stone set in the silver sea, -Which serves it in the office of a wall, -Or as a moat defensive to a house, -Against the envy of less happier lands, -This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England, -This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings, -Fear'd by their breed and famous by their birth, -Renowned for their deeds as far from home, -For Christian service and true chivalry, -As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry, -Of the world's ransom, blessed Mary's Son, -This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land, -Dear for her reputation through the world, -Is now leased out, I die pronouncing it, -Like to a tenement or pelting farm: -England, bound in with the triumphant sea -Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege -Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame, -With inky blots and rotten parchment bonds: -That England, that was wont to conquer others, -Hath made a shameful conquest of itself. -Ah, would the scandal vanish with my life, -How happy then were my ensuing death! - -DUKE OF YORK: -The king is come: deal mildly with his youth; -For young hot colts being raged do rage the more. - -QUEEN: -How fares our noble uncle, Lancaster? - -KING RICHARD II: -What comfort, man? how is't with aged Gaunt? - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -O how that name befits my composition! -Old Gaunt indeed, and gaunt in being old: -Within me grief hath kept a tedious fast; -And who abstains from meat that is not gaunt? -For sleeping England long time have I watch'd; -Watching breeds leanness, leanness is all gaunt: -The pleasure that some fathers feed upon, -Is my strict fast; I mean, my children's looks; -And therein fasting, hast thou made me gaunt: -Gaunt am I for the grave, gaunt as a grave, -Whose hollow womb inherits nought but bones. - -KING RICHARD II: -Can sick men play so nicely with their names? - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -No, misery makes sport to mock itself: -Since thou dost seek to kill my name in me, -I mock my name, great king, to flatter thee. - -KING RICHARD II: -Should dying men flatter with those that live? - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -No, no, men living flatter those that die. - -KING RICHARD II: -Thou, now a-dying, say'st thou flatterest me. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -O, no! thou diest, though I the sicker be. - -KING RICHARD II: -I am in health, I breathe, and see thee ill. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -Now He that made me knows I see thee ill; -Ill in myself to see, and in thee seeing ill. -Thy death-bed is no lesser than thy land -Wherein thou liest in reputation sick; -And thou, too careless patient as thou art, -Commit'st thy anointed body to the cure -Of those physicians that first wounded thee: -A thousand flatterers sit within thy crown, -Whose compass is no bigger than thy head; -And yet, incaged in so small a verge, -The waste is no whit lesser than thy land. -O, had thy grandsire with a prophet's eye -Seen how his son's son should destroy his sons, -From forth thy reach he would have laid thy shame, -Deposing thee before thou wert possess'd, -Which art possess'd now to depose thyself. -Why, cousin, wert thou regent of the world, -It were a shame to let this land by lease; -But for thy world enjoying but this land, -Is it not more than shame to shame it so? -Landlord of England art thou now, not king: -Thy state of law is bondslave to the law; And thou-- - -KING RICHARD II: -A lunatic lean-witted fool, -Presuming on an ague's privilege, -Darest with thy frozen admonition -Make pale our cheek, chasing the royal blood -With fury from his native residence. -Now, by my seat's right royal majesty, -Wert thou not brother to great Edward's son, -This tongue that runs so roundly in thy head -Should run thy head from thy unreverent shoulders. - -JOHN OF GAUNT: -O, spare me not, my brother Edward's son, -For that I was his father Edward's son; -That blood already, like the pelican, -Hast thou tapp'd out and drunkenly caroused: -My brother Gloucester, plain well-meaning soul, -Whom fair befal in heaven 'mongst happy souls! -May be a precedent and witness good -That thou respect'st not spilling Edward's blood: -Join with the present sickness that I have; -And thy unkindness be like crooked age, -To crop at once a too long wither'd flower. -Live in thy shame, but die not shame with thee! -These words hereafter thy tormentors be! -Convey me to my bed, then to my grave: -Love they to live that love and honour have. - -KING RICHARD II: -And let them die that age and sullens have; -For both hast thou, and both become the grave. - -DUKE OF YORK: -I do beseech your majesty, impute his words -To wayward sickliness and age in him: -He loves you, on my life, and holds you dear -As Harry Duke of Hereford, were he here. - -KING RICHARD II: -Right, you say true: as Hereford's love, so his; -As theirs, so mine; and all be as it is. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -My liege, old Gaunt commends him to your majesty. - -KING RICHARD II: -What says he? - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -Nay, nothing; all is said -His tongue is now a stringless instrument; -Words, life and all, old Lancaster hath spent. - -DUKE OF YORK: -Be York the next that must be bankrupt so! -Though death be poor, it ends a mortal woe. - -KING RICHARD II: -The ripest fruit first falls, and so doth he; -His time is spent, our pilgrimage must be. -So much for that. Now for our Irish wars: -We must supplant those rough rug-headed kerns, -Which live like venom where no venom else -But only they have privilege to live. -And for these great affairs do ask some charge, -Towards our assistance we do seize to us -The plate, corn, revenues and moveables, -Whereof our uncle Gaunt did stand possess'd. - -DUKE OF YORK: -How long shall I be patient? ah, how long -Shall tender duty make me suffer wrong? -Not Gloucester's death, nor Hereford's banishment -Not Gaunt's rebukes, nor England's private wrongs, -Nor the prevention of poor Bolingbroke -About his marriage, nor my own disgrace, -Have ever made me sour my patient cheek, -Or bend one wrinkle on my sovereign's face. -I am the last of noble Edward's sons, -Of whom thy father, Prince of Wales, was first: -In war was never lion raged more fierce, -In peace was never gentle lamb more mild, -Than was that young and princely gentleman. -His face thou hast, for even so look'd he, -Accomplish'd with the number of thy hours; -But when he frown'd, it was against the French -And not against his friends; his noble hand -Did will what he did spend and spent not that -Which his triumphant father's hand had won; -His hands were guilty of no kindred blood, -But bloody with the enemies of his kin. -O Richard! York is too far gone with grief, -Or else he never would compare between. - -KING RICHARD II: -Why, uncle, what's the matter? - -DUKE OF YORK: -O my liege, -Pardon me, if you please; if not, I, pleased -Not to be pardon'd, am content withal. -Seek you to seize and gripe into your hands -The royalties and rights of banish'd Hereford? -Is not Gaunt dead, and doth not Hereford live? -Was not Gaunt just, and is not Harry true? -Did not the one deserve to have an heir? -Is not his heir a well-deserving son? -Take Hereford's rights away, and take from Time -His charters and his customary rights; -Let not to-morrow then ensue to-day; -Be not thyself; for how art thou a king -But by fair sequence and succession? -Now, afore God--God forbid I say true!-- -If you do wrongfully seize Hereford's rights, -Call in the letters patent that he hath -By his attorneys-general to sue -His livery, and deny his offer'd homage, -You pluck a thousand dangers on your head, -You lose a thousand well-disposed hearts -And prick my tender patience, to those thoughts -Which honour and allegiance cannot think. - -KING RICHARD II: -Think what you will, we seize into our hands -His plate, his goods, his money and his lands. - -DUKE OF YORK: -I'll not be by the while: my liege, farewell: -What will ensue hereof, there's none can tell; -But by bad courses may be understood -That their events can never fall out good. - -KING RICHARD II: -Go, Bushy, to the Earl of Wiltshire straight: -Bid him repair to us to Ely House -To see this business. To-morrow next -We will for Ireland; and 'tis time, I trow: -And we create, in absence of ourself, -Our uncle York lord governor of England; -For he is just and always loved us well. -Come on, our queen: to-morrow must we part; -Be merry, for our time of stay is short - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -Well, lords, the Duke of Lancaster is dead. - -LORD ROSS: -And living too; for now his son is duke. - -LORD WILLOUGHBY: -Barely in title, not in revenue. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -Richly in both, if justice had her right. - -LORD ROSS: -My heart is great; but it must break with silence, -Ere't be disburden'd with a liberal tongue. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -Nay, speak thy mind; and let him ne'er speak more -That speaks thy words again to do thee harm! - -LORD WILLOUGHBY: -Tends that thou wouldst speak to the Duke of Hereford? -If it be so, out with it boldly, man; -Quick is mine ear to hear of good towards him. - -LORD ROSS: -No good at all that I can do for him; -Unless you call it good to pity him, -Bereft and gelded of his patrimony. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -Now, afore God, 'tis shame such wrongs are borne -In him, a royal prince, and many moe -Of noble blood in this declining land. -The king is not himself, but basely led -By flatterers; and what they will inform, -Merely in hate, 'gainst any of us all, -That will the king severely prosecute -'Gainst us, our lives, our children, and our heirs. - -LORD ROSS: -The commons hath he pill'd with grievous taxes, -And quite lost their hearts: the nobles hath he fined -For ancient quarrels, and quite lost their hearts. - -LORD WILLOUGHBY: -And daily new exactions are devised, -As blanks, benevolences, and I wot not what: -But what, o' God's name, doth become of this? - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -Wars have not wasted it, for warr'd he hath not, -But basely yielded upon compromise -That which his noble ancestors achieved with blows: -More hath he spent in peace than they in wars. - -LORD ROSS: -The Earl of Wiltshire hath the realm in farm. - -LORD WILLOUGHBY: -The king's grown bankrupt, like a broken man. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -Reproach and dissolution hangeth over him. - -LORD ROSS: -He hath not money for these Irish wars, -His burthenous taxations notwithstanding, -But by the robbing of the banish'd duke. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -His noble kinsman: most degenerate king! -But, lords, we hear this fearful tempest sing, -Yet see no shelter to avoid the storm; -We see the wind sit sore upon our sails, -And yet we strike not, but securely perish. - -LORD ROSS: -We see the very wreck that we must suffer; -And unavoided is the danger now, -For suffering so the causes of our wreck. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -Not so; even through the hollow eyes of death -I spy life peering; but I dare not say -How near the tidings of our comfort is. - -LORD WILLOUGHBY: -Nay, let us share thy thoughts, as thou dost ours. - -LORD ROSS: -Be confident to speak, Northumberland: -We three are but thyself; and, speaking so, -Thy words are but as thoughts; therefore, be bold. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -Then thus: I have from Port le Blanc, a bay -In Brittany, received intelligence -That Harry Duke of Hereford, Rainold Lord Cobham, -That late broke from the Duke of Exeter, -His brother, Archbishop late of Canterbury, -Sir Thomas Erpingham, Sir John Ramston, -Sir John Norbery, Sir Robert Waterton and Francis Quoint, -All these well furnish'd by the Duke of Bretagne -With eight tall ships, three thousand men of war, -Are making hither with all due expedience -And shortly mean to touch our northern shore: -Perhaps they had ere this, but that they stay -The first departing of the king for Ireland. -If then we shall shake off our slavish yoke, -Imp out our drooping country's broken wing, -Redeem from broking pawn the blemish'd crown, -Wipe off the dust that hides our sceptre's gilt -And make high majesty look like itself, -Away with me in post to Ravenspurgh; -But if you faint, as fearing to do so, -Stay and be secret, and myself will go. - -LORD ROSS: -To horse, to horse! urge doubts to them that fear. - -LORD WILLOUGHBY: -Hold out my horse, and I will first be there. - -BUSHY: -Madam, your majesty is too much sad: -You promised, when you parted with the king, -To lay aside life-harming heaviness -And entertain a cheerful disposition. - -QUEEN: -To please the king I did; to please myself -I cannot do it; yet I know no cause -Why I should welcome such a guest as grief, -Save bidding farewell to so sweet a guest -As my sweet Richard: yet again, methinks, -Some unborn sorrow, ripe in fortune's womb, -Is coming towards me, and my inward soul -With nothing trembles: at some thing it grieves, -More than with parting from my lord the king. - -BUSHY: -Each substance of a grief hath twenty shadows, -Which shows like grief itself, but is not so; -For sorrow's eye, glazed with blinding tears, -Divides one thing entire to many objects; -Like perspectives, which rightly gazed upon -Show nothing but confusion, eyed awry -Distinguish form: so your sweet majesty, -Looking awry upon your lord's departure, -Find shapes of grief, more than himself, to wail; -Which, look'd on as it is, is nought but shadows -Of what it is not. Then, thrice-gracious queen, -More than your lord's departure weep not: more's not seen; -Or if it be, 'tis with false sorrow's eye, -Which for things true weeps things imaginary. - -QUEEN: -It may be so; but yet my inward soul -Persuades me it is otherwise: howe'er it be, -I cannot but be sad; so heavy sad -As, though on thinking on no thought I think, -Makes me with heavy nothing faint and shrink. - -BUSHY: -'Tis nothing but conceit, my gracious lady. - -QUEEN: -'Tis nothing less: conceit is still derived -From some forefather grief; mine is not so, -For nothing had begot my something grief; -Or something hath the nothing that I grieve: -'Tis in reversion that I do possess; -But what it is, that is not yet known; what -I cannot name; 'tis nameless woe, I wot. - -GREEN: -God save your majesty! and well met, gentlemen: -I hope the king is not yet shipp'd for Ireland. - -QUEEN: -Why hopest thou so? 'tis better hope he is; -For his designs crave haste, his haste good hope: -Then wherefore dost thou hope he is not shipp'd? - -GREEN: -That he, our hope, might have retired his power, -And driven into despair an enemy's hope, -Who strongly hath set footing in this land: -The banish'd Bolingbroke repeals himself, -And with uplifted arms is safe arrived -At Ravenspurgh. - -QUEEN: -Now God in heaven forbid! - -GREEN: -Ah, madam, 'tis too true: and that is worse, -The Lord Northumberland, his son young Henry Percy, -The Lords of Ross, Beaumond, and Willoughby, -With all their powerful friends, are fled to him. - -BUSHY: -Why have you not proclaim'd Northumberland -And all the rest revolted faction traitors? - -GREEN: -We have: whereupon the Earl of Worcester -Hath broke his staff, resign'd his stewardship, -And all the household servants fled with him -To Bolingbroke. - -QUEEN: -So, Green, thou art the midwife to my woe, -And Bolingbroke my sorrow's dismal heir: -Now hath my soul brought forth her prodigy, -And I, a gasping new-deliver'd mother, -Have woe to woe, sorrow to sorrow join'd. - -BUSHY: -Despair not, madam. - -QUEEN: -Who shall hinder me? -I will despair, and be at enmity -With cozening hope: he is a flatterer, -A parasite, a keeper back of death, -Who gently would dissolve the bands of life, -Which false hope lingers in extremity. - -GREEN: -Here comes the Duke of York. - -QUEEN: -With signs of war about his aged neck: -O, full of careful business are his looks! -Uncle, for God's sake, speak comfortable words. - -DUKE OF YORK: -Should I do so, I should belie my thoughts: -Comfort's in heaven; and we are on the earth, -Where nothing lives but crosses, cares and grief. -Your husband, he is gone to save far off, -Whilst others come to make him lose at home: -Here am I left to underprop his land, -Who, weak with age, cannot support myself: -Now comes the sick hour that his surfeit made; -Now shall he try his friends that flatter'd him. - -Servant: -My lord, your son was gone before I came. - -DUKE OF YORK: -He was? Why, so! go all which way it will! -The nobles they are fled, the commons they are cold, -And will, I fear, revolt on Hereford's side. -Sirrah, get thee to Plashy, to my sister Gloucester; -Bid her send me presently a thousand pound: -Hold, take my ring. - -Servant: -My lord, I had forgot to tell your lordship, -To-day, as I came by, I called there; -But I shall grieve you to report the rest. - -DUKE OF YORK: -What is't, knave? - -Servant: -An hour before I came, the duchess died. - -DUKE OF YORK: -God for his mercy! what a tide of woes -Comes rushing on this woeful land at once! -I know not what to do: I would to God, -So my untruth had not provoked him to it, -The king had cut off my head with my brother's. -What, are there no posts dispatch'd for Ireland? -How shall we do for money for these wars? -Come, sister,--cousin, I would say--pray, pardon me. -Go, fellow, get thee home, provide some carts -And bring away the armour that is there. -Gentlemen, will you go muster men? -If I know how or which way to order these affairs -Thus thrust disorderly into my hands, -Never believe me. Both are my kinsmen: -The one is my sovereign, whom both my oath -And duty bids defend; the other again -Is my kinsman, whom the king hath wrong'd, -Whom conscience and my kindred bids to right. -Well, somewhat we must do. Come, cousin, I'll -Dispose of you. -Gentlemen, go, muster up your men, -And meet me presently at Berkeley. -I should to Plashy too; -But time will not permit: all is uneven, -And every thing is left at six and seven. - -BUSHY: -The wind sits fair for news to go to Ireland, -But none returns. For us to levy power -Proportionable to the enemy -Is all unpossible. - -GREEN: -Besides, our nearness to the king in love -Is near the hate of those 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 condemn'd. - -BAGOT: -If judgement lie in them, then so do we, -Because we ever have been near the king. - -GREEN: -Well, I will for refuge straight to Bristol castle: -The Earl of Wiltshire is already there. - -BUSHY: -Thither will I with you; for little office -The hateful commons will perform for us, -Except like curs to tear us all to pieces. -Will you go along with us? - -BAGOT: -No; I will to Ireland to his majesty. -Farewell: if heart's presages be not vain, -We three here art that ne'er shall meet again. - -BUSHY: -That's as York thrives to beat back Bolingbroke. - -GREEN: -Alas, poor duke! the task he undertakes -Is numbering sands and drinking oceans dry: -Where one on his side fights, thousands will fly. -Farewell at once, for once, for all, and ever. - -BUSHY: -Well, we may meet again. - -BAGOT: -I fear me, never. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -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 your fair discourse hath been as sugar, -Making the hard way sweet and delectable. -But I bethink me what a weary way -From Ravenspurgh to Cotswold will be found -In Ross and Willoughby, wanting your company, -Which, I protest, hath very much beguiled -The tediousness and process of my travel: -But theirs is sweetened with the hope to have -The present benefit which I possess; -And hope to joy is little less in joy -Than hope enjoy'd: by this the weary lords -Shall make their way seem short, as mine hath done -By sight of what I have, your noble company. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Of much less value is my company -Than your good words. But who comes here? - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -It is my son, young Harry Percy, -Sent from my brother Worcester, whencesoever. -Harry, how fares your uncle? - -HENRY PERCY: -I had thought, my lord, to have learn'd his health of you. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -Why, is he not with the queen? - -HENRY PERCY: -No, my good Lord; he hath forsook 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 last we spake together. - -HENRY PERCY: -Because your lordship was proclaimed 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 there; -Then with directions to repair to Ravenspurgh. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -Have you forgot the Duke of Hereford, boy? - -HENRY 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. - -HENRY PERCY: -My gracious lord, I tender you my service, -Such as it is, being tender, raw and young: -Which elder days shall ripen and confirm -To more approved service and desert. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -I thank thee, gentle Percy; and be sure -I count myself in nothing else so happy -As in a soul remembering my good friends; -And, as my fortune ripens with thy love, -It shall be still thy true love's recompense: -My heart this covenant makes, my hand thus seals it. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -How far is it to Berkeley? and what stir -Keeps good old York there with his men of war? - -HENRY PERCY: -There stands the castle, by yon tuft of trees, -Mann'd 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. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -Here come the Lords of Ross and Willoughby, -Bloody with spurring, fiery-red with haste. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Welcome, my lords. I wot your love pursues -A banish'd traitor: all my treasury -Is yet but unfelt thanks, which more enrich'd -Shall be your love and labour's recompense. - -LORD ROSS: -Your presence makes us rich, most noble lord. - -LORD WILLOUGHBY: -And far surmounts our labour to attain it. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Evermore thanks, the exchequer of the poor; -Which, till my infant fortune comes to years, -Stands for my bounty. But who comes here? - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -It is my Lord of Berkeley, as I guess. - -LORD BERKELEY: -My Lord of Hereford, my message is to you. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -My lord, my answer is--to Lancaster; -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 you say. - -LORD BERKELEY: -Mistake me not, my lord; 'tis not my meaning -To raze one title of your honour out: -To you, my lord, I come, what lord you will, -From the most gracious regent of this land, -The Duke of York, to know what pricks you on -To take advantage of the absent time -And fright our native peace with self-born arms. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -I shall not need transport my words by you; -Here comes his grace in person. My noble uncle! - -DUKE OF YORK: -Show me thy humble heart, and not thy knee, -Whose duty is deceiveable and false. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -My gracious uncle-- - -DUKE OF YORK: -Tut, tut! -Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle: -I am no traitor's uncle; and that word 'grace.' -In an ungracious mouth is but profane. -Why have those banish'd and forbidden legs -Dared once to touch a dust 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 despised arms? -Comest thou because the 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, 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, chastise thee -And minister correction to thy fault! - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -My gracious uncle, let me know my fault: -On what condition stands it and wherein? - -DUKE OF YORK: -Even in condition of the worst degree, -In gross rebellion and detested treason: -Thou art a banish'd man, and here art come -Before the expiration of thy time, -In braving arms against thy sovereign. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -As I was banish'd, I was banish'd Hereford; -But as I come, I come for Lancaster. -And, noble uncle, I beseech your grace -Look on my wrongs with an indifferent 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 condemn'd -A wandering vagabond; my rights and royalties -Pluck'd from my arms perforce and given away -To upstart unthrifts? 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 cousin; -Had you first died, and he been thus trod down, -He should have found his uncle Gaunt a father, -To rouse his wrongs and chase them to the bay. -I am denied to sue my livery here, -And yet my letters-patents give me leave: -My father's goods are all distrain'd and sold, -And these and all are all amiss employ'd. -What would you have me do? I am a subject, -And I challenge law: attorneys are denied me; -And therefore, personally I lay my claim -To my inheritance of free descent. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -The noble duke hath been too much abused. - -LORD ROSS: -It stands your grace upon to do him right. - -LORD WILLOUGHBY: -Base men by his endowments are made great. - -DUKE OF YORK: -My lords of England, let me tell you this: -I have had feeling of my cousin's wrongs -And laboured all I could to do him right; -But in this kind to come, in braving arms, -Be his own carver and cut out his way, -To find out right with wrong, it may not be; -And you that do abet him in this kind -Cherish rebellion and are rebels all. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -The noble duke hath sworn his coming is -But for his own; and for the right of that -We all have strongly sworn to give him aid; -And let him ne'er see joy that breaks that oath! - -DUKE OF YORK: -Well, well, I see the issue of these arms: -I cannot mend it, I must needs confess, -Because my power is weak and all ill left: -But if I could, by Him that gave me life, -I would attach you all and make you stoop -Unto the sovereign mercy of the king; -But since I cannot, be it known to you -I do remain as neuter. So, fare you well; -Unless you please to enter in the castle -And there repose you for this night. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -An offer, uncle, that we will accept: -But we must win your grace to go with us -To Bristol castle, which they say is held -By Bushy, Bagot and their complices, -The caterpillars of the commonwealth, -Which I have sworn to weed and pluck away. - -DUKE OF YORK: -It may be I will go with you: but yet I'll pause; -For I am loath to break our country's laws. -Nor friends nor foes, to me welcome you are: -Things past redress are now with me past care. - -Captain: -My lord of Salisbury, we have stay'd ten days, -And hardly kept our countrymen together, -And yet we hear no tidings from the king; -Therefore we will disperse ourselves: farewell. - -EARL OF SALISBURY: -Stay yet another day, thou trusty Welshman: -The king reposeth all his confidence in thee. - -Captain: -'Tis thought the king is dead; we will not stay. -The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd -And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven; -The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth -And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change; -Rich men look sad and ruffians dance and leap, -The one in fear to lose what they enjoy, -The other to enjoy by rage and war: -These signs forerun the death or fall of kings. -Farewell: our countrymen are gone and fled, -As well assured Richard their king is dead. - -EARL OF SALISBURY: -Ah, Richard, with the eyes of heavy mind -I see thy glory like a shooting star -Fall to the base earth from the firmament. -Thy sun sets weeping in the lowly west, -Witnessing storms to come, woe and unrest: -Thy friends are fled to wait upon thy foes, -And crossly to thy good all fortune goes. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Bring forth these men. -Bushy and Green, I will not vex your souls-- -Since presently your souls must part your bodies-- -With too much urging your pernicious lives, -For 'twere no charity; yet, to wash your blood -From off my hands, here in the view of men -I will unfold some causes of your deaths. -You have misled a prince, a royal king, -A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments, -By you unhappied and disfigured clean: -You have in manner with your sinful hours -Made a divorce betwixt his queen and him, -Broke the possession of a royal bed -And stain'd the beauty of a fair queen's cheeks -With tears drawn from her eyes by your foul wrongs. -Myself, a prince by fortune of my birth, -Near to the king in blood, and near in love -Till you did make him misinterpret me, -Have stoop'd my neck under your injuries, -And sigh'd my English breath in foreign clouds, -Eating the bitter bread of banishment; -Whilst you have fed upon my signories, -Dispark'd my parks and fell'd my forest woods, -From my own windows torn my household coat, -Razed out my imprese, leaving me no sign, -Save men's opinions and my living blood, -To show the world I am a gentleman. -This and much more, much more than twice all this, -Condemns you to the death. See them deliver'd over -To execution and the hand of death. - -BUSHY: -More welcome is the stroke of death to me -Than Bolingbroke to England. Lords, farewell. - -GREEN: -My comfort is that heaven will take our souls -And plague injustice with the pains of hell. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -My Lord Northumberland, see them dispatch'd. -Uncle, you say the queen is at your house; -For God's sake, fairly let her be entreated: -Tell her I send to her my kind commends; -Take special care my greetings be deliver'd. - -DUKE OF YORK: -A gentleman of mine I have dispatch'd -With letters of your love to her at large. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Thank, gentle uncle. Come, lords, away. -To fight with Glendower and his complices: -Awhile to work, and after holiday. - -KING RICHARD II: -Barkloughly castle call they this at hand? - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Yea, my lord. How brooks your grace the air, -After your late tossing on the breaking seas? - -KING RICHARD II: -Needs must I like it well: I weep for joy -To stand upon my kingdom once again. -Dear earth, I do salute thee with my hand, -Though rebels wound thee with their horses' hoofs: -As a long-parted mother with her child -Plays fondly with her tears and smiles in meeting, -So, weeping, smiling, greet I thee, my earth, -And do thee favours with my royal hands. -Feed not thy sovereign's foe, my gentle earth, -Nor with thy sweets comfort his ravenous sense; -But let thy spiders, that suck up thy venom, -And heavy-gaited toads lie in their way, -Doing annoyance to the treacherous feet -Which with usurping steps do trample thee: -Yield stinging nettles to mine enemies; -And when they from thy bosom pluck a flower, -Guard it, I pray thee, with a lurking adder -Whose double tongue may with a mortal touch -Throw death upon thy sovereign's enemies. -Mock not my senseless conjuration, lords: -This earth shall have a feeling and these stones -Prove armed soldiers, ere her native king -Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms. - -BISHOP OF CARLISLE: -Fear not, my lord: that Power that made you king -Hath power to keep you king in spite of all. -The means that heaven yields must be embraced, -And not neglected; else, if heaven would, -And we will not, heaven's offer we refuse, -The proffer'd means of succor and redress. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -He means, my lord, that we are too remiss; -Whilst Bolingbroke, through our security, -Grows strong and great in substance and in power. - -KING RICHARD II: -Discomfortable cousin! know'st thou not -That when the searching eye of heaven is hid, -Behind the globe, that lights the lower world, -Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen -In murders and in outrage, boldly here; -But when from under this terrestrial ball -He fires the proud tops of the eastern pines -And darts his light through every guilty hole, -Then murders, treasons and detested sins, -The cloak of night being pluck'd from off their backs, -Stand bare and naked, trembling at themselves? -So when this thief, this traitor, Bolingbroke, -Who all this while hath revell'd in the night -Whilst we were wandering with the antipodes, -Shall see us rising in our throne, the east, -His treasons will sit blushing in his face, -Not able to endure the sight of day, -But self-affrighted tremble at his sin. -Not all the water in the rough rude sea -Can wash the balm off from an anointed king; -The breath of worldly men cannot depose -The deputy elected by the Lord: -For every man that Bolingbroke hath press'd -To lift shrewd steel against our golden crown, -God for his Richard hath in heavenly pay -A glorious angel: then, if angels fight, -Weak men must fall, for heaven still guards the right. -Welcome, my lord how far off lies your power? - -EARL OF SALISBURY: -Nor near nor farther off, my gracious lord, -Than this weak arm: discomfort guides my tongue -And bids me speak of nothing but despair. -One day too late, I fear me, noble lord, -Hath clouded all thy happy days on earth: -O, call back yesterday, bid time return, -And thou shalt have twelve thousand fighting men! -To-day, to-day, unhappy day, too late, -O'erthrows thy joys, friends, fortune and thy state: -For all the Welshmen, hearing thou wert dead. -Are gone to Bolingbroke, dispersed and fled. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Comfort, my liege; why looks your grace so pale? - -KING RICHARD II: -But now the blood of twenty thousand men -Did triumph in my face, and they are fled; -And, till so much blood thither come again, -Have I not reason to look pale and dead? -All souls that will be safe fly from my side, -For time hath set a blot upon my pride. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Comfort, my liege; remember who you are. - -KING RICHARD II: -I had forgot myself; am I not king? -Awake, thou coward majesty! thou sleepest. -Is not the king's name twenty thousand names? -Arm, arm, my name! a puny subject strikes -At thy great glory. Look not to the ground, -Ye favourites of a king: are we not high? -High be our thoughts: I know my uncle York -Hath power enough to serve our turn. But who comes here? - -SIR STEPHEN SCROOP: -More health and happiness betide my liege -Than can my care-tuned tongue deliver him! - -KING RICHARD II: -Mine ear is open and my heart prepared; -The worst is worldly loss thou canst unfold. -Say, is my kingdom lost? why, 'twas my care -And what loss is it to be rid of care? -Strives Bolingbroke to be as great as we? -Greater he shall not be; if he serve God, -We'll serve Him too and be his fellow so: -Revolt our subjects? that we cannot mend; -They break their faith to God as well as us: -Cry woe, destruction, ruin and decay: -The worst is death, and death will have his day. - -SIR STEPHEN SCROOP: -Glad am I that your highness is so arm'd -To bear the tidings of calamity. -Like an unseasonable stormy day, -Which makes the silver rivers drown their shores, -As if the world were all dissolved to tears, -So high above his limits swells the rage -Of Bolingbroke, covering your fearful land -With hard bright steel and hearts harder than steel. -White-beards have arm'd their thin and hairless scalps -Against thy majesty; boys, with women's voices, -Strive to speak big and clap their female joints -In stiff unwieldy arms against thy crown: -The very beadsmen learn to bend their bows -Of double-fatal yew against thy state; -Yea, distaff-women manage rusty bills -Against thy seat: both young and old rebel, -And all goes worse than I have power to tell. - -KING RICHARD II: -Too well, too well thou tell'st a tale so ill. -Where is the Earl of Wiltshire? where is Bagot? -What is become of Bushy? where is Green? -That they have let the dangerous enemy -Measure our confines with such peaceful steps? -If we prevail, their heads shall pay for it: -I warrant they have made peace with Bolingbroke. - -SIR STEPHEN SCROOP: -Peace have they made with him indeed, my lord. - -KING RICHARD II: -O villains, vipers, damn'd without redemption! -Dogs, easily won to fawn on any man! -Snakes, in my heart-blood warm'd, that sting my heart! -Three Judases, each one thrice worse than Judas! -Would they make peace? terrible hell make war -Upon their spotted souls for this offence! - -SIR STEPHEN SCROOP: -Sweet love, I see, changing his property, -Turns to the sourest and most deadly hate: -Again uncurse their souls; their peace is made -With heads, and not with hands; those whom you curse -Have felt the worst of death's destroying wound -And lie full low, graved in the hollow ground. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Is Bushy, Green, and the Earl of Wiltshire dead? - -SIR STEPHEN SCROOP: -Ay, all of them at Bristol lost their heads. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Where is the duke my father with his power? - -KING RICHARD II: -No matter where; of comfort no man speak: -Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs; -Make dust our paper and with rainy eyes -Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth, -Let's choose executors and talk of wills: -And yet not so, for what can we bequeath -Save our deposed bodies to the ground? -Our lands, our lives and all are Bolingbroke's, -And nothing can we call our own but death -And that small model of the barren earth -Which serves as paste and cover to our bones. -For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground -And tell sad stories of the death of kings; -How some have been deposed; some slain in war, -Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed; -Some poison'd by their wives: some sleeping kill'd; -All murder'd: for within the hollow crown -That rounds the mortal temples of a king -Keeps Death his court and there the antic sits, -Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp, -Allowing him a breath, a little scene, -To monarchize, be fear'd and kill with looks, -Infusing him with self and vain conceit, -As if this flesh which walls about our life, -Were brass impregnable, and humour'd thus -Comes at the last and with a little pin -Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king! -Cover your heads and mock not flesh and blood -With solemn reverence: throw away respect, -Tradition, form and ceremonious duty, -For you have but mistook me all this while: -I live with bread like you, feel want, -Taste grief, need friends: subjected thus, -How can you say to me, I am a king? - -BISHOP OF CARLISLE: -My lord, wise men ne'er sit and wail their woes, -But presently prevent the ways to wail. -To fear the foe, since fear oppresseth strength, -Gives in your weakness strength unto your foe, -And so your follies fight against yourself. -Fear and be slain; no worse can come to fight: -And fight and die is death destroying death; -Where fearing dying pays death servile breath. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -My father hath a power; inquire of him -And learn to make a body of a limb. - -KING RICHARD II: -Thou chidest me well: proud Bolingbroke, I come -To change blows with thee for our day of doom. -This ague fit of fear is over-blown; -An easy task it is to win our own. -Say, Scroop, where lies our uncle with his power? -Speak sweetly, man, although thy looks be sour. - -SIR STEPHEN SCROOP: -Men judge by the complexion of the sky -The state and inclination of the day: -So may you by my dull and heavy eye, -My tongue hath but a heavier tale to say. -I play the torturer, by small and small -To lengthen out the worst that must be spoken: -Your uncle York is join'd with Bolingbroke, -And all your northern castles yielded up, -And all your southern gentlemen in arms -Upon his party. - -KING RICHARD II: -Thou hast said enough. -Beshrew thee, cousin, which didst lead me forth -Of that sweet way I was in to despair! -What say you now? what comfort have we now? -By heaven, I'll hate him everlastingly -That bids me be of comfort any more. -Go to Flint castle: there I'll pine away; -A king, woe's slave, shall kingly woe obey. -That power I have, discharge; and let them go -To ear the land that hath some hope to grow, -For I have none: let no man speak again -To alter this, for counsel is but vain. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -My liege, one word. - -KING RICHARD II: -He does me double wrong -That wounds me with the flatteries of his tongue. -Discharge my followers: let them hence away, -From Richard's night to Bolingbroke's fair day. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -So that by this intelligence we learn -The Welshmen are dispersed, and Salisbury -Is gone to meet the king, who lately landed -With some few private friends upon this coast. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -The news is very fair and good, my lord: -Richard not far from hence hath hid his head. - -DUKE OF YORK: -It would beseem the Lord Northumberland -To say 'King Richard:' alack the heavy day -When such a sacred king should hide his head. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -Your grace mistakes; only to be brief -Left I his title out. - -DUKE OF YORK: -The time hath been, -Would you have been so brief with him, he would -Have been so brief with you, to shorten you, -For taking so the head, your whole head's length. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Mistake not, uncle, further than you should. - -DUKE OF YORK: -Take not, good cousin, further than you should. -Lest you mistake the heavens are o'er our heads. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -I know it, uncle, and oppose not myself -Against their will. But who comes here? -Welcome, Harry: what, will not this castle yield? - -HENRY PERCY: -The castle royally is mann'd, my lord, -Against thy entrance. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Royally! -Why, it contains no king? - -HENRY PERCY: -Yes, my good lord, -It doth contain a king; King Richard lies -Within the limits of yon lime and stone: -And with him are the Lord Aumerle, Lord Salisbury, -Sir Stephen Scroop, besides a clergyman -Of holy reverence; who, I cannot learn. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -O, belike it is the Bishop of Carlisle. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Noble lords, -Go to the rude ribs of that ancient castle; -Through brazen trumpet send the breath of parley -Into his ruin'd ears, and thus deliver: -Henry Bolingbroke -On both his knees doth kiss King Richard's hand -And sends allegiance and true faith of heart -To his most royal person, hither come -Even at his feet to lay my arms and power, -Provided that my banishment repeal'd -And lands restored again be freely granted: -If not, I'll use the advantage of my power -And lay the summer's dust with showers of blood -Rain'd from the wounds of slaughter'd Englishmen: -The which, how far off from the mind of Bolingbroke -It is, such crimson tempest should bedrench -The fresh green lap of fair King Richard's land, -My stooping duty tenderly shall show. -Go, signify as much, while here we march -Upon the grassy carpet of this plain. -Let's march without the noise of threatening drum, -That from this castle's tatter'd battlements -Our fair appointments may be well perused. -Methinks King Richard and myself should meet -With no less terror than the elements -Of fire and water, when their thundering shock -At meeting tears the cloudy cheeks of heaven. -Be he the fire, I'll be the yielding water: -The rage be his, whilst on the earth I rain -My waters; on the earth, and not on him. -March on, and mark King Richard how he looks. -See, see, King Richard doth himself appear, -As doth the blushing discontented sun -From out the fiery portal of the east, -When he perceives the envious clouds are bent -To dim his glory and to stain the track -Of his bright passage to the occident. - -DUKE OF YORK: -Yet looks he like a king: behold, his eye, -As bright as is the eagle's, lightens forth -Controlling majesty: alack, alack, for woe, -That any harm should stain so fair a show! - -KING RICHARD II: -We are amazed; and thus long have we stood -To watch the fearful bending of thy knee, -Because we thought ourself thy lawful king: -And if we be, how dare thy joints forget -To pay their awful duty to our presence? -If we be not, show us the hand of God -That hath dismissed us from our stewardship; -For well we know, no hand of blood and bone -Can gripe the sacred handle of our sceptre, -Unless he do profane, steal, or usurp. -And though you think that all, as you have done, -Have torn their souls by turning them from us, -And we are barren and bereft of friends; -Yet know, my master, God omnipotent, -Is mustering in his clouds on our behalf -Armies of pestilence; and they shall strike -Your children yet unborn and unbegot, -That lift your vassal hands against my head -And threat the glory of my precious crown. -Tell Bolingbroke--for yond methinks he stands-- -That every stride he makes upon my land -Is dangerous treason: he is come to open -The purple testament of bleeding war; -But ere the crown he looks for live in peace, -Ten thousand bloody crowns of mothers' sons -Shall ill become the flower of England's face, -Change the complexion of her maid-pale peace -To scarlet indignation and bedew -Her pastures' grass with faithful English blood. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -The king of heaven forbid our lord the king -Should so with civil and uncivil arms -Be rush'd upon! Thy thrice noble cousin -Harry Bolingbroke doth humbly kiss thy hand; -And by the honourable tomb he swears, -That stands upon your royal grandsire's bones, -And by the royalties of both your bloods, -Currents that spring from one most gracious head, -And by the buried hand of warlike Gaunt, -And by the worth and honour of himself, -Comprising all that may be sworn or said, -His coming hither hath no further scope -Than for his lineal royalties and to beg -Enfranchisement immediate on his knees: -Which on thy royal party granted once, -His glittering arms he will commend to rust, -His barbed steeds to stables, and his heart -To faithful service of your majesty. -This swears he, as he is a prince, is just; -And, as I am a gentleman, I credit him. - -KING RICHARD II: -Northumberland, say thus the king returns: -His noble cousin is right welcome hither; -And all the number of his fair demands -Shall be accomplish'd without contradiction: -With all the gracious utterance thou hast -Speak to his gentle hearing kind commends. -We do debase ourselves, cousin, do we not, -To look so poorly and to speak so fair? -Shall we call back Northumberland, and send -Defiance to the traitor, and so die? - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -No, good my lord; let's fight with gentle words -Till time lend friends and friends their helpful swords. - -KING RICHARD II: -O God, O God! that e'er this tongue of mine, -That laid the sentence of dread banishment -On yon proud man, should take it off again -With words of sooth! O that I were as great -As is my grief, or lesser than my name! -Or that I could forget what I have been, -Or not remember what I must be now! -Swell'st thou, proud heart? I'll give thee scope to beat, -Since foes have scope to beat both thee and me. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Northumberland comes back from Bolingbroke. - -KING RICHARD II: -What must the king do now? must he submit? -The king shall do it: must he be deposed? -The king shall be contented: must he lose -The name of king? o' God's name, let it go: -I'll give my jewels for a set of beads, -My gorgeous palace for a hermitage, -My gay apparel for an almsman's gown, -My figured goblets for a dish of wood, -My sceptre for a palmer's walking staff, -My subjects for a pair of carved saints -And my large kingdom for a little grave, -A little little grave, an obscure grave; -Or I'll be buried in the king's highway, -Some way of common trade, where subjects' feet -May hourly trample on their sovereign's head; -For on my heart they tread now whilst I live; -And buried once, why not upon my head? -Aumerle, thou weep'st, my tender-hearted cousin! -We'll make foul weather with despised tears; -Our sighs and they shall lodge the summer corn, -And make a dearth in this revolting land. -Or shall we play the wantons with our woes, -And make some pretty match with shedding tears? -As thus, to drop them still upon one place, -Till they have fretted us a pair of graves -Within the earth; and, therein laid,--there lies -Two kinsmen digg'd their graves with weeping eyes. -Would not this ill do well? Well, well, I see -I talk but idly, and you laugh at me. -Most mighty prince, my Lord Northumberland, -What says King Bolingbroke? will his majesty -Give Richard leave to live till Richard die? -You make a leg, and Bolingbroke says ay. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -My lord, in the base court he doth attend -To speak with you; may it please you to come down. - -KING RICHARD II: -Down, down I come; like glistering Phaethon, -Wanting the manage of unruly jades. -In the base court? Base court, where kings grow base, -To come at traitors' calls and do them grace. -In the base court? Come down? Down, court! -down, king! -For night-owls shriek where mounting larks -should sing. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -What says his majesty? - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -Sorrow and grief of heart -Makes him speak fondly, like a frantic man -Yet he is come. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Stand all apart, -And show fair duty to his majesty. -My gracious lord,-- - -KING RICHARD II: -Fair cousin, you debase your princely knee -To make the base earth proud with kissing it: -Me rather had my heart might feel your love -Than my unpleased eye see your courtesy. -Up, cousin, up; your heart is up, I know, -Thus high at least, although your knee be low. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -My gracious lord, I come but for mine own. - -KING RICHARD II: -Your own is yours, and I am yours, and all. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -So far be mine, my most redoubted lord, -As my true service shall deserve your love. - -KING RICHARD II: -Well you deserve: they well deserve to have, -That know the strong'st and surest way to get. -Uncle, give me your hands: nay, dry your eyes; -Tears show their love, but want their remedies. -Cousin, I am too young to be your father, -Though you are old enough to be my heir. -What you will have, I'll give, and willing too; -For do we must what force will have us do. -Set on towards London, cousin, is it so? - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Yea, my good lord. - -KING RICHARD II: -Then I must not say no. - -QUEEN: -What sport shall we devise here in this garden, -To drive away the heavy thought of care? - -Lady: -Madam, we'll play at bowls. - -QUEEN: -'Twill make me think the world is full of rubs, -And that my fortune rubs against the bias. - -Lady: -Madam, we'll dance. - -QUEEN: -My legs can keep no measure in delight, -When my poor heart no measure keeps in grief: -Therefore, no dancing, girl; some other sport. - -Lady: -Madam, we'll tell tales. - -QUEEN: -Of sorrow or of joy? - -Lady: -Of either, madam. - -QUEEN: -Of neither, girl: -For of joy, being altogether wanting, -It doth remember me the more of sorrow; -Or if of grief, being altogether had, -It adds more sorrow to my want of joy: -For what I have I need not to repeat; -And what I want it boots not to complain. - -Lady: -Madam, I'll sing. - -QUEEN: -'Tis well that thou hast cause -But thou shouldst please me better, wouldst thou weep. - -Lady: -I could weep, madam, would it do you good. - -QUEEN: -And I could sing, would weeping do me good, -And never borrow any tear of thee. -But stay, here come the gardeners: -Let's step into the shadow of these trees. -My wretchedness unto a row of pins, -They'll talk of state; for every one doth so -Against a change; woe is forerun with woe. - -Gardener: -Go, bind thou up yon dangling apricocks, -Which, like unruly children, make their sire -Stoop with oppression of their prodigal weight: -Give some supportance to the bending twigs. -Go thou, and like an executioner, -Cut off the heads of too fast growing sprays, -That look too lofty in our commonwealth: -All must be even in our government. -You thus employ'd, I will go root away -The noisome weeds, which without profit suck -The soil's fertility from wholesome flowers. - -Servant: -Why should we in the compass of a pale -Keep law and form and due proportion, -Showing, as in a model, our firm estate, -When our sea-walled garden, the whole land, -Is full of weeds, her fairest flowers choked up, -Her fruit-trees all upturned, her hedges ruin'd, -Her knots disorder'd and her wholesome herbs -Swarming with caterpillars? - -Gardener: -Hold thy peace: -He that hath suffer'd this disorder'd spring -Hath now himself met with the fall of leaf: -The weeds which his broad-spreading leaves did shelter, -That seem'd in eating him to hold him up, -Are pluck'd up root and all by Bolingbroke, -I mean the Earl of Wiltshire, Bushy, Green. - -Servant: -What, are they dead? - -Gardener: -They are; and Bolingbroke -Hath seized the wasteful king. O, what pity is it -That he had not so trimm'd and dress'd his land -As we this garden! We at time of year -Do wound the bark, the skin of our fruit-trees, -Lest, being over-proud in sap and blood, -With too much riches it confound itself: -Had he done so to great and growing men, -They might have lived to bear and he to taste -Their fruits of duty: superfluous branches -We lop away, that bearing boughs may live: -Had he done so, himself had borne the crown, -Which waste of idle hours hath quite thrown down. - -Servant: -What, think you then the king shall be deposed? - -Gardener: -Depress'd he is already, and deposed -'Tis doubt he will be: letters came last night -To a dear friend of the good Duke of York's, -That tell black tidings. - -QUEEN: -O, I am press'd to death through want of speaking! -Thou, old Adam's likeness, set to dress this garden, -How dares thy harsh rude tongue sound this unpleasing news? -What Eve, what serpent, hath suggested thee -To make a second fall of cursed man? -Why dost thou say King Richard is deposed? -Darest thou, thou little better thing than earth, -Divine his downfall? Say, where, when, and how, -Camest thou by this ill tidings? speak, thou wretch. - -Gardener: -Pardon me, madam: little joy have I -To breathe this news; yet what I say is true. -King Richard, he is in the mighty hold -Of Bolingbroke: their fortunes both are weigh'd: -In your lord's scale is nothing but himself, -And some few vanities that make him light; -But in the balance of great Bolingbroke, -Besides himself, are all the English peers, -And with that odds he weighs King Richard down. -Post you to London, and you will find it so; -I speak no more than every one doth know. - -QUEEN: -Nimble mischance, that art so light of foot, -Doth not thy embassage belong to me, -And am I last that knows it? O, thou think'st -To serve me last, that I may longest keep -Thy sorrow in my breast. Come, ladies, go, -To meet at London London's king in woe. -What, was I born to this, that my sad look -Should grace the triumph of great Bolingbroke? -Gardener, for telling me these news of woe, -Pray God the plants thou graft'st may never grow. - -GARDENER: -Poor queen! so that thy state might be no worse, -I would my skill were subject to thy curse. -Here did she fall a tear; here in this place -I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace: -Rue, even for ruth, here shortly shall be seen, -In the remembrance of a weeping queen. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Call forth Bagot. -Now, Bagot, freely speak thy mind; -What thou dost know of noble Gloucester'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. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -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 Gloucester'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 mine 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 -In this your cousin's death. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Princes and noble lords, -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 slanderous 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. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Bagot, forbear; thou shalt not take it up. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Excepting one, I would he were the best -In all this presence that hath moved me so. - -LORD FITZWATER: -If that thy valour stand on sympathy, -There is my gage, Aumerle, in gage to thine: -By that fair sun which shows me where thou stand'st, -I heard thee say, and vauntingly thou spakest it -That thou wert cause of noble Gloucester'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. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Thou darest not, coward, live to see that day. - -LORD FITZWATER: -Now by my soul, I would it were this hour. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Fitzwater, thou art damn'd to hell for this. - -HENRY 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 darest. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -An if I do not, may my hands rot off -And never brandish more revengeful steel -Over the glittering helmet of my foe! - -Lord: -I task the earth to the like, forsworn Aumerle; -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. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -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. - -DUKE OF SURREY: -My Lord Fitzwater, I do remember well -The very time Aumerle and you did talk. - -LORD FITZWATER: -'Tis very true: you were in presence then; -And you can witness with me this is true. - -DUKE OF SURREY: -As false, by heaven, as heaven itself is true. - -LORD FITZWATER: -Surrey, thou liest. - -DUKE OF 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. - -LORD FITZWATER: -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 -That thou, Aumerle, didst send two of thy men -To execute the noble duke at Calais. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -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. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -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. - -BISHOP OF CARLISLE: -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. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Why, bishop, is Norfolk dead? - -BISHOP OF CARLISLE: -As surely as I live, my lord. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -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. - -DUKE OF 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! - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -In God's name, I'll ascend the regal throne. - -BISHOP OF CARLISLE: -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; -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! - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -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. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Fetch hither Richard, that in common view -He may surrender; so we shall proceed -Without suspicion. - -DUKE OF YORK: -I will be his conduct. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -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. - -KING RICHARD II: -Alack, why am I sent for to a king, -Before I have shook off the regal thoughts -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? - -DUKE OF 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. - -KING RICHARD II: -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, -Drinking my griefs, whilst you mount up on high. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -I thought you had been willing to resign. - -KING RICHARD II: -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. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Part of your cares you give me with your crown. - -KING RICHARD II: -Your cares set up do not pluck my cares down. -My care is loss of care, by old care done; -Your care is gain of care, by new care won: -The cares I give I have, though given away; -They tend the crown, yet still with me they stay. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Are you contented to resign the crown? - -KING RICHARD II: -Ay, no; no, ay; for I must nothing be; -Therefore no no, for I resign to thee. -Now mark me, how I will undo myself; -I give this heavy weight from off my head -And this unwieldy sceptre from my hand, -The pride of kingly sway from out my heart; -With mine own tears I wash away my balm, -With mine own hands I give away my crown, -With mine own tongue deny my sacred state, -With mine own breath release all duty's rites: -All pomp and majesty I do forswear; -My manors, rents, revenues I forego; -My acts, decrees, and statutes I deny: -God pardon all oaths that are broke to me! -God keep all vows unbroke that swear to thee! -Make me, that nothing have, with nothing grieved, -And thou with all pleased, that hast all achieved! -Long mayst thou live in Richard's seat to sit, -And soon lie Richard in an earthly pit! -God save King Harry, unking'd Richard says, -And send him many years of sunshine days! -What more remains? - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -No more, but that you read -These accusations and these grievous crimes -Committed by your person and your followers -Against the state and profit of this land; -That, by confessing them, the souls of men -May deem that you are worthily deposed. - -KING RICHARD II: -Must I do so? and must I ravel out -My weaved-up folly? Gentle Northumberland, -If thy offences were upon record, -Would it not shame thee in so fair a troop -To read a lecture of them? If thou wouldst, -There shouldst thou find one heinous article, -Containing the deposing of a king -And cracking the strong warrant of an oath, -Mark'd with a blot, damn'd in the book of heaven: -Nay, all of you that stand and look upon, -Whilst that my wretchedness doth bait myself, -Though some of you with Pilate wash your hands -Showing an outward pity; yet you Pilates -Have here deliver'd me to my sour cross, -And water cannot wash away your sin. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -My lord, dispatch; read o'er these articles. - -KING RICHARD II: -Mine eyes are full of tears, I cannot see: -And yet salt water blinds them not so much -But they can see a sort of traitors here. -Nay, if I turn mine eyes upon myself, -I find myself a traitor with the rest; -For I have given here my soul's consent -To undeck the pompous body of a king; -Made glory base and sovereignty a slave, -Proud majesty a subject, state a peasant. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -My lord,-- - -KING RICHARD II: -No lord of thine, thou haught insulting man, -Nor no man's lord; I have no name, no title, -No, not that name was given me at the font, -But 'tis usurp'd: alack the heavy day, -That I have worn so many winters out, -And know not now what name to call myself! -O that I were a mockery king of snow, -Standing before the sun of Bolingbroke, -To melt myself away in water-drops! -Good king, great king, and yet not greatly good, -An if my word be sterling yet in England, -Let it command a mirror hither straight, -That it may show me what a face I have, -Since it is bankrupt of his majesty. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Go some of you and fetch a looking-glass. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -Read o'er this paper while the glass doth come. - -KING RICHARD II: -Fiend, thou torment'st me ere I come to hell! - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Urge it no more, my Lord Northumberland. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -The commons will not then be satisfied. - -KING RICHARD II: -They shall be satisfied: I'll read enough, -When I do see the very book indeed -Where all my sins are writ, and that's myself. -Give me the glass, and therein will I read. -No deeper wrinkles yet? hath sorrow struck -So many blows upon this face of mine, -And made no deeper wounds? O flattering glass, -Like to my followers in prosperity, -Thou dost beguile me! Was this face the face -That every day under his household roof -Did keep ten thousand men? was this the face -That, like the sun, did make beholders wink? -Was this the face that faced so many follies, -And was at last out-faced by Bolingbroke? -A brittle glory shineth in this face: -As brittle as the glory is the face; -For there it is, crack'd in a hundred shivers. -Mark, silent king, the moral of this sport, -How soon my sorrow hath destroy'd my face. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -The shadow of your sorrow hath destroy'd -The shadow or your face. - -KING RICHARD II: -Say that again. -The shadow of my sorrow! ha! let's see: -'Tis very true, my grief lies all within; -And these external manners of laments -Are merely shadows to the unseen grief -That swells with silence in the tortured soul; -There lies the substance: and I thank thee, king, -For thy great bounty, that not only givest -Me cause to wail but teachest me the way -How to lament the cause. I'll beg one boon, -And then be gone and trouble you no more. -Shall I obtain it? - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Name it, fair cousin. - -KING RICHARD II: -'Fair cousin'? I am greater than a king: -For when I was a king, my flatterers -Were then but subjects; being now a subject, -I have a king here to my flatterer. -Being so great, I have no need to beg. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Yet ask. - -KING RICHARD II: -And shall I have? - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -You shall. - -KING RICHARD II: -Then give me leave to go. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Whither? - -KING RICHARD II: -Whither you will, so I were from your sights. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Go, some of you convey him to the Tower. - -KING RICHARD II: -O, good! convey? conveyers are you all, -That rise thus nimbly by a true king's fall. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -On Wednesday next we solemnly set down -Our coronation: lords, prepare yourselves. - -Abbot: -A woeful pageant have we here beheld. - -BISHOP OF CARLISLE: -The woe's to come; the children yet unborn. -Shall feel this day as sharp to them as thorn. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -You holy clergymen, is there no plot -To rid the realm of this pernicious blot? - -Abbot: -My lord, -Before I freely speak my mind herein, -You shall not only take the sacrament -To bury mine intents, but also to effect -Whatever I shall happen to devise. -I see your brows are full of discontent, -Your hearts of sorrow and your eyes of tears: -Come home with me to supper; and I'll lay -A plot shall show us all a merry day. - -QUEEN: -This way the king will come; this is the way -To Julius Caesar's ill-erected tower, -To whose flint bosom my condemned lord -Is doom'd a prisoner by proud Bolingbroke: -Here let us rest, if this rebellious earth -Have any resting for her true king's queen. -But soft, but see, or rather do not see, -My fair rose wither: yet look up, behold, -That you in pity may dissolve to dew, -And wash him fresh again with true-love tears. -Ah, thou, the model where old Troy did stand, -Thou map of honour, thou King Richard's tomb, -And not King Richard; thou most beauteous inn, -Why should hard-favour'd grief be lodged in thee, -When triumph is become an alehouse guest? - -KING RICHARD II: -Join not with grief, fair woman, do not so, -To make my end too sudden: learn, good soul, -To think our former state a happy dream; -From which awaked, the truth of what we are -Shows us but this: I am sworn brother, sweet, -To grim Necessity, and he and I -Will keep a league till death. Hie thee to France -And cloister thee in some religious house: -Our holy lives must win a new world's crown, -Which our profane hours here have stricken down. - -QUEEN: -What, is my Richard both in shape and mind -Transform'd and weaken'd? hath Bolingbroke deposed -Thine intellect? hath he been in thy heart? -The lion dying thrusteth forth his paw, -And wounds the earth, if nothing else, with rage -To be o'erpower'd; and wilt thou, pupil-like, -Take thy correction mildly, kiss the rod, -And fawn on rage with base humility, -Which art a lion and a king of beasts? - -KING RICHARD II: -A king of beasts, indeed; if aught but beasts, -I had been still a happy king of men. -Good sometime queen, prepare thee hence for France: -Think I am dead and that even here thou takest, -As from my death-bed, thy last living leave. -In winter's tedious nights sit by the fire -With good old folks and let them tell thee tales -Of woeful ages long ago betid; -And ere thou bid good night, to quit their griefs, -Tell thou the lamentable tale of me -And send the hearers weeping to their beds: -For why, the senseless brands will sympathize -The heavy accent of thy moving tongue -And in compassion weep the fire out; -And some will mourn in ashes, some coal-black, -For the deposing of a rightful king. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -My lord, the mind of Bolingbroke is changed: -You must to Pomfret, not unto the Tower. -And, madam, there is order ta'en for you; -With all swift speed you must away to France. - -KING RICHARD II: -Northumberland, thou ladder wherewithal -The mounting Bolingbroke ascends my throne, -The time shall not be many hours of age -More than it is ere foul sin gathering head -Shalt break into corruption: thou shalt think, -Though he divide the realm and give thee half, -It is too little, helping him to all; -And he shall think that thou, which know'st the way -To plant unrightful kings, wilt know again, -Being ne'er so little urged, another way -To pluck him headlong from the usurped throne. -The love of wicked men converts to fear; -That fear to hate, and hate turns one or both -To worthy danger and deserved death. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -My guilt be on my head, and there an end. -Take leave and part; for you must part forthwith. - -KING RICHARD II: -Doubly divorced! Bad men, you violate -A twofold marriage, 'twixt my crown and me, -And then betwixt me and my married wife. -Let me unkiss the oath 'twixt thee and me; -And yet not so, for with a kiss 'twas made. -Part us, Northumberland; I toward the north, -Where shivering cold and sickness pines the clime; -My wife to France: from whence, set forth in pomp, -She came adorned hither like sweet May, -Sent back like Hallowmas or short'st of day. - -QUEEN: -And must we be divided? must we part? - -KING RICHARD II: -Ay, hand from hand, my love, and heart from heart. - -QUEEN: -Banish us both and send the king with me. - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -That were some love but little policy. - -QUEEN: -Then whither he goes, thither let me go. - -KING RICHARD II: -So two, together weeping, make one woe. -Weep thou for me in France, I for thee here; -Better far off than near, be ne'er the near. -Go, count thy way with sighs; I mine with groans. - -QUEEN: -So longest way shall have the longest moans. - -KING RICHARD II: -Twice for one step I'll groan, the way being short, -And piece the way out with a heavy heart. -Come, come, in wooing sorrow let's be brief, -Since, wedding it, there is such length in grief; -One kiss shall stop our mouths, and dumbly part; -Thus give I mine, and thus take I thy heart. - -QUEEN: -Give me mine own again; 'twere no good part -To take on me to keep and kill thy heart. -So, now I have mine own again, be gone, -That I might strive to kill it with a groan. - -KING RICHARD II: -We make woe wanton with this fond delay: -Once more, adieu; the rest let sorrow say. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -My lord, you told me you would tell the rest, -When weeping made you break the story off, -of our two cousins coming into London. - -DUKE OF YORK: -Where did I leave? - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -At that sad stop, my lord, -Where rude misgovern'd hands from windows' tops -Threw dust and rubbish on King Richard's head. - -DUKE OF YORK: -Then, as I said, the duke, great Bolingbroke, -Mounted upon a hot and fiery steed -Which his aspiring rider seem'd to know, -With slow but stately pace kept on his course, -Whilst all tongues cried 'God save thee, -Bolingbroke!' -You would have thought the very windows spake, -So many greedy looks of young and old -Through casements darted their desiring eyes -Upon his visage, and that all the walls -With painted imagery had said at once -'Jesu preserve thee! welcome, Bolingbroke!' -Whilst he, from the one side to the other turning, -Bareheaded, lower than his proud steed's neck, -Bespake them thus: 'I thank you, countrymen:' -And thus still doing, thus he pass'd along. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Alack, poor Richard! where rode he the whilst? - -DUKE OF YORK: -As in a theatre, the eyes of men, -After a well-graced actor leaves the stage, -Are idly bent on him that enters next, -Thinking his prattle to be tedious; -Even so, or with much more contempt, men's eyes -Did scowl on gentle Richard; no man cried 'God save him!' -No joyful tongue gave him his welcome home: -But dust was thrown upon his sacred head: -Which with such gentle sorrow he shook off, -His face still combating with tears and smiles, -The badges of his grief and patience, -That had not God, for some strong purpose, steel'd -The hearts of men, they must perforce have melted -And barbarism itself have pitied him. -But heaven hath a hand in these events, -To whose high will we bound our calm contents. -To Bolingbroke are we sworn subjects now, -Whose state and honour I for aye allow. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Here comes my son Aumerle. - -DUKE OF YORK: -Aumerle that was; -But that is lost for being Richard's friend, -And, madam, you must call him Rutland now: -I am in parliament pledge for his truth -And lasting fealty to the new-made king. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Welcome, my son: who are the violets now -That strew the green lap of the new come spring? - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Madam, I know not, nor I greatly care not: -God knows I had as lief be none as one. - -DUKE OF YORK: -Well, bear you well in this new spring of time, -Lest you be cropp'd before you come to prime. -What news from Oxford? hold those justs and triumphs? - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -For aught I know, my lord, they do. - -DUKE OF YORK: -You will be there, I know. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -If God prevent not, I purpose so. - -DUKE OF YORK: -What seal is that, that hangs without thy bosom? -Yea, look'st thou pale? let me see the writing. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -My lord, 'tis nothing. - -DUKE OF YORK: -No matter, then, who see it; -I will be satisfied; let me see the writing. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -I do beseech your grace to pardon me: -It is a matter of small consequence, -Which for some reasons I would not have seen. - -DUKE OF YORK: -Which for some reasons, sir, I mean to see. -I fear, I fear,-- - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -What should you fear? -'Tis nothing but some bond, that he is enter'd into -For gay apparel 'gainst the triumph day. - -DUKE OF YORK: -Bound to himself! what doth he with a bond -That he is bound to? Wife, thou art a fool. -Boy, let me see the writing. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -I do beseech you, pardon me; I may not show it. - -DUKE OF YORK: -I will be satisfied; let me see it, I say. -Treason! foul treason! Villain! traitor! slave! - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -What is the matter, my lord? - -DUKE OF YORK: -Ho! who is within there? -Saddle my horse. -God for his mercy, what treachery is here! - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Why, what is it, my lord? - -DUKE OF YORK: -Give me my boots, I say; saddle my horse. -Now, by mine honour, by my life, by my troth, -I will appeach the villain. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -What is the matter? - -DUKE OF YORK: -Peace, foolish woman. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -I will not peace. What is the matter, Aumerle. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Good mother, be content; it is no more -Than my poor life must answer. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Thy life answer! - -DUKE OF YORK: -Bring me my boots: I will unto the king. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Strike him, Aumerle. Poor boy, thou art amazed. -Hence, villain! never more come in my sight. - -DUKE OF YORK: -Give me my boots, I say. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Why, York, what wilt thou do? -Wilt thou not hide the trespass of thine own? -Have we more sons? or are we like to have? -Is not my teeming date drunk up with time? -And wilt thou pluck my fair son from mine age, -And rob me of a happy mother's name? -Is he not like thee? is he not thine own? - -DUKE OF YORK: -Thou fond mad woman, -Wilt thou conceal this dark conspiracy? -A dozen of them here have ta'en the sacrament, -And interchangeably set down their hands, -To kill the king at Oxford. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -He shall be none; -We'll keep him here: then what is that to him? - -DUKE OF YORK: -Away, fond woman! were he twenty times my son, -I would appeach him. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Hadst thou groan'd for him -As I have done, thou wouldst be more pitiful. -But now I know thy mind; thou dost suspect -That I have been disloyal to thy bed, -And that he is a bastard, not thy son: -Sweet York, sweet husband, be not of that mind: -He is as like thee as a man may be, -Not like to me, or any of my kin, -And yet I love him. - -DUKE OF YORK: -Make way, unruly woman! - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -After, Aumerle! mount thee upon his horse; -Spur post, and get before him to the king, -And beg thy pardon ere he do accuse thee. -I'll not be long behind; though I be old, -I doubt not but to ride as fast as York: -And never will I rise up from the ground -Till Bolingbroke have pardon'd thee. Away, be gone! - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Can no man tell me of my unthrifty son? -'Tis full three months since I did see him last; -If any plague hang over us, 'tis he. -I would to God, my lords, he might be found: -Inquire at London, 'mongst the taverns there, -For there, they say, he daily doth frequent, -With unrestrained loose companions, -Even such, they say, as stand in narrow lanes, -And beat our watch, and rob our passengers; -Which he, young wanton and effeminate boy, -Takes on the point of honour to support -So dissolute a crew. - -HENRY PERCY: -My lord, some two days since I saw the prince, -And told him of those triumphs held at Oxford. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -And what said the gallant? - -HENRY PERCY: -His answer was, he would unto the stews, -And from the common'st creature pluck a glove, -And wear it as a favour; and with that -He would unhorse the lustiest challenger. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -As dissolute as desperate; yet through both -I see some sparks of better hope, which elder years -May happily bring forth. But who comes here? - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Where is the king? - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -What means our cousin, that he stares and looks -So wildly? - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -God save your grace! I do beseech your majesty, -To have some conference with your grace alone. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Withdraw yourselves, and leave us here alone. -What is the matter with our cousin now? - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -For ever may my knees grow to the earth, -My tongue cleave to my roof within my mouth -Unless a pardon ere I rise or speak. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Intended or committed was this fault? -If on the first, how heinous e'er it be, -To win thy after-love I pardon thee. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Then give me leave that I may turn the key, -That no man enter till my tale be done. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Have thy desire. - -DUKE OF YORK: - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Villain, I'll make thee safe. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Stay thy revengeful hand; thou hast no cause to fear. - -DUKE OF YORK: - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -What is the matter, uncle? speak; -Recover breath; tell us how near is danger, -That we may arm us to encounter it. - -DUKE OF YORK: -Peruse this writing here, and thou shalt know -The treason that my haste forbids me show. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Remember, as thou read'st, thy promise pass'd: -I do repent me; read not my name there -My heart is not confederate with my hand. - -DUKE OF YORK: -It was, villain, ere thy hand did set it down. -I tore it from the traitor's bosom, king; -Fear, and not love, begets his penitence: -Forget to pity him, lest thy pity prove -A serpent that will sting thee to the heart. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -O heinous, strong and bold conspiracy! -O loyal father of a treacherous son! -Thou sheer, immaculate and silver fountain, -From when this stream through muddy passages -Hath held his current and defiled himself! -Thy overflow of good converts to bad, -And thy abundant goodness shall excuse -This deadly blot in thy digressing son. - -DUKE OF YORK: -So shall my virtue be his vice's bawd; -And he shall spend mine honour with his shame, -As thriftless sons their scraping fathers' gold. -Mine honour lives when his dishonour dies, -Or my shamed life in his dishonour lies: -Thou kill'st me in his life; giving him breath, -The traitor lives, the true man's put to death. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -What shrill-voiced suppliant makes this eager cry? - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -A woman, and thy aunt, great king; 'tis I. -Speak with me, pity me, open the door. -A beggar begs that never begg'd before. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Our scene is alter'd from a serious thing, -And now changed to 'The Beggar and the King.' -My dangerous cousin, let your mother in: -I know she is come to pray for your foul sin. - -DUKE OF YORK: -If thou do pardon, whosoever pray, -More sins for this forgiveness prosper may. -This fester'd joint cut off, the rest rest sound; -This let alone will all the rest confound. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -O king, believe not this hard-hearted man! -Love loving not itself none other can. - -DUKE OF YORK: -Thou frantic woman, what dost thou make here? -Shall thy old dugs once more a traitor rear? - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Sweet York, be patient. Hear me, gentle liege. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Rise up, good aunt. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Not yet, I thee beseech: -For ever will I walk upon my knees, -And never see day that the happy sees, -Till thou give joy; until thou bid me joy, -By pardoning Rutland, my transgressing boy. - -DUKE OF AUMERLE: -Unto my mother's prayers I bend my knee. - -DUKE OF YORK: -Against them both my true joints bended be. -Ill mayst thou thrive, if thou grant any grace! - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Pleads he in earnest? look upon his face; -His eyes do drop no tears, his prayers are in jest; -His words come from his mouth, ours from our breast: -He prays but faintly and would be denied; -We pray with heart and soul and all beside: -His weary joints would gladly rise, I know; -Our knees shall kneel till to the ground they grow: -His prayers are full of false hypocrisy; -Ours of true zeal and deep integrity. -Our prayers do out-pray his; then let them have -That mercy which true prayer ought to have. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Good aunt, stand up. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Nay, do not say, 'stand up;' -Say, 'pardon' first, and afterwards 'stand up.' -And if I were thy nurse, thy tongue to teach, -'Pardon' should be the first word of thy speech. -I never long'd to hear a word till now; -Say 'pardon,' king; let pity teach thee how: -The word is short, but not so short as sweet; -No word like 'pardon' for kings' mouths so meet. - -DUKE OF YORK: -Speak it in French, king; say, 'pardonne moi.' - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Dost thou teach pardon pardon to destroy? -Ah, my sour husband, my hard-hearted lord, -That set'st the word itself against the word! -Speak 'pardon' as 'tis current in our land; -The chopping French we do not understand. -Thine eye begins to speak; set thy tongue there; -Or in thy piteous heart plant thou thine ear; -That hearing how our plaints and prayers do pierce, -Pity may move thee 'pardon' to rehearse. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Good aunt, stand up. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -I do not sue to stand; -Pardon is all the suit I have in hand. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -I pardon him, as God shall pardon me. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -O happy vantage of a kneeling knee! -Yet am I sick for fear: speak it again; -Twice saying 'pardon' doth not pardon twain, -But makes one pardon strong. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -With all my heart -I pardon him. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -A god on earth thou art. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -But for our trusty brother-in-law and the abbot, -With all the rest of that consorted crew, -Destruction straight shall dog them at the heels. -Good uncle, help to order several powers -To Oxford, or where'er these traitors are: -They shall not live within this world, I swear, -But I will have them, if I once know where. -Uncle, farewell: and, cousin too, adieu: -Your mother well hath pray'd, and prove you true. - -DUCHESS OF YORK: -Come, my old son: I pray God make thee new. - -EXTON: -Didst thou not mark the king, what words he spake, -'Have I no friend will rid me of this living fear?' -Was it not so? - -Servant: -These were his very words. - -EXTON: -'Have I no friend?' quoth he: he spake it twice, -And urged it twice together, did he not? - -Servant: -He did. - -EXTON: -And speaking it, he wistly look'd on me, -And who should say, 'I would thou wert the man' -That would divorce this terror from my heart;' -Meaning the king at Pomfret. Come, let's go: -I am the king's friend, and will rid his foe. - -KING RICHARD II: -I have been studying how I may compare -This prison where I live unto the world: -And for because the world is populous -And here is not a creature but myself, -I cannot do it; yet I'll hammer it out. -My brain I'll prove the female to my soul, -My soul the father; and these two beget -A generation of still-breeding thoughts, -And these same thoughts people this little world, -In humours like the people of this world, -For no thought is contented. The better sort, -As thoughts of things divine, are intermix'd -With scruples and do set the word itself -Against the word: -As thus, 'Come, little ones,' and then again, -'It is as hard to come as for a camel -To thread the postern of a small needle's eye.' -Thoughts tending to ambition, they do plot -Unlikely wonders; how these vain weak nails -May tear a passage through the flinty ribs -Of this hard world, my ragged prison walls, -And, for they cannot, die in their own pride. -Thoughts tending to content flatter themselves -That they are not the first of fortune's slaves, -Nor shall not be the last; like silly beggars -Who sitting in the stocks refuge their shame, -That many have and others must sit there; -And in this thought they find a kind of ease, -Bearing their own misfortunes on the back -Of such as have before endured the like. -Thus play I in one person many people, -And none contented: sometimes am I king; -Then treasons make me wish myself a beggar, -And so I am: then crushing penury -Persuades me I was better when a king; -Then am I king'd again: and by and by -Think that I am unking'd by Bolingbroke, -And straight am nothing: but whate'er I be, -Nor I nor any man that but man is -With nothing shall be pleased, till he be eased -With being nothing. Music do I hear? -Ha, ha! keep time: how sour sweet music is, -When time is broke and no proportion kept! -So is it in the music of men's lives. -And here have I the daintiness of ear -To cheque time broke in a disorder'd string; -But for the concord of my state and time -Had not an ear to hear my true time broke. -I wasted time, and now doth time waste me; -For now hath time made me his numbering clock: -My thoughts are minutes; and with sighs they jar -Their watches on unto mine eyes, the outward watch, -Whereto my finger, like a dial's point, -Is pointing still, in cleansing them from tears. -Now sir, the sound that tells what hour it is -Are clamorous groans, which strike upon my heart, -Which is the bell: so sighs and tears and groans -Show minutes, times, and hours: but my time -Runs posting on in Bolingbroke's proud joy, -While I stand fooling here, his Jack o' the clock. -This music mads me; let it sound no more; -For though it have holp madmen to their wits, -In me it seems it will make wise men mad. -Yet blessing on his heart that gives it me! -For 'tis a sign of love; and love to Richard -Is a strange brooch in this all-hating world. - -Groom: -Hail, royal prince! - -KING RICHARD II: -Thanks, noble peer; -The cheapest of us is ten groats too dear. -What art thou? and how comest thou hither, -Where no man never comes but that sad dog -That brings me food to make misfortune live? - -Groom: -I was a poor groom of thy stable, king, -When thou wert king; who, travelling towards York, -With much ado at length have gotten leave -To look upon my sometimes royal master's face. -O, how it yearn'd my heart when I beheld -In London streets, that coronation-day, -When Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary, -That horse that thou so often hast bestrid, -That horse that I so carefully have dress'd! - -KING RICHARD II: -Rode he on Barbary? Tell me, gentle friend, -How went he under him? - -Groom: -So proudly as if he disdain'd the ground. - -KING RICHARD II: -So proud that Bolingbroke was on his back! -That jade hath eat bread from my royal hand; -This hand hath made him proud with clapping him. -Would he not stumble? would he not fall down, -Since pride must have a fall, and break the neck -Of that proud man that did usurp his back? -Forgiveness, horse! why do I rail on thee, -Since thou, created to be awed by man, -Wast born to bear? I was not made a horse; -And yet I bear a burthen like an ass, -Spurr'd, gall'd and tired by jouncing Bolingbroke. - -Keeper: -Fellow, give place; here is no longer stay. - -KING RICHARD II: -If thou love me, 'tis time thou wert away. - -Groom: -What my tongue dares not, that my heart shall say. - -Keeper: -My lord, will't please you to fall to? - -KING RICHARD II: -Taste of it first, as thou art wont to do. - -Keeper: -My lord, I dare not: Sir Pierce of Exton, who -lately came from the king, commands the contrary. - -KING RICHARD II: -The devil take Henry of Lancaster and thee! -Patience is stale, and I am weary of it. - -Keeper: -Help, help, help! - -KING RICHARD II: -How now! what means death in this rude assault? -Villain, thy own hand yields thy death's instrument. -Go thou, and fill another room in hell. -That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire -That staggers thus my person. Exton, thy fierce hand -Hath with the king's blood stain'd the king's own land. -Mount, mount, my soul! thy seat is up on high; -Whilst my gross flesh sinks downward, here to die. - -EXTON: -As full of valour as of royal blood: -Both have I spill'd; O would the deed were good! -For now the devil, that told me I did well, -Says that this deed is chronicled in hell. -This dead king to the living king I'll bear -Take hence the rest, and give them burial here. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Kind uncle York, the latest news we hear -Is that the rebels have consumed with fire -Our town of Cicester in Gloucestershire; -But whether they be ta'en or slain we hear not. -Welcome, my lord what is the news? - -NORTHUMBERLAND: -First, to thy sacred state wish I all happiness. -The next news is, I have to London sent -The heads of Oxford, Salisbury, Blunt, and Kent: -The manner of their taking may appear -At large discoursed in this paper here. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -We thank thee, gentle Percy, for thy pains; -And to thy worth will add right worthy gains. - -LORD FITZWATER: -My lord, I have from Oxford sent to London -The heads of Brocas and Sir Bennet Seely, -Two of the dangerous consorted traitors -That sought at Oxford thy dire overthrow. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Thy pains, Fitzwater, shall not be forgot; -Right noble is thy merit, well I wot. - -HENRY PERCY: -The grand conspirator, Abbot of Westminster, -With clog of conscience and sour melancholy -Hath yielded up his body to the grave; -But here is Carlisle living, to abide -Thy kingly doom and sentence of his pride. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Carlisle, this is your doom: -Choose out some secret place, some reverend room, -More than thou hast, and with it joy thy life; -So as thou livest in peace, die free from strife: -For though mine enemy thou hast ever been, -High sparks of honour in thee have I seen. - -EXTON: -Great king, within this coffin I present -Thy buried fear: herein all breathless lies -The mightiest of thy greatest enemies, -Richard of Bordeaux, by me hither brought. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -Exton, I thank thee not; for thou hast wrought -A deed of slander with thy fatal hand -Upon my head and all this famous land. - -EXTON: -From your own mouth, my lord, did I this deed. - -HENRY BOLINGBROKE: -They love not poison that do poison need, -Nor do I thee: though I did wish him dead, -I hate the murderer, love him murdered. -The guilt of conscience take thou for thy labour, -But neither my good word nor princely favour: -With Cain go wander through shades of night, -And never show thy head by day nor light. -Lords, I protest, my soul is full of woe, -That blood should sprinkle me to make me grow: -Come, mourn with me for that I do lament, -And put on sullen black incontinent: -I'll make a voyage to the Holy Land, -To wash this blood off from my guilty hand: -March sadly after; grace my mournings here; -In weeping after this untimely bier. - - -SAMPSON: -Gregory, o' my word, we'll not carry coals. - -GREGORY: -No, for then we should be colliers. - -SAMPSON: -I mean, an we be in choler, we'll draw. - -GREGORY: -Ay, while you live, draw your neck out o' the collar. - -SAMPSON: -I strike quickly, being moved. - -GREGORY: -But thou art not quickly moved to strike. - -SAMPSON: -A dog of the house of Montague moves me. - -GREGORY: -To move is to stir; and to be valiant is to stand: -therefore, if thou art moved, thou runn'st away. - -SAMPSON: -A dog of that house shall move me to stand: I will -take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's. - -GREGORY: -That shows thee a weak slave; for the weakest goes -to the wall. - -SAMPSON: -True; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels, -are ever thrust to the wall: therefore I will push -Montague's men from the wall, and thrust his maids -to the wall. - -GREGORY: -The quarrel is between our masters and us their men. - -SAMPSON: -'Tis all one, I will show myself a tyrant: when I -have fought with the men, I will be cruel with the -maids, and cut off their heads. - -GREGORY: -The heads of the maids? - -SAMPSON: -Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads; -take it in what sense thou wilt. - -GREGORY: -They must take it in sense that feel it. - -SAMPSON: -Me they shall feel while I am able to stand: and -'tis known I am a pretty piece of flesh. - -GREGORY: -'Tis well thou art not fish; if thou hadst, thou -hadst been poor John. Draw thy tool! here comes -two of the house of the Montagues. - -SAMPSON: -My naked weapon is out: quarrel, I will back thee. - -GREGORY: -How! turn thy back and run? - -SAMPSON: -Fear me not. - -GREGORY: -No, marry; I fear thee! - -SAMPSON: -Let us take the law of our sides; let them begin. - -GREGORY: -I will frown as I pass by, and let them take it as -they list. - -SAMPSON: -Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them; -which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it. - -ABRAHAM: -Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? - -SAMPSON: -I do bite my thumb, sir. - -ABRAHAM: -Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? - -SAMPSON: - -GREGORY: -No. - -SAMPSON: -No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I -bite my thumb, sir. - -GREGORY: -Do you quarrel, sir? - -ABRAHAM: -Quarrel sir! no, sir. - -SAMPSON: -If you do, sir, I am for you: I serve as good a man as you. - -ABRAHAM: -No better. - -SAMPSON: -Well, sir. - -GREGORY: -Say 'better:' here comes one of my master's kinsmen. - -SAMPSON: -Yes, better, sir. - -ABRAHAM: -You lie. - -SAMPSON: -Draw, if you be men. Gregory, remember thy swashing blow. - -BENVOLIO: -Part, fools! -Put up your swords; you know not what you do. - -TYBALT: -What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds? -Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death. - -BENVOLIO: -I do but keep the peace: put up thy sword, -Or manage it to part these men with me. - -TYBALT: -What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, -As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee: -Have at thee, coward! - -First Citizen: -Clubs, bills, and partisans! strike! beat them down! -Down with the Capulets! down with the Montagues! - -CAPULET: -What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho! - -LADY CAPULET: -A crutch, a crutch! why call you for a sword? - -CAPULET: -My sword, I say! Old Montague is come, -And flourishes his blade in spite of me. - -MONTAGUE: -Thou villain Capulet,--Hold me not, let me go. - -LADY MONTAGUE: -Thou shalt not stir a foot to seek a foe. - -PRINCE: -Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace, -Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel,-- -Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you beasts, -That quench the fire of your pernicious rage -With purple fountains issuing from your veins, -On pain of torture, from those bloody hands -Throw your mistemper'd weapons to the ground, -And hear the sentence of your moved prince. -Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word, -By thee, old Capulet, and Montague, -Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets, -And made Verona's ancient citizens -Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments, -To wield old partisans, in hands as old, -Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate: -If ever you disturb our streets again, -Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace. -For this time, all the rest depart away: -You Capulet; shall go along with me: -And, Montague, come you this afternoon, -To know our further pleasure in this case, -To old Free-town, our common judgment-place. -Once more, on pain of death, all men depart. - -MONTAGUE: -Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach? -Speak, nephew, were you by when it began? - -BENVOLIO: -Here were the servants of your adversary, -And yours, close fighting ere I did approach: -I drew to part them: in the instant came -The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepared, -Which, as he breathed defiance to my ears, -He swung about his head and cut the winds, -Who nothing hurt withal hiss'd him in scorn: -While we were interchanging thrusts and blows, -Came more and more and fought on part and part, -Till the prince came, who parted either part. - -LADY MONTAGUE: -O, where is Romeo? saw you him to-day? -Right glad I am he was not at this fray. - -BENVOLIO: -Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd sun -Peer'd forth the golden window of the east, -A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad; -Where, underneath the grove of sycamore -That westward rooteth from the city's side, -So early walking did I see your son: -Towards him I made, but he was ware of me -And stole into the covert of the wood: -I, measuring his affections by my own, -That most are busied when they're most alone, -Pursued my humour not pursuing his, -And gladly shunn'd who gladly fled from me. - -MONTAGUE: -Many a morning hath he there been seen, -With tears augmenting the fresh morning dew. -Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs; -But all so soon as the all-cheering sun -Should in the furthest east begin to draw -The shady curtains from Aurora's bed, -Away from the light steals home my heavy son, -And private in his chamber pens himself, -Shuts up his windows, locks far daylight out -And makes himself an artificial night: -Black and portentous must this humour prove, -Unless good counsel may the cause remove. - -BENVOLIO: -My noble uncle, do you know the cause? - -MONTAGUE: -I neither know it nor can learn of him. - -BENVOLIO: -Have you importuned him by any means? - -MONTAGUE: -Both by myself and many other friends: -But he, his own affections' counsellor, -Is to himself--I will not say how true-- -But to himself so secret and so close, -So far from sounding and discovery, -As is the bud bit with an envious worm, -Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air, -Or dedicate his beauty to the sun. -Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow. -We would as willingly give cure as know. - -BENVOLIO: -See, where he comes: so please you, step aside; -I'll know his grievance, or be much denied. - -MONTAGUE: -I would thou wert so happy by thy stay, -To hear true shrift. Come, madam, let's away. - -BENVOLIO: -Good-morrow, cousin. - -ROMEO: -Is the day so young? - -BENVOLIO: -But new struck nine. - -ROMEO: -Ay me! sad hours seem long. -Was that my father that went hence so fast? - -BENVOLIO: -It was. What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours? - -ROMEO: -Not having that, which, having, makes them short. - -BENVOLIO: -In love? - -ROMEO: -Out-- - -BENVOLIO: -Of love? - -ROMEO: -Out of her favour, where I am in love. - -BENVOLIO: -Alas, that love, so gentle in his view, -Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof! - -ROMEO: -Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still, -Should, without eyes, see pathways to his will! -Where shall we dine? O me! What fray was here? -Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all. -Here's much to do with hate, but more with love. -Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate! -O any thing, of nothing first create! -O heavy lightness! serious vanity! -Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms! -Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, -sick health! -Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is! -This love feel I, that feel no love in this. -Dost thou not laugh? - -BENVOLIO: -No, coz, I rather weep. - -ROMEO: -Good heart, at what? - -BENVOLIO: -At thy good heart's oppression. - -ROMEO: -Why, such is love's transgression. -Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast, -Which thou wilt propagate, to have it prest -With more of thine: this love that thou hast shown -Doth add more grief to too much of mine own. -Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; -Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes; -Being vex'd a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears: -What is it else? a madness most discreet, -A choking gall and a preserving sweet. -Farewell, my coz. - -BENVOLIO: -Soft! I will go along; -An if you leave me so, you do me wrong. - -ROMEO: -Tut, I have lost myself; I am not here; -This is not Romeo, he's some other where. - -BENVOLIO: -Tell me in sadness, who is that you love. - -ROMEO: -What, shall I groan and tell thee? - -BENVOLIO: -Groan! why, no. -But sadly tell me who. - -ROMEO: -Bid a sick man in sadness make his will: -Ah, word ill urged to one that is so ill! -In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman. - -BENVOLIO: -I aim'd so near, when I supposed you loved. - -ROMEO: -A right good mark-man! And she's fair I love. - -BENVOLIO: -A right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit. - -ROMEO: -Well, in that hit you miss: she'll not be hit -With Cupid's arrow; she hath Dian's wit; -And, in strong proof of chastity well arm'd, -From love's weak childish bow she lives unharm'd. -She will not stay the siege of loving terms, -Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes, -Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold: -O, she is rich in beauty, only poor, -That when she dies with beauty dies her store. - -BENVOLIO: -Then she hath sworn that she will still live chaste? - -ROMEO: -She hath, and in that sparing makes huge waste, -For beauty starved with her severity -Cuts beauty off from all posterity. -She is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair, -To merit bliss by making me despair: -She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow -Do I live dead that live to tell it now. - -BENVOLIO: -Be ruled by me, forget to think of her. - -ROMEO: -O, teach me how I should forget to think. - -BENVOLIO: -By giving liberty unto thine eyes; -Examine other beauties. - -ROMEO: -'Tis the way -To call hers exquisite, in question more: -These happy masks that kiss fair ladies' brows -Being black put us in mind they hide the fair; -He that is strucken blind cannot forget -The precious treasure of his eyesight lost: -Show me a mistress that is passing fair, -What doth her beauty serve, but as a note -Where I may read who pass'd that passing fair? -Farewell: thou canst not teach me to forget. - -BENVOLIO: -I'll pay that doctrine, or else die in debt. - -CAPULET: -But Montague is bound as well as I, -In penalty alike; and 'tis not hard, I think, -For men so old as we to keep the peace. - -PARIS: -Of honourable reckoning are you both; -And pity 'tis you lived at odds so long. -But now, my lord, what say you to my suit? - -CAPULET: -But saying o'er what I have said before: -My child is yet a stranger in the world; -She hath not seen the change of fourteen years, -Let two more summers wither in their pride, -Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride. - -PARIS: -Younger than she are happy mothers made. - -CAPULET: -And too soon marr'd are those so early made. -The earth hath swallow'd all my hopes but she, -She is the hopeful lady of my earth: -But woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart, -My will to her consent is but a part; -An she agree, within her scope of choice -Lies my consent and fair according voice. -This night I hold an old accustom'd feast, -Whereto I have invited many a guest, -Such as I love; and you, among the store, -One more, most welcome, makes my number more. -At my poor house look to behold this night -Earth-treading stars that make dark heaven light: -Such comfort as do lusty young men feel -When well-apparell'd April on the heel -Of limping winter treads, even such delight -Among fresh female buds shall you this night -Inherit at my house; hear all, all see, -And like her most whose merit most shall be: -Which on more view, of many mine being one -May stand in number, though in reckoning none, -Come, go with me. -Go, sirrah, trudge about -Through fair Verona; find those persons out -Whose names are written there, and to them say, -My house and welcome on their pleasure stay. - -Servant: -Find them out whose names are written here! It is -written, that the shoemaker should meddle with his -yard, and the tailor with his last, the fisher with -his pencil, and the painter with his nets; but I am -sent to find those persons whose names are here -writ, and can never find what names the writing -person hath here writ. I must to the learned.--In good time. - -BENVOLIO: -Tut, man, one fire burns out another's burning, -One pain is lessen'd by another's anguish; -Turn giddy, and be holp by backward turning; -One desperate grief cures with another's languish: -Take thou some new infection to thy eye, -And the rank poison of the old will die. - -ROMEO: -Your plaintain-leaf is excellent for that. - -BENVOLIO: -For what, I pray thee? - -ROMEO: -For your broken shin. - -BENVOLIO: -Why, Romeo, art thou mad? - -ROMEO: -Not mad, but bound more than a mad-man is; -Shut up in prison, kept without my food, -Whipp'd and tormented and--God-den, good fellow. - -Servant: -God gi' god-den. I pray, sir, can you read? - -ROMEO: -Ay, mine own fortune in my misery. - -Servant: -Perhaps you have learned it without book: but, I -pray, can you read any thing you see? - -ROMEO: -Ay, if I know the letters and the language. - -Servant: -Ye say honestly: rest you merry! - -ROMEO: -Stay, fellow; I can read. -'Signior Martino and his wife and daughters; -County Anselme and his beauteous sisters; the lady -widow of Vitravio; Signior Placentio and his lovely -nieces; Mercutio and his brother Valentine; mine -uncle Capulet, his wife and daughters; my fair niece -Rosaline; Livia; Signior Valentio and his cousin -Tybalt, Lucio and the lively Helena.' A fair -assembly: whither should they come? - -Servant: -Up. - -ROMEO: -Whither? - -Servant: -To supper; to our house. - -ROMEO: -Whose house? - -Servant: -My master's. - -ROMEO: -Indeed, I should have ask'd you that before. - -Servant: -Now I'll tell you without asking: my master is the -great rich Capulet; and if you be not of the house -of Montagues, I pray, come and crush a cup of wine. -Rest you merry! - -BENVOLIO: -At this same ancient feast of Capulet's -Sups the fair Rosaline whom thou so lovest, -With all the admired beauties of Verona: -Go thither; and, with unattainted eye, -Compare her face with some that I shall show, -And I will make thee think thy swan a crow. - -ROMEO: -When the devout religion of mine eye -Maintains such falsehood, then turn tears to fires; -And these, who often drown'd could never die, -Transparent heretics, be burnt for liars! -One fairer than my love! the all-seeing sun -Ne'er saw her match since first the world begun. - -BENVOLIO: -Tut, you saw her fair, none else being by, -Herself poised with herself in either eye: -But in that crystal scales let there be weigh'd -Your lady's love against some other maid -That I will show you shining at this feast, -And she shall scant show well that now shows best. - -ROMEO: -I'll go along, no such sight to be shown, -But to rejoice in splendor of mine own. - -LADY CAPULET: -Nurse, where's my daughter? call her forth to me. - -Nurse: -Now, by my maidenhead, at twelve year old, -I bade her come. What, lamb! what, ladybird! -God forbid! Where's this girl? What, Juliet! - -JULIET: -How now! who calls? - -Nurse: -Your mother. - -JULIET: -Madam, I am here. -What is your will? - -LADY CAPULET: -This is the matter:--Nurse, give leave awhile, -We must talk in secret:--nurse, come back again; -I have remember'd me, thou's hear our counsel. -Thou know'st my daughter's of a pretty age. - -Nurse: -Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour. - -LADY CAPULET: -She's not fourteen. - -Nurse: -I'll lay fourteen of my teeth,-- -And yet, to my teeth be it spoken, I have but four-- -She is not fourteen. How long is it now -To Lammas-tide? - -LADY CAPULET: -A fortnight and odd days. - -Nurse: -Even or odd, of all days in the year, -Come Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen. -Susan and she--God rest all Christian souls!-- -Were of an age: well, Susan is with God; -She was too good for me: but, as I said, -On Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen; -That shall she, marry; I remember it well. -'Tis since the earthquake now eleven years; -And she was wean'd,--I never shall forget it,-- -Of all the days of the year, upon that day: -For I had then laid wormwood to my dug, -Sitting in the sun under the dove-house wall; -My lord and you were then at Mantua:-- -Nay, I do bear a brain:--but, as I said, -When it did taste the wormwood on the nipple -Of my dug and felt it bitter, pretty fool, -To see it tetchy and fall out with the dug! -Shake quoth the dove-house: 'twas no need, I trow, -To bid me trudge: -And since that time it is eleven years; -For then she could stand alone; nay, by the rood, -She could have run and waddled all about; -For even the day before, she broke her brow: -And then my husband--God be with his soul! -A' was a merry man--took up the child: -'Yea,' quoth he, 'dost thou fall upon thy face? -Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit; -Wilt thou not, Jule?' and, by my holidame, -The pretty wretch left crying and said 'Ay.' -To see, now, how a jest shall come about! -I warrant, an I should live a thousand years, -I never should forget it: 'Wilt thou not, Jule?' quoth he; -And, pretty fool, it stinted and said 'Ay.' - -LADY CAPULET: -Enough of this; I pray thee, hold thy peace. - -Nurse: -Yes, madam: yet I cannot choose but laugh, -To think it should leave crying and say 'Ay.' -And yet, I warrant, it had upon its brow -A bump as big as a young cockerel's stone; -A parlous knock; and it cried bitterly: -'Yea,' quoth my husband,'fall'st upon thy face? -Thou wilt fall backward when thou comest to age; -Wilt thou not, Jule?' it stinted and said 'Ay.' - -JULIET: -And stint thou too, I pray thee, nurse, say I. - -Nurse: -Peace, I have done. God mark thee to his grace! -Thou wast the prettiest babe that e'er I nursed: -An I might live to see thee married once, -I have my wish. - -LADY CAPULET: -Marry, that 'marry' is the very theme -I came to talk of. Tell me, daughter Juliet, -How stands your disposition to be married? - -JULIET: -It is an honour that I dream not of. - -Nurse: -An honour! were not I thine only nurse, -I would say thou hadst suck'd wisdom from thy teat. - -LADY CAPULET: -Well, think of marriage now; younger than you, -Here in Verona, ladies of esteem, -Are made already mothers: by my count, -I was your mother much upon these years -That you are now a maid. Thus then in brief: -The valiant Paris seeks you for his love. - -Nurse: -A man, young lady! lady, such a man -As all the world--why, he's a man of wax. - -LADY CAPULET: -Verona's summer hath not such a flower. - -Nurse: -Nay, he's a flower; in faith, a very flower. - -LADY CAPULET: -What say you? can you love the gentleman? -This night you shall behold him at our feast; -Read o'er the volume of young Paris' face, -And find delight writ there with beauty's pen; -Examine every married lineament, -And see how one another lends content -And what obscured in this fair volume lies -Find written in the margent of his eyes. -This precious book of love, this unbound lover, -To beautify him, only lacks a cover: -The fish lives in the sea, and 'tis much pride -For fair without the fair within to hide: -That book in many's eyes doth share the glory, -That in gold clasps locks in the golden story; -So shall you share all that he doth possess, -By having him, making yourself no less. - -Nurse: -No less! nay, bigger; women grow by men. - -LADY CAPULET: -Speak briefly, can you like of Paris' love? - -JULIET: -I'll look to like, if looking liking move: -But no more deep will I endart mine eye -Than your consent gives strength to make it fly. - -Servant: -Madam, the guests are come, supper served up, you -called, my young lady asked for, the nurse cursed in -the pantry, and every thing in extremity. I must -hence to wait; I beseech you, follow straight. - -LADY CAPULET: -We follow thee. -Juliet, the county stays. - -Nurse: -Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days. - -ROMEO: -What, shall this speech be spoke for our excuse? -Or shall we on without a apology? - -BENVOLIO: -The date is out of such prolixity: -We'll have no Cupid hoodwink'd with a scarf, -Bearing a Tartar's painted bow of lath, -Scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper; -Nor no without-book prologue, faintly spoke -After the prompter, for our entrance: -But let them measure us by what they will; -We'll measure them a measure, and be gone. - -ROMEO: -Give me a torch: I am not for this ambling; -Being but heavy, I will bear the light. - -MERCUTIO: -Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance. - -ROMEO: -Not I, believe me: you have dancing shoes -With nimble soles: I have a soul of lead -So stakes me to the ground I cannot move. - -MERCUTIO: -You are a lover; borrow Cupid's wings, -And soar with them above a common bound. - -ROMEO: -I am too sore enpierced with his shaft -To soar with his light feathers, and so bound, -I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe: -Under love's heavy burden do I sink. - -MERCUTIO: -And, to sink in it, should you burden love; -Too great oppression for a tender thing. - -ROMEO: -Is love a tender thing? it is too rough, -Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn. - -MERCUTIO: -If love be rough with you, be rough with love; -Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down. -Give me a case to put my visage in: -A visor for a visor! what care I -What curious eye doth quote deformities? -Here are the beetle brows shall blush for me. - -BENVOLIO: -Come, knock and enter; and no sooner in, -But every man betake him to his legs. - -ROMEO: -A torch for me: let wantons light of heart -Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels, -For I am proverb'd with a grandsire phrase; -I'll be a candle-holder, and look on. -The game was ne'er so fair, and I am done. - -MERCUTIO: -Tut, dun's the mouse, the constable's own word: -If thou art dun, we'll draw thee from the mire -Of this sir-reverence love, wherein thou stick'st -Up to the ears. Come, we burn daylight, ho! - -ROMEO: -Nay, that's not so. - -MERCUTIO: -I mean, sir, in delay -We waste our lights in vain, like lamps by day. -Take our good meaning, for our judgment sits -Five times in that ere once in our five wits. - -ROMEO: -And we mean well in going to this mask; -But 'tis no wit to go. - -MERCUTIO: -Why, may one ask? - -ROMEO: -I dream'd a dream to-night. - -MERCUTIO: -And so did I. - -ROMEO: -Well, what was yours? - -MERCUTIO: -That dreamers often lie. - -ROMEO: -In bed asleep, while they do dream things true. - -MERCUTIO: -O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you. -She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes -In shape no bigger than an agate-stone -On the fore-finger of an alderman, -Drawn with a team of little atomies -Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep; -Her wagon-spokes made of long spiders' legs, -The cover of the wings of grasshoppers, -The traces of the smallest spider's web, -The collars of the moonshine's watery beams, -Her whip of cricket's bone, the lash of film, -Her wagoner a small grey-coated gnat, -Not so big as a round little worm -Prick'd from the lazy finger of a maid; -Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut -Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub, -Time out o' mind the fairies' coachmakers. -And in this state she gallops night by night -Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love; -O'er courtiers' knees, that dream on court'sies straight, -O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream on fees, -O'er ladies ' lips, who straight on kisses dream, -Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues, -Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are: -Sometime she gallops o'er a courtier's nose, -And then dreams he of smelling out a suit; -And sometime comes she with a tithe-pig's tail -Tickling a parson's nose as a' lies asleep, -Then dreams, he of another benefice: -Sometime she driveth o'er a soldier's neck, -And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats, -Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades, -Of healths five-fathom deep; and then anon -Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes, -And being thus frighted swears a prayer or two -And sleeps again. This is that very Mab -That plats the manes of horses in the night, -And bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish hairs, -Which once untangled, much misfortune bodes: -This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs, -That presses them and learns them first to bear, -Making them women of good carriage: -This is she-- - -ROMEO: -Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace! -Thou talk'st of nothing. - -MERCUTIO: -True, I talk of dreams, -Which are the children of an idle brain, -Begot of nothing but vain fantasy, -Which is as thin of substance as the air -And more inconstant than the wind, who wooes -Even now the frozen bosom of the north, -And, being anger'd, puffs away from thence, -Turning his face to the dew-dropping south. - -BENVOLIO: -This wind, you talk of, blows us from ourselves; -Supper is done, and we shall come too late. - -ROMEO: -I fear, too early: for my mind misgives -Some consequence yet hanging in the stars -Shall bitterly begin his fearful date -With this night's revels and expire the term -Of a despised life closed in my breast -By some vile forfeit of untimely death. -But He, that hath the steerage of my course, -Direct my sail! On, lusty gentlemen. - -BENVOLIO: -Strike, drum. - -First Servant: -Where's Potpan, that he helps not to take away? He -shift a trencher? he scrape a trencher! - -Second Servant: -When good manners shall lie all in one or two men's -hands and they unwashed too, 'tis a foul thing. - -First Servant: -Away with the joint-stools, remove the -court-cupboard, look to the plate. Good thou, save -me a piece of marchpane; and, as thou lovest me, let -the porter let in Susan Grindstone and Nell. -Antony, and Potpan! - -Second Servant: -Ay, boy, ready. - -First Servant: -You are looked for and called for, asked for and -sought for, in the great chamber. - -Second Servant: -We cannot be here and there too. Cheerly, boys; be -brisk awhile, and the longer liver take all. - -CAPULET: -Welcome, gentlemen! ladies that have their toes -Unplagued with corns will have a bout with you. -Ah ha, my mistresses! which of you all -Will now deny to dance? she that makes dainty, -She, I'll swear, hath corns; am I come near ye now? -Welcome, gentlemen! I have seen the day -That I have worn a visor and could tell -A whispering tale in a fair lady's ear, -Such as would please: 'tis gone, 'tis gone, 'tis gone: -You are welcome, gentlemen! come, musicians, play. -A hall, a hall! give room! and foot it, girls. -More light, you knaves; and turn the tables up, -And quench the fire, the room is grown too hot. -Ah, sirrah, this unlook'd-for sport comes well. -Nay, sit, nay, sit, good cousin Capulet; -For you and I are past our dancing days: -How long is't now since last yourself and I -Were in a mask? - -Second Capulet: -By'r lady, thirty years. - -CAPULET: -What, man! 'tis not so much, 'tis not so much: -'Tis since the nuptials of Lucentio, -Come pentecost as quickly as it will, -Some five and twenty years; and then we mask'd. - -Second Capulet: -'Tis more, 'tis more, his son is elder, sir; -His son is thirty. - -CAPULET: -Will you tell me that? -His son was but a ward two years ago. - -ROMEO: - -Servant: -I know not, sir. - -ROMEO: -O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! -It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night -Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear; -Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear! -So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows, -As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows. -The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand, -And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand. -Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! -For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night. - -TYBALT: -This, by his voice, should be a Montague. -Fetch me my rapier, boy. What dares the slave -Come hither, cover'd with an antic face, -To fleer and scorn at our solemnity? -Now, by the stock and honour of my kin, -To strike him dead, I hold it not a sin. - -CAPULET: -Why, how now, kinsman! wherefore storm you so? - -TYBALT: -Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe, -A villain that is hither come in spite, -To scorn at our solemnity this night. - -CAPULET: -Young Romeo is it? - -TYBALT: -'Tis he, that villain Romeo. - -CAPULET: -Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone; -He bears him like a portly gentleman; -And, to say truth, Verona brags of him -To be a virtuous and well-govern'd youth: -I would not for the wealth of all the town -Here in my house do him disparagement: -Therefore be patient, take no note of him: -It is my will, the which if thou respect, -Show a fair presence and put off these frowns, -And ill-beseeming semblance for a feast. - -TYBALT: -It fits, when such a villain is a guest: -I'll not endure him. - -CAPULET: -He shall be endured: -What, goodman boy! I say, he shall: go to; -Am I the master here, or you? go to. -You'll not endure him! God shall mend my soul! -You'll make a mutiny among my guests! -You will set cock-a-hoop! you'll be the man! - -TYBALT: -Why, uncle, 'tis a shame. - -CAPULET: -Go to, go to; -You are a saucy boy: is't so, indeed? -This trick may chance to scathe you, I know what: -You must contrary me! marry, 'tis time. -Well said, my hearts! You are a princox; go: -Be quiet, or--More light, more light! For shame! -I'll make you quiet. What, cheerly, my hearts! - -TYBALT: -Patience perforce with wilful choler meeting -Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting. -I will withdraw: but this intrusion shall -Now seeming sweet convert to bitter gall. - -ROMEO: - -JULIET: -Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, -Which mannerly devotion shows in this; -For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, -And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss. - -ROMEO: -Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too? - -JULIET: -Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer. - -ROMEO: -O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; -They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair. - -JULIET: -Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake. - -ROMEO: -Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take. -Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged. - -JULIET: -Then have my lips the sin that they have took. - -ROMEO: -Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged! -Give me my sin again. - -JULIET: -You kiss by the book. - -Nurse: -Madam, your mother craves a word with you. - -ROMEO: -What is her mother? - -Nurse: -Marry, bachelor, -Her mother is the lady of the house, -And a good lady, and a wise and virtuous -I nursed her daughter, that you talk'd withal; -I tell you, he that can lay hold of her -Shall have the chinks. - -ROMEO: -Is she a Capulet? -O dear account! my life is my foe's debt. - -BENVOLIO: -Away, begone; the sport is at the best. - -ROMEO: -Ay, so I fear; the more is my unrest. - -CAPULET: -Nay, gentlemen, prepare not to be gone; -We have a trifling foolish banquet towards. -Is it e'en so? why, then, I thank you all -I thank you, honest gentlemen; good night. -More torches here! Come on then, let's to bed. -Ah, sirrah, by my fay, it waxes late: -I'll to my rest. - -JULIET: -Come hither, nurse. What is yond gentleman? - -Nurse: -The son and heir of old Tiberio. - -JULIET: -What's he that now is going out of door? - -Nurse: -Marry, that, I think, be young Petrucio. - -JULIET: -What's he that follows there, that would not dance? - -Nurse: -I know not. - -JULIET: -Go ask his name: if he be married. -My grave is like to be my wedding bed. - -Nurse: -His name is Romeo, and a Montague; -The only son of your great enemy. - -JULIET: -My only love sprung from my only hate! -Too early seen unknown, and known too late! -Prodigious birth of love it is to me, -That I must love a loathed enemy. - -Nurse: -What's this? what's this? - -JULIET: -A rhyme I learn'd even now -Of one I danced withal. - -Nurse: -Anon, anon! -Come, let's away; the strangers all are gone. - -Chorus: -Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie, -And young affection gapes to be his heir; -That fair for which love groan'd for and would die, -With tender Juliet match'd, is now not fair. -Now Romeo is beloved and loves again, -Alike betwitched by the charm of looks, -But to his foe supposed he must complain, -And she steal love's sweet bait from fearful hooks: -Being held a foe, he may not have access -To breathe such vows as lovers use to swear; -And she as much in love, her means much less -To meet her new-beloved any where: -But passion lends them power, time means, to meet -Tempering extremities with extreme sweet. - -ROMEO: -Can I go forward when my heart is here? -Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out. - -BENVOLIO: -Romeo! my cousin Romeo! - -MERCUTIO: -He is wise; -And, on my lie, hath stol'n him home to bed. - -BENVOLIO: -He ran this way, and leap'd this orchard wall: -Call, good Mercutio. - -MERCUTIO: -Nay, I'll conjure too. -Romeo! humours! madman! passion! lover! -Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh: -Speak but one rhyme, and I am satisfied; -Cry but 'Ay me!' pronounce but 'love' and 'dove;' -Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word, -One nick-name for her purblind son and heir, -Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim, -When King Cophetua loved the beggar-maid! -He heareth not, he stirreth not, he moveth not; -The ape is dead, and I must conjure him. -I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes, -By her high forehead and her scarlet lip, -By her fine foot, straight leg and quivering thigh -And the demesnes that there adjacent lie, -That in thy likeness thou appear to us! - -BENVOLIO: -And if he hear thee, thou wilt anger him. - -MERCUTIO: -This cannot anger him: 'twould anger him -To raise a spirit in his mistress' circle -Of some strange nature, letting it there stand -Till she had laid it and conjured it down; -That were some spite: my invocation -Is fair and honest, and in his mistress' name -I conjure only but to raise up him. - -BENVOLIO: -Come, he hath hid himself among these trees, -To be consorted with the humorous night: -Blind is his love and best befits the dark. - -MERCUTIO: -If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark. -Now will he sit under a medlar tree, -And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit -As maids call medlars, when they laugh alone. -Romeo, that she were, O, that she were -An open et caetera, thou a poperin pear! -Romeo, good night: I'll to my truckle-bed; -This field-bed is too cold for me to sleep: -Come, shall we go? - -BENVOLIO: -Go, then; for 'tis in vain -To seek him here that means not to be found. - -ROMEO: -He jests at scars that never felt a wound. -But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? -It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. -Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, -Who is already sick and pale with grief, -That thou her maid art far more fair than she: -Be not her maid, since she is envious; -Her vestal livery is but sick and green -And none but fools do wear it; cast it off. -It is my lady, O, it is my love! -O, that she knew she were! -She speaks yet she says nothing: what of that? -Her eye discourses; I will answer it. -I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks: -Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, -Having some business, do entreat her eyes -To twinkle in their spheres till they return. -What if her eyes were there, they in her head? -The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars, -As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven -Would through the airy region stream so bright -That birds would sing and think it were not night. -See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand! -O, that I were a glove upon that hand, -That I might touch that cheek! - -JULIET: -Ay me! - -ROMEO: -She speaks: -O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art -As glorious to this night, being o'er my head -As is a winged messenger of heaven -Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes -Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him -When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds -And sails upon the bosom of the air. - -JULIET: -O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? -Deny thy father and refuse thy name; -Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, -And I'll no longer be a Capulet. - -ROMEO: - -JULIET: -'Tis but thy name that is my enemy; -Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. -What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, -Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part -Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! -What's in a name? that which we call a rose -By any other name would smell as sweet; -So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, -Retain that dear perfection which he owes -Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, -And for that name which is no part of thee -Take all myself. - -ROMEO: -I take thee at thy word: -Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized; -Henceforth I never will be Romeo. - -JULIET: -What man art thou that thus bescreen'd in night -So stumblest on my counsel? - -ROMEO: -By a name -I know not how to tell thee who I am: -My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself, -Because it is an enemy to thee; -Had I it written, I would tear the word. - -JULIET: -My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words -Of that tongue's utterance, yet I know the sound: -Art thou not Romeo and a Montague? - -ROMEO: -Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike. - -JULIET: -How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore? -The orchard walls are high and hard to climb, -And the place death, considering who thou art, -If any of my kinsmen find thee here. - -ROMEO: -With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls; -For stony limits cannot hold love out, -And what love can do that dares love attempt; -Therefore thy kinsmen are no let to me. - -JULIET: -If they do see thee, they will murder thee. - -ROMEO: -Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye -Than twenty of their swords: look thou but sweet, -And I am proof against their enmity. - -JULIET: -I would not for the world they saw thee here. - -ROMEO: -I have night's cloak to hide me from their sight; -And but thou love me, let them find me here: -My life were better ended by their hate, -Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love. - -JULIET: -By whose direction found'st thou out this place? - -ROMEO: -By love, who first did prompt me to inquire; -He lent me counsel and I lent him eyes. -I am no pilot; yet, wert thou as far -As that vast shore wash'd with the farthest sea, -I would adventure for such merchandise. - -JULIET: -Thou know'st the mask of night is on my face, -Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek -For that which thou hast heard me speak to-night -Fain would I dwell on form, fain, fain deny -What I have spoke: but farewell compliment! -Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say 'Ay,' -And I will take thy word: yet if thou swear'st, -Thou mayst prove false; at lovers' perjuries -Then say, Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo, -If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully: -Or if thou think'st I am too quickly won, -I'll frown and be perverse an say thee nay, -So thou wilt woo; but else, not for the world. -In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond, -And therefore thou mayst think my 'havior light: -But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove more true -Than those that have more cunning to be strange. -I should have been more strange, I must confess, -But that thou overheard'st, ere I was ware, -My true love's passion: therefore pardon me, -And not impute this yielding to light love, -Which the dark night hath so discovered. - -ROMEO: -Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear -That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops-- - -JULIET: -O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, -That monthly changes in her circled orb, -Lest that thy love prove likewise variable. - -ROMEO: -What shall I swear by? - -JULIET: -Do not swear at all; -Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self, -Which is the god of my idolatry, -And I'll believe thee. - -ROMEO: -If my heart's dear love-- - -JULIET: -Well, do not swear: although I joy in thee, -I have no joy of this contract to-night: -It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden; -Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be -Ere one can say 'It lightens.' Sweet, good night! -This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath, -May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet. -Good night, good night! as sweet repose and rest -Come to thy heart as that within my breast! - -ROMEO: -O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied? - -JULIET: -What satisfaction canst thou have to-night? - -ROMEO: -The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine. - -JULIET: -I gave thee mine before thou didst request it: -And yet I would it were to give again. - -ROMEO: -Wouldst thou withdraw it? for what purpose, love? - -JULIET: -But to be frank, and give it thee again. -And yet I wish but for the thing I have: -My bounty is as boundless as the sea, -My love as deep; the more I give to thee, -The more I have, for both are infinite. -I hear some noise within; dear love, adieu! -Anon, good nurse! Sweet Montague, be true. -Stay but a little, I will come again. - -ROMEO: -O blessed, blessed night! I am afeard. -Being in night, all this is but a dream, -Too flattering-sweet to be substantial. - -JULIET: -Three words, dear Romeo, and good night indeed. -If that thy bent of love be honourable, -Thy purpose marriage, send me word to-morrow, -By one that I'll procure to come to thee, -Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite; -And all my fortunes at thy foot I'll lay -And follow thee my lord throughout the world. - -Nurse: - -JULIET: -I come, anon.--But if thou mean'st not well, -I do beseech thee-- - -Nurse: - -JULIET: -By and by, I come:-- -To cease thy suit, and leave me to my grief: -To-morrow will I send. - -ROMEO: -So thrive my soul-- - -JULIET: -A thousand times good night! - -ROMEO: -A thousand times the worse, to want thy light. -Love goes toward love, as schoolboys from -their books, -But love from love, toward school with heavy looks. - -JULIET: -Hist! Romeo, hist! O, for a falconer's voice, -To lure this tassel-gentle back again! -Bondage is hoarse, and may not speak aloud; -Else would I tear the cave where Echo lies, -And make her airy tongue more hoarse than mine, -With repetition of my Romeo's name. - -ROMEO: -It is my soul that calls upon my name: -How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night, -Like softest music to attending ears! - -JULIET: -Romeo! - -ROMEO: -My dear? - -JULIET: -At what o'clock to-morrow -Shall I send to thee? - -ROMEO: -At the hour of nine. - -JULIET: -I will not fail: 'tis twenty years till then. -I have forgot why I did call thee back. - -ROMEO: -Let me stand here till thou remember it. - -JULIET: -I shall forget, to have thee still stand there, -Remembering how I love thy company. - -ROMEO: -And I'll still stay, to have thee still forget, -Forgetting any other home but this. - -JULIET: -'Tis almost morning; I would have thee gone: -And yet no further than a wanton's bird; -Who lets it hop a little from her hand, -Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves, -And with a silk thread plucks it back again, -So loving-jealous of his liberty. - -ROMEO: -I would I were thy bird. - -JULIET: -Sweet, so would I: -Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing. -Good night, good night! parting is such -sweet sorrow, -That I shall say good night till it be morrow. - -ROMEO: -Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast! -Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest! -Hence will I to my ghostly father's cell, -His help to crave, and my dear hap to tell. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -The grey-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night, -Chequering the eastern clouds with streaks of light, -And flecked darkness like a drunkard reels -From forth day's path and Titan's fiery wheels: -Now, ere the sun advance his burning eye, -The day to cheer and night's dank dew to dry, -I must up-fill this osier cage of ours -With baleful weeds and precious-juiced flowers. -The earth that's nature's mother is her tomb; -What is her burying grave that is her womb, -And from her womb children of divers kind -We sucking on her natural bosom find, -Many for many virtues excellent, -None but for some and yet all different. -O, mickle is the powerful grace that lies -In herbs, plants, stones, and their true qualities: -For nought so vile that on the earth doth live -But to the earth some special good doth give, -Nor aught so good but strain'd from that fair use -Revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse: -Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied; -And vice sometimes by action dignified. -Within the infant rind of this small flower -Poison hath residence and medicine power: -For this, being smelt, with that part cheers each part; -Being tasted, slays all senses with the heart. -Two such opposed kings encamp them still -In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will; -And where the worser is predominant, -Full soon the canker death eats up that plant. - -ROMEO: -Good morrow, father. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Benedicite! -What early tongue so sweet saluteth me? -Young son, it argues a distemper'd head -So soon to bid good morrow to thy bed: -Care keeps his watch in every old man's eye, -And where care lodges, sleep will never lie; -But where unbruised youth with unstuff'd brain -Doth couch his limbs, there golden sleep doth reign: -Therefore thy earliness doth me assure -Thou art up-roused by some distemperature; -Or if not so, then here I hit it right, -Our Romeo hath not been in bed to-night. - -ROMEO: -That last is true; the sweeter rest was mine. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -God pardon sin! wast thou with Rosaline? - -ROMEO: -With Rosaline, my ghostly father? no; -I have forgot that name, and that name's woe. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -That's my good son: but where hast thou been, then? - -ROMEO: -I'll tell thee, ere thou ask it me again. -I have been feasting with mine enemy, -Where on a sudden one hath wounded me, -That's by me wounded: both our remedies -Within thy help and holy physic lies: -I bear no hatred, blessed man, for, lo, -My intercession likewise steads my foe. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Be plain, good son, and homely in thy drift; -Riddling confession finds but riddling shrift. - -ROMEO: -Then plainly know my heart's dear love is set -On the fair daughter of rich Capulet: -As mine on hers, so hers is set on mine; -And all combined, save what thou must combine -By holy marriage: when and where and how -We met, we woo'd and made exchange of vow, -I'll tell thee as we pass; but this I pray, -That thou consent to marry us to-day. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here! -Is Rosaline, whom thou didst love so dear, -So soon forsaken? young men's love then lies -Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes. -Jesu Maria, what a deal of brine -Hath wash'd thy sallow cheeks for Rosaline! -How much salt water thrown away in waste, -To season love, that of it doth not taste! -The sun not yet thy sighs from heaven clears, -Thy old groans ring yet in my ancient ears; -Lo, here upon thy cheek the stain doth sit -Of an old tear that is not wash'd off yet: -If e'er thou wast thyself and these woes thine, -Thou and these woes were all for Rosaline: -And art thou changed? pronounce this sentence then, -Women may fall, when there's no strength in men. - -ROMEO: -Thou chid'st me oft for loving Rosaline. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -For doting, not for loving, pupil mine. - -ROMEO: -And bad'st me bury love. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Not in a grave, -To lay one in, another out to have. - -ROMEO: -I pray thee, chide not; she whom I love now -Doth grace for grace and love for love allow; -The other did not so. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -O, she knew well -Thy love did read by rote and could not spell. -But come, young waverer, come, go with me, -In one respect I'll thy assistant be; -For this alliance may so happy prove, -To turn your households' rancour to pure love. - -ROMEO: -O, let us hence; I stand on sudden haste. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast. - -MERCUTIO: -Where the devil should this Romeo be? -Came he not home to-night? - -BENVOLIO: -Not to his father's; I spoke with his man. - -MERCUTIO: -Ah, that same pale hard-hearted wench, that Rosaline. -Torments him so, that he will sure run mad. - -BENVOLIO: -Tybalt, the kinsman of old Capulet, -Hath sent a letter to his father's house. - -MERCUTIO: -A challenge, on my life. - -BENVOLIO: -Romeo will answer it. - -MERCUTIO: -Any man that can write may answer a letter. - -BENVOLIO: -Nay, he will answer the letter's master, how he -dares, being dared. - -MERCUTIO: -Alas poor Romeo! he is already dead; stabbed with a -white wench's black eye; shot through the ear with a -love-song; the very pin of his heart cleft with the -blind bow-boy's butt-shaft: and is he a man to -encounter Tybalt? - -BENVOLIO: -Why, what is Tybalt? - -MERCUTIO: -More than prince of cats, I can tell you. O, he is -the courageous captain of compliments. He fights as -you sing prick-song, keeps time, distance, and -proportion; rests me his minim rest, one, two, and -the third in your bosom: the very butcher of a silk -button, a duellist, a duellist; a gentleman of the -very first house, of the first and second cause: -ah, the immortal passado! the punto reverso! the -hai! - -BENVOLIO: -The what? - -MERCUTIO: -The pox of such antic, lisping, affecting -fantasticoes; these new tuners of accents! 'By Jesu, -a very good blade! a very tall man! a very good -whore!' Why, is not this a lamentable thing, -grandsire, that we should be thus afflicted with -these strange flies, these fashion-mongers, these -perdona-mi's, who stand so much on the new form, -that they cannot at ease on the old bench? O, their -bones, their bones! - -BENVOLIO: -Here comes Romeo, here comes Romeo. - -MERCUTIO: -Without his roe, like a dried herring: flesh, flesh, -how art thou fishified! Now is he for the numbers -that Petrarch flowed in: Laura to his lady was but a -kitchen-wench; marry, she had a better love to -be-rhyme her; Dido a dowdy; Cleopatra a gipsy; -Helen and Hero hildings and harlots; Thisbe a grey -eye or so, but not to the purpose. Signior -Romeo, bon jour! there's a French salutation -to your French slop. You gave us the counterfeit -fairly last night. - -ROMEO: -Good morrow to you both. What counterfeit did I give you? - -MERCUTIO: -The ship, sir, the slip; can you not conceive? - -ROMEO: -Pardon, good Mercutio, my business was great; and in -such a case as mine a man may strain courtesy. - -MERCUTIO: -That's as much as to say, such a case as yours -constrains a man to bow in the hams. - -ROMEO: -Meaning, to court'sy. - -MERCUTIO: -Thou hast most kindly hit it. - -ROMEO: -A most courteous exposition. - -MERCUTIO: -Nay, I am the very pink of courtesy. - -ROMEO: -Pink for flower. - -MERCUTIO: -Right. - -ROMEO: -Why, then is my pump well flowered. - -MERCUTIO: -Well said: follow me this jest now till thou hast -worn out thy pump, that when the single sole of it -is worn, the jest may remain after the wearing sole singular. - -ROMEO: -O single-soled jest, solely singular for the -singleness. - -MERCUTIO: -Come between us, good Benvolio; my wits faint. - -ROMEO: -Switch and spurs, switch and spurs; or I'll cry a match. - -MERCUTIO: -Nay, if thy wits run the wild-goose chase, I have -done, for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of -thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five: -was I with you there for the goose? - -ROMEO: -Thou wast never with me for any thing when thou wast -not there for the goose. - -MERCUTIO: -I will bite thee by the ear for that jest. - -ROMEO: -Nay, good goose, bite not. - -MERCUTIO: -Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting; it is a most -sharp sauce. - -ROMEO: -And is it not well served in to a sweet goose? - -MERCUTIO: -O here's a wit of cheveril, that stretches from an -inch narrow to an ell broad! - -ROMEO: -I stretch it out for that word 'broad;' which added -to the goose, proves thee far and wide a broad goose. - -MERCUTIO: -Why, is not this better now than groaning for love? -now art thou sociable, now art thou Romeo; now art -thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature: -for this drivelling love is like a great natural, -that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole. - -BENVOLIO: -Stop there, stop there. - -MERCUTIO: -Thou desirest me to stop in my tale against the hair. - -BENVOLIO: -Thou wouldst else have made thy tale large. - -MERCUTIO: -O, thou art deceived; I would have made it short: -for I was come to the whole depth of my tale; and -meant, indeed, to occupy the argument no longer. - -ROMEO: -Here's goodly gear! - -MERCUTIO: -A sail, a sail! - -BENVOLIO: -Two, two; a shirt and a smock. - -Nurse: -Peter! - -PETER: -Anon! - -Nurse: -My fan, Peter. - -MERCUTIO: -Good Peter, to hide her face; for her fan's the -fairer face. - -Nurse: -God ye good morrow, gentlemen. - -MERCUTIO: -God ye good den, fair gentlewoman. - -Nurse: -Is it good den? - -MERCUTIO: -'Tis no less, I tell you, for the bawdy hand of the -dial is now upon the prick of noon. - -Nurse: -Out upon you! what a man are you! - -ROMEO: -One, gentlewoman, that God hath made for himself to -mar. - -Nurse: -By my troth, it is well said; 'for himself to mar,' -quoth a'? Gentlemen, can any of you tell me where I -may find the young Romeo? - -ROMEO: -I can tell you; but young Romeo will be older when -you have found him than he was when you sought him: -I am the youngest of that name, for fault of a worse. - -Nurse: -You say well. - -MERCUTIO: -Yea, is the worst well? very well took, i' faith; -wisely, wisely. - -Nurse: -if you be he, sir, I desire some confidence with -you. - -BENVOLIO: -She will indite him to some supper. - -MERCUTIO: -A bawd, a bawd, a bawd! so ho! - -ROMEO: -What hast thou found? - -MERCUTIO: -No hare, sir; unless a hare, sir, in a lenten pie, -that is something stale and hoar ere it be spent. -An old hare hoar, -And an old hare hoar, -Is very good meat in lent -But a hare that is hoar -Is too much for a score, -When it hoars ere it be spent. -Romeo, will you come to your father's? we'll -to dinner, thither. - -ROMEO: -I will follow you. - -MERCUTIO: -Farewell, ancient lady; farewell, -'lady, lady, lady.' - -Nurse: -Marry, farewell! I pray you, sir, what saucy -merchant was this, that was so full of his ropery? - -ROMEO: -A gentleman, nurse, that loves to hear himself talk, -and will speak more in a minute than he will stand -to in a month. - -Nurse: -An a' speak any thing against me, I'll take him -down, an a' were lustier than he is, and twenty such -Jacks; and if I cannot, I'll find those that shall. -Scurvy knave! I am none of his flirt-gills; I am -none of his skains-mates. And thou must stand by -too, and suffer every knave to use me at his pleasure? - -PETER: -I saw no man use you a pleasure; if I had, my weapon -should quickly have been out, I warrant you: I dare -draw as soon as another man, if I see occasion in a -good quarrel, and the law on my side. - -Nurse: -Now, afore God, I am so vexed, that every part about -me quivers. Scurvy knave! Pray you, sir, a word: -and as I told you, my young lady bade me inquire you -out; what she bade me say, I will keep to myself: -but first let me tell ye, if ye should lead her into -a fool's paradise, as they say, it were a very gross -kind of behavior, as they say: for the gentlewoman -is young; and, therefore, if you should deal double -with her, truly it were an ill thing to be offered -to any gentlewoman, and very weak dealing. - -ROMEO: -Nurse, commend me to thy lady and mistress. I -protest unto thee-- - -Nurse: -Good heart, and, i' faith, I will tell her as much: -Lord, Lord, she will be a joyful woman. - -ROMEO: -What wilt thou tell her, nurse? thou dost not mark me. - -Nurse: -I will tell her, sir, that you do protest; which, as -I take it, is a gentlemanlike offer. - -ROMEO: -Bid her devise -Some means to come to shrift this afternoon; -And there she shall at Friar Laurence' cell -Be shrived and married. Here is for thy pains. - -Nurse: -No truly sir; not a penny. - -ROMEO: -Go to; I say you shall. - -Nurse: -This afternoon, sir? well, she shall be there. - -ROMEO: -And stay, good nurse, behind the abbey wall: -Within this hour my man shall be with thee -And bring thee cords made like a tackled stair; -Which to the high top-gallant of my joy -Must be my convoy in the secret night. -Farewell; be trusty, and I'll quit thy pains: -Farewell; commend me to thy mistress. - -Nurse: -Now God in heaven bless thee! Hark you, sir. - -ROMEO: -What say'st thou, my dear nurse? - -Nurse: -Is your man secret? Did you ne'er hear say, -Two may keep counsel, putting one away? - -ROMEO: -I warrant thee, my man's as true as steel. - -NURSE: -Well, sir; my mistress is the sweetest lady--Lord, -Lord! when 'twas a little prating thing:--O, there -is a nobleman in town, one Paris, that would fain -lay knife aboard; but she, good soul, had as lief -see a toad, a very toad, as see him. I anger her -sometimes and tell her that Paris is the properer -man; but, I'll warrant you, when I say so, she looks -as pale as any clout in the versal world. Doth not -rosemary and Romeo begin both with a letter? - -ROMEO: -Ay, nurse; what of that? both with an R. - -Nurse: -Ah. mocker! that's the dog's name; R is for -the--No; I know it begins with some other -letter:--and she hath the prettiest sententious of -it, of you and rosemary, that it would do you good -to hear it. - -ROMEO: -Commend me to thy lady. - -Nurse: -Ay, a thousand times. -Peter! - -PETER: -Anon! - -Nurse: -Peter, take my fan, and go before and apace. - -JULIET: -The clock struck nine when I did send the nurse; -In half an hour she promised to return. -Perchance she cannot meet him: that's not so. -O, she is lame! love's heralds should be thoughts, -Which ten times faster glide than the sun's beams, -Driving back shadows over louring hills: -Therefore do nimble-pinion'd doves draw love, -And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings. -Now is the sun upon the highmost hill -Of this day's journey, and from nine till twelve -Is three long hours, yet she is not come. -Had she affections and warm youthful blood, -She would be as swift in motion as a ball; -My words would bandy her to my sweet love, -And his to me: -But old folks, many feign as they were dead; -Unwieldy, slow, heavy and pale as lead. -O God, she comes! -O honey nurse, what news? -Hast thou met with him? Send thy man away. - -Nurse: -Peter, stay at the gate. - -JULIET: -Now, good sweet nurse,--O Lord, why look'st thou sad? -Though news be sad, yet tell them merrily; -If good, thou shamest the music of sweet news -By playing it to me with so sour a face. - -Nurse: -I am a-weary, give me leave awhile: -Fie, how my bones ache! what a jaunt have I had! - -JULIET: -I would thou hadst my bones, and I thy news: -Nay, come, I pray thee, speak; good, good nurse, speak. - -Nurse: -Jesu, what haste? can you not stay awhile? -Do you not see that I am out of breath? - -JULIET: -How art thou out of breath, when thou hast breath -To say to me that thou art out of breath? -The excuse that thou dost make in this delay -Is longer than the tale thou dost excuse. -Is thy news good, or bad? answer to that; -Say either, and I'll stay the circumstance: -Let me be satisfied, is't good or bad? - -Nurse: -Well, you have made a simple choice; you know not -how to choose a man: Romeo! no, not he; though his -face be better than any man's, yet his leg excels -all men's; and for a hand, and a foot, and a body, -though they be not to be talked on, yet they are -past compare: he is not the flower of courtesy, -but, I'll warrant him, as gentle as a lamb. Go thy -ways, wench; serve God. What, have you dined at home? - -JULIET: -No, no: but all this did I know before. -What says he of our marriage? what of that? - -Nurse: -Lord, how my head aches! what a head have I! -It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces. -My back o' t' other side,--O, my back, my back! -Beshrew your heart for sending me about, -To catch my death with jaunting up and down! - -JULIET: -I' faith, I am sorry that thou art not well. -Sweet, sweet, sweet nurse, tell me, what says my love? - -Nurse: -Your love says, like an honest gentleman, and a -courteous, and a kind, and a handsome, and, I -warrant, a virtuous,--Where is your mother? - -JULIET: -Where is my mother! why, she is within; -Where should she be? How oddly thou repliest! -'Your love says, like an honest gentleman, -Where is your mother?' - -Nurse: -O God's lady dear! -Are you so hot? marry, come up, I trow; -Is this the poultice for my aching bones? -Henceforward do your messages yourself. - -JULIET: -Here's such a coil! come, what says Romeo? - -Nurse: -Have you got leave to go to shrift to-day? - -JULIET: -I have. - -Nurse: -Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence' cell; -There stays a husband to make you a wife: -Now comes the wanton blood up in your cheeks, -They'll be in scarlet straight at any news. -Hie you to church; I must another way, -To fetch a ladder, by the which your love -Must climb a bird's nest soon when it is dark: -I am the drudge and toil in your delight, -But you shall bear the burden soon at night. -Go; I'll to dinner: hie you to the cell. - -JULIET: -Hie to high fortune! Honest nurse, farewell. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -So smile the heavens upon this holy act, -That after hours with sorrow chide us not! - -ROMEO: -Amen, amen! but come what sorrow can, -It cannot countervail the exchange of joy -That one short minute gives me in her sight: -Do thou but close our hands with holy words, -Then love-devouring death do what he dare; -It is enough I may but call her mine. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -These violent delights have violent ends -And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, -Which as they kiss consume: the sweetest honey -Is loathsome in his own deliciousness -And in the taste confounds the appetite: -Therefore love moderately; long love doth so; -Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow. -Here comes the lady: O, so light a foot -Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint: -A lover may bestride the gossamer -That idles in the wanton summer air, -And yet not fall; so light is vanity. - -JULIET: -Good even to my ghostly confessor. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both. - -JULIET: -As much to him, else is his thanks too much. - -ROMEO: -Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy -Be heap'd like mine and that thy skill be more -To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath -This neighbour air, and let rich music's tongue -Unfold the imagined happiness that both -Receive in either by this dear encounter. - -JULIET: -Conceit, more rich in matter than in words, -Brags of his substance, not of ornament: -They are but beggars that can count their worth; -But my true love is grown to such excess -I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Come, come with me, and we will make short work; -For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone -Till holy church incorporate two in one. - -BENVOLIO: -I pray thee, good Mercutio, let's retire: -The day is hot, the Capulets abroad, -And, if we meet, we shall not scape a brawl; -For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring. - -MERCUTIO: -Thou art like one of those fellows that when he -enters the confines of a tavern claps me his sword -upon the table and says 'God send me no need of -thee!' and by the operation of the second cup draws -it on the drawer, when indeed there is no need. - -BENVOLIO: -Am I like such a fellow? - -MERCUTIO: -Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood as -any in Italy, and as soon moved to be moody, and as -soon moody to be moved. - -BENVOLIO: -And what to? - -MERCUTIO: -Nay, an there were two such, we should have none -shortly, for one would kill the other. Thou! why, -thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more, -or a hair less, in his beard, than thou hast: thou -wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no -other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes: what -eye but such an eye would spy out such a quarrel? -Thy head is as fun of quarrels as an egg is full of -meat, and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle as -an egg for quarrelling: thou hast quarrelled with a -man for coughing in the street, because he hath -wakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun: -didst thou not fall out with a tailor for wearing -his new doublet before Easter? with another, for -tying his new shoes with old riband? and yet thou -wilt tutor me from quarrelling! - -BENVOLIO: -An I were so apt to quarrel as thou art, any man -should buy the fee-simple of my life for an hour and a quarter. - -MERCUTIO: -The fee-simple! O simple! - -BENVOLIO: -By my head, here come the Capulets. - -MERCUTIO: -By my heel, I care not. - -TYBALT: -Follow me close, for I will speak to them. -Gentlemen, good den: a word with one of you. - -MERCUTIO: -And but one word with one of us? couple it with -something; make it a word and a blow. - -TYBALT: -You shall find me apt enough to that, sir, an you -will give me occasion. - -MERCUTIO: -Could you not take some occasion without giving? - -TYBALT: -Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo,-- - -MERCUTIO: -Consort! what, dost thou make us minstrels? an -thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but -discords: here's my fiddlestick; here's that shall -make you dance. 'Zounds, consort! - -BENVOLIO: -We talk here in the public haunt of men: -Either withdraw unto some private place, -And reason coldly of your grievances, -Or else depart; here all eyes gaze on us. - -MERCUTIO: -Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze; -I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I. - -TYBALT: -Well, peace be with you, sir: here comes my man. - -MERCUTIO: -But I'll be hanged, sir, if he wear your livery: -Marry, go before to field, he'll be your follower; -Your worship in that sense may call him 'man.' - -TYBALT: -Romeo, the hate I bear thee can afford -No better term than this,--thou art a villain. - -ROMEO: -Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee -Doth much excuse the appertaining rage -To such a greeting: villain am I none; -Therefore farewell; I see thou know'st me not. - -TYBALT: -Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries -That thou hast done me; therefore turn and draw. - -ROMEO: -I do protest, I never injured thee, -But love thee better than thou canst devise, -Till thou shalt know the reason of my love: -And so, good Capulet,--which name I tender -As dearly as my own,--be satisfied. - -MERCUTIO: -O calm, dishonourable, vile submission! -Alla stoccata carries it away. -Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk? - -TYBALT: -What wouldst thou have with me? - -MERCUTIO: -Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine -lives; that I mean to make bold withal, and as you -shall use me hereafter, drybeat the rest of the -eight. Will you pluck your sword out of his pitcher -by the ears? make haste, lest mine be about your -ears ere it be out. - -TYBALT: -I am for you. - -ROMEO: -Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up. - -MERCUTIO: -Come, sir, your passado. - -ROMEO: -Draw, Benvolio; beat down their weapons. -Gentlemen, for shame, forbear this outrage! -Tybalt, Mercutio, the prince expressly hath -Forbidden bandying in Verona streets: -Hold, Tybalt! good Mercutio! - -MERCUTIO: -I am hurt. -A plague o' both your houses! I am sped. -Is he gone, and hath nothing? - -BENVOLIO: -What, art thou hurt? - -MERCUTIO: -Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch; marry, 'tis enough. -Where is my page? Go, villain, fetch a surgeon. - -ROMEO: -Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much. - -MERCUTIO: -No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a -church-door; but 'tis enough,'twill serve: ask for -me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I -am peppered, I warrant, for this world. A plague o' -both your houses! 'Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a -cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a -rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of -arithmetic! Why the devil came you between us? I -was hurt under your arm. - -ROMEO: -I thought all for the best. - -MERCUTIO: -Help me into some house, Benvolio, -Or I shall faint. A plague o' both your houses! -They have made worms' meat of me: I have it, -And soundly too: your houses! - -ROMEO: -This gentleman, the prince's near ally, -My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt -In my behalf; my reputation stain'd -With Tybalt's slander,--Tybalt, that an hour -Hath been my kinsman! O sweet Juliet, -Thy beauty hath made me effeminate -And in my temper soften'd valour's steel! - -BENVOLIO: -O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio's dead! -That gallant spirit hath aspired the clouds, -Which too untimely here did scorn the earth. - -ROMEO: -This day's black fate on more days doth depend; -This but begins the woe, others must end. - -BENVOLIO: -Here comes the furious Tybalt back again. - -ROMEO: -Alive, in triumph! and Mercutio slain! -Away to heaven, respective lenity, -And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now! -Now, Tybalt, take the villain back again, -That late thou gavest me; for Mercutio's soul -Is but a little way above our heads, -Staying for thine to keep him company: -Either thou, or I, or both, must go with him. - -TYBALT: -Thou, wretched boy, that didst consort him here, -Shalt with him hence. - -ROMEO: -This shall determine that. - -BENVOLIO: -Romeo, away, be gone! -The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain. -Stand not amazed: the prince will doom thee death, -If thou art taken: hence, be gone, away! - -ROMEO: -O, I am fortune's fool! - -BENVOLIO: -Why dost thou stay? - -First Citizen: -Which way ran he that kill'd Mercutio? -Tybalt, that murderer, which way ran he? - -BENVOLIO: -There lies that Tybalt. - -First Citizen: -Up, sir, go with me; -I charge thee in the princes name, obey. - -PRINCE: -Where are the vile beginners of this fray? - -BENVOLIO: -O noble prince, I can discover all -The unlucky manage of this fatal brawl: -There lies the man, slain by young Romeo, -That slew thy kinsman, brave Mercutio. - -LADY CAPULET: -Tybalt, my cousin! O my brother's child! -O prince! O cousin! husband! O, the blood is spilt -O my dear kinsman! Prince, as thou art true, -For blood of ours, shed blood of Montague. -O cousin, cousin! - -PRINCE: -Benvolio, who began this bloody fray? - -BENVOLIO: -Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo's hand did slay; -Romeo that spoke him fair, bade him bethink -How nice the quarrel was, and urged withal -Your high displeasure: all this uttered -With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'd, -Could not take truce with the unruly spleen -Of Tybalt deaf to peace, but that he tilts -With piercing steel at bold Mercutio's breast, -Who all as hot, turns deadly point to point, -And, with a martial scorn, with one hand beats -Cold death aside, and with the other sends -It back to Tybalt, whose dexterity, -Retorts it: Romeo he cries aloud, -'Hold, friends! friends, part!' and, swifter than -his tongue, -His agile arm beats down their fatal points, -And 'twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm -An envious thrust from Tybalt hit the life -Of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt fled; -But by and by comes back to Romeo, -Who had but newly entertain'd revenge, -And to 't they go like lightning, for, ere I -Could draw to part them, was stout Tybalt slain. -And, as he fell, did Romeo turn and fly. -This is the truth, or let Benvolio die. - -LADY CAPULET: -He is a kinsman to the Montague; -Affection makes him false; he speaks not true: -Some twenty of them fought in this black strife, -And all those twenty could but kill one life. -I beg for justice, which thou, prince, must give; -Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not live. - -PRINCE: -Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio; -Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe? - -MONTAGUE: -Not Romeo, prince, he was Mercutio's friend; -His fault concludes but what the law should end, -The life of Tybalt. - -PRINCE: -And for that offence -Immediately we do exile him hence: -I have an interest in your hate's proceeding, -My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a-bleeding; -But I'll amerce you with so strong a fine -That you shall all repent the loss of mine: -I will be deaf to pleading and excuses; -Nor tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses: -Therefore use none: let Romeo hence in haste, -Else, when he's found, that hour is his last. -Bear hence this body and attend our will: -Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill. - -JULIET: -Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, -Towards Phoebus' lodging: such a wagoner -As Phaethon would whip you to the west, -And bring in cloudy night immediately. -Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, -That runaway's eyes may wink and Romeo -Leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen. -Lovers can see to do their amorous rites -By their own beauties; or, if love be blind, -It best agrees with night. Come, civil night, -Thou sober-suited matron, all in black, -And learn me how to lose a winning match, -Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods: -Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks, -With thy black mantle; till strange love, grown bold, -Think true love acted simple modesty. -Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night; -For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night -Whiter than new snow on a raven's back. -Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow'd night, -Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die, -Take him and cut him out in little stars, -And he will make the face of heaven so fine -That all the world will be in love with night -And pay no worship to the garish sun. -O, I have bought the mansion of a love, -But not possess'd it, and, though I am sold, -Not yet enjoy'd: so tedious is this day -As is the night before some festival -To an impatient child that hath new robes -And may not wear them. O, here comes my nurse, -And she brings news; and every tongue that speaks -But Romeo's name speaks heavenly eloquence. -Now, nurse, what news? What hast thou there? the cords -That Romeo bid thee fetch? - -Nurse: -Ay, ay, the cords. - -JULIET: -Ay me! what news? why dost thou wring thy hands? - -Nurse: -Ah, well-a-day! he's dead, he's dead, he's dead! -We are undone, lady, we are undone! -Alack the day! he's gone, he's kill'd, he's dead! - -JULIET: -Can heaven be so envious? - -Nurse: -Romeo can, -Though heaven cannot: O Romeo, Romeo! -Who ever would have thought it? Romeo! - -JULIET: -What devil art thou, that dost torment me thus? -This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell. -Hath Romeo slain himself? say thou but 'I,' -And that bare vowel 'I' shall poison more -Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice: -I am not I, if there be such an I; -Or those eyes shut, that make thee answer 'I.' -If he be slain, say 'I'; or if not, no: -Brief sounds determine of my weal or woe. - -Nurse: -I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes,-- -God save the mark!--here on his manly breast: -A piteous corse, a bloody piteous corse; -Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaub'd in blood, -All in gore-blood; I swounded at the sight. - -JULIET: -O, break, my heart! poor bankrupt, break at once! -To prison, eyes, ne'er look on liberty! -Vile earth, to earth resign; end motion here; -And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier! - -Nurse: -O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had! -O courteous Tybalt! honest gentleman! -That ever I should live to see thee dead! - -JULIET: -What storm is this that blows so contrary? -Is Romeo slaughter'd, and is Tybalt dead? -My dear-loved cousin, and my dearer lord? -Then, dreadful trumpet, sound the general doom! -For who is living, if those two are gone? - -Nurse: -Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished; -Romeo that kill'd him, he is banished. - -JULIET: -O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood? - -Nurse: -It did, it did; alas the day, it did! - -JULIET: -O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face! -Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave? -Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical! -Dove-feather'd raven! wolvish-ravening lamb! -Despised substance of divinest show! -Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st, -A damned saint, an honourable villain! -O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell, -When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend -In moral paradise of such sweet flesh? -Was ever book containing such vile matter -So fairly bound? O that deceit should dwell -In such a gorgeous palace! - -Nurse: -There's no trust, -No faith, no honesty in men; all perjured, -All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers. -Ah, where's my man? give me some aqua vitae: -These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old. -Shame come to Romeo! - -JULIET: -Blister'd be thy tongue -For such a wish! he was not born to shame: -Upon his brow shame is ashamed to sit; -For 'tis a throne where honour may be crown'd -Sole monarch of the universal earth. -O, what a beast was I to chide at him! - -Nurse: -Will you speak well of him that kill'd your cousin? - -JULIET: -Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband? -Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name, -When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it? -But, wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? -That villain cousin would have kill'd my husband: -Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring; -Your tributary drops belong to woe, -Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy. -My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain; -And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my husband: -All this is comfort; wherefore weep I then? -Some word there was, worser than Tybalt's death, -That murder'd me: I would forget it fain; -But, O, it presses to my memory, -Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds: -'Tybalt is dead, and Romeo--banished;' -That 'banished,' that one word 'banished,' -Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt's death -Was woe enough, if it had ended there: -Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship -And needly will be rank'd with other griefs, -Why follow'd not, when she said 'Tybalt's dead,' -Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both, -Which modern lamentations might have moved? -But with a rear-ward following Tybalt's death, -'Romeo is banished,' to speak that word, -Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet, -All slain, all dead. 'Romeo is banished!' -There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, -In that word's death; no words can that woe sound. -Where is my father, and my mother, nurse? - -Nurse: -Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's corse: -Will you go to them? I will bring you thither. - -JULIET: -Wash they his wounds with tears: mine shall be spent, -When theirs are dry, for Romeo's banishment. -Take up those cords: poor ropes, you are beguiled, -Both you and I; for Romeo is exiled: -He made you for a highway to my bed; -But I, a maid, die maiden-widowed. -Come, cords, come, nurse; I'll to my wedding-bed; -And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead! - -Nurse: -Hie to your chamber: I'll find Romeo -To comfort you: I wot well where he is. -Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night: -I'll to him; he is hid at Laurence' cell. - -JULIET: -O, find him! give this ring to my true knight, -And bid him come to take his last farewell. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Romeo, come forth; come forth, thou fearful man: -Affliction is enamour'd of thy parts, -And thou art wedded to calamity. - -ROMEO: -Father, what news? what is the prince's doom? -What sorrow craves acquaintance at my hand, -That I yet know not? - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Too familiar -Is my dear son with such sour company: -I bring thee tidings of the prince's doom. - -ROMEO: -What less than dooms-day is the prince's doom? - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -A gentler judgment vanish'd from his lips, -Not body's death, but body's banishment. - -ROMEO: -Ha, banishment! be merciful, say 'death;' -For exile hath more terror in his look, -Much more than death: do not say 'banishment.' - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Hence from Verona art thou banished: -Be patient, for the world is broad and wide. - -ROMEO: -There is no world without Verona walls, -But purgatory, torture, hell itself. -Hence-banished is banish'd from the world, -And world's exile is death: then banished, -Is death mis-term'd: calling death banishment, -Thou cutt'st my head off with a golden axe, -And smilest upon the stroke that murders me. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -O deadly sin! O rude unthankfulness! -Thy fault our law calls death; but the kind prince, -Taking thy part, hath rush'd aside the law, -And turn'd that black word death to banishment: -This is dear mercy, and thou seest it not. - -ROMEO: -'Tis torture, and not mercy: heaven is here, -Where Juliet lives; and every cat and dog -And little mouse, every unworthy thing, -Live here in heaven and may look on her; -But Romeo may not: more validity, -More honourable state, more courtship lives -In carrion-flies than Romeo: they my seize -On the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand -And steal immortal blessing from her lips, -Who even in pure and vestal modesty, -Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin; -But Romeo may not; he is banished: -Flies may do this, but I from this must fly: -They are free men, but I am banished. -And say'st thou yet that exile is not death? -Hadst thou no poison mix'd, no sharp-ground knife, -No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean, -But 'banished' to kill me?--'banished'? -O friar, the damned use that word in hell; -Howlings attend it: how hast thou the heart, -Being a divine, a ghostly confessor, -A sin-absolver, and my friend profess'd, -To mangle me with that word 'banished'? - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Thou fond mad man, hear me but speak a word. - -ROMEO: -O, thou wilt speak again of banishment. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -I'll give thee armour to keep off that word: -Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy, -To comfort thee, though thou art banished. - -ROMEO: -Yet 'banished'? Hang up philosophy! -Unless philosophy can make a Juliet, -Displant a town, reverse a prince's doom, -It helps not, it prevails not: talk no more. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -O, then I see that madmen have no ears. - -ROMEO: -How should they, when that wise men have no eyes? - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Let me dispute with thee of thy estate. - -ROMEO: -Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel: -Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love, -An hour but married, Tybalt murdered, -Doting like me and like me banished, -Then mightst thou speak, then mightst thou tear thy hair, -And fall upon the ground, as I do now, -Taking the measure of an unmade grave. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Arise; one knocks; good Romeo, hide thyself. - -ROMEO: -Not I; unless the breath of heartsick groans, -Mist-like, infold me from the search of eyes. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Hark, how they knock! Who's there? Romeo, arise; -Thou wilt be taken. Stay awhile! Stand up; -Run to my study. By and by! God's will, -What simpleness is this! I come, I come! -Who knocks so hard? whence come you? what's your will? - -Nurse: - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Welcome, then. - -Nurse: -O holy friar, O, tell me, holy friar, -Where is my lady's lord, where's Romeo? - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -There on the ground, with his own tears made drunk. - -Nurse: -O, he is even in my mistress' case, -Just in her case! O woful sympathy! -Piteous predicament! Even so lies she, -Blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering. -Stand up, stand up; stand, and you be a man: -For Juliet's sake, for her sake, rise and stand; -Why should you fall into so deep an O? - -ROMEO: -Nurse! - -Nurse: -Ah sir! ah sir! Well, death's the end of all. - -ROMEO: -Spakest thou of Juliet? how is it with her? -Doth she not think me an old murderer, -Now I have stain'd the childhood of our joy -With blood removed but little from her own? -Where is she? and how doth she? and what says -My conceal'd lady to our cancell'd love? - -Nurse: -O, she says nothing, sir, but weeps and weeps; -And now falls on her bed; and then starts up, -And Tybalt calls; and then on Romeo cries, -And then down falls again. - -ROMEO: -As if that name, -Shot from the deadly level of a gun, -Did murder her; as that name's cursed hand -Murder'd her kinsman. O, tell me, friar, tell me, -In what vile part of this anatomy -Doth my name lodge? tell me, that I may sack -The hateful mansion. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Hold thy desperate hand: -Art thou a man? thy form cries out thou art: -Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote -The unreasonable fury of a beast: -Unseemly woman in a seeming man! -Or ill-beseeming beast in seeming both! -Thou hast amazed me: by my holy order, -I thought thy disposition better temper'd. -Hast thou slain Tybalt? wilt thou slay thyself? -And stay thy lady too that lives in thee, -By doing damned hate upon thyself? -Why rail'st thou on thy birth, the heaven, and earth? -Since birth, and heaven, and earth, all three do meet -In thee at once; which thou at once wouldst lose. -Fie, fie, thou shamest thy shape, thy love, thy wit; -Which, like a usurer, abound'st in all, -And usest none in that true use indeed -Which should bedeck thy shape, thy love, thy wit: -Thy noble shape is but a form of wax, -Digressing from the valour of a man; -Thy dear love sworn but hollow perjury, -Killing that love which thou hast vow'd to cherish; -Thy wit, that ornament to shape and love, -Misshapen in the conduct of them both, -Like powder in a skitless soldier's flask, -Is set afire by thine own ignorance, -And thou dismember'd with thine own defence. -What, rouse thee, man! thy Juliet is alive, -For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead; -There art thou happy: Tybalt would kill thee, -But thou slew'st Tybalt; there are thou happy too: -The law that threaten'd death becomes thy friend -And turns it to exile; there art thou happy: -A pack of blessings lights up upon thy back; -Happiness courts thee in her best array; -But, like a misbehaved and sullen wench, -Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love: -Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable. -Go, get thee to thy love, as was decreed, -Ascend her chamber, hence and comfort her: -But look thou stay not till the watch be set, -For then thou canst not pass to Mantua; -Where thou shalt live, till we can find a time -To blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends, -Beg pardon of the prince, and call thee back -With twenty hundred thousand times more joy -Than thou went'st forth in lamentation. -Go before, nurse: commend me to thy lady; -And bid her hasten all the house to bed, -Which heavy sorrow makes them apt unto: -Romeo is coming. - -Nurse: -O Lord, I could have stay'd here all the night -To hear good counsel: O, what learning is! -My lord, I'll tell my lady you will come. - -ROMEO: -Do so, and bid my sweet prepare to chide. - -Nurse: -Here, sir, a ring she bid me give you, sir: -Hie you, make haste, for it grows very late. - -ROMEO: -How well my comfort is revived by this! - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Go hence; good night; and here stands all your state: -Either be gone before the watch be set, -Or by the break of day disguised from hence: -Sojourn in Mantua; I'll find out your man, -And he shall signify from time to time -Every good hap to you that chances here: -Give me thy hand; 'tis late: farewell; good night. - -ROMEO: -But that a joy past joy calls out on me, -It were a grief, so brief to part with thee: Farewell. - -CAPULET: -Things have fall'n out, sir, so unluckily, -That we have had no time to move our daughter: -Look you, she loved her kinsman Tybalt dearly, -And so did I:--Well, we were born to die. -'Tis very late, she'll not come down to-night: -I promise you, but for your company, -I would have been a-bed an hour ago. - -PARIS: -These times of woe afford no time to woo. -Madam, good night: commend me to your daughter. - -LADY CAPULET: -I will, and know her mind early to-morrow; -To-night she is mew'd up to her heaviness. - -CAPULET: -Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender -Of my child's love: I think she will be ruled -In all respects by me; nay, more, I doubt it not. -Wife, go you to her ere you go to bed; -Acquaint her here of my son Paris' love; -And bid her, mark you me, on Wednesday next-- -But, soft! what day is this? - -PARIS: -Monday, my lord, - -CAPULET: -Monday! ha, ha! Well, Wednesday is too soon, -O' Thursday let it be: o' Thursday, tell her, -She shall be married to this noble earl. -Will you be ready? do you like this haste? -We'll keep no great ado,--a friend or two; -For, hark you, Tybalt being slain so late, -It may be thought we held him carelessly, -Being our kinsman, if we revel much: -Therefore we'll have some half a dozen friends, -And there an end. But what say you to Thursday? - -PARIS: -My lord, I would that Thursday were to-morrow. - -CAPULET: -Well get you gone: o' Thursday be it, then. -Go you to Juliet ere you go to bed, -Prepare her, wife, against this wedding-day. -Farewell, my lord. Light to my chamber, ho! -Afore me! it is so very very late, -That we may call it early by and by. -Good night. - -JULIET: -Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day: -It was the nightingale, and not the lark, -That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear; -Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate-tree: -Believe me, love, it was the nightingale. - -ROMEO: -It was the lark, the herald of the morn, -No nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks -Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east: -Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day -Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. -I must be gone and live, or stay and die. - -JULIET: -Yon light is not day-light, I know it, I: -It is some meteor that the sun exhales, -To be to thee this night a torch-bearer, -And light thee on thy way to Mantua: -Therefore stay yet; thou need'st not to be gone. - -ROMEO: -Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death; -I am content, so thou wilt have it so. -I'll say yon grey is not the morning's eye, -'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow; -Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat -The vaulty heaven so high above our heads: -I have more care to stay than will to go: -Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so. -How is't, my soul? let's talk; it is not day. - -JULIET: -It is, it is: hie hence, be gone, away! -It is the lark that sings so out of tune, -Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps. -Some say the lark makes sweet division; -This doth not so, for she divideth us: -Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes, -O, now I would they had changed voices too! -Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray, -Hunting thee hence with hunt's-up to the day, -O, now be gone; more light and light it grows. - -ROMEO: -More light and light; more dark and dark our woes! - -Nurse: -Madam! - -JULIET: -Nurse? - -Nurse: -Your lady mother is coming to your chamber: -The day is broke; be wary, look about. - -JULIET: -Then, window, let day in, and let life out. - -ROMEO: -Farewell, farewell! one kiss, and I'll descend. - -JULIET: -Art thou gone so? love, lord, ay, husband, friend! -I must hear from thee every day in the hour, -For in a minute there are many days: -O, by this count I shall be much in years -Ere I again behold my Romeo! - -ROMEO: -Farewell! -I will omit no opportunity -That may convey my greetings, love, to thee. - -JULIET: -O think'st thou we shall ever meet again? - -ROMEO: -I doubt it not; and all these woes shall serve -For sweet discourses in our time to come. - -JULIET: -O God, I have an ill-divining soul! -Methinks I see thee, now thou art below, -As one dead in the bottom of a tomb: -Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale. - -ROMEO: -And trust me, love, in my eye so do you: -Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu! - -JULIET: -O fortune, fortune! all men call thee fickle: -If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him. -That is renown'd for faith? Be fickle, fortune; -For then, I hope, thou wilt not keep him long, -But send him back. - -LADY CAPULET: - -JULIET: -Who is't that calls? is it my lady mother? -Is she not down so late, or up so early? -What unaccustom'd cause procures her hither? - -LADY CAPULET: -Why, how now, Juliet! - -JULIET: -Madam, I am not well. - -LADY CAPULET: -Evermore weeping for your cousin's death? -What, wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears? -An if thou couldst, thou couldst not make him live; -Therefore, have done: some grief shows much of love; -But much of grief shows still some want of wit. - -JULIET: -Yet let me weep for such a feeling loss. - -LADY CAPULET: -So shall you feel the loss, but not the friend -Which you weep for. - -JULIET: -Feeling so the loss, -Cannot choose but ever weep the friend. - -LADY CAPULET: -Well, girl, thou weep'st not so much for his death, -As that the villain lives which slaughter'd him. - -JULIET: -What villain madam? - -LADY CAPULET: -That same villain, Romeo. - -JULIET: - -LADY CAPULET: -That is, because the traitor murderer lives. - -JULIET: -Ay, madam, from the reach of these my hands: -Would none but I might venge my cousin's death! - -LADY CAPULET: -We will have vengeance for it, fear thou not: -Then weep no more. I'll send to one in Mantua, -Where that same banish'd runagate doth live, -Shall give him such an unaccustom'd dram, -That he shall soon keep Tybalt company: -And then, I hope, thou wilt be satisfied. - -JULIET: -Indeed, I never shall be satisfied -With Romeo, till I behold him--dead-- -Is my poor heart for a kinsman vex'd. -Madam, if you could find out but a man -To bear a poison, I would temper it; -That Romeo should, upon receipt thereof, -Soon sleep in quiet. O, how my heart abhors -To hear him named, and cannot come to him. -To wreak the love I bore my cousin -Upon his body that slaughter'd him! - -LADY CAPULET: -Find thou the means, and I'll find such a man. -But now I'll tell thee joyful tidings, girl. - -JULIET: -And joy comes well in such a needy time: -What are they, I beseech your ladyship? - -LADY CAPULET: -Well, well, thou hast a careful father, child; -One who, to put thee from thy heaviness, -Hath sorted out a sudden day of joy, -That thou expect'st not nor I look'd not for. - -JULIET: -Madam, in happy time, what day is that? - -LADY CAPULET: -Marry, my child, early next Thursday morn, -The gallant, young and noble gentleman, -The County Paris, at Saint Peter's Church, -Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride. - -JULIET: -Now, by Saint Peter's Church and Peter too, -He shall not make me there a joyful bride. -I wonder at this haste; that I must wed -Ere he, that should be husband, comes to woo. -I pray you, tell my lord and father, madam, -I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I swear, -It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate, -Rather than Paris. These are news indeed! - -LADY CAPULET: -Here comes your father; tell him so yourself, -And see how he will take it at your hands. - -CAPULET: -When the sun sets, the air doth drizzle dew; -But for the sunset of my brother's son -It rains downright. -How now! a conduit, girl? what, still in tears? -Evermore showering? In one little body -Thou counterfeit'st a bark, a sea, a wind; -For still thy eyes, which I may call the sea, -Do ebb and flow with tears; the bark thy body is, -Sailing in this salt flood; the winds, thy sighs; -Who, raging with thy tears, and they with them, -Without a sudden calm, will overset -Thy tempest-tossed body. How now, wife! -Have you deliver'd to her our decree? - -LADY CAPULET: -Ay, sir; but she will none, she gives you thanks. -I would the fool were married to her grave! - -CAPULET: -Soft! take me with you, take me with you, wife. -How! will she none? doth she not give us thanks? -Is she not proud? doth she not count her blest, -Unworthy as she is, that we have wrought -So worthy a gentleman to be her bridegroom? - -JULIET: -Not proud, you have; but thankful, that you have: -Proud can I never be of what I hate; -But thankful even for hate, that is meant love. - -CAPULET: -How now, how now, chop-logic! What is this? -'Proud,' and 'I thank you,' and 'I thank you not;' -And yet 'not proud,' mistress minion, you, -Thank me no thankings, nor, proud me no prouds, -But fettle your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next, -To go with Paris to Saint Peter's Church, -Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither. -Out, you green-sickness carrion! out, you baggage! -You tallow-face! - -LADY CAPULET: -Fie, fie! what, are you mad? - -JULIET: -Good father, I beseech you on my knees, -Hear me with patience but to speak a word. - -CAPULET: -Hang thee, young baggage! disobedient wretch! -I tell thee what: get thee to church o' Thursday, -Or never after look me in the face: -Speak not, reply not, do not answer me; -My fingers itch. Wife, we scarce thought us blest -That God had lent us but this only child; -But now I see this one is one too much, -And that we have a curse in having her: -Out on her, hilding! - -Nurse: -God in heaven bless her! -You are to blame, my lord, to rate her so. - -CAPULET: -And why, my lady wisdom? hold your tongue, -Good prudence; smatter with your gossips, go. - -Nurse: -I speak no treason. - -CAPULET: -O, God ye god-den. - -Nurse: -May not one speak? - -CAPULET: -Peace, you mumbling fool! -Utter your gravity o'er a gossip's bowl; -For here we need it not. - -LADY CAPULET: -You are too hot. - -CAPULET: -God's bread! it makes me mad: -Day, night, hour, tide, time, work, play, -Alone, in company, still my care hath been -To have her match'd: and having now provided -A gentleman of noble parentage, -Of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly train'd, -Stuff'd, as they say, with honourable parts, -Proportion'd as one's thought would wish a man; -And then to have a wretched puling fool, -A whining mammet, in her fortune's tender, -To answer 'I'll not wed; I cannot love, -I am too young; I pray you, pardon me.' -But, as you will not wed, I'll pardon you: -Graze where you will you shall not house with me: -Look to't, think on't, I do not use to jest. -Thursday is near; lay hand on heart, advise: -An you be mine, I'll give you to my friend; -And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in -the streets, -For, by my soul, I'll ne'er acknowledge thee, -Nor what is mine shall never do thee good: -Trust to't, bethink you; I'll not be forsworn. - -JULIET: -Is there no pity sitting in the clouds, -That sees into the bottom of my grief? -O, sweet my mother, cast me not away! -Delay this marriage for a month, a week; -Or, if you do not, make the bridal bed -In that dim monument where Tybalt lies. - -LADY CAPULET: -Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word: -Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee. - -JULIET: -O God!--O nurse, how shall this be prevented? -My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven; -How shall that faith return again to earth, -Unless that husband send it me from heaven -By leaving earth? comfort me, counsel me. -Alack, alack, that heaven should practise stratagems -Upon so soft a subject as myself! -What say'st thou? hast thou not a word of joy? -Some comfort, nurse. - -Nurse: -Faith, here it is. -Romeo is banish'd; and all the world to nothing, -That he dares ne'er come back to challenge you; -Or, if he do, it needs must be by stealth. -Then, since the case so stands as now it doth, -I think it best you married with the county. -O, he's a lovely gentleman! -Romeo's a dishclout to him: an eagle, madam, -Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye -As Paris hath. Beshrew my very heart, -I think you are happy in this second match, -For it excels your first: or if it did not, -Your first is dead; or 'twere as good he were, -As living here and you no use of him. - -JULIET: -Speakest thou from thy heart? - -Nurse: -And from my soul too; -Or else beshrew them both. - -JULIET: -Amen! - -Nurse: -What? - -JULIET: -Well, thou hast comforted me marvellous much. -Go in: and tell my lady I am gone, -Having displeased my father, to Laurence' cell, -To make confession and to be absolved. - -Nurse: -Marry, I will; and this is wisely done. - -JULIET: -Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend! -Is it more sin to wish me thus forsworn, -Or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue -Which she hath praised him with above compare -So many thousand times? Go, counsellor; -Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain. -I'll to the friar, to know his remedy: -If all else fail, myself have power to die. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -On Thursday, sir? the time is very short. - -PARIS: -My father Capulet will have it so; -And I am nothing slow to slack his haste. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -You say you do not know the lady's mind: -Uneven is the course, I like it not. - -PARIS: -Immoderately she weeps for Tybalt's death, -And therefore have I little talk'd of love; -For Venus smiles not in a house of tears. -Now, sir, her father counts it dangerous -That she doth give her sorrow so much sway, -And in his wisdom hastes our marriage, -To stop the inundation of her tears; -Which, too much minded by herself alone, -May be put from her by society: -Now do you know the reason of this haste. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: - -PARIS: -Happily met, my lady and my wife! - -JULIET: -That may be, sir, when I may be a wife. - -PARIS: -That may be must be, love, on Thursday next. - -JULIET: -What must be shall be. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -That's a certain text. - -PARIS: -Come you to make confession to this father? - -JULIET: -To answer that, I should confess to you. - -PARIS: -Do not deny to him that you love me. - -JULIET: -I will confess to you that I love him. - -PARIS: -So will ye, I am sure, that you love me. - -JULIET: -If I do so, it will be of more price, -Being spoke behind your back, than to your face. - -PARIS: -Poor soul, thy face is much abused with tears. - -JULIET: -The tears have got small victory by that; -For it was bad enough before their spite. - -PARIS: -Thou wrong'st it, more than tears, with that report. - -JULIET: -That is no slander, sir, which is a truth; -And what I spake, I spake it to my face. - -PARIS: -Thy face is mine, and thou hast slander'd it. - -JULIET: -It may be so, for it is not mine own. -Are you at leisure, holy father, now; -Or shall I come to you at evening mass? - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -My leisure serves me, pensive daughter, now. -My lord, we must entreat the time alone. - -PARIS: -God shield I should disturb devotion! -Juliet, on Thursday early will I rouse ye: -Till then, adieu; and keep this holy kiss. - -JULIET: -O shut the door! and when thou hast done so, -Come weep with me; past hope, past cure, past help! - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Ah, Juliet, I already know thy grief; -It strains me past the compass of my wits: -I hear thou must, and nothing may prorogue it, -On Thursday next be married to this county. - -JULIET: -Tell me not, friar, that thou hear'st of this, -Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it: -If, in thy wisdom, thou canst give no help, -Do thou but call my resolution wise, -And with this knife I'll help it presently. -God join'd my heart and Romeo's, thou our hands; -And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo seal'd, -Shall be the label to another deed, -Or my true heart with treacherous revolt -Turn to another, this shall slay them both: -Therefore, out of thy long-experienced time, -Give me some present counsel, or, behold, -'Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife -Shall play the umpire, arbitrating that -Which the commission of thy years and art -Could to no issue of true honour bring. -Be not so long to speak; I long to die, -If what thou speak'st speak not of remedy. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Hold, daughter: I do spy a kind of hope, -Which craves as desperate an execution. -As that is desperate which we would prevent. -If, rather than to marry County Paris, -Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself, -Then is it likely thou wilt undertake -A thing like death to chide away this shame, -That copest with death himself to scape from it: -And, if thou darest, I'll give thee remedy. - -JULIET: -O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris, -From off the battlements of yonder tower; -Or walk in thievish ways; or bid me lurk -Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears; -Or shut me nightly in a charnel-house, -O'er-cover'd quite with dead men's rattling bones, -With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls; -Or bid me go into a new-made grave -And hide me with a dead man in his shroud; -Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble; -And I will do it without fear or doubt, -To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Hold, then; go home, be merry, give consent -To marry Paris: Wednesday is to-morrow: -To-morrow night look that thou lie alone; -Let not thy nurse lie with thee in thy chamber: -Take thou this vial, being then in bed, -And this distilled liquor drink thou off; -When presently through all thy veins shall run -A cold and drowsy humour, for no pulse -Shall keep his native progress, but surcease: -No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou livest; -The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade -To paly ashes, thy eyes' windows fall, -Like death, when he shuts up the day of life; -Each part, deprived of supple government, -Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death: -And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk death -Thou shalt continue two and forty hours, -And then awake as from a pleasant sleep. -Now, when the bridegroom in the morning comes -To rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead: -Then, as the manner of our country is, -In thy best robes uncover'd on the bier -Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault -Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie. -In the mean time, against thou shalt awake, -Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift, -And hither shall he come: and he and I -Will watch thy waking, and that very night -Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua. -And this shall free thee from this present shame; -If no inconstant toy, nor womanish fear, -Abate thy valour in the acting it. - -JULIET: -Give me, give me! O, tell not me of fear! - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Hold; get you gone, be strong and prosperous -In this resolve: I'll send a friar with speed -To Mantua, with my letters to thy lord. - -JULIET: -Love give me strength! and strength shall help afford. -Farewell, dear father! - -CAPULET: -So many guests invite as here are writ. -Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks. - -Second Servant: -You shall have none ill, sir; for I'll try if they -can lick their fingers. - -CAPULET: -How canst thou try them so? - -Second Servant: -Marry, sir, 'tis an ill cook that cannot lick his -own fingers: therefore he that cannot lick his -fingers goes not with me. - -CAPULET: -Go, be gone. -We shall be much unfurnished for this time. -What, is my daughter gone to Friar Laurence? - -Nurse: -Ay, forsooth. - -CAPULET: -Well, he may chance to do some good on her: -A peevish self-will'd harlotry it is. - -Nurse: -See where she comes from shrift with merry look. - -CAPULET: -How now, my headstrong! where have you been gadding? - -JULIET: -Where I have learn'd me to repent the sin -Of disobedient opposition -To you and your behests, and am enjoin'd -By holy Laurence to fall prostrate here, -And beg your pardon: pardon, I beseech you! -Henceforward I am ever ruled by you. - -CAPULET: -Send for the county; go tell him of this: -I'll have this knot knit up to-morrow morning. - -JULIET: -I met the youthful lord at Laurence' cell; -And gave him what becomed love I might, -Not step o'er the bounds of modesty. - -CAPULET: -Why, I am glad on't; this is well: stand up: -This is as't should be. Let me see the county; -Ay, marry, go, I say, and fetch him hither. -Now, afore God! this reverend holy friar, -Our whole city is much bound to him. - -JULIET: -Nurse, will you go with me into my closet, -To help me sort such needful ornaments -As you think fit to furnish me to-morrow? - -LADY CAPULET: -No, not till Thursday; there is time enough. - -CAPULET: -Go, nurse, go with her: we'll to church to-morrow. - -LADY CAPULET: -We shall be short in our provision: -'Tis now near night. - -CAPULET: -Tush, I will stir about, -And all things shall be well, I warrant thee, wife: -Go thou to Juliet, help to deck up her; -I'll not to bed to-night; let me alone; -I'll play the housewife for this once. What, ho! -They are all forth. Well, I will walk myself -To County Paris, to prepare him up -Against to-morrow: my heart is wondrous light, -Since this same wayward girl is so reclaim'd. - -JULIET: -Ay, those attires are best: but, gentle nurse, -I pray thee, leave me to myself to-night, -For I have need of many orisons -To move the heavens to smile upon my state, -Which, well thou know'st, is cross, and full of sin. - -LADY CAPULET: -What, are you busy, ho? need you my help? - -JULIET: -No, madam; we have cull'd such necessaries -As are behoveful for our state to-morrow: -So please you, let me now be left alone, -And let the nurse this night sit up with you; -For, I am sure, you have your hands full all, -In this so sudden business. - -LADY CAPULET: -Good night: -Get thee to bed, and rest; for thou hast need. - -JULIET: -Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again. -I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins, -That almost freezes up the heat of life: -I'll call them back again to comfort me: -Nurse! What should she do here? -My dismal scene I needs must act alone. -Come, vial. -What if this mixture do not work at all? -Shall I be married then to-morrow morning? -No, no: this shall forbid it: lie thou there. -What if it be a poison, which the friar -Subtly hath minister'd to have me dead, -Lest in this marriage he should be dishonour'd, -Because he married me before to Romeo? -I fear it is: and yet, methinks, it should not, -For he hath still been tried a holy man. -How if, when I am laid into the tomb, -I wake before the time that Romeo -Come to redeem me? there's a fearful point! -Shall I not, then, be stifled in the vault, -To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in, -And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes? -Or, if I live, is it not very like, -The horrible conceit of death and night, -Together with the terror of the place,-- -As in a vault, an ancient receptacle, -Where, for these many hundred years, the bones -Of all my buried ancestors are packed: -Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth, -Lies festering in his shroud; where, as they say, -At some hours in the night spirits resort;-- -Alack, alack, is it not like that I, -So early waking, what with loathsome smells, -And shrieks like mandrakes' torn out of the earth, -That living mortals, hearing them, run mad:-- -O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught, -Environed with all these hideous fears? -And madly play with my forefather's joints? -And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud? -And, in this rage, with some great kinsman's bone, -As with a club, dash out my desperate brains? -O, look! methinks I see my cousin's ghost -Seeking out Romeo, that did spit his body -Upon a rapier's point: stay, Tybalt, stay! -Romeo, I come! this do I drink to thee. - -LADY CAPULET: -Hold, take these keys, and fetch more spices, nurse. - -Nurse: -They call for dates and quinces in the pastry. - -CAPULET: -Come, stir, stir, stir! the second cock hath crow'd, -The curfew-bell hath rung, 'tis three o'clock: -Look to the baked meats, good Angelica: -Spare not for the cost. - -Nurse: -Go, you cot-quean, go, -Get you to bed; faith, You'll be sick to-morrow -For this night's watching. - -CAPULET: -No, not a whit: what! I have watch'd ere now -All night for lesser cause, and ne'er been sick. - -LADY CAPULET: -Ay, you have been a mouse-hunt in your time; -But I will watch you from such watching now. - -CAPULET: -A jealous hood, a jealous hood! -Now, fellow, -What's there? - -First Servant: -Things for the cook, sir; but I know not what. - -CAPULET: -Make haste, make haste. -Sirrah, fetch drier logs: -Call Peter, he will show thee where they are. - -Second Servant: -I have a head, sir, that will find out logs, -And never trouble Peter for the matter. - -CAPULET: -Mass, and well said; a merry whoreson, ha! -Thou shalt be logger-head. Good faith, 'tis day: -The county will be here with music straight, -For so he said he would: I hear him near. -Nurse! Wife! What, ho! What, nurse, I say! -Go waken Juliet, go and trim her up; -I'll go and chat with Paris: hie, make haste, -Make haste; the bridegroom he is come already: -Make haste, I say. - -Nurse: -Mistress! what, mistress! Juliet! fast, I warrant her, she: -Why, lamb! why, lady! fie, you slug-a-bed! -Why, love, I say! madam! sweet-heart! why, bride! -What, not a word? you take your pennyworths now; -Sleep for a week; for the next night, I warrant, -The County Paris hath set up his rest, -That you shall rest but little. God forgive me, -Marry, and amen, how sound is she asleep! -I must needs wake her. Madam, madam, madam! -Ay, let the county take you in your bed; -He'll fright you up, i' faith. Will it not be? -What, dress'd! and in your clothes! and down again! -I must needs wake you; Lady! lady! lady! -Alas, alas! Help, help! my lady's dead! -O, well-a-day, that ever I was born! -Some aqua vitae, ho! My lord! my lady! - -LADY CAPULET: -What noise is here? - -Nurse: -O lamentable day! - -LADY CAPULET: -What is the matter? - -Nurse: -Look, look! O heavy day! - -LADY CAPULET: -O me, O me! My child, my only life, -Revive, look up, or I will die with thee! -Help, help! Call help. - -CAPULET: -For shame, bring Juliet forth; her lord is come. - -Nurse: -She's dead, deceased, she's dead; alack the day! - -LADY CAPULET: -Alack the day, she's dead, she's dead, she's dead! - -CAPULET: -Ha! let me see her: out, alas! she's cold: -Her blood is settled, and her joints are stiff; -Life and these lips have long been separated: -Death lies on her like an untimely frost -Upon the sweetest flower of all the field. - -Nurse: -O lamentable day! - -LADY CAPULET: -O woful time! - -CAPULET: -Death, that hath ta'en her hence to make me wail, -Ties up my tongue, and will not let me speak. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Come, is the bride ready to go to church? - -CAPULET: -Ready to go, but never to return. -O son! the night before thy wedding-day -Hath Death lain with thy wife. There she lies, -Flower as she was, deflowered by him. -Death is my son-in-law, Death is my heir; -My daughter he hath wedded: I will die, -And leave him all; life, living, all is Death's. - -PARIS: -Have I thought long to see this morning's face, -And doth it give me such a sight as this? - -LADY CAPULET: -Accursed, unhappy, wretched, hateful day! -Most miserable hour that e'er time saw -In lasting labour of his pilgrimage! -But one, poor one, one poor and loving child, -But one thing to rejoice and solace in, -And cruel death hath catch'd it from my sight! - -Nurse: -O woe! O woful, woful, woful day! -Most lamentable day, most woful day, -That ever, ever, I did yet behold! -O day! O day! O day! O hateful day! -Never was seen so black a day as this: -O woful day, O woful day! - -PARIS: -Beguiled, divorced, wronged, spited, slain! -Most detestable death, by thee beguil'd, -By cruel cruel thee quite overthrown! -O love! O life! not life, but love in death! - -CAPULET: -Despised, distressed, hated, martyr'd, kill'd! -Uncomfortable time, why camest thou now -To murder, murder our solemnity? -O child! O child! my soul, and not my child! -Dead art thou! Alack! my child is dead; -And with my child my joys are buried. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Peace, ho, for shame! confusion's cure lives not -In these confusions. Heaven and yourself -Had part in this fair maid; now heaven hath all, -And all the better is it for the maid: -Your part in her you could not keep from death, -But heaven keeps his part in eternal life. -The most you sought was her promotion; -For 'twas your heaven she should be advanced: -And weep ye now, seeing she is advanced -Above the clouds, as high as heaven itself? -O, in this love, you love your child so ill, -That you run mad, seeing that she is well: -She's not well married that lives married long; -But she's best married that dies married young. -Dry up your tears, and stick your rosemary -On this fair corse; and, as the custom is, -In all her best array bear her to church: -For though fond nature bids us an lament, -Yet nature's tears are reason's merriment. - -CAPULET: -All things that we ordained festival, -Turn from their office to black funeral; -Our instruments to melancholy bells, -Our wedding cheer to a sad burial feast, -Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change, -Our bridal flowers serve for a buried corse, -And all things change them to the contrary. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Sir, go you in; and, madam, go with him; -And go, Sir Paris; every one prepare -To follow this fair corse unto her grave: -The heavens do lour upon you for some ill; -Move them no more by crossing their high will. - -First Musician: -Faith, we may put up our pipes, and be gone. - -Nurse: -Honest goodfellows, ah, put up, put up; -For, well you know, this is a pitiful case. - -First Musician: -Ay, by my troth, the case may be amended. - -PETER: -Musicians, O, musicians, 'Heart's ease, Heart's -ease:' O, an you will have me live, play 'Heart's ease.' - -First Musician: -Why 'Heart's ease?' - -PETER: -O, musicians, because my heart itself plays 'My -heart is full of woe:' O, play me some merry dump, -to comfort me. - -First Musician: -Not a dump we; 'tis no time to play now. - -PETER: -You will not, then? - -First Musician: -No. - -PETER: -I will then give it you soundly. - -First Musician: -What will you give us? - -PETER: -No money, on my faith, but the gleek; -I will give you the minstrel. - -First Musician: -Then I will give you the serving-creature. - -PETER: -Then will I lay the serving-creature's dagger on -your pate. I will carry no crotchets: I'll re you, -I'll fa you; do you note me? - -First Musician: -An you re us and fa us, you note us. - -Second Musician: -Pray you, put up your dagger, and put out your wit. - -PETER: -Then have at you with my wit! I will dry-beat you -with an iron wit, and put up my iron dagger. Answer -me like men: -'When griping grief the heart doth wound, -And doleful dumps the mind oppress, -Then music with her silver sound'-- -why 'silver sound'? why 'music with her silver -sound'? What say you, Simon Catling? - -Musician: -Marry, sir, because silver hath a sweet sound. - -PETER: -Pretty! What say you, Hugh Rebeck? - -Second Musician: -I say 'silver sound,' because musicians sound for silver. - -PETER: -Pretty too! What say you, James Soundpost? - -Third Musician: -Faith, I know not what to say. - -PETER: -O, I cry you mercy; you are the singer: I will say -for you. It is 'music with her silver sound,' -because musicians have no gold for sounding: -'Then music with her silver sound -With speedy help doth lend redress.' - -First Musician: -What a pestilent knave is this same! - -Second Musician: -Hang him, Jack! Come, we'll in here; tarry for the -mourners, and stay dinner. - -ROMEO: -If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep, -My dreams presage some joyful news at hand: -My bosom's lord sits lightly in his throne; -And all this day an unaccustom'd spirit -Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts. -I dreamt my lady came and found me dead-- -Strange dream, that gives a dead man leave -to think!-- -And breathed such life with kisses in my lips, -That I revived, and was an emperor. -Ah me! how sweet is love itself possess'd, -When but love's shadows are so rich in joy! -News from Verona!--How now, Balthasar! -Dost thou not bring me letters from the friar? -How doth my lady? Is my father well? -How fares my Juliet? that I ask again; -For nothing can be ill, if she be well. - -BALTHASAR: -Then she is well, and nothing can be ill: -Her body sleeps in Capel's monument, -And her immortal part with angels lives. -I saw her laid low in her kindred's vault, -And presently took post to tell it you: -O, pardon me for bringing these ill news, -Since you did leave it for my office, sir. - -ROMEO: -Is it even so? then I defy you, stars! -Thou know'st my lodging: get me ink and paper, -And hire post-horses; I will hence to-night. - -BALTHASAR: -I do beseech you, sir, have patience: -Your looks are pale and wild, and do import -Some misadventure. - -ROMEO: -Tush, thou art deceived: -Leave me, and do the thing I bid thee do. -Hast thou no letters to me from the friar? - -BALTHASAR: -No, my good lord. - -ROMEO: -No matter: get thee gone, -And hire those horses; I'll be with thee straight. -Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee to-night. -Let's see for means: O mischief, thou art swift -To enter in the thoughts of desperate men! -I do remember an apothecary,-- -And hereabouts he dwells,--which late I noted -In tatter'd weeds, with overwhelming brows, -Culling of simples; meagre were his looks, -Sharp misery had worn him to the bones: -And in his needy shop a tortoise hung, -An alligator stuff'd, and other skins -Of ill-shaped fishes; and about his shelves -A beggarly account of empty boxes, -Green earthen pots, bladders and musty seeds, -Remnants of packthread and old cakes of roses, -Were thinly scatter'd, to make up a show. -Noting this penury, to myself I said -'An if a man did need a poison now, -Whose sale is present death in Mantua, -Here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him.' -O, this same thought did but forerun my need; -And this same needy man must sell it me. -As I remember, this should be the house. -Being holiday, the beggar's shop is shut. -What, ho! apothecary! - -Apothecary: -Who calls so loud? - -ROMEO: -Come hither, man. I see that thou art poor: -Hold, there is forty ducats: let me have -A dram of poison, such soon-speeding gear -As will disperse itself through all the veins -That the life-weary taker may fall dead -And that the trunk may be discharged of breath -As violently as hasty powder fired -Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb. - -Apothecary: -Such mortal drugs I have; but Mantua's law -Is death to any he that utters them. - -ROMEO: -Art thou so bare and full of wretchedness, -And fear'st to die? famine is in thy cheeks, -Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes, -Contempt and beggary hangs upon thy back; -The world is not thy friend nor the world's law; -The world affords no law to make thee rich; -Then be not poor, but break it, and take this. - -Apothecary: -My poverty, but not my will, consents. - -ROMEO: -I pay thy poverty, and not thy will. - -Apothecary: -Put this in any liquid thing you will, -And drink it off; and, if you had the strength -Of twenty men, it would dispatch you straight. - -ROMEO: -There is thy gold, worse poison to men's souls, -Doing more murders in this loathsome world, -Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell. -I sell thee poison; thou hast sold me none. -Farewell: buy food, and get thyself in flesh. -Come, cordial and not poison, go with me -To Juliet's grave; for there must I use thee. - -FRIAR JOHN: -Holy Franciscan friar! brother, ho! - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -This same should be the voice of Friar John. -Welcome from Mantua: what says Romeo? -Or, if his mind be writ, give me his letter. - -FRIAR JOHN: -Going to find a bare-foot brother out -One of our order, to associate me, -Here in this city visiting the sick, -And finding him, the searchers of the town, -Suspecting that we both were in a house -Where the infectious pestilence did reign, -Seal'd up the doors, and would not let us forth; -So that my speed to Mantua there was stay'd. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Who bare my letter, then, to Romeo? - -FRIAR JOHN: -I could not send it,--here it is again,-- -Nor get a messenger to bring it thee, -So fearful were they of infection. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Unhappy fortune! by my brotherhood, -The letter was not nice but full of charge -Of dear import, and the neglecting it -May do much danger. Friar John, go hence; -Get me an iron crow, and bring it straight -Unto my cell. - -FRIAR JOHN: -Brother, I'll go and bring it thee. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Now must I to the monument alone; -Within three hours will fair Juliet wake: -She will beshrew me much that Romeo -Hath had no notice of these accidents; -But I will write again to Mantua, -And keep her at my cell till Romeo come; -Poor living corse, closed in a dead man's tomb! - -PARIS: -Give me thy torch, boy: hence, and stand aloof: -Yet put it out, for I would not be seen. -Under yond yew-trees lay thee all along, -Holding thine ear close to the hollow ground; -So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread, -Being loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves, -But thou shalt hear it: whistle then to me, -As signal that thou hear'st something approach. -Give me those flowers. Do as I bid thee, go. - -PAGE: - -PARIS: -Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew,-- -O woe! thy canopy is dust and stones;-- -Which with sweet water nightly I will dew, -Or, wanting that, with tears distill'd by moans: -The obsequies that I for thee will keep -Nightly shall be to strew thy grave and weep. -The boy gives warning something doth approach. -What cursed foot wanders this way to-night, -To cross my obsequies and true love's rite? -What with a torch! muffle me, night, awhile. - -ROMEO: -Give me that mattock and the wrenching iron. -Hold, take this letter; early in the morning -See thou deliver it to my lord and father. -Give me the light: upon thy life, I charge thee, -Whate'er thou hear'st or seest, stand all aloof, -And do not interrupt me in my course. -Why I descend into this bed of death, -Is partly to behold my lady's face; -But chiefly to take thence from her dead finger -A precious ring, a ring that I must use -In dear employment: therefore hence, be gone: -But if thou, jealous, dost return to pry -In what I further shall intend to do, -By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint -And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs: -The time and my intents are savage-wild, -More fierce and more inexorable far -Than empty tigers or the roaring sea. - -BALTHASAR: -I will be gone, sir, and not trouble you. - -ROMEO: -So shalt thou show me friendship. Take thou that: -Live, and be prosperous: and farewell, good fellow. - -BALTHASAR: - -ROMEO: -Thou detestable maw, thou womb of death, -Gorged with the dearest morsel of the earth, -Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open, -And, in despite, I'll cram thee with more food! - -PARIS: -This is that banish'd haughty Montague, -That murder'd my love's cousin, with which grief, -It is supposed, the fair creature died; -And here is come to do some villanous shame -To the dead bodies: I will apprehend him. -Stop thy unhallow'd toil, vile Montague! -Can vengeance be pursued further than death? -Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee: -Obey, and go with me; for thou must die. - -ROMEO: -I must indeed; and therefore came I hither. -Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man; -Fly hence, and leave me: think upon these gone; -Let them affright thee. I beseech thee, youth, -Put not another sin upon my head, -By urging me to fury: O, be gone! -By heaven, I love thee better than myself; -For I come hither arm'd against myself: -Stay not, be gone; live, and hereafter say, -A madman's mercy bade thee run away. - -PARIS: -I do defy thy conjurations, -And apprehend thee for a felon here. - -ROMEO: -Wilt thou provoke me? then have at thee, boy! - -PAGE: -O Lord, they fight! I will go call the watch. - -PARIS: -O, I am slain! -If thou be merciful, -Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet. - -ROMEO: -In faith, I will. Let me peruse this face. -Mercutio's kinsman, noble County Paris! -What said my man, when my betossed soul -Did not attend him as we rode? I think -He told me Paris should have married Juliet: -Said he not so? or did I dream it so? -Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet, -To think it was so? O, give me thy hand, -One writ with me in sour misfortune's book! -I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave; -A grave? O no! a lantern, slaughter'd youth, -For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes -This vault a feasting presence full of light. -Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr'd. -How oft when men are at the point of death -Have they been merry! which their keepers call -A lightning before death: O, how may I -Call this a lightning? O my love! my wife! -Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath, -Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty: -Thou art not conquer'd; beauty's ensign yet -Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks, -And death's pale flag is not advanced there. -Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet? -O, what more favour can I do to thee, -Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain -To sunder his that was thine enemy? -Forgive me, cousin! Ah, dear Juliet, -Why art thou yet so fair? shall I believe -That unsubstantial death is amorous, -And that the lean abhorred monster keeps -Thee here in dark to be his paramour? -For fear of that, I still will stay with thee; -And never from this palace of dim night -Depart again: here, here will I remain -With worms that are thy chamber-maids; O, here -Will I set up my everlasting rest, -And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars -From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last! -Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you -The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss -A dateless bargain to engrossing death! -Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide! -Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on -The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark! -Here's to my love! -O true apothecary! -Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Saint Francis be my speed! how oft to-night -Have my old feet stumbled at graves! Who's there? - -BALTHASAR: -Here's one, a friend, and one that knows you well. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Bliss be upon you! Tell me, good my friend, -What torch is yond, that vainly lends his light -To grubs and eyeless skulls? as I discern, -It burneth in the Capel's monument. - -BALTHASAR: -It doth so, holy sir; and there's my master, -One that you love. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Who is it? - -BALTHASAR: -Romeo. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -How long hath he been there? - -BALTHASAR: -Full half an hour. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Go with me to the vault. - -BALTHASAR: -I dare not, sir -My master knows not but I am gone hence; -And fearfully did menace me with death, -If I did stay to look on his intents. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Stay, then; I'll go alone. Fear comes upon me: -O, much I fear some ill unlucky thing. - -BALTHASAR: -As I did sleep under this yew-tree here, -I dreamt my master and another fought, -And that my master slew him. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -Romeo! -Alack, alack, what blood is this, which stains -The stony entrance of this sepulchre? -What mean these masterless and gory swords -To lie discolour'd by this place of peace? -Romeo! O, pale! Who else? what, Paris too? -And steep'd in blood? Ah, what an unkind hour -Is guilty of this lamentable chance! -The lady stirs. - -JULIET: -O comfortable friar! where is my lord? -I do remember well where I should be, -And there I am. Where is my Romeo? - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -I hear some noise. Lady, come from that nest -Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep: -A greater power than we can contradict -Hath thwarted our intents. Come, come away. -Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead; -And Paris too. Come, I'll dispose of thee -Among a sisterhood of holy nuns: -Stay not to question, for the watch is coming; -Come, go, good Juliet, -I dare no longer stay. - -JULIET: -Go, get thee hence, for I will not away. -What's here? a cup, closed in my true love's hand? -Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end: -O churl! drunk all, and left no friendly drop -To help me after? I will kiss thy lips; -Haply some poison yet doth hang on them, -To make die with a restorative. -Thy lips are warm. - -First Watchman: - -JULIET: -Yea, noise? then I'll be brief. O happy dagger! -This is thy sheath; -there rust, and let me die. - -PAGE: -This is the place; there, where the torch doth burn. - -First Watchman: -The ground is bloody; search about the churchyard: -Go, some of you, whoe'er you find attach. -Pitiful sight! here lies the county slain, -And Juliet bleeding, warm, and newly dead, -Who here hath lain these two days buried. -Go, tell the prince: run to the Capulets: -Raise up the Montagues: some others search: -We see the ground whereon these woes do lie; -But the true ground of all these piteous woes -We cannot without circumstance descry. - -Second Watchman: -Here's Romeo's man; we found him in the churchyard. - -First Watchman: -Hold him in safety, till the prince come hither. - -Third Watchman: -Here is a friar, that trembles, sighs and weeps: -We took this mattock and this spade from him, -As he was coming from this churchyard side. - -First Watchman: -A great suspicion: stay the friar too. - -PRINCE: -What misadventure is so early up, -That calls our person from our morning's rest? - -CAPULET: -What should it be, that they so shriek abroad? - -LADY CAPULET: -The people in the street cry Romeo, -Some Juliet, and some Paris; and all run, -With open outcry toward our monument. - -PRINCE: -What fear is this which startles in our ears? - -First Watchman: -Sovereign, here lies the County Paris slain; -And Romeo dead; and Juliet, dead before, -Warm and new kill'd. - -PRINCE: -Search, seek, and know how this foul murder comes. - -First Watchman: -Here is a friar, and slaughter'd Romeo's man; -With instruments upon them, fit to open -These dead men's tombs. - -CAPULET: -O heavens! O wife, look how our daughter bleeds! -This dagger hath mista'en--for, lo, his house -Is empty on the back of Montague,-- -And it mis-sheathed in my daughter's bosom! - -LADY CAPULET: -O me! this sight of death is as a bell, -That warns my old age to a sepulchre. - -PRINCE: -Come, Montague; for thou art early up, -To see thy son and heir more early down. - -MONTAGUE: -Alas, my liege, my wife is dead to-night; -Grief of my son's exile hath stopp'd her breath: -What further woe conspires against mine age? - -PRINCE: -Look, and thou shalt see. - -MONTAGUE: -O thou untaught! what manners is in this? -To press before thy father to a grave? - -PRINCE: -Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while, -Till we can clear these ambiguities, -And know their spring, their head, their -true descent; -And then will I be general of your woes, -And lead you even to death: meantime forbear, -And let mischance be slave to patience. -Bring forth the parties of suspicion. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -I am the greatest, able to do least, -Yet most suspected, as the time and place -Doth make against me of this direful murder; -And here I stand, both to impeach and purge -Myself condemned and myself excused. - -PRINCE: -Then say at once what thou dost know in this. - -FRIAR LAURENCE: -I will be brief, for my short date of breath -Is not so long as is a tedious tale. -Romeo, there dead, was husband to that Juliet; -And she, there dead, that Romeo's faithful wife: -I married them; and their stol'n marriage-day -Was Tybalt's dooms-day, whose untimely death -Banish'd the new-made bridegroom from the city, -For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pined. -You, to remove that siege of grief from her, -Betroth'd and would have married her perforce -To County Paris: then comes she to me, -And, with wild looks, bid me devise some mean -To rid her from this second marriage, -Or in my cell there would she kill herself. -Then gave I her, so tutor'd by my art, -A sleeping potion; which so took effect -As I intended, for it wrought on her -The form of death: meantime I writ to Romeo, -That he should hither come as this dire night, -To help to take her from her borrow'd grave, -Being the time the potion's force should cease. -But he which bore my letter, Friar John, -Was stay'd by accident, and yesternight -Return'd my letter back. Then all alone -At the prefixed hour of her waking, -Came I to take her from her kindred's vault; -Meaning to keep her closely at my cell, -Till I conveniently could send to Romeo: -But when I came, some minute ere the time -Of her awaking, here untimely lay -The noble Paris and true Romeo dead. -She wakes; and I entreated her come forth, -And bear this work of heaven with patience: -But then a noise did scare me from the tomb; -And she, too desperate, would not go with me, -But, as it seems, did violence on herself. -All this I know; and to the marriage -Her nurse is privy: and, if aught in this -Miscarried by my fault, let my old life -Be sacrificed, some hour before his time, -Unto the rigour of severest law.