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First Herald:
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Harry of Hereford, Lancaster and Derby,
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Stands here for God, his sovereign and himself,
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On pain to be found false and recreant,
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To prove the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray,
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A traitor to his God, his king and him;
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And dares him to set forward to the fight.
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Second Herald:
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Here standeth Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk,
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On pain to be found false and recreant,
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Both to defend himself and to approve
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Henry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby,
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To God, his sovereign and to him disloyal;
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Courageously and with a free desire
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Attending but the signal to begin.
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Lord Marshal:
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Sound, trumpets; and set forward, combatants.
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Stay, the king hath thrown his warder down.
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KING RICHARD II:
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Let them lay by their helmets and their spears,
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And both return back to their chairs again:
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Withdraw with us: and let the trumpets sound
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While we return these dukes what we decree.
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Draw near,
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And list what with our council we have done.
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For that our kingdom's earth should not be soil'd
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With that dear blood which it hath fostered;
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And for our eyes do hate the dire aspect
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Of civil wounds plough'd up with neighbours' sword;
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And for we think the eagle-winged pride
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Of sky-aspiring and ambitious thoughts,
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With rival-hating envy, set on you
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To wake our peace, which in our country's cradle
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Draws the sweet infant breath of gentle sleep;
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Which so roused up with boisterous untuned drums,
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With harsh resounding trumpets' dreadful bray,
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And grating shock of wrathful iron arms,
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Might from our quiet confines fright fair peace
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And make us wade even in our kindred's blood,
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Therefore, we banish you our territories:
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You, cousin Hereford, upon pain of life,
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Till twice five summers have enrich'd our fields
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Shall not regreet our fair dominions,
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But tread the stranger paths of banishment.
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HENRY BOLINGBROKE:
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Your will be done: this must my comfort be,
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Sun that warms you here shall shine on me;
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And those his golden beams to you here lent
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Shall point on me and gild my banishment.
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KING RICHARD II:
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Norfolk, for thee remains a heavier doom,
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Which I with some unwillingness pronounce:
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The sly slow hours shall not determinate
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The dateless limit of thy dear exile;
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The hopeless word of 'never to return'
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Breathe I against thee, upon pain of life.
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THOMAS MOWBRAY:
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A heavy sentence, my most sovereign liege,
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And all unlook'd for from your highness' mouth:
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A dearer merit, not so deep a maim
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As to be cast forth in the common air,
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Have I deserved at your highness' hands.
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The language I have learn'd these forty years,
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My native English, now I must forego:
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And now my tongue's use is to me no more
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Than an unstringed viol or a harp,
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Or like a cunning instrument cased up,
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Or, being open, put into his hands
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That knows no touch to tune the harmony:
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Within my mouth you have engaol'd my tongue,
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Doubly portcullis'd with my teeth and lips;
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And dull unfeeling barren ignorance
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Is made my gaoler to attend on me.
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I am too old to fawn upon a nurse,
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Too far in years to be a pupil now:
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What is thy sentence then but speechless death,
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Which robs my tongue from breathing native breath?
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KING RICHARD II:
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It boots thee not to be compassionate:
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After our sentence plaining comes too late.
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THOMAS MOWBRAY:
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Then thus I turn me from my country's light,
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To dwell in solemn shades of endless night.
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KING RICHARD II:
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Return again, and take an oath with thee.
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Lay on our royal sword your banish'd hands;
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Swear by the duty that you owe to God--
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Our part therein we banish with yourselves--
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To keep the oath that we administer:
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You never shall, so help you truth and God!
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Embrace each other's love in banishment;
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