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There shouldst thou find one heinous article,
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Containing the deposing of a king
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And cracking the strong warrant of an oath,
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Mark'd with a blot, damn'd in the book of heaven:
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Nay, all of you that stand and look upon,
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Whilst that my wretchedness doth bait myself,
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Though some of you with Pilate wash your hands
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Showing an outward pity; yet you Pilates
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Have here deliver'd me to my sour cross,
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And water cannot wash away your sin.
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NORTHUMBERLAND:
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My lord, dispatch; read o'er these articles.
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KING RICHARD II:
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Mine eyes are full of tears, I cannot see:
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And yet salt water blinds them not so much
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But they can see a sort of traitors here.
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Nay, if I turn mine eyes upon myself,
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I find myself a traitor with the rest;
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For I have given here my soul's consent
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To undeck the pompous body of a king;
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Made glory base and sovereignty a slave,
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Proud majesty a subject, state a peasant.
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NORTHUMBERLAND:
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My lord,--
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KING RICHARD II:
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No lord of thine, thou haught insulting man,
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Nor no man's lord; I have no name, no title,
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No, not that name was given me at the font,
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But 'tis usurp'd: alack the heavy day,
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That I have worn so many winters out,
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And know not now what name to call myself!
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O that I were a mockery king of snow,
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Standing before the sun of Bolingbroke,
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To melt myself away in water-drops!
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Good king, great king, and yet not greatly good,
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An if my word be sterling yet in England,
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Let it command a mirror hither straight,
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That it may show me what a face I have,
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Since it is bankrupt of his majesty.
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HENRY BOLINGBROKE:
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Go some of you and fetch a looking-glass.
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NORTHUMBERLAND:
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Read o'er this paper while the glass doth come.
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KING RICHARD II:
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Fiend, thou torment'st me ere I come to hell!
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HENRY BOLINGBROKE:
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Urge it no more, my Lord Northumberland.
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NORTHUMBERLAND:
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The commons will not then be satisfied.
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KING RICHARD II:
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They shall be satisfied: I'll read enough,
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When I do see the very book indeed
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Where all my sins are writ, and that's myself.
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Give me the glass, and therein will I read.
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No deeper wrinkles yet? hath sorrow struck
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So many blows upon this face of mine,
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And made no deeper wounds? O flattering glass,
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Like to my followers in prosperity,
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Thou dost beguile me! Was this face the face
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That every day under his household roof
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Did keep ten thousand men? was this the face
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That, like the sun, did make beholders wink?
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Was this the face that faced so many follies,
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And was at last out-faced by Bolingbroke?
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A brittle glory shineth in this face:
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As brittle as the glory is the face;
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For there it is, crack'd in a hundred shivers.
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Mark, silent king, the moral of this sport,
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How soon my sorrow hath destroy'd my face.
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HENRY BOLINGBROKE:
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The shadow of your sorrow hath destroy'd
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The shadow or your face.
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KING RICHARD II:
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Say that again.
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The shadow of my sorrow! ha! let's see:
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'Tis very true, my grief lies all within;
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And these external manners of laments
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Are merely shadows to the unseen grief
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That swells with silence in the tortured soul;
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There lies the substance: and I thank thee, king,
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For thy great bounty, that not only givest
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Me cause to wail but teachest me the way
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How to lament the cause. I'll beg one boon,
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And then be gone and trouble you no more.
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Shall I obtain it?
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HENRY BOLINGBROKE:
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Name it, fair cousin.
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