PERSONS REPRESENTED. KING RICHARD THE SECOND. EDMUND of Langley, Duke of York, Uncles to the King HENRY, surnamed BOLINGBROKE, Duke of Hereford, Son to John of Gaunt; afterwards King Henry IV. Duke of Aumerle, Son to the Duke of York. Duke of Surrey. Earl of Salisbury. Earl Berkley. BUSHY, BAGOT, Creatures to King Richard. Earl of Northumberland. HENRY PERCY, his Son. Lord Rcss. Lord Willoughby. Lord Fitzwater. SIR PIERCE of Exton SIR STEPHEN SCROOP. Queen to King Richard. Duchess of Gloster. Duchess of York. Lady attending on the Queen. Lords, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, two Gardeners, Keeper, Messenger, Groom, and other Attendants. SCENE, dispersedly in England and Wales. KING RICHARD II. ACT I. SCENE I. London. A Room in the Palace. Enter KING RICHARD, attended; JOHN of GAUNT, and other Nobles with him. King Richard. OLD John of Gaunt, time-honored Lancaster, Hast thou, according to thy oath and band, K. Rich. Tell me, moreover, hast thou sounded him, If he appeal the duke on ancient malice; Or worthily, as a good subject should, On some known ground of treachery in him? Gaunt. As near as I could sift him on that argument, On some apparent danger seen in him, Aimed at your highness; no inveterate malice. K. Rich. Then call them to our presence; face to face, And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear The accuser and the accused, freely speak. [Exeunt some Attendants High stomached are they both, and full of ire, rage deaf as the sea, hasty as fire. In Re-enter Attendants, with BOLINGBROKE and NORrfolk. Boling. Many years of happy days befall My gracious sovereign, my most loving liege! Nor. Each day still better other's happiness, Until the heavens, envying earth's good hap, Add an immortal title to your crown! (327) K. Rich. We thank you both; yet one but flatters us, As well appeareth by the cause you come : Namely, to appeal each other of high treason.Cousin of Hereford, what dost thou object Against the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray? Boling. First, (Heaven be the record to my speech!) In the devotion of a subject's love, Tendering the precious safety of my prince, And free from other misbegotten hate, Come I appellant to this princely presence.Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee; And mark my greeting well; for what I speak, My body shall make good upon this earth, Or my divine soul answer it in heaven. Thou art a traitor, and a miscreant; Too good to be so, and too bad to live; Since, the more fair and crystal is the sky, The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly. Once more, the more to aggravate the note, With a foul traitor's name stuff I thy throat; And wish, (so please my sovereign,) ere I move, What my tongue speaks, my right-drawn sword may prove. Nor. Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal. 'Tis not the trial of a woman's war, The bitter clamor of two eager tongues, Can arbitrate this cause betwixt us twain. The blood is hot that must be cooled for this; I do defy him, and I spit at him; Call him a slanderous coward, and a villain; Boling. Pale, trembling coward, there I throw my gage, And lay aside my high blood's royalty, Or chivalrous design of knightly trial; And, when I mount, alive may I not light, If I be traitor, or unjustly fight! K. Rich. What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray's charge? It must be great, that can inherit us So much as of a thought of ill in him. Boling. Look, what I speak my life shall prove it true;— That Mowbray hath received eight thousand nobles, In name of lendings for your highness' soldiers; The which he hath detained for lewd employments, Like a false traitor, and injurious villain. Besides I say, and will in battle prove,Or here, or elsewhere, to the furthest verge That ever was surveyed 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 Gloster's death; Suggest his soon-believing adversaries; And, consequently, like a traitor coward, Sluiced out his innocent soul through streams of blood; Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth, K. Rich. How high a pitch his resolution soars! Till I have told this slander of his blood, How God, and good men, hate so foul a liar. K. Rich. Mowbray, impartial are our eyes and ears. Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir, |