KING RICHARD THE SECOND

Act 1 Scene 1

(Enter King Richard and John of Gaunt, with the Lord Marshal, other nobles, and attendants)
l1l	King Richard	 Old John of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaster,
l2l		Hast thou according to thy oath and bond
l3l		Brought hither Henry Hereford, thy bold son,
l4l		Here to make good the boist’rous late appeal,
l5l		Which then our leisure would not let us hear,
l6l		Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?
l7l	John Of Gaunt	I have, my liege.
l8l	King Richard	Tell me moreover, hast thou sounded him
l9l		If he appeal the Duke on ancient malice
l10l		Or worthily, as a good subject should,
l11l		On some known ground of treachery in him?
l12l	John Of Gaunt	As near as I could sift him on that argument,
l13l		On some apparent danger seen in him
l14l		Aimed at your highness, no inveterate malice.
l15l	King Richard	Then call them to our presence.
		(Exit one or more)
		 Face to face
l16l		And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear
l17l		The accuser and the accusèd freely speak.
l18l		High-stomached are they both and full of ire#
l19l		In rage, deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.
		(Enter Bolingbroke Duke of Hereford, and Mowbray Duke of Norfolk)
l20l	Bolingbroke	 Many years of happy days befall
l21l		My gracious sovereign, my most loving liege!
l22l	Mowbray	Each day still better others’ happiness,
l23l		Until the heavens, envying earth’s good hap,
l24l		Add an immortal title to your crown!
l25l	King Richard	We thank you both. Yet one but flatters us,
l26l		As well appeareth by the cause you come,
l27l		Namely, to appeal each other of high treason.
l28l		Cousin of Hereford, what dost thou object
l29l		Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?
l30l	Bolingbroke	First—heaven be the record to my speech—
l31l		In the devotion of a subject’s love,
l32l		Tend’ring the precious safety of my Prince,
l33l		And free from other misbegotten hate,
l34l		Come I appellant to this princely presence.
l35l		Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee#
l36l		And mark my greeting well, for what I speak
l37l		My body shall make good upon this earth,
l38l		Or my divine soul answer it in heaven.
l39l		Thou art a traitor and a miscreant,
l40l		Too good to be so, and too bad to live,
l41l		Since the more fair and crystal is the sky,
l42l		The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly.
l43l		Once more, the more to aggravate the note,
l44l		With a foul traitor’s name stuff I thy throat,
l45l		And wish, so please my sovereign, ere I move
l46l		What my tongue speaks my right-drawn sword may prove.
l47l	Mowbray	Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal.
l48l		’Tis not the trial of a woman’s war,
l49l		The bitter clamour of two eager tongues,
l50l		Can arbitrate this cause betwixt us twain.
l51l		The blood is hot that must be cooled for this.
l52l		Yet can I not of such tame patience boast
l53l		As to be hushed and naught at all to say.
l54l		First, the fair reverence of your highness curbs me
l55l		From giving reins and spurs to my free speech,
l56l		Which else would post until it had returned
l57l		These terms of treason doubled down his throat.
l58l		Setting aside his high blood’s royalty,
l59l		And let him be no kinsman to my liege,
l60l		I do defy him, and I spit at him,
l61l		Call him a slanderous coward and a villain#
l62l		Which to maintain I would allow him odds,
l63l		And meet him, were I tied to run afoot
l64l		Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,
l65l		Or any other ground inhabitable,
l66l		Wherever Englishman durst set his foot.
l67l		Meantime let this defend my loyalty:
l68l		By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie.
l69l	Bolingbroke	(throwing down his gage)
		 Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage,
l70l		Disclaiming here the kindred of the King,
l71l		And lay aside my high blood’s royalty,
l72l		Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except.
l73l		If guilty dread have left thee so much strength
l74l		As to take up mine honour’s pawn, then stoop.
l75l		By that, and all the rites of knighthood else,
l76l		Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,
l77l		What I have spoke or thou canst worse devise.
l78l	Mowbray	(taking up the gage)
		 I take it up, and by that sword I swear
l79l		Which gently laid my knighthood on my shoulder,
l80l		I’ll answer thee in any fair degree
l81l		Or chivalrous design of knightly trial#
l82l		And when I mount, alive may I not light
l83l		If I be traitor or unjustly fight!
l84l	King Richard	(to Bolingbroke)
		 What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray’s charge?
l85l		It must be great that can inherit us
l86l		So much as of a thought of ill in him.
l87l	Bolingbroke	Look what I speak, my life shall prove it true:
l88l		That Mowbray hath received eight thousand nobles
l89l		In name of lendings for your highness’ soldiers,
l90l		The which he hath detained for lewd employments,
l91l		Like a false traitor and injurious villain.
l92l		Besides I say, and will in battle prove,
l93l		Or here or elsewhere, to the furthest verge
l94l		That ever was surveyed by English eye,
l95l		That all the treasons for these eighteen years
l96l		Complotted and contrivèd in this land
l97l		Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring.
l98l		Further I say, and further will maintain
l99l		Upon his bad life, to make all this good,
l100l		That he did plot the Duke of Gloucester’s death,
l101l		Suggest his soon-believing adversaries,
l102l		And consequently, like a traitor-coward,
l103l		Sluiced out his innocent soul through streams of blood#
l104l		Which blood, like sacrificing Abel’s, cries
l105l		Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth
l106l		To me for justice and rough chastisement.
l107l		And, by the glorious worth of my descent,
l108l		This arm shall do it or this life be spent.
l109l	King Richard	How high a pitch his resolution soars!
l110l		Thomas of Norfolk, what sayst thou to this?
l111l	Mowbray	O, let my sovereign turn away his face,
l112l		And bid his ears a little while be deaf,
l113l		Till I have told this slander of his blood
l114l		How God and good men hate so foul a liar!
l115l	King Richard	Mowbray, impartial are our eyes and ears.
l116l		Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom’s heir,
l117l		As he is but my father’s brother’s son,
l118l		Now by my sceptre’s awe I make a vow
l119l		Such neighbour-nearness to our sacred blood
l120l		Should nothing privilege him, nor partialize
l121l		The unstooping firmness of my upright soul.
l122l		He is our subject, Mowbray# so art thou.
l123l		Free speech and fearless I to thee allow.
l124l	Mowbray	Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart
l125l		Through the false passage of thy throat thou liest!
l126l		Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais
l127l		Disbursed I duly to his highness’ soldiers.
l128l		The other part reserved I by consent,
l129l		For that my sovereign liege was in my debt
l130l		Upon remainder of a dear account
l131l		Since last I went to France to fetch his queen.
l132l		Now swallow down that lie. For Gloucester’s death,
l133l		I slew him not, but to my own disgrace
l134l		Neglected my sworn duty in that case.
l135l		For you, my noble lord of Lancaster,
l136l		The honourable father to my foe,
l137l		Once did I lay an ambush for your life,
l138l		A trespass that doth vex my grievèd soul#
l139l		But ere I last received the Sacrament
l140l		I did confess it, and exactly begged
l141l		Your grace’s pardon, and I hope I had it.
l142l		This is my fault. As for the rest appealed,
l143l		It issues from the rancour of a villain,
l144l		A recreant and most degenerate traitor,
l145l		Which in myself I boldly will defend,
		(He throws down his gage)
l146l		And interchangeably hurl down my gage
l147l		Upon this overweening traitor’s foot,
l148l		To prove myself a loyal gentleman
l149l		Even in the best blood chambered in his bosom#
l150l		In haste whereof most heartily I pray
l151l		Your highness to assign our trial day.
		(Bolingbroke takes up the gage)
l152l	King Richard	 Wrath-kindled gentlemen, be ruled by me.
l153l		Let’s purge this choler without letting blood.
l154l		This we prescribe, though no physician:
l155l		Deep malice makes too deep incision#
l156l		Forget, forgive, conclude, and be agreed#
l157l		Our doctors say this is no time to bleed.
l158l		Good uncle, let this end where it begun.
l159l		We’ll calm the Duke of Norfolk, you your son.
l160l	John Of Gaunt	To be a make-peace shall become my age.
l161l		Throw down, my son, the Duke of Norfolk’s gage.
l162l	King Richard	And, Norfolk, throw down his.
	John Of Gaunt	When, Harry, when?
l163l		Obedience bids I should not bid again.
l164l	King Richard	Norfolk, throw down! We bid# there is no boot.
l165l	Mowbray	(kneeling)
		 Myself I throw, dread sovereign, at thy foot.
l166l		My life thou shalt command, but not my shame.
l167l		The one my duty owes, but my fair name,
l168l		Despite of death that lives upon my grave,
l169l		To dark dishonour’s use thou shalt not have.
l170l		I am disgraced, impeached, and baffled here,
l171l		Pierced to the soul with slander’s venomed spear,
l172l		The which no balm can cure but his heart blood
l173l		Which breathed this poison.
	King Richard	Rage must be withstood.
l174l		Give me his gage. Lions make leopards tame.
l175l	Mowbray	(standing)
		 Yea, but not change his spots. Take but my shame,
l176l		And I resign my gage. My dear dear lord,
l177l		The purest treasure mortal times afford
l178l		Is spotless reputation# that away,
l179l		Men are but gilded loam, or painted clay.
l180l		A jewel in a ten-times barred-up chest
l181l		Is a bold spirit in a loyal breast.
l182l		Mine honour is my life. Both grow in one.
l183l		Take honour from me, and my life is done.
l184l		Then, dear my liege, mine honour let me try.
l185l		In that I live, and for that will I die.
l186l	King Richard	Cousin, throw down your gage. Do you begin.
l187l	Bolingbroke	O God defend my soul from such deep sin!
l188l		Shall I seem crest-fallen in my father’s sight?
l189l		Or with pale beggar-fear impeach my height
l190l		Before this out-dared dastard? Ere my tongue
l191l		Shall wound my honour with such feeble wrong,
l192l		Or sound so base a parle, my teeth shall tear
l193l		The slavish motive of recanting fear,
l194l		And spit it bleeding in his high disgrace
l195l		Where shame doth harbour, even in Mowbray’s face.
		(Exit John of Gaunt)
l196l	King Richard	 We were not born to sue, but to command#
l197l		Which since we cannot do to make you friends,
l198l		Be ready, as your lives shall answer it,
l199l		At Coventry upon Saint Lambert’s day.
l200l		There shall your swords and lances arbitrate
l201l		The swelling difference of your settled hate.
l202l		Since we cannot atone you, we shall see
l203l		Justice design the victor’s chivalry.
l204l		Lord Marshal, command our officers-at-arms
l205l		Be ready to direct these home alarms.
		(Exeunt)