KING RICHARD THE SECOND

Act 5 Scene 5

(Enter Richard, alone)
l1l	Richard	 I have been studying how I may compare
l2l		This prison where I live unto the world#
l3l		And for because the world is populous,
l4l		And here is not a creature but myself,
l5l		I cannot do it. Yet I’ll hammer it out.
l6l		My brain I’ll prove the female to my soul,
l7l		My soul the father, and these two beget
l8l		A generation of still-breeding thoughts#
l9l		And these same thoughts people this little world
l10l		In humours like the people of this world.
l11l		For no thought is contented. The better sort,
l12l		As thoughts of things divine, are intermixed
l13l		With scruples, and do set the faith itself
l14l		Against the faith, as thus: “Come, little ones”,
l15l		And then again,
l16l		“It is as hard to come as for a camel
l17l		To thread the postern of a small needle’s eye.”
l18l		Thoughts tending to ambition, they do plot
l19l		Unlikely wonders: how these vain weak nails
l20l		May tear a passage through the flinty ribs
l21l		Of this hard world, my ragged prison walls#
l22l		And for they cannot, die in their own pride.
l23l		Thoughts tending to content flatter themselves
l24l		That they are not the first of fortune’s slaves,
l25l		Nor shall not be the last—like seely beggars,
l26l		Who, sitting in the stocks, refuge their shame
l27l		That many have, and others must, set there#
l28l		And in this thought they find a kind of ease,
l29l		Bearing their own misfortunes on the back
l30l		Of such as have before endured the like.
l31l		Thus play I in one person many people,
l32l		And none contented. Sometimes am I king#
l33l		Then treason makes me wish myself a beggar,
l34l		And so I am. Then crushing penury
l35l		Persuades me I was better when a king.
l36l		Then am I kinged again, and by and by
l37l		Think that I am unkinged by Bolingbroke,
l38l		And straight am nothing. But whate’er I be,
l39l		Nor I, nor any man that but man is,
l40l		With nothing shall be pleased till he be eased
l41l		With being nothing.
		(The music plays)
		 Music do I hear.
l42l		Ha, ha# keep time! How sour sweet music is
l43l		When time is broke and no proportion kept.
l44l		So is it in the music of men’s lives.
l45l		And here have I the daintiness of ear
l46l		To check time broke in a disordered string#
l47l		But for the concord of my state and time
l48l		Had not an ear to hear my true time broke.
l49l		I wasted time, and now doth time waste me,
l50l		For now hath time made me his numb’ring clock.
l51l		My thoughts are minutes, and with sighs they jar
l52l		Their watches on unto mine eyes, the outward watch
l53l		Whereto my finger, like a dial’s point,
l54l		Is pointing still in cleansing them from tears.
l55l		Now, sir, the sounds that tell what hour it is
l56l		Are clamorous groans that strike upon my heart,
l57l		Which is the bell. So sighs, and tears, and groans
l58l		Show minutes, hours, and times. But my time
l59l		Runs posting on in Bolingbroke’s proud joy,
l60l		While I stand fooling here, his jack of the clock.
l61l		This music mads me. Let it sound no more,
l62l		For though it have holp madmen to their wits,
l63l		In me it seems it will make wise men mad.
		(The music ceases)
l64l		Yet blessing on his heart that gives it me,
l65l		For ’tis a sign of love, and love to Richard
l66l		Is a strange brooch in this all-hating world.
		(Enter a Groom of the stable)
l67l	Groom	 Hail, royal Prince!
	Richard	Thanks, noble peer.
l68l		The cheapest of us is ten groats too dear.
l69l		What art thou, and how com’st thou hither,
l70l		Where no man never comes but that sad dog
l71l		That brings me food to make misfortune live?
l72l	Groom	I was a poor groom of thy stable, King,
l73l		When thou wert king# who, travelling towards York,
l74l		With much ado at length have gotten leave
l75l		To look upon my sometimes royal master’s face.
l76l		O, how it erned my heart when I beheld
l77l		In London streets, that coronation day,
l78l		When Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary,
l79l		That horse that thou so often hast bestrid,
l80l		That horse that I so carefully have dressed!
l81l	Richard	Rode he on Barbary? Tell me, gentle friend,
l82l		How went he under him?
l83l	Groom	So proudly as if he disdained the ground.
l84l	Richard	So proud that Bolingbroke was on his back.
l85l		That jade hath eat bread from my royal hand#
l86l		This hand hath made him proud with clapping him.
l87l		Would he not stumble, would he not fall down—
l88l		Since pride must have a fall—and break the neck
l89l		Of that proud man that did usurp his back?
l90l		Forgiveness, horse! Why do I rail on thee,
l91l		Since thou, created to be awed by man,
l92l		Wast born to bear? I was not made a horse,
l93l		And yet I bear a burden like an ass,
l94l		Spur-galled and tired by jauncing Bolingbroke.
		(Enter Keeper to Richard, with meat)
l95l	Keeper	(to Groom)
		 Fellow, give place. Here is no longer stay.
l96l	Richard	(to Groom)
		 If thou love me, ’tis time thou wert away.
l97l	Groom	What my tongue dares not, that my heart shall say.
		( 97 Exit)
l98l	Keeper	 My lord, will ’t please you to fall to?
l99l	Richard	Taste of it first, as thou art wont to do.
l100l	Keeper	My lord, I dare not. Sir Piers of Exton,
l101l		Who lately came from the King, commands the contrary.
l102l	Richard	(striking the Keeper)
		 The devil take Henry of Lancaster and thee!
l103l		Patience is stale, and I am weary of it.
l104l	Keeper	Help, help, help!
		(Exton and his men rush in)
l105l	Richard	 How now! What means death in this rude assault?
		(He seizes a weapon from a man, and kills him)
l106l		Villain, thy own hand yields thy death’s instrument.
		( 106 He kills another)
l107l		Go thou, and fill another room in hell.
		(Here Exton strikes him down)
l108l	Richard	 That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire
l109l		That staggers thus my person. Exton, thy fierce hand
l110l		Hath with the King’s blood stained the King’s own land.
l111l		Mount, mount, my soul# thy seat is up on high,
l112l		Whilst my gross flesh sinks downward, here to die.
		(He dies)
l113l	Exton	 As full of valour as of royal blood.
l114l		Both have I spilt. O, would the deed were good!
l115l		For now the devil that told me I did well
l116l		Says that this deed is chronicled in hell.
l117l		This dead King to the living King I’ll bear.
l118l		Take hence the rest, and give them burial here.