Scorns to unsay what once it hath delivered. Aum. Princes, and noble lords, What answer shall I make to this base man? Shall I so much dishonor my fair stars,1 On equal terms to give him chastisement? Either I must, or have mine honor soiled With the attainder of his slanderous lips.There is my gage, the manual seal of death, That marks thee out for hell. I say thou liest, And will maintain, what thou hast said, is false, In thy heart-blood, though being all too base, To stain the temper of my knightly sword. Boling. Bagot, forbear; thou shalt not take it up. Aum. Excepting one, I would he were the best In all this presence, that hath moved me so. Fitz. If that thy valor stand on sympathies, There is my gage, Aumerle, in gage to thine. By that fair sun that shows me where thou stand'st, I heard thee say, and vauntingly thou spak'st it, That thou wert cause of noble Gloster's death. If thou deny'st it, twenty times thou liest ; And I will turn thy falsehood to thy heart, Where it was forged, with my rapier's point. 2 1 The birth is supposed to be influenced by stars, therefore the Poet takes stars for birth. 2 Fitzwater throws down his gage as a pledge of battle, and tells Aumerle that if he stands upon sympathies, that is, upon equality of blood, the combat is now offered him by a man of rank not inferior to his own. Sympathy is an affection incident at once to two subjects. This community of affection implies a likeness or equality of nature; and hence the Poet transferred the term to equality of blood. Aum. Thou dar'st not, coward, live to see that day. Fitz. Now, by my soul, I would it were this hour. Aum. Fitzwater, thou art damned to hell for this. Percy. Aumerle, thou liest. His honor is as true, In this appeal, as thou art all unjust; And, that thou art so, there I throw my gage, Over the glittering helmet of my foe! Lord. I task the earth to the like, forsworn Aumerle; And spur thee on with full as many lies As may be hollaed in thy treacherous ear From sun to sun. There is my honor's pawn; Engage it to the trial, if thou dar'st. Aum. Who sets me else? By Heaven, I'll throw at all: I have a thousand spirits in one breast, To answer twenty thousand such as you.1 Surrey. My lord Fitzwater, I do remember well The very time Aumerle and you did talk. Fitz. 'Tis very true. You were in presence then; And you can witness with me, this is true. Surrey. As false, by Heaven, as Heaven itself is true. Fitz. Surrey, thou liest. Surrey. Dishonorable boy! That lie shall lie so heavy on my sword, That it shall render vengeance and revenge, In proof whereof, there is my honor's pawn; Fitz. How fondly dost thou spur a forward horse! If I dare eat, or drink, or breathe, or live, I dare meet Surrey in a wilderness,2 And spit upon him, whilst I say, he lies, And lies, and lies. There is my bond of faith, 1 The preceding eight lines are not in the folio of 1623. To tie thee to my strong correction.— Besides, I heard the banished Norfolk say, Aum. Some honest Christian trust me with a gage, That Norfolk lies. Here do I throw down this,2 If he may be repealed to try his honor. Boling. These differences shall all rest under gage, Till Norfolk be repealed; repealed he shall be, And, though mine enemy, restored again To all his land and seigniories. When he's returned, Car. That honorable day shall ne'er be seen.- Boling. Sweet peace conduct his sweet soul to the bosom Of good old Abraham!-Lords appellants, Enter YORK, attended. York. Great duke of Lancaster, I come to thee From plume-plucked Richard; who with willing soul 1 i. e. in this world, where I have just begun to be an actor. Surrey has just called him boy. 2 Holinshed says that on this occasion he threw down a hood that he had borrowed. 3 This is not historically true. The duke of Norfolk's death did not take place till after Richard's. Adopts thee heir, and his high sceptre yields Ascend his throne, descending now from him,- Boling. In God's name, I'll ascend the regal throne.1 Worst in this royal presence, may I speak, 4 Shall kin with kin, and kind with kind confound; Shall here inhabit, and this land be called 1 Hume gives the words that Henry actually spoke on this occasion, which he copied from Knyghton. 2 i. e. nobleness; a word now obsolete. 3 This speech, which contains in the most expressive terms the doctrine of passive obedience, is founded upon Holinshed's account. 4 The quarto reads forfend. The field of Golgotha, and dead mens' skulls. That ever fell upon this cursed earth. 2 Lest child's child's children cry against you-woe! North. Well have you argued, sir; and, for your pains, Of capital treason we arrest you here.- May't please you, lords, to grant the commons' suit.3 Without suspicion. York. I will be his conduct. [Exit. Boling. Lords, you that are here under our arrest, Procure your sureties for your days of answer.— Little are we beholden to your love, And little looked for at your helping hands. [TO CAR. Re-enter YORK, with KING RICHARD, and Officers, bearing the crown, &c. K. Rich. Alack, why am I sent for to a king, To this submission. Yet I well remember 1 The quarto reads raise. Were they not mine? 2 Pope altered this to "children's children," and was followed by others. The old copies read, "Lest child, childs children." 3 What follows, almost to the end of the act, is not found in the first two quartos. The addition was made in the quarto of 1608. In the quarto, 1597, after the words "his day of trial," the scene thus closes :"Bol. Let it be so: and lo! on Wednesday next We solemnly proclaim our coronation. Lords, be ready all." 4 The quarto reads limbs. 5 Countenances, features. |