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