ACT II SCENE III | Wilds in Gloucestershire. | |
[Enter HENRY BOLINGBROKE and NORTHUMBERLAND, with Forces] |
HENRY BOLINGBROKE | How far is it, my lord, to Berkeley now? |
NORTHUMBERLAND | Believe me, noble lord, |
| I am a stranger here in Gloucestershire: |
| These high wild hills and rough uneven ways |
| Draws out our miles, and makes them wearisome, | 5 |
| And yet your fair discourse hath been as sugar, |
| Making the hard way sweet and delectable. |
| But I bethink me what a weary way |
| From Ravenspurgh to Cotswold will be found |
| In Ross and Willoughby, wanting your company, | 10 |
| Which, I protest, hath very much beguiled |
| The tediousness and process of my travel: |
| But theirs is sweetened with the hope to have |
| The present benefit which I possess; |
| And hope to joy is little less in joy | 15 |
| Than hope enjoy'd: by this the weary lords |
| Shall make their way seem short, as mine hath done |
| By sight of what I have, your noble company. |
HENRY BOLINGBROKE | Of much less value is my company |
| Than your good words. But who comes here? | 20 |
[Enter HENRY PERCY] |
NORTHUMBERLAND | It is my son, young Harry Percy, |
| Sent from my brother Worcester, whencesoever. |
| Harry, how fares your uncle? |
HENRY PERCY | I had thought, my lord, to have learn'd his health of you. |
NORTHUMBERLAND | Why, is he not with the queen? | 25 |
HENRY PERCY | No, my good Lord; he hath forsook the court, |
| Broken his staff of office and dispersed |
| The household of the king. |
NORTHUMBERLAND | What was his reason? |
| He was not so resolved when last we spake together. | 30 |
HENRY PERCY | Because your lordship was proclaimed traitor. |
| But he, my lord, is gone to Ravenspurgh, |
| To offer service to the Duke of Hereford, |
| And sent me over by Berkeley, to discover |
| What power the Duke of York had levied there; | 35 |
| Then with directions to repair to Ravenspurgh. |
NORTHUMBERLAND | Have you forgot the Duke of Hereford, boy? |
HENRY PERCY | No, my good lord, for that is not forgot |
| Which ne'er I did remember: to my knowledge, |
| I never in my life did look on him. | 40 |
NORTHUMBERLAND | Then learn to know him now; this is the duke. |
HENRY PERCY | My gracious lord, I tender you my service, |
| Such as it is, being tender, raw and young: |
| Which elder days shall ripen and confirm |
| To more approved service and desert. | 45 |
HENRY BOLINGBROKE | I thank thee, gentle Percy; and be sure |
| I count myself in nothing else so happy |
| As in a soul remembering my good friends; |
| And, as my fortune ripens with thy love, |
| It shall be still thy true love's recompense: | 50 |
| My heart this covenant makes, my hand thus seals it. |
NORTHUMBERLAND | How far is it to Berkeley? and what stir |
| Keeps good old York there with his men of war? |
HENRY PERCY | There stands the castle, by yon tuft of trees, |
| Mann'd with three hundred men, as I have heard; | 55 |
| And in it are the Lords of York, Berkeley, and Seymour; |
| None else of name and noble estimate. |
[Enter LORD ROSS and LORD WILLOUGHBY] |
NORTHUMBERLAND | Here come the Lords of Ross and Willoughby, |
| Bloody with spurring, fiery-red with haste. |
HENRY BOLINGBROKE | Welcome, my lords. I wot your love pursues | 60 |
| A banish'd traitor: all my treasury |
| Is yet but unfelt thanks, which more enrich'd |
| Shall be your love and labour's recompense. |
LORD ROSS | Your presence makes us rich, most noble lord. |
LORD WILLOUGHBY | And far surmounts our labour to attain it. | 65 |
HENRY BOLINGBROKE | Evermore thanks, the exchequer of the poor; |
| Which, till my infant fortune comes to years, |
| Stands for my bounty. But who comes here? |
[Enter LORD BERKELEY] |
NORTHUMBERLAND | It is my Lord of Berkeley, as I guess. |
LORD BERKELEY | My Lord of Hereford, my message is to you. | 70 |
HENRY BOLINGBROKE | My lord, my answer is--to Lancaster; |
| And I am come to seek that name in England; |
| And I must find that title in your tongue, |
| Before I make reply to aught you say. |
LORD BERKELEY | Mistake me not, my lord; 'tis not my meaning | 75 |
| To raze one title of your honour out: |
| To you, my lord, I come, what lord you will, |
| From the most gracious regent of this land, |
| The Duke of York, to know what pricks you on |
| To take advantage of the absent time | 80 |
| And fright our native peace with self-born arms. |
[Enter DUKE OF YORK attended] |
HENRY BOLINGBROKE | I shall not need transport my words by you; |
| Here comes his grace in person. My noble uncle! |
[Kneels] |
DUKE OF YORK | Show me thy humble heart, and not thy knee, |
| Whose duty is deceiveable and false. | 85 |
HENRY BOLINGBROKE | My gracious uncle-- |
DUKE OF YORK | Tut, tut! |
| Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle: |
| I am no traitor's uncle; and that word 'grace.' |
| In an ungracious mouth is but profane. | 90 |
| Why have those banish'd and forbidden legs |
| Dared once to touch a dust of England's ground? |
| But then more 'why?' why have they dared to march |
| So many miles upon her peaceful bosom, |
| Frighting her pale-faced villages with war | 95 |
| And ostentation of despised arms? |
| Comest thou because the anointed king is hence? |
| Why, foolish boy, the king is left behind, |
| And in my loyal bosom lies his power. |
| Were I but now the lord of such hot youth | 100 |
| As when brave Gaunt, thy father, and myself |
| Rescued the Black Prince, that young Mars of men, |
| From forth the ranks of many thousand French, |
| O, then how quickly should this arm of mine. |
| Now prisoner to the palsy, chastise thee | 105 |
| And minister correction to thy fault! |
HENRY BOLINGBROKE | My gracious uncle, let me know my fault: |
| On what condition stands it and wherein? |
DUKE OF YORK | Even in condition of the worst degree, |
| In gross rebellion and detested treason: | 110 |
| Thou art a banish'd man, and here art come |
| Before the expiration of thy time, |
| In braving arms against thy sovereign. |
HENRY BOLINGBROKE | As I was banish'd, I was banish'd Hereford; |
| But as I come, I come for Lancaster. | 115 |
| And, noble uncle, I beseech your grace |
| Look on my wrongs with an indifferent eye: |
| You are my father, for methinks in you |
| I see old Gaunt alive; O, then, my father, |
| Will you permit that I shall stand condemn'd | 120 |
| A wandering vagabond; my rights and royalties |
| Pluck'd from my arms perforce and given away |
| To upstart unthrifts? Wherefore was I born? |
| If that my cousin king be King of England, |
| It must be granted I am Duke of Lancaster. | 125 |
| You have a son, Aumerle, my noble cousin; |
| Had you first died, and he been thus trod down, |
| He should have found his uncle Gaunt a father, |
| To rouse his wrongs and chase them to the bay. |
| I am denied to sue my livery here, | 130 |
| And yet my letters-patents give me leave: |
| My father's goods are all distrain'd and sold, |
| And these and all are all amiss employ'd. |
| What would you have me do? I am a subject, |
| And I challenge law: attorneys are denied me; | 135 |
| And therefore, personally I lay my claim |
| To my inheritance of free descent. |
NORTHUMBERLAND | The noble duke hath been too much abused. |
LORD ROSS | It stands your grace upon to do him right. |
LORD WILLOUGHBY | Base men by his endowments are made great. | 140 |
DUKE OF YORK | My lords of England, let me tell you this: |
| I have had feeling of my cousin's wrongs |
| And laboured all I could to do him right; |
| But in this kind to come, in braving arms, |
| Be his own carver and cut out his way, | 145 |
| To find out right with wrong, it may not be; |
| And you that do abet him in this kind |
| Cherish rebellion and are rebels all. |
NORTHUMBERLAND | The noble duke hath sworn his coming is |
| But for his own; and for the right of that | 150 |
| We all have strongly sworn to give him aid; |
| And let him ne'er see joy that breaks that oath! |
DUKE OF YORK | Well, well, I see the issue of these arms: |
| I cannot mend it, I must needs confess, |
| Because my power is weak and all ill left: | 155 |
| But if I could, by Him that gave me life, |
| I would attach you all and make you stoop |
| Unto the sovereign mercy of the king; |
| But since I cannot, be it known to you |
| I do remain as neuter. So, fare you well; | 160 |
| Unless you please to enter in the castle |
| And there repose you for this night. |
HENRY BOLINGBROKE | An offer, uncle, that we will accept: |
| But we must win your grace to go with us |
| To Bristol castle, which they say is held | 165 |
| By Bushy, Bagot and their complices, |
| The caterpillars of the commonwealth, |
| Which I have sworn to weed and pluck away. |
DUKE OF YORK | It may be I will go with you: but yet I'll pause; |
| For I am loath to break our country's laws. | 170 |
| Nor friends nor foes, to me welcome you are: |
| Things past redress are now with me past care. |
[Exeunt] |