Green, prisoners.
Boling.
Bring forth these men.—
Bushy, and Green, I will not vex your souls
(Since presently your souls must part your bodies,)
With too much urging your pernicious lives,
For 'twere no charity: yet, to wash your blood
From off my hands, here, in the view of men,
I will unfold some causes of your deaths.
You have misled a prince, a royal king,
A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments,
By you unhappied and disfigur'd clean9 note
.
You have, in manner, with your sinful hours,
Made a divorce betwixt his queen and him;
Broke the possession of a royal bed1 note
,
-- 89 --
And stain'd the beauty of a fair queen's cheeks
With tears drawn from her eyes by your foul wrongs.
Myself—a prince, by fortune of my birth;
Near to the king in blood; and near in love,
Till you did make him misinterpret me,—
Have stoop'd my neck under your injuries,
And sigh'd my English breath in foreign clouds,
Eating the bitter bread of banishment:
Whilst you have fed upon my signories,
Dispark'd my parks2 note
, and fell'd my forest woods;
From my own windows torn my household coat3 note,
Raz'd out my impress, leaving me no sign4 note
,—
Save men's opinions, and my living blood,—
To show the world I am a gentleman.
This and much more, much more than twice all this,
-- 90 --
Condemns you to the death:—See them deliver'd over
To execution and the hand of death.
Bushy.
More welcome is the stroke of death to me,
Than Bolingbroke to England.—Lords, farewell.
Green.
My comfort is,—that heaven will take our souls,
And plague injustice with the pains of hell.
Boling.
My lord Northumberland, see them dispatch'd.
[Exeunt Northumberland and Others, with Prisoners.
Uncle, you say the queen is at your house;
For heaven's sake, fairly let her be entreated:
Tell her I send to her my kind commends;
Take special care my greetings be deliver'd.
York.
A gentleman of mine I have dispatch'd
With letters of your love to her at large.
Boling.
Thanks, gentle uncle.—Come, lords, away;
To fight with Glendower and his complices;
Awhile to work, and, after, holiday.5 note
[Exeunt.
-- 91 --
6 note.
James Boswell [1821], The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators: comprehending A Life of the Poet, and an enlarged history of the stage, by the late Edmond Malone. With a new glossarial index (J. Deighton and Sons, Cambridge) [word count] [S10201].
