Bulling.
So that by this Intelligence we learn
The Welchmen are dispers'd, and Salisbury
Is gone to meet the King, who lately landed
With some few private Friends upon this Coast.

North.
The News is very fair and good, my Lord.
Richard not far from hence, hath hid his Head.

York.
It would beseem the Lord Northumberland,
To say King Richard. Alack the heavy Day,
When such a sacred King should hide his Head.

North.
Your Grace mistakes me; only to be brief,
Left I his Title out.

York.
The time hath been,
Would you have been so brief with him, he would
Have been so brief with you, to shorten you,
For taking so the Head, your whole Head's length.

Bulling.
Mistake not, Uncle, farther than you should.

York.
Take not, good Cousin, farther than you should.
Lest you mistake; the Heav'ns are o'er your Head.

Bulling.
I know it, Uncle, and oppose not my self
Against their Will. But who comes here? Enter Percy.
Welcome Harry; what, will not this Castle yield?

Percy.
The Castle royally is mann'd, my Lord,
Against thy Entrance.

Bulling.
Royally? Why, it contains no King?

Percy.
Yes, my good Lord,
It doth contain a King: King Richard lyes
Within the Limits of yond Lime and Stone,
And with him the Lord Aumerle, Lord Salisbury,
Sir Stephen Scroop, besides a Clergy-man
Of holy Reverence; who, I cannot learn.

North.
Oh, belike it is the Bishop of Carlisle.

Bulling.
Noble Lord, [To North.
Go to the rude Ribs of that ancient Castle,
Through brazen Trumpet send the breath of Parle
Into his ruin'd Ears, and thus deliver:

Henry Bullingbroke upon his Knees doth kiss
King Richard's Hand, and sends Allegiance
And true Faith of Heart to his Royal Person; hither come
Even at his Feet, to lay my Arms and Power,
Provided, that my Banishment repeal'd,
And Lands restor'd again, be freely granted;
If not, I'll use the Advantage of my Power,
And lay the Summer's Dust with Showers of Blood,
Rain'd from the Wounds of slaughter'd Englishmen;
The which, how far off from the Mind of Bullingbroke
It is, such Crimson Tempest should bedrench
The fresh green Lap of fair King Richard's Land,
My stooping Duty tenderly shall shew.
Go signifie as much, while here we march
Upon the grassie Carpet of this Plain;
Let's march without the Noise of threatning Drum,
That from this Castle's tatter'd Battlements
Our fair Appointments may be well perus'd.
Methinks King Richard and my self should meet
With no less Terror than the Elements
Of Fire and Water, when their thundring Smoak
At meeting tears the cloudy Cheeks of Heav'n:
Be he the Fire, I'll be the yielding Water:
The Rage be his, while on the Earth I rain
My Waters on the Earth, and not on him.
March on and mark King Richard how he looks. Parle without, and Answer within; then a Flourish. Enter on the Walls, King Richard, the Bishop of Carlisle, Aumerle, Scroop and Salisbury.
See, see, King Richard doth himself appear
As doth the blushing discontented Sun,
From out the fiery Portal of the East,
When he perceives the envious Clouds are bent
To dim his Glory, and to stain the Tract
Of his bright Passage to the Occident.

York.
Yet looks he like a King; behold his Eye
As bright as is the Eagle's, lightens forth
Controlling Majesty; alack, alack, for Wo,
That any Harm should stain so fair a Show.

K. Rich.
We are amaz'd, and thus long have we stood
To watch the fearful bending of thy Knee, [To North.

Because we thought our self thy lawful King;
And if we be, how dare thy Joints forget
To pay the awful Duty to our Presence?
If we be not, shew us the Hand of God,
That hath dismiss'd us from our Stewardship;
For well we know, no Hand of Blood and Bone
Can gripe the sacred Handle of our Scepter,
Unless he do prophane, steal or usurp.
And though you think, that all, as you have done,
Have torn their Souls, by turning them from us,
And we are barren, and bereft of Friends:
Yet know, my Master, God Omnipotent,
Is mustering in his Clouds on our behalf,
Armies of Pestilence, and they shall strike,
Your Children yet unborn, and unbegot,
That lift your Vassal Hands against my Head,
And threat the Glory of my precious Crown.
Tell Bullingbroke, for yond methinks, he is,
That every Stride he makes upon the Land,
Is dangerous Treason, he is come to ope
The purple Testament of a bleeding War;
But e'er the Crown he looks for, live in Peace,
Ten thousand bloody Crowns of Mothers Sons
Shall ill become the Flower of England's Face,
Change the Complexion of her Maid-pale Peace
To Scarlet Indignation, and bedew
Her Pastors Grass with faithful English Blood.

North.
The King of Heav'n forbid our Lord the King
Should so with civil and uncivil Arms
Be rush'd upon: Thy thrice-noble Cousin,
Harry Bullingbroke, doth humbly kiss thy Hand,
And by the honourable Tomb he swears
That stands upon your Royal Grandsire's Bones,
And by the Royalties of both your Bloods,
Currents that spring from one most gracious Head;
And by the bury'd Hand of warlike Gaunt,
And by the Worth and Honour of himself,
Comprising all that may be sworn, or said,
His coming hither hath no farther Scope,
Than for his lineal Royalties, and to beg
Infranchisement immediate on his Knees:

Which on thy Royal party granted once,
His glittering Arms he will commend to Rust;
His barbed Steeds to Stables, and his Heart
To faithful Service of your Majesty:
This swears he, as he is a Prince, is just,
And as I am a Gentleman, I credit him.

K. Rich.
Northumberland, say thus: The King returns,
His noble Cousin is right welcome hither,
And all the Number of his fair Demands
Shall be accomplish'd without Contradiction;
With all the gracious Utterance thou hast,
Speak to his gentle hearing kind commends.
We do debase our self, Cousin, do we not, [To Aum.
To look so poorly, and to speak so fair?
Shall we call back Northumberland, and send
Defiance to the Traitor, and so die?

Aum.
No, good my Lord, let's fight with gentle Words,
'Till time lend Friends, and Friends their hopeful Swords.

K. Rich.
Oh God, oh God that e'er this Tongue of mine,
That laid the Sentence of dread Banishment
On yond proud Man, should take it off again
With Words of sooth; oh that I were as great
As is my Grief, or lesser than my Name;
Or that I could forget what I have been,
Or not remember what I must be now.
Swell'st thou, proud Heart? I'll give thee Scope to beat,
Since Foes have Scope to beat both thee and me.

Aum.
Northumberland comes back from Bullingbroke.

K. Rich.
What must the King do now? Must he submit?
The King shall do it: Must he be depos'd?
The King shall be contented: Must he lose
The Name of King? o'God's Name let it go.
I'll give my Jewels for a Set of Beads;
My gorgeous Pallace, for a Hermitage;
My gay Apparel, for an Alms-man's Gown;
My figur'd Goblets, for a Dish of Wood;
My Scepter, for a Palmer's walking Staff,
My Subjects, for a Pair of carved Saints,
And my large Kingdom, for a little Grave,
A little little Grave, an obscure Grave.
Or I'll be bury'd in the King's Highway;

Some way of common Trade, where Subjects Feet
May hourly trample on their Soveraign's Head;
For on my Heart they tread now, whilst I live;
And bury'd once, why not upon my Head?
Aumerle, thou weep'st, my tender hearted Cousin,
We'll make foul Weather with despised Tears.
Our Sighs, and they, shall lodge the Summer Corn,
And make a Dearth in this revolting Land.
Or shall we play the Wantons with our Woes,
And make some pretty Match with shedding Tears?
As thus, to drop them still upon one Place,
'Till they have fretted us a Pair of Graves,
Within the Earth; and therein laid, there lyes
Two Kinsmen digg'd their Graves with weeping Eyes?
Would not this ill do well? Well, well, I see
I talk but idely, and you mock at me.
Most mighty Prince, my Lord Northumberland,
What says King Bullingbroke? Will his Majesty
Give Richard leave to live, 'till Richard die?
You make a Leg, and Bullingbroke says I.

North.
My Lord, in the base Court he doth attend
To speak with you, may it please you to come down.

K. Rich.
Down, down I come, like glist'ring Phaeton,
Wanting the Manage of unruly Jades.
In the base Court? base Court where Kings grow base,
To come at Traitors Calls, and do them Grace.
In the base Court come down; down Court, down King,
For Night-Owls shriek, where mounting Larks should sing.

Bulling.
What says his Majesty?

North.
Sorrow, and Grief of Heart
Makes him speak fondly like a frantick Man;
Yet he is come.

Bulling.
Stand all apart,
And shew fair Duty to his Majesty.
My gracious Lord. [Kneels

K. Rich.
Fair Cousin,
You debase your Princely Knee,
To make the base Earth proud with kissing it.
Me rather had, my Heart might feel your Love,
Than my un-pleas'd Eye see your Courtesie.
Up Cousin, up, your Heart is up, I know,

Thus high at least, although your Knee be low.

Bulling.
My gracious Lord, I come but for mine own.

K. Rich.
Your own is yours, and I am yours, and all.

Bulling.
So far be mine, my most redoubted Lord,
As my true Service shall deserve your Love.

K. Rich.
Well you deserv'd:
They well deserve to have,
That know the strong'st and surest way to get.
Uncle, give me your Hand; nay, dry your Eyes,
Tears shew their Love, but want their Remedies.
Cousin, I am too young to be your Father,
Though you are old enough to be my Heir.
What you will have, I'll give, and willing too,
For do we must, what Force will have us do.
Set on towards London:
Cousin, is it so?

Bulling.
Yea, my good Lord.

K. Rich.
Then I must not say no. [Flourish. Exeunt.

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