Bushy.
Madam, your majesty is too much sad:
You promis'd, when you parted with the king,
To lay aside life-harming heaviness^{3 note},
And entertain a cheerful disposition.

Queen.
To please the king, I did; to please myself,
I cannot do it; yet I know no cause
Why I should welcome such a guest as grief,
Save bidding farewell to so sweet a guest
As my sweet Richard. Yet, again, methinks,
Some unborn sorrow, ripe in fortune's womb,
Is coming towards me; and my inward soul
With nothing trembles: at some thing it grieves,
More than with parting from my lord, the king.

Bushy.
Each substance of a grief hath twenty shadows,
Which show like grief itself, but are not so:
For sorrow's eye, glazed with blinding tears,
Divides one thing entire to many objects;
Like perspectives, which, rightly gaz'd upon,
Show nothing but confusion: ey'd awry,
Distinguish form: so your sweet majesty,
Looking awry upon your lord's departure,
Finds shapes of grief more than himself to wail;
Which, look'd on as it is, is nought but shadows
Of what it is not. Then, thrice-gracious queen,
More than your lord's departure weep not: more's not seen;

Or if it be, 'tis with false sorrow's eye,
Which for things true weeps things imaginary.

Queen.
It may be so; but yet my inward soul
Persuades me, it is otherwise: howe'er it be,
I cannot but be sad; so heavy sad,
As,—though in thinking on no thought I think^{4 note}

,—
Makes me with heavy nothing faint and shrink. 11Q0555

Bushy.
'Tis nothing but conceit, my gracious lady.

Queen.
'Tis nothing less: conceit is still deriv'd
From some forefather grief; mine is not so,
For nothing hath begot my something grief;
Or something hath the nothing that I grieve^{5 note}:
'Tis in reversion that I do possess,
But what it is, that is not yet known; what
I cannot name: 'tis nameless woe, I wot. Enter Green.

Green.
God save your majesty!—and well met, gentlemen.—
I hope, the king is not yet shipp'd for Ireland.

Queen.
Why hop'st thou so? 'tis better hope he is,
For his designs crave haste, his haste good hope;
Then, wherefore dost thou hope, he is not shipp'd?

Green.
That he, our hope, might have retir'd his power,
And driven into despair an enemy's hope,

Who strongly hath set footing in this land.
The banish'd Bolingbroke repeals himself,
And with uplifted arms is safe arriv'd
At Ravenspurg.

Queen.
Now, God in heaven forbid!

Green.
Ah! madam, 'tis too true: and that is worse,
The lord Northumberland, his son, young Henry Percy^{6 note},
The lords of Ross, Beaumond, and Willoughby,
With all their powerful friends, are fled to him.

Bushy.
Why have you not proclaim'd Northumberland,
And all the rest of the revolted faction, traitors^{7 note}?

Green.
We have: whereupon the earl of Worcester
Hath broken his staff, resign'd his stewardship,
And all the household servants fled with him
To Bolingbroke.

Queen.
So, Green, thou art the midwife to my woe,
And Bolingbroke my sorrow's dismal heir:
Now hath my soul brought forth her prodigy,
And I, a gasping new-deliver'd mother,
Have woe to woe, sorrow to sorrow join'd.

Bushy.
Despair not, madam.

Queen.
Who shall hinder me?
I will despair, and be at enmity
With cozening hope: he is a flatterer,
A parasite, a keeper-back of death,
Who gently would dissolve the bands of life,
Which false hope lingers in extremity.

Enter the Duke of York.

Green.
Here comes the duke of York.

Queen.
With signs of war about his aged neck.
O! full of careful business are his looks.—
Uncle, for God's sake, speak comfortable words.

York.
[Should I do so, I should belie my thoughts^{8 note}:]
Comfort's in heaven; and we are on the earth,
Where nothing lives but crosses, care, and grief.
Your husband, he is gone to save far off,
Whilst others come to make him lose at home:
Here am I left to underprop his land,
Who, weak with age, cannot support myself.
Now comes the sick hour that his surfeit made;
Now shall he try his friends that flatter'd him. Enter a Servant.

Serv.
My lord, your son was gone before I came.

York.
He was?—Why, so:—go all which way it will!—
The nobles they are fled, the commons they are cold,
And will, I fear, revolt on Hereford's side.—
Sirrah, get thee to Plashy, to my sister Gloster;
Bid her send me presently a thousand pound.
Hold; take my ring.

Serv.
My lord, I had forgot to tell your lordship:
To-day, as I came by, I called there^{9 note};
But I shall grieve you to report the rest.

York.
What is't, knave?

Serv.
An hour before I came the duchess died.

York.
God for his mercy! what a tide of woes
Comes rushing on this woeful land at once!
I know not what to do:—I would to God,
(So my untruth had not provok'd him to it)

The king had cut off my head with my brother's.—
What! are there no posts dispatch'd for Ireland^{1 note}?—
How shall we do for money for these wars?—
Come, sister,—cousin, I would say: pray, pardon me.—
Go, fellow, [To the Servant.] get thee home; provide some carts,
And bring away the armour that is there.— [Exit Servant.
Gentlemen, will you go muster men?
If I know how, or which way, to order these affairs^{2 note}
,
Thus disorderly thrust into my hands,
Never believe me. Both are my kinsmen:
Th' one is my sovereign, whom both my oath
And duty bids defend; th' other again,
Is my kinsman, whom the king hath wrong'd, 11Q0556
Whom conscience and my kindred bids to right.
Well, somewhat we must do.—Come, cousin,
I'll dispose of you.—Gentlemen, go muster up your men,
And meet me presently at Berkley^{3 note}.
I should to Plashy too,
But time will not permit.—All is uneven,
And every thing is left at six and seven. [Exeunt York and Queen.

Bushy.
The wind sits fair for news to go for Ireland,

But none returns. For us to levy power,
Proportionable to the enemy,
Is all impossible.

Green.
Besides, our nearness to the king in love
Is near the hate of those love not the king.

Bagot.
And that's the wavering commons; for their love
Lies in their purses, and whoso empties them,
By so much fills their hearts with deadly hate.

Bushy.
Wherein the king stands generally condemn'd.

Bagot.
If judgment lie in them, then so do we,
Because we ever have been near the king.

Green.
Well, I'll for refuge straight to Bristol castle:
The earl of Wiltshire is already there.

Bushy.
Thither will I with you; for little office
Will the hateful commons perform for us,
Except like curs to tear us all to pieces.—
Will you go along with us?

Bagot.
No; I will to Ireland to his majesty.
Farewell: if heart's presages be not vain,
We three here part, that ne'er shall meet again.

Bushy.
That's as York thrives to beat back Bolingbroke.

Green.
Alas, poor duke! the task he undertakes
Is numbering sands, and drinking oceans dry:
Where one on his side fights, thousands will fly.
Farewell at once; for once, for all, and ever.

Bushy.
Well, we may meet again.

Bagot.
I fear me, never^{4 note}. [Exeunt.

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