Richard II (14 page)

[
Exit Servant
]

    Now, by my honour, my life, my troth,
    I will
appeach
⁸⁴
the villain.

DUCHESS OF YORK
    What is the matter?

YORK
    Peace, foolish woman.

DUCHESS OF YORK
    I will not peace. What is the matter, son?

AUMERLE
    Good mother, be content. It is no more
    Than my poor life must
answer
⁸⁹
.

DUCHESS OF YORK
    Thy life answer?

Enter Servant with boots

YORK
    Bring me my boots. I will unto the king.

DUCHESS OF YORK
    Strike him, Aumerle. Poor boy, thou art
amazed
⁹²
.—
    Hence,
villain
⁹³
! Never more come in my sight.

To Servant

YORK
    Give me my boots, I say.

DUCHESS OF YORK
    Why, York, what wilt thou do?
    Wilt thou not hide the trespass of thine
own
⁹⁶
?
    Have we more sons? Or are we like to have?
    Is not my
teeming date
⁹⁸
drunk up with time?
    And wilt thou pluck my fair son from mine age,
    And rob me of a happy mother’s name?
    Is he not like thee? Is he not thine own?

YORK
    Thou
fond
¹⁰²
mad woman,
    Wilt thou conceal this dark conspiracy?
    A dozen of them here have ta’en the sacrament,
    And
interchangeably
¹⁰⁵
set down their hands,
    To kill the king at Oxford.

DUCHESS OF YORK
    He shall
be none
¹⁰⁷
.
    We’ll keep him here. Then what is
that
¹⁰⁸
to him?

YORK
    Away, fond woman! Were he twenty times my son,
    I would appeach him.

DUCHESS OF YORK
    Hadst thou
groaned
¹¹¹
for him
    As I have done, thou wouldst be more pitiful.
    But now I know thy mind; thou dost suspect
    That I have been disloyal to thy bed,
    And that he is a bastard, not thy son.
    Sweet York, sweet husband, be not of that mind:
    He is as like thee as a man may be,
    Not like to me, nor any of my kin,
    And yet I love him.

YORK
    Make way, unruly woman!

Exit

DUCHESS OF YORK
    After, Aumerle! Mount thee upon
his horse
¹²¹
.
    Spur
post
¹²²
, and get before him to the king,
    And beg thy pardon ere he do accuse thee.
    I’ll not be long behind. Though I be old,
    I doubt not but to ride as fast as York:
    And never will I rise up from
the ground
¹²⁶
    Till Bullingbrook have pardoned thee. Away, begone!

Exeunt

Location:
the royal court

Enter Bullingbrook, Percy and other Lords

BULLINGBROOK
    Can no man tell of my
unthrifty
¹
son?
    ’Tis full three months since I did see him last.
    If any plague hang over us,  ’tis he.
    I would to heaven, my lords, he might be found.
    Enquire at London, ’mongst the taverns there,
    For there, they say, he daily doth frequent,
    With unrestrainèd
loose
⁷
companions,
    Even such, they say, as stand in narrow lanes,
    And rob our
watch
⁹
, and beat our passengers,
    Which he, young wanton and
effeminate
¹⁰
boy,
    
Takes on the
¹¹
point of honour to support
    So dissolute a crew.

PERCY
    My lord, some two days since I saw the prince,
    And told him of these triumphs held at Oxford.

BULLINGBROOK
    And what said the
gallant
¹⁵
?

PERCY
    His answer was, he would unto the
stews
¹⁶
,
    And from the
common’st
¹⁷
creature pluck a glove,
    And wear it as a
favour
¹⁸
, and with that
    He would
unhorse
¹⁹
the lustiest challenger.

BULLINGBROOK
    As dissolute as
desp’rate
²⁰
. Yet through both
    I see some sparks of better hope, which elder days
    May
happily
²²
bring forth. But who comes here?

Enter Aumerle

AUMERLE
    Where is the king?

BULLINGBROOK
    What means our cousin, that he
stares
²⁴
and looks so wildly?

AUMERLE
    God save your grace! I do beseech your majesty,
    To have some conference with your grace alone.

BULLINGBROOK
    Withdraw yourselves, and leave us here alone.
    [
Exeunt Henry Percy and Lords
]
    What is the matter with our cousin now?

AUMERLE
    Forever may my knees
grow
²⁹
to the earth,
    My tongue cleave to my roof within my mouth
    Unless
a pardon
³¹
ere I rise or speak.

BULLINGBROOK
    Intended or committed was this fault?
    If on the first, how heinous e’er it be,
    To win thy
after-love
³⁴
I pardon thee.

AUMERLE
    Then give me leave that I may turn the key,
    That no man enter till my tale be done.

BULLINGBROOK
    Have thy desire.

Aumerle locks door

YORK
    (
Within
) My liege, beware! Look to thyself:
    Thou hast a traitor in thy presence there.

BULLINGBROOK
    Villain, I’ll make thee
safe
⁴⁰
.

Draws his sword

AUMERLE
    
Stay
⁴¹
thy revengeful hand, thou hast no cause to fear.

YORK
    (
Within
) Open the door,
secure
⁴²
, foolhardy king:
    Shall I for love
speak treason
⁴³
to thy face?
    Open the door, or I will break it open.

Bullingbrook unlocks door

Enter York

BULLINGBROOK
    What is the matter, uncle? Speak,
    Recover breath, tell us how near is danger,
    That we may arm us to encounter it.

YORK
    Peruse this writing here, and thou shalt know
    The reason that my
haste
⁴⁹
forbids me show.

Presents paper

AUMERLE
    Remember, as thou read’st, thy promise
passed
⁵⁰
.
    I do repent me: read not my name there
    My heart is not confederate with my
hand
⁵²
.

YORK
    It was, villain, ere thy hand did set it down.
    I tore it from the traitor’s bosom, king.
    Fear, and not love, begets his penitence;
    Forget to pity him, lest thy pity prove
    A serpent that will sting thee to the heart.

BULLINGBROOK
    O, heinous,
strong
⁵⁸
and bold conspiracy!
    O loyal father of a treacherous son!
    Thou
sheer
⁶⁰
, immaculate and silver fountain,
    From whence this stream through muddy passages
    Hath
held his current
⁶²
and defiled himself!
    Thy overflow of good converts to bad,
    And thy abundant goodness shall excuse
    This
deadly blot
⁶⁵
in thy digressing son.

YORK
    So shall my virtue be his vice’s
bawd
⁶⁶
,
    And he shall
spend
⁶⁷
mine honour with his shame,
    As thriftless sons their
scraping
⁶⁸
fathers’ gold.
    Mine honour lives when his dishonour dies,
    Or my shamed life in his dishonour lies.
    Thou kill’st me in his life: giving him breath,
    The traitor lives, the
true
⁷²
man’s put to death.

DUCHESS OF YORK
    (
Within
) What ho, my liege! For heaven’s sake, let me in.

BULLINGBROOK
    What shrill-voiced suppliant makes this eager cry?

DUCHESS OF YORK
    (
Within
) A woman, and thine aunt, great king. ’Tis I.
    Speak with me, pity me, open the door:
    A beggar begs that never begged before.

BULLINGBROOK
    Our scene is altered from a serious thing,
    And now changed to
‘The Beggar and the King’
⁷⁹
.—
    My dangerous cousin, let your mother in.
    I know she’s come to pray for your foul sin.

YORK
    If thou do pardon, whosoever pray,
    More sins
for
⁸³
this forgiveness prosper may.
    This
festered
⁸⁴
joint cut off, the rest rests sound:
    This
let alone
⁸⁵
will all the rest confound.

Enter Duchess

DUCHESS OF YORK
    O king, believe not this hard-hearted man!
    Love loving not
itself
⁸⁷
none other can.

YORK
    Thou
frantic
⁸⁸
woman, what dost thou make here?
    Shall thy old
dugs
⁸⁹
once more a traitor rear?

DUCHESS OF YORK
    Sweet York, be patient. Hear me, gentle liege.

Kneels

BULLINGBROOK
    Rise up, good aunt.

DUCHESS OF YORK
    Not yet, I thee beseech.
    Forever will I kneel upon my knees,
    And never see day that the
happy
⁹⁴
sees,
    Till thou give joy, until thou bid me joy,
    By pardoning Rutland, my transgressing boy.

AUMERLE
    Unto my mother’s prayers I bend my knee.

Kneels

YORK
    Against them both my
true
⁹⁸
joints bended be.

Kneels

DUCHESS OF YORK
    Pleads he in earnest? Look upon his face:
    His eyes do drop no tears, his prayers are
in jest
¹⁰⁰
:
    His words come from his mouth, ours from our breast.
    He prays but faintly and
would
¹⁰²
be denied:
    We pray with heart and soul and all beside.
    His weary joints would gladly rise, I know:
    Our knees shall kneel till to the ground they grow.
    His prayers are full of false hypocrisy,
    Ours of true zeal and deep integrity.
    Our prayers do out-pray his: then let them have
    That mercy which true prayers ought to have.

BULLINGBROOK
    Good aunt, stand up.

DUCHESS OF YORK
    Nay, do not say, ‘stand up’.
    But, ‘pardon’ first, and afterwards ‘stand up’.
    And if I were thy nurse, thy tongue to teach,
    ‘Pardon’ should be the first word of thy speech.
    I never longed to hear a word till now:
    Say ‘pardon’, king, let pity teach thee how.
    The word is short, but not so short as sweet:
    No word like ‘pardon’ for kings’ mouths so
meet
¹¹⁸
.

YORK
    Speak it in French, king: say, ‘
pardonnez-moi
¹¹⁹
’.

DUCHESS OF YORK
    Dost thou teach pardon pardon to destroy?
    Ah, my sour husband, my hard-hearted lord,
    That sets the word itself against the word!—
    Speak ‘pardon’ as  ’tis current in our land:

To Bullingbrook

    The
chopping
¹²⁴
French we do not understand.
    Thine eye begins to speak, set thy tongue there,
    Or in thy piteous heart plant thou thine ear,
    That hearing how our
plaints
¹²⁷
and prayers do pierce,
    Pity may move thee ‘pardon’ to
rehearse
¹²⁸
.

BULLINGBROOK
    Good aunt, stand up.

DUCHESS OF YORK
    I do not
sue
¹³⁰
to stand:
    Pardon is all the
suit
¹³¹
I have in hand.

BULLINGBROOK
    I pardon him, as heaven shall pardon me.

DUCHESS OF YORK
    O,
happy
¹³³
vantage of a kneeling knee!
    Yet am I sick for fear: speak it again,
    Twice saying ‘pardon’ doth not pardon
twain
¹³⁵
,
    But makes one pardon strong.

BULLINGBROOK
    I pardon him with all my heart.