The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 5 of 9] · William Shakespeare
SCENE I. _London. The Parliament-house_.
_Flourish. Enter_ KING, EXETER, GLOUCESTER, WARWICK, SOMERSET, _and_ SUFFOLK; _the_ BISHOP of WINCHESTER, RICHARD PLANTAGENET, _and others._ GLOUCESTER _offers to put up a bill;_ WINCHESTER _snatches it, tears it_. _Win._ Comest thou with deep premeditated lines, [aca001] With written pamphlets studiously devised, Humphrey of Gloucester? If thou canst accuse, Or aught intend’st to lay unto my charge, Do it without invention, suddenly; ·aca005· As I with sudden and extemporal speech Purpose to answer what thou canst object. _Glou._ Presumptuous priest! this place commands my patience, Or thou shouldst find thou hast dishonour’d me. Think not, although in writing I preferr’d ·aca010· The manner of thy vile outrageous crimes, That therefore I have forged, or am not able Verbatim to rehearse the method of my pen: No, prelate; such is thy audacious wickedness, Thy lewd, pestiferous and dissentious pranks, ·aca015· As very infants prattle of thy pride. Thou art a most pernicious usurer, Froward by nature, enemy to peace; Lascivious, wanton, more than well beseems A man of thy profession and degree; ·aca020· And for thy treachery, what’s more manifest? In that thou laid’st a trap to take my life, As well at London-bridge as at the Tower. Beside, I fear me, if thy thoughts were sifted, The king, thy sovereign, is not quite exempt ·aca025· From envious malice of thy swelling heart.
_Win._ Gloucester, I do defy thee. Lords, vouchsafe [aca027] To give me hearing what I shall reply. If I were covetous, ambitious or perverse, [aca029] As he will have me, how am I so poor? ·aca030· Or how haps it I seek not to advance [aca031] Or raise myself, but keep my wonted calling? And for dissension, who preferreth peace [aca033] More than I do?--except I be provoked. No, my good lords, it is not that offends; ·aca035· It is not that that hath incensed the duke: [aca036] It is, because no one should sway but he; No one but he should be about the king; And that engenders thunder in his breast And makes him roar these accusations forth. ·aca040· But he shall know I am as good-- [aca041] _Glou._ As good! Thou bastard of my grandfather! _Win._ Ay, lordly sir; for what are you, I pray, But one imperious in another’s throne? _Glou._ Am I not protector, saucy priest? [aca045] _Win._ And am not I a prelate of the church? _Glou._ Yes, as an outlaw in a castle keeps And useth it to patronage his theft. _Win._ Unreverent Gloster! _Glou._ Thou art reverent [aca049] Touching thy spiritual function, not thy life. ·aca050· _Win._ Rome shall remedy this. _War._ Roam thither, then. [aca051] _Som._ My lord, it were your duty to forbear.
_Enter_ Serving-men, _in skirmish, with bloody pates_. _King._ We charge you, on allegiance to ourself, [aca086] To hold your slaughtering hands and keep the peace. Pray, uncle Gloucester, mitigate this strife. _First Serv._ Nay, if we be forbidden stones, we’ll fall [aca089] to it with our teeth. ·aca090· _Sec. Serv._ Do what ye dare, we are as resolute. [_Skirmish again._ _Glou._ You of my household, leave this peevish broil And set this unaccustom’d fight aside. _Third Serv._ My lord, we know your grace to be a man Just and upright; and, for your royal birth, ·aca095· Inferior to none but to his majesty: [aca096] And ere that we will suffer such a prince, So kind a father of the commonweal, To be disgraced by an inkhorn mate, We and our wives and children all will fight [aca100] And have our bodies slaughter’d by thy foes. [aca101] _First Serv._ Ay, and the very parings of our nails Shall pitch a field when we are dead. [_Begin again._ _Glou._ Stay, stay, I say! [aca103] And if you love me, as you say you do, [aca104] Let me persuade you to forbear awhile. ·aca105· _King._ O, how this discord doth afflict my soul! Can you, my Lord of Winchester, behold My sighs and tears and will not once relent? Who should be pitiful, if you be not? Or who should study to prefer a peace, [aca110] If holy churchmen take delight in broils?
_King._ Stoop then and set your knee against my foot; And, in reguerdon of that duty done, ·aca170· I gird thee with the valiant sword of York: [aca171] Rise, Richard, like a true Plantagenet, And rise created princely Duke of York. _Plan._ And so thrive Richard as thy foes may fall! And as my duty springs, so perish they [aca175] That grudge one thought against your majesty! _All._ Welcome, high prince, the mighty Duke of York! _Som._ [_Aside_] Perish, base prince, ignoble Duke of York! [aca178] _Glou._ Now will it best avail your majesty To cross the seas and to be crown’d in France: ·aca180· The presence of a king engenders love Amongst his subjects and his loyal friends, As it disanimates his enemies. _King._ When Gloucester says the word, King Henry goes; For friendly counsel cuts off many foes. ·aca185· _Glou._ Your ships already are in readiness. [aca186] [_Sennet. Flourish. Exeunt all but Exeter._ _Exe._ Ay, we may march in England or in France, [aca187] Not seeing what is likely to ensue. This late dissension grown betwixt the peers Burns under feigned ashes of forged love ·aca190· And will at last break out into a flame: As fester’d members rot but by degree, [aca192] Till bones and flesh and sinews fall away, So will this base and envious discord breed. And now I fear that fatal prophecy ·aca195· Which in the time of Henry named the fifth Was in the mouth of every sucking babe; That Henry born at Monmouth should win all And Henry born at Windsor lose all: [aca199] Which is so plain that Exeter doth wish ·aca200· His days may finish ere that hapless time. [_Exit._
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.