ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

Gard. Go, bind thou up yon' dangling "apricocks, Which, like unruly children, make their fire

Stoop with oppreffion of their prodigal weight;
Give fome fupportance to the bending twigs.-
Go thou, and, like an executioner,

Cut off the heads of too faft-growing sprays,
That look too lofty in our commonwealth :
All must be even in our government.
You thus employ'd, I will go root away
The noifome weeds, that without profit fuck
The foil's fertility from wholesome flowers.
Serv. Why should we, in the compafs of a pale,
Keep law, and form, and due proportion,

с

Shewing, as in a model, our firm ftate?

When our fea-walled garden, the whole land,
Is full of weeds; her faireft flowers choak'd up,
Her fruit-trees all unprun'd, her hedges ruin'd,
Her knots disorder'd, and her wholesome herbs
Swarming with caterpillars?

Gard. Hold thy peace :

He that hath fuffer'd this diforder'd fpring,
Hath now himself met with the fall of leaf:
The weeds, that his broad spreading leaves did shelter,
That seem'd, in eating him, to hold him up,
Are pull'd up, root and all, by Bolingbroke;
I mean, the earl of Wiltshire, Bushy, Green.
Serv. What, are they dead?

Gard. They are; and Bolingbroke

Hath feiz'd the wasteful king.-What pity is it,
That he had not fo trimm'd and drefs'd his land,
As we this garden! who at time of year
Do wound the bark, the skin of our fruit-trees;

C

b apricocks,]-the old fpelling. "Feed him with apricecks." MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, Vol. II. p. 37. Queen. as in a model, our firm flute ?]-the firmness of our little fate. Left,

Left, being over-proud with fap and blood,
With too much riches it confound itfelf:
Had he done fo to great and growing men,
They might have liv'd to bear, and he to tafte
Their fruits of duty. Superfluous branches
We lop away, that bearing boughs may live:
Had he done fo, himself had borne the crown,

d

Which waste and idle hours hath quite thrown down.

Serv. What, think you then, the king shall be depos'd? Gard. Deprefs'd he is already; and depos❜d,

'Tis doubted, he will be: Letters came last night To a dear friend of the good duke of York's,

That tell black tidings.

Queen. Oh, I am prefs'd to death, through want of

fpeaking!

[Coming from her concealment.

Thou old Adam's likeness, fet to drefs this garden,

How dares thy harfh tongue found this unpleafing news? What Eve, what ferpent hath 'fuggefted thee

To make a fecond fall of curfed man?

Why dost thou fay, king Richard is depos'd?

Dar'ft thou, thou little better thing than earth,
Divine his downfal? Say, where, when, and how,
Cam'st thou by thefe ill tidings? fpeak, thou wretch.
Gard. Pardon me, madam: little joy have I,
To breathe these news, yet, what I say, is true.
King Richard, he is in the mighty hold

Of Bolingbroke; their fortunes both are weigh'd:
In your lord's fcale is nothing but himself,
And fome few vanities that make him light;
But in the balance of great Bolingbroke,

[ocr errors]

a waste of idle bours.

I am prefs'd to death,]-alluding to the old legal torture.
Through want of speaking! Tbou, old Adam's likeness,
Set to drefs out this garden, fay bow dares

Thy harsh rude tongue found this unpleafing news? fuggefted]-tempted.

Befides

Befides himself, are all the English peers,

And with that odds he weighs king Richard down.-Poft you to London, and you'll find it fo;

I speak no more than every one doth know.

Queen. Nimble mischance, that art fo light of foot, Doth not thy embaffage belong to me,

And am I last that knows it? oh, thou think'st
To ferve me laft, that I may longest keep
Thy forrow in my breast.-Come, ladies, go,
To meet at London London's king in woe.-
What, was I born to this! that my fad look
Should grace the triumph of great Bolingbroke !-
Gardiner, for telling me thefe news of woe,

!—

I would, the plants, thou graft'ft, may never grow.
[Exeunt Queen, and ladies.
Gard. Poor queen! so that thy state might be no worse,

I would my skill were fubject to thy curfe.-
Here did she drop a tear; here, in this place,
I'll fet a bank of rue, four herb of grace:

Rue, even for ruth, here fhortly shall be seen,
In the remembrance of a weeping queen.

ACT IV.

[Exeunt Gard. and ferv.

SCENE I.

London. The Parliament-boufe.

Enter Bolingbroke, Aumerle, Northumberland, Percy, Fitzwater, Surry, bishop of Carlisle, abbot of Westminster, berald, officers, and Bagot.

Boling. Call forth Bagot :

Now, Bagot, freely speak thy mind;

four berb of grace:]-rue fo called, from being used in exorcifms, or because the holy water was fprinkled with it.

h for ruth,]-for pity's fake. HAMLET, A& IV. S. 5. Opb.

What

What thou doft know of noble Glofter's death;
Who wrought it with the king, and who perform'd
The bloody office of his timeless end.

Bagot. Then fet before my face the lord Aumerle. Boling. Coufin, ftand forth, and look upon that man. Bagot. My lord Aumerle, I know, your daring tongue Scorns to unfay what once it hath deliver❜d.

In that dead time when Glofter's death was plotted,
I heard you fay,-Is not my arm of length,
That reacheth from the restful English court
As far as Calais, to my uncle's head?
Amongst much other talk, that very time,
I heard you say,-You rather bad refuse
The offer of an bundred thousand crowns,
Than Bolingbroke return to England;
Adding withal, bow bleft this land would be,
In this your cousin's death.

Aum. Princes, and noble lords,
What answer fhall I make to this base man?
Shall I fo much difhonour my fair stars,
On equal terms to give him chastisement?
Either I muft, or have mine honour foil'd
With the attainder of his sland'rous lips.—
There is my gage, the manual feal of death,
That marks thee out for hell: Thou lieft, and
I will maintain what thou hast said, is false,
In thy heart-blood, though being all too base
To ftain the temper of my knightly fword.

Boling. Bagot, forbear, thou shalt not take it up.
Aum. Excepting one, I would he were the best
In all this presence, that hath mov'd me so.
Fitzw. If that thy valour 'ftand on fympathies,

i timeless]-untimely.

k my fair fars,]-high defcent. Iftand on fympathies,]-equality of blood-if it can only be dif played upon thy equals.

There

There is my gage, Aumerle, in gage to thine:
By that fair fun that fhews me where thou ftand'st,
I heard thee fay, and vauntingly thou fpak'st it,
That thou wert cause of noble Glofter's death.
If thou deny'st it, twenty times thou lieft;
And I will turn thy falfhood to thy heart,
Where it was forged, with my rapier's point.

Aum. Thou dar'ft not, coward, live to fee the day.
Fitzw. Now, by my foul, I would it were this hour.
Aum. Fitzwater, thou art damn'd to hell for this.
Percy. Aumerle, thou lieft; his honour is as true,
In this appeal, as thou art all unjust:

And, that thou art fo, there I throw my gage,
To prove it on thee to the extremest point
Of mortal breathing; feize it, if thou dar'st.
Aum. And if I do not, may my hands rot off,
And never brandish more revengeful steel

Over the glittering helmet of my foe!

[ocr errors]

Another Lord. I tafk thee to the like, forfworn Aumerle ;

And fpur thee on with full as many lies

As may be hollow'd in thy treacherous ear

From fun to fun: there is my honour's pawn;

Engage it to the trial, if thou dar'ft.

Aum. Who fets me else? by heaven, I'll throw at all:

I have a thousand spirits in one breast,

To answer twenty thousand such as you.

Surry. My lord Fitzwater, I do remember well

The very time Aumerle and you did talk.
Fitz. 'Tis very true: you were in presence then ;

And you can witness with me, this is true.

Surry. As falfe, by heaven, as heaven itself is true.

I tafk thee to the like,]-I put thy valour to the fame test-I take the earth-thy oath-task by beart.

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »