If thy offenses were upon record,

230

Would it not shame thee in so fair a troop
To read a lecture of them? If thou wouldst,
There shouldst thou find one heinous article,
Containing the deposing of a king

And cracking the strong warrant of an oath,
Mark'd with a blot, damn'd in the book of
heaven:

Nay, all of you that stand and look upon,
Whilst that my wretchedness doth bait myself,
Though some of you with Pilate wash your
hands,

Showing an outward pity; yet you Pilates 24C
Have here deliver'd me to my sour cross,
And water cannot wash away your sin.
North. My lord, dispatch; read o'er these articles.
K. Rich. Mine eyes are full of tears, I cannot see:
And yet salt water blinds them not so much
But they can see a sort of traitors here.
Nay, if I turn mine eyes upon myself,
I find myself a traitor with the rest;
For I have given here my soul's consent
To undeck the pompous body of a king;
Made glory base and sovereignty a slave,
Proud majesty a subject, state a peasant.
North. My lord,-

250

K. Rich. No lord of thine, thou haught insulting

man,

Nor no man's lord; I have no name, no title,

No, not that name was given to me at the font,
But 'tis usurp'd: alack the heavy day,

That I have worn so many winters out,

260

And know not now what name to call myself!
O that I were a mockery king of snow,
Standing before the sun of Bolingbroke,
To melt myself away in water-drops!

Good king, great king, and yet not greatly
good,

An if my word be sterling yet in England, Let it command a mirror hither straight, That it may show me what a face I have, Since it is bankrupt of his majesty. Boling. Go some of you and fetch a looking-glass. [Exit an attendant.

North. Read o'er this paper while the glass doth

come.

K. Rich. Fiend, thou torment'st me ere I come to

hell!

Boling. Urge it no more, my Lord Northumber

land.

271

North. The commons will not then be satisfied. K. Rich. They shall be satisfied: I'll read enough, When I do see the very book indeed

Where all my sins are writ, and that's myself.

Re-enter Attendant, with a glass.

Give me the glass, and therein will I read.
No deeper wrinkles yet? hath sorrow struck

270. "torment'st"; Rowe's emendation of Qq. 3, 4, 5 and Ff., “torments."-I. G.

277. Richard's prodigality is thus described by Holinshed: "He kept the greatest port, and mainteined the most plentifull house that ever any king in England did either before his time or since. For there resorted dailie to his court above ten thousand persons that had meat and drinke there allowed them. In his kitchen were three hundred servitors, and everie other office was furnished after

So many blows upon

this face of mine,

And made no deeper wounds? O flattering glass,

Like to my followers in prosperity,

280

Thou dost beguile me! Was this face the face
That every day under his household roof

Did keep ten thousand men? was this the face

That, like the sun, did make beholders wink?rines

Was this the face that faced so many follies,
And was at last out-faced by Bolingbroke?
A brittle glory shineth in this face:
As brittle as the glory is the face;

[Dashes the glass against the ground.

For there it is, crack'd in a hundred shivers. Mark, silent king, the moral of this sport, 290 How soon my sorrow hath destroy'd my face. Boling. The shadow of your sorrow hath destroy'd The shadow of your face.

K. Rich.

Say that again. The shadow of my sorrow! ha! let's see: "Tis very true, my grief lies all within; And these external manners of laments Are merely shadows to the unseen grief, That swells with silence in the tortured soul;

the like rate. Of ladies, chamberers, and landerers, there were above three hundred at the least. And in gorgious and costlie apparell they exceeded all measure; not one of them that kept within the bounds of his degree. Yeomen and groomes were clothed in silkes, with cloth of graine and skarlet, over sumptuous ye may be sure for their estates."-H. N. H.

281. This line and the four preceding words, "was this the face,” were added in the folio.-H. N. H.

281-288. A reminiscence of Marlowe's famous lines in Faustus: "Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,” etc.—I. G.

There lies the substance: and I thank thee, king,
For thy great bounty, that not only givest 300
Me cause to wail, but teachest me the way
How to lament the cause. I'll beg one boon,
And then be gone and trouble you no more.
Shall I obtain it?

Boling.

Name it, fair cousin.

K. Rich. Fair cousin'? I am greater than a king:
For when I was a king, my flatterers

Were then but subjects; being now a subject,
I have a king here to my flatterer.

Being so great, I have no need to beg.

Boling. Yet ask.

K. Rich. And shall I have?

Boling. You shall.

K. Rich. Then give me leave to go.
Boling. Whither?

310

K. Rich. Whither you will, so I were from your

sights. Boling. Go, some of you convey him to the Tower. theves. K. Rich. O, good! convey? conveyers are you all, That rise thus nimbly by a true king's fall.

[Exeunt King Richard, some Lords, and a

Guard. Boling. On Wednesday next we solemnly set down Our coronation: lords, prepare yourselves. 320 [Exeunt all except the Bishop of Carlisle, the Abbot of Westminster, and Aumerle. Abbot. A woeful pageant have we here beheld. Car. The woe's to come; the children yet unborn

316. "Convey" and its derivatives were often used with reference to cheats, jugglers, thieves and pick pockets.-H. N. H.

Shall feel this day as sharp to them as thorn. Aum. You holy clergymen, is there no plot

To rid the realm of this pernicious blot? Abbot. My lord,

330

Before I freely speak my mind herein,
You shall not only take the sacrament
To bury mine intents, but also to effect
Whatever I shall happen to devise.
I see your brows are full of discontent,
Your hearts of sorrow and your eyes of tears:
Come home with me to supper; and I'll lay
A plot shall show us all a merry day. [Exeunt.
happier