I’ll note102 you in my book of memory,

  To scourge you for this apprehension103:

  Look to it104 well, and say you are well warned.

  SOMERSET    Ah, thou shalt find us ready for thee still,

  And know us by these colours for thy foes,

  For these my friends in spite107 of thee shall wear.

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET    And by my soul, this pale and angry rose,

  As cognizance109 of my blood-drinking hate,

  Will I for ever and my faction wear,

  Until it wither with me to my grave,

  Or flourish to the height of my degree112.

  SUFFOLK    Go forward and be choked with thy ambition:

  And so farewell until I meet thee next.

  Exit

  SOMERSET    Have with thee115, Pole.— Farewell, ambitious Richard.

  Exit

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET    How I am braved and must perforce116 endure it!

  WARWICK    This blot that they object117 against your house

  Shall be wiped out in the next parliament,

  Called for the truce of119 Winchester and Gloucester:

  And if thou be not then created York,

  I will not live to be accounted Warwick.

  Meantime, in signal122 of my love to thee,

  Against proud Somerset and William Pole,

  Will I upon thy party124 wear this rose.

  And here I prophesy: this brawl today,

  Grown to this faction126 in the Temple garden,

  Shall send, between the red rose and the white,

  A thousand souls to death and deadly night.

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET    Good Master Vernon, I am bound to you,

  That you on my behalf would pluck a flower.

  VERNON    In your behalf still131 will I wear the same.

  LAWYER    And so will I.

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET    Thanks, gentles133.

  Come, let us four to dinner: I dare say

  This quarrel will drink blood another day.

  Exeunt

  [Act 2 Scene 5]

  running scene 8

  Enter Mortimer, brought in a chair, and Jailers

  MORTIMER    Kind keepers1 of my weak decaying age,

  Let dying Mortimer here rest himself.

  Even like a man new haled from the rack3,

  So fare my limbs with long imprisonment:

  And these grey locks, the pursuivants5 of death,

  Nestor-like agèd in an age of care6,

  Argue the end of Edmund Mortimer.

  These eyes, like lamps whose wasting oil is spent,

  Wax dim, as drawing to their exigent9:

  Weak shoulders, overborne10 with burdening grief,

  And pithless11 arms, like to a withered vine,

  That droops his sapless branches to the ground.

  Yet are these feet, whose strengthless stay is numb13,

  Unable to support this lump of clay,

  Swift-wingèd with desire to get a grave,

  As witting16 I no other comfort have.

  But tell me, keeper, will my nephew come?

  FIRST JAILER    Richard Plantagenet, my lord, will come:

  We sent unto the Temple, unto his chamber,

  And answer was returned that he will come.

  MORTIMER    Enough: my soul shall then be satisfied.

  Poor gentleman, his wrong22 doth equal mine.

  Since Henry Monmouth23 first began to reign,

  Before whose glory I was great in arms,

  This loathsome sequestration25 have I had:

  And even26 since then hath Richard been obscured,

  Deprived of honour and inheritance.

  But now, the arbitrator28 of despairs,

  Just death, kind umpire29 of men’s miseries,

  With sweet enlargement30 doth dismiss me hence:

  I would his31 troubles likewise were expired,

  That so he might recover what was lost.

  Enter Richard [Plantagenet]

  FIRST JAILER    My lord, your loving nephew now is come.

  MORTIMER    Richard Plantagenet, my friend, is he come?

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET    Ay, noble uncle, thus ignobly used35,

  Your nephew, late36 despisèd Richard, comes.

  MORTIMER    Direct mine arms I may embrace his neck,

  And in his bosom spend my latter38 gasp.

  O tell me when my lips do touch his cheeks,

  He embraces Richard

  That I may kindly40 give one fainting kiss.

  And now declare, sweet stem from York’s great stock41,

  Why didst thou say of late thou wert despised?

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET    First, lean thine agèd back against mine arm,

  And in that ease I’ll tell thee my disease44.

  This day in argument upon a case,

  Some words there grew ’twixt Somerset and me:

  Among which terms he used his lavish47 tongue

  And did upbraid me with my father’s death:

  Which obloquy set bars before my tongue49,

  Else with the like I had requited50 him.

  Therefore, good uncle, for my father’s sake,

  In honour of a true Plantagenet,

  And for alliance’ sake, declare53 the cause

  My father, Earl of Cambridge, lost his head.

  MORTIMER    That cause, fair nephew, that imprisoned me

  And hath detained me all my flowering youth

  Within a loathsome dungeon, there to pine,

  Was cursèd instrument of his decease.

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET    Discover more at large59 what cause that was,

  60 For I am ignorant and cannot guess.

  MORTIMER    I will, if that my fading breath permit

  And death approach not ere my tale be done.

  Henry the Fourth, grandfather to this king,

  Deposed his nephew Richard, Edward’s son64,

  The first begotten and the lawful heir

  Of Edward king, the third of that descent,

  During whose reign the Percies67 of the north,

  Finding his usurpation most unjust,

  Endeavoured my advancement to the throne.

  The reason moved70 these warlike lords to this

  Was for that — young King Richard thus removed,

  Leaving no heir begotten of his body —

  I was the next by birth and parentage:

  For by my mother I derivèd74 am

  From Lionel Duke of Clarence, the third son

  To King Edward the Third; whereas the king

  From John of Gaunt77 doth bring his pedigree,

  Being but fourth of that heroic line.

  But mark: as in this haughty79 great attempt

  They80 labourèd to plant the rightful heir,

  I lost my liberty and they their lives.

  Long after this, when Henry the Fifth,

  Succeeding his father Bullingbrook83, did reign,

  Thy father, Earl of Cambridge then, derived

  From famous Edmund Langley, Duke of York,

  Marrying my sister that thy mother was,

  Again, in pity of my hard87 distress,

  Levied an army, weening88 to redeem

  And have installed me in the diadem89:

  But, as the rest, so fell that noble earl,

  And was beheaded. Thus the Mortimers,

  In whom the title rested, were suppressed.

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET    Of which, my lord, your honour is the last.

  MORTIMER    True, and thou see’st that I no issue94 have,

  And that my fainting words do warrant95 death:

  Thou art my heir; the rest I wish thee gather96:

  But yet be wary in thy studious97 care.

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET    Thy grave admonishments98 prevail with me:

  But yet methinks my father’s execution

  Was nothing less than bloody tyranny.

  MORTIMER    With silence, nephew, be thou politic101:

  Strong-fixèd is the house of Lancaster,

  And like a mountain, not to be removed.

  But now thy uncle is removing104 hence,

  As princes do their courts, when they are cloyed105

  With long continuance in a settled place.

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET    O uncle, would some part of my young years

  Might but redeem the passage108 of your age.

  MORTIMER    Thou dost then wrong me, as that slaughterer doth

  Which giveth many wounds when one will kill.

  Mourn not, except thou sorrow for my good111,

  Only give order112 for my funeral.

  And so farewell, and fair be all thy hopes,

  And prosperous be thy life in peace and war.

  Dies

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET    And peace, no war, befall thy parting soul.

  In prison hast thou spent a pilgrimage,

  And like a hermit overpassed117 thy days.

  Well, I will lock his counsel in my breast,

  And what I do imagine, let that rest119.

  Keepers, convey him hence, and I myself

  Will see his burial better than his life.

  Exeunt [Jailers with Mortimer’s body]

  Here dies the dusky122 torch of Mortimer,

  Choked with ambition of the meaner sort123.

  And for124 those wrongs, those bitter injuries,

  Which Somerset hath offered to my house125,

  I doubt not but with honour to redress.

  And therefore haste I to the parliament,

  Either to be restorèd to my blood128,

  Or make mine ill the advantage of my good129.

  Exit

  Act 3 Scene 1

  running scene 9

  Flourish. Enter King [Henry VI], Exeter, Gloucester, [Bishop of] Winchester, Warwick, Somerset, Suffolk, Richard Plantagenet. Gloucester offers to put up a bill: Winchester snatches it, tears it

  WINCHESTER    Com’st thou with deep premeditated lines1?

  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, suddenly5,

  As I with sudden and extemporal6 speech

  Purpose to answer what thou canst object7.

  GLOUCESTER    Presumptuous priest, this place commands my patience8,

  Or thou shouldst find thou hast dishonoured me.

  Think not, although in writing I preferred10

  The manner of thy vile11 outrageous crimes,

  That therefore I have forged12, or am not able

  Verbatim to rehearse the method of my pen.13

  No, prelate, such is thy audacious wickedness,

  Thy lewd, pestiferous and dissentious pranks15,

  As very16 infants prattle of thy pride.

  Thou art a most pernicious usurer17,

  Froward18 by nature, enemy to peace,

  Lascivious, wanton, more than well beseems19

  A man of thy profession and degree20.

  And for21 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 sifted24,

  The king, thy sovereign, is not quite exempt

  From envious malice of thy swelling26 heart.

  WINCHESTER    Gloucester, I do defy thee. Lords, vouchsafe

  To give me hearing what I shall reply.

  If I were covetous, ambitious or perverse,

  As he will have me, how am I so poor?

  Or how haps31 it I seek not to advance

  Or raise myself, but keep my wonted32 calling?

  And for dissension, who preferreth peace

  More than I do? — Except34 I be provoked.

  No, my good lords, it is not that35 offends:

  It is not that that hath incensed the Duke:

  It is because no one should sway37 but he,

  No one but he should be about38 the king:

  And that engenders thunder in his breast

  And makes him roar these accusations forth.

  But he shall know I am as good—

  GLOUCESTER    As good?

  Thou bastard43 of my grandfather.

  WINCHESTER    Ay, lordly sir: for what are you, I pray,

  But one imperious45 in another’s throne?

  GLOUCESTER    Am I not Protector, saucy46 priest?

  WINCHESTER    And am not I a prelate of the Church?

  GLOUCESTER    Yes, as an outlaw in a castle keeps48

  And useth it to patronage49 his theft.

  WINCHESTER    Unreverent Gloucester.

  GLOUCESTER    Thou art reverent51

  Touching thy spiritual function52, not thy life.

  WINCHESTER    Rome53 shall remedy this.

  WARWICK    Roam thither then.

  To Gloucester

  My lord, it were your duty to forbear55.

  SOMERSET    Ay, see the bishop be not overborne56.

  To Winchester

  Methinks my lord should be religious

  And know the office that belongs to such58.

  WARWICK    Methinks his lordship59 should be humbler:

  It fitteth not a prelate so to plead.

  SOMERSET    Yes, when his holy state is touched so near61.

  WARWICK    State holy or unhallowed, what of that?

  Is not his grace Protector to the king?

  Aside

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET    Plantagenet, I see, must hold his tongue,

  Lest it be said ‘Speak, sirrah65, when you should:

  Must your bold verdict enter talk with lords?’

  Else would I have a fling67 at Winchester.

  KING HENRY VI    Uncles of Gloucester and of Winchester,

  The special watchmen of our English weal69,

  I would prevail, if prayers might prevail,

  To join your hearts in love and amity.

  O what a scandal is it to our crown,

  That two such noble peers as ye should jar73!

  Believe me, lords, my tender years74 can tell

  Civil dissension is a viperous worm75

  That gnaws the bowels76 of the commonwealth.

  A noise within: ‘Down with the tawny-coats!’

  What tumult’s this?

  WARWICK    An uproar, I dare warrant,

  Begun through malice of the Bishop’s men.

  A noise again: ‘Stones, stones!’ Enter Mayor [of London]

  MAYOR    O my good lords, and virtuous Henry,

  Pity the city of London, pity us!

  The Bishop and the Duke of Gloucester’s men,

  Forbidden late83 to carry any weapon,

  Have filled their pockets full of pebble stones

  And, banding themselves in contrary parts85,

  Do pelt so fast at one another’s pate86

  That many have their giddy87 brains knocked out:

  Our windows are broke down in every street,

  And we, for fear, compelled to shut our shops.

  Enter [Servingmen] in skirmish with bloody pates

  KING HENRY VI    We charge you, on allegiance to ourself,

  To hold your slaught’ring hands and keep the peace.

  Pray, uncle Gloucester, mitigate92 this strife.

  FIRST SERVINGMAN    Nay, if we be forbidden stones, we’ll fall to it with our teeth.

  SECOND SERVINGMAN    Do what ye dare, we are as94 resolute.

  Skirmish again

  GLOUCESTER    You of my household, leave this peevish95 broil

  And set this unaccustomed fight aside.

  THIRD SERVINGMAN    My lord, we know your grace to be a man

  Just and upright and, for your royal birth,

  Inferior to none but to his majesty:

  And ere that we will suffer100 such a prince,

  So kind a father of the commonweal,

  To be disgracèd by an inkhorn mate102,

  We and our wives and children all will fight

  And have our bodies slaughtered by thy foes.

  FIRST SERVINGMAN    Ay, and the very parings105 of our nails

  Shall pitch a field106 when we are dead.

  Begin again

  GLOUCESTER    Stay, stay, I say!

  And if you love me, as you say you do,

  Let me persuade you to forbear awhile.

  KING HENRY VI    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 prefer114 a peace,

  If holy churchmen take delight in broils?

  WARWICK    Yield, my Lord Protector, yield, Winchester:

  Except you mean with obstinate repulse117

  To slay your sovereign and destroy the realm.

  You see what mischief119 and what murder too