Which to maintain I would allow him odds, And meet him, were I tied to run afoot Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps, Or any other ground inhabitable, Where ever Englishman durst set his foot. Mean time let this defend my loyalty, By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie. Boling. Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage,
Disclaiming here the kindred of the king, And lay aside my high blood's royalty, Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except. If guilty dread have left thee so much strength As to take up mine honour's pawn, then stoop: By that and all the rites of knighthood else, Will I make good against thee, arm to arm, What I have spoke, or thou canst worse devise. Mow. I take it up; and by that sword I swear, Which gently laid my knighthood on my shoulder, I'll answer thee in any faír degree,
Or chivalrous design of knightly trial:
And when I mount, alive may I not light,
If I be traitor or unjustly fight!
K. Rich. What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray's charge?
It must be great that can inherit us
So much as of a thought of ill in him.
Boling. Look, what I speak, my life shall prove it true;
That Mowbray hath received eight thousand nobles
In name of lendings for your highness' soldiers,
81. design, enterprise, action.
85. inherit, possess.
89. In name of lendings, as money entrusted to him.
The which he hath detain'd for lewd employments, 90 Like a false traitor and injurious villain. Besides I say and will in battle prove, Or here or elsewhere to the furthest verge That ever was survey'd by English eye, That all the treasons for these eighteen years Complotted and contrived in this land
Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and
Further I say and further will maintain
Upon his bad life to make all this good,
That he did plot the Duke of Gloucester's death, Suggest his soon-believing adversaries, And consequently, like a traitor coward,
Sluiced out his innocent soul through streams of blood:
Which blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries, Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth, To me for justice and rough chastisement; And, by the glorious worth of my descent, This arm shall do it, or this life be spent.
K. Rich. How high a pitch his resolution soars ! Thomas of Norfolk, what say'st thou to this? Mow. O, let my sovereign turn away his face And bid his ears a little while be deaf, Till I have told this slander of his blood, How God and good men hate so foul a liar. K. Rich. Mowbray, impartial are our eyes and
Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir, As he is but my father's brother's son,
100. the Duke of Gloucester, Thomas of Woodstock, youngest son of Edward III., and uncle of Richard and of Bolingbroke. Mowbray was, in reality, himself concerned, with Gloucester
and with Bolingbroke, in a plot to seize the king (June 1397); he betrayed it to Richard, and was charged to put Gloucester to death.
Now, by my sceptre's awe, I make a vow, Such neighbour nearness to our sacred blood Should nothing privilege him, nor partialize The unstooping firmness of my upright soul: He is our subject, Mowbray; so art thou: Free speech and fearless I to thee allow.
Mow. Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart,
Through the false passage of thy throat, thou liest. Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais Disbursed I duly to his highness' soldiers; The other part reserved I by consent, For that my sovereign liege was in my debt Upon remainder of a dear account,
Since last I went to France to fetch his queen : Now swallow down that lie. For Gloucester's
I slew him not; but to my own disgrace Neglected my sworn duty in that case. For you, my noble Lord of Lancaster, The honourable father to my foe, Once did I lay an ambush for your life, A trespass that doth vex my grieved soul; But ere I last received the sacrament I did confess it, and exactly begg'd
119. neighbour nearness, close kinship.
126. receipt, money committed
threats, carried out Richard's own order for his death. He had thus neglected his sworn duty' to his sovereign. According to Mowbray's own account to Bagot, as told by him after Richard's death (Hol. iii. 511), he had saved Gloucester's life 'for three weeks and more,' in defiance of Richard's order and at peril of his life: the murder being finally carried out by persons expressly despatched by Richard to see it done.'
Your grace's pardon, and I hope I had it. This is my fault: as for the rest appeal'd, It issues from the rancour of a villain, A recreant and most degenerate traitor : Which in myself I boldly will defend; And interchangeably hurl down my gage Upon this overweening traitor's foot, To prove myself a loyal gentleman
Even in the best blood chamber'd in his bosom. In haste whereof, most heartily I pray
Your highness to assign our trial day.
K. Rich. Wrath-kindled gentlemen, be ruled by
Let's purge this choler without letting blood: This we prescribe, though no physician; Deep malice makes too deep incision; Forget, forgive; conclude and be agreed; Our doctors say this is no month to bleed. Good uncle, let this end where it begun; We'll calm the Duke of Norfolk, you your son. Gaunt. To be a make-peace shall become my age: Throw down, my son, the Duke of Norfolk's gage. K. Rich. And, Norfolk, throw down his. Gaunt. When, Harry, when? Obedience bids I should not bid again.
K. Rich. Norfolk, throw down, we bid; there is no boot.
Mow. Myself I throw, dread sovereign, at thy foot.
My life thou shalt command, but not my shame : The one my duty owes ; but my fair name, Despite of death that lives upon my grave,
157. no month to bleed. Certain seasons of the year were prescribed in the old medical al
manacs as proper for 'bleeding.' 168. i.e. 'that lives, despite of death,' etc.
To dark dishonour's use thou shalt not have. I am disgraced, impeach'd and baffled here, Pierced to the soul with slander's venom'd spear, The which no balm can cure but his heart-blood Which breathed this poison.
Rage must be withstood: Give me his gage: lions make leopards tame. Mow. Yea, but not change his spots take but my shame,
And I resign my gage. My dear dear lord, The purest treasure mortal times afford
Is spotless reputation: that away,
Men are but gilded loam or painted clay. A jewel in a ten-times-barr'd-up chest Is a bold spirit in a loyal breast.
Mine honour is my life; both grow in one; Take honour from me, and my life is done : Then, dear my liege, mine honour let me try; In that I live and for that will I die.
K. Rich. Cousin, throw up your gage; do you begin.
Boling. O, God defend my soul from such deep sin!
Shall I seem crest-fall'n in my father's sight? Or with pale beggar-fear impeach my height Before this out-dared dastard? Ere my tongue Shall wound my honour with such feeble wrong, Or sound so base a parle, my teeth shall tear The slavish motive of recanting fear,
And spit it bleeding in his high disgrace,
Where shame doth harbour, even in Mowbray's
170. baffled, ignominiously punished, like a recreant knight. 189. impeach my height, detract from my high dignity.
190. out-dared, cowed down.
191. feeble wrong, one that implies weakness in the man who submits to it.
193. motive, instrument (viz. his tongue).
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