Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

KING RICHARD.

How now? what means death in this rude assault? Villain, thine own hand yields thy death's instrument.

(Snatching a weapon and killing one.)

Go thou, and fill another room in hell.

(He kills another, then Exton strikes him down.) That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire That staggers thus my person. Exton, thy fierce hand Hath with the king's blood stain'd the king's own land. Mount, mount, my soul! thy seat is up on high; Whilst my gross flesh sinks downward, here to die,

[Dies.

EXTON.

As full of valour as of royal blood:

Both have I spilt: oh, would the deed were good!
For now the devil, that told me I did well,
Says that this deed is chronicled in hell.

This dead king to the living king I'll bear ;-
Take hence the rest, and give them burial here.

[Exeunt.

Windsor. A room in the castle.

Flourish. Enter

Bolingbroke and York, with Lords and Attendants.

BOLINGBROKE.

Kind uncle York, the latest news we hear
Is that the rebels have consum'd with fire
Our town of Cicester1 in Gloucestershire;
But whither they be ta'en, or slain, we hear not.
(Enter Northumberland.)

Welcome, my lord; what is the news?

NORTHUMBERLAND.

First, to thy sacred state wish I all happiness,
The next news is, I have to London sent
The heads of Salisbury, Spencer, Blunt and Kent:
The manner of their taking may appear
At large discoursed in this paper here.

(Presenting a paper.)

BOLINGBROKE.

We thank thee, gentle Percy, for thy pains;
And to thy worth will add right worthy gains.

Enter FITZWATER.

My lord, I have from Oxford sent to London
The heads of Brocas, and Sir Bennet Seely;
Two of the dangerous consorted traitors,
That sought at Oxford thy dire overthrow.

Cirencester.

BOLINGBROKE.

Thy pains, Fitzwater, shall not be forgot;
Right noble is thy merit, well I wot.

Enter Percy with the Bishop of Carlisle.

PERCY.

The grand conspirator, Abbot of Westminster,
With clog of conscience, and sour melancholy,
Hath yielded up his body to the grave;
But here is Carlisle living to abide

Thy kingly doom, and sentence of his pride.

BOLINGBROKE.

Carlisle, this is your doom :

Choose out some secret place, some reverend room,
More than thou hast, and with it joy thy life;
So, as thou liv'st in peace, die free from strife:
For though mine enemy thou hast ever been,
High sparks of honour in thee have I seen.

Exton enters with Attendants bearing a coffin.

EXTON.

Great king, within this coffin I present

Thy buried fear: herein all breathless lies
The mightiest of thy great enemies,

Richard of Bordeaux, by me hither brought.

BOLINGBROKE.

Exton, I thank thee not: for thou has wrought
A deed of slander, with thy fatal hand,
Upon my head, and all this famous land.

EXTON.

From your own mouth, my lord, did I this deed.

BOLINGBROKE.

They love not poison that do poison need,
Nor do I thee; though I did wish him dead,
I hate the murderer, love him murderèd.
The guilt of conscience take thou for thy labour,
But neither my good word, or princely favour:
With Cain go wander through the shade of night,
And never show thy head by day nor light,
Lords, I protest my soul is full of woe,

That blood should sprinkle me, to make me grow.
Come, mourn with me for that I do lament,
And put on sullen black incontinent;

I'll make a voyage to the Holy Land,

To wash this blood off from my guilty hand;-
March sadly after; grace my mournings here,
In weeping after this untimely bier.

SHAKESPEARE, "King Richard II"

THE CHARGE AT HOMILDON HILL.

1402.

The battle of Homildon Hill was fought between the Scots under Murdoch, Duke of Albany, and Regent of Scotland, during the captivity of James I, and the Earl of Douglas, and the English under Sir Harry Percy, called Hotspur. The Scots were drawn up on the hill, and the Regent chose to forget the counsel left by Bruce, that a body of horsemen should always be ready to pour down on the English archers. An old knight, Sir Alan Swinton, reminded him, but in vain. Feuds with the Gordon family had reduced Swinton's following to a very small number, and no one attended to him, except the young head of the Gordon family, whose father Swinton had slain; but who was so struck by his bravery and wisdom that, forgetting all ancient enmity, he fell on his knees before the old man, declaring that he would receive knighthood from no other hand. There was no real discipline among the Scots in those days, and these two brave and forgiving men gathering their own followers, rushed down the hill on the archers. The charge dispersed them at first, but the rest of the army were slow to support them, and they were both slain, with all their men, before the Regent and Douglas charged, when the English had had time to rally. The Scots were routed, and Murdoch and Douglas both made prisoners. We shall hear of Douglas again from Shakespeare. The noble scene between Swinton and Gordon is here given. The Regent, Murdoch, has just come out of his tent, where he has found that not one of the Scottish nobles will agree to give up the foremost place.

REGENT.

Thus shall it be then, since we may no better,
And since no lord will yield one jot of way
To this high urgency, or give the vanguard
Up to another's guidance, we will abide them

« AnteriorContinua »