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This loathsome sequestration have I had;
And even since then hath Richard been obscur'd,
Depriv'd of honour and inheritance:

But now, the arbitrator of despairs,

Just death, kind umpire of men's miseries, With sweet enlargement doth dismiss me hence; I would, his troubles likewise were expir'd, That so he might recover what was lost.

Enter RICHARD PLANTAGEnet.

1. Keep, My Lord, your loving nephew now

is come.

Mor. Richard Plantagenet, my friend? Is he come?

Plan. Ay, noble uncle, thus ignobly us'd, Your nephew, late-despised Richard, comes. Direct mine arms, I may embrace his neck,

Mor.

And in his bosom spend my latter gasp:
O, tell me, when my lips do touch his cheeks,
That I may kindly give one fainting kiss.

And now declare, sweet stem from York's great

Why didst thou say

stock,

oflate thou wert despis'd?

Plan. First, lean thine aged back against

mine arm;

1

And, in that ease, I'll tell thee my disease.
This day, in argument upon a case,
Some words there grew 'twixt Somerset and me:
Among which terms, he us'd his lavish tongue,
And did upbraid me with my father's death;
Which obloquy set bars before my tongue,
Else with the like I had requited him:

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for my father's sake,

In honour of a true Plantagenet,

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And for alliance' sace, Ideclare the cause
My father, Earl of Cambridge, lost his head.
Mor. That cause, fair nephew, that impri-
son'd me,

And hath detain'd me, all my flowring youth,
Within a loathsome dungeon, there to pine,
Was cursed instrument of his disease.

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Plan. Discover more at large what cause that was;

For I am ignorant, and cannot guess.

Mer. I will; if that my fading breath permit, And death approach not ere my tale be done, Henry the fourth, grandfather to this King, Depos'd his nephew Richard; Edward's son, The first-begotten, and the lawful heir

Of Edward King, the third of that descent: During whose reign, the Percies of the north, Finding his usurpation most unjust, Endeavour'd my advancement to the throne: The reason mov'd these warlike lords to this, for that (young King Richard thus remov'd,

Was

--

Leaving no heir begotten of his body,)
I was the next by birth and parentage;
For by my mother I derived am

From Lionel Duke of Clarence, the 'third son
To King Edward the third, whereas he,
From John of Gaunt doth bring his pedigree,
Being but fourth of that heroick line.
But mark; as, in this haughty great attempt,
They laboured to plant the rightful heir,
I lost my liberty, and they their lives.
Long after this, when Henry the fifth,
Succeeding his father Bolingbroke,
Thy father, Earl of Cambridge,
From famous Edmund Langley, Duke of York,

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did reign, then deriv'd

Marrying my sister, that thy mother was,
Again, in pity of my hard distress,
Levied an army; weening to redeem,
And have install'd me in the diadem :-
But, as the rest, so fell that noble Earl,
And was beheaded. Thus the Mortimers,
In whom the title rested, were suppress'd.

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Plan. Of which, my Lord, your Honour is

the last.

Mor. True; and thou

seest,

that I no issue

have;

And that my fainting words do warrant death: Thou art my heir; the rest, I wish thee gather: But yet be wary in thy studious care.

Plan. Thy grave admonishments prevail with me:

But yet, methinks, my father's execution.
Was nothing less than bloody tyranny.

Mor. With silence, nephew, be thou politick;
Strong-fixed is the house of Lancaster,
And, like a mountain, not to be remov'd
But now thy uncle is removing hence;
As Princes do their courts when they are cloy'd
With long continuance in a settled place.

Plan. O, uncle, 'would some part of my young years

Might but redeem the passage of your age!
Mor. Thou dost then wrong me;

as the slaught'rer doth,

Which giveth many wounds, when one will kill,,
Mourn not, except thou sorrow for my good;
Only, give order for my funeral;

And so farewell; and fair be all thy hopes
And prosperous be thy life, in peace, and wart

[Dies.

Plan. And peace no war, befal thy parting

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soul!

In prison hast thou spent a pilgrimage,
And like a hermit overpass'd thy days."
Well, I will lock his counsel in my breast;
And what I do imagine let that rest.
eepers, convey him hence, and I myself
Will see his burial better than his life.

[Exeunt Keepers, bearing out MORTIMER.
Here dies the dusky torch of Mortimer,
Chok'd with ambition of the meaner sort:
And, for those wrongs, those bitter injuries,
Which Somerset hath offer'd to my house,
I doubt not, but with honour to redress:
And therefore haste I to the parliament;
Either to be restored to my blood,

Or make my ill the advantage of my good. [Exit.

TER,

ACT III. SCENE I.

The same. The Parliament - House.

Flourish. Enter King HENRY, EXETER, GLOSWARWICK, SOMERSET, and SUFFOLK; the Bishop of Winchester, RICHARD PLANTAGENET, and Others. GLOSTER offers to put up a bill; Winchester snatches it, and

tears it.

Win. Com'st thou with deep premeditated lines,

With written pamphlets studiously devis'd,
Humphrey of Gloster? if thou canst accuse,

Or aught intend'st to lay unto my charge,
-Do it without invention suddenly;

As I with sudden and extemporal speech
Purpose to answer what thou canst object

Glo.

Presumptuous priest! this place commands my patience, Or thou should'st find thou hast dishonour'd me. Think not, although in writing I preferr'd "The manner of thy vile outrageous crimes, That therefore I have forg'd, or am not able Verbatim to rehearse the method of my pen: No Prelate; such is thy audacious wickedness, Thy lewd, pestiferous, and dissentious pranks, As very infants prattle of thy pride. Thou art a most pernicious usurer; Froward by nature, euemy to peace; Lascivious', wanton,, more than well beseems A man of thy profession, and degree; And for 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 sifted, The King, thy Sovereign, is not quite exempt From envious malice of thy swelling heart. Win.. Gloster, I do defy thee.

vouchsafe

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Lords.

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 haps it, I seek not to advance
Or raise myself, but keep my wonted calling?
And for dissention, Who preferreth peace
More than I do, except I be provok'd?
No, my good Lords, it is not that offends;
It is not that, that hath inceus'd the Duke:
It is, because no one should sway but he;

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