And, by his treason, stand'st not thou attainted, Som. Ay, thou shalt find us ready for thee still: Suf. Go forward, and be chok'd with thy ambi tion ! And so farewell, until I meet thee next. [Exit. [Exit. Som. Have with thee, Poole. Farewell, ambi tious Richard. Plan. How I am brav'd, and must perforce en dure it! War. This blot, that they object against your house, Shall be wip'd out in the next parliament, Corrupted, and exempt] Exempt for excluded. 3 For your partaker Poole,] Partaker in ancient language signifies one who takes part with another, an accomplice, a confederate. 4 To scourge you for this apprehension:] Apprehension, i. e. opinion. I will not live to be accounted Warwick. Plan. Good master Vernon, I am bound to you, That you on my behalf would pluck a flower. Ver. In your behalf still will I wear the same. Law. And so will I. Plan. Thanks, gentle sir. Come, let us four to dinner: I dare say, This quarrel will drink blood another day. [Exeunt. SCENE V. The same. A Room in the Tower. Enter MORTIMER, brought in a Chair by Two Keepers. Mor. Kind keepers of my weak decaying age, Let dying Mortimer here rest himself. Even like a man new haled from the rack, These eyes, like lamps whose wasting oil is spent,- Weak shoulders, overborne with burd'ning grief; And pithless arms, like to a wither'd vine 5 pursuivants of death,] Pursuivants. The heralds that, forerunning death, proclaim its approach. as drawing to their exigent:] Exigent,.end. That droops his sapless branches to the ground.- 1 Keep. Richard Plantagenet, my lord, will come: We sent unto the Temple, to his chamber; And answer was return'd that he will come. Mor. Enough; my soul shall then be satisfied.Poor gentleman! his wrong doth equal mine. Since Henry Monmouth first began to reign, (Before whose glory I was great in arms,) 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, 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. 8 Mor. Direct mine arms, I may embrace his neck, And in his bosom spend my latter gasp: O, tell me, when my lips do touch his cheeks, 7 the arbitrator of despairs, Just death, kind umpire-] That is, he that terminates or concludes misery. The expression is harsh, and forced. JOHNSON. 8 late-despised -] i. e. lately despised. That I may kindly give one fainting kiss. And now declare, sweet stem from York's great stock, Why didst thou say-of late thou wert despis'd? Plan. First, lean thine aged back against mine arm; And, in that ease, I'll tell thee my disease." And for alliance' sake,-declare the cause me, And hath detain'd me, all my flow'ring youth, Within a loathsome dungeon, there to pine, Was cursed instrument of his decease. Plan. Discover more at large what cause that was; For I am ignorant, and cannot guess. Mor. 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: 9- I'll tell thee my disease.] Disease seems to be here uneasiness, or discontent. The reason mov'd these warlike lords to this, I was the next by birth and parentage; From Lionel duke of Clarence, the third son But mark; as, in this haughty great attempt,' 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 :2 And 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; in this haughty great attempt,] Haughty is high. Thou art my heir; the rest, I wish thee gather:] The sense is-I acknowledge thee to be my heir; the consequences which may be collected from thence, I recommend it to thee to draw. |