K. Rich. Fair cousin! I am greater than a king1; For, when I was a king, my flatterers Were then but subjects; being now a subject, I have a king here to my flatterer. Being so great, I have no need to beg. K. Rich. And shall I have it? Boling. You shall. K. Rich. Why then give me leave to go. K. Rich. Whither you will, so I were from your sights. Boling. Go, some of you; convey him to the Tower. K. Rich. O, good! Convey?-Conveyers are you all3, That rise thus nimbly by a true king's fall. [Exeunt K. RICHARD, and Guard. Boling. On Wednesday next we solemnly set down Our coronation: lords, prepare yourselves'. [Exeunt all but the ABBOT, Bishop of CARLISLE, and AUMERLE. Abbot. A woeful pageant have we here beheld. Bishop. The woe's to come: the children yet unborn Shall feel this day as sharp to them as thorn. 66 * Fair cousin! I am greater than a king ;] The quartos read, “ Fair Coz ! why I am," &c. Bolingbroke's words were "fair cousin," which, it is obvious, the king ought to repeat. 5 O, good! Convey ?-Conveyers are you all,] To "convey," "conveyer," and "conveyancer" were, in Shakespeare's time, words of double meaning. To "convey" meant to cheat and defraud, or, more strictly, to pick pockets; and conveyers" and " conveyancers were not only lawyers, but persons who 66 practised these tricks of sleight of hand. • That rise thus nimbly by a true king's fall.] This is the last line of the "new additions,” which first appeared in the quarto, 1608, and afterwards in the quarto, 1615, and in the folios. 7 On Wednesday next we solemnly set down Our coronation: lords, prepare yourselves.] The quartos of 1597 and 1598 read : "Let it be so and lo! on Wednesday next We solemnly proclaim our coronation : Lords, be ready all." The change was in part rendered necessary by the "new additions." VOL. IV. Aum. You holy clergymen, is there no plot To rid the realm of this pernicious blot? Abbot. My lord, before I freely speak my mind herein, You shall not only take the sacrament To bury mine intents, but also to effect. I see your brows are full of discontent, [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I. London. A Street leading to the Tower. Enter QUEEN, and Attendants. Queen. This way the king will come: this is the way To Julius Cæsar's ill-erected tower, To whose flint bosom my condemned lord Enter King RICHARD, and Guard. But soft, but see, or rather do not see, My fair rose wither: yet yet look up, behold, That you in pity may dissolve to dew, And wash him fresh again with true-love tears.- Why should hard-favour'd grief be lodg'd in thee, K. Rich. Join not with grief, fair woman, do not so, Will keep a league till death. Hie thee to France, Our holy lives must win a new world's crown, And wounds the earth, if nothing else, with rage Which art a lion, and a king of beasts?? K. Rich. A king of beasts, indeed; if aught but beasts, I had been still a happy king of men. Good sometimes queen, prepare thee hence for France: Think I am dead; and that even here thou tak'st, As from my death-bed, my last living leave. In winter's tedious nights sit by the fire And, ere thou bid good night, to quit their grief, 8 have STRICKEN down.] So the folios. The quartos read “thrown down," which might be measure if thrown were read as two syllables, as it was formerly often spelt, throwen. 9 and a king of beasts ?] The quarto has " and the king of beasts." Tell thou the lamentable TALE of me,] This is the reading of every quarto, 1597, 1598, 1608, and 1615, and it accords with what has been previously said And send the hearers weeping to their beds. And some will mourn in ashes, some coal-black, Enter NORTHUMBERLAND, attended. North. My lord, the mind of Bolingbroke is chang'd: You must to Pomfret, not unto the Tower. And, madam, there is order ta'en for you: K. Rich. Northumberland, thou ladder, wherewithal He shall think, that thou, which knowest the way To pluck him headlong from the usurped throne. North. My guilt be on my head, and there an end. Take leave, and part, for you must part forthwith. K. Rich. Doubly divorc'd!-Bad men, ye violate Part us, Northumberland: I towards the north, about narrating "tales." The folio prints fall, but evidently with some loss of force, as well as of correctness. Where shivering cold and sickness pines the clime; My wife to France': from whence, set forth in pomp, She came adorned hither like sweet May, Sent back like Hallowmas, or short'st of day. Queen. And must we be divided? must we part? K. Rich. Ay, hand from hand, my love, and heart from heart. Queen. Banish us both, and send the king with me. North. That were some love, but little policy3. Queen. Then whither he goes, thither let me go. K. Rich. So two, together weeping, make one woe. Weep thou for me in France, I for thee here; Better far off, than near, be ne'er the near. Go; count thy way with sighs, I mine with groans. And piece the way out with a heavy heart. [They kiss. Queen. Give me mine own again; 'twere no good part, To take on me to keep, and kill thy heart. [They kiss again. So, now I have mine own again, begone, That I may strive to kill it with a groan. K. Rich. We make woe wanton with this fond delay: Once more, adieu; the rest let sorrow say. [Exeunt. 2 My WIFE to France:] All the quartos have "wife:" the folio, 1623, queen. She was no longer queen, and Richard just before calls her "wife." 3 That were some love, &c.] The quartos give this speech to the king. It is probably an error, which the folio corrects. |