Plan. Ay, noble uncle, thus ignobly used, Your nephew, late-despisèd Richard, comes. 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, 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 despised? Plan. First, lean thine agèd back against mine arm; Some words there grew 'twixt Somerset and me; And for alliance' sake, declare the cause My father, Earl of Cambridge, lost his head. Mor. That cause, fair nephew, that imprison'd me, And hath detain'd me all my flowering youth Within a loathsome dungeon, there to pine, Plan. Discover more at large what cause that was ; For I am ignorant, and cannot guess. Mor. I will, if that my failing breath permit, 7 Disease was used for any uneasiness, trouble, or grief. During whose reign, the Percies of the North, Endeavour'd my advancement to the throne: The reason moved these warlike lords to this Was, for that young King Richard thus removed, I was the next by birth and parentage; For by my mother I derived am From Lionel Duke of Clarence, the third son 8 8 In a previous note, I have spoken of Lionel as the second son of Edward the Third, of John of Ghent as the third, of Edmund of Langley as the fourth, and of Thomas of Woodstock as the fifth. And so historians commonly speak of them. In strictness of fact, however, the second son was William of Hatfield, who died in infancy, and so is commonly passed over in history. Hence the seeming discrepancy between the numbering in my notes and what is here and in some other places stated in Shakespeare's text. Shakespeare follows Holinshed, who speaks more "by the card" than is the use of later historians. 9 That is, thinking. This is another departure from history. Cambridge levied no army; but was apprehended at Southampton, the night before Henry sailed from that town for France, on the information of this very Earl of March. But, as the rest, so fell that noble earl, Plan. Of which, my lord, your Honour is the last. 10 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 politic: Strong-fixed is the House of Lancaster, And, like a mountain, not to be removed. 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 that slaughter 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 war! Plan. And peace, no war, befall thy parting soul! In prison hast thou spent a pilgrimage, And like a hermit overpass'd thy days.- [Dies. 10 Meaning "I wish you to infer the legal consequences of this my be quest, or the rights that justly fall to you as my heir." Will see his burial better than his life. [Exeunt Keepers, bearing out the body of MORTIMER. Here dies the dusky torch of Mortimer, Or make my ill th' advantage 12 of my good. [Exit. ACT III. SCENE I. London. The Parliament-House. Flourish. Enter King HENRY, EXETER, GLOSTER, WARWICK, Win. Comest thou with deep-premeditated lines, 11 That is, oppressed by those who were of lower rank, or whose right to the crown was not so good as his. 12 My ill is here the wrong done to me. Advantage in the sense of occasion or vantage-ground. 1 Bill is the articles of accusation. This Parliament was held in 1426 at Leicester, though here represented to have been held in London. King Henry was now in the fifth year of his age. In the first Parliament, which was held at London shortly after his father's death, his mother, Queen Catharine, brought the young King from Windsor to the metropolis, and sat on the throne with the infant in her lap. 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 shouldst find thou hast dishonour'd me. Think not, although in writing I preferr'd And, for thy treachery, what's more manifest, Win. Gloster, I do defy thee. — Lords, vouchsafe 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? 2 As and that, both pronoun and conjunction, were used indiscriminately by all the writers of Shakespeare's time. |