Serv. He did.

Exton. And speaking it, he wistly look'd on me;
As who should say, - I would thou wert the man
That would divorce this terror from my heart,
Meaning the king at Pomfret. Come, let's go:
I am the king's friend, and will rid his foe.

SCENE V. Pomfret. The dungeon of the castle.
Enter King RICHARD.

[Exeunt.

K. Rich. I have been studying how I may compare
This prison where I live unto the world:
And, for because the world is populous,
And here is not a creature but myself,
I cannot do it; - yet I'll hammer 't out.
My brain I'll prove the female to my soul,
My soul the father: and these two beget
A generation of still-breeding thoughts,
And these same thoughts people this little world;
In humours like the people of this world,

For no thought is contented. The better sort,
As thoughts of things divine,

are intermix'd With scruples, and do set the word itself Against the word:

As thus, "Come, little ones;" and then again,
"It is as hard to come as for a camel

To thread the postern of a small neeld's eye."
Thoughts tending to ambition, they do plot
Unlikely wonders; how these vain weak nails
May tear a passage through the flinty ribs
Of this hard world, my ragged prison-walls;
And, for they cannot, die in their own pride.
Thoughts tending to content flatter themselves
That they are not the first of fortune's slaves,
Nor shall not be the last; like silly beggars,
Who, sitting in the stocks, refuge their shame,
That many have, and others must sit there;

And in this thought they find a kind of ease,
Bearing their own misfortune on the back
Of such as have before endur'd the like.
Thus play I, in one person, many people,
And none contented: sometimes am I king;
Then treason makes me wish myself a beggar,
And so I am: then crushing penury
Persuades me I was better when a king;
Then am I king'd again: and by and by
Think that I am unking'd by Bolingbroke,
And straight am nothing: but whate'er I am,

Nor I, nor any man that but man is,

With nothing shall be pleas'd, till he be eas'd
With being nothing.

Ha, ha! keep time:

- Music do I hear?

how sour sweet music is,

When time is broke and no proportion kept!
So is it in the music of men's lives.
And here have I the daintiness of ear

To check time broke in a disorder'd string;
But, for the concord of my state and time,
Had not an ear to hear my true time broke.
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me;
For now hath time made me his numbering clock:
My thoughts are minutes; and with sighs they jar
Their watches to mine eyes, the outward watch,
Whereto my finger, like a dial's point,

Is pointing still, in cleansing them from tears:
Now, sir, the sounds that tell what hour it is,
Are clamorous groans, that strike upon my heart,
Which is the bell: so sighs and tears and groans
Show minutes, times, and hours: but my time
Runs posting on in Bolingbroke's proud joy,
While I stand fooling here, his Jack o' the clock.
This music mads me; let it sound no more;
For though it have holp madmen to their wits,
In me it seems it will make wise men mad.

Yet, blessing on his heart that gives it me!

[Music.

For 'tis a sign of love; and love to Richard
Is a strange brooch in this all-hating world.

Enter Groom.

Groom. Hail, royal prince!

Thanks,

noble peer;

K. Rich.
The cheapest of us is ten groats too dear.
What art thou? and how com'st thou hither now,
Where no man ever comes, but that sad dog

That brings me food to make misfortune live?

Groom. I was a poor groom of thy stable, king,
When thou wert king; who, travelling towards York,
With much ado at length have gotten leave
To look upon my sometimes master's face.
O, how it yearn'd my heart, when I beheld,
In London streets, that coronation-day,
When Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary,
That horse that thou so often hast bestrid,
That horse that I so carefully have dress'd!

K. Rich. Rode he on Barbary? Tell me, gentle friend, How went he under him?

Groom. So proud as if he had disdain'd the ground. K. Rich. So proud that Bolingbroke was on his back! That jade hath eat bread from my royal hand; This hand hath made him proud with clapping him. Would he not stumble? would he not fall down, Since pride must have a fall, and break the neck Of that proud man that did usurp his back? Forgiveness, horse! why do I rail on thee, Since thou, created to be aw'd by man, Wast born to bear? I was not made a horse; And yet I bear a burden like an ass,

Spur-gall'd and tir'd by jauncing Bolingbroke.

Enter Keeper, with a dish.

Keep. [to the Groom] Fellow, give place; here is no longer

stay.

K. Rich. If thou love me, 'tis time thou wert away

Groom. What my tongue dares not, that my heart shall

say.

Keep. My lord, will't please you to fall to?

[Exit.

K. Rich. Taste of it first, as thou art wont to do. Keep. My lord, I dare not. Sir Pierce of Exton, Who late came from the king, commands the contrary. K. Rich. The devil take Henry of Lancaster and thee! Patience is stale, and I am weary of it.

Keep. Help, help, help!

[Beats the Keeper.

Enter Sir PIERCE of EXTON and Servants, armed.

K. Rich. How now! what means death in this rude as

sault?

Villain, thy own hand yields thy death's instrument.

[Snatching a weapon, and killing a Servant.

Go thou, and fill another room in hell.

[He kills another Servant.
strikes him down.

That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire

That staggers thus my person.

Then Exton

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; - O, 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.

SCENE VI. Windsor. A room in the castle.

[Exeunt.

Flourish. Enter BOLINGBROKE as King, YORK, Lords, and

Attendants.

Boling. Kind uncle York, the latest news we hear

Is that the rebels have consum'd with fire

Our town of Ciceter in Glostershire;

But whether they be ta'en or slain we hear not.

Enter NORTHUMBERLAND.

Welcome, my lord: what is the news?

North.

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 discoursèd in this paper here.

[Presenting a paper.

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

Enter FITZWATER.

Fitz. 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.

Boling. 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.
Boling. 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.

Enter Sir PIERCE of EXTON, with Attendants bearing a coffin.
Exton. Great king, within this coffin I present

Thy buried fear: herein all breathless lies

The mightiest of thy greatest enemies,

Richard of Bourdeaux, by me hither brought.

Boling. Exton, I thank thee not; for thou hast wrought