Richard II by William Shakespeare
Act 5 - Scene 5
Pomfret castle.
King Richard II : I have been studying how I may compare
[p]This prison where I live
unto the world:
[p]And for because the world is populous
[p]And here
is not a creature but myself,
[p]I cannot do it; yet I'll hammer it
out.
[p]My brain I'll prove the female to my soul,
[p]My soul the
father; and these two beget
[p]A generation of still-breeding
thoughts,
[p]And these same thoughts people this little world,
[p]In
humours like the people of this world,
[p]For no thought is contented.
The better sort,
[p]As thoughts of things divine, are
intermix'd
[p]With scruples and do set the word itself
[p]Against the
word:
[p]As thus, 'Come, little ones,' and then again,
[p]'It is as
hard to come as for a camel
[p]To thread the postern of a small
needle's eye.'
[p]Thoughts tending to ambition, they do
plot
[p]Unlikely wonders; how these vain weak nails
[p]May tear a
passage through the flinty ribs
[p]Of this hard world, my ragged
prison walls,
[p]And, for they cannot, die in their own
pride.
[p]Thoughts tending to content flatter themselves
[p]That they
are not the first of fortune's slaves,
[p]Nor shall not be the last;
like silly beggars
[p]Who sitting in the stocks refuge their
shame,
[p]That many have and others must sit there;
[p]And in this
thought they find a kind of ease,
[p]Bearing their own misfortunes on
the back
[p]Of such as have before endured the like.
[p]Thus play I in
one person many people,
[p]And none contented: sometimes am I
king;
[p]Then treasons make me wish myself a beggar,
[p]And so I am:
then crushing penury
[p]Persuades me I was better when a king;
[p]Then
am I king'd again: and by and by
[p]Think that I am unking'd by
Bolingbroke,
[p]And straight am nothing: but whate'er I be,
[p]Nor I
nor any man that but man is
[p]With nothing shall be pleased, till he
be eased
[p]With being nothing. Music do I hear?
[p][Music]
[p]Ha, ha!
keep time: how sour sweet music is,
[p]When time is broke and no
proportion kept!
[p]So is it in the music of men's lives.
[p]And here
have I the daintiness of ear
[p]To cheque time broke in a disorder'd
string;
[p]But for the concord of my state and time
[p]Had not an ear
to hear my true time broke.
[p]I wasted time, and now doth time waste
me;
[p]For now hath time made me his numbering clock:
[p]My thoughts
are minutes; and with sighs they jar
[p]Their watches on unto mine
eyes, the outward watch,
[p]Whereto my finger, like a dial's
point,
[p]Is pointing still, in cleansing them from tears.
[p]Now sir,
the sound that tells what hour it is
[p]Are clamorous groans, which
strike upon my heart,
[p]Which is the bell: so sighs and tears and
groans
[p]Show minutes, times, and hours: but my time
[p]Runs posting
on in Bolingbroke's proud joy,
[p]While I stand fooling here, his Jack
o' the clock.
[p]This music mads me; let it sound no more;
[p]For
though it have holp madmen to their wits,
[p]In me it seems it will
make wise men mad.
[p]Yet blessing on his heart that gives it
me!
[p]For 'tis a sign of love; and love to Richard
[p]Is a strange
brooch in this all-hating world.
Groom : Hail, royal prince!
King Richard II : Thanks, noble peer;
[p]The cheapest of us is ten groats too
dear.
[p]What art thou? and how comest thou hither,
[p]Where no man
never comes but that sad dog
[p]That brings me food to make misfortune
live?
Groom : I was a poor groom of thy stable, king,
[p]When thou wert king; who,
travelling towards York,
[p]With much ado at length have gotten
leave
[p]To look upon my sometimes royal master's face.
[p]O, how it
yearn'd my heart when I beheld
[p]In London streets, that
coronation-day,
[p]When Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary,
[p]That
horse that thou so often hast bestrid,
[p]That horse that I so
carefully have dress'd!
King Richard II : Rode he on Barbary? Tell me, gentle friend,
[p]How went he under him?
Groom : So proudly as if he disdain'd the ground.
King Richard II : So proud that Bolingbroke was on his back!
[p]That jade hath eat bread
from my royal hand;
[p]This hand hath made him proud with clapping
him.
[p]Would he not stumble? would he not fall down,
[p]Since pride
must have a fall, and break the neck
[p]Of that proud man that did
usurp his back?
[p]Forgiveness, horse! why do I rail on thee,
[p]Since
thou, created to be awed by man,
[p]Wast born to bear? I was not made
a horse;
[p]And yet I bear a burthen like an ass,
[p]Spurr'd, gall'd
and tired by jouncing Bolingbroke.
Keeper : Fellow, give place; here is no longer stay.
King Richard II : If thou love me, 'tis time thou wert away.
Groom : What my tongue dares not, that my heart shall say.
Keeper : My lord, will't please you to fall to?
King Richard II : Taste of it first, as thou art wont to do.
Keeper : My lord, I dare not: Sir Pierce of Exton, who
[p]lately came from the
king, commands the contrary.
King Richard II : The devil take Henry of Lancaster and thee!
[p]Patience is stale, and
I am weary of it.
Keeper : Help, help, help!
King Richard II : How now! what means death in this rude assault?
[p]Villain, thy own
hand yields thy death's instrument.
[p][Snatching an axe from a
Servant and killing him]
[p]Go thou, and fill another room in
hell.
[p][He kills another. Then Exton strikes him down]
[p]That hand
shall burn in never-quenching fire
[p]That staggers thus my person.
Exton, thy fierce hand
[p]Hath with the king's blood stain'd the
king's own land.
[p]Mount, mount, my soul! thy seat is up on
high;
[p]Whilst my gross flesh sinks downward, here to die.
Sir Pierce of Exton : As full of valour as of royal blood:
[p]Both have I spill'd; O would
the deed were good!
[p]For now the devil, that told me I did
well,
[p]Says that this deed is chronicled in hell.
[p]This dead king
to the living king I'll bear
[p]Take hence the rest, and give them
burial here.
Previous: Act 5 - Scene 4
Next: Act 5 - Scene 6
