NORTHUMBERLAND            But I bethink me what a weary way From Ravenspur to Cotswold will be found In Ross and Willoughby, wanting your company, Which I protest hath very much beguiled The tediousness and process of my travel. But theirs is sweetened with the hope to have The present benefit which I possess, And hope to […]

Enter Bolingbroke and Northumberland [with soldiers] BOLINGBROKE                      How far is it, my lord, to Berkeley now? NORTHUMBERLAND            Believe me, noble lord, I am a stranger here in Gloucestershire. These high wild hills and rough uneven ways Draws out our miles and makes them wearisome, And yet your fair discourse hath been as sugar, Making the […]

GREEN            Well, I will for refuge straight to Bristol Castle. The Earl of Wiltshire is already there. BUSHY            Thither will I with you, for little office Will the hateful commons perform for us, Except, like curs, to tear us all in pieces. Will you go along with us? BAGOT            No, I will to Ireland, to […]

BUSHY            The wind sits fair for news to go for Ireland But none returns. For us to levy power Proportionable to the enemy is all unpossible GREEN            Besides, our nearness to the King in love Is near the hate of those love not the King. BAGOT            And that’s the wavering commons, for their love Lies […]

YORK              Gentlemen, will you go muster men? If I know how or which way to order these affairs, Thus disorderly thrust into my hands, Never believe me. Both are my kinsmen: Th’one is my sovereign, whom both my oath And duty bids defend; th’other again Is my kinsman, whom the King hath wronged, Whom conscience […]

YORK              God for his mercy, what a tide of woes Comes rushing on this woeful land at once! I know not what to do. I would to God, So my untruth had not provoked him to it, The King had cut off my head with my brother’s. What, are there no posts dispatched for Ireland? […]

Enter a Servant SERVANT       My lord, your son was gone before I came. YORK              He was? Why so, go all which way it will. The nobles they are fled, the commons they are cold And will, I fear, revolt on Hereford’s side. Sirrah, get thee to Pleshey, to my sister Gloucester, Bid her send me […]

Enter York. GREEN            Here comes the Duke of York. QUEEN           With signs of war about his agèd neck. O, full of careful business are his looks! Uncle, for God’s sake, speak comfortable words. YORK              Should I do so, I should belie my thoughts. Comfort’s in heaven, and we are on the earth Where nothing lives […]

QUEEN           So, Green, thou art the midwife to my woe, And Bolingbroke my sorrow’s dismal heir. Now hath my soul brought forth her prodigy And I, a gasping new-delivered mother, Have woe to woe, sorrow to sorrow joined. BUSHY            Despair not, madam. QUEEN                                               Who shall hinder me? I will despair and be at enmity With […]

GREEN            Ah madam, ’tis too true and, that is worse, The Lord Northumberland, his son young Harry Percy, The lords of Ross, Beaumont and Willoughby With all their pow’rful friends are fled to him. BUSHY            Why have you not proclaimed Northumberland And all the rest revolted faction, traitors? GREEN            We have, whereupon the Earl of […]