KING RICHARD the Second.

Duke of YORK,

JOHN of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, Uncles to the King. BOLINGBROKE, Earl of Hereford, Son to John of Gaunt, afterwards King Henry the Fourth.

AUMERLE, Son to the Duke of York.
MOWBRAY, Duke of Norfolk.

Earl of SALISBURY.

Earl BARKLEY.

BUSHY,
BAGOT,
GREEN,

}

Servants to King Richard.

Friends to Bolingbroke.

Earl of NORTHUMBERLAND,

PERCY, Son to Northumberland,

Ross,

WILLOUGHBY,

Bishop of CARLISLE,

Sir STEPHEN SCROOP, Friends to King Richard.

FITZWATER,

SURREY,

Abbot of WESTMINSTER,

Lords in the Parliament.

Sir PIERCE of Exton, one of Bolingbroke's Creatures

A Captain of a band of Welshmen.

QUEEN to King Richard.

Dutchess of GLOUCESTER.

Dutchess of YORK.

Ladies attending on the Queen.

Heralds, tavo Gardiners, Keeper, Messenger, and other A

tendants.

SCENE, ENGLAND.

THE

The COURT.

Enter King Richard, John of Gaunt, with other Nobles

K. Rich.

Ο

and Attendants.

LD John of Gaunt, time-honour'd Lancafter,

Haft thou, according to thy oath and bond, Brought hither Henry Hereford thy bold fon,

Here to make good the boift'rous late Appeal,
Which then our leifure would not let us hear,
Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray ?
Gaunt. I have, my Liege.

K. Rich. Tell me moreover, haft thou founded him, If he appeal the Duke on ancient malice,

Or worthily, as a good subject should,

On fome known ground of treachery in him?

Gaunt. As near as I could fift him on that argument,

On fome apparent danger seen in him

Aim'd at your Highness; no invet'rate malice.

K. Rich.

K. Rich. Then call them to our prefence; face to face, And frowning brow to brow, our felves will hear Th' accufer, and th' accused freely speak: High-ftomach'd are they both, and full of ire In rage, deaf as the fea; hafty as fire.

SCENE II. Enter Bolingbroke and Mowbray,
Boling. May many years of happy days befal
My gracious Sovereign, my moft loving Liege!
Mowb. Each day ftill better others happiness ;
Until the heavens envying earth's good hap,
Add an immortal title to your crown!

K. Rich. We thank you both, yet one but flatters
As well appeareth by the caufe you come for;
Namely t' appeal each other of high treafon.
Coufin of Hereford, what doft thou object
Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?
Boling. Firft, (Heaven be the record to my speech!)
In the devotion of a fubject's love,

Tend'ring the precious fafety of my Prince,
And free from other mif-begotten hate,
Come I Appellant to this princely prefence.
Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee,
And mark my greeting well; for what I speak,
My body fhall make good upon this earth,
Or my divine foul answer it in heaven.
Thou art a traitor and a mifcreant. *

Morob. Let not my cold words here accufe my zeal
'Tis not the tryal of a woman's war,
The bitter clamour of two eager tongues,
Can arbitrate this caufe betwixt us twain ;
The blood is hot that must be cool'd for this.
Yet can I not of fuch tame patience boaft,
As to be hufht, and nought at all to say.

----- mifcreant.
Too good to be fo, and too bad to live.
Since the more fair and cryftal is the sky,
The uglier feem the clouds that in it fly;
Once more, the more to aggravate the Note,
With a foul traitor's name ftuff I thy throat,
And with, so please my Sovereign, ere I move,

What my tongue fpeaks, my right drawa fword may prove.
Moub, Let not, .

First

Firft the fair rev'rence of your Highnefs curbs me
From giving reins and fpurs to my free speech,
Which elfe would poft, until it had return'd
These terms of treafon doubled down his throat.
Setting afide his high blood's royalty,
Let him but be no kinfman to my Liege,
And I defie him, and I fpit at him,

Call him a flanderous coward, and a villain;
Which to maintain, I would allow him odds,
And meet him, were I ty'd to run a-foot
Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,
Or any other ground unhabitable,
Where never Englishman durft fet his foot.
Mean time, let this defend my loyalty;
By all my hopes, moft falfly doth he lie.

Boling. Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage, Disclaiming here the kindred of a King,

And lay afide my high blood's royalty,
(Which fear, not rev'rence, makes thee to except :)
If guilty dread hath left thee so much strength,
As to take up mine honour's pawn, then stoop.
By that, and all the rites of knighthood elfe,
Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,
What I have spoke, as what thou hast devised.
Mowb. I take it up, and by that fword I swear,
Which gently laid my knighthood on my shoulder,
I'll answer thee in any fair degree,

Or chivalrous defign of knightly tryal;

And when I mount, alive may not light,
If I be traitor, or unjustly fight!

K. Rich. What doth our coufin lay to Mowbray's charge? It must be great that can inherit us

So much as of a thought of ill in him.

Boling. Look, what I faid, my life fhall prove it true; That Mowbray hath receiv'd eight thousand nobles, In name of lendings for your Highness' foldiers, The which he hath detain'd for lewd imployments; Like a falfe traitor and injurious villain. Befides, I fay, and will in battel prove, Or here, or elsewhere, to the furtheft verge VOL. IV.

That

That ever was furvey'd by English eye;

That all the treafons for these eighteen years,
Complotted and contrived in this land,

Fetch from falfe Mowbray their first head and spring.
Further, I fay, and further will maintain,
That he did plot the Duke of Gloucefter's death,
Suggeft his foon-believing adverfaries,

And confequently, like a traitor-coward,
Sluc'd out his inn'cent foul through ftreams of blood
Which blood, like facrificing Abel's, cries
Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth,
To me, for juftice, and rough chaflifement,
And by the glorious worth of my defcent,
This arm fhall do it, or this life be spent.

K. Rich. How high a pitch his refolution foars!
Thomas of Norfolk, what fay'ft thou to this?

Mowb. O, let my Sovereign turn away his face, And bid his ears a little while be deaf,

"Till I have told this flander of his blood, How God and good men hate fo foul a liar.

K. Rich. Mowbray, impartial are our eyes and ears.
Were he my brother, nay, our kingdom's heir,
As he is but my father's brother's fon;
Now by my scepter's awe, I make a vow,
Such neighbour-nearness to our facred blood
Should nothing priv'lege him, nor partialize
Th' unftooping firmness of my upright foul.
He is our fubject, Mowbray, lo art thou,
Free fpeech and fearlefs I to thed allow.

Morb. Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart
Through the falfe paffage of thy throat, thou lieft!
Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais,
Disburst I to his Highness' foldiers;

The other part referv'd I by confent,
For that my fovereign Liege was in my debt,
Upon remainder of a dear account,

Since laft I went to France to fetch his Queen.

Now fwallow down that lie. For Gloucester's death,
I flew him not; but, to mine own disgrace,
Neglected my fworn duty in that cafe.

Fer