Page 1223 - Shakespeare - Vol. 1

DUCHESS

Art thou so hasty? I have stay’d for thee,
God knows, in torment and in agony.

KING RICHARD

And came I not at last to comfort you? [165]

DUCHESS

No, by the holy Rood, thou know’st it well:
Thou cam’st on earth to make the earth my hell.
A grievous burden was thy birth to me;
Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy;
Thy school-days frightful, desp’rate, wild, and furious; [170]
Thy prime of manhood daring, bold, and venturous;
Thy age confirm’d, proud, subtle, sly, and bloody;
More mild, but yet more harmful, kind in hatred.
What comfortable hour canst thou name
That ever grac’d me with thy company? [175]

KING RICHARD

Faith, none but Humphrey Hower, that call’d your Grace
To breakfast once, forth of my company.
If I be so disgracious in your eye,
Let me march on and not offend you, madam.
Strike up the drum!

DUCHESS

I prithee, hear me speak. [180]

KING RICHARD

You speak too bitterly.

DUCHESS

Hear me a word,
For I shall never speak to thee again.

KING RICHARD

So!

DUCHESS