Page 2922 - Shakespeare - Vol. 1

His noble cousin is right welcome hither,
And all the number of his fair demands
Shall be accomplish’d without contradiction.
With all the gracious utterance thou hast [125]
Speak to his gentle hearing kind commends. -
[to Aumerle]
We do debase ourselves, cousin, do we not,
To look so poorly and to speak so fair?
Shall we call back Northumberland and send
Defiance to the traitor, and so die? [130]

AUMERLE

No, good my lord. Let’s fight with gentle words
Till time lend friends, and friends their helpful swords.

RICHARD

O God, O God, that e’er this tongue of mine,
That laid the sentence of dread banishment
On yon proud man, should take it off again [135]
With words of sooth! O that I were as great
As is my grief, or lesser than my name,
Or that I could forget what I have been,
Or not remember what I must be now!
Swell’st thou, proud heart? I’ll give thee scope to beat, [140]
Since foes have scope to beat both thee and me.

AUMERLE

Northumberland comes back from Bolingbroke.

RICHARD

What must the King do now? Must he submit?
The King shall do it. Must he be deposed?
The King shall be contented. Must he lose [145]
The name of king? A God’s name, let it go.
I’ll give my jewels for a set of beads,
My gorgeous palace for a hermitage,
My gay apparel for an almsman’s gown,
My figur’d goblets for a dish of wood, [150]
My sceptre for a palmer’s walking-staff,
My subjects for a pair of carvèd saints,