Againft proud Somerset and William Pool,
Will I upon thy party wear this rose.
And here I prophecy; this brawl to day,
Grown to this faction, in the Temple-garden,
Shall fend, between the red rofe and the white,
A thousand fouls to death and deadly night.
Plan. Good mafter Vernon, I am bound to you;
That you on my behalf would pluck a flow'r.
Ver. In your behalf still will I wear the same.
Lawyer. And fo will I.
Plan. Thanks, gentle Sir.
Come, let us four to dinner; I dare fay,
This quarrel will drink blood another day. [Exeunt.
Enter Mortimer, brought in a chair, and jailors.
IND keepers of my weak decaying age,
Mor. K Let dying Mortimer here reft himself.
Ev'n like a man new haled from the rack,
So fare my limbs with long imprisonment:
And these grey locks, the pursuivants of death,
Neftor-like aged in an age of care,
Argue the end of Edmund Mortimer.
These eyes, like lamps whose wafting oil is spent,
Wax dim, as drawing to their exigent.
Weak fhoulders over-born with burdening grief,
And pithless arms, like to a wither'd vine
That droops his faplefs branches to the ground:
Yet are these feet, whose ftrengthlefs ftay is numb,
(Unable to fupport this lump of clay)
Swift-winged with defire to get a grave; ́
As witting, I no other comfort have.
But tell me, keeper, will my nephew come?
Keep. Richard Plantagenet, my lord, will come;
We fent unto the Temple, to his chamber;
And answer was return'd, that he will come.
Mor. Enough; my foul then shall be fatisfy'd.
Poor gentleman, his wrong doth equal mine..
Since Henry Monmouth first began to reign,
(Before whofe glory I was great in arms,)
This loathfome fequeftration have I had;
And, ev'n fince then, hath Richard been obfcur'd,
Depriv'd of honour and inheritance.
But now the arbitrator of despairs,
Juft death, kind umpire of men's miferies,
With fweet enlargement doth difmifs me hence.
I would, his troubles likewife were expir'd,
That fo he might recover what was loft!
Enter Richard Plantagenet.
Keep. My lord, your loving nephew now is come. Mor. Richard Plantagenet, my friend, is he come? Plan. I, noble uncle, thus ignobly us'd, Your nephew, late-despised Richard, comes.
Mor. Direct mine arms, I may embrace his neck, And in his bofom spend my latest gafp.
Oh, tell me, when my lips do touch his cheeks;
That I may kindly give one fainting kiss.
And now declare, fweet ftem from York's great flock,
Why didft thou fay, of late thou wert difpis'd?
Plan. Firft, lean thine aged back against mine arm,
And in that eafe I'll tell thee my Disease.
This day, in argument upon a cafe,
Some words there grew 'twixt Somerset and me:
Amongst which terms he us'd his lavish tongue,
And did upbraid me with my father's death;
Which obloquy set bars before my tongue,
Elfe with the like I had requited him.
Thererefore, good uncle, for my father's fake,
In honour of a true Plantagenet,
And for alliance' fake, declare the cause
My father Earl of Cambridge loft his head.
Mor. This caufe, fair nephew, that imprison'd me; And hath detain'd me all my flow'ring youth
Within a loathsome dungeon there to pine,
Was curfed inftrument of his deceafe.
Plan. Discover more at large what cause that was, For I am ignorant and cannot guefs.
Mor. I will, if that my fading breath permit;
And death approach not, ere my tale be done.
Henry the Fourth, grandfather to this King,
Depos'd his coufin Richard, Edward's fon;
The firft-begotten, and the lawful heir
Of Edward King, the third of that defcent.
During whofe reign the Percies of the north,
Finding his ufurpation most unjust,
Endeavour'd my advancement to the throne.
The reafon mov'd thefe warlike lords to this,
Was, for that young King Richard thus remov'd,
Leaving no heir begotten of his body,
I was the next by birth and parentage:
For by my mother I derived am
From Lyonel Duke of Clarence, the third fon
To the Third Edward; whereas Bolingbroke
From John of Gaunt doth bring his pedigree,
Being but the Fourth of that heroic Line.
But mark; as in this haughty great attempt
They laboured to plant the rightful heir;
I loft my liberty, and they their lives.
Long after this, when Henry the Fifth
After his father Bolingbroke did reign,
Thy father, Earl of Cambridge, (then deriv'd
From famous Edmund Langley, Duke of York,
Marrying my fifter, that thy mother was ;)
Again in pity of my hard distress
Levied an army, weening to redeem
And re-inftal me in the Diadem:
But as the reft, fo fell that noble Earl,
And was beheaded. Thus the Mortimers,
In whom the title refted, were fuppreft.
Plan. Of which, my lord, your Honour is the laft.
Mor. True; and thou feeft, that I no iffue have; And that my fainting words do warrant death: Thou art my heir; the reft I wish thee gather: But yet be wary in thy ftudious care.
Plan. Thy grave admonishments prevail with me:
But yet, methinks, my father's execution
Was nothing less than bloody tyranny.
Mor. With filence, nephew, be thou politic:
Strong-fixed is the House of Lancaster,
And, like a mountain, not to be remov'd.
But now thy uncle is removing hence;
As Princes do their Courts, when they are cloy'd
With long continuance in a settled place.
Plan. O uncle, would fome part of my young years Might but redeem the paffage of your age!
Mort. Thou doft then wrong me, as that flaught'rer doth,
Which giveth many wounds when one will kill.
Mourn not, except thou forrow for my good;
Only give order for my funeral.
And fo farewel; and fair befal thy hopes,
And profp'rous be thy life, in peace and war! [Dies. Plan. And peace, no war, befal thy parting foul! In prison haft thou fpent a pilgrimage,
And, like a hermit, over-past thy days.
Well; I will lock his counfel in my breaft;
And what I do imagine, let that reft.
Keepers, convey him hence; and I myself
Will fee his burial better than his life.
Here lies the dusky torch of Mortimer,
Choak'd with ambition of the meaner fort.
And for those wrongs, those bitter injuries,
Which Somerfet hath offer'd to my House,
I doubt not but with honour to redrefs.
And therefore hafte I to the Parliament;
Either to be restored to my blood,
Or make my Ill th' advantage of my Good.
Flourish. Enter King Henry, Exeter, Gloucester, Winchefter, Warwick, Somerfet, Suffolk, and Richard Plantagenet; Gloucefter offers to put up a Bill: Winchester fnatches it, and tears it.
OM'ST thou with deep premeditated lines,
With written pamphlets ftudiously devis'd?
Humphry of Glofter, if thou canst accuse,
Or ought intend'ft to lay unto my charge,
Do it without invention fuddenly;
As I with fudden and extemporal speech
Purpose to answer what thou canst object.
Glou. Prefumptuous Prieft, this place commands my patience;
Or thou should'st find, thou haft dishonour'd me.
Think not, altho' in writing I perfer'd
The manner of thy vile outrageous crimes,
That therefore I have forg'd, or am not able
Verbatim to rehearse the method of my pen.
No, Prelate, fuch is thy audacious wickednefs,
Thy lewd, peftif'rous, and diffentious pranks,
The very Infants prattle of thy pride.
Thou art a moft pernicious ufurer,
Froward by nature, enemy to peace,
Lafcivious, wanton, more than well befeems
A man of thy profeffion and degree.
And for thy treach'ry, what's more manifeft?
In that thou laid'ft a trap to take my life,
As well at London-bridge, as at the Tower.
Befide, I fear me, if thy thoughts were fifted,
The King thy Sovereign is not quite exempt
From envious malice of thy fwelling heart.
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