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Act 2, Scene 4
Richard II Translation Act 3, Scene 1
Enter HENRY BOLINGBROKE, DUKE OF YORK, NORTHUMBERLAND, LORD ROSS, HENRY PERCY, LORD WILLOUGHBY, with BUSHY and GREEN, prisoners
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
Bring forth these men. Bushy and Green, I will not vex your souls— Since presently your souls must part your bodies— With too much urging your pernicious lives, For 'twere no charity; yet, to wash your blood From off my hands, here in the view of men I will unfold some causes of your deaths. You have misled a prince, a royal king, A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments, By you unhappied and disfigured clean: You have in manner with your sinful hours Made a divorce betwixt his queen and him, Broke the possession of a royal bed And stain'd the beauty of a fair queen's cheeks With tears drawn from her eyes by your foul wrongs. Myself, a prince by fortune of my birth, Near to the king in blood, and near in love Till you did make him misinterpret me, Have stoop'd my neck under your injuries, And sigh'd my English breath in foreign clouds, Eating the bitter bread of banishment; Whilst you have fed upon my signories, Dispark'd my parks and fell'd my forest woods, From my own windows torn my household coat, Razed out my imprese, leaving me no sign, Save men's opinions and my living blood, To show the world I am a gentleman. This and much more, much more than twice all this, Condemns you to the death. See them deliver'd over To execution and the hand of death.
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
Bring the men out. Bushy and Green, I won't bother with your souls—since they'll be parted from your body soon anyway—by telling you what an evil life you've led, since that will be no help. But to justify myself, I will publicly explain some reasons why you must die. You have misled a prince, a royal king—a gentleman happy in his ancestry, disfigured, and made unhappy by you. Your sinfulness has caused a divorce between his queen and him, since he spent his time away from the marriage bed, amusing himself with you. You have stained the queen's cheeks with tears from your awful wrongs. I was myself a prince, near to the king in fortune and blood, until you made him misinterpret me, and have stooped my neck under your crimes, sighing my English breath in foreign lands and eating the bitter bread of banishment. Meanwhile, you have used my seal for your own gain, ruined my land and cut down my trees, and destroyed my coat of arms in my own windows—leaving me no sign, except men's opinions and my living blood, to show the world I am a gentleman. This and much more, much more than twice all this, condemns you to die.
[To Northumberland] See them delivered over to execution and the hand of death.
BUSHY
More welcome is the stroke of death to meThan Bolingbroke to England. Lords, farewell.
BUSHY
The stroke of death is more welcome to me than Bolingbroke is to England. Lords, goodbye.
GREEN
My comfort is that heaven will take our soulsAnd plague injustice with the pains of hell.
GREEN
My comfort is that heaven will take our souls, and that the unjust people who do this to us will suffer in hell.
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HENRY BOLINGBROKE
My Lord Northumberland, see them dispatch'd.
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
My Lord Northumberland, see they are executed.
Exeunt NORTHUMBERLAND and others, with the prisoners
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
Uncle, you say the queen is at your house ; For God's sake, fairly let her be entreated: Tell her I send to her my kind commends; Take special care my greetings be deliver'd.
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
Uncle, you say the queen is at your house; for God's sake, treat her fairly. Tell her I send her my kind regards; take special care that my greetings are delivered.
DUKE OF YORK
A gentleman of mine I have dispatch'dWith letters of your love to her at large.
DUKE OF YORK
I've sent a servant to deliver her the letters explaining your continued love and affection for her.
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
Thanks, gentle uncle. Come, lords, away. To fight with Glendower and his complices: Awhile to work, and after holiday.
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
Thanks, gentle uncle. Come, lords, let's go to fight with Glendower and his accomplices: we must work a while before we can take a holiday.
Exeunt
