Are clamorous groans, that strike upon my heart, Enter Groom. Groom. Hail, royal prince! Thanks, noble peer; K. Rich. Groom. I was a poor groom of thy stable, king, 11 8 That is, I strike for him. One of these automatons is alluded to in King Richard III. Act iv. Sc. 3 : 'Because that, like a Jack, thou keep'st the stroke Between thy begging and my meditation.' Again, in an old comedy, entitled, If this be not a good Play the Devil is in it, 1612 :— And we their Jacks o'the clockhouse.' 9 See Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, part ii. sect. 2. 10 Brooch, an ornamented buckle, and also a jewel in general, here figuratively used for jewel. 11 Sometimes was used for former, as well as sometime. Aliquando. When Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary! How went he under him? Groom. So proudly, as if he disdain'd the ground 12. K. Rich. So proud that Bolingbroke was on his back! That jade hath eat bread from my royal hand; Spur-gall'd, and tir'd, by jauncing 13 Bolingbroke. Enter Keeper, with a Dish. Keep. Fellow, give place; here is no longer stay. [To the Groom. K. Rich. If thou love me, 'tis time thou wert away. Groom. What my tongue dares not, that my shall say. heart [Exit. Keep. My lord, will't please you to fall to? K. Rich. Taste of it first, as thou art wont to do. Keep. My lord, I dare not; Sir Pierce of Exton,who Lately came from the king, commands the contrary. 12 Froissart relates a yet more silly tale of a greyhound of King Richard's, who was wont to leape upon the king, but left the king and came to the erle of Derby, duke of Lancastre, and made to him the same frendly countenance and chere as he was wont to do to the king.'-Froissart, by Berners, v. 11. fo. CCCXxx. 13 Jancing is hard riding, from the old French word jancer, which Cotgrave explains To stir a horse in the stable till he sweat withall; or (as our) to jaunt.' K. Rich. The devil take Henry of Lancaster, and thee! Patience is stale, and I am weary of it. Keep. Help, help, help! [Beats the Keeper. Enter EXTON, and Servants, armed. K. Rich. How now? what means death in this rude assault? Villain, thy own hand yields thy death's instrument. [Snatching a weapon and killing one. Go thou, and fill another room in hell. [He kills another, and then ExTON strikes That hand shall burn in never quenching fire, hand Hath with the king's blood stain'd the king's own land. Mount, mount, my soul! thy seat is up on high; Whilst my gross flesh sinks downward, here to die. 14 These stage directions are not in the old copies. [Dies 15 15 The representation here given of the king's death is perfectly agreeable to Hall and Holinshed (who copied from Fabian, with whom the story of Exton is thought to have its origin). But the fact was otherwise. He refused food for several days, and died of abstinence and a broken heart. See Walsingham, Otterburne, the Monk of Evesham, the Continuator of the History of Croyland, and The Godstow Chronicle. His body, after being submitted to public inspection in the church of Pomfret, was brought to London, and exposed in Cheapside for two hours, 'his heade on a black cushion, and his visage open,' when it was viewed, says Froissart, by twenty thousand persons, and finally in St. Paul's Cathedral. Stowe seems to have had before him a manuscript history of the latter part of King Richard's life, written by a person who was with him in Wales. He says 'he was imprisoned in Pomfrait Castle, where xv dayes and nightes they vexed him with continual hunger, thirst, and cold, and finally bereft him of his life with such a kind of death as never before that time was knowen in England.'' Exton. As full of valour, as of royal blood: Both have I spilt! O, 'would the deed were good! For now the devil, that told me--I did well, Says, that this deed is chronicled in hell. This dead king to the living king I'll bear;Take hence the rest, and give them burial here. [Exeunt. SCENE VI. Windsor. A Room in the Castle. Flourish. Enter BOLINGBROKE, and YORK, with Lords and Attendants. Boling. Kind uncle York, the latest news we hear Is-that the rebels have consum'd with fire Our town of Cicester in Glocestershire; But whether they be ta'en, or slain, we hear not. Enter NORTHUMBERLAND. Welcome, my lord: What is the news? North. First, to thy sacred state wish I all happiness. The next news is, I have to London sent The heads of Salisbury, Spencer, Blunt, and Kent1: The manner of their taking may appear At large discoursed in this paper here. [Presenting a paper, Boling. We thank thee, gentle Percy,for thy pains; And to thy worth will add right worthy gains. Enter FITZWATER. Fitz. My lord, I have from Oxford sent to London The heads of Brocas and Sir Bennet Seely; Two of the dangerous consorted traitors, That sought at Oxford thy dire overthrow. So the folio. The quarto reads of Oxford, Salisbury, Blunt, and Kent. The folio is right according to the histories. Boling. Thy pains, Fitzwater, shall not be forgot; Right noble is thy merit, well I wot. Enter PERCY, with the Bishop of Carlisle. Percy. The grand conspirator, abbot of Westminster 2, With clog of conscience, and sour melancholy, Thy kingly doom, and sentence of his pride. 3 Boling. Carlisle, this is your doom 3 :— Enter EXTON, with Attendants bearing a Coffin. Richard of Bourdeaux, by me hither brought. Boling. Exton, I thank thee not; for thou hast wrought A deed of slander, with thy fatal hand, Upon my head, and all this famous land. 2 This abbot of Westminster was William de Colchester. The relation, which is taken from Holinshed, is untrue, as he survived the king many years; and though called 'the grand conspirator,' it is very doubtful whether he had any concern in the conspiracy; at least nothing was proved against him. 3 The bishop of Carlisle was committed to the Tower, but on the intercession of his friends obtained leave to change his prison for Westminster Abbey. In order to deprive him of his see, the pope, at the king's instance, translated him to a bishoprick in partibus infidelium; and the only perferment he could ever after obtain was a rectory in Gloucestershire. |