K. Rich. O, good! Convey?-Conveyers are you all,2 That rise thus nimbly by a true king's fall. [Exeunt K. RICHARD, some Lords, and a guard. Boling. On Wednesday next, we solemnly set down Our coronation: lords, prepare yourselves. [Exeunt all but the Abbot, Bishop of Carlisle, and AUMERle. Abbot. A woeful pageant have we here beheld. Car. The woe's to come; the children yet unborn Shall feel this day as sharp to them as thorn. Aum. You holy clergymen, is there no plot To rid the realm of this pernicious blot? Abbot. Before I freely speak my mind herein, You shall not only take the sacrament To bury mine intents, but to effect Whatever I shall happen to devise :— I see your brows are full of discontent, Your hearts of sorrow, and your eyes of tears; Come home with me to supper; I will lay A plot, shall show us all a merry day. ACT V. [Exeunt. SCENE I. London. A Street leading to the Tower. Enter Queen, and Ladies. Queen. This way the king will come; this is the way Conveyers are you all,] To convey is a term often used in an ill sense, and so Richard understands it here. Pistol says of stealing, convey the wise it call; and to convey is the word for sleight of hand, which seems to be alluded to here. says the deposed prince, jugglers, who rise with dexterity by the fall of a good king. JOHNSON. 3 To bury-] To conceal, to keep secret. Ye are all, this nimble To Julius Cæsar's ill-erected tower,* Enter King RICHARD, and Guards. But soft, but see, or rather do not see, And wash him fresh again with true-love tears.- K. Rich. Join not with grief, fair woman, do not so, To make my end too sudden: learn, good soul, From which awak'd, the truth of what we are Will keep a league till death. Hie thee to France, Transform'd, and weaken'd! Hath Bolingbroke 4 To Julius Caesar's ill-erected tower,] The Tower of London is traditionally said to have been the work of Julius Cæsar. By-ill-erected, perhaps, is meant-erected for bad purposes. Join not with grief,] Do not thou unite with grief against me; do not, by thy additional sorrows, enable grief to strike me down at once. My own part of sorrow I can bear, but thy affliction will immediately destroy me. JOHNSON. Depos'd thine intellect? Hath he been in thy heart? K. Rich. A king of beasts, indeed; if aught but I had been still a happy king of men. Good sometime queen, prepare thee hence for Think, I am dead; and that even here thou tak'st, With good old folks; and let them tell thee tales And, ere thou bid good night, to quit their grief," And send the hearers weeping to their beds. North. My lord, the mind of Bolingbroke is You must to Pomfret, not unto the Tower. -to quit their grief,] To retaliate their mournful stories. The mounting Bolingbroke ascends my throne,→ And he shall think, that thou, which know'st the way To plant unrightful kings, wilt know again, To pluck him headlong from the usurped throne. North. My guilt be on my head, and there an end. Take leave, and part; for you must part forthwith. She came adorned hither like sweet May, Queen. And must we be divided? must we part? K. Rich. Ay, hand from hand, my love, and heart from heart. Queen. Banish us both, and send the king with me. North. That were some love, but little policy. November. Hallowmas,] All-hallows, or all-hallowtide; the first of Queen. Then whither he goes, thither let me go. K. Rich. So two, together weeping, make one woe. Weep thou for me in France, I for thee here; moans. K. Rich. Twice for one step I'll groan, the way being short, And piece the way out with a heavy heart. [They kiss. Queen. Give me mine own again; 'twere no good part, To take on me to keep,, and kill thy heart. [Kiss again. So, now I have mine own again, begone, delay: Once more, adieu; the rest let sorrow say. [Exeunt. Better far off, than-near, be ne'er the near'.] The meaning is, it is better to be at a great distance, than being near each other, to find that we yet are not likely to be peaceably and happily united. |