Mor. Richard Plantagenet, my friend? Is he come?

Plan. Ay, noble uncle, thus ignobly us’d, Your nephew, late-despised ? Richard comes.

Mor. Direct mine arms, I may embrace his neck, And in his bosom spend my latter gasp. 0! tell me, when my lips do touch his cheeks, That I may kindly give one fainting kiss. And now declare, sweet stem from York's great stock, Why didst thou say

- of late thou wert despis'd ? Plan. First, lean thine aged back against mine arm, And in that ease I 'll tell thee my disease. 8 This day, in argument upon a case, Some words there grew 'twixt Somerset and me; Among which terms he us'd his lavish tongue, And did upbraid me with my father's death: Which obloquy set bars before my tongue, Else with the like I had requited him. Therefore, good uncle, for my father's sake, In honour of a true Plantagenet, And for alliance 9 sake, declare the cause My father, earl of Cambridge, lost his head.

Mor. That cause, fair nephew, that imprison'd me, And hath detain'd me all my flow'ring youth Within a loathsome dungeon, there to pine, Was cursed instrument of his decease.

Plan. Discover more at large what cause that was: For I am ignorant, and cannot guess.

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 nephew 10 Richard, Edward's son,
The first-begotten, and the lawful heir
Of Edward king', the third of that descent:
During whose reign the Percies of the north,
Finding his usurpation most unjust,
Endeavour'd my advancement to the throne.
The reason mov'd these warlike lords to this,

Was, for that (young king 11 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 Lionel duke of Clarence, the 12 third son
To king Edward the third, whereas he,
From John of Gaunt doth bring his pedigree,
Being but fourth 13 of that heroic line.
But mark: as, in this haughty 14 great attempt
They laboured to plant the rightsul heir,
I lost my liberty, and they their lives.
Long after this, when Henry 15 the fifth,
(Succeeding his father Bolingbroke) did reign,
Thy father, earl of Cambridge, then deriv'd
From famons Edmund Langley, duke of York,
Marrying my sister, that thy mother was,
Again, in pity of my hard distress,
Levied an army, weening to redeem,
And have install'd me in the diadem;
But, as the rest, so fell that noble earl,
And was beheaded. Thus the Mortimers,
In whom the title rested, were suppress’d. 17

Plan. Of which, my lord, your honour is the last.

Mor. True; and thou seest, that I no issue have, And that my fainting words 18 do warrant death. Thou art my heir: the rest, I wish thee gather; 19 But yet be wary in thy studious care.

Plan. Thy grave admonishments prevail with me. But yet, methinks, my father's execution Was nothing less than bloody tyranny,

16

21

22

Mor. With silence, 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. 20

Plan. 0, uncle! 'would some part of my young years
Might but redeem the passage of your age.

Mor. Thou dost then wrong me; as the slaughterer doth,
Which giveth many wounds, when one will kill.
Mour not, except thou sorrow for my good;
Only, give order for my funeral:
And so farewell; and fair be all thy hopes,
And prosperous be thy life, in peace, and war!

[Dies.
Plan. And peace, no war, befal thy parting soul!
In prison hast thou spent a pilgrimage,
And like a hermit overpass'd 23 thy days. --
Well, I will lock his counsel in my breast;
And what I do imagine, let that rest.
Keepers, convey him hence; and I myself
Will see his burial better than his life. 24 - [Exeunt Keepers, bearing out Mort.
Here dies the dusky torch of Mortimer,
Chok'd with ambition of the meaner sort: 25
And, for those wrongs, those bitter injuries,
Which Somerset hath offer'd to my house,
I doubt not but with honour to redress;
And therefore haste I to the parliament,
Either to be restored to my blood,
Or make my ill the advantage of my good. 27

[Exit.

26

20) Mortimer vergleicht seinen bevorstehenden Abschied vom Leben und von seiner Haft

mit der Uebersiedlung der Fürsten von einer Residenz in die andere. 21) Plantagenet möchte einen Theil seiner jungen Jahre dahingeben, um den Hingang des

Greisenalters Mortimers damit abzuwenden. 22) Mögen deine Aussichten in die Zukunft günstig werden, ein glückliches Ansehn ge

winnen. Theobald wollte dafür lesen fair befal thy hopes. 23) to overpass gebraucht Sh. hier im Sinn von to pass : Du hast deine Tage dahingelebt,

verbracht wie ein Eremit. So auch in K. Richard III. (A. 4, Sc. 4) in the time oʻerpast. 2) Ich will danach sehen, dass sein Begräbniss besser sei, als sein Leben in der Haft

des Kerkers. 25) Mit meaner sort sind die Lancasters gemeint, die, obwohl von geringerer Herkunft als

Mortimer, doch aus Ehrgeiz seine Lebensfackel gedämpft haben, bis dass sie erlosch. 26) to redress ist Verbum neutrum sich wiederaufrichten, Genugthuung erhalten. 27) my ill verbessert Theobald das my will der Fol. und gewinnt damit den natürlichen

Gegensatz zu my good: ich will entweder durch Parlamentsbeschluss in den Rang, der meinem Geblüte zukommt, wiedereingesetzt werden, oder das Leid, das ich erdalde, zu einer Gelegenheit machen, aus der mein Glück mir erwachsen soll.

ACT III.

SCENE I.

The Same. The Parliament-House.

Flourish. Enter King Henry, EXETER, GLOSTER, WARWICK, SOMERSET, and
SUFFOLK; the Bishop of WINCHESTER, RICHARD PLANTAGENET, and Others.
GLOSTER offers to put up a bill; WINCHESTER snatches it, and tears it. 1

Win. Com'st thou with deep premeditated lines,
With written pamphlets studiously devis'd ?
Humphrey of Gloster, if thou canst accuse,
Or aught intend'st to lay unto my charge,
Do it without invention 2 suddenly;
As I with sudden and extemporal speech
Purpose to answer what thou canst object.

Glo. Presumptuous priest! this place commands my patience,
Or thou shouldst find thou hast dishonour'd me.
Think not, although in writing I preferr'd
The manner of thy vile outrageous crimes,
That therefore I have forg’d, or am not able
Verbatim 3 to rehearse the method of my pen:
No, prelate; such is thy audacious wickedness,
Thy lewd, pestiferous, and dissentious pranks,
As very infants prattle of thy pride.
Thou art a most pernicious usurer,
Froward by nature, enemy to peace;
Lascivious, wanton, more than well beseems
A man of thy profession and degree:
And for thy treachery, what's more manifest ?
In that thou laid'st a trap to take my life,
As well at London bridge, as at the Tower ?
Beside, I fear me, if thy thoughts were sisted,
The king, thy sovereign, is not quite exempt
From envious 4 malice of thy swelling heart.

Win. Gloster, I do defy thee. Lords, vouchsafe
To give me hearing what I shall reply.
If I were covetous, ambitious, or perverse,
As he will have me,

how am I so poor?
Or how haps it, I seek not to advance
Or raise myself, but keep my wonted calling?
And for dissension, who preferreth peace
More than I do, except I be provok'd ?
No, my good lords, it is not that offends ;
It is not that that hath incens'd the duke:
It is, because no one should sway but he;
No one but he should be about the king;
And that engenders thunder in his breast,
And makes him roar these accusations forth.
But he shall know, I am as good
Glo.

As good?
Thou bastard of my grandfather ! 6

Win. Ay, lordly Sir; for what are you, I pray,
But one imperious in another's throne ?

Glo. Am I not protector, 7 saucy priest?
Win. And am not I a prelate of the church?

Glo. Yes, as an outlaw in a castle keeps,
And useth it to patronage 8 his theft.

Win. Unreverent Gloster!
Glo.

Thou art reverent,
Touching thy spiritual function, not thy life.

Win. Rome shall remedy this.
War.

Roam 9 thither then.
Som. My lord, it were your duty to forbear.
War. Ay, see the bishop be not overborne.

Som. Methinks, my lord should be religious,
And know the office that belongs to such.

War. Methinks, his lordship should be humbler; It fitteth not a prelate so to plead. 5) to prefer

= fördern, zur Schau tragen, empfehlen. 9) Der Bischof von Winchester war ein unebenbürtiger Sohn des Herzogs von Lancaster,

John von Gent. n Steevens schob zur Regulirung des Verses ein the vor protector ein. 8) to patronage in Schutz nehmen, ein ungewöhnliches Verbum, das Sh. weiterhin

(A. 3, Sc. 4) noch einmal gebraucht. 9 Dasselbe, wie es scheint, für Landstreicher sprichwörtliche Wortspiel hat Nasho in

seinem Pamphlet Lenten Stuff (1599) three hundred thousand people roamed to Rome for purgatory pills. - Die folgende Zeile wird in der Fol. ebenfalls dem Warwick zuertheilt und die nächsten drei Verse von Ay, see bis to such dem Somerset.

Theobald stellte die richtige Vertheilung der Reden wieder her. 19) humbler ist dreisylbig zu lesen (humbeler).

10