Page:Richard II (1921) Yale.djvu/17

King Richard the Second, I. i

Sluic'd out his innocent soul through streams of blood:

Which blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries,

Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth,

To me for justice and rough chastisement;

And, by the glorious worth of my descent,

This arm shall do it, or this life be spent.

K. Rich. How high a pitch his resolution soars!

Thomas of Norfolk, what sayst thou to this?

Mow. O! let my sovereign turn away his face

And bid his ears a little while be deaf,

Till I have told this slander of his blood

How God and good men hate so foul a liar.

K. Rich. Mowbray, impartial are our eyes and ears:

Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir,—

As he is but my father's brother's son,—

Now, by my sceptre's awe I make a vow,

Such neighbour nearness to our sacred blood

Should nothing privilege him, nor partialize

The unstooping firmness of my upright soul.

He is our subject, Mowbray; so art thou:

Free speech and fearless I to thee allow.

Mow. Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart,

Through the false passage of thy throat, thou liest.

Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais

Disburs'd I duly to his highness' soldiers;

The other part reserv'd I by consent,

For that my sovereign liege was in my debt

Upon remainder of a dear account,

Since last I went to France to fetch his queen.

 109 pitch: height

120 partialize: render partial

126 receipt: money

130 Upon remainder: for the balance

dear: heavy

131 Cf. n.

