Page:Richard II (1921) Yale.djvu/33

King Richard the Second, I. iii  Gaunt. Thy grief is but thy absence for a time.

Boling. Joy absent, grief is present for that time.

Gaunt. What is six winters? they are quickly gone.

Boling. To men in joy; but grief makes one hour ten.

Gaunt. Call it a travel that thou tak'st for pleasure.

Boling. My heart will sigh when I miscall it so,

Which finds it an inforced pilgrimage.

Gaunt. The sullen passage of thy weary steps

Esteem as foil wherein thou art to set

The precious jewel of thy home return.

Boling. Nay, rather, every tedious stride I make

Will but remember me what a deal of world

I wander from the jewels that I love.

Must I not serve a long apprenticehood

To foreign passages, and in the end,

Having my freedom, boast of nothing else

But that I was a journeyman to grief?

Gaunt. All places that the eye of heaven visits

Are to a wise man ports and happy havens.

Teach thy necessity to reason thus;

There is no virtue like necessity.

Think not the king did banish thee,

But thou the king. Woe doth the heavier sit,

Where it perceives it is but faintly borne.

Go, say I sent thee forth to purchase honour,

And not the king exil'd thee; or suppose

Devouring pestilence hangs in our air,

 266 foil: contrasting setting for a jewel

268–293 ''Cf. App. C''

269 remember: remind

272 passages: wanderings

274 journeyman; cf. n.

281 faintly: faint-heartedly

282 purchase: win

