Page:Richard II (1921) Yale.djvu/34

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And thou art flying to a fresher clime.

Look, what thy soul holds dear, imagine it

To lie that way thou go'st, not whence thou com'st.

Suppose the singing birds musicians,

The grass whereon thou tread'st the presence strew'd,

The flowers fair ladies, and thy steps no more

Than a delightful measure or a dance;

For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite

The man that mocks at it and sets it light.

Boling. O! who can hold a fire in his hand

By thinking on the frosty Caucasus?

Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite

By bare imagination of a feast?

Or wallow naked in December snow

By thinking on fantastic summer's heat?

O, no! the apprehension of the good

Gives but the greater feeling to the worse:

Fell sorrow's tooth doth never rankle more

Than when it bites, but lanceth not the sore.

Gaunt. Come, come, my son, I'll bring thee on thy way.

Had I thy youth and cause, I would not stay.

Boling. Then, England's ground, farewell; sweet soil, adieu:

My mother, and my nurse, that bears me yet!

Where'er I wander, boast of this I can,

Though banish'd, yet a true-born Englishman.

Exeunt.

 289 presence: royal presence-chamber

strew'd: i.e., with rushes or flowers

291 measure: a grave and formal dance

292 gnarling: snarling

293 sets it light: regards it lightly

299 fantastic: imagined

300 apprehension: conception

304 bring: accompany

305 stay: delay 