Page:Richard II (1921) Yale.djvu/82

70

He that hath suffer'd this disorder'd spring

Hath now himself met with the fall of leaf;

The weeds that his broad-spreading leaves did shelter,

That seem'd in eating him to hold him up.

Are pluck'd up root and all by Bolingbroke;

I mean the Earl of Wiltshire, Bushy, Green.

First Serv. What! are they dead?

Gard. They are; and Bolingbroke

Hath seiz'd the wasteful king. O! what pity is it

That he hath not so trimm'd and dress'd his land

As we this garden. We at time of year

Do wound the bark, the skin of our fruit-trees,

Lest, being over-proud with sap and blood,

With too much riches it confound itself:

Had he done so to great and growing men,

They might have liv'd to bear and he to taste

Their fruits of duty: superfluous branches

We lop away that bearing boughs may live:

Had he done so, himself had borne the crown,

Which waste of idle hours hath quite thrown down.

First Serv. What! think you then the king shall be depos'd?

Gard. Depress'd he is already, and depos'd

'Tis doubt he will be: letters came last night

To a dear friend of the good Duke of York's,

That tell black tidings.

Queen. O! I am press'd to death through want of speaking.

Thou, old Adam's likeness, set to dress this garden,

How dares thy harsh rude tongue sound this unpleasing news?

 56 dress'd: cultivated

57 time of year: proper seasons

60 confound: destroy

69 'Tis doubt: it is apprehended

72 press'd to death: suffocated; cf. n.

