Page:Richard II (1921) Yale.djvu/85

King Richard the Second, IV. i

I heard you say, 'Is not my arm of length,

That reacheth from the restful English court

As far as Calais, to my uncle's head?'

Amongst much other talk, that very time,

I heard you say that you had rather refuse

The offer of a hundred thousand crowns

Than Bolingbroke's return to England;

Adding withal, how blest this land would be

In this your cousin's death.

Aum. Princes and noble lords,

What answer shall I make to this base man?

Shall I so much dishonour my fair stars,

On equal terms to give him chastisement?

Either I must, or have mine honour soil'd

With the attainder of his slanderous lips.

There is my gage, the manual seal of death,

That marks thee out for hell: I say thou liest,

And will maintain what thou hast said is false

In thy heart-blood, though being all too base

To stain the temper of my knightly sword.

Boling. Bagot, forbear; thou shalt not take it up.

Aum. Excepting one, I would he were the best

In all this presence that hath mov'd me so.

Fitz. If that thy valour stand on sympathy,

There is my gage, Aumerle, in gage to thine:

By that fair sun which shows me where thou stand'st,

I heard thee say, and vauntingly thou spak'st it,

That thou wert cause of noble Gloucester's death.

If thou deny'st it twenty times, thou liest;

And I will turn thy falsehood to thy heart,

Where it was forged, with my rapier's point.

 11 Is length; cf. n.

21 stars; cf. n.

24 attainder: dishonoring accusation

25 manual seal: seal worn on hand in a ring

33 sympathy: equality of rank

39 turn: fling back

