The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (202 page)

And if thou be not then created York,

I will not live to be accounted Warwick.

Meantime, in signal of my love to thee,

Against proud Somerset and William Pole,

Will I upon thy party wear this rose:

And here I prophesy:  this brawl to-day,

Grown to this faction in the Temple-garden,

Shall send between the red rose and the white

A thousand souls to death and deadly night.

This stain that they say is on your house

shall be wiped out in the next Parliament,

that was called for the truce between Winchester and Gloucester;

and if you are not then made Duke of York,

then I shall not be called Warwick.

Meanwhile, as a sign of my love for you,

against proud Somerset and William Pole,

I shall wear this rose for your party:

and I predict this: this brawl today,

which grew to become this disagreement in the Temple garden,

shall, between the red rose and the white,

mean the death of a thousand souls.

PLANTAGENET.

Good Master Vernon, I am bound to you,

That you on my behalf would pluck a flower.

Good Master Vernon, I am obliged to you,

that you would pick a flower on my behalf.

VERNON.

In your behalf still will I wear the same.

I shall wear it on your behalf.

LAWYER.

And so will I.

And so will I.

PLANTAGENET.

Thanks, gentle sir.

Come, let us four to dinner:  I dare say

This quarrel will drink blood another day.

Thank you, kind sir.

Come, let the four of us go to dinner: I dare say

blood will be spilt over this quarrel some other day.

[Exeunt.]

[Enter Mortimer, brought in a chair, and Jailers.]

MORTIMER.

Kind keepers of my weak decaying age,

Let dying Mortimer here rest himself.

Even like a man new haled from the rack,

So fare my limbs with long imprisonment;

And these gray locks, the pursuivants of death,

Nestor-like aged in an age of care,

Argue the end of Edmund Mortimer.

These eyes, like lamps whose wasting oil is spent,

Wax dim, as drawing to their exigent;

Weak shoulders, overborne with burdening grief,

And pithless arms, like to a wither'd vine

That droops his sapless branches to the ground:

Yet are these feet, whose strengthless stay is numb,

Unable to support this lump of clay,

Swift-winged with desire to get a grave,

As witting I no other comfort have.

But tell me, keeper, will my nephew come?

Kind guardians of my weakened fading age,

let the dying Mortimer have a rest here.

Long imprisonment has made my limbs feel like

those of a man just pulled off the rack;

and these grey hairs, the forerunners of death,

aged like Nestor through ages of care,

say that the end of Edmund Mortimer is near.

These eyes, like lamps whose oil is running out,

grow dim, reaching their end;

weak shoulders, overloaded with grief,

and feeble arms, like a shrivelled vine

that trails its dead branches along the ground:

both these feet, which are numb and unsupportive,

and cannot support this lump of clay,

are filled with the desire to speed to the grave,

knowing that it will be my only comfort.

But tell me, jailer, will my nephew come?

FIRST JAILER.

Richard Plantagenet, my lord, will come:

We sent unto the Temple, unto his chamber;

And answer was return'd that he will come.

Richard Plantagenet will come, my lord:

we sent messages to the Temple, to his rooms;

and he returned the answer that he will come.

MORTIMER.

Enough:  my soul shall then be satisfied.

Poor gentleman! his wrong doth equal mine.

Since Henry Monmouth first began to reign,

Before whose glory I was great in arms,

This loathsome sequestration have I had;

And even since then hath Richard been obscured,

Deprived of honour and inheritance.

But now the arbitrator of despairs,

Just Death, kind umpire of men's miseries,

With sweet enlargement doth dismiss me hence:

I would his troubles likewise were expired,

That so he might recover what was lost.

That's enough for me, my soul will then be happy.

Poor gentleman! The wrongs done to him are the equal of mine.

Since Henry Monmouth began his reign

(before his ascendancy I was a great soldier)

I have been locked away in this horrible fashion;

and since that time Richard has been overlooked,

deprived of his titles and his inheritance.

But now the arbitrator of sorrow,

Just Death, the kind umpire of men's misery,

will give me my freedom and take me from here:

I wish his troubles were over for him,

so that he might get back what has been lost.

[Enter Richard Plantagenet.]

FIRST JAILER.

My lord, your loving nephew now is come.

My lord, your loving nephew has now come.

MORTIMER.

Richard Plantagenet, my friend, is he come?

Has Richard Plantagenet, my friend, come?

PLANTAGENET.

Aye, noble uncle, thus ignobly used,

Your nephew, late despised Richard, comes.

Yes, noble uncle, who has been so poorly treated,

your nephew, the recently despised Richard, has come.

MORTIMER.

Direct mine arms I may embrace his neck,

And in his bosom spend my latter gasp:

O, tell me when my lips do touch his cheeks,

That I may kindly give one fainting kiss.

And now declare, sweet stem from York's great stock,

Why didst thou say of late thou wert despised?

Move my arms so that I may embrace him,

and die with my head on his chest:

oh, tell me when my lips touch his cheeks,

so that I can give him one last weak family kiss.

Now tell me, sweet offshoot of the great tree of York,

why did you say that you were despised at the moment?

PLANTAGENET.

First, lean thine aged back against mine arm;

And, in that case, I'll tell thee my disease.

This day, in argument upon a case,

Some words there grew 'twixt Somerset and me;

Among which terms he used his lavish tongue

And did upbraid me with my father's death:

Which obloquy set bars before my tongue,

Else with the like I had requited him.

Therefore, good uncle, for my father's sake,

In honor of a true Plantagenet

And for alliance sake, declare the cause

My father, Earl of Cambridge, lost his head.

Firstly, lean your old back against my arm;

and, when you've done that, I'll tell you my problem.

Today, arguing over a legal case,

there was an exchange of words between myself and Somerset;

during this he used his extravagant tongue

to make remarks about my father's death:

this slander rendered me speechless,

otherwise I would have paid him back in the same kind.

Therefore, good uncle, for my father's sake,

for the honour of a true Plantagenet,

and for the sake of family loyalty, tell me the reason

my father, Earl of Cambridge, was beheaded.

MORTIMER.

That cause, fair nephew, that imprison'd me

And hath detain'd me all my flowering youth

Within a loathsome dungeon, there to pine,

Was cursed instrument of his decease.

The same reason, fair nephew, that I have been imprisoned,

and have spent my entire youth

inside a horrid dungeon, to pine away,

that is what killed him.

PLANTAGENET.

Discover more at large what cause that was,

For I am ignorant and cannot guess.

Give me more details as to the reason,

for I do not know and I cannot guess.

MORTIMER.

I will, if that my fading breath permit,

And death approach not ere my tale be done.

Henry the Fourth, grandfather to this king,

Deposed his nephew Richard, Edward's son,

The first-begotten and the lawful heir

Of Edward king, the third of that descent;

During whose reign the Percies of the north,

Finding his usurpation most unjust,

Endeavour'd my advancement to the throne.

The reason moved these warlike lords to this

Was, for that--young King Richard thus removed,

Leaving no heir begotten of his body--

I was the next by birth and parentage;

For by my mother I derived am

From Lionel Duke of Clarence, third son

To King Edward the Third; whereas he

From John of Gaunt doth bring his pedigree,

Being but fourth of that heroic line.

But mark:  as in this haughty great attempt

They labored to plant the rightful heir,

I lost my liberty and they their lives.

Long after this, when Henry the Fifth,

Succeeding his father Bolingbroke, did reign,

Thy father, Earl of Cambridge, then derived

From famous Edmund Langley, Duke of York,

Marrying my sister that thy mother was,

Again in pity of my hard distress.

Levied an army, weening to redeem

And have install'd me in the diadem:

But, as the rest, so fell that noble earl

And was beheaded. Thus the Mortimers,

In whom the title rested, were suppress'd.

I will, if my failing breath allows me,

and death does not take me before my story is finished.

Henry the Fourth, grandfather of the current king,

overthrew his nephew Richard, the son of Edward,

the firstborn and the lawful heir

of Edward, the third King in that line,