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The Tower of London.
[Enter MORTIMER, brought in a chair, and Gaolers]
MORTIMER
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Kind keep/ers of | my weak | decay|ing age,
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Let^dy|ing Mort|imer | here^rest | himself.
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Even | like a man new | haled from | the rack,
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So fare | my limbs | with long | impris|onment:
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And these grey locks,| the purs|uivants | of
death,
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Nestor-|like ag/ed, in | an age | of care,
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Argue | the end | of Ed|mund Mort|imer.
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These^eyes,| like^lamps,| whose wast|ing oil | is
spent,
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Wax dim, as draw|ing to | their ex|igent.
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Weak shoulders, ov|erborne | with burd|ening grief,
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And pith|less arms,| like to | a with|ered vine,
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That droops | his sap|less branch|es to | the
ground,
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Yet are | these^feet,| whose strength|less stay |
is numb,
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(Una|ble to | support | this lump | of clay)
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Swift-wing/ed with | desire | to get | a grave,
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As wit|ting I | no oth|er com|fort have.
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But tell | me, keep|er, will | my neph|ew come?
KEEPER
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Richard | Plantag|enet,| my lord,| will come:
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We sent | unto the | Temple,| unto his | chamber,
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And ans|wer was | returned,| that he | will come.
MORTIMER
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Enough:| my soul | shall then | be sat|isfied.
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Poor gent/leman,| his wrong | doth e|qual mine.
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Since Hen|ry Mon|mouth first | began | to reign,
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Before | whose glo/ry I | was great | in arms,
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This loath|some se|questra|tion have | I had;
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And even | since^then,| hath Rich|ard been |
obscured,
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Deprived | of hon|or and | inher|itance.
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But now,| the ar|bitrat|or of | despairs,
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Just^death,| kind um/pire^of | men's miseries,
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With sweet | enlarge|ment doth | dismiss | me hence:
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I would | his troub|les like|wise^were | expired,
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That so | he might | recover | what was | lost.
[Enter RICHARD PLANTAGENET]
KEEPER
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My lord, | your lov|ing neph|ew now | is come.
MORTIMER
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Richard | Plantag|enet,| my friend,| is he come?
RICHARD PLANTAGENET
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Aye, noble unc|le, thus | ignob|ly used,
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Your neph|ew, late | despis|ed Rich|ard, comes.
MORTIMER
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Direct | mine^arms,| I may | embrace | his neck,
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And in | his bos|om spend | my lat|ter gasp.
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Oh tell | me when | my lips | do touch | his
cheeks,
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That I | may kind|ly give | one* faint|ing kiss.
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And now | declare | sweet* stem | from York's |
great* stock, ??
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Why didst | thou say | of late | thou wert |
despised?
RICHARD PLANTAGENET
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First^lean | thine^ag|ed back | against |
mine^arm,
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And in | that ease,| I'll tell | thee my |
disease.
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This^day | in arg|ument | upon | a case,
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Some^words | there grew | 'twixt^Som|erset | and
me:
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Among | which^terms,| he used | his lav|ish
tongue,
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And did | upbraid | me with | my fath|er's death;
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Which ob|loquy | set^bars | before | my tongue,
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Else with | the like | I had | requit|ed him.
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Therefore | good unc|le, for | my fath|er's sake,
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In hon|or of | a true | Plantag|enet,
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And for | alli|ance^sake,| declare | the cause
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My fath|er, Earl | of Cam|bridge, lost | his
head.
MORTIMER
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That cause |(fair neph/ew) that | impris|oned me,
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And hath | detained | me all | my flower|ing
youth,
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Within | a loath|some dun|geon, there | to pine,
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Was curs|ed inst|rument | of his | decease.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET
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Discov|er more | at large | what cause | that
was,
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For I | am ig|norant,| and can|not guess.
MORTIMER
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I will,| if that | my fad|ing breath | permit,
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And death | approach | not, ere | my tale | be
done.
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Henry | the Fourth,| grandfath/er to | this king,
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Deposed | his neph|ew Rich|ard, Ed|ward's son,
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The first-|begot|ten, and | the law|ful heir
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Of Ed|ward king,| the third | of that | descent.
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During | whose^reign,| the Per|cies of | the
north,
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Finding | his us|urpa|tion most | unjust,
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Endeav|ored my | advance|ment to | the throne.
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The reas|on moved | these war|like lords to this,
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Was, for | that (young | King^Rich|ard thus |
removed,
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Leaving | no heir | begot|ten of | his bod||y)
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I | was the next | by birth | and par|entage:
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For by | my moth|er, I | deriv|ed am
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From Li|onel Duke | of Clar|ence, third | son
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To King | Edward | the Third;| whereas he,
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From John | of Gaunt | doth^bring | his
ped|igree,
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Being | but fourth | of that | hero|ic line.
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But mark:| as in | this haugh|ty great | attempt,
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They lab|ored,| to plant | the right|ful heir,
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I lost | my lib|erty,| and they | their lives.
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Long | after | this, when | Henry | the Fifth
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(Succeed|ing his fath|er Bol|ingbroke)| did
reign;
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Thy fath|er, Earl | of Cam|bridge, then | derived
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From fam|ous Ed|mund Lang|ley, Duke | of York,
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Marry|ing my sis|ter that | thy moth|er was;
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Again,| in pit|y of | my hard | distress,
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Levied | an ar|my, ween|ing to | redeem,
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And have | installed | me in | the di|adem:
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But as | the rest,| so fell | that nob|le earl,
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And was | behead|ed. Thus | the Mort|imers,
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In whom | the tide | rested, | were sup|pressed.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET
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Of which,| my lord,| your hon|or is | the last.
MORTIMER
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True; and | thou seest | that I | no is|sue have,
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And that | my faint|ing words | do war|rant
death:
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Thou art | my heir;| the rest | I wish | thee
gather:
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But yet | be wa|ry in | thy stud|ious care.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET
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Thy grave | admon|ishments | prevail | with me:
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But yet | methinks,| my fath|er's ex|ecu||tion
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Was noth|ing less | than blood|y tyr|anny.
MORTIMER
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With sil|ence, neph|ew, be | thou pol|itic,
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Strong-fix/ed is | the house | of Lan|caster,
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And like | a mount|ain, not | to be | removed.
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But now | thy unc|le is | remov|ing hence,
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As prin|ces do | their courts,| when they | are
cloyed
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With long | contin|uance in | a set|tled place.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET
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O unc|le, would | some part | of my / young years
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Might but | redeem | the pas|sage of | your age.
MORTIMER
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Thou dost | then wrong | me, as | that
slaught|erer doth,
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Which giv|eth ma|ny wounds,| when one | will kill.
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Mourn^not,| except | thou sor|row for | my good,
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Only | give ord/er for | my fun|eral.
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And so | farewell,| and fair | be all | thy hopes,
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And pros|perous be | thy life | in peace | and
war.
[Dies]
RICHARD PLANTAGENET
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And peace,| no^war,| befall | thy part|ing soul.
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In pris|on hast | thou spent | a pil|grimage,
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And like | a her|mit ov|erpassed | thy days.
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Well, I | will lock | his couns|el in | my
breast,
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And what | I do | imag|ine, let | that rest.
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Keepers | convey | him hence,| and I | myself
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Will see | his bur|ial bet|ter than | his life.
[Exeunt Gaolers, bearing out the body of
MORTIMER]
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Here dies the dus|ky torch | of Mort|imer,
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Choked with | ambi|tion of | the mean|er sort.
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And for | those wrongs,| those bit|ter in|juries,
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Which^Som|erset | hath of|fered to | my house,
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I doubt | not, but | with hon|or to | redress.
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And there|fore haste | I to | the parl|iament,
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Either | to be | restor|ed to | my blood,
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Or make | my ill | the advant|age of | my good.
[Exit]