Chapter: Scoena Quinta.

Flourish. Enter Bullingbrooke, Yorke, with other Lords &
attendants.

  Bul. Kinde Vnkle Yorke, the latest newes we heare,
Is that the Rebels haue consum'd with fire
Our Towne of Cicester in Gloucestershire,
But whether they be tane or slaine, we heare not.
Enter Northumberland.

Welcome my Lord: What is the newes?
  Nor. First to thy Sacred State, wish I all happinesse:
The next newes is, I haue to London sent
The heads of Salsbury, Spencer, Blunt, and Kent:
The manner of their taking may appeare
At large discoursed in this paper heere

   Bul. We thank thee gentle Percy for thy paines,
And to thy worth will adde right worthy gaines.
Enter Fitzwaters.

  Fitz. My Lord, I haue from Oxford sent to London,
The heads of Broccas, and Sir Bennet Seely,
Two of the dangerous consorted Traitors,
That sought at Oxford, thy dire ouerthrow

   Bul. Thy paines Fitzwaters shall not be forgot,
Right Noble is thy merit, well I wot.
Enter Percy and Carlile.

  Per. The grand Conspirator, Abbot of Westminster,
With clog of Conscience, and sowre Melancholly,
Hath yeelded vp his body to the graue:
But heere is Carlile, liuing to abide
Thy Kingly doome, and sentence of his pride

   Bul. Carlile, this is your doome:
Choose out some secret place, some reuerend roome
More then thou hast, and with it ioy thy life:
So as thou liu'st in peace, dye free from strife:
For though mine enemy, thou hast euer beene,
High sparkes of Honor in thee haue I seene.
Enter Exton with a Coffin.

  Exton. Great King, within this Coffin I present
Thy buried feare. Heerein all breathlesse lies
The mightiest of thy greatest enemies
Richard of Burdeaux, by me hither brought

   Bul. Exton, I thanke thee not, for thou hast wrought
A deede of Slaughter, with thy fatall hand,
Vpon my head, and all this famous Land.

Ex.

From your owne mouth my Lord, did I this deed

   Bul. They loue not poyson, that do poyson neede,
Nor do I thee: though I did wish him dead,
I hate the Murtherer, loue him murthered.
The guilt of conscience take thou for thy labour,
But neither my good word, nor Princely fauour.
With Caine go wander through the shade of night,
And neuer shew thy head by day, nor light.
Lords, I protest my soule is full of woe,
That blood should sprinkle me, to make me grow.
Come mourne with me, for that I do lament,
And put on sullen Blacke incontinent:
Ile make a voyage to the Holy-land,
To wash this blood off from my guilty hand.
March sadly after, grace my mourning heere,
In weeping after this vntimely Beere.

Exeunt.

FINIS. The life and death of King Richard the Second.

 At Pomfret Castle, the imprisoned Richard reflects. He tries to compare his prison with the wider world, but this is difficult because in prison he is alone, whereas in the world are many people. He decides that his many thoughts will serve as the people in this analogy between prison and world. Just like people in the world, thoughts come in very different forms. Some are holy thoughts, but these are conflicted because the scriptures sometimes seem to contradict themselves. Other thoughts are ambitious, still others are intended to make a person content with his lot. Thus with all his conflicting thoughts Richard plays many people, but none of them are content. He hears some music playing, which prompts him to more melancholy thoughts. But he thanks whoever is playing it for him, since it shows there is still some love for Richard in a world that now hates him. . A groom enters. He tells Richard that he was a royal groom in the days when Richard was king. He has managed to get some leave to come and see his former master. He comments on how it grieved him on the day of Henry IV's coronation to see the king riding on Barbary, which was Richard's horse. Richard wishes the horse had stumbled and broken the neck of the proud man who rode him. . A keeper enters, bringing meat for Richard, and the groom leaves. Richard asks the keeper to taste the meat first, as he usually does , but the keeper says Exton, who just came from the king, told him not to. Exasperated, Richard strikes the keeper, who calls for help. . The murderers rush in. Richard kills one of them before Exton kills him. Exton regrets his deed the instant he does it. .

