As theirs, so mine; and all be as it is.
Enter Northumberland.
North. My liege, old Gaunt commends him to your majesty.
K. Rich. What says he? 148
North. Nay, nothing; all is said:
His tongue is now a stringless instrument;
Words, life, and all, old Lancaster hath spent.
York. Be York the next that must be bankrupt so! 152
Though death be poor, it ends a mortal woe.
K. Rich. The ripest fruit first falls, and so doth he:
His time is spent; our pilgrimage must be.
So much for that. Now for our Irish wars. 156
We must supplant those rough rug-headed kerns,
Which live like venom where no venom else
But only they have privilege to live.
And for these great affairs do ask some charge, 160
Towards our assistance we do seize to us
The plate, coin, revenues, and moveables,
Whereof our uncle Gaunt did stand possess'd.
York. How long shall I be patient? Ah! how long 164
Shall tender duty make me suffer wrong?
Not Gloucester's death, nor Hereford's banishment,
Not Gaunt's rebukes, nor England's private wrongs,
Nor the prevention of poor Bolingbroke 168
About his marriage, nor my own disgrace,
Have ever made me sour my patient cheek,
Or bend one wrinkle on my sovereign's face.
155 must be: has to continue
157 rug-headed: shock-haired
kerns: half-wild Irish clansmen
158 venom: poisonous snakes; cf. n.
160 charge: expenditure
168 prevention: forestalling; cf. n.
170 sour . . . cheek: look sullen
