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Lancaster

Dote, sir? know ye to whom ye speak?

King

No more, good Uncles. Come, sweet Greene, have done.

(I will wring them all for this, by England's crown).

Why is our Lord Protector so outrageous?

Woodstock

Because thy subjects have such outrage shown them

By these thy flatterers. let the sun dry up

What the unwholesome fog hath choked the ground with.

Here is Arundel, thy ocean's admiral

Hath brought thee home a rich and wealthy prize,

Taken three score sail of ships, and six great carracks

All richly laden; let those goods be sold

To satisfy those borrowed sums of coin

Their pride hath forced from the needy commons:

To salve which inconvenience I beseech your Grace

You would vouchsafe to let me have the sale

And distribution of those goods.

King

Our word, good Uncle, is already passed,

Which cannot with our honour be recalled:

Those wealthy prizes already are bestowed

On these our friends.

Lords

On them, my Lord?

King

Yes. Who storms at it?

Woodstock

Shall cankers eat the fruit

That planting and good husbandry hath nourished?

Green Cankers?!

York

Ay, cankers! caterpillars!

Lancaster

Worse than consuming fires

That eats up all their furies falls upon.

King

Once more be still.

Who is it that dares encounter with our will?

We did bestow them, hear me, kind Uncles:

We shall ere long be past protectorship

Then will we rule ourself, and even till then

We let ye know those gifts are given to them.

We did it, Woodstock.

Woodstock

Ye have done ill, then.

King

Ha, dare ye say so?

Woodstock

Dare I? afore my God I will speak, King Richard,

Were I assured this day my head should off.

I tell ye sir, my allegiance stands excused

In justice of the cause. Ye have done ill.

The sun of mercy never shine on me

But I speak truth. when warlike Arundel,

Beset at sea, fought for those wealthy prizes

He did with fame advance the English cross,

Still crying "courage in King Richard's name."

For thee he won them, and do thou enjoy them,

He will fetch more honours home. But had he known

That kites should have enjoyed the eagle's prize

The fraught had swum unto thine enemies.

King

So, sir. We will soothe your vexed spleen, good Uncle

And mend what is amiss. To those slight gifts

Not worth acceptance, thus much more we add:

Young Henry Greene shall be Lord Chancellor,

Bagot, Lord Keeper of our privy seal,

Tresilian, learned in our kingdom's laws,

Shall be Chief Justice. By them and their directions

King Richard will uphold his government.

Green

Change no more words, my Lord, ye do deject

Your Kingly majesty to speak to such

Whose home-spun judgments, like their frosty beards

Would blast the blooming hopes of all your Kingdom.

Were I as you, my Lord -

Queen

Oh, gentle Greene, throw no more fuel on

But rather seek to mitigate this heat.

Be patient, Kingly Richard, quench this ire.

Would I had tears of force to stint this fire!

King

Beshrew the churls that make my Queen so sad.

But by my grandsire Edward's Kingly bones,

My princely father's tomb, King Richard swears

We will make them weep these wrongs in bloody tears.

Come, fair Queen Anne-a-Beame. Bagot and Greene,

Keep by King Richard's side; but as for you,

We will shortly make your stiff obedience bow.

Bagot

Remember this, my Lords:

We keep the Seal: our strength you all shall know.

Green

And we are chancellor: we love you well, think so.

York

God for his mercy! shall we brook these braves,

Disgraced and threatened thus by fawning knaves?

Lancaster

Shall we that were great Edward's princely sons

Be thus outbraved by flattering sycophants?

Woodstock

Afore my God and holy saints I swear

But that my tongue hath liberty to show

The inly passions boiling in my breast,

I think my overburthened heart would break.

What then may we conjecture? What is the cause

Of this remiss and inconsiderate dealing

Urged by the King and his confederates,

But hate to virtue, and a mind corrupt

With all preposterous rude misgovernment?

Lancaster

These prizes taken