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he will say our council guides us much amiss.

dismiss the parliament our uncles called,

and tell the peers it is our present pleasure

that each man parts unto his several home.

when we are pleased, they shall have summons sent

and with King Richard hold a parliament.

set forward.

Green

you of the council march before the King;

I will support his arm.

King

gramercy, Greene.

Trumpets sound [a] flourish. Exeunt.

Act II, Scene 3: The Queen's apartment, Westminster]

Enter the Queen, the Duchess of Gloucester, the Duchess of Ireland, and other maids with shirts and bands and other linen.

Queen

tell me, dear aunt, has Richard so forgot

the types of honour and nobility

so to disgrace his good and reverent uncles?

Duchess of Gloucester

madam, it is true. no sooner had he claimed

the full possession of his government

but my dear husband and his noble brethren

were all dismissed from the council table,

banished the court, and even before their faces

their offices bestowed on several grooms.

Duchess of Ireland

my husband Ireland, that unloving lord

(god pardon his amiss, he now is dead)

King Richard was the cause he left my bed.

Queen

no more, good cousin. could I work the means,

he should not so disgrace his dearest friends.

alack the day! though I am England's Queen

I meet sad hours and wake when others sleep.

he meets content, but care with me must keep.

distressed poverty overspreads the Kingdom:

in essex, Surrey, Kent and middlesex

are seventeen thousand poor and indigent

which I have numbered; and to help their wants

my jewels and my plate are turned to coin

and shared amongst them. oh, riotous Richard,

a heavy blame is thine for this distress,

that dost allow thy polling flatterers

to gild themselves with others' miseries.

Duchess of Gloucester

wrong not yourself with sorrow, gentle Queen,

unless that sorrow were a helping means

to cure the malady you sorrow for.

Queen

the sighs I vent are not mine own, dear aunt.

I do not sorrow in mine own behalf

nor now repent with peevish frowardness

and wish I never had seen this english shore,

but think me happy in King Richard's love.

no, no, good aunt, this troubles not my soul:

it is England's subjects' sorrow I sustain,

I fear they grudge against their sovereign.

Duchess of Gloucester

fear not that, madam, England is not mutinous;

it is peopled all with subjects, not with outlaws.

though Richard (much misled by flatterers)

neglects, and throws his sceptre carelessly,

yet none dares rob him of his Kingly rule.

Duchess of Ireland

besides, your virtuous charity, fair Queen

so graciously hath won the commons' love

as only you have power to stay their rigour.

Queen

the wealth I have shall be the poor's revenue

as sure as it were confirmed by parliament.

this mine own industry, and sixty more

I daily keep at work, is all their own.

the coin I have, I send them, would it were more.

to satisfy my fears, or pay those sums

my wanton lord hath forced from needy subjects.

I would want myself. go, let those trunks be filled

with those our labours to relieve the poor.

let them be carefully distributed.

for those that now shall want, we will work again,

and tell them ere two days we shall be furnished.

Cheyney

what, is the court removing? whither goes that

trunk?

Maid

it is the Queen's charity, sir, of needful clothing

to be distributed amongst the poor.

Cheyney

why, there is one blessing yet, that England hath

a virtuous Queen, although a wanton King.

good health, sweet princess. believe me, madam,

you have quick utterance for your housewifery.

your grace affords good pennyworths sure, ye sell so

fast! pray heaven your gettings quit your swift

return.

Queen

amen; for it is from heaven I look for recompense.

Cheyney

no doubt, fair Queen, the righteous powers will

quit you for these religious deeds of charity.

but to my message:

health to your majesty! my lord the Duke

entreats your grace prepare with him to horse.

he will this night ride home to