These terms of treason doubled down his throat.

Setting aside his high blood’s royalty,

And let him be no kinsman to my liege,

I do defy him, and I spit at him,

Call him a slanderous coward and a villain;

Which to maintain I would allow him odds,

And meet him, were I tied to run afoot

Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,

Or any other ground inhabitable,

Wherever Englishman durst set his foot.

Meantime let this defend my loyalty:

By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie.

BOLINGBROKE (throwing down his gage)

Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage,

Disclaiming here the kindred of the King,

And lay aside my high blood’s royalty,

Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except.

If guilty dread have left thee so much strength

As to take up mine honour’s pawn, then stoop.

By that, and all the rites of knighthood else,

Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,

What I have spoke or thou canst worse devise.

MOWBRAY (taking up the gage)

I take it up, and by that sword I swear

Which gently laid my knighthood on my shoulder,

I’ll answer thee in any fair degree

Or chivalrous design of knightly trial;

And when I mount, alive may I not light

If I be traitor or unjustly fight!

KING RICHARD (to Bolingbroke)

What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray’s charge?

It must be great that can inherit us

So much as of a thought of ill in him.

BOLINGBROKE

Look what I speak, my life shall prove it true:

That Mowbray hath received eight thousand nobles

In name of lendings for your highness’ soldiers,

The which he hath detained for lewd employments,

Like a false traitor and injurious villain.

Besides I say, and will in battle prove,

Or here or elsewhere, to the furthest verge

That ever was surveyed by English eye,

That all the treasons for these eighteen years

Complotted and contrived in this land

Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring.

Further I say, and further will maintain

Upon his bad life, to make all this good,

That he did plot the Duke of Gloucester’s death,

Suggest his soon-believing adversaries,

And consequently, like a traitor-coward,

Sluiced out his innocent soul through streams of blood;

Which blood, like sacrificing Abel’s, cries

Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth

To me for justice and rough chastisement.

And, by the glorious worth of my descent,

This arm shall do it or this life be spent.

KING RICHARD

How high a pitch his resolution soars!

Thomas of Norfolk, what sayst thou to this?

MOWBRAY

O, let my sovereign turn away his face,

And bid his ears a little while be deaf,

Till I have told this slander of his blood

How God and good men hate so foul a liar!

KING RICHARD

Mowbray, impartial are our eyes and ears.

Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom’s heir,

As he is but my father’s brother’s son,

Now by my sceptre’s awe I make a vow

Such neighbour-nearness to our sacred blood

Should nothing privilege him, nor partialize

The unstooping firmness of my upright soul.

He is our subject, Mowbray; so art thou.

Free speech and fearless I to thee allow.

MOWBRAY

Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart

Through the false passage of thy throat thou liest!

Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais

Disbursed I duly to his highness’ soldiers.

The other part reserved I by consent,

For that my sovereign liege was in my debt

Upon remainder of a dear account

Since last I went to France to fetch his queen.

Now swallow down that lie. For Gloucester’s death,

I slew him not, but to my own disgrace

Neglected my sworn duty in that case.

For you, my noble lord of Lancaster,

The honourable father to my foe,

Once did I lay an ambush for your life,

A trespass that doth vex my grieved soul;

But ere I last received the Sacrament

I did confess it, and exactly begged

Your grace’s pardon, and I hope I had it.

This is my fault. As for the rest appealed,

It issues from the rancour of a villain,

A recreant and most degenerate traitor,

Which in myself I boldly will defend,

He throws down his gage

And interchangeably hurl down my gage

Upon this overweening traitor’s foot,

To prove myself a loyal gentleman

Even in the best blood chambered in his bosom;

In haste whereof most heartily I pray

Your highness to assign our trial day.

⌈Bolingbroke takes up the gage⌉

KING RICHARD

Wrath-kindled gentlemen, be ruled by me.

Let’s purge this choler without letting blood.

This we prescribe, though no physician: