O, let me speak!

Duchess
O, let me speak!
Richard
Do then, but I’ll not hear.
Duchess
I will be mild and gentle in my words.
Richard
And brief, good mother, for I am in haste.
Duchess
Art thou so hasty? I have stayed for thee,
God knows, in torment and in agony.
Richard
And came I not at last to comfort you?

Thou cam’st on Earth to make the Earth my hell.

Duchess
No, by the Holy Rood, thou know’st it well.
Thou cam’st on Earth to make the Earth my hell.
A grievous burden was thy birth to me;
Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy;
Thy school days frightful, desp’rate, wild, and furious;
Thy prime of manhood daring, bold, and venturous;
Thy age confirmed, proud, subtle, sly, and bloody,
More mild, but yet more harmful, kind in hatred.
What comfortable hour canst thou name,
That ever graced me with thy company?