Stay, you that bear the corse, and set it down
Richard
Stay, you that bear the corse, and set it down.
Anne
What black magician conjures up this fiend
To stop devoted charitable deeds?
Richard
Villains, set down the corse or, by Saint Paul,
I’ll make a corse of him that disobeys.
Gentleman
My lord, stand back and let the coffin pass.
Richard
Unmannered dog, stand thou when I command!—
Advance thy halberd higher than my breast,
Or by Saint Paul I’ll strike thee to my foot
And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness.
They set down the bier.
Anne, to the Gentlemen and Halberds
What, do you tremble? Are you all afraid?
Alas, I blame you not, for you are mortal,
And mortal eyes cannot endure the devil.—
Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell.
Thou hadst but power over his mortal body;
His soul thou canst not have. Therefore begone.
O God, which this blood mad’st, revenge his death!
O Earth, which this blood drink’st, revenge his death!
Either heaven with lightning strike the murderer dead,
Or Earth gape open wide and eat him quick
Richard
Sweet saint, for charity, be not so curst.
Anne
Foul devil, for God’s sake, hence, and trouble us not,
For thou hast made the happy Earth thy hell,
Filled it with cursing cries and deep exclaims.
If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds,
Behold this pattern of thy butcheries.
She points to the corpse.
O, gentlemen, see, see dead Henry’s wounds
Open their congealed mouths and bleed afresh!—
Blush, blush, thou lump of foul deformity,
For ’tis thy presence that exhales this blood
From cold and empty veins where no blood dwells.
Thy deeds, inhuman and unnatural,
Provokes this deluge most unnatural.—
O God, which this blood mad’st, revenge his death!
O Earth, which this blood drink’st, revenge his death!
Either heaven with lightning strike the murderer dead,
Or Earth gape open wide and eat him quick,
As thou dost swallow up this good king’s blood,
Which his hell-governed arm hath butcherèd.