SCENE IV. A camp in Wales. The Life and Death of Richard the Second  Shakespeare homepage  |  Richard II  | Act 2, Scene 4 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE IV. A camp in Wales. 

 Enter EARL OF SALISBURY and a Welsh Captain  Captain  My lord of Salisbury, we have stay'd ten days, 

 And hardly kept our countrymen together, 

 And yet we hear no tidings from the king; 

 Therefore we will disperse ourselves: farewell. 

 EARL OF SALISBURY  Stay yet another day, thou trusty Welshman: 

 The king reposeth all his confidence in thee. 

 Captain  'Tis thought the king is dead; we will not stay. 

 The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd 

 And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven; 

 The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth 

 And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change; 

 Rich men look sad and ruffians dance and leap, 

 The one in fear to lose what they enjoy, 

 The other to enjoy by rage and war: 

 These signs forerun the death or fall of kings. 

 Farewell: our countrymen are gone and fled, 

 As well assured Richard their king is dead. 



 Exit  EARL OF SALISBURY  Ah, Richard, with the eyes of heavy mind 

 I see thy glory like a shooting star 

 Fall to the base earth from the firmament. 

 Thy sun sets weeping in the lowly west, 

 Witnessing storms to come, woe and unrest: 

 Thy friends are fled to wait upon thy foes, 

 And crossly to thy good all fortune goes. 



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