William Shakespeare: The Tragedy of King Richard the Second

ACT 2 4. SCENE IV. A camp in Wales.

[Enter EARL OF SALISBURY and a 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.

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-fac'd 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 assur'd Richard their king is dead.

[Exit.]

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.
The 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.

[Exit.]