QUOTES FROM THE BARD

PLAY: Richard II ACT/SCENE: 5.5 SPEAKER: King Richard II CONTEXT: GROOM
I was a poor groom of thy stable, king,
When thou wert king; who, travelling towards York,
With much ado at length have gotten leave
To look upon my sometimes royal master’s face.
O, how it yearn’d my heart when I beheld
In London streets, that coronation-day,
When Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary,
That horse that thou so often hast bestrid,
That horse that I so carefully have dress’d!
KING RICHARD II
Rode he on Barbary? Tell me, gentle friend,
How went he under him?
GROOM
So proudly as if he disdain’d the ground.
KING RICHARD II
So proud that Bolingbroke was on his back!
That jade hath eat bread from my royal hand;
This hand hath made him proud with clapping him.
Would he not stumble? would he not fall down,
Since pride must have a fall, and break the neck
Of that proud man that did usurp his back?
Forgiveness, horse! why do I rail on thee,
Since thou, created to be awed by man,
Wast born to bear? I was not made a horse;
And yet I bear a burthen like an ass,
Spurr’d, gall’d and tired by jouncing Bolingbroke. DUTCH: Hij struikelde dus niet? hij stortte niet, —
Trots komt toch vóór den val! MORE:
Proverb: Pride will have a fall

Yearn=Grieve, vex (O. Edd. ‘yern’ and ‘ern’)
Jade=A term of contempt or pity for a worthless or maltreated horse
Bestrid=Sat astride, mounted
Spur-galled=Wounded by spurs

Compleat:
Jade=Een lompig paerd, knol, jakhals
To bestride=Op een paerd zitten
Galled=’t Vel afgseschaafd Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use