For night-owls shriek in the Base Court…

I went to Hampton Court Palace in the half-term holidays with daughters Kate and Dora, and granddaughter Isobel. And the first quadrangle we entered in the Tudor part of the palace was the “Base Court”.

Base Court? The outer court of a great house or castle says Wikipedia. But where do I remember it from? Of course, from an angry and frightened Richard II, about to be deposed by Bolingbroke in Shakespeare’s play… 

Earl of Northumberland:

My lord, in the base court he doth attend
To speak with you; may it please you to come down.

King Richard II:

Down, down I come; like glistering Phaethon,
Wanting the manage of unruly jades.
In the base court? Base court, where kings grow base,
To come at traitors' calls and do them grace.
In the base court? Come down? Down, court! down, king!
For night-owls shriek where mounting larks should sing.

What an amazing and terrifying passage that is.