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6
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HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY
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FROM THE LIBRARY OF
THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON
CLASS OF 1 84 1
THE GIFT OF
MRS. THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON
AND
MARGARET HIGGINSON BARNEY
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THE
DRAMATIC WORKS
OF WITH
SIXTY ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD,
BY JOHN THOMPSON;
PROM DRAWINGS BY STOTHARD, CORBOULD, HARVEY, ETC.
IN TEN VOLUMES. VOL. V.
KINO RICHARD U. KING HENRY IV. PART T.
KING IIENRY IV. PART U, KING HENRY V.
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CHISWICK : FRINTLO BY C. AND C. WHITTINGHAM.
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THE
DRAMATIC WORKS
WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.
WITH
NOTES,
ORIGINAL AND SELECTED,
BY SAMUEL WELLER SINGER, F. S. A.
AND
A LIFE OF THE POET, BY CHARLES SYMMONS, D.D.
VOL. V.
XiBf Henrj IV. Part i. Act ii. So. 3.
CHISWICK :
CHARLES WHITTINGHAM, COLLEGE HOUSE. 1826.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
/J ^ff, s
y HARVARD COLLEGE LI6RARY ^ 6'FT OF
URS. THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON MRS. MARGARET HIGGINSON BARNEY
QUI ^ 1940
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i I » IBI««- -^- *ilW
KING RICHARD II.
it. Rkhard, Up, coasin, up ; your heart is ap, I know, TboB high at least {^touching his own head], althoagh joar knee be low.
Act Ui.'Sc. 3.
FROM THE CUISWICK PRESS. 1836,
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THE LIFE AND DEATH OF
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
In the construction of this play Shakspeare has followed Hol- linshed, his nsnal historical anthority, some passages of the Chronicle he has transplanted into the drama with very little alteration.
It has heen snspected that there was an old play on the snh- ject of King Richard II. which the poet might have seen. Sir Gillie Merrick, who was concerned in the harehrained hnsiness of the Earl of Essex, is accnsed of haying procured to he played before the conspirators * the play of the deposing of Richard the Second ; when it was told him by one of the players that the play was old, and they shonld have loss in playing it, because few would come to it, there was forty shillings extraordinary given to play, and so thereupon played it was !' It seems probable, from a passage in the State Trials, quoted by Mr. Tyrwhitt, that this old play bore the title of King Henry IV, and not King Richard II, and it conld not be Shakspeare's King Henry IV, as that commences a year after the death of King Richard. * It may seem strange (says Malone) that this old play should haye been represented after Shakspeare's drama on the same subject had been printed : the reason undoubtedly was, that in the old play the deposing of King Richard II. made a part of the exhi- bition : but in the first edition of Shakspeare's play, one hundred and fifty-four lines, describing a kind of trial of the king, and his actual deposition in parliament, were omitted : nor was it probably represented on the stage. Merrick, Cuffe, and the rest VOL. V. B
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2 KINO RICHARD II.
of EMex*s trrnin, oatnnllj preferred the plaj in which his d^^ ntion was represented, their plot not aiming at the life of the qneeo. It is, I know, commonlj thought that the jpariiament scene, as it is called, which was first printed in the 4to of 1608, was an addition made bj Shakspeare to this plaj after its first representation : but it seems to me more probable diat it was written with the rest, and suppressed in the printed copy of 1697, from the fear of offending Elizabeth ; against whom the Pope had published a bull in the preceding year, exhorting her subjects to take up arms against her. In 1699 Hajward published his History of the first year of King Henry IV. which is in fact nothing more than an history of the deposing King Richard II. The displeasure which that book excited at court sufficiently accounts for the omitted lines not being inserted in the copy of this play, which was published in 1602 *. Hayward was hearily censured in the Star Chamber, and committed to prison. In 1608, when James was quietly and firmly settled on the throne, and the fear of internal commotion, or foreign inrasion, no longer sub- sisted, neither the author, the managers of the theatre, nor the bookseller, could entertain any apprehension of giving offence to the soyereign; the rejected scene was therefore restored without scruple, and from some playhouse copy probably found its way to* the press t.'
Malone places the date of its composition in 1593; Mr. Chal- mers in 1596. The plsy was first entered on the stationers' books by Andrew Wise, August 29, 1597 ; and there were four quarto editions published during the life of Shakspeare, viz. in 1597, 1598, 1608, and 1615.
This play may be considered the first link in the chain of Shakspeare's historical dramas, which Schlegel thinks the poet designed to form one great whole, ' as it were an historical heroic poem, of which. the separate plays constitute the rhapsodies.'
* This is a mistake of Mr. Malone's, there is no quarto copy of the date of 1602, he probably meant the edition of 1598. t Malone's Chronology of Shakspeare's plays.
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PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 3
' In King Richard the Second the poet exhihitf to iu a noble kinglj nature, at first obscured by leritj and the errors of un- bridled jouth, and afterwards purified bj misfortone, and ren- dered more highly splendid and illnstrions. When he has lost the leye and reverence of his sabjeots, and is on Ihe point of losing also his throne, he then feels with painfol inspiration the eleyated yocation of the kinglj dignitj, and its prerogatires over personal merit and changeable institutions. When the earthly crown has fallen from off his head, he first appears as a king whose innate nobility no humiliation can annihilate. This is fjslt by a poor groom: he is shocked that his maitcrU faroorite horse shoold haye carried the prond Bolingbroke at his corona- tion; he visits the captive king in his prison, and shames the desertion of the great. The political history of the deposition is represented with extraordinary knowledge of the world j — the ebb of fortune on the one hand, and the swelling tide on the other, which carries every thing along with it, while Bolingbroke acts as a king, and his adherents behave towards him as if he really were so, he still continues to give oat that he comes with an armed band, merely for the sake of demanding his birthright and the removal of abuses. The usurpation has been long completed be- fore the word is pronounced, and the thing publicly avowed. John of Gaunt is a model of chivalrous truth : he stands there like a pillar of the olden time which he had outlived*.'
This drama abounds in passages of eminent poetical beauty; among which every reader will recollect the pathetic description of Richard's entrance into London with Bolingbroke^ of which Dryden said that ' he knew nothing compilable to it in any other lang^ge,' John of Gaunt's praise of England,
* Dear for her reputation through the world,'
and Mowbray's complaint at being banished for life.
* Schlegel's Lectures on Dramatic Literature, vol. ii, p. 224.
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PERSONS REPRESENTED.
King Richard the Second.
EokwD (if Lsnglej, Duke of York, > u^u»totksKmr John qf Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, J ^^'^' ^ *** *"'^* Henry, awmamed Boungbroke, Duke of Hereford, jSoii
to John of Gaunt ; qfUrwards King Henry IV. Duke of Aumerle, jSoii to the Duke of York. Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. Duke of Surrey.
Earl of Salisbury. Earl Berkley. Bushy, "j
Bagot, > Creatureg to King Richard. Green, j
Earl of Northumberland. Henry Percy, Ms Skm.
Lord Ross. Lord Willoughby. Lord Fitswater. Bishop of Carlisle. Abbot of Westminster. Lord Marshal ; and wwther Lord. Sir Pierce of Exton. Sir Stephen Scroop. Captain qfa Band ^f WeUhmen,
Queen to King Richard. Duchess of Gloster. Duchess of York. Lady attending on the Queen,
Lords, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, two Gardeners, ' Keeper, Messenger, Groom, and o^A^r Attendants.
SCENE, disperaedly in England and Wales.
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THE UFB AND DSATH OF
KING RICHARD H.
ACT I.
SCENE I. London. A Roam in the Palace.
Enter KiJiQ Richard, attended: John o^Oaunt, and other Nobles, with him.
King Richard. Old ^ John of Gannt, time-hononr*d Lancaster, Hast thou, according to thy oath and hand^. Brought hither Henry Hereford^ thy hold son; Here to make good the boisterous late appeal,
' < Old John of Gaont, Hme-hommr^d LtqeMter.' Our anoesr tors, in their estimate of old age, appear to have reckoned some- what differently from ns, and to hare considered men as old whom we should now esteem as middle aged. With them, every man that had passed fifty seems to have heen accounted an old man, John of Gannt, at the period when the commencement of this play is laid (1398), was only fifty-eight years old : he died in 1399, aged fifty-nine. This may have arisen from its heing customary u former times to enter life at an earlier period than we do noM. Those who married at fifteen, had at fifty heen masters of a honse and family for thirty-fire years.
' When these pnhlic challenges were accepted, each combatant fovnd a pledge for his appearance at the time and place appointed. Jkmd and bond were formerly synonymoos.
* In the old play, and in Harding's Chronicle, Bolingbroke's title is written Htrford and Harford, This was the pronnn- eiation of onr poet's time, and he therefore uses this word as a dissyllable.
b2
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6 KING RICHARD II. ACT I.
Which then our leit ure would not let us hear. Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray ?
Gaunt. I have, my liege.
K. Rich; Tell me moreover, hast thou sounded him, If he appeal the duke on ancient malice ; Or worthily as a good subject should. On some known ground of treachery in him?
Gaunt. As near as I could sift him on that argu- ment,— On some apparent danger seen in him, Aim'd at your highness ; no inveterate malice.
K. Rich. Then call them to our presence, face to face. And frowning brow to brow, ourselves wiU hear The accuser, and the accused, freely speak : —
[Exeunt some Attendants. High stomach'd are they both, and full of ire. In rage deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.
Re-enter Attendants, with Bolingbroke^ and Norfolk.
Baling. May many years of happy days befall My gracious sovereign, my most loving liege !
Nor. Each day still better other's happiness ; Until the heavens, envying earth's good hap» Add an immortal title to your crown !
K. Rich. We thank you both : yet one but flat- ters us. As well appeareth by the cause you come^ :
* Drayton asserts tbat Henrj Plantagenet, the eldest son of John of Gaunt, was not distinguished by the name of Bolingbroke till after he had assumed the crown. He is called earl of Here- ford by the old historians, and was somamed Bolingbroke from haying been bom at the town of that name in Lincolnshire, about 1366.
* i. e. * by the cause you come onJ The suppression of the preposition has been shown to hare been frequent with Shak- speare.
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SC. I. KINO RICHARP II. 7
Namely » to appeal each other of high treason. — Cousin of Hereford^ what dost thou object Against the Duke of Norfolk^ Thomas Mowbray ?
Baling. First, (heaven be the record of my speech !) In the devotion of a subject's love, Tendering the precious safety of my prince. And free from other misbegotten hate. Come I appellant to this princely presence. — Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee. And mark my greeting well; for what I speak. My body shall make good upon this earth. Or my divine soul answer it in heaven. Thou art a traitor, and a miscreant ; Too good to be so, and too bad to live : Since, the more fair and crystal is the sky. The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly. Once more, the more to aggravate the note. With a foul traitor's name stuff I thy throat; And wish (so please my sovereign), ere I inove. What my tongue speaks, my right-drawn sword ^ may prove.
Nor. Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal : Tis not the tdal of a woman's war. The bitter clamour of two eager tongues. Can arbitrate this cause betwixt us twain : The blood is hdt that must be cool'd for this : Yet can I not of such tame patience boast. As to be hush'd, and nought at all to say : First, the fair reverence of your highness curbs me From giving reins and spurs to my free speech ; Which else would post, until it had retum'd These terms of treason doubled down his throat. Setting aside his high blood's royalty. And let him be no kinsman to my liege,
• My right-dnticn sword is my sword drawn in a right or just eanse.
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8 KING BICHAmO II. ACT I.
I do defy himp and I spiL at him; Call hini— a alanderom cowaid, and a yiUain : Which to aaintain, I would allow him odds; And meet him» where I tied to run a-foot Even to the frozen ridges of the A^, Or any other ground inhabitable^ Where ever Englishman durst set his foot '^ Mean time, let this defend my loyalty, — By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie. Boimg. Pale trembling coward, tha:^ I throw my
Disclaiming here the kindred of the king; And lay aside my high blood's royalty. Which fear, not reyerence, makes th^ tq except: If guilty dread hath left thee so much strength. As to take up mine honour's pawn, then stoop; By that, and all the rites of knighthood else. Will I make good against thee, arm to ann. What I have spoke, or thou canst worse devise.
iVbr. I take it up ; and, by that sword I swear. Which gently lay'd my knighthood on my shoulder, 111 answer thee in any fair degree. Or chivalrous design of knightly trial ; And, when I mount, alive may I not light. If I be traitor, or ui\|ustly fight !
K. Rich. What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray's charge? It must be great, that can inherit ° us So much as of a thought of ill in him.
Bolwg. Look, what I speak my life shall prove it true ;—
7 i. e. uninhabitable.
^ To inherit, in the language of Shakspeare, is to possess .*—
/ Snch delight
Among ^esh female bads shall yon this night Inherii at mj boose/ — Romeo and JuUet, Act i. Sc. 2.
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SC. I. KING RICHAftD II. 9
That Mowbray hath received eight thousand nobles. In name of lendings for your highness' soldiers; The which he hath detain'd for lewd^ employments. Like a false traitor, and iiyurious Villain. Besides I say, and will in battle prove, — Or here, or elsewhere, to the furthest verge That ever was survey'd by English eye, — That all the treasons for these eighteen years Complotted and contrived in thb land, Petch from false Mowbray their first head and spring. Further I say,— and further will maintain Upon his bad Ufe, to make all this good, — That he did plot the duke of Gloster's death ^O; Suggest ^^ his soon-beheving adversaries; And, consequently, like a traitor coward, Sluic'd outhis innocent soul through streams of blood ; Which blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries. Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth. To me for justice, and rough chastisement; And by the glorious worth of my descent, This arm shall do it, or this life be spent.
K, Rick. How high a pitch his resofution soars ! — Hiomas of Norfolk, what say'st thou to this ?
Ncr. O, let my sovereign turn away his face. And bid his ears a little while be deaf. Tin I have told this slander of his blood ^^, How God, and good men, hate so foul a liar.
K. Rich. Mowbray, impartial are our eyes, and ears: Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir
' Lewd formerly signified hntmah, ungracious, naughty, idle, betide iu now general acceptation. Vide note on Much Ado •boot Noddng, Act y. Sc. 1. Vol. ii. p. 206.
** Thomas of Woodstock, the yonngest son of Edward III. who was nrardered at Calais in 1397. See Froissart, chap, coxxvi.
^ i. e. prompt them, set them on by injoribas hints.
^ Reproach to his ancestry.
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10 KING RICHARD II. ACT I.
(As he is but ny ftHier's brothei^s scm). Now by my sceptre's awe I make a tow, Such neighbour nearness to our sacred blood Should nothing privilege him, nor partiali2e' The unstooping firmness of my upright soul ; He is our subject, Mowbray, so art tiiou; Free speech, and fearless, I to thee allow.
Nw. Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart. Through the false passage of thy throat, thou liest ! Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais, Disbursed I duly to his highness' soldiers : The other part reserv'd I by consent ; For that my sovereign liege was in my debt. Upon remainder of a dear account. Since last I went to France to fetch his queen ^^ :
Now swsdlow down that lie. For Gloster's
death,
I slew him not; but to my own disgrace. Neglected my 8W<urn duty in that case. — For you, my noble lord of Lancaster, The honourable father to my foe, Once did I lay in ambush for your life, A trespass that doth vex my grieved soul : But, ere I last receiv'd the sacrament, I did confess it : and exactly begg'd Your grace's pardon, and, I hope, I had it. This is my fault : As for the rest appeal'd ^^, It issues from the rancour of a villain,
>' The doke of Norfolk was joined in commission with Edwud earl of Rutland (the Aomerle of this play) to go to France in the year 1396, to demand in marriage Isabel, eldest daughter of Charles YI. then between seren and eight years of age. Riohiud was married to his yonng consort in Noyember 1396, at Calais ; his first wife, Anne, daughter of Charles IV. emperor of Ger- many, died at Shene on Whit Sunday, 1394. His marriage with Isabdla was merely political, it was accompanied with an agree- ment for a truce between France and England for thirty years.
>« Charged.
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SC. I. KING RICHARD II. 11
A recreait and most degeoerate traitor: Which in myself I boldly will defend; And interchangeably huri down my gage Upon this overweening ^^ traitor's foot, To prove mysetf a loyal gentleman Even in the best Mood chanber'd in his bosom : In haste whereof » most heartily I pray Your highness to assign our trial day«
K.JUeh. Wrath-kindled gentlemen,beniN by lie : Lef s purge. this chder without lettmg blood : This we prescribe, though no physician ^^; Deep malice makes too deep incision : Forget, forgive ; conclude, and be agreed ; Our doctors say, this is no ^me to bleed. — Good uncle, let this end where it begun ; We'll cahn the duke of Norfolk, you your son.
Croumt. To be a make^peace shall become my age : Throw down, my son, the duke of Norfolk's gage.
K. Rich. And, Norfolk, throw down his.
Gaunt. When, Harry? when ^^ 7
Ohedience bids, I should not Hd again.
K. Rick. Norfolk, throw down ; we bid ; there is no boot *®.
Nor. Myself I throw, dread sovereign, at thy foot : Hy life thou shalt command, bat not my shame : The one my duty owes ; but my fair name (Despite of dea^, that lives upon my grave ^^, To dark dishonour's use thou shalt not have.
" Arrogant.
** Pope thoaght that some of tbe rhyming rerses in this play were not from the hand of Shakspeare.
*^ This abrupt eliptieal exclamation of impatience is again nsed ia the Taming of a Shrew : — * Why when, I say ! Nay, good sweet Kate, be merry.' It appears to be eqaivalent to ' wiien will snch a thing be done?'
** ' There is no boot,* or it booteth Jkot, is as much as to say ' there is no help^* resbtance wonld be rain, or proJUhm,
^ i. e. my name that lives on my graye in despite of death.
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12 KING RICHARD II. ACT I.
I am disgrac'd, impeach'd, and bafiled^^ here ; Pierc'd to the soul with slander^s yeDom'd spear; The which no bakn can cure, but his heart-blood . Which breath'd this poison.
K. Rich. Rage must be withstood : .
Give me his gage: — lions make leopards ^^ tame.
Nor. Yea, but not change their ^^ spots : take but my shame, And I resign my gage. My dear, dear lord. The purest treasure mortal times afford. Is — spotless reputation ; that away. Men are but gUded loam, or painted play. A jewel in a ten times bair'd up chest Is — a bold spirit in a loyal breast Mine honour is my life ; both grow in one ; Take honour from me, and my life is done : Then, dear my liege, mine honour let me try ; In that I live, and for that will I die.
K.Rich. Cousin, throw down your gage; do you begin.
Baling. O, God defend my soul from such foul sin ! Shall I seem crest-fallen in my father*s sight ? Or with pale beggar-fear impeach my height Before this outdar'd dastard ! Ere my tongue Shall wound mine honour with such feeble wrong. Or sound so base a parle, my teeth shall tear The slavish motive of recanting fear; And spit it bleeding in his high disgrace. Where shame doth harbour, even in Mowbray's face.
[Exit Gaunt.
^ Baffled in this place signifies ' abased, reviled, reproached in base terms ;' which was the ancient signification of Uie word, as well as to deceive or circumvent. Vide Cotgrave in v. Baf- fouer. See also a note on King Henry IV. Part I. Act i. Sc. 2.
^^ There is an allosion here to the crest of Norfolk, which was a golden leopard.
^ The old copies have ' kit spots.* The alteration was made bj Pope.
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SC. I. KING RICHARD II. Id
K, Rick^ We were not bom to sue, but to com- mand: Which since we cannot do to make you friends^ Be ready, as your lives shall answer it, At Coventry, upon Saint Lambert's day ; There shall your swords and lances arbitrate The swelling difference' of your settled hate ; Since we cannot atone ^ you, we shall see Justice design^ the victor's chivalry. — Lord Marshal, command our officers at arms Be ready to direct these home-alarms. [Exeunt.
SCENE II. Uie same. A Roam in the Duke of Lancaster's Palace.
Enter Gaunt, and Duchess of Gloster ^
Gaunt. Alas ! the part^ I had in Gloster's blood Both more solicit me, than your exclaims. To stir against the butchers of his life. But since correction lieth in those hands. Which made the fault that we caimot correct, Put we our quarrel to the will of heaven ; Who when he sees ^ the hours ripe on earth. Will rain hot vengeance on offenders' heads.
^ i. e. make them friends, ' to make agreement or atonement^ to reconcile them to each other. Ad conoordiam addacere. Lai. Hettre d'accord. Fr.* Baret
^* To design is to mark out, to show by a token. It is the sensb of the Latin designo. I may here take occasion to remark that 8hakspeare*s learning appears to me to have been underrated ; it is almost always eyident in his choice of expressive terms de- ityed from the Latin, and used in their original sense. The pro- {nriety of this expression here will be obyions, when we recollect tkat designator was ' a marshed, a master of the play or prize, who appointed eyery one his place, and adjudged the yictory.'
* llie dachess of Gloster was Eleanor Bohnn, widow of Dnke Thomas, son of Edward III.
' i. e. my relationship of consanguinity to Gloster.
• The old copy erroneously reads * who when theg see.* VOL. v. C
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14 KINO JKICHARP IL. ACT !•
Dueh. Rnds brotherhood in thee no shiuper spur? Hath love in thy old blood no lining fii^e? Edward's seven sons, whereof thyself art one» Were as seven phkls of his sacred blood, Or seven fair branches sprioging from one root: Some of those seven are dried by nature's course. Some of those brancl^s by the destinies cut : But Thomas^ my dear lord, my life, my Gloster, — One phial fiill df Edward's sacred blooid. One flourislung branch of his most royal root, — .Is crack'dy ahd all the precious li^pior spilt ; Is hack'd down, and his summer leaves all faded. By envy's hand, and murder's bloody axe. Ah, Gaunt ! his blood was thine ; that bed, that womb, That mettle, that self-mould, that fashion'd thee. Made him a man ; and dioagh thou liv'st, and breath's! Yet art thou slain in him : thou dost consent* In some large measure to thy father's death. In that thou seest thy wretched brother die. Who was the model of thy father's life. Call it not patience, Gktunt, it is despair: In suffering thus thy brother to be slaughter'd. Thou show^st the naked pathway to thy Ufe, Teaching stem murder how to butdier thee: That which in mean men we entitle — patience. Is pale cold cowardice in noble breasts. What shall I say ? to safeguard thine own Me, The best way is — ^to 'venge my Gloster's dea^.
Gaunt. Heaven's is Ae quarrel; for heaven's substitute, His deputy anointed in his sight. Hath caus'd his death; the which if wrongfully. Let heaven revenge ; for I may never lift An angry arm against his minister.
i. e. assest ; oonaetU is often used bj the poet for accord, agree- ment.
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8C. II; KING BICHARD II. 16
2)iic&. Wbere thea, aks ! may I oomplain myBelf ^ t Gmmi. To hearen, tke widow^s champion and
Duck Why thea, I wiU. Farowell, old Gaunt. Thou go'st to Coveptiy, there to behold Our coiisia Hereford and &11 Mowbray fight : 0, sit my husband's wrongs on Hereford's spear. That it may enter butcher Mowbray's breast ! Or, if misfortune miss the first career. Be Howbray^s sins so heavy in his bosom. That they may break his fbaming courser's back, And throw the rider headlong in the lists, A caitiff recreant to my cousin Hereford ! Farewell, old Gaunt ; thy. sometime brother's wife, W^ her oon^fianion grief must end her life.
Gaunt. Sister, farewell: I must to Coventry: As much good stay wiHi thee, as go with me !
Ihtch, Yet one word more;^ — Grief boundeth where it falls. Not with the empty hoUowness, but weight: I take my leave before I have begun ; For sorrow ends not when it seemeth done. Commend me to my brother, Edmund York. Lo, ihb is all : — Nay, yet depart not so : Thoo^ this be all, do not so quickly go ; I shall remember more. Bid him — O, what? — ^ith all good speed at Flashy ^ visit me. Alack, and what shall good old York there see. But empty lodgings and unfumish'd walls ^,
' To am^lam is commonly a rerb neuter; bat it is here nsed M • Terb active. It is a literal translation of the old French pttnue^iM con^^lakubre; and is not peenliar to Shakspeare.
' Her house in Essex.
^ la our aneient castles the naked stone walls were only co- ▼«wd with tapestry or arras, hung upon tenteriiooks, fkom which ^ wtt easily taken down on erery remoyal of the family. (See ^ Preface to Hie Northumbedand Household Book, by Dr. P^y.) The afices of our old English mansions were the rooms deiigned for keeping the yarious stores of piOTisions, bread,
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16' KINO RICHARD II. ACT U
Unpeopled offices, untrodden stones ?
And what cheer there for welcome, but my groans ?
Therefore commend me; let him not come there.
To seek out sorrow, that dwells every where :
Desolate, desolate, will. I hence, and die;
The last leave of thee takes my weeping eye.
[Exeunt,
SCENE III.
Gosford Green, near Coventry. Ligts get out, and a Throne. Heralds, ^. attending.
Enter the Lord Marshal, and Aumerle^
Mar. My lord Aumerle, is Harry Hereford arm'd ?
Aum. Yea, at all points: and longs to enter in.
Mar. The duke of Norfolk, sprightfiilly and bold. Stays but the summons of the appellant's trumpet.
Aum. Why then, the champions are prepared, and stay For nothing but his majesty's approach.
wine, «le, &c. and for culinary purposes. Thej were alwajff situate within the house, on the grround-floor (for there were no subterraneous rooms till about the middle of the reign of Charles I.), and nearly adjoinii^g each other. When dinner had been set on the board bj tiie sewers, the proper officers attended in each of these offices/ Sometimes, on occasions of great festi- yitj, these offices were all thrown open, and unlimited licence given to all comers to eat and drink at their pleasure. The duchess therefore laments that, in consequence of the murder of her husband, all the hospitality of plenty is at an end ; < the walls are unfurnished, the lodging rooms empty, and the ofices unpeo« pled. All is solitude and sUence; her- groans are the only cheer that her guests can expect.'
> The Duke of Norfolk was Earl Marshal of England; but being himself one of the combatants, the duke of Surrey (Thomas Holland) officiated. Shakspeare has made a slight mistake by introducing that nobleman as a distinct person from the marshal in the present drama. Edward duke of Awmerh (so created by his cousin-german Richard II. in 1397, was the eldest son of Edward duke of York, fifth son of Edward HI. officiated as high constable at the lists of Coyentry. He was killed at the^ battle of Agineourt, in 1415.
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SC. III. KINO RICHARD II. 17
Fhmruk of IVicfi^pe^. EwUr King Richard, who takes ki» seat m his ThroM; Gaunt, and several Nohl^men, wImi take their places. A Trumpet is amnded, ai^ answered by anther Trumpet within. Then enter Norfolk in ar- mour, preceded by a Herald.
K. Rich. Marshal, demand of yonder champion The cause of his arrival here in arms : Ask him his name ; and orderly proceed To swear him in the justice of his cause.
Mar. In God's name, and the king's, say who thou art. And why thou com'st, thus knightly clad in arms : Against what man thou com'st, and what thy quarrel : Speak truly, on thy knighthood, and thy oa& ; As so'defend thee heaven, and thy valour !
Nor. My name is Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk*; Who hither come engaged by my oath, (Which heaven defend, a knight should violate !) Both to defend my loyalty and truth. To God, my king, and my ' succeeding issue. Against the duke of Hereford that appeals me ; And, by the grace of God, and this mine arm. To prove him, in defen4ing of myself, A traitor to my God, tny king, and me : And, as I truly fight, defend me heaven !
[He takes his seat.
* The duke of Hereford, being the appellant, entered the listf fint, according to the historians.
* * His succeeding issae' is the readbg of the first folio : the quartos all read my.
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18 KING RICHARD II. ACT I.
Trumpet sounds. Enter Bolingbroke^ in armour; preceded by a Herald.
K, Rich. Marshal, ask yonder knight in arms. Both who he is, and why he cometh hither Thus plated in habihments of war ; And formally according to our law Depose him in the justice of his cause.
Mar. What is thy name? and wherefore com'st thou hither, Before King Richard, in his royal lists? Against whom comest thou ; and what's thy quarrel ? Speak like a true knight, so defend thee heaven !
Bolinff. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, Am I ; who ready here do stand in arms. To prove, by heaven's grace, and my body's valour. In lists, on Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, That he's a traitor, foul and dangerous. To God of heaven. King Richard, and to me ; And, as I truly fight, defend me heaven !
Mar. On pain of death, no person be so bold. Or daring-hardy, as to touch the lists ; Except the marshal, and such officers Appointed to direct these fair designs.
Boling. Lord marshal, let me kiss my sovereign's hand. And bow my knee before his majesty : For Mowbray, and myself, are like two mea That vow a long and weary pilgrimage; Then let us take a ceremonious leave. And loving farewell, of our several friends.
Mar. The appellant in all duty greets your high^ ness, And craves to kbs your hand, and take his leave.
K.Rich. We will descend, and fold him in our arms. Cousin of Hereford, as thy cause is right, So be thy fortune in this royal fight !
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SC. III. KING RICHARD II. 19
Farewell^ my blood ; which if to-day thou shed, Lament we may, but not revenge thee dead.
Boling. O, let no noble eye profane a tear For me, if I be gored with Mowbray's spear ; As confident, as is the falcon's flight Against a bird, do I with Mowbra^ fight. — — My loving lord [To Lord Marshal], I take my leave
of you; — Of you, my noble cousin. Lord Aumerle ; — Not sick, although I have to do with death ; But lusty, young, and cheerly drawing breath. Lo, as at English feasts, so I regreet The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet : O thou, the earthly author of my blood, —
[To Gaunt. Whose youthful spirit, in me regenerate. Doth with a twofold vigour lift me up To reach at victory above my head, — Add proof unto mine armour with thy prayers ; And vrith thy blessings steel my lance's point. That it may enter Mowbray's waxen coat. And furbish new the name of John of Gaunt, Even in the lusty 'haviour of his son.
Gavnt. Heaven in thy good cause make thee prosperous ! Be swift like lightning in the execution ; And let thy blows, doubly redoubled. Fall like amazing thunder on the casque Of thy adverse pernicious enemy : B;Ouse up thy youthful blood, be valiant and live.
Boling. Mine innocency, and Saint George to thrive ! [He takes his seat.
Nor. [RisingJ] However heaven, or fortune, cast my lot, There lives or dies, true to King Richard's throne, A loyal, just, and upright gentleman :
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20 KING BICUABD II. ACT I.
Never did enptiye with a freer beajrt Cast off his chains of bondage, and embrace His golden uncontroU'd enfranchis^nent. More than my dancing soul doth celebrate This feast of battle Mdjth mine adyersary. — Most mighty liege, — ^and my companion peeni, — Take from my mouth the wish of happy years : As gentle and as jocund, as to jest ^^ Go I to fight; Truth hath a quiet breast.
K, Rich. Farewell, my lord : securely I espy
Virtue with valour couched in thine eye.
Order the trial, marshal, and begin.
[The King ajid the Lords return to their seats.
Mar. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, Receive thy lance; and God defend the right!
Baling. [Ridng.] Strong as a tower in hope, I cry — amen.
Mar. Go bear this lance [Toon Officer] to Tho- mas duke of Norfolk*
1 Her. Harry of Hereford, Lancaat^, and Derby, Stands here for God, his sovereign, and himself^ On pain to be found false and recreant.
To prove the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray, A traitor to his God, his king, and him. And dares him to set forward to the fight
2 Her. Here standeth Thomas Mowbray, duke
of Norfolk, On pain to be found false and recreant. Both to defend himself, and to approve Henry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, To God, his sovereign, and to him, disloyd;
* To jest, in old langpaage, sometimes sonified to plojf a part
in a masqite. Thus in Hieronjmo : —
' He promised ns, in honoor of onr gaest.
To grace oar banquet with some pompous jMf.'
And accordingly a masqne is performed.
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SC. III. KINO RICHARD n. 21
Courageously, and with a free desire^ Attending but the signal to begin.
Mot. Sound, trumpets; and set forward, com- batants, [il Charge Munded, Stay, the king hath thrown his warder^ down.
K. Rick, Let them lay by then* helmets and their spears. And boUi return back to their chairs again : Withdraw with us : — and let the trumpets sound. While we return these dukes what we decree. —
[A long flourish. Draw: near, [To the Combatants,
And list, what with our council we have done. For that our kingdom's earth should not be soiPd WiUi diat dear blood which it hath foster'd ; And for our eyes do hate the dire aspect Of civil ^ wounds plough'd up with neighbours'
swords; [And for we think the eagle-winged pride Of sky-aspiring and ambitious thoughts. With rival-hating envy, set you on To wake our peace, which in our country's cradle Draws the sweet infant breath of gentle sleep''' ;] Which so rous'd up with boisterous untun'd drums. With harsh resounding trumpets' dreadful bray. And grating shock of wrathful iron arms. Might from our quiet confines fright fair peace. And make us wade even in our kindred's blood ; —
' A toarder was a kind of truncheon or staff carried bj persons who presided at these single combats ; the throwing down of which seems to haye been a solemn act of prohibition to stay proceedings. A different moyement of the warder had an oppo- site effect. In Drayton's Battle of Aginconrt, Erpingham is f^resented throwing it up as a signal for a charge.
• CapeFs copy of the qnarto edition of this play reads ' Of end woonds/ &o. Malone's copy of the same edition, and all the other editions read ' Of cttnl wounds/ &c.
' The fire lines in brackets are omitted in the folio.
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22 KING RICHARD 11. ACT I^
Therefore, we banish you oiur territories:
Yoih, cousin Hereford, upon pain of death. Till twice five sununers have enrich*d our fiekb. Shall not regr^et our fair dominions, But tread the stranger paths of banbhmeat.
Bolmg. Your wUl be done : Tlus must my com- fort be,
That sun, that warms you here, diall shine on one; And thos6 his golden beams, to you here lent. Shall point on me, and gild my baniahraent.
K, Rich. Norfolk, for thee remains aheavier doom, Which I with some unwillingness pronounce: The fly-slow^ hours shall not determmate The dateless limit of thy dear exile; — The hopeless word^ of-— never tp return Breathe I against thee, upon pain of life. .
Nor, A heavy sentence, my most sovereign liege, And all unlook'd for from your highneas' mouth : A dearer merit ^^; not so deep a maim
^ The old copies read * sfy^hw hours.' Pope reads *Jly-*Um hours/ which has heen admitted into the text, and conveys an image highly heantifnl and jnst. tt is howeyer remarkable that Pope, in the foarth hook of his Essay on Man, t. 226, has eMi- ployed the epithet which, in the present instance, he has r&* jeoted : —
* All sUf-thuo things with circnmspeotiye eyes.' ' Word, for setiUnce ; any short phrase was called % word* Thus Ascham, in a Letter to Queen Elizabeth^ ' Sayin^e that one nnpleasaunte word in that Patent, called " During^ pleasure" tamed me after to g^reat displeasure.' — Conway Pt^pers. , *® As Shakspeare nsed merit, in this place, in the sense of r»- ward, he frequently uses the word meed, which properly signifies reward, to express merit. Thus in Timon of Athens : —
* no meed hut he repays
Seyenfold above itself.' And in the Third Part of King Henry VI.:—
' We are the sons of braye Plantagenet, Each one already blazing by our meedtJ Again, in the same play. King Henry says : —
* That's not my fear, my meed hath got me fame.'
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SC. IH. KLNG BlClffAmD II. 2S
As to be €i8Mil (otik in the common air,
Have I deserred at your highness' hand.
The language I have leara'd these forty years,
My natire English, now I must forego :
And now my tongue's use is to me no more,
Than an unstringed viol or a harp :
Or like a cunniBg instrument cas'd up.
Or, being open, put into his hands
That knows no touch to tune the harmony.
Withm my mouth you have engaol'd my tongue.
Doubly portcuUis*d, with my teeth, and hpis ;
And dull, uitfeding, barren ignorance
Is made my gaoler to attend on me.
I am too old to fa¥m U|[k» a nurse.
Too far in years to be a pupil now ;
What is thy sentence then, but speechless death.
Which robs my toi^ue from breaidiing native breath ?
K, Rich. It bootis thee not to be compassionate ^^ ; After our sentence plaming comes too late.
Nor. Then thus I turn me from my country's light. To dwell in soknm shades of endless night.
[Retirmg.
K. Rich. E;etum again, and take an oath with thee. Lay on our royal sword your banished hands ; Swear by the duty that you owe to heaven (Our part therein we banish with yourselves), To keep the oath that we adininister : — You never shall (so help you truth and heaven !)
" Compagsionate is apparently here used in the sense of corn- j^ntmg, plamtwe.; but no other instance of the word in this sense has occurred to the commentators. May it not be an error of the press, for * so passionate?* which would give the required meaning to the passage; passionate being frequently used for to express passion or grief, to c6n^lain, * Now leare we this amo- >t>as hermit to passionate andp/c^ne his misfortune.' — Palace of PUasmre, yol. ii. U. 5.
* And cannot passionate our tenfold griefs.'
Tit. Andton. Act iii. So. 2.
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24 KING RICHARD II. ACT I.
Embrace each other's love in banbhnieiit ;
Nor never look upon each other's face;
Nor never write, regreet, nor reconcile
This lowering tempest of your home-bred hate ;
Nor never by advised ^^ purpose meet.
To plot, contrive, or complot any ill,
'Gainst us, our state, our subjects, or our land.
Baling, I swear.
Not. And I, to keep all this.
Baling, Norfdk, so far as to mine enemy ^^ ; — By this time, had the king permitted us. One of our soub had wander'd in the air, Banish'd this frail sepfilchre of our flesh. As now our flesh is banish'd from this land : Confess thy treasons, ere thou fly the realm ; Since thou hast far to go, bear not along The clogging burden of a guilty soul.
Nor, No, Bolingbroke; if ever I were traitor. My name be blotted from the book of hfe. And I from heaven banish'd, as from hence ! But what thou art, heaven, thou, and I do know; And all too soon, I fear, the king shall rue. — Farewell, my liege : — Now no way can I stray; Save back to England, all the world's my way.
[Exii^\
K, Rich, Uncle, even in the glasses of thine eyes I see thy grieved heart : thy sad aspect Hath from the number of his banish'd years Piuck'd four away; — Six frozen winters spent. Return [To Boling.] with welcome home from banishment.
1^ Premeditmted, deliberated.
*' The first folio reads * So fart* This line seems to be ad- dressed by way of caation to Mowbray, lest he should think that Bolingbroke was about to conciliate him.
" The duke of Norfolk went to Venice, * where for thought and melancholy he deceased.' — HoUnshed,
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SC. 111. KING RICHARD II. 25
Baling. How long a time lies in one little word ! Four lagging winters, and four wanton springs, ' End in a word; Such is the breath of kings.
Gaunt. I thank my liege, that, in regard of me. He shortens four years of my son's exile : But little vantage shall I reap thereby ; For, ere the six years, that he hath to spend. Can change their moons, and bring their times about. My oil-dried lamp, and time-bewasted light, Shall be extinct with age, and endless night ; My inch of taper will be burnt and done. And blindfold death not let me see my son.
K. Rich. Why, uncle, thou hast many years to live.
Gaunt. But not a minute, king, that thou canst give : Shorten my days thou canst with sullen sorrow. And pluck nights from me, but not lend a morrow ^^ : Thou canst help time to furrow me with age. But stop no wrinkle in his pilgrimage ; Thy word is current with hun for my death; But, dead, thy kingdom cannot buy my breath.
K. Rich. Thy son is banish'd upon good advice ^^, Whereto thy tongue a party ^'^ verdict gave ; Why at our justice seem'st thou then to lower ?
Gaunt. Things sweet to taste, prove in digestion sour. You urg'd me as a judge; but T had rather. You would have bid me argue like a father : — O, had it been a stranger, not my child. To smooth his fault I should have been more mild ^^ : A partial slander ^^ sought I to avoid. And in the sentence my own life destroy'd.
*^ It is a matter of rery melancholy consideration that all human adrantages confer more power of doing eyil than good. *' Consideration. *^ Had a part or share in it.
** This coaplet is wanting in the folio. '* i. e. the reproach of partiality. VOL. v. D
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26 KINO RICHARD 11. ACT I.
Alas, I look'd, when some of you should say, I was too strict, to make mihe own away; But you gave leave to my unwilling tongue, Against my will, to do myself iMs wrong.
K.Rich. Cousin,farewdl ; — and, uncle, bid him so; Six years we banish him, an^ he shall go.
[Flowrigh. Exeunt K. Rich, and Train.
Awm. Cousin, fareweH; what presence must not know. From where you do remain, let paper show.
Mar. My lord, no leave take I : for I will rid^. As far as land will let me, by your side.
Gaunt. O, to what purpose ddst thou hoard thy words. That thou retum'st no greeting to thy friends ?
Boling. I have too few to take my leave of you. When the tongue's office should be prodigal To breathe the abundant dolour of the heart
Gaunt. Thy grief is but thy absence for a time.
Boling. Joy absent, grief is present for that time.
Gaunt. Whatis six winters ? they are quickly gone.
Boling. To men in joy ; but grief makes one hour ten.
Gaunt. Call it a travel that thou tak'st for pleasure.
Boling. My heart will sigh, when I miscall it so. Which finds it an enforced pilgrimage.
Gaunt. The sullen passage of thy weary steps Esteem a foil, wherein thou art to set The precious jewel of thy home-retpm.
Boling. Nay, rather, every tedious stride I make *® Will but remember me, what a deal of world I wander from the jewels that I love. Must I not serve a long apprenticehood To foreign passages ; and in the end. Having my freedom, boast of nothing ebe. But that I was a journeyman to grief?
^ This speech and that which follows are Dot in the folio.
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SC. III. KING RICHABD II. V
Gtmut. All placed that the eye of bearen^^ vkiti. Are to a wise mao poets and lutppy haveos : Teach thy necessity to reason thus; There is no ytrtue like necessi^. Think not the king did banish thee ; But thou the king^ : Woe doth the heavier sit. Where it perceives it is but faintly borne. Go, say — I sent thee forth to purchase honottr> And not — the king exil'd thee : or suppose, Devouring pestilence hangs in our air. And thou art flying to a fresher clime. Look, ^diat thy soul holds dear, imagine it To lie that way thou go'st, not whence thou com'st: Suppose the singing birds, musicians ; The grass whereoil thou tread'st, the presence strew'd^^;
^ So Nonniis : — < ai^k^ hfifia ; i. e. the son. Tbiu in the Bapeof Luorece: —
* The eye of heaven is out.* Aod in Spenser's Faerie Qneene, b. L c iii. st 4 :— -
* Her angel face
As the great eye of heaven shyned bright/ ^ Shakspeare probably remembered Enphnes' exhortation to Botoaio to take his exile patiently. ' Natare hath given to man a country no more than she hath a house, or lands, or livings. Socrates would neither call himself an Athenian, neither a Gre- cian ; but a citizen of the world. Plato would never accompt him banished, that had the sunne, fire, ayre, water, and earth, that he had before ; where he felt the winter's blast, and the summer's blaze ; where the same sunne and same moone shined : whereby he noted that every place was a country to a wise man, and M parts a paiaee to a qmet nund, — ^When it was east in Diogenes' teeth, tbat the Sinoponetes had banished him from Pontus ; Yea, said he, I them of Diogenes/
^ We have other allusions to the practice of strewing rushes ovM" the floor of the presence chamber in Shakspeare. So in Cymbeline : —
* Tarquin thus
Did softly press the rushes ere he waken'd
Tlie chastity he wounded.' See Hentzner's account of the presence chamber in the palace at Greenwich, 1598.— Iftiier. p. 135.
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28 KING RICHARD II. ACT I.
The flowers, fair ladies ; and thy steps, no more Than a delightful measure, or a dance : For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite The man that mocks at it, and sets it light.
Baling* O, who can hold a fire in hb hand^. By thinking on the frosty Caucasus? Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite. By bare imagination of a feast? Or wallow naked in December snow. By thinking on fantastick summer's heat? O, no ! the apprehension of the good. Gives but the greater feeling to the worse : Fell sorrow's tooth doth never rankle more. Than when it bites, but lanceth not the sore.
Gaunt, Come, come, my son, I'll brmg thee on thy way : Had I thy youth, and cause, I would not stay.
Baling, Then, England's ground, farewell; sweet soil, adieu ; My mother, and my nurse, that bears me yet !
Where'er I wander, bOast of this I can,
Though banish'd, yet a truebom Englishman^.
[ExevaU, SCENE IV.
The same, A Raam in the King's Castle.
Enter King Richard, Bagot, and Green;
A UM ERLE yb^/otrtn^. K. Rich, We did observe ^. — Cousin Aumerle, How far brought you high Hereford on his way ?
^ There is a passage resembling this in the fifth book of Cicero's Tuscalan Questions, which were translated and pub- lished by John Dolman, in 1561. There is also something which might serve for a hint in Enphnes.
^ Dr. Johnson thought that the first act should end here.
> The king here addressed Green and Bagot, who, we maj suppose had been talking to him of Bolingbroke*s ' courtship to the common people,' at the time of his departure. * Yes,* says Richard, ' we did observe it.'
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SC. IV. KINO RICHARD 11. 39
Aum, I brought high Hereford, if you call him so. But to the next high way, and there I left him.
K. Rich. And, say, what store of parting tears were shed?
Aum. Taith, none by ^ me : except the north-east wind. Which then blew bitterly against our faces, Awak'd the sleeping rheum; and so, by chance. Did grace our hollow parting with a tear.
K. Rich. What said our cousin, when you parted with him?
Aum. Farewell: And, for my heart disdained that my tongue Should so profane the word, that taught me craft To counterfeit oppression of such grief. That words seem'd buried in my sorrow's grave. Marry ,would the wordfarewell have lengthen'd hours. And added years to his short banishment. He should have had a volume of farewells ; But, since it would not, he had none of me.
K. Rich. He is our cousin, cousin ; but 'tis doubt. When time shall call him home from banishment, Wh^her our kinsman come to see his friends. Ourself, and Bushy', Bagot here, and Green, Observ'd his courtship to the common people : — How he did seem to dive into their hearts. With humble and familiar courtesy ; What reverence he did throw away on slaves ;
' The first folio and the quarto of 1597 read ''Faith, none /or me.* The emendation was made in the folio, 1632.
' The earlier qnarto copies read ' Oorself and Bnshj/ and DO more. The folio : —
* Ourself, and Bushy here, Bagot, and Greene.' In the quarto the stage direction sajs, ' Ehter the King, with ButkUf &c. ; but in the folio, ' £^ter the King, Aumerle,' &o. because it was observed that B«sbj comes in afterward. On this account we have adopted a transposition made in the quarto of 1634.
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30 KING RICHARD II. ACT I.
Wooing poor craftsmen, with the craft of smiles.
And patient underbearing of his fortune,
As 'twere, to banish their affects with him.
Off goes his bonnet to an oyster-wench ;
A brace of draymen bid — God speed him well.
And had the tribute of his supple knee^.
With — Thanks, my countrymen, my hmng friends;
As were our England in reversion his,
And he our subjects' next degree in hope^.
Green, Well, he is gone ; and with him go these thoughts. Now for the rebeb, which stimd out in Ireland: — Expedient^ manage must be made, my liege ; Ere further leisure yield them further means. For their advantage, and your highness' loss.
K. Rick. We will ourself in person to thb war. And, for^ our coffers — with too great a court. And liberal largess — are grown somewhat light. We are enforc'd to farm our royal realm ; The reyenue whereof shall furnish us For our affairs in hand : If that come short. Our substitutes at home shall have blank charters ; Whereto, when they shall know what men are rich. They shall subscribe them for large sums of gold. And send them after to supply our wants; For we will make for Ireland presently.
Enter Bushy. Bushy, what news ?
Busky. Old John of Gaunt is grievous sick, my lord;
* To illustrate this, it should be remembered that courtesffmg (the act of reyerence now coofined to women) was ancientlj practised by men.
* * Spes altera Romas.* — Virg,
^ Shakspeare often uses expedient for expeditioui; bat here its ordinary signification of JU, proper^ will suit the context equally well.
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W9mmm
SC. IV. KING RICHARD II. 31
Suddenly taken ; and hath sent post-haste. To entreat your majesty to visit him.
K.Rich. Where lies he?
Bushy. At Ely-house.
K. Rich. Now put it, heaven, in his physician's mind. To help him to his grave immediately ! The lining of his coffers shall make coats To deck our soldiers for these Irish wars. — Come, gentlemen, let's all go visit him : *Pray God, we may make haste, and come too late !
[Exeunt.
ACT II.
SCENE I. London. A Room in Ely-home.
Gaunt on a Couch; the Duke of York^, and others standing by him.
Gaunt. Will the king come ? that I may breathe my last In wholesome counsel to his unstaied youth.
York. Vex not yourself, nor strive not with your breath; For all in vain comes counsel to his ear.
Gaunt. O, but they say, the tongues of dymg men Enforce attention, like deep harmony : Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in
vain. For they breathe truth, that breathe their words in pain.
1 Edmond duke of York was the fifth son of Edward III. and was bom, in 1441, at Langley, near St. Albans, Herts; from whence he had his surname. ' He was of an indolent disposi- tion, a lorer of pleasure, and ayerse to business ; easily prevailed upon to lie still, and consult his own quiet, and never acting with spirit upon an j occasion.'-— £oto«V« WUHmn of Wyheham, p. 205.
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as KINO RICHARD II. ACT II.
He, that no mote most say, is listen'd more Than they whom yovth and ease hare taught to glose^; More are men's ends mark'd, than theb fives b^ore :
The setting sun, and musick at the close ^^ As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last; Writ in remembrance, more than things long past: Though Richard my life's counsel would not hear. My death's sad tale may yet undeaf his ear.
York. No ; it is stopp'd with other flattering sounds, As, praises of his state : then, there are found Lascivious metres ; to whose venom sound The open ear of youth doth always listen : Report of fashions in proud Italy ^; Whose manners still our tardy apish nation Limps after, in base imitation, Where doth the world thrust forth a vanity (So it be new, there's no respect how vile). That is not quickly buzz'd into his ears ? Then all too late comes counsel to be heard. Where will doth mutiny with wit's regard^. Direct not him, whose way himself will choose ; 'Tis breath thou lack'st, and that breath wilt tbonlose.
^ To insinuate, to lie, to flatter.
' ' This I suppose to be a musical term/ sajs Steeyens. So in lingua, 1607 : —
' I dare engage my ears the ehse will jar.' Surely this is a supererogatory conclasaon. ShakspeareeTtdtntly means no more than that music is sweetest in its close ; or wheo the last sweet sounds rest on the delighted ear. But Steeyens's soul, like that of his grreat coadjutor, does not seem to haye been attuned to harmony. The context might however hiiye shown him how superfluous his supposition was ; and I have to apolo- gize for diyerting the attention of the reader from this beautiful passage for a moment.
* The poet has charged the times of King Richard II. with a folly not perhaps known then, but yery Sequent in his own time, and. much lamented by Ihe wisest of our ancestors.
^ Where the will rebels against the notices of the under- standing.
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SC. I. KING RICHARD II. 33
Gavnt. Metjiinks, I am a prophet new inspir'd; And thus, expiiing, do foretell of him : His rash^ fierce blaze of riot cannot last ; For violent fires soon bum out themselves : Small showers last long, but sudden storms are short ; He tires betimes, that spurs too fast betimes ; With eager feeding, food doth choke the feeder : Light vanity, insatiate cormorant. Consuming means, soon preys upon itself. Tins royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle. This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise ; This fortress, built by nature for herself. Against infection^, and the hand of war; This happy breed of men, this little world; This precious stone set in the silver sea. Which serves it in the office of a wall. Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands ; This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England, This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings, Fear'd by their breed®, and famous by their birth,
• i. c. hasty, Tiolent.
^ Johason raised a doabt whether we shoold not read invasion here. Farmer and Malone, npon the anthoritj of a misprint in Allot's England's Parnassus, where this passage is qaoted, ' Against intesttonf &c. propose to read infestiont a word of their own coinage. Malone's long note proves nothing : he thinks that we coald reoeiye no other infection from abroad than the plague ; bat it is evident that the poet may allude to the infection of yicions manners and customs. It is true that infestation was in use for ' a troubling, molesting, or disturbing :' but as all the old copies read infection, there seems to be no sufficient reason for disturbing the text.
* i. e. by reason of their breed. The quarto of 1598 reads thus:— -•
' Fear*d by their breed, and famous for their birth.* lo Greene's Farewell to Follie, 1598, we have a passage resem- bling thu :— * My lordes of Buda, feared for your valour, and fmmomsfor yowr victories, let not the private vrill of one be the rain of a mighty kingdom.'
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34 KING RICHARD II. ACT II.
Renowned for their deeds as far from borne (For Christian servicey and true cluvalry). As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry, Of the world's ransom, blessed Mary's son : This land of sueh dear souls, this d^ dear land. Dear for her reputation ^ough the world. Is now kas'd out (I die pronouneing it). Like to a tenement, or pelting^ fBirm: England, bound ia with the triumphant sea. Whose rocky sluMre beats back the envious siege Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame. With inky blots, and rotten parchment bond&; That England, that was wont to conquer others. Hath made a shameful conquest of itself: O, would the scandal vanish with my life. How happy then were my ensuing dea^ !
J^nfer King Richard, a»d Queen ^^; Aumerle, Bushy, Green, Bagot, Ross^^, md Wii/-
LOUGHBY^*.
York, The king is come : deal mildly with bis youth; For young hot colts, being rag'd *', do rage the more. Queen. How fares our noble uncle, Lancaster?
' ' In this 22d yeare of Kiog Richard, the commoo fame nime that the king had ktten to forme the realme unto Sir William Scrope, earle of Wiltshire, and then treasurer of England, to Syr John Bnshey, Sir John Bagot, and Sir Henry Chreene, Knightes.* — Fabian.
Peking is paltry, pitiful, petty.
'^ Shakspeare has deviated from historical tmth in the intro- duction of Richard's queen as a woman ; for Anne, his first wife, was dead hefore the period at which the commencement of the play is laid ; and Isabella, his second wife, was a child at the time of his death. *
^' i. e. William Lord Ross, of Hamlake, afterwards lord trea- surer to Henry IV.
>2 William Lord Willonghhy, of Eresby.
" Ritson proposes to read: —
* being reim^d, do rage the more.'
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SC. I. KING RICHARD II. 96
K. Rich* What oonfort, man? How is't with
aged GauBt? Gaunt. O, how that name befits my compositioii ! Old Gaimty indeed; and gaunt ^'* in being old: Witiiin me grief hath kept a tedious fast; And who abstains from meat, that is not gaunt ? For sleeping England long time have I watch'd ; Watching breeds leanness, leanness is all gaunt : The pleasure, that some fathers feed upon. Is my strict fast, I mean — ^my children's looks ; And, therein fasting, hast thou made me gaunt : Gaunt am I for the grave, gaunt as a grave. Whose hollow womb inherits nought but bones. K. Rich. Can sick men play so nicely with their
names? Gaunt. No, misery makes sport to mock itself: Since thou dost seek to kill my name in me, I mock my name, great king, to flatter thee. K. Rich. Should djring men flatter with those that
live? Gaunt. No, no ; men living flatter those that die. K. Rich. Thou, now a dying, say'st — thou flat-
ter'st me. ,
Gaunt. Oh ! no ; thou diest, though 1 the sicker be. K. Rich. I am in health, I breathe, and see thee ill. Gaunt. Now, He that made me, knows 1 see thee iU; HI in myself to see, and in thee seeing ill. Thy deathbed is no lesser than thy land. Wherein thou hest in reputation sick : And thou, too careless patient as thou art, Committ'st thy anointed body to the cure Of those physicians that first wounded thee : A thousand flatterers sit within thy crown, Whose compass b no bigger than thy head ; ^* Meagre, thin.
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36 KING RICHARD II. ACT II.
And yet, incaged in go small a verge, The waste is no whit lesser than thy land; O, had thy grandsire, with a prophet's eye, Seen how his son's son should destroy his sons, From forth thy reach he would have laid thy shame ; Deposing thee before thou wert possessed, Which art possess'd ^* now to depose thyself. Why, cousin, wert thou regent of the world. It were a shame to let this land by lease : But, for thy world, enjoying but this land. Is it not more than shame, to shame it so ! Landlord of England art thou now, not king : Thy state of law is bondslave to the law^^; And thou
K, Rich, a lunatick lean-witted fool.
Presuming on an ague's privilege,
Dar'st with thy frozen admonition
Make pale our cheek ; chasing the royal blood.
With fury, from his native residence.
Now by my seat's right royal majesty,
Wert thou not brother to great Edward's son.
This tongue that runs so roundly in thy head.
Should run thy head from thy unreverent shoulders.
Gaunt. O, spare me not, my brother Edward's son, ^or that I was his father Edward's son ; That blood already, like the pelican. Hast thou tapp'd out, and drunkenly carous'd : My brother Qloster, plain well meaning soul, (Whom fair befall in heaven 'mongst happy souls !) May be a precedent and witness good. That thou respect'st not spilling Edward's blood : Join with the present sickness that I have,
»» Mad.
10 < Thj legal state, that rank in the state and these lar^e desmesnes, which the constitution allotted thee, are now bond- slave to the law ; being subject to the same legal restrictions as every ordinary pelting farm that has been let on lease.'
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SC. I. KING RICHARD lU 37
And tby unkindness be like crooked age, To crop at once a too-long witber'd flower, live in thy shame, but die not shame with thee ! — These words hereafter thy tormentors be — Convey me to my bed, then to my grave : Love they ^"^ to live, that love and honour have.
[Exit, borne out by his Attendants.
K. Rich. And let them die, that age and sullens have; For both hast thou, and both become the grave.
Yorh. 'Beseech your majesty, impute his words To wayward sickliness and age in lum : He loves you, on my life, and holds you dear As Harry duke of Hereford, were he here.
K.Rich. Right; you say true: as Hereford's love, so his : As theirs, so mine ; and all be as it is.
Enter Northumberland.
North. My Uege, old Gaunt commends him to .your majesty.
K.Rich. What says he?
North. Nay, nothing; all is said: Hb tongue is now a stringless instrument; Words, life, and all, old Lancaster hath spent.
York. Be York the next that must be bankrupt so ! Though death be poor, it ends a mortal woe.
K. Rich. The ripest fruit first falls, and so doth he; His time is spent, our pilgrimage must be ^^ :
So much for that. ^Now for our Irish wars :
We must supplant those rough rug-headed kerns ^^;
" i. e. kt them love to live, &c.
^* That is, ' our pilgrimage is yet to come.*
^ Kemee were Irish peasantry, serving as light armed foot soldiers. Shakspeare makes York say, in the second part of King Henry V. that Cade, when in Ireland, used to disguise him- self as a shag-haired crafty heme. * The kerne is an ordinary VOL. V. B
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38 KING RICHARD II. ACT II.
Which live like venom, where no venom else> But only they, hath privilege to live^. And for these great affairs do ask some charge. Towards our assistance, we do seize to us The plate, coin, revmiues, and moveables. Whereof our uncle Gaunt did stand possess'd.
York. How long shall I be patient ? Ah, how long Shall tender duty make me suffer wrong? Not Gloster's death, nor Hereford's banishment. Not Guunt's rebukes^ nor England's private wrongs. Nor the prevention of poor Bolingbroke About his marriage ^^, nor my own disgrace. Have ever made me sour my pati^it che^. Or bend one wrinkle on my sovei-eign's face. — I am the last of noble Edward's sons. Of whom thy father, prince of Wales, was first ; In war, was never lion rag'd more fierce. In peace was never gentle lamb more mild. Than was that young and princely gentleman : His face thou hast, for even so look'd he, Accomplish'd with the number of thy hours ^ ; But, when he frown'd, it was against the French, And not against his friends : his noble hand Did win what he did spend, and spent not that Whidi his trinrnphant fathar's hand had won : His hands were guilty of no kindred's blood,
foot soldier, acoor ding to Stanhifaorst ; kerne (Ingheyrmt) signi- fieth a simmer of hell, because they are taken for no better than rake hetts, or die deyil's hlack-garde.* — Description of Ireland, cb. 8, foL 2&
^ Alluding to the idea that no Tenomons reptiles live in Ire- land.
^1 When the dnke of Hereford went into France, after his banishment, he was hononrablj entertained at that coart, and wonid baYe obtained in marriage the only daughter of the dake of Beiry, ojKle to the French king, had not Richard preyented the match.
^ i. e. when he was of thy age.
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SC. I. KING RICHARD 11. 39
But bloody with the enemies of hig kin.
Oy Richard! York is too far gone with grief,
Or else he never would compare between.
K.Rich* Why, uncle, what's the matter?
York, O, my liege.
Pardon me, if you please; if not, I, pleas'd Not to be pardon'd, am content withal. Seek you to seize, and gripe into your hands. The royalties and rights of banish'd Hereford ? Is not Gaunt dead? and doth not Hereford live ? Was not C^unt just? and is not Harry true? Did not the one deserve to have an heir? Is not his heir a well deserving son ? Take Hereford's rights away, and take from time Hb charters, and his customary rights ; Let not to-morrow then ensue to-day ; Be not thyself, for how art thou a king. But by fair sequence and succession ? Now, afore God (God forbid, I say true !) If you do wrongfully seize Hereford's rights. Call in the letters patents that he hatii By his attomies-general to sue ffis livery^, and deny his offer'd homage, You pluck a thousand dangers on your head. You lose a thousand well disposed hearts. And prick my tender patience to those thoughts Which honour and allegiance cannot think.
K. Rich, Think what you will; we seize into our hands His plate, his goods, his money, and his lands.
* On the death of eyerj person who held hj knight's senrioe, his heir, if ander age, became a ward of the king's ; hat if of age, he had a right to sae out a writ of ouster le mam, i. e. livery, thit the king's hand might be taken off, and the land delivered to him. To ' deny hie of^d homage* was to refnse to admit the ho- mage bj which he was to hold his lands.
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40 KING RICHARD II. ACT II.
York, 111 not be by the while : My liege, farewell : What will ensue hereof, there's none can tell; But by bad courses may be understood. That dieir events can never fall -out good. [Exit.
K. Rich. Go, Bushy, to the earl of Wiltshire straight; Bid him repair to us to £ly-house, To see this business : To-morrow next We will for Ireland ; and 'tis time, I trow ; And we create, in absence of ourself, Our uncle York lord governor of England, For he is just, and always lov*d us well. — Come on, our queen: to-morrow must we part; Be merry, for our time of stay is short. [Flcfmisk. [Exeunt King, Queen, Bushy, Aumbrle, Green, and Bagot.
NcTth. Well, lords, the duke of Lancaster is dead.
Ross. And living too; for now his son is duke.
WiUo. Barely in title, not in revenue.
North. Richly in both, if justice had her right
Ross* My heart is great; but it must break with silence, Ere't be disburdened with a lijberal^ tongue.
North. Nay, speak thy mind; and let him ne'er speak more. That speaks thy words again, to do thee harm !
WiUo. Tends that thou would'st speak, to the duke of Hereford ? If it be so, out with it boldly, man; Quick is mine ear to hear of good towards him.
Ross. No good at all, that I can do for him ; Unless you call it good to pity him. Bereft and gelded of his patrimony.
North. Now, afore heaven, 'tis shame, such wrongs are borne,
« Free.
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SC. I. KINO RICHARD II. 41
In him a royal prince, and many more
Of noble blood in this declining land.
The king is not himself, but basely led
By flatterers ; and what they will inform,
Merely in hate 'gainst any of ns all.
That will the king severely prosecute
'Gainst ns, our hves, our children, and our heirs.
Ross. The commons hath he pilFd ^ with grievous taxes. And quite lost their hearts : the nobles hath he fin'4 For ancient quarrels, and quite lost their hearts,
Willo. And daily new exactions are devis'd ; As blanks^, benevolences, and I wot not what: But what, o'God's name, doth become of tins?
North. Wars have not wasted it, forwarr'd he hath not. But basely yielded upon compromise That which his ancestors achieved with blows : More hath he spent in peace, than they in wars.
Ross. The eari of Wiltshire hath the realm in farm.
WiUo. The king's grown bankrupt, like a broken man.
North. Reproach, and dissolution, hangeth over him.
Ross. He hath not money for these Irish wars. His burdenous taxations notwithstanding. Bat by the robbing of the banish'd duke.
North. His noble kinsman ; most degenerate king ! But, lords, we hear this fearful tempest sing^,>
» PiUaged.
* Stow records that Richard II. ' compelled all the religioos, gentlemen, and commons, to set their scales io bUmkes, to the end he might, if it pleased him, oppress them scTerally, or all at oace : some of the commons paid him 1000 marks, some 1000 poonds,' &c. ^ So in the Tempest:—-
' another Mtorm brewing ; I hear it smg in the wind.'
£2
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43 KING RICHARD II. ACT II.
Yet seek no shelter to avoid the stonn : We see the wind sit sore upon our sails, And yet we strike not, but securely perish ^.
Ross. We see the very wreck that we must suffer; And unayoided is the danger now. For suffering so the causes of our wreck.
North. Not so; even through the hollow eyes of deaths I spy life peering; but I dare not say How near the tidings of our comfort is.
Willo, Nay, let us share thy thoughts, as thou dost ours.
Ross. Be confident to speak, Northumberland : We three are but thyself; and, speaking so. Thy words are but as thoughts; therefore, be bold.
North. Then thus : — I have from Port le Blanc, a bay In Brittany, repeiv'd intelligence. That Harry Hereford, Reignold Lord Cobham, [The son of Richard learl of Arundel] ^,
^ ' And yet we strike not our sailSf but perish by too great con- fidence m our security:' this is another Latinisnu SecureUf is used in the sense of seatrus.
^ The line in brackets, which was necessary to complete the sense, has been supplied upon the anthoHty of Holinshed. Some- thing of a similar import mast have been omitted by accident in the old copies. The passages in Holinshed relatiye to this mat- ter run thas : — ' Aboate the same time the earle of Arundel's Sonne, named Thomas, which was kept in-the duke of Exeter's house, escaped oat of the realme, by meanes of one William Scot,' &c. ' Dake Henry, chiefly throagh the earnest persuasion of Thomas Arondell, late archbishop of Canterborie (who, as yon have be- fore heard, had been removed from his see, and banished the realme by King Richard's means), got him down to Britaine : and when all his provision was made ready, he tooke the sea, together with the said archbishoppe of Canterbarie, and his nephew Thomas Arnndelle, son and heyre to the late earle of Arandelle, beheaded on Tower-hill. There were also with him Regenalde Lord Cobham, Sir Thomas Erpingham,' &c, — HoHh- shed, p. 1105, ed. 1577.
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SC. I. KING RICHARD II. 43
That late broke from the duke of Exeter, His brother, archbishop late of Canterbury, Sir Thomas Erpingham, Sir John Ramston, Sir John Norbery, Sir Robert Waterton, and Fran- cis Quoint,
All these well fumish'd by the duke of Bretagne, With eight tall ^ ships, three thousand men of war. Are making hither with all due expediences^. And shortly mean to touch our northern shore : Perhaps, they had ere this ; but that they stay The first departing of the king for Ireland. If then we shall shake off our slavish yoke. Imp s^ out our drooping country's broken wing. Redeem from brokmg pawn the blemish'd crown. Wipe off the dust that hides our sceptre's gilt^. And make high majesty look like itself. Away, with me, in post to Ravenspurg : But ff you faint, as fearing to do so. Stay, and be secret, and myself will go.
Ross. To horse, to horse ! urge doubts to them that fear.
Willo. Hold out my horse, and I will first be there.
[Exeunt.
SCENE II. The same. A Roam in the Palace,
Enter Queen, Bushy, and Bagot.
Bushy. Madam, your majesty is too much sad : You promis'd, when you parted with the king,
» Stoal. ^* Expedition.
•• When the wing feathers of a hawk were dropped or forced ont hy anj accident, it was asnal to sapply as manj as were de- ficient. This operation was called * to imp a hawk.' It is often used metaphoricallj, as in this instance. The word is said to come from the Saxon itnpan, to graft, or inoculate. Milton ha^ it in one of his sonnets : —
' to imp their serpent wings/
And Dryden : —
' His navy's molten wings he uRp'd once more.'
M Gilding.
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44 KING RICHARD II. ACT II.
To lay aside life-harmmg heaviness, And entertain a cheerful disposition.
Queen. To please the king, I did; to please my- self, I cannot do it ; yet I know no cause Why I should welcome such a guest as grief. Save bidding farewell to so sweet a guest As my sweet Richard : Yet, again, methinks. Some unborn sorrow, ripe in fortune's womb. Is coming towards me; and my inward soul With nothing trembles : at some thing it grieves. More than with parting from my lord the king.
Bwky. Each substance of a grief hath twenty shadows. Which show hke grief itself, but are not so : For sorrow's eye, glazed with blinding tears. Divides one thing entire to many objects ; Like perspectives ^, which, rightly gaz'd upon. Show nothing but confusion ; ey'd awry, Distinguish form : so your sweet majesty,
' It has been thown in a former note that per9pectw€ meant optical glasses, to assist the sight in any waj. Mr. Henley says that ' the perspectives here mentioned were round crystal glasses, the convex surface of which was cot into faces like Uiose of the rose-diamond ; the concave left uniformly smooth ; which if placed as here represented, woold exhibit the different appear- ances described by the poet.' Bat it may have reference to that kind of optical delusion called anamorflhona ; which is 9ip€fr9pec- tive projection of a picture, so that at one point of view it shall appear a confused mass, or different to what it really is, in ano- ther, an exact and regular representation. Sometimes it is made to appear confused to the naked eye, and regular when viewed in a glass or mirror of a certain form. ' A picture of a chancellor of France, presented to the common beholder a multitude of little faces ; but if one did look at it through a perspective, there appeared only the single pourtraiture of the chancellor.' — Hu- mane Industry, 1651. This is again alluded to in Twelfth Night, Act V. Sc. 1 :—
* A natural perspective, that is, and is not.' Thus also in Henry V :— * My lord, you see them perspectioefy, the cities turned into a maid.' See vol. i. p. 388, note 13.
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SC. II. KING RICHARD II. 45
Looking awry upon your lord's departure, Fmds shapes of grief, more than himself, to wail ; Which, look'd on as it is, is nought but shadows Of what it is not Then, thrice-gracious queen. More than your lord's departure weep not; more's
not seen : Or if it be, 'tis with false sorrow's eye, Which, for things true, weeps things imaginary.
Queen, It may be so ; but yet my inward soul Persuades me, it is otherwise : Howe'er it be, I cannot but be sad ; so heavy sad. As, — though, in thinking, on no thought I think ^, — Makes me with heavy nothing faint and shrink.
Bushy. Tis nothing but conceit^, my gracious lady.
Queen. Tis nothing less : conceit is still deriv'd From some fore-father grief; mine is not so; For nothing hath begot my something grief; Or something hath the nothing that I grieve : Tis in reversion that I do possess ; But what it is, that is not yet known ; what I cannot name; 'tis nameless woe, I wot.
Enter Green.
Green. God save your majesty ! — and well met, gentlemen : — I hope, the king is not yet shipp'd for Ireland.
^teen. Whyhop'stthouso? 'tis better hope, he is; For his designs crave haste, his haste good hope ; Then wherefore dost thou hope, he is not shipp'd ? Green. That he, our hope, might have retir'd his power*,
' The old copies have ' on thinking/ which is an evident error : we should read, * As thoagh in thinking ;' i. e. ' though masing, I hare no idea of calamity/ The inyoluntary and nnacconntable depression of the mind, which erery one has sometimes felt, is here very forcibly described.
' Fanciful conception.
* Retir'df i. e. drawn it back ; a French sense.
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46 KING RICHARD II. ACT II.
And driveii into despair an enemy's hope. Who strongly hath set footing in this land : The banish'd Bolingbroke repeals himself. And with uphfted arms is safe arriv'd At Rayenspurg.
Queen, Now God in heayen forbid !
Green. O, madam, 'tis too true : and that is worse, — The Lord Northumberland, his young son Henry
Percy, The lords of Ross, Beaumond, and Willoughby, With all their powerful friends, are fled to him.
Bushy, Why haye you not proclaim*d Northum- berland, And all the rest of the reyolted faction, traitors^ ?
Green. We haye: whereon the earl of Worcester Hath broke his staff, resign'd his stewardship. And all the household seryants fled with him To Bolingbroke.
Queen. So, Green , thou art the midwife to my woe, And Bolingbroke my sorrow's dismal heir^ : Now hath my soul brought forth her prodigy ; And I, a gasping new-deliyer'd mother, Haye woe to woe, sorrow to sorrow join'd.
Bushy, Despair not, madam.
Queen. Who shall hinder me ?
I will despair, and be at enmity
* The first qaarto, 1597, reads:—
' And all the rest of the revolted faction, traitors ?' The folio, and the quarto of 1598 and 1608: —
' And the rest of the revolting faction, traitors?* ^ The queen had said before, that ' some unborn sorrow, ripe in fortune's womb, was coming toward her.' She talks after- ward of her unknown griefs ' being begotten;' she calls Green * the midwife of her woe ;' and then means to saj in the same metaphorical stjle, that the arrival of Bolingbroke was the dis- mal offspring that her foreboding sorrow was big of; which she expresses by calling him her * sorrow's dismal heir,' and explains more full; in the following line :—
' Now hath my soul brought forth her prodigy.'
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8C. II. KING RICHARP II. 47
With cozening hope ; he is a flatterer, A parasite, a keeper-back of death, Who gently would dissolve the bands of life. Which false hof^ lingers in extremity.
Enter York.
Green. Here comes the duke of York.
Queen. With signs of war about his aged neck ;
O, full of careful business are his looks ! ,
Uncle,
for heayen's sake, speak comfortable words.
York. Should I do so, I should belie my thoughts : Comfort's in heaven ; and we are on the earth. Where nothing lives but crosses, care, and grief. Your husband he is gone to save far off, WMst others come to make him lose at home : Here am I left to underprop his land;
Who, weak with age, cannot support myself:
Now comes the sick hour that his surfeit made ; Now shall he try his friends that flatter'd him.
Enter a Servant.
Serv. My lord, your son was gone before I came.
York. He was? — Why, so ! — go all which way
it will!
The nobles they are fled, the commons they are cold.
And will, I fear, revolt on Hereford's side.
Sirrah, get thee to Flashy, to my sister Gloster ; Bid her send me presently a thousand pound : — Hold, take my ring.
Serv. My lord, I had forgot to tell your lordship: To-day, as I came by, I called there ; But I shall grieve you to report the rest.
York. What is it, knave ?
Serv. An hour before I came, the duchess died.
York. God for his mercy ! what a tide of woes Comes rushing on this woeful land at once !
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48 KING RICHARD II. ACT II.
I know not what to do : — I would to God (So my untruth"^ had not provok'd him to it). The king had cut off my head with my brother's®. — What, are there no posts despatch'd for Ireland? — How shall we do for money for these wars ? — Come, sister 9, — cousin, I would say : pray, pardon
me. — Go, fellow [ To the Servant.] get thee home, provide
some carts, And bring away the armour that is there. —
[Exit Servant. Gentlemen, will you go muster men? if I know How, or which way, to order these affairs. Thus disorderly thrust into my hands. Never believe me. Both are my kinsmen ; — The one's my sovereign, whom both my oath And duty bids defend ; the other again. Is my kinsman, whom the king hath wrong'd ; Whom conscience and my kindred bids to right. Well, somewhat we must do. — Come, cousin, I'll Dispose of you : — Gentlemen, go, muster up your
men. And meet me presently at Berkley-castle.
I should to Plashy too ;
But time will not permit : — ^All is uneven. And every thing is left at six and seven.
[Exeunt York ar^d Queen. Bushy, The wind sits fair for news to go to Ireland, But none returns. For us to levy power, Proportionable to the enemy, Is all impossible.
^ Dislojaltj, treachery.
® Not one of York's brothers had his head cat off, either by the king or any one else. Gloster, to whose death he probably al lades, was smothered between two beds at Calais.
' This is one of Shakspeare's touches of nature. York is talk- ing to the queen, his cousin, but the recent death of his sister is uppermost in his mind.
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SC. II. KING RICHARD II. 40
Green, Besides our nearness to the king in love, Is near the hate of those love not the king.
Bagat. And that's the wavering commons : for iheiT love Lies in their purses ; and whoso empties them. By so much fills their hearts with deadly hate.
Bwhy. Wherein the king stands generally con- demn'd.
Bagot, If judgment lie in them, then so do we, Because we ever have been near the king.
Green. Well, 111 for refuge straight to Bristol Castle; The earl of Wiltshire is already there.
Bushy. Thither will I with you : for little office Will the hateful commons perform for us; £xcept like curs to tear us all to pieces. — Will you go along with us ?
Bagot. No ; I'll to Ireland to his majesty. Parewell : if heart's presages be not vain, We three here part, that ne'er shall meet again.
Bushy. That's as York thrives to beat back Bo- lingbroke.
Green. Alas, poor duke ! the task he undertakes Is — numb'ring sands, and drinking oceans dry ; Where one on his side fights, thousands will fly.
Bushy. Farewell at once; foronce,forall, and ever.
Green. Well, we may meet again.
Bagot. I fear me, never.
[Exeunt.
SCENE III. The WtTcfe m Glostershire. Enter Bolingbroke and Northumberland, with Forces. BoUng. How far is it, my lord, to Berkley now ? North. Believe me, noble lord, I am a stranger here in Glostershire. VOL. v. F
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50 KING RICHARD II. ACT II,
These high wild hills^ and rough uoeven ways, Draw out our miles, and make them wearisome : And yet your fair discourse hath been as sugar. Making the hard way sweet and d61ectable. But, I bethink me, what a weary way From Ravenspurg to Cotswold, will be found In Ross and WiUoughby, wanting your company: Which, I protest, hath very much beguil'd The tediousness and process of my travel: But theirs is sweeten'd with the hope to have The present benefit which I possess : And hope to joy ^, is little less in joy. Than hope enjoy'd: by this the weaiy lords Shall make their way seem short ; as mine hath done By sight of what I have, your noble company. Boling, Of much less value is my company. Than your good words. But who comes h^e ?
Enter Harry Percy.
North. It is my son, young Harry Percy, Sent from my brother Worcester, whencesoever. — Harry, how fares your uncle?
Percy. I had thought, my lord, to have leam'd his
health of you. North. Why, is he not with the queen ? Percy. No, my good lord; he hath forsook the court. Broken his staff of office, and dispers'd The household of the king.
North. What was his reason ?
He was not so resolv'd, when last we spake together. Percy. Because your lordship was proclaimed traitor.
* To joy is here used as a verb , it is eqaiyalent with to r^ice, * To joy, to clap hands, to rejoyce.* Buret. Shakspeare very frequently ases it in this sense.
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SC. III. KING RICHARD II. 51
But he, my lord, is gone to Ravenspurg, To offer service to the duke of Hereford ; And sent me o'er by Berkley, to discover What power the duke of York had levied there ; Then with direction to repair to Ravenspurg.
North. Have you forgot the duke of Hereford, boy ?
Percy, No, my good lord; for that is not forgot, Which ne'er I did remember : to my knowledge, I never in my life did look on him.
North, Then learn to know him now ; this is the duke.
Percy, My gracious lord, I tender you my service. Such as it is, being tender, raw, tod young ; Which elder days shall ripen and confirm To more approved service and desert.
Bolmg, I thank thee, gentle Percy; and be sure, I count myself in nothing else so happy. As in a soul rememb'ring my good friends; And, as my fortune ripens with thy love. It shall be still thy true love's recompense : My heart this covenant makes, my hand thus seals it.
North, How far is it to Berkley? And what stir Keeps good old York there, with his men of war ?
Percy, There stands the castle, by yon tuft of trees, Mann'd with three hundred men, as I have heard : And in it are the lords of York, Berkley, and Sey- mour ; None else of name, and noble estimate.
Enter Ross and Willoughby.
North. Here come the lords of Ross and Wil- loughby, Bloody with spurring, fiery-red with haste.
BoUng, Welcome, my lords : I wot your love pursues A banish'd traitor : all my treasury
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62 KING RICHARD II. ACT II.
Is yet but unfelt thanks, which, more enrich'd. Shall be your love and labour's recompense.
Ross, Your presence makes us rich, most noble
lord. Willo. And far surmounts our labour to attain it Baling. Erermore thanks, the exchequer of the poor; Which, till my infant fortune comes to years, Stands for my bounty. But who comes here ?
Enter Berkley.
North. It is my lord of Berkley, as I guess.
Berk. My lord of Hereford, my message is to you.
Boling. My lord, my answer is — to Lancaster^; And I am come to seek that name in England : And I must find that tide in your tongue. Before I make reply to aught you say.
Berk. Mistake me not,my lord ; 'tis not my meaning. To raze one title of your honour out^: — To you, my lord, I come (what lord you will). From the most gracious regent of this land. The duke of York; to know, what pricks you on To take advantage of the absent time^. And fright our native peace with self-bom arms.
Enter YoRK, attended. Boling. I shall not need transport my words by you ; Here comes his grace in person. — My noble uncle !
[Kneels.
' * Your message, you say, is to my lord of Hereford. Mj answer is, It is not to him, it is to the Dtiie of Lancaster,^
^ * How the names of them which for capital crimes against majestie were erazed out of the publicke records, tables, and registers, or forbidden to be borne by their posteritie, when their memory was damned, I could show at large.' — Camden's Remaines, 1606, p. 136.
* Time of the king's absence.
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SC. III. KING RICHARD II. 53
York. Show me thy humble heart, and not thy knee, Whose duty is deceivable and false.
BoHng, My gracious uncle !-—
Yirrk. Tut, tut! Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle ^ : I am no traitor's uncle ; and that word — grace, In an ungracious mouth, is but profane. Why have those banish'd and forbidden legs Dar'd once to touch a dust of England's ground ?
But then more why ; Why have they dar'd to
march So many miles upon her peaceful bosom ; Frighting her pale-fac'd villages with war. And ostentation of despised^ arms ? Com'st thou because the anointed king is hence ? Why, foolish boy, the king is left behind. And in my loyal bosom lies his power. Were I but now the lord of such hot youth. As when brave Gaunt, thy father, and myself. Rescued the Black Prince, that young Mars of men, From forth the ranks of many thousand French ; 0, tiien, how quickly should this arm of mine, Now prisoner to the palsy, chastise thee. And minister correction to ^y fault !
* Id Romeo and Juliet we baye the same kind of phraseologj : —
* Thank me no thaakiags, nor prond me no pronds.'
* Perhaps Shakspeare here ases despised for hated or hateful . «nns? Sir Thomas Hanmer changed it to despiteful^ but the old copies all agree in reading despised, Shakspeare uses the word Hiin in a sing^ar sense in Othello, Act i. Sc. 1, where Braban- ^ exclaims upon the loss of his daughter : —
* --..^ what's to come of my despised time
Is nought bnt bitterness/ U bs been suggested that * despised is nsed to denote the general contempt in which the British held the French forces. The duke of Bretaene furnished Bolingbroke with three thousand French Midiers/
F 2
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54 KING RICHARD II. ACT II.
BoliMg. My gracious uncle, let me know my fault ; On what condition stands it, and wherein ?
York. £yen in condition of the worst degree, — In gross rebellion, and detested treason : Thou art a banish'd man, and here art come. Before the expiration of thy time. In braving arms against thy soT^reign.
Boling. As I was banish'd, I was banish'd Here- ford; But as I come, I come for Lancaster, And, noble uncle, I beseech your grace. Look on my wrongs with an indififerent^ eye : You are my father, for, methinks, in you I see old Gaunt alive ; O, Uien, my father ! Will you permit that I shall stand condemned A wand'ring vagabond; my rights and royalties Plucked from my arms perforce, and given away To upstart unthrifts ? Wherefore was I bom ? If that my cousin king be king of £ngland. It must be granted, I am duke of Lancaster. You have a son, Aumerle, my noble kinsman; Had you first died, and he had been thus trod down. He should have found his uncle Gaunt a father. To rouse his wrongs^, and chase' them to the bay. I am denied to sue my livery ^ here. And yet my letters patent give me leave : My father's goods are all distrain'd, and sold; And these, and all, are all amiss employ'd.
' Indifferent is imparttdL The instances of this use of the word among the poet's contemporaries are very nimerons. So, in King Henry VIII. Act ii. Sc. 4, Qaeen Kathaane says :«- ' Bom oat of yonr dominions, haying hffre No jadge indifferent J See Baret's Alvearie, in letter 1, 108, where he translates *Aeqmu judex, a jost and indifferent judge ; nothing partial.' • Wrongs is prohahly here used for wrongers, ^ See the former scene, p. 32, note 5.
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SC. III. KING RICHARD II. 56
What would you have me do? I am a subject, And challenge law : Attornies are denied me; And therefore personally I lay my claim To my inheritance of free descent.
North The noble duke bath been too much abus'd.
R(m. It stands your grace upon ^^ to do him right.
WUh, Base men by his endowments are made great.
York, My lords of England, let me tell you this, — I haye had feeling of my cousin's wrongs, And labour'd all I could to do him right : Bat in this kind, to come, in braving arms. Be his own carver, and cut out his way. To find out right with wrong, — it may not be; And you, that do abet him in this kind. Cherish rebellion, and are rebels all.
North, The noble duke hath sworn, his coming is Bat for his own: and, for the right of that. We all have strongly sworn to give him aid ; And let him ne'er see joy, that breaks that oath.
York, Well, well, I see the issue of these arms ; I cannot mend it, I must needs confess. Because, my power is weak, and all ill left : But, if I could, by him that gave me life, I would attach you all, and make you stoop
*" Steerens explains the phrase, ' It stands your grace vpon,* to mean, ' it is your interest ; it is matter of conseqaence to you.' Bat hear Baret, ' The heyre is bound ; the heyre onght, or it is tbe heyre's part to defend ; it standeth him upon ; or is in his cbarge. Incumbit defensio mortis haredi.* The phrase is there- fore eqoiralent to it is incumbent upon your grace, Shakspeare VMS it again in King Richard III : —
* It stands me much upon
To stop all hopes whose growth may danger me.' Su" N. Throckmorton, writing to Queen Elizabeth, says, ' How^ ■oeTer things do fall out, t^ standeth your majestic so i^ipon, for JODT own suretie and reputation to be well ware,* &c. — Comoay Papers, Vide Hamlet, Act y. So, 2.
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56 KINO RICHARD II. ACT II.
Unto the sovereign mercy of die king; But, since I cannot, be it known to you, I do remain as neuter. So, fare you well ; — Unless you please to enter in the castle. And there repose you for this night.
Boling. An offer, uncle, that we will accept. But we must win your grace, to go with us To Bristol Castle ; which, they say, is held By Bushy, Bagot, and their complices. The caterpillars of the commonwealth, Which I have sworn to weed, and pluck away.
York. It may be, I will go with you : — but yet I'll pause ; For I am loath to break our country's laws. Nor friends, nor foes, to me welcome you are : Things past redress, are now with me past care^^.
[JExeunt.
SCENE IV \ A Camp in Wales.
Enter Salisbury ^ and a Captain.
Cap, My lord of Salisbury, we have staid ten days. And hardly kept our countryman together. And yet we hear no tidings from the king; Therefore we will disperse ourselves : farewell.
Sal. Stay yet another day, thou trusty Welshman : The king reposeth all his confidence In thee.
Cap. 'Tis thought,the king is dead : we will not stay, The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd ',
" * Things without remedj
Shoald he without regard/ * Macbeth.
> Johnson thought this scene hadheenhj some accident trans* posed, and that it should stand as the second scene in the third act,
3 John Montacute, earl of Salisbury.
^ This enumeration of prodigies is in the highest degree poetic cal and striking* The poet receiyed the hint from Holinshed ;
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SC. IV. KING RICHARD II. 57
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, Sal. 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 sup 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,
ACT III.
SCENE I. Bolmgbroke's Camp at Bristol.
Enter Bolingbroke, York, Northumber- land, Percy, Willoughby, Ross : Officers behind with Bushy and Green, prisoners.
Baling, Bring forth these men. — Bushy and Green, I will not vex your souls (Since presently your souls must part your bodies). With too much urging your pernicious lives,
' In this jeare, in a manner thronghont all the realme of Englande, old haU trees withered/ &c. This, as it appears from T. Lap- ton's Sjxt Booke of Notable Things, bl. 4to. was esteemed a bad omen. ' Neytber falling sickness, nejther devjll, wyll in- fest or hurt one in that place whereas a hay tree is. The Romajnes call it the plant of the good angel,' &c. See also Evelyn's Sylira, 4to. 1776, p. 396.
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58 KING RICHARD II. ACT III.
For 'twere no charity : yet, to wash your blood From bff my hands, here, in the view of men, I will unfold some causes of your deaths. You hare misled a prince, a royal king, A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments. By you unhappied and disfigur'd clean ^. You hare, in manner, with your sinful hours. Made a divorce betwixt his queen and him ; Broke the possession of a royal bed^. And stain'd the beauty of a fair queen's cheeks With tears drawn from her eyes by your foul wrongs. Myself — a prince, by fortune of my birth, , Near to the king in blood ; and near in love.
Till you did make him misinterpret me,
Have stoop'd my neck under your injuries. And sigh'd my English breath in foreign clouds. Eating the bitter bread of banishment : Whilst you have fed upon my signories, Dispark'd^ my parks, and fell'd my forest woods ; From my own windows torn my household coat, Kaz'd out my impress *, leaving me po sign, — Save men's opinions, and my hving blood, — ^
> i. e. quite, completely. Thus in Shakspeare's seyentj-fiftli Sonnet :—
' And by and by clean starred for a look.' ' Quite and cleane to take awaye an opinion from one. Excatere opinionem radicitns.' — Baret,
' There seems to be no authority for this. Isabel, Richard's second queen, was but nine years old at this period ; his first queen, Anne, died in 1392, and he was very fond of her.
^ To disparh signifies to divest a park of its name and charac> ter, by destroying the enclosures, and the vert (or whatever bears green leaves, whether wood or underwood), and the beasts of the chase therein ; laying it open.
* The impresa was a device, or motto. Feme, in his Blazon of Gentry, 1588, observes that ' the arms, &c. of traitors and rebels may be defaced and removed wheresoever they are fixed or set' For the punishment of a base knight see Spenser's Faerie QueeOy b. V. c. iiL St. 37.
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SC. I. KING RICHARD II. 6D
To show the worid I am a gentleman, This, and much more, much more than twice all this. Condemns you to the death : — See them delirer'd over To execution and the hand of death.
Bushy. More welcome is the stroke of death to me. Than Bolingbroke to England. — Lords, farewell.
Green. My comfort is, — that heaven will take our souls. And plf^ue injustice with the pains of hell.
Boling. My Lord Northumberland, see them despatch'd. [Exeunt Northumberand and Others, with Prisoners. Uncle, you say, the queen is at your house ; Per heaven's sake, fairly let her be entreated : Tell her, I send to her my kind commends ^ ; Take special care my greetings be deliver'd.
Yarh. A geirtleman of mine I have despatched With letters of your love to her at large.
Baling. Thanks, gentle uncle.^-Come,lords,away : To fight with Glendower and his complices ; Awhile to work, and, after, holiday. [Exeunt^.
. SCENE II.
The Coast of Wales. A Castle in view.
Fhmrish: Drums and Trumpets. Enter Kino Richard, Bishop of Carlisle, Aumerle, and Soldiers.
K.Rich. Barkloughly Castle caM you^ this at hand ? Atem. Yea,my lord : How brooks your grace the air. After your late tossing on the Inresicing seas ? K. Rich. Needs must I like it well ; I weep for joy,
* Commendations.
* Johnson says ' here ma^ he properly inserted the last scene of the second act.'
' The qnarto of 1597 reads they.
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60 KINO RICHARD II. ACT III*
To stand upon my kingdom once again.
Dear earthy I do salute thee with my hand, Though rebels wound thee with their horses* hoofs r As a long parted motiier with her child Plays foncUy with her tears, and smiles, in meeting; So, weepings smiling, greet I thee, my earth. And do thee favour ^ith my royal hands. Feed not thy sovereign's foe, my gentle earth. Nor with thy sweets comfort his ravenous sense : But let thy spiders, that suck up thy venom. And heavy-gaited toads, lie in fiieir way ; Doing annoyance to the treacherous feet. Which with usurping steps do trample thee. Yield stinging nettles to mine enemies : And when they from thy bosom pluck a flower. Guard it, I pray thee, with a lurking adder; Whose double tongue may with a mortal touch Throw death upon thy sovereign's enemies. — Mock not my senseless conjuration, lords ; This earth shall have a feeling, and these stones Prove armed soldiers, ere her native king Shall falter under foul rebellious arms.
Bishop. Fear not, my lord; that Power, that made you king, Hath power to keep you king, in spite of all. The means that heaven yields must be embrac'd. And not neglected ; else, if heaven would, And we will not, heaven's offer we refuse; The proffer'd means of succour and redress.
Aum, He means, my lord, that we are too remiss ; Whilst Bolingbroke, through our security. Grows strong and great, in substance, and in friends.
K.Rich, Discomfortable cousin ! know'stthou not. That when the searching eye of heaven is hid Behind the globe, and^ lights the lower world,
' The old copies read ' thai lights,' &c. The alteration was made by Johnson.
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SC. It. KING RICHARD It. 61
Then thievest alnd robbers range abroad tmseen.
In murdersy and in outrage, bloody here ;
But when, from under this terrestrial ball.
He fires the proud tops of the eastern pines ^^
And darts his Ught through every guilty hole.
Then murders, treasons, and detested sins.
The cloak of night being pluck'd from off their backs;
Stand bare and naked, trembling at themselves?
So when this thief, this traitor, Bolingbroke, —
Who all this whfle hath reyell'd in the night.
Whilst we were wand'ring with the antipodes, —
Shall see us rising in our throne the east.
His treasons Mrill sit blushing m his face.
Not able to endure the sight of day.
But, sel^affrighted, tremble at his sin.
Kot all the water in the rough rude sea
Can wash the balm from an anointed king :
The breath of worldly men cannot depose
The deputy elected by the Lord * :
For every man that Bolingbroke hath press'dy
To lift shrewd steel against our golden crown,
God for bis Richard hath in heavenly pay
A glorious angel : then, if angels fight.
Weak men mAistHall ^ for heaven still guards the right*
£nter Salisbury.
Welcome, my lord; How far off lies your power ^? Sal, Nor near, nor further off, my gracious lord,
' ' It is not easy (sajs Steerens) to point 6at an image more striking and beaatifal Uian this in any poet, ancient or modern.'
* Here is the doctrine of the divine right of kings, and of the passive obedience of snbject^^ expressed in the strongest terms. Johnson observes that it has been the fashion to impute the origi* Bal of every tenet which we have been tanght to think false or foolish to tbe reign of King James I. But this doctrine was never carried farther in any country, than in this island, while the bouse of Tudor sat on the throne.
* Force*
VOL. v. G
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62 KING RICHABLD II. ACT III.
Than this weak ann : Discomfort guides my tongue.
And bids me speak of nothing but despair.
One day too late, I fear, my noble lord.
Hath clouded all thy happy days on earth :
O, call back yesterday, bid time return.
And thou shalt have twelve thousand fighting men !
To-day, to-day, unhappy day, too late,
O'erthrows thy joys, friends, fortune, and thy state ;
For all the Welshmen, hearing thou wert dead.
Are gone to Bolingbroke, dispers'd, and fled.
Aum, Comfort, my liege : why looks your grace so pale?
K. Rich, But now, the blood of twenty thousand men
Did triumph in my face, and they are fled ; And, till so much blood thither come again.
Have I not reason to look pale and dead? All souls that will be safe, fly from my side ; For time hath set a blot upon my pride.
Aum. Comfort, my liege : remember who you are.
K, Rich. I had forgot myself: Am I not king? Awake, thou sluggard^ majesty ! thou sleep'st. Is not the king's name forty thousand names ^ ? Arm, arm, my name ! a puny subject strikes At thy great glory. — Look not to the ground. Ye favourites of a king ; Are we not high ? High be our thoughts : I know, my uncle York Hath power enough to serve our turn. But who Comes here?
Enter Scroop.
Scroop. More health and happiness betide my liege. Than can my care-tun'ti tongue deliver him.
^ Tke first quarto reads ' coward majestj.'
7 So in King Richard III. :—
' Besides the king's name is a toi^ver of strength.' See a speech of Antigonas, in Plutarch, of this kind. Vol. ii. 4to. p. 199, Gr.
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S€. IJ. KING RICHARD II. 63
K, Rich. Mine ear is open, and my heart prepar'd ° : The worst is worldly loss, thou canst unfold. Say, is my kingdom lost? why, 'twas my care? And what loss is it, to be rid of care? Strives Bdingbroke to be as great as we ? Greater he shedl not be ; if he serve God, We'll serve him too, and be his fellow so : Revolt our subjects ? that we cannot mend ; They break their faith to God, as well as us : Cry woe, destruction, ruin, loss, decay : The worst is — death, and death will have his day.
Scroop. Glad am I, that your highness is so arm'd To bear the tidings of calamity ^ like an unseasonable stormy day. Which makes the silver rivers drown their shores. As if the world were all dissolved to tears ; So high above his hmits swells the rage Of BoHngbroke, covering your feeurful land With hard bright steel, and hearts harder than steel. White-beards have arm'd their thin and hairless scalps Against thy ms^ esty ; and boys, with women's voices. Strive to speak big, and clap their female joints In stiff unwieldy arms against thy crown : The very beadsmen learn to bend their* bows Of double-fatal yew^ against thy state ;
* ' It seems to be the design of the poet to raise Richard to esteem in his faU, and oonsequentlj to interest the reader in his favour. He gives him only passive fortitude, the yirtne of a con- fessor, rather than of a king. In his prosperity we saw him im« perions and oppressive \ hat in his distress he is wise, patient, and pious.' — Johsucn,
' Yew is called douhU-fatal, becMse of the poisonous quality of the leares, and on account of the wood being used for instru- ments of death. From some ancient statutes it appears that every Englishman, while archery was practised, was obliged to keep in his house either a bow of yew or some other wood. It has been supposed that yema were anciently planted in church- yards not only to defend the church from the wind, but on account of their use in making horns ; while their poisonous quality was kept ^m doing mischief to the cattle in that sacred enclosure.
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64 KING RICHARD IL ACT HI*
Yea, distafT-women manage rusty bills Against thy seat : both young and old rebel, And all goes worse than I have power to tell.
K.Rich, Too well, too well, thou telFst a tale so 'dU Where is the earl of Wiltshire ? where is Bagot ^^? What is become of Bushy ? where is Green ? That they have let the dangerous enemy Measure our confines with such peaceful steps? If we prevail, their heads shall pay for it. I warrant, they have made peace with Bolingbroke.
Scroop, Peace have they made with him, indeed, my lord.
K. Rich, O villains, vipers, damn'd without re- demption ! Dogs, easily won to fawn on any man ! Snakes,in my heart-blood warm'd,tiiat sting my heart! Three Judases, each^ne thrice worse than Judas I Would they make peace ? terrible hell make war Upon their spotted souls for this offence !
Scroop, Sweet love, I see, changing his property. Turns to the sourest and most deadly hate ; — Again uncurse their souls; their peace is made With heads, and not with hands : those whom you
xiurse, Have felt the worst of death's destroying wound. And lie full low, grav'd ^^ in the hollow ground.
^^ The mention of Bagot here is a lapse of the poet or the king ; but perhaps it may have been intended to mark more strongly the perturbation of the king's mind by making bim in- quire at first for Bagot, whose loyalty, on further recollectioii» might show him the impropriety of the question.
" i. e. buried. The verb is not peculiar to Shakspeare. We have it in Gower, and in Lord Surrey's translation of the fourth JBneid: —
' Cinders, thbk*st thou, mind this, or graved ghosts V Shakspeare uses it again in Timon of Athens : —
* ^— ditches grave you all.' George Cavendish, in his Metrical Visions, makes the Duk^ of Suffolk say :—
' And my hedles body, vouchsafe to se it graved^*
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SC* II. KING RICHARD II. 65
Aum. Is Bushy, Green, and the earl of Wiltshire dead?
Scroop, Yea, all of them at Bristol lost their heads.
Atom, Where is the duke, my father, with his power?
KMich, No matter where ; of comfortno man speak: Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs ; Make dust our paper, and with rainy eyes Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth. Lefs choose executors, and talk of wills : And yet not so, — for what can we bequeath, Save our deposed bodies to the ground ? Our lands, our lives, and all are Bolingbroke's, And nothing can we call our own, but death ; And that small model ^^ of the barren earth. Which serves as paste and cover to our bones. For heaven*s sake, let us sit upon the ground, . And tell sad stories of the death of kings : — How some have been deposed, some slain in war; Some haunted by the ghosts they have depos'd ; Some poison'd by their wives, some sleeping kill'd ; AH murder'd : — For within the hollow crown. That rounds the mortal temples of a king. Keeps death his court : and there the antick sits ^^, Scoffing his state, and grinning at his pomp ; Allowing him a breath, a little scene To monarchize, be fear'd, and kill with looks ; Infusmg him with self and vain conceit, — As if this flesh, which walls about our life, Were brass impregnable ; and humour'd thus,
^^ A sttmU model, or module, for they were the same in Shak- ■peare's time, seems to mean in this place a small portion or gtuM- iiiy. It is a Latinism from ' modulus, the measure or quantity of a Uiing/
^ It is not impossible that Shakspeare borrowed this idea from Uiat most exquisite emblematic book of engravings on wood the Dance of Death, or Imagines Mortis, attributed to Holbein. See tV seventh print.
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66 KING RICHARD II. ACT III*
Comes at the last, and with a little pin
Bores through his castle wall, and — farewell, king !
Cover your heads, and mock not flesh and blood
With solemn reverence ; throw away respect.
Tradition ^^, form, and ceremonious duty.
For you have but mistook me all this while :
I live with bread like you, feel want, taste grief.
Need friends : — Subjected thus.
How can you say to me — I am a king?
Car, My lord, wise men ne'er wail their present woes, But presently prevent the ways to wail, To fear the foe, since fear oppresseth strength, Gives, in your weakness, strength unto your foe. And 60 your follies fight against yourself. Fear, and be slain ; no worse can come, to fight : And fight and die, is death destroying death ^^; Where fearing dying, pays death servile breath.
Aum. My father hath a power, inquire of him; And learn to make a body of a limb.
K, Rich, Thou chid'st me well : — Proud Boling* broke, I come To change blows with thee for our day of doom. This ague-fit of fear is over-blown ;
An easy task it is, to win our own.
Say, Scroop, where lies our uncle with his power ? Speak sweetly, man, although thy looks be sour.
Scroop, Men judge by the complexion of the sky
The state and inclination of the day : So may you by my dull and heavy eye.
My tongue hath but a heavier tale to say. I play the torturer, by small and smaU, To lengthen out the worst that must be spoken : —
^* Tradition here seemg to mean tmdiiiomil pr adieu, i. e. estm- hUshsd or automary homage,
** That is, to Me fighting is to return the evil that we suffer, 1 destroy the destroyers.
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6C. II. KING RICHARD II. 67
Your uncle York hath join'd with Bolingbroke ; And all your northern castles yielded up, And all your southern gentlemen in arms Upon his party.
K. Rich. Thou hast said enough.
Beshrew thee, cousin, which didst lead me forth
[2b AUMERLE.
Of that sweet way I was in to despair !
What say you now? What comfort have we now ?
By heaven, I'll hate him everlastingly.
That bids me be of comfort any more ^^.
Go, to Flint castle ; there I'll pine away ;
A king, woe's slave, shaU kingly woe obey.
That power I have, discharge ; and let them go
To ear ^^ the land Uiat hath some hope to grow.
For I have none : — Let no man speak again
To alter this, for counsel is but vain.
Aum, My liege, one word.
K. Rich. He does me double wrong.
That wounds me with the flatteries of his tongue. Dbcharge my followers, let them hence : — Away, From Richard's night, to Bolingbroke's fair day.
[Exeunt.
SCENE III.
Wales. A Plain before Flint Castle.
Enter, with Drum and Cohuxs, Bolingbroke and Forces; York, Northumberland, and Others.
BoUng. So that by this intelligence we learn. The Welshmen are dispers'd; and Salisbury
^ Tbifl sentimeBt is drawn from nature. Nothing is more offensive to a mind c^nvinc^ that its distress is without remedy, •nd preparing to submit quietly to irresistible calamity, than these petty and conjectured comforts, which unskilful officious- ness thinks it virtue to ajiminister.
*^ To ear the land is to ^ it, to plough it, from the Saxon epuui. 80 in All's Well that Ends Well:—
' He that ear* my land, spares my team.*
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68 KING RICHARD II. ACT III.
Is gone to. meet the king, ^ho lately landed, With some few private friends, upon this coast
North, The news is yery fair and good, my lord ; Richard, not far from hence, hath hid his head.
York. It would beseem the lord Northumberland, To say — King Richard : — Alack the heavy day, When such a sacred king should hide his head !
North. Your grace mistdces me^ ; only to be brief. Left I his title out.
York. The time hath been.
Would you have been so bri^ with him, he would Have been so brief with you, to shorten you For taking so the head, your whole head's lengHi.
Bolmg. Mistake not, uncle,further than you should.
York. Take not, good cousin, further than you should^ Lest you mis-take : The heavens are o'er your head.
Soling. I know it, uncle ; and oppose not Myself against their will. — But who comes here?
Enter Percy.
Well^, Harry; what, will not this castle yield ?
Percy. The castle royally is mann'd, my lord. Against thy entrance.
Soling. Royally! Why, it contains no king ?
Percy. Yes, my good lord.
It doth contain a king: King Richard lies Within the limits of yon lime and stone : And with him are the Lord Aumerle, Lord Salisbury, Sir Stephen Scroop ; besides a clergyman Of holy reverence ; who, I cannot learn.
North. Belike, it is the bishop of Carlisle.
* The word m«, which is wanting in the old copies, was sap- plied hj Hanmer.
' The old cop J reads ' Welcome, Harry:' the emendation is Hanmer's.
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SC. III. KINO RICHARD II. 09
BoUng. Noble lord ^ [Tb North.
Oo to the rude ribs of that ancieit castle; Through brazeu trumpet send the breath of parle Into his ruin'd ear^, and thus deliver : Hturry Boluigbroke
On both his knees doth kiss King Richard's hand ; And sends allegiance, and true faith of heart. To his most royal person : hither come Even at his feet to lay my arms and power ; Provided that, my banishment repealed. And lands restor'd agittn, be freely granted : If not, I'll use the ackantage of my power. And lay the summer's dust with showers of blood, Rain'd from the wounds of slaughter'd EngUshmen : The which, howfar off firom the mind of Bolingbroke It is, such crimson tempest should bedrench The firesh green lap of fair King Richard's land. My stoopmg duty tenderly shall show. Oo, signify as much ; while here we inarch Upon the grassy carpet of this plain. —
[Northumberland adoances to the Cattle, with a Trumpet. Lefs march without the^noise of threat'ningdrum. That from the eastle's totter'd^ battlements Our fair appointments may be well perus'd. Methmks, King Richard and myself should meet With no less terror than the elements 'Of fire and water, when their thund'r ing shock At meeting tears the cloudy cheeks of heav€». 3e he the fire, I'll be the yielding w«ter : The rage be his, while on the earth I rain
' Shakspeare freqnentlj, in his addresses to persons, begins with an hemistich ; and sometimes blends short prosaic sentences with his metrical dialogues.
* Totter'd, the reading of the two first quartos^ is here proba- t>lj used for toiterimg, according to a frequent usage of our poet. The other copies read taiter*d.
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70 KING RICHARD II. ACT III.
My waters; on the earth, and not on him. March on, and mark King Eichard how he looks.
A Parley sounded, and anaweredhy another Trumpet vrithin. Flourish. Enter on the malls King BiCHARD, the Bishop of Carlisle, Aumerle, Scroop, and Salisbury. ' Yorh See, see. Ring Richard doth himself appear^^ As doth the blushing discontented sun From out the fiery portal of the east; When he perceiyes the envious clouds are beat To dim his glory, and to stain Ihe track Of his bright passage to the Occident Yet looks he like a king ; behold, his eye. As bright as is the eagle's, lightens forth Controlling majesty ; Alack, alack, for woe. That any harm should stain so fair a show !
K, Rich. We are amaz'd ; and thus long have we stood To watch the fearful bending of thy knee,
[To Northumberland. Because we thought ourself thy lawful king : And if we be, how dare thy joints forget To pay their awfnl duty to our presence ? Jf we be not, show us the hand of God That hath dismissed us from our stewardship ; For well we know, no hand of blood and bone Can gripe the sacred handle of our sceptre, Unless he do profane, steal, or usurp. And though you think, that all, as you have done. Have torn their souls, by turning them ham us.
And we are barren, and bereft of friends ;
Yet know, — ^my master, God omnipotent. Is must'ring in his clouds, on our behalf,
* The six first lines of this speech are erroneoosl j giTtn to Bolingbroke in the old copies.
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SC. III. KING RICHARD lU 7L
Armies of pestilence ; and they shall strike Your olttldreB yet unlxMm, and unbegol, That lift your vassal hands against my head. And threat the glory of my predous crown. Tell Bolingforoke (for yond', methinks, he is)^ That every stride he makes upon my land. Is dangerous treason ; He is come to ope The purple testament^ of bleecyng war; . But ere the crown he looks for live in pe&ce. Ten thousand bloody crowns of mothers' sons ShaU ill become die flow^ of En^aad's face^; Change the complexion of her maid-pale peace To scarlet indignation, and bedew Her pastures' grass with faithful Eaglish Uood.
North. The king of heaven forbid, omr lord 1^ king Should so with civil and uncivil arms Be rush'd upon ! Thy tfarice-noble cousin, Harry Bolingbr<^e, doth humbly kiss tiiy hand ; And by the honourable tomb he swears. That stands upon thy royal grandsire's bones ; And by the royalties of bodi your bloods, Ourr^its that spring from one most gracious head; And by the buried hand of warlike Gaunt;
* Shakspeare uses the word testament in its legal sense. Bol- bgbroke is come to open the testament of war, that he may peruse what is decreed there in his faronr. Purph is an epithet referring to the futnre elSasion of hlood. Thus in Julius Caesar :— * Now while your yurpUd hands do reek and smoke.' ^ i. e. England's flowery face, the flowery surface of England's soil. The same mode of expression is used in Sidney's Arcad^ p. 2 : — < Opening the cherry of her lips/ i. e. her cherry lipe« Again, p. 240, ed. 1633 :— ' The sweet and heautifol fiomer of her faxjt. And Drayton, in Mortimer's Epistle to Queen Isabel : — ' And in the field advance our plumy crest. And march upon fair England's fiow*ry breast* There is a similar image in the first part of King fieary IV. Sc. 1:—
' No more the thirsty entrance of the soil
Shall daub her Ups with her own childr^'s blood.'
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72 KING RICHARD II. ACT III.
And by the worth and honour of himself, Comprising all that may be sworn or said, — His coining hither hath no further scope, Than for his lineal royalties, and to beg Enfranchisement immediate on his knees : Which on thy royal party granted once. His glittering arms he will commend ^ to rust. His barbed steeds to stables, and his heart To faithful service of your majesty. This swears he, as he is a prince, is just; And, as I am a gentleman, I credit him.
K.Rich. Northumberland, say, — thus the king returns ; His noble cousin is right welcome hither; And all ike number c^ his fair demands ShaU be accompUsh'd without contradiction: With all the gracious utterance thou hast. Speak to his gentle hearing kind commends. — We do debase ourself, cousin, do we not,
[To AUMERLE.
To look so poorly, and to speak to fair? ShaU we call back Northumberland, and send Defiance to the traitor, and so die ?
Aum. No, good my lord; let's fight with gentle words. Till time lend friends, and friends thetr helpfol swords.
K. Rich. O God ! O God ! that e'er this tongue of mine. Thai laid the sentence of dread banishment On yon proud man, should take it off again With words of sooth ^ ! O, that I were as great As is my grief, or lesser than my name !
* Commmi for commii. Vide Macbeth, vol. iv. p.2S4, note S.
' Sooth is twteti, as well as true. In this place awth means tweetneu or softnsts. Thus to aootk still means to calm and sweeten the mind.
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SC. III. KING RICHARD II. 73
Or that I could forget what I have been i
Or not remember what I must be now !
Swell'st thou, proud heart? I'll give thee scope to
beat, Sinc^ foes have scope to beat both theie and me. Aum. Northumberland comes back from Boling-
broke. K. Rich. What must the king do now ? Must he
submit? The king shall do it. Must he be depos'd? The king shall be contented : Must he lose The name of king? o'God's name, let it go: 111 give my jewels, for a set of beads; My gorgeous palace, for a hermitage; My gay apparel ^^, for an alms-man's gown ; My figur'd goblets, for a dish of wood : My sceptre, for a palmer's walking-staff; My subjects, for a pair of carved saints ; And my large kingdom for a Utile grave, A little Uttle grave, an obscure grave : — Or I'll be buried in the king's highway, Some way of common trade ^^, where subjects' feet May hourly trample on their sovereign's head : For on my heart they tread, now whilst I live ;
And, buried once, why not upon my head?
Aumerle,thou weep'st ; My tender-hearted cousin ! — We'll make foul weather with despised tears ; Our sighs, and they, shall lodge the summer corn. And make a dearth in this revolting land. Or shall we play the wantons with our woes. And make some pretty match with shedding tears ?
'^ Richard's expense in regard to dress was very extraordi- narj. ' He had one coate which he caused to be made for him of gold and stone, valued at 3000 marks/ — HoUnshed.
" < Some way of common trade* is some way of frequent re- sort, a conunon coarse; as, at present, ' a road of mnch traflic,' i. e. freqoent resort.
VOL. V, H
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74 KING RICHARD 11. ACT III.
As thus : — ^To drop them still upon one place^ Till they have fretted us a pair of graves Within the earth; and, therein laid, — There lies Two kinsmen, digg'd their graves with weeping eyes? Would not this ill do well?— Well, well, I see I talk but idly, and you mock at me. — Most mighty prince, my Lord Northumberland, What says King Bolingbroke ? will his majesty Give Richard leave to live till Richard die ? You make a leg ^^, and Bolingbroke says — ay ^'.
North. My lord, in the base^^ court he doth attend
To speak with you; may't please you to come down ?
K.Rich* Down, down, I come; like glistering
Phaeton, Wanting the manage of unruly jades.
[North, retires to Boling. In the base court? Base court ^, where kings grow
base. To come at traitors' calls, and do them grace. In the base court? Comedown? Down, court! down,
king ! For night-owls shriek, where mounting larks should
sing. [Exeunt f from above.
Boling. What says his majesty ? North. Sorrow and grief of heart
Makes him speak fondly ^^, like a frantick man : Yet he is come.
" A bow.
*' It should be remembered -that the affirmatire particle ay was formerly written and sounded /, whioh rhymed well with dU^
** Lower.
'* That is the lower court of the castle ; basse cowr, Fr. Thus in CaTcndish's Life of Wolsej: — ' Mj lord being advertised that the duke was coming, even at hand, he caused idl his gentlemen to wait upon him down through the hall into the bas^ court,* — Edition 1825, p. 211.
»« Foolishly.
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SC. III. KING RICHARD II- ' 76
Emter King Richard, and his Attendants, below.
Bolmg. Stand all apart. And show fair duty to his majesty.-
My gracious lord, — [Kneeling.
K.Rich.'Fair cousin,you debase your princely knee. To make the base eartii proud with kissing it: Me rather had, my heart might feel your love. Than my unpleas'd eye see your courtesy. Up, cousin, up ; your heart is up, I know. Thus high at least [touching his awn head], although your knee be low.
Baling. My gracious lord, I come but for mine own.
K. Rich. Your own is yours, and I am yours, and all.
Baling. So far be mine, my most redoubted lord. As my true service shaU deserve your love.
K. Rich. Well you deserve : — They well deserve to have. That know the strong'st and surest way to get. — Uncle, give me your hand : nay, dry your eyes; Tears show their love, but want their remedies. — Cousin, I am too young to be your father. Though you are old enough to be my heir. What you will have, 1*11 give, and willing too ; For do we must, what force will have us do. — Set on towards London : — Cousin, is it so ?
BaUng. Yea, my good lord.
K. Rich. Then I must not say, no ^\
[Flourish. Exeunt,
'7 < The duke, with a high sharpe rojce bade bring forth the king's horses ; and then two little nagges, not worth forty franks, were brought forth : the king was set on one, and the earle of Salisbnrie on the "other ; and thus the dnke brought the king from Flint to Chester, where he was delivered to the duke of Gloacester's sonne (that loved him but little, for he had put their father to deatii), who led him straight to the castle.' — Stowe (p. 621, edit. 1605), from a manuscript account written hj a person who was present.
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76 KING RICHARD II. ACT III.
SCENE IV.
Langley. The Duke of York's Garden.
Enter the Queen, and two Ladies.
Queen. What sport shall we devise here in diis garden. To drive away the heavy thought of care ?
1 Ladif. Madam, well play at bowls.
Queen. Twill make me think,
The world is full of rubs, and that my fortune Runs 'gainst the bias ^.
1 Lady. Madam, we will dance.
Queen. My legs can keep no measure in deligfat, When my poor heart no measure keeps in grief; Therefore, no dancing, girl ; some other sport.
1 Lady. Madam, well tell tales.
Queen. Of sorrow, or of joy * ?
1 Lady. Of either, madam.
Queen. Of neither, girl :
For if of joy, being altogether wanting. It doth remember me the more of sorrow ; Or if of grief, being altogether had. It adds more sorrow to my want of joy : Eor what I have, I need not to repeat : And what I want, it boots ' not to complain^.
1 Lady. Madam, 111 sing.
Queen. Tis well, that thou hast cause ;
But thou should'st please me better, would'st thou weep.
' The bias was a weight inserted in one side of a bowl, which gave it a particular inclination in bowling.
'All the old copies read ' of sorrow or of grief.' Pope made the necessary alteration.
3 Profits. * See note on Act i. Sc. 2, p. 11.
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8C. IV. KINO RICHARD II. 77
1 Lady, I could weep, madam, would it do you
good. Q^een. And I could weep', would weeping do me good. And never borrow any tear of thee. But stay, here come the gardeners : Lef s step into the shadow of these trees. —
Enter a Gardener, oMd two Servants.
My wretchedness unto a row of pins, Theyll talk of state ; for every one doth so Against a change: Woe is forerun with woe^.
[Queen and Ladies retire.
Gard 60, bind thou up yon' dangling apricocks. Which, Uke unruly children, make their sire Stoop with oppression of their prodigal weight : Give some supportance to the bending twigs. — Go thou, and, like an executioner. Cut off the heads of too fast growing sprays, That look too lofty in our commonwealth :
All must be even in our government.
VoQ thus employed, I will go root away The nobome weeds, that without profit suck The soil's fertility from wholesome flowers.
1 Serv, Why should we, in the compass of a pale, Keep law, and form, and due propoiiion, Showing, as in a model, our firm estate? When our sea-walled garden, the whole land, b full of weeds; her fairest flowers chok'd up. Her fruit-trees all unprun'd, her hedges ruin'd,
' The old copies read * and I conld sing. The emendation is P«pe'».
The poet, according to the common doctrine of prognost^ca- "OB, supposes dejection to forerun calamity, and a kingdom to ^ filed with romoars of sorrow Vrhen any great disaster is im-
peoding;.
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78 KING RICHARD II. ACT III.
Her knots ''^ disorder'd, and her wholesome herbs Swarming with caterpillars ?
Gard, Hold thy peace : —
He that hath suffered this disorder'd spring. Hath now himself met with the fall of leaf: The weeds, that hb broad-spreading leaves did
shelter, That seem'd in eating him to hold him up. Are pluck'd up, root and all, by Bolingbroke; I mean, the earl of Wiltshire, Bushy, Green.
1 Serv. What, are they dead?
Gard. They are; and Bolingbroke
Hath seiz'd the wasteful king. — Oh ! What pity is it, That he had not so trimm'd and dressM his land. As we this garden! We^ at time of year Do wound tibe bark, the skin of our fruit trees; Lest, being over-proud with sap and blood. With too much riches it confound itself: Had he done so to great and growing men. They might have liv'd to bear, and he to taste Their fruits of duty. All superfluous branches We lop away, that bearing boughs may hve : Had he done so, himself had borne the crown. Which waste of idle hours hath quite thrown down.
1 Serv. What think you then, the king shall be deposed?
Gard. Depress'd he is already; and depos'd, Tis doubt d, he will be: Letters came last night
7 Knots are figares planted in box, the lines of which fre- qaentlj intersected each other in the old fashion of g^ardening. So Milton :— .
< Flowers worthy Paradise, which not nice art In beds and curious hnaUf bat nature boon Pour*d forth.' " Wt is not in the old copy. It was added by Malone. 9 This uncommon phraseology has already occurred in the pre- sent play : —
* He is our cousin, cousin ; but 'tis doubt When time shall call him home,' &c.
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SC. IV. KING RICHARD II. 7^
To a dear friend of ike good duke of York's, That tell black tidings.
Queen. O, I am press'd to death.
Through want of speaking! — Thou, old Adam's likeness, [Coming from her concealment. Set to dress this garden, how dares Thy harsh-rude tongue sound this unpleasing news? What Eve, what serpent hath suggested thee To make a second fall of cursed man ? Why dost thou say. King Richard is depos'd? Dar'st thou, thou little better thing than earth. Divine his downfal ? Say, where, when, and how, Cam'st thou by these ill tidings ? speak, thou wretch.
Gard. Pardon me, madam : little joy have I, To breathe this news; yet, what I say is true. King Richard, he is in the mighty hold Of Bolingbroke : their fortunes both are weigh'd : In your lord's scale is nothing but himself. And some few vanities that make him light; But in the balance of great Bolingbroke, Besides himself, are all the English peers. And with that odds he weighs King Richard down. Post you to London, and you'll find it so; I spesik no more than every one doth know.
Queen. Nimble mischance, that art so light of foot. Both not thy embassage belong to me. And am I last that knows it? O, thou think'st To serve me last, that I may longest keep Thy sorrow in my breast. — Come, ladies, go. To meet at London London's king in woe. — What, was I bom to this ! that ray sad look
Should grace the triumph of great Bolingbroke?
€rardener, for telling me this news of woe, I would, the plants thou graft'st, may never grow. [Exeunt Queen and Lacfies.
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80 , KING RICHARD II. ACT III.
Crard* Poor queen ! so that thy state might be no worse, I would, my skill were subject to thy curse. — Here did she drop^^ a tear ; here, in this place, 111 set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace : Rue, even for ruth, here shortly shall be seen. In the remembrance of a weeping queen. [Exewnt.
ACT IV.
SCENE \. London. Westmmster Hall ^
The Lords spiritual on the right side of the Throne; the Lords temporal on the left; the Commons be- low. Enter Bolingbroke, Aumerle, Sur- rey S Northumberland, Percy, Fitz- WATER, another Lord, Bishop of Carlisle, Abbot of Westminster^ and Attendants. Officers behind, with Bagot.
Boling. Call forth Bagot :— — Now, Bagot, freely speeds thy mind; What thou dost know of noble Gloster's death; Who wrought it with the king, and who peiform'd The bloody office of his timeless^ end.
i<> The qaarto of 1597 reads/o//. The quarto of 1598 and the folio read drop,
^ The rehoilding of Westminster Hall, which Richard had hegiin in 1397, heing finished in 1399, the first meeting of par- liament in the new edifice was for the purpose of deposing him.
* Thomas Holland, earl of Kent, brother to John Holland, earl of Exeter, was created duke of Surrey in 1597. He was half brother to the king, by his mother Joan, who married Edward the Black Prince after the death of her second husband Thomas Lord HoUand.
' i. e. untimely. Vide note on King Henry VI. Part I. Act v. Sc. 4.
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SC. I. KING RICHARD II. 81
Boffoi. Then set before my face die Lord Attinerle.
Baling. Cousin, stand fordi, and look npon that man.
Bagot. My Lord Aumerle, I know, your daring tongue Scorns to unsay what once it hath delivered. In that dead time when Gloster's death was plotted^ I beard you say, — Is net my arm of lengthy That reachethfram the restful English court As far as Calais, to mg uncles head? Amongst much other tolk, that very time, I beard you say, that you had rather refuse The offer of a hundred thousand crowns. Than Bolingbroke's return to England ; Adding withal, how blest this land would be. In this your cousin's death.
Avm, Princes, and noble lords.
What answer shall I make to Ibis base man ? Shall I so much dishonour my fair stars ^, On equal terms to give him chastisement? Either I must, or have mine honour soil'd
With the attainder of his sland'rous lips.
There is my gage, the manual seal of death, That marks thee out for hell ; I say, thou liest. And will maintain, what thou hast said, is false. In thy heart-blood, though being all too base. To stain the temper of my knightly sword.
BoUng. Bagot, forbear, thou shalt not take it up.
Autn. Excepting one, I would he were the best In all diis presence, that hath mov*d me so.
* The birth is snpposed to be influenced by ttan ; therefore the poet, with his allowed licence, takes stan for birth. We learn from Plinj*s Nat. Hist, that the vulgar error assigned the bright est and fairest stars to the rich and great :~* Sidera singolis attribnta nobis, et clara diyitibns, minora paaperibos/ &c.lib. i.
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82 KINO RICHARD IT. ACT lY.
Fiix. If that thy valour stand on sympathies ^ There is my gage, Aumerle, in gage to thine: By that fair sun that shows me where thou stand'st, I heard thee say, and Tauntingly thou spak'st it, That thou wert cause of noble Gloster's death. If thou deny'st it, twenty times thou hest; And I will turn thy falsehood to thy heart. Where it was forged, with my rapier's point.
Aum. Thou dar'st not, cowurd, Uve to see that day.
Fitz. Now, by my soul, I would it were tins hour.
Aum. Fitzwater, thou art damn*d to hell for thb.
Percy, Aumerle, thou liest; his honour is as true. In this appeal, as thou art all unjust : And, that thou art so, there I throw my gi^e. To prove it on thee to the extremest point Of mortal breathing ; seize it, if thou dar'st.
Aum, And if I do not, may my hands rot off. And never brandish more revengeful steel Over the glittering helmet of my foe !
Lcrd, I task the earth to the like, forsworn Aumerle ; And spur thee on with full as many lies As may be hoUa'd in thy treacherous ear From sun to sun^ : there is my honour's pawn ; Engage it to the trial, if thou dar'st.
' This is a translated sense much harsher than that of stars, explained in the preceding note. Fitzwater throws down his gage as a pledge of battle, and tells Amnerle that if he stands upon sympathies, that is upon equality of blood, the combat is now offered him by a man of rank not inferior to his own. Sym- pathy is an affection incident at once to two subjects. This com- monity of affection implies a likeness or equality of nature ; and hence the poet transferred the term to equality of blood. ^ i. e. from sunrise to sunset. So in Cymbeline : —
' Jmo. How many score of miles may we well ride 'Twixt hour and hour?
Pisa. One score 'twixt tun and sun. Madam, 's enough for you, and too much top.' The old quartos read ' 'Twixt »m and «m.' The emendation is Steeyens's. This speech is not in the folio. ' I task the earth'
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so. I. KING RICHARD IT. 83
Aum. Who sets me else? by heaven. 111 throw at all: I have a thousand spirits in one breast^, To answer twenty thousand such as you.
Surrey. My Lord Fitzwater, I do remember well The yery time Aumerle and you did talk.
Fitz. Tis very true : you were in presence then ; And you can witness with me, this is true.
Surrey. As false, by heaven, as heaven itself is true.
Fiiz. Surrey, thou Uest.
Surrey. Dishonourable boy !
That lie shall he so heavy on my sword. That it shall render vengeance and revenge. Till thou the lie- giver, and that lie, do lie In earth as quiet as thy father*s scull. In proof whereof , there is my honoiir^sj)awn; Engage it to the trial, if thou dar'st.
Fitz. How fondly dost thou spur a forward horse ! If I dare eat, or drink, or breathe, or hve, I dare meet Surrey in a wilderness^. And spit upon him, whilst I say, he lies. And lies, and lies : there is my bond of faith, To tie thee to my strong correction. — As I intend to thrive in this new world ^, Abmerle is guilty of my true appeal :
probably means ' I lay the burthen of my pledge upon the earth to the like purpose/ accompanying the words by throwing his mailed gloye to the ground. Some of the quartos ^ead take. ^ ' A thousand hearts are great within my bosom.''
King Bickard III,
* I dare meet him where no help can be had by me against him. So in Macbeth : —
♦ ■ or be alive again.
And dare me to the desert with thy sword.' Thus also in The Lover's Progress, bj Beaumont and Fletcher : —
' Maintain thy treason with thy sword? with what
Conten{i>t I hear it ! in a wilderness
I durst encounter it.'
• L e. in this world, where I have just begun to be an actor. Surrey has just called him boy. v
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84 KING RICHARD II. ACT IV.
Besides, I heard the banish'd Norfolk say. That thou, Aumerle, didst send two of thy men To execute the noble duke at Calais.
Aum, Some honest Christian trust me with a gage. That Norfolk lies : here do I throw down this^^. If he may be repealed to try his honour.
Baling . These differences shall all rest under gage. Till Norfolk be repeal'd : repeal'd he shall be. And, though mine enemy, restored again To all bis land and signories ; when he's retum'd. Against Aumerle we will enforce his trial.
Car. That honourable day shall ne'er be seen. — Many a time hath banish'd Norfolk fought For Jesu Christ; in glorious Christian field Streaming the ensign of the Christian cross. Against black pagans, Turks, and Saracens : And, toil'd with works of war, retir'd himself To Italy; and there, at Venice, gave His body to that pleasant country's earth ^^, And his pure soul unto his captain Christ, Under whose colours he had fought so long.
BoHng. Why, bishop, is S'orfolk dead?
Car. As sure as I live, my lord.
BoHng. Sweet peace conduct his sweet soul to the bosom Of good old Abraham ! — Lords appellants, Your differences shall all rest under gage. Till we assign you to your days of trial.
Enter York, attended.
York. Great duke of Lancaster, I come to thee From plume-pluck'd Richard ; who with willing soul Adopts thee heir, and his high sceptre yields
^® Holinshed says that on this occasion he threw down a hood that he had borrowed.
" Thia-is not historically true. The duke of Norfolk's death did not take place till after Richard's murder.
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SC. I. KING RICHARD II. 85
To the possession of thy royal hand :
Ascend his throne, descen<&ng now from him^ —
And long live Henry, of that name the fourth !
Baling. In God's name, I'll ascend the regal tihrone^^. ^
Car, Marry, God forbid ! — Worst in this royal presence, may I speak. Yet best beseeming me to speak the truth. Would God, that any in this noble presence Were enough noble to be upright judge Of noble Richard; then true noble^s" would Learn him forbearance from so foul a wrong. What subject cait give sentence on his king? And who sits here, that is not Richard's subject? Thieves are not judg'd, but they are by to hear. Although apparent guilt be seen in them : And shall llie figure of God's majesty ^^, Hb captain, steward, deputy elect, Anomted, crowned, planted many years. Be judg'd by subject and inferior breath. And he himself not present? O, forbid ^^ it, God, That, in a Christian climate, souls refin'd
^* Home gives the words that Henry actually spoke ob tbl» occasioii, which he copied from Knyghton, and accompanies them hj a very ingemoofl commentary.— ifMf. of Eng, 4to ed. vol. ix. p.50.
" i. e. nohleneu ; a word now obsolete, hat common in $hak- •peare's time.
** This speech, which contains in the most express terms the doctrine of passive obedience, is foonded upon Holinshed's ac- count The sentiments would not in the reign of Elizabeth or Junes have been regarded as novel or nnconstitational. It is observable that usurpers are as ready to avail themselves of dioime right as lawful sov^eigns ; to dwell upon the sacredness of dieir persons, and the sanctity of their character. Even that 'catpnrse of the empire,' Claadias, in Hamlet, affects to believe that—
* such divinity doth hedge a king.'
^' The quarto r^tids forfend» VOL. V. I
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86 KING RICHAIID II. ACT IV.
Should show so heinons, black, obscene a deed ! I speak to subjects, and a subject speaks, Stirr'd up by heaven, thus boldly for his king. My lord of Hereford here, whom you call king. Is a foul traitor to proud Hereford's king: And if you crown him, let me prophesy, — The blood of English shall manure the ground. And future ages groan for thb foul act; Peace shall go sleep with Turks and infidels. And, in this seat of peace, tumultuous wars Shall kin with kin, and kind with kind confomid : Disorder, horror, fear, and mutiny Shall here inhabit, and this land be calFd The field of Golgotha, and dead men's sculls. O, if you rear ^^ this house against this house. It will the wofuUest division prove. That ever fell upon this cursed earth : Prevent, resist it, let it not be so. Lest child's child's children^^ cry against you — ^woe!
North. Well have you argu'd, sir; and, for your pains, Of capital treason we arrest you here : — My lord of Westminster, be it your charge To keep him safely till his day of trial. — May't please you, lords, to grant the commons* suit^.
Boling, Fetch hither Richard, that in common view He may surrender; so we shall proceed Without suspicion.
'* The quarto reads raise.
^7 i. e. grandchildren. Pope altered it to 'children's children,' and was followed hj others. The old copies read, ' Lest child, childs children.'
'^ What follows, almost to the en^ of the act, is not found in the first two quartos. The addition was made in the qoarto of 1608. In the quarto, 1597, after the words ' his day of trial/ the scene thus closes : —
' BoL Let it he so : and lo ! on Wednesday next We solemnly proclaim our coronation. Lords, he ready all.'
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SC. I. KING RICHARD II. 87
York. I vnll be Ms conduct ^9. [Exit
Baling. Lords, you that are here under our arrest, Procure your sureties fca your days of answer : — little are we beholden to your love, [ To Car. And little look'd for at your helping hands.
-Rc-eii/crYoRK,trtM King RiCHARD,a»d Officers bearing the Crown, Sfc.
K. Rich. Alack, why am I sent for to a king, Before I -have shook off the regal thoughts Wherewith I reign'd ? I hardly yet have leam'd To msinuate, flatter, bow, and bend my knee^: — Give sorrow leave a while to tutor me To this submission. Yet I well remember The favours*^ of these men : Were they not mine? Did they not sometime cry, all hail ! to me ? So Judas did to Christ: but he, in twelve. Found truth in all but one ; I, in twelve thousand,
none. God save the king ! — Will no man say, amen ? Am I both priest and clerk? well then, amen. God save the king ! although I be not he : And yet, amen, if heaven do think him. me. — To do vdiat service am I sent for hither?
Ycrk. To do that office, of thine own good will. Which tired majesty did make thee offer, — • — The resignation of thy state and crown To Henry Bolingbroke.
K. Rich. Give me the crown; — Here, cousin, seize the crown ; On thb side, my hand; and on that side, yours. Now is this golden crown like a deep well, That owes^^ two buckets filling one another;
*• i. e. conductor. So in King Henrj VI. Part ll. : — ' Although thou hast heen conduct of my shame.'
* The quarto reads Umb».
* Countenances, features. ^ Owns.
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88 , KING RICHARD II. ACT IT.
The emptier ever dancing in the air. The other down, unseen, and fall of water : ^at bucket down, and full of tears am I, Drinking my griefe, whilst you mount up on high.
Boling.I thought, you had been willing to resign.
K, Rick. My crown, I am ; but stHl my griefs are mine: You may my glories and my state depose. But not my griefs ; still am I king of those.
Boling. Part of your cares you give me wilii your crown.
K, Rich, Your cares set up, do not pluck my cares down. My care is — loss of care, by old care done** ; Your care is — gain of care, by new care won : The cares I give, I have, though given away ; They tend^^ the crown, yet still with me they stay»
Bolmg, Are you contented to resign the crown?
K. Rich. Ay, no ; — ^no, ay ; — ^for I must nothing be ; Therefore no no, for I resign to thee. Now mark me how I will undo myself: — I give this heavy weight from off my head. And this unwieldy sceptre from my hand, The pride of kingly sway from out my heart; With mine own tears I wash away my balm^. With mine own hands I give away my crown. With mine own tongue deny my sacred state. With mine own breath release all duteous oaths ^ : All pomp and majesty I do forswear; My manors, rents, revenues, I forego; My acts, decrees, and statutes, I deny:
^ Shakspeare often obscures his meaning by plajring 'vrith sounds. Richard seems to say here that ' his cares are not made less by the increase of Bolingbroke's cares ;'— his grief is, that his regal cares are at an end, by the cessation of care to which he had been accustomed.'
•♦ Attend. *• Oil of consecration.
^ The first quarto reads dutj/'i riies.
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SC. I. kiNG RICHARD 11^ 89
God pardon all oaths> that are broke to me ! God keep all vows unbroke, are made^ to thee ! Make me, that nothing have, with nothing griey'd ; And thou with all pleas'd, that hast all achiey'd ! Long mayst thou liye in Richard's seat to sit. And soon lie Richard in an earthy pit ! God saye King Henry, unking'd Richard says, And send him many years of sunshine days ! — What more remains ?
North, No more, but that you read
[Offering a Paper. These accusations, and these grieyous crimes. Committed by your person, and your followers. Against the state and profit of this land; That, by confessing them, the souls of men May deem that you are worthily depos'd.
K. Rich. Must I do so? and must I rayel out My weav'd up follies? Gentle Northumberland, If thy offences were upon record, Would it not shame thee in so fair a troop, To read a lecture of them? If thou would'st^. There should'st thou find one heinous article, — Containing the deposing of a king, And cracking the strong warrant of an oath, — Marked with a blot, damn'd in the book of heayen : — Nay, all of you, that stand and look upon me. Whilst that my wretchedness doth bait myself, — Thou^ some of you, with Pilate, wash your hands, Showing an outward pity ; yet you Pilates Haye here deliyer'd me to my sour cross. And water cannot wash away your sin.
North. My lord, despatch; read o'er these articles.
K. Rich. Mine eyes are full of tears, I cannot see : And yet salt water blinds them not so much,
* Thua the folio. The quarto reads that swear.
* That is, if thoa would' st read over a list of thy own deeds.
I2
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9(T KING RICHARD II. ACT IV.
But they can see a sort^ of traitors here. Nay, if I turn mine eyes upon nayself, I find myself a traitor with the rest: For I have given here my soul's consent^ To undeck the pompous body of a king ; Make glory base; and sovereignty, a slave; Proud majesty, a subject; state, a peasant.
North. My lord,
K. Rich, No lord of thine, thou haught^, insult- ing mail, Nor no man's lord ; I have no name, no tide, — No, not that name was given me at the font, — But 'tis usurp'd: — Alack the heavy day. That I have worn so many winters out. And know not now what name to call myself! O, that I were a mockery king of snow, Standing before the sun of Bolingbroke, To melt myself away in water-<lrops ! — Good king, — great king, — (and yet not greatly good). An if my word be sterling yet in England, Let it command a mirror hither straight; That it may show me what a face I have. Since it is bankrupt of his'^ majesty.
Boling, Go some of you, and fetch a looking-glass.
[Exit an Attendant.
North. Read o'er this paper, while the glass doth come.
K. Rich. Fiend ! thou torment'st me ere I come to hell.
Boling, Urge it no more, my Lord Northumber- land.
^ A sort is a set or coo^Kuiy. So in King Richard III. : —
' A sort of ragabonds, rascala, and nuawajs.* ^ i. e. haughty. Thus in King Richard III. : — ;
' And the queen's sons and brothers haught and proud.' '* His for its. It was common in the poet's time to use the personal for the neutral pronoun.
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SC. I. KING RICHARD II. 91
North. The commons will not then be satisfied.
K. Rich. They shall be satisfied : I'D read enough. When I do see the very book indeed Where all my sins are writ, and that^s — ^myself.
Re-enter Attendant, with a Glass.
Give me that glass, and therein will I read. —
No deeper wrinkles yet? Hath sorrow struck
So many blows upon this face of mine.
And made no deeper wounds? — O, flattering glass.
Like to my followers in prosperity.
Thou dost beguile me ! Was this face the face.
That every day under his household roof
Did keep ten diousand men'^? Was this the face,
That, like the sun, did make beholders iinnk^' :
Was this the face, that fac'd so many follies,.
And was at last out-fac'd by Bolingbroke ?
A brittle ^ory shineth in this face :
As brittle as the glory is the face;
[Dashes the Glass against the ground. For there it is, crack'd in a hundred shivers. — Mark, silent king, the moral of this sport, — How soon my sorrow hatli destroy'd my face.
Boling. The shadow of your sorrow hath destroy'd The shadow of your face.
K. Rich. Say that again.
The shadow of my sorrow? Ha! let's see: — 'Tis very true, my grief lies all within^; And these external manners of lament Are merely shadows to the unseen grief. That swells with silence in the tortur'd soul ; There lies the substance : and I thank thee, king,
** ' To his household came every day to meate ten thousand men.* — ChronicU History, " The quarto omits this line and the four preceding^ words. .** ' But I jiaire that within which passeth show,
These bat the trappings and the suits of woe.* — Hamlet. .
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92 KINO RICHARD II. ACT IV.
For thy great bovnty^ ihaX not only gir'st Me cause to wail, but teaohest me the way How to hunent the cause. I'll beg one boon. And then be gone, and trouble you no more. ShaU I obtain it?
Baling. Name it, fair cousin.
K. Rich. Fair cousin ! I am greater than a king: For, when I ¥ras a king, my flatterars Were then but subjects : being now a subject, I have a king here to my flatterer. Being so great, I have no need to beg.
Bolmg. Yet ask.
K. Rich. And shaU I have?
Baling. You shalL
K. Rich.. Then give me leave to go.
Baling. Whither?
K. Rich. Whither you will, so I were from your sights.
Baling. Go, some of you, convey him to the Tower.
K.Rich. O, good! Convey? — Conveyers'* are you all, That rise thus nimbly by a true king's fall^.
[Exevnt K. Rich, some Lords, and a Guard.
Baling. On Wednesday next we solemnly set down Our coronation : lords, prepare yourselves.
[Exeunt all but the Abbot, Bishop af Carlisle, and AuMERLE.
Ahbot. A woful pageant have we here beheld.
Car. The woe's to come : the children yet unbcnn Shall feel this day as sharp to them as thorn.
^ To comvejf was formerly often used in an ill sense. Pistol says of stealing ' amvey the wise it call ;' and ' to oonre j* is the word for slight of hand or juggling. Richard means that it is « term of contempt, 'jugglers are yon all.'
^ This is the last of the additional lines first printed in the quarto of 1608. In the first editions there is no personal ap- pearance of King Richard.
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8C. I. KING RICHARD II. 93
Aum. You holy clergymen, is there no plot To rid the realm of this pernicious hlot ?
Abbot. Before I freely speak my mind herein, You shall not only take the sacrament To bury mine intents, but also to effect Whatever I shall happen to devise : — I see your brows are full of discontent. Your hearts of sorrow, and your eyes of tears ; Come home with me to supper ; I will lay A plot^ shall show us all a merry day. [Exeunt.
ACT V. ,
SCENE I. London. A Street leading to the Tower.
Enter Queen, and Ladies.
Queen. This way the king will come ; this is the way To Julius Caesar's ill-erected tower ^, To whose flint bosom my condemned lord Is doom'd a prisoner, by proud Bolingbroke : Here let us rest, if this rebellious earth Have any resting for her true king's queen.
Enter King Richard, and Guards.
But soft, but see, or rather do not see.
My fair rose wither : Yet look' up; behold;
That you in pity may dissolve to dew.
And wash hun fresh again with true-love tears. —
Ah, thou, the model where old Troy did stand ;
Thou map ^ of honour ; thou King Richard's tomb,
^ By ia erected is probably meant erected for evU fmrposes.
* Modd anciently signified, according to the dictionaries, ' the piatfwm or form of any thing.* And map is nsed for fictwre re- semUanee. In The Rape of Luorece Shakspeare calls sleep ' the map of death.*
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94 KINO RICHARD II; ACT V.
And not King Richard ; thou most beauteous inn ^ Why should hard-favour'd grief be lodged in thee. When triumph is become an ale-house guest?
K. Rich, Join not with grief, fur woman, do not so. To make my end too sudden : learn, good soul, To think our former state a happy dream ; From which awak'd, the truth of what we are Shows us but this ; I am sworn brother^, sweet, To grim necessity ; and he and t Will keep a league till death. Hie thee to France, And cloister thee in some religious house : Our holy lives must win a new world's crown. Which our profane hours here have stricken down.
Qu6eft. What, is my Richard both in shape and mind Transformed and weakened ? Hath Bolingbroke Depos'd thine intellect? hath he been in thy heart? The lion, dying, thrusteth forth his paw. And wounds the earth, if nothing else, with rage To be o'erpower'd; and wilt thou, pupil-like, Take thy correction mildly? kiss the rod, And fawn on rage with base humility. Which art a lion, and a king of beasts ?
K. Rich, A king of beasts, indeed : if aught but beasts, I had been still a happy king of men. Good sometime queen, prepare thee hence for France: Think, I am dead; and that even here thou tak'st. As from my death-bed, my last living leave. In winter's tedious nights, sit by the fire With good old folks, and let them tell thee tales Of woful ages, long ago betid ^:
' Itm does not probably here mp%n • house of public enter- tainment, but • dwelling or lodging generally. In which sense the word was anciently used.
* Sworn brother alludes to the fratres jurati, who, in the age of adrentnre, bound themselves by mutual oaths to share for- tunes together. Vide note on King Henry Y. Act ii. Sc. 1.
* Passed.
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SC. I. KING RICHARD II. 95x
Andy ere diou bid good night, to quit^ their grief.
Tell tiiou the lamentable fall^ of me,
And send the hearers weeping to their beds.
For why, the senseless brands will sympathize
The heavy accent of thy moving tongue.
And, in compassion, weep the fire out :
And some will mourn in ashes, soihe coal-black.
For the deposing of a rightful king.
Enter Northumberland, attended.
North. My lord, the mind of BoUngbroke is chang'd;
You must to Pomfret, not unto the Tower.
And, madam, there is order ta'en for you ^ : With all swift speed you must away to France.
K.Rieh. Northumberland, thou ladder where- withal The mounting Bolingbroke ascends my throne, — The time shall not be many hours of age More than it is, ere foul sin, gathering head. Shall break into corruption : thou shalt think. Though he divide the realm, and give thee half. It is too little, helping him to all ; And he shall think, that thou, which know'st the way To plant unrightful kings, wilt know again. Being ne'er so little urg'd, another way To pluck him headlong from the usurped throne. The love of wicked friends converts to fear ; That fear, to hate ; and hate turns one, or both. To worthy danger, and deserved death.
North. My guilt be on my head, and there an end. Take leave, and part ; for you must part forthwith.
K. Rich. Doubly divorc'd? — Bad men, ye violate
• To requite their monrnfiil stories. ^ The quarto of 1597 reads tak.
* Thus in Othello: —
* Honest lago hath ta*en order for it.'
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96 KING RICHARD II. ACT V.
A twofold marriage ; ^twixt my crown and me ; And then, betwixt me and my married wife. — Let me unkiss the oath 'twixt thee and me ; And yet not so, for with a kiss 'twas made^. — Part us, Northumberland : I towards the north. Where shivering cold and sickness pines the clime; My wife to France ; from whence, set forth in pomp. She came adorned hither like sweet May, Sent back like Hallowmas ^^, or shortest of day.
Queen, And must we be divided? must we part?
K. Rick. Ay, hand from hand, my love, and heart from heart.
Queen. Banish us both, and send the king with me.
North. ^^That were some love, but little policy.
Queen. Then whither he goes, thither let me go?
K.Rich. So two, together weeping, make one woe. Weep thou for me in France, I for thee here ; Better far off, than — ^near, be ne'er the near* ^. Go, count thy w«y with sighs ; I, mine with groans:
Queen. So longest way shall have the longest moans.
K. Rich. Twice for one step I'll groan, the way being short. And piece die way out with a heavy heart. Come, come, in wooing sorrow let's be brief. Since, wedding it, there is such length in grief. One kiss diall stop our mouths, and dumbly part : Thus give I mine, and thus I take thy heart
[Theykisg.
^ A hiss appears to have been an established circnmstanoe in oar ancient marriage ceremonies. So, in Marston's Insatiate Countess, 1618, the duke, on parting with his wife, says to her : — < The kUs thou ffav'st me in the chmrch here take.'
«® All Hallows, i.e. All Saints, Nov. 1.
*' The quartos give this speech to the king.
'* Never the nigher, i. e. * it is better to be at a great distance than being near each other, to find that we are jet not like! j to be peaceably and happily united.'
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SC. I. KING RICHARD It. 97
Queen. Give me mine own again ; Hwere no good part, To take on me to keep, and kill thy heart ^^.
[Kiss again. So now I have mine own again, begone. That I may strive to kill it with a groan. K. Rich. We make woe wanton with this fond delay : Once more, adieu; the rest let sorrow say. [Exemii.
SCENE II. The same. A Room in the Duke of York's Palace.
Enter York, and his Duchess^.
Duch. My lord, you told me, you would tell the rest. When weeping made you break the story off Of our two cousins coming into London.
York. Where did I leave?
Duch. At that sad stop, my lord.
Where rude misgovem'd hands, from windows' tops. Threw dust and rubbish on King Richard's head.
York. Then, as I said, the duke, great Boling- broke, — Mounted upon a hot and fiery steed. Which his aspiring rider seem'd to know, — With slow, but stately pace, kept on his course,
*' So in King Henry V. Act ii. So. 2: —
< the king hfttb hitd his htart:
* The first wife of Edward duke of York was Isabella, daugh' ter of Peter thfc Cmel, king of Castile and Leon. He married her in 1372, and had by her the dnke of Anmerle, and all his other children. In introducing her the poet has departed widely from history ; for she died in 1394, four or five years before the events related in the present play. After her death York mar- ried Joan, daughter of John Holland, earl of Kent, who sorrived him about thirty-foor years, and had three other husbands. VOL. V. K '
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96 KING RICHARD II. ACT V.
While all tongues cried — God save thee, Boling-
broke ! You would have thought die very windows spake, So many greedy looks of young and old Through casements darted their desiring eyes Upon his visage ; and diat all the walls. With painted imag'ry, had said at once, — Jesu preserve thee ! welcome, Bolingbroke ! Whilst he, from one side to the other turning. Bare-headed, lower than his proud steed's neck, Bespake them thus, — I thank you, countrymen : And thus still doing, thus he pass'd along. ' Duch, Alas, poor Richard ! where rides he the while? York, As in a theatre, the eyes of men *, After a well grac'd actor leaves the stage. Are idly bent on him that enters next. Thinking his prattle to be tedious : Even so, or with much more contempt, men's eyes Did scowl on Richard ; no man cried, God saVe him ; No joyful tongue gave him his welcome home : Bat dust was thrown upon his sacred head ; Which with such gentle sorrow he shook off, — bis face still combating with tears and smiles. The badges of his grief and patience, — That had not God, for some strong purpose, steel'd The hearts of men, they must perforce have melted. And barbarism itself have pitied him. But heaven hath a hand in these events ; To whose high will we boand our calm contents. To Bolingbroke are we sworn subjects, now, < Whose state and honour I for aye allow.
3 ' The painting of this description is so liyelj, and the words so moving that I have scarce read anj thing comparable to it in any other language.' — Dryden; Pref, to TroUus and Cressida,
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SC. II. KINO RICHARD II. OQ
Enter Aumerle.
Duck, Here comes my son Aumerle.
York. Aumerle that was ;
But that is lost, for being Richard's friend; And, madam, you must call him Rutland*"^ now: I am in parliament pledge for his truth. And lasting fealty to the new-made king.
Duck. Welcome, my son : Who are the violets now. That strew the green lap of the new-come spring^?
Aum. Madam, I know not, nor I greatly care not; God knows, I had as lief be none as one.
York. Well, bear you well in this new spring of time. Lest you be cropp'd before you come to prime. What news from Oxford? hold those justs and tri- umphs?
Aum. Por aaght I know, my lord, they do.
York. You will be there, I know.
Aum. If God prevent it not ; I purpose so.
York. What seal is that, that hangs without thy bosom ^? Yea, look'st thou pale ? let me see the writing.
Aum. My lord, 'tis nothing.
York. No matter then who sees it;
I will be satisfied, let me see the writing.
Aum. I do beseech your grace to pardon me ; It is a matter of small consequence. Which for some reasons I would not have seen.
' * The dnkes of Aumerle, Snrrey, and Exeter were deprived of their dukedoms by an act of Henr/s first parliament, bat were •Uowed to retain the earldoms of Rutland, Kent, and ilonting- donJ-^HoUnshed. * So in Milton's Song on May Morning : —
' who from her green lap throws
The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose.' ^ The seals of deeds were formerly impressed on slips or labds of parchment appendant to them.
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100 KING RICHARD II. ACT V.
York, Which for some reasons^ sir, I mean to see. I fear, I fear,
Duch. What should you fear?
Tis nothing but some bond that he is enter'd into For gay apparel, 'gauist the triumph day.
York, Bound to himself ? what doth he with a bond That he is bound to? Wife, thou art a fool.-r- Boy, let me see the writing.
Aum. I do beseech you, pardon me ; I may not show it.
York. I will be satisfied ; let me see it, I say. [SiuLtches it, and rends. Treason ! foul treason ! — ^villain ! traitor ! slave !
Duch. What is the matter, my lord ?
York, Ho! who is within there? [Enter a Ser- vant.] Saddle my horse. God for his mercy ! what treachery is here !
Dvch. Why, what is it, my lord ?
York. Give me my boots, I say ; saddle my horse : — Now by mine honour, by my life, my troth, I will appeach the villain. [Exit Servant.
Duch. What's the matter ?
York. Peace, foolish woman.
Dwih. I will not peace : — ^What b the matter, son ?
Aum. Good mother, be content; it is no more Than my poor life must answer.
Duch. Thy life answer?
Re-enter Servant, with Boats.
York. Bring me my boots, I will unto the king. Duch. Strike him, Aumerle. — Poor boy, thou art amaz'd: Hence, villain ; never more come in my sight. —
[To the Servant. York. Give me my boots, I say.
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— "Jii
SC. 11. KING R1CH4RP II. IQl
Duck. Why, York, what wilt thou do? Wilt thou not hide the trespass of thine own ? Have we more sons? or are we like to have? Is not my teeming date drunk up with time ? And wilt thou pluck my fair son from mine age. And rob me of a happy mother's name? Is he not like thee? is he not thine own?
York, Thou fond mad woman. Wilt thou conceal this dark conspiracy ? A dozen of them here have ta'en the sacrament. And interchangeably set down their hands. To kill die king at Oxford.
Duck. He shall be none ;
We'll keep him here : Then what is that to him ?
York. Away, Fond woman ! were he twenty times my son, I would appeach him.
Duck. Hadst thou groan'd for him.
As I have done, thou'dst be more pitiful. But now I know thy mind ; thou dost suspect. That 1 have been disloyal to thy bed. And that he is« a bastard, not thy son : Sweet York, sweet husband, be not of that mind : He is as like thee as a man may be, Not like to me, or any of my km, And yet I love him.
York. " Make way, unruly woman.
[Exit.
Duck. After, Aumerle ; mount thee upon his horse ; Spur, post; and get before him to the king. And beg thy pardon ere he do accuse thee. Ill not be long behind; though I be old, I doubt not but to ride as fast as York : And neyer will I rise up from the ground. Till Bolingbroke have pardon'd thee : Away ; Begone. [Exeunt.
k2
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102 KING RICHARD II. ACT V.
SC£N£ III. Windsor. A Roam in the Castle.
Enter Bolingbroke as King; Percy, and other Lords.
Boling. Can no man tell of my unthrifty son ? Tis full three months since I did see him last : — If any plague hang over us, 'tis he. I would to God, my lords, he might be found : Inquire at London, 'mongst the taverns there. For there, they say, he daily doth frequent, With unrestrained loose companions ; Even such, they say, as stand in narrow lanes. And beat our watch, and rob our passengers ; While he, young, wanton, and effeminate boy, . Takes on the point of honour, to support So dissolute a crew ^.
Percy. My lord, some two days since I saw the prince ; And told him of these triumphs held at Oxford.
Boling. And what said the gallant?
Percy. His answer was, — he would unto the stews ; And from the commonest creature pluck a glove. And wear it as a favour; and with that He would unhorse the lustiest challenger.
Boling. As dissolute, as desperate : yet, througb^ both I see some sparkles ^ of a better hope. Which elder days may happily bring forth. But who comes here?
> This is a yer j proper introduoiion to tbf future character of King Henry V. to his debaucheries in his youth, ahd his great- ness in his manhood, as the poet has described them. But it baa been ably contended by Mr. Luders that the whole story of bis dissipation was a fiction. At this period (i. e. 1400) he was bat twelve years old, being bom in 1888.
* The folio reads sparks.
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■' i> v^^nrw^^nm
SC. III. KING RICHARD It. 103
Enter Aumerle, hastily^
Aum, Where is the king ?
BoUng. What means
Our coiisin^ that he stares and looks so wildly ?
Aum, God saye your grace. I do beseech your majesty. To have some conference with your grace alone.
Boling, Withdraw yourselves, and leave us here alone. — [Exeunt Percy and Lords.
What is the matter with our cousin now ?
Aum. For ever may my knees grow to the earth,
[Kneels: My tongue cleave to my roof within my mouth. Unless a pardon, ere I rise, or speak.
Bolmg. Intended, or committed, was this fault? ' If but' the first, how heinous ere it be, To win thy after-love, I pardon thee.
Aum. Then give me leave that I may turn the key. That no man enter till my tale be done.
Boling. Have thy desire. [Aum. locks the door.
York. [ Within.] My liege, beware ; look to thyself; Thou hast a traitor in thy presence there.
Boling. Villain, I'll make thee safe. [Drawing.
Aum. Stay thy revengeful hand ; Thou hast no cause to fear.
York. [Within.] Open the door, secure, fool- hardy king: Shall I, for love, speak treason to thy face? Open the door, or I will break it open.
[BoLiNQBROKE opens the door.
Enter York.
Boling. What is the matter, uncle ? speak ; Recover breath ; tell us how near is danger. That we may arm us to encounter it.
' The old copies read ' If on,* ^c. Pope made the alteration.
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104 KING RICHARD II. ACT V.
York, Peruse this writing here, and thou shalt know The treason that my haste forbids me show.
Aum, Remember, as thou read'st,thy promise past : I do repent me ; read not my name there, My heart is not confederate with my hand.
York. Twas, yillain, ere thy hand did set it down. — I tore it from the traitor's bosom, king : Fear, and not love, begets his penitence : Forget to pity him, lest thy pity prove A serpent that will sting thee to the heart.
Baling. O heinous, strong, and bold conspiracy ! — O loyal father of a treacherous son ! Thou sheer ^, inmiaculate, and silver fountain. From whence this stream through muddy passages. Hath held his current, and defil'd himself! Thy overflow of good converts to bad ; And thy abundant goodness shall excuse This deadly blot in thy digressing^ son.
York. So shall my virtue be his vice's bawd ; AAd he shall spend mine honour with his shame. As thriftless sons their scraping fathers' gold. Mine honour lives when his dishonour dies, Or my sham'd Hfe in his dishonour lies : Thou kill'st me in his life ; giving him breath. The traitor lives, the true man's put to death.
Buck. [Within.] What ho, my liege! for God's sake let me in.
* Sheer u pelkcid, transparmU. So in Spenser's Faerie Queene, b. iii. 0. 2 : —
' Who baying viewed in a fountain shere
Her face/ &c. Again, b. iii. c. 11 : —
' That she at last came to a fountain shere,' And in Golding^s translation of Ovid, 1587 : —
' The water was so pore and sheere,* &c. ' Thus in Romeo and Juliet : —
' Digre»si$tg from the valour of a man.' To digress is to deviate from what is right or regular.
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SC. III. KIN6 RICHARD II» 105
BoHng. Mliat shriU-voic'd suppliant makes this eager cry?
Duck, A woman, and thine aunt, great king ; 'tis I. Speak with me, pity me, open the door; A beggar begs, that never begg'd before.
Boling. Our scene is alter'd, — from a serious thing. And now chang'd to The Beggar and the King ^ — My dangerous cousin, let your mother in ; I know, she's come to pray for your foul sin.
York. If thou do pardon, whosoever pray. More sins, for this forgiveness, prospM* may. This fostered joint cut off, the rest rests sound. This let alone, will all the rest confound.
Enter Duchess.
Dw^. O king, believe not this hard-hearted man ; Love, loving not itself, none odier ^can.
York. Thou frantick woman, what dost thou make "^ here? Shall thy old dugs once more a traitor rear?
Ihch. Sweet York, be patient: Hear mC) gentle liege. [Kneels.
BoKng.. Else up, good aunt.
Duck. Not yet, I thee beseech :
For ever will I kneel ^ upon my knees. And never see day that the happy sees. Till thou give joy ; until thou bid me joy. By pardoning Rutland, my transgressing boy.
Aum. Unto my mother's prayers, I bend my knee.
[Kneeis.:
* It is probable that the old ballad of ' King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid' is here alladed to. The reader- will find it in the fint Tolnme of Dr. Perc/s Reliqaes of Ancient Poetr j< There Bay have been a popular Interlude on the sabject, for the atorj ii alluded to bj other cotemporaries of the poet^
^ i. e. < what dost thou do here V Thus in the Merry Wives ofWindsor:—
' What indb« you here i*
* Thas the folio. The qoarto copies read walk.
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106 KING RICHARD II; ACT V.
York. Against them both, my true joints bended be. [Kneeh.
Ill may*st thou thriye, if thou grant any graced !
Duch. Pleads he in earnest? look upon his face ; His eyes do drop no tears, his prayers are in jest; His words come from his mouth, ours from our breast; He prays but faintly, and would be denied ; We pray with heart, and soul, and all beside : Hb weary joints would gladly rise, I know ; Our knees shall kneel till to the ground tiiey grow : His prayers are full of false hypocrisy ; Ours, of true zeal and deep integrity. Our prayers do out-pray his; then let them have That mercy, which true prayers ought to hare.
Bolmg* Good aunt, stand up.
Dvch. Nay, do not say — stand up ;
But, pardon, first; and afterwards, stand up. An if I were thy nurse, thy tongue to teach. Pardon — should be the first word of thy speech. I never long'd to hear a word till now; Say — ^pardon, king; let pity teach thee how : The word is short, but not so short as sweet; No word like, pardon, for kings' mouths so meet.
York, Speak it in French, king ; say, pardonnez
Duch, Dost diou teach pardon pardon to destroy ? Ah, my sour husband, my hard-hearted lord. That sett'st the word itself against the word ! — Speak, pardon, as 'tis current in our land : Tlie chopping ^^ French we do not understand.
' This line is not in. the folio.
1® The French moy being made to rfaime with destroy, wonld seem to im]d j that the poet was not well acquainted with the true pronunciation of that language, perhaps it was imperfectly under- stood in his time by those who had not visited France.
" The clwjpping French, i.e. the changing or changeable French. Thos 'chopping churches' is changing one church for another; and chopping logic is discoursing or interchanging logic with an- other. Tb chop and change is still a common idiom.
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SC. III. KING IlICHARD II. 107
Thine eye begins to speak, set thy tongue there ; Or, in thy piteous heart plant thou thine ear ; That, hearing how our plaints and prayers do pierce, Pity may move thee, pardon to rehearse.
Boling, Good aunt, stand up.
Duch. I do not sue to stand.
Pardon is all the suit I have in hand.
Boling, I pardon him, as God shall pardon me.
Duch. O happy vantage of a kneeling knee ! Yet am I sick for fear : speak it again ; Twice saying pardon, doth not pardon twain. But makes one pardon strong.
Boling, With all my heart
I pardon him ^^.
Duch. A god on earth thou art.
Boling. But for our trusty brother-in-law ^', — and the abbot". With all the rest of that consorted crew, — Destruction straight shall dog them at the heels ^^. — Good uncle, help to order several powers To Oxford, or where'er these traitors are : They shall not live within this world, I swear, But I will have them, if I once know where. Uncle, farewell, — and cousin too ^^, adieu : Your mother well hath pray'd, and prove you true.
Dtick. Come, my old son ; — I pray God make thee new. [Exeunt.
" The old copies read < I pardon him with all m j heart.' The tnnsposition was made by Pope. ^
*' The brother-in-law meant was John doke of Exeter and earl of Hiuitb}^don (own brother to Edward II.), who had married the Lady Elizabeth, Bolingbroke's sister.
^* i. e. the abbot of Westminster.
'* ' Death and destruction dog thee at the heels.'
King Richard IIL
** Too, which is not in the old copies, was added by Theobald for the sake of the metre.
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108 KING RICHARD II. ACT V.
SCENE IV.
Enter Exton, and a Servant.
Exton. Didst thou not mark the king, what words he spake ? Have I no friend will rid me of this living fear? Was it not so ?
Serv* Those were his very words.
Exton* Have I no friend? quoth he; he spake it twice, And urg'd it twice together; did he not?
Serv, He did.
Exton. And, speaking it, he wistfully look'd on me ; As who should say, — I would, thou wert the man That would divorce this terror from my heart ; Meaning, the king at Pomfiret. Come, let's go ; I am the .king's friend, and will rid ^ his foe.
[Exeunt,
SCENE V. Pomfret^ 7%e Dungeon of the Castle.
Enter King Richard.
K. Rich. I have been studying how I may compare This prison, whene I live, unto the world: And, for because the world is populous. And here is not a creature but myself, I cannot do it; — ^Yet I'll hammer it out My brain I'll prove the female to my soul ; My soul, the father : and these two beget
> To rid and to dispatch were formerl j sjnoDjmoas, as may be seen in the old Dictionaries, ' To ridde or diapatche himself of any man.* — * To dispatche or ridde one qaicklj.' Vide Baret's ^vearie, 1576, in Ridde and Dispatche. So in King Henry YI. Part II.—
' As deathsmen yon have rid this sweet yoong prince.'
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SC. ▼. KING RICHARD II. 109
A generation of still-breeding thoughts , And these same thoughts people this little world ^ ; In humours, like the people of this world. For no thought is contented. The better sort, — As thoughts of things diyine, — are intermix'd With scruples, and do set the word itself Against the word ^ :
As thus, — Come, little ones; and then again, — It is as hard to come, as for a camel To thread the postern of a needless eye. Thoughts tending to ambition, they do plot Unlikely wonders : how these vain weak nails May tear a passage through the flinty ribs Of this hard world, my ragged prison walls ; And, for they cannot, die in their own pride. Hioughts tending to content, flatter themselves, — That they are not the first of fortune's slaves. Nor shall not be the last; like silly beggars. Who, sitting in the stocks, refuge their shame, — That many have, and others must sit there : And in this thought they find a kind of ease, Bearing their own misfortune on the back Of such as have before endur'd the like : Thus play I, in one person, many people^. And none contented : Sometimes am I king : Then treason makes me wish myself a beggar. And so I am : Then crushing penury
' t e. bis own bodj. So in King Lear : —
' Striyes in tbis Utile world of man ontscorn Tbe to and fro conflicting wind and rain.'
' Bj tbe word is meant tbe Holy Scriptures. Tbe folio reads ihe faith iteelf against ihe faith,
* This is the reading of tbe qaarto, 1597 ; alluding, perhaps, to the costom of oar earl j theatres. Tbe title pages of some of oar Moralities show that three or foor characters were frequently represented bj one perwn. The folio, and other copies, read ' in oneprifOM.'
VOL. V. L
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110 KING RICHARD II. ACT V.
Persuades me, I was better when a king;
Then am I king'd again : and, by-and-by.
Think that I am unking'd by Bolingbroke,
And straight-am nothing : — But, whate'er I am.
Nor I, nor any man, that but man is.
With nothing shall be pleas'd, till he be eas'd
With being nothing. — Musick do I hear? [Mustek.
Ha, ha ! keep time : — How sour sweet musick is.
When time is broke, and no proportion kept !
So is it in the musick of men's liv^s.
And here hare I the daintiness of ear
To check ^ time broke in a disorder'd string ;
But for the concord of my state and time,
Had not an ear to hear my true time broke.
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.
For now hath time made me bis numbering clock :
My thoughts are minutes ; and, with sighs, they jar ^
Their watches on unto mine eyes, the outward watch ^,
Whereto my finger, like a dial's point.
Is pointing still, in cleansing them from tears.
Now, sir, the sound, that tells what hour it is"^,
* The folio reads ' to hear,* « Tick.
' It should be recollected that there are three ways in which a clock notices the progress of time, viz. bj the Itbration of the pendulum, the index on the dial, and the striking of the hour. To these the king, in his comparison, severally alludes ; his sighs corresponding to the jarring or ticking of the pendulum, which at the same time that it watches or numbers the seconds, marks also their progress in minutes on the dial-plate, or outward waich^ to which the king compares his eyes ; and their want of 6gares is supplied by a succession of tears (or minute drops, to use an expression of Milton), his finger, by as regularly wiping these away, performs the office of the dioTs point : his clamorous groans are the sounds that tell the hour. In King Henry lY. Part II. tears are used in a similar manner : —
' But Harry lires that shall convert those tears By number into hours of happiness.' ' Should we not read : —
' Now, sir, the sounds that tell what hour it is Are clamorous groans?" &c.
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SC. V. KING RICHARD II. Ill
Are clamoroiis groans, that strike upon my heart, Which is the bell : So sighs, aad tears, and groans. Show minutes, times, and hours : — but my time Runs posting on in Bolingbroke's proud joy. While I stand fooling here, his Jack o'the clock®. This musick mads me, let it sound no more ; For, though it have holpe madmen to their wits^, In me, it seems, it will make wise men mad. Yet blessing on his heart that gives it me ! For 'tis a sign of lore; and love to Richard Is a strange brooch ^^ in this all-hating world.
Enter Groom.
Chroam, Hail, royal prince !
K, Rich. Thanks, noble peer;