York. Show me thy humble heart, and not thy knee, Whose duty is deceivable and false. Boling. My gracious uncle ! York. Tut, tut! Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle :7 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 th' anointed king is hence? And in my loyal bosom lies his power. Were I but now the lord of such hot youth, Boling. My gracious uncle, let me know my fault; On what condition stands it, and wherein ? York. Even 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 sovereign. Boling. As I was banish'd, I was banish'd Hereford; But as I come, I come for Lancaster. And, noble uncle, I beseech your grace, Look on my wrongs with an indifferent eye :9 [7] The reading of the folio is preferable: Tut, tut grace me no grace, nor uncle me. RITSON. [8] It should be in what condition,' i. e. in what degree of guilt. The particles in the old editions are of little credit. JOHNSON. [9] i. e. with an impartial eye. Every juryman (says Sir Edward Coke,) ought to be impartial and indifferent." MALONĚ. To upstart unthrifts? Wherefore was I born?1 And yet my letters-patent give me leave: North. The noble duke hath been too much abus'd. To find out right with wrong,-it may not be ; North. The noble duke hath sworn, his coming is Boling. An offer, uncle, that we will accept. [1] To what purpose serves birth and lineal succession? I am duke of Lancaster by the same right of birth as the king is king of England. JOHNSON. [2] A law phrase belonging to the feudal tenures. STEEVENS. But we must win your grace, to go with us 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: SCENE IV.3 [Exeunt, A Camp in Wales. Enter SALISBURY, and a Captain. Capt. My lord of Salisbury, we have staid ten days, And hardly kept our countrymen together, And yet we hear no tidings from the king; Therefore we will disperse ourselves farewell. In thee. Capt. 'Tis thought, the king is dead; we will not stay. The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd,' And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven; The pale-fac'd moon looks bloody on the earth, And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change; Rich men look sad, and ruffians dance and leap,The one, in fear to lose what they enjoy, The other, to enjoy by rage and war : These signs forerun the death or fall of kings.Farewell; our countrymen are gone and fled, As well assur'd, Richard their king is dead. Sal. Ah, Richard! with the eyes of heavy mind, I see thy glory, like a shooting star, [Exit. [3] Here is a scene so unartfully and irregularly thrust into an improper place, that I cannot but suspect it accidentally transposed; which, when the scenes were written on single pages, might easily happen in the wildness of Shakespeare's drama. This dialogue was, in the author's draught, probably the second scene in the ensuing act, and there I would advise the reader to insert it, though I have not ventured on so bold a change. My conjecture is not so presumptuous as may be thought. The play was not in Shakespeare's time, broken into acts; the editions published before his death exhibit only a sequence of scenes from the beginning to the end, without any hint of a pause of action. In a drama so desultory and erratic, left in such a state, transpositions might easily be made. JOHNSON. [4] This enumeration of prodigies is in the highest degree poetical and striking. JOHNSON. and unrest: Fall to the base earth from the firmament! [Exit. SCENE I.-Bolingbroke's Camp at Bristol. Enter BOLING- Bushy, and Green, I will not vex your souls And stain'd the beauty of a fair queen's cheeks Clean, i. e. quite, completely. REED. [6] It was the practice when coloured glass was in use, of which there are still some remains in old seats and churches, to anneal the arms of the family in the windows of the house. JOHNSON. [7] The impress was a device or motto Ferne in his Blazon of Gentry, observes, "that the arms, &c. of traitors and rebels may be defaced and removed, wheresoever they are fixed, or set." STEEVENS. Save men's opinions, and my living blood,- This, and much more, much more than twice all this, Condemns you to the death :-See them deliver'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 plague injustice with the pains of hell. Boling. My lord Northumberland, see them despatch'd. [Exeunt NORTHUmberland and others with Uncle, you say, the queen is at your house; With letters of your love to her at large. Boling. Thanks, gentle uncle.-Come, lords, away; To fight with Glendower and his complices; Awhile to work, and, after, holiday. The Coast of Wales. SCENE II. [Exeunt. A Castle in view. Flourish: Drums and Trumpets. Enter King RICHARD, Bishop of Carlisle, AUMERLE, and Soldiers. K. Rich. Barkloughly castle call you this at hand? Aum. Yea, my lord: How brooks your grace the air, After late tossing on the breaking seas? K. Rich. Needs must I like it well; I weep To stand upon my kingdom once again. Dear earth, I do salute thee with my hand, for joy, Though rebels wound thee with their horses' hoofs: Plays fondly with her tears, and smiles in meeting; And do thee favour with my royal hands. Feed not thy sovereign's foe, my gentle earth, [8] Here may be properly inserted the last scene of the 2d act. JOHNSON. |