Fall to the base earth from the firmament ! [Exit. ACT III. SCENE I.-Bolingbroke's Camp at Bristol. Enter BOLINGBROKE, YORK, NORTHUMBERLAND, PERCY, WILLOUGHBY, Ross: Officers behind with BUSHY and GREEN, prisoners. Boling. Bring forth these men.— Bushy, and Green, I will not vex your souls And stain'ʼn the beauty of a fair queen's cheeks 7_ ; [5] 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 charches, to anneal the arms of the family in the windows of the house. JOHNS. [7] The impress was a device or motto. Ferne in his Blazon of Gentry, observes, that the arms, &e of traitors and rebels may be defaced and removed, wheresoever they are fixed, or set." STEEV. 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 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. SCENE II.8 [Exeunt. The Coast of Wales 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 for joy, Though rebels wound thee with their horses' hoofs: Plays fondly with her tears, and smiles in meeting; [8] Here may be properly inserted the last scene of the 2d act. JOHNS. But let thy spiders, that suck up thy venom, Bishop. Fear not, my lord; that Power, that made you king, Hath power to keep you king, in spite of all. 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'st thou not, The cloak of night being pluck'd from off their backs, [9] It is not easy to point out an image more striking and beautiful than this, in any poet, whether ancient or modern. STEEV. Can wash the balm from an anointed king: For every man that Bolingbroke hath press'd, A glorious angel: then, if angels fight, Weak men must fall; for heaven still guards the right. Welcome, my lord; how far off lies your power? And thou shalt have twelve thousand fighting men! O'erthrows thy joys, friends, fortune, and thy state; 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? [1] Here is the doctrine of indefeasible right expressed in the strongest terms; but our poet did not learn it in the reign of kingJames, to which it is now the practice of all writers, whose opinions are regulated by fashion or interest, to impute the original of every tenet which they have been taught to think false or foolish. JOHNS. Enter SCROOP. Scroop. More health and happiness betide my liege, Than can my care-tun'd tongue deliver him. 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 Bolingbroke to be as great as we? Greater he shall 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, So high above his limits swells the rage Of Bolingbroke, covering your fearful land With hard bright steel, and hearts harder than steel. [2] It seems to be the design of the poet to raise Richard to esteem in his fall, and consequently to interest the reader in his favour. He gives him only passive fortitude, the virtue of a confessor rather than of a king. In his prosperity we saw him imperious and oppressive; but in his distress he is wise, patient, and pious. JOHNS. [3] Mr. Pope more elegantly reads-and clasp. Clip would be still nearer than clasp. RITSON. MALONE. [4] The king's beadsmen' were his chaplains. Beadsmen might likewise be any man maintained by charity to pray for their benefactor. JOHNS. [5] Called so because the leaves of the yew are poison, and the wood is employed for instruments of death. WARB. From some of the ancient statutes it appears that every Englishman, while archery was practised, was obliged to keep in his house either a bow of yerw or some other wood. It should seem therefore that yes were not only planted in church yards to defend the churches from the wind, but on account of their use in making bows; while by the benefit of being secured in enclosed places, their poisonous quality was kept from doing mischief to cattle. STEEV. |