K. Rich. Thou, a lunatic lean-witted fool,
Prefuming on an ague's privilege,
Dar it with thy frozen admonition

Mike pale our cheek; chafing the royal blood,
With fury, from his native refidence.
Now by my feat's right royal majefty,
Wert thou not brother to great Edward's fon,
This tongue, that runs fo roundly in thy head,
Should run thy head from thy unreverend thoulders.
Gaunt. Oh, fpare me not, my brother Ed-
ward's ton,

For that I was his father Edward's fọn ;
That blood already, like the pelican,
Haft thou tap'd out, and drunkenly carows'd:
My brother Glofter, plain well-meaning foul,
(Whom fair befal in heaven 'mongst happy fouls !)
May be a precedent and witness good,
That thou respect it not spilling Edward's blood:
Join with the present sickness that I have ;
And thy unkindness be like crooked age,
To crop at once a too long wither'd flower.
Live in thy fhame, but die not fhame with thee!
Thefe words hereafter thy tormentors be !-
Convey me to my bed, then to my grave :-
Love they to live 1, that love and honour have.
[Exit, borne out.
K. Rich. And let them die, that age and fullens
have;

For both haft thou, and both become the grave.
York. 'Befeech your majefty, impute his words
To wayward ficklinefs and age in him :
He loves you, on my life, and holds you dear
A Harry duke of Hereford, were he here.
K. Rich. Right; you fay true; as Hereford's love,
As theirs, fo mine; and all be as it is. [fo his;

Enter Northumberland.
North. My liege, old Gaunt commends him to
K. Rich. What fays he? [your majesty.

North. Nay, nothing; all is faid;"
His tongue is now a ftringlefs inftrument;
Words, life, and all, old Lancaster hath spent. [fo!
York. Be York the next that must be bankrupt
Though death be poor, it ends a mortal woe.

I am the laft of noble Edward's fons,

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 haft, 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 againft his friends: his noble hand
Did win what he did spend, and spent not that
Which his triumphant father's hand had won:-
His hands were guilty of no kindred's blood,
But bloody with the enemies of his kin.
Oh, Richard! York is too far gone with grief,
Or elfe 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 feize, and gripe into your hands,
The royalties and rights of banifh'd Hereford?
Is not Gaunt dead? and doth not Hereford live ?
Was not Gaunt just ? and is not Harry true?
Did not the one deferve to have an heir?,
Is not his heir a well-deferving fon?
Take Hereford's rights away, and take from time
His charters, and his customary rights;
Let not to-morrow then enfue to-day;
Be not thyfelf, for how art thou a king,
But by fair fequence and fucceffion?
Now, afore God (God forbid, I fay true!)
If you do wrongfully feize Hereford's rights,
Call in his letters patents that he hath
By his attornies-general to fuc
His livery, and deny 4 his offer'd homage,
You pluck a thousand dangers on your head,
You lofe a thousand well-difpofed hearts,
And prick my tender patience to those thoughts
Which honour and allegiance cannot think. [hands

K. Rich. Think what you will; we feize into our
His plate, his goods, his money, and his lands.

York. I'll not be by, the while: My liege, farewel; What will enfue hereof, there's none can tell;

[Exit. [ftraight;

K. Rich.The ripett fruit first falls, and fo doth he; But by bad courses may be understood,
His time is fpent, our pilgrimage must be :
So much for that.Now for our Irifh wars:
We must supplant those rough rug-headed kerns2;
Which live like venom, where no venom else 3,
But only they, hath privilege to live,
And, for these great affairs do afk fome charge,
Towards our affiftance, we do feize to us
The plate, coin, revenues, and moveables,
Whereof our uncle Gaunt did stand poffefs'd. [long
York. How long fhall I be patient? Oh, how
Shall tender duty make me fuffer wrong?
Not Glofter's death, nor Hereford's banishment,
Not Gaunt's rebukes, nor England's private wrongs,
Nor the prevention of poor Bolingbroke.
About his marriage, nor my own difgrace,
Have ever made me four my patient cheek,
Or bend one wrinkle on my fovereign's face.-

That their events can never fall out good.
K. Rich. Go, Bufhy, to the earl of Wiltshire
Bid him repair to us to Ely-house,
To fee this bufinefs; To-morrow next
We will for Ireland; and 'tis time, I trow ;
And we create, in abfence of ourself,
Our uncle York lord-governor of England,
For he is juft, and always lov'd us well-
Come on, our queen: to-morrow must we part;
Be merry, for our time of stay is fhort. [Flourish.
•[Exeunt King, Queen, &c.

North. Well, lords, the duke of Lancafter is dead.
Rofs. And living too; for now his fon is duke.
Willo. Barely in title, not in revenue.
North. Richly in both, if juftice had her right.
Rufs. My heart is great; but it must break with
Ere't be difburden'd with a liberal tongue. [filence,

That is, let them love to live. 2 Kern fignifies an Irish foot-foldier; an Irifh boor. 3 AlJading to a tradition, that St. Patrick freed the kingdom of Ireland from every fpecies of venomous reptiles. 4 i, e. refyse.

Ee 3

North.

North. Nay, speak thy mind; and let him ne'er | We three are but thyself; and, speaking fo,

speak more,

That speaks thy words again, to do thee harm!
Willo. Tends that thou'dft fpeak, to the duke of
Hereford?

If it be fo, out with it boldly, man;

Quick is mine ear, to hear of good towards him.
Rofs. No good at all, that I can do for him;
Unless you call it good, to pity him,

Bereft and gelded of his patrimony.

Thy words are but as thoughts; therefore, be bold.
North. Then thus :-I have from Port le Blanc,
In Britany, receiv'd intelligence,
[a bay

That Harry Hereford, Reignold Lord Cobham,
That late broke from the duke of Exeter 2;
His brother, archbishop late 3 of Canterbury,
Sir Thomas Erpingham, Sir John Ramfton,
Sir John Norbery, Sir Robert Waterton, and
Francis Quoint,

North. Now, afore heaven, 'tis fhame fuch All thefe, well furnish'd by the duke of Bretagne,

wrongs are borne,

In him a royal prince, and many more
Of noble blood in this declining land.
The king is not himfelf, but bafely led
By flatterers; and what they will inform,
Merely in hate, 'gainst any of us all,
That will the king feverely profecute
'Gainft us, our lives, our children, and our heirs.
Ref. The commons hath he pill'd with griev-
ous taxes,

And quite loft their hearts: the nobles he hath fin'd]
For ancient quarrels, and quite loft 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 this?
North. War hath not wafted it, for warr'd he
hath not,

But bafely yielded upon compromife

That which his ancestors atchiev'd with blows:
More hath he fpent in peace, than they in wars.
Ref. The earl of Wiltshire hath the realm in
farm.

[man. Willa. The king's grown bankrupt, like a broken North. Reproach, and diffolution, hangeth over him.

With eight tall ships, three thousand men of war,
Are making hither with all due expedience,
And fhortly mean to touch our northern fhore :
Perhaps, they had ere this; but that they stay
The first departing of the king for Ireland.
If then we fhall shake off our flavish yoke,
Imp out 4 our drooping country's broken wing,
Redeem from broking pawn the blemish'd crown,
Wipe off the dust that hides our scepter's gilt,
And make high majesty look like itself.
Away, with me, in poft to Ravenfpurg :
But if you faint, as fearing to do ío,
Stay, and be fecret, and myself will go.
Rofs. To horie, to horfe! urge doubts to them
that fear.

Willo. Hold out my horfe, and I will first be
there.
[Excunt,

Enter Queen, Buffy, and Bagot.
Buffy. Madam, your majefty is much too fad :
You promis'd, when you parted with the king,
To lay afide life-harming heavinefs,
And entertain a chearful difpofition.

Rofs. He hath not money for thefe Irish wars,
His burthenous taxations notwithstanding,
But by the robbing of the banish'd duke. [king
Noth. His noble kinfman:-Moft degenerate Save bidding farewel to fo fweet a guest

Queen. To please the king I did; to please myself,
I cannot do it; yet I know no caufe
'Why I thould welcome such a guest as grief,

But, lords, we hear this fearful tempest sing,
Yet feck no shelter to avoid the storm:
We fee the wind fit fore upon our fails,
And yet we frike not, but fecurely perish.
Rofs. We fee the very wreck that we must fuffer;
And unavoided is the danger now,
For fuffering fo the caults of our wreck.

North. Not fo; even through the hollow eyes
I fpy life peering: but I dare not fay, [of death,
How near the tidings of our comfort is. [doft ours.
Willo. Nay, let us fhare thy thoughts, as thou
Rof. Be confident to speak, Northumberland:

As my fweet Richard: Yet again, methinks,
Some unborn forrow, ripe in fortune's womb,
Is coming toward me; and my inward foul
With nothing trembles: at fomething it grieves,
More than with parting from my lord the king.

Busky. Each substance of a grief hath twenty

fhadows,

Which fhew like grief itself, but are not fo :
For forrow's eye, glazed with blinding tears,
Divides one thing entire to many objects ;
Like perspectives 5, which, rightly gaz'd upon,
Shew nothing but confufion; ey'd awry,

To frike the fails, is, to contract them. 2 Mr. Steevens obferves, that this circumftance, of having broke from the duke of Exeter, applies folely to Thomas Arundel, fon and heir to the earl of Arundel who was beheaded in this reign; and from thence conjectures, that a line is loft, in which his name had originally a place. The archbishop next mentioned, was uncle to this young lord, though Shakspeare mistakerly calls him his brother. 3 Having been deprived by the pope of his fee, at the request of the king. 4 This expreflion is borrowed from falconry. To imp a hawk, was to fupply fuch wing-feathers as dropped, or were forced out by any accident." 5 Warburton fays this is a fine fimilitude, and the thing meant is this; "Amongit mathematical recreations, there is one in optics, in which a figure is drawn, wherein all the rules of perfpective are inverted: fo that, if held in the fame pofition with thofe pictures which are drawn according to the rules of perspective, it can prefent nothing but confufion and to be feen in form, and under a regular appearance, it must be ooked upon from a contrary ftation; or, as Shakipcare fays, ey'd awry,''

Diftinguifa

Green. O, madam, 'tis too true: and that is worfe,-- Go, fellow, get thee home, provide fome carts, The lord Northumberland, his young fon Henry

[To the fervant.
And bring away the armour that is there.--
Gentlemen, will you go mufter men? If I know
How, or which way, to order thefe affairs,

The lords of Rofs, Beaumond, and Willoughby,
With all their powerful friends, are fled to him.
Baby. Why have you not proclaim'd Northum-Thus diforderly thruft into my hands,

Never believe me. Both are my kinfmen;→
The one's my fovereign, whom both my oath
And duty bids defend; the other again,

Is my kinfman, whom the king hath wrong'd;
Whom confcience and my kindred bids to right.
Well, fomewhat we muft do.--Come, coufin, I'll
Difpofe of you :-Go, mufter up your men,
And meet me prefently at Berkley, gentlemen,
I should to Plathy too ;—

But time will not permit :-All is uneven,
And every thing is left at fix and feven.

[Exeunt York and Queen.
Bry. The wind fits fair for news to go to Ire-
But none returns. For us to levy power,
Proportionable to the enemy,

1 i. c. drawn it back. 2 The lordship of Plafhy was a town of the dutchess of Glofter's in Effex. 3. c. difloyalty, treachery.

E e 4

Bagot. And that's the wavering commons: for To offer service to the duke of Hereford;

To raze one title of your honour out ;— To you, my lord, I come, (what lord you will) From the most glorious of this land, The duke of York; to know, what pricks you on North. Why, is he not with the queen? [court,] To take advantage of the absent time 3, Percy. No, my good lord; he hath forfook the And fright our native peace with self-born arms. Broken his ftaff of office, and difpers'd

York. Shew me thy humble heart, and not thy

But he, my lord, is gone to Ravenfpurg, [traitor. Whofe duty is deceivable and falfe.

Meaning, perhaps, the time of the king's abfence,

Boling. My gracious uncle !

York. 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 prophane.
Why have thofe banish'd and forbidden legs
Dar'd once to touch a duft of England's ground?
But more than why,Why have they dar'd
to march

So many miles upon her peaceful bofom ;
Frighting her pale-fac'd villages with war,
And oftentation of defpifed arms?

Com'it thou because the anointed king is hence?
Why, foolish boy, the king is left behind,
And in my loyal bofom lies his power.
Were I but now the lord of fuch hot youth,
As when brave Gaunt, thy father, and myself,
Refcu'd the Black Prince, that young Mars of men,
From forth the ranks of many thousand French;
Oh, then, how quickly fhould this arm of mine,
Now prifoner to the palfy, chastise thee,
And minifter correction to thy fault!
Boling. My gracious uncle, let me know my fault;
On what condition ftands it, and wherein ?
York. Even in condition of the worst degree,-
In grofs rebellion, and detested treason ;
Thou art a banifh'd man, and here art come,
Before the expiration of thy time,
In braving arms against thy fovereign.

But 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 fworn, his coming is
But for his own; and, for the right of that,
We all have ftrongly fworn to give him aid;
And let him ne'er fee joy, that breaks that oath.
York. Well, well, I fee the iflue of these arms;

I cannot mend it, I muft needs confefs,
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
Unto the fovereign mercy of the king;
But, fince I cannot, be it known to you,
I do remain as neuter. So, fare you well;-
Unless you please to enter in the caftle,
And there repofe you for this night.

Boling. An offer, uncle, that we will accept.
But we muft win your grace, to go with us
To Briftol caftle; which, they fay, is held
| By Bushy, Bagot, and their complices,
The caterpillars of the commonwealth,
Which I have fworn to weed, and pluck away.
York. It may be, I will go with you:-but yet
I'll paufe ;

For I am loth to break our country's laws.
[ford; Nor friends, nor foes, to me welcome you are:
Here-Things paft redress, are now with me past care.

Boling. As I was banish'd, I was banish'd
But as I come, I come for Lancaster.
And, noble uncle, I befeech your grace,
Look on my wrongs with an indifferent eye;
You are my father, for, methinks, in you
I fee old Gaunt alive; O, then, my father!
Will you permit that I fhall ftand condemn'd
A wand'ring vagabond; my rights and royalties
Pluck'd from my arms perforce, and given away
To upitart unthrifts? Wherefore was I born?
If that my coufin king be king of England,
It must be granted, I am duke of Lancaster.
You have a fon, Aumerle, my noble kinfman;
Had you firft dy'd, and he been thus trod down,
He fhould have found his uncle Gaunt a father,
To roufe his wrongs, and chafe them to the bay.
I am deny'd to fue my livery here,
And yet my letters-patents give me leave:
My father's goods are all diftrain'd, and fold;
And thefe, and all, are all amifs employ'd.
What would you have me do? I am a fubject,
And challenge law Attornies are deny'd me;
And therefore perfonally I lay my claim
To my inheritance of free defcent.

[abus'd.

2 SCENE IV.

In Wales.

Enter Salisbury, and a Captain.

[Excurs.

Cap. 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 difperfe ourselves: farewel.

Sal. Stay yet another day, thou trufty Welshman;
The king repofeth all his confidence in thee. [itay.
Cap. 'Tis thought, the king is dead; we will not
The bay-trees in our country all are wither'd,
And meteors fright the fixed ftars of heaven:
The pale-fac'd moon looks bloody on the earth,
And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change;
Rich men look fad, and ruffians dance and leap,--
The one, in fear to lofe what they enjoy,
The other, to enjoy by rage and war :
Thefe figns forerun the death of kings-
Farewel; our countrymen are gone and fled,
As well affur'd, Richard their king is dead. [Exit.
Sal. Ah, Richard! with eyes of heavy mind,

North. The noble duke hath been too much I fee thy glory, like a shooting star,
Rafs, It ftands your grace upon, to do him right.
Willo. Bafe men by his endowments are made

great.

Fall to the base earth from the firmament!
Thy fun fets weeping in the lowly weft,
Witnelling ftorms to come, woe, and unrest:

York. My lords of England, let me tell you this,--Thy friends are fled, to wait upon thy foes;
And crossly to thy good all fortune goes.

I have had feeling of my coufin's wrongs,

And labour'd all I could to do him right:

[Exeunt.

* On for in. 2 Dr. Johníon conjectures that this dialogue was probably the fecond scene in the enfuing Act, and advifes the reader to infert it there.

ACT