Dutch. Why then, I will. Farewel, old Gaunt ! And by the grace of God, and this mine arm,
Thou go'ft to Coventry, there to behold
Our coufin Hereford and feil Mowbray fight:

O, fit my husband's wrongs on Hereford's spear,
That it may enter butcher Mowbray's breaft!
Or if misfortune mifs the first career,
Be Mowbray's fins fo heavy in his bofom,
That they may break his foaming courfer's back,
And throw the rider headlong in the lifts,
A caitiff recreant to my coufin Hereford !
Farewel, old Gaunt; thy fometime brother's wife
With her companion grief muft end her life.

Gaunt. Sifter, farewel: I muft to Coventry:
As much good stay with thee, as go with me!
Dutch. Yet one word more ;-Grief boundeth
where it falls,

Not with the empty hollownefs, but weight:
I take my leave before I have begun ;
For forrow ends not, when it feemeth done.
Commend me to my brother, Edmund York.
Lo, this is all :-Nay, yet depart not so ;
Though this be all, do not fo quickly go;

To prove him, in defending of myself,
A traitor to my God, my king, and me:
And, as I truly fight, defend me heaven!
Trumpets found. Enter Bolingbroke, appellant, in

armour.

K. Rih. Marfhal, ak yonder knight in arms,
Both who he is, and why he cometh hither
Thus plated in liabiliments of war;
And formally according to our law
Depofe him in the juftice of his cause.

Mar. What is thy name? and wherefore com'ft

thou hither,

Before king Richard, in his royal lifts? [To Boling.
Against whom comest thou? and what's thy quarrel?
Speak like a true knight, fo defend thee heaven!
Boling. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and
Derby,

Am I; who ready here do ftand in arms,
To prove, by heaven's grace, and my body's valour,
In lifts, on Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk,
That he's a traitor, foul and dangerous,

And, as I truly fight, defend me heaven!

I fhall remember more. Bid him--Oh, what?-To God of heaven, king Richard, and to me;
With all good fpeed at Plashy visit me.
Alack, and what shall good old York there fee,
But empty lodgings, and unfurnish'd walls,
Unpeopled offices, untrodden ftones?

And what hear there for welcome, but my groans
Therefore commend me; let him not come there,
To feek out forrow, that dwells every where:
Defolate, defolate, will I hence, and die,
The laft leave of thee takes my weeping eye.

SCENE

The Lifts at Coventry.

III.

[Excunt.

Enter the Lord Marshal and Aumerle.
Mar. My lord Aumerle, is Harry Herefordarm'd?
Aum. Yea, at all points; and longs to enter in.
Mar.The duke of Norfolk, fprightfully and bold,
Stays but the fummons of the appellant's trumpet.
Aum. Why then, the champions are prepar'd,
and stay

For nothing but his majesty's approach. [Flourish.
The trumpets found, and the King enters with Gaunt,
Bujhy, Bagot, and others: when they are fet,
enter the Duke of Norfolk in armour.

K. Rich. Marthal, demand of yonder champion
The caufe of his arrival here in arms :
Ask him his name; and orderly proceed
To fwear him in the juftice of his caufe.
Mar. In God's name, and the king's, fay who
thou art,
[To Mowbray.
And why thou com'ft, thus knightly clad in arms;
Again what man thou com'ft, and what thy quarrel:
Speak truly, on thy knighthood, and thy oath,
And fo defend thee heaven, and thy valour!

Mob. My name is Thomas Mowbray, duke of
Who hither come engaged by my oath, [Norfolk;
(Which heaven defend a knight should violate!)
Both to defend my loyalty and truth,
To God, my king, and his fucceeding iffue,
Against the duke of Hereford that appeals me ;

Mar. On pain of death, no perfon be fo bold,
Or daring-hardy, as to touch the lifts;
Except the marshal, and fuch officers
Appointed to direct thefe fair defigns.

Boling. Lord marfhal, let me kiss my fove-
reign's hand,

And bow my knee before his majesty :
For Mowbray, and myfelf, are like two men
That vow a long and weary pilgrimage;
Then let us take a ceremonious leave,
And loving farewel, of our feveral friends.

Coufin of Hereford, as thy caufe is right,
So be thy fortune in this royal fight!
Farewel, my blood; which if to-day thou shed,
Lament we may, but not revenge thee dead.

Boling. Oh, let no noble eye profane a tear
For me, if I be gor'd with Mowbray's fpear:
As confident, as is the faulcon's flight
Against a bird, do I with Mowbray fight.-
My loving lord, I take my leave of you ;—
Of you, my noble coufin, lord Aumerle ;-
Not fick, although I have to do with death;
But lufty, young, and chearly drawing breath.—
Lo, as at English feasts, so I regreet
The daintieft laft, to make the end most sweet:
Oh thou, the earthly author of my blood,--

[To Gaust.

Whofe youthful fpirit, in me regenerate, Doth with a two-fold vigour lift me up To reach at victory above my head,— Add proof unto mine armour with thy prayers; And with thy bleifings fteel my lance's point, That it may enter Mowbray's waxen coat, I Mr. Steevens obferves on this paffage, that waxen may mean either foft, and confequently penetrable, or flexible. The brigandines or con's of mail, then in ute, were composed of small pieces of Iteel quilted over one another, and yet is flexible as to accommodate the drefs they form to every motion of the body.”

And

And furbish new the name of John of Gaunt,
Even in the lufty 'haviour of his fon.

Gaunt. Heaven in thy good caufe make thee
profperous!

Be fwift like lightning in the exccution;
And let thy biows, doubly redoubled,
Fall like amazing thunder on the cafque
Of thy adverse pernicious enemy:

Rouze up thy youthful blood, be valiant and live.
Boling. Mine innocency, and faint George to

thrive !

And for our eyes do hate the dire afpect
Of civil wounds plough'd up with neighbour's fword
[3 And for we think, the eagle-winged pride
Of fky-afpiring and ambitious thoughts,
With rival-hating envy, fet you on

To wake our peace, which in our country's cradle
Draws the fweet infant breath of gentle fleep ;]
Which fo rouz'd up with boisterous untun'd drums,
And harth-refounding trumpets' dreadful bray,
And grating fhock of wrathful iron arms,
Might from our quiet confines fright fair peace,
caft my And make us wade even in our kindred's blood,—
[throne, Therefore, we banith you our territories.-
Richard's You, coufin Hereford, upon pain of death,

Mowb. However heaven, or fortune,
lot,
There lives, or dies, true to king
A loyal, juft, and upright gentleman :
Never did captive with a freer heart
Caft off his chains of bondage, and embrace
His golden uncontroul'd enfranchisement,
More than my dancing foul doth celebrate
This feaft of battle with mine adversary.—
Moft mighty liege,--and my companion peers,→
Take from my mouth the wish of happy years:
As gentle, and as jocund, as to jest,
Golto fight; truth hath a quiet breast.

K. Rich. Farewel, my lord: fecurely I efpy
Virtue with valour couched in thine eye.-
Order the trial, Marshal, and begin.

'Till twice five fummers have enrich'd our fields,
Shall not regreet our fair dominions,

But tread the stranger paths of banishment.

Boling. Your will be done: This must my
comfort be,➖➖➖➖➖

That fun, that warms you here, fhall fhine on me;
And thofe his golden beams, to you here lent,
Shall point on me, and gild my banishment.
K.Rich. Norfolk, for thee remains a heavier doom,
Which I with fome unwillingness pronounce :
The fly-flow hours shall not deterininate
The datelefs limit of thy dear exile ;-
The hopelefs word of-never to return,
Breathe I against thee, upon pain of life.

Mar. Harry of Hereford, Lancafter, and Derby,
Receive thy lance; and heaven defend the right!
Boling. Strong as a tower in hope, I cry--Amen.
Mar. Go bear this lance to Thomas duke of A dearer merit 4 not fo deep a maim

Motub. A heavy fentence, my moft fovereign liege,
And all unlook'd for from your highness' mouth:

Norfolk.

[by, As to be caft forth in the common air,

1 Her. Harry of Hereford, Lancafter, and Der-Have I deferved at your highnefs' hand.
Stands here for God, His fovereign, and himself,
On pain to be found falfe and recreant,

To prove the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray,
A traitor to his God, his king, and him,
And dares him to fet forward to the fight.

The language I have learn'd thefe forty years,
My native English, now I must forego:
And now my tongue's ufe is to me no more
Than an unftringed viol, or a harp;
Or like a cunning inftrument cas'd up,
Or, being open, put into his hands
That knows no touch to tune the harmony.
Within my mouth you have engaol'd my tongue,
Doubly portcullis'd with my teeth and lips;
And dull, unfeeling, barren ignorance
Is made my gaoler to attend on me.
I am too old to fawn upon a nurse,

2 Her. Here standeth Thomas Mowbray, duke of
On pain to be found falfe and recreant, [Norfolk,
Both to defend himself, and to approve
Henry of Hereford, Lancafter, and Derby,
To God, his fovereign, and to him, difloyal;
Courageoufly, and with a free defire,
Attending but the signal to begin. [A charge funded.
Mar. Sound, trumpets; and fet forward, com-Too far in years to be a pupil now;

batants.

Stay, the king has thrown his warder 2 down.

K. Rich. Let them lay by their helmets, and their
fpears,

And both return back to their chairs again :-
Withdraw with us;-and let the trumpets found,
While we return these dukes what we decree.-
[A long flourish; after which, the king
Speaks to the combatants.

Draw near,
And lift, what with our council we have done.
For that our kingdom's earth should not be foil'd
With that dear blood which it hath foftered,

What is thy fentence then, but fpeechless death,
Which robs my tongue from breathing native breath?

K. Rich. It boots thee not to be compaffionate 5;
After our fentence, plaining comes too late.
Mowb. Then thius I turn me from my country's
light,

To dwell in folemn fhades of endless night:

K. Rich. Return again, and take an oath with thee.
Lay on our royal fword your banish'd hands;
Swear by the duty that you owe to heaven,
(Our part therein we banish with yourselves)
To keep the oath that we adminifter :--
You never thall (fo help you truth and heaven!)

4 Inficad of

1 Mr. Farmer remarks, that to jeft fometimes fignifies in old language to play a part in a mask. 2 A warder appears to have been a kind of truncheon carried by the perfon who prefided at these fingle combats. 3 Mr. Pope restored these five verfes from the first edition of 1598. merit Dr. Johnfon propofes to read, "a dearer meed," or reward-have I deferved, &c. paghunate for plaintive,

5 Com

Embrace

1 Dr. Johnfon understands this paffage thus: "No folk, fo far I have addreffed my felf to thee as now utter my lait words with kindness and tenderness, conjefs thy treafons." 2 i. c.

Fell forrow's tooth doth never rankle more,
Than when it bites, but lanceth not the fore.

How he did feem to dive into their hearts,
With humble and familiar courtesy;

Gaunt. Come, come, my fon, I'll bring thee on What reverence he did throw away on flaves;

Wooing poor craftsmen with the craft of fmiles,
And patient underbearing of his fortune,
As 'twere, to banith their affects with him.
Off goes his bonnet to an oyster-wench;

A brace of dray-men bid-God speed him well,
And had the tribute of his fupple knee,[ friends;"
With--" Thanks, my countrymen, my loving
As were our England in reverfion his,
And he our fubjects' next degree in hope.

Green. Well, he is gone; and with him go these
thoughts.

Enter King Richard, and Bagot, &c. at one door, Now for the rebels, which stand out in Ireland ;-

and the Lord Humerle at the other.

K. Rich. We did obferve.-Coufin Aumerle, How far brought you high Hereford on his way? Aum. I brought high Hereford, if you call him fo,

Expedient manage must be made, my liege;
Ere further leifure yield them further means,
For their advantage, and your highnefs' lofs.

K. Rich. We will ourfelf in person to this war.
And, for our coffers-with too great a court,
And liberal largess,—are grown fomewhat light,

But to the next high-way, and there I left him.
K. Rich. And fay, what ftore of parting tears We are enforc'd to farm our royal realm;
[wind, The revenue whereof fhall furnish us

were fhed?
Aum. 'Faith, none by me : except the north-eaft | For our affairs in hand: If that come short,
Which then blew bitterly against our faces,
Awak'd the fleepy rheum; and fo, by chance,

Did grace our hollow parting with a tear.

Our fubftitutes at home fhall have blank charters; Whereto, when they fhall know what men are rich,

K. Rich. What faid our coufin, when you They fhall fubfcribe them for large fums of gold,

parted with him?

Aum. Farewel :

And for my heart difdained that my tongue

Should to prophane the word, that taught me craft
To counterfeit oppreffion of fuch grief,
That words feem'd buried in my forrow's grave.
Marry, would the word farewel have lengthen'd

hours,

And added years to his fhort banishment,
He fhould have had a volume of farewels;

But fince it would not, he had none of me.

K. Rich. Now put it, heaven, in his phytician's

K. Rich. He is our coufin, coufin; but 'tis To help him to his grave immediately!

How happy then, were my enfuing death!
Enter King Richard, Queen, Aumerle, Bufhy, Green,
Bagot, Rofs, and Willoughby.

York. The king is come: deal mildly with his
youth;

For young hot colts, being rag'd, do rage the more.
Queen. How fares our noble uncle, Lancaster?
K. Rich. What comfort, man? How is't with
aged Gaunt ?

Gaunt. Oh, how that name befits my compofition!
Old Gaunt, indeed; and gaunt in being old:
Within me grief hath kept a tedious fast ;
And who abftains from meat, that is not gaunt?
For fleeping England long time have I watch'd;
Watching breeds leannefs, leannefs is all gaunt:
The pleasure that fome fathers feed upon,
Is my ftrict faft, I mean-my children's looks;
And, therein failing, thou haft made me gaunt :
Gaunt am I for the grave, gaunt as a grave,
Whofe hollow womb inherits nought but bones.

K. Rich. Can fick men play fo nicely with their
names?

Gaunt. No, mifery makes fport to mock itfelf:
Since thou doft feek to kill my name in me,
I mock my name, great king, to flatter thee.
K. Rich. Should dying men flatter with those

1 i. e. metres, or verfes. 2 Meaning, where the will rebels against the understanding. will follow his own courfe. 4. e. haity, violent. 5. e. against peftilence. i. e. mean, paltry. 7 Alluding to the great finns railed upon the fubject by loans and other exactions, in this reign. Dr. Johnfon interprets this paffage thus: "By fetting the royalties to farm thou haft reduced thyLeif to a itate bolow fovereignty, thou art now no longer king but landlord of England, fubje&t to the fame refaint and limitations as other landlords; by making thy condition a fate of law, a condition upon which the common rules of law can operate, thou art become a bond-flave to the law; thou haft made thy felt amenable to laws from which thou wert originally exempt."