(probably from Cracow, in Poland), and, according to the author of the Eulogium, occasionally fastened to the knees by chains of gold or silver. The chaperon, or hood, of this reign is of a most indescribable shape, and is sometimes worn over the capucium, or cowl. Single ostrich feathers are also seen occasionally in front of the hood, or cap. The hair was worn long in the neck and at the sides, and elderly persons are generally represented with forked beards. The decoration of the white hart, crowned and chained under a tree, was worn by all Richard's friends and retainers. In the wardrobe account of his twenty-second year is an entry of a belt and sheath of a sword, of red velvet, embroidered with white harts crowned, and with rosemary branches. The armour of this reign was nearly all of plate. A neck-piece of chain fastened to the bascinet, and called the camail, and the indented edge of the chain-apron depending below the jupon, or surcoat, being nearly all the mail visible. The jupon introduced during the preceding reign was a garment of silk, or velvet, richly embroidered with the armorial bearings of the wearer, fitting tight to the shape, and confined over the hips by a magnificent girdle. (Vide that of the Black Prince at Canterbury.) In the Metrical History, however, Richard and his knights are represented in loose surcoats, sometimes with sleeves, and embroidered all over with fanciful devices, the king's being golden ostrich feathers. The armour worn by Bolingbroke, when he entered the lists at Coventry, was manufactured expressly for him at Milan by order of Galeazzo Visconti, to whom he had written on the subject. The chronicler Hall (and Holinshed follows him), describing this event, asserts, but without quoting his authority, that Bolingbroke's horse was caparisoned with blue and green velvet, embroidered all over with swans and antelopes (his badges and supporters), and that the housings of the Duke of Norfolk's charger were of crimson velvet, embroidered with silver lions (his paternal arms) and mulberry trees, a punning device, the family name being Mowbray. The vizor of the bascinet, or war helmet of this time, was of a singular shape, giving to the wearer almost the appearance of having the head of a bird. A specimen is to be seen in the Tower of London, and a still more perfect one is in the armoury of Sir S. Meyrick, at Goodrich Court. No feathers, as yet, decorated the helmet unless they formed the heraldic crest of the family, and then only the tournament helmet. Of the female characters in the play, the Duchess of Gloster is the only one for whose dress we have any precise authority; and it is probable that she is represented on her monumental brass in Westminster Abbey, which furnishes it, in the habit of a nun of Barking Abbey, to which place she retired after her husband's murder, and took the veil. The nuns of Barking, however, being of the order of St. Benedict, the dress, both in hue and form, would resemble the mourning habit of a widow of high rank at that period, which was quite conventual in its appearance, even to the barbe, or plaited chin-cloth. The general dress of ladies of quality, during the reign of Richard II., consisted of the kirtle, a sort of low bodied gown, with long tight sleeves, and made to fit very close to the figure, over which was worn a singularly-shaped sleeveless gown, or robe, with a very full skirt and train, the front and edges generally trimmed with ermine, or other rich furs, and giving the appearance of a tight spencer over a loose dress, instead of which it is, as nearly as possible, the exact reverse. Over this, on state occasions, was worn a long mantle, which, as well as the skirt of the gown, or robe, was frequently embroidered with armorial bearings. Leithieullier, in his observations on Sepulchral Monuments, has remarked, that, in such cases, the arms on the mantle are always those of the husband, and the others those of the lady's own family. The hair was worn in a gold fret, or caul, of net-work, surmounted by a chaplet, or garland, of goldsmith's work, a coronet, or a veil, according to the fancy or rank of the wearer. The effigy of Anne of Bohemia, and the illuminated MS. entitled Liber Regalis, preserved in Westminster Abbey, and executed in the time of Richard II., may be considered the best authorities for the royal and noble female costume of the period. Enter KING RICHARD, attended; JOHN OF GAUNT, and other Nobles, with him. K. Rich. Old John of Gaunt, time-honour'd Lancaster, Hast thou, according to thy oath' and band," Brought hither Henry Hereford,b thy bold son; Here to make good the boisterous late appeal, Which then our leisure 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; a Band. Band and bond are each the past participle passive of the verb to bind; and hence the band, that by which a thing is confined, and the bond, that by which one is constrained, are one and the same thing. b Hereford. In the old copies this title is generally spelt and pronounced Herford. In Hardynge's Chronicle the word is always written Herford or Harford. It is constantly Herford, as a dissyllable, in Daniel's "Civile Warres." Or worthily as a good subject should, On some apparent danger seen in him, K. Rich. Then call them to our presence; face to face, And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear K. Rich. We thank you both: yet one but flatters us, As well appeareth by the cause you come;" In the devotion of a subject's 'ove, Nor. Let not my cold words here accuse my "T is not the trial of a woman's war, me From giving reins and spurs to my Call him a slanderous coward, and a villain : a You come. On which you come; or you come on. The omission, in such a case, of the preposition is not unusual. b Doubled. In folio of 1623, and first quarto of 1597, doubly; doubled is the reading of the quarto 1615. c Inhabitable. Uninhabitable, unhabitable. Jonson, and Taylor the Water-poet, both use the word in this sense, strictly according to its Latin derivation. But the Norman origin of much of our language warrants this use. Habitable, and its converse, present no difficulty to a Frenchman. Boling. Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage, Disclaiming here the kindred of the king; Or chivalrous design of knightly trial: If I be traitor, or unjustly fight! K. Rich. What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray's charge? It must be great, that can inherit usb с That Mowbray hath receiv'd eight thousand nobles,2 In name of lendings for your highness' soldiers; The which he hath detain'd for lewdd employ ments, Like a false traitor, and injurious villain. Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring. Further I say, and further will maintain Which blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries, a So the quarto of 1597. The first folio reads, b Inherit us. To inherit was not only used in the sense of to inherit as an heir, but in that of to receive generally. It is here used for to cause to receive, in the same way that to possess is either used for to have, or to cause to have. c Speak. So the first quarto, and most modern editions; said in the folio. d Lewd, in its early signification, means misled, deluded: and thence it came to stand, as here, for wicked. The laity -"the body of the Christian people," as Gibbon calls them-were designated as lewede by the clergy. (See Tooke, v. ii. p. 383.) e Suggest. Prompt. And, by the glorious worth of my descent, K. Rich. How high a pitch his resolution soars! Thomas of Norfolk, what say'st thou to this? Nor. O, let my sovereign turn away his face, And bid his ears a little while be deaf, Till 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, our kingdom's heir, Let's purge this choler without letting blood: age: Throw down, my son, the duke of Norfolk's gage. K. Rich. Norfolk, throw down, we bid; there is no boot.b Nor. Myself I throw, dread sovereign, at thy foot: My life thou shalt command, but not my shame: Nor. Then, Bolingbroke,3 as low as to thy (Despite of death,) that lives upon my grave, heart, Through the false passage of thy throat, thou liest! Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais Since last I went to France to fetch his queen : death, b I slew him not; but to my own disgrace, Even in the best blood chamber'd in his bosom : To dark dishonour's use thou shalt not have. K. Rich. с Rage must be withstood: Give me his gage: :-Lions make leopards tame. Nor. Yea, but not change his spots: take but my shame, And I resign my gage. My dear dear lord, e Is spotless reputation; that away, K. Rich. Cousin, throw down your gage; do you begin. When, Harry? when? When, so used, is an expression of impatience, as in the Taming of the Shrew,-"Why when, I say." Monck Mason, in this passage, suggests a new punctuation, which is very ingenious, though we can scarcely venture to adopt it in the text, contrary to all the old copies. It is this, "When, Harry? When Obedience bids, I should not bid again." b No boot. Boot, is here used in its original sense of compensation. There is no boot, no remedy for what is past,-nothing to be added, or substituted. c Lions make leopards tame. The crest of Norfolk was a golden leopard. d His spots. So the old copies. According to the custom in Shakspere's time of changing from the singular to the plural number, or from the plural to the singular, the alteration by Pope to their was scarcely called for. But in this case Mowbray quotes the very text of ScriptureJet xiii. 23. e Gilded loam. In "England's Parnassus," (1600,) these three lines are extracted, but the third line reads thus:"Men are but gilded trunks, or painted clay." |