And these gray locks, the pursuivants of death,
Nestor-like agèd, in an age of care,(66)

Argue the end of Edmund Mortimer:

These eyes-like lamps whose wasting oil is spent-
Wax dim, as drawing to their exigent:

Weak shoulders, overborne with burdening grief;

And pithless arms, like to a wither'd vine
That droops his sapless branches to the ground:
Yet are these feet-whose strengthless stay is numb,
Unable to support this lump of clay-
Swift-winged with desire to get a grave,
As witting I no other comfort have.-
But tell me, keeper, will my nephew come?

First Keep. Richard Plantagenet, my lord, will come:
We sent unto the Temple, to his chamber; (67)
And answer was return'd, that he will come.

Mor. Enough: my soul shall then be satisfied.-
Poor gentleman! his wrong doth equal mine.
Since Henry Monmouth first began to reign,
Before whose glory I was great in arms,
This loathsome sequestration have I had;
And even since then hath Richard been obscur'd,
Depriv'd of honour and inheritance.

But now, the arbitrator of despairs, (68)

Just death, kind umpire of men's miseries,

With sweet enlargement doth dismiss me hence:
I would his troubles likewise were expir'd,

That so he might recover what was lost.

Enter RICHARD PLANTAGENET.

First Keep. My lord, your loving nephew now is come. Mor. Richard Plantagenet, friend,(69) is he come?

(66) Nestor-like agèd, in an age of care,] length, being overburdened with care, has of Nestor's three centuries." Walker's Crit.

"i.e. an old age of ordinary wrought upon me the effect Exam., &c., vol. iii. p. 151.

(Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitutes ". in a cage of care.")

(67) the Temple, to his chamber;] The folio has "the Temple, vnto his Chamber." (The second folio, "the Temple, his Chamber.”)

(68) despairs,] Qy. "despair"?

(69) friend,] The folio has "my friend."

Plan. Ay, noble uncle, thus ignobly us'd,

Your nephew, late-despisèd Richard, comes.

Mor. Direct mine arms I may embrace his neck,
And in his bosom spend my latter gasp:

O, tell me when my lips do touch his cheeks,
That I may kindly give one fainting kiss.--

And now declare, sweet stem from York's great stock,
Why didst thou say, of late thou wert despis'd?

Plan. First, lean thine agèd back against mine arm;
And, in that ease, I'll tell thee my disease.

This day, in argument upon a case,
Some words there grew 'twixt Somerset and me;
Among which terms he us'd his lavish tongue,
And did upbraid me with my father's death:
Which obloquy set bars before my tongue,
Else with the like I had requited him.
Therefore, good uncle, for my father's sake,
In honour of a true Plantagenet,

And for alliance' sake, declare the cause
My father, Earl of Cambridge, lost his head.

Mor. That cause, fair nephew, that imprison'd me,
And hath detain'd me all my flowering youth
Within a loathsome dungeon, there to pine,
Was cursed instrument of his decease.

Plan. Discover more at large what cause that was;

For I am ignorant, and cannot guess.

Mor. I will, if that my fading(70) breath permit, And death approach not ere my tale be done. Henry the Fourth, grandfather to this king, Depos'd his nephew Richard,(7)-Edward's son,

(70) fading] "Failing,' surely." Walker's Crit. Exam., &c., vol. iii. P. 151.

(71) his nephew Richard,] "Thus the old copy. Modern editors read 'his cousin,' but without necessity. Nephew has sometimes the power of the Latin nepos, and is used with great laxity among our ancient English writers. Thus in Othello, Iago tells Brabantio he shall have his nephews (ie. the children of his own daughter) neigh to him.'" STEEVENS. "It would be surely better to read cousin,' the meaning which 'nephew' ought to have in this place. Mr. Steevens only proves that the word nephews is sometimes used for grandchildren, which is very certain. Both uncle and nephew might, however, formerly signify

The first-begotten and the lawful heir

Of Edward king, the third of that descent:
During whose reign, the Percies of the north,
Finding his usurpation most unjust,

Endeavour'd my advancement to the throne:
The reason mov'd these warlike lords to this
Was, for that-young King Richard thus remov'd,
Leaving no heir begotten of his body—

I was the next by birth and parentage;
For by my mother I derivèd am

From Lionel Duke of Clarence, the third son
To King Edward the Third; whereas he (72)
From John of Gaunt doth bring his pedigree,
Being but fourth of that heroic line.
But mark: as, in this haughty-great attempt,
They laboured to plant the rightful heir,
I lost my liberty, and they their lives.
Long after this, when Henry the Fifth,
Succeeding his father Bolingbroke, did reign,
Thy father, Earl of Cambridge, then deriv'd
From famous Edmund Langley, duke of York,
Marrying my sister, that thy mother was,
Again, in pity of my hard distress,
Levied an army, weening to redeem
And have install'd me in the diadem:
But, as the rest, so fell that noble earl,
And was beheaded. Thus the Mortimers,
In whom the title rested, were suppress'd.

Plan. Of which, my lord, your honour is the last.

cousin. See the Menagiana, vol. ii. p. 193. In The Second Part of the Troublesome Raigne of King John, Prince Henry calls his cousin the Bastard 'uncle."" RITSON. "I believe the mistake here arose from the [unknown] author's ignorance; and that he conceived Richard to be Henry's nephew." MALONE.

(72) Was, for that-young King Richard thus remov'd,

Here "King" in the first line, and "the" in the second line, were inserted by the editor of the second folio; the third line is corrupted.

Mor. True; and thou seest that I no issue have,
And that my fainting words do warrant death:
Thou art my heir; the rest I wish thee gather:
But yet be wary in thy studious care.

Plan. Thy grave admonishments prevail with me:
But yet, methinks, my father's execution
Was nothing less than bloody tyranny.

Mor. With silence, nephew, be thou politic:
Strong-fixèd is the house of Lancaster,
And, like a mountain, not to be remov'd.
But now thy uncle is removing hence; (73)

As princes do their courts, when they are cloy'd

With long continuance in a settled place.

Plan. O, uncle, would some part of my young years

Might but redeem the passage of your age!

Mor. Thou dost, then, wrong me,-as that slaughterer doth Which giveth many wounds when one will kill.

Mourn not, except thou sorrow for my good;

Only, give order for my funeral:

And so, farewell; and fair be all thy hopes,

And prosperous be thy life in peace and war!

Plan. And peace, no war, befall thy parting soul!

In prison hast thou spent a pilgrimage,

And like a hermit overpass'd thy days.

Well, I will lock his counsel in my breast;
And what I do imagine, let that rest.-
Keepers, convey him hence; and I myself

Will see his burial better than his life.

[Dies.

[Exeunt Keepers, bearing out the body of Mortimer.

Here dies the dusky torch of Mortimer,

Chok'd with ambition of the meaner sort :-
And for those wrongs, those bitter injuries,
Which Somerset hath offer'd to my house,
I doubt not but with honour to redress;

(73) And, like a mountain, not to be remov'd.
But now thy uncle is removing hence;]

"I suspect error here, merely on account of the repetition, for the words themselves are perfectly in place." Walker's Crit. Exam., &c., vol. i. p. 311.

And therefore haste I to the parliament,

Either to be restored to my blood,

Or make my ill (74) th' advantage of my good.

[Exit.

ACT III.

SCENE I. London. The Parliament-house.

Flourish. Enter King HENRY, EXETER, GLOSTER, WARWICK, SOMER-
SET, and SUFFOLK; the Bishop of WINCHESTER, RICHARD
PLANTAGENET, and others. GLOSTER offers to put up a bill;
WINCHESTER Snatches it, and tears it.

Win. Com'st thou with deep-premeditated lines,
With written pamphlets studiously devis'd,
Humphrey of Gloster? If thou canst accuse,
Or aught intend'st to lay unto my charge,
Do it without invention, suddenly;

As I with sudden and extemporal speech

Purpose to answer what thou canst object.

Glo. Presumptuous priest! this place commands my patience,

Or thou shouldst find thou hast dishonour'd me.
Think not, although in writing I preferr'd
The manner of thy vile outrageous crimes,
That therefore I have forg'd, or am not able
Verbatim to rehearse the method of my pen:
No, prelate; such is thy audacious wickedness,
Thy lewd, pestiferous, and dissentious pranks,
As very infants prattle of thy pride.
Thou art a most pernicious usurer;
Froward by nature, enemy to peace;
Lascivious, wanton, more than well beseems
A man of thy profession and degree;

And for thy treachery, what's more manifest,—
In that thou laid'st a trap to take my life,

As well at London-bridge as at the Tower?

(74) ill] Theobald's amendment.-The folio has "will."