As far as Calais, to my uncle's head?
Amongst much other talk, that very time,
I heard you say, that you had rather refuse
The offer of an hundred thousand crowns,
Than Bolingbroke's return to England;
Adding withal, how blest this land would be,
In this your cousin's death.

Aum.

Princes, and noble lords,

What answer shall I make to this base man?
Shall I so much dishonour my fair stars,"
On equal terms to give him chastisement?
Either I must, or have mine honour soil'd
With the attainder of his sland'rous lips.
There is my gage, the manual seal of death,
That marks thee out for hell: I say, thou liest,
And will maintain, what thou hast said, is false,
In thy heart-blood, though being all too base
To stain the temper of my knightly sword.

Boling. Bagot, forbear, thou shalt not take it up.
Aum. Excepting one, I would he were the best
In all this presence, that hath mov'd me so.
Fitz. If that thy valour stand on sympathies,
There is my gage, Aumerle, in gage to thine:
By that fair sun that shows me where thou stand'st,
I heard thee say, and vauntingly thou spak'st it,
That thou wert cause of noble Gloster's death.
If thou deny'st it twenty times, thou liest;
And I will turn thy falsehood to thy heart,
Where it was forged, with my rapier's point.x

u

Aum. Thou dar'st not, coward, live to see that day.
Fitz. Now by my soul, I would it were this hour.
Aum. Fitzwater, thou art damn'd to hell for this.
Percy. Aumerle, thou liest; his honour is as true,

stars,]—are here used for birth, with our author's usual license, the birth being influenced by the stars.-JOHNSON.

· stand on sympathies,] Fitzwater throws down his gage, a pledge of battle, and tells Aumerle, who has refused to fight Bagot as a person of ignoble birth, that if he stands upon sympathies, that is upon equality of blood, the combat is now offered him by a man of rank not inferior to his own.-JOHNSON. rapier's point.] The rapier was not used in England for two centuries

X

afterwards.

In this appeal, as thou art all unjust:
And that thou art so, there I throw my gage,
To prove it on thee to the extremest point
Of mortal breathing; seize it, if thou dar'st.
Aum. And if I do not, may my hands rot off,
And never brandish more revengeful steel
Over the glittering helmet of my foe!

Lord. I take the earth to the like, forsworn Aumerle;
And spur thee on with full as many lies
As may be holla'd in thy treacherous ear
From sun to sun: there is my
honour's pawn;
Engage it to the trial, if thou dar'st.

Aum. Who sets me else? by heaven, I'll throw at all: I have a thousand spirits in one breast,

To answer twenty thousand such as you.

Surrey. My lord Fitzwater, I do remember well

The very time Aumerle and you did talk.

Fitz. My lord, 'tis very true: you were in presence then;

And you can witness with me, this is true.

Surrey. As false, by heaven, as heaven itself is true.
Fitz. Surrey, thou liest.

Surrey.

Dishonourable boy!

That lie shall lie so heavy on my sword,

That it shall render vengeance and revenge,
Till thou, the lie-giver, and that lie, do lie
In earth as quiet as thy father's scull.

In proof whereof, there is my honour's pawn;
Engage it to the trial, if thou dar'st.

Fitz. How fondly dost thou spur á forward horse!

If I dare eat, or drink, or breathe, or live,

I dare meet Surrey in a wilderness,

And spit upon him, whilst I say, he lies,

And lies, and lies: there is my bond of faith,
To tie thee to my strong correction.

As I intend to thrive in this new world,"

I take the earth to the like,] Dr. Johnson proposes to read "I take the oath to the like." One of the quartos reads I task the earth, which is unintelligible, and adopted by Malone. I take the earth may mean I call the earth to witness. z From sun to sun:] i. e. From sun-rise to sun-set.

a

in this new world,] In this world where I have just begun to be an actor. Surrey, a few lines above, called him boy.—JOHNSON.

Aumerle is guilty of my true appeal :

Besides, I heard the banish'd Norfolk say,

That thou, Aumerle, didst send two of thy men
To execute the noble duke at Calais.

Aum. Some honest Christian trust me with a gage,
That Norfolk lies: here do I throw down this,"
If he may be repeal'd to try his honour.

Boling. These differences shall all rest under gage,
Till Norfolk be repeal'd: repeal'd he shall be,
And, though mine enemy, restor❜d again

To all his land and signories; when he's return'd,
Against Aumerle we will enforce his trial.

Car. That honourable day shall ne'er be seen.-
Many a time hath banish'd Norfolk fought
For Jesu Christ; in glorious Christian field
Streaming the ensign of the Christian cross,
Against black pagans, Turks, and Saracens :
And, toil'd with works of war, retired himself
To Italy; and there at Venice, gave
His body to that pleasant country's earth,
And his pure soul unto his captain Christ,
Under whose colours he had fought so long.
Boling. Why, bishop, is Norfolk dead?
Car. As sure as I live, my lord.

Boling. Sweet peace conduct his sweet soul to the bosom Of good old Abraham!-Lords appellants,

Your differences shall all rest under gage,

Till we assign you to your days of trial.

Enter YORK attended.

York. Great duke of Lancaster, I come to thee
From plume-pluck'd Richard; who with willing soul
Adopts thee heir, and his high scepter yields
To the possession of thy royal hand:

Ascend his throne, descending now from him,—
And long live Henry, of that name the fourth!

b

Boling. In God's name, I'll ascend the regal throne.
Car. Marry, God forbid !

here do I throw down this,] Holinshed informs us, that on this occasion "he threw down a hood, that he had borrowed."-STEEVENS.

Worst in this royal presence may I speak,
Yet best beseeming me to speak the truth.
Would God, that any in this noble presence
Were enough noble to be upright judge

Of noble Richard; then true nobless would
Learn him forbearance from so foul a wrong.
What subject can give sentence on his king?
And who sits here that is not Richard's subject?
Thieves are not judg'd, but they are by to hear,
Although apparent guilt be seen in them :
And shall the figure of God's majesty,
His captain, steward, deputy elect,
Anointed, crowned, planted many years,
Be judg❜d by subject and inferior breath,
And he himself not present? O, forbid it, God,
That, in a Christian climate, souls refin'd
Should show so heinous, black, obscene a deed!
I speak to subjects, and a subject speaks,
Stirr'd up by heaven thus boldly for his king.
My lord of Hereford here, whom you call king,
Is a foul traitor to proud Hereford's king:
And if you crown him, let me prophecy,-
The blood of English shall manure the ground,
And future ages groan for this foul act;
Peace shall go sleep with Turks and infidels,
And, in this seat of peace, tumultuous wars
Shall kin with kin, and kind with kind confound;
Disorder, horror, fear, and mutiny,

Shall here inhabit, and this land be call'd
The field of Golgotha, and dead men's skulls.
O, if you rear this house against this house,
It will the woefullest division prove,
That ever fell upon this cursed earth;
Prevent, resist it, let it not be so,

Lest children's children,d cry against you-woe!

North. Well have you argu'd, sir; and, for your pains,

Of capital treason we arrest you here:

C

nobless-] i. e. Nobleness; a word now obsolete, but used both by Spenser and Ben Jonson.

d

children's children,] This is Pope's emendation; the old reads "child, child's children."

copy

My lord of Westminster, be it your charge

To keep him safely till his day of trial.

May't please you, lords, to grant the commons' suit?
Boling. Fetch hither Richard, that in common view
He may surrender; so we shall proceed

Without suspicion.

York.

I will be his conduct.f

Boling. Lords, you that are here under our arrest, Procure your sureties for your days of answer:Little are we beholden to your love,

And little look'd for at your helping hands.

[Exit.

[to CARLISLE,

Re-enter YORK, with King RICHARD, and Officers bearing the Crown.

K. Rich. Alack, why am I sent for to a king, Before I have shook off the regal thoughts Wherewith I reign'd? I hardly yet have learn'd To insinuate, flatter, bow, and bend my knee:Give sorrow leave a while to tutor me

To this submission. Yet I well remember

The favours of these men: Were they not mine?
Did they not sometime cry, all hail! to me?

So Judas did to Christ: but he, in twelve,

Found truth in all, but one; I, in twelve thousand, none.
God save the king!—Will no man say, amen?
Am I both priest and clerk? well, then, amen.
God save the king! although I be not he;
And yet, amen, if heaven do think him me.-
To do what service am I sent for hither?

York. To do that office, of thine own good will,
Which tired majesty did make thee offer,-

To keep him safely till his day of trial.-] After this line, till nearly the end of the act, whatever follows of the dethroning and debasing King Richard, was added in the quarto of 1608. It has been supposed that this was an addition made by the author, after the first representation of his play: but it was very probably written with the rest, and suppressed in the printed copy of 1597, from the fear of offending Elizabeth, or from the command of the licenser. It might have been considered unsafe from political reasons to publish this scene, at a time when the pope had just published a bull against the queen, exhorting her subjects to take up arms against her.

f his conduct.] i. e. Conductor.

The favours, &c.] The countenances, the features.