North. Nay, speak thy mind; and let him ne'er speak more,

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

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

Quick is mine ear, to hear of good towards him.
Ross. No good at all, that I can do for him;
Unless you call it good, to pity him,
Bereft and gelded of his patrimony.
North. Now, afore heaven, 'tis shame such
wrongs are borne,

In him a royal prince, and many more
Of noble blood in this declining land.
The king is not himself, but basely led
By flatterers; and what they will inform,
Merely in hate, 'gainst any of us all,
That will the king severely prosecute
'Gainst us, our lives, our children, and our heirs.
Ross. The commons hath he pill'd with griev-20
ous taxes,

And quite lost their hearts: the nobles he hath fin'd
For ancient quarrels, and quite lost 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 wasted it, for warr'd he
hath not,

But basely yielded upon compromise
That which his ancestors atchiev'd with blows:
More hath he spent in peace, than they in wars.
Ross. The earl of Wiltshire hath the realm in
farm.

[man.

We three are but thyself; and, speaking so,
Thy words are but as thoughts; therefore, be bold.
North. Then thus:-I have from Port le Blanc,
In Britanny, receiv'd intelligence, [a bay
That Harry Hereford, Reignold Lord Cobhain,
That late broke from the duke of Exeter2;
His brother, archbishop late of Canterbury,
Sir Thomas Erpingham, Sir John Ramston,
Sir John Norbery, Sir Robert Waterton, and
Francis Quoint,-

3

All these, well furnish'd by the duke of Bretagne,
With eight tall ships, three thousand men of war,
Are making hither with all due expedience,
And shortly mean to touch our northern shore:
15 Perhaps, they had ere this; but that they stay
The first departing of the king for Ireland.
if then we shall shake off our slavish yoke,
Imp out 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 post to Ravenspurg:
But if you faint, as fearing to do so,
Stay, and be secret, and myself will go.

25

30

Willo. The king's grown bankrupt, like abroken
North. Reproach, and dissolution, hangeth over 35

hini.

Ross. He hath not money for these Irish wars,
His burthenous taxations notwithstanding,
But by the robbing of the banish'd duke. [king!
North. His noble kinsman :-Most degenerate 40
But, lords, we hear this fearful tempest sing,
Yet seek no shelter to avoid the storm:
We see the wind sit sore upon our sails,
And yet we strike not', but securely perish.

Ross. We see the very wreck that we must suffer;
And unavoided is the danger now,

For suffering so the causes of our wreck.

Queen. To please the king I did; to please my-
I cannot do it; yet I know no cause
Why I should welcome such a guest as grief,
Save bidding farewel to so sweet a guest
As my sweet Richard: Yet again, methinks,
Some unborn sorrow, ripe in fortune's womb,
Is coming toward me; and my inward soul
With nothing trembles: at something it grieves,
45 More than with parting from my lord the king.
Bushy. Each substance of a grief hath twenty
shadows,

North. Not so; even through the hollow eyes
I spy life peering: but I dare not say, [of death,
How near the tidings of our comfort is. [dost ours. 50
Willo. Nay, let us share thy thoughts, as thou
Ross. Be confident to speak, Northumberland:

3

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

To strike the sails, is, to contract them. 2 Mr. Steevens observes, that this circumstance, of having broke from the duke of Exeter, applies solely to Thomas Arundel, son and heir to the earl of Arundel who was beheaded in this reign; and from thence conjectures, that a line is lost, in which his name had originally a place. The archbishop next mentioned, was uncle to this young lord, though Shakspeare mistakenly calls him his brother. Having been deprived by the pope of his see, at the request of the king. 4 This expression is borrowed from falconry. To imp a hawk, was to supply such wing feathers as dropped, or were forced out by any accident. 'Warburton says this is a fine similitude, and the thing meant is this: "Amongst mathematical recreations, there is one in optics, in which a figure is drawn, wherein all the rules of perspective are inverted: so that, if held in the same position with those pictures which are drawn according to the rules of perspective, it can present nothing but confusion: and to be seen in form, and under a regular appearance, it must be looked upon from a contrary station; or, as Shakspeare says, ey'd awry."

Distinguish

Or if it be, 'tis with false sorrow's eye,
Which, for things true, weeps things imaginary.
Queen. It may be so; but yet my inward soul
Persuades me, it is otherwise: Howe'er it be,
I cannot but be sad; so heavy sad,

Enter York.

Green. Here comes the duke of York.
Queen. With signs of war about his aged neck;
Oh, full of careful business are his looks!-
5[Uncle, for heaven's sake, speak comfortable words.

York. Should I do so, I should bely my thoughts:
Comfort's in heaven; and we are on the earth,
Where nothing lives, but crosses, care, and grief,
Your husband he is gone to save far off,
10 Whilst others come to make him lose at home:
Here am I left to underprop his land;

As, though, in thinking, on no thought I think,
Makes me with heavy nothing faint and shrink.
Bushy. "Tis nothing but conceit, my gracious 15
lady.

Queen. 'Tis nothing less: conceit is still deriv'd
From some fore-father grief; mine is not so;
For nothing hath begot my something grief;
Or something hath, the nothing that I grieve:
'Tis in reversion that I do possess ;
But what it is, that is not yet known; what
I cannot name; 'tis nameless woe, I wot.
Enter Green.

Who, weak with age, cannot support myself:
Now comes the sick hour that his surfeit made;
Now shall he try his friends that flatter'd him.
Enter a Sercant.

Ser. My lord, your son was gone before I came.
York. He was? Why, so!-go all which way
[cold.

it will!

The nobles they are fled, the commons they are 20 And will, I fear, revolt on Hereford's side.Sirrah,

Green. Heaven save your majesty !-and well[25]
met, gentlemen:-

I hope the king is not yet ship'd for Ireland.
Queen Why hop'st thou so? 'tis better hope, he is;
For his designs crave haste, his haste good hope;
Then wherefore dost thou hope, he is not ship'd?
Green. That he, our hope, might have retir'd'

his power,

And driven into despair an enemy's hope,
Who strongly hath set footing in this land:
The banish'd Bolingbroke repeals himself,
And with uplifted arms is safe arriv'd
At Ravenspurg.

30

Ser. An hour before I came, the duchess dy'd.
York. Heaven for his mercy! what a tide of woes
Comes rushing on this woeful land at once!
I know not what to do:--I would to heaven,
(So my untruth' hath not provok'd him to't)
The king had cut off my head with my brother's.-
35 What, are there posts dispatch'd for Ireland?
How shall we do for money for these wars?——
Come, sister,-cousin, I would say; pray, pardon

Queen. Now God in heaven forbid! [worse,-
Green. O, madam, 'tis too true: and that is
The lord Northumberland, his young sou Henry (40
Percy,

The lords of Ross, Beaumont, and Willoughby,
With all their powerful friends, are fled to him.
Bushy. Why have you not proclaim'd North-
umberland,

And the rest of the revolted faction, traitors?
Green.We have: whereupon the earl of Worcester
Hath broke his staff, resign'd his stewardship,
And all the houshold servants fled with him
To Bolingbroke.

me.

Go, fellow, get thee home, provide some carts,
[To the servant.
And bring away the armour that is there.-
Gentlemen, will you go muster men? If I know
How, or which way, to order these affairs,
Thus disorderly thrust into my hands,
45 Never believe me. Both are my kinsmen;
The one's my sovereign, whom both my oath
And duty bids defend; the other again,

Is my kinsman, whom the king hath wrong'd;
Whom conscience and my kindred bids to right.
[woe, 50 Well, somewhat we must do.-Come, cousin, I'll
Dispose of you:-Go, muster up your men,
And meet me presently at Berkley, gentlemen,
I should to Plashy too;-

Queen. So, Green, thou art the midwife of my
And Bolingbroke my sorrow's dismal heir:
Now hath my soul brought forth her prodigy;
And I, a gasping new-deliver'd mother,
flave woe to woe, sorrow to sorrow join'd.
Bushy, Despair not, madam.
Queen. Who shall hinder me?

I will despair, and be at enmity
With cozening hope: he is a flatterer,
A parasite, a keeper-back of death,

Who gently would dissolve the bands of life,

Which false hope lingers in extremity.

But time will not permit :-All is uneven,

55 And every thing is left at six and seven.

[Exeunt York and Queen.

[land,

Bushy. The wind sits fair for news to go to IreBut none returns. For us to levy power, Proportionable to the enemy,

60 Is all unpossible.

Green. Besides, our nearness to the king in love, Is near the hate of those love not the king.

i. e. drawn it back. 2 The lordship of Plashy was a town of the dutchess of Gloster's in Essex.

1. e. disloyalty, treachery.

Bagot.

:

Bagot. And that's the wavering commons: for

their love

Lies in their purses; and whoso empties them,
By so much fills their hearts with deadly hate.
Bushy. Wherein the king stands generally con- 5
demn'd.

Bagot. If judgment lie in them, then so do we,
Because we have been ever near the king. [castle;
Green. Well, I'll for refuge straight to Bristo!
The earl of Wiltshire is already there.

Bushy. Thither I will with you: for little office
The hateful commons will perform for us;
Except, like curs, to tear us all in pieces.—
Will you go along with us?

Bagot. No; I'll to Ireland to his majesty.
Farewel: if heart's presages be not vain,
We three here part, that ne'er shall meet again.
Bushy. That's as York thrives to beat back Bo-
lingbroke.

10

[To offer service to the duke of Hereford;
And sent me o'er by Berkley, to discover
What power the duke of York hath levied there;
Then with direction to repair to Ravenspurg.
North. Have you forgot the duke of Hereford,
boy?

Percy. No, my good lord; for that is not forgot,
Which ne'er I did remember: to my knowledge,
I never in my life did look on him.

North. Then learn to know him now; this is
the duke.
[vice,
Percy. My gracious lord, I tender you my ser-
Such as it is, being tender, raw, and young;
Which elder days shall ripen and confirm
15 To more approved service and desert.
Boling. I thank thee, gentle Percy: and be sure,
I count myself in nothing else so happy,
As in a soul remembring my good friends;
And, as my fortune ripens with thy love,
It shall be still thy true love's recompence: [it.
My heart this covenant makes, my hand thus seals
North. How far is it to Berkley? And what stir
Keeps good old York there, with his men of war?
Percy. There stands the castle, by yon tuft of

Green. Alas! poor duke, the task he undertakes 20
Is--numb'ring sands, and drinking oceans dry;
Where one on his side fights, thousands will fly.
Bushy. Farewel at once; for once, for all,and ever.
Green. Well, we may meet again.
Bagot. I fear me, never.

SCENE III.

The wilds in Glostershire.

[Exeunt. 25

Enter Bolingbroke and Northumberland. Boling. How far is it, my lord, to Berkley now? 30 North. Believe me, noble lord,

I am a stranger here in Glostershire,

These high wild hills, and rough uneven ways,
Draw out our miles, and make them wearisome:
And yet your fair discourse hath been as sugar,
Making the hard way sweet and delectable.
But, I bethink me, what a weary way,
From Ravenspurg to Cotswold, will be found
In Ross, and Willoughby, wanting your company;
Which, I protest, hath very much beguil'd

The tediousness and process of my travel:
But theirs is sweeten'd with the hope to have
The present benefit that I possess:
And hope to joy, is tittle less in joy,
Than hope enjoy'd: by this, the weary lords
Shall make their way seem short; as mine hath done
By sight of what I have, your noble company.
Boling. Of much less value is my company,
Than your good words. But who comes here?
Enter Harry Percy.

North. It is my son, young Harry Percy,
Sent from my brother Worcester, whencesoever.-
Harry, how fares your uncle?

Percy. I had thought, my lord, to have learn'd

his health of you.

North. Why, is he not with the queen? [court,
Percy. No, my good lord; he hath forsook the
Broken his staff of office, and dispers'd
The houshold of the king,

North. What was his reason?

He was not so resolv'd, when last we spake together.
Percy. Because your lordship was proclaimed
But he, my lord, is gone to Ravenspurg, [traitor.

trees,

Mann'd with three hundred men, as I have heard:
And in it are the lords of York, Berkley, and
None else of name, and noble estimate.[Seymour,
Enter Ross and Willoughby.

North. Here come the lords of Ross and Wil-
loughby,

Bloody with spurring, fiery-red with haste. [sues
Boling. Welcome, my lords: I wot, your love pur-
A banish'd traitor; all my treasury

35 Is yet but unfelt thanks, which, more enrich'd,
Shall be your love aud labour's recompence.

140

45

50

Ross. Your presence make usrich,most noble lord.
Willo. And far surmounts our labour to attain it.
Boling. Evermore thanks, the exchequer of the

poor;

Which, 'till my infant fortune comes to years,
Stands for my bounty. But who comes here?
Enter Berkley.

North. It is my lord of Berkley, as I guess.
Berk. My lord of Hereford,my message is to you.
Boling. My lord, my answer is, to Lancaster;
And I am come to seek that name in England:
And I must find that title in your tongue,
Before I make reply to aught you say.

Berk. Mistake me not, my lord; 'tis not my

meaning,

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,

55 The duke of York; to know, what pricks you on
To take advantage of the absent time',
And fright our native peace with self-born arms.
Enter York, attended.
Boling. I shall not need transport mywords by you;
Here comes his grace in person.—My noble uncle!
[Kneels.

60

York. Shew me thy humble heart, and not thy Whose duty is deceivable and false. [knee,

Meaning, perhaps, the time of the king's absence.

Boling.

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 those banish'd and forbidden legs
Dar'd once to touch a dust of England's ground?
But more than why,-Why have they dared to

march

So many miles upon her peaceful bosom ;
Frighting her pale-fac'd villages with war,
And ostentation of despised arms?

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,

5 Cherish rebellion, and are rebels all.

10

15

Com'st thou because the anointed king is hence?
Why, foolish boy, the king is left behind,
And in my loyal bosom lies his power.
Were I but now the lord of such hot youth,
As when brave Gaunt, thy father, and myself,
Rescu'd the Black Prince, that young Mars of men,
From forth the ranks of many thousand French;
Oh, then, how quickly should this armn of mine,
Now prisoner to the palsy, chastise thee,
And minister correction to thy fault!
Boling. My gracious uncle, let me know my fault:
On' what condition stands it, and wherein?
York. Even in condition of the worst degree,--25
In gross rebellion, and detested treason:
Thou art a banish'd man, and here art come,
Before the expiration of thy time,

In braving arms against thy sovereign.

[ford;

North. The noble duke hath sworn, his coming is
But for his own: and, for the right of that,
We all have strongly sworn to give him aid;
And let him ne'er see joy, that breaks that oath.
York. Well, well, I see the issue of these arms;
I cannot mend it, I must needs confess,
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 sovereign mercy of the king;
But, since I cannot, be it known to you,
I do remain as neuter. So, fare you well;-
Unless you please to enter in the castle,
And there repose you for this night.

20 Boling. An offer, uncle, that we will accept.
But we must win your grace, to go with us
To Bristol castle; which, they say, is held
By Bushy, Bagot, and their complices,
The caterpillars of the commonwealth,
Which I have sworn to weed, and pluck away.
York. It may be, I will go with you :—but yet
I'll pause;

For I am loth to break our country's laws.
Nor friends, nor foes, to me welcome you are:

Boling. As I was banish'd, I was banish'd Here- 30 Things past redress, are now with me past care.

35

40

But as I come, I come for Lancaster.
And, noble uncle, I beseech your grace,
Look on my wrongs with an indifferent eye:
You are my father, for, methinks, in you
I see old Gaunt alive; O, then, my father!
Will you permit that I shall stand condemn'd
A wand'ring vagabond; my rights and royalties
Pluck'd from my arms perforce, and given away
To upstart unthrifts? Wherefore was I born?
If that my cousin king be king of England,
It must be granted, I am duke of Lancaster.
You have a son, Aumerle, my noble kinsman;
Had you first dy'd, and he been thus trod down,
He should have found his uncle Gaunt a father,
To rouse his wrongs, and chase them to the bay. 45
I am deny'd to sue my livery here,
And yet my letters patents give me leave:
My father's goods are all distrain'd, and sold:
And these, and all, are all amiss employ'd.
What would you have me do? I am a subject,
And challenge law: Attornies are deny'd me;
And therefore personally I lay my claim
To my inheritance of free descent.

2S CENE IV.

In Wales.

[Exeunt.

Enter Salisbury and a Captain.
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 disperse ourselves: farewell.
Sal. Stay yet another day,thou trusty Welshman;
The king reposeth all his confidence in thee. [stay.
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 stars of heaven:
The pale-fac'd moon looks bloody on the earth,
And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change;
Rich men look sad, and ruffians dance and leap,-
The one, in fear to lose what they enjoy,
The other, to enjoy by rage and war:
50 These signs forerun the death of kings—
Farwel; our countrymen are gone and fled,
As well assur'd, Richard their king is dead. [Exit.
Sal. Ab, Richard! with eyes of heavy mind,
I see thy glory, like a shooting star,
Fall to the base earth from the firmament!
Thy sun sets weeping in the lowly west,
Witnessing storms to come, woe, and unrest:
Thy friends are fled, to wait upon thy foes;
And crossly to thy good all fortune goes.

[abus'd. North. The noble duke hath been too much Ross. It stands your grace upon, to do him right. 55 Willo. Base men by his endowments are made great.

York. My lords of England, let me tell you this,→
I have had feeling of my cousin's wrongs,
And labour'd all I could to do him right:

[60]

[Exeunt.

On for in. 2 Dr. Johnson conjectures that this dialogue was probably the second scene in the ensuing act, and advises the reader to insert it there.

АСТ

And stain'd the beauty of a fair queen's cheeks
With tears drawn from her eyes by your foul 20

Myself a prince, by fortune of my birth;
Near to the king in blood; and near in love,
"Till you did make him misinterpret me,—
Have stoop'd my neck under your injuries,
And sigh'd my English breath in foreign clouds,
Eating the bitter bread of banishment:
Whilst you have fed upon my signories,
Dispark'd' my parks, and fell'd my forest woods;
From mine own windows torn my household coat, 30
Raz'd out my impress', leaving me no sign,—
Save men's opinions, and my living blood,-
To shew the world I am a gentleman. [this,
This, and much more, much more than twice all
Condemns you to the death:-See them deliver'd 35

Bushy. More welcome is the stroke of death to Than Bolingbroke to England.-Lords, farewel. Green. My comfort is, that heaven will take 40 our souls,

And plague injustice with the pains of hell.
Boling. My lord Northumberland, see them
dispatch'd.-

Uncle, you say, the queen is at your house;
For heaven's sake, fairly let her be entreated:
Tell her, I send to her my kind commends;
Take special care my greetings be deliver'd.

York. A gentleman of mine I have dispatch'd
With letters of your love to her at large.

Boling. Thanks, gentle uncle.-Come, lords,

To dispark is to throw down the hedges of an enclosure. It was then the practice to anneal the arms of the family in the windows of the house. The impress was a device or motto. + Theobald is of opinion (and we think his reasons for thinking so are just), that this line is an interpolation. 'Here, Dr. Johnson thinks, may be properly inserted the last scene of the second act.