And free from other misbegotten hate, Come I appellant to this princely presence.- Nor. Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal. "Tis not the trial of a woman's war, The bitter clamour of two eager tongues, First, the fair reverence of your highness curbs me I do defy him, and I spit at him ; Call him a slanderous coward, and a villain : And meet him, were I tied to run a-foot 4 5 doubled-] So every quarto: the folio, 1623, doubly. Or any other ground INHABITABLE] i. e. uninhabitable: so used by Ben Jonson, Donne, and other writers of the time. The following passage occurs in VOL. IV. I Where ever Englishman durst set his foot. Boling. Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage, Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except: Or chivalrous design of knightly trial: And, when I mount, alive may I not light, 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 us So much as of a thought of ill in him. Boling. Look, what I speak', my life shall prove it true: That Mowbray hath receiv'd eight thousand nobles, T. Heywood's "General History of Women," fo. 1624 :-" Where all the country was scorched by the heat of the sun, and the place almost inhabitable for the multitude of serpents." 6 kindred of THE king ;] The editions after the quarto, 1597, read “kindred of a king ;" but Bolingbroke, of course, refers to the king before whom he stood, and whose "kinsman " Norfolk had just said that he was. 7 What I have spoke, or thou canst worse devise.] So the quarto, 1597. Quarto, 1598, "What I have spoke, or thou canst devise." Quartos, 1608 and 1615, "What I have spoke, or what thou canst devise." Folio, 1623, “ What I have spoken, or thou canst devise." 8 And, when I mount, alive may I not light,] The quartos of 1608 and 1615 repeat the word "alive." 9 Look, what I SPEAK-] This is the reading of the earliest quarto, that of 1597 the other quartos and the first folio have said for " speak." "Speak," in the present tense, seems the more proper, as it refers to the particular accusations Bolingbroke is about to bring against Mowbray. In name of lendings for your highness' soldiers, Besides, I say, and will in battle prove, Fetch from false Mowbray" their first head and spring. Upon his bad life to make all this good, That he did plot the duke of Gloster's death; Suggest his soon-believing adversaries', And, consequently, like a traitor coward, Sluic'd out his innocent soul through streams of blood: 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, How God, and good men, hate so foul a liar. K. Rich. Mowbray, impartial are our eyes, and ears: Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir, As he is but my father's brother's son, Now by my sceptre's awe I make a vow, Such neighbour nearness to our sacred blood Should nothing privilege him, nor partialize 10 for LEWD employments,] i. e. for wicked purposes: this is one of the old senses of "lewd." See Vol. ii. p. 267, note 2. 11 FETCH from false Mowbray-] All editions, after the first of 1597, read fetch'd. Lower down, "my kingdom's heir" is printed only in the folio our. 1 SUGGEST his soon-believing adversaries ;] In Shakespeare, to “ suggest usually means to tempt. See Vol. ii. p. 288; iii. p. 264. 296. The unstooping firmness of my upright soul. Nor. Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart, Since last I went to France to fetch his queen. Even in the best blood chamber'd in his bosom. Your highness to assign our trial day. K. Rich. Wrath-kindled gentleman, be rul'd by me3. 2 Disburs'd I DULY -] 66 Duly" is only in 4to, 1597. The necessity of the word for the completeness of the verse is obvious. 3 Wrath-kindled GENTLEMAN, be rul'd by me ;] So all the quartos; the king addressing himself to Norfolk, who had just concluded his angry speech. The folio reads gentlemen; but Bolingbroke, merely as the accuser, was not so properly" wrath-kindled," and, moreover, had had time to cool. Let's purge this choler without letting blood: When, Harry? when1? Obedience bids, I should not bid again. K. Rich. Norfolk, throw down; we bid; there is no boot. Nor. Myself I throw, dread sovereign, at thy foot. My life thou shalt command, but not my shame : The one my duty owes; but my fair name, Despite of death that lives upon my grave, To dark dishonour's use thou shalt not have. I am disgrac'd, impeach'd, and baffled here; Pierc'd to the soul with slander's venom'd spear; The which no balm can cure, but his heart-blood Which breath'd this poison. K. Rich. Rage must be withstood. Give me his gage :-lions make leopards tame. Nor. Yea, but not change his spots: take but my shame, 3 Our doctors say this is no MONTH to bleed.] This line, and three others preceding it, are quoted in a MS. of the time in my hands. It may be worth noting, that the line, 66 Deep malice makes too deep incision," is there omitted, supporting Pope's notion, that the rhyming lines are not always necessary to the intelligibility of the context. The folio, 1623, contrary to all the earlier printed authorities, and my MS., has time instead of " month." When, Harry? when?] This expression of impatience is followed, in all the old copies, quarto and folio, by the words "obedience bids," as the conclusion of the line, though the same words begin the next line. They are surplusage, as is obvious both from the sense and the rhyme. "When, Harry? when?" is the conclusion of the line commenced by the king with " And, Norfolk, throw down his." |