But we must win your grace, to go with us 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 loath to break our country's laws. Nor friends, nor foes, to me welcome you are : SCENE IV.3 [Exeunt. A Camp in Wales. Enter SALISBURY, and a Captain. Capt. My lord of Salisbury, we have staid ten days,. And hardly kept our countrymen together, And yet we hear no tidings from the king; In thee. Capt. 'Tis thought, the king is dead; we will not stay The bay-trees in our country are all 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 : These signs forerun the death or fall of kings.Farewell; our countrymen are gone and fled, As well assur'd, Richard their king is dead. Sal. Ah, Richard! with the eyes of heavy mind, I see thy glory, like a shooting star, [Exit. [3] Here is a scene so unartfully and irregularly thrust into an improper place, that I cannot but suspect it accidentally transposed; which, when the scenes were written on single pages, might easily happen in the wildness of Shakespeare's drama. This dialogue was, in the author's draught, probably the second scene in the ensuing act, and there I would advise the reader to insert it, though I have not ventured on so bold a change. My conjecture is not so presumptuous as may be thought. The play was not in Shakespeare's time, broken into acts; the editions published before his death exhibit only a sequence of scenes from the beginning to the end, without any hint of a pause of action. In a drama so desultory and erratic, left in such a state, transpositions might easily be made. JOHNSON, [4] This enumeration of prodigies is in the highest degree poetical and striking. JOHNSON Fall to the base earth from the firmament ! [Exit. ACT III. SCENE I.-Bolingbroke's Camp at Bristol. Enter BOLING- Bushy, and Green, I will not vex your souls And stain'd the beauty of a fair queen's cheeks Clean, i. e. quite, completely. REED. It was the practice when coloured glass was in use, of which there are still some remains in old seats and churches, to anneal the arms of the family in the windows of the house. JOHNSON, [7] The impress was a device or motto. Ferne in his Blazon of Gentry, observes, "that the arms, &c. of traitors and rebels may be defaced and removed, wheresoever they are fixed, or set." STEEVENS. Save men's opinions, and my living blood,- This, and much more, much more than twice all this, Condemns you to the death :-See them deliver'd over To execution and the hand of death. Bushy. More welcome is the stroke of death to me, Than Bolingbroke to England.-Lords, farewell. Green. My comfort is,-that heaven will take our souls, And plague injustice with the pains of hell. Boling. My lord Northumberland, see them despatch'd. [Exeunt NORTHUMBERLAND and others with Uncle, you say, the queen is at your house; Boling. Thanks, gentle uncle.-Come, lords, away; SCENE II. [Exeunt. The Coast of Wales. and Trumpets. Enter King RICHARD, Bishop of Carlisle, AUMERLE, and Soldiers. K. Rich. Barkloughly castle call you this at hand? Aum. Yea, my lord: How brooks your grace the air, After late tossing on the breaking seas? K. Rich. Needs must I like it well; I weep for joy, To stand upon my kingdom once again. Dear earth, I do salute thee with my hand, Though rebels wound thee with their horses' hoofs : Plays fondly with her tears, and smiles in meeting; [8] Here may be properly inserted the last scene of the 2d act. JOHNSON. And heavy-gated toads, lie in their way; And when they from thy bosom pluck a flower, Bishop. Fear not, my lord; that Power that made you king, Hath power to keep you king, in spite of all. Aum. He means, my lord, that we are too remiss ; Grows strong and great, in substance, and in friends. [9] It is not easy to point out an image more striking and beautiful than this, in any poet, whether ancient or modern. STEEVENS. 9 VOL, V. F 2 Can wash the balm from an anointed king: For every man that Bolingbroke hath press'd, A glorious angel: then, if angels fight, Weak men must fall; for heaven still guards the right. Welcome, my lord; how far off lies your power? O'erthrows thy joys, friends, fortune, and thy state; Aum. Comfort, my liege: why looks your grace so pale ? K. Rich. But now, the blood of twenty thousand men Aum. Comfort, my liege; remember who you are. [1] Here is the doctrine of indefeasible right expressed in the strongest terms; but our poet did not learn it in the reign of king James, to which it is now the practice of all writers, whose opinions are regulated by fashion or interest, to impute the original of every tenet which they have been taught to think false or foolish. JOHNSON. |