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Boling. Joy abfent, grief is prefent for that time. Gaunt. What is fix winters? they are quickly gone. Boling. To men in joy; but grief makes one hour ten. Gaunt. Call it a Travel, that thou tak'ft for pleasure. Boling. My heart will figh, when I mifcall it fo, Which finds it an inforced pilgrimage.

Gaunt. The fullen paffage of thy weary steps
Efteem a foil, wherein thou art to fet
The precious jewel of thy home-return.

(Boling. Nay, rather, ev'ry tedious ftride I make

Will but remember me, what a deal of World
I wander from the Jewels that I love.

Muft I not ferve a lóng. Apprentice hood,
To foreign paffages, and in the End

Having my Freedom, boaft of Nothing elfe

But that I was a Journeyman to Grief?

Gaunt. All Places that the Eye of Heaven vifits,

Are to a wife man ports and happy havens.

Teach thy neceflity to reafon thus:

There is no virtue like neceffity.

'Think not, the King did banish Thee;

But Thou the King. Woe doth the heavier fit,
Where it perceives it is but faintly borne.
Go fay, I fent thee forth to purchase honour,

Boling. Nay, rather, ev'ry
tedious Stride I make] This,
and the fix Veries which follow,
I have ventur'd to fupply from
the old Quarto. The Allufion,
'tis true, to an Aprenticeship, and
becoming a ne man, is not
in the fublime Tafle, nor, as Ho-
race has exprefs'd it, firat Tra-
gicum fetis: however as there is
no Doubt of the Paffage being
genuine, the Lines are not fo
defpi able as to deferve being
quite loft.
THEOBALD.
-Journeyman to Grief?]
I am afraid our authour in this
place defigned a very poor quib-
ble, as journey fignifies both travel

8

and a day's work. However, he is not to be cenfared for what he himfelf rejected.

9 All Places that the Eye of

Heav'n vifits, &c.] The fourteen verfes that follow, are found in the firft Edition. POPE. I am inclined to believe that what Mr. Theobald and Mr. Fope have restored were expunged in the revifion by the authour: if the lines inclofed in crotchets are omitted, the fenfe is more Coherent. Nothing is more frequent among dramatick writers, than to fhorten their dialogues for the ftage.

And

And not, the King exil'd thee. Or suppose,
Devouring Peftilence hangs in our air,
And thou art flying to a frefher clime.
Look, what thy foul holds dear, imagine it

Tolye that way thou go'st, not whence thou com'st.
Suppofe the finging birds, muficians;

The grafs whereon thou tread'ft, the prefence-floor;
The flow'rs, fair ladies; and thy fteps, no more
Than a delightful measure, or a dance.

For gnarling Sorrow hath lefs Pow'r to bite
The Man, that mocks at it, and fets it light.]
Boling. Oh, who can hold a fire in his hand,
By thinking on the frofty Caucafus?
Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite,
By bare imagination of a feaft?
Or wallow naked in December snow,
By thinking on fantastick Summer's heat?
Oh, no! the apprehenfion of the good
Gives but the greater feeling to the worse;
Fell forrow's tooth doth never rankle more
Than when it bites, but lanceth not the fore.
Gaunt. Come, come, my fon, I'll bring thee on thy

way;

Had I thy Youth, and Cause, I would not stay.
Boling. Then, England's Ground, farewel; fweet
foil, adieu,

My mother and my nurse, which bears me yet.
Where-e'er I wander, boaft of this I can,
Though banish'd; yet a true-born Englishman. '

yet a true-born Englishman] Here the first act ought to end, that between the firit and fecond acts there may be time for John of Gaunt to accompany his fon, return and fall fick Then the firft fcene of the fecond act begins with a natural converfation, interrupted by

[Exeunt.

a meffage from John of Gaunt, by which the king is called to vifit him, which vifit is paid in the following scene. As the play is now divided, more time paffes between the two laft fcenes of the first act, than between the first act and the fecond.

C 4

SCENE

[blocks in formation]

Enter King Richard, and Bagot, &c. at one door; and the Lord Aumerle, at the other.

K. Rich.

E did, indeed, observe-Coufin

WE

Aumerle,

How far brought you high Hereford on his way?
Aum. I brought high Hereford, if you call him fo,
But to the next High-way, and there I left him.
K. Rich. And fay, what ftore of parting tears were
fhed?

Aum. 'Faith, none by me; except the north-east wind,

(Which then blew bitterly against our faces) Awak'd the fleepy rheume; and fo by chance Did grace our hollow Parting with a tear.

K. Rich. What faid your coufin, when you parted with him?

Aum. Farewel.

And, for my heart difdained that my tongue

Should fo prophane the word, That taught me craft To counterfeit oppreffion of fuch grief,

That words feem'd buried in my forrow's Grave.
Marry, would the word farewel have lengthen'd hours,
And added years to his fhort Banifhment,

He should have had a volume of farewels;
But, fince it would not, he had none of me.

K. Rich. He is our kinfman, Coufin; but 'tis doubt,
When time fhall call him home from Banifhment,
Whether our kinfman come to fee his friends.
Our felf, and Busby, Bagot here, and Green,
Obferv'd his Courtship to the common people :
How he did feem to dive into their hearts,
With humble and familiar courtefie?

What

What reverence he did throw away on slaves,
Wooing poor crafts-men with the craft of fmiles,
And patient under-bearing of his fortune,
As 'twere to banish their Affects with him.
Off goes his bonnet to an oyster-wench;
A brace of dray-men bid, God fpeed him well!
And had the tribute of his fupple knee;

With-Thanks, my countrymen, my loving friendsAs were our England in reverfion his,

And he our Subjects' next degree in hope.

Green. Well, he is gone, and with him go these thoughts.

Now for the Rebels, which stand out in Ireland,
Expedient Manage must be made, my Liege;
Ere further leifure yield them further means
For their advantage, and your Highness' lofs.
K. Rich. We will our self in person to this war;
And, for our coffers with too great a Court,
And liberal largess, are grown fomewhat light,
We are inforc❜d to farm our royal Realm,
The Revenue whereof fhall furnish us

For our affairs in hand; if they come short,
Our Substitutes at home fhall have blank charters,
Whereto, when they shall know what men are rich,
They shall subscribe them for large fums of gold,
And fend them after to fupply our wants;
For we will make for Ireland prefently.

Enter Bushy.

K. Rich. Busby, what news?

Busby. Old John of Gaunt is fick, my lord, Suddenly taken, and hath fent post-haste

T'intreat your Majefty to vifit him.

K. Rich. Where lyes he?

Busby. At Ely-boufe.

K. Rich. Now put it, heav'n, in his physician's

mind,

To

To help him to his Grave immediately.
The lining of his coffers fhall make coats
To deck our foldiers for thefe Frifh wars.
Come, gentlemen, let's all go vifit him:

Pray heav'n, we may make hafte, and come too late!

ACT II.

[Exeunt.

SCENE I.

ELY-HOUSE.

Gaunt brought in, fick; with the Duke of York.

W!

GAUNT.

ILL the King come, that I may breathe my last In wholesome counsel to his unftay'd youth? York. Vex not your felf, nor ftrive not with your breath;

For all in vain comes counsel to his ear.

Gaunt. Oh, but, they fay, the tongues of dying men Inforce attention, like deep harmony:

Where words are fcarce, they're feldom fpent in vain ;
For they breathe truth, that breathe their words in pain.
He, that no more muft fay, is liften'd more

Than they, whom youth and eafe have taught to glofe,
More are men's ends mark'd, than their lives before;
The fetting Sun, and mufick in the close,
As the last tafte of fweets, is sweetest last;
Writ in remembrance, more than things long past.
Though Richard my life's counfel would not hear,
My death's fad Tale may yet undeaf his ear.

York. His ear is ftopt with other flatt'ring charms,
As praifes of his State; there are, befide,
Lafcivious meeters, to whofe venom'd found
The open car of youth doth always liften:

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