[To fight with Glendower and his Complices ;] A while to Work; and, after, Holy-day. [Exeunt. Changes to the Coast of Wales. Enter King Richard, Aumerle, Bishop of Carlisle, and Soldiers. K. Rich. B Arkloughly-caftle call you this at hand? Aum. Yea, my good lord; how brooks your Grace the air, After your toffing on the breaking Seas? K. Rich. Needs muft I like it well. I weep for joy Plays fondly with her tears, and fmiles in meeting; nor is fo far afford of the Suc ceffion, as to think of going to fupprefs Infurrections before he is planted in the Throne. Befides, we find, the Opposition of Glendower begins the First Part of K. Henry IV; and Mortimer's Defeat by that hardy Welshman is the Tidings of the firft Scene of that Play. Again, tho' Glendower, in the very firft Year of K. Henry IV, began to be troublefome, put in for the Supre macy of Wales, and imprifon'd Mortimer; yet it was not 'till the fucceeding Year, that the King employed any Force against him THEOBALD. This emendation, which I think is juft, has been followed by Sir T. Hamer, but is neglected by Dr. Warburton. * Here may be properly inserted the laft scene of the fecond act. Yield Yield ftinging nettles to mine enemies; And, when they from thy bosom pluck a flower, Bishop. Fear not, my Lord; that Pow'r, that made you King, Hath pow'r to keep you King, in fpight of all. Aum. He means, my lord; that we are too remifs; Whilft Bolingbroke, through our fecurity, Grows ftrong and great, in fubftance and in power, K. Rich. Difcomfortable Coufin, know'ft thou not, That when the fearching eye of heav'n is hid * Behind the globe that lights the lower world; Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen, In murders, and in outrage bloody, here. But when from under this terrestrial ball He fires the proud tops of the eastern pines, And darts his light through ev'ry guilty hole, Then murders, treafons, and detefted fins, The cloak of night being pluck'd from off their backs, Stand bare and naked, trembling at themselves. So when this thief, this traitor Bolingbroke, Who all this while hath revell'd in the night, Weak men must fall, for heav'n ftill guards the Right. . Welcome, my lord, how far off lies your Power? 6 The breath of worldly men.] Here is the doctrine of indefeafible right expreffed 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, whofe opinions are regulated by fashion or intereft, to impute the original of every tenet which they have been taught to think falfe or foolith. Aum. Aum. Comfort, my Liege, why looks your Grace fo pale? K. Rich. But now the blood of twenty thousand men Did triumph in my face, and they are fled. And till fo much blood thither come again, Have I not reafon to look pale, and dead? All fouls, that will be fafe, fly from my fide; For time hath fet a blot upon my pride. Aum. Comfort, my Liege; remember, who you are. K. Rich. I had forgot my felf. Am I not King? Awake, thou coward Majefty, thou sleepest; Is not the King's name forty thousand names? Arm, arm, my Name; a puny Subject strikes. At thy great glory. Look not to the ground, Ye fav'rites of a King, are we not high? High be our thoughts. I know, my uncle York Hath pow'r to serve our turn. But who comes here? Scroop. More health and happiness betide my Liege, Than can my care-tun'd tongue deliver him! K. Rich. Mine ear is open, and my heart prepar'd. The worst is worldly loss thou canft unfold. Say, is my Kingdom loft? why, 'twas my care, And what lofs is it, to be rid of care? Strives Bolingbroke to be as great as we? Greater he fhall not be; if he ferve God, We'll ferve him too, and be his fellow fo. Revolt our Subjects? that we cannot mend; 7 Mine ear is cpn. It feems to be the defign of the poet to raife Richard to eftecm in his fall, and confequently to intereft the reader in his favour. He gives him only paffive fortitude, the virtue of a confeffor rather than of a king. In his profperity we faw him imperious and oppreffive, but in his diftrefs he is wife, patient, and pious. E 4 They ди They break their faith to God, as well as us. Like an unfeasonable stormy day, Which makes the filver rivers drown their fhores, So high above his limits fwells the rage Of Bolingbroke, cov'ring your fearful Land With hard bright steel, and hearts more hard than steel. K. Rich. Too well, too well, thou tell'ft a Tale fo ill. Where is the Earl of Wiltshire? where is Bagot? & Thy very Beafmen learn to bend their bows.] Such is the reading of all the copies, yet I doubt whether beamen be right, for the bow feems to be mentioned here as the proper weapon of a batman. The x king's beamen were his chapTreria lains. Trenia calls himself the bea man of his patron. Beadman might likewife be any men maintained by charity to pray for their benefactor. Hanmer reads the very bead men, but thy is better. ? Of double fatal Equr,-] |