Though Richard my life's counsel would not hear, York. No; it is stopp'd with other flattering As, praises of his state: then, there are found Where doth the world thrust forth a vanity, Gaunt. Methinks, I am a prophet new inspir'd; His rash' fierce blaze of riot cannot last; He tires betimes, that spurs too fast betimes; Queen. How fares our noble uncle, Lancaster? K. Rich. What comfort, man? How is't with aged Gaunt? Gaunt. O, how that name befits my composition! And who abstains from meat, that is not gaunt? Gaunt. No, misery makes sport to mock itself: live? Gaunt. No, no; men living flatter those that die. Gaunt. O, no; thou diest, though I the sicker be. ill. Gaunt. Now, He that made me, knows I see Ill in myself to see, and in thee seeing ill. K. Rich. ceive no other infection from abroad than the plague; but it is evident that the poet may allude to the infection of vicious manners and customs. It is true that infesta AUMERIE, tion was in use for a troubling, molesting, or disturb WIL-ing:' but as all the old copies read infection, there seems to be no sufficient reason for disturbing the text. 5 i. e. by reason of their breed. The quarto of 1599 reads thus: Enter KING RICHARD, and Queen; York. The king is come: deal mildly with his For young hot colts, being rag'd,1o do rage the more. lighted ear. 'Fear'd by their breed, and famous for their birth.' 6 'In this 22d yeare of King Richard, the common fame ranne that the king had letten to furme the realme unto Sir William Scrope, earle of Wiltshire, and then But Steevens's soul, like that of his great treasurer of England, to Syr John Bushey, Sir John coadjutor, does not seem to have been attuned to har-Bagot, and Sir Henry Greene, Knightes.-Fabian. mony. The context might, however, have shown him how superfluous his supposition was; and I have to apologize for diverting the attention of the reader from this beautiful passage for a moment. 1 The poct has charged the times of King Richard II. with a folly not perhaps known then, but very frequent In his own time, and much lamented by the wisest of our Pelting is paltry, pitiful, petty. 7 Shakspeare has deviated from historical truth in the introduction of Richard's queen as a woman; for Anre, his first wife, was dead before the period at which the commencement of the play is laid; and Isabella, his second wife, was a child at the time of his death. 9 i. e. William Lord Ross, of Hamlake, afterwards lord treasurer to Henry IV. 9 William Lord Willoughby, of Eresby. being rein'd, do rage the more,' 11 Meagre, thin. Dar'st with thy frozen admonition son, For that I was his father Edward's son; For both hast thou, and both become the grave. He loves you, on my life, and holds you dear K. Rich. Right; you say true: as Hereford's As theirs, so mine; and ali be as it is. . Enter NORTHUMBERLAND. Which his triumphant father's hand had won: K. Rich. Think what you will; we seize into our His plate, his goods, his money, and his lands. York. I'll not be by the while: My liege, farewell: What will ensue hereof, there's none can tell; But by bad courses may be understood, North. My liege, old Gaunt commends him to That their events can never fall out good. [Erit. your majesty. K. Rich. What says he? North. Nay, nothing; all is said: His tongue is now a stringless instrument; York. How long shall I be patient? Ah, how long I am the last of noble Edward's sons, Of whom thy father, prince of Wales, was first; 1 i. c. let them lore to live, &c. 2 That is, our pilgrimage is yet to come." 8 Kernes were Irish peasantry, serving as light-armed foot soldiers. Shakspeare makes York say, in the second part of King Henry VI. that Cade, when in Ireland, used to disguise himself as a shaz-haired crafty kerne. The kerne is an ordinary foot soldier, according to Stanihurst; kerne (kigheyren) signifieth a shower of hell, because they are taken for no better than rake-hells, or the devil's black-garde.'..-Description of Ireland, ch. 8, fol. 28. 4 Alluding to the idea that no venomous reptiles live in Ireland. K. Rich. Go, Bushy, to the earl of Wiltshire straight; Bid him repair to us to Ely-house, To see this business: To-morrow next North. Well, lords, the duke of Lancaster is dead. silence, Ere't be disburden'd with a liberal tongue. speak more, That speaks thy words again, to do thee harm! Willo. Tends that thou would'st 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 Bereft and gelded of his patrimony. North. Now, afore heaven, 'tis shame, such In him a royal prince, and many more 5 When the duke of Hereford went into France, after his banishment, he was honourably entertained at that court, and would have obtained in marriage the only daughter of the duke of Berry, uncle to the French king, had not Richard prevented the match. 6 i. e. when he was of thy age. 7 On the death of every person who held by knights service, his heir, if under age, became a ward of the king's; but if of age, he had a right to sue out a writ of ouster le main, i. e. livery, that the king's hand might be taken off, and the land delivered to him. To deny by which he was to hold his lands. his offer'd homage' was to refuse to admit the homage 8 Free 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 grievous taxes, And quite lost their hearts: the nobles hath he fin'd For ancient quarrels, and quite lost their hearts. Willo. Ani 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. Wars have not wasted it, for warr'd he hath not, But basely yielded upon compromise That which his ancestors achiev'd with blows: More hath he spent in peace, than they in wars. Ross. The earl of Wiltshire hath the realm in farm. Willo. The king's grown bankrupt, like a broken man. North. Reproach, and dissolution, hangeth over him. Ross. He hath not money for these Irish wars, His burdenous taxations notwithstanding, But by the robbing of the banish'd duke. North. His noble kinsman; most degenerate king! But, lords, we hear this fearful tempest sing,' Ross. We see the very wreck that we must suffer; And unavoided is the danger now, For suffering so the causes of our wreck. Imp out our drooping country's broken wing, Ross. To horse, to horse! urge doubts to them that fear. Willo. Hold out my horse, and I will first be there. [Exeunt SCENE II. The same. A Room in the Palace. Enter QUEEN, BUSHY, and BAGOT. Bushy. Madam, your majesty is too much sad: You promis'd, when you parted with the king, To lay aside life-harming heaviness, And entertain a cheerful disposition. Queen. To please the king, I did; to please myself, I cannot do it; yet I know no cause Is shadows, Which show like grief itself, but are not so: For sorrow's eye, glazed with blinding tears, Divides one thing entire to many objects; North. Not so; even through the hollow eyes of Like perspectives,1° which, rightly gaz'd upon, Ross. Be confident to speak, Northumberland: 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, a bay In Brittany, receiv'd intelligence, That Harry Hereford, Reinold Lord Cobham, cis Quoint, All these well furnish'd by the duke of Bretagne, And shortly mean to touch our northern shore: If then we shall shake off our slavish yoke, Show nothing but confusion; ey'd awry, not seen: meant optical glasses, to assist the sight in any way. Mr. Henley says that the perspectives here mentioned were round crystal glasses, the convex surface of which was cut into faces like those of the rose-diamond: the concave left uniformly smooth; which if placed as here represented, would exhibit the different appearances described by the poet.' But it may have reference to that kind of optical delusion called anamorphosis; which is a perspective projection of a picture, so that at one point of view it shall appear a confused mass, or different to what it really is, in another, an exact and 4And yet we strike not our sails, but perish by too great confidence in our security: this is another Latin-regular representation. Sometimes it is made to appear Ism. Securely is used in the sense of securus. 5 The line ia brackets, which was necessary to com plete the sense, has been supplied upon the authority of Holinshed. Something of a similar import must have been omitted by accident in the old copies. 6 Stout. 7 Expedition. 8 When the wing feathers of a hawk were dropped or forced out by any accident it was usual to supply as many as were deficient. This operation was called to imp a hawk. It is often used metaphorically, as in this instance. The word is said to come from the Saxon impan, to graft, or inoculate. 9 Gilding. 10 It has been shown in a former note that perspective confused to the naked eye, and regular when viewed in a glass or mirror of a certain form. A picture of a chancellor of France, presented to the common behol der a multitude of little faces; but if one did look at it through a perspective, there appeared only the single pourtraiture of the chancellor.-Humane Industry, 1651. 11 The old copies have on thinking,' which is an evilent error: we should read, As though in think. ing;' i. e. though musing, I have no idea of calamity.' The involuntary and unaccountable depression of the mind which every one has sometimes felt, is here very forcibly described. 12 Fanciful conception. The Lord Northumberland, his young son Henry Percy, The lords of Ross, Beaumond, and Willoughby, And all the rest of the revolted faction, traitors ?2 Serv. An hour before I came, the duchess died. Comes rushing on this woeful land at once! York. God for his mercy! what a tide of woes I know not what to do:-I would to God (So my untruth4 had not provok'd him to it,) The one's my sovereign, whom both my oath And meet me presently at Berkley-castle. But time will not permit :-All is uneven, Queen. So, Green, thou art the midwife to my And every thing is left at six and seven. woe, And Bolingbroke my sorrow's dismal heir :3 [Exeunt YORK and Queen. Bushy. The wind sits fair for news to go to Ireland, But none returns. For us to levy power, Proportionable to the enemy, Is all impossible. Green. Besides, our nearness to the king in love, Who shall hinder me? Is near the hate of those love not the king. I will despair, and be at enmity Green. Here comes the duke of York. For heaven's sake, speak comfortable words. Serv. My lord, your son was gone before I came. York. He was?-Why, so!-go all which way it will ! The nobles they are fled, the commons they are cold, And will, fear, revolt on Hereford's side.Sirrah, get thee to Plashy, to my sister Gloster; Bid her send me presently a thousand pound Hold, take my ring. Serv. My lord, I had forgot to tell your lordship: To-day, as I came by, I called there; But I shall grieve you to report the rest. York. What is it, knave? 1 Retir'd, i. e. drawn it back; a French sense. 2 The first quarto, 1597, reads: And all the rest of the revolted faction, traitors? The folio, and the quarto of 1598 and 1608 And the rest of the recolting faction, traitors? 3 The queen had said before, that some unborn sorrow, ripe in fortune's womb, was coming toward her.' She talks afterward of her unknown griefs being begotten; she calls Green the midwife of her woe; and then means to say in the same metaphorical style, that the arrival of Bolingbroke was the dismal offspring that her foreboding sorrow was big of; which she expresses Bagot. And that's the wavering commons: fot their love Bagot. If judgment lie in them, then so do we, Because we ever have been near the king. Green. Well, I'll for refuge straight to Bristol Castle; The earl of Wiltshire is already there. Bushy. Thither will I with you: for little office Will the hateful commons perform for us; Except like curs to tear us all to pieces.Will you go along with us? Bagot. No; I'll to Ireland to his majesty. Farewell: 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 Bolingbroke. Green. Alas, peor duke! the task he undertakes Is-numb'ring sands, and drinking oceans dry; Where one on his side fights, thousands will fly. Bushy. Farewell at once; for once, for all, and SCENE III. The Wilds in Glostershire. "Enter -BOLINGBROKE and NORTHUMBERLAND, with Forces. Boling. How far is it, my lord, to Berkley now? I am a stranger here in Glostershire. by calling him her sorrow's dismal heir,' and explains more fully in the following line : Now hath my soul brought forth her prodigy.' 4 Disloyalty, treachery. 5 Not one of York's brothers had his head cut off, either by the king or any one else. Gloster, to whose death he probably alludes, was smothered between two beds at Calais. 6 This is one of Shakspeare's touches of nature. York is talking to the queen, his cousin, but the recent death of his sister is uppermost in his mind. Draw out our miles, and make them wearisome : North. It is my son, young Harry Percy, Percy. I had thought, my lord, to have learn'd his North. Why, is he not with the queen? poor; Which, till my infant fortune comes to years, North. It is my lord of Berkley, as I Berk. Mistake me not, my lord; 'tis not my To raze one title of your honour out: 3- Percy. No, my good lord; he hath forsook the To take advantage of the absent time,+ court, Broken his staff of office, and dispers'd The household of the king. What was his reason? He was not so resolv'd, when last we spake together. Percy. Because your lordship was proclaimed traitor. But he, my lord, is gone to Ravenspurg, North. Then learn to know him now; this is the duke. Percy. My gracious lord, I tender you my service, Bling. I thank thee, gentle Percy; and be sure, And fright our native peace with self-born arms. Boling. I shall not need transport my words by Here comes his grace in person.-My noble uncle! Whose duty is deceivable and false. Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle : am no traitor's uncle; and that word-grace, march So many miles upon her peaceful bosom ; Boling. My gracious uncle, let me know my On what condition stands it, and wherein? York. Even in condition of the worst degree,- In braving arms against thy sovereign. But as I come, I come for Lancaster, 5 In Romeo and Juliet we have the same kind of phraseology: Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds.' 6 Perhaps Shakspeare here uses despised for hated or hateful arms? Sir Thomas Hanmer changed it to despiteful, but the old copies all agree in reading despised. Shakspeare uses the word again in a singular sense in Othello, Act i. Sc. 1, where Brabantio exclaims upon the loss of his daughter: what's to come of my despised time Is nought but bitterness.' It has been suggested that despised is used to denote the general contempt in which the British held the French forces. The duke of Bretagne furnished Bolingbroke with three thousand French soldiers.' |