before that sense had been definitely reached; but in E. E. it is used simply as if. It survives in the Somersetshire nif. 52. task the earth, i.e. charge it with the task of bearing my gage (which he flings down as he speaks). The high-flown language is in keeping with the conventional tone of the challenge, and with the 'holloa'd' of line 54. 55. From sun to sun, a good and universally accepted emendation of Capell's for the from sinne to sinne of the Quartos. The passage 52-9 is omitted in the Folios. 57. Who sets me else? 'who else challenges me to a game', properly 'lays down stakes'. 65. Dishonourable boy. "Fitzwater succeeded his father at the age of eighteen in 1386, and therefore was at this time thirty-one." (Čl. Pr. edd.) The term 'boy' is therefore insulting rather than descriptive. Cf. the magnificent outburst of Coriolanus when called 'Boy' by Aufidius. 666 "Boy!' false hound! If you have writ your annals true, 't is there Flutter'd your Volscians in Corioli: Alone I did it! 'Boy!"' Coriolanus, v. 6. 113-117. 67. vengeance and revenge. Shakespeare's use of these words elsewhere scarcely allows us to suppose that they are used in distinct senses here; probably they are instances of the ceremonious or legal tautology already exemplified in plot, complot, i. 3. 189. 68. lie-giver and; the er slurred before the vowel. See Prosody, I. § 3 (ii). 74. [Why 'in a wilderness'? Cf. i. 1. 63-6.] 78. in this new world, in this new state of things, new age. The original temporal sense of 'world' (O. E. wer-eld, age of men') is often approached in E. E. So, "the world to come means 'future ages' in Troilus and Cressida, iii. 2. 180. 88. Kreyssig suggests that Bolingbroke has already heard privately of Mowbray's death, and thus with the greater alacrity proposes his recal. 91-100. This picturesque account of Mowbray's exile and death was expanded by Shakespeare from a tradition, not found in Holinshed but recorded by Stow, that his death at Venice occurred "on his return from Jerusalem" (quoted Cl. Pr. edd.). It is pointedly put in the mouth of the bishop, who by thus celebrating the career of Bolingbroke's 'enemy', and, in particular, by line 99, which gives the lie to Bolingbroke's charge of treason, prepares us for the manly protest he is about to utter. 94. Streaming. Another instance of "the unparalleled freedom of the English language in using the same verb in an intransitive, transitive, or causative and reflexive sense " (Kellner). This freedom was favoured at the outset (1) by the resemblance in meaning, (2) by partial identity in form of certain pairs of transitive and intransitive verbs, eg. meltan, melt'; belgan, 'be angry' (Kellner, § 342). A group of verbs having once arisen in which transitive and intransitive senses were associated with the same form, served as a pattern on the model of which other verbs, transitive or intransitive, received the same extension of sense. The process had already begun in late O. E. 96. toil'd, wearied. 104 f. Here, as far as the play is concerned, the matter of Gloucester's death ends. This incompleteness marks, perhaps, the less sensitive conscience of the immature Shakespeare. The present scene leaves a strong presumption of Aumerle's guilt; but it is not definitely brought home to him, still less is he punished for it. Aumerle was, with Surrey, Exeter, and others, deprived of various titles and rights by this parliament. Aumerle's deprivation is, it is true, mentioned below (v. 2. 42–5), but it is attributed only to his having been 'Richard's friend'. 107-12. The loyalty of York is official, not personal. Richard having, by whatever means, been brought to resign the crown, York without effort transfers his 'lackey-like' allegiance. Touches like 'plume-plucked' prepare us for the otherwise amazing scenes, v. 2. and 3. At the same time, the complaisant attitude of the head of Richard's party makes more effective and dramatic the protest of Carlisle, 'worst in this royal presence'. 112. In both Henry and fourth an extra syllable may be developed from the r. Although this occurs in Shakespeare apparently only once in fourth' (and that where Shakespeare's authorship is not certain), 2 Henry VI. ii. 2. 55, and seventeen times in 'Henry', the verse-rhythm makes it probable that Henry-fou-rth is meant. See Prosody, I. § 3 (iv). 114-149. Carlisle's speech, actually made three weeks after the deposition (Oct. 22), consists of two parts: lines 114-135, founded upon Holinshed, and built upon the plea that Richard could not justly be tried in his absence; and lines 136-149, the prophecy, which is original. 115. Though I who speak be the least worthy person present, yet I speak as one whom (being an ecclesiastic) it best becomes', &c. 116. best beseeming me is, grammatically, an absolute clause; logically it is the predicate of the principal sentence. 115, 117. royal, noble. Carlisle calls the assembly 'royal' in his opening words, thereby giving point and significance to his substitution of the epithet 'noble'. 124. apparent; cf. note to i. 1. 13. 131. heinous, hateful. obscene, like the Lat. obscenus, in the general sense, repulsive, odious. 137. This is the most distinct allusion in this play to the sequel. 140-1. 'Wars in which all the ties of family and race will be violated.' The words kin and kind are not always clearly distinguished in Shakespeare. Kin (O. E. cynn) originally meant 'kind', 'race', 'tribe'; kind (O. E. ge-cynde), 'nature'. The latter sense was, after Chaucer, more and more expressed by the word 'nature'; and kind tended to become confused with kin, a confusion fostered by the word kindred (O.E. cyn-red). In Shakespeare kind is often used of a more general bond than that of actual relationship; e.g. of race, breed, 'the Spartan kind (of hounds)'; and so probably here. 148. resist, probably to be scanned by apocope ('sist), Abbott, § 460. 152. Holinshed says he was committed to the Abbot of St. Albans, not to the Abbot of Westminster. He was actually transferred to the latter Abbot from the Tower, but only some months later, June, 1400. (Cl. Pr. edd.) 155-7. Note how perfectly the unhistorical scene which follows is made to arise out of that which precedes. This is Bolingbroke's reply to Carlisle, as the previous speech (founded on Holinshed) is Northumberland's. 66 154-318. This part of the scene appeared for the first time in the Quarto of 1608. See Introduction. A slight change is made in line 319 in the earlier copies, to conceal the omission. 'Bolingbroke: Let it be so, and loe on Wednesday next We solemnly proclaim", &c. 162 f. Richard's opening words strike the key-note of the whole passage which follows, one of the most subtly imagined scenes in all Shakespeare. Throughout, he plays the part of one who can neither insist on his royal dignity nor resign it, who by his own consent no longer reigns, but has not yet 'shook off' his 'regal thoughts'. Richard is still possessed and dazzled by the idea of the kingship he has foregone; and his winsome fantastic figure thus stands out in delicate relief from the crowd of sturdy practical Englishmen around him, who respect ideas only when embodied in facts. The acceptance of Bolingbroke by England was in reality a triumph of the sense of practical needs over the abstract theory of kingship. 166. Richard shows the instinct of the great orator. similar touch in Mark Antony's speech over Cæsar's body: "Bear with me! Cf. the My heart is in the coffin there with Cæsar, 170. This vivid touch betrays Richard's exalted conception of his office. For him the analogy between the Messiah and "the deputy elected by the Lord", and defended by his " 'glorious angels", was very real. Cf. lines 239-42. 181-9. Again at the stimulus of a simple incident (cf. iii. 3. 160) Richard starts off on a brilliant but irrelevant fancy-flight. 191-3. The true answer of the sentimentalist to the man of con. crete facts. Richard hugs his emotions and treasures his pathos. 195f. The ambiguousness of the word care makes a ready opening for Richard's facile and somewhat boyish wit. My sorrow is the loss of the care brought about by the termination of my cares of office.' Bolingbroke bluntly recals him (line 200) to the practical issue. 201. no, ay. 'Ay' was regularly written 'I', and both words (with eye) were frequently punned upon. 'I must not reply ay (I) since I am nothing; therefore (being nothing) I must not reply no (i.e. that I am not content to resign), because I do in fact resign.' 203. The prefatory announcement of the artiste about to perform. 206. Richard's eloquence inclines to this parallelism of phrases: cf. e.g. iii. 3. 147. 210. duty's rites, the ceremonies involved in the duteous behaviour of the subject to the sovereign. 215. that swear, a somewhat harsh ellipse for 'of those that swear'. 221. sunshine days. 'Sunshine' is not elsewhere used as an adj. in the unquestioned works of Shakespeare (cf. 3 Henry VI. ii. 1. 187); but it occurs in Marlowe, Edward II. p. 212: "But what are kings when regiment is gone But perfect shadows in a sunshine day?" 222. This part of the program takes Richard by surprise, and for the moment quickens his luxurious and fancifully embroidered grief into a cry of sharp distress. 225. Against the existing condition, and contrary to the interests, of the country." 226. by confessing, absolute phrase, the understood subject of 'confessing' being you. 232-3. wouldst...shouldst. Md. E. usage would invert these terms; but the E. E. usage is truer to the specific sense of both will and shall; 'will', 'wouldst' implying voluntary action, 'shall', 'shouldst' a necessary one. Thus 'should' is regularly used to express, as here, the necessary, though undesigned, consequence of a voluntary action. 236. Cf. note ii. 1. 64. 237. look upon; 'upon' an adv., like both 'up' and 'on' in Md. E. 239 f. Cf. note to line 170. 246. sort. See Glossary. 262. Richard borrows this thought from the agony of Faustus's last moments: "O soul, be changed to little water-drops, And fall into the ocean, ne'er be found!" (Marlowe, Faustus, end.) 255-7. This probably alludes to the story, to which currency was given by the party of Bolingbroke, that Richard was not the son of the Black Prince but of a canon of Bordeaux, and that his real name was 'Jehan'. A contemporary French chronicle, Le chronicque de la traison et mort de Richart Deux Roy Dengleterre, contains the following record of his condemnation: "It is decreed by all the prelates and lords of the council and of the commons of the kingdom...that Jehan of Bordeaulx who was named King Richart of England is judged and condemned to be confined in a royal prison". (W. A. Harrison, in Transactions of New Shakspere Soc. 1883.) 264. A metaphor from coinage, like 'current' in i. 3. 231. 267. his, [possessive of what?] 268. "Bolingbroke opposes to Richard's pseudo-poetic pathos the coldest, most annihilating humour... Richard cries in passionate excitement: 'An if my word', &c. Bolingbroke's answer, 'Go, some of you and fetch a looking-glass' recals in manner the incomparable coolness of Falstaff's reply [in the character of the prince] to the indignant address of the prince [in the character of the king], 'Now, Harry, whence come you?'-'My noble lord, from Eastcheap'. (1 Henry IV. ii. 4. 483.)” (Kreyssig.) 271. Another touch which brings out Bolingbroke's absence of personal rancour against Richard. He aims at power, and is stern or clement as policy, not passion, determines. 276 f. This culminating passage, with the finely invented motive of the mirror, gives most poignant expression to Richard's mood. Overcome with the pathos of his lot he desires to see how the subject of it looks. 281-3. Again the expression shows how steeped Shakespeare's memory was in the splendid phrases of Marlowe. Cf. Faustus (the vision of Helen), "Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships?” 284-5. A touch which again, like 'glory' below, recals the actual brilliance of Richard's appearance. 285. faced, 'braved', 'committed with assurance', but suggesting the further sense 'given lustre to, adorned'. 287-8. Richard, throwing himself into his part as usual, anti |