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K. Rich. If thou love me, 'tis time thou wert away. Groom. What my tongue dares not, that my heart

shall say.

Keep. My lord, will't please you to fall to?

[Exit.

K. Rich. Taste of it first, as thou art wont to do. Keep. My lord, I dare not: sir Pierce of Exton, who lately came from the king, commands the contrary.

K. Rich. The devil take Henry of Lancaster, and

thee!

Patience is stale, and I am weary of it.

Keep. Help, help, help!

[Strikes the Keeper.

Enter Sir PIERCE of EXTON, and Servants, armed.

K. Rich. How now! what means death in this rude

assault?

Villain, thine own hand yields thy death's instrument. [Snatching a weapon, and killing one.

Go thou, and fill another room in hell.

[He kills another: EXTON strikes him down'.

That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire,

That staggers thus my person.-Exton, thy fierce hand Hath with the king's blood stain'd the king's own land.

Mount, mount, my soul! thy seat is up on high,
Whilst my gross flesh sinks downward, here to die2.

[Dies.

* [Strikes the Keeper.] This stage-direction is not in the old copies. Something of the kind seems necessary.

1

1 [He kills another: Exton strikes him down.] Neither this nor the preceding stage-direction is in the old copies; but that Richard kills two of "the murderers" (as they are called in the oldest editions) is quite evident from the last line of this scene.

2 Whilst my gross flesh sinks downward, here to die.] Mr. Amyot, who has taken so much and such successful pains in investigating the curious point of Richard's death, has favoured me with the following note :

"In dramatizing the account of Richard's death, which he found in Holinshed, Shakespeare, as the late Lord Dover observed, has perhaps done more

Exton. As full of valour, as of royal blood:
Both have I spilt: O, would the deed were good!
For now the devil, that told me I did well,
Says that this deed is chronicled in hell.
This dead king to the living king I'll bear.—
Take hence the rest, and give them burial here.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.

Windsor. An Apartment in the Castle.

Flourish. Enter BOLINGBROKE, and YORK, with Lords and Attendants.

Boling. Kind uncle York, the latest news we hear Is, that the rebels have consum'd with fire

Our town of Ciceter in Glostershire;

But whether they be ta'en, or slain, we hear not.

Enter NORTHUMBERLAND.

Welcome, my lord. What is the news?

North. First, to thy sacred state wish I all happiness:

than all other writers to render it the popular version of the story. Malone supposed it to have first appeared in Fabyan's Chronicle;' but it was of earlier origin, being found in Caxton's additions to Hygden's ‘Polychronicon,' and in a MS. of still earlier date in the Royal Library at Paris. Two other stories, however, had precedence of it, one of them relating that the king had died of grief and voluntary famine, and the other that the starvation had been compulsory. On these conflicting narratives (all three of which Shakespeare had seen in Holinshed) a controversy will be found in vol. xx. of the Archæologia.' The twenty-third vol. of that work contains an attempt to refute the improbable relation of Richard's escape from his prison at Pontefract into Scotland, as narrated by Bower and Winton, and supported, as Mr. Tytler maintains, by other Scottish authorities. This romantic tale was countenanced by Sir Walter Scott, who adopted it in his 'History of Scotland,' but afterwards, in a letter to the writer of this note, he stated that he had not meant to express a conviction of his belief in it, though he had thought it worth grave observation, which it had not hitherto received. Of these four stories, whichever may have been the true one, Shakespeare may be held justified in adapting to stage-representation that which seemed best suited to the taste, and was probably most acceptable to the belief of his audience."

The next news is, I have to London sent

The heads of Salisbury, Spencer, Blunt, and Kent3:
The manner of their taking may appear

At large discoursed in this paper here.

[Presenting a paper.

Boling. We thank thee, gentle Percy, for thy pains, And to thy worth will add right worthy gains.

Enter FITZWATER.

Fitz. My lord, I have from Oxford sent to London The heads of Brocas, and Sir Bennet Seely, Two of the dangerous consorted traitors, That sought at Oxford thy dire overthrow.

Boling. Thy pains, Fitzwater, shall not be forgot; Right noble is thy merit, well I wot.

Enter PERCY, with the Bishop of Carlisle.

Percy. The grand conspirator, abbot of Westminster, With clog of conscience, and sour melancholy,

Hath yielded up his body to the grave;

But here is Carlisle living, to abide
Thy kingly doom, and sentence of his pride.
Boling. Carlisle, this is your doom :-

Choose out some secret place, some reverend room,
More than thou hast, and with it joy thy life;
So, as thou liv'st in peace, die free from strife:
For though mine enemy thou hast ever been,
High sparks of honour in thee have I seen.

Enter EXTON, with Attendants bearing a Coffin.
Exton. Great king, within this coffin I present
Thy buried fear: herein all breathless lies

The mightiest of thy greatest enemies,

3

of SALISBURY, SPENCER, Blunt, and Kent :] So the folio. The quarto reads, “— of Oxford, Salisbury, Blunt, and Kent." The reading of the folio (says Malone) is historically right.

Richard of Bourdeaux, by me hither brought.

Boling. Exton, I thank thee not; for thou hast wrought

A deed of slander with thy fatal hand1

Upon my head, and all this famous land.

Exton. From your own mouth, my lord, did I this deed.

Boling. They love not poison that do poison need,
Nor do I thee: though I did wish him dead,
I hate the murderer, love him murdered.
The guilt of conscience take thou for thy labour,
But neither my good word, nor princely favour:
With Cain go wander through the shades of night,
And never show thy head by day nor light.-
Lords, I protest, my soul is full of woe,

That blood should sprinkle me to make me grow:
Come, mourn with me for that I do lament,
And put on sullen black incontinent.
I'll make a voyage to the Holy land,
To wash this blood off from my guilty hand.
March sadly after: grace my mournings here3,
In weeping after this untimely bier.

[Exeunt.

A deed of SLANDER with thy fatal hand] This is the original, and, no doubt, authentic reading of the quarto, 1597. That of 1598 printed slaughter for "slander," and it was followed by all the other quartos and folios. Modern editors do not appear to have noticed the variation.

5 grace my mournings here,] The quarto, 1597, has "mournings" in the plural: the folio prints it in the singular. The same remark will apply to "the shades of night," eight lines above.

FIRST PART

OF

KING HENRY IV.

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