He should have had a volume of farewells;

But, since it would not, he had none of me.

K. Rich. He is our cousin, cousin; but 'tis doubt,
When time shall call him home from banishment,
Whether our kinsman come to see his friends.
Ourself, and Bushy, Bagot here, and Green,
Observ'd his courtship to the common people:-
How he did seem to dive into their hearts,
With humble and familiar courtesy ;

What reverence he did throw away on slaves;
Wooing poor craftsmen, with the craft of smiles,
And patient underbearing of his fortune,
As 'twere, to banish their affects with him.
Off goes his bonnet to an oyster-wench;
A brace of draymen bid-God speed him well,
And had the tribute of his supple knee,
With-Thanks, my countrymen, my loving friends;-
As were our England in reversion 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 leisure yield them further means,
For their advantage, and your highness' loss.

K. Rich. We will ourself in person to this war.
And, for our coffers -with too great a court,
And liberal largess,-are grown somewhat light,
We are enforc'd to farm our royal realm;
The revenue whereof shall furnish us
For our affairs in hand: If that come short,

Our substitutes at home shall have blank charters;
Whereto, when they shall know what men are rich,

6

the tribute of his supple knee,] To illustrate this phrase, it should be remembered that courtseying, (the act of reverence now confined to women,) was anciently practised by men.

7 Expedient —] i. e. expeditious.

8 for our coffers-] i. e. because.

They shall subscribe them for large sums of gold,
And send them after to supply our wants;
For we will make for Ireland presently.

Bushy, what news?

Enter BUSHY.

Bushy. Old John of Gaunt is grievous sick, my lord; Suddenly taken; and hath sent post-haste,

To entreat your majesty to visit him.

K. Rich. Where lies he?

Bushy. At Ely-house.

K. Rich. Now put it, heaven, in his physician's mind, To help him to his grave immediately!

The lining of his coffers shall make coats

To deck our soldiers for these Irish wars.-
Come, gentlemen, let's all go visit him:
Pray God, we may make haste, and come too late!

[Exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE I.-London. A Room in Ely-house.

GAUNT on a Couch; the Duke of YORK, and Others standing by him.

Gaunt. Will the king.come? that I may breathe my last

In wholesome counsel to his unstaid youth.

York. Vex not yourself, nor strive not with your breath;

For all in vain comes counsel to his ear.

Gaunt. O, but they say, the tongues of dying men Enforce attention, like deep harmony:

the Duke of York,] was Edmund, son of Edward III.

Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain; For they breathe truth, that breathe their words in pain. He, that no more must say, is listen'd more

Than they whom youth and ease have taught to glose; More are men's ends mark'd, than their lives before; The setting sun, and musick at the close,

As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last:
Writ in remembrance, more than things long past:
Though Richard my life's counsel would not hear,
My death's sad tale may yet undeaf his ear.

York. No; it is stopp'd with other flattering sounds,
As, praises of his state: then, there are found
Lascivious metres; to whose venom sound
The open ear of youth doth always listen:
Report of fashions in proud Italy';
Whose manners still our tardy apish nation
Limps after, in base imitation.

Where doth the world thrust forth a vanity,
(So it be new, there's no respect how vile,)
That is not quickly buzz'd into his ears?
Then all too late comes counsel to be heard,
Where will doth mutiny with wit's regard'.
Direct not him, whose way himself will choose;
'Tis breath thou lack'st, and that breath wilt thou lose.
Gaunt. Methinks, I am a prophet new inspir'd;

And thus, expiring, do foretell of him:
His rash fierce blaze of riot cannot last;

For violent fires soon burn out themselves:

Small showers last long, but sudden storms are short; He tires betimes, that spurs too fast betimes;

With eager feeding, food doth choke the feeder:

1

Report of fashions in proud Italy;] Our author, who gives to all nations the customs of England, and to all ages the manners of his own, has charged the times of Richard with a folly not perhaps known then, but very frequent in Shakspeare's time, and much lamented by the wisest and best of our ancestors.

2 Where will doth mutiny with wit's regard.] Where the will rebels against the notices of the understanding.

Light vanity, insatiate cormorant,

Consuming means, soon preys upon itself.
This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise ;

This fortress, built by nature for herself,
Against infection †, and the hand of war:
This happy breed of men, this little world;
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,

Against the envy of less happier lands;

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,
This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,
Fear'd by their breed', and famous by their birth,
Renowned for their deeds as far from home,
(For Christian service, and true chivalry,)
As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry,
Of the world's ransom, blessed Mary's son:
This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world,
Is now leas'd out (I die pronouncing it,)
Like to a tenement, or pelting farm :
England, bound in with the triumphant sea,
Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege
Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame,
With inky blots, and rotten parchment bonds';
That England, that was wont to conquer others,
Hath made a shameful conquest of itself:
O, would the scandal vanish with my life,
How happy then were my ensuing death!

+"Against infestion,"-MALOne.

"Fear'd by their breed,] i. e. by means of their breed.

4 With inky blots,] Inky blots are written restrictions.

5

rotten parchment bonds;] Alluding to the circumstances of Richard having actually farmed out his royal realm. And it afterwards appears that the person who farmed the realm of Wiltshire, one of his own favourites.

was the earl

Enter King RICHARD, and Queen"; AUMERLE', BUSHY, GREEN, BAGOT, Ross, and WILLOUGHBY'.

York. The king is come: deal mildly with his youth; For young hot colts, being rag'd, do rage the more.

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!
Old Gaunt, indeed; and gaunt in being old:
Within me grief hath kept a tedious fast;
And who abstains from meat, that is not gaunt?
For sleeping England long time have I watch'd;
Watching breeds leanness, leanness is all gaunt :
The pleasure, that some fathers feed upon,
Is my strict fast, I mean-my children's looks;
And, therein fasting, hast thou made me gaunt ;
Gaunt am I for the grave, gaunt as a grave,
Whose hollow womb inherits nought but bones.

K. Rich. Can sick men play so nicely with their names?

Gaunt. No, misery makes sport to mock itself; Since thou dost seek to kill my name in me,

I mock my name, great king, to flatter thee.

6

K. Rich. Should dying men flatter with those that live?

Gaunt. No, no; men living flatter those that die.

Queen ;] Shakspeare, as Mr. Walpole suggests, has deviated from historical truth in the introduction of Richard's queen as a woman in the present piece; for Anne, his first wife, was dead before the play commences, and Isabella, his second wife, was a child at the time of his death.

7 Aumerle,] was Edward, eldest son of Edmund duke of York, whom he succeeded in the title. He was killed at Agincourt.

8 Ross,] was William lord Roos, (and so should be printed,) of Hamlake, afterwards lord treasurer to Henry IV.

9 Willoughby,] was William lord Willoughby of Eresby, who afterwards married Joan, widow of Edmund duke of York.