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Now prifoner to the palfie, chaftife thee,
And minifter correction to thy fault.

Boling. My gracious uncle, let me know my fault; On what condition ftands it, and wherein ? York. Ev'n in condition of the worst degree; In grofs Rebellion, and detefted Treafon. Thou art a banifh'd man, and here art come, Before the expiration of thy time,

In braving arms against thy Sovereign.

Boling. As I was banish'd, I was banish'd Hereford;
But as I come, I come for Lancaster.
And, noble uncle, I beseech your Grace,
Look on my wrongs with an indifferent eye.
You are my father; for, methinks, in you
I fee old Gaunt alive: O then, my father!
Will you permit, that I fhall ftand condemn'd
A wand'ring vagabond; my Rights and Royalties
Pluckt from my arms perforce, and giv'n away
To upftart unthrifts? Wherefore was I born?
If that my cousin King be King of England,
It must be granted, I am Duke of Lancaster.
You have a fon, Aumerle, my noble Kinsman:
Had you first dy'd, and he been thus trod down,
He fhould have found his uncle Gaunt a father,
To rowze his wrongs, and chase them to the bay.
I am deny'd to fue my livery here,

And yet my letters patents give me leave :
My father's Goods are all diftrain'd and fold,
And these, and all, are all amifs imploy'd.
What would you have me do? I am a Subject,
And challenge law; attorneys are deny'd me;
And therefore perfonally I lay my Claim

On what condition.] It fhould be, in what condition. That is, in what degree of guit. The particles in the old editions are of little credit.

Wherefore was I born?] To

what purpose serves birth and lineal fucceffion? I am Duke of Lancafter by the fame right of Lirth as the King is king of Eng

land.

To

To mine Inheritance of free Descent.

North. The noble Duke hath been too much abus'd. Rofs. It ftands your Grace upon, to do him Right. Willo. Bafe men by his endowments are made great. York. My lords of England, let me tell you this, I have had Feeling of my Coufin's wrongs, And labour'd all I could to do him Right. But, in this kind, to come in braving arms, Be his own carver, and cut out his way, To find out Right with wrongs, it may not be ; And you that do abet him in this kind, Cherish Rebellion, and are Rebels all.

North. The noble Duke hath fworn, his Coming is
But for his own; and, for the Right of That,
We all have ftrongly fworn to give him aid;
And let him ne'er fee joy, that breaks that oath.
York. Well, well, I fee the iffue of thefe arms;
I cannot mend it, I muft needs confefs,
Because my Pow'r is weak, and all ill left;
But if I could, by him that gave me life,
I would attach you all, and make you stoop
Unto the fovereign mercy of the King.
But fince I cannot, be it known to you,
I do remain as neuter. So, farewel.
Unless you pleafe to enter in the Castle,
And there repofe you for this night.

Boling. An offer, Uncle, that we will accept.
But we must win your Grace to go with us
To Bristol-Caftle, which, they fay, is held
By Busby, Bagot, and their complices;
The caterpillars of the Common-wealth,
Which I have fworn to weed, and pluck away.
York. It may be, I will go. But yet I'll paufe,
For I am loath to break our Country's Laws.
Nor friends nor foes, to me welcome you are;
Things paft Redress are now with me paft Care.

[Exeunt.

SCENE

2

SCENE XI.

In WALE S.

Enter Salisbury, and a Captain.

Cap. MAnd hardly kept our Countrymen together,

Y lord of Salisbury, we have ftaid ten days,

And yet we hear no tidings from the King;
Therefore we will difperfe our felves. Farewel.

Salif. Stay yet another day, thou trufty Welshman: The King repofeth all his truft in thee.

Cap. 'Tis thought, the King is dead: we will not
stay.

The Bay-trees in our Country all are wither'd,
And meteors fright the fixed ftars of heav'n;
The pale fac'd moon looks bloody on the earth;
And lean-look'd Prophets whisper fearful Change.
Rich men look fad, and ruffians dance and leap;
The one, in fear to lose what they enjoy ;
Th' other, in hope t'enjoy by rage and war.
These figns forerun the death of Kings-
Farewel; our countrymen are gone and fled,
As well affur'd, Richard their King is dead.
Salif. Ah, Richard, ah! with eyes of heavy mind,
I fee thy Glory, like a fhooting Star,

2 Here is a scene fo unartfully and irregularly thruft into an improper place, that I cannot but fufpect it accidentally tranfpofed; which, when the scenes were written on fingle pages, might eafily happen, in the wildnefs of ShakeSpeare's drama. This dialogue was, in the authour's draught, probably the second scene of the enfuing act, and there I would advife the reader to infert it, though I have not ventured on fo bold a change. My conjecture is not fo prefumptuous as may be VOL. IV.

E

[Exit.

thought. The play was not, in Shakespeare's time, broken into acts; the two editions published before his death exhibit only a fequence of fcenes from the beginning to the end, without any hint of a paufe of action. In a drama fo defultory and erratick, left in fuch a ftate, tranfpofitions might eafily be made.

The bay-trees, &c.] This enumeration of prodigies is in the higheft degree poetical and ftriking.

Fall

Fall to the base earth from the firmament.
Thy Sun fets weeping in the lowly Welt,
Witneffing Storms to come, woe, and unreft.
Thy friends are fled to wait upon thy foes;
And crossly to thy Good all fortune goes.

[Exit.

ACT III.

SCENE I.

Bolingbroke's Camp at Bristol.

Enter Bolingbroke, York, Northumberland, Rofs, Percy, Willoughby, with Bufhy and Green Prisoners.

B

BOLINGBROKE.

RING forth these men.

Busby and Green, I will not vex your fouls
(Since prefently your fouls muft part your bodies)
With too much urging your pernicious lives;
For 'twere no charity: yet to wash your blood'
From off my hands, here, in the view of men,
I will unfold fome caufes of your deaths.
You have mif-led a Prince, a royal King,
A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments,
By you unhappy'd, and disfigur'd clean.
You have, in manner, with your finful hours
Made a divorce betwixt his Queen and him;
Broke the Poffeffion of a royal Bed,

And ftain'd the Beauty of a fair Queen's cheeks
With tears drawn from her eyes, with your foul wrongs.
My felf, a Prince, by fortune of my birth,

Near to the King in blood, and near in love,

Till you
Have stoopt my neck under your injuries;
And figh'd my English breath in foreign clouds,

did make him mif-interpret me,

Eat

Eating the bitter bread of Banifhment,
While you have fed upon my Signiories,
Dif-park'd my Parks, and fell'd my foreft-woods,
'From mine own windows torn my houfhold coat,
Raz'd out my Imprefs, leaving me no fign,
Save mens' opinions, and my living blood,
To fhew the world I am a gentleman.

This, and much more, much more than twice all this,
Condemns you to the death. See them deliver'd
T'execution, and the hand of death.

Busby. More welcome is the ftroke of death to me, Than Bolingbroke to England.Lords, farewel. Green. My comfort is, that heav'n will take our fouls,

And plague injuftice with the pains of hell.

Boling. My lord Northumberland, fee them dispatch'd. -Uncle, you fay the Queen is at your houfe; For heav'n's fake, fairly let her be intreated; Tell her, I fend to her my kind Commends; Take fpecial care, my Greetings be deliver❜d. York. A gentleman of mine I have dispatch'd With letters of your love to her at large. Boling. Thanks, gentle Uncle.-Come, my lords,

away,

3 From mine own windows torn my boufbald coat.] It was the practice, when coloured glafs was in ufe, of which there are ftill fome remains in old feats and churches, to anneal the arms of the family in the windows of the house.

Thanks, gentle Uncle; Come, my Lords, away, To fight with Glendower and his Complices, A while to Work, and after Holyday.] Tho' the intermediate Line has taken Poffef

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fion of all the old Copies, I have great Sufpicion of its being an Interpolation; and have therefore ventur'd to throw it out. The first and third Line rhime to each other; nor, do I imagine, this was cafual, but intended by the Poet. Were we to acknow ledge the Line genuine, it must argue the Poet of Forgetfulness and Inattention to Hiftory. Bojust arrived; he is now at Bristol lingbroke is, as it were, yet but weak in his Numbers; has had no Meeting with a Parliament; E 2

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