And fhall the Figure of God's Majefty,
His Captain, Steward, Deputy elect,
Anointed, crown'd, and planted many years,
Be judg'd by fubject and inferior breath,
And he himself not prefent? oh, forbid it!
That, in a chriftian climate, fouls refin'd
Should fhew fo heinous, black, obscene a deed.
I fpeak to Subjects, and a Subject speaks,
Stirr'd up by heav'n, thus boldly for his King.
My lord of Hereford here, whom you call King,
Is a foul traitor to proud Hereford's King.
And if you crown him, let me prophefie,
The blood of English fhall manure the ground,
And future ages groan for this foul act.
Peace fhall go fleep with Turks and Infidels,
And in this feat of peace, tumultuous wars
Shall kin with kin, and kind with kind, cenfound.
Disorder, horror, fear and mutiny
Shall here inhabit, and this Land be call'd
The field of Golgotha, and dead men's fculls.
Oh, if you rear this house against this house,
It will the wofulleft divifion prove,
That ever fell upon this curfed earth.
Prevent, refift it, let it not be fo,
Left children's children cry against you, woe.
North. Well have you argu'd, Sir; and for your
pains,
Of capital treafon we arreft you here.
My lord of Westminster, be it your charge,
To keep him fafely till his day of tryal.
And fhall the figure, &c.] Here is another proof that our authour did not learn in King James's court his elevated notions of the right of kings. I know not any Aatterer of the Stuarts who has expreffed this doctrine in much stronger terms.
May't please you, lords, to grant the Common's fuit? Boling. Fetch hither Richard, that in common view He may furrender. So we fhall proceed
Without fufpicion.
York. I will be his conduct.
Boling. Lords, you that here are under our Arrest, Procure your fureties for your days of answer. Little are we beholden to your love,
And little look'd for at your helping hands.
Enter King Richard, and York.
K. Rich. Alack, why am I fent for to a King.
Before I have fhook off the regal thoughts
Wherewith I reign'd? I hardly yet have learn'd
T'infinuate, flatter, bow, and bend my knee.
Give forrow leave a-while, to tutor me
To this fubmiffion. Yet I well remember
"The favours of these men were they not mine?
Did they not fometime cry, all hail! to me?
So Judas did to Chrift; but he, in twelve,
Found truth in all, but one, I, in twelve thousand,
God fave the King!-will no man fay, Amen?
Am I both priest and clerk ? well then, Amen.
God fave the King, although I be not he;
And yet, Amen, if heav'n do think him me.
To do what fervice, am I fent for hither?
York. To do that office of thine own good will,
Which tired Majesty did make thee offer,
The Refignation of thy State and Crown.
cefs of dethroning and debafing
King Richard, was added after
the first edition of 1598, and
before the fecond of 1615.
Part of the addition is proper,
and part might have been for-
born without much lofs. The au-
thour, I fuppofe, intended to
make a very moving fcene.
7 The favours.] The coun-
tenances; the features
K. Rich. Give me the Crown.Here, coufin, feize the Crown,
Here, on this fide, my hand; on that fide, thine.
Now is this golden Crown like a deep well,
That owes two buckets, filling one another;
The emptier ever dancing in the air,
The other down, unfeen and full of water;
That bucket down, and full of tears, am I;
Drinking my griefs, whilft you mount up on high.
Boling. I thought you had been willing to refign.
K. Rich. My Crown, I am; but still my griefs are
mine;
You may my Glories and my State depofe,
But not my griefs; ftill am I King of those.
Boling. Part of your Cares you give me with your Crown.
K. Rich. Your cares set up, do not pluck my cares down.
My care, is lofs of care, by old care done;
Your care, is gain of care, by new care won.
The cares I give, I have, though given away;
They tend the Crown, yet ftill with me they stay.
Boling. Are you contented to refign the Crown?
K. Rich. Ay, no-no, ay ;-for I muft nothing bé;
Therefore no no; for I refign to thee.
Now, mark me how I will undo myself;
I give this heavy weight from off my head;
And this unwieldy Scepter from my hand;
The pride of kingly fway from out my heart;
The emptier ever dancing.] This is a comparifon not early accommodated to the fubject, nor very naturally introduced. The best part is this line, in which he makes the ufurper the empty bucket.
playing with founds. Richard feems to fay here, that his cares are not made lefs by the increale of Bolingbroke's cares, for this reafon, that his care is the loss of care, his grief is, that his regal cares are at an end, by the cella9 My care, is lofs of care, by tion of the care to which he "bad old care done ] Shakespeare been accustomed. often obfcures his meaning by
With mine own tears I wash away' my Balm;
With mine own hands I give away my Crown;
With mine own tongue deny my facred State;
With mine own breath release all duteous oaths;
All pomp and Majefty I do forfwear;
My manors, rents, revenues, I forego;
My acts, decrees, and ftatutes I deny;
God pardon all oaths, that are broke to me '
God keep all vows unbroke, are made to thee!
Make me, that nothing have, with nothing griev'd,
And thou with all pleas'd, that haft all atchiev'd!
Long may'st thou live in Richard's Seat to fit,
And foon lye Richard in an earthy pit!
God fave King Henry, unking'd Richard fays,
And fend him many years of fun-fhine days!
What more remains ?
North. No more; but that you read
These accufations, and these grievous crimes
Committed by your perfon, and your followers,
Against the State and Profit of this Land:
That, by confeffing them, the fouls of men
May deem that you are worthily depos'd.
K. Rich. Muft I do fo? and muft I ravel out
My weav'd-up follies? Gentle Northumberland,
If thy offences were upon record,
Would it not fhame thee, in fo fair a troop,
To read a lecture of them? if thou would'ft,
There fhould't thou find one heinous article,
Containing the depofing of a King;
And cracking the ftrong warrant of an oath,
Mark'd with a blot, damn'd in the book of heav'n.
Nay, all of you, that ftand and look upon me,
Whilft that my wretchedness doth bait my self,
Though fome of you with Pilate wash your hands,
Shewing an outward pity; yet you Pilates
My Balm.] The oil of confecration. He has mentioned it before.
If thou would't.] That is, if thou would'st read over a lift of thy own deeds.
Have here deliver'd me to my fow'r Cross,
And water cannot wash away your fin.
North. My lord, dispatch; read o'er thefe articles.
K. Rich. Mine eyes are full of tears, I cannot fee;
And yet falt-water blinds them not so much,
But they can fee a Sort of traitors here.
Nay, if I turn mine eyes upon myself,
I find myself a traitor with the reft;
For I have given here my foul's confent,
T'undeck the pompous body of a King;
Made Glory base; a Sovereign a flave;
Proud Majefty, a fubject; State, a peasant.
North. My lord-
K. Rich. No lord of thine, thou haught-infulting
Nor no man's lord; I have no Name, no Title;
No, not that Name was giv'n me at the Font,
But 'tis ufurp'd. Alack, the heavy day,
That I have worn fo many winters out,
And know not now, what name to call myself!
Oh, that I were a mockery-King of snow,
Standing before the Sun of Bolingbroke,
To melt myself away in water-drops!
Good King,-great King, and yet not greatly good,
An if my word be fterling yet in England,
Let it command a mirror hither straight,
That it may fhew me what a face I have,
Since it is bankrupt of his Majefty.
Boling. Go fome of you, and fetch a looking-glass.
North. Read o'er this paper, while the glass doth
K. Rich. Fiend, thou torment'ft me, ere I come to hell. Boling. Urge it no more, my lord Northumberland.
A Sort] A pack, a compa- fort in this fenfe was, perhaps, WARBURTON. Waller.
The last who ufed the word A fort of lufty fhepherds frive. VOL. IV.
|