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North. The noble duke hath been too much abused. Ross. It stands your grace upon to do him right. Willo. Base men by his endowments are made great. York. My lords of England, let me tell you this : I have had feeling of my cousin'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 wrong,-it may not be: And you, that do abet him in this kind,

Cherish rebellion, and are rebels all.

North. The noble duke hath sworn, his coming is

But for his own; and for the right of that,
We all have strongly sworn to give him aid,
And let him ne'er see joy that breaks that oath.
York. Well, well, I see the issue of these arms.

I cannot mend it, I must needs confess,
Because my power 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 sovereign mercy of the king:
But, since I cannot, be it known unto you,
I do remain as neuter. So, fare you well;
Unless you please to enter in the castle,
And there repose you for this night.

Boling. An offer, uncle, that we will accept:
But we must win your grace, to go with us
To Bristol castle; which, they say, is held
By Bushy, Bagot, and their complices,
The caterpillars of the commonwealth,

Which I have sworn to weed and pluck away.

York. It may be, I will go with you;-but yet I'll

pause,

For I am loath to break our country's laws.

Nor friends, nor foes, to me welcome you are:
Things past redress are now with me past care.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.4

A Camp in Wales.

Enter SALISBURY, and a Welsh Captain.

Cap. My lord of Salisbury, we have stay'd ten days, And hardly kept our countrymen together,

And yet we hear no tidings from the king;
Therefore, we will disperse ourselves. Farewell.

Sal. Stay yet another day, thou trusty Welshman : The king reposeth all his confidence in thee.

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

stay.

The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd,
And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven;
The pale-fac'd moon looks bloody on the earth,
And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change:
Rich men look sad, and ruffians dance and leap,
The one in fear to lose what they enjoy,
The other to enjoy by rage and war:
These signs forerun the death or fall of kings5.
Farewell our countrymen are gone and fled,
As well assur'd Richard, their king, is dead.

[Exit.

Sal. Ah, Richard! with the eyes of heavy mind,

I see thy glory, like a shooting star,
Fall to the base earth from the firmament.
Thy sun sets weeping in the lowly west,
Witnessing storms to come, woe, and unrest:
Thy friends are fled to wait upon thy foes,
And crossly to thy good all fortune goes.

[Exit.

* Scene iv.] Johnson, with appearance of reason, complains that this scene is “inartfully and irregularly" thrust in here, and he suspects that it ought to form the second scene of Act iii.

5 — the death OR FALL of kings.] The folio, 1623, has it merely "the death of kings:" it follows the quartos subsequent to that of 1597, in which the line is complete.

ACT III. SCENE I.

BOLINGBROKE's Camp at Bristol.

Enter BOLINGBROKE, YORK, NORTHUMBERLAND, PERCY, WILLOUGHBY, Ross: BUSHY and GREEN, prisoners.

Boling. Bring forth these men.

Bushy, and Green, I will not vex your souls,
Since presently your souls must 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 some causes of your deaths.
You have misled a prince, a royal king,
A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments,
By you unhappied and disfigur'd clean :
You have, in manner, with your sinful hours,
Made a divorce betwixt his queen and him,
Broke the possession of a royal bed,

And stain'd the beauty of a fair queen's cheeks
With tears, drawn from her eyes by your foul wrongs.

Myself, a prince by fortune of my birth,

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

Till you did make him misinterpret me,

Have stoop'd my neck under your injuries,
And sigh'd my English breath in foreign clouds,
Eating the bitter bread of banishment,
Whilst you have fed upon my signories,
Dispark'd my parks, and fell'd my forest woods,

From mine own windows torn my household coat,
Raz'd out my impress, leaving me no sign,
Save men's opinions, and my living blood,
To show 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 over To execution, and the hand of death.

Bushy. More welcome is the stroke of death to me, Than Bolingbroke to England.-Lords, farewell®. Green. My comfort is, that heaven will take our souls,

And plague injustice with the pains of hell.

Boling. My lord Northumberland, see them dispatch'd.

[Exeunt NORTHUMBERLAND and Others, with BUSHY and GREEN.

Uncle, you say the queen is at your house;
For God's sake, fairly let her be entreated':
Tell her I send to her my kind commends;
Take special 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, lords, away, To fight with Glendower and his complices: Awhile to work, and after holiday.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

The Coast of Wales. A Castle in view.

Flourish: Drums and Trumpets. Enter King RICHARD, Bishop of CARLISLE, AUMERLE, and Soldiers.

K. Rich. Barkloughly castle call they this at hand?

6 Lords, farewell.] These words are omitted in the folios, though necessary to the line, and found in all the quarto impressions.

7 - fairly let her be ENTREATED :] It was very usual with our old writers, especially with our dramatists, to use 66 entreat " for treat. So in the old play, "The Weakest goeth to the Wall," 1600,

"Entreat them well, as thou wilt answer me
At my return."

call THEY this at hand?] Malone says that the quarto, 1608, first substituted you for "they." You, in fact, is found in the quarto of 1598, as well as in the two later quartos and in the folios. The quarto, 1597, has furnished

our text.

VOL. IV.

M

Aum. Yea, my lord.

air,

How brooks your grace the

After your late tossing on the breaking seas?

K. Rich. Needs must I like it well: I weep for joy, To stand upon my kingdom once again.

Dear earth, I do salute thee with my hand,

Though rebels wound thee with their horses' hoofs:
As a long parted mother with her child

Plays fondly with her tears and smiles in meeting,
So, weeping, smiling, greet I thee, my earth,
And do thee favour with my royal hands.
Feed not thy sovereign's foe, my gentle earth,
Nor with thy sweets comfort his ravenous sense:
But let thy spiders, that suck up thy venom,
And heavy-gaited toads, lie in their way,
Doing annoyance to the treacherous feet,
Which with usurping steps do trample thee.
Yield stinging nettles to mine enemies;
And when they from thy bosom pluck a flower,
Guard it, I pray thee, with a lurking adder,
Whose double tongue may with a mortal touch
Throw death upon thy sovereign's enemies.—
Mock not my senseless conjuration, lords:
This earth shall have a feeling, and these stones
Prove armed soldiers, ere her native king

Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms".

Bishop. Fear not, my lord: that power that made

you king,

Hath power to keep you king, in spite of all.

[The means that heavens yield must be embrac'd,

And not neglected; else, if heaven would,

And we will not, heaven's offer we refuse,

The proffer'd means of succour and redress1o.]

9

foul REBELLION's arms.] Malone states that the quarto of 1597 only reads "rebellion's arms," and all the others rebellious. The quarto of 1598 follows the reading of that of the preceding year.

10 The proffer'd means of succour and redress.] These four lines, within brackets, are omitted in the folio impressions, and the sense consequently left

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