[Snatching a weapon, and killing one. Villain, thine own hand yields thy death's instrument. Go thou, and fill another room in hell. [He kills another, then EXTON strikes him down. Both have I spilt; O, would the deed were good! [Dies. Take hence the rest, and give them burial here. [Exeunt. SCENE VI.-Windsor. A Room 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 Cicester 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. The heads of Salisbury, Spencer, Blunt, and Kent: Enter FITZWATER. Frz. My lord, I have from Oxford sent to London [Presenting a paper. Enter PERCY, with the BISHOP of Carlisle. PERCY. The grand conspirator, abbot of Westminster, Choose out some secret place, some reverend room, Enter EXTON, with Attendants bearing a coffin. EXTON. Great king, within this coffin I present BOLING. Exton, I thank thee not; for thou hast wrought 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, And put on sullen black, incontinent; I'll make a voyage to the Holy Land, To wash this blood off from my guilty hand;- [Exeunt. 3 SCENE I.-"Then, Bolingbroke." Henry of Lancaster was not called Bolingbroke, or Bullingbrook, till he had ascended the throne. This name of Henry IV. was derived from his birth-place, Bolingbroke Castle, in Lincolnshire. The last remains of this an cient edifice crumbled over their base, in May, 1815. (Gentleman's Magazine,' vol. lxxxv.) 4 SCENE I.-"Our doctors say, this is no month to bleed." Malone says, "This alludes to the almanacs of the time, when particular seasons were pointed out as the most proper times for being bled." In an English almanac for 1386-the earliest known (and which has been printed, 1812)have full directions for blood-letting. 'Companion to the Almanac, 1889,' p. 55.) -we (See SCENE II.-"Duke of Lancaster's Palace." The Savoy Palace, of which some remains existed within a few years, was situated near the Thames, almost close to the Strand end of Waterloo Bridge. This was anciently the seat of Peter, Earl of Savoy, uncle to Eleanor, queen of Henry III. Upon his death it devolved to the queen, who gave it to her second son, EdFrom mund, afterwards Earl of Lancaster. that time the Savoy was taken as part and parcel of the earldom and honour of Lancaster, and was used as the London palace of the earls and dukes of that house. John of Gaunt married Blanch, the daughter of Henry, the first duke of Lancaster. Blanch was a co-heiress with her sister Matilda to the vast estates of this duchy: and by the death of Matilda without issue, John became subsequently possessed of all the property, in right of his wife, and was himself created Duke of Lancaster. We have given an ancient view of the Savoy, which was endowed as "The Hospital of the Savoy," by Henry VII. SCENE II.-" Duchess of Gloster." The following is a portrait of Eleanor Bohun, widow of Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloster. 7 SCENE II.-"Edward's seven sons." The seven sons of the great Edward III. were, 1. Edward of Woodstock, the Black Prince; 2. William of Hatfield; 3. Lionel, Duke of Clarence; 4. John of Gaunt; 5. Edmund of Langley, Duke of York; 6. William of Windsor; 7. Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloster. SCENE II.-"Be Mowbray's sins so heavy in his bosom." Did not this fine description suggest the equally fine scene in 'Ivanhoe,' where the guilty Templar falls without a blow? SCENE II.-" Unfurnish'd walls." "The usual manner," says Percy, in his preface to the Northumberland Household Book,' "of hanging the rooms in the old castles, was only to cover the naked stone walls with tapestry, or arras, hung upon tenter-hooks, from which they were easily taken down upon every removal." 10 SCENE III.-"Lord marshal." Mowbray was himself earl marshal of England; but the Duke of Surrey officiated as marshal on this occasion. 11 SCENE III.-"Aumerle." The eldest son of the Duke of York was created Duke of Aumerle, or Albemarle,-a town in Normandy. He officiated as high constable at the lists of Coventry. 12 SCENE III.-"Our part therein we banish." The king here alludes to a disputed question amongst writers on public law:-Is a banished man tied in his allegiance to the State which exiled him? Richard requires them to swear by their duty to heaven; for "our part" in your duty "we banish with yourselves." Hobbes and Puffendorf held this opinion;-Cicero thought differently. 13 SCENE III.-"The frosty Caucasus." "In the language of the Calmuc Tartars, C'hasu signifies snow," according to Mr. Wilford, in the sixth volume of 'Asiatic Researches.' There are two papers in the 'Censura Literaria' of Sir E. Brydges, which refute this notion of the origin of the name of Caucasus.-Vol. iv. p. 412; vol. v. p. 87. |