leap over any long intervals of time. Bolingbroke first appealed Norfolk of treason, in January, 1398. Richard was deposed in September, 1399. the chronological succession of events, as they | another, that it was unnecessary for the poet to occurred in the real history of the times, is constantly disregarded. In the 'Richard II.' that chronological succession is as strictly adhered to. The judgment of the poet is remarkably exhibited in these opposite modes of working. He had to mould a drama out of the disjointed materials of the real history of John, in which events, remote in the order of time, and apparently separated as to cause and consequence, should all conduce to the development of one great action-the persecution of Arthur by his uncle, and the retribution to which the fate of Arthur led. In the life of Richard II. there were two great dramatic events, far separated in the order of time, and having no connection in their origin or consequences. The rebellion of Wat Tyler, in 1381, might, in itself, have formed the subject of a drama not unworthy of the hand of Shakspere. It might have stood as the "First Part" of the Life of Richard II. Indeed, it is probable, that a play in which this event formed a remarkable feature did exist. But the greater event of Richard's life was the banishment and the revolt of Bolingbroke, which led to his own deposition and his death. This is the one event which Shakspere has made the subject of the great drama before us. With a few very minute deviations from history-deviations which are as nothing compared with the errors of the contemporary historian, Froissart-the scenes which this play presents, and the characters which it develops, are historically true to the letter. But what a wonderful vitality does the truth acquire in our poet's hands! The hard and formal abstractions of the old chroniclers-the figures that move about in robes and armour, without presenting to us any distinct notions of their common human qualities,-here show themselves to us as men like ourselves,—partaking of like passions and like weaknesses; and, whilst they exhibit to us the natural triumph of intellectual vigour and decision over frailty and irresolution, they claim our pity for the unfortunate, and our respect for the "faithful amongst the faithless." But in the 'Chronicles,' Shakspere found the rude outline ready to his hand, which he was to fill up with his surpassing colouring. There was nothing in the course of the real events to alter for the purposes of dramatic propriety. The history was full of the most stirring and picturesque circumstances; and the incidents came so thick and fast upon one The first scene of this Act exhibits the course of the quarrel between Bolingbroke and Mowbray, as it proceeded, after Harry Hereford's "boisterous late appeal." We must observe, that the Bolingbroke of Shakspere is called Duke of Hereford (or Earl of Derby, his former title) by all the old historians; it being pretty clear that he was not distinguished by the name of Bolingbroke till after he had assumed the crown. Drayton states this without any qualification. We must, however, follow the poet in calling him Bolingbroke. It is somewhat difficult to understand the original cause of the quarrel between Bolingbroke and Norfolk. They were each elevated in rank at the Christmas of 1398, probably with the view, on the part of Richard, to propitiate men of such power and energy. They were the only two who remained of the great lords who, twelve years before, had driven Richard's favourites from his court and kingdom, and had triumphantly asserted their resistance to his measures at the battle of Radcot Bridge. The Duke of Gloster, the uncle of the king, with whose party Bolingbroke and Norfolk had always been confederated, was murdered at Calais, in 1398. Bolingbroke, in the same year, had received a full pardon in parliament for his proceedings in 1386. "In this parliament, holden at Shrewsbury," says Holinshed, "Henry Duke of Hereford accused Thomas Mowbray of certain words, which he should utter in talk, had betwixt them as they rode together lately before, betwixt London and Brainford, sounding highly to the king's dishonour." Froissart (we quote from Lord Berners' translation) gives a different version of the affair, and says-" On a day the Earl of Derby and the Earl Marshal communed together of divers matters; at last, among other, they spake of the state of the king and of his council, such as he had about him, and believed them; so that, at the last, the Earl of Derby spake certain words which he thought for the best, wenynge that they should never have been called to rehearsal, which words were neither villainous nor outrageous." Froissart then goes on to make the Earl Marshal repeat these words to the king, and Derby to challenge him as a false traitor, after the breach of confidence. Shakspere has followed Holinshed. The accusation of Bolingbroke against Norfolk was first made, according to this chronicler, at Shrewsbury; and "there was a day appointed, about six weeks after, for the king to come unto Windsor, to hear and to take some order betwixt the two dukes which had thus appealed each other." The scene then proceeds in the essential matters very much as is exhibited by Shakspere, except that the appellant and defendant each speak by the mouth of a knight that had "license to speak." Norfolk is accused of being a false and disloyal traitor-of appropriating eight thousand nobles, which he had received to pay the king's soldiers at Calais-of being the occasion of all the treason contrived in the realm for eighteen years-and, by his false suggestions and malicious counsels, having caused the Duke of Gloster to be murdered. Norfolk, in the answer by his knight, declares that Henry of Lancaster hath "falsely and wickedly lied as a false and disloyal knight;" and he then, in his own person, adds the explanation which Shakspere gives about the use of the money for Calais. The chronicler, however, makes him say not a word about Gloster's death; but he confesses that he once "laid an ambush to have slain the Duke of Lancaster that there sitteth." The king once again requires them to be asked, if they would agree and make peace together; "but they both flatly answered that they would not; and withal the Duke of Hereford cast down his gage, and the Duke of Norfolk took it up. The king, perceiving this demeanour betwixt them, sware by St. John Baptist, that he would never seek to make peace betwixt them again." The combat was then appointed to be done at Coventry, "some say upon a Monday in August; other, upon St. Lambert's day, being the 17th September; other, on the 11th September." The narrative of Holinshed, upon which Shakspere has founded the third Scene of this Act, is most picturesque. We see all the gorgeous array of chivalry, as it existed in an age of pageants, called forth with unusual magnificence upon an occasion of the gravest import. The old stage of Shakspere's time could exhibit none of this magnificence. The great company of men appareled in silk sendall-the splendid coursers of the combatants, with their velvet housings the king on his throne, surrounded by his peers and his ten thousand men in armour-all these were to be wholly imagined upon the ancient stage. Our poet, in his chorus to Henry V.' thus addresses his audience :— "Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts; Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them To assist our readers in seeing the " imaginary puissance" of the lists of Coventry, we subjoin Holinshed's description :— "The Duke of Aumerle, that day, being high constable of England, and the Duke of Surry, marshal, placed themselves between them, well armed and appointed; and when they saw their time, they first entered into the lists with a great company of men appareled in silk sendall, embroidered with silver, both richly and curiously, every man having a tipped staff to keep the field in order. About the hour of prime came to the barriers of the lists, the Duke of Hereford, mounted on a white courser barded with green and blue velvet, embroidered sumptuously with swans and antelopes of goldsmith's work, armed at all points. The constable and marshal came to the barriers, demanding of him what he was; he answered I am Henry of Lancaster Duke of Hereford, which am come hither to do mine endeavour against Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolk, as a traitor untrue to God, the king, his realm, and me.' Then, incontinently, he sware upon the holy evangelists, that his quarrel was true and just, and upon that point he required to enter the lists. Then he put by his sword, which before he held naked in his hand, and, putting down his visor, made a cross on his horse, and with spear in hand entered into the lists, and descended from his horse, and set him down in a chair of green velvet, at the one end of the lists, and there reposed himself, abiding the coming of his adversary. "Soon after him, entered into the field with great triumph, King Richard, accompanied with all the peers of the realm, and in his company was the Earl of St. Paul, which was come out of France in post to see this challenge performed. The king had there above ten thousand men in armour, least some fray or tumult might rise amongst his nobles, by quarrelling or partaking. When the king was set in his seat, which was richly hanged and adorned, a kingat-arms made open proclamation, prohibiting all men, in the name of the king, and of the high constable and marshal, to enterprise or attempt to approach, or touch any part of the lists upon pain of death, except such as were appointed to order or marshal the field. The proclamation ended, another herald cried: 'Behold here Henry of Lancaster Duke of Hereford appellant, which is entered into the lists royal to do his devoir against Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolk defendant, upon pain to be found false and recreant.' "The duke of Norfolk hovered on horseback at the entrance of the lists, his horse being barded with crimson velvet, embroidered richly with lions of silver and mulberry trees; and when he had made his oath before the constable and marshal that his quarrel was just and true, he entered the field manfully, saying aloud: 'God aid him that hath the right,' and then he departed from his horse, and sate him down in his chair, which was of crimson velvet, curtained about with white and red damask. The lord marshal viewed their spears, to see that they were of equal length, and delivered the one spear himself to the duke of Hereford, and sent the other unto the duke of Norfolk by a knight. Then the herald proclaimed that the traverses and chairs of the champions should be removed, commanding them on the king's behalf to mount on horseback, and address themselves to the battle and combat. and closed his beaver, and cast his spear into the rest, and when the trumpet sounded, set forward courageously towards his enemy, six or seven paces. The duke of Norfolk was not fully set forward, when the king cast down his warder, and the heralds cried, 'Ho, ho!' Then the king caused their spears to be taken from them, and commanded them to repair again to their chairs, where they remained two long hours, while the king and his council deliberately consulted what order was best to be had in so weighty a cause." The sentence of Richard upon Bolingbroke and Norfolk was, in effect, the same as Shakspere has described it; but the remission of a portion of the term of Bolingbroke's banishment did not take place at the lists of Coventry. Froissart says, that when Bolingbroke's day of departure approached, he came to Eltham, to the king, who thus addressed him :-" As God help me, it right greatly displeaseth me the words that hath been between you and the earl marshal; but thé sentence that I have given is for the best, and for to appease thereby the people, who greatly murmured on this matter; wherefore, cousin, yet to ease you somewhat of your pain, I release my judgment from ten year to six year. Cousin, take this aworth, and ordain you thereafter." The earl answered and said; "Sir, I thank your grace, and when it "The duke of Hereford was quickly horsed, shall please you, ye shall do me more grace." ACT II. 14 SCENE I.-"His livery.” MALONE gives the following explanation of this passage: "On the death of every person who held by knight's service, the escheator of the court in which he died summoned a jury, who inquired what estate he died seised of, and of what age his next heir was. If he was under age, he became a ward of the king's; but if he was found to be of full age, he then had a right to sue out a writ of ouster le main,—that is, his livery, that the king's hand might be taken off, and the land delivered to him." Bolingbroke had appointed attorneys to execute this office for him, if his father should die during the period of his banishment. 15 SCENE I.-"That late broke from the Duke of Exeter." Thomas, the son of the Earl of Arundel, was in the custody of the Duke of Exeter, and escaped from his house-broke from him. The description could not apply to "Reignold, Lord Cobham ;"-and, therefore, Malone has introduced a line, which he supposes, or something like it, to have been accidentally omitted: "The son of Richard, Earl of Arundel, 16 SCENE II.-"Like perspectives." These perspectives were produced by cutting a board, so that it should present a number of John of Gaunt, who, in the first line of this was born in 1366, must have been a father at play, is called, "Old John of Gaunt, time-honour'd Lancaster," was the fourth son of Edward III., by his Queen Philippa. He was called of Gant or Ghent, from the place of his birth;-was born in 1340, and died in 1399. The circumstance of the king naming him as Old John of Gaunt, has many examples in the age of Shakspere. Spenser calls the Earl of Leicester an old man, though he was then not fifty; Lord Huntington represents Coligny as very old, though he died at fifty-three. There can be little doubt, we apprehend, that the average duration of human life has been much increased during the last two centuries; and, at that period, marriages were much earlier, so that it was not uncommon for a man to be at the head of a family before he was twenty. When John of Gaunt was fiftyeight (in the year of Bolingbroke's appeal against Mowbray), Henry of Monmouth, his grandson, was eleven years old; so that Bolingbroke, who twenty-one. Froissart thus speaks of the death of John of Gaunt:-" So it fell, that, about the feast of Christmas, Duke John of Lancaster, who lived in great displeasure, what because the King had banished his son out of the realm for so little a cause, and also because of the evil governing of the realm by his nephew, King Richard; (for he saw well if he long persevered, and were suffered to continue, the realm was likely to be utterly lost)-with these imagina tions and other, the duke fell sick, whereon he died; whose death was greatly sorrowed of all his friends and lovers." Shakspere found no authority in the 'Chronicles' for the fine death-scene of John of Gaunt; but the principal circumstance for which he reproaches the king-that England "is now leas'd out "-is distinctly supported. Fabian says, "In this 22nd year of King Richard, the common fame ran, that the king had letten to farm the realm unto Sir William Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire, and then treasurer of England, to Sir John Bushey, Sir John Bagot, and Sir Henry "Daily new exactions are devis'd; ย is also fully supported. changed upon us from good to evil, ever since the death of good King Edward the Third, in whose days justice was well kept and ministered: in his days there was no man so hardy in England to take a hen or a chicken, or a sheep, without he had paid 'truly for it; and now-adays, all that we have is taken from us, and yet we dare not speak; these things cannot long endure, but that England is likely to be lost without recovery: we have a king now that will do nothing; he entendeth but to idleness, and to accomplish his pleasure, and by that he sheweth he careth not how every thing goeth, so he may have his will. It were time to provide for remedy, or else our enemies will rejoice and mock us." There is a remarkable corroboration of the state of cruel oppression in which the common people lived, furnished by a copy of the stipulations made by the Duke of Surrey, in 1398, on taking upon him the government of Ireland :-"Item, That he, the lieutenant, may have, at sundry times, out of every parish, or every two parishes, in England, a man and his wife, at the cost of the king, in the land of Ireland, to inhabit the same land where it is wasted upon the marshes." (Cotton MS.) This compulsory colonization must have been most odious to the people, who knew that the “wild men" of Ireland, amongst whom they were to be placed, kept the government in constant terror. The general condition of the country, while the commons were "pill'd," and the nobles "fin'd," by Richard and his creatures, was, according to Froissart, most lamentable. We copy the passage, as it is highly characteristic of the manners of the times. The period thus described is that immediately before the departure of Richard for Ireland :-"The state generally of all men in England began to murmur and to rise one against another, and ministering of justice was clean stopped up in all courts of England; whereof the valiant men and prelates, who loved rest and peace, and were glad to pay their duties, were greatly abashed: for there rose in the realm companies in divers routs, keeping the fields and highways, so that merchants durst not ride abroad to exercise their merchandise for doubt of robbing: and no man knew to whom to complain to do them right, reason, and justice, which things were right prejudicial and displeasant to the good people of England, for it was contrary to their accustomable usage; for all people, labourers and merchants in England, were wont to live in rest and peace, and to occupy their merchandise peaceably, and the labourers to labour their lands quietly; and then it was contrary, for when merchants rode from town to town with their merchandise, and had either gold or silver in their purses, it was taken from them; and from other men and labourers out of their houses these companions would take wheat, oats, beefs, muttons, porks, and the poor men durst speak no word. These evil deeds daily multiplied so, that great complaints and lamentations were made thereof throughout the realm, and the good people said, the time is is also detailed in the 'Chronicles.' The seizure of Bolingbroke's patrimony by Richard, after the death of Gaunt, is thus described by Holinshed; and Shakspere has most accurately followed the description as to its facts: "The death of this duke gave occasion of encreasing more hatred in the people of this realm toward the king, for he seized into his hands all the goods that belonged to him, and also received all the rents and revenues of his lands, which ought to have descended unto the Duke of Hereford, by lawful inheritance, in revoking his letters patent, which he had granted to him before, by virtue whereof he might make his attornies general to sue livery for him, of any manner of inheritances or possessions that might from thenceforth fall unto him, and that his homage might be respited with making reasonable fine: whereby it was evident that the king meant his utter undoing." The private malice of Richard against his banished cousin"The prevention of noor Bolingbroke, About his marriage"— |
