Dar'd once to touch a duft of England's ground?
But then more why ;-Why have they dar'd to march
So many miles upon her peaceful bofom;

Frighting her pale-fac'd villages with war,

And oftentation of despised arms?

Com'ft thou because the anointed king is hence?
Why, foolish boy, the king is left behind,
And in my loyal bofom lies his power.

Were I but now the lord of fuch hot youth,
As when brave Gaunt, thy father, and myself,
Refcu'd the Black Prince, that young Mars of men,
From forth the ranks of many thousand French;
O, then, how quickly fhould this arm of mine,
Now prifoner to the palfy, cháftife thee,
And minifter correction to thy fault!

Boling. My gracious uncle, let me know my fault;
On what condition stands it, and wherein ?

York. Even in condition of the worst degree,

In grofs rebellion, and detefted treafon :

Thou art a banish'd man, and here art come,
Before the expiration of thy time,

In braving arms against thy fovereign.

Boling. As I was banish'd, I was banish'd Hereford; But as I come, I come for Lancaster.

5 But then more why ;-] But, to add more queftions. This is the reading of the first quarto, 1597, which in the fecond, and all the fubfequent copies, was corrupted thus: But more than why. The expreffion of the text, though a fingular one, was, I have no doubt, the author's. It is of a colour with those immediately preceding:

"Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle." MALONE. 6 And oftentation of defpifed arms ?] Mr. Upton gives this paffage as a proof that our author ufes the paffive participle in an active fenfe. The copies all agree. Perhaps the old duke means to treat him with contempt as well as with feverity, and to infinuate that he defpifes his power, as being able to master it. In this sense all is right. JOHNSON So, in this play:

"We'll make foul weather with despised tears." STEEVENS. 7 On what condition] It should be, in what condition, i. e. in whas degree of guilt. The particles in the old editions are of little credit. JOHNSON.

York's reply fupports Dr. Johnfon's conjecture: "Ev'n in condition, &c." MALONE.

And,

And, noble uncle, I beseech your grace,
Look on my wrongs with an indifferent eyes:
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
Pluck'd from my arms perforce, and given away
To upftart unthrifts? Wherefore was I born??
If that my coufin king be king of England,
It must be granted, I am duke of Lancaster.
You have a fon, Aumerle, my noble kinfman
Had you firft died, and he been thus trod down,
He should have found his uncle Gaunt a father,
To roufe his wrongs, and chase them to the bay.
I am deny'd to fue my livery here',

And yet my letters-patent give me leave:
My father's goods are all diftrain'd, and fold;
And these, and all, are all amifs employ'd.
What would you have me do? I am a fubject,
And challenge law: Attornies are deny'd me;
And therefore perfonally I lay my claim
Το my inheritance of free defcent.

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 wrong,-it may not be:
And you, that do abet him in this kind,

8

«Every

with an indifferent eye:] i. e. with an impartial eye. juryman," fays Sir Edward Coke, ought to be impartial, and indifferent." MALONE.

9- Wherefore was I born? &c.] To what purpose serves birth and lineal fucceflion? I am duke of Lancafter by the fame right of birth as the king is king of England. JOHNSON.

1-to fue my livery bere,] See a note on K. Henry IV. P. I. A&IV, fc, iii. MALONS.

Cherish

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 these arms;
I cannot mend it, I muft needs confefs,
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 fovereign mercy of the king;
But, fince I cannot, be it known to you,
I do remain as neuter. So, fare you well ;-
Unless you please 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 Bushy, Bagot, and their complices,
The caterpillars of the commonwealth,
Which I have fworn to weed, and pluck away.

York. It may be, I will go with you :-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 redrefs are now with me past care. [Exeunt.

Enter SALISBURY 3, and a Captain.

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

And yet we hear no tidings from the king;

This fcene Dr. Johnson fufpects to have been accidentally tranfpofed. In the author's draught he fuppofes it to have been the fecond fcene in the enfuing act MALONE.

3-Salisbury- was John Montacute, Earl of Salisbury.

WALPOLE.

Therefore

Therefore we will difperfe ourselves: farewel.

Sal. Stay yet another day, thou trusty Welshman; The king repofeth 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 ftars of heaven; The pale-fac'd moon looks bloody on the earth, And lean-look'd prophets whifper fearful change; Rich men look fad, and ruffians dance and leap,The one, in fear to lose what they enjoy, The other, to enjoy by rage and war: Thefe figns forerun the death or fall of kings. Farewel; our countrymen are gone and fled, As well affur'd, Richard their king is dead.

[Exit.

Sal. Ah, Richard! with the eyes of heavy mind,
I fee thy glory, like a fhooting ftar,
Fall to the base earth from the firmament!
Thy fun fets weeping in the lowly weft,
Witneffing ftorms 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, PERCY, WILLOUGHBY, Ross: Officers behind with BUSHY, and GREEN, prifoners.

Boling. Bring forth these men.

Bufhy, 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

4 The bay-trees &c.] This enumeration of prodigies is in the highest degree poetical and ftriking. JoHNSON.

Some of thefe prodigies are found in Holinfhed: "In this yeare in a manner throughout all the realme of England, old baie trees withored," &c. STEEVENS,

From

From off my hands, here, in the view of men,
I will unfold fome causes of your death.
You have mifled 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 by your foul wrongs.
Myfelf-a prince, by fortune of my birth;
Near to the king in blood; and near in love,
Till you did make him mifinterpret me,-
Have ftoop'd my neck under your injuries,
And figh'd my English breath in foreign clouds,
Eating the bitter bread of banishment:
Whilft you have fed upon my fignories,
Difpark'd my parks, and fell'd my forest woods;
From my own windows torn my houshold coat',
Raz'd out my imprefs, leaving me no fign,-
Save men's 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 over
To execution and the hand of death.

Busby. More welcome is the stroke of death to me, Than Bolingbroke to England.-Lords, farewel.

Green. My comfort is, that heaven will take our fouls,

5- and disfigur'd clean.] Clean has here the fignification of altogether, totally. So, in our author's 75th Sonnet:

And by and by, clean-ftarved for a look." MALONE.

6 Difpark'd my parks,] To dijpark is to throw down the hedges of an enclosure. Dijepio. I meet with the word in Barret's Alvearie or Quadruple Dictionary, 1580. STEEVENS.

1 From my own windows torn my boufbold coat,] It was the practice, when coloured glass was in ufe, of which there are still fome remains in old feats and churches, to anneal the arms of the family in the windows of the house. JOHNSON.

8 Rax'd out my imprefs, &c.] The imprefs was a device or motto. Ferne, in his Blazon of Gentry, 1585, obferves, "that the arms &c. of traitors and rebels may be defaced and removed, wherefoever they are fixed, or fet." STEEVENS.

And