1

I am too old to fawn upon a nurse,
Too far in years to be a Pupil now;

What is thy Sentence then, but fpeechlefs death,
Which robs my tongue from breathing native breath?
K. Richard. It boots thee not to be compaffionate;
After our Sentence, Plaining comes too late.

5

Mowb. Then thus I turn me from my Country's light,
To dwell in folemn fhades of endless night.

K. Rich. Return again, and take an oath with
Lay on our royal Sword your banish'd hands;
Swear by the duty that you owe to heav'n
"(Our part therein we banish with yourselves)
To keep the oath that we adminifter.

You never fhall, fo help you truth, and heav'n!
Embrace each other's love in Banishment;

Nor ever look upon each other's face,

Nor ever write, regreet, or reconcile

This low'ring tempeft of your home-bred hate;
Nor ever by advised purpose meet,

To plot, contrive, or complot any Ill,

'Gainft us, our State, our Subjects, or our Land.
Boling. I fwear.

Mowb. And I, to keep all this.
Boling. Norfolk,-fo far, as to mine enemy.
By this time, had the King permitted us,
One of our fouls had wandred in the air,
Banish'd this frail fepulchre of our flesh,

5 Compaffionate, for plaintive.

WARBURTON. 6 (Our part, &c.] It is a queftion much debated amongst the writers of the Law of Nations, whether a banish'd man be ftill tied in allegiance to the ftate which fent him into exile. Tully and Lord Chancellor Clarendon declare for the affirmative: Hobbs and Puffendorf hold the negative. Our author, by this line, feems to be of the fame opinion. WARE.

ye.

* Norfolk,— so far, &c.] I do not clearly fee what is the fenfe of this abrupt line, but fuppofe the meaning to be this. Hereford, immediately after his oath of perpetual enmity addreffes Norfolk, and, fearing fome misconstruction, turns to the king and fays-fo far as to mine enemy - that is, I bould say nothing to him but what enemies may say to each other.

As now our flesh is banifh'd from this Land,
Confefs thy treafons, ere thou fly this Realm;
Since thou haft far to go, bear not along
The clogging burthen of a guilty foul.

Mob. No, Bolingbroke; if ever I were traitor,
My Name be blotted from the Book of life,
And I from heaven banish'd as from hence!
But what thou art, heav'n, thou, and I do know,
And all too foon, I fear, the King shall rue.
Farewel, my Liege. Now no way can I ftray,
Save back to England; all the world's my way'. [Exit.

K. Rich. Uncle, even in the glaffes of thine eyes I fee thy grieved heart, thy fad afpect

Hath from the number of his banish'd years

Pluck'd four away.-Six frozen winters spent, [To Bol.
Return with Welcome home from Banifhment.

Bolingb. How long a time lies in one little word!
Four lagging Winters, and four wanton Springs,
End in a word; fuch is the Breath of Kings.
Gaunt. I thank my Liege, that in regard of me
He shortens four years of my fon's exile:
But little vantage fhall I reap thereby;
For ere the fix years, that he hath to spend,

Can change their moons and bring their times about,
My oyl-dry'd lamp, and time-bewasted light,
Shall be extinct with age, and endless night:
My inch of taper will be burnt and done:
And blindfold death not let me fee my fon.

K. Rich. Why, uncle? thou haft many years to live. Gaunt. But not a minute, King, that thou canft give; Shorten my days thou canft with fullen forrow,

And pluck nights from me, but not lend a morrow *;
Thou canft help time to furrow me with age,
But ftop no wrinkle in his pilgrimage;

Thy word is current with him, for my death;
But dead, thy Kingdom cannot buy my breath.
K. Rich. Thy fon is banish'd upon good advice,
Whereto thy tongue a party-verdi&t gave;
Why at our juftice feem'ft thou then to low'r?
Gaunt. Things, fweet to tafte, prove in digeftion fow'r.
You urg'd me as a judge; but I had rather,
You would have bid me argue like a father.
O, had it been a ftranger, not my child,

To smooth his Fault, I would have been more mild:
Alas, I look'd, when fome of you should f--
I was too strict to make mine own away:

But
you gave leave to my unwilling tongue,
Against my will, to do myself this wrong.
A partial flander + fought I to avoid,
And in the Sentence my own life destroy'd.

K. Rich. Coufin, farewel; and, uncle, bid him so:
Six years we banish him, and he shall go.

[Flourish.

[Exit.

Aum. Coufin, farewel; what prefence must not know, From where you do remain, let paper show.

Mar. My lord, no leave take I; for I will rideAs far as land will let me, by your fide.

Gaunt. Oh,to what purpofe doft thou hoard thy words, That thou return'ft no Greeting to thy friends? Boling. I have too few to take my leave of you, When the tongue's office fhould be prodigal, To breathe th' abundant dolour of the heart. Gaunt. Thy grief is but thy abfence for a time. * And pluck nights from me, but ing evil than good.

not lend a morrow ;] It is matter of very melancholy confideratiou, that all human advantages confer more power of do

A partial flander-] That is, the reproach of partiality. This is a juft picture of the ftruggle between principle and affection. C 3

Boling.

Boling. Joy abfent, grief is prefent for that time. Gaunt. What is fix winters? they are quickly gone. Boling. Tomen in joy; but grief makes one hour ten, Gaunt. Call it a Travel, that thou tak'st for pleasure. Boling. My heart will figh, when I mifcall it fo, Which finds it an inforced pilgrimage.

Gaunt. The fullen paffage of thy weary steps
Efteem a foil, wherein thou art to fet
The precious jewel of thy home-return.

Boling. Nay, rather, ev'ry tedious ftride I make
Will but remember me, what a deal of World
I wander from the Jewels that I love.
Muft I not ferve a long Apprentice-hood,
To foreign paffages, and in the End
Having my Freedom, boast of Nothing else
But that I was a Journeyman to Grief? *

Gaunt. All Places that the Eye of Heaven vifits, Are to a wife man ports and happy havens. Teach thy neceffity to reafon thus:

There is no virtue like neceffity.

Think not, the King did banish Thee;

But Thou the King. Woe doth the heavier fit,
Where it perceives it is but faintly borne.
Go fay, I fent thee forth to purchase honour,

8 Boling. Nay, rather, ev'ry
tedious Stride I make] This,
and the fix Verses which follow,
I have ventur'd to fupply from
the old Quarto. The Allufion,
'tis true, to an Apprenticeship, and
becoming a Journeyman, is not
in the fublime Tafte, nor, as Ho-
race has exprefs'd it, fpirat Tra-
gicum fatis: however as there is
no Doubt of the Paffage being
genuine, the Lines are not fo
defpicable as to deferve being
quite loft.
THEOBALD.
Journeyman to Grief?)
I am afraid our author in this
place defigned a uery poor quib-
ble, as journey fignifies both travel

*

and a day's work. However, he is not to be cenfured for what he himself rejected.

9 All Places that the Eye of

Heav'n vifits, &c.] The fourteen verfes that follow, are found in the firft Edition. POPE.

I am inclined to believe that what Mr. Theobald and Mr. Pope have reftored were expunged in the revifion by the authour: if the lines inclosed in crotchets are omitted, the fenfe is more Coherent. Nothing is more frequent among dramatick writers, than to fhorten their dialogues for the stage.

And

And not, the King exil'd thee. Or fuppofe,
Devouring Peftilence hangs in our air,
And thou art flying to a fresher clime.
Look, what thy foul holds dear, imagine it

To lye that way thou go'st, not whence thou com'st.
Suppofe the finging birds, musicians;

The grafs whereon thou tread'ft, the prefence-floor;
The flow'rs, fair ladies; and thy steps, no more
Than a delightful measure, or a dance.

For gnarling Sorrow hath less Pow'r to bite
The Man, that mocks at it, and fets it light.]
Boling. Oh, who can hold a fire in his hand,
By thinking on the frofty Caucafus ?
Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite,
By bare imagination of a feaft?
Or wallow naked in December fnow,
By thinking on fantastick Summer's heat?
Oh, no! the apprehenfion of the good
Gives but the greater feeling to the worse;
Fell forrow's tooth doth never rankle more
Than when it bites, but lanceth not the fore.
Gaunt. Come, come, my fon, I'll bring thee on thy
way;

Had I thy Youth, and Caufe, I would not stay,
Boling. Then, England's Ground, farewel; fweet
foil, adieu,

My mother and my nurfe, which bears me yet.
Where-e'er I wander, boaft of this I can,
Though banish'd; yet a true-born Englishman'.

[Exeunt.

a meffage from John of Gaunt, by which the king is called to vifit him, which vifit is paid in the following scene. As the play is now divided, more time paffes between the two laft fcenes of the first act, than between the firft act and the fecond,