Who all this while hath revell'd in the night, Weak men must fall, for heav'n ftill guards the Right. SCENE III. Enter Salisbury. Welcome, my lord, how far off lies your Power? "The breath of worldly men.] Here is the doctrine of indefeafible right expreffed in the ftrongest terms; but our poet did not learn it in the reign of King James, to which it is now the practice of all writers, whofe opinions are regulated by fashion or interest, to impute the original of every tenet which they have been taught to think falfe or foolish. Аит. Aum. Comfort, my Liege, why looks your Grace fo pale? K. Rich. But now the blood of twenty thousand men Did triumph in my face, and they are fled, And till fo much blood thither come again,, Have I not reafon to look pale, and dead? All fouls, that will be fafe, fly from my fide; For time hath set a blot upon my pride, Aum. Comfort, my Liege; remember, who you are. K. Rich. I had forgot myfelf. Am I not King? Awake, thou coward Majefty, thou fleepest; Is not the King's name forty thousand names? Arm, arm, my Name; a puny Subject strikes At thy great glory. Look not to the ground, Ye fav'rites of a King, are we not high? High be our thoughts. I know, my uncle York Hath pow'r to ferve our turn. But who comes here? Scroop. More health and happiness betide my Liege, Than can my care-tun'd tongue deliver him! K. Rich. 'Mine ear is open, and my heart prepar'd. The worst is worldly lofs thou canft unfold. Say, is my Kingdom loft? why, 'twas my care, And what lofs is it, to be rid of care? Strives Bolingbroke to be as great as we? Greater he shall not be; if he ferve God, We'll ferve him too, and be his fellow fo. Revolt our Subjects? that we cannot mend; 7 Mine ear is open,] It feems to be the defign of the poet to raife Richard to efteem in his fall, and confequently to intereft the reader in his favour. He gives him only paffive fortitude, E 4 the virtue of a confeffor rather than of a king. In his profperity we faw him imperious and oppreffive, but in his diftrefs he is wife, Įatient, and pious. They They break their faith to God, as well as us. Like an unfeasonable stormy day, Which makes the filver rivers drown their fhores, As if the world were all diffolv'd to tears; So high above his limits fwells the rage Of Bolingbroke, cov'ring your fearful Land With hard bright steel, and hearts more hard than steel. Thy very Beadfmen learn to bend their bows K. Rich. Too well, too well, thou tell'ft a Tale fo ill. Where is the Earl of Wiltshire? where is Bagot? What is become of Bufby? where is Green? K. Rich. O villains, vipers, damn'd without redemption ! Dogs, eafily won to fawn on any man! Snakes in my heart-blood warm'd, that fting my heart! Three Judaffes, each one thrice worle than Judas! Would they make peace? terrible hell make war Upon their spotted fouls for this offence! Scroop. Sweet love, I fee, changing his property, Have felt the worst of death's destroying hand, Why, with the Lofs of their Heads. This being explained, Aumerle fays, Is Bufhy, Green, and th Earl of Wiltshire dead? So that Bagot ought to be left out of the Queftion: and, indeed, he had made the best of his way for Chefter, and from thence had efcap'd into Ireland. And fo we find him, in the zd Act, determining to do. Bagot. No: I'll to Ireland, to bis Majefty. The Poet could not be guilty of fo much Forgetfulness and Ab: furdity. The Tranfcribers must K. Rich. No matter where; of comfort no man speak; Let's talk of Graves, of Worms, and Epitaphs, 4 Keeps Death his Court; and there the Antick fits, To monarchize, be fear'd, and kill with looks; Bores through his caftle-walls, and farewel King! And that small model of the barren earth.] He uses model here, as he frequently does elsewhere, for part, portion. WARBURTON. He uses it rather for mould. That earth, which clofing upon the body, takes its form. This interpretation the next line feems to authorise. 3 A metaphor, not of the moft fublime kind, taken from a pie. 4 There the Antick fits.] Here is an allufion to the antick or fool of old farces, whofe chief part is to deride and disturb the graver and more fplendid perfonages. |