What answer shall I make to this base man?
Shall I so much dishonour my fair stars,
On equal terms to give him chastisement"?
Either I must, or have mine honour soil'd
With the attainder of his slanderous lips.-
There is my gage, the manual seal of death,
That marks thee out for hell: I say, thou liest,
And will maintain what thou hast said is false
In thy heart-blood, though being all too base
To stain the temper of my knightly sword.

Boling. Bagot, forbear: thou shalt not take it up. Aum. Excepting one, I would he were the best In all this presence, that hath mov'd me so.

Fitz. If that thy valour stand on sympathy, There is my gage, Aumerle, in gage to thine. By that fair sun which shows me where thou stand'st, I heard thee say, and vauntingly thou spak'st it, That thou wert cause of noble Gloster's death. If thou deny'st it twenty times, thou liest; And I will turn thy falsehood to thy heart, Where it was forged, with my rapier's point.

Aum. Thou dar'st not, coward, live to see that day. Fitz. Now, by my soul, I would it were this hour. Aum. Fitzwater, thou art damn'd to hell for this. Percy. Aumerle, thou liest; his honour is as true In this appeal, as thou art all unjust;

And, that thou art so, there I throw my gage,
To prove it on thee to th' extremest point
Of mortal breathing. Seize it if thou dar'st.
Aum. And if I do not, may my hands rot off,
And never brandish more revengeful steel

Over the glittering helmet of foe!

my

[Lord. I task the earth to the like, forsworn Aumerle";

* On equal terms to give HIM chastisement?] The quarto of 1597 has them; that of 1598, my; and the quartos of 1608 and 1615, with the folios, read "him." 3 [I task the earth to the like, forsworn Aumerle;] This and the seven next

And spur thee on with full as many lies
As may be holla'd in thy treacherous ear

From sun to sun. There is my honour's pawn:
Engage it to the trial, if thou dar'st.

Aum. Who sets me else? by heaven, I'll throw at all6.

I have a thousand spirits in one breast,

To answer twenty thousand such as you.]

Surrey. My lord Fitzwater, I do remember well The very time Aumerle and you did talk.

Fitz. "Tis very true': you were in presence then; And you can witness with me this is true.

Surrey. As false, by heaven, as heaven itself is true. Fitz. Surrey, thou liest.

Surrey.
Dishonourable boy!
That lie shall lie so heavy on my sword,

That it shall render vengeance and revenge,
Till thou, the lie-giver, and that lie, do lie
In earth as quiet as thy father's scull.

In proof whereof, there is my honour's pawn:

Engage it to the trial, if thou dar'st.

Fitz. How fondly dost thou spur a forward horse!

If I dare eat, or drink, or breathe, or live,

I dare meet Surrey in a wilderness,

And spit upon him, whilst I say he lies,

And lies, and lies. There is my bond of faith,

To tie thee to my strong correction.

As I intend to thrive in this new world,

lines, are only in the quarto editions, in the three last of which the reading is, "I take the earth," &c. The expression is difficult, and the explanation uncertain; but the lord may mean that he tasks the earth, when he throws down the weight of his gage upon it. The mere circumstance that "I take the earth" was substituted for "I task the earth" in 1598, seems to show that even then the phrase was not understood. Steevens quoted the following line from Warner's "Albion's England," book iii. c. 16, a poem first printed in 1586 :

"Lo! here my gage (he terr'd his glove) thou know'st the victor's meed." Who sets me else? by heaven, I'll throw at all.] Expressions used in games with dice.

7 "Tis very true ;] Thus the quartos: the folio has, superfluously, “ My lord, 'tis very true."

Aumerle is guilty of my true appeal :
Besides, I heard the banish'd Norfolk say,

That thou, Aumerle, didst send two of thy men
To execute the noble duke at Calais.

Aum. Some honest Christian trust me with a gage. That Norfolk lies, here do I throw down this, If he may be repeal'd to try his honour.

Boling. These differences shall all rest under gage, Till Norfolk be repeal'd: repeal'd he shall be, And, though mine enemy, restor❜d again

To all his lands and signories. When he's return'd,
Against Aumerle we will enforce his trial.

Bishop. That honourable day shall ne'er be seen.
Many a time hath banish'd Norfolk fought
For Jesu Christ in glorious Christian field,
Streaming the ensign of the Christian cross
Against black pagans, Turks, and Saracens ;
And toil'd with works of war, retir'd himself
To Italy, and there, at Venice, gave
His body to that pleasant country's earth,
And his pure soul unto his captain Christ,
Under whose colours he had fought so long.
Boling. Why, bishop, is Norfolk dead?
Bishop. As surely as I live, my lord'.

Boling. Sweet peace conduct his sweet soul to the

bosom

Of good old Abraham!-Lords appellants,

Your differences shall all rest under gage,

Till we assign you to your days of trial.

8

Enter YORK, attended.

York. Great duke of Lancaster, I come to thee

- here do I throw down this,] Steevens remarks that Holinshed says, that on this occasion "he threw down a hood that he had borrowed."

9 As SURELY as I live, my lord.] The quarto of 1598 and all subsequent impressions have "As sure," &c. Malone and other editors have, “As sure as I live," not being aware, perhaps, of the true reading in the 4to, 1597.

From plume-pluck'd Richard, who with willing soul
Adopts thee heir, and his high sceptre yields
To the possession of thy royal hand.

Ascend his throne, descending now from him,—
And long live Henry, of that name the fourth 10!
Boling. In God's name I'll ascend the regal throne.
Bishop. Marry, God forbid !--

Worst in this royal presence may I speak,
Yet best beseeming me to speak the truth.
Would God, that any in this noble presence
Were enough noble to be upright judge
Of noble Richard: then, true nobless would'
Learn him forbearance from so foul a wrong.
What subject can give sentence on his king?
And who sits here that is not Richard's subject?
Thieves are not judg'd but they are by to hear,
Although apparent guilt be seen in them;
And shall the figure of God's majesty,
His captain, steward, deputy elect,
Anointed, crowned, planted many years,
Be judg'd by subject and inferior breath,

And he himself not present? O! forfend it, God2,
That, in a Christian climate, souls refin'd
Should show so heinous, black, obscene a deed!
I speak to subjects, and a subject speaks,
Stirr'd up by God thus boldly for his king.
My lord of Hereford here, whom you call king,
Is a foul traitor to proud Hereford's king;
And if you crown him, let me prophesy
The blood of English shall manure the ground,
And future ages groan for this foul act:

10 And long live Henry, of that name the fourth!] Thus the folio: the quartos, less harmoniously, " And long live Henry, fourth of that name."

1 - then true NOBLESS would] So the quarto, 1597, and so the verse requires. All the other quartos and folios have nobleness, which some modern editors have followed, asserting that all the old copies read nobleness. They evidently never saw the first 4to.

2 O! forfend it, God,] The folio, 1623, in opposition to all the quartos, has "forbid it, God."

Peace shall go sleep with Turks and infidels,
And in this seat of peace tumultuous wars

Shall kin with kin, and kind with kind confound;
Disorder, horror, fear, and mutiny,

Shall here inhabit, and this land be call'd

The field of Golgotha, and dead men's sculls.
O! if you raise3 this house against this house,
It will the woefullest division prove,

That ever fell upon this cursed earth.
Prevent it, resist it, let it not be so1,

Lest child, child's children, cry against you-woe! North. Well have you argu'd, sir; and, for your pains,

Of capital treason we arrest you here.

My lord of Westminster, be it your charge

To keep him safely till his day of trial.

May it please you, lords, to grant the commons' suit. Boling. Fetch hither Richard, that in common view He may surrender: so we shall proceed

Without suspicion.

York.

I will be his conduct.

[Exit.

Boling. Lords, you that here are under our arrest, Procure your sureties for your days of answer.— Little are we beholding to your love, [To the BISHOP. And little look for at your helping hands.

Re-enter YORK, with King RICHARD, and Officers bearing the Crown, &c.

K. Rich. Alack! why am I sent for to a king,

3 O, if you RAISE-] The folio, rear: all the quartos, "raise."

+ Prevent it, resist it, let it not be so,] This line, were we authorised so to alter it, would read better, " Prevent, resist it, let it not be so." The folio, 1623, makes it worse than in the 4to. editions, by printing, "Prevent it, resist it, and let it not be so."

5 May it please you, lords, to grant the commons' suit.] This line, and what follows to the line, "That rise thus nimbly by a true king's fall," (p. 193,) were first inserted in the quarto, 1608, and constitute the "new additions" mentioned on the title-page. They were included in all subsequent impressions.

6 Without suspicion.] In the quartos of 1608 and 1615, this and the two preceding lines are made a continuation of the speech of Northumberland. The folio, 1623, first gave them to Bolingbroke.