K. Rich. What doth our coufin lay to Mowbray's charge? It must be great, that can inherit us s

So much as of a thought of ill in him.

Boling. Look, what I fpeak my life fhall prove it true;-
That Mowbray hath receiv'd eight thoufand nobles,
In name of lendings for your highnefs' foldiers;
The which he hath detain'd for lewd employments",
Like a falfe traitor, and injurious villain.
Befides I fay, and will in battle prove,-
Or here, or elsewhere, to the furtheft verge
That ever was furvey'd by English eye,-
That all the treafons, for thefe eighteen years
Complotted and contrived in this land,

Fetch from falfe Mowbray their first head and fpring.
Further I fay, and further will maintain

Upon his bad life, to make all this good,

That he did plot the duke of Glofter's death *;
Suggeft his foon-believing adversaries ;

And, confequently, like a traitor coward,

Sluic'd out his innocent foul through ftreams of blood:
Which blood, like facrificing Abel's, cries,
Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth,
To me, for juftice, and rough chaftifement;
And, by the glorious worth of my defcent,
This arm fhall do it, or this life be spent.

K. Rich. How high a pitch his refolution foars!
Thomas of Norfolk, what fay'st thou to this?

Nor. O, let my fovereign turn away his face,

And bid his ears a little while be deaf,

Till I have told this flander of his blood,

5that can inherit us &c.] To inberit is no more than to poffefs, though fuch a ufe of the word may be peculiar to Shakspeare.

in Romeo and Juliet, A&t I. fc. ii:

fuch delight

"Among fresh female buds fhall you this night

"Inberit at my houfe." STEEVENS.

See vol. i. p. 79. n. 9.

MALONE.

Again,

6- for lewd employments,] Lerud here fignifies wicked. It is fo ufed in many of our old ftatutes. MALONE.

the duke of Glofter's death;] Thomas of Woodstock, the youngest on of Edward III.; who was murdered at Calais in 1397. MALONE.

How God, and good men, hate so foul a liar.

K. Rich. Mowbray, impartial are our eyes, and ears:
Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir,
(As he is but my father's brother's fon,)
Now by my scepter's awe 7 I make a vow,
Such neighbour nearness to our facred blood
Should nothing privilege him, nor partialize
The unftooping firmnefs of my upright foul:
He is our fubject, Mowbray, fo art thou;
Free speech, and fearless, I to thee allow.

Nor. Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart,
Through the falfe paffage of thy throat, thou lieft!
Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais,
Difburs'd I duly to his highnefs' foldiers:
The other part referv'd I by confent;
For that my fovereign liege was in my debt,
Upon remainder of a dear account,

Since laft I went to France to fetch his queen:

Now fwallow down that lie.-For Glofter's death,-
I flew him not; but, to my own disgrace,
Neglected my fworn duty in that cafe.—
For you, my noble lord of Lancaster,
The honourable father to my foe,
Once did I lay an ambush for your life,
A trefpafs that doth vex my grieved foul:
But, ere I laft receiv'd the facrament,
I did confefs it; and exactly begg'd
Your grace's pardon, and, I hope, I had it.
This is my fault: As for the rest appeal'd,
It iffues from the rancour of a villain,
A recreant and most degenerate traitor:
Which in myself I boldly will defend ;
And interchangeably hurl down my gage
Upon this over-weening traitor's foot,
To prove myself a loyal gentleman

Even in the best blood chamber'd in his bofom:
In hafte whereof, moft heartily I pray

Your highness to affign our trial day.

· my scepter's awe-] The reverence due to my fcepter. JOHNSON.

K. Rich

K. Rich. Wrath-kindled gentlemen, be rul'd by me; Let's purge this choler without letting blood: This we prefcribe, though no physician; Deep malice makes too deep incifion: Forget, forgive; conclude, and be agreed; Our doctors fay, this is no time to bleed.Good uncle, let this end where it begun ; We'll calm the duke of Norfolk, you your fon.

Gaunt. To be a make-peace fhall become my age :Throw down, my fon, the duke of Norfolk's gage. K. Rich. And, Norfolk, throw down his.

Gaunt. When, Harry? when?

Obedience bids, I fhould not bid again.

K. Rich. Norfolk, throw down; we bid; there is no boot 9.

fhame;

fair name,

Nor. Myfelf I throw, dread fovereign, at thy foot:
My life thou shalt command, but not my
The one, my duty owes; but my
(Defpight of death, that lives upon my grave',)
To dark dishonour's use thou shalt not have.
I am difgrac'd, impeach'd, and baffled here;
Pierc'd to the foul with flander's venom'd fpear;
The which no balm can cure, but his heart-blood

8 When, Harry?] This obfolete exclamation of impatience, is likewife found in Heywood's Silver Age, 1613; again, in Look about you, 1600.

STEEVENS.

9ne boot.] That is, no advantage, no ufe, in delay or refufal. JOHNS. my fair name, &c.] That is, my name that lives on my grave in defpight of death. This eafy paffage most of the editors feem to have mistaken. JOHNSON.

-and baffled bere ;] Baffled in this place means treated with the greatest ignominy imaginable. So, Holinhed, vol. iii. p. 827, and 1218, or annis 1513, and 1570, explains it: "Bafulling, fays he, is a great difgrace among the Scots, and it is ufed when a man is openlie perjured, and then they make of him an image painted, reverfed, with his heels upward, with his name, wondering, crieing, and blowing out of him with horns." Spenfer's Faery Queen, b. v. c. 3. ft. 37; and b. vi. c. 7. ft. 27. has the word in the fame fignification. TOLLET. The fame expreffion occurs again in Twelfth Night, fc. ult. "Alas, poor fool! how have they baffled thee?"

Again, in K. Henry IV. P. I. Act I. fc. ii:

66

an I do not, call me villain, and baffle me." STEEVENS.

Which breath'd this poifon.

K. Rich. Rage must be withstood:

Give me his gage-Lions make leopards tame.

Nor. Yea, but not change their spots 2: take but my

fhame,

And I refign my gage. My dear dear lord,
The pureft treasure mortal times afford,
Is-fpotlefs reputation; that away,
Men are but gilded loam, or painted clay.
A jewel in a ten-times-barr'd-up cheft
Is-a bold fpirit in a loyal breaft.

Mine honour is my life; both grow in one;
Take honour from me, and my life is done:
Then, dear my liege, mine honour let me try;
In that I live, and for that will I die.

K. Rich. Coufin, throw down your gage; do you begin.
Boling. O God defend my foul from fuch foul fin !
Shall I feem creit-fall'n in my father's fight?
Or with pale beggar-fear impeach my height
Before this out-dar'd daftard? Ere my tongue
Shall wound mine honour with fuch feeble wrong,
Or found fo bafe a parle, my teeth fhall tear
The flavish motive 3 of recanting fear;
And fpit it bleeding, in his high difgrace,

Where fhame doth harbour, even in Mowbray's face.

[Exit GAUNT. K. Rich. We were not born to fue, but to command: Which fince we cannot do to make you friends, Be ready, as your lives shall answer it, At Coventry, upon faint Lambert's day; There shall your fwords and lances arbitrate The fwelling difference of your settled hate; Since we cannot attone you, we fhall fee Juftice defign the victor's chivalry.—

4

Lord

2- but not change their spots:] The old copies have-bis fpots. Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE.

3 The flavife motive-] That which fear puts in motion. JOHNSON. 4 Juftice defign-] To defign in our author's time fignified to mark ut. See Minfheu's DICT. in v. "To defigne or fhew by a token. Ital. Demtare. Lat. Defignare." At the end of the article the reader is re

ferred

[Exeunt.

Lord Marshal, command our officers at arms
Be ready to direct these home-alarms.

The fame. A Room in the duke of Lancaster's Palace.
Enter GAUNT, and dutchess of Glofter.
Gaunt. Alas! the part I had in Glofter's blood
Doth more folicit me, than your exclaims,
To ftir against the butchers of his life.
But fince correction lieth in thofe hands-
Which made the fault that we cannot correct,
Put we our quarrel to the will of heaven;
Who, when they see the hours ripe on earth,
Will rain hot vengeance on offenders' heads.

Dutch. Finds brotherhood in thee no sharper fpur?
Hath love in thy old blood no living fire?
Edward's feven fons, whereof thyself art one,
Were as feven phials of his facred blood,

Or feven fair branches fpringing from one root:
Some of those seven are dry'd by nature's course,
Some of those branches by the deftinies cut:
But Thomas, my dear lord, my life, my Glofter,
One phial full of Edward's facred blood,
One flourishing branch of his moft royal root,-
Is crack'd, and all the precious liquor fpilt;
Is hack'd down, and his fummer leaves all faded,

By envy's hand, and murder's bloody axe.

Ah, Gaunt! his blood was thine; that bed, that womb, That mettle, that felf-mould, that fashion'd thee,

Made him a man; and though thou liv'ft, and breath'ft, Yet art thou flain in him: thou doft confent

In fome large measure to thy father's death,

ferred to the words "to marke, note, demonftrate or fhew."-Tbe word is still used with this fignification in Scotland.-Mr. Pope and all the fubfequent editors read-decide. MALONE.

5-dutchess of Glofter. The Dutchess of Glofter was Eleanor Bo hun, widow of Duke Thomas, fon of Edward III. WALPOLE.

6

the part I bad-] That is, my relation of confanguinity to Glofter. HANMER.

In