In that thou feeft thy wretched brother die,
Who was the model of thy father's life.
Call it not patience, Gaunt, it is despair:
In fuffering thus thy brother to be flaughter'd,
Thou fhew'ft the naked path-way to thy life,
Teaching ftern murder how to butcher thee:
That which in mean men we entitle-patience,
Is pale cold cowardice in noble breafts.
What shall I fay? to fafeguard thine own life,
The best way is to 'venge my Glofter's death.

Gaunt. Heaven's is the quarrel; for heaven's fubftitute,

His deputy annointed in his fight,

Hath caus'd his death: the which if wrongfully,

Let heaven revenge; for I may never lift

An angry arm against his minifter.

Dutch. Where then, alas! may I complain myfelf?? Gaunt. To heaven, the widow's champion and defence. Dutch. Why then, I will. Farewell, old Gaunt. Thou go'ft to Coventry, there to behold Our coufin Hereford and fell Mowbray fight: O, fit my husband's wrongs on Hereford's fpear, That it may enter butcher Mowbray's breast! Or, if misfortune mifs the first career, Be Mowbray's fins fo heavy in his bofom, That they may break his foaming courfer's back, And throw the rider headlong in the lifts,

8

A catiff recreant to my coufin Hereford!

Farewell, old Gaunt; thy fometimes brother's wife,
With her companion grief must end her life.

7

may I complain myfelf?] To complain is commonly a verb neuter, but it is here used as a verb active. Dryden employs the word in the fame fenfe in his Fables. STEEVENS.

So alfo Fairfax and other contemporaries of our author. MALONE. 8 A caitiff recreant-] Caitiff originally fignified a prifoner; next a flave, from the condition of prifoners; then a fcoundrel, from the qualities of a flave.

Ημισυ τῆς ἀρχῆς αποαίνεται δέλον ἡμερο

In this palage it partakes of all thefe fignifications. JOHNSON.

I do not believe that caitiff in our language ever fignified a prifoner. I take it to be derived, not from captif, but from chetif, Fr. poor miferable. TYR WHITT.

Gaunt

Gaunt. Sifter, farewell: I muft to Coventry : As much good stay with thee, as go with me!

Dutch. Yet one word more ;-Grief boundeth where it falls,

Not with the empty hollownefs, but weight:
I take my leave before I have begun;
For forrow ends not when it seemeth done.
Commend me to my brother, Edmund York.
Lo, this is all:-Nay, yet depart not fo;
Though this be all, do not fo quickly go;
I shall remember more. Bid him-O, what?-
With all good speed at Plafhy vifit me.
Alack, and what fhall good old York there fee,
But empty lodgings, and unfurnish'd walls,
Unpeopled offices, untrodden ftones?

And what hear there for welcome, but my groans?
Therefore commend me; let him not come there,
To feek out forrow that dwells every where':
Defolate, defolate, will I hence, and die;

The laft leave of thee takes my weeping eye. [Exeunt.

Gosford-Green near Coventry.

Lifts fet out, and a throne. Heralds, &c. attending.

2

Enter the Lord Marshal and AUMERLE.

Mar. My lord Aumerle, is Harry Hereford arm'd? Aum. Yea, at all points; and longs to enter in,

unfurnish'd walls,] In our ancient caftles the naked stone walls were only covered with tapestry, or arras, hung upon tenter-hooks, from which it was eafily taken down on every removal of the family. See the Preface to the Houfebold Book of the Fifth Earl of Northumberland, begun in 1512. STEEVENS.

▲ To feek out forrow that dwells every where:] Perhaps the pointing might be reformed without injury to the fenfe:

let him not come there

To feek out forrow :-that dwells every where. WHALLEY. 2- - Lord Marfbal] Shakspeare has here committed a flight mistake. The office of Lord Marshal was executed on this occafion by Thomas Holland, Duke of Surrey. Our author has inadvertently introduced that nobleman as a distinct person from the Marshal, in the present drama. MALONE.

Mar.

1

14

Mar. The duke of Norfolk, fprightfully and bold, '
Stays but the fummons of the appellant's trumpet.

Aum. Why then, the champions are prepar'd, and stay
For nothing but his majefty's approach.

Flourish of trumpets.

Enter King RICHARD, who takes his feat on his throne; GAUNT, and feveral noblemen, who take their places. A trumpet is founded, and anfwered by another trumpet within. Then enter NORFOLK in armour, preceded by a herald.

K. Rich. Marfhal, demand of yonder champion
The caufe of his arrival here in arms:
Afk him his name; and orderly proceed
To fwear him in the juftice of his caufe.

Mar. In God's name, and the king's, fay who thou art,
And why thou com'ft, thus knightly clad in arms:
Against what man thou com'ft, and what thy quarrel:
Speak truly, on thy knighthood, and thy oath!

3

And fo3 defend thee heaven, and thy valour !

Nor. My name is Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk✦;
Who hither come engaged by my oath,

(Which, heaven defend, a knight fhould violate!)
Both to defend my loyalty and truth,

To God, my king, and my fucceeding iffues,
Against the duke of Hereford that appeals me;
And, by the grace of God, and this mine arm,

3 And fo-] The old copies read-As fo. STEEVENS.
Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

4 Norfolk,] Mr. Edwards, in his MS. notes, obferves, both from Matthew Paris and Holinfhed, that the duke of Hereford, appellant, entered the lifts first; and this indeed must have been the regular method of the combat; for the natural order of things requires, that the accufer or challenger fhould be at the place of appointment first. STEEV.

5 and my fucceeding ifue,] Thus the first quarto. The folio reads-bis fucceeding iffue. The first quarto copy of this play, in 1597, being in general much more correct than the folio, and the quartos of 1608, and 1615, from the latter of which the folio appears to have been printed, I have preferred the elder reading. MALONE.

Mowbray's ifiue was, by this accufation in danger of an attainder, and therefore he might come among other reafons for their fake; but the reading of the folio is more just and grammatical. JOHNSON.

Τα

To prove him, in defending of myself,

A traitor to my God, my king, and me:

And, as I truly fight, defend me heaven! [He takes his feat. Trumpet founds. Enter BOLINGBROKE in armour; preceded by a herald.

K. Rich. Marfhal, afk yonder knight in arms,
Both who he is, and why he cometh hither
Thus plated in habiliments of war;

And formally according to our law

Depofe him in the juftice of his caufe.

Mar. What is thy name? and wherefore com'ft thou hither,

Before king Richard, in his royal lifts?

Against whom comeft thou? and what's thy quarrel?
Speak like a true knight, fo defend thee heaven!

Boling. Harry of Hereford, Lancafter, and Derby,
Am I; who ready here do ftand in arms,

To prove, by heaven's grace, and my body's valour,
In lifts, on Thomas Mowbray duke of Norfolk,
That he's a traitor, foul and dangerous,

To God of heaven, king Richard, and to me;
And, as I truly fight, defend me heaven!

Mar. On pain of death, no perfon be fo bold,
Or daring-hardy, as to touch the lifts;

Except the marshal, and fuch officers
Appointed to direct these fair defigns.

Boling. Lord Marshal, let me kifs my fovereign's hand,
And bow my knee before his majesty:
For Mowbray, and myself, are like two men.
That vow a long and weary pilgrimage;
Then let us take a ceremonious leave,

And loving farewell, of our several friends.

Mar. The appellant in all duty greets your highness, And craves to kifs your hand, and take his leave.

K. Rich. We will defcend, and fold him in our arms. Coufin of Hereford, as thy caufe is right,

So be thy fortune in this royal fight!

Farewell, my blood; which if to-day thou shed,
Lament we may, but not revenge thee dead.

Boling. O, let no noble eye profane a tear For me, if I be gor'd with Mowbray's spear: As confident, as is the falcon's flight

Against a bird, do I with Mowbray fight.

[to Gaunt.

My loving lord, [to Lord Marth.] I take my leave of you;-
Of you, my noble coufin, lord Aumerle ;-
Not fick, although I have to do with death;
But lufty, young, and chearly drawing breath.-
Lo, as at English feafts, fo I regreet
The daintiest laft, to make the end moft fweet:
O thou, the earthly authour of my blood,-
Whofe youthful fpirit, in me regenerate,
Doth with a two-fold vigour lift me up
To reach at victory above my head,-
Add proof unto mine armour with thy prayers;
And with thy bleffings fteel my lance's point,
That it may enter Mowbray's waxen coat,
And furbish new the name of John of Gaunt,
Even in the lufty 'haviour of his fon.

Gaunt. Heaven in thy good caufe make thee profperous! Be fwift like lightning in the execution;

And let thy blows, doubly redoubled,

Fall like amazing thunder on the cafque

Of thy adverfe pernicious enemy:

Rouze up thy youthful blood, be valiant and live.

Boling. Mine innocency, and faint George to thrive!

lot,

[He takes his feat. Nor. [rifing.] However heaven, or fortune, caft my le There lives, or dies, true to king Richard's throne, A loyal, juft, and upright gentleman: Never did captive with a freer heart

Caft off his chains of bondage, and embrace

6-waxen coat,] Waxen may mean either foft, and confequently penetrable, or flexible. The brigandines or coats of mail, then in ufe, were compofed of small pieces of fteel quilted over one another, and yet fo flexible as to accommodate the dress they form, to every motion of the body. Of these many are to be feen in the Tower of London. STEEVENS.

7- mine innocency-] Old Copies-innocence. Corrected by Mr. Steevens. MALONE.

His