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York. My liege, beware; look to thyfelf; Thou haft a traitor in thy prefence there. Boling. Villain, I'll make thee fafe. [Drawing. Aum. Stay thy revengeful hand; Thou haft no caufe to fear.

York. Open the door, fecure, fool-hardy king: Shall I, for love, fpeak treafon to thy face? Open the door, or I will break it open.

The King opens the door, enter York. Boling. What is the matter, uncle? speak; Recover breath; tell us how near is danger, That we may arm us to encounter it.

[know York. Perufe this writing here, and thou fhalt The treafon that my hafte forbids me show. [p.ft; Aum. Remember, as thou read'ft, thy promife I do repent me; read not my name there, My heart is not confederate with my hand. York.'Twas, villain, ere thy hand did fet it down. I tore it from the traitor's bosom, king; Fear, and not love, begets his penitence: Forget to pity him, left thy pity prove A ferpent that will fting thee to the heart.

Boling. O heinous, ftrong, and bold confpiracy !— O loyal father of a treacherous fon! Thou fheer, immaculate, and filver fountain, From whence this ftream through muddy paffages Hath held his current, and defil'd himself!

Thy overflow of good converts to bad 2; And thy abundant goodness fhall excufe This deadly blot in thy digrefling 3 fon.

York. So fhall my virtue be his vice's bawd;
And he fhall fpend mine honour with his fhame,
As thriftlefs fons their fcraping fathers' gold.
Mine honour lives when his dishonour dies,
| Or my fham'd life in his difhonour lies :
Thou kill'ft me in his life; giving him breath,
The traitor lives, the true man's put to death.
[Dutch-fs within.

Dutch. What ho, my liege! for heaven's fake,
let me in.
[eager cry?
Beling. What thrill-voic'd fuppliant makes this
Dutch. A woman, and thine aunt, great king;

'tis 1.

Speak with me, pity me, open the door;
A beggar begs, that never begg'd before.

Boling. Our fcene is alter'd, from a ferious thing,
And now chang'd to the Beggar and the King 4.-
My dangerous coufin, let your mother in ;
I know, the's come to pray for your foul fin.

York. If thou do pardon, whofoever pray, More fins, for this forgivenefs, profper may. This fefter'd joint cut off, the reft refts found; This, let alone, will all the reft confound. Enter Dutchess.

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Dutch. Oking, believe not this hard-hearted man; Love, loving not itfelf, none other can. [here? York. Thou frantic woman, what doft thou do Shall thy old dugs once more a traitor rear ? Dutch. Sweet York, be patient; Hear me, gentle liege. Boling. Rife up, good aunt. Dutch. Not yet, I thee befeech: For ever will I kneel upon my knees, And never fee day that the happy fees, 'Till thou give joy; until thou bid me joy, By pardoning Rutland, my tranfgrefling boy. Aum. Unto my mother's prayers, I bend my knee.

York. Against them both, my true joints bended

be.

[Kneels. [Kneels.

Ill may'ft thou thrive, if thou grant any grace!
Dutch. Pleads he in earnest? look upon his face;
His eyes do drop no tears, his prayers are in jeft;
His words come from his mouth, ours from our
breaft:

He prays but faintly, and would be deny'd ;
We pray with heart, and foul, and all befide;
His weary joints would gladly rife, I know;
Our knees fhall kneel 'till to the ground they grow:
His prayers are full of falfe hypocrity;
Ours, of true zeal and deep integrity.
Our prayers do out-pray his; then let them have
That mercy, which true prayers ought to have.
Boling. Good aunt, stand up.

Dutch. Nay, do not fay--stand up;
But, pardon, first; and afterwards, ftand up.
An if I were thy nurfe, thy tongue to teach,
Pardon--fhould be the firft word of thy fpeech.

1 Sheer is pellucid, clear. 2 That is, "The overflow of good in thee is turned to bad in thy fon. 3 To digrefs is to deviate from what is right or regular. 4 Alluding to an interlude well known in sui author's time.

FF 3

I never

1 never long'd to hear a word 'till now;
Say-pardon, king; let pity teach thee how :
The word is fhort, but not fo fhort as fweet;
No word like, pardon, for kings' mouths fo meet.
York. Speak it in French, king; fay, pardonnez
moy

Dutch. Doft thou teach pardon pardon to deftroy?
Ah, my four husband, my hard-hearted lord,
That fet'ft the word itfelf against the word!-
Speak, pardon, as 'tis current in our land;
The chopping French we do not understand.
Thine eye begins to fpeak, fet thy tongue there:
Or, in thy piteous heart plant thou thine ear;
That, hearing how our plaints and prayers do pierce,
Pity may move thee pardon to rehearse.

Boling. Good aunt, stand up.
Dutch. I do not fue to ftand,
Pardon is all the fuit I have in hand.

Boling. I pardon him, as heaven fhall pardon me.
Dutch. O happy vantage of a kneeling knee!
Yet am I fick for fear: fpeak it again;
Twice faying pardon, doth not pardon twain,
But makes one pardon ftrong.

Boling. With all my heart
I pardon him.

Dutch. A god on earth thou art. [the abbot 2,
Boling. But for our trufty brother-in-law,-and
With all the reft of that conforted crew,-
Deftruction straight shall dog them at the heels.-
Good uncle, help to order feveral powers
To Oxford, or where-e'er these traitors are:
They fhall not live within this world, I fwear,
But I will have them, if I once know where.
Uncle, farewel;-and, coufin, too, adieu:
Your mother weli hath pray'd, and prove you true.
Dutch. Come, my old fon; I pray heaven make

thee new.

SCENE

IV.

Enter Exton, and a Servant.

[Exeunt.

And here is not a creature but myself,
I cannot do it ;-Yet I'll hammer it out.
My brain I'll prove the female to my foul;
My foul, the father; and these two beget
A generation of itill-breeding thoughts,
And these fame thoughts people this little world;
In humours, like the people of this world,
For no thought is contented. The better fort,-
As thoughts of things divine,—are intermix'd
With fcruples, and do fet the word itself
Againt the word 3:

As thus,--Come, little ones; and then again,-
It is as hard to come, as s for
a camel
To thread the pofern of a needle's eye.
Thoughts tending to ambition, they do plot
Unlikely wonders; how thefe vain weak nails
May tear a paffage through the flinty ribs
Of this hard world, my ragged prifon walls;
And, for they cannot, die in their own pride.
Thoughts tending to content, flatter themselves,
That they are not the first of fortune's flaves,
Nor fhall not be the laft: Like filly beggars,
Who, fitting in the stocks, refuge their fhame,-
That many have, and others must fit there :
And in this thought they find a kind of ease,
Bearing their own misfortune on the back
Of fuch as have before endur'd the like.
Thus play I, in one perfon, many people,
And none contented: Sometimes am I king;
Then treafon makes me with myself a beggar,
And fo I am: Then crushing penury
Perfuades me, I was better when a king;
Then am king'd again: and, by-and-by,
Think, that I am unking'd by Bolingbroke,
And straight am nothing:-But, what-e'er I am,
Nor I, nor any man, that but man is,
With nothing fhall be pleas'd, 'till he be eas'd
With being nothing.-Mufic do I hear?
Ha, ha! keep tine:-How four fweet mufic is,
When time is broke, and no proportion kept?

Exton. Didft thou not mark the king, what words So is it in the mufic of men's lives.

he fpake?

Have I no friend will rid me of this living fear?

Was it not fo?

Serv. Thofe were his very words. [twice,
Exton. Have I no friend? quoth he: he fpake it
And urg'd it twice together; did he not?
Serv. He did.

Exton. And, fpeaking it, he wiftly look'd on me;
As who fhould fay,-I would, thou wert the man
That would divorce this terror from my heart;
Meaning, the king at Pomfret. Come, let's go ;
I am the king's friend, and will rid his foe. [Exeunt.
S CE N E

The Prifon at Pomfret-Gafile.

Enter King Richard.

V.

K. Rich. I have been fudying how to compare
This prifon, where I live, unto the world;
And, for becaufe the world is populous,

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And here have I the daintinefs of ear,
To hear time broke in a diforder'd ftring;
But, for the concord of my itate and time,
Had not an ear to hear my true time broke.
I wafted time, and now doth time waste me.
For now hath time made me his numb'ring clock:
My thoughts are minutes; and, with fighs, they jar 4
Their watches to mine eyes, the outward watch,
Whereto my finger, like a dial's point,
Is pointing ftill, in cleaning them from tears.
Now, fir, the found, that tells what hour it is,
Are clamorous groans, that ftrike upon my heart,
Which is the bell: So fighs, and tears, and groans,
Shew minutes, times, and hours :--but my time
Runs pofting on in Bolingbroke's proud joy,
While I ftand fooling here, his jack o' the clock".
This music mads me, let it found no more ;
For, though it have holpe madmen to their wits,
In me, it feems, it will make wife men mad.

That is, excufe me. 2 The abbot of Weftminfler was an ecclefiaftic; but the brother-in-law meant, was Jon duse of Exeter and carl of Huntingdon (own brother to king Richard II., and who had married with the lady Elizabeth, fifter of Fenry of Bolingbroke. 3 by the word I luppole is meant the Scrip ures. 4 Tojar probably Lere means, to make that noife which is called nicking. Watch feems to be used in a double fenfe, for a quantity of time, and for the initiument which Yey

meafures time.

61 c. I like or him,

Yet, bleffing on his heart that gives it me!
For 'tis a fign of love; and love to Richard
Is a strange brooch in this all-hating world.
Enter Groom.

Groom. Hail, royal prince!

K. Rich. Thanks, noble peer;
The cheapest of us is ten groats too dear.
What art thou? and how comest thou hither,
Where no man ever comes, but that fad dog 2
That brings me food, to make misfortune live?

Groom. I was a poor groom of thy stable, king, When thou wert king; who, travelling towards

York,

With much ado, at length have gotten leave
To look upon my fometime royal master's face.
O, how it yern'd my heart, when I beheld,
In London ftreets, that coronation day,
When Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary!
That horfe, that thou fo often hath bettrid;
That horfe, that I fo carefully have drefs'd!
K. Rich. Rode he on Barbary? Tell me, gentle
friend,

How went he under him?

Groom. So proudly, as if he difdain'd the ground.
K. Rich. So proud, that Bolingbroke was on his
back!

That jade hath eat bread from my royal hand;
This hand hath made him proud with clapping him.
Would he not stumble? Would he not fall down,
(Since pride muft have a fall) and break the neck
Of that proud man, that did ufurp his back?
Forgivenefs, horfe! why do I rail on thee,
Since thou, created to be aw'd by man,
Waft born to bear? I was not made a horfe ;
And yet I bear a burden like an afs,
Spur-gall'd, and tir'd, by jauncing 3 Bolingbroke.

Enter Keeper, with a dish.

Keep. Fellow, give place; here is no longer stay.
[To the Groom.
K. Rich. If thou love me, 'tis time thou wert away.
Groom. What my tongue dares not, that my heart
fhall fay.
[Exit.

Keep. My lord, will 't pleafe you to fall to?
K. Rich. Tatte of it first, as thou wert wont to do.
Keep. My lord, I dare not; Sir Pierce of Exton,
Who late came from the king, commands the con-
trary.
[thee!
K. Rich. The devil take Henry of Lancaster, and
Patience is ftale, and I am weary "of it.

hand

That ftaggers thus my perfon.-Exton, thy fierce [land. Hath with the king's blood ftain'd the king's own Mount, mount, my foul! thy feat is up on high; Whilft my grofs flesh finks downward, here to die. [Dies.

Exton. As full of valour, as of royal blood :
Both have I fpilt; Oh, would the decd were good!
For now the devil, that told me--I did well,
Says, that this deed is chronicled in hell.
This dead king to the living king I'll bear ;-
Take hence the reft, and give them burial here.
[Exeunt.

SCE NE VI.
The Court at Windfor.

Flourish: Enter Bolingbroke, York, with other Lords and Attendants.

Boling. Kind uncle York, the latest news we hear, Is that the rebels have confum'd with fire Our town of Cicefter in Gloftershire;

But whether they be ta'en, or flain, we hear not. Enter Northumberland.

Welcome, my lord: What is the news?

North. First to thy facred state with I all happiness. The next news is, I have to London fent The heads of Salisbury, Spencer, Blunt, and Kent: The manner of their taking may appear At large difcourfed in this paper here.

[Prefenting a paper. Boling. We thank thee, gentle Percy, for thy pains; And to thy worth will add right worthy gains.

Enter Fitzwater.

Fitz. My lord, I have from Oxford sent to
London

The heads of Brocas, and Sir Bennet Seely;
Two of the dangerous conforted traitors,
That fought at Oxford thy dire overthrow.
Boling. Thy pains, Fitzwater, fhall not be forgot;
Right noble is thy merit, well I wot.

Enter Percy, with the Bishop of Carlife. Percy. The grand confpirator, abbot of Weftminiter,

With clog of confcience, and four melancholy, Hath yielded up his body to the grave: Bur here Carlisle living, to abide Thy kingly doom, and fentence of his pride. Boling. Carlifle, this is your doom :— Chufe out fome fecret place, fome reverend room, More than thou haft, and with it joy thy life; K. Rich. How now ? what means death in this So, as thou liv'ft in peace, die free from trife:

[Beats the Keeper

Keep. Help, help, help!

Enter Exton, and Servants.

rude affault?

Villain, thine own hand yields thy death's inftrument. [Snatching a weapon, and killing one. Go thou, and fill another room in hell. [Kills another. [Exton ftrikes him down. That hand fhall burn in never-quenching fire,

For tho' mine enemy thou haft ever been,
High sparks of honour in thee have I seen.
Enter Exton, with a coffin.

Exton. Great king, within this coffin I prefent Thy bury'd fear: herein all breathlefs lies

1 i. e. is as ftrange and uncommon as a brooch, which is now no longer worn. grace, glomy ville in, who brings, &c. 3 Jaunce and jaunt were fynonimous words.

Ff 4

2 Meaning, that

The

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With Cain go wander through the fhade of night,
And never fhew thy head by day nor light.—
Lords, I proteft, my foul is full of woe,
That blood fhould fprinkle me, to make me grow:
Come, mourn with me for what I do lament,
And put on fullen black incontinent;
I'll make a voyage to the Holy Land,
To wash this blood off from my guilty hand :—
March fadly after; grace my mournings here,
In weeping after this untimely bier.
[Exeunt omnes,

FIRST

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Sheriff, Vintner, Chamberlain, Drawers, two Carriers, Travellers, and Attendants, &c.

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To be commenc'd in ftronds afar remote.

The Court in London.

No more the thirsty entrance of this foil
Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood;

Enter King Henry, Earl of Westmoreland, Sir Walter No more fhall trenching war channel her fields,

K. Henry. S

Blunt, and others.

fhaken as we are, fo wan with care, Find we a time for frighted peace to pant,

And breathe short-winded accents of new broils

Nor bruife her flowrets with the armed hoofs
Of hoftile paces: thofe opposed eyes,
Which,-like the meteors of a troubled heaven,
All of one nature, of one fubftance bred,-
Did lately meet in the inteftine fhock

The tranfactions contained in this hiftorical drama are comprifed within the period of about ten months; for the action commences with the news brought of Hotspar having defeated the Scots under Archibald earl Douglas at Holmedon (or Halidown-hill), which battle was fought on Holyroodday (the 14th of September) 1402; and it clofes with the defeat and death of Hotfpur at Shrewsbury; which engagement happened on Saturday the 21st of July (the eve of Saint Mary Magdalen) in the year 1403. Dr. Johnfon remarks, that "Shakspeare has apparently designed a regular connection of thefe dramatic hiftories from Richard the Second to Henry the Fifth. King Henry, at the end of Richard the Second, declares his purpose to vifit the Holy Land, which he refumes in this Speech. The complaint made by king Henry in the laft act of Richard the Second, of the wildness of his fon, prepares the reader for the frolicks which are here to be recounted, and the characters which are now to be exhibited." 2 Mr. Steevens fays, it fhould be Prince John of Lancaster, and adds, that the perfons of the drama were originally collected by Mr. Rowe, who has given the title of Duke of Lancaster to Prince John, a mistake which Shakspeare has been no where guilty of in the first part of this play, though in the fecond he has fallen into the fame error. K. Henry IV. was himself the last perfon that ever bore the title of Duke of Lancaster. But all his fons ('till they had peerages, as Clarence, Bedford, Gloucester) were diftinguished by the name of the royal houfe, as John of Lancaster, Humphry of Lancaster, &c. and in that proper ftyle, the prefent John (who be came afterwards fo illuftrious by the title of Duke of Bedford) is always mentioned in the play before us.

And

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