Is it not fair writ?-Is the writing not legible? writ very common in Shakespeare, where we should now use the form written.

This iron age.-A play upon the word iron; it means hard, unfeeling. There may be also a reference to the four ages of the poets.

His.-Its. His was used with both masculine and neuter

nouns.

Angerly. Angrily.

That precious sense. The eye.

The utterance of a brace of tongues, &c.-Two tongues would not be sufficient to plead for a pair of eyes.

The fire is dead with grief, &c.—The fire, which is intended for comfort, is dead with grief that it should be turned to such unworthy purpose.

Tarre him on.-Urge him on, excite him.

Deny their office.--Refuse to do what they are intended to do.

Only you.-Emphatic. You alone are deficient in that mercy which is shown even by fire and iron, things usually employed in the work of destruction, and not of

mercy.

Owes.-Possesses, a very common meaning of the word in
Shakespeare.

Doubtless.-Free from doubt or anxiety.
Offend.-Do thee injury.
Closely.--Secretly, privately.

Five moons, &c.-It was a common opinion that calamities
in the State were usually foreboded by signs and wonders
in the world of nature. Shakespeare has frequent re-
ference to this idea. (Compare Macbeth, Act II.,
Scene 4; Julius Cæsar, Act I., Scene 3.)
Thus.-Hubert imitates the action of the smith.

A tailor's news.-Tailors have always been regarded by the poets as great gossips. The description of the tailor, who had, in his haste, thrust his slippers wrongly on, is inimitable. Tailors usually work either in their stockings or in slippers; seldom in shoes.

Embattailed.-Arranged in order of battle.

To possess me.-To inform me of; to make me a sharer in these fears.

None had.-An expression of astonishment. Had I no cause? only you provoked me.

Provoke me.-Stir me up; incite me.

Humours.-Whims, caprices.

The winking of authority, &c.-To interpret a mere hint given by those in authority, as if it were a law they were bound to obey.

Upon humour than advised respect.-More from mere caprice than from any settled, well-considered conviction. Damnation.-Condemnation.

Quoted and signed.-Bearing on your very countenance the stamp and sign of a man that could do a desperate deed. John retracts these words when he finds that Hubert's heart was better than his look. "Forgive the comment that my passion made upon thy feature." Faintly. In an indirect, round-about way.

Parley with sin.-Come to terms with. Sin is regarded as an enemy; and Hubert, not in express words, but by signs, agreed to do the sinful deed.

With ranks of foreign powers.-On the invitation of the nobles, a French army had landed in England.

In the body of this fleshly land, &c.—In his own soul, in his own body, there was a civil war. Conscience was up in arms against him for young Arthur's death. Exteriorly. In outward appearance.

II. KING RICHARD II.

[RICHARD II., son of Edward, Prince of Wales, commonly called the Black Prince, and grandson of Edward III., began to reign in the year 1377, when he was only eleven years old. He proved a weak sovereign, whose chief delight was in fine dress and vain display. Like all weak princes, he was greatly under the influence of favourites. In order to

In

procure money for these favourites, and for his own
pleasures, he farmed out to private persons the taxes and
revenues of the kingdom, and, under the colour of law,
extorted money from the poor, and from the classes engaged
in trade. During his minority, affairs were managed by
his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, son of Edward III.
1389, Richard, then in his twenty-third year, dismissed
Gloucester from his council, and took the management of
affairs into his own hands. But his want of energy and
purpose made him an. object of contempt to his subjects.
In 1397 the Duke of Gloucester was seized and carried to
Calais, where he was murdered in prison.

John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, an uncle of the King, had a son, the Duke of Hereford, called in this play, Bolingbroke. Bolingbroke charged Thomas Mowbray with being a traitor to the King, and with having applied to his own purpose some of the money of the state. This Mowbray denied, and it was agreed, according to the custom of the age, to settle the dispute by duel, or wager of battle, as it was called.]

SCENE London-A Room in the Palace. Enter KING RICHARD, attended: JOHN OF GAUNT, and other Nobles.

King Richard. Old John of Gaunt, time-honour'd
Lancaster,

Hast thou, according to thy oath and band,
Brought hither Henry Hereford, thy bold son;
Here to make good the boisterous late appeal,
Which then our leisure would not let us hear,
Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray ?
Gaunt. I have, my liege.

K. Rich. Tell me, moreover, hast thou sounded him, If he appeal the duke on ancient malice;

Or worthily, as a good subject should,

On some known ground of treachery in him?

Gaunt. As near as I could sift him on that argu

On some apparent danger seen in him

Aim'd at your highness-no inveterate malice.

[ment

K. Rich. Then call them to our presence; face to face, And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear

The accuser and the accused freely speak :—

[Exeunt some Attendants.

High-stomach'd are they both, and full of ire,

In rage deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.

Re-enter Attendants, with BOLINGBROKE and NORFOLK.
Boling. Many years of happy days befall
My gracious sovereign, my most loving liege!
Nor. Each day still better other's happiness;
Until the heavens, envying earth's good hap,
Add an immortal title to your crown!

K. Rich. We thank you both: yet one but flatters

us,

As well appeareth by the cause you come;

Namely, to appeal each other of high treason.-
Cousin of Hereford, what dost thou object
Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray ?
Boling. First (Heaven be the record to my speech !),
In the devotion of a subject's love,

Tendering the precious safety of my prince,
And free from other misbegotten hate,
Come I appellant to this princely presence.
Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee,
And mark my greeting well; for what I speak
My body shall make good upon this earth,
Or
my
divine soul answer it in heaven.
Thou art a traitor, and a miscreant;
Too good to be so, and too bad to live;
Since the more fair and crystal is the sky,
The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly.
Once more, the more to aggravate the note,
With a foul traitor's name stuff I thy throat;
And wish (so please my sovereign), ere I move,

What my tongue speaks, my right-drawn sword may

prove.

Nor. Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal : 'Tis not the trial of a woman's war,

The bitter clamour of two eager tongues,
Can arbitrate this cause betwixt us twain:
The blood is hot that must be cool'd for this.
Yet can I not of such tame patience boast,
As to be hush'd, and nought at all to say:
First, the fair reverence of your highness curbs me
From giving reins and spurs to my free speech;
Which else would post, until it had return'd
These terms of treason doubled down his throat.
Setting aside his high blood's royalty,
And let him be no kinsman to my liege,
I do defy him, and I spit at him;

Call him a slanderous coward and a villain :
Which to maintain, I would allow him odds;
And meet him, were I tied to run a-foot
Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,
Or any other ground inhabitable
Wherever Englishman durst set his foot.
Meantime let this defend my loyalty-
By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie.
Boling. Pale trembling coward, there I throw my
gage,

Disclaiming here the kindred of the king;
And lay aside my high blood's royalty,

Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except :
If guilty dread hath left thee so much strength,
As to take up mine honour's pawn, then stoop;
By that, and all the rites of knighthood else,
Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,
What I have spoke, or thou canst worse devise.
Nor. I take it up; and by that sword I swear,
Which gently laid my knighthood on my shoulder,
I'll answer thee in any fair degree,

Or chivalrous design of knightly trial:

And when I mount, alive may I not light,

If I be traitor or unjustly fight!

K. Rich. What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray's charge?

It must be great that can inherit us

So much as of a thought of ill in him.

Boling. Look, what I said my life shall prove it true;

That Mowbray hath received eight thousand nobles,
In name of lendings, for your highness' soldiers;
The which he hath detain'd for lewd employments,
Like a false traitor and injurious villain.
Besides I say, and will in battle prove—
Or here, or elsewhere, to the furthest verge
That ever was survey'd by English eye-
That all the treasons, for these eighteen years