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

To God, my king, and my succeeding issue,3
Against the duke of Hereford that appeals me;
And, by the grace of God, and this mine arm,
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 seat. Trumpet sounds. Enter BOLINGBROKE, in armour; preceded by a Herald.

K. Rich. Marshal, ask 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

Depose him in the justice of his cause.

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

Before king Richard, in his royal lists?

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

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

To prove, by heaven's grace, and my body's valour,

3 - my succeeding issue,] His is the reading of the first folio; other editions read-my issue. Mowbray's issue, was by this accusation, in danger of an attainder, and therefore he might come, among other reasons, for their sake: but the reading of the folio is more just and grammatical. Johnson.

The three oldest quartos read my, which Mr. M. Mason prefers, because, says he, Mowbray subjoins

"To prove him, in defending of myself,
"A traitor to my God, my king, and me."

Steevens.

and my succeeding issue,] Thus the first quarto. The folio reads-his succeeding issue. 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.

4 Marshal, ask yonder knight in arms,] Why not, as before: Marshal, demand of yonder knight in arms. The player, who varied the expression, was probably ignorant that he injured the metre. The insertion, however, of two little words would answer the same purpose:

Marshal, go ask of yonder knight in arms. Ritson

In lists, 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 person be so bold,
Or daring-hardy, as to touch the lists;
Except the marshal, and such officers

Appointed to direct these fair designs.

Boling. Lord marshal, let me kiss my sovereign'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 farewel, of our several friends.

Mar. The appellant in all duty greets your highness,

And craves to kiss your hand, and take his leave.

K. Rich. We will descend, and fold him in our arms. Cousin of Hereford, as thy cause is right,

So be thy fortune in this royal fight!

Farewel, 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.

My loving lord, [to lord Mar.] I take my leave of you;-
Of you, my noble cousin, lord Aumerle;-
Not sick, although I have to do with death;

But lusty, young, and cheerly drawing breath.

Lo, as at English feasts, so I regreet

The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet:

O thou, the earthly author of my blood,- [To GAUNT. Whose youthful spirit, 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 blessings steel my lance's point,
That it may enter Mowbray's waxen coat,5

5 - waxen coat,] Waxen may mean soft, and consequently penetrable, or flexible. The brigandines or coats of mail, then in use, were composed of small pieces of steel quilted over one ano

And furbish new the name of John of Gaunt,

Even in the lusty 'haviour of his son.

Gaunt. Heaven in thy good cause make thee prosperous!

Be swift like lightning in the execution;
And let thy blows, doubly redoubled,
Fall like amazing thunder on the casque
Of thy adverse pernicious enemy:

Rouse up thy youthful blood, be valiant and live.

8

Boling. Mine innocency, and saint George to thrive ! [He takes his seat. Nor. [rising] However heaven, or fortune, cast my lot, There lives, or dies, true to king Richard's throne, A loyal, just, and upright gentleman:

Never did captive with a freer heart

Cast off his chains of bondage, and embrace
His golden uncontroll'd enfranchisement,
More than my dancing soul doth celebrate
This feast of battle with mine adversary.—
Most mighty liege,-and my companion peers,———
Take from my mouth the wish of happy years:
As gentle and as jocund, as to jest,1

Go I to fight; Truth hath a quiet breast.

ther, and yet so flexible as to accommodate the dress they form to every motion of the body. Of these many are still to be seen in the Tower of London. Steevens.

The object of Bolingbroke's request is, that the temper of his lance's point might as much exceed the mail of his adversary, as the iron of that mail was harder than wax. Henley.

6 And furbish] Thus the quartos, 1608 and 1615. The folio reads-furnish. Either word will do, as to furnish in the time of Shakspeare signified to dress. So, twice in As you Like it: “furnished like a huntsman."—"— furnished like a beggar." Steevens,

7 Fall like amazing thunder on the casque-] To amaze, in ancient language, signifies to stun, to confound. Thus, in Arthur Hall's translation of the third Iliad, 4to. 1581:

"And striking him upon the helme, his foe amazed makes." See also, King John, Act IV, sc. iii. Steevens.

8 Mine innocency,] Old copies-innocence. Corrected by Mr. Steevens. Malone.

9 This feast of battle-] "War is death's feast," is a prover bial saying. See Ray's Collection. Steevens.

As gentle and as jocund, as to jest,] Not so neither. We should read to just; i. e. to tilt or tourney, which was a kind of sport too.

Warburton.

K. Rich. Farewel, my lord: securely I espy Virtue with valour couched in thine eye.Order the trial, marshal, and begin.

[The King and the Lords return to their seats. Mar. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, Receive thy lance; and God defend the right!

Boling. [rising] Strong as a tower in hope, I cry

amen.

Mar. Go bear this lance [to an Offi.] to Thomas duke of Norfolk.

1 Her. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, Stands here for God, his sovereign, and himself, On pain to be found false and recreant,

To prove the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray,
A traitor to his God, his king, and him,

And dares him to set forward to the fight.

2 Her. Here standeth Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk,

On pain to be found false and recreant,
Both to defend himself, and to approve
Henry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby,

To God, his sovereign, and to him, disloyal;
Courageously, and with a free desire,

Attending but the signal to begin.

Mar. Sound, trumpets; and set forward, combatants.

[A charge sounded.

Stay, the king hath thrown his warder down.2

The sense would perhaps have been better if the author had written what his commentator substitutes; but the rhyme, to which sense is too often enslaved, obliged Shakspeare to write jest, and obliges us to read it.

The commentators forget that to jest sometimes signifies in old language to play a part in a mask. Thus, in Hieronimo: "He promised us in honour of our guest,

"To grace our banquet with some pompous jest."

and accordingly a mask is performed. Farmer.

Dr. Farmer has well explained the force of this word. So, in The Third Part of King Henry VI:

2

66

as if the tragedy

"Were play'd in jest by counterfeited actors." Tollet.

hath thrown his warder down.] A warder appears to have been a kind of truncheon carried by the person who presided at these single combats. So, in Daniel's Civil Wars, &c. B. I:

[blocks in formation]

K. Rich. Let them lay, by their helmets and their

spears,

And both return back to their chairs again:-
Withdraw with us:-and let the trumpets sound,
While we return these dukes what we decree.-

[A long flourish. [To the Combatants.

Draw near,
And list, what with our council we have done.
For that our kingdom's earth should not be soil'd
With that dear blood which it hath fostered; 3
And for our eyes do hate the dire aspect

Of civil wounds plough'd up with neighbours' swords; [And for we think the eagle-winged pride

Of sky-aspiring and ambitious thoughts,
With rival-hating envy, set you on

To wake our peace, which in our country's cradle
Draws the sweet infant breath of gentle sleep;]
Which so rous'd up with boisterous untun'd drums,
With harsh-resounding trumpets' dreadful bray,
And grating shock of wrathful iron arms,
Might from our quiet confines fright fair peace,

6

"When lo, the king, suddenly changed his mind,

"Casts down his warder to arrest them there." Steevens. 3 With that dear blood which it hath fostered;] The quartos read

With that dear blood which it hath been foster'd.

I believe the author wrote

With that dear blood with which it hath been foster'd.

The quarto, 1608, reads, as in the text. Steevens.

Malone.

4 And for we think the eagle-winged pride &c.] These five verses are omitted in the other editions, and restored from the first of 1598.

Pope.

5 set you on] The old copy reads-on you. Corrected by Mr. Pope. Malone.

6 To wake our peace, Which so rous'd up

Might fright fair peace,] Thus the sentence stands in the common reading absurdly enough; which made the Oxford editor, instead of fright fair peace, read, be affrighted; as if these latter words could ever, possibly, have been blundered into the former by transcribers. But his business is to alter as his fancy leads him, not to reform errors, as the text and rules of criticism direct. In a word then, the true original of the blunder

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