Willo. Base men by his endowments are made great. York. My lords of England, let me tell you this,I have had feeling of my cousin's wrongs,

And labour'd all I could to do him right:

But in this kind to come, in braving arms,
Be his own carver, and cut out his way,
To find out right with wrong,-it may not be;
And you, that do abet him in this kind,
Cherish rebellion, and are rebels all.

North. The noble duke hath sworn, his coming is
But for his own: and, for the right of that,
We all have strongly sworn to give him aid;
And let him ne'er see joy, that breaks that oath.
York. Well, well, I see the issue of these arms;
I cannot mend it, I must needs confess,
Because my power is weak, and all ill left:
But, if I could, by him that gave me life,
I would attach you all, and make you stoop
Unto the sovereign mercy of the king;
But, since I cannot, be it known to you,
I do remain as neuter. So, fare you well;-
Unless you please to enter in the castle,
And there repose you for this night.

Boling. An offer, uncle, that we will accept.
But we must win your grace, to go with us
To Bristol-castle; which, they say, is held
By Bushy, Bagot, and their complices,
The caterpillars of the commonwealth,

Which I have sworn to weed, and pluck away.

York. It may be, I will go with you:-but yet I'll pause; 4

For I am loath to break our country's laws.

terest, it is matter of consequence to you. So, in King Richard III:

66

it stands me much upon,

"To stop all hopes whose growth may danger me."

Again, in Antony and Cleopatra:

It only stands

“Our lives upon, to use our strongest hands." Steevens. 4 It may be, I will go with you:-but yet I'll pause;] I suspect, the words with you, which spoil the metre, to be another interpolation. Steevens.

Nor friends, nor foes, to me welcome you are:
Things past redress, are now with me past care.5

SCENE IV."

A Camp in Wales.

Enter SALISBURY," and a Captain.

[Exeunt.

Cap. My lord of Salisbury, we have staid ten days, And hardly kept our countrymen together,

And yet we hear no tidings from the king;
Therefore we will disperse ourselves: farewel.

Sal. Stay yet another day, thou trusty Welshman; The king reposeth all his confidence

In thee.

Cap. 'Tis thought, the king is dead; we will not stay. The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd,3

5 Things past redress, are now with me past care.] So, in Macbeth:

Things without remedy,

"Should be without regard." Steevens.

6 Here is a scene so unartfully and irregularly thrust into an improper place, that I cannot but suspect it accidentally transposed; which, when the scenes were written on single pages, might easily happen in the wildness of Shakspeare's drama. This dialogue was, in our author's draught, probably the second scene in the ensuing Act, and there I would advise the reader to insert it, though I have not ventured on so bold a change. My conjecture is not so presumptuous as may be thought. The play was not, in Shakspeare's time, broken into Acts; the editions published before his death, exhibit only a sequence of scenes from the beginning to the end, without any hint of a pause of action. In a drama so desultory and erratic, left in such a state, transpositions might easily be made. Johnson.

7

Salisbury,] was John Montacute, Earl of Salisbury.

Walpole.

The bay-trees &c.] This enumeration of prodigies is in the highest degree poetical and striking. Johnson.

Some of these prodigies are found in Holinshed: "In this yeare in a manner throughout all the realme of England, old baie trees withered," &c.

This was esteemed a bad omen; for, as I learn from Thomas Lupton's Syxt Booke of Notable Thinges, 4to. bl. 1.: "Neyther fall

And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven;
The pale-fac'd moon looks bloody on the earth,
And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change;
Rich men look sad, and ruffians dance and leap,—
The one, in fear to lose what they enjoy,
The other, to enjoy by rage and war:
These signs forerun the death or fall of kings.-
Farewel; our countrymen are gone and fled,
As well assur'd, Richard their king is dead.

[Exit.

Sal. Ah, Richard! with the eyes of heavy mind,
I see thy glory, like a shooting star,
Fall to the base earth from the firmament!
Thy sun sets weeping in the lowly west,
Witnessing storms to come, woe, and unrest:
Thy friends are fled, to wait upon thy foes;
And crossly to thy good all fortune goes.

[Exit.

ACT III.....SCENE I.

Bolingbroke's Camp at Bristol.

Enter BOLINGBROKE, YORK, NORTHUMBERLAND, PERCY, WILLOUGHBY, Ross: Officers behind with BUSHY and GREEN, prisoners.

Boling. Bring forth these men.—

Bushy, and Green, I will not vex your souls
(Since presently your souls must part your bodies)
With too much urging your pernicious lives,
For 'twere no charity: yet, to wash your blood
From off my hands, here, in the view of men,
I will unfold some causes of your death.
You have misled a prince, a royal king,
A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments,

ing sycknes, neyther devyll, wyll infest or hurt one in that place whereas a Bay tree is. The Romaynes calles it the plant of the good angell," &c. Steevens.

By you unhappied and disfigur'd clean."
You have, in manner, with your sinful hours,
Made a divorce betwixt his queen and him;
Broke the possession of a royal bed,1

wrongs.

And stain'd the beauty of a fair queen's cheeks
With tears drawn from her eyes by your
foul
Myself-a prince, by fortune of my birth;
Near to the king in blood; and near in love,
Till you did make him misinterpret me,-
Have stoop'd my neck under your injuries,
And sigh'd my English breath in foreign clouds,
Eating the bitter bread of banishment:
Whilst you have fed upon my signories,
Dispark'd my parks,2 and fell'd my forest woods;
From my own windows torn my household coat,3
Raz'd out my impress, leaving me no sign,^-
Save men's opinions, and my living blood,-
To show the world I am a gentleman.

This, and much more, much more than twice all this,
Condemns you to the death:-See them deliver❜d over
To execution and the hand of death.

9

clean.] i. e. quite, completely. Reed.

So, in our author's 75th Sonnet:

"And by and by, clean starved for a look." Malone.

1 You have, in manner, with your sinful hours,

Made a divorce betwixt his queen and him;

Broke the possession of a royal bed,] There is, I believe, no authority for this. Isabel, the queen of the present play, was but nine years old. Richard's first queen, Anne, died in 1392, and the king was extremely fond of her. Malone.

2 Dispark'd my parks,] To dispark is to throw down the hedges of an enclosure. Dissepio. I meet with the word in Barret's Alvearie or Quadruple Dictionary, 1580. It also occurs in The Establishment of Prince Henry, 1610: "Forestes and Parkes of the Prince's disparked and in Lease," &c. Steevens.

3 From my own windows torn my household coat,] It was the practice when coloured glass was in use, of which there are still some remains in old seats and churches, to anneal the arms of the family in the windows of the house. Johnson.

4 Raz'd out my impress, &c.] The impress was a device or motto. Ferne, in his Blazon of Gentry, 1585, observes, "that the arms, &c. of traitors and rebels may be defaced and removed, wheresoever they are fixed, or set." Steevens.

Bushy. More welcome is the stroke of death to me, Than Bolingbroke to England.-Lords, farewel.

Green. My comfort is, that heaven will take our souls, And plague injustice with the pains of hell.

Boling. My lord Northumberland, see them despatch'd. [Exeunt NORTH. and Others, with Prisoners. Uncle, you say, the queen is at your house; For heaven's sake, fairly let her be entreated: Tell her, I send to her my kind commends; Take special care my greetings be deliver'd. York. A gentleman of mine I have despatch'd With letters of your love to her at large.

Boling. Thanks, gentle uncle.-Come, lords, away; To fight with Glendower and his complices; Awhile to work, and, after, holiday.5

5 Thanks, gentle uncle.-Come, lords, away;

To fight with Glendower and his complices;

[Exeunt.

Awhile to work, and, after, holiday.] Though the intermediate line has taken possession of all the old copies, I have great suspicion of its being an interpolation; and have therefore ventured to throw it out. The first and third lines rhyme to each other; nor do I imagine this was casual, but intended by the poet. Were we to acknowledge the line genuine, it must argue the poet of forgetfulness and inattention to history. Bolingbroke is, as it were, but just arrived; he is now at Bristol, weak in his numbers; has had no meeting with a parliament; nor is so far assured of the succession, as to think of going to suppress insurrections before he is planted in the throne. Besides, we find the opposition of Glendower begins The First Part of King Henry IV, and Mortimer's defeat by that hardy Welshman is the tidings of the first scene of that play. Again, though Glendower, in the very first year of King Henry IV, began to be troublesome, put in for the supremacy of Wales, and imprisoned Mortimer; yet it was not till the succeeding year that the King employed any force against him. Theobald.

This emendation, which I think is just, has been followed by Sir T. Hanmer, but is neglected by Dr. Warburton. Johnson. It is evident from the preceding scene, that there was a force in Wales, which Bolingbroke might think it necessary to suppress; and why might not Shakspeare call it Glendower's? When we next see Bolingbroke, he is in Wales, and mentions his having received intelligence that the Welshmen are dispersed.

Ritson.

Mr. Heath observes, that Bolingbroke marched to Chester, probably with a view to attack the Welsh army headed by Lord