North. Have you forgot the duke of Hereford, boy? Percy. No, my good lord; for that is not forgot, Which ne'er I did remember: to my knowledge, I never in my life did look on him. North. Then learn to know him now; this is the duke. Percy. My gracious lord, I tender you my service, Such as it is, being tender, raw, and young; Which elder days shall ripen and confirm To more approved service and desert. Boling. I thank thee, gentle Percy; and be sure, I count myself in nothing else so happy, As in a soul remembering my good friends; And, as my fortune ripens with thy love, It shall be still thy true love's recompense. My heart this covenant makes; my hand thus seals it. North. How far is it to Berkley? And what stir Keeps good old York there, with his men of war? Percy. There stands the castle, by yon tuft of trees, Manned with three hundred men, as I have heard; And in it are the lords of York, Berkley, and Seymour ; None else of name, and noble estimate. Enter Ross and WILLOUGHBY. North. Here come the lords of Ross and Willoughby, Bloody with spurring, fiery-red with haste. Boling. Welcome, my lords. I wot your love pur sues A banished traitor; all my treasury Is yet but unfelt thanks, which, more enriched, Shall be your love and labor's recompense. Ross. Your presence makes us rich, most noble lord. Willo. And far surmounts our labor to attain it. Boling. Evermore thanks, the exchequer of the poor; Which, till my infant fortune comes to years, Stands for my bounty. But who comes here? Enter BERKLEY. North. It is my lord of Berkley, as I guess. Berk. My lord of Hereford, my message is to you. Boling. My lord, my answer is-to Lancaster;1 And I am come to seek that name in England: And I must find that title in your tongue Before I make reply to aught you say. Berk. Mistake me not, my lord; 'tis not my meaning, To raze one title of your honor out.— To you, my lord, I come, (what lord you will,) And fright our native peace with self-born arms. Enter YORK, attended. Boling. I shall not need transport my words by you; Here comes his grace in person. My noble uncle! [Kneels. York. Show me thy humble heart, and not thy knee, Whose duty is deceivable and false. Boling. My gracious uncle ! York. Tut, tut! grace me no grace, nor uncle me.3 I am no traitor's uncle; and that word-grace, In an ungracious mouth, is but profane. Why have those banished and forbidden legs Dared once to touch a dust of England's ground? But then more why-why have they dared to march 1 "Your message, you say, is to my lord of Hereford. My answer is, It is not to him; it is to the duke of Lancaster." 2 Time of the king's absence. 3 In Romeo and Juliet we have the same kind of phraseology : "Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds." And ostentation of despised1 arms? Com'st thou because the anointed king is hence? And in my loyal bosom lies his power. Were I but now the lord of such hot youth, As when brave Gaunt, thy father, and myself, Boling. My gracious uncle, let me know my fault; On what condition stands it, and wherein ? York. Even in condition of the worst degree, In gross rebellion, and detested treason. Thou art a banished man, and here art come, Before the expiration of thy time, In braving arms against thy sovereign. Boling. As I was banished, I was banished Hereford; But as I come, I come for Lancaster. 2 And, noble uncle, I beseech your grace, 1 Perhaps Shakspeare here uses despised for hated or hateful arms. Sir Thomas Hanmer changed it to despiteful; but the old copies all agrée in reading despised. Shakspeare uses the word again in a singular sense in Othello, Act i. Sc. 1, where Brabantio exclaims upon the loss of his daughter: 66 what's to come of my despised time Is nought but bitterness." It has been suggested that "despised is used to denote the general contempt in which the British held the French forces. The duke of Bretagne furnished Bolingbroke with three thousand French soldiers.” 2 Indifferent is impartial. The instances of this use of the word among the Poet's contemporaries are very numerous. You have a son, Aumerle, my noble kinsman; And yet my letters patent give me leave: North. The noble duke hath been too much abused. To find out right with wrong,-it may not be; 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; I cannot mend it, I must needs confess, 1 Wrongs is probably here used for wrongers. 2 Steevens explains the phrase, "It stands your grace_upon," to mean, "it is your interest; it is matter of consequence to you." But hear Baret"The heyre is bound; the heyre ought, or it is the heyre's part to defend; it standeth him upon; or is in his charge. Incumbit defensio mortis hæredi.” The phrase is therefore equivalent to it is incumbent upon your grace. Unless you please to enter in the castle, Boling. An offer, uncle, that we will accept. pause; :- but yet I'll For I am loath to break our country's laws. 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; 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 withered, And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven; The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth, And lean-looked 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.Farewell; our countrymen are gone and fled, As well assured, Richard their king is dead. [Exit. 1 Johnson thought this scene had been, by some accident, transposed, and that it should stand as the second scene in the third act. |