Proportionable to the enemy, Is all impossible. Green. Besides, our nearness to the king in love, Is near the hate of those love not the king. Bagot. And that's the wavering commons; for their love Lies in their purses; and whoso empties them, Bagot. If judgment lie in them, then so do we, Green. Well, I'll for refuge straight to Bristol castle; The earl of Wiltshire is already there. Bushy. Thither will I with you; for little office Will the hateful commons perform for us; Bagot. No; I'll to Ireland to his majesty. broke. Green. Alas, poor duke! the task he undertakes Is-numbering sands, and drinking oceans dry; Where one on his side fights, thousands will fly. Bushy. Farewell at once; for once, for all, and ever. Green. Well, we may meet again. Bagot. I fear me, never. [Exeunt. SCENE III. The Wilds in Glostershire. Enter BOLINGBROKE and NORTHUMBERLAND, Forces. with Boling. How far is it, my lord, to Berkley now? North. Believe me, noble lord, I am a stranger here in Glostershire. These high, wild hills, and rough, uneven ways, And hope to joy,' is little less in joy, Than hope enjoyed. By this the weary lords Enter HARRY PERCY. North. It is my son, young Harry Percy, Percy. I had thought, my lord, to have learned his health of you. North. Why, is he not with the queen? Percy. No, my good lord; he hath forsook the court, Broken his staff of office, and dispersed The household of the king. North. What was his reason? He was not so resolved, when last we spake together. Percy. Because your lordship was proclaimed traitor. But he, my lord, is gone to Ravenspurg, To offer service to the duke of Hereford; And sent me o'er by Berkley, to discover What power the duke of York had levied there; 1 To joy is here used as a verb; it is equivalent with to rejoice. "To joy, to clap hands, to rejoyce."-Baret. 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, Ross. Your presence makes us rich, most noble lord. 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 many miles upon her peaceful bosom ; So Frighting her pale-faced villages with war, 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? Were I but now the lord of such hot youth, Boling. My gracious uncle, let me know my fault; York. Even in condition of the worst degree, In gross rebellion, and detested treason. In braving arms against thy sovereign. eye. Boling. As I was banished, I was banished Hereford; But as I come, I come for Lancaster. And, noble uncle, I beseech your grace, Look on my wrongs with an indifferent 2 You are my father, for, methinks, in you I see old Gaunt alive; O, then, my father! Will you permit that I shall stand condemned A wandering vagabond; my rights and royalties Plucked from my arms perforce, and given away To upstart unthrifts? Wherefore was I born? If that my cousin king be king of England, It must be granted, I am duke of Lancaster. 1 Perhaps Shakspeare here uses despised for hated or hateful arms. Sir Thomas Hanmer changed it to despiteful; but the old copies all agree 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 : 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. |