King Richard the Second, Edmund of Langley, Duke of York; Uncles to the King. Henry, surnamed Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, Son to John of Gaunt; afterwards King Henry IV. Duke of Aumerle,' Son to the Duke of York, Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. Duke of Surrey. Earl of Salisbury. Earl Berkley.2 Bushy, Bagot, Creatures to King Richard, Green, Earl of Northumberland: Henry Percy, his Son, Sir Pierce of Exton, Sir Stephen Scroop. Queen to King Richard, Duchess of Gloster. Duchess of York, Lady attending on the Queen. Lords, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Two Gardeners, Keeper, Messenger, Groom, and other Attendants, SCENE, dispersedly in England and Wales, Duke of Aumerle,] Aumerle, or Aumale, is the French for what we now call Albemarle, which is a town in Normandy, The old historians generally use the French title, STEEVens. Earl Berkley.] It ought to be Lord Berkley. There was no Earl Berkley till some ages after. STEEVENS. 3 Lord Ross.] Now spelt Roos, one of the Duke of Rutland's titles. STEEVENS. THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING RICHARD II. ACT I. SCENE I. London. A Room in the Palace. Enter King RICHARD, attended; JOHN of GAUNT, and other Nobles, with him. K. Rich. 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 argument, On some apparent danger seen in him, Aim'd at your highness, no inveterate malice. K. Rich. Then call them to our presence; face, to face, And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear thy oath and band,] i. e. bond. The accuser, and the accused, freely speak :- Re-enter Attendants, with BOLINGBROKE and Boling. May many years of happy days befal K. Rich. We thank you both: yet one but flat ters us, As well appeareth by the cause you come; In the devotion of a subject's love, Tendering the precious safety of my prince, Come I appellant to this princely presence.- Or my 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, I do defy him, and I spit at him; Call him-a slanderous coward, and a villain : Where ever Englishman durst set his foot. Disclaiming here the kindred of a king; 2 right-drawn-] Drawn in a right or just cause. 3 inhabitable.] That is, not habitable, uninhabitable. Or chivalrous design of knightly trial: K. Rich. What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray's charge? It must be great, that can inherit us* Boling. Look, what I speak my life shall prove it true; That Mowbray hath receiv'd eight thousand nobles, Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring. Further I say, and further will maintain And, consequently, like a traitor coward, Which blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries, that can inherit us, &c.] To inherit is no more than to possess, though such a use of the word may be peculiar to Shakspeare. 5 for lewd-] Lewd, in our author, sometimes signifies wicked, and sometimes idle. Suggesti. e. prompt. 1 |