Heralds, two Gardeners, Keeper, Messenger, Groom, and other Attendants.
SCENE, dispersedly, in England and Wales.

Haft thou, according to thy oath and band 5,
Brought hither Henry Hereford thy bold fon;
Here to make good the boisterous late appeal,
Which then our leifure would not let us hear,
Againft the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?
Gaunt. I have, my liege.

[him,

Ι..

Or worthily, as a good subject should,
On fome known ground of treachery in him?

Gaunt. As near as I could fift him on that a

gument,

"

On fome apparent danger seen in him,
Aim'd at your highness, no inveterate malice.
K. Rich. Then call them to our prefence; face
to face,

And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear
The accufer, and the accused, freely fpeak:-
High-ftomach'd are they both, and full of ire,
In rage deaf as the fea, hafty as fire.

Enter Bolingbroke and Mowbray.

K. Rich. Tell me moreover, haft thou founded Boling. Many years of happy days befal
If he appeal the duke on ancient malice;

My gracious fovereign, my most loving liege!

4

:

1 This history, however, comprises little more than the two last years of this prince. The ac tion of the drama begins with Bolingbroke's appealing the duke of Norfolk, on an accufation of high treafon, which fell out in the year 1398; and it clofes with the murder of king Richard at Pomfretcaftle towards the end of the year 1400, or the beginning of the enfuing year. 2. Aumerle is the French for what we now call Albemarle, which is a town in Normandy. 3 Mr. Steevens says, it ought to be Lord Berkley, as there was no Farl Berkley 'till fome ages after. 4 Now spelt Roos, one of the duke of Rutland's titles.

Morub. Each day ftill better other's happiness Until the heavens, envying earth's good hap, Add an immortal title to your crown!

K. Rich. We thank you both: yet one but

Hatters us,

Or chivalrous design of knightly trial t
And, when I mount, alive may I not light,
If I be traitor, or unjustly fight!

[charge?

K. Rich. What doth our coufin lay to Mowbray's
It must be great, that can inherit us 3
So much as of a thought of ill in him. [true;

As well appeareth by the cause you come;
Namely, to appeal each other of high treason.-
Coufin of Hereford, what dost thou object
Against the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?
Boling. First (heaven be the record to my speech!)
In the devotion of a fubject's love,
Tendering the precious safety of my prince,
And free from other mifbegotten hate,
Come I appellant to this princely prefence.-
Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee,
And mark my greeting well; for what I speak,
My body shall make good upon this earth,
Or my divine foul anfwer it in heaven.
Thou art a traitor, and a mifcreant;
Too good to be so, and too bad to live;
Since, the more fair and crystal is the sky,
The uglier feem the clouds that in it fly.
Once more, the more to aggravate the note,
With a foul traitor's name stuff I thy throat;
And with, (so please my fovereign) ere I move,
What my tongue speaks, my right-drawn fword To me, for justice, and rough chastisement;
[zeal: And, by the glorious worth of my defcent,

Boling. Look, what I faid, my life shall proveit
That Mowbray hath receiv'd eight thousand nobles,
In name of lendings for your highness' foldiers;
The which he hath detain'd for lewd employments,
Like a false traitor, and injurious villain.
Befides I fay, and will in battle prove,
Or here, or elsewhere, to the furtheft verge
That ever was furvey'd by English eye,-
That all the treasons, for these eighteen years
Complotted and contrived in this land,

may prove.

Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring.
Further I fay, and further will maintain
Upon his bad life, to make all this good,-
That he did plot the duke of Glofter's death;
Suggeft his foon-believing adverfaries;
And, confequently, like a traitor coward, [blood;
Sluic'd out his innocent foul through streams of
Which blood, like facrificing Abel's, cries,
Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth,

Morub. Let not my cold words here accufe my This arm shall do it, or this life be spent. 'Tis not the trial of a woman's war,

The bitter clamour of two eager tongues,

Can arbitrate this cause betwixt us twain;
The blood is hot, that must be cool'd for this.
Yet can I not of fuch tame patience boaft,
As to be hush'd, and nought at all to fay:
First, the fair reverence of your highnefs curbs me,
From giving reins and spurs to my free fpeech;
Which elfe would poft, until it had return'd
These terms of treason doubled down his throat.
Setting afide his high blood's royalty,
And let him be no kinfman to my liege,
1 do defy him, and I fpit at him;
Call him a flanderous coward, and a villain :
Which to maintain, I would allow him odds;
And meet him, were I ty'd to run a-foot
Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,
Or any other ground 2 inhabitable
Where ever Englishman durit set his foot.
Mean time, let this defend my loyalty,

By all my hopes, moft falfely doth he lie.

K. Rich. How high a pitch his refolution foars!-
Thomas of Norfolk, what fay'st thou to this?

Mowb. O, let my fovereign turn away his face,
And bid his ears a little while be deaf,
'Till I have told this flander of his blood,
How God, and good men, hate fo foul a liar. [ears:

K. Rich. Mowbray, impartial are our eyes, and
Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir,
(As he is but my father's brother's fon)
Now by my fceptre's awe I make a vow,
Such neighbour nearnefs to our facred blood
Should nothing privilege him, nor partialize
The unftooping firmness of my upright foul:
He is our fubject, Mowbray, fo art thou;
Free fpeech, and fearless, I to thee allow.

Mezub. Then, Belingbroke, as low as to thy heart,
Through the false paslage of thy throat, thou lieft:
Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais,
Difburs'd I to his highneis foldiers:
The other part referv'd I by confent;
For that my fovereign liege was in my debt,

Boling. Pale trembling coward, there I throw Upon remainder of a dear account,

my gage,

Difclaiming here the kindred of a king;
And lay afide my high blood's roynity,
Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except:
If guilty dread hath left thee so much strength,
As to take up mine honour's pawn, then ftoop;
By that, and all the rites of knighthood elfe,
Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,
What I have spoke, or thou canit worse devife.

Mowb. I take it up; and, by that fword I fwear,
Which gently lay'd my knighthood on my shoulder,
I'll anfwer thee in any fair degree,

:

Since laft I went to France, to fetch his queen:
Now fwallow down that lie.
For Glotter's

death,

I flew him not; but, to mine own disgrace,
Neglected my fworn duty in that cafe.-
For you, my noble lord of Lancafter,
The honourable father to my foe,-
Once did 1 lay an ambush for your life,
A trefpafs that doth vex my grieved foul:
But, ere I laft receiv'd the lacrament,
I did confefs it, and exactly begg'd
Your grace's pardon, and, I hope, I had it.

Meaning, his sword drawn in a right or just caufe.

This is my fault: As for the reft appeal'd,
It itfiles from the rancour of a villain,
A recreant and most degenerate traitor :
Which in myself I boldly will defend;
And interchangeably hurl down my gage
Upon this over-weening traitor's foot,
To prove myself a loyal gentleman
Even in the best blood chamber'd in his bosom :
In hafte whereof, most heartily I pray
Your highness to affign our trial-day.

[me;

K. Rich. Wrath-kindled gentlemen, be rul'd by
Let's purge this choler without letting blood:
This we prescribe, though no physician;
Deep malice makes too deep incifion :
Forget, forgive; conclude, and be agreed;
Our doctors say, this is no time to bleed.-
Good uncle, let this end where it begun;
We'll calm the duke of Norfolk, you your fon.

Gaunt. To be a make-peace shall become my age:
Throw down, my fon, the duke of Norfolk's gage.
K. Rich. And, Norfolk, throw down his.
Gaunt. When, Harry? when?

Obedience bids, I should not bid again.

K. Rich. Norfolk, throw down; we bid; there

is no boot 1.

[foot:

Morub. Myself I throw, dread fovereign, at thy
My life thou shalt command, but not my thame :
The one, my duty owes; but my fair name,
(Defpight of death, that lives upon my grave)
To dark dishonour's ufe thou shalt not have.
I am difgrac'd, impeach'd, and baffled 2 here;
Pierc'd to the foul with flander's venom'd spear;
The which no balm can cure, but his heart-blood
Which breath'd this poifon.

K. Rich. Rage must be withstood:
Give me his gage: -Lions make leopards tame.
Mowb. Yea, but not change their spots: take

but my thame,

And I refign my gage. My dear dear lord,
The pureft treafure mortal times afford,
Is-ipotless reputation; that away,
Men are but gilded loam, or painted clay.
A jewel in a ten-times-barr'd-up cheft
Ia bold fpirit in a loyal breaft.

Mine honour is my life; both grow in one;
Take honour from me, and my life is done :
Then, dear my liege, mine honour let me try;
In that I live, and for that will I die.

begin.

K. Rich. Coufin, throw down your gage; do you
Boling. Oh, heaven defend my foul from fuch

foul fin !

45

The Duke of Lancafter's Palace.
Enter Gaunt, and Dutchess of Glofter.
Gaunt. Alas! the part 4 I had in Glofter's blood
Doth more folicit me, than your exclaims,
To ftir against the butchers of his life.
But, fince correction lieth in those hands,
Which made the fault that we cannot correct,
Put we our quarrel to the will of heaven;
Who, when they fee the hours ripe on earth,
Will rain hot vengeance on offenders' heads.

Dutch. Finds brotherhood in thee no sharper spur?
Hath love in thy old blood no living fire?
Edward's feven fons, whereof thyfelf art one,
Were as feven phials of his facred blood,
Or feven fair branches, fpringing from one root:
Some of those seven are dry'd by nature's courfo,
Some of those branches by the deftinies cut.
But Thomas, my dear lord, my life, my Glofter,-
One phial full of Edward's facred blood,
One flourishing branch of his mott royal root,
Is crack'd, and all the precious liquor spilt;
Is hack'd down, and his fummer leaves all faded,
By envy's hand, and murder's bloody axe.
Ah, Gaunt! his blood was thine; that bed, that
womb,

That metal, that felf-mould, that fashiou'd thee,
Made him a man; and though thou liv'ft, and

breath'ft,

Yet art thou flain in him: thou doft confent
In fome large meafure to thy father's death,
In that thou feett thy wretched brother die,
Who was the model of thy father's life.
Call it not patience, Gaunt, it is deipair:
In fuffering thus thy brother to be flaughter'd,
Thou shew'ft the naked path-way to thy life,
Teaching stern murder how to butcher thee:
That which in mean men we entitle-patience,
Is pale cold cowardice in noble breafts.
What shall I fay? to fafeguard thine own life,
The best way is to venge my Glofter's death.

Gaunt. Heaven's is the quarrel; for heaven's

fubititute,
His deputy anointed in his fight,
Hath caus'd his death: the which if wrongfully,
Let heaven revenge, for I may never lift
An angry arm against his minifter.

Dutch. Where then, alas! may I complain myfelf?
Gaunt. To heaven, the widow's chand
defence.

i. e, no advantage in delay or refufal. 2 Baffled, in this, as has been noted in a former, place, means, treated with the greatest ignominy imaginable, 3 1. c. with a face of fupplicati my relation of confanguinity to Glofter.

Dat. L.

i

i

i

That they may break his foaming courser's back, Both who he is, and why he cometh hither
And throw the rider headlong in the lifts,
A caitiff recreant to my coufin Hereford!
Farewel, old Gaunt; thy fometime brother's wife
With her companion grief muft end her life.

Gaunt. Sifter, farewel: I must to Coventry:
As much good stay with thee, as go with me!
Datch. Yet one word more;-Grief boundeth

[To Mowbray.
And why thou com'ft, thus knightly clad in arms;
Againft what man thou com'ft, and what thy quarrel:
Speak truly, on thy knighthood, and thy oath,
And fo defend thee heaven, and thy valour!

Mowb. My name is Thomas Mowbray, duke of
Who hither come engaged by my oath, [Norfolk;
Which heaven defend a knight should violate!)
Both to defend my loyalty and truth,
To God, my king, and his fucceeding iffue,
Againft the duke of Hereford that appeals me;

Mr. Steevens obferves on this paffage, that "waxen may' mean either foft, and confequently penetrable, or flexible. The brigandines or coats of mail, then in ufe, were compofed of fmall pieces of fleel quilted over one another, and yet fo flexible as to accommodate the dress they form to every motion of the body."