THE LIFE AND DEATH OF

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
Lancafter,

Haft thou, according to thy oath and band,4
Brought hither Henry Hereford thy bold fon;
Here to make good the boisterous late appeal,
Which then our leifure would not let us hear,
Against the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray ?
GAUNT. I have, my liege.

4thy oath and band,] When thefe publick challenges were accepted, each combatant found a pledge for his appearance at the time and place appointed. So, in Spenfer's Fairy Queen, B. IV. c. iii. ft. 3:

"The day was fet, that all might understand, "And pledges pawn'd the fame to keep aright." The old copies read band inftead of bond. The former is right. So, in The Comedy of Errors:

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My mafter-is arrested on a band."

STEEVENS.

Band and Bond were formerly fynonymous. See note on The Comedy of Errors, A&t IV. fc. ii. MALONE.

KING RICHARD II.

K. RICH. Tell me moreover, haft thou founded him,

If he appeal the duke on ancient malice;
Or worthily as a good fubject should,
On fome known ground of treachery in him?

GAUNT. As near as I could fift him on that argument,

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On fome apparent danger feen in him,
Aim'd at your highnefs, no inveterate malice.

K. RICH. Then call them to our presence; face to face,

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

Re-enter Attendants, with BOLINGBROKE and NORFOLK.

BOLING. May many years of happy days befal My gracious fovereign, my moft loving liege!

NOR. Each day still 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 flat

ters us,

As well appeareth by the cause you come; Namely, to appeal each other of high treafon.— Coufin of Hereford, what doft thou object Against the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?

BOLING. Firft, (heaven be the record to my fpeech!) In the devotion of a fubject's love,

Tendering the precious fafety 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 fhall make good upon this earth,
Or
my
divine foul anfwer it in heaven.
Thou art a traitor, and a mifereant;
Too good to be fo, 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 ftuff I thy throat;
And wish, (fo please my sovereign,) ere I move,
What my tongue fpeaks, my right-drawn 5 fword

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, Can arbitrate this caufe betwixt us twain: The blood is hot, that must be cool'd for this, Yet can I not of fuch tame patience boast, As to be hush'd, and nought at all to say : First, the fair reverence of your highness curbs me From giving reins and fpurs to my free fpeech; Which elfe would poft, until it had return'd These terms of treafon doubled down his throat. Setting afide his high blood's royalty, And let him be no kinfinan to my liege, I do defy him, and I spit at him ; Call him-a flanderous coward, and a villain : Which to maintain, I would allow him odds; And meet him, were I tied to run a-foot

3

5 --right-drawn-] Drawn in a right or just cause.

JOHNSON.

Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,
Or any other ground inhabitable"
Where ever Englishman durft fet his foot.
Mean time, let this defend my loyalty,-
By all my hopes, moft falfely doth he lie.

BOLING. Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage,

Disclaiming here the kindred of a king;
And lay afide my high blood's royalty,
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 stoop;
By that, and all the rites of knighthood elfe,
Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,
What I have spoke, or thou canft worse devise.

NOR. I take it up; and, by that fword I swear, Which gently lay'd my knighthood on my shoulder, I'll answer thee in any fair degree,

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

K. RICH. What doth our coufin lay to Mowbray's charge?

It must be great, that can inherit us7

So much as of a thought of ill in him.

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inhabitable,] That is, not habitable, uninhabitable.

JOHNSON.

Ben Jonfon ufes the word in the fame fenfe in his Catiline: "And pour'd on fome inhabitable place." Again, in Taylor the water-poet's Short Relation of a long Journey, &c." there ftands a strong castle, but the town is all spoil'd, and almost inhabitable by the late lamentable troubles." STEEVENS.

So alfo, Braithwaite, in his Survey of Hiftories, 1614: "Others, in imitation of fome valiant knights, have frequented defarts and inhabited provinces." MALONE.

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that can inherit us &c.] To inherit is no more than to

BOLING. Look, what I fpeak my life shall prove

it true;

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 furthest verge
That ever was furvey'd by English eye,-
That all the treafons, for these eighteen years
Complotted and contrived in this land,
Fetch from falfe Mowbray their firft 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 ;9
Suggeft his foon-believing adversaries ;1
And, confequently, like a traitor coward,

poffefs, though fuch a ufe of the word may be peculiar to Shakfpeare. Again, in Romeo and Juliet, Act I, fc. ii:

fuch delight

Among fresh female buds fhall you this night "Inherit at my houfe." STEEVENS.

See Vol. IV. p. 136, n. 7. Malone.

8

-for lewd employments,] Lewd here fignifies wicked. It is so used in many of our old statutes. MALONE.

It fometimes fignifies-idle.

Thus, in King Richard III:

"But you must trouble him with lewd complaints."

STEEVENS.

9

the duke of Glofter's death;] Thomas of Woodstock. the youngest son of Edward III; who was murdered at Calais, in 1397. MALONE.

See Froiffart's Chronicle, Vol. II. cap. CC.xxvi. Sreevens.

I

Suggeft his foon-believing adverfaries;] i. e. prompt, fet them on by injurious hints. Thus, in The Tempest:

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They'll take fuggeftion, as a cat laps milk."

STEEVENS.