Merick and fome others of the earl's train having an humour to fee a play, they must needs have the play of HENRY IV. The players told them that was ftale; they fhould get nothing by playing that; but no play elfe would ferve: and Sir Gilly Merick gives forty fhillings to Philips the player to play this, befides whatfoever he could get."

Auguftine Philippes was one of the patentees of the Globe playhoufe with Shakspeare in 1603; but the play here described was certainly not Shakspeare's HENRY IV. as that commences above a year after the death of Richard. TYRWHITT.

This play of Shakspeare was firft entered at Stationers' Hall by Andrew Wife, Aug. 29, 1597. STEEVENS.

It was written, I imagine, in the fame year. MALONE.

King Richard the Second.

}

Edmund of Langley, Duke of York; uncles to the John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; J

King.

Henry, furnamed Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, fon to John of Gaunt; afterwards King Henry IV. Duke of Aumerle, fon to the Duke of York. Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk.

Duke of Surrey.

Earl of Salisbury.

Earl Berkley.'

Lord Willoughby. Lord Fitzwater.

Bishop of Carlifle. Abbot of Westminster.
Lord Marshal; and another lord.

Sir Pierce of Exton. Sir Stephen Scroop.
Captain of a band of Welchmen.

Queen to King Richard.
Duchefs of Glofter.
Duchess of York.

Lady attending on the Queen.

Lords, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, two Gardeners; Keeper, Meffenger, Groom, and other Attendants. SCENE, difperfedly 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 hiftorians generally use the French title. STEEVENS.

3 Earl Berkley.] It ought to be Lord Berkley. There was no Earl Berkley till fome ages after. STEEVENS.

4 Lord Rofs.] Now fpelt 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,

Haft thou, according to thy oath and band,2
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.

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

If he appeal the duke on ancient malice;

2

-thy oath and band,] When thefe public 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 instead of bond. The former is right. So, in The Comedy of Errors:

66

My mafter is arrefted on a band." STEEVENS.

Band and Bond were formerly fynonymous. See note on the Comedy of Errors, Act IV. fc. ii. MALONE.

Or worthily, as a good fubject fhould,

On fome known ground of treachery in him? GAUNT. As near as I could fift him on that ar

gument,

On fome apparent danger feen 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 accufed, 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. Many years of happy days befal My gracious fovereign, my most loving liege! NOR. 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 flatters

us,

As well appeareth by the cause you come;
Namely, to appeal each other of high treason.-
Coufin of Hereford, what doft 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 fafety of my prince,
And free from other misbegotten hate,

Come I appellant to this princely presence.-
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 answer it in heaven.
Thou art a traitor, and a miscreant;
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 stuff I thy throat;
And wish, (fo please my fovereign,) ere I move,
What my tongue fpeaks, my right-drawn' fword

may prove.

NOR. Let not my cold words here accufe 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 kinsman 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
Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,
Or any other ground inhabitable*

3 — right-drawn-] Drawn in a right or just cause.

4

JOHNSON.

JOHNSON.

inhabitable,] That is, not habitable, uninhabitable.

VOL. VIII.