SCENE IV.

The fame. A Room in the King's Caftle.

Enter King RICHARD, BAGOT, and GREEN;
AUMERLE following.

K. RICH. We did obferve.-Coufin Aumerle, How far brought you high Hereford on his way? AUM. I brought high Hereford, if you call him fo, But to the next highway, and there I left him. K. RICH. And, fay, what ftore of parting tears were fhed?

AUM. 'Faith, none by me: except the northeaft wind,

Which then blew bitterly against our faces, Awak'd the fleeping rheum; and fo, by chance, Did grace our hollow parting with a tear.

K. RICH. What faid our coufin, when you parted with him?

AUM. Farewell:

And for my heart difdained that my tongue Should fo profane the word, that taught me craft To counterfeit oppreffion of fuch grief,

-none by me:] The old copies read-for me. With the other modern editors I have here adopted an emendation made by the editor of the fecond folio; but without neceffity. For me, may mean, on my part. Thus we fay, "For me, I am content," &c. where these words have the fame fignification as here.

MALONE.

If we read-for me, the expreffion will be equivocal, and feem as if it meant-no tears were shed on my account. So, in the preceding scene:

"O, let no noble eye profane a tear

"For me," &c. STEEVENS.

That words feem'd buried in my forrow's grave. Marry, would the word farewell have lengthen❜d hours,

And added years to his short banishment,
He should have had a volume of farewells;
But, fince it would not, he had none of me.

K. RICH. He is our coufin, coufin; but 'tis doubt,
When time fhall call him home from banishment,
Whether our kinfman come to fee his friends.
Ourself, and Bushy, Bagot here, and Green,*
Obferv'd his courtship to the common people:-
How he did feem to dive into their hearts,
With humble and familiar courtesy;

What reverence he did throw away on flaves;
Wooing poor craftsmen, with the craft of fmiles,
And patient underbearing of his fortune,
As 'twere, to banish their affects with him.

Off

goes his bonnet to an oysterwench;

A brace of draymen bid-God fpeed him well,
And had the tribute of his fupple knee,'

With-Thanks, my countrymen, my loving friends;—
As were our England in reverfion his,

And he our subjects' next degree in hope."

GREEN. Well, he is gone; and with him go these thoughts.

Now for the rebels, which stand out in Ireland;Expedient manage must be made, my liege;

Bagot here, and Green,] The old copies read-here Bagot. The tranfpofition was made in a quarto of no value, printed in 1634. MALONE.

5 the tribute of his fupple knee,] To illuftrate this phrase, it fhould be remembered that courtesying, (the act of reverence now confined to women) was anciently practifed by men. STEEVENS. 6 And he our fubje&s' next degree in hope.] Spes altera Romæ. Virg. MALONE.

7 Expedient-] i. e. expeditious. So, in King John: "His marches are expedient to this town." STEEVENS. VOL. VIII.

*

Ere further leifure yield them further means,
For their advantage, and your highness' lofs.

K. RICH. We will ourself in perfon to this war.
And, for our coffers-with too great a court,
And liberal largefs,-are grown fomewhat light,
We are enforc'd to farm our royal realm;
The revenue whereof fhall furnish us

For our affairs in hand: If that come fhort,
Our substitutes at home fhall have blank charters;
Whereto, when they fhall know what men are rich,
They shall subscribe them for large sums of gold,
And fend them after to fupply our wants;
For we will make for Ireland presently.

Enter BUSHY.

K. RICH. Bufhy, what news?

BUSHY. Old John of Gaunt is grievous fick, my
lord;

Suddenly taken; and hath fent post-haste,
To entreat your majefty to visit him.

K. RICH. Where lies he?

BUSHY. At Ely-house.

K. RICH. Now put it, heaven, in his phyfician's
mind,

To help him to his grave immediately!
The lining of his coffers fhall make coats
To deck our foldiers for thefe Irish wars.-
Come, gentlemen, let's all go visit him:
Pray God, we may make haste, and come too late!
[Exeunt.

for our coffers-] i. e. becaufe. So, in Othello:
Haply, for I am black;-.' STBEVENS.

"

GAUNT on a Couch; the Duke of YORK," and Others Standing by him.

GAUNT. Will the king come? that I may breathe my laft

In wholesome counsel to his unftay'd youth. YORK. Vex not yourself, nor ftrive not with breath;

For all in vain comes counsel to his ear.

your

GAUNT. O, but, they fay, the tongues of dying

men

Enforce attention, like deep harmony:

Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in

vain ;

For they breathe truth, that breathe their words in

pain.

He, that no more muft fay, is liften'd more

Than they whom youth and ease have taught to

glofe;

More are men's ends mark'd, than their lives be

fore:

The setting fun, and musick at the close,

As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest laft;
Writ in remembrance, more than things long past:

7 -the duke of York,] was Edmund, fon of Edward III.

8

WALPOLE.

at the close,] This I suppose to be a mufical term. So,

in Lingua, 1607:

"I dare engage my ears, the clofe will jar."

STEEVENS.

Though Richard my life's counsel would not hear, My death's fad tale may yet undeaf his ear.

YORK. No; it is stopp'd with other flattering
founds,

As, praises of his state: then, there are found
Lafcivious metres; to whofe venom found
The open ear of youth doth always liften:
Report of fashions in proud Italy;"
Whofe manners ftill our tardy apifh nation
Limps after, in base imitation.

Where doth the world thrust forth a vanity,
(So it be new, there's no respect how vile,)
That is not quickly buzz'd into his ears?
Then all too late comes counsel to be heard,
Where will doth mutiny with wit's regard.1
Direct not him, whose way himself will choofe;'
'Tis breath thou lack'ft, and that breath wilt thou
lofe.

GAUNT. Methinks, I am a prophet new infpir'd;

8 Lafcivious metres;] The old copies have-meeters; but I believe we should read metres, for verfes. Thus the folio fpells the 'word metre in the firft part of K. Henry IV:

66

one of these fame meeter ballad-mongers." Venom found agrees well with lafcivious ditties, but not fo commodiously with one who meets another; in which fenfe the word appears to have been generally received. STEEVENS.

9 Report of fashions in proud Italy;] Our author, who gives to all nations the customs of England, and to all ages the manners of his own, has charged the times of Richard with a folly not perhaps known then, but very frequent in Shakspeare's time, and much lamented by the wisest and best of our ancestors.

JOHNSON. Where will doth mutiny with wit's regard.] Where the will rebels against the notices of the understanding. JOHNSON. 3 whose way himself will choofe;] Do not attempt to guide him, who, whatever thou shalt fay, will take his own course.

JOHNSON.