AUM. Is Bufhy, Green, and the earl of Wiltshire, dead?

SCROOP. Yea, all of them at Bristol loft their heads.

AUM. Where is the duke my father with his power? K. RICH. No matter where; of comfort no man

fpeak:

Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;
Make duft our paper, and with rainy eyes
Write forrow on the bofom of the earth.
Let's choose executors, and talk of wills;
And yet not fo,-for what can we bequeath,
Save our depofed bodies to the ground?
Our lands, our lives, and all are Bolingbroke's,
And nothing can we call our own, but death;
And that fmall model of the barren earth,'
Which ferves as paste and cover to our bones."
For heaven's fake, let us fit upon the ground,

Shakspeare. So, in Gower De Confefsione Amantis, lib. iii. fol. 58: "Unto the hound, unto the raven,

"She was none otherwise graven." STEEVENS.

s And that small model of the barren earth,] He uses model for mould. That earth, which clofing upon the body, takes its form. This interpretation the next line feems to authorize. JOHNSON.

Perhaps, all that model, in the prefent inftance, means, is the fepulchral hillock of earth which afcertains the length and breadth of the body beneath it. In this sense it may be termed its model. STEEVENS.

Shakspeare generally ufes model, not for an exemplar, but for a thing made after a pattern. So, in a former fcene of this play: thou fee'ft thy wretched brother die, "Who was the model of thy father's life." See Vol. VI. p. 321, n. 5. Model, however, may be used for mould. See Minfhieu's Dicт. in v. MALONE.

6 Which ferves as pafte &c.] A metaphor, not of the most fublime kind, taken from a pie. JOHNSON.

And tell fad ftories of the death of kings:-
How some have been depos'd, fome flain in war;
Some haunted by the ghosts they have depos'd;'
Some poifon'd by their wives, fome fleeping kill'd;
All murder'd:-For within the hollow crown,
That rounds the mortal temples of a king,
Keeps death his court: and there the antick fits,
Scoffing his ftate, and grinning at his pomp;
Allowing him a breath, a little scene

To monarchize, be fear'd, and kill with looks;
Infusing him with felf and vain conceit,-
As if this flesh, which walls about our life,
Were brass impregnable; and, humour'd thus,
Comes at the laft, and with a little pin

8

Bores through his castle wall, and-farewell king!
Cover your heads, and mock not flesh and blood
With folemn reverence; throw away respect,
Tradition,' form, and ceremonious duty,
For you have but miftook me all this while :
I live with bread like you, feel want, tafte grief,
Need friends-Subjected thus,

How can you fay to me-I am a king?

7 the ghosts they have depos'd;] Such is the reading of all the old copies. The modern editors, in the room of have depos'd, fubftituted difpoffefs'd. STEEVENS.

8

there the antick fits,] Here is an allufion to the antick or fool of old farces, whofe chief part is to deride and disturb the graver and more fplendid perfonages. JOHNSON.

If there be any fuch allufion intended, it is to the old Vice, who, indeed, appears to have been fuch a character as Dr. Johnson defcribes. The Fool was rather introduced to be laughed at.

So, in the First Part of K. Henry VI:

RITSON.

"Thou antick death, which laugh'ft us here to fcorn!" STEEVENS.

9 Tradition,] This word feems here used for traditional practices: that is, eftablished or cuftomary homage. JOHNSON.

281

CAR. My lord, wife men ne'er wail their present woes,

But presently prevent the ways to wail.
To fear the foe, fince fear oppreffeth strength,
Gives, in your weakness, strength unto your foe,
And fo your follies fight against yourself.
Fear, and be flain; no worse can come, to fight:
And fight and die, is death destroying death;
Where fearing dying, pays death fervile breath.

AUM. My father hath a power, inquire of him; And learn to make a body of a limb.

K. RICH. Thou chid'ft me well:-Proud Bolingbroke, I come

To change blows with thee for our day of doom. This ague-fit of fear is over-blown;

An easy task it is, to win our own.

Say, Scroop, where lies our uncle with his power?
Speak fweetly, man, although thy looks be four.
SCROOP. Men judge by the complexion of the
fky

The state and inclination of the day:
So may you by my dull and heavy eye,
My tongue hath but a heavier tale to fay.
I play the torturer, by small and small,

To lengthen out the worst that must be spoken:--
Your uncle York hath join'd with Bolingbroke;
And all your northern caftles yielded up,

And all your fouthern gentlemen in arms

Upon his party.

K. RICH.

Thou haft faid enough.Befhrew thee, coufin, which didft lead me forth

2

[To AUMERLE.

death deftroying death;] That is, to die fighting, is to return the evil that we fuffer, to deftroy the deftroyers. I once read death defying death; but deftroying is as well. JOHNSON.

Of that sweet way I was in to defpair!
What fay you now? What comfort have we now?
By heaven, I'll hate him everlastingly,
That bids me be of comfort' any more.
Go, to Flint castle; there I'll pine away ;
A king, woe's flave, fhall, kingly woe obey.
That power I have, difcharge; and let them go
To ear the land that hath some hope to grow,
For I have none :-Let no man speak again
To alter this, for counsel is but vain.

AUM. My liege, one word.

K. RICH. He does me double wrong, That wounds me with the flatteries of his tongue. Discharge my followers, let them hence;-Away, From Richard's night, to Bolingbroke's fair day. [Exeunt.

3 I'll hate him everlastingly,

That bids me be of comfort-] This fentiment is drawn from nature. Nothing is more offenfive to a mind convinced that its diftrefs is without a remedy, and preparing to fubmit quietly to irrefiftible calamity, than thefe petty and conjectured comforts which unskilful officioufnefs thinks it virtue to administer.

JOHNSON.

To ear the land-] i. e. to plough it. So, in All's well that ends well;

"He that ears my land, fpares my team." STEEVENS.

II

SCENE

.

III.

Wales. Before Flint Castle."

Enter with drum and colours, BOLINGBROKE and Forces; YORK, NORTHUMBERLAND, and Others.

BOLING. So that by this intelligence we learn, The Welshmen are difpers'd; and Salisbury Is gone to meet the king, who lately landed, With fome few private friends, upon this coaft.

NORTH. The news is very fair and good, my lord; Richard, not far from hence, hath hid his head.

YORK. It would befeem the lord Northumberland, To fay-king Richard:-Alack the heavy day, When fuch a facred king fhould hide his head! NORTH. Your grace mistakes me; only to be brief, Left I his title out.

YORK. The time hath been, Would you have been fo brief with him, he would Have been fo brief with you, to shorten you, For taking fo the head,' your whole head's length. BOLING. Miftake not, uncle, further than you fhould.

5 Flint Caftle.] In our former edition I had called this fcene the fame with the preceding. That was at Barkloughly caftle, on the coaft where Richard landed; but Bolingbroke never marched further in Wales than to Flint. The interview between him and Richard was at the castle of Flint, where this fcene fhould be faid to lie, or rather in the camp of Bolingbroke before that castle.— "Go to Flint caftle." See above. STEEVENS.

6 Your grace mistakes me;] The word-me, which is wanting in the old copies, was fupplied by Sir T. Hanmer. STEEVENS.

7 For taking fo the head,] To take the head is, to act without reftraint; to take undue liberties. We now fay, we give the horfe his head, when we relax the reins. JOHNSON.