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Uncle, you say, the queen is at your house;
For heaven's sake, fairly let her be entreated:
Tell her, I send to her my kind commends ;'
Take special care my greetings be deliver'd.

York. A gentleman of mine I have despatch'd
With letters of your love to her at large.
Boling. Thanks, gentle uncle.-Come, lords,
away:

To fight with Glendower and his complices; Awhile to work, and, after, holiday. [Exeunt. SCENE II. The Coast of Wales. A Castle in view. Flourish: Drums and Trumpets. Enter KING RICHARD, Bishop of Carlisle, AUMERLE, and Soldiers,

K. Rich. Barkloughly Castle call you this at hand?

Aum. Yea, my lord: How brooks your grace air,

After your late tossing on the breaking seas?

the

K. Rich. Discomfortable cousin! know'st thou not,

That when the searching eye of heaven is hid
Behind the globe, and lights the lower world,
Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen,
In murders, and in outrage, bloody here;
But when, from under this terrestrial ball,
He fires the proud tops of the eastern pines,"
And darts his light through every guilty hole,
Then murders, treasons, and detested sins,
The cloak of night being pluck'd from off their backs
Stand bare and naked, trembling at themselves?
So when this thief, this traitor, Bolingbroke,-
Who all this while hath revell'd in the night,
Whilst we were wand'ring with the antipodes,
Shall see us rising in our throne the east,
His treasons will sit blushing in his face,
Not able to endure the sight of day;
But, self-affrighted, tremble at his sin.
Not all the water in the rough rude sea
Can wash the balm from an anointed king:
The breath of worldly men cannot depose
The deputy elected by the Lord:"

For every man that Bolingbroke hath press'd,
To lift shrewd steel against our golden crown,
God for his Richard hath in heavenly pay
Weak men must fall; for heaven still guards the
A glorious angel: then, if angels fight,
right.

Enter SALISBURY.

Welcome, my lord; How far off lies your power?"
Sal. Nor near, nor further off, my gracious lord,
Than this weak arm: Discomfort guides my tongue,
And bids me speak of nothing but despair.
One day too late, I fear, my noble lord,
Hath clouded all thy happy days on earth:

K. Rich. Needs must I like it well; I weep for O, call back yesterday, bid time return,

joy,

To stand upon my kingdom once again.-
Dear earth, I do salute thee with my hand,
Though rebels wound thee with their horses' hoofs:
As a long parted mother with her child
Plays fondly with her tears, and smiles, in meeting;
So, weeping, smiling, greet I thee, my earth,
And do thee favour with my royal hands.
Feed not thy sovereign's foe, my gentle earth,
Nor with thy sweets comfort his ravenous sense :
But let thy spiders, that suck up thy venom,
And heavy-gaited toads, lie in their way;
Doing annoyance to the treacherous feet,
Which with usurping steps do trample thee.
Yield stinging nettles to mine enemies:
And when they from thy bosom pluck a flower,
Guard it, I pray thee, with a lurking adder;
Whose double tongue may with a mortal touch
Throw death upon thy sovereign's enemies.-
Mock not my senseless conjuration, lords;
This earth shall have a feeling, and these stones
Prove armed soldiers, ere her native king
Shall falter under foul rebellious arms.

Bishop. Fear not, my lord; that Power, that made
you king,

Hath power to keep you king, in spite of all.
The means that heaven yields must be embrac❜d,
And not neglected; else, if heaven would,
And we will not, heaven's offer we refuse;
The proffer'd means of succour and redress.

Aum. He means, my lord, that we are too remiss;
Whilst Bolingbroke, through our security,
Grows strong and great, in substance, and in friends.

1 Commendations.

And thou shalt have twelve thousand fighting men! To-day, to-day, unhappy day, too late, For all the Welshmen, hearing thou wert dead, O'erthrows thy joys, friends, fortune, and thy state; gone to Bolingbroke, dispers'd, and fled. Aum. Comfort, my liege: why looks your grace so pale ?

Are

K. Rich. But now, the blood of twenty thousand

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have been taught to think false or foolish to the reign of King James I. But this doctrine was never carried further in any country, than in this island, while the

2 Johnson says, 'here may be properly inserted the house of Tudor sat on the throne. last scene of the second act.'

3 The quarto of 1597 reads they.

4 The old copies read that lights,' &c. The alteration was made by Johnson.

5 It is not easy (says Steevens) to point out an image more striking and beautiful than this, in any poet, ancient or modern.'

6 Here is the doctrine of the divine right of kings, and of the passive obedience of subjects, expressed in the strongest terms. Johnson observes that it has been the fashion to impute the original of every tenet which we

7 Force.

8 The first quarto reads 'coward majesty.'

9 So in King Richard III. :

Besides, the king's name is a tower of strength.' 10 It seems to be the design of the poet to raise Rich ard to esteem in his fall, and consequently to interest the reader in his favour. He gives him only passive fortitude, the virtue of a confessor, rather than of a king In his prosperity we saw him imperious and oppressive; but in his distress he is wise, patient, and pious.'-' Johnson

The worst is worldly loss, thou canst unfold.
Say, is my kingdom lost? why, 'twas my care!
And what loss is it, to be rid of care?
Strives Bolingbroke to be as great as we?
Greater he shall not be; if he serve God,
We'll serve him too, and be his fellow so:
Revolt our subjects? that we cannot mend;
They break their faith to God, as well as us:
Cry woe, destruction, ruin, loss, decay:
The worst is death, and death will have his day.
Scroop. Glad am I, that your highness is so
arm'd

To bear the tidings of calamity
Like an unseasonable stormy day,
Which makes the silver rivers drown their shores,
As if the world were all dissolv'd to tears;
So high above his limits swells the rage
Of Bolingbroke, covering your fearful land
With hard bright steel, and hearts harder than steel.
White-beards have arm'd their thin and hairless
scalps

Against the majesty; and boys, with women's voices,

Strive to speak big, and clap their female joints
In stiff unwieldy arms against thy crown:
The very beadsmen learn to bend their bows
Of double-fatal yew' against thy state;
Yea, distaff-women manage rusty bills
Against thy seat: both young and old rebel,
And all goes worse than I have power to tell.

K. Rich. Too well, too well, thou tell'st a tale so ill:

Where is the earl of Wiltshire? where is Bagot ?2
What is become of Bushy? where is Green?
That they have let the dangerous enemy
Measure our confines with such peaceful steps?
If we prevail, their heads shall pay for it.

I warrant, they have made peace with Bolingbroke. Scroop. Peace have they made with him, indeed, my lord.

K. Rich. O villains, vipers, damnn'd without redemption!

Dogs, easily won to fawn on any man! Snakes, in my heart-blood warm'd, that sting my heart!

Three Judases, each one thrice worse than Judas! Would they make peace? terrible hell make war Upon their spotted souls for this offence!

Scroop. Sweet love, I see, changing his property, Turns to the sourest and most deadly hate;Again uncurse their souls; their peace is made With heads, and not with hands: those whom you

curse,

Have felt the worst of death's destroying wound,
And lie full low, grav'd3 in the hollow ground.
Aum. Is Bushy, Green, and the earl of Wilt-
shire dead?

Scroop. Yea, all of them at Bristol lost their heads.

Aum. Where is the duke, my father, with his power?

K. Rich. No matter where; of comfort no man speak:

Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;
Make dust our paper, and with rainy eyes
Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth.

Let's choose executors, and talk of wills:
And yet not so,-for what can we bequeath,
Save our deposed bodies to the ground?
Our lands, our lives, and all are Bolingbroke's,
And nothing can we call our own, but death;
And that small model of the barren earth,
Which serves as paste and cover to our bones.
For heaven's sake, let us sit upon the ground,
And tell sad stories of the death of kings:-
How some have been depos'd, some slain in war;
Some haunted by the ghosts they have depos'd;
Some poison'd by their wives, some sleeping 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 sits,'
Scoffing his state, and grinning at his pomp;
Allowing him a breath, a little scene
To monarchise, be fear'd, and kill with looks;
Infusing him with self and vain conceit,—
As if this flesh, which walls about our life,
Were brass impregnable; and humour'd thus,
Comes at the last, and with a little pin
Bores through his castle wall, and-farewell, king!
Cover your heads, and mock not flesh and blood
With solemn reverence; throw away respect,
Tradition, form, and ceremonious duty,
For you have but mistook me all this while :
I live with bread like you, feel want, taste grief,
Need friends-Subjected thus,

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

Car. My lord, wise men ne'er wail their present

woes,

But presently prevent the ways to wail.
To fear the foe, since fear oppresseth strength,
Gives, in your weakness, strength unto your foe,
And so your follies fight against yourself.
Fear, and be slain; no worse can come, to fight:
And fight and die, is death destroying death;"
Where fearing dying, pays death servile breath.

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

K. Rich. Thou chid'st me well:-Proud Boling. broke, 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 sweetly, man, although thy looks be sour.
Scroop. Men judge by the complexion of the sky
The state and inclination of the day:

:->

So may you by my dull and heavy eye,
My tongue hath but a heavier tale to say.
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 castles yielded up,
And all your southern gentlemen in arms
Upon his party.
K. Rich.
Thou hast said enough.-
Beshrew thee, cousin, which didst lead me forth
[To AUMERLE.

Of that sweet way I was in to despair!
What say 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;

4 A small model, or module, for they were the same in Shakspeare's time, seems to mean in this place a smaï portion or quantity. It is a Latinism, from modulus, the measure or quantity of a thing.'

1 Yet is called double-fatal, because of the poisonous quality of the leaves, and on account of the wood being used for instruments of death. From some ancient statutes it appears that every Englishman, while archery was practised, was obliged to keep in his house 5 It is not impossible that Shakspeare borrowed this either a bow of yew or some other wood. It has been idea from that most exquisite emblematic book of engra. supposed that yews were anciently planted in church-vings on wood, the Dance of Death, or Imagines Mortis, yards not only to defend the church from the wind, but on account of their use in making bows; while their poisonous quality was kept from doing mischief to the cattle, in that sacred enclosure.

2 The mention of Bagot here is a lapse of the poet or the king; but perhaps it may have been intended to mark more strongly the perturbation of the king's mind, by making him inquire at first for Bagot, whose loyalty, on further recollection, might show him the impropriety of the question.

3 i. e. buried The verb is not peculiar to Shakspeare.

attributed to Holbein. See the seventh print. 6 Tradition here seems to mean traditional practi ces, i. e. established or customary homage.

7 That is, to die fighting is to return the evil that we suffer, to destroy the destroyers.

8 This sentiment is drawn from nature. Nothing is more offensive to a mind convinced that its distress is without remedy, and preparing to submit quietly to irre sistible calamity, than these petty and conjectured comforts, which unskilful officiousness thinks it virtue to administer.

Go, signify as much; while here we march
Upon the grassy carpet of this plain.-

A king, woe's slave, shall kingly woe obey.
That power I have, discharge; and let them go
To ear the land that hath some hope to grow,
[NORTHUMBERLAND advances to the
For I have none :-Let no man speak again
Castle, with a Trumpet.
To alter this, for counsel is but vain.
Let's march without the noise of threat'ning drum,
Aum. My liege, one word.
That from the castle's totter'd' battlements
K. Rich
He does me double wrong, Our fair appointments may be well perus'd.
That wounds me with the flatteries of his tongue. Methinks, King Richard and myself should meet
Discharge my followers, let them hence:-Away,With no less terror than the elements
From Richard's night, to Bolingbroke's fair day.

Of fire and water, when their thund'ring shock [Exeunt. At meeting tears the cloudy cheeks of heaven. SCENE III. Wales. A Plain before Flint Cas-Be he the fire, I'll be the yielding water: The be his, while on the earth I rain rage My waters; on the earth, and not on him. March on, and mark King Richard how he looks.

tle. Enter, with Drum and Colours, BOLINGBROKE and Forces; YORK, NORTHUMBERLAND,

and others.

Boling. So that by this intelligence we learn,
The Welshmen are dispers'd; and Salisbury
Is gone to meet the king, who lately landed,
With some few private friends, upon this coast.
North. The news is very fair and good, my lord;
Richard not far from hence, hath hid his head.

York. It would beseem the lord Northumberland,
To say-King Richard:-Alack the heavy day,
When such a sacred king should hide his head!
North, Your grace mistakes me; only to be
brief,

Left I his title out.

The time hath been,

York.
Would you have been so brief with him, he would
Have been so brief with you, to shorten you
For taking so the head, your whole head's length.
Boling. Mistake not, uncle, further than you
should.

York. Take not, good cousin, further than you
should,

Lest you mis-take: The heavens are o'er your head.

Boling. I know it, uncle; and oppose not
Myself against their will.-But who comes here?
Enter PERCY.

Well, Harry; what, will not this castle yield?
Percy. The castle royally is mann'd, my lord,
Against thy entrance.

Boling. Royally!
Why, it contains no king?
Percy.

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Yes, my good lord, It doth contain a king: King Richard lies Within the limits of yon lime and stone:

A Parley sounded, and answered by another Trum-
pet within. Flourish. Enter on the walls KING
RICHARD, the Bishop of Carlisle, AUMERLE,
SCROOP, and SALISBURY.

York. See, see, King Richard doth himself ap
pear,

As doth the blushing discontented sun
From out the fiery portal of the east ;
When he perceives the envious clouds are bent
To dim his glory, and to stain the track
Of his bright passage to the occident.
Yet looks he like a king; behold, his eye,
As bright as is the eagle's, lightens forth
Controlling majesty; Alack, alack, for woe,
That any harm should stain so fair a show!
K. Rich. We are amaz'd; and thus long have
we stood

To watch the fearful bending of thy knee,
[To NORTHUMBERLAND.
Because we thought ourself thy lawful king:
And if we be, how dare thy joints forget
To pay their awful duty to our presence?
If we be not, show us the hand of God
That hath dismiss'd us from our stewardship;
For well we know, no hand of blood and bone
Can gripe the sacred handle of our sceptre,
Unless he do profane, steal, or usurp.
And though you think, that all, as you have done,
Have torn their souls, by turning them from us,
And we are barren, and bereft of friends;-
Yet know, my master, God omnipotent,
Is must'ring in his clouds, on our behalf,

And with him are the Lord Aumerle, Lord Salis- Armies of pestilence; and they shall strike

bury,

Sir Stephen Scroop; besides a clergyman
Of holy reverence; who, I cannot learn.

North. Belike, it is the bishop of Carlisle.
Boling. Noble lord,*

[TO NORTH.

Go to the rude ribs of that ancient castle;
Through brazen trumpet send the breath of parle
Into his ruin'd ears, and thus deliver :
Harry Bolingbroke

On both his knees doth kiss King Richard's hand;
And sends allegiance, and true faith of heart,
To his most royal person: hither come
Even at his feet to lay my arms and power;
Provided that, my banishment repeal'd,
And lands restor'd again, be freely granted:
If not, I'll use the advantage of my power,
And lay the summer's dust with showers of blood,
Rain'd from the wounds of slaughter'd Englishmen :
The which, how far off from the mind of Bolingbroke
It is, such crimson tempest should bedrench
The fresh green lap of fair King Richard's land,
My stooping duty tenderly shall show.

1 To ear the land is to till it, to plough it.

2 The word me, which is wanting in the old copies, was supplied by Hanmer.

Your children yet unborn, and unbegot,
That lift your vassal hands against my head,
And threat the glory of my precious crown.
Tell Bolingbroke (for yond', methinks, he is,)
That stride he makes upon my land,
every
Is dangerous treason: He is come to ope
The purple testament" of bleeding war;
But ere the crown he looks for live in peace,
Ten thousand bloody crowns of mothers' sons
Shall ill become the flower of England's face;

Change the complexion of her maid-pale peace
To scarlet indignation, and bedew

Her pastures' grass with faithful English blood.
North. The king of heaven forbid, our lord the
king

Should so with civil and uncivil arms
Harry Bolingbroke, doth humbly kiss thy hand:
Be rush'd upon! Thy thrice-noble cousin,
And by the honourable tomb he swears,
That stands upon thy royal grandsire's bones;
And by the royalties of both your bloods,
Currents that spring from one most gracious head;
And by the buried hand of warlike Gaunt;
And by the worth and honour of himself,

6 The six first lines of this speech are erroneously

3 The o copy reads, Welcome, Harry: the emen-given to Bolingbroke in the old copies. dation is Hanmer's.

4 Shakspeare frequently, in his addresses to persons, begins with an hemistich; and sometimes blends short prosaic sentences with his metrical dialogues.

5 Totter'd, the reading of the two first quartos, is here probably used for tottering, according to the fre quent usage of our poet. The other copies read tatter'd

7 Shakspeare uses the word testament in its legal sense. Bolingbroke is come to open the testament of war, that he may peruse what is decreed there in his favour. Purple is an epithet referring to the future effusion of blood.

8 i. e. England's flowery face, the flowery surface of England's soil.

Comprising all that may be sworn or said,-
His coming hither hath no further scope,
Than for his lineal royalties, and to beg
Enfranchisement immediate on his knees:
Which on the royal party granted once,
His glittering arms he will commend' to rust,
His barbed steeds to stables, and his heart
To faithful service of your majesty.
This swears he, as he is a prince, is just;
And, as I am a gentleman, I credit him.

K. Rich. Northumberland, say,—thus the king
returns;

His noble cousin is right welcome hither;
And all the number of his fair demands
Shall be accomplish'd without contradiction:
With all the gracious utterance thou hast,
Speak to his gentle hearing kind commends.—
We do debase ourself, cousin, do we not,

[To AUMERLE.
To look so poorly, and to speak so fair?
Shall we call back Northumberland, and send
Defiance to the traitor, and so die?

Aum. No, good my lord; let's fight with gentle
words,

Till time lend friends, and friends their helpful swords.

K. Rich. O God! O God! that e'er this tongue
of mine,

That laid the sentence of dread banishment
On yon proud man, should take it off again
With words of sooth!2 O, that I were as great
As is my grief, or lesser than my name!
Or that I could forget what I have been!
Or not remember what I must be now!
Swell'st thou, proud heart? I'll give thee scope to
beat,

Since foes have scope to beat both thee and me.
Aum. Northumberland comes back from Boling-
broke.

K. Rich. What must the king do now? Must he
submit?

The king shall do it. Must he be depos'd?
The king shall be contented: Must he lose
The name of king? o'God's name, let it go;
I'll give my jewels, for a set of beads;
My gorgeous palace, for a hermitage;
My gay apparel,' for an alms-man's gown;
My figur'd goblets, for a dish of wood;
My sceptre, for a palmer's walking-staff;
My subjects, for a pair of carved saints;
And my large kingdom for a little grave,
A little, little grave, an obscure grave:-
Or I'll be buried in the king's highway,
Some way of common trade, where subjects' feet
May hourly trample on their sovereign's head:
For on my heart they tread, now whilst I live;
And, buried once, why not upon my head ?-
Aumerle, thou weep'st; My tender-hearted

sin!

Within the earth; and, therein laid,—There lies
Two kinsmen, digg'd their graves with weeping eyes?
Would not this ill do well?-Well, well,

see

I talk but idly, and you mock at me.-
Most mighty prince, my Lord Northumberland,
What says King Bolingbroke? will his majesty
Give Richard leave to live till Richard die?
You make a leg, and Bolingbroke says―ay.

North. My lord, in the base court he doth attend
To speak with you; may't please you to come down?
K. Rich. Down, down, I come; like glistering
Phaeton,

Wanting the manage of unruly jades.
[NORTH. retires to BOLING.
In the base court? Base court, where kings grow

base,

To come at traitors' calls, and do them grace.
In the base court? Come down? Down, court.
down, king!

For night-owls shriek, where mounting larks should
[Exeunt from above.

sing.
Boling. What says his majesty?
North.

Makes him speak fondly,
Yet he is come.

9

Sorrow and grief of heart like a frantic man:

Enter KING RICHARD, and his Attendants, below.
Boling. Stand all apart,

And show fair duty to his majesty.-
My gracious lord,-

[Kneeling.

K. Rich. Fair cousin, you debase your princely

knee,

To make the base earth proud with kissing it:
Me rather had, my heart might feel your love,
Up, cousin, up; your heart is up, I know,
Than my unpleas'd eye see your courtesy.
Thus high at least [touching his own head, although
your knee be low.

Boling. My gracious lord, I come but for mine

own.

K. Rich. Your own is yours, and I am yours,

and all.

Boling. So far be mine, my most redoubted lord, As my true service shall deserve your love.

K. Rich. Well you deserve :-They well deserve

to have,

That know the strong'st and surest way to get.—
Uncle, give me your hand: nay, dry your eyes;
Tears show their love, but want their remedies.-
Cousin, I am too young to be your father,
Though you are old enough to be my heir
What you will have, I'll give, and willing too;
For do we must, what force will have us do.-
Set on towards London:-Cousin, is it so?
Boling. Yea, my good lord.
K. Rich.

Then I must not say, no.10 [Flourish. Exeunt. cou-SCENE IV. Langley. Duke of York's Garden. Enter the Queen, and two Ladies.

We'll make foul weather with despised tears;
Our sighs, and they, shall lodge the summer corn,
And make a dearth in this revolting land.
Or shall we play the wantons with our woes,
And make some pretty match with shedding tears?
As thus:-To drop them still upon one place,
Till they have fretted us a pair of graves

1 Commend for commit.

2 Sooth is sweet, as well as true. In this place sooth means sweetness or softness. Thus to soothe still means to calm and sweeten the mind.

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3 Richard's expense in regard to dress was very ex-1925, p. 211. traordinary. He had one coate which he caused to be made for him of gold and stone, valued at 3000 marks.' -Holinshed.

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10 The duke, with a sharpe high voyce bade bring forth the king's horses; and then two little nagges, not worth

4 Some way of common trade' is some way of fre-forty franks, were brought forth the king was set on quent resort, a common course; as, at present, a road of much traffic,' i. e. frequent resort.

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one, and the earle of Salisburie on the other; and thus the duke brought the king from Flint to Chester, where loved him but little, for he had put their father to death,) he was delivered to the duke of Gloucester's sonne (that who led him straight to the castle.'-Stowe (p. 521. edit. 1605,) from a manuscript account written by a person who was present.

bowl, which gave it a particular inclination in bowling 11 The bias was a weight inserted in one side of a

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Of neither, girl:

For if of joy, being altogether wanting,
It doth remember me the more of sorrow;
Or if of grief, being altogether had,

It adds more sorrow to my want of joy:
For what I have, I need not to repeat;
And what I want, it boots not to complain,'
1 Lady. Mudam, I'll sing.
Queen.
"Tis well, that thou hast cause;
But thou should'st please me better, would'st thou
weep.

1 Lady. I could weep, madam, would it do you good.

Queen. And I could weep, would weeping do me good,

And never borrow any tear of thee.
But stay, here come the gardeners:

Let's step into the shadow of these trees.

Enter a Gardener, and two Servants.

My wretchedness unto a row of pins,
They'll talk of state; for every one doth so
Against a change: Woe is forerun with woe."

[Queen and Ladies retire.
Gard. Go, bind thou up yon' dangling apricocks,
Which, like unruly children, make their sire
Stoop with oppression of their prodigal weight:
Give some supportance to the bending twigs.-
Go thou, and, like an executioner,
Cut off the heads of too fast growing sprays,
That look too lofty in our commonwealth:
All must be even in our government.-
You thus employ'd, I will go root away
The noisome weeds, that without profit suck
The soil's fertility from wholesome flowers.

1 Serv. Why should we, in the compass of a pale, Keep law, and form, and due proportion, Showing, as in a model, our firm estate? When our sea-walled garden, the whole land, Is full of weeds; her fairest flowers chok'd up, Her fruit-trees all unprun'd, her hedges ruin'd, Her knots disorder'd, and her wholesome herbs Swarming with caterpillars?

Gard.

Hold thy peace :-
He that hath suffer'd this disorder'd spring,
Hath now himself met with the fall of leaf:
The weeds, that his broad-spreading leaves did
shelter,

That seem'd in eating him to hold him up,
Are pluck'd up, root and all, by Bolingbroke;
I mean, the earl of Wiltshire, Bushy, Green.
1 Serv. What, are they dead?
Gar1.

They are; and Bolingbroke
Hath seiz'd the wasteful king.-Oh! what pity is it,
That he had not so trimm'd and dress'd his land,
As we this garden! We at time of year
Do wound the bark, the skin of our fruit trees;
Lest, being over-proud with sap and blood,
With too much riches it confound itself:
Had he done so to great and growing men,
They might have liv'd to bear, and be to taste
Their fruits of duty. All superfluous branches
We lop away, that bearing boughs may live:
Had he done so, himself had borne the crown,
Which waste of idle hours hath quite thrown down.
1 All the old copies read of sorrow or of grief.' Pope
made the necessary alteration.

3. See note on Act i. Sc. 2.

2 Profits. 4 The old copies read and I could sing. The emendation is Pope's.

The poet, according to the common doctrine of prognostication, supposes dejection to forerun calamity, and a kingdom to be filled with rumours of sorrow when any great disaster is impending.

6 Knots are figures planted in box, the lines of which requently intersected each other in the old fashion of gardening.

7 We is not in the old copy. It was added hv Malone.

1 Serv. What, think you then, the king shall be dopos'd?

Gard. Depress'd he is already; and depos'd, 'Tis doubt, he will be: Letters came last night To a dear friend of the good duke of York's, That tell black tidings.

Queen. O, I am press'd to death, Through want of speaking!-Thou, old Adam's likeness, [Coming from her concealment.

Set to dress this garden, how dares

Thy harsh rude tongue sound this unpleasing news?
What Eve, what serpent hath suggested thee
To make a second fall of cursed man?
Why dost thou say, King Richard is depos'd?
Dar'st thou, thou little better thing than earth,
Divine his downfal? Say, where, when, and how,
Cam'st thou by these ill tidings? speak, thou wretch.
Gard. Pardon me, madam: little joy have I,
To breathe this news; yet, what I say is true.
King Richard, he is in the mighty hold

Of Bolingbroke: their fortunes both are weigh'd:
In your lord's scale is nothing but himself,
And some few vanities that make him light;
But in the balance of great Bolingbroke,
Besides himself, are all the English peers,
And with that odds he weighs King Richard down.
Post you to London, and you'll find it so;
I speak no more than every one doth know.

Queen. Nimble mischance, that art so light of fool,
And am I last that knows it? O, thou think'st
Doth not thy embassage belong to me,
To serve me last, that I may longest keep
Thy sorrow in my breast.-Come, ladies, go,
To meet at London London's king in woe.-
What, was I born to this! that my sad look
Should grace the triumph of great Bolingbroke?—
Gardener, for telling me this news of woe,

I would, the plants thou graft'st, may never grow. [Exeunt Queen and Ladies. Gard. Poor queen! so that thy state might be no

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Bagot. My Lord Aumerle, I know, your daring tongue

8 This uncommon phraseology has already occurred in the present play :

He is our cousin, cousin; but 'tie doubt
When time shall call him home,' &c.

9 The quarto of 1597 reads fall. The quarto of 1598 and the folio read drop.

10 The rebuilding of Westminster Hall, which Richard had begun in 1397, being finished in 1399, the first meeting of parliament in the new edifice was for the purpose of deposing him.

11 Thomas Holland, earl of Kent, brother to John Holland, earl of Exeter, was created duke of Surrey in 1597. He was half brother to the king, by his mother Joan, who married Edward the Black Prince after the death of her second husband Thomas Lord Holland. 12 i. e. untimely.

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