K. Ricb. What doth our coufin lay to Mowbray's charge? It must be great, that can inherit us s So much as of a thought of ill in him.

Boling. Look, what I speak my life shall prove it true; That Mowbray hath receiv'd eight thousand nobles, In name of lendings for your highness' soldiers ; The which he hath detain'd for lewd employments', Like a false traitor, and injurious villain. Besides I say, and will in battle prove, Or here, or elsewhere, to the furthest verge That ever was survey'd by English eye,That all the treasons, for these eighteen years Complotted and contrived in this land, Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring. Further I say,—and further will maintain Upon his bad life, to make all this good, That he did plot the duke of Gloster's death * ; Suggest his foon-believing adversaries ; And, consequently, like a traitor coward, Sluic'd out his innocent soul through streams of blood : Which blood, like facrificing Abel's, cries, Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth, To me, for justice, and rough chastisement; And, by the glorious worth of my descent, This arm shall do it, or this life be spent.

K. Rich. How high a pitch his resolution soars !
Thomas of Norfolk, what say'st thou to this?

Nor. O, let my sovereign turn away his face,
And bid his ears a little while be deaf,
Till I have told this slander of his blood,

5-tbat can inherit us &c.] To inberit is no more than to postels, though such a use of the word may be peculiar to Shakspeare. Again, in Romeo and Juliet, Act I. sc. iii

such delight
“ Among fresh female buds all you this night

“ Irberit at my house." STEEVENS, See vol. i. p. 79. n.9. MALONE. 6 – for lewd employmenis,] Lewd here signifies wicked. It is to used in many of our old ftatutes. Malone.

- tbe duke of Gloster's deacb;] Thomas of Woodstock, the youngest Son of Edward III. ; who was murdered at Calais in 1

B 4

How

1397. MALONE.

How God, and good men, hate so foul a liar.

K. Rich. Mowbray, impartial are our eyes, and ears:
Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir,
(As he is but my father's brother's son,)
Now by my scepter's awe? I make a vow,
Such neighbour nearness to our sacred blood
Should nothing privilege him, nor partialize
The unstooping firmness of my upright foul :
He is our subject, Mowbray, so art thou ;
Free speech, and fearless, Í to thee allow.

Nor. Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart,
Through the false palliage of thy throat, thou lieft!
Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais,
Disburs'd I duly to his highness' foldiers :
The other part reserv'd I by consent ;
For that my sovereign liege was in my debt,
Upon remainder of a dear account,
Since last I went to France to fetch his queen:
Now swallow down that lie.-For Gloster's death,
I sew him not ; but, to my own disgrace,
Neglected my sworn duty in that cale.-
For you, my noble lord of Lancaster,

The honourable father to my foe,
Once did I lay an ambush for your life,
A trespass that doth vex my grieved foul :
But, ere I last receiv'd the sacrament,
I did confess it ; and exactly begg'd
Your grace's pardon, and, I hope, I had it.
This is my fault: As for the reit appeal'd,
It issues from the rancour of a villain,
A recreant and most degenerate traitor :
Which in myself I boldly will defend ;
And interchangeably hurl down my gage
Upon this over-weening traitor's foot,
To prove myself a loyal gentleman
Even in the best blood chamber'd in his bosom :
In halte whereof, molt heartily I pray
Your highness to assign our trial day.
6 — my scepter's awe-] The reverence due to my scepter. JOHNSON.

K. Rich.

not my

Mame ;

K. Rich. Wrath-kindled gentlemen, be rul’d by me ;
Let's purge this choler without letting blood :
This we prescribe, though no physician;
Deep malice makes too deep incifion :
Forget, forgive ; conclude, and be agreed;
Our doctors say, this is no time to bleed.-
Good uncle, let this end where it begun ;
We'll calm the duke of Norfolk, you your fon.

Gaunt. To be a make-peace Thall become my age :-
Throw down, my son, the duke of Norfolk's gage.

K. Rich. And, Norfolk, throw down his.

Gaunt. When, Harry : ? when ?
Obedience bids, I should not bid again.
K. Rich. Norfolk, throw down; we bid; there is no

boot 9.
Nor. Myself I throw, dread sovereign, at thy foot :
My life thou shalt command, but
The one, my duty owes ; but my fair name,
(Despight of death, that lives upon my grave',)
To dark dishonour's use thou shalt not have.
I am disgrac'd, impeach'd, and baffled here *;
Pierc'd to the soul with slander's venom’d spear;
The which no balm can cure, but his heart-blood

8 When, Harry ? ] This obsolete exclamation of impatience, is like-
wise found in Heywood's Silver Age, 1613; again, in Look about you,
1600. STEEVENS.
9 -- ne bogs.] That is, no advantage, no use, in delay or refusal. Johns.

my fair name, &c.] That is, my name ibat lives on my grave in despight of death. This easy pallage most of the editors seem to have mistaken. JOHNSON.

and baffled bere;] Bafted in this place means treated with the greatest ignominy imaginable. So, Holinthed, vol. ii. p. 827, and 1218, or annis 1513, and 1570, explains it : “ Bafulling, says he, is a great disgrace among the Scots, and it is used when a man is openlie perjured, and then they make of him an image painted, reversed, with his heels upward, with his name, wondering, crieing, and blowing out of him with horns.” Spenser's Faery Queen, b. v. c. 3. ft. 37; and b. vi. c. 7. ft. 27. has the word in the same fignification. TOLLET. The same expression occurs again in Twelfth Night, fc. ult.

“ Alas, poor fool ! how have they bofled thee?" Again, in K. Henry IV. P. I. Ad I. fc:ii: an I do not, call me villain, and baffle me.” STEEVENS.

Which

1

Which breath'd this poison.

K. Rich. Rage must be withstood :
Give me his gage :-Lions make leopards tame.
Nor. Yea, but not change their spots ? : take bat my

shame,
And I resign my gage. My dear dear lord,
The purest treasure mortal times afford,
Is-spotless reputation ; that away,
Men are but gilded loam, or painted clay.
A jewel in a ten-times-barr'd-up chest
Is-a bold spirit in a loyal breast.
Mine honour is my life ; both grow in one ;
Take honour from me, and my life is done :
Tien, dear my liege, mine honour let me try ;
In that I live, and for that will I die.

K. Rich. Cousin, throw down your gage ; do you begin.

Boling. O God defend my soul from such foul sin! Shall I seem creft-fall’n in my father's fight? Or with pale beggar-fear impeach my height Before this out-dar'd dastard? Ere my tongue Shall wound mine honour with such feeble wrong, Or sound so base a parle, my teeth shall tear The slavish motive 3 of recanting fear; And spit it bleeding, in his high disgrace, Where Thame doth harbour, even in Mowbray's face.

[Exit GAUNT. K. Rich. We were not born to sue, but to command : Which since we cannot do to make you friends, Be ready, as your lives shall answer it, At Coventry, upon faint Lambert's day; There shall your swords and lances arbitrate The swelling difference of your settled hate; Since we cannot attone you, we shall see Justice design the victor's chivalry.

Lord - but not change their spots :] The old copies havebis spots. Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE.

3 Tbe slavis motivem ] That which fear puts in motion. JOHNSON.

4 Justice defign-] To design in our author's time fignified to mark out. See Min fheu's Dict. in v. “ To designe or fpew by a token. lalo Denotare. Lat. Defignare.” At the end of the article the reader is re

ferred

Lord Marshal, command our officers at arms
Be ready to direct these home-alarms.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.
The fame. A Room in the duke of Lancaster's Palace.

Enter Gaunt, and dutchefs of Glosters.
Gaunt. Alas! the part I had in Gloster's blood
Doth more folicit me, than your exclaims,
To ftir against the butchers of his life.
But fince correction lieth in those hands
Which made the fault that we cannot correct,
Pue we our quarrel to the will of heaven ;
Who, when they see the hours ripe on earth,
Will rain hot vengeance on offenders' heads.

Dutcb. Finds brotherhood in thee no sharper spur?
Hath love in thy old blood no living fire ?
Edward's seven sons, whereof thyself art one,
Were as seven phials of his sacred blood,
Or seven fair branches springing from one root:
Some of those seven are dry'd by nature's course,
Some of those branches by the destinies cut :
But Thomas, my dear lord, my life, my Glofter,
One phial full of Edward's sacred blood,
One Hourishing branch of his most royal root,-
Is crack’d, and all the precious liquor spilt ;
Is hack'd down, and his summer leaves all faded,
By envy's hand, and murder's bloody axe.
Ah, Gaunt ! his blood was thine ; that bed, that womb,
That mettle, that self-mould, that fashion’d thee,
Made him a man ; and though thou liv'st, and breath'ft,
Yet art thou slain in him : thou doft content
In some large measure to thy father's death,
ferred to the words “ to marke, note, demonstrate or thew."-Tbe word
is still used with this fignification in Scotland.-Mr. Pope and all the
subsequent editors read-decide. MALONE.

s- durcbefs of Glijter.] The Duchess of Glofter was Eleanor Bo. hun, widow of Duke Thomas, son of Edward III. WALPOLE.

i be part I bad-] That is, my relation of consanguinity to Gloster. HANMIR.

6