And plague injustice with the pains of hell.

Boling. My lord Northu berland, fee them dispatch'd. [Exeunt Nor. and others, with prisoners. Uncle, you fay, the queen is at your houfe ; For heaven's fake, fairly let her be entreated: Tell her, I fend to her my kind commends; Take special care my greetings be deliver'd. York. A gentleman of mine I have dispatch'd With letters of your love to her at large.

Boling. Thanks, gentle uncle. -Come, lords, away; To fight with Glendower and his complices; A while to work, and, after, holiday 9.

SCENE II'.

The coaft of Wales. A caftle in view.

[Exeunt.

Flourish: drums and trumpets. Enter King RICHARD,
Bishop of Carlifle, AUMERLE, and Soldiers.
K. Rich. Barkloughly caftle call you this at hand?

9 Thanks, gentle uncle.-Come, lords, away;

To fight with Glendower and his complices;

A while to work, and, after, boliday.] Though the intermediate line has taken poffeffion of all the old copies, I have great fufpicion of its being an interpolation; and have therefore ventured to throw it out. The first and third lines rhime to each other; nor do I imagine this was cafual, but intended by the poet. Were we to acknowledge the line genuine, it must argue the poet of forgetfulnefs and inattention to hiftory. Bolingbroke is, as it were, but just arrived; he is now at Bristol, weak in his numbers; has had no meeting with a parliament; nor is fo far aflured of the fucceffion, as to think of going to fupprefs infurrec tions before he is planted in the throne. Befides, we find the oppofition of Glendower begins The First Part of K. Henry IV. and Mortimer's defeat by that hardy Welshman is the tidings of the first scene of that play. Again, though Glendower, in the very first year of K. Henry IV. began to be troublesome, put in for the fupremacy of Wales, and imprifoned Mortimer; yet it was not till the fucceeding year that the king employed any force against him. THEOBALD.

This emendation, which I think is juft, has been followed by fir T. Hanmer, but is neglected by Dr. Warburton. JOHNSON.

Mr. Heath obferves, that Bolingbroke marched to Chester, probably with a view to attack the Welsh army headed by Lord Salisbury. He thinks therefore the line is genuine. See p. 61. fc. iii. Stowe exprefsly fays that "Owen Glendower ferved King Richard at Flint-Cafle." MALONE. 1 Here may be properly inferted the last scene of the fecond act. Joнns. Aum.

Aum. Yea, my lord: How rooks your grace the air,
After your late toffing on the eaking feas?

K. Rich. Needs must I like it well; I weep for joy,
To ftand upon my kingdom once again.-
Dear earth, I do falute thee with my hand,
Though rebels wound thee with their horfes' hoofs:
As a long-parted mother with her child

Plays fondly with her tears, and fmiles in meeting';
So, weeping, fmiling, greet I thee, my earth,
And do thee favour with my royal hands.

Feed not thy fovereign's foe, my gentle earth,
Nor with thy fweets comfort his rav'nous fense:
But let thy fpiders, that fuck up thy venom,
And heavy-gaited toads, lie in their way;
Doing annoyance to the treacherous feet,
Which with ufurping steps do trample thee.
Yield ftinging nettles to mine enemies:
And when they from thy bofom pluck a flower,
Guard it 3, I pray thee, with a lurking adder;
Whofe double tongue may with a mortal touch
Throw death upon thy fovereign's enemies.-
Mock not my fenfelefs conjuration, lords;
This earth fhall have a feeling, and these stones
Prove armed foldiers, ere her native king
Shall falter under foul rebellious arms.

Car. Fear not, my lord; that Power, that made you king,
Hath power to keep you king, in fpight of all.

As a long parted mother with her child

Plays fondly with her tears, and smiles in meeting ;]

σε Ως είπων, αλόχοιο φίλης εν χερσιν έθηκε

σε Παιδ' είν' η δαρα μιν κνωδεί δεξαιο κολπο

« ΔΑΚΡΥΘΕΝ ΓΕΛΑΣΑΣΑ. Hom. II. Z.

Perhaps fmiles is here ufed as a fubftantive. As a mother plays fondly with her child from whom he has been a long time parted, crying, and at the fame time fmiling, at meeting him.

It has been propofed to read-fmiles in zweeping; and I once thought the emendation very plaufible. But I am now perfuaded the text is right. If we read weeping, the long-parted mother and her child do not meet, and there is no particular caufe affigned for either her fmiles or tears. MALONE.

3 Guard it,] That is, border it. See Vol. II. p. 66, n. 9. MALONE.

The means that heaven yields must be embrac'd,
And not neglected; elfe, if heaven would,
And we will not, heaven's offer we refufe;
The proffer'd means of fuccour and redress.

Aum. He means, my lord, that we are too remifs;
Whilft Bolingbroke, through our fecurity,

Grows ftrong and great, in fubftance, and in friends.
K. Rich. Difcomfortable coufin! know'st thou not,
That, when the fearching eye of heaven is hid
Behind the globe, and lights the lower world,
Then thieves and robbers range abroad unfeen,
In murders, and in outrage, bloody here;
But when, from under this terreftrial ball,
He fires the proud tops of the eastern pines,
And darts his light through every guilty hole,
Then murders, treafons, and detefted fins,

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,
Whilft we were wand'ring with the antipodes,-
Shall fee us rifing in our throne the east,
His treafons will fit blushing in his face,
Not able to endure the fight of day,
But, felf-affrighted, tremble at his fin.
Not all the water in the rough rude fea
Can wash the balm from an annointed king:
The breath of worldly men cannot depofe s

The

4 and lights the lower world,] The old copies read-that lights. The emendation was made by Dr. Johníon. Senfe might be obtained by a flight tranfpofition, without changing the words of the original

text:

That when the searching eye of heaven, that lights
The lower world, is hid behind the globe ;-

By the lower world, as the paflage is amended by Dr. Johnfon, we muft understand, a world lower than this of ours; I fuppofe, our Antipodes. But the lower world may fignify our world. MALONE.

The breath of worldly men &c.] Here is the doctrine of indefeafible right expreffed in the ftrongest terms; but our poet did not learn it in the reign of K. James, to which it is now the practice of all writers, whofe

The deputy elected by the Lord:

For every man that Bolingbroke hath prefs'd,
To lift fhrewd fteel against our golden crown,
God for his Richard hath in heavenly pay
A glorious angel: then, if angels fight,

Weak men must fall; for heaven ftill guards the 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 fpeak of nothing but defpair.
One day too late, I fear, my noble lord,
Hath clouded all thy happy days on earth:
O, call back yesterday, bid time return,
And thou shalt have twelve thousand fighting men!
To-day, to-day, unhappy day, too late.

O'erthrows thy joys, friends, fortune, and thy state;
For all the Welshmen, hearing thou wert dead,
Are gone to Bolingbroke, difpers'd, and fled.

Aum. Comfort, my liege: Why looks your grace fo pale?
K. Rich. But now the blood of twenty thousand men
Did triumph in my face, and they are fled;
And, till fo much blood thither come again,
Have I not reafon to look pale and dead?
All fouls that will be fafe, fly from my fide;
For time hath fet a blot upon my pride.

Aum. Comfort, my liege; remember who you are.
K. Rich. I had forgot myself: Am I not king?
Awake, thou coward majefty! thou sleep'ft.
Is not the king's name forty thousand names??

whofe opinions are regulated by fashion or intereft, to impute the original of every tenet which they have been taught to think falfe or foolish.

JOHNSON. 6 Awake, thou coward majesty !] Thus the quarto. The folio has thou fluggard majefty. MALONE.

7 Is not the king's name forty thousand names?] Thus in King Richard III.

Vol. II. p. 199,

"Befides, the king's name is a tower of strength." See a speech of Antigonus in Plutarch, of this kind. 4to. Gr. S. W,

Arm,

Arm, arm, my name! a puny fubject ftrikes
At thy great glory.-Look not to the ground,
Ye favourites of a king; Are we not high?
High be our thoughts: I know, my uncle York
Hath power enough to ferve our turn. But who
Comes here ?

Enter SCROOP.

Scroop. More health and happiness betide my liege, Than can my care-tun'd tongue deliver him!

K. Rich. Mine ear is open, and my heart prepar'd3;
The worst is worldly lofs, thou canft unfold.
Say, is my kingdom loft? why, 'twas my care;
And what lofs 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 ferve him too, and be his fellow fo:
Revolt our fubjects? that we cannot mend;
They break their faith to God, as well as us:
Cry, woe, deftruction, ruin, lofs, decay;

The worft is-death, and death will have his day.
Scroop. Glad am I, that your highness is fo arm'd
To bear the tidings of calamity.

Like an unfeasonable ftormy day,

Which makes the filver rivers drown their fhores,
As if the world were all diffolv'd to tears;
So high above his limits fwells 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 fcalps
Against thy majesty; boys, with women's voices,
Strive to fpeak big, and clap their female joints?
In ftiff unwieldy arms against thy crown:

8 Mine ear is open, &c.] It seems to be the defign of the poet to raise Richard to esteem in his fall, and confequently to intereft the reader in his favour. He gives him only paffive fortitude, the virtue of a confeffor rather than of a king. In his profperity we faw him imperious and oppreffive; but in his diftrefs he is wife, patient, and pious. JoHNS. 9 and clap their female joints] Mr. Pope more elegantly reads -and clafp-; which has been adopted by the fubfequent editors. But the emendation does not feem abfolutely neceflary. MALONE.

Thy