Against the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray ? (2) GAUNT. I have, my liege.

K. RICH. Tell me, moreover, hast thou sounded him,

If he appeal the duke on ancient malice;
Or worthily, as a good subject should,
On some known ground of treachery in him?
GAUNT. As near as I could sift him on that
argument,

On some apparent danger seen in him,
Aim'd at your highness,- -no inveterate malice.
K. RICH. Then call them to our presence; face
to face,

And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear
The accuser, and the accused, freely speak :-
[Exeunt some Attendants.
High-stomach'd are they both, and full of ire,
In deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.
rage,

As well appeareth by the cause you come; b
Namely, to appeal each other of high treason.-
Cousin of Hereford, what dost thou object
Against the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?
BOLING. First, (heaven be the record to my
speech!)

In the devotion of a subject's love,r
Tendering the precious safety of my prince,
And free from other misbegotten hate,
Come I appellant to this princely presence.
Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee,
And mark my greeting well; for what I speak
My body shall make good upon this earth,
Or my
divine soul answer it in heaven.
Thou art a traitor, and a miscreant;
Too good to be so, and too bad to live;
Since the more fair and crystal is the sky,
The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly.
Once more, the more to aggravate the note,
With a foul traitor's name stuff I thy throat;

a BOLINGBROKE-] Henry Plantagenet, Earl of Hereford, eldest son of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, was surnamed Bolingbroke from the castle of that name in Lincolnshire, where he was born. According to Drayton, however, he was not distinguished by this name until after he assumed the crown

b By the cause you come ;] Meaning, by the cause for which you

come.

• Inhabitable-] That is, unhabitable, not habitable; a primitive use of the word, common in old books. "Where all the country was scorched by the heat of the sun, and the place

And wish (so please my sovereign), ere I move, What my tongue speaks, my right-drawn sword

may prove.

NOR. Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal:

'Tis not the trial of a woman's war,
The bitter clamour of two eager tongues,
Can arbitrate this cause betwixt us twain :
The blood is hot that must be cool'd for this.
Yet can I not of such tame patience boast,
As to be hush'd, and nought at all to say:
First, the fair reverence of your highness curbs me
From giving reins and spurs to my free speech;
Which else would post, until it had return'd
These terms of treason doubled down his throat.
Setting aside his high blood's royalty,
And let him be no kinsman to my liege,

I do defy him, and I spit at him,

Call him a slanderous coward, and a villain :
Which to maintain, I would allow him odds,
And meet him, were I tied to run a-foot
Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,

Or
any other ground inhabitable
Wherever Englishman durst set his foot.
Meantime, let this defend my loyalty,-
By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie.
BOLING. Pale trembling coward, there I throw
my gage,

Disclaiming here the kindred of the+ king;
And lay aside my high blood's royalty,
Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except:
If guilty dread hath left thee so much strength,
As to take up mine honour's pawn, then stoop;
By that, and all the rites of knighthood else,
Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,
What I have spoke,‡ or thou canst worse § devise.
NOR. I take it up; and, by that sword I swear,
Which gently laid my knighthood on my shoulder,
I'll answer thee in any fair degree,

Or chivalrous design of knightly trial:
And, when I mount, alive may I not light,
If I be traitor, or unjustly fight!

K. RICH. What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray's
charge?

It must be great, that can inherit® us

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;

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, [spring.
Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and
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 soon-believing adversaries;
And, consequently, like a traitor coward,
Sluic'd out his innocent soul through streams of
blood:

b

Which blood, like sacrificing 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,
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 sceptre'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 soul:
He is our subject, Mowbray, so art thou;
Free speech, and fearless, I to thee allow.

NOR. Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart,
Through the false passage of thy throat, thou liest!
Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais
Disburs'd I duly § to his highness' soldiers:
The other part reserv'd I by consent;
For that my sovereign liege was in my debt,

a For lewd employments,-] Lewd here signifies wicked, base, malicious.

b The duke of Gloster's death;] Thomas of Woodstock, the youngest son of Edward III., who was murdered at Calais in 1397.

e Suggest-] Incite, prompt. See Note (a), p. 17.

d Upon remainder of a dear account,-] Mr. Collier's annotator has thrown suspicion on the word dear in the present passage, by proposing to read, "clear account;"-a poor and needless innovation. Dear, in this place, means, precious, mo mentous, pressing, all-important; and it assumes the same sense frequently in Shakespeare. Thus, in "King Lear," Act IV. Sc. 3:

Since last I went to France to fetch his queen: (3)
Now swallow down that lie.-For Gloster's death,-
I slew him not; but, to mine own disgrace,
Neglected my sworn duty in that case.
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 soul :
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 rest 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 overweening traitor's foot,
To prove myself a loyal gentleman,
Even in the best blood chamber'd in his bosom :
In haste whereof, most heartily I pray
Your highness to assign our trial day.

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 incision :
Forget, forgive; conclude, and be agreed;
Our doctors say, this is no month to bleed.
Good uncle, let this end where it begun ;
We'll calm the duke of Norfolk, you, your son.
GAUNT. To be a make-peace shall become my

In the same play, Act V. Sc. 2:

(t) First folio, time.

"The letter was not nice, but full of charge
Of dear import."
And ibid., Act V. Sc. 3 :-

"A precious ring; a ring that I must use
In dear employment."

e And exactly begg'd-] That is, duly begged.

f When, Harry? when? &c.] In the old copies this speech is given thus:

"When Harrie when? Obedience bids, Obedience bids I should not bid agen." When? was an exclamation of impatience, not unfrequent with the old writers. Shakespeare has it again in the "Taming of the Shrew," Act IV. Sc. 1:

"Why, when, I say?-nay, good sweet Kate, be merry."
There is no boot.] There is no help, it is vain to resist.

GG 2

(Despite 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
Which breath'd this poison.

K. RICH.
Rage must be withstood:
Give me his gage :-lions make leopards tame."
NOR. Yea, but not change his spots: take but
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:
Then, dear my liege, mine honour let me try;
In that I live, and for that will I die.

K. RICH. Cousin, throw up your gage; do you begin.

BOLING. Ŏ God defend my soul from such

deep+ sin!

Shall I seem crest-fallen in my father's sight?
Or with pale beggar-fear impeach my height
Before this outdared 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 of recanting fear,
And spit it bleeding, in his high disgrace,
Where shame doth harbour, even in Mowbray's
[Exit GAUNT.

face.

a Baffled-] Baffled is here employed in the general sense of being treated with ignominy; but it particularly, and Nares says originally, meant, a degrading punishment inflicted on recreant knights; one part of which consisted in hanging them up by the heels. Thus, Spenser:

"And after all for greater infamie

He by the heels him hung upon a tree,
And bafful'd so, that all which passed by
The picture of his punishment might see."
Faerie Queen, B. VI. vii. 27.

To this signification of the word Falstaff seems to allude when he says ("Henry IV." Part I. Act I. Sc. 2),

"An I do not, call me villain, and baffle me."

And afterwards, ibid., Act II. Sc. 4:

"If thou do it half so gravely, so majestically both in word and matter, hang me up by the heels for a rabbit-sucker," &c.

SCENE II.-London. A Room in the Duke of Lancaster's Palace.

Enter GAUNT and DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER."

GAUNT. Alas! the part I had in Woodstock's

blood

Doth more solicit me than your exclaims,
To stir against the butchers of his life.
But since correction lieth in those hands
Which made the fault that we cannot correct,
Put we our quarrel to the will of heaven;
Who, when they see the hours ripe on earth,
Will rain hot vengeance on offenders' heads.
DUCH. 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 dried by nature's course,
Some of those branches by the destinies cut:
But Thomas, my dear lord, my life, my Gloster,-
One phial full of Edward's sacred blood,
One flourishing 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. [womb,
Ah, Gaunt! his blood was thine; that bed, that
That metal, that self-mould, that fashion'd thee,
Made him a man; and though thou liv'st and
breath'st,

Yet art thou slain in him: thou dost consent
In some large measure to thy father's death,
In that thou seest thy wretched brother die,
Who was the model of thy father's life.
Call it not patience, Gaunt, it is despair:
In suffering thus thy brother to be slaughter'd,
Thou show'st the naked pathway to thy life,
Teaching stern murder how to butcher thee:
That which in mean men we entitle patience,
Is pale cold cowardice in noble breasts.
What shall I say? to safeguard thine own life,
The best way is to 'venge my Gloster's death.

d Atone you,-] Reconcile you, make you at one. Thus, in 'Cymbeline," Act I. Sc. 5:

"I was glad I did atone my country man and you." And in "Othello," Act IV. Sc. 1:

"I would do much to atone them."

• DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER.] This was Eleanor Bohun, widow

of Duke Thomas, son of Edward III., whose tomb, richly inlaid with brass, still remains in Westminster Abbey.

GAUNT. God's is the quarrel; for God's substitute,

His deputy anointed, in His sight,
Hath caus'd his death: the which, if wrongfully,
Let heaven revenge; for I may never lift
An angry arm against His minister.

DUCH. Where then, alas!† may I complain myself?

GAUNT. To God, the widow's champion and § defence.

DUCH. Why then, I will. Farewell, old Gaunt. Thou go'st to Coventry, there to behold

Our cousin Hereford and fell Mowbray fight:
O, sit my husband's wrongs on Hereford's spear,
That it may enter butcher Mowbray's breast!
Or, if misfortune miss the first career,
Be Mowbray's sins so heavy in his bosom,
That they may break his foaming courser's back,
And throw the rider headlong in the lists,
A caitiff recreant to my cousin Hereford!
Farewell, old Gaunt; thy sometimes brother's

Not with the empty hollowness, but weight:
I take
my leave before I have begun,
For sorrow ends not when it seemeth done.
Commend me to my brother, Edmund York.
Lo, this is all:-nay, yet depart not so,
Though this be all, do not so quickly go;
I shall remember more. Bid him-O, what?-
With all good speed at Plashy visit me.
Alack, and what shall good old York there see,
But empty lodgings and unfurnish'd walls,(4)
Unpeopled offices, untrodden stones?

And what hear there for welcome but my groans?
Therefore commend me; let him not come there,
To seek out sorrow ;-that dwells everywhere:
Desolate, desolate, will I hence, and die:
The last leave of thee, takes my weeping eye.
[Exeunt.

SCENE III.-Coventry. A Public Place. Lists set out, and a Throne. Heralds, &c. attending.

Enter the Lord Marshal and AUMERLE. MAR. My lord Aumerle, is Harry Hereford arm'd?

Queenes Majesties Entertainment in Suffolke and Norfolke," by Thomas Churchyard :-" Cupid encountring the Queene, beganne to complayne hys state and his mothers," &c.

AUM. Yea, at all points; and longs to enter in.

MAR. The duke of Norfolk, sprightfully and bold,

Stays but the summons of the appellant's trumpet. AUM. Why, then the champions are prepar'd, and stay

For nothing but his majesty's approach.

Flourish of trumpets. Enter KING RICHARD,

to his throne; GAUNT, and several Noblemen, who take their places. A trumpet sounded, and answered by another trumpet within. Then enter NORFOLK in armour, preceded by a Herald.

K. RICH. Marshal, demand of yonder champion The cause of his arrival here in arms: Ask him his name; and orderly proceed To swear him in the justice of his cause.

MAR. In God's name and the king's, say who thou art,

And why thou com'st thus knightly clad in arms; Against what man thou com'st, and what thy

quarrel :

*

Speak truly, on thy knighthood, and thine oath, As so defend thee heaven, and thy valour!

NOR. My name is Thomas Mowbray, duke of
Norfolk ;

Who hither come† engaged by my oath,
(Which God defend a knight should violate!)
Both to defend my loyalty and truth

Against whom comest thou? and what's thy quarrel?

Speak like a true knight, so defend thee heaven!
BOLING. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and
Derby,

Am I; who ready here do stand in arms,
To prove, by God's* grace, and my body's valour,
In lists, on Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk,
That he's a traitor, foul and dangerous,
To God of heaven, King Richard, and to me;
And, as I truly fight, defend me heaven!

MAR. On pain of death, no person be so bold,
Or daring-hardy, as to touch the lists,(5)
Except the marshal, and such officers
Appointed to direct these fair designs.
BOLING. Lord marshal, let me kiss my sove-
reign's hand,

And bow my knee before his majesty :
For Mowbray and myself are like two men
That vow a long and weary pilgrimage;
Then let us take a ceremonious leave,
And loving farewell, of our several friends.

MAR. The appellant in all duty greets your highness,

And craves to kiss your hand, and take his leave. K. RICH. We will descend, and fold him in our

arms.

Cousin of Hereford, as thy cause is right, †
So be thy fortune in this royal fight!
Farewell, my blood; which if to-day thou shed,
Lament we may, but not revenge thee dead.

BOLING. O, let no noble eye profane a tear
For me, if I be gor'd with Mowbray's spear;
As confident as is the falcon's flight
Against a bird, do I with Mowbray fight.-
My loving lord, [to Lord Marshal] I take my
leave of you;

Of you, my noble cousin, lord Aumerle :—
Not sick, although I have to do with death,
But lusty, young, and cheerly drawing breath.
Lo, as at English feasts, so I regreet
The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet:
O thou, the earthly‡ author of my blood,—

[To GAUNT.

Whose youthful spirit, in me regenerate,
Doth with a two-fold vigour § lift me up
To reach at victory above my head,-
Add proof unto mine armour with thy prayers,
And with thy blessings steel my lance's point,
That it may enter Mowbray's waxen coat,
And furbish || new the name of John of Gaunt,
Even in the lusty 'haviour of his son.