That by indictment, or by dint of fword,
Have fince mifcarried under Bolingbroke.
Weft. You speak, lord Mowbray, now, you know not what.
The Earl of Hereford was reputed then
In England the most valiant gentleman.
Who knows, on whom fortune would then have fimil'd?
But if your father had been victor there,
He ne'er had borne it out of Coventry;
For all the country in a general voice
Cry'd hate upon him; all their prayers and love
Were fet on Hereford, whom they doted on,
And blefs'd, and grac'd, indeed, more than the King.
But this is mere digreffion from my purpose.-
Here come I from our princely General,
To know your griefs; to tell you from his Grace,
That he will give you audience; and wherein
It fhall appear that your demands are juft,
You fhall enjoy them; every thing set off,
That might fo much as think you enemies.
Mowb. But he hath forc'd us to compel this offer, And it proceeds from policy, not love.
Weft. Mowbray, you over-ween to take it so:
This offer comes from mercy, not from fear,
For, lo! within a ken, our army lies;
Upon mine honour, all too confident
To give admittance to a thought of fear.
Our battle is more full of names than yours,
Our men more perfect in the use of arms,
Our armour all as firong, our cause the best;
Then reafon wills, our hearts fhould be as good.
Say you not then, our offer is compell'd.
Mowb. Well; by my will, we shall admit no parley. Weft. That argues but the fhame of your offence: A rotten case abides no handling.
Haft. Hath the Prince John a full commiffion, In very ample virtue of his father,
To hear and abfolutely to determine
Of what conditions we fhall stand upon ?
Weft. That is intended in the General's name:
I muse, you make fo flight a question.
York. Then take, my lord of Weftmorland, this schedule,
For this contains our general grievances :
Each feveral article herein redrefs'd,
All members of our cause, both here and hence,
That are infinewed to this action,
Acquitted by a true substantial form ;
And prefent executions of our wills
To us, and to our properties, confin'd;
We come within our lawful banks again,
And knit our powers to the arm of peace.
Weft. This will I fhew the General. Please you,lords,
In fight of both our battles, we may meet;
And either end in peace, (which heav'n fo frame!)
Or to the place of difference call the fwords,
Which muft decide it.
York. My lord, we will do so.
HERE is a thing within my bofom tells
That no conditions of our peace can ftand.
Haft. Fear you not that: if we can make our peace Upon fuch large terms and so absolute,
As our conditions fhall infift upon,
Our peace fhall ftand as firm as rocky mountains.
Mowb. Ay, but our valuation fhall be such,
That ev'ry flight and falfe-derived cause,
Yea, ev'ry idle, nice and wanton reafon,
Shall to the King tafte of this action.
That, were our royal faiths martyrs in love,
We fhall be winnow'd with fo rough a wind,
That ev'n our corn fhall feem as light as chaff,
And good from bad find no partition.
York. No, no, my lord, note this; the King is weary Of dainty and fuch picking grievances:
For he hath found, to end one doubt by death,
Revives two greater in the heirs of life.
And therefore will he* wipe his tables clean,
And keep no tell-tale to his memory,
That may repeat and history his lofs
Το new remembrance. For full well he knows,
He cannot fo precifely weed this land,
As his misdoubts present occasion;
His foes are fo enrooted with his friends,
That, plucking to unfix an enemy,
He doth unfaften so and shake a friend.
So that this Land, like an offensive wife,
That hath enrag'd him on to offer ftrokes,
As he is ftriking, holds his infant up,
And hangs refolv'd correction in the arm
That was uprear'd to execution.
Haft. Befides, the King hath wafted all his rods On late offenders, that he now doth lack
inftruments of chaftifement:
So that his pow'r, like to a fangless Lion,
May offer, but not hold.
And therefore be affur'd, my good lord Marshal,
If we do now make our atonement well,
Our peace will, like a broken limb united,
Grow ftronger for the breaking.
Here is return'd my lord of Westmorland.
Weft. The Prince is here at hand: pleaseth your lordship
To meet his Grace, juft diftance 'tween our armies?
wipe his tables clean,] Alluding to a Table-book of Slate, Ivory,
Mowb. Your Grace of York in God's name then fet forward.
York. Before, and greet his Grace; my lord, we come.
Enter Prince John of Lancaster.
'RE well encounter'd here,
You Mowbray ;
Good day to you, my gentle lord Archbishop,
And so to you, lord Haftings, and to all.
My lord of York, it better fhew'd with you,
When that your flock, affembled by the bell,
Encircled you, to hear with reverence
Your expofition on the holy text;
Than now to fee you here an iron man,
Cheering a rout of Rebels with your drum,
Turning the word to fword, and life to death.
That man, that fits within a monarch's heart,
And ripens in the fun-fhine of his favour,
Would he abuse the count'nance of the King,
Alack, what mifchiefs might he fet abroach,
In fhadow of fuch Greatnefs? With you, lord Bishop,
It is ev'n fo. Who hath not heard it spoken,
How deep you were within the books of heav'n?
To us, the Speaker in his Parliament:
To us, th' imagin'd voice of heav'n itself;
The very opener, and intelligencer
Between the grace, the fanctities of heav'n,
And our dull workings. O, who shall believe
But you misuse the rev'rence of your place,
Employ the countenance and grace of heav'n,
As a falfe favourite doth his Prince's name
In deeds difhon'rable? you've taken up,
Under the counterfeited zeal of God,
The Subjects of his fubftitute, my father;
And both against the peace of heav'n and him
Have here up-fwarm'd them.
York Good my lord of Lancaster.
I am not here against your father's peace :
But, as I told my lord of Weftmorland,
The time mif-order'd doth in common sense
Crowd us and crush us to this monftrous form,
To hold our fafety up. I fent your Grace
The parcels and particulars of our grief,
The which hath been with scorn fhov'd from the Court:
Whereon this Hydra-fon of war is born,
Whofe dangerous eyes may well be charm'd afleep
With Grant of our most juft and right defire;
And true Obedience, of this madness cur'd,
Stoop tamely to the foot of Majefty.
Mowb. If not, we ready are to try our fortunes
To the last man.
Haft. And though we here fall down,
We have Supplies to fecond our attempt:
If they mifcarry, theirs fhall fecond them.
And fo Succefs of mischief fhall be born,
And heir from heir fhall hold his quarrel up,
While England fhall have generation.
Lan. You are too fhallow, Haflings, much too fhallow,
To found the bottom of the after-times.
Weft. Pleaseth your Grace, to answer them directly, How far forth you do like their articles?
Lan. I like them all, and do allow them well:
And fwear here, by the honour of my blood,
My father's purpofes have been mistook;
And Some about him have too lavishly
Wrefted his meaning and authority.
My lord, these griefs fhall be with speed redrest;
Upon my life, they fhall. If this may please you,
Difcharge your Pow'rs unto their feveral Counties,
As we will ours; and here, between the armies,
Let's drink together friendly, and embrace;
That all their eyes may bear thofe tokens home,
Of our reftored love and amity.
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