Heralds, two Gardeners, Keeper, Messenger, Groom, and other Attendants.
SCENE, difperfedly, in England and Wales.

A C T I..

SCENE I.

The Court.

Enter King Richard, John of Gaunt, with other Nobles and Attendants.

OLD

Or worthily, as a good fubject should,
On fome known ground of treachery in him?
Gaunt. As near as I could fift him on that a
gument,

On fome apparent danger feen in him,
Aim'd at your highness, no inveterate malice.

K. Rich. Then call them to our prefence; face

to face,

K. Rich.
LD John of Gaunt, time-honour'd
Lancaster,
Haft thou, according to thy oath and band 5,
Brought hither Henry Hereford thy bold fon;
Here to make good the boisterous late appeal,
Which then our leifure would not let us hear,
Against the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray ? In rage deaf as the fea, hafty as fire.
Gaunt. I have, my liege.

[him,

K. Rich. Tell me moreover, haft thou founded If he appeal the duke on ancient malice;

And frowning brow to brow, ourfelves will hear
The accufer, and the accufed, freely speak
High-ftomach'd are they both, and full of ire,

Enter Bolingbroke and Mowbray.· Boling. Many years of happy days befal My gracious fovereign, my most loving liege !

1 This hiftory, however, comprifes little more than the two laft years of this prince. The action of the drama begins with Bolingbroke's appealing the duke of Norfolk, on an accufation of high treafon, which fell out in the year 1398; and it clofes with the murder of king Richard at Pomfretcaftle towards the end of the year 1400, or the beginning of the enfuing year. 2. Aumerle is the French for what we now call Albemarle, which is a town in Normandy. 3 Mr. Steevens fays, it ought to be Lord Berkley, as there was no Earl Berkley 'till fome ages after. 4 Now Spelt Roos, one of the duke of Rutland's titles. 5 i. c. bond..

Mob. Each day ftill better other's happiness;
Until the heavens, envying earth's good hap,
Add an immortal title to your crown!

K. Rich. We thank you both: yet one but
Alatters us,

As well appeareth by the caufe you come;
Namely, to appeal each other of high treason.-
Coufin of Hereford, what doft thou object
Against the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?
Boling. First (heaven be the record to my fpeech!)
In the devotion of a fubject's love,

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

[charge?
K. Rich. What doth our coufin lay to Mowbray's
It must be great, that can inherit us 3
So much as of a thought of ill in him. [true;--

Boling. Look, what I faid, my life fhall prove it
That Mowbray hath receiv'd eight thousand nobles,
In name of lendings for your highness' foldiers;
The which he hath detain'd for lewd employments,
Like a falfe traitor, and injurious villain.
Befides I fay, and will in battle prove,→→→→
Or here, or elsewhere, to the furtheft verge
That ever was furvey'd by English eye,--
That all the treafons, for thefe eighteen years
Complotted and contrived in this land,

Tendering the precious fafety of my prince,
And free from other mifbegotten hate,
Come I appellant to this princely presence.—
Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee,
And mark my greeting well; for what I fpeak,
My body shall make good upon this earth,
Or my divine foul anfwer it in heaven.
Thou art a traitor, and a mifcreant ;
Too good to be so, and too bad to live;
Since, the more fair and crystal is the sky,
The uglier feem the clouds that in it fly.
Once more, the more to aggravate the note,
With a foul traitor's name stuff I thy throat;
And with, (fo please my fovereign) ere I move,
What my tongue speaks, my right-drawn fword To me, for juftice, and rough chastisement ;

may prove.

[zeal:

Mowb. Let not my cold words here accufe my
'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 fuch tame patience boast,
As to be hush'd, and nought at all to fay:
First, the fair reverence of your highnefs curbs me,
From giving reins and fpurs to my free fpeech;
Which elfe would poft, until it had return'd
Thefe terms of treafon doubled down his throat.
Setting afide his high blood's royalty,
And let him be no kinfman to my liege,
I do defy him, and I fpit at him;
Call him-a flanderous coward, and a villain:
Which to maintain, I would allow him odds;
And meet him, were I ty'd to run a-foot
Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,
Or any other ground 2 inhabitable
Where ever Englishman durit fet his foot.
Mean time, let this defend my loyalty,-
By all my hopes, moft falfely doth he lie.

Fetch from falfe Mowbray their first head and fpring.
Further I fay,-and further will maintain
Upon his bad life, to make all this good,-
That he did plot the duke of Glofter's death;
Suggeft his foon-believing adverfaries;
And, confequently, like a traitor coward, [blood;
Sluic'd out his innocent foul through ftreams of
Which blood, like facrificing Abel's, cries,
Even from the tonguelefs caverns of the earth,

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 foars!—
Thomas of Norfolk, what fay 'ft thou to this?

Mowb. O, let my fovereign turn away his face,
And bid his ears a little while be deaf,

Till I have told this flander of his blood,
How God, and good men, hate fo foul a liar. [ears:
K. Rich. Mowbray, impartial are our eyes, and
Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir,
(As he is but my father's brother's ton)

Now by my fceptre's awe I make a vow,
Such neighbour nearness to our facred blood
Should nothing privilege him, nor partialize
The unftooping firmnefs of my upright foul:
He is our fubject, Mowbray, so art thou;
Frec fpeech, and fearless, I to thee allow.

Mowb. Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart,
Through the falfe paffage of thy throat, thou lieft!
Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais,
Difburs'd I to his highnets' foldiers :

The other part referv'd 1 by confent ;
For that my fovereign liege was in my debt,

Boling. Pale trembling coward, there I throw Upon remainder of a dear account,

my gage,

Difclaiming here the kindred of a king;
And lay afide my high blood's royalty,
Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except:
If guilty dread hath left thee fo much strength,
As to take up mine honour's pawn, then floop ;
By that, and all the rites of knighthood elfe,
Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,
What I have spoke, or thou can't worfe devife.
Mowb. I take it up; and, by that fword I swear,
Which gently lay'd my knighthood on my shoulder,
I'll answer thee in any fair degree,

Since laft I went to France, to fetch his queen:
Now fwallow down that lie.For Glotter's

death,

I flew him not; but, to mine own difgrace,
Neglected my fworn duty in that cafe.-
For you, my noble lord of Lancaster,
The honourable father to my foe,--
Once did I lay an ambuth for your life,
A treipafs that doth vex my grieved foll :
But, ere 1 laft receiv'd the facrament,
I did confefs it; and exactly begg'd
Your grace's pardon, and, I hope, I had it.

A Meaning, his fword drawn in a right or just caufe. 2 i. e. not habitable.

3 i. e. poffefs us.

i. e. no advantage in delay or refufal. 2 Baffled, in this, as has been noted in a former, plate, means, treated with the greateft ignominy imaginable. 31. e. with a face of fupplicati my relation of confanguinity to Glofter.

Dutch. Why then, I will. Farewel, old Gaunt !| And by the grace of God, and this mine arm,
Thou go'ft to Coventry, there to behold ́
Our coufin Hereford and fell Mowbray fight:

O, fit my husband's wrongs on Hereford's fpear,
That it may enter butcher Mowbray's breast!
Or if misfortune mifs the first career,
Be Mowbray's fins fo heavy in his bofom,
That they may break his foaming courfer's back,
And throw the rider headlong in the lifts,
A caitiff recreant to my coufin Hereford !
Farewel, old Gaunt; thy fometime brother's wife
With her companion grief muft end her life.

Gaunt. Sifter, farewel: Imuft to Coventry :
As much good stay with thee, as go with me!
Dutch. Yet one word more ;-Grief boundeth
where it falls,

Not with the empty hollownefs, but weight:
1 take my leave before I have begun;
For forrow ends not, when it feemeth done.
Commend me to my brother, Edmund York.
Lo, this is all :-Nay, yet depart not fo;
Though this be all, do not fo quickly go;

To prove him, in defending of myself,
A traitor to my God, my king, and me:
And, as I truly fight, defend me heaven!
Trumpets found. Enter Bolingbroke, appellant, in

armour.

K. Rich. Marthal, afk yonder knight in arms,
Both who he is, and why he cometh hither
Thus plated in habilments of war; ̧
And formally according to our law
Depofe him in the justice of his caufe.

Mar. What is thy name? and wherefore com'ft
thou hither,

Before king Richard, in his royal lifts? [Ta Baling-
Against whom comeft thou? and what's thy quarrel?
Speak like a true knight, fo defend thee heaven !

Boling. Harry of Hereford, Lancafter, and
Derby,

Am I; who ready here do ftand in arms,
To prove, by heaven's grace, and my body's valour,
In lifts, on Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk,
That he's a traitor, foul and dangerous,

And, as I truly fight, defend me heaven!

I fhall remember more. Bid him-Oh, what?-To God of heaven, king Richard, and to me;
With all good fpeed at Plashy vifit me.
Alack, and what fhail good old York there fee,
But empty lodgings, and unfurnifh'd walls,
Unpeopled offices, untrodden ftones?

And what hear there for welcome, but my groans?
Therefore commend me; let him not come there,
To feek out forrow, that dwells every where :
Defolate, defolate, will I hence, and die;
The laft leave of thee takes my weeping eye.

[Exeunt.

Enter the Lord Marthal and Aumer le.
Mar. My lord Aumerle, is Harry Hereford arm'd?
Alum. Yea, at all points; and longs to enter in.
Mar.The duke of Norfolk, fprightfully and bold,
Stays but the fummons of the appellant's trumpet.
Aum. Why then, the champions are prepar'd,
and stay
For nothing but his majesty's approach. [Flourish.
The trumpets found, and the King enters with Gaunt,
Busby, Bagot, and others: when they are fet,
enter the Duke of Norfolk in armour.

K. Rich. Marthal, demand of yonder champion
The caufe of his arrival here in arms:
Afk him his name; and orderly proceed
To fwear him in the juftice of his caufe.
Mar. In God's name, and the king's, fay who
thou art,
[To Mowbray.
"And why thou com'ft, thus knightly clad in arms;
Against what man thou com'ft, and what thy quarrel:
Speak truly, on thy knighthood, and thy oath,
And fo defend thee heaven, and thy valour !

Mowb. My name is Thomas Mowbray, duke of
Who hither come engaged by my oath, [Norfolk;
(Which heaven defend a knight should violate!)
Both to defend my loyalty and truth,
To God, my king, and his fucceeding iffue,
Against the duke of Hereford that appeals me;

Mar. On pain of death, no perfon be fo hold,
Or daring-hardy, as to touch the lifts;
Except the marshal, and fuch officers
Appointed to direct thefe fair defigns.

Boling. Lord marshal, let me kifs my fove-
reign's hand,

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

neís,

Mar. The appellant in all duty greets your high[To K. Rich. And craves to kifs your hand, and take his leave. K. Rich. We will defcend and fold him in our

arms.

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

Boling. Oh, let no noble eye profane a tear
For me, if I be gor'd with Mowbray's fpear:
As confident, as is the faulcon's flight
Against a bird, do I with Mowbray fight.-
My loving lord, I take my leave of you ;—
Of you, my noble coufin, lord Aumerle ;-
Not sick, although I have to do with death;
But lufty, young, and chearly drawing breath.-
Lo, as at English feasts, so I regreet
The daintieft laft, to make the end most sweet :
Oh thou, the earthly author of my blood,—

[To Gaunt.

I Mr. Steevens obferves on this paffage, that "waxen may mean either foft, and confequently penetrable, or flexible. The brigandines or coats of mail, then in ufe, were compofed of small pieces of feel quilted over one another, and yet fo flexible as to accommodate the drefs they form to every motion of the body.”

And