3

my

And mark my greeting well; for what I speak,
My body shall make good upon this earth,
Or my divine foul 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 Ituff I thy throat;
And wish, (so please my fovereign, ) ere I move,
What my tongue fpeaks, my right-drawn o sword

may prove.
Nor. Let not my cold words here accuse 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 poft, 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 fpit at him ;
Call him a llanderous 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 +
right - drawn--] Drawn in a right or juft cause.

JOHNSON inhabitable, ] That is, not habitable, uninhabitable.

JOHNSON,

8

BĄ

Where ever Englishman durft fet his foot.
Mean time. 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 liigh blood's royalty,
Which fear not reverence, makes thee to except:
If guilty dread bath 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.

Nok. I take it up; and, by that sword I swear, Which gently lay'd 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 ili in him.
Boling. Look, what I speak my life shall prove

it true ; -
Ben Jooson uses the word io the same fense in his Catiline :

* And pour'd on some inhabitable place. STEEVENS So also Braithwaite, in his Survey of Histories, 1614: Others, in imitation of some valiant knights, have frequented' delarts and inhabited provinces.

MALONE. that can inherit us, &c.] To inherit is no more than to polifs, though such a ule of the word may be peculiar to Shakípeare. Again, in Romeo and Juliet, A&. I. sc. ii:

such delight
Among

fresh female buds shall you this night
" Inherit at my house. STEEVENS.
See Vol. IV. p. 127. n. 6. MALONE.

5

a

That Mowbray hath receiv'd eight thousand no

bles, 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 I hat ever was survey'd by English eye, That all the treasons, for thele eighteen years Complotted and contrived in this land, Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and

fpring
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 ; 8
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. Rrch. How high a pitch his resolution soars !Thomas of Norfolk, what say'st thou to this?

6---for lewd employments,] Lewd here signifies wicked. so used in many of our old ftatuțes. Thus, in King Richard III: " But you mult trouble him with lewd complaints."

STEEVENS, -the duke of Glofler's death;] Thomas of Woodlock, thic youngest son of Edward III.; who was murdered at Calais, in 1397. MALONE.

Suggest his soon-believing 'adversaries;] i. e. prompt, set them on by injurious hints. Thus, in The Tempest:

They'll take suggestion, as a cat laps milk." STEEVENS,

6

It is

MALONE.

7

8

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 fo foul a liar.

K. Rich. Mowbray, impartial are our eyes and

cars :

8

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 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 lieft!
Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais,
Disburs'd I duly to his highness' soldiers :
The other part reserv'd I by confent;
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 Glofter's

death,
I flew him not; but, to my 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 facrament,
Į did confess it; and exaly begg'd

1 --this Pander of his blood,] i, e. this reproach to his anceftry. STEEVENS. —my scepter's awea] The reverence due to my scepter.

JOHNSON.

1

9

Your grace's pardon, and, I hope, I had it.
This is my fault: As for the rest appeald,
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 bofom:
In hafte 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;9
Deep malice makes too deep incision:
Forget, forgive ; conclude, and be agreed ;
Our doctors say, this is no time to bleed.
Good uncie, let this end where it begun;
We'll calm the duke of Norfolk, you your son,

This we prescribe, though no physician; &c.] I must make one remark in general on the rhymes throughout this whole play ; they are so much inferior to the rest of the writing, that they appear to me of a different band. What confirms this, is, that the context does every where exadly (and frequently much better) conned, without the inserted rhymes, except in a very few places; and just there too, the rhyming verses are of a much better taste than all the others, which rather strengthens my conje&ure.

POPE, ! This observation of Mr. Pope's, (says Mr. Edwards,) happens to be very unluckily placed here, because tlie context, without the inserted rhymes, will not conne&t at all. Read this passage as it would staud correded by this rule, and we shall find, when the rhyming part of the dialogue is left out, King Richard begins with dissuading them from the duel, and, in the very next seetence, appoints the time aud place of their combat.",

Mr. Edwards's censure is rather haftx; for in the note, to which it refers, it is allowed that some rhymes must be retained to make qut the connedioa. Sree VENS,

1