Page images
PDF
EPUB

Percy. His answer was,—he would unto the stews ; And from the commonest creature pluck a glove, And wear it as a favour; and with that

He would unhorse the lustiest challenger.

Boling. As dissolute, as desperate: yet, through both

I see some sparks2 of better hope, which elder days May happily bring forth. But who comes here?

Enter AUMERLE, hastily.

Aum. Where is the king?

Boling. What means our cousin, that he stares and looks so wildly?

Aum. God save your grace. I do beseech your majesty,

To have some conference with your grace alone. Boling. Withdraw yourselves, and leave us here [Exeunt PERCY and Lords

alone.

What is the matter with our cousin now?

Aum. For ever may my knees grow to the earth,

My tongue cleave to my roof within

Unless a pardon, ere I rise, or speak.

[Kneels.

my mouth,

Boling. Intended, or committed, was this fault? If but3 the first, how heinous e'er it be,

To win thy after-love, I pardon thee.

Aum. Then give me leave that I may turn the key, That no man enter till my tale be done.

Boling. Have thy desire. [AUM. locks the door. York. [Within.] My liege, beware; look to thyself; Thou hast a traitor in thy presence there. Boling. Villain, I'll make thee safe.

[Drawing.

2 Thus the first quarto and folios. The other quartos have sparkles.

3 The old copies read "If on," &c. Pope made the alteration. The old stage direction in the quartos is, "York knocks at the door, and crieth."

Aum. Stay thy revengeful hand;

Thou hast no cause to fear.

York. [Within.] Open the door, secure, fool-hardy

king:

Shall I, for love, speak treason to thy face?

Open the door, or I will break it open.

[BOLINGBROKE opens the door.

Enter YORK.

Boling. What is the matter, uncle? speak; Recover breath; tell us how near is danger, That we may arm us to encounter it.

York. Peruse this writing here, and thou shalt know The treason that my haste forbids me show.

Aum. Remember, as thou read'st, thy promise past: I do repent me; read not my name there, My heart is not confederate with my hand. York. 'Twas, villain, ere thy hand did set it down.I tore it from the traitor's bosom, king: Fear, and not love, begets his penitence: Forget to pity him, lest thy pity prove A serpent that will sting thee to the heart.

Boling. O heinous, strong, and bold conspiracy !-
O loyal father of a treacherous son!

Thou sheer 5, immaculate, and silver fountain,
From whence this stream through muddy passages,
Hath held his current, and defil'd himself!
Thy overflow of good converts to bad;
And thy abundant goodness shall excuse

5 Sheer is pellucid, transparent. So in Spenser's Faerie Queene, b. iii. c. 2:

"Who having viewed in a fountain shere
Her face," &c.

Again, b. iii. c. 11:

"That she at last came to a fountain shere." And in Golding's translation of Ovid, 1587 :

"The water was so pure and sheere," &c.

This deadly blot in thy digressing son.

York. So shall my viime be his vice's bawd;
And he shall spend mine honour with his shame,
As thriftless soms their scraping fathers' gold.
Mine honour lives when his dishonour dies,
Or my sham'd life in his dishonour lies:
Thou kill'st me in his life; giving him breath,
The traitor lives, the true man's put to death.
Duch. [Within.] What ho, my liege! for God's
sake let me in.

Boling. What shrill-voic'd suppliant makes this
7?

eager cry

Duch. A woman, and thine aunt, great king; 'tis I. Speak with me, pity me, open the door;

A beggar begs, that never begg'd before.

Boling. Our scene is alter'd,-from a serious
thing,

And now chang'd to The Beggar and the King-
My dangerous cousin, let your mother in ;
I know, she's come to pray for your foul sin.
York. If thou do pardon, whosoever pray,
More sins, for this forgiveness, prosper may,
This fester'd joint cut off, the rest rests sound,
This let alone, will all the rest confound,

Enter Duchess,

Duch. O king, believe not this hard-hearted man; Love, loving not itself, none other can.

Thus in Romeo and Juliet:

66

The reader will

Digressing from the valour of a man." To digress is to deviate from what is right or regular. 7 It is probable that the old ballad of "King Cophet Beggar Maid" is here alluded to. first volume of Dr. Percy's Reliques of Ancien may have been a popular Interlude on the sub is alluded to by other cotemporaries of the pof bour's Lost, Act i. Sc. 2.

York. Thou frantick woman, what dost thou makes

here?

Shall thy old dugs once more a traitor rear?

Duch. Sweet York, be patient: Hear me, gentle

liege.

Boling. Rise up, good aunt.

Duch.

[Kneels.

Not yet, I thee beseech:

For ever will I kneel9 upon my knees,
And never see day that the happy sees,
Till thou give joy; until thou bid me joy,
By pardoning Rutland, my transgressing boy.
Aum. Unto my mother's prayers, I bend my knee.

Kneels.

York. Against them both, my true joints bended

be.

Kneels.
[Ill may'st thou thrive, if thou grant any grace 10!]
Duch. Pleads he in earnest ? look upon his face;
His
eyes do drop no tears, his prayers are in jest ;
His words come from his mouth, ours from our breast;
He prays but faintly, and would be denied ;
We pray with heart, and soul, and all beside:
His weary joints would gladly rise, I know;
Our knees shall kneel till to the ground they grow:
His prayers are full of false hypocrisy ;
Ours, of true zeal and deep integrity.

Our prayers do out-pray his; then let them have
That mercy, which true prayers ought to have.
Boling. Good aunt, stand up.

Duch.
Nay, do not say—stand up;
But, pardon, first; and afterwards, stand up.
An if I were thy nurse, thy tongue to teach,
Pardon-should be the first word of thy speech.

8 What dost thou make here? i. e. what dost thou do here? Thus in the Merry Wives of Windsor :

"What make you here?"

• Thus the folio. The quarto copies read walk.

10 This line is not in the folio.

I never long'd to hear a word till now;
Say-pardon, king; let pity teach thee how :
The word is short, but not so short as sweet;
No word like, pardon, for kings' mouths so meet.
York. Speak it in French, king; say, pardonnez
moy 11

Duch. Dost thou teach pardon pardon to destroy?
Ah, my sour husband, my hard-hearted lord,
That sett'st the word itself against the word!—
Speak, pardon, as 'tis current in our land:
The chopping 12 French we do not understand.
Thine eye begins to speak, set thy tongue there;
Or, in thy piteous heart plant thou thine ear;
That, hearing how our plaints and prayers do pierce,
Pity may move thee, pardon to rehearse.

Boling. Good aunt, stand up.

Duch.

I do not sue to stand, Pardon is all the suit I have in hand.

Boling. I pardon him, as God shall pardon me.
Duch. O happy vantage of a kneeling knee!
Yet am I sick for fear: speak it again ;
Twice saying pardon, doth not pardon twain,
But makes one pardon strong.

Boling. I pardon him with all my heart.
Duch. A god on earth thou art.

Boling. But for our trusty brother-in-law 13,—and the abbot 14,

The French moy being made to rhyme with destroy, would seem to imply that the poet was not well acquainted with the true pronunciation of that language, perhaps it was imperfectly understood in his time by those who had not visited France.

12 The chopping French, i. e. the changing or changeable French. Thus "chopping churches" is changing one church for another; and chopping logic is discoursing or interchanging logic with another. To chop and change is still a common idiom.

13 The brother-in-law meant was John Duke of Exeter and Earl of Huntingdon (own brother to Edward II.), who had married the Lady Elizabeth, Bolingbroke's sister.

14 i. e. the abbot of Westminster.

« PreviousContinue »