Sluic'd out his innocent foul through ftreams of blood:

Which blood, like facrificing Abel's, cries,
Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth,
To me, for juftice, and rough chastisement;
And, by the glorious worth of my descent,
This arm fhall 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?

NOR. 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,2
How God, and good men, hate fo 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 fon,)
Now by my scepter's awe 3 I make a vow,
Such neighbour nearnefs to our facred blood
Should nothing privilege him, nor partialize
The unftooping firmnefs of my upright foul;
He is our fubject, Mowbray, fo art thou;
Free speech, and fearless, I to thee allow.

NOR. Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart,
Through the falfe paffage of thy throat, thou liest !
Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais,
Difburs'd I duly to his highnefs' foldiers:
The other part referv'd I by consent;
For that my fovereign liege was in my debt,
Upon remainder of a dear account,

2

--this flander of his blood,] i. e. this reproach to his ancestry. STEEVENS.

3 my Scepter's awe ] The reverence due to my scepter.

JOHNSON.

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

death,

I flew him not; but to my own disgrace,
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 ambush for your life,
A trespass that doth vex my grieved foul:
But, ere I laft receiv'd the facrament,
I did confefs 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 iffues 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 beft blood chamber'd in his bofom:
In hafte whereof, moft heartily I pray

Your highness to affign our trial day.

K. RICH. Wrath-kindled gentlemen, be rul'd by

me;

Let's purge this choler without letting blood:
This we prefcribe though no phyfician;4
Deep malice makes too deep incifion :

4 This we prefcribe, 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 hand. What confirms this, is, that the context does every where exactly (and frequently much better) connect, without the inferted rhymes, except in a very few places; and just there too, the rhyming verfes are of a much better taste than all the others, which rather ftrengthens my conjecture. POPE.

" This obfervation of Mr. Pope's, (fays Mr. Edwards,) hap

Forget, forgive; conclude, and be agreed;
Our doctors fay, this is no time to bleed.—
Good uncle, let this end where it begun;
We'll calm the duke of Norfolk, you your fon.

GAUNT. To be a make-peace fhall become my

age:

Throw down, my fon, the duke of Norfolk's gage. K. RICH. And, Norfolk, throw down his.

GAUNT

When, Harry ?5 when? Obedience bids, I fhould not bid again.

K. RICH. Norfolk, throw down; we bid; there is no boot."

NOR. Myfelf I throw, dread fovereign, at thy foot: My life thou fhalt command, but not my fhame: The one my duty owes; but my fair name,

pens to be very unluckily placed here, because the context, without the inferted rhymes, will not connect at all. Read this paffage as it would ftand corrected by this rule, and we shall find, when the rhyming part of the dialogue is left out, King Richard begins with diffuading them from the duel, and, in the very next fentence, appoints the time and place of their combat."

Mr. Edwards's cenfure is rather hafty; for in the note, to which it refers, it is allowed that some rhymes must be retained to make out the connection. STEEVENS.

When, Harry?] This obfolete exclamation of impatience, is likewife found in Heywood's Silver Age, 1613:

Fly into Affrick; from the mountains there,

"Chufe me two venomous ferpents: theu fhalt know

them :

"By their fell poison and their fierce aspect.

"When, Iris?

"Iris. I am gone."

Again, in Look about you, 1600 :

66

I'll cut off thy legs,

"If thou delay thy duty. When, proud John?"?

STEEVENS.

6 no boot.] That is, no advantage, no ufe, in delay, or refufal.

JOHNSON.

(Despite of death, that lives upon my grave,)7
To dark difhonour's ufe thou shalt not have.
I am difgrac'd, impeach'd, and baffled here;8
Pierc'd to the foul with flander's venom'd spear;
The which no balm can cure, but his heart-blood
Which breath'd this poifon.

K. RICH.

Rage must be withstood: Give me his gage :-Lions make leopards tame.

NOR. Yea, but not change their spots : take but my fhame,

And I refign my gage. My dear dear lord,
The pureft treasure mortal times afford,
Is-fpotlefs reputation; that away,
Men are but gilded loam, or painted clay.
A jewel in a ten-times-barr'd-up cheft
Is-a bold spirit in a loyal breast.

7

my fair name, &c.] That is, my name that lives on my grave, in defpight of death. This eafy paffage most of the editors feem to have mistaken. JOHNSON.

8 and baffled here;] Baffled in this place means treated with the greatest ignominy imaginable. So, Holinfhed, Vol. III. p. 827, and 1218, or annis 1513, and 1570, explains it: "Bafulling, fays he, is a great disgrace among the Scots, and it is ufed when a man is openlie perjured, and then they make of him an image painted, reverfed, with his heels upward, with his name, wondering, crieing, and blowing out of him with horns." Spenfer's Fairy Queen, B. V. c. iii. ft. 37; and B. VI. c. vii. st. 27, has the word in the fame fignification. TOLLET.

The fame expreffion occurs in Twelfth-Night, fc. ult: "Alas, poor fool! how have they baffled thee?" Again, in King Henry IV. P. I. A&t. I. fc. ii :

66

an I do not, call me villain, and baffle me." Again, in The London Prodigal, 1605: “ chil be alaffelled up and down the town, for a messel;" i. e. for a beggar, or rather a leper. STEEVENS.

9

but not change their spots:] The old copies have-his fpots. Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE.

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. Coufin, throw down your gage;

begin.

do you

BOLING. O, God defend my foul from fuch foul

fin!

Shall I feem creft-fallen in my father's fight?
Or with pale beggar-fear impeach my height
Before this outdar'd daftard? Ere my tongue
Shall wound mine honour with fuch feeble wrong,
Or found fo bafe a parle, my teeth fhall tear
The flavish motive of recanting fear;
And spit it bleeding in his high difgrace,
Where shame doth harbour, even in Mowbray's face.
[Exit GAUNT.
K. RICH. We were not born to fue, but to com-

mand:

Which fince we cannot do to make you friends,
Be ready, as your lives fhall answer it,
At Coventry, upon Saint Lambert's day;
There fhall your fwords and lances arbitrate
The fwelling difference of your settled hate;
Since we cannot atone you,3 we shall see
Juftice defign4 the victor's chivalry.—

with pale beggar-fear-] This is the reading of one of the oldest quartos, and the folio. The quartos 1608 and 1615, read-beggar-face; i. e. (as Dr. Warburton obferves,) with a face of fupplication. STEEVENS.

2 The flavish motive-] Motive, for inftrument.

Rather that which fear puts in motion.

atone you,] i. e. reconcile you.

WARBURTON.

JOHNSON.

So, in Cymbeline:

"I was glad I did atone my countryman and you."

STEEVENS.

Juftice defign-] Thus the old copies. Mr. Pope reads