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

Before King Richard, in his royal lifts?
Againft whom comest thou? and what's thy quarrel?
Speak like a true knight, so defend thee heaven!

BOLING. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and
Derby,

Am I; who ready here do stand in arms,
To prove, by heaven's grace, and my body's va

lour,

In lifts, on Thomas Mowbray duke of Norfolk,
That he's a traitor, foul and dangerous,
To God of heaven, king Richard, and to me;
And, as I truly fight, defend me heaven!

MAR. On pain of death, no perfon be fo bold,
Or daring-hardy, as to touch the lifts;
Except the marshal, and such officers
Appointed to direct these fair designs.

BOLING. Lord marshal, let me kiss my fovereign's

hand,

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

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MAR. The appellant in all duty greets your

highness,

And craves to kiss your hand, and take his leave.
K. RICH. We will defcend, and fold him in our

arms.

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

BOLING. O, let no noble eye profane a tear For me, if I be gor'd with Mowbray's spear : As confident, as is the falcon's flight Against a bird, do I with Mowbray fight, My loving lord, [ TO LORD MARSHAL.) I take my

leave of you;

Of you, my noble cousin, lord Aumerle;
Not fick, although I have to do with death ;-
But lusty, young, and cheerly drawing breath.--
Lo, as at English feafts, so I regreet
The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet:
O thou, the earthly author of my blood,-

[To GAUNT.

Whose youthful spirit, in me regenerate,
Doth with a twofold vigour lift me up
To reach at victory above my head,-
Add proof unto mine armour with thy prayers;
And with thy blessings steel my lance's point,
That it may enter Mowbray's waxen coat,'
And furbish new the name of John of Gaunt,
Even in the lusty 'haviour of his fon.

GAUNT, Heaven in thy good cause make thee

profperous!

Be swift like lightning in the execution;

/

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waxen coat, Waxen may mean soft, and confequently penetrable, or flexible. The brigandines or coats of mail, then in use, were composed of small pieces of steel quilted over one another, and yet so flexible as to accommodate the dress they form, to every motion of the body. Of these many are still to be feen in the Tower of London. STEEVENS.

The object of Bolingbroke's request is, that the temper of his lance's point might as much exceed the mail of his adversary, as the iron of that mail was harder than wax. HENLEY.

* And furbish] Thus the quartos, 1608 and 1615. The folio reads - furnish. Either word will do, as to furnish in the time of Shakspeare fignified to dress. So, twice in As you like it: " furnished like a huntsman. "-" - furnished like a beggar.

STEEVENS.

And let thy blows, doubly redoubled,
Fall like amazing thunder on the cafque
Of thy adverse pernicious enemy :
Rouse up thy youthful blood, be valiant and live.
BOLING. Mine innocency, and faint George to

thrive!

[He takes his feat.
NOR. [Rifing.] However heaven, or fortune, caft
my lot,
There lives, or dies, true to king Richard's throne,
A loyal, just, and upright gentleman:
Never did captive with a freer heart
Caft off his chains of bondage, and embrace
His golden uncontroll'd enfranchisement,
More than my dancing foul doth celebrate
This feast of battle with mine adversary.-
Moft mighty liege, and my companion peers, -
Take from my mouth the wish of happy years:
As gentle and as jocund, as to jest,
Go I to fight; Truth hath a quiet breast.

• Mine innocency, Old copies - innocence.

Steevens.

2

MALONE.

Corrected by Mr.

This feast of battle-] " War is death's feast," is a proverbial saying. See Ray's Collection. STEEVENS.

3 As gentle and as jocund, as to jeft,] Not so neither. We should read to just; i. e. to tilt or tourney, which was a kind of sport too. WARBURTON.

The sense would perhaps have been better if the author had written what, his commentator substitutes; but the rhyme, to which sense is too often enslaved, obliged Shakspeare to write jest, and obliges us to read it. JOHNSON.

The commentators forget that to jest sometimes fignifies in oid language to play a part in a mask. Thus, in Hieronymo: "He promised us in honour of our gueft,

"To grace our banquet with some pompous jest."

and accordingly a mask is performed. FARMER.

Dr. Farmer has well explained the force of this word. So, in the third Part of K. Henry VI:

as if the tragedy

"Were play'd in jest by counterfeited, actors." TOLLET.

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K. RICH. Farewell, my lord: fecurely I espy Virtue with valour couched in thine eye. Order the trial, marshal, and begin.

-

[The King and the Lords return to their seats. MAR. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, Receive thy lance; and God defend the right! BOLING. [Rising.) Strong as a tower in hope, I

cry-amen.

MAR. Go bear this lance [To'an Officer.] to Tho

mas duke of Norfolk.

1 HER. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, Stands here for God, his fovereign, and himfelf, On pain to be found false and recreant, To prove the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray, A traitor to his God, his king, and him, And dares him to fet forward to the fight.

2 HER. Here standeth Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk,

On pain to be found false and recreant,
Both to defend himself, and to approve
Hen ry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby,
To God, his fovereign, and to him, difloyal;
Courageoufly, and with a free defire,
Attending but the signal to begin.

MAR. Sound, trumpets; and set forward, com[A charge founded.

batants. Stay, the king hath thrown his warder down. 4 K. RICH. Let them lay by their helmets and

their spears,

hath thrown his warder down.] A warder appears to have been a kind of truncheon carried by the perfon who prefided at these combats. So, in Daniel's Civil Wars, &c. B. I:

"When lo, the king, suddenly chang'd his mind,
"Cafts down his warder to arreft them there. "

STEEVENS.

:

And both return back to their chairs again;
Withdraw with us:-and let the trumpets found,
While we return these dukes what we decree.-

Draw near,

[A long flourish.

[To the Combatants.

And lift, what with our council we have done.
For that our kingdom's earth should not be foil'd
With that dear blood which it hath fostered; 5
And for our eyes do hate the dire aspéct
Of civil wounds plough'd up with neighbours'

fwords;

[And for we think the eagle-winged pride
Of sky-aspiring and ambitious thoughts,

With rival-hating envy, set you on'

To wake our peace, which in our country's cradle
Draws the sweet infant breath of gentle sleep; ]
Which so rous'd up with boisterous untun'd drums,
With harsh-refounding trumpets' dreadful bray,
And grating shock of wrathful iron arms,
Might from our quiet confines fright fair peace,

8

* With that dear blood which it hath fostered;) The quartos read

With that dear blood which it hath been fofler'd.

I believe the author wrote

With that dear blood with which it hath been foster'd.

The quarto 1608 reads, as in the text. STEEVENS.

MALONE.

And for we think the eagle-winged pride, &c, ] These five verses are omitted in the other editions, and restored from the first of 1598. POPE.

7-fet you on - ) The old copy reads - on you. Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE.

8 To wake our peace,

Which fo rous'd up

Might-fright fair peace, Thus the sentence ftands in the common reading abfurdly enough; which made the Oxford editor, instead of fright fair peace, read, be affrighted; as if these latter words could ever, possibly, have been blundered into the former

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