PERCY. My gracious lord, I tender you my fer-
vice,

Such as it is, being tender, raw, and young;
Which elder days shall ripen, and confirm
To more approved service and defert.

BOLING. I thank thee, gently Percy; and be fure,
I count myself in nothing else so happy,
As in a foul rememb'ring my good friends;
And, as my fortune ripens with thy love,
It shall be still thy true love's recompense:
My heart this covenant makes, my hand thus feals

it.

NORTH. How far is it to Berkley? And what ftir Keeps good old York there, with his men of war? PERCY. There stands the castle, by yon tuft of

trees, Mann'd with three hundred men, as I have heard: And in it are the lords of York, Berkley, and Sey

mour;

None else of name, and noble estimate.

Enter Ross and WILLOUGHBY.

NORTH. Here come the lords of Ross and Wil

loughby, Bloody with spurring, firy-red with haste.

BOLING. Welcome, my lords: I wot, your love

pursues

A banish'd traitor; all my treasury

Is yet but unfelt thanks, which, more enrich'd,
Shall be your love and labour's recompenfe.

Ross. Your prefence makes us rich, most noble

lord.

WILLO. And far furmounts our labour to attain: BOLING. Evermore thanks, the exchequer of the

poor;

<

Which, till my infant fortune comes to years,
Stands for my bounty. But who comes here?

NORTH. It is my lord of Berkley, as I guess.

BERK. My lord of Hereford, my message is to

you.

6

BOLING. My lord, my answer is to Lancaster;'

And I am come to seek that name in England:
And I must find that title in your tongue,

Before I make reply to aught you say.

BERK. Miftake me not, my lord; 'tis not my

meaning,

To raze one title of your honour out:

8

9

To you, my lord, I come, (what lord you will,)
From the most glorious regent of this land,
The duke of York; to know, what pricks you on

My lord of Hereford, my message is to you.) I susped that our author designed this for a speech rendered abrupt by the impatience of Bolingbroke's reply; and therefore wrote:

My lord of Hereford, my message is

The words to you, only serve to destroy the metre.

7

STEE VENS.

--my answer is to Lancaster;] Your message, you say, is to my lord of Hereford. My answer is, It is not to him; it is to the Duke of Lancaster. MALONE.

"How the names of

* To raze one title of your honour out:] them which for capital crimes againft majestie were crazed out of the publicke records, tables, and registers, or forbidden to be borne by their pofteritie, when their memorie was damned, I could show at large. Camden's Remains, p. 136, edit. 1605. MALONE.

9 From the most glorious regent of this land,] Thus the first quarto, 1597. The word regent was accidentally omitted in the quarto, 1598, which was followed by all the subsequent copies.

MALONE.

2

To take advantage of the absent time,
And fright our native peace with self-born arms,

BOLING. I shall not need transport my words by

you;

Here comes his grace in person, -My noble un[Kneels.

cle!

YORK. Show me thy humble heart, and not thy

knee,

Whose duty is deceivable and false.
BOLING. My gracious uncle! -
YORK. Tut, tut!

Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle:
I am no traitor's uncle; and that word-grace,
In an ungracious mouth, is but profane.
Why have those banish'd and forbidden legs
Dar'd once to touch a dust of England's ground?
But then more why; -- Why have they dar'd to

march

-the absent time,] i. e. time of the king's abfence. 3 Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle:] In Romeo and Juliet

we have the fame kind of phraseology:

JOHNSON.

" Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds." Again, in Microcynicon, Six Snarling Satires, &c. 16mo. 1599: " Hower me no howers; howers break no square."

The reading of the folio is preferable:

RITSON.

MALONE.

Tut, tut! grace me no grace, nor uncle me. 4 But then more why;) This seems to be wrong. We might

read:

But more than this; why, &c. TYRWHITTт.

But then more why;) But, to add more questions. This is the reading of the first quarto, 1597, which in the second, and all the subsequent copies, was corrupted thus: But more than why. The expreffion of the text, though a fingular one, was, I have no doubt,

So many miles upon her peaceful bosom;
Frighting her pale-fac'd villages with war,
And oftentation of despised arms?5
Com'ft thou because the anointed king is hence?
Why, foolish boy, the king is left behind,
And in my loyal bosom lies his power.
Were I but now the lord of fuch hot youth,
As when brave Gaunt, thy father, and myself,
Rescued the Black Prince, that young Mars of

men,

From forth the ranks of many thousand French;
O, then, how quickly should this arm of mine,
Now prifoner to the palsy, chástise thee,
And minister correction to thy fault!

the author's. It is of a colour with those immediately preceding: " Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle."

A fimilar expression occurs in Twelfth Night:

" More than I love these eyes, more than my life,
" More, by all mores, than I shall e'er love wife."

MALONE.

There seems to be an error in this passage, which I believe should run thus:

But more then: Why? why have they dar'd, &c.

This repetition of the word why, is not unnatural for a person speaking with much warmth. M. MASON.

And oftentation of despised arms? But sure the oftentation of despised arms would not fright any one.

We should read:

--disposed arms, i. e. forces in battle array.

WARBURTON,

This alteration is harsh. Sir T. Hanmer reads despightful. Mr. Upton gives this passage as a proof that our author ufes the paffive participle in an active sense. The copies all agree. Perhaps the old duke means to treat him with contempt as well as with severity, and to infinuate that he despises his power, as being able to master it. In this sense all is right. JOHNSON.

So, in this play:

،، We'll make foul weather with despised tears."

STEEVENS.

The meaning of this probably is a boastful display of arms which we despise. M. MASON.

>

BOLING. My gracious uncle, let me know my
fault;

On what condition stands it, and wherein ?
YORK. Even in condition of the worst degree,
In gross rebellion, and detefted treason:
Thou art a banish'd man, and here art come,
Before the expiration of thy time,

In braving arms against thy fovereign.

BOLING. As I was banish'd, I was banish'd Here

ford;

But as I come, I come for Lancaster.
And, noble uncle, I beseech your grace.
Look on my wrongs with an indifferent eye:"
You are my father, for, methinks, in you
I fee old Gaunt alive; O, then, my father!
Will you permit that I shall stand condemn'd
A wand'ring vagabond; my rights and royalties
Pluck'd from my arms perforce, and given away
To upstart unthrifts? Wherefore was I born?
If that my cousin king be king of England,
It must be granted, I am duke of Lancaster.
You have a fon, Aumerle, my noble kinsman ;
Had you first died, and he been thus trod down,
He should have found his uncle Gaunt a father,

し

6 On what condition) It should be, in what condition, i. c. in what degree of guilt. The particles in the old editions are of little credit. JOHNSON.

York's reply supports Dr. Johnson's conjecture; "Even in condition," &c. MALONE.

Look on my wrongs with an indifferent eye:] i. e. with an impartial eye. "Every juryman (lays Sir Edward Coke) ought to be impartial and indifferent." MALONE.

Wherefore was I born? To what purpose serves birth and lineal fucceffion? I am duke of Lancaster by the fame right of birth as the king is king of England. JOHNSON.

1