1

Hath caus'd his death: the which if wrongfully,
Let heaven revenge; for I may never lift
An angry arm against his minifter.

DUCH. Where then, alas! may I complain my

felf? 4

GAUNT. To heaven, the widow's champion and

defence.

DUCH. Why then, I will. Farewell, old Gaunt.
Thou go'st to Coventry, there to behold
Our coufin Hereford and fell Mowbray fight:
O, fit my husband's wrongs on Hereford's spear,
That it may enter butcher Mowbray's breaft!
Or, if misfortune miss the first career,
Be Mowbray's fins fo heavy in his bosom,
That they may break his foaming courser's back,
And throw the rider headlong in the lifts,
A caitiff recreant to my cousin Hereford!

6

To complain is commonly a

*may I complain myself?] verb neuter, but it is here used as a verb ative. Dryden employs the word in the same sense in his Fables:

Gaufride, who couldst so well in rhyme complain

"The death of Richard with an arrow flain."

Complain myself (as Mr. M. Mason observes) is a literal translation of the French phrafe, me plaindre. STEEVENS.

5

Why then, I will. Farewell, old Gaunt.) The measure of this

line being clearly defective, why may we not read?

Or thus:

Why then I will. Now fare thee well, old Gaunt."

"Why then I will. Farewell old John of Gaunt." There can be nothing ludicrous in a title by which the King has already addressed him. RITSON.

Sir T. Hanmer completes the measure, by repeating the wordfarewell, at the end of the line. STEEVENS.

6 A caitiff recreant - ) Caitiff originally signified a prisoner, next a slave, from the condition of prisoners; then a Scoundrel, from the qualities of a flave.

Ἥμισυ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀποαίνυται δόλιον ἦμαρ.

In this passage it partakes of all these significations. JOHNSON.
VOL. XII.

C

Farewell, old Gaunt; thy sometimes brother's wife, With her companion grief must end her life. GAUNT. Sifter, farewell: I must to Coventry : As much good stay with thee, as go with me! DUCH. Yet one word more; -Grief boundeth

where it falls,

Not with the empty hollowness, but weight:
I take my leave before I have begun;
For forrow ends not when it seemeth done.
Commend me to my brother, Edmund York.
Lo, this is all:-Nay, yet depart not fo;
Though this be all, do not so quickly go;
I shall remember more. Bid him-O, what?
With all good speed at Plashy visit me.
Alack, and what shall good old York there see,
But empty lodgings, and unfurnish'd walls, 6
Unpeopled offices, untrodden sftones?

And what cheer there' for welcome, but my groans?

This just sentiment is in Homer; but the learned commentator quoting, 1 suppose from memory, has compreffed a couplet into a fingle line;

Ημισυ γαρ τ' αρετης αποαινυται ευρύοπα Ζευς
Ανερος, ευτ' αν μιν κατα δουλιον ημαρ έλησιν.

Odyff. Lib. XVII. v. 322. HOLT WHITE.

I do not believe that caitiff in our language ever fignified a prisoner. I take it to be derived, not from captif, but from chétif, Fr. poor, miferable. TYRWHITT.

unfurnish'd walls,) In our ancient caftles the naked ftone walls were only covered with tapestry, or arras, hung upon tenter hooks, from which it was easily taken down on every removal of the family. See the preface to The Household Book of the Fifth Earl of Northumberland, begun in 1512. STEEVENS.

7 And what cheer there, &c.] I had followed the reading of the folio, [hear] but now rather incline to that of the first quarto And what cheer, there, &c. In the quarto of 1608, chear was changed to hear, and the editor of the folio followed the latter copy. MALONE,

Therefore commend me; let him not come there,
To feek out forrow that dwells every where:*
Defolate, defolate, will I hence, and die:
The last leave of thee takes my weeping eye.

SCENE III.

Gosford-Green near Coventry.

[Exeunt:

Lifts Set out, and a throne. Heralds, &c. attending.

Enter the Lord Marshal, and AUMERLE.

2

MAR. My lord Aumerle, is Harry Hereford

:

arm'd?

Aum. Yea, at all points; and longs to enter in. MAR. The duke of Norfolk, sprightfully and

To feek out forrow that dwells every where:) Perhaps the point

ing might be reformed without injury to the sense:

let him not come there

To feck out forrow: -- that dwells every where.

WHALLEY.

9Lord Marshal, Shakspeare has here committed a flight mistake. The office of Lord Marshal was executed on this occafion by Thomas Holland, Duke of Surrey. Out author has inadvertently introduced that nobleman as a distinct person from the Marshal, in the present draina.

Mowbray Duke of Norfolk was Earl Marshal of England; but being himself one of the combatants, the Duke of Surrey officiated as Earl Marshal for the day. MALONE.

8/ Aumerle.] Edward Duke of Aumerle, so created by his coufin german, King Richard II. in 1397. He was the eldest son of Edward of Langley Duke of York, fifth son of King Edward the Third, and was killed in 1415, at the battle of Agincourt. He officiated at the lifts of Coventry, as High Conftable of England. MALONE.

:

:

f

1

AUM. Why then, the champions are prepar'd, and stay

For nothing but his majesty's approach.

Flourish of trumpets.
Enter King RICHARD, who
takes his feat on his throne; GAUNT, and feveral
noblemen, who take their places.
A trumpet is
Sounded, and answered by another trumpet within.
Then enter NORFOLK in armour, preceded by a
Herald.

K. RICH. Marshal, demand of yonder champion
The cause of his arrival here in arms:
Afk him his name; and orderly proceed
To swear him in the justice of his caufe.

MAR. In God's name, and the king's, say who

thou art,

And why thou com'st, thus knightly clad in arms:
Against what man thou com'st, and what thy

quarrel:

Speak truly, on thy knighthood, and thy oath;

And fo defend thee heaven, and thy valour!

4

NOR. My name is Thomas Mowbray, duke of

Norfolk;

Who hither come engaged by my oath,
(Which, heaven defend, a knight should violate!)
Both to defend my loyalty and truth,

3 And fo-] The old copies read - As fo --.

Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

STEEVENS.

* Norfolk.] Mr. Edwards, in his MS. notes, observes, from Holinshed, that the Duke of Hereford, appellant, entered the lifts first; and this, indeed must have been the regular method of the combat; for the natural order of things requires, that the accufer or challenger should be at the place of appointment first.

STEEVENS.

1

{

To God, my king, and my fucceeding issue,
Against the duke of Hereford that appeals me;
And, by the grace of God, and this mine arm,
To prove him, in defending of myself,
A traitor to my God, my king, and me:
And, as I truly fight, defend me heaven!

[He takes his feat.

Trumpet Sounds. Enter BOLINGBROKE, in armour; preceded by a Herald.

K. RICH. Marshal, ask yonder knight in arms, Both who he is, and why he cometh hither Thus plated in habiliments of war; And formally according to our law Depofe him in the justice of his caufe.

5

6

- my succeeding issue, His is the reading of the first folio; other editions read - my iffue. Mowbray's issue, was by this accufation, in danger of an attainder, and therefore he might come, among other reasons, for their fake: but the reading of the folio is more just and grammatical., JOHNSON.

The three oldest quartos read my, which Mr. M. Mason prefers, because, says he, Mowbray subjoins

"To prove him, in defending of myself,
"A traitor to my God, my king, and me.

"

STEEVENS.

- and my fucceeding issue, Thus the first quarto. The folio reads- his fucceeding issue. The first quarto copy of this play, in 1597, being in general much more corred than the folio, and the quartos of 1608, and 1615, from the latter of which the folio appears to have been printed, I have preferred the elder reading. MALONE.

6 Marshal, ask yonder knight in arms,] Why not, as before? "Marshal, demand of yonder knight in arms.

"

The player who varied the expression, was probably ignorant that he injured the metre. The infertion, however, of two little words would answer the same purpose,

"Marshal, go ask of yonder knight in arms. RITSON.

1

C3

1