Or daring-hardy as to touch the lists, Except the marshal and such officers Appointed to direct these fair designs. Boling. Lord marshal, let me kiss my sovereign's l 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. Mar. The appellant in all duty greets your highne And craves to kiss your hand and take his le K. Rich. We will descend and fold him in our arm Cousin of Hereford, as thy cause is right, So be thy fortune in this royal fight! Farewell, my blood; which if to-day thou sh Lament we may, but not revenge thee dead. Boling. O, let no noble eye profane a tear For me, if I be gored with Mowbray's spear: As confident as is the falcon's flight Against a bird, do I with Mowbray fight. My loving lord, I take my leave of you; Of you, my noble cousin, Lord Aumerle; Not sick, although I have to do with death, But lusty, young, and cheerly drawing breath Lo, as at English feasts, so I regreet The daintiest last, to make the end most swe O thou, the earthly author of my blood, 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 prayer And with thy blessings steel my lance's point That it may enter Mowbray's waxen coat,

43. daring-hardy] The hyphen is Theobald's; Qq 1, 2, 3, 4, in its place; the Ff and Q 5 have neither comma nor hyphen. Qq I, 2.

45. designs] For two other usages akin to this compare 1. i. 81 and 1. i. 203, supra. "Arrangements" might be taken as the equivalent of the noun forms; while in the passage "We shall see justice design the victor's chivalry,' we might take the verb to mean range events so as to point out the victor's chivalry."

ar

the result; a curious eipwveía of the Greek dra

67. regreet] In this adds nothing to the or of the word "greet." In re- may well have the fo as it also may in line 18 67-8. The final cours banquet was generally

48-51. An unconscious forecast of ately got-up sweetmeat.

t,

ign's hand,

nen

1s. ighness, his leave. ir arms.

ou shed, ead.

pear:

t.

;

e;

ath, breath.

t sweet:

ayers; point, 1,

3, 4, have a comma 58. thee] the

men.

ious parallel to the

ek dramatists.

this case the prefix pare Midsummer Night's Dream, Iv. i. in Mowbray's isolation when contrasted

he ordinary meaning "In line 142, infra, the force of "again,"

"I shall reply amazedly, Half sleep, half waking." course of an English refused to leave it alone. erally a very elabor

83. An Alexandrine. Several editors

ne 186.

meat.

84. Mine... thrive] There seems to be at once an element of battle-cry, 2

And dares him to set forward to the fight. Sec. Her. Here standeth Thomas Mowbray, Duke of On pain to be found false and recreant, Both to defend himself and to approve Henry of Hereford, Lancaster and Derby, To God, his sovereign and to him disloyal; Courageously and with a free desire

Attending but the signal to begin.

Mar. Sound, trumpets; and set forward, combatants

[A charge

A

Stay, the king hath thrown his warder down. K. Rich. Let them lay by their helmets and their spe And both return back to their chairs again : Withdraw with us: and let the trumpets sound While we return these dukes what we decree.

Draw near,

[A long

And list what with our council we have done.
For that our kingdom's earth should not be soil
With that dear blood which it hath fostered;
And for our eyes do hate the dire aspect
Of civil wounds plough'd up with neighbours' s
And for we think the eagle-winged pride

1128. civil] Qq 2, 3, 4, 5, Ff; Some copies of Q I appear to rea

112. approve] prove. Compare King Lear, III. v. 12: "This is the letter he spoke of, which approves him an intelligent party."

118. warder] a truncheon or staff
borne by a commander-in-chief or per-
son presiding in such a case as this
duel. It was evidently used for giving
certain signals, e.g. :—
"Wafting his warder thrice about
his head,

He cast it up with his auspicious
hand,
Which was the signal through the
English spread,

That they should charge."
(Drayton, The Ballade of Agincourt,
Stanza 181).

121. Withdraw ... us] to the lords surrounding him, with whom he is going to take counsel.

122. While] until, or meanwhile until A similar usage exists in the north of England to-day. A porter will often

tell one: "You'd better wa the train comes.

A long flourish] indicati spent in deliberation.

125. For that 127, 129. lent to "because." For back to the Old English fo þæm, for-pon, etc., whi indicative meant "becaus

129-133. These lines o the first four Quartos. ence of making peace, whi when roused fright fair p quiet confines, evidently m reject the lines before 162 ford's note on this point su out of the difficulty, if di be beyond the usual licen bethan writers. "Richa bases the sentence he is clare upon the plausible the quarrel of two such the risk of civil war; but th incoherence of his lang

Of sky-aspiring and ambitious thoughts,
With rival-hating envy, set on you

130

To wake our peace, which in our country's cradle
Draws the sweet infant breath of gentle sleep;

I

tants.

Might from our quiet confines fright fair peace,

Which so roused up with boisterous untuned drums,
With harsh resounding trumpets' dreadful bray,
And grating shock of wrathful iron arms,

135

charge sounde

n.

Therefore, we banish you our territories:
You, cousin Hereford, upon pain of life,

And make us wade even in our kindred's blood;

ir spears,

140

120

:

bund

ee.

A long flourish

145

Till twice five summers have enrich'd our fields
Shall not regreet our fair dominions,
But tread the stranger paths of banishment.
Boling. Your will be done: this must my comfort be,
That sun that warms you here shall shine on me;
And those his golden beams to you here lent
Shall point on me and gild my banishment.
K. Rich. Norfolk, for thee remains a heavier doom,
Which I with some unwillingness pronounce:
The sly slow hours shall not determinate
The dateless limit of thy dear exile;

140, 153. life] Qq 1, 2, 3, 4; death Ff, Q 5.
3, 4, 5, Ff 1, 3, 4; fly slow F 2.

how little this expresses his true motive.
Compare especially the luxuriant but
quite indistinct imagery of lines 132-
137." It seems to me somewhat diffi-
cult to admit that Shakespeare allowed
a character of importance to speak so
loosely when not under the stress of
intense passion. It seems more diffi-
cult still to admit it in the case of
Richard, who is throughout depicted
as an artist in words of no mean order.
On the other hand, Dr. Herford's way
of taking the passage is the only one
worth considering that has so far been
suggested.

140. pain... life] equivalent to
"pain of death, 'which is the reading
of the Ff and Q 5. Compare a similar
use of O.E. feorh, life: be feore (lit. by
life) = on pain of death.

142. regreet] See supra, 1. iii. 67. 147. point on] The meaning is obvious but the usage is peculiar. Compare Julius Cæsar, 1. iii. 32: "I believe they are portentous things unto the climate that they point upon," where "climate," of course, is best rendered

150

150. sly slow] Qq 1, 2,

by our modern "latitude"; and Othello, v. ii. 46:

"These are portents; but yet I hope, I hope,

They do not point on me." 150. sly slow] There is no doubt that some of the copies of the second Folio read fly slow, and there is no definite proof that any other copies of this Folio read sly slow (see note XI. to Cambridge edit.). There exists a multitude of entirely needless emendations of the passage, "sly" being too much for the weak stomachs of many commentators. The noiseless, secret, passing time may well deserve the epithet sly.

The hopeless word of "never to return "
Breathe I against thee, upon pain of life.
Mow. A heavy sentence, my most sovereign liege,
And all unlook'd for from your highness' mɔuth:
A dearer merit, not so deep a maim
As to be cast forth in the common air,
Have I deserved at your highness' hands.

The language I have learn'd these forty years,
My native English, now I must forgo:

And now my tongue's use is to me no more
Than an unstringed viol or a harp;

Or like a cunning instrument cased up,
Or, being open, put into his hands

That knows no touch to tune the harmony:
Within my mouth you have engaol'd my tongue,
Doubly portcullis'd with my teeth and lips;
And dull unfeeling barren ignorance
Is made my gaoler to attend on me.
I am too old to fawn upon a nurse,
Too far in years to be a pupil now:

What is thy sentence then but speechless death,
Which robs my tongue from breathing native breat
K. Rich. It boots thee not to be compassionate:

After our sentence plaining comes too late.
Mow. Then thus I turn me from my country's light,
To dwell in solemn shades of endless night.
K. Rich. Return again, and take an oath with thee.
Lay on our royal sword your banish'd hands;

i. 130, supra. It is often used by Shake-
speare in most subtle senses which are
better felt and understood than ex-
plained; dear exile is an instance of
this, where we seem to have the mean-
ing of something personally and greatly
important to Norfolk implied along with
the idea of bitterness and suffering.

156. dearer merit] Merit has here the
sense of reward, modified, however, by
the idea of desert. Dearer probably
means more valuable; but see the
last note, on dear. The cross allitera-
tion and comparison seem like a faint
echo of Lyly.

162. viol] The chief of the medieval stringed instruments played with the bow. There were several sizes of viols, all having six strings; they were the direct ancestors of the modern violin,

viola, violoncello and bas double-bass.

165. That . . . touch] that no musical skill. Compare T men of Verona, III. ii. 78-81:"For Orpheus' lute was st poet's sinews, Whose golden touch co steel and stones, Make tigers tame and athans

Forsake unsounded deep on sands." 174. compassionate] either pity" (upon thyself) in modern sense of the word, lent to "passionate," lament

179. sword] The hilt of formed a cross. Compare scene in Hamlet.