Marshal, command our officers at arms
Be ready to direct these home-alarms.

SCENE II.

[Exeunt.

The same. A Room in the Duke of Lancaster's Palace.

Enter GAUNT, and Duchess of Gloster.

Gaunt. Alas! the part I had in Gloster's blood
Doth more solicit me, than your exclaims,
To stir against the butchers of his life.
But since correction lieth in those hands,
Which made the fault that we cannot correct,
Put we our quarrel to the will of heaven;
Who when he sees the hours ripe on earth,
Will rain hot vengeance on offenders' heads.

Duch. Finds brotherhood in thee no sharper spur?
Hath love in thy old blood no living fire?
Edward's seven sons, whereof thyself art one,
Were as seven phials of his sacred blood,
Or seven fair branches, springing from one root:
Some of those seven are dried by nature's course,
Some of those branches by the destinies cut:
But Thomas, my dear lord, my life, my Gloster,-
One phial full of Edward's sacred blood,

One flourishing branch of his most royal root,

Lat. Designare." At the end of the article the reader is referred to the words "to marke, note, demonstrate or shew."-The word is still used with this signification in Scotland. Malone.

5 Marshal, command &c.] The old copies-Lord Marshal; but (as Mr. Ritson observes) the metre requires the omission I have made. It is also justified by his majesty's repeated address to the same officer, in scene iii. Steevens.

6 - duchess of Gloster.] The Duchess of Gloster was Eleanor Bohun, widow of Duke Thomas, son of Edward III.

7

Walpole.

- the part I had - That is, my relation of consanguinity

to Gloster. Hanmer.

Who when he sees -) The old copies erroneously read:
Who when they see

I have reformed the text by example of a subsequent passage, p. 18:

66

heaven's substitute,

"His deputy, anointed in his sight, &c. Steevens.

Is crack'd, and all the precious liquor spilt;
Is hack'd down, and his summer leaves all faded,
By envy's hand, and murder's bloody axe.
Ah, Gaunt! his blood was thine; that bed, that womb,
That mettle, that self-mould, that fashion'd thee,
Made him a man; and though thou liv'st, and breath'st,
Yet art thou slain in him: thou dost consent1
In some large measure to thy father's death,
In that thou seest thy wretched brother die,
Who was the model of thy father's life.
Call it not patience, Gaunt, it is despair:
In suffering thus thy brother to be slaughter'd,
Thou show'st the naked pathway to thy life,
Teaching stern murder how to butcher thee:
That which in mean men we entitle-patience,
Is pale cold cowardice in noble breasts.
What shall I say? to safeguard thine own life,
The best way is to 'venge my Gloster's death.

Gaunt. Heaven's is the quarrel; for heaven's substitute,
His deputy anointed in his sight,
Hath caus'd his death: the which if wrongfully,
Let heaven revenge; for I may never lift
An angry arm against his minister.

Duch. Where then, alas! may I complain myself?2

9 One phial &c.] Though all the old copies concur in the present regulation of the following lines, I would rather read: One phial full of Edward's sacred blood Is crack'd, and all the precious liquor spill'ds One flourishing branch of his most royal root Is hack'd down, and his summer leaves all faded.

Some of the old copies in this instance, as in many others, read vaded, a mode of spelling practised by several of our ancient writers. After all, I believe the transposition to be needless.

Steevens.

1- thou dost consent &c.] i. e. assent. So, in St. Luke's Gospel, xxiii, 51: "The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them." Steevens.

2

may I complain myself?] To complain is commonly a verb neuter, but it is here used as a verb active. So, in a very scarce book entitled A courtlie Controversie of Cupid's Cautels, &c. Translated from the French, &c. by H. W. [Henry Wotton] to comforte me, or helpe to complaine my great sorrowe." Again, p. 58: " - wyth greate griefe he complained the calamitie of his country."

Again, in The Queenes Majesties Entertainment in Suffolke and

Gaunt. To heaven, the widow's champion and defence.
Duch. Why then, I will. Farewel, old Gaunt.3

Thou go'st to Coventry, there to behold
Our cousin Hereford and fell Mowbray fight:
O, sit my husband's wrongs on Hereford's spear,
That it may enter butcher Mowbray's breast!
Or, if misfortune miss the first career,
Be Mowbray's sins so heavy in his bosom,
That they may break his foaming courser's back,
And throw the rider headlong in the lists,
A caitiff recreant to my cousin Hereford!
Farewel, old Gaunt; thy sometimes brother's wife,
With her companion grief must end her life.

Gaunt. Sister, farewel: I must to Coventry:
As much good stay with thee, as go with me!

Norfolke, by Thomas Churchyard: " - Cupid encountring the Queene, beganne to complayne hys state and his mothers," &c. Dryden also 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 slain.""

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

3 Why then, I will. Farewel, old Gaunt.] The measure of this line being clearly defective, why may we not read?Now fare thee well, old Gaunt.

Why then I will.

Or thus:

Why then I will.

Farewel 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 word -farewel, at the end of the line. Steevens.

4 A caitiff recreant - Caitiff originally signified a prisoners next a slave, from the condition of prisoners; then a scounarel from the qualities of a slave:

“Ήμισυ τῆς ἀρεξης αποαίνυται δέλιον ήμαρ.” In this passage it partakes of all these significations. Johnson. This just sentiment is in Homer; but the learned commentator quoting, I suppose from memory, has compressed a couplet into a single line:

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

Odyss. Lib. XVII, v. 322. H. White.

I do not believe that caitiff in our language ever signified a prisoner. I take it to be derived, not from captiff, but from chetif, Fr. poor, miserable. Tyrwhitt.

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 sorrow ends not when it seemeth done.
Commend me to my brother, Edmund York.
Lo, this is all:- Nay, yet depart not so;
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,5
Unpeopled offices, untrodden stones?

And what cheer there for welcome, but my groans?
Therefore commend me; let him not come there,
To seek out sorrow that dwells every where:7
Desolate, desolate, will I hence, and die;

The last leave of thee takes my weeping eye. [Excunt.

SCENE III.

Gosford-Green, near Coventry.

Lists set out, and a Throne. Heralds, &c. attending. Enter the Lord Marshal, and AUMERLE.9

Mar. My lord Aumerle, is Harry Hereford arm'd?

sunfurnish'd walls,] In our ancient castles the naked stone 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.

• 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.

To seek out sorrow that dwells every where:] Perhaps the pointing may be reformed without injury to the sense:

8

let him not come there

To seek out sorrow: that dwells every where. Whalley. Lord Marshal,] Shakspeare has here committed a slight mistake. The office of Lord Marshal was executed on this occasion by Thomas Holland, Duke of Surrey. Our author has in

Aum. Yea, at all points; and longs to enter in. Mar. The duke of Norfolk, sprightfully and bold, Stays but the summons of the appellant's trumpet. 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 seat on his Throne; GAUNT, and several 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: Ask him his name; and orderly proceed To swear him in the justice of his cause. 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 so1 defend thee heaven, and thy valour!

Nor.2 My name is Thomas Mowbray, duke of Nor

folk;

Who hither come engaged by my oath,

advertently introduced that nobleman as a distinct person from the Marshal, in the present drama.

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.

9 Aumerle.] Edward Duke of Aumerle, so created by his cousin 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 lists of Coventry, as High Constable of England. Malone.

1 And so-] The old copies read-As so -. Steevens. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. Malone.

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