87

For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite
The man that mocks at it, and sets it light.

Boling. Oh, who can hold a fire in his hand
By thinking on the frosty Caucasus ? 88
Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite
By bare imagination of a feast ?
Or wallow naked in December snow

By thinking on fantastic summer's heat?
Oh, no! the apprehension 9 of the good,
Gives but the greater feeling to the worse:
Fell sorrow's tooth doth never rankle more
Than when it bites, but lanceth not the sore.
Gaunt. Come, come, my son, I'll bring thee on
thy way:90

Had I thy youth and cause, I would not stay. Boling. Then, England's ground, farewell; sweet soil, adieu;

My mother, and my nurse, that bears me yet!
Where'er I wander, boast of this I can,-
Though banish'd, yet a true born Englishman.

SCENE IV.-The Court.

[Exeunt.

Enter King RICHARD, BAGOT, and GREEN; AUMERLE following.

K. Rich. We did observe."1-Cousin Aumerle, How far brought you high Hereford on his way ? Aum. I brought high Hereford, if you call him So,

But to the next highway, and there I left him.

K. Rich. And say, what store of parting tears were shed?

Aum. Faith, none for me; 92 except the northeast wind,

Which then blew bitterly against our faces,
Awak'd the sleeping rheum, and so by chance
Did grace our hollow parting with a tear.

87. Gnarling Snarling,' 'growling.' The adoption of this epithet here affords an instance of Shakespeare's poetical taste and skill in his choice of expressive words; for "gnarling," besides its own meaning, gives by its sound the added effect of 'gnawing,' which so well accords with the sense of the passage.

88. The frosty Caucasus. A mountain range, extending between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. It is especially well selected as a type of bleakness by the poet, since its name is derived from the Calmuc Tartar word, “C'hasu," which signifies 'snow.'

8. Apprehension. Here used for intelligential perception, appreciation.

of

90. I'll bring thee on thy way. 'I'll accompany you a part your way.' See Note 20, Act iii., "Much Ado."

91. We did observe. These words form one of those abrupt commencements that our dramatist delighted in. See Note 50, Act iv., "King John." They are said by the king to Bagot and Green who, with himself, have “observed" Bolingbroke's "courtship to the common people," and have been conversing upon the subject previously to Aumerle's advent. This scene, as Johnson judiciously remarked, should have commenced the

And added years to his short banishment,
He should have had a volume of farewells;
But, since it would not, he had none of me.

K. Rich. He is our cousin, cousin; but 'tis doubt,

When time shall call him home from banishment,
Whether our kinsman come to see his friends.
Ourself, and Bushy, Bagot here, and Green,
Observ'd his courtship to the common people;
How he did seem to dive into their hearts
With humble and familiar courtesy ;
What reverence he did throw away on slaves;
Wooing poor craftsmen with the craft of smiles,
And patient underbearing of his fortune,
As 'twere to banish their affects with him.94
Off goes his bonnet to an oyster-wench;
A brace of draymen bid God speed him well,
And had the tribute of his supple knee,95
With "Thanks, my countrymen, my loving
friends;"

As were our England in reversion his,
And he our subjects' next degree in hope.

Green. Well, he is gone; and with him go

these thoughts.

Now for the rebels which stand out in Ireland,—
Expedient manage must be made, my liege,
Ere farther leisure yield them farther means
For their advantage and your highness' loss.

K. Rich. We will ourself in person to this war : And, for our coffers,-with too great a court, And liberal largess, 89—are grown somewhat light,

second Act; as thus the pause would have given time for John of Gaunt to have accompanied his son, to return, and to fall sick at Ely House.

92. None for me. 'None, for my part; 'none, so far as I was concerned.' Shakespeare occasionally, as here, uses "for" where 'from ' might be used.

93. And, for my heart, &c. "For" here used as 'because.' 94. To banish their affects with him. 'To take their affections into banishment with him.' Shakespeare elsewhere uses "affects" for 'affections,' 'inclinations.' See Note 17, Act i., "Love's Labour's Lost."

95. Tribute of his supple knee. Men, formerly, bent the knee, or curtsied, in salutation, as well as women. See Note 95, Act ii., "Twelfth Night."

SCENE 1-LONDON. A Room in Ely House. GAUNT on a couch; the DUKE OF YORK,' and others, standing by bim.

Gaunt. Will the king come, that I may breathe my last

In wholesome counsel to his unstaid youth? York. Vex not yourself, nor strive not with your breath;

For all in vain cones counsel to his ear.

Gaunt. Oh, but they say the tongues of dying men Enforce attention like deep harmony:

Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain ;

For they breathe truth that breathe their words in pain.

He that no more must say, is listen'd more

Than they whom youth and ease have taught to glose: 2

To farm our royal realm. Holinshed records that "the common bruit ran, that the king had set to farme the realme of England unto Sir William Scroope, Earle of Wiltshire, and then treasurer of England, to Sir John Bushie, Sir William Bagot, and Sir Henrie Greene, knights."

100. Blank charters. Stow and Holinshed both chronicle this infamous means of mulcting the people. The latter says:"Manie blank charters were devised, and brought into the citie, which manie of the substantiall and wealthie citizens were fune to seale, to their great charge, as in the end appeared. And the like charters were sent abroad into all shires within the realme, whereby great grudge and murmuring arose among the people; for when they were so sealed, the king's officers wrote in the same what liked them, as well for charging the parties with paiment of monie, as otherwise."

101. Presently. Here, and elsewhere, used for 'immediately.' See Note 6, Act iv., "Tempest."

1. The Duke of York. Edmund, the fifth son of Edward III., and born in 1441 at Langley, near St. Albans; from whence he derived his surname.

More are men's ends mark'd, than their lives before:

The setting sun, and music at the close, As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last, Writ in remembrance more than things long past : Though Richard my life's counsel would not hear, My death's sad tale may yet undeaf his ear.

York. No; it is stopp'd with other flattering sounds,

As, praises of his state: then, there are found
Lascivious metres, to whose venom sound
The open ear of youth doth always listen;
Report of fashions in proud Italy,3
Whose manners still our tardy apish nation
Limps after, in base imitation.

Where doth the world thrust forth a vanity
(So it be new, there's no respect how vile),
That is not quickly buzz'd into his ears?
Then all too late comes counsel to be heard,

2. Gl se. Sometimes spelt 'gloze.' "To glose" is to sophisticate, to talk speciously; to insinuate, to flatter. See Note 118, Act iv., "Love's Labour's Lost."

3. Report of fashions in proud Italy. Johnson here accuses the dramatist of charging "the times of Richard with a folly not perhaps known then, but very frequent in Shakespeare's time, and much lamented by the wisest and best of our ancestors." For this very reason does the dramatist introduce it, satirise it, and represent it as conducing (among other unwise courses) to that degradation and demoralisation which led to ultimate downfall. As nothing is wiser than an emulation of noble and judicious procedure on the part of other nations, so few things are more contemptible and even pernicious than an aping of their frivolities and absurdities. And no one knew this better than Shakespeare, who loses no opportunity of inculcating the monition.

4. There's no respect how. Here used as we now say, 'It is of no consequence how; there is no regard or consideration paid to how,' &c. Shakespeare elsewhere uses "respect" fo 'regard,' 'consideration,' motive.' Sue Note 38, Act v., "King John."

Or as a moat defensive to a house,

Against the envy of less happier lands ;7
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this
England,

This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,
Fear'd by their breed, and famous by their birth,
Renowned for their deeds as far from home
(For Christian service and true chivalry)
As is the sepulchre, in stubborn Jewry,
Of the world's ransom, blessèd Mary's Son ;-

This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land,

Dear for her reputation through the world,"
Is now leas'd out (I die pronouncing it),
Like to a tenement or pelting farm: 10
England, bound in with the triumphant sea,
Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege
Of wat'ry Neptune, is now bound in with shame,
With inky blots, and rotten parchment bonds:
That England, that was wont to conquer others,
Hath made a shameful conquest of itself.
Ah! would the scandal vanish with my life,
How happy then were my ensuing death!

Enter King RICHARD and Queen, AUMERLE,
BUSHY, GREEN, BAGOT, Ross, and WIL-
LOUGHBY.12

York. The king is come: deal mildly with his youth;

For

young hot colts, being rag'd, do rage the more.l 13

Queen. How fares our noble uncle, Lancaster? K. Rich. What comfort, man? how is't with aged Gaunt?

Gaunt. Oh, how that name befits my composi

tion;

Old Gaunt, indeed; and gaunt in being old:
Within me grief hath kept a tedious fast ;
And who abstains from meat, that is not gaunt?
For sleeping England long time have I watch'd;
Watching breeds leanness, leanness is all gaunt:
The pleasure that some fathers feed upon,

7. The entry of less happier lands. “Envy" is here used for 'envious hatred,' 'malice springing from envy.' "Less happier" is used by Shakespeare to express the contrary of 'more happier ;' the double comparative being a form then employed where emphasis of signification was required. See Note 89, Act iii., "As You Like It."

8. Fear'd by their breed, and famous by their birth. "By" in this line is used for by reason of,' or 'for.' Indeed, the Folio prints for' instead of the second "by" here; which is the Quarto word.

9 Land of such dear souls, this dear dear tand, dear for her, &c. The fourfold repetition of the word "dear" in this sentence affords a marked instance of the poet's appreciation of the force of an iterated word, and of his intense love for his native England. See Note 57, Act iii., "King John."

10. Pelting farm. "Pelting" means 'paltry,' 'petty' (see Note 22, Act i., "Midsummer Night's Dream"); and "farm" is used in reference to the country being 'farmed out,' or 'set to farme,' as explained in Note- 99, Act i.

Is my strict fast,-I mean, my children's looks;
And therein fasting, hast thou made me gaunt:
Gaunt am I for the grave, gaunt as a grave,
Whose hollow womb inherits 14 naught but bones.
K. Rich. Can sick men play so nicely with their
names?

Gaunt. No, misery makes sport to mock itself:
Since thou dost seek to kill my name in me,
I mock my name, great king, to flatter thee.
K. Rich. Should dying men flatter with those 15
that live?

Gaunt. No, no, men living flatter those that die. K. Rich. Thou now a-dying, say'st thou flatter'st

me.

Gaunt. Oh, no! thou diest, though I the sicker

be.

K. Rich. I am in health, I breathe, and see thee ill.

Gaunt. Now, He that made me knows I see

thee ill;

Ill in myself to see, and in thee seeing ill.
Thy death-bed is no lesser than the land
Wherein thou liest in reputation sick;
And thou, too careless patient as thou art,
Committ'st thy anointed body to the cure
Of those physicians that first wounded thee:
A thousand flatterers sit within thy crown,
Whose compass is no bigger than thy head;
And yet, incaged in so small a verge,
The waste is no whit lesser than thy land.
Oh, had thy grandsire, with a prophet's eye,
Seen how his son's son should destroy his sons,
From forth thy reach he would have laid thy
shame,

Deposing thee before thou wert possess'd,
Which art possess'd 16 now to depose thyself.
Why, cousin, wert thou regent of the world,
It were a shame to let this land by lease;
But for thy world enjoying but this land,
Is it not more than shame to shame it so?
Landlord of England art thou now, not king:

11. Ross. William Lord Ross, Roos, or Ros (for so the name has been variously spelt at various times), of Hamlake; afterwards Lord Treasurer to Henry IV.

12. Willoughby. William Lord Willoughby of Eresby: who afterwards married Joan, widow of Edmund, Duke of York. 13. Being ragd, do rage the more. The word "rag'd" here has been altered by emendators to 'rein'd,' and to 'urg'd;' but "rag'd" here means 'fretted,' 'irritated,' 'provoked,' and the repetition is quite in Shakespeare's style

14. Inherits. 'Possesses.' See Note 13, Act i.

15. Men flatter with those. The Folio omits "with" here; but the expression is idiomatic, meaning to speak delusively, to say that which is flatteringly hopeful or pleasing, and is used elsewhere by Shakespeare. See Note 116, Act i., "Twelfth Night."

Thy state of law is bondslave to the law; 17
And-

K. Rich. And thou a lunatic lean-witted fool,1s
Presuming on an ague's privilege,
Dar'st with thy frozen admonition

Make pale our cheek, chasing the royal blood
With fury from his native residence.
Now, by my seat's right royal majesty,
Wert thou not brother to great Edward's son,
This tongue that runs so roundly 19 in thy head
Should run thy head from thy unreverend shoulders.
Gaunt. Oh, spare me not, my brother Edward's

son,

For that 20 I was his father Edward's son ;-
That blood already, like the pelican,

Hast thou tapp'd out, and drunkenly carous'd :
My brother Gloster, plain well-meaning soul,
(Whom fair befall in heaven 'mongst happy souls!)
May be a precedent and witness good
That thou respect'st not spilling Edward's blood :
Join with the present sickness that I have;
And thy unkindness be like crooked age,
To crop at once a too-long wither'd flower.21
Live in thy shame, but die not shame with thee!—
These words hereafter thy tormentors be!—
Convey me to my bed, then to my grave:
Love they to live that love and honour have.22
[Exit, borne out by his Attendants.

K. Rich. And let them die that age and sullens have;

For both hast thou, and both become the grave. York. I do beseech your majesty, impute his words

To wayward sickliness and age in him:
He loves you, on my life, and holds you dear

17. Thy state of law is bondslave to the law. Thy lawful state, as possessor of English royalty and English ground, is now subject to legal restrictions ;' since thou hast farmed it out.

18. And-And thou, &c. This is the reading of the Folio; which gives better sense to the passage than the reading of the Quartos, although the latter reading avoids the additional "And" in the line. Richard, taking the word out of Gaunt's mouth, and running it into his own speech, gives the effect of the two "Ands" being merged into one.

19. Roundly. Bluntly,' 'bluffly.' See Note 103, Act iv., "Taming of the Shrew."

20. For that. Used as 'because.'

21. Thy unkindness be ike crooked age, to crop, &c. Johnson finds fault with this passage, and proposes various alterations therein; but we think that here Gaunt, referring to Richard's threat of having his "head" taken from his "shoulders," uses "crooked age as a figurative expression; which typifies an axe with which to behead, and a sickle or pruning-hook with which to crop flowers. Old age, bent by stooping, allows of this poetical figure.

22. Love they to live that love and honour have. Let them love to live who have love and honour.' Shakespeare elsewhere uses this form of the imperative mood; and the line also affords an example of his occasional transposed construction.

23. Northumberland. Henry Percy, Earl of Northumber land; father to Harry Percy, surnamed Hotspur.

As Harry Duke of Hereford, were he here.

K. Rich. Right, you say true: as Hereford's love, so his;

As theirs, so mine; and all be as it is.

Enter NORTHUMBERLAND, 23

North. My liege, old Gaunt commends him to your majesty.

K. Rich. What says he?
North.

Nay, nothing; all is said: His tongue is now a stringless instrument; Words, life, and all, old Lancaster hath spent. York. Be York the next that must be bankrupt so!

Though death be poor, it ends a mortal woe.

K. Rich. The ripest fruit first falls, and so doth he;

His time is spent, our pilgrimage must be :21
So much for that.-Now for our Irish wars:
We must supplant those rough rug-headed kerns,25
Which live like venom, where no venom else,26
But only they, hath privilege to live.

And for these great affairs 27 do ask some charge,
Towards our assistance we do seize to us
The plate, coin, revenues, and movables,
Whereof our uncle Gaunt did stand possess'd.

York. How long shall I be patient? ah! how long

Shall tender duty make me suffer wrong?
Not Gloster's death, nor Hereford's banishment,
Not Gaunt's rebukes, nor England's private
wrongs,

Nor the prevention of poor Bolingbroke
About his marriage,23 nor my own disgrace,
Have ever made me sour my patient cheek,
Or bend one wrinkle on my sovereign's face.

24. Must be. Must hereafter ensue,' 'is yet to come.' "Kerns 39 25. Rough rug-headed kerns. were the rude and desperate-charactered foot soldiery of Ireland. Rug-headed here, and "shag-hair'd" elsewhere, as epithets applied by Shakespeare to these Irish soldiers, afford a proof of his eye for national and personal peculiarity; for, to this day, there is a distinctive look of indomitable disorder about the horrent hair of a shock-headed Irish labourer, that bears still existing testimony to the correctness of his graphic expressions depicting the kerns' appearance.

26. Where no venom else. An allusion to the legend that St. Patrick expelled from Ireland all venomous reptiles for evermore. This passage, by the way, furnishes an instance of the way in which Shakespeare, by his introduction of an expressive word and allusion, conveys the effect of additional words and ideas. Here, by the word "venom," he poetically implies venomous reptiles;' and thus calls these kerns the reptiles, as well as the poison of their native land.

27. And for these great affairs. "For" used as 'because.' 28. About his marriage. Bolingbroke, going into France after his banishment, was well received by the French king, Charles VI., and had obtained a promise that the only daughter of the French king's uncle, the Duke of Berry, should be given to him in marriage; but Richard sent the Earl of Salisbury into France to prevent the match.