A caitiffa recreant to my cousin Hereford!
Farewell, old Gaunt; thy sometimes brother's wife
With her companion grief must end her life.

Gaunt. Sister, 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 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,"

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 everywhere:

Desolate, desolate, will I hence, and die;

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

SCENE III.-Open Space near Coventry.

Lists set out, and a Throne. Heralds, &c., attending. Enter the LORD MARSHAL 11 and AUMERLE.12 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 bold, Stays but the summons of the appellant's trumpet.

a

Caitiff. The original meaning of this word was, a prisoner. Wickliffe has ❝he stighynge an high ledde caityfte caityf" (captivity captive). As the captive anciently became a slave, the word gradually came to indicate a man in a servile condition—a mean creature-a dishonest person. The history of language is often the history of opinion; and it is not surprising that, in the days of misused power, to be weak, and to be guilty, were synonymous. The French chétif had anciently the meaning of captif.

b Cheer. The quarto of 1597 reads cheer; the subsequent early editions, hear. (See Illustrations to Act I.)

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 Then enter NORFOLK, in armour,

another trumpet within.

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 's thy quarrel : Speak truly, on thy knighthood, and thine oath ;

As so defend thee heaven, and thy valour!

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

To God, my king, and his succeeding 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 seat.

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;

a The first folio, deviating from the first three editions, reads "his succeeding issue;"—the succeeding issue of the king. My succeeding issue, the reading of the quartos, must be received in the sense that Mowbray owed to his descendants to defend his loyalty and truth to them, as well as to his God and to his king. Their fortunes would have been ruined by his attainder; their reputations compromised by his disgrace. This, however, would be to refine somewhat too much.

And formally according to our law

Depose him in the justice of his cause.

Mar. What is thy name? and wherefore com'st thou hither,

Before king Richard, in his royal lists ?

Against whom comest thou? and what's thy quarrel?
Speak like a true knight, so defend thee heaven!

Boling. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby,
Am I; who ready here do stand in arms,

To prove, by heaven's grace, and my body's valour,
In lists, on Thomas Mowbray duke of Norfolk,
That he's a traitor, foul and dangerous,
To God of heaven, king Richard, and to me;
And, as I truly fight, defend me heaven!

Mar. On pain of death, no person be so bold,
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 hand, 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 highness,
And craves to kiss your hand, and take his leave.

K. Rich. We will descend, and fold him in our arms.
Cousin of Hereford, as thy cause is right,

So be thy fortune in this royal fight!
Farewell, my blood; which if to-day thou shed,
Lament we may, but not revenge thee dead.

Boling. O, let no noble eye profane a tear

For me, if I be gor'd with Mowbray's spear;
As confident as is the falcon's flight

Against a bird do I with Mowbray fight.

My loving lord, [to LORD MARSHAL] 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 sweet:
O thou, the earthly a author of my blood,-
Whose youthful spirit, in me regenerate,
Doth with a two-fold vigour lift me up
To reach at victory above my head,-

Add proof unto mine armour with thy prayers;
And with thy blessings steel my lance's point,
That it may enter Mowbray's waxen coat,b
And furnish new the name of John of Gaunt,
Even in the lusty 'haviour of his son.

[To GAUNT.

Gaunt. Heaven in thy good cause make thee prosperous!

Be swift like lightning in the execution;
And let thy blows, doubly redoubled,
Fall like amazing thunder on the casque

Of thy adverse pernicious enemy:

Rouse up thy youthful blood, be valiant and live.
Boling. Mine innocency, and saint George to thrive.

[He takes his seat. Nor. [Rising.] However heaven, or fortune, cast my

lot,

There lives, or dies, true to king Richard's throne,

A loyal, just, and upright gentleman:

Never did captive with a freer heart

Cast off his chains of bondage, and embrace
His golden uncontroll'd enfranchisement,
More than my dancing soul doth celebrate
This feast of battle with mine adversary.
Most mighty liege, and my companion peers,
Take from my mouth the wish of happy years:

b Waxen coat. The original meaning of the noun wax is that of something pliable, yielding. Weak and wax have the same root. Mowbray's waxen coat, into which Bolingbroke's lance's point may enter, is his frail and penetrable coat, or

armour.

c Furnish is the reading of the folio; furbish of the quarto of 1597. To furbish is to polish; to furnish to dress.

d Adverse, in the quarto; the folio, amaz'd.

As gentle and as jocund, as to jest,"

Go I to fight; Truth hath a quiet breast.

K. Rich. Farewell, my lord: securely I espy Virtue with valour couched in thine eye.

Order the trial, marshal, and begin.

[The KING and the Lords return to their seats. Mar. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, Receive thy lance; and God defend thy right!

Boling. [Rising.] Strong as a tower in hope, I cry—amen. Mar. Go bear this lance [to an Officer] to Thomas, duke of Norfolk.

1 Her. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby,
Stands here for God, his sovereign, and himself,
On pain to be found false and recreant,

To prove the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray,
A traitor to his God, his king, and him,

And dares him to set forward to the fight.

2 Her. Here standeth Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk,

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 sounded.

Stay, the king hath thrown his warder down.

K. Rich. Let them lay by their helmets and their spears, And both return back to their chairs again :

Withdraw with us: and let the trumpets sound,

а

To jest. A jest was sometimes used to signify a mask, or pageant. Thus, in the old play of "Hieronymo :'

"He promis'd us, in honour of our guest,

To grace our banquet with some pompous jest."

To jest, therefore, in the sense in which Mowbray here uses it, is to play a part in a mask.

b Warder-the truncheon, or staff of command.