Devouring pestilence hangs in our air,

And thou art flying to a fresher clime.
Look, what thy soul holds dear, imagine it

To lie that way thou go'st, not whence thou com'st.
Suppose the singing birds, musicians;

The grass whereon thou tread'st, the presence strew'd;
The flowers, fair ladies; and thy steps, no more

Than a delightful measure or a dance :

For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite
The man that mocks at it, and sets it light.a]
Boling. O, who can hold a fire in his hand,
By thinking on the frosty Caucasus ? 14
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?
O, no! the apprehension 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: 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.—A Room in the King's Palace.

[Exeunt.

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

K. Rich. We did observe.-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.

a The twenty-six lines between brackets are omitted in the folio. the first quarto of 1597, and are continued in the subsequent quartos. ductory Notice.)

They are in

(See Intro

K. Rich. And, say, what store of parting tears were shed? Aum. 'Faith, none for me,a except the north-east wind, Which then blew bitterly against our face,

Awak'd the sleepy rheum; and so, by chance,

Did grace our hollow parting with a tear.

K. Rich. What said our cousin when you parted with him?

Aum. Farewell:

And, for my heart disdained that my tongue

Should so profane the word, that taught me craft

To counterfeit oppression of such grief,

That word seem'd buried in my sorrow's grave.
Marry, would the word farewell have lengthen'd hours,
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 't is 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 't were to banish their affects with him.
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,

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,

a None for me-none on my part.

b Expedient-prompt-suitable-disengaged from entanglements. (See note on 'King John,' Act II., Scene 1.)

Ere further leisure yield them further 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, are grown somewhat light,
We are enforc'd to farm our royal realm;
The revenue whereof shall furnish us
For our affairs in hand: If that come short,
Our substitute at home shall have blank charters;
Whereto, when they shall know what men are rich,
They shall subscribe them for large sums of gold,
And send them after to supply our wants;
For we will make for Ireland presently.

Bushy, what news?

Enter BUSHY,

Bushy. Old John of Gaunt is grievous sick, my lord ; Suddenly taken; and hath sent post haste,

To entreat your majesty to visit him.

K. Rich. Where lies he?

Bushy. At Ely-house.

K. Rich. Now put it, heaven, in his physician's mind, To help him to his grave immediately!

The lining of his coffers shall make coats
To deck our soldiers for these Irish wars.
Come, gentlemen, let's all go visit him:

Pray God, we may make haste, and come too late!

[Exeunt.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF ACT I.

1 SCENE I." Hast thou, according to thy oath and band—”

THE appeal of Hereford against Mowbray was to be decided by a “trial by combat." This practice was very ancient, and traces of it are found in the fifth century. The "oath and band" of John of Gaunt were the pledges that he gave for his son's appearance. Thus, in the 'Fairy Queen of Spenser:

"These three that hardy challenge took in hand,

For Canace with Cambel for to fight;

The day was set, that all might understand,
And pledges pawn'd, the same to keep aright."

2 SCENE I." Eight thousand nobles."

The following is a representation of the gold noble of Richard II. :—

3 SCENE I." Then, Bolingbroke."

Henry of Lancaster was not called Bolingbroke, or Bullingbrook, till he had ascended the throne. This name of Henry IV. was derived from his birth-place, Bolingbroke Castle, in Lincolnshire. The last remains of this ancient edifice crumbled over their base in May, 1815. (Gentleman's Magazine,' vol. lxxxv.)

4 SCENE I.--" Our doctors say, this is no month to bleed.”

Malone says, "This alludes to the almanacs of the time, when particular seasons were pointed out as the most proper times for being bled." In an English almanac for 1386-the earliest known (and which has been printed, 1812)—we have full directions for bloodletting. (See 'Companion to the Almanac,' 1839, p. 55.)

5 SCENE II.-" Duke of Lancaster's Palace."

The Savoy Palace, of which some remains existed within a few years, was situated near the Thames, almost close to the Strand end of Waterloo Bridge. This was anciently the seat of Peter Earl of Savoy, uncle to Eleanor, queen of Henry III. Upon his death it devolved to the queen, who gave it to her second son, Edmund, afterwards Earl of Lancaster. From that time the Savoy was taken as part and parcel of the earldom and honour of Lancaster, and was used as the London palace of the earls and dukes of that house. John of Gaunt married Blanch, the daughter

of Henry, the first Duke of Lancaster. Blanch was a co-heiress with her sister Matilda to the vast estates of this duchy; and by the death of Matilda, without issue, he became subsequently possessessed of all the property, in right of his wife, and was himself created Duke of Lancaster.

6 SCENE II." Duchess of Gloster."

The following is a portrait of Eleanor Bohun, widow of Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloster. (See Introductory Notice.)

The seven sons of the great Edward III. were, 1. Edward of Woodstock, the Black Prince; 2. William of Hatfield; 3. Lionel Duke of Clarence; 4. John of Gaunt; 5. Edmund of Langley, Duke of York; 6. William of Windsor; 7. Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloster.

8 SCENE II.- -"Be Mowbray's sins so heavy in his bosom."

Did not this fine description suggest the equally fine scene in 'Ivanhoe,' where the guilty Templar falls without a blow?

9 SCENE II." Unfurnish'd walls."

"The usual manner," says Percy, in his preface to the Northumberland Household Book,' "of hanging the rooms in the old castles, was only to cover the naked stone walls with tapestry, or arras, hung upon tenter-hooks, from which they were easily taken down upon every removal."

10 SCENE II." Unpeopled offices."

The offices were those parts of a great house, or castle, in which the vast train of servants lived and carried on their duties. They were not out-buildings, nor subterraneous, but on the ground-floor within the house. The "unpeopled offices," therefore, of the Duchess of Gloster's desolate mansion would present no sound of life, nor "cheer for welcome."