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Which elder days shall ripen, and confirm

To more approved service and desert.

Boling. I thank thee, gentle Percy; and be sure,
I count myself in nothing else so happy
As in a soul rememb'ring my good friends;
And as my fortune ripens with thy love,

It shall be still thy true love's recompense:

My heart this covenant makes, my hand thus seals it.
North. How far is it to Berkley? And what stir
Keeps good old York there, with his men of war?
Percy. There stands the castle, by yon tuft of trees,
Mann'd with three hundred men, as I have heard:
And in it are the lords of York, Berkley, and Seymour;
None else of name and noble estimate.

Enter Ross and WILLOUGHBY.

North. Here come the lords of Ross and Willoughby, Bloody with spurring, fiery-red with haste.

Boling. Welcome, my lords: I wot your love pursues
A banish'd traitor; all my treasury

Is yet but unfelt thanks, which, more enrich'd,
Shall be your love and labour's recompense.

Ross. Your presence makes us rich, most noble lord.
Willo. And far surmounts our labour to attain it.
Boling. Evermore thanks, th' exchequer of the poor;
Which, till my infant fortune comes to years,
Stands for my bounty. But who comes here?

Enter BERKLEY.

North. It is my lord of Berkley, as I guess.
Berk. My lord of Hereford, my message is to you.
Boling. My lord, my answer is—to Lancaster :a

And I am come to seek that name in England :
And I must find that title in your tongue,

Before I make reply to aught you say.

Berk. Mistake me not, my lord; 't is not my meaning

To raze one title of your honour out :—

a To Lancaster. I do not answer to the name of Hereford-my answer is to the name of Lancaster.

a

To you, my lord, I come, (what lord you will,)
From the most gracious regent of this land,
The duke of York; to know what pricks you on
To take advantage of the absent time,

And fright our native peace with self-born arms.

Enter YORK, attended.

Boling. I shall not need transport my words by you; Here comes his grace in person. My noble uncle! [Kneels. York. Show me thy humble heart, and not thy knee, Whose duty is deceivable and false.

Boling. My gracious uncle!

York. Tut, tut!

Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle.
I am no traitor's uncle; and that word, grace,
In an ungracious mouth, is but profane.

Why have these banish'd and forbidden legs
Dar'd once to touch a dust of England's ground?
But more then, why, why have they dar'd to march
many miles upon her peaceful bosom,

So

Frighting her pale-fac'd villages with war,

And ostentation of despised arms?¢

Com'st thou because the anointed king is hence?

Why, foolish boy, the king is left behind,
And in my loyal bosom lies his power.
Were I but now the lord of such hot youth
As when brave Gaunt, thy father, and myself,
Rescued the Black Prince, that young Mars of men,
From forth the ranks of many thousand French,
O, then, how quickly should this arm of mine,
Now prisoner to the palsy, chastise thee,

And minister correction to thy fault!

Boling. My gracious uncle, let me know my fault;

On what condition stands it, and wherein ?

a Gracious in the first quarto ;-glorious in the folio, which also omits regent. This is the reading of the first quarto. The folio reads,

[blocks in formation]

In 'Romeo and Juliet' we have,

"Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds." c Despised arms. The ostentation of arms which we despise.

York. Even in condition of the worst degree,

In gross rebellion, and detested treason:

Thou art a banish'd man, and here art come,

Before the expiration of thy time,

In braving arms against thy sovereign.

Boling. As I was banish'd, I was banish'd Hereford: But as I come, I come for Lancaster.

And, noble uncle, I beseech your grace,

Look on my wrongs with an indifferent eye:
You are my father, for methinks in you.
I see old Gaunt alive; O, then, my father!
Will you permit that I shall stand condemn'd
A wand'ring vagabond; my rights and royalties
Pluck'd from my arms perforce, and given away
To upstart unthrifts? Wherefore was I born?
If that my cousin king be king of England,
It must be granted I am duke of Lancaster.
You have a son, Aumerle, my noble kinsman ;
Had you first died, and he been thus trod down,
He should have found his uncle Gaunt a father,
To rouse his wrongs, and chase them to the bay.
I am denied to sue my livery here,

And yet my letters-patents give me leave:
My father's goods are all distrain'd, and sold;
And these, and all, are all amiss employ'd.
What would you have me do? I am a subject,
And challenge law: Attorneys are denied me;
And therefore personally I lay my claim

To my inheritance of free descent.

North. The noble duke hath been too much abus'd. Ross. It stands your grace upon, to do him right. Willo. Base men by his endowments are made great. York. My lords of England, let me tell you this,I have had feeling of my cousin's wrongs, And labour'd all I could to do him right: But in this kind to come, in braving arms, Be his own carver, and cut out his

way,

To find out right with wrongs,-it may not be ;

And you that do abet him in this kind,

Cherish rebellion, and are rebels all.

North. The noble duke hath sworn his coming is
But for his own: and, for the right of that,
We all have strongly sworn to give him aid;
And let him ne'er see joy that breaks that oath.
York. Well, well, I see the issue of these arms;
I cannot mend it, I must needs confess,
Because my power is weak, and all ill left:
But, if I could, by Him that gave me life,
I would attach you all, and make you stoop
Unto the sovereign mercy of the king;
But, since I cannot, be it known to you,
I do remain as neuter. So, fare well;-
Unless you please to enter in the castle,
And there repose you for this night.

you

Boling. An offer, uncle, that we will accept.
But we must win your grace to go

with us
To Bristol castle; which, they say, is held
By Bushy, Bagot, and their complices,
The caterpillars of the commonwealth,

Which I have sworn to weed, and pluck away.

York. It may be I will go with you:-but For I am loth to break our country's laws.

yet I'll pause;

Nor friends, nor foes, to me welcome you are:
Things past redress are now with me past care.

SCENE IV.-A Camp in Wales.

Enter SALISBURY and a Captain.

[Exeunt.

Cap. My lord of Salisbury, we have stay'd ten days, And hardly kept our countrymen together,

And yet we hear no tidings from the king;

Therefore we will disperse ourselves: farewell.

Sal. Stay yet another day, thou trusty Welshman; The king reposeth all his confidence

In thee.

Cap. 'Tis thought the king is dead; we will not stay. The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd,

And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven;
The pale-fac'd moon looks bloody on the earth,
And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change;
Rich men look sad, and ruffians dance and leap,-
The one, in fear to lose what they enjoy,
The other, to enjoy by rage and war:
These signs forerun the death [or falla] of kings.-
Farewell; our countrymen are gone and fled,

As well assur'd Richard their king is dead.

[Exit.

Sal. Ah, Richard! with the eyes of heavy mind,

I see thy glory, like a shooting star,

Fall to the base earth from the firmament!
Thy sun sets weeping in the lowly west,
Witnessing storms to come, woe, and unrest;
Thy friends are fled, to wait upon thy foes;
And crossly to thy good all fortune goes.

a Or fall is not in the original copies.

[Exit.

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