2 As gentle and as jocund, as to jest," [The King and the Lords return to their seats. Mar. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, Receive thy lance; and God defend the 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 him self, 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, 2 Her. Here standeth Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, On pain to be found false and recreant, Attending but the signal to begin. Mar. Sound, trumpets; and set forward, com batants. [A Charge sounded. Stay, the king hath thrown his warders down. 2 As gentle and as jocund, as to jest,] To jest sometimes signifies in old language to play a part in a mask. 3 hath thrown his warder -] A warder appears to have been a kind of truncheon carried by the person who presided at these single combats. K. Rich. Let them lay by their helmets and their spears, And both return back to their chairs again: [A long flourish. [To the Combatants. Draw near, Of civil wounds plough'd up with neighbours' swords; [And for we think the eagle-winged pride To wake our peace, which in our country's cradle But tread the stranger paths of banishment. Boling. Your will be done: This must my comfort be, That sun, that warms you here, shall shine on me; And those his golden beams, to you here lent, Shall point on ine, and gild my banishment. And for we think the eagle-winged pride, &c.] These five verses are omitted in the other editions, and restored from the first of 1598. POPE. K. Rich. Norfolk, for thee remains a heavier doom, Which I with some unwillingness pronounce: The fly-slow hours shall not determinate Nor. A heavy sentence, my most sovereign And all unlook'd for from your highness' mouth: As to be cast forth in the common air, That knows no touch to tune the harmony. What is thy sentence then, but speechless death, K. Rich. It boots thee not to be compassionate; After our sentence plaining comes too late. Nor. Then thus I turn me from my country's light, To dwell in solemn shades of endless night. 5 compassionate;] for plaintive. [Retiring. K. Rich. Return again, and take an oath with Lay on our royal sword your banish'd hands; To plot, contrive, or complot any ill, 'Gainst us, our state, our subjects, or our land. Boling. I swear. Nor. And I, to keep all this. Boling. Norfolk, so far as to mine enemy ;- Nor. No, Bolingbroke; if ever I were traitor, " (Our part, &c.] It is a question much debated amongst the writers of the law of nations, whether a banished man may be still tied in his allegiance to the state which sent him into exile. Tully and Lord Chancellor Clarendon declare for the affirmative; Hobbes and Puffendorf hold the negative. Our author, by this line, seems to be of the same opinion. WARBURTON. 7-advised] i. e. concerted, deliberated. 8 Norfolk, so far, &c.] Perhaps the author intended that Hereford in speaking this line should show some courtesy to Mowbray; -and the meaning may be: So much civility as an enemy has a right to, I am willing to offer to thee. But what thou art, heaven, thou, and I do know Boling. How long a time lies in one little word! For, ere the six years, that he hath to spend, My oil-dried lamp, and time-bewasted light, K. Rich. Why, uncle, thou hast many years to live. Gaunt. But not a minute, king, that thou canst give: Shorten my days thou canst with sullen sorrow, ? And pluck nights from me, but not lend a morrow:] It is matter of very melancholy consideration, that all human advantages confer more power of doing evil than good. JOHNSON. |