I am the last of noble Edward's sons,

Of whom thy father, Prince of Wales, was first :
In war was never lion raged more fierce,

In peace was never gentle lamb more mild,
Than was that young and princely gentleman.
His face thou hast, for even so look'd he,
Accomplish'd with the number of thy hours;
But when he frown'd, it was against the French
And not against his friends; his noble hand
Did win what he did spend and spent not that
Which his triumphant father's hand had won;
His hands were guilty of no kindred blood,
But bloody with the enemies of his kin.
O Richard! York is too far gone with grief,
Or else he never would compare between.

K. Rich. Why, uncle, what's the matter?
York.
O my liege,

Pardon me, if you please; if not, I, pleased
Not to be pardon'd, am content withal.
Seek you to seize and gripe into your hands
The royalties and rights of banish'd Hereford?
Is not Gaunt dead, and doth not Hereford live?
Was not Gaunt just, and is not Harry true?
Did not the one deserve to have an heir?
Is not his heir a well-deserving son?

Take Hereford's rights away, and take from Time
His charters and his customary rights;
Let not to-morrow then ensue to-day;
Be not thyself; for how art thou a king
But by fair sequence and succession?
Now, afore God-God forbid I say true!—
If you do wrongfully seize Hereford's rights,

173. raged, chafed. The participle, not the preterite, as appears both from the analogy of the next line and from v. 70. 177. Accomplish'd, furnished.

185. compare between, draw such a comparison.

190. royalties, feudal dues and revenues.

197. ensue, follow.

Call in the letters patents that he hath
By his attorneys-general to sue

His livery, and deny his offer'd homage,
You pluck a thousand dangers on your head,
You lose a thousand well-disposed hearts
And prick my tender patience to those thoughts
Which honour and allegiance cannot think.

K. Rich. Think what you will, we seize into our hands

His plate, his goods, his money and his lands.

York. I'll not be by the while my liege, farewell:

What will ensue hereof, there's none can tell;

But by bad courses may be understood

That their events can never fall out good. [Exit. K. Rich. Go, Bushy, to the Earl of Wiltshire straight:

Bid him repair to us to Ely House

To see this business. To-morrow next

We will for Ireland; and 'tis time, I trow :
And we create, in absence of ourself,
Our uncle York lord governor of England;
For he is just and always loved us well.
Come on, our queen: to-morrow must we part ;
Be merry, for our time of stay is short.

[Flourish. Exeunt King, Queen, Aumerle, Bushy, Green, and Bagot. North. Well, lords, the Duke of Lancaster is dead.

Ross. And living too; for now his son is duke.
Willo. Barely in title, not in revenue.

202. the letters patents that he hath, etc. Richard had granted to both the banished dukes letters patent entitling them to claim by attorney any feudal inheritance which should

210

220

fall due to them,-this formal claim for its surrender being technically known as 'suing their livery.' It involved an act of homage to the king as suzerain.

North. Richly in both, if justice had her right. Ross. My heart is great; but it must break with silence,

Ere't be disburden'd with a liberal tongue.

North. Nay, speak thy mind; and let him ne'er
speak more

That speaks thy words again to do thee harm!
Willo. Tends that thou wouldst speak to the
Duke of Hereford?

If it be so, out with it boldly, man;

Quick is mine ear to hear of good towards him.
Ross. No good at all that I can do for him;
Unless you call it good to pity him,

Bereft and gelded of his patrimony.

North. Now, afore God, 'tis shame such wrongs
are borne

In him, a royal prince, and many moe
Of noble blood in this declining land.
The king is not himself, but basely led
By flatterers; and what they will inform,
Merely in hate, 'gainst any of us all,
That will the king severely prosecute

'Gainst us, our lives, our children, and our heirs.
Ross. The commons hath he pill'd with grievous
taxes,

And quite lost their hearts: the nobles hath he
fined

For ancient quarrels, and quite lost their hearts.
Willo. And daily new exactions are devised,
As blanks, benevolences, and I wot not what :

247, 248. The repetition of ' and... hearts' is only tolerable if the clauses correspond in cadence. Hence v. 247 must be read: And quite lost their hearts.'

250. blanks, blank charters

230

240

250

which wealthy persons were required to sign and seal, the king's agents then filling them up with the desired amount.

250. benevolences (pronounced 'benevolence').

But what, o' God's name, doth become of this? North. Wars have not wasted it, for warr'd he hath not,

But basely yielded upon compromise

That which his noble ancestors achieved with

blows:

More hath he spent in peace than they in wars.

Ross. The Earl of Wiltshire hath the realm in farm.

Willo. The king's grown bankrupt, like a broken man.

North. Reproach and dissolution hangeth over him.

Ross. He hath not money for these Irish wars,
His burthenous taxations notwithstanding,
But by the robbing of the banish'd duke.

North. His noble kinsman: most degenerate
king!

But, lords, we hear this fearful tempest sing,
Yet seek no shelter to avoid the storm;

We see the wind sit sore upon our sails,

And yet we strike not, but securely perish.
Ross. We see the very wreck that we must

suffer;

And unavoided is the danger now,

For suffering so the causes of our wreck.

North. Not so; even through the hollow eyes

of death

253. basely yielded upon compromise. This probably refers to Richard's cession of Brest, for which he was roughly taken to task by Gloucester, in words which recall Northumberland's : 'Sir, your grace ought to put your body in pain to win a stronghold or town by feats of war, ere you take upon you to

...

260

270

gotten

sell or deliver any.
with great adventure by the
manhood and policy of your
noble progenitors' (Holinshed,
iii. 487, quot. Stone).

266. strike, i.e. strike sail. ib. securely, in vain fidence.

268. able.

con

unavoided, unavoid

I spy life peering; but I dare not say

How near the tidings of our comfort is.

Willo. Nay, let us share thy thoughts, as thou
dost ours.

Ross. Be confident to speak, Northumberland:
We three are but thyself; and, speaking so,
Thy words are but as thoughts; therefore, be bold.
North. Then thus: I have from Port le Blanc,
a bay

In Brittany, received intelligence

That Harry Duke of Hereford, Rainold Lord
Cobham,

That late broke from the Duke of Exeter,
His brother, Archbishop late of Canterbury,
Sir Thomas Erpingham, Sir John Ramston,
Sir John Norbery, Sir Robert Waterton and
Francis Quoint,

All these well furnish'd by the Duke of Bretagne
With eight tall ships, three thousand men of war,
Are making hither with all due expedience