Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,
Or any other ground inhabitable
Where ever Englishman durst set his foot.
Mean time, let this defend my loyalty, -
By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie.
BOLING. Pale trembling coward, there I throw

my gage,
Disclaiming here the kindred of a king ;
And lay aside my high blood's royalty,
Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except:
If guilty dread hath left thee so much strength,
As to take up mine honour's pawn, then stoop;
By that, and all the rites of knighthood else,
Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,
What I have spoke,

or thou canst worse devise. Nor. I take it up; and, by that sword I swear, Which gently lay'd my knighthood on my shoulder, I'll answer thee in any fair degree, Or chivalrous design of knightly trial : And, when I mount, alive may I not light, If I be traitor, or unjustly fight! K. Rich. What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray's

charge? It must be great, that can inherit us? So much as of a thought of ill in him. inhabitable,] That is, not habitable, uninhabitable.

JOHNSON, Ben Jonson uses the word in the same sense in his Catiline:

“ And pour’d on some inhabitable place.” Again, in Taylor the water-poet's Short relation of a long Journey, &c. « - there stands a strong castle, but the town is all spoil'd, and almost inhabitable by the late lamentable troubles.”

STEEVENS. So also, Braithwaite, in his Survey of Histories, 1614: “ Others, in imitation of some valiant knights, have frequented desarts and inhabited provinces.” MALONE,

that can inherit us &c.] To inherit is no more than to

6

7

BOLING. Look, what I speak my life shall

prove
it true ;
That Mowbray hath receiv'deight thousand nobles,
In name of lendings for your highness' soldiers ;
The which he hath detain'd for lewd employments,
Like a false traitor, and injurious villain.
Besides I say, and will in battle prove,-
Or here, or elsewhere, to the furthest verge
That ever was survey'd by English eye,-
That all the treasons, for these eighteen years
Complotted and contrived in this land,
Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring:
Further I say,—and further will maintain
Upon his bad life, to make all

this good, -
That he did plot the duke of Gloster's death ;'
Suggest his soon-believing adversaries;
And, consequently, like a traitor coward,

a

8

possess, though such a use of the word may be peculiar to Shakspeare. Again, in Romeo and Juliet, Act I. sc. ü.

such delight
“ Among fresh female buds shall you this night

« Inherit at my house." STEEVENS. See Vol. IV. p. 136, n. 7. MALONE.

- for lewd employments,] Lewd here signifies wicked. It is so used in many of our old statutes. MALONE.

It sometimes signifiesmidle.
Thus, in King Richard III:
“ But you must trouble him with lewd complaints."

STEEVENS. the duke of Gloster's death ;] Thomas of Woodstock, the youngest son of Edward III; who was murdered at Calais, in 1397. MALONE. See Froissart's Chronicle, Vol. II. cap. CC. xxvi. Steevens.

Suggest his soon-believing adversaries ;] i. e. prompt, set them on by injurious hints. Thus, in The Tempest : “ They'll take suggestion, as a cat laps milk.”

STEEVENS.

9

Sluic'd out his innocent soul through streams of blood:

Which blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries,
Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth,
To me, for justice, and rough chastisement;
And, by the glorious worth of my descent,
This arm shall do it, or this life be spent.

K.RICH. How high a pitch his resolution soars!Thomas of Norfolk, what say'st thou to this?

NOR. O, let my sovereign turn away his face, And bid his ears a little while be deaf, Till I have told this slander of his blood, 2 How God, and good men, hate so foul a liar.

K. RICH. Mowbray, impartial are our eyes, and

ears:

Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir,
(As he is but my father's brother's son,)
Now by my scepter's awe3 I make a vow,
Such neighbour nearness to our sacred blood
Should nothing privilege him, nor partialize
The unstooping firmness of my upright soul;
He is our subject, Mowbray, so art thou;
Free speech, and fearless, I to thee allow.

NOR. Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart,
Through the false passage of thy throat, thou liest!
Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais,
Disburs❜d I duly to his highness' soldiers:
The other part reserv'd I by consent;
For that my sovereign liege was in my debt,
Upon remainder of a dear account,

2

-this slander of his blood,] i. e. this reproach to his ancestry. STEEVENS.

3

·my scepter's awe-] The reverence due to my scepter. JOHNSON.

Since last I went to France to fetch his queen: Now swallow down that lie. -For Gloster's

death,
I slew him not; but to my own disgrace,
Neglected my sworn duty in that case.
For you, my noble lord of Lancaster,
The honourable father to my foe,
Once did I lay an ambush for your life,
A trespass that doth vex my grieved soul :
But, ere I last receiv'd the sacrament,
I did confess it; and exactly begg’d
Your grace's pardon, and, I hope, I had it.
This is my fault: As for the rest appeal’d,
It issues from the rancour of a villain,
A recreant and most degenerate traitor :
Which in myself I boldly will defend;
And interchangeably hurl down my gage
Upon this overweening traitor's foot,
To prove myself a loyal gentleman
Even in the best blood chamber'd in his bosom:
In haste whereof, most heartily I pray
Your highness to assign our trial day.
K. Rich. Wrath-kindled gentlemen, be rul'd by

me;
Let's purge this choler without letting blood :
This we prescribe, though no physician ; *
Deep malice makes too deep incision:

• This we prescribe, though no physician ; &c.] I must make one remark in general on the rhymes

throughout this whole play ; they are so much inferior to the rest of the writing, that they appear to me of a different hand. What confirms this, is, that the context does every where exactly (and frequently much better) connect, without the inserted rhymes, except in a very few places; and just there too, the rhyming verses are of a much better taste than all the others, which rather strengthens my conjecturé. POPE.

“ This observation of Mr. Pope's, (says Mr. Edwards,) hap

age :

Forget, forgive ; conclude, and be agreed;
Our doctors say, this is no time to bleed.

, Good uncle, let this end where it begun; We'll calm the duke of Norfolk, you your son.

GAUNT. To be a make-peace shall become my Throw down, my son, the duke of Norfolk's gage.

K. Rich. And, Norfolk, throw down his.
GAUNT.

When, Harry ? 5 when?
Obedience bids, I should not bid again.
K. Rich. Norfolk, throw down; we bid; there

is no boot. Nor. Myself Ithrow, dread sovereign, at thy foot: My life thou shalt command, but not my shame: The one my duty owes; but my fair name,

pens to be very unluckily placed here, because the context, without the inserted rhymes, will not connect at all. Read this

passage as it would stand corrected by this rule, and we shall find, when the rhyming part of the dialogue is left out, King Richard begins with dissuading them from the duel, and, in the very next sentence, appoints the time and place of their combat.”

Mr. Edwards's censure is rather hasty; for in the note, to which it refers, it is allowed that some rhymes must be retained to make out the connection. STEEVENS.

• When, Harry?] This obsolete exclamation of impatience, is likewise found in Heywood's Silver Age, 1613:

“ Fly into Affrick; from the mountains there,
“ Chuse me two venomous serpents: thou shalt know

them :
“ By their fell poison and their fierce aspect.
“ When, Iris?

“ Iris. I am gone.” Again, in Look about you, 1600: :

- I'll cut off thy legs,
“ If thou delay thy duty. When, proud John ?"

STEEVENS. no boot.] That is, no advantage, no use, in delay, or refusal. JOHNSON.