Which with fuch gentle forrow he shook off,
His face ftill combating with tears and fmiles,
The badges of his grief and patience.]

I don't find that this fuits, in all refpects, the character of King Richard the Second. Had Shakespeare furvived the reign of King Charles the First, I fhould have imagined that this was an encomium upon him, for his remarkable patience; who, among the feveral instances of it, when a foldier fpit in his face, he took no more notice of this barbarous and inhuman ufage, than to wipe it off with his handkerchief. But it is remarked in the Life of King Charles, prefix'd to Reliquiæ Sacræ Carolina, p. 88.

That the divine vengeance would not "fuffer the indignity of spitting in the king's "face to go unpunish'd: The wretch being "not long after condemn'd for fome endea"vours to make a mutiny in the army, 66 was openly fhot to death in St. Paul's church"yard."

Sc. 4. This and the following scenes, relating to the Duke of York, and his fon Aumerle, are exactly conformable to Hall's Chronicle, Henry IVth, and other English Hiftorians.

Sc. 5. p. 81. The Duke of York, when he had discovered the treafon of his fon, Aumerle, against King Henry the Fourth.

York. Give me my boots.

Dutchess. Why, York, what wilt thou do? Wilt thou not hide the trefpafs of thine own? Have we more fons? or are we like to have?

Is not my teeming date drunk up with time? And wilt thou pluck my fair fon from myne age And rob me of a happy mother's name?]

This reasoning fhew'd the affectionate tenderness of a mother, but not the proper regard to her king and country.

In a braver manner did that Scotch lady, the wife of Seton, the governor of Berwick, act: When that town was befieged by King Edward the Third, one of her fons was taken prifoner, and the other deliver'd as an hoftage, to deliver up the town, if not reliev'd in so many days. King Edward perceiving the Scots were preparing to relieve the befieged, infifted upon Seton's delivering it before the (g) time appointed;

(g) Etfi dies nondum adveniffet, quo die convenerat, ut oppidum dederetur, tamen cum Scotorum copias tam vi. cinas videret, mifit facialem ad præfectum præfidii; qui denunciaret, nifi oppidum ftatim dederet, fe animadverfurum in Thomam ejus filium: fruftra præfecto con tendente diem deditionis nondum veniffe; ac fidem datam atteftante. Ibi cum caritas mifericordia, metus, et officium erga patriam variè animum paternum versa. rent, propiorem terrorem Anglos admovendum ratus, crucem in loco, ad quem profpectus ex oppido patebat, erigi jubet; et duos præfecti filios, alterum obfidem, alterum bello captum, eo ad fupplicium producit. Ád hoc tam miferabile fpectaculum cum patris animus fluctuaret, uxor ejus, eademque juvenum mater, virilis fortitudinis mulier, variâ oratione eum confirmavit, propofitâ ante oculos fide erga regem, caritate in patriam, dignis tate nobliffimæ familiæ. Liberos alios illis extinétis fuperY

appointed; and threatned if he refused, that both his fons fhould be hang'd within view of the town. He confulted with his wife, how he fhould act upon the occafion; fhe told him, that a breach of truft, and lofs of honour, could never be repair'd; but they were young enough, to repair the lofs of their two fons. Sc. 7. p. 84.

York. Villain it was, ere thy band fet it down.] "It was villaine" Folio 1632.

Sc. 8. p. 86.

Dutch. Nay, do not fay, ftand up,

Put pardon firft; fay afterwards, ftand up.] "And afterwards." Folio 1632..

Sc. 8. p. 87.

K. Richard.

The better fort

(As thoughts of things divine) are intermixt
With fcruples, and do fet the word itself
Against the word: as thus. Come little ones,
And then again

effe, nec dum fuam illiufque ætatem aliis gignendis præteriffe illos, etiamfi nunc mortem evaferint, brevi tamen, vel morte fortuitâ, vel temporis maturitate fato fuo functu ros; at fi qua famæ macula in gente Setoniâ inhæferit, eam in omnem pofteritatem permanfuram, ac immerenti etiam foboli afperfuram infamiamorabat igitur, he commodum incertum et (fi contingat) momentareum, certâ, et perpetuâ redimeret ignominiâ. Hac oratione eum viri animum paullo tranquilliorem fenfiffet, ne fupplicii fœditatem oculi perferre, non poffent eum in diverfam partem, unde confpici nequibat avertit. Buchanani Hift. Rer. Scotic. 9. 13. Jo. Major. Fol. 99.

It is as hard to come, as for a camel
To thread the poftern of a needle's eye.]
Alluding to Matt. xix. 14.

Luke xviii. 25.

Mark x. 25.

"And again I fay unto you, it is easier for "a camel to go through the eye of a needle,

"than for a rich

man to enter into the king"dom of God." Bishop Latimer, in his Sermon on the Sunday call'd Septuagefima, p. 208, observes, that camel here, eft funis nauticus; that is, a great cable of a ship; which is more likelier, than a beaft that is called a camel. Káμeλos funis eft craffus quo nautæ utuntur, ad jacendas ancoras. Vid. Suida Lexic. Schol. Ariftoph. et Scapula Lexicon.

Sc. 10. p. 88.

K. Rich. So is it in the mufick of men's lives. And bere bave I the daintinefs of ear,

To check time broke in a diforder'd firing.] Qu. difcordant?

Sc. 13. p. 92.

Bol. Carlife, this is your doom:

Chufe out fome fecret place, fome reverend room,
More than thou hast, and with it joy thy life,
So as thou liv'ft in peace, die free from ftrife;
For though mine enemy thou hast ever been,
High Sparks of honour in thee I have feen.]

Bishop Godwin fays, p. 680. "That the Bi"fhop of Carlisle only was pardoned. Perad"venture (fays he) in regard of his calling. "For it had never been seen hitherto, that any bishop was put to death by order of

66

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"law.

"law. Peradventure in fome kind of favour, "and admiration of his faithful conftancy, 66 (for virtue will be honoured, even of her "enemies.) Peradventure alfo to this end, "that by forcing him to live intolerably, they might lay a punishment upon him more

grievous than death; which they well faw "he despised. The pope, who feldom denied "the king any request, that he might afford good cheap, was easily intreated to tranflate, "forfooth, this good bishop from the See of "Carlisle, which yielded him honour and main"tenance, unto Samos in Greece, whence he "knew he should not receive one penny pro"fit. He was so happy, as neither to take "benefit of the gift of his enemy, nor to be "hurt by the masked malice of his counterfeit "friend; difdaining as it was, to take his "life as his gift, who took away from his "mafter both life and kingdoms. He died fhortly after his deliverance; fo deluding "alfo the mockery of his tranflation, (whereby things fo falling out) he was nothing "damnified."

Sc. 13. p. 93.

Bolinbroke. [Upon hearing of King Richard's death.]

Lords, I proteft my foul is full of woe, That blood fhould fprinkle me to make me grow; Come mourn with me, for what I do lament, And put on fullen black, incontinent; I'll make a voiage to the Holy Land.]

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