That had not God, for some strong purpose, steel'd The hearts of men, they must perforce have melted, And barbarism itself have pitied him.

But heaven hath a hand in these events;

To whose high will we bound our calm contents. To Bolingbroke are we sworn subjects now, Whose state and honour I for aye allow.

Enter AUMERLE.

DUCH. Here comes my son Aumerle.

YORK.

3

Aumerle that was *;

But that is lost, for being Richard's friend,

And, madam, you must call him Rutland now:
I am in parliament pledge for his truth,

And lasting fealty to the new-made king.

DUCH. Welcome, my son: Who are the violets

now,

Again, in King Lear:

"Patience and sorrow strove

"Who should express her goodliest :

her smiles and tears

"Were like a better May."

Again, in Cymbeline:

66

nobly he yokes.

"Where senators shall mingle tears with smiles."

Again, in The Tempest:

66 I am a fool

"To weep at what I am glad of."

So, also, Drayton, in his Mortimeriados, 4to. 1596:

"With thy sweete kisses so them both beguile,

"Untill they smiling weep, and weeping smile." MALONE. 3 AUMERLE that was ;] The Dukes of Aumerle, Surrey, and Exeter, were, by an act of Henry's first parliament, deprived of their dukedoms, but were allowed to retain their earldoms of Rutland, Kent, and Huntingdon. Holinshed, p. 513, 514.

STEEVENS.

That strew the green lap of the new-come spring1? AUм. Madam, I know not, nor I greatly care

not:

God knows, I had as lief be none, as one.

YORK. Well, bear you well in this new spring of time,

Lest you be cropp'd before you come to prime. What news from Oxford? hold those justs and triumphs * 6?

AUM. For aught I know, my lord, they do.
YORK. You will be there, I know.

AUM. If God prevent it not; I purpose so.
YORK. What seal is that, that hangs without thy
bosom??

Yea, look'st thou pale? let me see the writing.
AUм. My lord, 'tis nothing.

YORK.

No matter then who sees it :

I will be satisfied, let me see the writing.

* Quartos, do these justs and triumphs hold?

4 That strew the GREEN LAP of the new-come spring ?] So, in Milton's Song on May Morning:

66

66

who from her green lap throws

The yellow cowslip, and the pale primrose." STEEVENS. bear you well-] That is, conduct yourself with prulence. JOHNSON.

S

6 -justs and TRIUMPHS?] Triumphs are shows, such as masks, revels, &c.

So, in The Third Part of King Henry VI. Act V. Sc. VII. : "And now what rests, but that we spend the time

"With stately triumphs, mirthful comick shows,

"Such as befit the pleasures of the court?" STEEVENS. 7 What seal is that, that hangs without thy bosom?] The seals of deeds were formerly impressed on slips or labels of parchment appendant to them. MALONE.

8 Yea, look'st thou pale? let me see the writing.]. Such harsh and defective lines as this, are probably corrupt, and might be easily supplied, but that it would be dangerous to let conjecture loose on such slight occasions. JOHNSON.

Perhaps, like many other speeches in this scene, it was not intended for verse. MALONE.

AUM. I do beseech your grace to pardon me; It is a matter of small consequence,

Which for some reasons I would not have seen. YORK. Which, for some reasons, sir, I mean to

see.

I fear, I fear,

DUCH.

What should you fear?

"Tis nothing but some bond that he is enter'd into For gay apparel, 'gainst the triumph day.

YORK, Bound to himself, what doth he with a

bond

That he is bound to? Wife, thou art a fool.-
Boy, let me see the writing.

AUM, I do beseech you, pardon me; I

show it.

may not

YORK. I will be satisfied; let me see it, I say. [Snatches it, and reads,

Treason

foul treason!-villain! traitor! slave!

DUCH, What is the matter, my lord?

YORK, HO! who is within there? [Enter a Servant.] Saddle my horse.

God for his mercy! what treachery is here!
DUCH. Why, what is it, my lord?

YORK, Give me my boots, I say; saddle my

horse:

Now by mine honour, by my life, by my troth,

I will appeach the villain.

DUCH.

YORK. Peace, foolish woman.

Exit Servant.

What's the matter?

DUCH. I will not peace :-What is the matter,

son ?

AUM. Good mother, be content; it is no more Than my poor life must answer.

DUCH.

Thy life answer!

Re-enter Servant with Boots.

YORK, Bring me my boots, I will unto the king,

DUCH. Strike him, Aumerle.-Poor boy, thou art amaz'd9:

Hence, villain; never more come in my sight.

[To the Servant.

YORK. Give me my boots, I say.
DUCH. Why, York, what wilt thou do?
Wilt thou not hide the trespass of thine own?
Have we more sons? or are we like to have?
Is not my teeming date drunk up with time?
And wilt thou pluck my fair son from mine age,
And rob me of a happy mother's name?

Is he not like thee? is he not thine own?
YORK. Thou fond mad woman,

Wilt thou conceal this dark conspiracy?

A dozen of them here have ta'en the sacrament,
And interchangeably set down their hands,

To kill the king at Oxford.

DUCH.

He shall be none;

We'll keep him here: Then what is that to him? YORK. Away, fond woman! were he twenty times my son,

I would appeach him.

DUCH. Hadst thou groan'd for him, As I have done, thou wouldest be more pitiful. But now I know thy mind; thou dost suspect, That I have been disloyal to thy bed, And that he is a bastard, not thy son:

Sweet York, sweet husband, be not of that mind:
He is as like thee as a man may be,

Not like to me, or any of my kin,
And yet I love him.

9

YORK.

Make way, unruly woman.

[Exit.

amaz'd:] i. e. perplexed, confounded. So, in The Merry Wives of Windsor: "That cannot choose but amaze him. If he be not amazed, he will be mocked; if he be amazed, he will every way be mocked." STEEVENS.

DUCH. After, Aumerle; mount thee upon his

horse;

Spur, post; and get before him to the king,
And beg thy pardon ere he do accuse thee.
I'll not be long behind; though I be old,
I doubt not but to ride as fast as York:
And never will I rise up from the ground,
Till Bolingbroke have pardon'd thee: Away; be-
[Exeunt.

gone,

SCENE III.

Windsor. A Room in the Castle.

Enter BOLINGBROKE as King; PERCY, and other Lords.

BOLING. Can no man tell of my unthrifty son? 'Tis full three months, since I did see him last :If any plague hang over us, 'tis he.

I would to God, my lords, he might be found.
Inquire at London, 'mongst the taverns there,1

I

Inquire at London, &c.] This is a very proper introduction to the future character of Henry the Fifth, to his debaucheries in his youth, and his greatness in his manhood. JOHNSON.

Shakspeare seldom attended to chronology. The prince was at this time but twelve years old, for he was born in 1388, and the conspiracy on which the present scene is formed, was discovered in the beginning of the year 1400.-He scarcely frequented taverns or stews at so early an age.

He afterwards highly distinguished himself at the battle of Shrewsbury, in 1403, when he was but fifteen. The period of his dissipation was afterwards, probably between the year 1405 and 1409, that is, between the age of seventeen and twenty-one. See further on this subject in the notes on the first part of King Henry the Fourth. MALONE.

It has been ably contended by the late Mr. Luders, that the whole story of his dissipation at any period was a fiction. See his ingenious Essay on the Character of Henry the Fifth.

BOSWELL.