York. I'll not be by the while. My liege, fare well: What will ensue hereof, there's none can tell; That their events can never fall out good. [Exit. 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: [Flourish. [Exeunt King, Queen, BUSHY, AUMERLE, 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. 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'dst 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. Bereft and gelded of his patrimony. North. Now, afore God, 'tis shame such wrongs are borne In him, a royal prince, and many more taxes, 20 And quite lost their hearts: the nobles hath he fin'd For ancient quarrels, and quite lost their hearts. Willo. And daily new exactions are devis'd; As blanks,2 benevolences, and I wot not what : 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 burdenous 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, 20 Spoiled, plundered. Pillage and pilfer are from the same original as pill. Thus Dr. South: "The Church is every one's prey, and the shepherds are pilled and polled and fleeced by none more than by their own flocks." H. 21 Stow records that Richard II. " compelled all the religious, gentlemen, and commons, to set their seales to blankes, to the end he might, if it pleased him, oppress them severally, or all at once." Yet seek no shelter to avoid the storm: We see the wind sit sore upon our sails, Ross. We see the very wreck that we must suffer; And unavoided is the danger now, 23 For suffering so the causes of our wreck. I North. Not so: even through the hollow eyes of death, 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, receiv'd intelligence, That Harry, duke of Hereford, Reignold Lord Cobham, That late broke from the duke of Exeter,24 22 Strike is here used in a nautical sense: to strike sail is to lower sail. 23 Unavoided for unavoidable. H. H. 24 The duke of Exeter was John Holland, brother to Surrey, and half-brother to the king. Something appears to have been omitted here, as the person "that late broke from the duke of Exeter" was not Lord Cobham, but Thomas, son of the late earl of Arundel, who had been given into Exeter's custody, and confined at his house. Hence modern editions generally, following Malone, insert a whole line after Cobham, thus: "The son of Richard earl of Arundel." The matter is thus stated by Holinshed: "About the same time, the earle of Arundels sonne, named Thomas, which was kept in the duke of Exeter's house, escaped out of the realme, by means of one William Scot mercer, and went to his uncle Thomas Arundell late archbishop of Canterburie, as then sojourning at Cullen." And again: "He (Bolingbroke) being thus called upon by messengers and letters from his freends, and cheeflie through the earnest persuasion of Thomas Arundell, His brother, archbishop late of Canterbury, Sir Thomas Erpingham, Sir John Ramston, All these well furnish'd by the duke of Bretagne, Ross. To horse, to horse! urge doubts to them that fear. Willo. Hold out my horse, and I will first be there. [Exeunt. late archbishop of Canterburie, who had been remooved from his see, and banished the realme, got him down to Britaine, and there were certeine ships rigged for him at a place called Le port blanc : and when all his provision was made readie he tooke the sea, togither with the said archbishop, and his nephue Thomas Arundell, sonne and heire to the late earle of Arundell beheaded at the Tower hill. There were also with him Reginald lord Cobhain, sir Thomas Erpingham, and sir Thomas Ramston, knights, John Norburie, Robert Waterton, & Francis Coint, esquires." H. 25 When the wing-feathers of a hawk were dropped or forced out by any accident, it was usual to supply as many as were deficient. This operation was called " to imp a hawk.” It is often used metaphorically, as in this instance. The word is said to come from the Saxon impan, to graft, or inoculate. Milton has it in one of his sonnets: "To imp their serpent wings." SCENE II. The same. A Room in the Palace. Enter QUEEN, BUSHY, and BAGOT. Bush. Madam, your majesty is too much sad: You promis'd, when you parted with the king, To lay aside life-harming heaviness,' And entertain a cheerful disposition. Queen. To please the king, I did; to please myself, I cannot do it yet I know no cause Which show like grief itself, but are not so: So in the first two quartos: in the third and fourth quartos half-harming: in the first folio self-harming. H. 2 Of these perspectives, or perspicils, as they are sometimes called, there were various kinds in the Poet's time, and he has several references to them. See Twelfth Night, Act v. sc. 1, note 11. We have known sign-boards so arranged, that if the observer stood to the right he would see one name distinctly; if to the left, another; if directly in front, a confusion of the two. Something of the same sort seems referred to in the text: "ey'd awry," that is, seen from one side, the form was truly distinguished; "rightly gaz'd upon," that is, viewed directly, or from the front, it "showed |