play, holdyng that play of Kyng Rychard to be so old, and so long out of yous [use], that they should have small or no cumpany at yt. But at theire request, this exam and his fellowes were content to play yt the Saterday, and have theise xls more then theire ordynary for yt, and so played yt accordyngly.

Ex per Jo. Popham.
Edw. Anderson.

Edw. Fenner.'

Augustine Phillipps.'

This remarkable document (the body of which is in Popham's handwriting)," &c. Introd, to King Richard the Second. Malone writes as follows; "It may seem strange that this old play should have been represented after Shakespeare's drama on the same subject had been printed: the reason undoubtedly was, that in the old play the deposing King Richard II. made a part of the exhibition: but in the first edition of our author's play, one hundred and fifty-four lines, describing a kind of trial of the king, and his actual deposition in parliament, were omitted; nor was it probably represented on the stage. Merrick, Cuffe, and the rest of Essex's train, naturally preferred the play in which his deposition was represented, their plot not aiming at the life of the queen. It is, I know, commonly thought that the parliament-scene (as it is called), which was first printed in the quarto of 1608, was an addition made by Shakespeare to his play after its first representation: but it seems to me more probable that it was written with the rest, and suppressed in the printed copy of 1597, from the fear of offending Elizabeth; against whom the Pope had published a bull in the preceding year, exhorting her subjects to take up arms against her. In 1599 Hayward published his History of the First Year of Henry IV., which in fact is nothing more than an history of the deposing Richard II. The displeasure which that book excited at court sufficiently accounts for the omitted lines not being inserted in the copy of this play which was published in 1602. Hayward was heavily censured in the Star-chamber, and committed to prison. At a subsequent period (1608), when King James was quietly and firmly settled on the throne, and the fear of internal commotion or foreign invasion no longer subsisted, neither the author, the managers of the theatre, nor the bookseller, could entertain any apprehension of giving offence to the sovereign: the rejected scene was restored without scruple, and from some playhouse copy probably found its way to the press." Life of Shakespeare, p. 325.-Dr. Simon Forman, in his Ms. Diary (Mus. Ashmol. Oxon.), gives an account of a "Richard 2" which he saw at the Globe, 1611, the 30 of Aprill, Thursday;" and, very probably, it was the old play which in 1601 had been acted before the friends of Essex-assuredly it was not our author's tragedy. For the incidents of King Richard the Second Shakespeare consulted Holinshed.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ,

KING RICHARD the Second,

JOHN OF GAUNT, duke of Lancaster,
EDMUND OF LANGLEY, duke of York,

} uncles to the King.

HENRY, surnamed Bolingbroke, duke of Hereford, son to John

of Gaunt; afterwards King Henry IV.

DUKE OF AUMERLE, son to the Duke of York,

THOMAS MOWBRAY, duke of Norfolk,

Lords, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, two Gardeners, Keeper, Messenger, Groom, and other Attendants.

SCENE-dispersedly in England and Wales.

KING RICHARD II.

ACT I.

SCENE I. London. A room in the palace.

Enter King RICHARD, attended; GAUNT, and other Nobles. K. Rich. Old John of Gaunt, time-honour'd Lancaster, Hast thou, according to thy oath and band,

Brought hither Henry Hereford thy bold son,
Here to make good the boisterous late appeal,
Which then our leisure would not let us hear,
Against the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?
Gaunt. I have, my liege.

K. Rich. Tell me, moreover, hast thou sounded him,
If he appeal the duke on ancient malice;

Or worthily, as a good subject should,

On some known ground of treachery in him?

Gaunt. As near as I could sift him on that argument,

On some apparent danger seen in him

Aim'd at your highness,-no inveterate malice.

K. Rich. Then call them to our presence: face to face, And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear

Th' accuser and th' accusèd freely speak:

[Exeunt some Attendants. High-stomach'd are they both, and full of ire, rage deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.

In

Re-enter Attendants, with BOLINgbroke and Norfolk.
Boling. May(1) many years of happy days befal
My gracious sovereign, my most loving liege!
Nor. Each day still better other's happiness;

Until the heavens, envying earth's good hap,
Add an immortal title to your crown!

K. Rich. We thank you both: yet one but flatters us,
As well appeareth by the cause you come ;(2)
Namely, t' appeal each other of high treason.—
Cousin of Hereford, what dost thou object

Against the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?

Boling. First, heaven be the record to my speech!— In the devotion of a subject's love,

Tendering the precious safety of my prince,
And free from other misbegotten hate,
Come I appellant to this princely presence.—
Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee,
And mark my greeting well; for what I speak
My body shall make good upon this earth,
Or my divine soul answer it in heaven.
Thou art a traitor and a miscreant,
Too good to be so, and too bad to live,-
Since the more fair and crystal is the sky,
The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly.
Once more, the more to aggravate the note,(3)
With a foul traitor's name stuff I thy throat;

And wish, so please my sovereign,—ere I move,

What my tongue speaks, my right-drawn sword may prove. Nor. Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal:

'Tis not the trial of a woman's war,

The bitter clamour of two eager tongues,

Can arbitrate this cause betwixt us twain;

The blood is hot that must be cool'd for this:
Yet can I not of such tame patience boast
As to be hush'd, and naught at all to say:

First, the fair reverence of your highness curbs me
From giving reins and spurs to my free speech;

Which else would post until it had return'd
These terms of treason doubled down his throat.
Setting aside his high blood's royalty,

And let him be no kinsman to my liege,

I do defy him, and I spit at him;

Call him a slanderous coward and a villain :
Which to maintain, I would allow him odds;

And meet him, were I tied to run a-foot
Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,
Or any other ground inhabitable,
Wherever(4) Englishman durst set his foot.
Meantime 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 the king;
And lay aside my high blood's royalty,
Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except.
If guilty dread have 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 laid 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.

Boling. Look, what I speak, my life shall prove it true;-That Mowbray hath receiv'd eight 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,