And, for these great affairs do afk fome charge,
Towards our affiftance, we do feize to us
The plate, coin, revenues, and moveables,
Whereof our uncle Gaunt did ftand poffefs'd.
YORK. How long fhall I be patient? Ah, how long
Shall tender duty make me fuffer wrong?

Not Glofter's death, nor Hereford's banishment,
Not Gaunt's rebukes, nor England's private

wrongs,

Nor the prevention of poor Bolingbroke
About his marriage, nor my own disgrace,

6

Have ever made me four my patient cheek,
Or bend one wrinkle on my fovereign's face.
I am the laft of noble Edward's fons,

Of whom thy father, prince of Wales, was firft;
In war was never lion rag'd more fierce,
In peace was never gentle lamb more mild,
Than was that young and princely gentleman:
His face thou haft, for even so look'd he,
Accomplish'd with the number of thy hours;'
But when he frown'd, it was against the French,
And not against his friends: his noble hand

St. Patrick freed the kingdom of Ireland from venomous reptiles of every kind. So, in Decker's Honeft Whore, P. II. 1630:

-that Irish Judas,

"Bred in a country where no venom profpers,

But in his blood."

Again, in Fuimus Troes, 1635:

"As Jrish earth doth poison poisonous beasts.” 6 Nor the prevention of poor Bolingbroke

STEEVENS.

About his marriage,] When the duke of Hereford, after his banishment, went into France, he was honourably entertained at that court, and would have obtained in marriage the only daughter of the duke of Berry, uncle to the French king, had not Richard prevented the match. STEEVENS.

7 Accomplish'd with the number of thy hours;] i. e. when he was of thy age. MALONE.

Did win what he did fpend, and spent not that
Which his triumphant father's hand won:
His hands were guilty of no kindred's blood,
But bloody with the enemies of his kin.
O, Richard! York is too far gone with grief,
Or else he never would compare between.

K. RICH. Why, uncle, what's the matter?
YORK.
O, my liege,
Pardon me, if you pleafe; if not, I pleas'd
Not to be pardon'd, am content withal.

Seek you to feize, and gripe into your hands,
The royalties and rights of banifh'd Hereford?
Is not Gaunt dead? and doth not Hereford live?
Was not Gaunt juft? and is not Harry true?
Did not the one deferve to have an heir?
Is not his heir a well-deferving fon?
Take Hereford's rights away, and take from time
His charters, and his cuflomary rights;
Let not to-morrow then enfue to-day;
Be not thyfelf, for how art thou a king,
But by fair fequence and fucceffion?
Now, afore God (God forbid, I fay true!)
If you do wrongfully feize Hereford's rights,
Call in the letters patents that he hath
By his attornies-general to fue
His livery, and deny his offer'd homage,
You pluck a thousand dangers on your head,
You lose a thousand well-difpofed hearts,
And prick my tender patience to thofe thoughts
Which honour and allegiance cannot think.

8

K. RICH. Think what you will; we feize into our hands

His plate, his goods, his money, and his lands.

8 •deny his offer'd homage,] That is, refufe to admit that homage, by which he is to hold his lands. JOHNSON.

YORK. I'll not be by, the while: My liege, fare

well;

What will enfue hereof, there's none can tell;
But by bad courfes may be understood,

That their events can never fall out good. [Exit. K. RICH. Go, Bufhy, to the earl of Wiltshire ftraight;

Bid him repair to us to Ely-house,

To fee this bufinefs: To-morrow next
We will for Ireland; and 'tis time, I trow;
And we create, in abfence of ourself,
Our uncle York lord governor of England.
For he is juft, and always lov'd us well.-
Come on, our queen: to-morrow must we part;
Be merry, for our time of ftay is fhort. [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 fon is duke.
WILLO. Barely in title, not in revenue,
NORTH. Richly in both, if juftice had her right.
Ross. My heart is great; but it must break with
filence,

Ere't be difburden'd with a liberal tongue. NORTH. Nay, speak thy mind; and let him ne'er fpeak more,

That speaks thy words again, to do thee harm! WILLO. Tends that thou'dft fpeak, to the duke of Hereford?

If it be fo, out with it boldly, man;

Quick is mine ear, to hear of good towards him. Ross No good at all, that I can do for him; Unless you call it good, to pity him,

Bereft and gelded of his patrimony.

NORTH. Now, afore heaven, 'tis fhame, fuch wrongs are borne,

1

In him a royal prince, and many more
Of noble blood in this declining land.
The king is not himself, but bafely led
By flatterers; and what they will inform,
Merely in hate, 'gainst any of us all,
That will the king feverely prosecute

Gainft, us, our lives, our children, and our heirs.
Ross. The commons hath he pill'd with grievous

taxes,

And loft their hearts: the nobles hath he fin'd
For ancient quarrels, and quite loft their hearts.

WILLO. And daily new exactions are devis'd; As-blanks, benevolences, and I wot not what: But what, o'God's name, doth become of this? NORTH. Wars have not wafted it, for warr'd he hath not,

But bafely yielded upon compromife

That which his ancestors achiev'd 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 diffolution, hangeth over him.

Ross. He hath not money for thefe Irish wars. His burdenous taxations notwithflanding,

But by the robbing of the banish'd duke.

9 And loft their hearts:] The old copies erroneously and un metrically read.

"And quite loft their hearts: ---

L

The compofitor's eye had caught the adverb-quite, from the fol lowing line. STEEVENS.

NORTH. His noble kinfman:-Moft degenerate

king!

But, lords, we hear this fearful tempeft fing,
Yet feek no fhelter to avoid the ftorm:
We fee the wind fit fore upon our fails,

9

And yet we ftrike not, but fecurely perish."

Ross. We fee the very wreck that we must suffer; And unavoided is the danger3 now,

For fuffering fo the caufes of our wreck.
NORTH. Not fo; even through the hollow eyes
of death,

I fpy life peering; but I dare not say
How near the tidings of our comfort is.
WILLO. Nay, let us fhare thy thoughts, as thou
doft ours.

Ross. Be confident to fpeak, Northumberland:
We three are but thyfelf; and, speaking so,
Thy words are out as thoughts; therefore, be bold.
NORTH. Then thus:I have from Port le Blanc,
a bay

In Britany, receiv'd intelligence,

That Harry Hereford, Reignold lord Cobham,

we hear this fearful tempeft fing,] So, in The Tempeft:

- another form brewing; I hear it fing in the wind.” STEEVENS.

And yet we frike not,] To Arike the fails, is, to contract them when there is too much wind. JOHNSON.

3

-but fecurely perish. We perith by too great confidence in our fecurity. The word is ufed in the fame fenfe in The Merry Wives of Windfor: Though Ford be a fecure fool," &c.

Again, in Troilus and Creffida, A& IV. sc. v:

"'Tis done like Hector, but fecurely done."

See Dr. Farmer's note on this paffage. STEEVENS.

MALONE.

3 And unavoided is the danger-] Unavoided is, I believe, here afed for unavoidable. MALONE,