Lo, this is all: Nay, yet depart not so;
Though this be all, do not fo quickly go;
I fhall remember more. Bid him-Oh, what?
With all good speed at Plafhy vifit me.

Alack, and what fhall good old York there fee,
But empty lodgings, and unfurnish❜d walls,
Unpeopled offices, untrodden ftones?

And what hear there for welcome, but my groans?
Therefore commend me; let him not come there,
To feek out forrow, that dwells every where :
Defolate, defolate, will I hence, and die;
The laft leave of thee takes my weeping eye. [Exeunt.

Enter the lord Marshal and Aumerle.

Mar. My lord Aumerle, is Harry Hereford arm'd? Aum. Yea, at all points; and longs to enter in. Mar. The duke of Norfolk, fprightfully and bold, Stays but the fummons of the appellant's trumpet. Aum. Why then, the champions are prepar'd, and ftay

For nothing, but his majefty's approach.

[Flourish.

The trumpets found, and the king enters with Gaunt, Bufhy, Bagot, and others: when they are fet, enter the duke of Norfolk in armour.

K. Rich. Marfhal, demand of yonder champion The cause of his arrival here in arms:

-unfurnish'd walls,] In our ancient castles the naked stone walls were only covered with tapestry, or arras, hung upon tenter hooks, from which it was eafily taken down on every removal of the family. See the Preface to the Household Book of the Fifth Earl of Northumberland, began in 1512. STEEVENS.

Afk

Ask him his name; and orderly proceed
To fwear him in the juftice of his cause.

art,

Mar. In God's name, and the king's, fay who thou
[To Mowbray.
And why thou com'ft, thus knightly clad in arms;
Against what man thou com'ft, and what thy quarrel :
Speak truly, on thy knighthood, and thy oath,
And fo defend thee heaven, and thy valour!

Mowb. My name is Thomas Mowbray, duke of
Norfolk ;

Who hither come engaged by my oath,

(Which, heaven defend, a knight should violate!) Both to defend my loyalty and truth,

To God, my king, and his fucceeding iffue?,
Against the duke of Hereford that appeals me;
And, by the grace of God, and this mine arm,
To prove him, in defending of myself,
A traitor to my God, my king, and me:
And, as I truly fight, defend me heaven!

Trumpets found. Enter Bolingbroke, appellant, in

armour.

K. Rich. Marfhal, afk yonder knight in arms,
Both who he is, and why he cometh hither
Thus plated in habiliments of war;
And formally according to our law

STEEVENS.

7 And fo] The old copies read: As fo -] Mowbray.] Mr. Edwards, in his MS. notes, obferves, both from Matthew Paris and Holinthed, that the duke of Hereford, appellant, entered the lifts firft; and this indeed must have been the regular method of the combat; for the natural order of things requires, that the accufer or challenger fhould be at the place of appointment first. STEEVENS.

9

bis fucceeding iffue,] Such is the reading of the first folio; the later editions read my iffue. Mowbray's iffue, was by this accufation, in danger of an attainder, and therefore he might come, among other reasons, for their fake: but the old reading is more just and grammatical. JOHNSON.

The three oldest quartos read my. STEEVENS.

De

Depofe him in the justice of his cause.

Mar. What is thy name? and wherefore com'ft thou hither,

Before king Richard, in his royal lifts? [To Boling. Against whom comeft thou? and what's thy quarrel? Speak like a true knight, fo defend thee heaven!

Boling. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, Am I; who ready here do ftand in arms,

To prove, by heaven's grace, and my body's valour,
In lifts, on Thomas Mowbray duke of Norfolk,
That he's a traitor, foul and dangerous,

To God of heaven, king Richard, and to me;
And, as I truly fight, defend me heaven!

Mar. On pain of death, no person be so bold,
Or daring-hardy, as to touch the lifts;
Except the marshal, and fuch officers
Appointed to direct these fair defigns.

Boling. Lord marfhal, let me kifs my fovereign's hand,

And bow my knee before his majefty:
For Mowbray, and myself, are like two men
"That vow a long and weary pilgrimage;
Then let us take a ceremonious leave,

And loving farewel, of our feveral friends.

nefs,

Mar. The appellant in all duty greets your high-
[To K. Rich.
And craves to kifs your hand, and take his leave.
K. Rich. We will defcend and fold him in our arms.
Coufin of Hereford, as thy caufe is right,
So be thy fortune in this royal fight!

Farewel, my blood; which if to-day thou fhed,
Lament we may, but not revenge thee dead.
Boling. Oh, let no noble eye profane a tear
For me, if I be gor'd with Mowbray's spear:
As confident, as is the faulcon's flight
Against a bird, do I with Mowbray fight.
My loving lord, I take my leave of you;-
Of you, my noble coufin, lord Aumerle ;-
VOL. V.

L

Not

Not fick, although I have to do with death;
But lufty, young, and chearly drawing breath..
Lo, as at English feafts, so I regreet
The daintieft laft, to make the end most sweet:
Oh thou, the earthly author of my blood,-
[To Gaunt

Whofe youthful fpirit, in me regenerate,
Doth with a two-fold vigour lift me up
To reach at victory above my head,-
Add proof unto mine armour with thy prayers
And with thy bleffings fteel my lance's point,
That it may enter Mowbray's waxen coat',
And furbish new the name of John of Gaunt,
Even in the lufty 'haviour of his fon.

2

Gaunt. Heaven in thy good caufe make thee profperous!

Be fwift like lightning in the execution;
And let thy blows, doubly redoubled,
Fall like amazing thunder on the cafque
Of thy adverse pernicious enemy:

Rouze up thy youthful blood, be valiant and live.
Boling. Mine innocency, and faint George to thrive ?
Mowb. However heaven, or fortune, caft my lot,
There lives, or dies, true to king Richard's throne,
A loyal, juft, and upright gentleman :

Never did captive with a freer heart

Caft off his chains of bondage, and embrace
His golden uncontroul'd enfranchisement,

waxen coat,] Waxen may mean either foft, and confequently penetrable, or flexible. The brigandines or coats of mail, then in ufe, were compofed of fmall pieces of fteel quilted over one another, and yet fo flexible as to accommodate the drefs they form, to every motion of the body. Of these many are to be seen in the Tower of London. STEEVENS.

2 And furbish] Thus the quarto 1615. The folio reads: -furnish. Either word will do, as to furnish in the time of Shakespeare fignified to drefs. So, twice in As you like it:" fur nished like a huntfinan." -furnished like a beggar."

66

STEEVENS.

More

More than my dancing foul doth celebrate
This feaft of battle with mine adverfary.-
Moft mighty liege,-and my companion peers,-
Take from my mouth the wish of happy years:
As gentle, and as jocund, as to jeft+,

Go I to fight; Truth hath a quiet breast.
K. Rich. Farewel, my lord: fecurely I efpy
Virtue with valour couched in thine eye.
Order the trial, marfhal, and begin.

Mar. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, Receive thy lance; and heaven defend the right! Boling. Strong as a tower in hope, I cry-amen. Mar. Go bear this lance to Thomas duke of Norfolk.

1 Her. Harry of Hereford, Lancafter, and Derby, Stands here for God, his fovereign, and himself, On pain to be found falfe and recreant,

Το prove the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray, A traitor to his God, his king, and him,

And darès him to fet forward to the fight.

2 Her. Here ftandeth Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk,

3 This feast of battle

-]

War is death's feaft," is a proverbial faying. See Ray's Collection. STEEVENS.

+ As gentle and as jocund, as to jeft,] Not fo neither. We fhould read, to just; i. e. to tilt or tourney, which was a kind of fport too. WARBURTON.

་

The fenfe would perhaps have been better if the author had written what his commentator fubftitutes; but the rhyme, to which fenfe is too often enflaved, obliged Shakespeare to write jeff, and obliges us to read it. JOHNSON.

The commentators forget that to jeft fometimes fignifies in old language to play a part in a mask. Thus, in Hieronymo : "He promifed us in honour of our gueft,

"To grace our banquet with fome pompous jeft."

and accordingly a mask is performed. FARMER.

Mr. Farmer has well explained the force of this word. So, in the third part of K. Henry VI:

66

as if the tragedy

Were play'd in jeft by counterfeited actors." TOLLET.