Lo, this is all-Nay, yet depart not fo; I fhall remember more. Bid him-Oh, what?- Alack, and what fhall good old York there fee, And what hear there for welcome, but my groans? 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, Bushy, Bagot, and others: when they are fet, enter the duke of Norfolk in armour. K. Rich. Marfhal, demand of yonder champion The caufe of his arrival here in arms: unfurnifl'd walls,] In our ancient caftles 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, begun in 1512. STEEVENS. Afk Afk him his name; and orderly proceed art, To swear him in the juftice of his cause. Mowb. My name is Thomas Mowbray, duke of Who hither come engaged by my oath, To God, my king, and his fucceeding iffue', Trumpets found. Enter Bolingbroke, appellant, in armour. K. Rich. Marshal, afk yonder knight in arms, -] The old copies read: As fo STEEVENS. 7 And fo Mowbray.] Mr. Edwards, in his MS. notes, obferves, both from Matthew Paris and Holinthed, that the duke of Hereford, appellant, entered the lifts firit; 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 iffe,] Such is the reading of the first folio; the later editions read my iffue. Mowbray's iffue, was by this accusation, in danger of an attainder, and therefore he might come, among other reasons, for their fake: but the old reading is more juft and grammatical. JOHNSON. The three oldeft quartos read my. STEEVENS. De Depofe him in the juftice 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, To God of heaven, king Richard, and to me; Mar. On pain of death, no perfon be fo bold, Boling. Lord marfhal, let me kifs my fovereign's And bow my knee before his majesty : nefs, Mar. The appellant in all duty greets your high- Farewel, my blood; which if to-day thou shed, L Not Not fick, although I have to do with death; The daintieft laft, to make the end most sweet: [To Gaunt Whose youthful spirit, in me regenerate, 2 And furbish new the name of John of Gaunt, Gaunt. Heaven in thy good caufe make thee pro- Be fwift like lightning in the execution; Rouze up thy youthful blood, be valiant and live. Caft off his chains of bondage, and embrace -waxen coat,] Waxen may mean either foft, and confequently penetrable, or flexible. The brigandines or coats of mail, then in ufe, were composed of small pieces of steel quilted over one another, and yet fo flexible as to accommodate the dress 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: nifhed like a huntsman." furnished like a beggar." 66 fur STEEVENS. More More than my dancing foul doth celebrate Go I to fight; Truth hath a quiet breaft. 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, Lancaster, and Derby, Stands here for God, his fovereign, and himself, On pain to be found false and recreant, To prove the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray, A traitor to his God, his king, and him, And dares him to fet forward to the fight. 2 Her. Here standeth Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, 3 This feast of battle "War is death's feast," is a -j verbial faying. See Ray's Collection. STEEVENS. pro As gentle and as jocund, as to jeft,] Not fo neither. We fhould read, to juft; 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 jeft, 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 guest, "To grace our banquet with fome pompous jest.” 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: as if the tragedy "Were play'd in jeft by counterfeited actors." ToLLET. |