Gaunt. O, to what purpose dost thou hoard thy words, That thou return'st no greeting to thy friends? Boling. I have too few to take my leave of you, When the tongue's office should be prodigal To breathe the abundant dolour of the heart.

Gaunt. Thy grief is but thy absence for a time. Boling. Joy absent, grief is present for that time. Gaunt. What is six winters? they are quickly gone. Boling. To men in joy; but grief makes one hour ten. Gaunt. Call it a travel that thou tak'st for pleasure. Boling. My heart will sigh when I miscall it so, Which finds it an enforced pilgrimage.

Gaunt. The sullen passage of thy weary steps Esteem a foil, wherein thou art to set

The precious jewel of thy home-return.

Boling. Nay, rather, every tedious stride I make
Will but remember me, what a deal of world
I wander from the jewels that I love.
Must I not serve a long apprenticehood
To foreign passages; 2 and in the end,
Having my freedom, boast of nothing else
But that I was 3 a journeyman to grief?

Gaunt. All places that the eye of heaven visits
Are to a wise man ports and happy havens:
Teach thy necessity to reason thus;
There is no virtue like necessity.

Think not, the king did banish thee,

But thou the king: Woe doth the heavier sit,

A foil] Fr. feuille, Lat. folium, a leaf. A foil was a piece of gold or silver leaf, placed under a transparent gem, to set it off to advantage.

2 Passages] Circumstances; occurrences; experiences. 3 That I was] That I was now become.

Where it perceives it is but faintly borne.1
Go, say I sent thee forth to purchase honour,
And not, the king exiled thee: or suppose
Devouring pestilence hangs in our air,
And thou art flying to a fresher clime.
Look, what thy soul holds dear, imagine it

To lie that way thou go'st, not whence thou com'st.
Suppose the singing birds musicians;

The whereon thou tread'st, the
grass
presence strewed;
The flowers, fair ladies; and thy steps, no more
Than a delightful measure 3 or a dance:
For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite
The man that mocks at it, and sets it light.4
Boling. O, who can hold a fire in his hand,
By thinking on the frosty Caucasus?
Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite,
By bare imagination of a feast?
Or wallow naked in December snow,
By thinking on fantastic 5 sunimer's heat?
O, no! the apprehension of the good
Gives but the greater feeling to the worse:
Fell sorrow's tooth doth never rankle more,
Than when it bites but lanceth 6 not the sore.

2

Faintly borne] Borne with a faint heart; borne without courage or equanimity.

2 The presence strewed] The royal presence chamber strewed with rushes. Before the use of carpets, even palace floors were strewed with rushes.

'Tarquin thus

Did softly press the rushes, ere he wakened

The chastity he wounded.'-Cymbeline, ii. 2.

Measure] A measure was a dance measuring time with music.

The words 'or a dance' mean, or simply a dance.

Sets it light] Sets light by it; thinks lightly of it.
Fantastic] Imagined.

• Lanceth] Dischargeth.

Gaunt. Come, come, my son, I'll bring thee on thy

way:

Had I thy youth and cause, I would not stay.

Boling. Then, England's ground, farewell; sweet soil, adieu;

My mother and my nurse that bears me yet

Where'er I wander, boast of this I can,

Though banished, yet a true-born Englishman. [Exeunt.

SCENE IV.-A Room in the King's Palace.

Enter KING RICHARD, BAGOT, and GREEN; AUMERLE meeting them.

K. Rich. We did observe.1- Cousin Aumerle,
How far brought you high Hereford on his way?
Aum. I brought high Hereford, if you call him so,

But to the next highway, and there I left him.

K. Rich. And, say, what store of parting tears were shed?

Aum. Faith, none for me,2 except 3 the north-east wind, Which then blew bitterly against our faces,

Awaked the sleeping rheum; and so, by chance,

Did grace our hollow parting with a tear.

K. Rich. What said our cousin when you parted with him?

Aum. Farewell :

And, for

my heart disdained that my tongue

Should so profane the word, that taught me craft

We did observe] This, which is spoken to Bagot and Green, is

explained in Richard's fourth speech.

For me] On my part; with my will.

3 Except] Except that.

To counterfeit oppression of such grief,

That word seemed buried in my sorrow's grave.1
Marry,2 would the word farewell have lengthened hours,
And added years to his short banishment,

He should have had a volume of farewells;
But, since it would not, he had none of me.

K. Rich. He is our cousin, cousin; but 'tis doubt
When time shall call him home from banishment,
Whether our kinsman come to see his friends.3
Ourself and Bushy, Bagot here, and Green,
Observed his courtship to the common people :-
How he did seem to dive into their hearts,
With humble and familiar courtesy;

What reverence he did throw away on slaves,
Wooing poor craftsmen with the craft of smiles,
And patient underbearing of 4 his fortune,

As 'twere to banish their affects with him.5
Off goes his bonnet to an oyster-wench;
A brace of draymen bid-God speed him well,
And had the tribute of his supple knee,
With-Thanks, my countrymen, my loving friends;
As were our England in reversion his,

these thoughts.

And he our subjects' next degree in hope.6
Green. Well, he is gone; and with him go
Now for the rebels which stand out in Ireland;

1 That taught, &c.] That disdain taught me craft to counterfeit an oppression of such sorrow, that that word farewell seemed, by my not uttering it, to be buried in the grave of my sorrow.

2 Marry] A corrupted form of the adjuration By Mary.

3 His friends] Those of the common people presently referred to. • Underbearing of] Resignation to.

5 Banish their affects, &c.] To carry their affections or inclinations with him into banishment.

• Our subjects', &c.] The next degree, the next in degree of kingly right, in the expectation of our subjects.

Expedient manage1 must be made, my liege,
Ere further leisure yield them further means,
For their advantage, and your highness' loss.

K. Rich. We will ourself in person to this war.
And for our coffers, with too great a court
And liberal largess, are grown somewhat light,
We are enforced to farm our royal realm;
The revenue whereof shall furnish us

For our affairs in hand: If that come short,

Our substitutes at home shall have blank charters; 2
Whereto, when they shall know what men are rich,
They shall subscribe them for large sums of gold,
And send them after to supply our wants;
For we will make for Ireland presently.

Bushy, what news?

Enter BUSHY.

Bushy. Old John of Gaunt is grievous sick, my lord; Suddenly taken; and hath sent post haste,

To entreat your majesty to visit him.

K. Rich. Where lies he?

Bushy. At Ely House.3

K. Rich. Now put it, Heaven, in his physician's mind, To help him to his grave immediately!

The lining of his coffers shall make coats
To deck our soldiers for these Irish wars.

Come, gentlemen, let 's all go visit him :

Pray God, we may make haste and come too late!
All. Amen.

1 Expedient manage] Expeditious preparation.

[Exeunt.

2 Blank charters] To these papers the rich men were first required to append their seals and signatures, and Richard then caused his substitutes or officers to write in them any sums he thought good. 3 Ely House] The London residence of the Bishop of Ely, which was in that part of Holborn now called Ely Place.