Or if of grief, being altogether had, Queen. 'Tis well, that thou hast cause; But thou should'st please me better, would'st thou weep. 1 Lady. I could weep, madam, would it do you good. Queen. And I could weep, would weeping do me good, And never borrow any tear of thee. But stay, here come the gardeners: Let's step into the shadow of these trees. Enter a Gardener, and two Servants. My wretchedness unto a row of pins, [Queen and Ladies retire. Cut off the heads of too-fast-growing sprays, 1 Serv. Why should we, in the compass of a pale, Gard. Hold thy peace : He that hath suffer'd this disorder'd spring, Hath now himself met with a fall of leaf: [3] Knots are figures planted in box, the lines of which frequently inter sect each other. So, Miiton : "Flowers, worthy Paradise, which not nice art "In beds and curious knots, but nature boon STEEV. The weeds, that his broad-spreading leaves did shelter, I mean, the earl of Wiltshire, Bushy, Green, Gard. They are; and Bolingbroke Hath seiz'd the wasteful king.-Oh! What pity is it, That he had not so trimm'd and dress'd his land, As we this garden! We at time of year Do wound the bark, the skin of our fruit-trees; Gard. Depress'd he is already; and depos'd, 'Tis doubt, he will be: Letters came last night To a dear friend of the good duke of York's, That tell black tidings. Queen. O, I am press'd to death, Through want of speaking!-Thou, old Adam's like ness, [Coming from her concealment. Set to dress this garden, how dares Thy harsh-rude tongue sound this unpleasing news? Why dost thou say, king Richard is depos'd? Of Bolingbroke; their fortunes both are weigh'd ; [4] This was the technical language of Shakspeare's time. So, in Holy Writ : " and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it, and keep it." Gen. ii. 15. MALONE But in the balance of great Bolingbroke, And with that odds he weighs king Richard down. I speak no more than every one doth know. Queen. Nimble mischance, that art so light of foot, Doth not thy embassage belong to me, And am I last that knows it? O, thou think'st I would, my skill were subject to thy curse.- [Exeunt. ACT IV. SCENE 1.-London. Westminster Hall. The Lords spiritual on the right side of the Throne; the Lords temporal on the left; the Commons below. Enter BOLINGBROKE, AUMERLE, SURREY, NORTHUMBERLAND, PERCY,FITZWATER, another Lord, Bishop of Carlisle, Abbot of Westminster, and Attendants. Officers behind with BAGOT. CALL forth Bagot : Bolingbroke. Now, Bagot, freely speak thy mind; What thou dost know of noble Gloster's death; Bagot. Then set before my face the lord Aumerle. WARB. Scorns to unsay what once it hath deliver❜d. In that dead time when Gloster's death was plotted, Aum. Princes, and noble lords, What answer shall I make to this base man? Boling. Bagot, forbear, thou shalt not take it up. Fitzw. If that thy valour stand on sympathies, Aum. Thou dar'st not, coward, live to see that day. [6] The birth is supposed to be influenced by the stars, therefore our author with his usual licence takes stars for birth. JOHNS. We learn from Pliny's Natural History that the vulgar error assigned the bright and fair stars to the rich and great. "Sidera singulis attributa nobis, et clara divitibus, minora pauperibus," &c. Lib. i. chap. 8. ANON. [7] Aumerle has challenged Bagot with some hesitation, as not being his equal, and therefore one whom, according to the rules of chivalry, he was got obliged to fight, as a nobler life was not to be staked in a duel against a baser. Fitzwater then throws down his gage, a pledge of battle; and tells him that if he stands upon sympathies, that is, upon equality of blood, the combat is now offered him by a man of rank not inferior to his own. Sympathy is an affection incident at once to two subjects. This community of affec tion implies a likeness or equality of nature, and thence our poet transferred the terin to equality of blood. JOHNS. Aum. Fitzwater, thou art damn'd to hell for this. Percy. Aumerle, thou liest; his honour is as true, In this appeal, as thou art all unjust : And, that thou art so, there I throw my gage, Lord. I take the earth to the like, forsworn Aumerle ; And spur thee on with full as many lies As may be holla'd in thy treacherous ear From sun to sun : there is my honour's pawn; Engage it to the trial, if thou dar'st. Aum. Who sets me else? by heaven, I'll throw at all: I have a thousand spirits in one breast, To answer twenty thousand such as you. Surrey. My lord Fitzwater, I do remember well The very time Aumerle and you did talk. Ftzw. My lord, 'tis true: you were in presence then; And you can witness with me, this is true. Surrey. As false, by heaven, as heaven itself is true. Fitzw. Surrey, thou liest. Surrey. Dishonourable boy! That lie shall lie so heavy on my sword, That it shall render vengeance and revenge, Till thou the lie-giver, and that lie, do lie In earth as quiet as thy father's skull. In proof whereof, there is my honour's pawn; Engage it to the trial, if thou dar'st. Fitzw. How fondly dost thou spur a forward horse! If I dare eat, or drink, or breathe, or live, I dare meet Surrey in a wilderness, 8 [8] I dare meet him where no heip can be had by me against him. JOHN. [9] In this world here I have just begun to be an actor. Surrey has, a few lines above, called him boy. JOHNS. 14 VOL. IV. |