Enter PERCY. Well, Harry; what, will not this castle yield?3 Boling. Royally! Why, it contains no king? Percy. Yes, my good lord, It doth contain a king; king Richard lies And with him are the lord Aumerle, lord Salisbury, North. Belike, it is the bishop of Carlisle. [To NORTH. Go to the rude ribs of that ancient castle;4 Harry Bolingbroke On both his knees, doth kiss king Richard's hand; 66 a servant, thrill'd with remorse, Oppos'd against the act." Steevens. 3 Well, Harry; what, will not this castle yield?] The old copy destroys the metre by reading-Welcome, Harry; -. The emendation is Sir T. Hanmer's. 4 Noble lord, Steevens. Go to the rude ribs &c.] It is observable that our author in his addresses to persons, often begins with an hemistich. So, in Troilus and Cressida, Act II, sc. iii:, "Agam. Princes, "What grief hath set the jaundice on your cheeks!" This observation may be of use in other places, where in the old copies, by the mistake of the transcriber, the metre is destroyed by this regulation not being observed. ́ Malone. It is, such crimson tempest should bedrench Go, signify as much; while here we march [NORTH. advances to the Castle, with a Trumpet. Of fire and water, when their thund'ring shock A parle sounded, and answered by another Trumpet within. K. Rich. We are amaz'd; and thus long have we stood To watch the fearful bending of thy knee, [To NORTH. the Bishop of Carlisle,] was Thomas Merkes. Walpole. See, see, King Richard doth himself appear,] The following absurdly given to Bolingbroke, who is made to condemn his own conduct and disculp the King's. It is plain these six and the four following all belong to York. Warburton. six lines are It should be observed that the four last of these lines are in all the copies given to York. Steevens. Because we thought ourself thy lawful king: And though you think,. that all, as you have done, 8 7 The purple testament of bleeding war;] I once thought that Shakspeare might have had the sacred book (which is frequently covered with purple leather) in his thoughts; but the following note renders such a supposition extremely doubtful. Malone. I believe our author uses the word testament in its legal sense. Bolingbroke is come to open the testament of war, that he may peruse what is decreed there in his favour. Purple is an epithet referring to the future effusion of blood. Steevens. Mr. Steevens is certainly right in his interpretation of this passage. See Julius Cæsar: "Now, while your purpled hands do reek and smoke But ere the crown he looks for live in peace, Ten thousand bloody crowns of mothers' sons Shall ill become the flower of England's face;] By the flower of England's face is meant the choicest youths of England, who shall be slaughtered in this quarrel, or have bloody crowns. The flower of England's face, to design her choicest youth, is a fine and noble expression. Pericles, by a similar thought, said "that the Change the complexion of her maid-pale peace Her pastures' grass with faithful English blood. North. The king of heaven forbid, our lord the king Should so with civil and uncivil arms Be rush'd upon! Thy thrice-noble cousin, Harry Bolingbroke, doth humbly kiss thy hand; That stands upon thy royal grandsire's bones; destruction of the Athenian youth was a fatality like cutting off the spring from the year." Warburton. Dr. Warburton reads-light in peace, but live in peace is more suitable to Richard's intention, which is to tell him, that though he should get the crown by rebellion, it will be long before it will live in peace, be so settled as to be firm. The flower of England's face, is very happily explained. Johnson. The flower of England's face, I believe, means England's flowery face, the flowery surface of England's soil. The same kind of expression is used in Šidney's Arcadia, p. 2: “— opening the cherry of her lips," i. e. her cherry lips. Again, p. 240, edit. 1633: "the sweet and beautiful flower of her face." Again, Drayton, in Mortimer's Epistle to Queen Isabell: Steevens. 9 Her pastures' grass —] Old copies-pastors. Corrected by Mr. Theobald. Malone. And by the buried hand of warlike Gaunt;] Dr. Warburton would read And by the warlike hand of buried Gaunt; and this, no doubt, was Shakspeare's meaning, though he has af fectedly misplaced the epithets. Thus, in King John, we have: 'There is no malice in this burning coal," instead of "There is no malice burning in this coal." Again, in A Midsummer Night's Dream: "But earthlier happy," instead of "earthly happier." Again, in King Henry VI, P. II: "These hands are free from guiltless bloodshedding." instead of "These guiltless hands are free from bloodshedding." Again, ibid. in P. III: "Until my misshap'd trunk that bears this head,” And by the worth and honour of himself, This swears he, as he is a prince, is just; K. Rich. Northumberland, say, thus the king re turns; His noble cousin is right welcome hither; [To AUM. Aum. No, my good lord; let's fight with gentle words, Till time lend friends, and friends their helpful swords. K. Rich. O God! O God! that e'er this tongue of mine, That laid the sentence of dread banishment On yon proud man, should take it off again instead of "Until my head that this misshap'd trunk bears." Again, in Antony and Cleopatra: "We cannot call her winds and waters, sighs and tears,” instead of "We cannot call her sighs and tears, winds and waters." and in the same play we have proof of harness, for harness of proof; as elsewhere, miserable most, for most miserable; desperately mortal, for mortally desperate; action of precept, for precept of action; &c. Ritson. 2 commend -] i. e. commit. See Minshieu's DICT. in v. Malone. 3 With words of sooth!] Sooth is sweet as well as true. In this |