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Hast thou, according to thy oath and band", Brought hither Henry Hereford thy bold son'; Here to make good the boisterous late appeal, Which then our leisure would not let us hear, Against the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray ? GAUNT. I have, my liege.

K. RICH. Tell me moreover, hast thou sounded him,

If he appeal the duke on ancient malice;

Or worthily as a good subject should,

On some known ground of treachery in him? GAUNT. As near as I could sift him on that argument,

On some apparent danger seen in him,

Aim'd at your highness, no inveterate malice.

K. RICH. Then call them to our presence; face

to face,

And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear The accuser, and the accused, freely speak :[Exeunt some Attendants.

5thy oath and BAND,] When these publick challenges were accepted, each combatant found a pledge for his appearance at the time and place appointed. So, in Spenser's Fairy Queen, b. iv. c. iii. st. 3:

"The day was set, that all might understand,

"And pledges pawn'd the same to keep aright." The old copies read band instead of bond. The former is right. So, in The Comedy of Errors:

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My master is arrested on a band." STEEVENS. Band and bond were formerly synonymous. See note on The Comedy of Errors, Act IV. Sc. II. MALONE.

6 Brought hither Henry Hereford thy bold son ;] It is clear, from the original quarto copy of this play, 1597, where we constantly find Bolingbroke's title written Herford, that the author used the word as a dissyllable.

Hardynge, in his Chronicle, always writes either Herford or Harford; and so also Rastal, in his Pastime of the People. This, therefore, we may be sure, was the pronunciation of Shakspeare's time, as well as of a preceding period. MALONE.

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High-stomach'd are they both, and full of ire,
In rage deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.

Re-enter Attendants, with BOLINGBROKE" and
NORFOLK.

BOLING. Many years of happy days befal
My gracious sovereign, my most loving liege!
NOR. Each day still better other's happiness;
Until the heavens, envying earth's good hap,
Add an immortal title to your crown!

K. RICH. We thank you both: yet one but flat

ters us,

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As well appeareth by the cause you come * ;

Namely, to appeal each other of high treason.-
Cousin of Hereford, what dost thou object

Against the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray ? BOLING. First, (heaven be the record to my speech!)

In the devotion of a subject's love,

Tendering the precious safety of my prince,
And free from other misbegotten hate,
Come I appellant to this princely presence.-
Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee,
And mark my greeting well; for what I speak,
My body shall make good upon this earth,
Or my divine soul answer it in heaven.
Thou art a traitor, and a miscreant;

7-BOLINGBROKE-] Drayton asserts that Henry Plantagenet, the eldest son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, was not distinguished by the name of Bolingbroke till after he had assumed the crown. Our ancient historians, in speaking of his contest with the Duke of Norfolk, denominate him Earl of Hereford. He was surnamed of Bolingbroke town, in Lincolnshire, from his having been born there about the year 1366. MALONE.

The sup

- by the cause you come ;] i. e. you come on. pression of the preposition has been, on more than one occasion, shewn to have been frequent with Shakspeare. BOSWELL.

Too good to be so, and too bad to live;
Since, the more fair and crystal is the sky,
The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly.
Once more, the more to aggravate the note,
With a foul traitor's name stuff I thy throat;
And wish, (so please my sovereign,) ere I move,
What my tongue speaks, my right-drawn sword
may prove.

NOR. Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal:

"Tis not the trial of a woman's war,

The bitter clamour of two eager tongues,
Can arbitrate this cause betwixt us twain:
The blood is hot that must be cool'd for this,
Yet can I not of such tame patience boast,
As to be hush'd, and nought at all to say:
First, the fair reverence of your highness curbs me
From giving reins and spurs to my free speech;
Which else would post, until it had return'd
These terms of treason doubled down his throat.
Setting aside his high blood's royalty,

And let him be no kinsman to my liege,

I do defy him, and I spit at him;

Call him-a slanderous coward, and a villain:
Which to maintain, I would allow him odds;

And meet him, were I tied to run a-foot
Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,
Or any other ground inhabitable'

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right-drawn-] Drawn in a right or just cause.

JOHNSON.

I — inhabitable —] That is, not habitable, uninhabitable.

JOHNSON.

Ben Jonson uses the word in the same sense in his Catiline: "And pour'd on some inhabitable place." Again, in Taylor the water-poet's Short Relation of a Long Journey, &c. " there stands a strong castle, but the town is all spoil'd, and almost inhabitable by the late lamentable troubles." STEEVENS.

Where ever Englishman durst set his foot.
Mean time, let this defend my loyalty,-
By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie.
BOLING. Pale trembling coward, there I throw
my gage,

Disclaiming here the kindred of the king 2;
And lay aside my high blood's royalty,

Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except:
If guilty dread hath left thee so much strength,
As to take up mine honour's pawn, then stoop;
By that and all the rites of knighthood else,
Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,
What I have spoke, or thou canst worse devise 3.
NOR. I take it up; and, by that sword I swear,
Which gently lay'd my knighthood on my shoulder,
I'll answer thee in any fair degree,

Or chivalrous design of knightly trial:

And, when I mount, alive may I not light*,
If I be traitor, or unjustly fight!

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K. RICH. What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray's charge?

It must be great, that can inherit us *

So much as of a thought of ill in him.

* Quarto 1608,-And when I mount alive, alive may I not light.

So also, Braithwaite, in his Survey of Histories, 1614: "Others, in imitation of some valiant knights, have frequented desarts and inhabited provinces." MALONE.

2- the king;] So the first quarto. The second quarto reads a king, and was followed by all subsequent editors. MALONE.

3 What I have spoke, or thou canst worse devise.] So the quarto 1597. Quarto 1598, "What I have spoke, or thou canst devise." Quarto 1608, "What I have spoke, or what thou canst devise." Folio, “What I have spoken, or thou canst devise." BOSWELL.

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that can INHERIT us, &c.] To inherit is no more than to possess, though such a use of the word may be peculiar to Shakspeare. Again, in Romeo and Juliet, Act I. Sc. II.:

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such delight

Among fresh female buds shall you this night "Inherit at my house." STEEVENS.

See vol, vi. p. 28, n. 8. MALONE.

BOLING. Look, what I speak my life shall prove

it true;

That Mowbray hath receiv'd eight thousand nobles,
In name of lendings for your highness' soldiers;
The which he hath detain'd for lewd employments*,
Like a false traitor, and injurious villain.
Besides, I say, and will in battle prove,-
Or here, or elsewhere, to the furthest verge
That ever was survey'd by English eye,-
That all the treasons, for these eighteen years
Complotted and contrived in this land,

Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring.
Further, I say,-and further will maintain

Upon his bad life, to make all this good,-
That he did plot the duke of Gloster's death";
Suggest his soon-believing adversaries";
And, consequently, like a traitor coward,
Sluic'd out his innocent soul through streams of blood:
Which blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries,
Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth,
To me, for justice, and rough chastisement;
And, by the glorious worth of my descent,
This arm shall do it, or this life be spent.

K. RICH. How high a pitch his resolution soars!—
Thomas of Norfolk, what say'st thou to this?
NOR. O, let my sovereign turn away his face,
And bid his ears a little while be deaf,

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for LEWD employments,] Lewd here signifies wicked. It is so used in many of our old statutes. MALONE.

It sometimes signifies-idle.

Thus, in King Richard III. :

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"But
you must trouble him with lewd complaints."

the duke of Gloster's death ;] the youngest son of Edward III.; who in 1397. MALONE.

STEEVENS.

Thomas of Woodstock, was murdered at Calais,

See Froissart's Chronicle, vol. ii. cap. CC. xxvi.

STEEVENS.

6 SUGGEST his soon-believing adversaries;] i. e. prompt, set

them on by injurious hints. Thus, in The Tempest:

"They'll take suggestion, as a cat laps milk." STEEVENS.

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