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: 66 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. 5 High-stomach'd are they both, and full of ire, Re-enter Attendants, with BOLINGBROKE" and BOLING. Many years of happy days befal K. RICH. We thank you both: yet one but flat ters us, 8 As well appeareth by the cause you come * ; Namely, to appeal each other of high treason.- 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, 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; 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, 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: And meet him, were I tied to run a-foot 9 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. Disclaiming here the kindred of the king 2; Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except: Or chivalrous design of knightly trial: And, when I mount, alive may I not light*, 3 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. 4 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.: 66 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, Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring. Upon his bad life, to make all this good,- K. RICH. How high a pitch his resolution soars!— 4 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. : "But 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. |