Against the duke of Hereford that appeals me; [He takes his seat. Trumpet sounds. Enter BOLINGBROKE, in armour; preceded by a Herald. K. RICH. Marshal, ask yonder knight in arms', Both who he is, and why he cometh hither Thus plated in habiliments of war; And formally according to our law Depose him in the justice of his cause. MAR. What is thy name? and wherefore com'st thou hither, Before King Richard, in his royal lists? Against whom comest thou? and what's thy quarrel ? Speak like a true knight, so defend thee heaven! BOLING. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, Am I; who ready here do stand in arms, To prove by heaven's grace, and my body's valour, To God of heaven, king Richard, and to me; MAR. On pain of death no person be so bold, 4 - Marshal, ask yonder knight in arms,] Why not, as before : Marshal, demand of yonder knight in arms." 66 The player, who varied the expression, was probably ignorant that he injured the metre. The insertion, however, of two little words would answer the same purpose: "Marshal, go ask of yonder knight in arms." RITSON. BOLING. Lord marshal, let me kiss my sovereign's hand, And bow my knee before his majesty: And craves to kiss your hand, and take his leave. arms. Cousin of Hereford, as thy cause is right, Against a bird, do I with Mowbray fight.-- Of you, my noble cousin, lord Aumerle :- The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet: [To GAUNT * Quarto 1597, the dead. 5 -WAXEN Coat,] Waxen may mean soft, and consequently penetrable, or flexible. The brigandines or coats of mail, then in And furbish new the name of John of Gaunt, GAUNT. Heaven in thy good cause make thee Be swift like lightning in the execution; thrive! Rouse up thy youthful blood, be valiant and live. BOLING. Mine innocency, and Saint George to [He takes his seat. NOR. [Rising.] However heaven, or fortune, cast my lot, There lives or dies, true to king Richard's throne, A loyal, just, and upright gentleman : Never did captive with a freer heart Cast off his chains of bondage, and embrace use, were composed of small pieces of steel quilted over one another, and yet so flexible as to accommodate the dress they form to every motion of the body. Of these many are still to be seen in the Tower of London. STEEVENS. The object of Bolingbroke's request is, that the temper of his lance's point might as much exceed the mail of his adversary, as the iron of that mail was harder than wax. HENLEY. I do not perceive how this meaning can be drawn from the words in the text. MALONE. 6 And FURBISH-] Thus the quartos 1608 and 1615. The folio reads―furnish. Either word will do, as to furnish in the time of Shakspeare signified to dress. So, twice in As You Like It: "furnished like a huntsman."-"-furnished like a beggar." STEEVENS, The original quarto, 1597, reads furbish. MALONE. 7 Fall like AMAZING thunder on the casque-] To amaze, in ancient language, signifies to stun, to confound. Thus, in Arthur Hall's translation of the third Iliad, 4to. 1581: "And striking him upon the helme, his foe amazed makes." See also, King John, Act IV. Sc. III. STEEVENS. 8 Mine INNOCENCY,] Old copies-innocence. Corrected by Mr. Capell. So, in King Richard III. : "God and mine innocency defend my right." This feast of battle with mine adversary. Go I to fight; Truth hath a quiet breast. K. RICH. Farewell, my lord: securely I espy Virtue with valour couched in thine eye.--Order the trial, marshal, and begin. [The King and the Lords return to their seats. MAR. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, Receive thy lance; and God defend the right! BOLING. [Rising.] Strong as a tower in hope, I cry―amen. MAR. Go bear this lance [To an Officer.] to 1 HER. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, And dares him to set forward to the fight. 9 This FEAST of battle-] "War is death's feast," is a prover→ bial saying. See Ray's Collection. STEEVENS. I apprehend there is no allusion to this image here; Norfolk means that he would so willingly engage in battle that he would consider it as a feast. BOSWELL. As gentle and as jocund, as to JEST,] Not so neither. We should read to just; i. e. to tilt or tourney, which was a kind of sport too. WARBURTON. The sense would perhaps have been better if the author had written what his commentator substitutes; but the rhyme, to which sense is too often enslaved, obliged Shakspeare to write jest, and obliges us to read it. JOHNSON. The commentators forget that to jest sometimes signifies in old language to play a part in a mask. Thus, in Hieronymo: "He promised us in honour of our guest, 6c Το grace our banquet with some pompous jest." And accordingly a mask is performed. FARMER. Dr. Farmer has well explained the force of this word. So, in The Third Part of King Henry VI. : 66 as if the tragedy "Were play'd in jest by counterfeited actors." TOLLET. 2 HER. Here standeth Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, On pain to be found false and recreant, Attending but the signal to begin. MAR. Sound, trumpets; and set forward, com batants. [A Charge sounded. Stay, the king hath thrown his warder down 2. K. RICH. Let them lay by their helmets and their spears, And both return back to their chairs again Withdraw with us :-and let the trumpets sound, While we return these dukes what we decree. [A long flourish. [To the Combatants. Draw near, 4 Of civil wounds plough'd up with neighbours' swords; 2 - - hath thrown his WARDER down.] A warder appears to have been a kind of truncheon carried by the person who presided at these single combats. So, in Daniel's Civil Wars, &c. b. i. : "When lo, the king, suddenly chang'd his mind, "Casts down his warder to arrest him there." STEEVENS. 3 With that dear blood WHICH IT HATH FOSTERED;] The quarto 1615, reads "With that dear blood which it hath been foster'd." Perhaps the author wrote "With that dear blood with which it hath been foster'd." But the other quartos and the folio read as in the text. MALONE. 4 Of CRUEL Wounds, &c.] The quarto copy now before me, 1597, and the folio, read-" Of civil wounds." But Mr. Capell's quarto copy of the same date, (now in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge,) and printed by the same printer, hascruell instead of civill; which must have been an alteration |