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Too good to be so, and too bad to live;
Since, the more fair and crystal is the sky,
The uglier feem the clouds, that in it fly.
Once more, the more to aggravate the Note,
With a foul Traytor's Name ftuff I thy throat;
And wifh, fo please my Sov'reign, ere I move,
What my Tongue fpeaks, my Right-drawn Sword

may prove.

2

Mowb. Let not my cold words here accufe my zeal'; 'Tis not the tryal of a woman's war,

The bitter clamour of two eager tongues,
Can arbitrate this caufe betwixt us twain;

The blood is hot, that must be cool'd for this.
Yet can I not of fuch tame patience boaft,
As to be huft, and nought at all to fay.

First, the fair Rev'rence of your Highnefs curbs me,
From giving reins and fpurs to my free speech;
Which elfe would poft, until it had return'd
Thefe terms of Treafon doubled down his throat.
Setting afide his high blood's Royalty,
And let him be no kinfman to my Liege,
I do defie him, and I fpit at him;

Call him a fland'rous coward, and a villain;
Which to maintain, I would allow him odds,
And meet him, were I ty'd to run a-foot
Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,
Or any other ground inhabitable,
Where never Englishman durft fet his foot.
Mean time, let this defend my Loyalty;
By all my hopes, moft falfly doth he lie.

Boling. Pale trembling Coward, there I throw my
Gage.

Disclaiming here the kindred of a King,

And lay afide my high blood's Royalty,

Which fear, not rev'rence, makes thee to except.
If guilty Dread hath left thee fo much strength,

2

Right-drawn. Drawn in

a right or just Cause.

Inhabitable. That is, not babitable, uninhabitable.

As to take up mine Honour's pawn, then stoop;
By that, and all the rights of Knighthood elfe,
Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,
What I have spoken, or thou canst devise.

Mowb. I take it up, and by that Sword I fwear, Which gently laid my Knighthood on my fhoulder, I'll answer thee in any fair degree,

Or chivalrous defign of knightly tryal;
And when I mount, alive may I not light,
If I be traitor, or unjustly fight!

K. Rich. What doth our Coufin fay to Mowbray's charge?

It must be great, that can inherit us

So much as of a thought of Ill in him.

Boling. Look, what I faid, my life shall prove it

true;

That Mowbray hath receiv'd eight thousand nobles,
In name of lendings for your Highnefs' foldiers,
The which he hath detain'd for lewd imployments;
Like a falfe traitor and injurious villain.
Befides, I fay, and will in battle prove,

Or here, or elsewhere, to the furtheft verge,
That ever was furvey'd by English eye,

That all the treafons for thefe eighteen years,
Complotted and contrived in this Land,

Fetch from falfe Mowbray their first head and spring.
Further, I fay, and further will maintain

Upon his bad Life to make all This good,

That he did plot the Duke of Gloucester's death;
Suggeft his foon-believing adverfaries;

And confequently, like a traitor coward,

Sluic'd out his inn'cent foul through ftreams of blood;
Which blood, like facrificing Abel's, cries
Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth,
To me, for juftice, and rough chastisement.
And by the glorious Worth of my Defcent,
This arm fhall do it, or this life be spent.

K. Rich. How high a pitch his refolution foars!

Thomas

Thomas of Norfolk, what fay'ft thou to this?

Mowb. O, let my Sovereign turn away his face, And bid his ears a little while be deaf,

Till I have told this Slander of his blood,

How God and good men hate fo foul a liar.

K. Rich. Mowbray, impartial are our eyes and ears. Were he our brother, nay, our Kingdom's heir, As he is but our father's brother's fon; Now by my Scepter's awe, I make a vow, Such neighbour-nearnefs to our facred blood Should nothing priv'lege him, nor partialize Th' unftooping firmnefs of my upright foul. He is our fubject, Mowbray, fo art thou; Free speech, and fearlefs, I to thee allow. Mowb. Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart, Through the falfe paffage of thy throat, thou lieft! Three parts of that Receipt I had for Calais, Disburit I to his Highnefs' foldiers;

The other part referv'd I by confent,

For that my fovereign Leige was in my debt ;
Upon remainder of a dear account,

Since laft I went to France to fetch his Queen.

Now, fwallow down that Lie.-For Gloucefter's death,
I flew him not; but, to mine own difgrace,
Neglected my fworn duty in that cafe.
For you, my noble lord of Lancaster,
The honourable father to my foe,
Once did I lay an ambush for your life,
A trefpafs that doth vex my grieved foul;
But ere I laft receiv'd the Sacrament,
I did confefs it, and exactly begg'd
Your Grace's pardon; and, I hope, I had it.
This is my fault; as for the reft appeal'd,
It iffues from the rancor of a villain,
A recreant and most degen'rate traitor;
Which in myself I boldly will defend, ·

3 My Scepter's awe.] The reverence due to my Scepter.

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And interchangeably hurl down my gage
Upon this overweening traitor's foot;
To prove myself a loyal gentleman,

Even in the best blood chamber'd in his bofom.
In hafte whereof, moft heartily I pray

Your Highness to affign our tryal day.

!

K. Rich. Wrath-kindled Gentlemen, be rul'd by me; Let's purge this Choler without letting blood :

4

This we prescribe, though no physician;

Deep malice makes too deep incifion :

Forget, forgive, conclude and be agreed;
Our Doctors fay, this is no time to bleed.
Good Uncle, let this end where it begun;
We'll calm the Duke of Norfolk, you your Son.
Gaunt. To be a make-peace fhall become my age;
Throw down, my Son, the Duke of Norfolk's gage,
K. Rich. And, Norfolk, throw down his.

Gaunt. When, Harry? when

Obedience bids, I fhould not bid again.

K. Rich. Norfolk, throw down, we bid; there is no boot *.

Mowb. Myfelf I throw, dread Sovereign, at thy foot.

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My life thou fhalt çommand, but not my Shame;
The one my duty owes; but my fair Name,
Defpight of death, That lives upon my Grave,
To dark difhonour's ufe thou shalt not have.
I am difgrac'd, impeach'd, and baffled here,

4 This we preferibe, though no phyfician, &c.] I must make one Remark, in general, on the Rhymes throughout this whole play; they are fo much inferior to the rest of the writing, that they appear to me of a different hand. What confirms this, is, that the context does every where exactly (and frequently much better) connect without the inferted rhymes, except in a very few places; and just there

too, the rhyming verses are of a much better taite than all the others, which rather ftrengthens my conjecture. POPE.

No boot.] That is, no advantage, no ufe, in delay or refufal.

5 My fair Name, &c.] That is, My name that lives on my grave in defpight of death. This eafy paffage moft of the Editors feem to have mistaken.

Pierc'd

Pierc'd to the foul with flander's venom'd fpear:
The which no balm can cure, but his heart-blood
Which breath'd this poifon.

K. Rich. Rage must be withstood.

Give me his gage. Lions make Leopards tame. Mowb. Yea, but not change their fpots. Take but my shame,

And I refign my gage. My dear, dear Lord,
The pureft treasure mortal times afford,
Is fpotlefs Reputation; That away,
Men are but guilded loam, or painted clay.
A jewel in a ten-times-barr'd-up cheft,
Is a bold fpirit in a loyal breaft.

Mine Honour is my life, both grow in one;
Take honour from me, and my life is done.
Then, dear my Liege, mine honour let me try;
In That I live, and for That will I die.

K. Rich. Coufin, throw down your gage; do you begin,

Boling. Oh, heav'n defend my foul from fuch foul fin! Shall I feem creft-fall'n in my father's fight,

Or with pale beggar face impeach my height, Before this out-dar'd Daftard? Ere my tongue Shall wound my Honour with fuch feeble wrong, Or found fo base a parle, my teeth fhall tear 7 The flavish motive of recanting fear, And fpit it bleeding, in his high difgrace, Where fhame doth harbour, ev'n in Mowbray's face.

[Exit Gaunt, K. Rich. We were not born to fue, but to command, Which fince we cannot do to make

you friends, Be ready, as your lives fhall anfwer it, At Coventry upon Saint Lambert's day.

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