Wooing poor craftsmen, with the craft of fmiles,
And patient underbearing of his fortune,
As 'twere, to banish their affects with him.
Off goes his bonnet to an oyfter-wench;
A brace of dray-men bid-God fpeed him well,
And had the tribute of his fupple knee,
With-Thanks, my countrymen, my loving friends ;-
As were our England in reverfion his,
And he our fubjects' next degree in hope.

Green. Well, he is gone; and with him go these thoughts.

4

Now for the rebels, which stand out in Ireland ;-
Expedient manage must be made, my liege;
Ere further leifure yield them further means,
For their advantage, and your highness' lofs.
K. Rich. We will ourself in person to this war.
And, for our coffers-with too great a court,
And liberal largefs,-are grown fomewhat light,
We are enforc'd to farm our royal realm;
The revenue whereof fhall furnish us

For our affairs in hand: If that come fhort,
Our fubftitutes at home fhall have blank charters;
Whereto, when they shall know what men are rich,
They fhall fubfcribe them for large fums of gold,
And fend them after to fupply our wants;
For we will make for Ireland prefently.

Enter Bushy.

K. Rich. Bufhy, what news?

Bushy. Old John of Gaunt is grievous fick, my lord; Suddenly taken; and hath fent poft-hafte,

To intreat your majefty to vifit him.

K. Rich. Where lies he?

Bufhy. At Ely-house.

K. Rich. Now put it, heaven, in his phyfician's mind,

+ Expedient] Is expeditious. STEEVENS.

To

To help him to his grave immediately!
The lining of his coffers fhall make coats
To deck our foldiers for thefe Irish wars.
Come, gentlemen, let's all go visit him:

Pray heaven, we may make hafte, and come too late!

[Exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE I.

London.

A room in Ely-house.

·Gaunt brought in, fick: with the duke of York.

Gaunt. Will the king come? that I may breathe my laft

In wholesome counsel to his unftay'd youth.

York. Vex not yourself, nor ftrive not with your breath;

For all in vain comes counsel to his ear.

Gaunt. Oh, but, they fay, the tongues of dying men Inforce attention, like deep harmony:

Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain; For they breathe truth, that breathe their words in pain.

He, that no more must say, is liften'd more

Than they whom youth and eafe have taught to glofe;

More are men's ends mark'd, than their lives before: The fetting fun, and mufic at the close,

6

Here the three elder quartos add-Amen. STEEVENS.

at the clofe,] This I suppose to be a mufical term. So, in Lingua, 1607:

"I dare engage my ears, the clafe will jar."

STEEVENS,

As

As the last taste of fweets, is sweetest laft;

Writ in remembrance, more than things long paft: Though Richard my life's counsel would not hear, My death's fad tale may yet undeaf his ear.

York. No; it is ftop'd with other flattering founds,
As, praises of his ftate: then, there are found
Lascivious meeters 7; to whofe venom'd found
The open ear of youth doth always listen :
Report of fashions in proud Italy;
Whofe manners still our tardy apish nation
Limps after, in base imitation.

Where doth the world thruft forth a vanity,
(So it be new, there's no respect how vile)
That is not quickly buzz'd into his ears?
Then all too late comes counsel to be heard,
Where will doth mutiny with wit's regard.
Direct not him, whose way himself will chufe';
'Tis breath thou lack'st, and that breath wilt thou lose.
Gaunt. Methinks, I am a prophet new inspir'd;

And thus, expiring, do foretell of him :

2

His rafh fierce blaze of riot cannot last;

For violent fires foon burn out themselves:

Small showers laft long, but fudden ftorms are fhort;

of

7 Lafcivious meeters; -] I believe we should read metres for verfes. Thus the folio fpells the word metre in the first part K. Henry IV:

66

one of these fame meeter ballad-mongers." Venom'd found agrees well with lafcivious ditties; but not fo commodiously with one who meets another; in which fense the word appears to have been generally received. STEEVENS.

Report of fabions in proud Italy ;] Our author, who gives to all nations the customs of England, and to all ages the manners of his own, has charged the times of Richard with a folly not perhaps known then, but very frequent in Shakespeare's time, and much lamented by the wisest and best of our ancestors. JOHNSON. ? Where will doth mutiny with wit's regard.] Where the will rebels against the notices of the understanding. JOHNSON.

whofe way himself will chufe;] Do not attempt to guide him who, whatever thou shalt say, will take his own course.

JOHNSON.

2] That is, hafly, violent. JOHNSON.

He

He tires betimes, that spurs too faft betimes;
With eager feeding, food doth choak the feeder:
Light vanity, infatiate cormorant,

Confuming means, foon preys upon itself.
This royal throne of kings, this fcepter'd ifle,
This earth of majefty, this feat of Mars,
This other Eden, demy paradife;

This fortrefs, built by nature for herself,
Against infection 3, and the hand of war;
This happy breed of men, this little world;
This precious ftone fet in the filver fea,
Which ferves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defenfive to a house,
Against the envy of lefs happier lands +;

This bleffed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,
This nurfe, this teeming womb of royal kings,

Fear'd for their breed, and famous by their birth,

3

Re

Against infection, I once fufpected that for infection we might read invafion; but the copies all agree, and I fuppofe Shakespeare meant to fay, that iflanders are fecured by their fituation both from war and peftilence. JOHNSON.

66

Againft infection, and the hand of war ;]

In Allot's England's Parnaffus, 1600, this paffage is quoted. Against inteftion, &c." perhaps the word might be infeftion, if fuch a word was in ufe. FARMER.

4

--lefs happier lands ;] So read all the editions, except Hanmer's, which has lefs happy. I believe Shakespeare, from the habit of faying more happier according to the custom of his time, inadvertently writ lefs happier. JOHNSON.

5 Fear'd for their breed, and famous by their birth,] The first edition in quarto, 1598, reads:

Fear'd by their breed, and famous for their birth.

The fecond quarto, in 1615:

Fear'd by their breed, and famous by their birth.

The first folio, though printed from the fecond quarto, reads as the firft. The particles in this author feem often to have been printed by chance. Perhaps the paffage, which appears a little difordered, may be regulated thus:

royal kings,

Feard for their breed, and famous for their birth,
For Chriftian fervice, and true chivalry:
Ꮧ .

VOL. V.

Re

Renowned for their deeds as far from home,
For Chriftian fervice, and true chivalry,
As is the fepulchre in ftubborn Jewry,

Of the world's ranfom, bleffed Mary's fon;
This land of fuch dear fouls, this dear dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world,
Is now leas'd out (I die pronouncing it)
Like to a tenement, or pelting farm:
England, bound in with the triumphant fea,
Whose rocky fhore beats back the envious fiege
Of watry Neptune, is now bound in with shame,
With inky blots, and rotten parchment bonds;
That England, that was wont to conquer others,
Hath made a fhameful conqueft of itself:
Ah! would the scandal vanish with my life,
How happy then were my enfuing death!

Enter King Richard, Queen, Aumerle, Busby, Green, Bagot, Rofs, and Willoughby.

York. The king is come: deal mildly with his youth; For young hot colts, being rag'd, do rage the more. Queen. How fares our noble uncle, Lancafter? K. Rich. What comfort, man? How is't with aged Gaunt?

Gaunt. Oh, how that name befits my compofition!
Old Gaunt, indeed; and gaunt in being old :
Within me grief hath kept a tedious faft;
And who abftains from meat, that is not gaunt?
For fleeping England long time have I watch'd;
Watching breeds leanness, leanness is all gaunt :

Renowned for their deeds as far from home
As is the fepulchre. JOHNSON.

The first folio could not have been printed from the second quarto, on account of many variations as well as omiffions. The quarto 1608 has the fame reading with that immediately preceding it. STEEVENS.

6

rotten parchment bonds;] Alluding to the great fums raifed by loans and other exactions, in this reign, upon the Eng lifh fubjects. GRAY.

The