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Wooing poor craftfmen, with the craft of fmiles,
And patient underbearing of his fortune,
As 'twere, to banifh 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

thoughts.

go thefe
Now for the rebels, which ftand 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 perfon 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 fhall 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 Bufhy.

K. Rich. Bufhy, what news?

Bufhy. 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?

Bufby. 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 these Irish wars.
Come, gentlemen, let's all go vifit him:

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

[Exeunt.

ACT II. SCENE I.

London

A room in Ely-houfe.

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 counfel 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 muft fay, 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 clofe",

5 Here the three elder quartos add-Amen. STEEVENS.

6

-

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 sweets, is sweetest last;
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
Lafcivious meeters; to whose venom'd found
The open ear of youth doth always liften:
Report of fashions in proud Italy;
Whofe manners ftill our tardy apifh nation
Limps after, in bafe imitation.

Where doth the world thrust forth a vanity,
(So it be new, there's no refpect how vile)
That is not quickly buzz'd into his ears?
Then all too late comes counfel 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 infpir'd;

And thus, expiring, do foretell of him :

2

His rafh fierce blaze of riot cannot laft;

For violent fires foon burn out themfelves:

Small showers laft long, but fudden ftorms are fhort;

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

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one of these same meeter ballad-mongers." Venom'd found agrees well with lafcivious ditties; but not fo commodioufly with one who meets another; in which sense 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 wifeft 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.

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•whofe way himself will chufe;] Do not attempt to guide him who, whatever thou fhalt fay, will take his own courfe.

JOHNSON.

2 rash] That is, hafty, violent. JOHNSON.

He

He tires betimes, that fpurs too fast 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', and the hand of war;
This happy breed of men, this little world;
This precious ftone set in the filver sea,
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,

Re

3 Against infection,-] I once fufpected that for infection we might read invafton; 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.

Againft infection, and the hand of war ;]

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

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

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,

Fear'd for their breed, and famous for their birth,
For Chriftian fervice, and true chivalry;

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Renowned for their deeds as far from home,
For Christian service, and true chivalry,
As is the fepulchre in stubborn Jewry,
Of the world's ransom, blessed 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,
Whofe 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, Bufhy, 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 leannefs, leannefs 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 fecond 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 Englifh fubjects. GRAY.

The

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