Near to the king in blood; and near in love, 3 This, and much more, much more than twice all this, Condemns you to the death:-See them deliver'd over. To execution and the hand of death. BUSHY. More welcome is the stroke of death to me, Than Bolingbroke to England.-Lords, farewell. GREEN. My comfort is,-that heaven will take our souls, And plague injustice with the pains of hell. 2 Dispark'd my parks,] To dispark is to throw down the hedges of an enclosure. Dissepio. I meet with the word in Barret's Alvearie or Quadruple Dictionary, 1580._ It also occurs in The Establishment of Prince Henry, 1610: "Forestes and Parkes of the Prince's disparked and in Lease," &c. STEEvens. 3 From my own windows torn my household coat,] It was the practice when coloured glass was in use, of which there are still some remains in old seats and churches, to anneal the arms of the family in the windows of the house. JOHNSON. • Raz'd out my impress, &c.] The impress was a device or motto. Ferne, in his Blazon of Gentry, 1585, observes, "that the arms, &c. of traitors and rebels may be defaced and removed, wheresoever they are fixed, or set." STEEVENS. BOLING. My lord Northumberland, see them despatch'd. Exeunt NORTHUMBERLAND and Others, with Prisoners. Uncle, you say, the queen is at your house; YORK. A gentleman of mine I have despatch'd With letters of your love to her at large. BOLING. Thanks, gentle uncle.-Come, lords, away; To fight with Glendower and his complices; 5 Thanks, gentle uncle,-Come, lords, away; To fight with Glendower and his complices; [Exeunt. Awhile to work, and, after, holiday.] Though the intermediate line has taken possession of all the old copies, I have great suspicion of its being an interpolation; and have therefore ventured to throw it out. The first and third lines rhyme to each other; nor do I imagine this was casual, but intended by the poet. Were we to acknowledge the line genuine, it must argue the poet of forgetfulness and inattention to history. Bolingbroke is, as it were, but just arrived; he is now at Bristol, weak in his numbers; has had no meeting with a parliament; nor is so far assured of the succession, as to think of going to suppress insurrections before he is planted in the throne. Besides, we find the opposition of Glendower begins The First Part of King Henry IV. and Mortimer's defeat by that hardy Welchman is the tidings of the first scene of that play. Again, though Glendower, in the very first year of King Henry IV. began to be troublesome, put in for the supremacy of Wales, and imprisoned Mortimer; yet it was not till the succeeding year that the King employed any force against him. THEOBALD. This emendation, which I think is just, has been followed by Sir T. Hanmer, but is neglected by Dr. Warburton. JOHNSON. It is evident from the preceding scene, that there was a force in Wales, which Bolingbroke might think it necessary to suppress; and why might not Shakspeare call it Glendower's? When we SCENE II.6 The Coast of Wales. A Castle in view. Flourish: Drums and Trumpets. K.RICH. Barkloughly castle call you this at hand? AUM. Yea, my lord: How brooks your grace the air, After late tossing on the breaking seas?" K. RICH. Needs must I like it well; I weep joy, for To stand upon my kingdom once again. Plays fondly with her tears, and smiles in meeting;* next see Bolingbroke, he is in Wales, and mentions his having received intelligence that the Welchmen are dispersed. RITSON. Mr. Heath observes, that Bolingbroke marched to Chester, probably with a view to attack the Welsh army headed by Lord Salisbury. He thinks, therefore, the line is genuine. See sc. iii. p. 100. Stowe expressly says, that "Owen Glendower served King Richard at Flint-Castle." MALONE. • Here may be properly inserted the last scene of the second Act. JOHNSON. 7 After late tossing &c.] The old copies redundantly read: After your late tossing, &c. STEEVENS. ➖➖➖smiles in meeting;] It has been proposed to read-in Sò, weeping, smiling, greet I thee, my earth, weeping; and this change the repetition in the next line seems plainly to point out. STEEVENS. As a long parted mother with her child Plays fondly with her tears, and smiles in meeting;] 66 Ως ειπων, αλόχοιο φιλης εν χερσιν εθηκε σε Παιδ ̓ εον· ἡ δ' αρα μιν κηωδεϊ δεξαιο κολπῶ « ΔΑΚΡΥΟΕΝ ΓΕΛΑΣΑΣΑ.” Hom. ΙΙ. Ζ. Perhaps smiles is here used as a substantive. As a mother plays fondly with her child from whom she has been a long time parted, crying, and at the same time smiling, at meeting him. It has been proposed to read-smiles in weeping; and I once thought the emendation very plausible. But I am now persuaded the text is right. If we read weeping, the long parted mother and her child do not meet, and there is no particular cause assigned for either her smiles or her tears. MALONE. From the actual smiles and tears of the long parted mother, &c. we may, I think, sufficiently infer that she had met with her child. STEEVENS. Guard it, I pray thee,] Guard it, signifies here, as in many other places, border it. MALONE. I think, that—to guard, in this place, rather means, to watch or protect. M. MASON. This earth shall have a feeling,] Perhaps Milton had not forgot this passage, when he wrote, in his Comus Prove armed soldiers, ere her native king 2 BISHOP. Fear not, my lord; that Power, that made you king, Hath power to keep you king, in spite of all. 3 AUM. He means, my lord, that we are too remiss; Whilst Bolingbroke, through our security, Grows strong and great, in substance, and in friends. K. RICH. Discomfortable cousin! know'st thou not, That when the searching eye of heaven is hid dumb things shall be mov'd to sympathize, "And the brute earth shall lend her nerves, and shake." STEEVENS. Fear not, my lord; &c.] Of this speech, the four last lines were restored from the first edition by Mr. Pope. They were, I suppose, omitted by the players only to shorten the scene, for they are worthy of the author and suitable to the personage. JOHNSON. else, if heaven would, And we will not, heaven's offer we refuse;] Thus the quarto 1597, except that the word if is wanting. The quarto 1608, and the late editions, read-And we would not. The word if was supplied by Mr. Pope. Both the metre and the sense show that it was accidentally omitted in the first copy. MALONE. and lights the lower world,] The old copies read— that lights. The emendation was made by Dr. Johnson. Sense might be obtained by a slight transposition, without changing the words of the original text: That when the searching eye of heaven, that lights The lower world, is hid behind the globe;By the lower world, as the passage is amended by Dr. Johnson, we must understand, a world lower than this of ours; I our Antipodes. MALONE. suppose, |