Enter King RICHARD, attended; JOHN of GAUNT, and other Nobles, with him.

K. Richard.

OLD John of Gaunt, time-honour'd Lancaster,

Haft thou, according to thy oath and band, Brought hither Henry Hereford thy bold fon; Here to make good the boisterous late appeal, Which then our leifure would not let us hear, Against the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray ? Gaunt. I have, my liege.

K. Rich. Tell me moreover, haft thou founded him, If he appeal the duke on ancient malice;

Or worthily, as a good fubject should,

On fome known ground of treachery in him?

Gaunt. As near as I could fift him on that argument,→→ On fome apparent danger seen in him,

Aim'd at your highness, no inveterate malice.

K. Rich. Then call them to our prefence; face to face, And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear

The accufer, and the accufed, freely speak

[Exeunt fome Attendants. High-stomach'd are they both, and full of ire,

In rage deaf as the fea, hafty as fire.
B

Re-enter

Re-enter Attendants, with BOLINGBROKE and NORFOLK.

Boling. Many years of happy days befal
My gracious fovereign, my most loving liege!
Nor. Each day ftill better other's happiness ;
Until the heavens, envying earth's good hap,
Add an immortal title to your crown!

K. Rich. We thank you both: yet one but flatters us,
As well appeareth by the cause you come;
Namely, to appeal each other of high treason.—
Coufin of Hereford, what dost thou object
Against the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray ?
Boling. First, (heaven be the record to my speech!),
In the devotion of a fubject's love,

Tendering the precious fafety of my prince,
And free from other misbegotten hate,
Come I appellant to this princely presence.-
Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee,
And mark my greeting well; for what I speak,
My body shall make good upon this earth,
Or my divine foul answer it in heaven.
Thou art a traitor, and a mifcreant;
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 traitor's name ftuff I thy throat;
And with, (fo please my fovereign,) ere I move,

What my tongue speaks, my right-drawn sword may prove.
Nor. Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal :
'Tis not the trial of a woman's war,

The bitter clamour of two eager tongues,

Can

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 boast,
As to be hush'd, and nought at all to say:
First, the fair reverence of your highness curbs me
From giving reins and fpurs to my free speech;
Which elfe would poft, until it had return'd
These terms of treafon doubled down his throat.
Setting afide his high blood's royalty,
And let him be no kinsman to my liege,

I do defy him, and I spit at him;

Call him—a flanderous coward, and a villain :
Which to maintain, I would allow him odds ;
And meet him, were I tied to run a-foot
Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,
Or any other ground inhabitable
Where ever Englishman durft fet his foot.
Mean time, let this defend my loyalty,-
By all my hopes, moft falfely doth he lie.

Boling. Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage,
Disclaiming here the kindred of the king;
And lay afide my high blood's royalty,

Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except :
If guilty dread hath left thee so much strength,
As to take up mine honour's pawn, then stoop;
By that, and all the rites of knighthood elfe,
Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,
What I have spoke, or thou canst worse devise.
Nor. I take it up; and, by that sword I swear,
Which gently laid my knighthood on my shoulder,
I'll answer thee in any fair degree,

Or chivalrous design of knightly trial:

And, when I mount, alive may I not light,

If I be traitor, or unjustly fight!

K. Rich. What doth our coufin lay 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 speak my life shall prove it true ;—
That Mowbray hath receiv'd eight thousand nobles,
In name of lendings for your highness' foldiers;
The which he hath detain'd for lewd employments,
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 Gloster's death;
Suggest his foon-believing adverfaries;

And, confequently, like a traitor coward,

Sluic'd out his innocent foul through streams 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 descent,
This arm fhall do it, or this life be spent.

K. Rich. How high a pitch his resolution soars ↓
Thomas of Norfolk, what say'st thou to this?
Nor. O, let my fovereign turn away his face,
And bid his ears a little while be deaf,
Till I have told this flander of his blood,

How God, and good men, hate fo foul a liar.

K. Rich. Mowbray, impartial are our eyes, and ears :

Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir, (As he is but my father's brother's fon,)

Now

Now by my fceptre's awe I make a vow,
Such neighbour nearness to our facred blood
Should nothing privilege him, nor partialize
The unstooping firmness of my upright foul;
He is our subject, Mowbray, so art thou ;
Free speech, and fearless I to thee allow.

Nor. Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart,
Through the false paffage of thy throat, thou lieft!
Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais,
Disburs'd I duly to his highness' foldiers :
The other part referv'd I by confent;
For that my fovereign liege was in my debt,
Upon remainder of a dear account,

Since last I went to France to fetch his queen :
Now swallow down that lie.-

-For Glofter's death,

I flew him not; but, to my 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 trespass that doth vex my grieved foul:
But, ere I last receiv'd the facrament,
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 rancour of a villain,
A recreant and most degenerate traitor :
Which in myself I boldly will defend ;
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 trial day,