PERCY. My gracious lord, I tender you my fervice,

Such as it is, being tender, raw, and young;
Which elder days fhall ripen, and confirm
To more approved service and defert.

BOLING. I thank thee, gently Percy; and be fure,,
I count myself in nothing else so happy,
As in a foul rememb'ring my good friends;
And, as my fortune ripens with thy love,
It fhall be ftill thy true love's recompenfe:
My heart this covenant makes, my hand thus feals
it.

NORTH. How far is it to Berkley? And what flir Keeps good old York there, with his men of war? PERCY. There ftands the caftle, by yon tuft of

trees,

Mann'd with three hundred men, as I have heard: And in it are the lords of York, Berkley, and Sey

mour;

None else of name, and noble estimate.

Enter Ross and WILLOUGHBY.,

NORTH. Here come the lords of Rofs and Willoughby,

Bloody with fpurring, firy-red with hafte.

BOLING. Welcome, my lords: I wot, your love purfues

A banifh'd traitor; all my treasury

Is

yet but unfelt thanks, which, more enrich'd, Shall be your love and labour's recompenfe.

Ross. Your presence makes us rich, most noble

lord.

WILLO. And far furmounts our labour to attain

it.

BOLING. Evermore thanks, the exchequer of the

poor;

Which, till my infant fortune comes to years,
Stands for my bounty. But who comes here?

Enter BERKLEY.

NORTH. It is my lord of Berkley, as I guess. BERK. My lord of Hereford, my meffage is to

you.

6

BOLING. My lord, my answer is—to Lancaster;' And I am come to feek that name in England: And I muft find that title in your tongue, Before I make reply to aught you say.

BERK. Miflake me not, my lord; 'tis not my

meaning,

8

To raze one title of your honour out:
To you, my lord, I come, (what lord you will,)
From the most glorious regent of this land,'
The duke of York; to know, what pricks you on

My lord of Hereford, my message is to you.] I fuspect that our author designed this for a fpeech rendered abrupt by the impatience of Bolingbroke's reply; and therefore wrote:

My lord of Hereford, my message is-

The words to you, only ferve to deftroy the metre.

7-

STEE VENS.

- my answer is to Lancaster ;] Your meffage, you fay, is to my lord of Hereford. My answer is, It is not to him; it is to the Duke of Lancaster. MALONE.

8 To raze one title of your honour out:] "How the names of them which for capital crimes against majestie were crazed out of the publicke records, tables, and registers, or forbidden to be borne by their pofteritie, when their memorie was damned, I could fhow at large.' Camden's Remains, p. 136, edit. 1605. MALONE.

9 From the most glorious regent of this land,] Thus the firft quarto, 1597. The word regent was accidentally omitted in the quarto, 1598, which was followed by all the fubfequent copies.

MALONE.

2

To take advantage of the abfent time,"
And fright our native peace with felf-born arms,

Enter YORK, attended.

BOLING. I fhall not need tranfport my words by

you;

Here comes his grace in perfon,-My noble un[Kneels.

cle!

YORK. Show me thy humble heart, and not thy

knee,

Whose duty is deceivable and false.

BOLING. My gracious uncle!

YORK. Tut, tut!

Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle: 3
I am no traitor's uncle; and that word-grace,
In an ungracious mouth, is but profane.
Why have those banish'd and forbidden legs
Dar'd once to touch a duft of England's ground?
But then more why ; 4

march

-Why have they dar'd to

-the absent time,] i. e. time of the king's abfence.

JOHNSON.

3 Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle:] In Romeo and Juliet we have the fame kind of phraseology:

"Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds." Again, in Microcynicon, Six fnarling Satires, &c. 16mo. 1599: "Hower me no howers; howers break no fquare."

But more than this; why, &c. TYRWHITT.

But then more why;] But, to add more queftions. This is the reading of the first quarto, 1597, which in the fecond, and all the fubfequent copies, was corrupted thus: But more than why. The expreffion of the text, though a singular one, was, I have no doubt,

So many miles upon her peaceful bofom;
Frighting her pale-fac'd villages with war,
And oftentation of despised arms ? 5

Com'st thou because the anointed king is hence?
Why, foolish boy, the king is left behind,
And in my loyal bofom lies his power.

Were I but now the lord of fuch hot youth,

As when brave Gaunt, thy father, and myself, Rescued the Black Prince, that young Mars of

men,

From forth the ranks of many thousand French;
O, then, how quickly fhould this arm of mine,
Now prifoner to the palfy, cháftise thee,
And minister correction to thy fault!

the author's.

It is of a colour with those immediately preceding: "Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle."

A fimilar expreffion occurs in Twelfth Night:

More than I love thefe eyes, more than my life, "More, by all mores, than I fhall e'er love wife."

MALONE.

There feems to be an error in this paffage, which I believe fhould run thus:

But more then: Why? why have they dar'd, &c. This repetition of the word why, is not unnatural for a perfon fpeaking with much warmth.

M. MASON.

5 And oftentation of defpifed arms?] But fure the oftentation of defpifed arms would not fright any one. We fhould read:

-—disposed arms, i. e. forces in battle array.

WARBURTON.

This alteration is harsh. Sir T. Hanmer reads defpightful. Mr. Upton gives this paffage as a proof that our author ufes the paffive participle in an active fenfe. The copies all agree. Perhaps the old duke means to treat him with contempt as well as with severity, and to infinuate that he defpifes his power, as being able to mafter it. In this fenfe all is right. JOHNSON.

So, in this play:

“We'll make foul weather with despised tears.'

STEEVENS.

The meaning of this probably is-a beaftful display of arms which we defpife. M. MASON.

BOLING. My gracious uncle, let me know my fault;

On what condition 6 ftands it, and wherein?

YORK. Even in condition of the worst degree,— In grofs rebellion, and detefted treason: Thou art a banifh'd man, and here art come, Before the expiration of thy time,

In braving arms against thy fovereign.

BOLING. As I was banifh'd, I was banifh'd Here-
ford;

But as I come, I come for Lancaster.
And, noble uncle, I befeech your grace.
Look on my wrongs with an indifferent eye:"
You are my father, for, methinks, in you
I fee old Gaunt alive; O, then, my father!
Will you permit that I fhall ftand condemn'd
A wand'ring vagabond; my rights and royalties
Pluck'd from my arms perforce, and given away
To upftart unthrifts? Wherefore was I born?*
If that my coufin king be king of England,
It must be granted, I am duke of Lancaster.
You have a fon, Aumerle, my noble kinsman;
Had you firft died, and he been thus trod down,
He fhould have found his uncle Gaunt a father,

On what condition] It fhould be, in what condition, i. e. in what degree of guilt. The particles in the old editions are of little credit. JOHNSON.

York's reply supports Dr. Johnfon's conje&ure;

"Even in condition," &c. MALONE.

་་

Look on my wrongs with an indifferent eye:] i. e. with an impartial eye. Every juryman (fays Sir Edward Coke) ought to be impartial and indifferent." MALONE.

Wherefore was I born?] To what purpose ferves birth and lineal fucceffion? I am duke of Lancaster by the fame right of birth as the king is king of England. JOHNSON.