Third son to the third Edward king of England;
Spring crestless yeomen3 from so deep a root?

Plan. He bears him on the place's privilege, 4
Or durst not, for his craven heart, say thus.

Som. By him that made me, I 'll maintain my words On any plot of ground in Christendom:

Was not thy father, Richard, earl of Cambridge,
For treason executed in our late king's days?5
And, by his treason, stand'st not thou attainted,
Corrupted, and exempt from ancient gentry?
His trespass yet lives guilty in thy blood;
And, till thou be restor❜d, thou art a yeoman.

Plan. My father was attached, not attainted;
Condemn'd to die for treason, but no traitor;
And that I'll prove on better men than Somerset,
Were growing time once ripen'd' to my will.
For your partaker Poole, and you yourself,

8

mistakes. Plantagenet's paternal grandfather was Edmund of Langley, Duke of York. His maternal grandfather was Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, who was the son of Philippa the daughter of Lionel, Duke of Clarence. That duke therefore was his maternal great great grandfather. Malone.

3 Spring crestless yeomen -] i. e. those who have no right to arms. Warburton.

He bears him on the place's privilege,] The Temple, being a religious house, was an asylum, a place of exemption, from violence, revenge, and bloodshed. Johnson.

It does not appear that the Temple had any peculiar privilege at this time, being then, as it is at present, the residence of lawstudents. The author might, indeed, imagine it to have derived some such privilege from its former inhabitants, the Knights Templars, or Knights Hospitalers, both religious orders: or blows might have been prohibited by the regulations of the Society: or what is equally probable, he might have neither known nor cared any thing about the matter. Ritson.

5 For treason executed in our late king's days?] This unmetrical line may be somewhat harmonized by adopting a practice common to our author, and reading-execute instead of executed. Thus, in King Henry V, we have create instead of created, and contaminate instead of contaminated. Steevens.

7

• Corrupted and exempt-] Exempt for excluded. Warburton. -time once ripen'd-] So, in The Merchant of Venice: stay the very riping of the time." Steevens.

For your partaker Poole,] Partaker in ancient language, signifies one who takes part with another, an accomplice, a confederate.

I'll note you in my book of memory,
To scourge you for this apprehension: "
Look to it well; and say you are well warn'd.

Som. Ay, thou shalt find us ready for thee still:
And know us, by these colours, for thy foes;
For these my friends, in spite of thee, shall wear.
Plan. And, by my soul, this pale and angry rose,
As cognizance of my blood-drinking hate,1
Will I for ever, and my faction, wear;
Until it wither with me to my grave,
Or flourish to the height of my degree.

Suf. Go forward, and be chok'd with thy ambition!
And so farewel, until I meet thee next.
[Exit.
Som. Have with thee, Poole.-Farewel, ambitious

Richard.

[Exit. Plan. How I am brav'd, and must perforce endure it! War. This blot, that they object against your house, Shall be wip'd out in the next parliament, Call'd for the truce of Winchester and Gloster:

And, if thou be not then created York,

I will not live to be accounted Warwick.
Mean time, in signal of my love to thee,

So, in Psalm 1: "When thou sawest a thief thou didst consent unto him, and hast been partaker with the adulterers." Steevens.

9 To scourge you for this apprehension:] Though this word possesses all the copies, I am persuaded it did not come from the author. I have ventured to read-reprehension: and Plantagenet means, that Somerset had reprehended or reproached him with his father the earl of Cambridge's treason. Theobald.

Apprehension, i. e. opinion. Warburton.

So, in Much Ado about Nothing:

66

how long have you profess'd apprehension?" Steevens. 1- this pale and angry rose,

As cognizance of my blood-drinking hate,] So, in Romeo and

Fuliet:

"Either my eye-sight fails, or thou look'st pale.—

"And, trust me, love, in mine eye so do you:

66 Dry sorrow drinks our blood." Steevens.

A badge is called a cognisance à cognoscendo, because by it such persons as do wear it upon their sleeves, their shoulders, or in their hats, are manifestly known whose servants they are. heraldry the cognisance is seated upon the most eminent part of the helmet. Tollet.

In

Shall be wip'd out-] Old copy-whip't. Corrected by the editor of the second folio. Malone.

Against proud Somerset, and William Poole,
Will I upon thy party wear this rose:

And here I prophecy,-This brawl to-day
Grown to this faction, in the Temple garden,
Shall send, between the red rose and the white,
A thousand souls to death and deadly night.

Plan. Good master Vernon, I am bound to you,
That you on my behalf would pluck a flower.
Ver. In your behalf still will I wear the same.
Law. And so will I.

Plan. Thanks, gentle sir.

Come, let us four to dinner: I dare say,

This quarrel will drink blood another day.

[Exeunt.

Enter MORTIMER,3 brought in a Chair by two Keepers.

Mor. Kind keepers of my weak decaying age,
Let dying Mortimer here rest himself.—
Even Tike a man new haled from the rack,
So fare my limbs with long imprisonment:
And these grey locks, the pursuivants of death,
Nestor-like aged, in an age of care,

Argue the end of Edmund Mortimer.

These eyes,-like lamps whose wasting oil is spent,5. Wax dim, as drawing to their exigent:"

3 Enter Mortimer,] Mr. Edwards, in his MS. notes, observes, that Shakspeare has varied from the truth of history, to introduce this scene between Mortimer and Richard Plantagenet. Edmund Mortimer served under Henry V in 1422, and died unconfined in Ireland in 1424. Holinshed says, that Mortimer was one of the mourners at the funeral of Henry V.

His uncle Sir John Mortimer, was indeed prisoner in the Tow. er, and was executed not long before the Earl of March's death, being charged with an attempt to make his escape in order to stir up an insurrection in Wales. Steevens.

- pursuivants of death,] Pursuivants. The heralds that, forerunning death, proclaim its approach. Johnson.

5

11:

-like lamps whose wasting oil is spent,] So, in King Richard

"My oil-dry'd lamp, and time-bewasted light." Steevens,
as drawing to their exigent:] Exigent, end. Johnson.
VOL. X.
F

Weak shoulders, overborne with burd'ning grief;
And pithless arms, like to a wither'd vine

7

That droops his sapless branches to the ground:-
Yet are these feet-whose strengthless stay is numb,
Unable to support this lump of clay,
Swift-winged with desire to get a grave,
As witting I no other comfort have.-
But tell me, keeper, will my nephew come?

1 Keep. Richard Plantagenet, my lord, will come:
We sent unto the Temple, to his chamber;
And answer was return'd, that he will come.

Mor. Enough; my soul shall then be satisfied.-
Poor gentleman! his wrong doth equal mine.
Since Henry Monmouth first began to reign,
(Before whose glory I was great in arms,)
This loathsome sequestration have I had;
And even since then hath Richard been obscur'd,
Depriv'd of honour and inheritance:

But now, the arbitrator of despairs,

8

Just death, kind umpire of men's miseries,"
With sweet enlargement doth dismiss me hence;
I would, his troubles likewise were expir'd,

That so he might recover what was lost.

Enter RICHARD PLANTAGENET.

1 Keep. My lord, your loving nephew now is come.
Mor. Richard Plantagenet, my friend? Is he come?
Plan. Ay, noble uncle, thus ignobly us'd,
Your nephew, late-despised1 Richard, comes.
Mor. Direct mine arms, I may embrace his neck,
And in his bosom spend my latter gasp:

O, tell me, when my lips do touch his cheeks,
That I may kindly give one fainting kiss.-

7 And pithless arms,] Pith was used for marrow, and figurativély, for strength. Johnson.

8 Since Henry Monmouth first began to reign

This loathsome sequestration have I had;] Here again, the author certainly is mistaken. See p. 52, n. 1. Malone.

9 the arbitrator of despairs,

Just death, kind umpire of men's miseries;] That is, he that terminates or concludes misery. The expression is harsh and forced. Johnson.

I late-despised —] i. e. lately despised. M. Mason.

And now declare, sweet stem from York's great stock,
Why didst thou say-of late thou wert despis'd?
Plan. First, lean thine aged back against mine arm
And, in that ease, I'll tell thee
my disease.2
This day, in argument upon a case,

Some words there grew 'twixt Somerset and me:
Among which terms, he used his lavish tongue,
And did upbraid me with my father's death;
Which obloquy set bars before my tongue,
Else with the like I had requited him:
Therefore, good uncle,-for my father's sake,
In honour of a true Plantagenet,

And for alliance' sake,-declare the cause

My father, earl of Cambridge, lost his head.

Mor. That cause, fair nephew, that imprison'd me, And hath detain'd me, all my flow'ring youth, Within a loathsome dungeon, there to pine, Was cursed instrument of his decease.

Plan. Discover more at large what cause that was; For I am ignorant, and cannot guess.

Mor. I will; if that my fading breath permit, And death approach not ere my tale be done. Henry the fourth, grandfather to this king, Depos'd his nephew Richard;3 Edward's son,

2 — I'll tell thee my disease.] Disease seems to be here uneasiness, or discontent. Johnson.

It is so used by other ancient writers, and by Shakspeare in Coriolanus. Thus likewise, in Spenser's Fairy Queen, B. III, c. v: 'But labour'd long in that deep ford with vain disease.”

3

66

Steevens.

his nephew Richard;] Thus the old copy. Modern editors read-his cousin-but without necessity. Nephew has sometimes the power of the Latin nepos, and is used with great laxity among our ancient English writers. Thus in Othello, Iago tells Brabantio he shall "have his nephews (i. e. the children of his own daughter) neigh to him." Steevens.

It would be surely better to read cousin, the meaning which nephew ought to have in this place. Mr. Steevens only proves that the word nephews is sometimes used for grand-children, which is very certain. Both uncle and nephew might, however, formerly signify cousin. See the Menagiana, Vol. II, p. 193. In The Second Part of the troublesome Raigne of King John, Prince Henry calls his cousin the Bastard, "uncle." Ritson.

I believe the mistake here arose from the author's ignorance; and that he conceived Richard to be Henry's nephew. Malofte.