NORTH. The noble duke hath been too much abus'd.

Ross. It ftands your grace upon, to do him

right.3

WILLO. Bafe men by his endowments are made great.

YORK. My lords of England, let me tell you

this,

I have had feeling of my coufin's wrongs,
And labour'd all I could to do him right:
But in this kind to come, in braving arms,
Be his own carver, and cut out his way,
To find out right with wrong,-it may not be;
And you, that do abet him in this kind,
Cherith rebellion, and are rebels all.

NORTH. The noble duke hath fworn, his coming

is

But for his own: and, for the right of that,
We all have strongly sworn to give him aid;
And let him ne'er fee joy, that breaks that oath.
YORK. Well, well, I fee the iffue of these arms;
I cannot mend it, I muft needs confefs,
Because my power is weak, and all ill left:
But, if I could, by him that gave me life,
I would attach you all, and make you ftoop
Unto the fovereign mercy of the king;

It stands your grace upon, to do him right.] intereft, it is matter of confequence to you. Richard III :

66

it ftands me much upon,

i. e. it is your So, in King

"To ftop all hopes whofe growth may danger me." Again, in Antony and Cleopatra :

66

It only stands

“Our lives upon, to use our strongest hands.".

STEEVENS.

But, fince I cannot, be it known to you,
I do remain as neuter. So, fare you well
Unless you please to enter in the caftle,
And there repofe you for this night.

BOLING. An offer, uncle, that we will accept. But we must win your grace, to go with us To Bristol castle; which, they fay, is held By Bushy, Bagot, and their complices, The caterpillars of the commonwealth, Which I have fworn to weed, and pluck away.

YORK. It may be, I will go with you:-but yet
I'll paufe ;4

For I am loath to break our country's laws.
Nor friends, nor foes, to me welcome you are:
Things paft redress, are now with me past care.5

[Exeunt.

✦ It may be, I will go with you :-but yet I'll paufe ;] I fufpect, the words-with you, which spoil the metre, to be another interpolation. STEEVENS.

5 Things paft redrefs, are with me now past care.] So, in Macbeth:

66 Things without remedy,

"Should be without regard." STEEVENS.

SCENE IV.6

A Camp in Wales.

Enter SALISBURY," and a Captain.

CAP. My lord of Salisbury, we have ftaid ten
days,

And hardly kept our countrymen together,
And yet we hear no tidings from the king;
Therefore we will difperfe ourselves: farewell.

SAL. Stay yet another day, thou trusty Welsh

man;

The king repofeth all his confidence

In thee.

CAP. "Tis thought, the king is dead; we will not stay.

The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd,8

• Here is a scene fo unartfully and irregularly thrust into an improper place, that I cannot but fufpect it accidentally transposed; which, when the scenes were written on fingle pages, might eafily happen in the wildness of Shakspeare's drama. This dialogue was, in the author's draught, probably the second scene in the enfuing Act, and there I would advise the reader to infert it, though I have not ventured on fo bold a change. My conjecture is not so presumptuous as may be thought. The play was not, in Shakspeare's time, broken into Acts; the editions published before his death, exhibit only a fequence of scenes from the beginning to the end, without any hint of a paufe of action. In a drama fo defultory and erratic, left in such a state, tranfpofitions might easily be made. JOHNSON.

7-Salibury,] was John Montacute, Earl of Salisbury. WALPOLE.

The bay-trees &c.] This enumeration of prodigies is in the highest degree poetical and ftriking. JOHNSON.

And meteors fright the fixed ftars of heaven;
The pale-fac'd moon looks bloody on the earth,
And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change;
Rich men look fad, and ruffians dance and leap,-
The one, in fear to lose what they enjoy,
The other, to enjoy by rage and war:
These figns forerun the death or fall of kings.-
Farewell; our countrymen are gone and fled,
As well affur'd, Richard their king is dead.

[Exit. SAL. Ah, Richard! with the eyes of heavy mind,

I fee thy glory, like a fhooting ftar,
Fall to the base earth from the firmament!
Thy fun fets weeping in the lowly weft,
Witneffing ftorms to come, woe, and unreft:
Thy friends are fled, to wait upon thy foes;
And crossly to thy good all fortune goes.

[Exit.

Some of these prodigies are found in Holinfhed: "In this yeare in a manner throughout all the realme of England, old baie trees withered," &c.

This was esteemed a bad omen; for, as I learn from Thomas Lupton's Syxt Booke of Notable Thinges, 4to. bl. 1: "Neyther falling fycknes, neyther devyll, wyll infeft or hurt one in that place whereas a Bay tree is. The Romaynes calles it the plant of the good angell," &c. STEEVENS.

ACT III. SCENE I.

Bolingbroke's Camp at Bristol.

Enter BOLINGBROKE, YORK, NORTHUMBERLAND, PERCY, WILLOUGHBY, Ross: Officers behind with BUSHY and GREEN, prifoners.

BOLING. Bring forth thefe men.Bushy, and Green, I will not vex your fouls (Since prefently your fouls must part your bodies,) With too much urging your pernicious lives, For 'twere no charity: yet, to wash your blood From off my hands, here, in the view of men, I will unfold fome caufes of your death. You have misled a prince, a royal king, A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments, By you unhappied and disfigur'd clean.' You have, in manner, with your finful hours, Made a divorce betwixt his queen and him; Broke the poffeffion of a royal bed,1

And ftain'd the beauty of a fair queen's cheeks With tears drawn from her eyes by your foul

wrongs.

Myfelf-a prince, by fortune of my birth;

9

clean.] i. e. quite, completely. REED.

So, in our author's 75th Sonnet :

"And by and by, clean ftarved for a look." MALONE. You have, in manner, with your finful hours,

Made a divorce betwixt his queen and him;

Broke the poffeffion of a royal bed,] There is, I believe, no authority for this. Ifabel, the queen of the prefent play, was but nine years old. Richard's first queen, Anne, died in 1392, and the king was extremely fond of her. MALONE.