Meaning the king at Pomfret. Come, let's

go:

I am the king's friend, and will rid his foe.

10

[Exeunt.

SCENE V

Pomfret Castle.

Enter King Richard.

K. Rich. I have been studying how I may com

pare

This prison where I live unto the world:
And for because the world is populous,
And here is not a creature but myself,
I cannot do it; yet I'll hammer it out.
My brain I'll prove the female to my soul,
My soul the father; and these two beget
A generation of still-breeding thoughts,
And these same thoughts people this little world,
In humors like the people of this world,
For no thought is contented. The better sort,
As thoughts of things divine, are intermix'd
With scruples, and do set the world itself
Against the word:

As thus, 'Come, little ones,' and then again,

10

11. To rid and to despatch were formerly synonymous. Thus Baret's Alvearie, 1576: “To ridde or dispatche himself of any man.” -"To dispatche or ridde one quickly."-H. N. H.

9. "this little world"; alluding to the conception of man as a "microcosm," i. e. “an abstract or model of the world.”—I. G. 14. “The Word” means Holy Writ.—H. N. H.

'It is as hard to come as for a camel

To thread the postern of a small needle's eye.'
Thoughts tending to ambition, they do plot
Unlikely wonders; how these vain weak nails
May tear a passage through the flinty ribs 20
Of this hard world, my ragged prison walls,
And, for they cannot, die in their own pride.
Thoughts tending to content flatter themselves
That they are not the first of fortune's slaves,
Nor shall not be the last; like silly beggars
Who sitting in the stocks refuge their shame,
That many have and others must sit there;
And in this thought they find a kind of ease,
Bearing their own misfortunes on the back
Of such as have before endured the like.

30

Thus play I in one person many people,
And none contented: sometimes am I king;
Then treasons make me wish myself a beggar,
And so I am: then crushing penury
Persuades me I was better when a king;
Then am I king'd again: and by and by
Think that I am unking'd by Bolingbroke,
And straight am nothing: but whate'er I be,
Nor I nor any man that but man is
With nothing shall be pleased, till he be eased 40
With being nothing. Music do I hear?

[Music.
Ha, ha! keep time: how sour sweet music is,

17. "Needle," pronounced "neeld."-C. H. H.

21. "Ragged," rugged.-C. H. H.

31. “person”; so Q. 1; the rest “prison.”—I. G.

In our early theaters, three or four characters were sometimes represented by one person.-H. N. H .

When time is broke and no proportion kept!
So is it in the music of men's lives.
And here have I the daintiness of ear
To check time broke in a disorder'd string:
But for the concord of my state and time
Had not an ear to hear my true time broke.
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me;
For now hath time made me his numbering
clock:

50

My thoughts are minutes; and with sighs they jar

Their watches on unto mine eyes, the outward watch,

Whereto my fingers, like a dial's point,

Is pointing still, in cleansing them from tears.
Now sir, the sound that tells what hour it is
Are clamorous groans, which strike upon my
heart,

Which is the bell: so sighs and tears and groans
Show minutes, times, and hours: but my time
Runs posting on in Bolingbroke's proud joy,
While I stand fooling here, his Jack o' the clock.
This music mads me; let it sound no more;
61
For though it have holp madmen to their wits,
In me it seems it will make wise men mad.
Yet blessing on his heart that gives it me!
For 'tis a sign of love; and love to Richard
Is a strange brooch in this all-hating world.
46. "To check" in all quartos; in the folio, hear.-H. N. H.

60. In Shakespeare's time clocks had miniature automatons to strike the hour. They were called "Jack of the clock" and are often referred to by old writers.-H. N. H.

66. Brooch is also considered an ornament, in the abstract.

Enter a Groom of the Stable.

Groom. Hail, royal prince!

K. Rich.

Thanks, noble peer;

The cheapest of us is ten groats too dear. What art thou? and how comest thou hither, Where no man never comes, but that sad dog 70 That brings me food to make misfortune live? Groom. I was a poor groom of thy stable, king, When thou wert king; who, traveling towards York,

With much ado at length have gotten leave To look upon my sometimes royal master's face. O, how it yearn'd my heart when I beheld In London streets, that coronation-day, When Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary, That horse that thou so often hast bestrid, That horse that I so carefully have dress'd! 80 K. Rich. Rode he on Barbary? Tell me, gentle friend,

How went he under him?

Groom. So proudly as if he disdain'd the ground.

68. The humor of the royal sufferer, as shown in this sprightly retort, is very gentle and graceful. Boswell thinks there is some allusion intended to the pieces of coin called royal and noble. In this passage with the Groom there is enough to prove that Bolingbroke has not "depos'd his intellect": if his mind be too much framed and filled with moral and sentimental embroidery, here are such flashes of manhood as secure him both our sympathy and our respect.-H. N. H.

"The cheapest of us," etc. The coins "royal" and "noble" were worth respectively ten shillings, and twenty groats or 6s. 8d. The "royal" was thence worth ten groats more than the "noble." Hence the quibble. Richard says in effect: "I, who am really worth less than you even, am made by you (who call me "royal") ́ten groats dearer than I make you (in calling you "noble”).—C. H. H.

K. Rich. So proud that Bolingbroke was on his

back!

That jade hath eat bread from my royal hand; This hand hath made him proud with clapping him.

90

Would he not stumble? would he not fall down,
Since pride must have a fall, and break the neck
Of that proud man that did usurp his back?
Forgiveness, horse! why do I rail on thee,
Since thou, created to be awed by man,
Wast born to bear? I was not made a horse;
And yet I bear a burthen like an ass,
Spurr'd, gall'd, and tired by jauncing Boling-
broke.

Enter Keeper, with a dish.

Keep. Fellow, give place; here is no longer stay. K. Rich. If thou love me, 'tis time thou wert away. Groom. What my tongue dares not, that my heart

shall say.

[Exit.
Keep. My lord, will 't please you to fall to?
K. Rich. Taste of it first, as thou art wont to do.
Keep. My lord, I dare not: Sir Pierce of Ex- 100

ton, who lately came from the king, com-
mands the contrary.

K. Rich. The devil take Henry of Lancaster and thee!

Patience is stale, and I am weary of it.

Keep. Help, help, help!

[Beats the Keeper.

94. "Jauncing" means hard-riding. It comes from the French jaucer.-H. N. H.