In all my miseries; but thou hast forc'd me And,-when I am forgotten, as I shall be; Say, Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory, 7 thee;9 8 -fling away ambition;] Wolsey does not mean to condemn every kind of ambition; for in a preceding line he says he will instruct Cromwell how to rise, and in the subsequent lines he evidently considers him as a man in office: "-then if thou fall'st," &c. Ambition here means a criminal and inordinate ambition, that endavours to obtain honours by dishonest means, MALone. 8 By that sin fell the angels,] See p. 138, n. 1. STEEVENS. 9 cherish those hearts that hate thee;] Though this be good divinity, and an admirable precept for our conduct in private life, it was never calculated or designed for the magistrate or publick minister. Nor could this be the direction of a man experienced in affairs to his pupil. It would make a good christian, but a very ill and very unjust statesman. And we have nothing so infamous in tradition, as the supposed advice given to one ofour kings, to cherish his enemies, and be in no pain for his friends. I am of opinion the poet wrote: cherish those hearts that wait thee; i. e. thy dependants. For the contrary practice had contributed to Wolsey's ruin. He was not careful enough in making de Corruption wins not more than honesty. Thou fall'st a blessed martyr. Serve the king; There take an inventory of all I have,' my robe, And my integrity to heaven, is all I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell, Had I but serv'd my God with half the zeal 2 pendants by his bounty, while intent in amassing wealth to himself. The following line seems to confirm this correction: Corruption wins not more than honesty. i. e. You will never find men won over to your temporary occasions by bribery, so useful to you as friends made by a just and generous munificence. WARBURTON. I am unwilling wantonly to contradict so ingenious a remark, but that the reader may not be misled, and believe the emendation proposed to be necessary, he should remember that this is not a time for Wolsey to speak only as a statesman, but as a christian. Shakspeare would have debased the character, just when he was employing his strongest efforts to raise it, had he drawn it otherwise. Nothing makes the hour of disgrace more irksome, than the reflection, that we have been deaf to offers of reconciliation, and perpetuated that enmity which we might have converted into friendship. STEEVENS. 1 Pr'ythee, lead me in: There take an inventory of all I have,] This inventory Wolsey actually caused to be taken upon his disgrace, and the particulars may be seen at large in Stowe's Chronicle, p. 546, edit. 1631. Among the Harl. MSS. there is one intitled, " An Inventorie of Cardinal Wolsey's rich Housholde Stuffe. Temp. Hen. VIII. The original book, as it seems, kept by his own officers." See Harl. Catal. No. 599. DOUCE. 2 Had I but serv'd my God &c.] This sentence was really uttered by Wolsey. JOHNSON. I serv'd my king, he would not in mine age CROM. Good sir, have patience. So I have. Farewell WOL. The hopes of court! my hopes in heaven do dwell. [Exeunt. When Samrah, the deputy governor of Basorah, was deposed by Moawiyah the sixth caliph, he is reported to have expressed himself in the same manner: "If I had served God so well as I have served him, he would never have condemned me to all eternity." A similar sentiment also occurs in The Earle of Murton's Tragedy, by Churchyard, 1593: "Had I serv'd God as well in euery sort, STEEVENS. Antonio Perez, the favourite of Philip the Second of Spain, made the same pathetick complaint: "Mon zele etoit si grand vers ces benignes puissances [la cour de Turin,] que si j'en eusse eu autant pour Dieu, je ne doubte point qu'il ne m'eut deja recompensé de son paradis." MALONE. This was a strange sentence for Wolsey to utter, who was disgraced for the basest treachery to his King in the affair of the divorce: but it shows how naturally men endeavour to palliate their crimes even to themselves. M. MASON. There is a remarkable affinity between these words and part of the speech of Sir James Hamilton, who was supposed by King James V. thus to address him in a dream: "Though I was a sinner against God, I failed not to thee. Had I been as good a servant to the Lord my God, as I was to thee, I had not died that death." Pinscottie's History of Scotland, p. 261, edit. 1788, 12mo. Douce. ACT IV. SCENE I. A Street in Westminster. Enter Two Gentlemen, meeting. 1 GENT. You are well met once again. 2 GENT. 3 And so are you. 1 GENT. You come to take your stand here, and behold The lady Anne pass from her coronation? 2 GENT. 'Tis all my business. At our last encounter, The duke of Buckingham came from his trial. 1 GENT. 'Tis very true: but that time offer'd sorrow; This, general joy. 2 GENT. 'Tis well: The citizens, I am sure, have shown at full their royal minds; 5 3 once again.] Alluding to their former meeting in the second Act. JOHNSON. And so are you.] The conjunction-And was supplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer, to complete the measure. STEEVENS. 5 their royal minds;] i. e. their minds well affected to their King, Mr. Pope unnecessarily changed this word to loyal. In King Henry IV. Part II. we have "royal faith," that is, faith due to kings; which Sir T. Hanmer changed to loyal, and I too hastily followed Dr.Johnson and the late editions, in adopting the emendation. The recurrence of the same expression, though it is not such a one as we should now use, convinces me that there is no error in the text in either place. MALONE. Royal, I believe, in the present instance, only signifies-noble. So, Macbeth, speaking of Banquo, mentions his "royalty of nature." STEEVENS. As, let them have their rights, they are ever for ward In celebration of this day with shows, 1 GENT. Never greater, Nor, I'll assure you, better taken, sir. 2 GENT. May I be bold to ask what that contains, That paper in your hand? 1 GENT. Yes; 'tis the list Of those, that claim their offices this day, The duke of Suffolk is the first, and claims 2 GENT. I thank you, sir; had I not known those customs, I should have been beholden to your paper. 1 GENT. That I can tell you too. The archbishop these days But Shakspeare meant such a day as this, a coronation day. And such is the English idiom, which our author commonly prefers to grammatical nicety. Johnson. 7 " not appearance,] I suppose, our author wrote-nonappearance. So, in The Winter's Tale: - the execution did cry out "Against the non-performance." STEEVENS. |