Gard'ner, for telling me thefe news of woe, I would, the plants, thou graft'ft, may never grow. [Exeunt Queen and Ladies. Gard. Poor Queen, fo that thy ftate might be no worse, I would my fkill were fubject to thy Curfe. [Exeunt Gard. and Serv. ACT IV. SCENE I. In LONDON. Enter, as to the Parliament, Bolingbroke, Aumerle, Northumberland, Percy, Fitzwater, Surry, Bishop of Carlisle, Abbot of Westminster, Herald, Officers, and Bagot. C BOLINGBROKE. ALL Bagot forth: now freely fpeak thy mind What thou doft know of noble Glo'fter's death Who wrought it with the King, and who perform'd The bloody office of his timeless end. 7 ; Bagot. Then fet before my face the lord Aumerle. Boling. Coufin, ftand forth, and look upon that man. Bagot. My Lord Aumerle, I know your daring tongue Scorns to unfay, what it hath once deliver❜d. In that dead time when Glofter's death was plotted, 6 I would, the plants, &c.-] This execration of the queen is fomewhat ludicrous, and unfuitable to her condition; the gardener's reflexion is better adapted to the ftate both of his mind and his fortune. Mr. Poje, who has been throughout this play very diligent to reject what he did not like, has yet, I know not why, fpared the laft lines of this act. 7 his timeless end. ] WARB. I heard Timeless for untimely. I heard you fay, "Is not my arm of length, "death." your Coufin's Aum. Princes, and noble Lords, What anfwer fhall I make to this bafe man? Shall I fo much difhonour my fair stars, On equal terms to give him chastisement ? Either I muft, or have mine honour foil'd With the attainder of his fland'rous lips. There is my Gage, the manual seal of death, That marks thee out for hell. Thou lieft, And I'll maintain what thou haft faid, is false, In thy heart-blood, though being all too base To ftain the temper of my knightly fword. Boling. Bagot, forbear; thou fhalt not take it Aum. Excepting one, I would he were the best In all this prefence that hath mov'd me fo. Fitzw. If that thy valour ftand on fympathies, 9 my fair STARS,] I rather think it fhould be STEM, he being of the royal blood. WARBURTON. I think the prefent reading unexceptionable. The birth is fuppofed to be influenced by the fars, therefore our authour with his ufual licence takes ftars for birth. If that thy valour ftand in ympathies,] Here is a tranflated fenfe much harsher than that of ftars explained in the foregoing note. Aumerle has challenged Bagot with fome hefitation, as not being his equal, and up. therefore one whom, according to the rules of chivalry, he was not obliged to fight, as a nobler life was not to be ftaked in duel against a bafer. Fitzwalter then throws down his gage a pledge of battle, and tells him that if he stands upon fympathies, that is, upon equality of blood, the combat is now offered him by a man of rank not inferiour to his own. Sympathy is an affection incident at once to two fubjects. This community of affection implies a likeness or equality of nature, and thence our poet transferred the term to equality of blood. There There is my Gage, Aumerle, in gage to thine. Aum. Thou dar'ft not, coward, live to fee the day. *Another Lord. I take the earth to the like, forfworn Aumerle, And fpur thee on with full as many lies As may be hollow'd in thy treach'rous ear Engage it to the trial if thou dar'ft. dum. Who fets me elfe? by heav'n, I'll throw at all. I have a thousand fpirits in my breast, To answer twenty thoufand fuch as you. Surrey. My Lord Fitzwater, I remember well The very time Aumerle and you did talk. was not feen in England till two centuries afterwards. Fitzw. MyLord, 'tis true; you were in presence then ; my rapier's point.] Shakespeare deferts the manners of the age in which his drama is placed very often, without neceflity or advantage. The edge of a fword had ferved his purpofe as well as the point of a rapier, and he had then efcaped the impropriety of giving the Eng fb nobles a weapon which This fpeech I have restored from the firit edition in humble imitation of former editors, though, I believe, against the mind of the authour. For the earth I fuppofe we ft.ould read, thy oath. And And you can witnefs with me, this is true. Surry. As falfe, by heav'n, as heav'n itself is true. Fitz. Surry, thou lieft. Surry. Difhonourable boy, That Lie fhall lye fo heavy on my sword, In proof whereof, there is mine honour's pawn; Fitz. How fondly doft thou spur a forward horse? If I dare eat, or drink, or breathe, or live, 'I dare meet Surrey in a wilderness, And fpit upon him, whilft I fay, he lies, And lies, and lies. There is my bond of faith, As I intend to thrive in this new world, Befides I heard the banish'd Norfolk fay, That thou, Aumerle, didft fend two of thy men Aum. Some honeft chriftian truft me with a gage, Boling. Thefe Diff'rences fhall all reft under gage, Till Norfolk be repeal'd; repeal'd he fhall be, And, though mine enemy, reftor'd again To all his Signiories; when he's return'd, Against Aumerle we will enforce his tryal. Carl. That honourable day fhall ne'er be seen. Many a time hath banish'd Norfolk fought For Jefu Chrift, in glorious chriftian field ⚫ I dare meet Surrey in a wilde nefs.] I dare meet him where no Help can be had by me against him. So in Macbeth, -O be alive again, And dare me to the defert with by sword, 3 In this new world] In this world where I have just begun to be an actor. Surrey has, a few Lines above, called him boy. Stream Streaming the Enfign of the chriftian Crofs, His body to that pleasant Country's earth, Boling. Sweet peace conduct his foul To th' befom of good Abraham!-Lords appealants, Your diff'rences fhall all reft under gage, Till we affign you to your days of tryal. York. Great Duke of Lancaster, I come to thee Afcend his Throne, defcending now from him, Worft in this royal prefence may I fpeak, 4 Yet beft befeeming me 10 Jprak the truth.] It might be read more grammatically, Yet beft befeems it me to speak the truth. But I do not think it is printed otherwife than as Shakespeare wrote it. And |