The Gordian knot of it he will unloose, And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears, Which is a wonder, how his grace should glean it, His companies unlettered, rude, and shallow; Any retirement, any sequestration Ely. The strawberry grows underneath the nettle; And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best, Neighbored by fruit of baser quality. And so the prince obscured his contemplation Cant. It must be so; for miracles are ceased; Ely. But, my good lord, Urged by the commons? Doth his majesty Cant. He seems indifferent ; Or, rather, swaying more upon our part, And in regard of causes now in hand, 1 He discourses with so much skill on all subjects, "that his theory must have been taught by art and practice." Practic and theoric, or rather practique and theorique, was the old orthography of practice and theory. 2 This expressive word is used by Drant, in his Translation of Horace's Art of Poetry, 1567. As touching France,-to give a greater sum Ely. How did this offer seem received, my lord? 1 Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms; Ely. What was the impediment that broke this off? Ely. Ely. I'll wait upon you; and I long to hear it. [Exeunt. SCENE II. The same. A Room of State in the same. Enter KING HENRY, GLOSTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, WARWICK, WESTMORELAND, and Attendants. K. Hen. Where is my gracious lord of Canterbury? Exe. Not here in presence. K. Hen. Send for him, good uncle.2 West. Shall we call in the ambassador, my liege? K. Hen. Not yet, my cousin; we would be resolved, 1 «The severals and unhidden passages." The particulars and clear, unconcealed circumstances of his true titles, &c. 2 "Send for him, good uncle." The person here addressed was Thomas Beaufort, half brother to king Henry IV., being one of the sons of John of Gaunt by Katharine Swynford. He was not made duke of Exeter till the year after the battle of Agincourt, 1416. He was properly now only earl of Dorset. Shakspeare may have confounded this character with John Holland, duke of Exeter, who married Elizabeth, the king's aunt. He was executed at Plashey, in 1400. The old play began with the next speech. 16 VOL. IV. Before we hear him, of some things of weight, Enter the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop of Ely. Cant. God, and his angels, guard your sacred throne, And make you long become it! K. Hen. Sure, we thank you. My learned lord, we pray you to proceed; And justly and religiously unfold, Why the law Salique, that they have in France, That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your reading, Of what your reverence shall incite us to. 'Gainst him, whose wrongs give edge unto the swords That make such waste in brief mortality. Under this conjuration, speak, my lord; And we will hear, note, and believe in heart, As pure as sin with baptism. Cant. Then hear me, gracious sovereign,-and you peers, That owe your lives, your faith, and services, 1 Or burden your knowing or conscious soul with displaying false titles in a specious manner or opening pretensions, which, if shown in their native colors, would appear to be false. To this imperial throne.-There is no bar1 Where Charles the Great, having subdued the Saxons, Who died within the year of our redemption Four hundred twenty-six; and Charles the Great year Eight hundred five. Besides, their writers say, Of Blithild, which was daughter to king Clothair, 1 "There is no bar," &c. The whole speech is taken from Holinshed. To fine his title with some show of truth, (Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught,) Daughter to Charles the foresaid duke of Lorain : So that, as clear as is the summer's sun, K. Hen. May I, with right and conscience, make this claim? Cant. The sin upon my head, dread sovereign! For in the book of Numbers is it writ, When the son dies, let the inheritance Descend unto the daughter. Gracious lord, Go, my dread lord, to your great grandsire's tomb, 1 To fine is to embellish, to trim, to make showy or specious: Limare. The folio reads find. 2 Shakspeare found this expression in Holinshed; and, though it sounds odd to modern ears, it is classical. 3 This should be Lewis the Ninth, as it stands in Hall's Chronicle. Shakspeare has been led into the error by Holinshed, whose Chronicle he followed. 4 The folio reads imbarre; the quarto imbace. |