Gui. Pr'ythee, have done; And do not play in wench-like words with that Which is so serious. Let us bury him, Wood, or was the notion of the red-breast covering dead bodies, general before the writing that ballad? Percy. In Cornucopia, or divers Secrets wherein is contained the rare Secrets in Man, Beasts, Foules, Fishes, Trees, Plantes, Stones, and such like most pleasant and profitable, and not before committed to bee printed in English Newlie drawen out of divers Latine Authors into English, by Thomas Johnson, 4to. 1596, signat. E. it is said: "The robin redbrest if he find a man or woman dead, will cover all his face with mosse, and some thinke that if the body should remaine unburied that he would cover the whole body also." Reed. This passage is imitated by Webster in his tragedy of The White Devil; and in such a manner as confirms the old reading: "Call for the robin-red-brest and the wren, "Since o'er shady groves they hover, "And with leaves and flowers do cover "The friendless bodies of unburied men; "Call unto his funeral dole "The ant, the field-mouse, and the mole, "To rear him hillocks that shall keep him warm," &c. Farmer. Which of these two plays was first written cannot now be determined. Webster's play was published in 1612, that of Shakspeare did not appear in print till 1623. In the preface to the edition of Webster's play, he thus speaks of Shakspeare: "And lastly (without wrong last to be named) the right happy and copious industry of M. Shakspeare," &c. Steevens. We may fairly conclude that Webster imitated Shakspeare; for in the same page from which Dr. Farmer has cited the foregoing lines, is found a passage taken almost literally from Hamlet. It is spoken by a distracted lady: you 're very welcome; "Here's rosemary for you, and rue for you; "I have left more for myself." Dr. Warburton asks, “What sense is there in winter-grounding a corse with moss?" But perhaps winter-ground does not refer to moss, but to the last antecedent, flowers. If this was the construction intended by Shakspeare, the passage should be printed thus: Yea, and furr'd moss besides,—when flowers are none To winter-ground thy corse. i. e. you shall have also a warm covering of moss, when there are no flowers to adorn thy grave with that ornament with which WINTER is usually decorated. So, in Cupid's Revenge, by Beaumont and Fletcher, 1625: "He looks like WINTER, stuck here and there with fresh flowers."-I have not, however, much confidence in this observation. Malone. And not protract with admiration what Arv. Say, where shall 's lay him? Gui. By good Euriphile, our mother. Arv. Be 't so: And let us, Polydore, though now our voices Have got the mannish crack, sing him to the ground, Gui. Cadwal, I cannot sing: I'll weep, and word it with thee: Arv. We'll speak it then. Bel. Great griefs, I see, medicine the less: 3 for Cloten Is quite forgot. He was a queen's son, boys: And, though he came our enemy, remember, He was paid for that: Though mean and mighty, rotting Together, have one dust; yet reverence, (That angel of the world3) doth make distinction Of place 'tween high and low. Our foe was princely; And though you took his life, as being our foe, 2 As once our mother;] The old copy reads: As once to our mother; The compositor having probably caught the word-to from the preceding line. The correction was made by Mr. Pope. Malone. 3 Great griefs, I see, medicine the less:] So again, in this play : a touch more rare "Subdues all pangs, all fears." Again, in King Lear: 66 Where the greater malady is fix'd, "The lesser is scarce felt." Malone. A He was paid for that:] Sir Thomas Hanmer reads: He has paid for that: rather plausibly than rightly. Paid is for punished. So, Jonson: "Twenty things more, my friend, which you know due, "For which, or pay me quickly, or I'll pay you " Johnson. So Falstaff, in The Merry Wives of Windsor, after having been beaten, when in the dress of an old woman, says, "I pay'd nothing for it neither, but was paid for my learning." See Vol. III, p. 136, n. 2; and Vol. VIII, p. 231, n. 2. Malone. (That angel of the world)—] Reverence, or due regard to subordination, is the power that keeps peace and order in the ́ world. Johnson.. Pray you, fetch him hither. Yet bury him as a prince. Gui. Thersites' body is as good as Ajax, When neither are alive. Arv. [Exit BEL. Gui. Nay, Cadwal, we must lay his head to the east; My father hath a reason for 't. 'Tis true. Arv. SONG. So, begin. Gui. Fear no more the heat o' the sun, Thou thy worldly task hast done, 6 Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages: Arv. Fear no more the frown a' the great, Thou art past the tyrant's stroke; To thee the reed is as the oak: Arv. Thou hast finish'd joy and moan: 6 Fear no more &c.] This is the topick of consolation that nature dictates to all men on these occasions. The same farewel we have over the dead body in Lucian. Τέκνον ἄθλιον εκετι διψήσεις, ἄκετι πείνήσεις, &c. Warburton. 7 The sceptre, learning, &c.] The poet's sentiment seems to have been this:All human excellence is equally subject to the stroke of death: neither the power of kings, nor the science of scholars, nor the art of those whose immediate study is the prolongation of life, can protect them from the final destiny of man. Johnson. the all-dreaded thunder-stone;] So, in Chapman's translation of the fifteenth Iliad: 8 66 though I sinke beneath "The fate of being shot to hell by Jove's fell thunder stone." Steevens. Both. All lovers young, all lovers must Gui. No exorciser harm thee!2 Re-enter BELARIUS, with the Body of CLOTEN. Gui. We have done our obsequies: Come lay him down, Bel. Here's a few flowers; but about midnight, more: The herbs that have on them cold dew o' the night, Are strewings fitt'st for graves.-Upon their faces: 5— 9 Fear not slander,] Perhaps : Fear not slander's censure rash. Johnson. 1 Consign to thee,] Perhaps : Consign to this, And in the former stanza, for-All follow this, we might read All follow thee. Johnson. Consign to thee is right. So, in Romeo and Juliet : 66 seal "A dateless bargain to engrossing death.” To consign to thee, is to seal the same contract with thee, i. e. add their names to thine upon the register of death. Steevens. 2 No exorciser harm thee!] I have already remarked that Shakspeare invariably uses the word exorciser to express a person who can raise spirits, not one who lays them M. Mason. See Vol V, p. 309, n. 5. Malone. 3 Quiet consummation have;] Consummation is used in the same sense in King Edward III, 1596: "My soul will yield this castle of my flesh, "To darkness, consummation, dust and worms." Milton, in his Epitaph on the Marchioness of Winchester, is ins debted to the passage before us: "Gentle lady, may thy grave "Peace and quiet ever have!" Steevens. So Hamlet says: 4 66 'tis a consummation "Devoutly to be wish'd." M. Mason. thy grave! For the obsequies of Fidele, a song was written by my unhappy friend, Mr. William Collins of Chichester, a man of uncommon learning and abilities. I shall give it a place at the end, in honour of his memory. Johnson. You were as flowers, now wither'd: even so The ground, that gave them first, has them again : [Exeunt BEL. GUI. and ARV. Imo. [awaking] Yes sir, to Milford-Haven; Which is the way?— I thank you. By yon bush?-Pray, how far thither? I have gone all night:-'Faith, I'll lie down and sleep. And cock to honest creatures: But 'tis not so; As a wren's eye, fear'd gods, a part of it! The brawns of Hercules: but his Jovial face 8 5 Upon their faces:] Shakspeare did not recollect when he wrote these words, that there was but one face on which the flowers could be strewed. This passage might have taught Dr. Warburton not to have disturbed the text in a former scene. See p. 114, n. 1. Malone. 'Ods pittikins!] This diminutive adjuration is used by Decker and Webster in Westward Hoe, 1600; in The Shoemaker's Holiday, or The Gentle Craft, 1600. It is derived from God's my pity, which likewise occurs in Cymbeline. Steevens. 7 Which the brain makes of fumes: ] So, in Macbeth : "That memory, the warder of the brain, 8 "Shall be a fume." Steevens. his Jovial face-ovial face signifies in this place, such a face as belongs to Jove. It is frequently used in the same sense by other old dramatick writers. |