And let thy Suffolk take his heavy leave. Q. Mar. Fye, coward woman, and soft-hearted wretch! Hast thou not spirit to curse thine enemies? Suf. A plague upon them! wherefore should I curse them? Would curses kill, as doth the mandrake's groan," As lean-fac'd Envy in her loathsome cave: Ay, every joint should seem to curse and ban: Q. Mar. Enough, sweet Suffolk; thou torment'st thy self; And these dread curses-like the sun 'gainst glass, And turn the force of them upon thyself. Suf. You bade me ban, and will you bid me leave ? [6] The fabulous accounts of the plant called a Mandrake give it an inferior degree of animal life, and relate, that when it is torn from the ground it groans, and that this groan being certainly fatal to him that is offering such unwelcome violence, the practice of those who gather mandrakes is to tie one end of a string to the plant and the other to a dog, upon whom the fatal groan discharges its malignity. JOHNSON Bulleine in his Bulwarke of Defence against Sicknesse, &c. fol. 1579, p. 41, speaking of Mandragora, says: "They doe affyrme that this herbe cometh of the seed of some convicted dead men: and also without the death of some lyvinge thinge it cannot be drawn out of the earth to man's use. Therefore they did tye some dogge or other living beast unto the roote thereof wyth a corde, and digged the earth in compass round about, and in the meane time stopped their own eares for feare of the terreble shriek and cry of this Mandrack. In which cry it doth not only dye itself, but the feare thereof kylleth the dogge or beast which pulleth it out of the earth." REED. [7] Cypress was employed in the funeral rites of the Romans, and hence is always mentioned as an ill-boding plant. STEEVENS. [8] It has been said of the basilisk that it has the power of destroying by a single glance of the eye. A lizard has no sting, but is quite inoffensive. STEEVENS. [9] This inconsistency is very common in real life. Those who are vexed to impatience, are angry to see others less disturbed than themselves, but when others Now, by the ground that I am banish'd from, Q. Mar. O, let me entreat thee, cease! Give me thy hand, That I may dew it with my mournful tears; O, could this kiss be printed in thy hand; [Kisses his hand That thou might'st think upon these by the seal, Through whom a thousand sighs are breath'd for thee!" So, get thee gone, that I may know my grief; 'Tis but surmis'd whilst thou art standing by, As one that surfeits thinking on a want. Go, speak not to me; even now be gone.-- Suf. Thus is poor Suffolk ten times banished, So Suffolk had thy heavenly company : I can no more :-Live thou to joy thy life ; Q. Mar. Whither goes Vaux so fast? what news, pr'ýthee? Vaux. To signify unto his majesty, That cardinal Beaufort is at point of death: 1 begin to rave, they immediately see in them what they could not find in themselves, the deformity and folly of useless rage. JOHNSON. [2] That by the impression of my kiss for ever remaining on thy hand thou mightest think on those lips through which a thousand sighs will be breathed for thee, JOHNSON. For suddenly a grievous sickness took him, That even now he cries aloud for him. Q. Mar. Go, tell this heavy message to the king. [Exit VAUX. And with the southern clouds contend in tears; Suf. If I depart from thee, I cannot live : To die by thee, were but to die in jest ; From thee to die; were torture more than death: O, let me stay, befall what may befall. Q. Mar. Away! though parting be a fretful corrosive, It is applied to a deathful wound. To France, sweet Suffolk: Let me hear from thee; [3] She means, I believe, at a loss which any hour spent in contrivance and deliberation will enable her to supply. Or perhaps she may call the sickness of the Cardinal the loss of an hour, as it may put some stop to her schemes. JOHNSON. [4] Perhaps Mr. Pope was indebted to this passage in his Eloisa to Abelard, where ne makes that votarist of exquisite sensibility say: "See my lips tremble, and ny eye-balls roll, "Suck my last breath, and catch my flying soul." STEEVENS. I'll have an Iris' that shall find thee out. Suf. I go. Q. Mar. And take my heart with thee. Q. Mar. This way for me. [Exeunt, severally. SCENE III. Enter King London. Cardinal BEAUFORT'S Bed-chamber. HENRY, SALISBURY, WARWICK, and others. The Cardinal in bed; Attendants with him. K. Hen. How fares my lord? speak, Beaufort, to thy sovereign. Car. If thou be'st death, I'll give thee England's trea sure, 6 Enough to purchase such another island, War. Beaufort, it is thy sovereign speaks to thee. [5] Iris was the messenger of Juno. JOHNSON. "During these doynges, Henry Beaufford, byshop of Winchester, and called the riche Cardynall, departed out of this world.-This man was-haut in stomach and hygh in countenance, ryche above measure of all men, and to fewe liberal; disdaynful to his kynne, and dreadful to his lovers. His covetous insaciable and hope of long lyfe made hym bothe to forget God, his prynce, and hymselfe, in his latter dayes; for Doctor John Baker, his pryvie counsailer and his chapellayn, wrote, that lying on his death-bed, he said these words: Why should I dye, having so muche riches? If the whole realme would save my lyfe, I am able either by pollicie to get it, or by riches to buy it. Fye will not death be hyred, nor will money do nothynge? When my nephew of Bedford died, I thought myselfe half up the whele, but when I saw myne other nephew of Gloucester disceased, then I thought my selfe able to be equal with kinges, and so thought to increase my treasure in hope to have worne a trypple croune. But I se nowe the world fayleth me, and so I am deceyved; praying you all to pray for me." Hall's Chronicle Bring the strong poison that I bought of him. K. Hen. O thou eternal Mover of the heavens, War. See, how the pangs of death do make him grin. Sal. Disturb him not, let him pass peaceably. K. Hen. Peace to his soul, if God's good pleasure be ! Lord cardinal, if thou think'st on heaven's bliss, Hold up thy hand, make signal of thy hope.He dies, and makes no sign ;-O God, forgive him! War. So bad a death argues a monstrous life. K. Hen. Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all.— Close up his eyes, and draw the curtain close; And let us all to meditation.7 [Exeunt. ACT IV. SCENE I.-Kent. The sea-shore near Dover. Firing heard at Sea. Then enter from a Boat, a Captain, a Master, a Master's-Mate, WALTER WHITMORE, and others; with them SUFFOLK, and other Gentlemen, prisoners. Captain. THE gaudy, blabbing, and remorseful day" And now loud-howling wolves arouse the jades Who with their drowsy, slow, and flagging wings. [6] When a dying person is incapable of speech, it is usual (in the church of Rome) previous to the administration of the sacraments, to obtain some sign that he is desirous of having them administered. The passage may have an allusion to this practice. C. [7] This is one of the scenes which have been applauded by the critics, and which will continue to be admired when prejudice shall cease, and bigotry give way to impartial examination. These are beauties that rise out of nature and of truth; the superficial reader cannot miss them, the profound can imagine nothing beyond them. JOHNSON. [8] The epithet, blabbing, applied to the day by a man about to commit murder, is exquisitely beautiful. Guilt is afraid of light, considers darkness as a natural shelter, and makes night the confidant of those actions which cannot be trusted to the tell-tale day. JOHNSON. [9] The wings of the jades that drag night appears an unnatural image, till it is remembered that the charict of the night is supposed by Shakespeare to be drawn by dragons. JOHNSON. |