There's few, or none, do know me; if they did, If I get down and do not break my limbs, I'll find a thousand shifts to get away: As good to die, and go, as die, and stay. [Leaps down. O me! my uncle's spirit is in these stones: Heaven take my soul, and England keep my bones! [Dies. Enter PEMBROKE, SALISBURY, and Bigot. Sal. Lords, I will meet him at saint Edmund's-Bury; It is our safety, and we must embrace This gentle offer of the perilous time. Pem. Who brought that letter from the cardinal? Big. To-morrow morning let us meet him then. 6 Whose private &c.] i. e. whose private account of the Dauphin's affection to our cause is much more ample than the letters. Pope. 7 — or e'er we meet.] This phrase, so frequent in our old writers, is not well understood. Or is here the same as ere, i. e. before, and should be written (as it is still pronounced in Shropshire) ore. There the common people use it often. Thus, they say, Ore to-morrow, for ere or before to-morrow. ever, or e'er, is merely augmentative. The addition of That or has the full sense of before, and that e'er, when joined with it, is merely augmentative, is proved from innumerable passages in our ancient writers, wherein or occurs simply without e'er, and must bear that signification, Thus, in the old tragedy of Master Arden of Feversham, 1599, quarto, (attributed by some, though falsely, to Shakspeare) the wife says: "He shall be murdered or the guests come in." So, in All for Money, an old Morality, 1574: "I could sit in the cold a good while I swear, "Or I would be weary such suitors to hear." Again, in Every Man, another Morality, no date: "As, or we departe, thou shalt know." Again, in the interlude of The Disobedient Child, bl. 1. no date: "To send for victuals or I came away.' وو That or should be written ore I am by no means convinced. The vulgar pronunciation of a particular county ought not to be Enter the Bastard. Bast. Once more to-day well met, distemper'd lords! With our pure honours, nor attend the foot Bast. Whate'er you think, good words, I think, were best. Sal. Our griefs, and not our manners, reason now.9 Bast. But there is little reason in your grief; Therefore, 'twere reason, you had manners now. Pem. Sir, sir, impatience hath his privilege. Bast. 'Tis true; to hurt his master, no man else.1 Sal. This is the prison: What is he lies here? [Seeing ARTH. Pem. O death, made proud with pure and princely beauty! The earth had not a hole to hide this deed. Sal. Murder, as hating what himself hath done, Doth lay it open to urge on revenge. Big. Or, when he doom'd this beauty to a grave, Found it too precious-princely for a grave. Sal. Sir Richard, what think you? Have you beheld,2 Or have you read, or heard? or could you think?3 received as a general guide. Ere is nearer the Saxon primitive хр. Steevens. 8 distemper'd - i. e. ruffled, out of humour. Hamlet: 66 So, in in his retirement marvellous distemper'd." Steevens. 9 ― reason now.] To reason, in Shakspeare, is not so often to argue, as to talk. Johnson. So, in Coriolanus: 1 reason with the fellow "Before you punish him." Steevens. no man else.] Old copy-no man's. editor of the third folio. Malone. Corrected by the 2 Have you beheld, Old copy-You have &c. Corrected by the editor of the second folio. Malone. 3 Or have you read, or heard? &c ] Similar interrogatories have been already urged by the Dauphin, Act III, sc. iv: 66 Who hath read, or heard, "Of any kindred action like to this?" Steevens. Or do you almost think, although you see, The height, the crest, or crest unto the crest, Pem. All murders past do stand excus'd in this: Shall give a holiness, a purity, To the yet-unbegotten sin of time;5 Bast. It is a damned and a bloody work; Sal. If that it be the work of any hand?— wall-ey'd wrath,] So, in Titus Andronicus, Lucius, addressing himself to Aaron the Moor: "Say, wall-ey'd slave." Steevens. 5 sin of time;] The old copy-of times. I follow Mr. Pópe, whose reading is justified by 2 line in the celebrated soliloquy of Hamlet: "For who would bear the whips and scorns of time?" Again, by another in this play of King John, p. 401: ry V: "I am not glad that such a sore of time-" Steevens. "By custom and the ordinance of times." Again, in The Rape of Lucrece: "For now against himself he sounds his doom, "That through the length of times he stands disgrac'd." Mr. Pope and the subsequent editors more elegantly read-sins of time; but the peculiarities of Shakspeare's diction ought, in my apprehension, to be faithfully preserved. Malone. Nor conversant with ease and idleness, Pem. Big. Our souls religiously confirm thy words. Hub. Lords, I am hot with haste in seeking you: Arthur doth live; the king hath sent for you. Sal. O, he is bold, and blushes not at death: 6 a holy vow; Never to taste the pleasures of the world,] This is a copy of the vows made in the ages of superstition and chivalry. Johnson. ▾ Till I have set a glory to this hand, By giving it the worship of revenge.] The worship is the dignity, the honour. We still say worshipful of magistrates. Johnson. I think it should be-a glory to this head;-pointing to the dead prince, and using the word worship in its common acceptation. A glory is a frequent term: "Round a quaker's beaver cast a glory," says Mr. Pope: the solemn confirmation of the other lords seems to require this sense. The late Mr. Gray was much pleased with this correction. Farmer. The old reading seems right to me, and means,―till I have famed and renowned my own hand by giving it the honour of revenge for so foul a deed. Glory means splendor and magnificence in St. Matthew, vi, 29. So, in Markham's Husbandry, 1631, p. 353: "But if it be where the tide is scant, and doth no more but bring the river to a glory," i. e. fills the banks without overflowing. So, in Act II, sc. ii, of this play: "O, two such silver currents, when they join, "Do glorify the banks that bound them in." A thought almost similar to the present, occurs in Ben Jonson's Catiline, who, Act IV, sc. iv, says to Cethegus: "When we meet again we 'll sacrifice to liberty. Cet. And revenge. That we may praise our hands once!" i. e. O! that we may set a glory, or procure honour and praise, to our hands, which are the instruments of action. Tollet. I believe, at repeating these lines, Salisbury should take hold of the hand of Arthur, to which he promises to pay the worship of revenge. M. Mason. I think the old reading the true one. In the next Act we have the following lines: 66 I will not return, "Till my attempt so much be glorified "As to my ample hope was promised." The following passage in Troilus and Cressida is decisive in support of the old reading: 66 Jove, let Æneas live, "If to my sword his fate be not the glory, "A thousand cómplete courses of the sun." Malone. Avaunt, thou hateful villain, get thee gone! Sál. Must I rob the law? [Drawing his sword. Bast. Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again. Sal. Not till I sheathe it in a murderer's skin. Hub. Stand back, lord Salisbury, stand back, I say; By heaven, I think, my sword 's as sharp as yours: I would not have you, lord, forget yourself, Nor tempt the danger of my true defence; Lest I, by marking of your rage, forget Your worth, your greatness, and nobility. Big. Out, dunghill! dar'st thou brave a nobleman? Hub. Not for my life: but yet I dare defend My innocent life against an emperor. Sal. Thou art a murderer. Hub. Do not prove me so; Yet, I am none:1 Whose tongue soe'er speaks false, Pem. Cut him to pieces. Bast. Keep the peace, I say. Sal. Stand by, or I shall gall you, Faulconbridge. Bast. Thou wert better gall the devil, Salisbury: If thou but frown on me, or stir thy foot, Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shame, I'll strike thee dead. Put up thy sword betime; Or I'll so maul you and your toasting-iron,2 That you shall think the devil is come from hell.3 Big. What wilt thou do, renowned Faulconbridge? 8 Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again ] i. e. lest it lose its brightness. So, in thello: 9 "Keep up your bright swords; for the dew will rust them." Malone. true defence;] Honest defence; defence in a good cause. Johnson. 1 Do not prove me so; Yet, I am none:] Do not make me a murderer, by compelling me to kill you; I am hitherto not a murderer. Johnson. 2 your toasting-iron,] The same thought is found in King Henry V: "I dare not fight, but I will wink and hold out mine iron. It is a simple one, but what though? it will toast cheese." Again, in Fletcher's Woman's Prize, or the Tamer tamed: 66 dart ladles, toasting irons, "And tongs, like thunder-bolts." Steevens. |