Sometime I'll say, I am duke Humphrey's And he a prince, protector of the land; To every idle rascal follower. Hum. My lovely Nell, what wouldst thou Should I attempt to rescue thee from hence, Until the axe of death hang o'er thy head, Have all lim'd bushes to betray thy wings, We have here 69 lines of 'Henry VI.,' and the marks of Malone show that, of these, 31 are unaltered from the 'Contention.' Malone, however, has not carried out his own principle of distinguishing by inverted commas the lines in which any change has taken place. When we open 'The Second Part of Henry VI.' we find, in the first speech, the following three lines marked with inverted commas : "Seven earls, twelve barons, twenty reverend bishops,- 'And humbly now upon my bended knee.” The differences of the corresponding three lines in the 'Contention' are as slight as we find in many passages of the quarto and folio copies of Shakspere's undoubted works. They stand thus in the Contention :' "Seven earls, twelve barons, and twenty reverend bishops, I did perform my task, and was espous'd: And now, most humbly on my bended knees.” We may state with confidence that, of the 2373 lines which Malone has computed were formed by Shakspere "on the foundation laid by his predecessors," one-half, at least, so stated to be formed, exhibit nothing more than such minute deviations as we here point out. But, if Malone had carried this principle throughout, of the 1771 lines which he conceives were written by 66 some author who preceded Shakspeare," at least one-half would have been transferred Shakspere by the inverted commas. For example: in the scene with Gloster and his duchess there are many lines of the 69 in which no deviation whatever is marked by Malone, but which still deviate as much from the original as the three lines beginning "Seven earls," &c. We have marked these at the end of each with inverted commas. We mark also, with asterisks at the end, two new lines which Malone has omitted to mark. The result is that, if Malone had carried out his own principle, only 12 of these 69 lines would be held to belong to the original play. Our readers may judge from this what reliance is to be placed upon the commentator's capricious arithmetic. We hold it to be a test altogether fallacious in principle, and carried by him into practice to the extent in which it suited his own purpose, and no farther. Had he shown, for example, that there remained only 12 lines of the original play in the scene before us, some painstaking inquirer might have referred to 'The First Part of the Contention,' in surprise at the result, and have discovered that, in all essentials, the scene of 'Henry VI.' and the scene of the Contention' are evidently the production of one and the same mind. For what are the additions to this scene which Malone and his followers hold to be the amount of Shakspere's contribution towards it? With the exception of the first four lines, these additions do not contain a single idea which is not found in the original; and in the original all that marks the poet—in a word, all that is Shaksperian-is exclusively to be found. The new lines are comparatively weak, though not injudicious, amplifications of the original. The entire conception of character is in the original; the additions do not contribute a single feature to its development. We have ventured to mark in italics those passages of the scene in the 'Contention' which appear to us essentially Shaksperian; and we may add that, if passages such as these are to be found in "some author who preceded Shakspeare," we regret that our stock of enjoyment has not yet been enlarged through any acquaintance with his works. We have now to present a scene, the celebrated one of the death of Cardinal Beaufort,-in which the elaboration has been so far carried that Malone leaves only one line as the property of the original author. Yet we venture to think that the original author had something more to do with its production than that one line; and that the whole dramatic conception of the scene, as well as some of the most remarkable expressions, are the property, not of the amplifier, however skilful be his amplification, but of the mind which first pictured to itself that terrible deathbed. Most skilful, indeed, are the elaborations; and they belong evidently to a more practised hand than that which reduced the original conception into language. But the hand, as we think, is still the same; the improved hand applying itself to its work with more technical precision. It is our belief that the man who conceived the original scene could alone have finished it. When did any great artist ever produce a perfect picture from another's sketch? The genius which informed the original idea could alone preserve it through the process of its refinement. SECOND PART OF HENRY VI., ACT III., * K. Hen. How fares my lord? speak, Beaufort, to thy sovereign. Car. If thou be'st death, I'll give thee Enough to purchase such another island, * FIRST PART OF THE CONTENTION, ACT III., Car. O, death! if thou wilt let me live gold As will purchase such another island. King. Oh, see, my lord of Salisbury, how he is troubled! Lord cardinal, remember, Christ must save thy soul. Car. Why, died he not in his bed? Can I make men live, whether they will or no? Oh, see where duke Humphrey's ghost doth stand, And stares me in the face. Look, look, comb down his hair! So, now he's gone again: Oh, oh, oh! Sal. See how the pangs of death do gripe his heart. King. Lord cardinal, if thou diest assur'd of heavenly bliss, Hold up thy hand, and make some sign to us, [CARDINAL dies. Oh, see he dies, and makes no sign at all. Sal. So bad an end did never none behold; For God will judge us all. Go, take him hence, and see his funerals perform'd. We shall conclude our parallel extracts from 'The Second Part of Henry VI.' and the Contention' with the following portions of the scenes with Jack Cade : : FIRST PART OF THE CONTENTION, ACT IV. SCENE 2. Enter JACK CADE, DICK BUTCHER, ROBIN, WILL, TOM, HARRY, and the rest, with long staves. Cade. Proclaim silence. All. Silence ! Cade. I, John Cade, so named for my valiancy. Dick. Or rather for stealing of a cade of sprats. Cade. My father was a Mortimer. Dick. He was an honest man and a good bricklayer. Cade. My mother was come of the Lacies. Nick. She was a pedlar's daughter indeed, and sold many laces. Robin. And now, being not able to occupy her furred pack, she washeth bucks up and down the country. Cade. Therefore I am honourably born. Harry. Ay, the field is honourable, for he was born under a hedge, because his father had no other house but the cage. Cade. I am able to endure much. Geo. That's true; I know he can endure anything, for I have seen him whipped two market-days together. Cade. I fear neither sword nor fire. Will. He need not fear the sword, for his coat is of proof. Dick. But, methinks, he should stand in fear of fire, being burnt i' the hand for stealing of sheep. Cade. Be brave then; for your captain is brave, and vows reformation. There shall be, in England, seven halfpenny loaves sold for a penny: the three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops; and I will make it felony to drink small beer: all the realm shall be in common, and in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to grass. And, when I am king, (as king I will be) All. God save your majesty! Cade. I thank you, good people ;-there 'shall be no money; all shall eat and drink ' on my score; and I will apparel them all in one livery, that they may agree like 'brothers, and worship me their lord. · Dick. The first thing we do, let's kill all 'the lawyers. Cade. Nay, that I mean to do. Is not this a lamentable thing, that of the skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment? that parchment, being scribbled o'er, should undo a man? Some say the bee stings: but I say, 't is the bee's wax, for I did but seal once to a thing, and I was never mine own man since. How now? who's there? Enter some, bringing in the Clerk of Chatham. Smith. The clerk of Chatham: he can write and read, and cast accompt. Cade. O, monstrous ! Smith. We took him setting of boys' copies. Smith. H'as a book in his pocket, with red letters in 't. Cade. Nay, then he is a conjurer. Dick. Nay, he can make obligations, and write court-hand. Cade. I am sorry for 't: the man is a proper man, on mine honour; unless I find ' him guilty, he shall not die.-Come hither, 'sirrah, I must examine thee: What is thy name ? 6 Clerk, Emmanuel. Dick. They use to write it on the top of letters ;-'T will go hard with you. Cade. Let me alone:-Dost thou use to 'write thy name? or hast thou a mark to 'thyself, like an honest plain-dealing man? Clerk. Sir, I thank God, I have been so well brought up, that I can write my name. All. He hath confess'd: away with him; 'he's a villain and a traitor. Cade. Away with him, I say: hang him 'with his pen and inkhorn about his neck. Dick. But methinks he should fear the fire, being so often burnt in the hand for stealing of sheep. Cade. Therefore be brave, for your captain is brave, and vows reformation: you shall have seven halfpenny loaves for a penny, and the three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops, and it shall be felony to drink small beer, if I be king, as king I will be. All. God save your majesty! Cade. I thank you, good people: you shall all eat and drink of my score, and go all in my livery; and we'll have no writing, but the score and the tally, and there shall be no laws but such as come from my mouth. Dick. We shall have sore laws then, for he was thrust into the mouth the other day. Geo. Ay, and stinking law too, for his breath stinks so that one cannot abide it. [Why, is 't not a miserable thing, that of the skin of an innocent lamb parchment should be made, and then with a little blotting over with ink a man should undo himself? Some say 't is the bees that sting, but I say 't is their wax, for I am sure I never sealed to anything but once, and I was never mine own man since.]* Enter WILL with the Clerk of Chatham. Cade. Who's that, Will? Will. The clerk of Chatham: he can write and read and cast account. I took him setting of boys' copies; and he has a book in his pocket with red letters. Cade. Zounds, he's a conjurer! bring him hither. Now, sir, what's your name? Clerk. Emanuel, sir, an it shall please you. Dick. It will go hard with you, I tell you, for they use to write that o'er the top of letters. Cade. What, do you use to write your name? Or do you, as ancient forefathers have done, use the score and the tally? Clerk. Nay, truly, sir, I praise God I have been so well brought up that I can write mine own name. Cade. Oh, he has confessed; go hang him with his pen and inkhorn about his neck. FIRST PART OF THE CONTENTION, ACT IV., SCENE 7. Geo. My lord, a prize, a prize! here's the lord Say, which sold the towns in France. *This passage in brackets is found in Scene 7 of the fourth act. |
