To fee you ta'en from liberty, to look on The business prefent. 'Tis his Highness pleasure Buck. It will help me nothing To plead mine innocence; for that dye is on me, Which makes my whit'ft part black. The will of heav'n Be done in this and all things. I obey. O my Lord Aberga'ny, fare ye well. Bran. Nay, he must bear you company. The [To Aberg. Is pleas'd you fhall to th' Tower, till you know How he determines further. Aber. As the Duke said, The will of heav'n be done, and the King's pleasure By me obey'd. Bran. Here is a warrant from The King, t'attach Lord Montague; and the bodies Of the Duke's Confeffor, John de la Court, 'And Gilbert Peck his chancellor. Buck. So, fo; These are the limbs o'th' plot. No more, I hope? 2 Buck. Nicholas Hopkins. Bran. He. Buck. My furveyor is falfe, the o'er Hath fhew'd him gold; great Cardinal my life is fpann'd already. Mr. Rowe and Mr. Pope from them. But here again by the help of the Chronicles, I have given the true Reading. THEOE. One Gilbert Peck, his Counfellor.] So the old Copies have it, but I, from the Authorities of Hall and Holing head, chang'd it to Chancellor. And our Poet himself, in the Beginning of the fecond Act, vouches for this Correction. At which; appear'd against him the fingers. The meaning, therebis Surveyor, Sir Gilbert Peck his Chancellor. THEOBALD. Michael Hopkins? So all the old Copies had it; and fo - VOL. V. my life is spanned already.] To pan is to gripe or inclofe in the hand; to span is alfo to measure by the palm and fore, may either be, that hold is taken of my life, my life is in the gripe of my enemies; or, that my time is measured, the length of my life is now determined. 3 I am the fhadow of poor Buckingham, Whofe figure ev'n this inftant cloud puts on, SCENE IV. Changes to the Council-Chamber. [Exeunt. Cornet. Enter King Henry, leaning on the Cardinal's fhoulder; the Nobles, and Sir Thomas Lovell; the Cardinal places bimfelf under the King's feet, on bis right-fide. King⋅ M Y life itself, and the best heart of it, Thanks you for this great care. I ftood i'th' level Of a full-charg'd confed'racy, and give thanks them, a heart, he says, his best beart. A way of speaking that would have become a cat rather than a King. WARBURTON. This expreffion is not more monftrous than many others. Heart is not here taken for the great organ of circulation and life, but, in a common and popular fenfe, for the most valuable or precious part. Our authour, in Hamlet, mentions the heart of beart. Exhaufted and effete ground is faid by the farmer to be out of heart. The hard and inner part of the oak is called heart of oak. 5 -Stood ith level Of a full-charg'd confed'racy.] To ftand in the level of a gun is to ftand in a line with its. mouth, fo as to be hit by the shot. That That gentleman of Buckingham's; in perfon And point by point the treafons of his master A noife within, crying, Room for the Queen. Enter the Queen, ufbered by the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk: fhe kneels. The King rifeth from his ftate, takes her up, kifles and placeth her by him. Queen. Nay, we must longer kneel; I am a fuitor. King. Arife, and take your place by us; half your fuit Never name to us, you have half our power, Queen. Thank your Majefty. That you would love yourfelf, and in that love King. Lady mine, proceed. Queen. I am follicited, not by a few, And those of true condition, that your subjects Of thefe exactions; yet the King our master, not Language unmannerly; yea fuch, which breaks In loud rebellion. Nor. Not almost appears, It doth appear; for, upon these taxations, The many to them 'longing, have put off The fpinfters, carders, fullers, weavers; who, Unfit for other life, compell'd by hunger ? And lack of other means, in defp'rate manner Daring th' event to th' teeth, are all in uproar, And danger ferves among them. 8 King. Taxation ? Wherein? and what taxation? My Lord Cardinal, Wol. Please you, Sir, I know but of a fingle part in aught Pertains to th' ftate, and front but in that file Queen. No, my Lord. 1 You know no more than others, but frame • The many to them 'longing.] The many is the meiny, the train, the people. Dryden is, perhaps, the last that ufed this word. The Kings before their many rode. 7 And lack of other means,-] Means does not fignify methods of livelihood, for that was faid immediately before unfit for other life; but it fignifies, neceJaries-compellet, fays the fpeaker, for want of bread and other necefiaries. But the poet afing, for the thing, [want of bread] the effect of it, [bunger] the paffage is become doubly obfcure; firft, by using a term in a licentious fente, and then by putting it to a vicious conftruction. The not apprehending that this is one of the diftinguishing peculiarities in Shakespear's file, has been the occasion of fo much ridiculous correction of him. WARBURTON.. you Things that are known alike, which are not wholfome King. Still, exaction! The nature of it? In what kind let's know Queen. I am much too vent'rous In tempting of your patience, but am bolden'd Is nam'd, your wars in France. This makes bold mouths; Tongues fpit their duties out, and cold hearts freeze Live where their pray'rs did; and its come to pass, To each incenfed will. I would, your Highness King. By my life, This is against our pleasure, In the old edition : There is no primer BASENESS.] The Queen is here complaining of the fuffering of the Commons; which, the fufpects, arofe from the abuse of power in fome great men. But he is very referved in fpeaking her thoughts concerning the quality of it. We may be affured then, that he did not, in conclufion call it the highest bafeness; but rather made ufe of a word that could not offend the Cardinal, and yet would incline the King to give it a speedy hearing. I read therefore, There is no primer BUSINESS. i. e. no matter of ftate that more earnestly preffes a dispatch. Cc 3 WARBURTON. Wol. |