* Henry my lord is cold in great affairs, * With sorrow snares relenting passengers: And yet we have but trivial argument, More than mistrust, that shows him worthy death. *York. So that, by this, you would not have him die. Suff. Ah, York, no man alive so fain as I. *York. "Tis York that hath more reason for his death.-2 *But, my lord cardinal, and you, my lord of Suffolk, *Say as you think, and speak it from your souls, *Wer't not all one, an empty eagle were set To guard the chicken from a hungry kite, *As place Duke Humphrey for the king's protector? Q. Mar. So the poor chicken should be sure of death. 'Suff. Madam, 'tis true: And wer't not mad ness, then, To make the fox surveyor of the fold? Suff. Not resolute, except so much were done; *For things are often spoke, and seldom meant: But, that my heart accordeth with my tongue,*Seeing the deed is meritorious, And to preserve my sovereign from his foe,*Say but the word, and I will be his priest." *Car. But I would have him dead, my lord of Suffolk, *Ere you can take due orders for a priest: I tender so the safety of my liege. *Suff. Here is my hand, the deed is worthy doing. * Q. Mar. And so say I. *York. And I and now we three have spoke it, *It skills not greatly' who impugns our doom. Enter a Messenger. * Car. A breach, that craves a quick expedient stop! What counsel give you in this weighty cause? "York. That Somerset be sent as regent thither: 'Tis meet, that lucky ruler be employ'd; Witness the fortune he hath had in France. Som. If York, with all his far-fet policy, Had been the regent there instead of me, He never would have staid in France so long. 'York. No, not to lose it all, as thou hast done: I rather would have lost my life betimes, *Than bring a burden of dishonour home, By staying there so long, till all were lost. * Show me one scar character'd on thy skin: *Men's flesh preserv'd so whole, do seldom win. Q. Mar. Nay then, this spark will prove a raging fire, If wind and fuel, be brought to feed it with:No more, good York:-sweet Somerset,be still:Thy fortune, York, hadst thou been regent there, *Might happily have prov'd far worse than his. York. What, worse than naught? nay, then a shame take all! 'Som. And in the number, thee, that wishest shame! : 'Car. My lord of York, try what your fortune is. The uncivil Kernes of Ireland are in arms, And temper clay with blood of Englishmen To Ireland will you lead a band of men, Collected choicely, from each county some, And try your hap against the Irishmen? *York. I will, my lord, so please his majesty. *Suff. Why, our authority is his consent; And, what we do establish, he confirms: *Then, noble York, take thou this task in hand. York. I am content: Provide me soldiers, lords, 'Whiles I take order for mine own affairs. Suff. A charge, Lord York, that I will see perform'd. But now return we to the false Duke Humphrey. "Car. No more of him; for I will deal with him, That, henceforth, he shall trouble us no more. And so break off. the day is almost spent: 'Lord Suffolk, you and I must talk of that event. York. My lord of Suffolk, within fourteen days, At Bristol I expect my soldiers; For there I'll ship them all for Ireland. Suff. I'll see truly done, my lord of York. [Exeunt all but YORK. York. Now, York, or never, steel thy fearful thoughts, And change misdoubt to resolution : *Be that thou hop'st to be; or what thou art *Resign to death, it is not worth the enjoying: *Let pale-fac'd fear keep with the mean-born man, And find no harbour in a royal heart. *Faster than spring-time showers, comes thought on thought; *And not a thought, but thinks on dignity. *My brain, more busy than the labouring spider, *Weaves tedious snares to trap mine enemies. Well, nobles, well, 'tis politicly done, *To send me packing with an host of men: I fear me, you but warm the starved snake, *Who, cherish'd in your breasts, will sting your hearts. 'Twas men I lack'd, and you will give them me : 'Mess. Great lords, from Ireland am I come I take it kindly: yet, be well assur'd You put sharp weapons in a madman's hands. While I in Ireland nourish a mighty band, *I will stir up in England some black storm, *Shall blow ten thousand souls to heaven, or hell: *And this fell tempest shall not cease to rage stroyed, as being proved by reasons or arguments to be the king's enemy, before he has committed any actual crime.' 4 i. e confounds, overcomes. 5 That is, 'I will be the attendant on his last scene; I will be the last man whom he shall see.' 6 i. e. judge or think well of it. 7 It matters not greatly. Shakspeare has the phrase in Twelfth Night, Act v. Sc. 1. 8 Expeditious. 9 Far-fetched. *Until the golden circuit on my head,' To make commotion, as full well he can, • Under the title of John Mortimer. * In Ireland have I seen this stubborn Cade 4 Shaking the bloody darts, as he his bells. *Full often, like a shag-hair'd crafty Kerne, *Hath he conversed with the enemy; * And undiscover'd come to me again, *And given me notice of their villanies. *This devil here shall be my substitute; *For that John Mortimer, which now is dead, *In face, in gait, in speech, he doth resemble: By this I shall perceive the commons' mind, How they affect the house and claim of York. Say, he be taken, rack'd, and tortured: I know, no pain, they can inflict upon him, 'Will make him say-I mov'd him to those arms. Say, that he thrive (as 'tis great like he will,) Why, then from Ireland come I with my strength, • And the harvest which that rascal sow'd: For, Humphrey being dead, as he shall be, And Henry put apart, the next for me. [Exit. SCENE II. Bury. A Room in the Palace. Enter certain Murderers, hastily. reap 1 Mur. Run to my lord of Suffolk; let him know, We have despatch'd the duke, as he commanded. *2 Mur. O, that it were to do!-What have we done? 'Where is our uncle? what is the matter, Suffolk! Suff. Dead in his bed, my lord; Gloster is dead. * Q. Mar. Marry, God forefend! * Car. God's secret judgment:-I did dream tonight, *The duke was dumb, and could not speak a word. [The King swoons. 'Q. Mar. How fares my lord?-Help, lords! the king is dead. *Som. Rear up his body; wring him by the nose. * Q. Mar. Run, go, help, help!-O Henry, ope *Suff. He doth revive again;-Madam, be pa thine eyes tient. *K. Hen. O heavenly God! *Q. Mar. How fares my gracious lord? comfort! K. Hen. What, doth my lord of Suffolk com- Whose dismal tune bereft my vital powers; Can chase away the first-conceived sound? Upon thy eyeballs murderous tyranny joy: *Although the duke was enemy to him, * '1 Mur. Tis, my good lord. 'Suff. Away, be gone! [Exeunt Murderers. Enter KING HENRY, QUEEN MARGARET, CAR-* DINAL BEAUFORT, SOMERSET, Lords, and others. 'K. Hen. Go, call our uncle to our presence straight: Say, we intend to try his grace to-day, If he be guilty, as 'tis published. Suff. I'll call him presently, my noble lord. [Exit. 'K. Hen. Lords, take your places ;-And, I pray you all, 1 Thus in Macbeth : All that impedes thee from the golden round, Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crown'd withal.' In King Henry IV. Part II. the crown is called golden rigol. 2 A flaw is a violent gust of wind. Or blood-consuming sighs recall his life, I would be blind with weeping, sick with groans So shall my name with slander's tongue be wounded, *And princes' courts be fill'd with my reproach. interesting dissertation, printed in the second volume of his Illustrations of Shakspeare. 5 The directions concerning this scene stand thus in the quarto copy :- Then the curtains being drawne, this Duke Humphrey is discovered in his bed, and two men lying on his breast, and smothering him in his bed And then enter the Duke of Suffolk to them.' 3 Kernes were Irish peasantry, who served as lightarmed foot soldiers. In King Richard II. they are called 'rough rug-headed Kernes. 4 A dancer in a morris-dance; originally, perhaps, meant to imitate a Moorish dance, and thence named. The bells sufficiently indicate that the English morrisdancer is intended. It appears from Blount's Glossography, and some of our old writers, that the dance itself was called a morisco. Florio, in the first edition of his Italian Dictionary, defines Moresca, a kind of morice or antique dance, after the Moorish or Ethiopian fashion. The reader who would know more on this curious subject will do well to consult Mr. Douce's very 6 As nothing further is spoken either by Somerset or the cardinal, or by any one else, to show that they continue in the presence, it is to be presumed that they take advantage of the confusion cccasioned by the king's swooning, and slip out unobserved. The next news we hear of the cardinal, he is at the point of death. 7 Just now. *This get I by his death: Ah me, unhappy! To be a queen, and crown'd with infamy! " K. Hen. Ah, woe is me for Gloster, wretched man! Q. Mar. Be woe for me,' more wretched than he is. What, dost thou turn away, and hide thy face? I am no loathsome leper, look on me. *What, art thou, like the adder, waxen deaf?2 Be poisonous too, and kill thy forlorn queen. Is all thy comfort shut in Gloster's tomb? *Why, then dame Margaret was ne'er thy joy: Erect his statue then, and worship it, *And make my image but an alehouse sign. Was I, for this, nigh wreck'd upon the sea; And twice by awkward wind from England's bank * The pretty vaulting sea refus'd to drown me; Knowing, that thou would'st have me drown'd on shore, * With tears as salt as sea, through thy unkindness: The splitting rocks cower'd in the sinking sands, * And would not dash me with their ragged sides; *Because thy flinty heart, more hard than they, *Might in thy palace perish Margaret. *As far as I could ken thy chalky cliffs, *When from the shore the tempest beat us back, *I stood upon the hatches in the storm: * And when the dusky sky began to rob My earnest-gaping sight of thy land's view, *I took a costly jewel from my neck, * A heart it was, bound in with diamonds, And threw it towards thy land;--the sea re ceiv'd it; And so, I wish'd, thy body might my heart: *And even with this, I lost fair England's view, *And bid mine eyes be packing with my heart; *And call'd them blind and dusky spectacles, * For losing ken of Albion's wished coast. *How often have I tempted Suffolk's tongue *(The agent of thy foul inconstancy) To sit and witch me, as Ascanius did, *When he to madding Dido would unfold His father's acts, commenc'd in burning Troy? * Am I not witch'd like her? or thou not false like him ? 1 i. e. let not woe be to thee for Gloster, but for me. 2 This allusion, which has been borrowed from the Proverbs of Solomon, and Psalm lviii. by many writers, is oddly illustrated in a passage of Gower's Confessio Amantis, b. i. fo. x. ed. 1532. 3 The same uncommon epithet is applied to the wind by Marlowe in his Edward II. :— With awkward winds, and with sore tempest driven To fall on shore. And by Drayton, Epistle from Richard II. to Queen Isabell: 'And undertook to travaile dangerous waies, Driven by awkward winds and boisterous seas.' 4 The verb perish is here used actively. Thus in Beaumont and Fletcher's Maid's Tragedy let not my sins Perish your noble youth.' 5 The old copy reads 'watch me the emendation is Theobald's, who observes that it was Cupid in the semblance of Ascanius who bewitched Dido.' She, taking him for Ascanius, would naturally speak to him about his father, and would be witched by what she learned from him, as well as by the more regular nar. rative she had heard from Æneas himself. 6 Steevens thinks the word or should be omitted in this line, which would improve both the sense and metre. Mason proposes to read art instead of or. 7 Steevens proposed to read rain instead of drain. * Ah me, I can no more! Die, Margaret! *For Henry weeps, that thou dost live so long. Noise within. Enter WARWICK and SALISBURY. The Commons press to the door. 'War. It is reported, mighty sovereign, By Suffolk and the Cardinal Beaufort's means. K. Hen. That he is dead, good Warwick, 'tis too true; But how he died, God knows, not Henry: Enter his chamber, view his breathless corpse, With the rude multitude, till I return. * [WARWICK goes into an inner Room, and SALISBURY retires. *K. Hen. O thou that judgest all things, stay my thoughts: My thoughts, that labour to persuade my soul, * Some violent hands were laid on Humphrey's life' *If my suspect be false, forgive me, God; *For judgment only doth belong to thee! *Fain would I go to chafe his paly lips Upon his face an ocean of salt tears; * With twenty thousand kisses, and to drain" *To tell my love unto his dumb deaf trunk, *And with my fingers feel his hand unfeeling: *But all in vain are these mean obsequies; * And, to survey his dead and earthly image, *What were it but to make my sorrow greater? The folding Doors of an inner Chamber are thrown open, and GLOSTER is discovered dead in his Bed: WARWICK and others standing by it.3 *War. Come hither, gracious sovereign, view this body. *K. Hen. That is to see how deep my grave is made: *For, with his soul, fled all my worldly solace; *For seeing him, I see my life in death." 'War. As surely as my soul intends to live With that dread King that took our state upon him To free us from his Father's wrathful curse, I do believe that violent hands were laid Upon the life of this thrice-famed duke. Suff. A dreadful oath, sworn with a solemn tongue! 'What instance gives Lord Warwick for his vow? 'War. See, how the blood is settled in his face! Oft have I seen a timely parted ghost,10 Of ashy semblance, meagre, pale, and bloodless, 8 This stage direction was inserted by Malone as best suited to the exhibition. The stage direction in the quarto is, Warwick draws the curtaines, and shows Duke Humphrey in his bed. In the folio, A bed with Gloster's body put forth. By these and other circumstances it seems that the theatres were then unfurnished with scenes. In those days, it appears that curtains were occasionally hung across the middle of the stage on an iron rod, which being drawn open formed a se. cond apartment, when a change of scene was required. See Malone's Account of the ancient Theatres, prefixed to the variorum editions of Shakspeare. 9 How much discussion there has been about this simple passage, which evidently means:-'I see my own life threatened with extermination, or surrounded by death. Thus in a passage of the Burial Service, to which I am surprised none of the commentators have adverted, 'In the midst of life we are in death.' 10 Shakspeare has confounded the terms which sig. nify body and soul together. So in A Midsummer Night's Dream: damned spirits all, That in cross-ways and floods have burial. The word is frequently thus licentiously used by ancient writers; instances are to be found in Spenser and others. A timely parted ghost,' says Malone, 'ineans a body that has become inanimate in the common course 'Being all descended to the labouring heart; To blush and beautify the cheek again. 1 His hands abroad display'd, as one that grasp'd And tugg'd for life, and was by strength subdu'd. Look on the sheets, his hair, you see, is sticking; 'His well proportion'd beard made ruff and rugged, Like to the summer's corn by tempest lodg'd. 'It cannot be, but he was murder'd here; The least of all these signs were probable. Suff. Why, Warwick, who should do the duke to death? 'Myself, and Beaufort, had him in protection; And we, I hope, sir, are no murderers. War. But both of you were vow'd Duke Hum- And you, forsooth, had the good duke to keep: ' And 'tis well seen he found an enemy. If from this presence thou dar'st go with me. Thrice is he armed, that hath his quarrel just; Q. Mar. What noise is this? K. Hen. Why, how now, lords? your wrathful Here in our presence? dare you be so bold?- Set all upon me, mighty sovereign. Noise of a Crowd within. Re-enter SALISBURY. 'Q. Mar. Then you, belike, suspect these noble-Dread lord, the commons send you word by me, men 'As guilty of Duke Humphrey's timeless death. And sees fast by a butcher with an axe, 'Q. Mar. Are you the butcher, Suffolk; where's Is Beaufort term'd a kite? where are his talons? [Exeunt Cardinal, Som. and others. War. What dares not Warwick, if false Suffolk dare him? Q. Mar. He cares not calm his contumelious spirit, Nor cease to be an arrogant controller, Though Suffolk dare him twenty thousand times. say; For every word, you speak in his behalf, Suff Blunt-witted lord, ignoble in demeanour! War. But that the guilt of murder bucklers thee, Unless false Suffolk straight be done to death, They will by violence tear him from your palace, Commons. [Within.] An answer from the king, my lord of Salisbury. Suff. 'Tis like the commons, rude unpolish'd Could send such message to their sovereign: 'K. Hen. Go, Salisbury, and tell them all from me, fingers abroad, he would shoote through the spaces without touching the boy's hand, or any finger.'Peachum's Complete Gentleman, 1622, p. 181. 2 Thus in Marlowe's Lust's Dominion:'Come, Moor; I'm arm'd with more than complete steel The justice of my quarrel. 3 Deadly serpent. 4 i e dexterous. 5 A company 'K. Hen. Ungentle queen, to call him gentle Suffolk. No more, I say; if thou dost plead for him, *If, after three days' space, thou here be'st found, *On any ground that I'am ruler of, *The world shall not be ransom for thy life,Come, Warwick, come, good Warwick, go with me; 'I have great matters to impart to thee. [Exeunt K. HENRY, WARWICK, Lords, &c. Q. Mar. Mischance, and sorrow, go along with you! Heart's discontent, and sour affliction, Be playfellows to keep you company! There's two of you, the devil make a third! And threefold vengeance tend upon your steps! *Suff. Cease, gentle queen, these execrations, *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? Would curses kill, as doth the mandrake's groan,2 Q. Mar. Enough, sweet Suffolk; thou torment'st thyself; *And these dread curses-like the sun 'gainst glass, * Or like an overcharged gun-recoil, *And turn the force of them upon thyself. Suff. You bade me ban,' and will you bid me leave? Now, by the ground that I am banish'd from, *Q. Mar. O, let me entreat thee, cease! Give 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. I will repeal thee, or, be well assur'd, Adventure to be banished myself: * And banished I am, if but from thee. Go, speak not to me; even now be gone.O, go not yet!-Even thus two friends condemn'd * Embrace, and kiss, and take ten thousand leaves, Loather a hundred times to part than die. Yet now farewell; and farewell life with thee! Suff. Thus is poor Suffolk ten times banished, Once by the king, and three times thrice by thee. * "Tis not the land I care for, wert thou hence; * A wilderness is populous enough, *So Suffolk had thy heavenly company: *For where thou art, there is the world itself, *With every several pleasure in the world; And where thou art not, desolation." * I can no more :-Live thou to joy thy life; * Myself no joy in nought, but that thou liv'st. Enter VAUX. 'Q. Mar. Whither goes Vaux so fast? what news, I pr'ythee? Vaux. To signify unto his majesty, That cardinal Beaufort is at point of death: For suddenly a grievous sickness took him, That makes him gasp, and stare, and catch the air Blaspheming God, and cursing men on earth. Sometime, he talks as if Duke Humphrey's ghost Were by his side; sometime, he calls the king, And whispers to his pillow, as to him, *The secrets of his overcharged soul: And I am sent to tell his majesty, That even now he cries aloud for him. row's? 'Now, get thee hence: The king, thou know'st, is coming: If thou be found by me, thou art but dead. Suff. If I depart from thee, I cannot live: begin to rave, they immediately see in them what they could not find in themselves, the deformity and folly of 1 i. e. he shall not contaminate this air with his in- useless rage. fected breath. 6 That by the impression of my kiss for ever remain. 2 The fabulous counts of the plant called a man-ing on thy hand, thou mightest think on those lips drake give it an inferior degree of animal life, and re- through which a thousand sighs will be breathed for late, that when it is torn from the ground it groans, and thee. that this groan being certainly fatal to him that is offering 7 Nec sine te pulchrum dias in luminis auras such unwelcome violence, the practice of those who Exoritur, neque sit lætum nec amabile quicquam.' gathered mandrakes was to tie one end of a string to the Lucretius. plant, and the other to a dog, upon whom the fatal And, still more elegantly, Milton, in a passage of his groan discharged its malignity. See Bulleine's Bul- Conius (afterwards omitted,) ver. 214, &c. :warke of Defence against Sicknesse, &c. fol. 1579, p. 41. while I see you, 3 Cypress was employed in the funeral rites of the Romans, and hence is always mentioned as an ill-boding plant. 4 This is one of the vulgar errors in the natural his. tory of our ancestors. The lizard has no sting, and is quite harmless. 5 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 84 This dusky hollow is a paradise, To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets 9 Why do I lament a circumstance of which the im pression will pass away in an hour; while I neglect to think on the loss of Suffolk, my affection for whom no time will efface?' |