Duch. Was't I! yea, I it was, proud Frenchwoman: Could I come near your beauty with my nails, I'd set (28) my ten commandments in your face. K. Hen. Sweet aunt, be quiet; 'twas against her will. Duch. Against her will! good king, look to't in time; She'll hamper thee, and dandle thee like a baby: Though in this place most master wear no breeches, She shall not strike Dame Eleanor unreveng'd. [Exit. Buck. Lord cardinal, I will follow Eleanor, And listen after Humphrey, how he proceeds: She's tickled now; her fury (29) needs no spurs, She'll gallop fast (30) enough to her destruction. Re-enter GLOSTER. Glo. Now, lords, my choler being over-blown I say, my sovereign, York is meetest man To be your regent in the realm of France. Suf. Before we make election, give me leave To show some reason, of no little force, That York is most unmeet of any man. York. I'll tell thee, Suffolk, why I am unmeet: My Lord of Somerset will keep me here, [Exit. (28) I'd set] So The First Part of the Contention, &c.-The folio has "I could set." (*) fury] The folio has "Fume," a misprint for "Furie." (This emendation was proposed by me in my former edition, before the appearance of Walker's Crit. Exam., &c., where (vol. iii. p. 156) it may now be found.) (30) fast] So Pope (and Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector). The folio has "farre." Without discharge, money, or furniture, Till France be won into the Dauphin's hands: Last time, I danc'd attendance on his will War. That can I witness; and a fouler fact Did never traitor in the land commit. Suf. Peace, headstrong Warwick! War. Image of pride, why should I hold my peace? Enter Servants, bringing in HORNER and PETER. Suf. Because here is a man accus'd of treason: Pray God the Duke of York excuse himself! York. Doth any one accuse York for a traitor? K. Hen. What mean'st thou, Suffolk ? tell me, what are these? Suf. Please it your majesty, this is the man That doth accuse his master of high treason: His words were these, that Richard duke of York Was rightful heir unto the English crown, And that your majesty was an usurper. K. Hen. Say, man, were these thy words? Hor. An't shall please your majesty, I never said nor thought any such matter: God is my witness, I am falsely accused by the villain. Pet. [holding up his hands] By these ten bones, my lords, he did speak them to me in the garret one night, as we were scouring my Lord of York's armour. York. Base dunghill villain and mechanical, I'll have thy head for this thy traitor's speech.I do beseech your royal majesty, Let him have all the rigour of the law. Hor. Alas, my lord, hang me, if ever I spake the words. My accuser is my prentice; and when I did correct him for his fault the other day, he did vow upon his knees he would be even with me; I have good witness of this: therefore, I beseech your majesty, do not cast away an honest man for a villain's accusation. K. Hen. Uncle, what shall we say to this in law? Glo. This is my doom, my lord,(31) if I may judge: Henrey' King dependence on (31) This is my doom, my lord, &c.] The folio has merely " This doome, my Lord," &c. (Compare the corresponding passage of The First Part of the Contention, &c.," My gratious Lord, then this is my resolue.") K. Hen. Then be it so.-My Lord of Somerset, We make your grace regent over the French.] These two lines were inserted by Theobald from The First Part of the Contention, &c., because "without them the king has not declared his assent to Gloucester's opinion; and the Duke of Somerset is made to thank him for the regency before the king has deputed him to it."Malone rejects the lines, drawing a most inconsequential conclusion from the variations in this scene between the old and the amended play, and supposing that "Shakespeare thought Henry's assent might be expressed by a nod"!-Capell omits them; and asks (with an ignorance of stage-business even greater than Malone's), "may not the king's acquiescence be conveyed by a look?"!-Mr. Collier throws them out, content with the old hypothesis of the nod.-Mr. Knight excludes them, for "Henry, having given the power of deciding to Gloster, both in the case of the armourer and of the regency, might be intended by the poet, on his revisal of the play, to speak by the mouth of the protector." But Henry has not "given the power of deciding to Gloster;" he has merely put to him the question, "Uncle, what shall we say to this in law?" Now, why should Malone, Capell, Mr. Collier, and Mr. Knight so obstinately refuse to be indebted to the older play here, when afterwards they are compelled to borrow from it twice, in order to render the text intelligible? În a note on act iv. sc. 1, Mr. Collier writes, "This line, necessary to the congruity of the dialogue, is derived from the quarto,' &c. and Mr. Knight, ibid., observes, "The passage in brackets is not found in the folio. Without it the point of the dialogue is lost. There can be no doubt that it was omitted by a typographical error," &c.— What is more; in act ii. sc. 3, where Horner says, "and therefore, Peter, have at thee with a downright blow," Malone and Mr. Knight add from the quarto, without the slightest necessity, "as Bevis of Southampton fell upon Ascapart." 1864. Mr. Staunton inserts the above lines as "essential."—Mr. Grant White and the Cambridge Editors reject them.-I continue to think it absolutely necessary that the King should say something here; and I believe that his words, whatever they may have been according to the revised text, are omitted in the folio by mistake.-The Cambridge Som. I humbly thank your royal majesty. Pet. Alas, my lord, I cannot fight; for God's sake, pity my case! The spite of man prevaileth against me. O Lord, have mercy upon me! I shall never be able to fight a blow: O Lord, my heart! Glo. Sirrah, or you must fight, or else be hang'd. K. Hen. Away with them to prison ! and the day Of combat shall be the last of the next month.Come, Somerset, we'll see thee sent away. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. The same. The Duke of GLOSTER'S garden. Enter MARGERY JOURDAIN, HUME, SOUTHWELL, and BOLINGBROKE. Hume. Come, my masters; the duchess, I tell you, expects performance of your promises. Boling. Master Hume, we are therefore provided: will her ladyship behold and hear our exorcisms? Hume. Ay, what else? fear you not her courage. Boling. I have heard her reported to be a woman of an invincible spirit: but it shall be convenient, Master Hume, that you be by her aloft, while we be busy below; and so, I pray you, go in God's name, and leave us. [Exit Hume.] Mother Jourdain, be you prostrate, and grovel on the earth; -John Southwell, read you;—and let us to our work. Enter Duchess above; and presently HUME. Duch. Well said, my masters; and welcome all. gear, the sooner the better. To this Boling. Patience, good lady; wizards know their times: Editors remark that "Shakespeare would hardly have left so lame a line as the second unaltered" but they certainly ought not to have been offended at the metre of that line, since afterwards in this play, act ii. sc. 4, they deliberately (see their note ad l.) make the Herald speak the following verses; "I summon your grace to his majesty's parliament, Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night,(33) [Here they do the ceremonies belonging, and make the the Spirit riseth. Spir. Adsum. M. Jour. Asmath, By the eternal God, whose name and power Thou tremblest at, answer that I shall ask; For, till thou speak, thou shalt not pass from hence. Spir. Ask what thou wilt:—that I had said and done! Boling. [reading out of a paper (34)] "First of the king: what shall of him become?" Spir. The duke yet lives that Henry shall depose; But him outlive, and die a violent death. [As the Spirit speaks, Southwell writes the answers. Boling. "What fates await the Duke of Suffolk?" Spir. By water shall he die, and take his end. Boling. "What shall befall the Duke of Somerset ?" Spir. Let him shun castles; Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains Than where castles mounted stand. (33) the silent of the night,] "So reads the folio 1623; but Steevens and Mason, as well as Mr. Collier's annotator, prefer the lection of the earlier version of the play, the silence of the night."" STAUNTON. With respect to Steevens and Mason at least, Mr. Staunton is mistaken : their notes are to show that here "silent" is used as a substantive. (34) Boling. [reading out of a paper] "First of the king: what shall of him become?"] Here Mr. Collier omits the modern stage-direction, "reading out of a paper," and observes, "We need not suppose that Bolingbroke's questions were written in the first instance," &c. But he appears to have forgotten that at the commencement of this scene, as given in The First Part of the Contention, &c., the Duchess says, "Here sir Iohn, take this scrole of paper here, |