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2 MURD. Look behind you, my lord.

1 MURD. Take that, and that; if all this will not

do,

[Stabs him.

lines, which Mr. Pope observed not to be in the old edition, are now misplaced, and should be inserted here, somewhat after this

manner:

"Clar. A begging prince what beggar pities not?
"Vil. A begging prince!

"Clar. Which of you, if you were a prince's son," &c. Upon this provocation, the villain naturally strikes him.

JOHNSON.

Mr. Pope's note is not accurately stated. I believe this passage should be regulated thus:

"Clar. Relent and save your souls.

"1 Vil. Relent! 'tis cowardly and womanish.
"Clar. Not to relent is beastly, savage, devilish.

"Which of you if you were a prince's son,

"Being pent

"If two such

"Would not entreat for life?

"My friend, I spy

"O, if thine eye

"

Come thou on my side, and entreat for me,

"As you would beg, were you in my

distress.

"A begging prince what beggar pities not?" TYRWHITT. In the quarto 1597, after the last line of the preceding speech, we find only the following dialogue:

66

"2. What shall we do?

"Cla. Relent, and save your soules.

"1. Relent! 'tis cowardly and womanish.

"Cla. Not to relent, is beastly, savage, devilish.

My friend, I spy some pity in thy looks:

O, if thy eye be not a flatterer,

"Come thou on my side, and entreate for me.

"A begging prince what beggar pities not?

"1. Ay, thus and thus; if this will not suffice," &c.

In the folio the passage is thus exhibited; five lines being added here; and the second murderer's speech [Look, behold you, my lord]:

"2. What shall we do?

"Cla. Relent and save your soules.

"Which of you, if you were a prince's son,

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Being pent from liberty, as I am now,

"If two such murderers, as yourselves, came to you,
"Would not entreat for life, as you would beg,
"Were you in my di tress?

I'll drown you in the malmsey-butt within.

[Exit, with the body. 2 MURD. A bloody deed, and desperately de

spatch'd!

How fain, like Pilate, would I wash my hands
Of this most grievous guilty murder done!

Re-enter first Murderer.

1 MURD. How now? what mean'st thou, that thou help'st me not?

By heaven, the duke shall know how slack you have been.

2 MURD. I would he knew, that I had sav'd his

brother!

Take thou the fee, and tell him what I say ;
For I repent me that the duke is slain.

[Exit.

1 MURD. So do not I; go, coward, as thou art.Well, I'll go hide the body in some hole, Till that the duke give order for his burial: And when I have my meed, I will away;

For this will out, and then I must not stay. [Erit.

"1. Relent! 'tis cowardly and womanish.

"Cla. Not to relent, is beastly, savage, devilish.

"My friend

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"1. Look behind you, my lord.

"2. Take that, and that

I think, with Mr. Tyrwhitt, that the added lines have been inserted in the wrong place, and have therefore adopted his arrangement. MALONE.

I have regulated the text according to Mr. Tyrwhitt's instruction. STEEVENS.

"A begging prince what beggar pities not?" To this, in the quarto, the Murderer replies:

"I, thus and thus: if this will not serve

"I'll chop thee in the malmesey but in the next roome―." and then stabs him. STEEVENS.

ACT II. SCENE I.

London. A Room in the Palace.

Enter King EDWARD, (led in sick,) Queen ELIZA BETH, DORSET, RIVERS, HASTINGS, BUCKINGHAM, GREY, and Others.

K. EDW. Why, so:-now have I done a good day's work ;

You peers, continue this united league:
I every day expect an embassage

From my Redeemer to redeem me hence;

And now in peace* my soul shall part to heaven,
Since I have made my friends at peace on earth.
Rivers, and Hastings, take each other's hand;
Dissemble not your hatred, swear your love.
RIV. By heaven, my soul is purg'd from grudging
hate;

And with my hand I seal my true heart's love.
HAST. So thrive I, as I truly swear the like!
K. EDW. Take heed, you dally not before your
king;

Lest he, that is the supreme King of kings,
Confound your hidden falsehood, and award
Either of you to be the other's end.

HAST. SO prosper I, as I swear perfect love!
RIV. And I, as I love Hastings with my heart!

4 And Now in peace-] So the quarto. The folio—more to peace. MALONE.

Mr. Steevens forms a reading from both,-
-more in peace.

BOSWELL.

S DISSEMBLE not your hatred,] i. e. do not gloss it over. STEEVENS.

I suppose he means, Divest yourselves of that concealed hatred which you have heretofore secretly borne to each other. Do not merely, says Edward, conceal and cover over your secret ill will to each other by a show of love, but eradicate hatred altogether from your bosoms, MALONE.

*

K. EDW. Madam, yourself are not exempt in this,

Nor your son Dorset,-Buckingham, nor you ;You have been factious one against the other. Wife, love lord Hastings, let him kiss your hand; And what you do, do it unfeignedly.

Q. ELIZ. There, Hastings;-I will never more remember

Our former hatred, So thrive I, and mine!

K. EDW. Dorset, embrace him,-Hastings, love lord marquis.

DOR. This interchange of love, I here protest,
Upon my part shall be inviolable.
HAST. And so swear I.

[Embraces DoRset. K. EDW. Now, princely Buckingham, seal thou this league

With thy embracements to my wife's allies,
And make me happy in your unity.

BUCK. Whenever Buckingham doth turn his hate Upon your grace, [To the Queen.] but with all du

teous love

Doth cherish you, and yours, God punish me
With hate in those where I expect most love!
When I have most need to employ a friend,
And most assured that he is a friend,
Deep, hollow, treacherous, and full of guile,
Be he unto me! this do I beg of heaven,
When I am cold in love, to you, or yours.

[Embracing RIVERS, &c.

K. EDW. A pleasing cordial, princely Buckingham, Is this thy vow unto my sickly heart.

There wanteth now our brother Gloster here,
To make the blessed period of this peace.
BUCK. And, in good time, here comes the noble
duke 6.

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* So quarto 1597; first folio, yourself is.

here comes the noble duke.] So the quarto. The folio

Enter GLOster.

GLO. Good-morrow to my sovereign king, and queen ;

And, princely peers, a happy time of day !

K. EDI. Happy, indeed, as we have spent the day:

Brother, we have done deeds of charity;

Made peace, of enmity, fair love, of hate,
Between these swelling wrong-incensed peers.
GLO. A blessed labour, my most sovereign liege.—
Among this princely heap, if any here,

By false intelligence, or wrong surmise,
Hold me a foe;

If I unwittingly, or in my rage',

Have aught committed that is hardly borne
By any in this presence, I desire

To reconcile me to his friendly peace :

'Tis death to me, to be at enmity;

I hate it, and desire all good men's love.
First, madam, I entreat true peace of you,
Which I will purchase with my duteous service;
Of you, my noble cousin Buckingham,

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If ever any grudge were lodg'd between us;
Of you, lord Rivers, and lord Grey, of you,
That all without desert have frown'd on me ;

"And in good time

"Here comes Sir Richard Radcliffe and the duke."

MALONE.

7 If I unwittingly, or in my rage,] So the quarto. Foliounwillingly. This line and the preceding hemistich are printed in the old copies, as one line: a mistake that has sometimes happened in the early editions of these plays. Mr. Pope, by whose licentious alterations our author's text was much corrupted, omitted the words—“ or in my rage; " in which he has been followed by all the subsequent editors till my edition in 1790.

MALONE.

8-frown'd on me;] I have followed the original copy in quarto. The folio adds

"Of you, lord Woodville, and lord Scales, of you-:"

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