Imatges de pàgina
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BAST. But there is little reason in your grief; Therefore, 'twere reason, you had manners now. PEM. Sir, sir, impatience hath his privilege. BAST. 'Tis true; to hurt his master, no man else1.

SAL. This is the prison: What is he lies here? [Seeing ARTHUR. PEM. O death, made proud with pure and princely beauty!

The earth had not a hole to hide this deed.

SAL. Murder, as hating what himself hath done, Doth lay it open, to urge on revenge.

BIG. Or, when he doom'd this beauty to a grave,

Found it too precious-princely for a grave.

SAL. Sir Richard, what think you? Have you beheld 2,

Or have you read, or heard? or could you think? Or do you almost think, although you see,

That you do see? could thought, without this ob

ject,

Form such another? This is the very top,
The height, the crest, or crest unto the crest,
Of murder's arms: this is the bloodiest shame,
The wildest savag'ry, the vilest stroke,
That ever wall-ey'd wrath, or staring rage,
Presented to the tears of soft remorse.

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no MAN else.] Old copy-no man's. Corrected by the editor of the second folio. MALONE.

2 HAVE YOU beheld,] Old copy-" You have," &c. Corrected by the editor of the third folio. MALONE.

3 Or have you read, or heard? &c.] Similar interrogatories have been already urged by the Dauphin, Act III. Sc. IV. :

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Who hath read, or heard,

"Of any kindred action like to this?" STEEVENS.

4-WALL-EY'D wrath,] So, in Titus Andronicus, Lucius, addressing himself to Aaron the Moor:

"Say, wall-ey'd slave." STEEVENS.

PEMB. All murders past do stand excus'd in this: And this, so sole, and so unmatchable,

Shall give a holiness, a purity,

To the yet-unbegotten sin of times;
And prove a deadly bloodshed but a jest,
Exampled by this heinous spectacle.

BAST. It is a damned and a bloody work;
The graceless action of a heavy hand,
If that it be the work of any hand.

SAL. If that it be the work of any hand?—
We had a kind of light, what would ensue :
It is the shameful work of Hubert's hand;
The practice, and the purpose, of the king:-
From whose obedience I forbid my soul,
Kneeling before this ruin of sweet life,
And breathing to his breathless excellence
The incense of a vow, a holy vow;
Never to taste the pleasures of the world",
Never to be infected with delight,

Nor conversant with ease and idleness,
Till I have set a glory to this hand,

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of TIMES;] That is, of all future times. So, in King

Henry V.:

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'By custom and the ordinance of times."

Again, in The Rape of Lucrece :

"For now against himself he sounds his doom,

"That through the length of times he stands disgrac'd." Mr. Pope and the subsequent editors more elegantly read-sins of time; but the peculiarities of Shakspeare's diction ought, in my apprehension, to be faithfully preserved. MALONE.

I follow Mr. Pope, whose reading is justified by a line in the celebrated soliloquy of Hamlet:

"For who would bear the whips and scorns of time?" Again, by another in this play of King John, p. 346:

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"I am not glad that such a sore of time-." STEEVENS. - a holy vow;

Never to taste the pleasures of the world,] This is a copy of the vows made in the ages of superstition and chivalry.

JOHNSON.

By giving it the worship of revenge".

PEM. BIG. Our souls religiously confirm thy words.

Enter HUBert.

HUB. Lords, I am hot with haste in seeking you:

7 Till I have set a GLORY to this HAND,

By giving it the worship of revenge.] The worship, is the dignity, the honour. We still say worshipful of magistrates.

JOHNSON.

I think it should be-a glory to this head;-pointing to the dead prince, and using the word worship in its common acceptation. A glory is a frequent term:

"Round a quaker's beaver cast a glory,"

says Mr. Pope the solemn confirmation of the other lords seems to require this sense. The late Mr. Gray was much pleased with this correction. FARMER.

The old reading seems right to me, and means,-" till I have famed and renowned my own hand by giving it the honour of revenge for so foul a deed." Glory means splendor and magnificence in St. Matthew, vi. 29. So, in Markham's Husbandry, 1631, p. 353: "But if it be where the tide is scant, and doth no more but bring the river to a glory," i. e. fills the banks without overflowing. So, in Act II. Sc. II. of this play:

"O, two such silver currents, when they join,

"Do glorify the banks that bound them in."

A thought almost similar to the present, occurs in Ben Jonson's Catiline, who, Act IV. Sc. IV. says to Cethegus: "When we meet again we'll sacrifice to liberty. Cet. And revenge. That we may praise our hands once!" i. e. O! that we may set a glory, or procure honour and praise, to our hands, which are the instruments of action. TOLLET.

I believe, at repeating these lines, Salisbury should take hold of the hand of Arthur, to which he promises to pay the worship of revenge. M. MASON.

I think the old reading the true one. In the next Act we have

the following lines:

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I will not return,

"Till my attempt so much be glorified

"As to my ample hope was promised."

The following passage in Troilus and Cressida is decisive in support of the old reading:

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Jove, let Æneas live,

"If to my sword his fate be not the glory,

"A thousand complete courses of the sun." MALONE.

Arthur doth live; the king hath sent for you.

SAL. O, he is bold, and blushes not at death:Avaunt, thou hateful villain, get thee gone!

HUB. I am no villain.

SAL.

Must I rob the law?

[Drawing his sword.

BAST. Your sword is bright, sir; put it up

again 8.

SAL. Not till I sheath it in a murderer's skin. HUB. Stand back, lord Salisbury, stand back, I say;

By heaven, I think, my sword's as sharp as yours:
I would not have you, lord, forget yourself,
Nor tempt the danger of my true defence';
Lest I, by marking of your rage, forget
Your worth, your greatness, and nobility.

BIG. Out, dunghill! dar'st thou brave a nobleman ?

HUB. Not for my life: but yet I dare defend My innocent life against an emperor.

SAL. Thou art a murderer.

HUB.

Do not prove me so;

Yet, I am none': Whose tongue soe'er speaks

false,

Not truly speaks; who speaks not truly, lies.

PEMB. Cut him to pieces.

BAST.

Keep the peace, I say.

SAL. Stand by, or I shall gall you, Faulcon

bridge.

8 Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again,] i. e. lest it lose its brightness. So, in Othello:

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cause.

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Keep up your bright swords; for the dew will rust them."
MALONE.

true defence ;] Honest defence; defence in a good
JOHNSON.

Do not prove me so;

YET, I am none:] Do not make me a murderer, by compelling me to kill you; I am hitherto not a murderer. JOHNSON.

BAST. Thou wert better gall the devil, Salisbury: If thou but frown on me, or stir thy foot,

Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shame,
I'll strike thee dead. Put up thy sword betime;
Or I'll so maul you and your toasting-iron 2,
That you shall think the devil is come from hell3.
BIG. What wilt thou do, renowned Faulcon-

bridge?

Second a villain, and a murderer ?.
HUB. Lord Bigot, I am none.
BIG.

Who kill'd this prince!

HUB. 'Tis not an hour since I left him well: I honour'd him, I lov'd him; and will weep My date of life out, for his sweet life's loss.

SAL. Trust not those cunning waters of his eyes, For villainy is not without such rheum;

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And he, long traded in it, makes it seem
Like rivers of remorse and innocency.
Away, with me, all you whose souls abhor
The uncleanly savours of a slaughter-house;
For I am stifled with this smell of sin.

BIG. Away, toward Bury, to the Dauphin there! PEM. There, tell the king, he may inquire us out. [Exeunt Lords.

- your TOASTING-IRON,] The same thought is found in King Henry V.: "I dare not fight, but I will wink and hold out mine iron. It is a simple one, but what though? it will toast cheese."

Again, in Fletcher's Woman's Prize, or the Tamer tamed: dart ladles, toasting irons,

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"And tongs, like thunder-bolts." STEEVENS.

3 That you shall think THE DEVIL IS COME FROM HELL.] So, in the ancient MS. romance of The Sowdon of Babyloyne: "And saide thai wer no men

"But develis abroken oute of helle." STEEVENS. 4 Like rivers of REMORSE-] Remorse here, as almost every where in these plays, and the contemporary books, signifies pity. MALONE.

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