A place next to the king.

Aber. I cannot tell

What heaven hath given him, let fome graver eye Pierce into that; but I can fee his pride

Peep through each part of him: Whence has he that?

If not from hell, the devil is a niggard
Or has given all before, and he begins
A new hell in himself.

Buck. Why the devil,

;

Upon this French going out, took he upon him,
Without the privity o' the king, to appoint
Who fhould attend on him? He' makes up the file
Of all the gentry; for the most part fuch
Too, whom as great a charge as little honour
He meant to lay upon and his own letter,
The honourable board of council out,
Muft fetch in him he papers.

Aber. I do know

Kinfimen of mine, three at the least, that have
By this fo ficken'd their eftates, 'that never
They fhall abound as formerly.

Buck. O, many

Have broke their backs with laying manors on them

4

5

the file] That is, the lift. See Vol. II. p. 104. JOHNSON.

council out,] Council not then fitting. JOHNSON. The expreffion rather means, "all mention of the board of council being left out of his letter."

STEEVENS.

Without advifing with, or confulting the council, not suffer ing them to have any concern in the bufinefs. REMARKS.

Muft fetch in him he papers.] He papers, a verb; his own letter, by his own fingle authority, and without the concurrence of the council, muft fetch in him whom he papers down. don't understand it, unless this be the meaning. РОРЕ. Wolfey published a lift of the feveral perfons whom he had ap pointed to attend on the king at this interview. See Hall's Chro nicle, Rymer's Fædera, tom. 13; &c. STEEVENS.

For

For this great journey 7. " What did this vanity,

But minifter communication' of

A moft poor iffue?

Nor. Grievingly I think,

The peace between the French and us not values
The coft that did conclude it.

Buck. Every man,

After the hideous storm that follow'd, was
A thing infpir'd; and, not confulting, broke
Into a general prophecy, That this tempeft,
Dashing the
garment of this peace, aboaded

The fudden breach on't.

7 Have broke their backs with laying manors on them
For this great journey.]

In the ancient Interlude of Nature, bl. 1. no date, but appa rently printed in the reign of King Henry VIII. there feems to have been a fimilar ftroke aimed at this expenfive expedition : Pryde. I am unhappy, I fe it well,

66

For thexpence of myne apparell

"Towardys this oyage

"What in horfes and other aray

Hath compelled me for to lay
All my land to mortgage."

STEEVENS.

We meet with a fimilar expreffion in Marlowe's King Ed

ward II. 1598:

"While foldiers mutiny for want of pay, "He wears a lord's revenue on his back." So alfo Burton in his Anatomy of Melancholy.

MALONE.
"Tis an or-

dinary thing to put a thousand oakes, or an hundred oxen, into a fute of apparell, to weare a whole manor on his back." Edit. 1634, p. 482. WHALLEY.

See alfo DODSLEY's Collection of Old Plays, edit. 1780, Vol. V. p. 26. Vol. XII. p. 395. EDITOR.

8

But

What did this vanity,
]

What effect had this pompous fhew but the production of a wretched conclufion. JOHNSON.

9 Every man,

After the hideous ftorm that follow'd, &c.]

64

His author, Hall, fays, Monday, 18th day of June, there blew Such forms of wind and weather, that marvel was to hear; for which hideous tempeft fome faid it was a very prognoftication of trouble and hatred to come between princes." In Henry VIII.

P. 80.

WARBURTON.

VOL. VII.

Nor.

Nor. Which is budded out;

For France hath flaw'd the league, and hath attach'd Our merchants' goods at Bourdeaux.

Aber. Is it therefore

The ambaffador is filenc'd?

Nor. Marry, is't.

Aber. A proper title of a peace; and purchas'd At a fuperfluous rate!

Buck. Why, all this business
Our reverend cardinal carry'd.
Nor. Like it your grace,

The state takes notice of the private difference
Betwixt you and the cardinal. I advise you,

(And take it from a heart that wishes towards you
Honour and plenteous fafety) that you read
The cardinal's malice and his potency

Together: to confider further, that

What his high hatred would effect, wants not
A minister in his power: You know his nature,
That he's revengeful; and I know, his fword
Hath a fharp edge: it's long, and, it may be said,
It reaches far; and where 'twill not extend,
Thither he darts it. Bofom up my counfel,
You'll find it wholefome. Lo, where comes that
rock,

That I advise your fhunning.

The ambassador is filenc'd?] Silenc'd for recall'd. This be ing proper to be faid of an orator; and an ambafiador or public minifter being called an orator, he applies filenc'd to ambalador. WARBURTON.

I understand it rather of the French ambassador refiding in England, who, by being refufed an audience, may be faid to be filenc'd. JOHNSON.

2 A proper title of a peace ;-] A fine name of a peace. Ironically. JOHNSON.

3

-comes that rock,] To make the rock come is not very

just. JOHNSON.

Enter

Enter Cardinal Wolfey, the purfe borne before him, certain of the guard, and two Secretaries with papers. The Cardinal in his passage fixeth his eye on Buckingham, and Buckingham on him, both full of difdain.

Wol. The duke of Buckingham's surveyor? ha? Where's his examination?

Secr. Here, fo please you.
Wol. Is he in perfon ready?
Secr. Ay, please your grace.

Wol. Well, we fhall then know more; and Buck

ingham

Shall leffen this big look.

[Exeunt Cardinal, and his train. Buck. This butcher's cur is venom-mouth'd, and I Have not the power to muzzle him; therefore, best Not wake him in his flumber. A beggar's book Out-worths a noble's blood.

Nor. What, are you chaf'd?

Afk God for temperance; that's the appliance only, Which your disease requires.

Buck. I read in his looks

Matter against me; and his eye revil'd
Me, as his abject object: at this inftánt.

4

-butcher's cur] Wolfey is faid to have been the fon of a butcher. JOHNSON..

Dr. Grey obferves, that when the death of the duke of Buckingham was reported to the emperor Charles V. he said, "The firit buck of England was worried to death by a butcher's dog." Skelton, whofe fatire is of the groffeft kind, in Why come you not to Court, has the fame reflection on the meanness of cardinal Wolfey's birth:

"For drede of the boucher's dog,

"Wold wirry them like an hog." STEEVENS.
-A beggar's book

Out-worths a noble's blood.]

That is, the literary qualifications of a bookish beggar are more prized than the high descent of hereditary greatness. This is a contemptuous exclamation very naturally put into the mouth of one of the antient, unletter'd, martial nobility. JOHNSON.

"He bores me with fome trick: He's gone to the king; I'll follow, and out-stare him.

Nor. Stay, my lord,

And let your reason with your choler question
What 'tis you go about: To climb fteep hills,
Requires flow pace at first: Anger is like 7
A full-hot horfe; who being allow'd his way,
Self-mettle tires him. Not a man in England
Can advise me like you: be to yourself,
As you would to your friend.

Buck. I'll to the king;

And from a mouth of honour quite cry down
This Ipfwich fellow's infolence; or proclaim,
There's difference in no perfons.

Nor. Be advis'd;

9

Heat not a furnace for your foe fo hot
That it do finge yourself: We may out-run,
By violent fwiftness, that which we run at,
And lofe by over-running. Know you not,
The fire, that mounts the liquor 'till it run o'er,
In feeming to augment it, waftes it? Be advis'd:

-] He ftabs or wounds me JOHNSON.

6 He bores me with fome trick: by fome artifice or fiction.

So, in the Life and Death of the Lord Cromwell 1613:
"One that hath gull'd you, that hath bor'd you, fir.”

So, Maflinger, in the Unnatural Combat:

8

Let paffion work, and, like a hot-rein'd horfe,
"Twill quickly tire itself. STEEVENS.

STEEVENS.

from a mouth of honour- -] I will crufh this bafeborn fellow, by the due influence of my rank, or fay that all diftinction of perfons is at an end. JOHNSON.

9 Heat not a furnace &c.] Might not Shakspeare allude to Dan. iii. 22. Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of fire flew thofe men that took up Shadrach, Meshac, and Abednego." STEEVENS.