I fay again, there is no English foul Buck. Sir, I am thankful to you; and I'll go along By your prefcription:-but this top-proud fellow, Nor. Say not, treasonous. Buck. To the king I'll fay't; and make as ftrong 2 my vouch As fhore of rock. Attend. This holy fox, 3 That fwallow'd so much treasure, and like a glass Nor. 'Faith, and so it did. Buck. Pray, give me favour, fir. This cunning cardinal The articles o' the combination drew, fincere motions)-] Honeft indignation; warmth of integrity. Perhaps name not, fhould be blame not. 2 Whom from the flow of gall I blame not. JOHNSON. Infecting one another,} This is very fatirical. His mind he reprefents as highly corrupt; and yet he fuppofes the contagion of the place of firft minifter as adding an infection to it. WARBURTON. fuggefts the king our master] fuggefts, for excites. WARBURTON. As himself pleas'd; and they were ratify'd, To the old dam, treafon)-Charles the emperor, Nor. I am forry To hear this of him; and could with, he were Buck. No, not a fyllable; I do pronounce him in that very shape, He fhall appear in proof. Enter Brandon; a Serjeant at arms before him, and two or three of the guard. Bran. Your office, ferjeant; execute it. Serj. Sir, our court cardinal,] The old copy reads: My My lord the duke of Buckingham, and earl Buck. Lo you, my lord, The net has fallen upon me; I fhall perish Bran. I am forry To see you ta'en from liberty, to look on You fhall to the Tower. Buck. It will help me nothing, To plead mine innocence; for that dye is on me, heaven The will of Be done in this and all things!-I obey-, 0 O my lord Aberga'ny, fare you well. Bran. Nay, he must bear you company :-The king. Is pleas'd, you fhall to the Tower, 'till How he determines further. Aber. As the duke faid, [To Aberg. you know The will of heaven be done, and the king's pleasure By me obey'd. Bran. Here is a warrant from The king, to attach lord Montacute; and the bodies Of the duke's confeffor, John de la Court", 7 One Gilbert Peck, his chancellor, $ I am forry To fee you ta'en from liberty, to look on The bufinefs prefent : Buck. I am forry that I am obliged to be present and an eye-witness of your lofs of liberty. JOHNSON. 6 John de la Court,] The name of this monk of the Chartreux was John de la Car, alias de la Court. See Holinfhed, p. 863. STEEVENS. 1 One Gilbert Peck, his counfellor.] So, the old copies have it, but I, from the authorities of Hall and Holinfhed, chang'd it to Buck. So, fo; These are the limbs of the plot: No more, I hope, Bran. A monk o'the Chartreux. Buck. O, Nicholas Hopkins? Bran. He. Buck. My furveyor is falfe; the o'er-great cardinal Hath fhew'd him gold: 9 my life is fpann'd already: I am the shadow of poor Buckingham'; Whose figure even this inftant cloud puts on, By dark'ning my clear fun. -My lord, farewel. [Exeunt. SCENE to-chancellor. And our poet himself, in the beginning of the fecond act, vouches for this correction: At which; appear'd against him his furveyor, Sir Gilbert Peck his chancellor. THEOBALD. Holinfhed calls this perfon," Gilbert Perke prieft, the duke's Chancellor." STEEVENS. 9 8 Michael Hopkins.] So all the old copies had it; and fo Mr. Rowe and Mr. Pope from them. But here again, by the help of the chronicles, I have given the true reading. THEOBALD. my life is fpann'd already :] To pan is to gripe, or inclofe in the hand; to pan is alfo to measure by the palm and fingers. The meaning, therefore, may either be, that hold is taken of my life, my life is in the gripe of my enemies; or, that my time is meafured, the length of my life is now determined. JOHNSON. I am the fhadow of poor Buckingham; Whofe figure even this inftant cloud puts on, By dark ning my clear fun.] Thefe lines have paffed all the editors. Does the reader und ftand them? By me they are inexplicable, and must be left, I fear, to fome happier fagacity. If the ufage of our author's time could allow figure to be taken, as now, for dignity or importance, we might read: Whofe figure even this inftant cloud puts out. But I cannot pleafe myfelf with any conjecture. Another explanation may be given, fomewhat harsh, but the beft that occurs to me: I am the fhadow of poor Buckingham, Whofe figure even this infant cloud puts on, whofe port and dignity is affumed by this cardinal, that overclouds and oppreffes me, and who gains my place By dark'ning my clear fun. JOHNSON. Perhaps SCENE II. The Council-Chamber. Cornet. Enter King Henry, leaning on the Cardinal's fhoulder; the Nobles, and Sir Thomas Lovel. The Cardinal places himself under the King's feet, on his right fide. King. My life itself, and the best heart of it, Thanks Perhaps Shakspeare has expreffed the fame idea more clearly in the Two Gentlemen of Verona, Antony and Cleopatra, and King John: "Oh, how this fpring of love resembeleth "Which now fhews all the beauty of the fun, Antony remarking on the various appearances affumed by the flying vapours, adds: -now thy captain is "Even fuch a body here I am Antony, "But cannot hold this vifible shape, my knave.” Or yet more appofitely in King John: -being but the fhadow of your fon "Becomes a fun, and makes your fon a fhadow." Such another thought appears in the famous Hift. of Tho. Stukely, 1605: "He is the fubftance of my shadowed love." There is likewife a paffage fimilar to the conclufion of this, in the Bloody Brother of Beaumont and Fletcher: 66 66 -is drawn fo high, that, like an ominous comet, "He darkens all your light." STEEVENS. By adopting Dr. Johnson's first conjecture, puts out," for "puts on," a tolerable fenfe may be given to thefe obfcure lines. "I am but the fhadow of poor Buckingham: and even the figure or outline of this fhadow begins now to fade away, being extinguished by this impending cloud, which darkens (or interpofes between me and) my clear fun; that is, the favour of my fovereign." BLACKSTONE. 2 -and the beft heart of it,] Heart is not here taken for the great organ of circulation and life, but, in a common and popular fenfe, for the most valuable or precious part. Our au thor, |