WOL. Sir Thomas Lovell, is the banquet ready I' the privy chamber?

Lov.

Yes, my lord.

WOL.

I fear, with dancing is a little heated R.
K. HEN. I fear, too much.
WOL.

In the next chamber.

K. HEN. Lead in your ladies, every one.-Sweet partner,

I must not yet forsake you :-Let's be merry;-
Good my lord cardinal, I have half a dozen healths
To drink to these fair ladies, and a measure
To lead them once again; and then let's dream
Who's best in favour.-Let the musick knock it".
Exeunt with Trumpets.

Your grace,

There's fresher air, my lord,

strelsie, bl. 1. no date, "Imprinted at London, at the long shop adjoining unto saint Mildred's church in the Pultrie, by John Allde:

"But some reply, what foole would daunce,
"If that when daunce is doon,

"He may not have at ladyes lips

"That which in daunce he woon?" STEEVENS.

This custom is still prevalent, among the country people, in many, perhaps all, parts of the kingdom. When the fiddler thinks his young couple have had musick enough, he makes his instrument squeak out two notes which all understand to say→ kiss her! RITSON.

8

a little heated.] The King, on being discovered and desired by Wolsey to take his place, said that he would "first go and shift him and thereupon, went into the Cardinal's bed-chamber, where was a great fire prepared for him, and there he new appareled himselfe with rich and princely garments. And in the king's absence the dishes of the banquet were cleane taken away, and the tables covered with new and perfumed clothes. Then the king took his seat under the cloath of estate, commanding every person to sit still as before; and then came in a new banquet before his majestie of two hundred dishes, and so they passed the night in banqueting and dancing untill morning." Cavendish's Life of Wolsey. MALONE.

9

Let the musick KNOCK it.] So, in António and Mellida, Part I. 1602:

ACT II. SCENE I.

A Street.

Enter Two Gentlemen, meeting.

1 GENT. Whither away so fast? 2 GENT.

O,-God save you1!

Even to the hall, to hear what shall become
Of the great duke of Buckingham.

1 GENT.

I'll save you

That labour, sir. All's now done, but the ceremony Of bringing back the prisoner.

2 GENT.

Were you there?

Pray, speak, what has happen’d?

1 GENT. Yes, indeed, was I. 2 GENT.

1 GENT. You may guess quickly what. 2 GENT.

Is he found guilty? 1 GENT. Yes, truly is he, and condemn'd upon it. 2 GENT. I am sorry for❜t. 1 GENT. 2 GENT. But, pray, how pass'd it?

So are a number more.

1 GENT. I'll tell you in a little. The great duke Came to the bar; where, to his accusations, He pleaded still, not guilty, and alleg'd Many sharp reasons to defeat the law. The king's attorney, on the contrary, Urg'd on the examinations, proofs, confessions Of divers witnesses; which the duke desir'd

"Fla. Faith, the song will seem to come off hardly.
"Catz. Troth, not a whit, if you seem to come off quickly.
"Fla. Pert Catzo, knock it then." STEEVEns.

We have a similar phrase in the Tempest: "Would I could see this labourer, he lays it on." MALONE.

I

O,—God save you!] Surely, (with Sir Thomas Hanmer,) we should complete the measure by reading:

"Ö, sir, God save you!" STEEvens.

To have brought, viva voce, to his face 2:
At which appeared against him, his surveyor;
Sir Gilbert Peck his chancellor; and John Court,
Confessor to him; with that devil-monk,
Hopkins, that made this mischief.

2 GENT.

That fed him with his prophecies ?

1 GENT.

That was he,

The same.

All these accus'd him strongly; which he fain Would have flung from him, but, indeed, he could

not:

And so his peers, upon this evidence,
Have found him guilty of high treason.
He spoke, and learnedly, for life; but all
Was either pitied in him, or forgotten 3.

2 GENT. After all this, how did he bear himself? 1 GENT. When he was brought again to the bar,— to hear

Much

Certainly,

His knell rung out, his judgment,-he was stirr'd
With such an agony, he sweat extremely *,
And something spoke in choler, ill, and hasty:
But he fell to himself again, and, sweetly,
In all the rest show'd a most noble patience.
2 GENT. I do not think, he fears death.
1 GENT.
Sure, he does not,
He never was so womanish; the cause
He may a little grieve at.

2 GENT.

The cardinal is the end of this.

1 GENT. 'Tis likely, By all conjectures: First, Kildare's attainder,

2 TO HIM brought, vivâ voce, to his face :] So the old copy. This is a clear error of the press. We must read-have instead of him. M. MASON.

3 Was either pitied in him, or forgotten,] Either produced no effect, or produced only ineffectual pity. MALONE.

4

he sweat extremely,] This circumstance is taken from Holinshed: "After he was found guilty, the duke was brought to the bar, sore-chafing, and sweat marvelously." STEEVENS.

Then deputy of Ireland; who remov'd,
Earl Surrey was sent thither, and in haste too,
Lest he should help his father.
2 GENT.

That trick of state

Was a deep envious one. 1 GENT.

At his return,

This is noted,

No doubt, he will requite it.
And generally; whoever the king favours,
The cardinal instantly will find employment,
And far enough from court too.

2 GENT.

All the commons Hate him perniciously, and, o' my conscience, Wish him ten fathom deep: this duke as much They love and dote on; call him, bounteous Buckingham,

The mirror of all courtesy° ;

1 GENT. Stay there, sir, And see the noble ruin'd man you speak of. Enter BUCKINGHAM from his Arraignment; Tipstaves before him; the Axe with the Edge towards him; Halberds on each Side: with him, Sir THOMAS LOVELL, Sir NICHOLAS VAUX, Sir WILLIAM SANDS", and common People.

-

2 GENT. Let's stand close, and behold him.
BUCK.
All good people,

5 will find employment.] That is, will find employment for. Of this kind of suppression many instances occur in our author's works and in those of his contemporaries. Thus in The Merchant of Venice:

"How good a gentleman you sent relief [to]." Again, in Julius Cæsar:

"Thy honourable metal may be wrought

66

From that it is dispos'd [to].”

We find even Dryden falling into this inaccuracy. "God, it is true, with his Divine Providence overrules and guides all actions to the secret end he has ordained them." Life of Plutarch, Dryden's Prose Works, 1800, vol. ii. p. 398. MALONE.

6 The mirror of all courtesy ;] See the concluding words of n. 1, 341. STEEVENS.

p.

You that thus far have come to pity me,

Hear what I say, and then go home and lose me. I have this day receiv'd a traitor's judgment,

And by that name must die; Yet, heaven bear witness,

And, if I have a conscience, let it sink me,
Even as the axe falls, if I be not faithful!
The law I bear no malice for my death,

It has done, upon the premises, but justice :

But those, that sought it, I could wish more christians:

Be what they will, I heartily forgive them:
Yet let them look they glory not in mischief,
Nor build their evils on the graves of great men";
For then my guiltless blood must cry against them.
For further life in this world I ne'er hope,
Nor will I sue, although the king have mercies
More than I dare make faults. You few that lov'd

me9,

And dare be bold to weep for Buckingham,

7

Sir WILLIAM Sands,] The old copy reads-Sir Walter. STEEVENS. The correction is justified by Holinshed's Chronicle, in which it is said that Sir Nicholas Vaux and Sir William Sands, received Buckingham at the Temple, and accompanied him to the Tower. Sir William Sands was, at this time, (May, 1521,) only a knight, not being created Lord Sands till April 27, 1527. Shakspeare probably did not know that he was the same person whom he has already introduced with that title. He fell into the error by placing the King's visit to Wolsey, (at which time Sir William was Lord Sands,) and Buckingham's condemnation, in the same year; whereas the visit was made some years afterwards. MALONE.

8 Nor build their EVILS on the graves of great men ;] Evils, in this place, are forica. So, in Measure for Measure: having waste ground enough,

66

"Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary,
"And pitch our evils there?'

See vol. ix. p. 70, n. 8. STEEVENS.

9

- You few that lov'd me, &c.] These lines are remarkably tender and pathetick. JOHNSON.