SCENE II. Southampton. A Council-Chamber. Enter EXETER, Bedford, and WESTMORELAND. BED. 'Fore God, his grace is bold, to trust these traitors. EXE. They shall be apprehended by and by. WEST. HOW Smooth and even they do bear themselves! As if allegiance in their bosoms sat, Crowned with faith, and constant loyalty. BED. The king hath note of all that they intend, By interception which they dream not of. EXE. Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow", given them reason to expect a share. I have not therefore departed from the old punctuation. STEEVENS. 7 66 that was his BEDFELLOW,] So, Holinshed: The said Lord Scroop was in such favour with the king, that he admitted him sometime to be his bedfellow." The familiar appellation of bedfellow, which appears strange to us, was common among the ancient nobility. There is a letter from the sixth Earl of Northumberland, (still preserved in the collection of the present Duke,) addressed "To his beloved cousyn Thomas Arundel," &c. which begins, " Bedfellow, after my most harté recommendacion." So, in a comedy called A Knack to know a Knave, 1594: "Yet, for thou wast once bedfellow to a king, "And that I lov'd thee as my second self," &c. Again, in Look About You, 1600: 66 if I not err "Thou art the prince's ward. "I am his ward, chamberlain, and bedfellow." Again, in Cynthia's Revenge, 1613: "Her I'll bestow, and without prejudice, "On thee alone, my noble bedfellow." STEEVENS. This unseemly custom continued common till the middle of the last century, if not later. Cromwell obtained much of his intelligence during the civil wars from the mean men with whom he slept.-Henry Lord Scroop was the third husband of Joan Duchess of York, stepmother of Richard Earl of Cambridge. MALONE. Whom he hath cloy'd and grac'd with princely favours. That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell Trumpet sounds. Enter King HENRY, SCROOP, K. HEN. Now sits the wind fair, and we will aboard. My lord of Cambridge, and my kind lord of Masham, And you, my gentle knight,--give me your thoughts: Think you not, that the powers we bear with us, Will cut their passage through the force of France; Doing the execution, and the act, For which we have in head assembled them1? SCROOP. No doubt, my liege, if each man do his best. K. HEN. I doubt not that: since we are well persuaded, We carry not a heart with us from hence, That grows not in a fair concent with ours2; 8 CLOY'D and grac'd-] Thus the quarto. The folio reads-" dull'd and cloy'd." Perhaps dull'd is a mistake for dol'd. STEEVENS. 9 to death and treachery!] Here the quartos insert a line omitted in all the following editions: "Exe. O! the lord of Masham!" JOHNSON. I For which we have in HEAD assembled them ?] This is not English phraseology. I am persuaded Shakspeare wrote: "For which we have in aid assembled them?" alluding to the tenures of those times. WARBUrton. It is strange that the commentator should forget a word so eminently observable in this writer, as head for an army formed. JOHNSON. In head seems synonymous to the modern military term in force. MALONE. 2 That grows not in a fair CONSENT with ours;] So, in Macbeth: 6 Nor leave not one behind, that doth not wish CAM. Never was monarch better fear'd, and lov'd, Than is your majesty; there's not, I think, a subject, That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness Under the sweet shade of your government. GREY. Even those, that were your father's enemies, Have steep'd their galls in honey; and do serve you With hearts create of duty and of zeal. K. HEN. We therefore have great cause of thankfulness; And shall forget the office of our hand *, SCROOP. So service shall with steeled sinews toil; K. HEN. We judge no less.-Uncle of Exeter, Enlarge the man committed yesterday, That rail'd against our person: we consider, It was excess of wine that set him on; And, on his more advice, we pardon him. SCROOP. That's mercy, but too much security: Let him be punish'd, sovereign; lest example Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind. "If you shall cleave to my consent," &c. Consent is union, party, &c. 66 ours. 3 - in a fair concent· See vol. xi. p. 92, n. 3. duty and zeal. JOHNSON. STEEVENS. In friendly concord; in unison with Hearts compounded or made up of 4 And shall forget the office of our hand,] Perhaps our author, when he wrote this line, had the fifth verse of the 137th Psalm in his thoughts: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning." STEEVENS. 5 more advice,] On his return to more coolness of mind. See vol. iv. p. 56, n. 7. MALONE. JOHNSON. K. HEN. O, let us yet be merciful. CAM. So may your highness, and yet punish too. GREY. Sir, you show great mercy, if you give him life, After the taste of much correction. K. HEN. Alas, your too much love and care of me Are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch. If little faults, proceeding on distemper", Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye", When capital crimes, chew'd, swallow'd, and digested, Appear before us?-We'll yet enlarge that man, Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey,-in their dear care, And tender preservation of our person, Would have him punish'd. And now to our French causes; 8 Who are the late commissioners ? 6 - proceeding on DISTEMPER,] i. e. sudden passions. WARBURTON. Perturbation of mind. Temper is equality or calmness of mind, from an equipoise or due mixture of passions. Distemper of mind is the predominance of a passion, as distemper of body is the predominance of a humour. JOHNSON. It has been just said by the king, that "it was excess of wine that set him on," and distemper may therefore mean intoxication. Distemper'd in liquor is still a common expression. Chapman, in his Epicedium on the Death of Prince Henry, 1612, has personified this species of distemper : "Frantick distemper, and hare-ey'd unrest." And Brabantio says, that Roderigo is "Full of supper and distemp'ring draughts." Again, Holinshed, vol. iii. p. 626: ". gave him wine and strong drink in such excessive sort, that he was therewith distempered, and reel'd as he went." STEEVENS. 7 how shall we stretch our eye,] If we may not wink at small faults, how wide must we open our eyes at great? JOHNSON. 8 Who are the late commissioners ?] That is, as appears from the sequel, who are the persons lately appointed commissioners? M. MASON. CAM. I one, my lord; Your highness bade me ask for it to-day. GREY. And me, my royal sovereign. K. HEN. Then, Richard, earl of Cambridge, there is yours: There yours, lord Scroop of Masham :-and, sir knight, Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours: Read them; and know, I know your worthiness.- What see you in those papers, that you lose Сам. K. HEN. The mercy that was quick in us but late, You know, how apt our love was, to accord 1 To furnish him 1 with all appertinents Belonging to his honour; and this man * Folio, you. 9-quick-] That is, living. JOHNSON. To furnish HIM] The latter word, which is wanting in the first folio, was supplied by the editor of the second. MALONE. |