To nature none more bound; his training such, That he may furnish and instruct great teachers, And never seek for aid out of himself." Yet see When these so noble benefits shall prove 8 Not well dispos'd, the mind growing once corrupt, 9 We cannot feel too little, hear too much. WOL. Stand forth; and with bold spirit relate what you, Most like a careful subject, have collected of the Swanne, of whom linially is descended my said lord." The duke was executed on Friday the 17th of May, 1521. The book has no date. STEEVENS. "And never seek for sures of his own mind. Read: aid out of himself.] Beyond the treaJOHNSON. And ne'er seek aid out of himself. Yet see,—. RITSON. noble benefits· Not well dispos'd,] Great gifts of nature and education, not joined with good dispositions. JOHNSON. As if besmear'd in hell.] So, in Othello: 66 Her name, that was as fresh "As Dian's visage, is now begrim'd and black K. HEN. Speak freely. SURV. First, it was usual with him, every day To make the scepter his: These very words WOL. Please your highness, note This dangerous conception in this point." Not friended by his wish, to your high person His will is most malignant; and it stretches Beyond you, to your friends. Q. KATH. Deliver all with charity. K. HEN. My learn'd lord cardinal, Speak on: How grounded he his title to the crown, Upon our fail? to this point hast thou heard him At any time speak aught? SURV. He was brought to this By a vain prophecy of Nicholas Hopkins.3 1he'd carry it-] Old copy-he'l. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE. ? This dangerous conception in this point.] Note this particular part of this dangerous design. JOHNSON. By a vain prophecy of Nicholas Hopkins.] In former editions: By a vain prophecy of Nicholas Henton. We heard before from Brandon, of one Nicholas Hopkins; and now his name is changed into Henton; so that Brandon and the surveyor seem to be in two stories. There is, however, but one and the same person meant, Hopkins, as I have restored it in the text, for perspicuity's sake; yet it will not be any difficulty to account for the other name, when we come to consider that he was a monk of the convent, called Henton, near Bristol. So both Hall and Holinshed acquaint us. And he might, according K. HEN. What was that Hopkins? SURV. Sir, a Chartreux friar, His confessor; who fed him every minute K. HEN. How know'st thou this? SURV. Not long before your highness sped to The duke being at the Rose, within the parish to the custom of these times, be called Nicholas of Henton, from the place; as Hopkins from his family. THEOBALD. This mistake, as it was undoubtedly made by Shakspeare, is worth a note. It would be doing too great an honour to the players to suppose them capable of being the authors of it. STEEVENS. Shakspeare was perhaps led into the mistake by inadvertently referring the words, "called Henton," in the passage already quoted from Holinshed, (p. 26, n. 9,) not to the monastery, but to the monk. MALONE. * The duke being at the Rose, &c.] This house was purchased about the year 1561, by Richard Hill, sometime master of the Merchant Tailors company, and is now the Merchant Tailors school, in Suffolk-lane. WHALLEY. 5 under the confession's seal-] All the editions, down from the beginning, have-commission's. But what commission's He solemnly had sworn, that, what he spoke, To me, should utter, with demure confidence This pausingly ensu'd,-Neither the king, nor his heirs, (Tell you the duke) shall prosper: bid him strive To gain the love of the commonalty; the duke Shall govern England. If I know you well, Q. KATH. You were the duke's surveyor, and lost your office On the complaint o' the tenants: Take good heed, You charge not in your spleen a noble person, And spoil your nobler soul! I say, take heed; Yes, heartily beseech you. K. HEN. Go forward. SURV. Let him on: On my soul, I'll speak but truth. I told my lord the duke, By the devil's illusions seal? That is a question, I dare say, none of our diligent editors asked themselves. The text must be restored, as I have corrected it; and honest Holinshed, [p. 863,] from whom our author took the substance of this passage, may be called in as a testimony." The duke in talk told the monk, that he had done very well to bind his chaplain, John de la Court, under the seal of confession, to keep secret such matter." THEOBALD. • To gain the love-] The old copy reads-To the love. STEEVENS. For the insertion of the word gain I am answerable. From the corresponding passage in Holinshed, it appears evidently to have been omitted through the carelessness of the compositor: "The said monke told to De la Court, neither the king nor his heirs should prosper, and that I should endeavour to purchase the good wills of the commonalty of England." Since I wrote the above, I find this correction had been made by the editor of the fourth folio. MALONE. It had been adopted by Mr. Rowe, and all subsequent editors. STEEVENS. The monk might be deceiv'd; and that 'twas dang'rous for him,7 To ruminate on this so far, until It forg'd him some design, which, being believ'd, Ha! what, so rank? Ah, ha! K. HEN. There's mischief in this man: After your highness had reprov'd the duke 9 K. HEN. I remember, Of such a time:-Being my servant sworn, The duke retain'd him his.- -But on; What hence? SURV. If, quoth he, I for this had been committed, As, to the Tower, I thought,—I would have play'd The part my father meant to act upon 7 -for him,] Old copy-for this. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALone. 8 so rank?] Rank weeds, are weeds grown up to great height and strength. What, says the King, was he advanced to this pitch? JOHNSON. 9 Being my servant sworn, &c.] Sir William Blomer, (Holinshed calls him Bulmer,) was reprimanded by the King in the star-chamber, for that, being his sworn servant, he had left the King's service for the duke of Buckingham's. Edwards's MSS. STEEVENS |