1 GENT. I'll tell you in a little. The great duke Came to the bar; where, to his accufations, He pleaded ftill, not guilty, and alleg'd Many fharp reafons to defeat the law. The king's attorney, on the contrary, Urg'd on the examinations, proofs, confeffions Of divers witneffes; which the duke defir'd To him brought, viva voce, to his face:* At which appear'd against him, his furveyor; Sir Gilbert Peck his chancellor; and John Court, Confeffor to him; with that devil-monk, Hopkins, that made this mifchief.

2 GENT.

That fed him with his prophecies ?

1 GENT.

That was he,

The fame.

All these accus'd him ftrongly; 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 treafon. Much
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

His knell rung out, his judgment,—he was flirr'd With fuch an agony, he fweat extremely,4

- To him brought, viva voce, to his face:] This is a clear error of the prefs. We must read-have inftead of him.

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

M. MASON. Either produced MALONE.

he fweat extremely,] This circumftance is taken from Holinfhed: "After he was found guilty, the duke was brought to the bar, fore-chafing, and fweat marvelously." STEEVENS.

And fomething spoke in choler, ill, and hasty:
But he fell to himself again, and, fweetly,
In all the reft fhow'd a moft noble patience.

2 GENT. I do not think, he fears death.
1 GENT.

Sure, he does not,

He never was fo womanish; the cause
He may a little grieve at.

2 GENT.

The cardinal is the end of this.

1 GENT.

Certainly,

'Tis likely,

By all conjectures: Firft, Kildare's attainder,
Then deputy of Ireland; who remov'd,

Earl Surrey was fent thither, and in hafte too,
Left he should help his father.

2 GENT.

Was a deep envious one.

1 GENT.

That trick of state

At his return,

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

2 GENT.

All the commons

Hate him perniciously, and, o' my confcience,

With him ten fathom deep: this duke as much They love and dote on; call him, bounteous Buckingham,

The mirror of all courtesy;5

1 GENT.

Stay there, fir,

And see the noble ruin'd man you speak of.

5 The mirror of all courtesy ;] See the concluding words of

n. 1, p. 42. STEEVENS.

Enter BUCKINGHAM from his Arraignment; Tipftaves 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 ftand clofe, and behold him. BUCK.

All good people, You that thus far have come to pity me,

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

And by that name muft die; Yet, heaven bear witnefs,

And, if I have a conscience, let it fink 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 thofe, that fought it, I could with more chrif-
tians :

Be what they will, I heartily forgive them :
Yet let them look they glory not in mischief,

6

Sir William Sands,] The old copy reads-Sir Walter.
STEEVENS.

The correction is juftified by Holinfhed's Chronicle, in which it is faid, 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 baronet, [rather, a knight; as baronetage was unknown till 1611,] not being created Lord Sands till April 27, 1527. Shakspeare probably did not know that he was the fame perfon whom he has already introduced with that title. He fell into the error by placing the King's vifit to Wolfey, (at which time Sir William was Lord Sands,) and Buckingham's condemnation, in the fame year; whereas that vifit was made fome years afterwards. MALONE.

Nor build their evils on the graves of great men ;7 For then my guiltless blood muft cry against them. For further life in this world I ne'er hope,

Nor will I fue, although the king have mercies More than I dare make faults. You few that lov'd me,8

And dare be bold to weep for Buckingham,
His noble friends, and fellows, whom to leave
Is only bitter to him, only dying,

Go with me, like good angels, to my end;
And, as the long divorce? of steel falls on me,
Make of your prayers one sweet sacrifice,

And lift my foul to heaven.'-Lead on, o'God's

name.

Lov. I do befeech your grace, for charity, If ever any malice in your heart

Were hid against me, now to forgive me frankly.

Buck. Sir Thomas Lovell, I as free forgive you, As I would be forgiven: I forgive all ;

There cannot be those numberlefs offences

7 Nor build their evils on the graves of great men ;] Evils, in this place, are forica. So, in Meafure for Measure:

Having wafte ground enough,

"Shall we defire to raze the sanctuary,

"And pitch our evils there?"

See Vol. VI. p. 260, n. 8. STEEVENS.

8

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

9 the long divorce--] So, in Lord Sterline's Darius, 1603 :

"Scarce was the lafting laft divorcement made "Betwixt the bodie and the foule" &c. STEEVENS. And lift my foul to heaven.] So, Milton, Paradife Loft, Book IV:

"Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to heaven."

MALONE.

'Gainft me, I can't take peace with: no black envy Shall make my grave.Commend me to his grace; And, if he fpeak of Buckingham, pray, tell him, You met him half in heaven: my vows and prayers

2 no black envy

Shall make my grave.] Shakspeare, by this expreffion, meant no more than to make the Duke fay, No action expreffive of malice hall conclude my life. Envy, by our author, is used for malice and hatred, in other places, and, perhaps, in this. Again, in the ancient metrical romance of Syr Bevys of Hampton, bl. 1. no date:

Again:

66

Traytoure, he fayd with great envy, "Turne thee now, I thee defye."

They drewe theyr fwordes haftely,
"And fmot together with great envy."

And Barrett, in his Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionary, 1580, thus interprets it.

To make a grave, however, may mean to close it. So, in The Comedy of Errors:

Why at this time the doors are made against you." i. e. clofed, fhut. The fenfe will then be, (whether quaintly or poetically expreffed, let the reader determine) no malicious action fhall clofe my grave, i. e. attend the conclufion of my existence, or terminate my life; the last action of it shall not be uncharitable. STEEVENS.

Envy is frequently used in this fenfe by our author and his contemporaries. See Vol. VII. p. 341, n.9; and p. 403, 1.30. I have therefore no doubt that Mr. Steevens's expofition is right. Dr. Warburton reads-mark my grave; and in fupport of the emendation it may be observed that the fame error has happened in King Henry V.; or at least that all the editors have fuppofed fo, having there adopted a fimilar correction. See Vol. XII. p. 339, n. 1.

Dr. Warburton's emendation alfo derives fome support from the following paffage in The Comedy of Errors:

"A vulgar comment will be made of it;
"And that fuppofed by the common rout
"Against your yet ungalled eftimation,
"That may with foul intrufion enter in,

“And dwell upon your grave, when you are dead."

MALONE.