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King Henry
Henry VIII.

ACT I. PROLOGUE.

The opinion that we bring

To make that only true we now intend)
Will leave us never an understanding friend.
--the opinion that we bring,

To make that only true we now intend,)]

These lines I do not understand,

believe we may better read thus:

-th' opinion, that we bring

and suspect them of corruption. I

Or make; that only truth we now intend. JOHN.

To intend in our author, has sometimes the same meaning as to pretend. So, in the preceding play--

'Intend some deep suspicion.' See, p. 99. STEEV.

"We now intend.' We now show or display. A latin sense. The text is certainly right. B.

Norf. 'Twas said, they saw but one; and no discerner Durst wag his tongue in censure.

Durst wag his tongue in censure.] Censure for determination, of which had the noblest appearance. WARB.

Wag his tongue in censure.' Censure for determination, of which had the noblest appearance. Warburton.

Why may not Censure have its ordinary acceptation here? B.

Norf. The force of his own merit makes his way;

A gift that heaven gives for him, which buys
A place next to the king.

A gift that heaven gives for him, which buys

A place next to the king.

It is evident a word or two in the sentence is misplaced, and that we

should read:

A gift that heaven gives; that buys for him
A place next to the king.

WARB.

It is full as likely that Shakspeare wrote:

--gizes to him▬▬

which will save any greater alteration. JouN.

I am too dull to perceive the necessity of any change. What he is unable to give himself, heaven gives or deposits for him, and that gift, or deposit, buys a place, &c. STEEV.

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A gift that heaven gives for him, that buys

A place next to the king.'

However greatly Mr. Steevens may pride himself on his dulness, and therefore imagine that the original reading may stand supposing, no doubt, that the reader is equally dull,-there is yet an absolute necessity for change. I read with W.; aye, and will abide by it against an host of such commentators as Mr. S. It may to some, perhaps, appear surprising that Mr. Steevens should talk of his dulness; he who has often labored to be thought acute. It would seem, however, from the foregoing note, that he had at last become acquainted with the inscription (Tv σeauToy) on the Delphic Temple and actually profited by it: a circumstance, at which every admirer of Shakspeare (if Mr. S. were to continue to be his oracle) must have reason to rejoice. B.

Buck. Without the privity o' the king, to appoint
Who should attend on him? He makes up the file
Of all the gentry;

-the file] That is, the list. JonN.

Rather the company. We now say, a file of soldiers. By 'makes up the file,' the poet meaus, not only that Wolsey gave in the names of the gentry who were to attend on the King, but that he actually appointed them to such attendance. B.

Aber. A proper title of a peace; and purchas'd
At a superfluous rate!

A proper title of a peace;-] A fine name of a peace. Ironically. JOHN.

A proper title of a peace. I think it means shew or display. He speaks ironically; and as the title of a book is supposed to give some idea of what is to be found in the volume, so the silencing of the ambassador, he would insinuate, sufficiently declares the permanency of the peace. B.

Nor. Lo, where comes that rock,

That I advise your shunning.

-comes that rock,] To make the rock come is not very just.

Jons.

- here comes that rock.'-I do not believe that Norfolk means to speak of a rock, or mass of stone; which certainly cannot well be made to come. It would seem that rock (rocket fr.) the vestment appropriate to dignitaries of the church, is the poet's word. I advise you to shun, or beware of the gown that now approaches us.' B.

Buck. Therefore, best

Not wake him in his slumber. A beggar's book
Out-worths a noble's blood.

--A beggar's book

Out-worths a noble's blood.

That is, the literary qualifications of a bookish beggar are more prized than the high descent of hereditary greatness. This is a contemptuous exclamation very naturally put into the mouth of one of the antient, unlettered, martial nobility. JOHN.

A beggar's book.' A beggar's book is harsh and evidently wrong. We must read, a beggar's boche. Boche, in old language, is an imposthume, a gathering of corrupt matter. This, by a figure, he applies, and properly, to Wolsey. It is clearly right, as opposed to a noble's blood. Shakspeare is fond of this language: he calls him in another place keech. By the same mode of speech he terms a paltry fellow a pimple, a wen, &c. &c. and in Lear we meet with embossed carbuncle.' Besides, it should be remembered that Buckingham is no where spoken of as being unlettered. The following speech of Henry will show him to have been the very reverse. Talking of the duke he says

The gentleman is term'd a most rare speaker,
To nature none more bound; his training such,
That he may furnish and instruct great teachers,
And never seek for aid out of himself.'

Ch, in the present instance being k; boche, becomes boke.

Book,

by old writers, is written boke. The sound of the words, (boche, boke) being the same, the mistake is easily accounted for. B.

Buck. At this instant

He bores me with some trick:

He bores me with some trick; He stabs or wounds me by some artifice or fiction. JOHN.

"Bores me.' This is a poor and paltry reading-bores me' should be bords me (aborder fr. to attack) 'he attacks me, even now; not openly and fairly, but by trick, by device.' Thus the sense is clear and easy. Borde in Chaucer and Spenser is mock, jest: and it is with this particular meaning the word is used in the Life and Death of Cromwell. One that hath gull'd you, that hath bor'd you, Sir,? i. e. one that hath cheated and made a mockery of you, Sir. B.

Buck. I'll to the king;

And from a mouth of honor quite cry down
This Ipswich fellow's insolence:

from a mouth of honor-] I will crush this baseborn fellow, by the due influence of my rank, or say that all distinction of persons is at an end. JouN.

By a mouth of honor,' I would rather understand, a plain and honorable recital of facts-and not that Buckingham was boasting of his rank. B.

Bran. I am sorry

To see you ta'en from liberty, to look on

The business present:

I am sorry

To see you ta'en from liberty, to look on

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The business present :

I am sorry that I am obliged to be present and an eye-witness of you? loss of liberty. JOHN.

Does it not rather meau, I am sorry you are deprived of liberty, ́by which you will see, or discover, what business is now in hand or going forward? B.

Buck. My life is spann'd already:

I am the shadow of poor Buckingham;

Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on,

By dark ning my clear sun. dark'ning

——my life is spann'd already:] To span is to gripe, or inclose in the hand; to span is also 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 measured, the length of my life is now determined. JOHN.

My life is spann'd,' i. e. my life is short. We now say, contracted to a span, for any short space of time.

I am the shadow of poor Buckingham;
Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on,
By dark'ning my clear sun.-

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B.

These lines have passed all the editors. Does the reader understand them? By me they are inexplicable, and must be left, I fear, to some happier sagacity. If the usage of our author's time could allow figure to be taken, as now, for dignity or importance, we might read:

Whose figure even this instant cloud puts out.

But I cannot please myself with any conjecture.

Another explanation may be given, somewhat harsh, but the best that

occurs to me:

I am the shadow of poor Buckingham,

Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on,

whose port and dignity is assumed by this cardinal, that overclouds and oppresses me, and who gains my place

By dar k'ning my clear sun. JOHN.

I am the shadow of poor Buckingham.' The passage is obscure. I think, however, that we may read :—

I am the shadow of poor Buckingham,

Whose figure, e'en this instant, clouds jut ou,
Dark'ning my clear sun.'

The meaning is,- that he is now but the shadow of what he was; that clouds are approaching him, and that when those clouds have really reached or overwhelmed his figure ( i. e. his substance) there will not even be a shadow of him.' The imagery, indeed, is mixed and faulty-because by sun he considers himself as a possible agent; and by figure as the thing simply acted upon. But incongruities, and absurdities of this kind, arising from inattention, are common with Shakspeare. He uses jut on for encroach on

Richard III. act II.

Buck. Even he escapes not

Language unmannerly, yea, such which breaks

The sides of loyalty,

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The sides of loyalty.' Sides.' I would rather read Tides. 'Breaks the tides of loyalty,' i. e. interrupts the seasons of loyalty. Spenser uses tides for seasons.

B.

Cor. The clothiers all, not able to maintain

The many to them 'longing, have put off

The spinsters, carders, fullers, weavers,

The many to them 'longing,-] The many is the meiny, the train, the people. Dryden is, perhaps, the last that used this word.

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The kings before their many rode. JOHN.

The many to them 'longing.' The many to them 'longing,' is the number of persons who serve them.' Many does not here mean, as Mr. S. supposes, the multitude. In the following line, indeed, it has that meaning, as well as in the oue already quoted from Coriolanus.

"O thou fond many!' Richard II. B.

Wol. What we oft do best,

By sick interpreters, once weak ones, is
Not ours, or not allow'd ;

By sick, &c.] The modern editors read---or weak ones; but once is not unfrequently used for sometime, or at one time or other, among our ancient writers. STEEV.

The disjunctive particle or is certainly wrong; once is not, in this place, to be taken in the sense which Mr. S. would willingly affix to it. The meaning is, interpreters who are at once sick and weak. We may read, perhaps,

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By sick interpreters and weak ones, is.' B.

King. Ha! what, so rank? Ah, ah!

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