: ¡e, ce, ra ; my you, glish Makes me the bolder to falute my king With ruder terms; fuch as my wit affords, ·· K. HEN. Her fight did ravish: but her grace in fpeech, Her words y-clad with wifdom's majefty, Makes me from wondering, fall to weeping joys; word given to him to whom the speaker is fupremely attached : lieveft being the fuperlative of the comparative levar, rather, from lief. So, Hall in his Chronicle, Henry VI. folio 12. Ryght hyghe and mighty prince, and my ryght noble, and, after one, levet lord." WARBURTON. Alder-liefeft is a corruption of the German word aller-liebft, beloved above all things, dearest of all. The word is used by Chaucer; and is put by Marton into the mouth of his Dutch courtesan: Again: "O mine alder-liefest love." pretty fweetheart of mine alder-liefest affection." Again, in Gascoigne : แ and to mine alder-lieveft lord I muft indite." See Tyrwhitt's Gloffary to Chaucer. Leve or lefe, Sax. dear; Alder or Aller, gen. ca. pl. of all. STEEVENS. 7 Makes me, from wondering, fall to weeping joys;] This weep- Queen. The exceffive love I bear unto your grace, Left I fhould speake more than befeems a woman. And nothing can make poor Margaret miferable [ pierce. Fr. King. Her lookes did wound, but now her speech doth 1 MALONE. N Such is the fulness of my heart's content.- piness! Q. MAR. We thank you all. [ Flourish. SUF. My lord protector, fo it please your grace, Here are the articles of contracted peace, Between our fovereign and the French king Charles, For eighteen months concluded by confent. 8 GLO. [reads. ] Imprimis, It is agreed between the French king, Charles, and William de la Poole, marquefs of Suffolk, ambaffador for Henry king of England, -that the faid Henry fhall efpoufe the lady Margaret, daughter unto Reignier king of Naples, Sicilia, and Jerufalem; and crown her queen of England, ere the thirtieth of May next enfuing. Item, That the dutchy of Anjou and the county of Maine, fhall be releafed and delivered to the king her fatherK. HEN. Uncle, how now? GLO. Pardon me, gracious lord; Some fudden qualm hath ftruck me at the heart, And dimm'd mine eyes, that I can read no further. K. HEN. Uncle of Winchester, I pray, read on. WIN. Item,It is further agreed between them,— that the duchies of Anjou and Maine fhall be releafed and delivered over to the king her father; and fhe fent - 8 and the county of Maine, ] So the chronicles; yet when the Cardinal afterwards reads this article, he fays, - "It is further agreed that the duchies of Anjoy and Maine fhall be releafed and delivered over," &c. But the words in the inftrument could not thus vary, whilft it was paffing from the hands of the duke to those of the, Cardinal. For the inaccuracy Shakspeare muft answer, the author of the original play not having been guilty of it. This kind of inaccuracy is, I believe, peculiar to our poet; for I have never met with any thing fimilar in any other writer. He has again fallen into the fame impropriety in All's Well that Ends Well. over of the king of England's own proper coft and charges, without having dowry. K. HEN. They please us well.-Lord marquefs; kneel down; We here create thee the firft duke of Suffolk, Coufin of York, we here discharge your grace Till term of eighteen months be full expir'd.— Somerset, Salisbury, and Warwick; We thank you all for this great favour done; 4 [Exeunt King, Queen, and SUFFOLK; GLO. Brave peers of England, pillars of the state, To you duke Humphrey muft unload his grief, Your grief, the common grtef of all the land. What did my brother Henry fpend his youth; His valour, coin, and people, in the wars? Did he fo often lodge in open field, In winter's cold, and fummer's parching heat; To conquer France, his true inheritance? · And did my brother Bedford toil his wits, To keep by policy what Henry got? Have you yourselves, Somerfet, Buckingham, Brave York, Salisbury, and victorious Warwick; Receiv'd deep fcars in France and Normandy? Or hath mine uncle Beaufort, and myself, • With all the learned council of the realm, Study'd fo long, fat in the council-house, Early and late, debating to and fro How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe? • Been crown'd' in Paris, in despite of foes; • Blotting your names from books of memory; Defacing monuments of conquer'd France; CAR. Nephew, what means this passionate dif- This peroration with fuch circumftance? 2 Suffolk, the new-made Duke that rules the roaft, *Unto the poor king Reignier, whofe large ftyle Agrees not with the leanness of his purfe.3 *SAL. Now, by the death of him that died for all, These counties were the keys of Normandy But wherefore weeps Warwick, my valiant fon? WAR. For grief that they are paft recovery: For, were there hope to conquer them again, vens. Been crown'd-] The word Been was fupplied by Mr. Stee MALONE. 2 This peroration with fuch circumftance?] This fpeech crowded with fo many inftances of aggravation. JOHNSON. 3 Agrees not with the leanness of his purfe. ] So Holinfhed "King Reigner hir father, for all his long file, had too short a purfe to fend his daughter honourably to the king hir fpowfe." MAlone. • My fword fhould fhed hot blood, mine eyes no tears. 1 Anjou and Maine! myfelf did win them both; Those provinces thefe arms of mine did conquer: And are the cities, that I got with wounds, Deliver'd up again with peaceful words? • Mort Dieu! * YORK. For Suffolk's duke-may he be fuffocate, * That dims the honour of this warlike isle ! * France fhould have torn and rent my very heart, Before I would have yielded to this league, I never read but England's kings have had Large fums of gold, and dowries, with their wives: And our king Henry gives away his own, To match with her that brings no vantages. GLO. A proper jeft, and never heard before, That Suffolk fhould demand a whole fifteenth, *For cofts and charges in transporting her! She fhould have ftaid in France, and ftarv'd in France, *Before * CAR. My lord of Glofter, now you grow too hot; It was the pleasure of my lord the king. * GLO. My lord of Winchester, I know your mind; 'Tis not my fpeeches that you do miflike, But 'tis my prefence that doth trouble you. 4 And are the cities, &c.] The indignation of Warwick is natural, and I wish it had been better expreffed; there is a kind of jingle intended in wounds and words. JOHNSON. "And muft that In the old play the jingle is more ftriking. then which we won with our fwords, be given away with words?" MALONE. |