*SPIR. Adfum. *M. JOURD. Afmath, By the eternal God, whofe name and power * Thou trembleft at, answer that I fhall ask; * For, till thou fpeak, thou fhalt not pafs from hence. * SPIR. Ask what thou wilt;-That I had faid and done!7 come ? 8 BOLING. First, of the king. What shall of him be[Reading out of a paper. SPIR. The duke yet lives, that Henry fhall de pofe; But him outlive, and die a violent death. 7 [As the Spirit Speaks, Southwell writes the answer. BOLING. What fate awaits the duke of Suffolk? SPIR. By Water fhall he die, and take his end. That I had faid and done!] It was anciently believed that fpirits, who were raised by incantations, remain'd above ground, and aufwer'd queftions with reluctance. See both Lucan and Statius. STEEVENS. So the Apparition fays in Macbeth, "Difmifs me.-Enough!" The words That I had faid and done!" are not in the old play. MALONE. 8 What shall of him become?] Here is another proof of what has been already fuggefted. In the quarto 1600, it is concerted between Mother Jourdain and Bolingbroke that he fhould frame a circle, &c. and that the fhould fall proftrate to the ground," to 66 whisper with the devils below." (Southwell is not introduced in that piece.) Accordingly, as foon as the incantations begin, Bolingbroke reads the queftions out of a paper, as here. But our poet has exprefsly faid in the preceding part of this scene that Southwell was to read them. Here however he inadvertently follows his original as it lay before him, forgetting that confiftently with what he had already written, he should have deviated from it. He has fallen into the fame kind of inconfiftency in Romeo and Juliet, by fometimes adhering to and fometimes deferting the poem on which he formed that tragedy. MALONE. BOLING. What shall befall the duke of Somerfet? SPIR. Let him fhun caftles; Safer fhall he be upon the fandy plains, Than where caftles mounted ftand.9 Have done, for more I hardly can endure. BOLING. Defcend to darkness, and the burning lake: False fiend, avoid!' [Thunder and lightning. Spirit defcends. Enter YORK and BUCKINGHAM, haflily with their guards, and others. YORK. Lay hands upon thefe traitors, and their trafh. 9 Than where caftles mounted ftand.] I remember to have read this prophecy in fome old chronicle, where, I think, it ran thus: "Safer ball he be on fand, "Than where cafties mounted ftand:" at prefent I do not recollect where. STEEVENS. 2 Falfe fiend, avoid!] Inftead of this short speech at the difmiffion of the fpirit, the old quarto gives us the following: "Then down, I fay, unto the damned pool แ "Where Pluto in his fiery waggon fits, Riding amidst the fiug'd and parched fmoaks, "The road of Dytas, by the river Styx; "There howle and burn for ever in thofe flames: "Rife, Jordane, rife, and ftay thy charming fpells : " 'Zounds! we are betray'd!" Dytas is written by miflake for Ditis, the genitive cafe of Dis, which is ufed inftead of the nominative, by more than one ancient author. So, in Thomas Drant's Tranflation of the fifth Satire of Horace, 1567: “And by that meanes made manye foules lord Ditis hall to feeke." STEEVENS. Here again we have fuch a variation as never could have arisen from an imperfe& tranfcript. MALONE. Beldame, I think, we watch'd you at an inch. What, madam, are you there? the king and com monweal Are deeply indebted for this piece of pains; My lord protector will, I doubt it not, See you well guerdon'd for thefe good deferts. DUCH. Not half fo bad as thine to England's king, you this? * Injurious duke; that threat'ft where is no caufe. Buck. True, madam, none at all. What call [Shewing her the papers: Away with them, let them be clapp'd up close, And keptafunder: -You, madam, fhall with us: Stafford, take her to thee. [Exit Duchefs from above: We'll fee your trinkets here all forthcoming; All-Away! 3 [Exeunt guards, with SOUTH. BOLING. &c. * YORK. Lord Buckingham, methinks, you watch'd her well: A pretty plot, well chofen to build upon! Now, pray, my lord, let's fee the devil's writ. What have we here? The duke pet lives, that Henry shall depofe; * Aio te, Æacida, Romanos vincere posse: [Reads: Lord Buckingham, methinks, &c.] This repetition of the prophecies, which is altogether unneceffary, after what the spedators had heard in the fcene inmediately preceding, is not to be found in the first edition of this play. POPE. They are not; it is true, found in this fcene, but they are repeated in the subsequent scene, in which Buckingham brings an account of this proceeding to the king. This alfo is a variation that only could proceed from various authors. VOL. XIV. MALONE. Well, to the reft: Tell me, what fate awaits the duke of Suffolk? Safer hall he be upon the fandy plains, *Thefe oracles are hardily attain'd, The king is now in progrefs towards faint Albans, • With him, the husband of this lovely lady: Thither go thefe news, às faft as horfe can carry them; A forry breakfaft for my lord protector. BUCK. Your grace fhall give me leave, my lord of York, To be the poft, in hope of his reward. 4 Tell me, &c.] Yet thefe two words were not in the paper read by Bolingbroke, which York has now in his hand; nor are they in the original play. Here we have a fpecies of inaccuracy peculiar to Shakspeare, of which he has been guilty in other places. See p. 178. where Glofter and Winchester read the fame paper differently. See alfo Vol. V. p. 304, n. 7. MALONE. Thefe oracles are hardily attain' d, And hardly understood.] The folio reads-hardly. MALONE. Not only the lameness of the verfification, but the imperfection of the fenfe too, made me fufpe& this paffage to be corrupt. York, feizing the parties and their papers, fays, he'll fee the devil's writ; and finding the wizard's anfwers intricate and ambiguous,, he makes this general comment upon fuch fort of intelligence, as I have reftored the text: Thefe oracles are hardily attain'd, And hardly underflood.. i. e. A great risque and hazard is run to obtain them; and yet, after these hardy fteps taken, the informations are so perplexed that they are hardly to be understood. THEOBALD. The correction made by Mr. Theobald has been adopted by the fubfequent editors. MALONE. YORK. At your pleasure, my good lord.-Who's 'within there, ho! Enter a Servant. • Invite my lords of Salisbury, and Warwick, To fup with me to-morrow night.-Away! [Exeunt. Enter King HENRY, Queen MARGARET, GLOSTER, Cardinal, and SUFFOLK, with Falconers hollaing: Q. MAR. Believe me, lords, för flying at the brook,6 I faw not better fport these feven years' day: Yet, by your leave, the wind was very high; And, ten to one, old Joan had not gone out.' for flying at the brook,] The falconer's term for hawking at water-fowl. JOHNSON. 7 the wind was very high; And, ten to one, old Joan had not gone out.] I am told by a gentleman, better acquainted with falconry than myfelf, that the meaning, however expreffed, is, that the wind being high, it was ten to one that the old hawk had flown quite away; a trick which hawks often play their mafters in windy weather. JOHNSON. -old Joan had not gone out.] i. e. the wind was fo high it was ten to one that old Joan would not have taken her flight at the game. PERCY. The ancient books of hawking do not enable me to decide on the merits of fuch difcordant explanations. It may yet be re |