Or let me die, to look on death no more! Q. Eliz. Come, come, my boy, we will to sanctuary.— Madam, farewell. Duch. Stay, I will go with you. Q. Eliz. You have no cause. Arch. My gracious lady, go, [To the Queen. And thither bear your treasure and your goods. For my part, I'll resign unto your grace The seal I keep; and so betide to me, ACT III. [Exeunt. SCENE I.-The same. A street. The trumpets sound. Enter the Prince of WALES, GLOSTER, BUCKINGHAM, Cardinal BOURCHIER, and others. Buckingham. WELCOME, Sweet prince, to London, to your chamber. I want more uncles here to welcome me. way Glo. Sweet prince, the untainted virtue of your years Hath not yet div'd into the world's deceit : No more can you distinguish of a man, Than of his outward show; which, God he knows, were none. Glo. My lord, the mayor of London comes to greet you. Enter the Lord Mayor, and his train. May. God bless your grace with health and happy days! Prince. I thank you, good my lord and thank you . [Exeunt Mayor, &c. I thought my mother, and my brother York, Would long ere this have met us on the way: all. [4] London was anciently called Camera regis POPE. Fye, what a slug is Hastings! that he comes not Enter HASTINGS. Buck. And in good time, here comes the sweating lord. Prin. Welcome, my lord: What, will our mother come? Hast. On what occasion, God he knows, not I, The and queen your mother, your brother York, Have taken sanctuary: The tender prince Would fain have come with me to meet your grace, Buck. Fye! what an indirect and peevish course If she deny,-lord Hastings, go with him, Of blessed sanctuary! not for all this land, Buck. You are too senseless-obstinate, my lord, Too ceremonious, and traditional :" Weigh it but with the grossness of this age, 6 To those whose dealings have deserv'd the place, But sanctuary children, ne'er till now. Car. My lord, you shall o'er-rule my mind for once. Come on, lord Hastings, will you go with me? Hast. I go, my lord. Prin. Good lords, make all the speedy haste you may. [Exeunt Cardinal and HASTINGS. Ceremonious, superstitious; traditional, adherent to old customs. WARB. That is, compare the act of seizing him with the gross and licentious practices of these times, it will not be considered as a violation of sanctuary, for you may give such reasons as men are now used to admit. JOHNSON. Say, uncle Gloster, if our brother come, Glo. Where it seems best unto your royal self. : Prin. I do not like the Tower, of any place :- Glo. He did, my gracious lord, begin that place; Prin. But say, my lord, it were not register'd; Even to the general all-ending day. Glo. So wise, so young, they say, do ne'er live long. Prin. What say you, uncle? Glo. I say, without charácters, fame lives long. Thus, like the formal vice, Iniquity, I moralize two meanings in one word. } Aside. Prin. That Julius Cæsar was a famous man; His wit set down to make his valour live : Prin. An if I live until I be a man, I'll win our ancient right in France again, Or die a soldier, as I liv'd a king. [Aside. Glo. Short summers lightly have a forward spring.' [Aside. [7] Retailed means handed down from one to another.-Goods retailed, are those which pass from one purchaser to another. M. MASON. STEEVENS. [8] Is cadit ante senem, qui sapit ante diem-a proverbial line. -Bright, in his Treatise on Melancholy, 1526, says: "I have knowne children languishing of the splene obstructed and altered in temper, talke with gravitie and wisdome, surpassing those tender yeares, and their judgement carrying a marvellous imitation of the wisdom of the ancient, having after a sort attained that by disease, which other have by course of years: whereon I take it, the proverbe ariseth, that they be short of life who are of wit so pregnant." REED. [9] See Note at the end of the play. [1] Commonly, in ordinary course. JOHNSON. Enter YORK, HASTINGS, and the Cardinal. Glo. How fares our cousin, noble lord of York? York. And therefore is he idle? Glo. O, my fair cousin, I must not say so. York. I pray you, uncle, then, give me this dagger. York. Of my kind uncle, that I know will give ; Glo. What, would you have my weapon, little lord? York. I would, that I might thank you as you call me. Glo. How? York. Little. Prin. My lord of York will still be cross in talk ;Uncle, your grace knows how to bear with him. York. You mean, to bear me, not to bear with me : -Uncle, my brother mocks both you and me ; Because that I am little, like an ape, He thinks that you should bear me on your shoulders.5 [2] The original of this epithet applied to kings has been much disputed. In some of our old statutes the king is called Rex metuendissimus. [3] i. e. too lately, the loss is too fresh in our memory. JOHNSON. [4] i. e. I should still esteem it a trifling gift, were it heavier. WARB. [5] The reproach seems to consist in this: at country shows, it was common to set the monkey on the back of some other animal, as a bear. The duke therefore in calting himself ape, calls his uncle bear. JOHNSON. Buck. With what a sharp-provided wit he reasons! To mitigate the scorn he give his uncle, He prettily and aptly taunts himself: So cunning, and so young, is wonderful. Glo. My gracious lord, will't please you pass along? Myself, and my good cousin Buckingham, Will to your mother; to entreat of her, To meet you at the Tower, and welcome you. York. What, will you go unto the Tower, my lord? York. Marry, my uncle Clarence' angry ghost; Glo. Nor none that live, I hope. Prin. An if they live, I hope, I need not fear. But come, my lord, and, with a heavy heart, Thinking on them, go I unto the Tower. [Exeunt Prince, YORK, HASTINGS, Cardinal, and attendants. Buck. Think you, my lord, this little prating York Was not incensed by his subtle mother To scorn and taunt you thus opprobriously? Glo. No doubt, no doubt: O, 'tis a parlous boy; Bold, quick, ingenious, forward, capable ;* He's all the mother's, from the top to toe. Buck. Well, let them rest.-Come hither, gentle Catesby; thou art sworn As deeply to effect what we intend, As closely to conceal what we impart : Thou know'st our reasons urg'd upon the way ; What think'st thou ? is it not an easy matter To make William lord Hastings of our mind, For the instalment of this noble duke In the seat royal of this famous isle ? Cate. He for his father's sake so loves the prince, That he will not be won to aught against him. Buck. What think'st thou then of Stanley? will not he? Cate. He will do all in all as Hastings doth. Buck. Well then, no more but this: go, gentle Catesby, And, as it were far off, sound thou lord Hastings, [5] Capable; here, as in many other places in these plays, means intelligent, quick of apprehension. MALONE. |