England shall give him office, honour, might:
For the fifth Harry from curb'd licence plucks
The muzzle of restraint, and the wild dog
Shall flesh his tooth in every innocent.
O my poor kingdom, sick with civil blows!
When that my care could not withhold thy riots,
What wilt thou do, when riot is thy care??
O, thou wilt be a wilderness again,

Peopled with wolves, thy old inhabitants!

P. HEN. O, pardon me, my liege! but for my

tears,

[Kneeling.

The moist impediments unto my speech,
I had forestall'd this dear and deep rebuke,
Ere you with grief had spoke, and I had heard
The course of it so far. There is your crown;
And He that wears the crown immortally,
Long guard it yours! If I affect it more,
Than as your honour, and as your renown,
Let me no more from this obedience rise,

How much this play on words, faulty as it is, was admired in the age of Shakspeare, appears from the most ancient writers of that time having frequently indulged themselves in it. So, in Marlowe's Hero and Leander, 1617:

"And as amidst the enamour'd waves he swims,
"The god of gold a purpose guilt his limbs ;
"That, this word guilt including double sense,
"The double guilt of his incontinence

'Might be express'd."

Again, in Acolastus his Afterwit, a poem, by S. Nicholson,

1600:

"O sacred thirst of golde, what canst thou not ?—
"Some terms thee gylt, that every soule might reade,
"Even in thy name, thy guilt is great indeede."

See also vol. xi. p. 109, n. 6. MALONE.

7-when riot is thy CARE?] i. e. Curator. A bold figure. So Eumæus is styled by Ovid, Epist. I. :

-immundæ cura fidelis haræ. TYRWHITT.

One cannot help wishing Mr. Tyrwhitt's elegant explanation to be true; yet I doubt whether the poet meant to say more thanWhat wilt thou do, when riot is thy regular business and occupa

tion? MALONE.

--

(Which my most true and inward duteous spirit
Teacheth,) this prostrate and exterior bending!
Heaven witness with me, when I here came in,
And found no course of breath within your majesty,
How cold it struck my heart! if I do feign,
O, let me in my present wildness die :

And never live to show the incredulous world
The noble change that I have purposed!
Coming to look on you, thinking you dead,
(And dead almost, my liege, to think you were,)
I spake unto the crown, as having sense,
And thus upbraided it. The care on thee depending,
Hath fed upon the body of my father ;
Therefore, thou, best of gold, art worst of gold.
Other, less fine in carat, is more precious,
Preserving life in med'cine potable":

is

8 Which my most true, &c.] True is loyal.-This passage obscure in the construction, though the general meaning is clear enough. The order is, "this obedience which is taught this exterior bending by my duteous spirit; " or, "this obedience which teaches this exterior bending to my inwardly duteous spirit." I know not which is right. JOHNSON.

The former construction appears to me the least exceptionable of the two; but both are extremely harsh, and neither of them, I think, the true construction. MALONE.

The latter words-" this prostrate and exterior bending "-appear to me to be merely explanatory of the former words-" this obedience." Suppose the intermediate sentence-" which my most true and inward-duteous spirit teacheth "—to be included in a parenthesis, and the meaning I contend for will be evident. M. MASON.

I have adopted Mr. M. Mason's regulation. STEEVENS. "Which my most true and inward-duteous spirit Teacheth," i. e. which my loyalty and inward sense of duty prompt me to. The words, "this prostrate and exterior bending,' are, I apprehend, put in apposition with "obedience," which is used for obeisance. MALONE.

9

-

in medicine POTABLE] There has long prevailed an opinion that a solution of gold has great medicinal virtues, and that the incorruptibility of gold might be communicated to the body impregnated with it. Some have pretended to make potable gold, among other frauds practised on credulity. JOHNSON.

But thou, most fine, most honour'd, most renown'd, Hast eat thy bearer up. Thus, my most royal liege, Accusing it, I put it on my head;

To try with it,-as with an enemy,

That had before my face murder'd my father,-
The quarrel of a true inheritor.

But if it did infect my blood with joy,

Or swell my thoughts to any strain of pride;
If any rebel or vain spirit of mine

Did, with the least affection of a welcome,
Give entertainment to the might of it,
Let God for ever keep it from my head!
And make me as the poorest vassal is,

That doth with awe and terror kneel to it!

K. HEN. O my son !

Heaven put it in thy mind to take it hence,

That thou might'st win the more thy father's love, Pleading so wisely in excuse of it.

Come hither, Harry, sit thou by my bed:

And hear, I think, the very latest counsel

That ever I shall breathe. Heaven knows, my son,
By what by-paths, and indirect crook'd ways,
I met this crown; and I myself know well,
How troublesome it sat upon my head:
To thee it shall descend with better quiet,

So, in the character of the Doctor of Physicke, by Chaucer, Mr. Tyrwhitt's edit. v. 446:

"For gold in phisike is a cordial." STEEVENS.

That gold may be made potable is certain, notwithstanding Dr. Johnson's incredulity. The process is inserted in the Abbé Guenee's incomparable work, intitled, Lettres de quelques Juifs à M. de Voltaire, 5th edit. vol. i. p. 416, a work which every person unacquainted with it will be glad to be referred to. HENLEY. See Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays, vol. viii. p. 484, edit. 1780.

REED.

I have not the Abbé's book to refer to, but I imagine he does not recommend potable gold as a medicine, which is the fraud alluded to by Dr. Johnson. Boswell.

VOL. XVII.

Better opinion, better confirmation ;

For all the soil' of the achievement goes

With me into the earth. It seem'd in me,
But as an honour snatch'd with boisterous hand;
And I had many living, to upbraid

My gain of it by their assistances;

Which daily grew to quarrel, and to bloodshed,
Wounding supposed peace: all these bold fears3,
Thou see'st, with peril I have answered:
For all my reign hath been but as a scene
Acting that argument; and now my death
Changes the mode*: for what in me was purchas'd',
Falls upon thee in a more fairer sort;

So thou the garland wear'st successively.

Yet, though thou stand'st more sure than I could do,

2

- soil-] Is spot, dirt, turpitude, reproach. JOHNSON.
SUPPOSED peace:] Counterfeited, imagined, not real.

3 -

JOHNSON.

all these bold FEARS,] Fear is here used in the active sense, for that which causes fear. JOHNSON.

"These bold fears" are these audacious terrors.' To fear is often used by Shakspeare for to fright. STEEVENS.

4 Changes the MODE:] Mode is the form or state of things.

5

JOHNSON.

for what in me was PURCHAS'D,] Purchased seems to be here used in its legal sense, acquired by a man's own act (perquisitio) as opposed to an acquisition by descent. MALONE. Purchased, in this place, does not merely signify acquired, but acquired by unjust and indirect methods. Purchase, in Shakspeare, frequently means stolen goods, or goods dishonestly obtained.

M. MASON.

6-successively.] By order of succession. Every usurper snatches a claim of hereditary right as soon as he can.

JOHNSON.

for my own

See The Speech of his Highness [Richard Cromwell] the Lord Protector, made to both Houses of Parliament, at their first Meeting, on Thursday the 27th of January, 1658: “ part, being by the providence of God, and the disposition of the law, my father's Successor, and bearing the place in the government that I do," &c. Harl. Misc. vol. i. p. 21. MALONE.

Thou art not firm enough, since griefs are green; And all thy friends', which thou must make thy

friends,

Have but their stings and teeth newly ta'en out;
By whose fell working I was first advanc'd,
And by whose power I well might lodge a fear
To be again displac'd: which to avoid,

I cut them off; and had a purpose now
To lead out many to the Holy Land 9;

Lest rest, and lying still, might make them look
Too near unto my state'. Therefore, my Harry,

7 And all THY friends,] Should not we read?

"And all my friends." TYRWHITT.

8 which to avoid

-

I cut THEM off;] As this passage stands, the King is advising the Prince to make those persons his friends, whom he has already cut off. We should surely therefore read, "I cut some off," instead of them. M. MASON.

" Of

9 To lead our many to the Holy Land ;] The sense is: those who assisted my usurpation, some I have cut off, and many I intended to lead abroad." This journey to the Holy Land, of which the King very frequently revives the mention, had two motives, religion and policy. He durst not wear the ill-gotten crown without expiation, but in the act of expiation he contrives to make his wickedness successful. JOHNSON.

I confess, I have no distinct comprehension of the foregoing passage, which is ungrammatical as well as obscure. Dr. Johnson's explanation pre-supposes the existence of such a reading as is since offered by Mr. M. Mason, viz. some instead of them.

'Lest rest, and lying still, might make them look

STEEVENS.

Too near unto my state.] The expedition that Cæsar meditated against the Parthians, immediately before his death, has been ascribed to the same apprehension which dictated to Henry a journey to the Holy Land :

Invidiæ stimulos ergo ut lenire furentis,
Et capite insidias, quas maturare quietem
Non nescit, Cæsar factis avertere possit,
Nec non externo maculas abstergere bello
Civiles; cum jam Crassi vindicta perîsset,
Debita jamdudum Latio; jussu ille Senatûs,
(Ne patrum imminui videatur sacra potestas)
Decretoque toga, mandari Parthica bella

Suppliciter petiit. Supplm. Lucani, lib. vii. MALONE.