Gave thee no instance why thou should'st do trea son, 5 Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor. The sweetness of affiance! Show men dutiful? Why, so didst thou: Why, so didst thou: Or are they spare in diet; formed or moulded, yet I fancy tempted was the author's word, for it answers better to suggest in the opposition. JOHNSON. Temper'd, I believe, is the true reading, and means-rendered thee pliable to his will. Falstaff says of Shallow, that he has him "tempering between his thumb and finger." STEEVENS. 5 vasty TARTAR-] i. e. Tartarus, the fabled place of future punishment. So, in Heywood's Brazen Age, 1613: With aconitum that in Tartar springs." STEEVENs. Again, in The Troublesome Raigne of King John, 1591: "And let the black tormentors of black Tartary, "Upbraide them with this damned enterprize." MALONE. 6 O, how hast thou with jealousy infected The sweetness of affiance!] Shakspeare uses this aggravation of the guilt of treachery with great judgment. One of the worst consequences of breach of trust is the diminution of that confidence which makes the happiness of life, and the dissemination of suspicion, which is the poison of society. JOHNSON. 7 Garnish'd and deck'd in MODEST COMPLEMENT;] Complement has, in this instance, the same sense as in Love's Labour's Lost, Act I. Complements, in the age of Shakspeare, meant the same as accomplishments in the present one. STEEVENS. 1 Not working with the eye without the ear, See vol. iv. p. 288, n. 4. By the epithet modest, the king means that Scroop's accomplishments were not ostentatiously displayed. MALONE. 8 Not working with the EYE, without the EAR,] The king means to say of Scroop, that he was a cautious man, who knew that fronti nulla fides, that a specious appearance was deceitful, and therefore did not "work with the eye, without the ear," did not trust the air or look of any man till he had tried him by enquiry and conversation. JOHNSON. 9 and so finely BOLTED,] i. e. refined or purged from all faults. POPE. Bolted is the same with sifted, and has consequently the meaning of refined. JOHNSON. TO MARK the full-fraught man, and best induED, &c.] Best indued is a phrase equivalent to-gifted or endowed in the most extraordinary manner. So, Chapman : "His pow'rs with dreadful strength indu'd." STEEvens. The folio, where alone this line is found, reads : "To make the full-fraught man," &c. The emendation was made by Mr. Theobald. voured to obtain some sense by pointing thus: Mr. Pope endea "To make the full-fraught man and best, indu'd But "to make a person indued with suspicion," does not appear, to my ear at least, like the phraseology of Shakspeare's or any other age. Make or mock are so often confounded in these plays, that I once suspected that the latter word might have been used here but this also would be very harsh. The old copy has thee instead of the. The correction was made by Mr. Pope. MALONE. Our author has the same thought again in Cymbeline: So thou, Posthumus, "Wilt lay the leaven to all proper men; "Goodly and gallant shall be false and perjur'd, Arrest them to the answer of the law ;- EXE. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Richard earl of Cambridge. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Henry lord Scroop 2, of Masham. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Thomas Grey, knight of Northumberland. SCROOP. Our purposes God justly hath discover'd; And I repent my fault more than my death; Which I beseech your highness to forgive, Although my body pay the price of it. CAM. For me, the gold of France did not se- Although I did admit it as a motive, 2 HENRY lord, &c.] Thus the quarto. The folio, erroneously, "Thomas lord," &c. STEEVENS. 3 For me, the gold of France did not seduce ;] Holinshed, p. 549, observes from Hall, "that diverse write that Richard earle of Cambridge did not conspire with the lord Scroope and Thomas Graie for the murthering of king Henrie to please the French king withall, but onlie to the intent to exalt to the crowne his brother-in-law Edmunde, earl of March, as heire to Lionell duke of Clarence: after the death of which earle of March, for diverse secret impediments not able to have issue, the earle of Cambridge was sure that the crowne should come to him by his wife, and to his children of her begotten. And therefore (as was thought) he rather confessed himselfe for neede of monie to be corrupted by the French king, than he would declare his inward mind, &c. which if it were espied, he saw plainlie that the earle of March should have tasted of the same cuppe that he had drunken, and what should have come to his owne children, he much doubted," &c. STEEVENS. 4 Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice,] I, which is wanting in the old copy, was added by the editor of the second folio. Cambridge means to say, at which prevention, or, which intended scheme that it was prevented, I shall rejoice. Shakspeare has many such elliptical expressions. The intended scheme Beseeching God and you to pardon me. GREY. Never did faithful subject more rejoice At the discovery of most dangerous treason, Than I do at this hour joy o'er myself, Prevented from a damned enterprize : My fault, but not my body, pardon, sovereign. sentence. You have conspir'd against our royal person, Join'd with an enemy proclaim'd, and from his coffers Receiv'd the golden earnest of our death; His subjects to oppression and contempt, that he alludes to, was the taking off Henry, to make room for his brother-in-law. See the preceding note. MALONE. 5 My fault, &c.] One of the conspirators against Queen Elizabeth, I think Parry, concludes his letter to her with these words: a culpa, but not a pœnâ, absolve me, most dear lady." This letter was much read at that time, [1585,] and our author doubtless copied it. This whole scene was much enlarged and improved after the first edition; the particular insertions in it would be tedious to mention, and tedious without much use. JOHNSON. The words of Parry's letter are, "Discharge me a culpa, but not a pœnâ, good ladie." REED. 6 - proclaim'd,] Mr. Ritson recommends the omission of this word, which deforms the measure. STEEVENS. Get you therefore hence,] So, in Holinshed: 66 - Get ye hence therefore, ye poor miserable wretches, to the receiving of your just reward: wherein God's majesty give you grace," &c. STEEVENS, Patience to endure, and true repentance Of all your dear offences!-Bear them hence. [Exeunt Conspirators, guarded. Since God so graciously hath brought to light Cheerly to sea; the signs of war advance: [Exeunt. SCENE III. London. Mrs. Quickly's House in Eastcheap. Enter PISTOL, Mrs. QUICKLY, NYM, BARDOLPH, and Boy. QUICK. Pry'thee, honey-sweet husband, let me bring thee to Staines'. 8 PIST. No; for my manly heart doth yearn.— the SIGNS OF WAR advance:] So, in Phaer's translation of the first line of the eighth book of the Eneid: Ut belli signum, &c. "When signe of war from Laurent towres," &c. STEEVENS. 9 No king of England, if not king of France.] So, in the old play before that of Shakspeare: I "If not king of France, then of nothing must I be king" STEEVENS. let me BRING thee to Staines.] i. e. let me attend, or accompany thee. So, in Measure for Measure : give me leave, my lord, "That we may bring you something on the way." REED |