DUCH. Strike him, Aumerle.-Poor boy, thou art amaz'd9: Hence, villain; never more come in my sight.— YORK. Give me my boots, I say. [To the Servant. DUCH. Why, York, what wilt thou do? Is he not like thee? is he not thine own? Wilt thou conceal this dark conspiracy? A dozen of them here have ta'en the sacrament, To kill the king at Oxford. DUCH. He shall be none; We'll keep him here: Then what is that to him? YORK. Away, fond woman! were he twenty times my son, I would appeach him. DUCH. Hadst thou groan'd for him, As I have done, thou wouldest be more pitiful. But now I know thy mind; thou dost suspect, That I have been disloyal to thy bed, And that he is a bastard, not thy son: Sweet York, sweet husband, be not of that mind: Not like to me, or any of my kin, YORK. Make way, unruly woman. [Exit. amaz'd:] i. e. perplexed, confounded. So, in The Merry Wives of Windsor: "That cannot choose but amaze him. If he be not amazed, he will be mocked; if he be amazed, he will every way be mocked." STEEVens. DUCH. After, Aumerle; mount thee upon his horse; Spur, post; and get before him to the king, And never will I rise up from the ground, Till Bolingbroke have pardon'd thee: Away; be[Exeunt, gone. SCENE III. Windsor. A Room in the Castle. Enter BOLINGBROKE as King; PERCY, and other Lords. BOLING. Can no man tell of my unthrifty son? 'Tis full three months, since I did see him last :If any plague hang over us, 'tis he. I would to God, my lords, he might be found. Inquire at London, &c.] This is a very proper introduction to the future character of Henry the Fifth, to his debaucheries in his youth, and his greatness in his manhood. JOHNSON. Shakspeare seldom attended to chronology. The prince was at this time but twelve years old, for he was born in 1388, and the conspiracy on which the present scene is formed, was discovered in the beginning of the year 1400.-He scarcely frequented taverns or stews at so early an age. He afterwards highly distinguished himself at the battle of Shrewsbury, in 1403, when he was but fifteen. The period of his dissipation was afterwards, probably between the year 1405 and 1409, that is, between the age of seventeen and twenty-one. See further on this subject in the notes on the first part of King Henry the Fourth. MALONE. It has been ably contended by the late Mr. Luders, that the whole story of his dissipation at any period was a fiction. See his ingenious Essay on the Character of Henry the Fifth. BOSWELL For there, they say, he daily doth frequent, Even such, they say, as stand in narrow lanes, So dissolute a crew. PERCY. My lord, some two days since I saw the And told him of these triumphs held at Oxford. PERCY. His answer was, he would unto the stews; And from the commonest creature pluck a glove3, BOLING. As dissolute, as desperate: yet, through both I see some sparkles of a better hope*, WHILE he,] All the old copies read-Which he. STEEVENS. The correction was made by Mr. Pope. MALONE. 3-pluck a GLOVE,] So, in Promos and Cassandra, 1578, Lamia, the strumpet, says: 66 66 Who loves me once is lymed to my heast, My colour some, and some shall wear my glove." Again, in The Shoemaker's Holiday, or Gentle Craft, 1600: "Or shall I undertake some martial sport Wearing your glove at turney or at tilt, "And tell how many gallants I unhors'd?" STEEVENS. ♦ I see some SPARKLES of A better hope,] The folio reads: sparks of better hope." The quarto, 1615: 66 - sparkles of better hope." STEEVENS. The first quarto has-" sparkes of better hope." The article was inserted by Mr. Steevens. MALONE. AUM. Enter AUMERLE, hastily. Where is the king? What means Our cousin, that he stares and looks so wildly? AUM. God save your grace. I do beseech your majesty, To have some conference with your grace alone. BOLING. Withdraw yourselves, and leave us here [Exeunt PERCY and Lords. alone. What is the matter with our cousin now? AUM. For ever may my knees grow to the earth, [Kneels. My tongue cleave to my roof within my mouth, Unless a pardon, ere I rise, or speak. BOLING. Intended or committed, was this fault? If on the first, how heinous ere it be, To win thy after-love, I pardon thee. AUM. Then give me leave that I may turn the key, That no man enter till my tale be done. BOLING. Have thy desire. [AUMERLE locks the door. YORK. [Within] My liege, beware; look to thy self; Thou hast a traitor in thy presence there. BOLING. Villain, I'll make thee safe. [Drawing. AUM. Stay thy revengeful hand; thou hast no cause to fear. YORK. [Within.] Open the door, secure, foolhardy king: Shall I, for love, speak treason to thy face? 5 If ON] So the old copies. If your fault stand only on intention. Mr. Pope and the subsequent editors read but, which affords an easy sense; but it is very unlikely that a compositor should print on for but. MALONE. Open the door, or I will break it open. [BOLINGBROKE opens the door. Enter YORK. BOLING. What is the matter, uncle ? speak; Recover, breath; tell us how near is danger, That we may arm us to encounter it. YORK. Peruse this writing here, and thou shalt know The treason that my haste forbids me show. I do repent me; read not my name there, YORK. "Twas, villain, ere thy hand did set it I tore it from the traitor's bosom, king; O loyal father of a treacherous son! Thou sheer, immaculate, and silver fountain, From whence this stream through muddy passages, Hath held his current, and defil'd himself! 6 Thou SHEER, immaculate, &c.] Sheer is pellucid, transparent. Some of the modern editors arbitrarily read clear. So, in Spenser's Fairy Queen, b. iii. c. ii.: "Who having viewed in a fountain shere Again, in b. iii. c. xi. : "That she at last came to a fountain shere." Again, in the fourth book of Golding's translation of Ovid's Metamorphosis, 1587: "The water was so pure and sheere," &c. Transparent muslin is still called sheer muslin. STEEVENS, |