He bores me with some trick:5 He's gone to the king; Nor. As you would to your friend. I'll to the king; Buck. Nor. Be advis'd; More stronger to direct you than yourself; 5 He bores me with some trick:] He stabs or wounds me by some artifice or fiction Johnson. So, in The Life and Death of Lord Cromwell, 1602: 6 “One that hath gull'ď you, that hath bor'd you, sir." Anger is like Steevens. A full-hot horse;] So, Massinger, in The Unnatural Combat: Again, in our author's Rape of Lucrece: 7 "Till, like a jade, self-will himself doth tire." Malone. -from a mouth of honour-] I will crush this base-born fellow, by the due influence of my rank, or say that all distinction of persons is at an end. Johnson. Heat not a furnace &c.] Might not Shakspeare allude to Dan. iii, 22?"Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshac, and Abednego." Steevens. 9 If with the sap of reason you would quench, I am thankful to you; and I'll go along By your prescription:-but this top-proud fellow, (Whom from the flow of gall I name not, but From sincere motions,1) by intelligence, A And proofs as clear as founts in Júly, when Nor. Say not, treasonous. Buck. To the king I'll say 't; and make my vouch as strong As shore of rock. Attend. This holy fox, Or wolf, or both, (for he is equal ravenous,2 That swallow'd so much treasure, and like a glass Nor. 'Faith, and so it did. Buck. Pray, give me favour, sir. This cunning cardinal The articles o' the combination drew, As himself pleas'd; and they were ratified, 1 Or but allay, the fire of passion.] So, in Hamlet: • sincere motions,)] Honest indignation, warmth of integrity. Perhaps name not, should be blame not. 2 Whom from the flow of gall I blame not. Johnson for he is equal ravenous,] Equal for equally. Shakspeare frequently uses adjectives adverbially. See King John, Vol. VII, p. 415, n. 4. Malone. 3. his mind and place Infecting one another,] This is very satirical. His mind he represents as highly corrupt; and yet he supposes the contagion of the place of first minister as adding an infection to as Warburton. · suggests the king our master -] Suggests, for excites. Warburton. So, in King Richard II: 66 Suggest his soon-believing adversaries." Steevens. As give a crutch to the dead: But our count-cardinal* To the old dam, treason,)-Charles the emperor, Nor. I am sorry To hear this of him; and could wish, he were Buck. No, not a syllable ; 5 our count-cardinal-] Wolsey is afterwards called king cardinal. Mr. Pope and the subsequent editors read-court-cardinal. Malone. 6 ——— He privily-] He, which is not in the original copy, was added by the editor of the second folio. Malone. 7--- thus the cardinal Does buy and sell his honour as he pleases,] This was a proverbial expression. See King Richard III, Act V, sc. iii. The same phrase occurs also in King Henry VI, Part I: from bought and sold lord Talbot." 66 Malone. Again, in The Comedy of Errors: "It would make a man as mad as a buck, to be so bought and sold." Steevens. 8 he were Something mistaken in 't.] That is, that he were something different from what he is taken or supposed by you to be. Malone. Enter BRANDON; a Sergeant at Arms before him, and two or three of the Guard. Bran. Your office, sergeant; execute it. Buck. Sir, Lo you, my lord, The net has fall'n upon me; I shall perish Bran. I am sorry To see you ta'en from liberty, to look on The business present: 'Tis his highness' pleasure, Buck. It will help me nothing, To plead mine innocence; for that die is on me, Which makes my whitest part black. The will of heaven :-The king Bran. Nay, he must bear you company: [TO ABER. Is pleas'd, you shall to the Tower, till you know As the duke said Aber. Bran. Here is a warrant from The king, to attach lord Montacute;2 and the bodies Of the duke's confessor, John de la Court,3 9 practice.] i. e. unfair stratagem. So, in Othello, Act V: "Fallen in the practice of a cursed slave." And in this play, Surrey, speaking of Wolsey, says: "How came his practices to light?" Reed. 1 I am sorry To see you ta'en from liberty, to look on The business present:] I am sorry that I am obliged to be pre. sent and an eye-witness of your loss of liberty. Johnson. 2 lord Montacute;] This was Henry Pole, grandson to George Duke of Clarence, and eldest brother to Cardinal Pole. He had married the Lord Abergavenny's daughter. He was restored to favour at this juncture, but was afterwards executed for another treason in this reign. Reed. One Gilbert Peck, his chancellor,“ Buck. So, so; These are the limbs of the plot: No more, I hope. Buck. Bran. O, Nicholas Hopkins?5 He. Buck. My surveyor is false; the o'er-great cardinal Hath show'd him gold: my life is spann'd already: I am the shadow of poor Buckingham;7 Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on, By dark'ning my clear sun.8-My lord, farewel. [Exeunt. 3 John de la Court,] The name of this monk of the Chartreux was John de la Car, alias de la Court. See Holinshed, p. 863. Steevens. 4 One Gilbert Peck, his chancellor,] The old copies have ithis counsellor; but I, from the authorities of Hall and Holinshed changed it to chancellor. And our poet himself, in the beginning of the second Act, vouches for this correction: "At which, appear'd against him his surveyor, Theobald. I believe [in the former instance] the author wrote-And Gilbert &c. Malone. 5 Nicholas Hopkins?] The old copy has-Michael Hopkins. Mr. Theobald made the emendation, conformably to the Chronicle: "Nicholas Hopkins, a monk of an house of the Chartreux order, beside Bristow, called Henton." In the MS. Nich. only was probably set down, and mistaken for Mich. Malone. 6 my life is spann'd already:] To span is to gripe, or inclose in the hand; to span is also to measure by the palm and fingers. The meaning, therefore, may either be, that hold is taken of my life, my life is in the gripe of my enemies, or, that my time is measured, the length of my life is now determined. Johnson. Man's life, in scripture, is said to be but a span long. Probably, therefore, it means, when 'tis spann'd 'tis ended. Reed. 7 I am the shadow of poor Buckingham;] So, in the old play of King Leir, 1605: "And think me but the shadow of myself" Steevens. 8 I am the shadow of poor Buckingham; Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on, By dark'ning my clear sun.] These lines have passed all the editors. Does the reader understand them? By me they are inexplicable, and must be left, I fear, to some happier sagacity. If the usage of our author's time could allow figure to be taken, as now, for dignity or importance, we might read: Whose figure even this instant cloud puts out. But I cannot please myself with any conjecture. |