And thus far clear him. Now, what mov'd me to 't,- My conscience first receiv'd a tenderness, A marriage, 'twixt the duke of Orleans and Our daughter Mary: I' the progress of this business, (I mean, the bishop) did require a respite; upon the point in question; and clears him from any attempt, or wish, to stir that business. Theobald. 4 Scruple, and prick,] Prick of conscience was the term in confession. Johnson. The expression is from Holinshed, where the king says: "The special cause that mov'd me unto this matter was a certaine scrupulositie that pricked my conscience," &c. See Holinshed, p. 907. Steevens. 5 A marriage,] Old copy-And marriage. Corrected by Mr. Pope. Malone. 6 This respite shook The bosom of my conscience,] Though this reading be sense, yet, I verily believe, the poet wrote: The bottom of my conscience, Shakspeare, in all his historical plays, was a most diligent ob. server of Holinshed's Chronicle. Now Holinshed, in the speech which he has given to King Henry upon this subject, makes him deliver himself thus: "Which words, once conceived within the secret bottom of my conscience, ingendred such a scrupulous doubt, that my conscience was incontinently accombred, vexed, and disquieted." Vid. Life of Henry VIII, p. 907. Theobald. The phrase recommended by Mr. Theobald occurs again, in King Henry VI, Part I: for therein should we read "The very bottom and soul of hope." It is repeated also in Measure for Measure, All's Well that Ends Well, King Henry VI, P. II, Coriolanus, &c. Steevens. That many maz'd considerings did throng, The grave does to the dead: for her male issue I weigh'd the danger which my realms stood in When I first mov'd you. Lin. Very well, my liege. K. Hen. I have spoke long; be pleas'd yourself to say How far you satisfy'd me. Lin. So please your highness, The question did at first so stagger me,Bearing a state of mighty moment in 't, And consequence of dread, that I committed The daring'st counsel which I had, to doubt; And did entreat your highness to this course, Which you are running here. 7 -hulling in The wild sea-] That is, floating without guidance; tossed here and there. Johnson. The phrase belongs to navigation. A ship is said to hull, when she is dismasted, and only her hull, or hulk, is left at the direction and mercy of the waves. So, in The Alarum for London, 1602: "And they lye hulling up and down the stream." Steevens. K. Hen. I then mov'd you, My lord of Canterbury; and got your leave Under your hands and seals. Therefore, go on: To wear our mortal state to come, with her, Cam. [They rise to depart. I then mov'd you,] "I moved it in confession to you, my lord of Lincoln, then my ghostly father. And forasmuch as then you yourself were in some doubt, you moved me to ask the counsel of all these my lords. Whereupon I moved you, my lord of Canter. bury, first to have your licence, in as much as you were metropolitan, to put this matter in question; and so I did of all of you, my lords." Holinshed's Life of Henry VIII, p. 908. Theobald. 9 That's paragon'd o' the world.] Sir T. Hanmer reads, I think, better: the primest creature That's paragon o' the world. Johnson. So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona: "No: but she is an earthly paragon." Again, in Cymbeline: "an angel! or, if not, "An earthly paragon." To paragon, however, is a verb used by Shakspeare, both in Antony and Cleopatra, and Othello: "If thou with Cæsar paragon again "My man of men. 66 a maid "That paragons description and wild fame." Steevens. iThey rise to depart.] Here the modern editors add: [The King speaks to Cranmer.] This marginal direction is not found in the old folio, and was wrongly introduced by some subsequent editor. K. Hen. I may perceive, [Aside. These cardinals trifle with me: I abhor [Exeunt, in manner as they entered. ACT III.....SCENE I. Palace at Bridewell. A Room in the Queen's Apartment. The Queen, and some of her Women, at work.2 Q. Kath. Take thy lute, wench: my soul grows sad with troubles; Sing, and disperse them, if thou canst: leave working, SONG. Orpheus with his lute made trees, Bow themselves, when he did sing: Cranmer was now absent from court on an embassy, as appears from the last scene of this act, where Cromwell informs Wolsey that he is returned and installed archbishop of Canterbury: "My learn'd and well-beloved servant, Cranmer, is no more than an apostrophe to the absent bishop of that name. Ridley. 2 — at work.] Her majesty (says Cavendish) on being informed that the cardinals were coming to visit her, "rose up, having a skein of red silke about her neck, being at work with her maidens." Cavendish attended Wolsey in this visit; and the Queen's answer, in p. 275, is exactly conformable to that which he has recorded, and which he appears to have heard her pronounce. Malone. Every thing that heard him play, Hung their heads, and then lay by. Killing care, and grief of heart, Fall asleep, or, hearing, die. Enter a Gentleman. Q. Kath. How now? Gent. An 't please your grace, the two great cardinals Wait in the presence. 3 Q. Kath. Would they speak with me? Pray their graces Gent. They will'd me say so, madam. Q. Kath. To come near. [Exit Gent.] What can be their business With me, a poor weak woman, fallen from favour? I do not like their coming, now I think on 't. They should be good men; their affairs as righteous:4 But all hoods make not monks.5 Wol. Enter WOLSEY and CAMPEIUS. Peace to your highness! Q. Kath. Your graces find me here part of a house wife; I would be all, against the worst may happen. 3 Wait in the presence.] i. e. in the presence-chamber. So, in Peacham's Compleat Gentleman: "The lady Anne of Bretaigne, passing thorow the presence in the court of France," &c. Steevens. 4 They should be good men; their affairs as righteous:] Affairs for professions, and then the sense is clear and pertinent. The proposition is they are priests. The illation, they are good men; for being understood: but if affairs be interpreted in its common signification, the sentence is absurd. Warburton. The sentence has no great difficulty: Affairs means not their present errand, but the business of their calling. Johnson. Being churchmen they should be virtuous, and every business they undertake as righteous as their sacred office: but all hoods, &c.-The ignorant editor of the second folio, not understanding the line, substituted are for as; and this capricious alteration (with many others introduced by the same hand,) has been adopted by all the modern editors. Malone. 5 · all hoods make not monks.] Cucullus non facit monachum. Steevens. |