3 Gent. As well as I am able. The rich stream2 A distance from her; while her grace sat down The rich stream &c.] ingentem foribus domus alta superbis Virg. Georg. II, 461. Malone. Again, in the second Thebaid of Statius, v. 223: foribus cum immissa superbis "Unda fremit vulgi." So, in Timon of Athens, Act I, sc. i: this confluence, this great flood of visitors." See Dr. Johnson's note on this passage. Steevens. 3 to go,] i. e. to continue in their pregnancy. So, after. wards: 4 like rams-] That is, like battering rams. Johnson. So, in Virgil, Æneid II: labat ariete crebro So strangely in one piece. 2 Gent. But, 'pray, what follow'd?5 3 Gent. At length her grace rose, and with modest paces Came to the altar; where she kneel'd, and, saint like, The rod, and bird of peace, and all such emblems 1 Gent. Sir, you Must no more call it York-place, that is past: But 'tis so lately alter'd, that the old name 2 Gent. I know it; What two reverend bishops Were those that went on each side of the queen? 3 Gent. Stokesly and Gardiner; the one, of Winches ter, (Newly preferr'd from the king's secretary) The other, London. 2 Gent. He of Winchester Is held no great lover of the archbishop's, 3 Gent. All the land knows that: However, yet there's no great breach; when it comes, Cranmer will find a friend will not shrink from him. 2 Gent. Who may that be, I pray you? 3 Gent. Thomas Cromwell; A man in much esteem with the king, and truly A worthy friend. The king Has made him master o' the jewel-house, 5 But, 'pray, what follow'd?] The word-pray was added, for the sake of the measure, by Sir Thomas Hanmer. Steevens. And one, already, of the privy-council. 2 Gent. He will deserve more. Yes, without all doubt. Both. You may command us, sir. [Exeunt. SCENE II.6 Kimbolton. Enter KATHARINE, Dowager, sick; led between Grif. How does your grace? O, Griffith, sick to death: Kath. Didst thou not tell me, Griffith, as thou led'st me, Grif. 8 Yes, madam; but, I think, your grace, Out of the pain you suffer'd, gave no ear to 't. Kath. Pr'ythee, good Griffith, tell me how he died: If well, he stepp'd before me, happily, For my example.9 6 Scene II.] This scene is above any other part of Shakspeare's tragedies, and perhaps above any scene of any other poet, tender and pathetick, without gods, or furies, or poisons, or precipices, without the help of romantick circumstances, without improbable sallies of poetical lamentation, and without any throes of tumultuous misery. Johnson. 7-- child of honour,] So, in King Henry IV, Part I: 8 "That this same child of honour and renown -" Steevens. Corrected in the second I think,] Old copy-I thank. folio. Malone. 9 he stepp'd before me, happily, For my example.] Happily seems to mean on this occasionperadventure, haply. I have been more than once of this opinion, when I have met with the same word thus spelt in other pas sages. Steevens. Mr. M. Mason is of opinion that happily here means fortunately, Grif. Well, the voice goes, madam: For after the stout earl Northumberland1 Arrested him at York, and brought him forward He could not sit his mule.2 Kath. Alas, poor man! Grif. At last, with easy roads, he came to Leicester, Lodg'd in the abbey; where the reverend abbot, With all his convent, honourably receiv'd him; To whom he gave these words,-O father abbot, An old man, broken with the storms of state, Mr. Steevens's interpretation is, I think, right. So, in King Henry VI, Part II: Thy fortune, York, hadst thou been regent there, "Might happily have prov'd far worse than his." Malone. the stout earl Northumberland—] So, in Chevy Chase : "The stout earl of Northumberland "A vow to God did make" &c. Steevens. 2 He could not sit his mule.] In Cavendish's Life of Wolsey, 1641, it is said that Wolsey poisoned himself; but the words" at which time it was apparent that he had poisoned himself," which appear in p. 108 of that work, were an interpolation, inserted by the publisher for some sinister purpose; not being found in the two manuscripts now preserved in the Museum. See a former note, p. 300. Malone. Cardinals generally rode on mules. "He rode like a cardinal, sumptuously upon his mule." Cavendish's Life of Wolsey. Reed. In the representation of the Champ de Drap d'Or, published by the Society of Antiquaries, the Cardinal appears mounted on one of these animals very richly caparisoned. This circumstance also is much dwelt on in the ancient Satire quoted p. 259, n. 2: "Wat. What yf he will the devils blisse? Again: Again: Jef. They regarde it no more be gisse "Then foloweth my lorde on his mule "The bosses of his mulis brydles Steevens. 3 with easy roads,] i. e. by short stages. Steevens. Is come to lay his weary bones among ye; So went to bed: where eagerly his sickness Kath. So may he rest; his faults lie"gently on him! lightly Of an unbounded stomach, ever ranking 4 Of an unbounded stomach,] i. e. of unbounded pride, or haugh tiness. So, Holinshed, speaking of King Richard III: "Such a great audacitie and such a stomach reigned in his bodie." Steevens. 5 one, that by suggestion Ty'd all the kingdom:] The word suggestion, says the critick, [Dr. Warburton] is here used with great propriety and seeming knowledge of the Latin tongue: and he proceeds to settle the sense of it from the late Roman writers and their glossers. But Shakspeare's knowledge was from Holinshed, whom he follows verbatim: "This cardinal was of a great stomach, for he computed himself equal with princes, and by craftie suggestions got into his hands innumerable treasure: he forced little on simonie, and was not pitifull, and stood affectionate in his own opinion: in open presence he would lie and seie untruth, and was double both in speech and meaning; he would promise much and perform little: he was vicious of his bodie, and gave the clergie euil example." Edit. 1587, p. 922. Perhaps, after this quotation, you may not think, that Sir Thomas Hanmer, who reads tyth'd-instead of ty'd all the kingdom, deserves quite so much of Dr. Warburton's severity.-Indisputably the passage, like every other in the speech, is intended to express the meaning of the parallel one in the chronicle; it cannot therefore be credited, that any man, when the original was produced, should still choose to defend a cant acceptation, and inform us, perhaps, seriously, that in gaming language, from I know not what practice, to tye is to equal! A sense of the word, as I have yet found, unknown to our old writers; and, if known, would not surely have been used in this place by our author. But let us turn from conjecture to Shakspeare's authorities. Hall, from whom the above description is copied by Holinshed, |