SCENE II.

A Field of Battle near Barnet.

Alarums, and Excursions. Enter King EDWARD, bringing in WARWICK wounded.

* K. Edw. So, lie thou there: die thou, and die

our fear;

* For Warwick was a bug, that fear'd us all.

* Now, Montague, fit fast; I seek for thee, * That Warwick's bones may keep thine company. [Exit.

WAR. Ah, who is nigh? come to me, friend, or

foe,

And tell me, who is victor, York, or Warwick? Why ask I that? my mangled body shows,

* My blood, my want of strength, my fick heart

shows,

That I must yield my body to the earth,

And, by my fall, the conquest to my foe.

Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge,

3

-a bug, that fear'd us all.)] Bug is a bugbear, a terri fick being. JOHNSON.

"The mortal bugs of the field."

Again, in Stephen Goffon's Schoole of Abuse, 1579: "These

bugs are fitter to fear babes than to move men." STEEVENS.

To fear in old language frequently signifies, to terrify.

So, in The Merchant of Venice:

" I tell thee, lady, this aspéct of mine
"Hath fear'd the valiant." STEEVENS.

MALONE.

Whose arms 4 gave shelter to the princely eagle, Under whose shade the ramping lion flept ;5 Whose top-branch overpeer'd Jove's spreading tree, * And kept low fhrubs from winter's powerful wind. * These eyes, that now are dimm'd with death's

black veil,

* Have been as piercing as the mid-day fun,
* To fearch the secret treasons of the world :
The wrinkles in my brows, now fill'd with blood,
Were liken'd oft to kingly fepulchres;
For who liv'd king, but I could dig his grave?
And who durft smile, when Warwick bent his brow?
Lo, now my glory smear'd in dust and blood!
My parks, my walks, my manors that I had,
Even now forsake me; and, of all my lands,
Is nothing left me, but my body's length!"

• Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge,
Whose arms &c.] It were better to read-
Thus to the axe's edge the cedar yields,
Whose arms &c.

Otherwise, Whose arms will refer to the axe instead of the cedar.

STEEVENS.

$ Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge,

Whose arms gave shelter to the princely eagle,

Under whose Shade the ramping lion slept ; &c.] It has been observed to me, that the 31st chapter of the prophet Ezekiel fuggefted these images to Shakspeare. "All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beafts of the field bring forth their young."

• My parks, &c.]

Cedes coemptis faltibus, et domo,

Villaque. Hor.

STEEVENS.

This mention of his parks and manors diminishes the pathe

tick effect of the foregoing lines. JOHNSON.

7

and, of all my lands,

Is nothing left me, but my body's length !]

Mors fola fatetur

"Quantula fint hominum corpufcula." Juv.

Camden mentions in his Remains, that Constantine, in order

Why, what is pomp, rule, reign, but earth and

duft ?

And, live we how we can, yet die we muft.

Enter OXFORD and SOMERSET.

* Ѕом. Ah, Warwick, Warwick !9 wert thou as we are,

* We might recover all our lofs again !

to dissuade a person from covetousness, drew out with his lance the length and breadth of a man's grave, adding, "this is all thou shalt have when thou art dead, if thou canst happily get so much."

MALONE.

8 - what is pomp, &c.] This and the following line make no part of this speech in the old play; but were transposed by Shakspeare from a subsequent speech, addressed by Warwick to Somerset. MALONE.

Ah, Warwick, Warwick! &c.] These two speeches stand thus in the quartos :

"

Oxf. Ah, Warwick, Warwick! chear up thyself,
and live;

"For yet there's hope enough to win the day.
"Our warlike queen with troops is come from France,
"And at Southampton landed hath her train;
"And, might'st thou live, then would we never fly.

"War. Why, then I would not fly, nor have I now;
"But Hercules himself must yield to odds:
"For many wounds receiv'd, and many more repaid,
"Hath robb'd my strong-knit finews of their strength,
"And spite of spites needs must I yield to death."

STEEVENS.

One of these lines, "But Hercules," &c. Shakspeare has transposed and inserted in the Messenger's account of the death of the Duke of York. See p. 51. Not being aware of this, I inadvertently marked that line as our author's, which I ought not to have done. The three following lines have already been spoken by Warwick in a former scene (see p. 72,) and therefore were here properly rejected by Shakspeare. MALONE.

'The queen from France hath brought a puissant

power;

'Even now we heard the news: Ah, could'st thou fly !

6

WAR. Why, then I would not fly. -Ah, Montague,

* If thou be there, sweet brother, take my hand, * And with thy lips keep in my foul a while!

* 'Thou lov'st me not; for, brother, if thou didst, * Thy tears would wash this cold congealed blood, * That glews my lips, and will not let me fpeak. * Come quickly, Montague, or I am dead.

Sом. Ah, Warwick, Montague hath breath'd his last;

'And to the latest gasp, cried out for Warwick, And faid-Commend me to my valiant brother. 'And more he would have faid; and more he spoke, 'Which founded like a cannon in a vault,1

I

Which founded like a cannon in a vault,] The old quarto reads clamour, which is undoubtedly right, i. e. a clamour of tongues, which, as he says, could not be diftinguished. This was a pertinent fimilitude: the other absurd, and neither agrees with what is predicated of it, nor with what it is intended to illustrate.

WARBURTON.

Which founded like a cannon in a vault,

That might not be distinguish'd;) That is, like the noise of a cannon in a vault, which, &c. Shakspeare's alteration here is perhaps not so judicious as many others that he has made. In the old play, instead of cannon, we have clamour, and the speech ftands thus :

"

Thy brother Montague hath breath'd his laft,
"And at the pangs of death I heard him cry,
"And say, commend me to my valiant brother;
"And more he would have faid, and more he faid,
"Which founded like a clamour in a vault,
"That could not be diftinguish'd for the found;
"And so the valiant Montague gave up the ghott."

MALONE.

The indiftinct gabble of undertakers, while they adjust a cof

That might not be diftinguish'd; but, at last,

'I well might hear deliver'd with a groan,

O, farewell, Warwick!

WAR.

Sweet rest to his foul !

Fly, lords, and save yourselves; for Warwick bids You all farewell, to meet again in heaven.2 [Dies.

OxF. Away, away, to meet the queen's great power!

[Exeunt, bearing off WARWICK'S Body.

fin in a family vault, will abundantly illustrate the preceding fimile. Such a peculiar hubbub of inarticulate founds, might have attracted our author's notice: it has too often forced itself on mine. STEEVENS.

2

- to meet again in heaven.] I have supplied the word again, for the fake of metre, by the advice of Mr. Ritson, and with countenance from the following line in King Richard III : " Farewell, until me meet again in heaven."

STEEVENS.

3 Away, away, &c.] Instead of this line, the quartos have the following:

"Come, noble Somerset, let's take our horse,

"And cause retreat be founded through the camp;

"That all our friends remaining yet alive

"

May be forewarn'd, and save themselves by flight. "That done, with them we'll post unto the queen,

"And once more try our fortune in the field."

STEEVENS.

It is unnecessary to repeat here an observation that has already been more than once made. I shall therefore only refer to former notes. See p. 16, n. 2.

MALONE.