That I, being govern'd by the watry moon,3
May send forth plenteous tears to drown the world!
Ah, for my husband, for
my dear lord Edward!
Chil. Ah, for our father, for our dear lord Clarence!
Duch. Alas, for both, both mine, Edward and Clarence!
Q. Eliz. What stay had I, but Edward? and he's gone.
Chil. What stay had we, but Clarence? and he's gone.
Duch. What stays had I, but they? and they are gone.
Q. Eliz. Was never widow, had so dear a loss.
Chil. Were never orphans, had so dear a loss.
Duch. Was never mother, had so dear a loss.
Alas! I am the mother of these griefs;
Their woes are parcell'd, mine are general.
She for an Edward weeps, and so do I;

I for a Clarence weep, so doth not she:
These babes for Clarence weep, and so do I:4
I for an Edward weep, so do not they: 5—

3

being govern'd by the watry moon,] That I may live hereafter under the influence of the moon, which governs the tides, and by the help of that influence drown the world. The introduction of the moon is not very natural. Johnson.

The same thought has already occurred in K. Henry IV, P. 1: being governed, as the sea is, by the moon." Steevens.

4

and so do I:] So the quarto. The variation of the folio is remarkable. It reads-so do not they. Malone.

5 I for an Edward weep, so do not they:] The text is here made out partly from the folio and partly from the quarto. In the quarto this and the preceding line stand thus:

"These babes for Clarence weep, and so do I;

"I for an Edward weep, and so do they."

The end of the second line is evidently corrupted. In the MS. from which the folio was printed, or in a corrected quarto copy, the two lines undoubtedly were right:

"These babes for Clarence weep, [and so do I;

"I for an Edward weep,] so do NOT they."

But the compositor's eye passing over two half lines, the passage was printed thus in the folio, in one line:

"These babes for Clarence weep, so do not they."

I have stated this matter thus particularly, because it confirms an observation that I have more than once had occasion to make in revising these plays; that there is reason to suspect that many of the difficulties in our author's works have arisen from the omission of either single words, single lines, or the latter half of one Jine with the half of the next: a solution which readers are very slow to admit, and generally consider as chimerical. One week's acquaintance with the business of the press (without those proofs

Alas! you three, on me, threefold distress'd,
Pour all your tears, I am your sorrow's nurse,
And I will pamper it with lamentations.

Dor. Comfort, dear mother; God is much displeas'd,
That you take with unthankfulness his doing:
In common worldly things, 'tis call'd-ungrateful,
With dull unwillingness to repay a debt,
Which with a bounteous hand was kindly lent;
Much more, to be thus opposite with heaven,7
For it requires the royal debt it lent you.

Riv. Madam, bethink you, like a careful mother,
Of the young prince your son: send straight for him,
Let him be crown'd; in him your comfort lives:
Drown desperate sorrow in dead Edward's grave,
And plant your joys in living Edward's throne.
Enter GLOSTER, BUCKINGHAM, STANLEY, HASTINGS,
RATCLIFF, and Others.

Glo. Sister, have comfort: all of us have cause
To wail the dimming of our shining star;
But none can cure their harms by wailing them.-
Madam, my mother, I do cry you mercy,

I did not see your grace:-Humbly on my knee

which a collation of the quartos with each other and with the first folio affords) would soon convince them that my supposition is not a mere offspring of imagination. In the plays, of which there is no authentick copy but the first folio, there is no means of proving such omissions to have happened; but the present and other proofs of their having actually happened in the other plays, lay surely a reasonable ground for conjecturing that similar errors have happened in those pieces, of which there is only a single ancient copy extant, and entitle such conjectures to indulgence.

See Vol. VII, p. 87, n. 4; Vol. VIII, p. 51, n. 2, and p. 296, n. 2; Vol. X, p. 220, n. 5; Coriolanus, Vol. XIII, Act II, sc. iii; and Antony and Cleopatra, Vol. XIII, Act IV, sc. x.

In this note, and throughout this play, where I have spoken of the quarto, without any specification of the year when printed, I meant the quarto 1598, the earliest which I had then seen. quarto 1597, I find, corresponds with the text. Malone.

The

6 Comfort, dear mother; &c ] This line and the following eleven fines are found only in the folio. Malone.

7 to be thus opposite with heaven,] This was the phraseology of the time. Malone.

8 For it requires i. e. because. So, in Othello:

"Haply, for I am black"

Steevens.

I crave your blessing.

Duch. God bless thee; and put meekness in thy breast, Love, charity, obedience, and true duty!

Glo. Amen; and make me die a good old man!— That is the butt-end of a mother's blessing;

I marvel, that her grace did leave it out.

[Aside.

Buck. You cloudy princes, and heart-sorrowing peers,
That bear this mutual heavy load of moan,
Now cheer each other in each other's love:
Though we have spent our harvest of this king,
We are to reap the harvest of his son.

The broken rancour of your high-swol'n hearts,
But lately splinted, knit, and join'd together,
Must gently be preserv'd, cherish'd, and kept :9
Me seemeth good, that, with some little train,
Forthwith from Ludlow the young prince be fetch'd1
Hither to London, to be crown'd our king.

Riv. Why with some little train, my lord of Buckingham?

Buck. Marry, my lord, lest, by a multitude, The new-heal'd wound of malice should break out; Which would be so much the more dangerous, By how much the estate is green, and yet ungovern'd: Where every horse bears his commanding rein,

9 The broken rancour of your high-swoln hearts,

But lately splinted, knit, and join'd together,

Must gently be preserv'd, cherish'd, and kept:] As this passage stands, it is the rancour of their hearts that is to be preserv'd and cherished. But we must not attempt to amend this mistake, as it seems to proceed from the inadvertency of Shakspeare himself. M. Mason.

Their broken rancour recently splinted and knit, the poet considers as a new league of amity and concord; and this it is that Buckingham exhorts them to preserve. Malone.

1 Forthwith from Ludlow the young prince be fetch'd-] Edward the young prince, in his father's life time, and at his demise, kept his houshold at Ludlow, as Prince of Wales; under the governance of Antony Woodville, Earl of Rivers, his uncle by the mother's side. The intention of his being sent thither was to see justice done in the Marches; and, by the authority of his presence to restrain the Welshmen, who were wild, dissolute, and ill-disposed, from their accustomed murders and outrages. Vid. Hall, Holinshed, &c. Theobald.

2 Why with &c.] This line and the following seventeen lines are found only in the folio. Malone.

And may direct his course as please himself,
As well the fear of harm, as harm apparent,
In my opinion, ought to be prevented.

Glo. I hope, the king made peace with all of us;
And the compact is firm, and true, in me.

Riv. And so in me;3 and so, I think, in all:
Yet, since it is but green, it should be put
To no apparent likelihood of breach,

Which, haply, by much company might be urg'd:
Therefore I say, with noble Buckingham,

That it is meet so few should fetch the prince.
Hast. And so say I.

Glo. Then be it so; and go we to determine
Who they shall be that straight shall post to Ludlow.
Madam, and you my mother, will you go

To give your censures in this weighty business?

[Exeunt all but Buck. and GLO. Buck. My lord, whoever journeys to the prince, For God's sake, let not us two stay at home: For, by the way, I 'il sort occasion,

As index to the story we late talk'd of,

To part the queen's proud kindred from the prince.
Glo. My other self, my counsel's consistory,

3 Riv. And so in me;] This speech (as a modern editor has observed) seems rather to belong to Hastings, who was of the Duke of Gloster's party. The next speech might be given to Stanley. Malone.

4- your censures-] To censure formerly meant to deliver an opinion. So, in Heywood's Golden Age, 1611:

66 vet if I censure freely,

"I needs must think that face and personage
"Was ne'er deriv'd from baseness."

Again, in Marius and Sylla, 1594:

"Cinna affirms the senate's censure just,

"And saith, let Marius lead the legions forth."

Again, in Orlando Furioso, 1594:

"Set each man forth his passions how he can,
"And let her censure make the happiest man."

5 I'll sort occasion,

Steevens.

As index to the story —] i. e. preparatory-by way of prelude. So, in Hamlet:

"That storms so loud and thunders in the index."

See the note on that passage. Malone.

Again, in Othello: “ —an index and obscure prologue to the history of lust and foul thoughts." Steevens.

My oracle, my prophet!-My dear cousin,
I, as a child, will go by thy direction.

Towards Ludlow then, for we 'll not stay behind.

SCENE III.

The same. A Street.

Enter Two Citizens, meeting.

[Exeunt.

1 Cit. Good morrow, neighbour: Whither away so fast? 2 Cit. I promise you, I scarcely know myself;

Hear you

1 Cit.

the news abroad?

Yes; the king's dead.7

2 Cit. Ill news, by'r lady; seldom comes the better:8 I fear, I fear, 'twill prove a giddy world.

Enter another Citizen.

3 Cit. Neighbours, God speed!

1 Cit.

Give you good morrow, sir.

3 Cit. Doth the news hold of good king Edward's

death?

2 Cit. Ay, sir, it is too true; God help, the while! 3 Cit. Then, masters, look to see a troublous world. 1 Cit. No, no; by God's good grace, his son shall reign. 3 Cit. Woe to that land, that 's govern'd by a child!9 2 Cit. In him there is a hope of government;

6 Towards Ludlow then,] The folio here and a few lines higher, for Ludlow reads-London. Few of our author's plays stand more in need of the assistance furnished by a collation with the quartos, than that before us. Malone.

7 Yes; the king's dead.] Thus the second folio. The first, without regard to measure

Yes, that the king is dead. Steevens.

8 • seldom comes the better:] A proverbial saying, taken notice of in The English Courtier and Country Gentleman, 4to. bl. 1. 1596, sign. B: ". as the proverb sayth, seldome come the better. Val. That proverb indeed is auncient, and for the most part true," &c. Reed.

The modern editors read-a better. The passage quoted above proves that there is no corruption in the text; and shows how very dangerous it is to disturb our author's phraseology, merely because it is not familiar to our ears at present. Malone.

9 Woe to that land that's govern'd by a child!]

"Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child."

Ecclesiastes, ch. x. Steevens.