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Glo. O Nell, sweet Nell, if thou dost love thy

lord,

Banish the canker of ambitious thoughts:

And may that thought, when I imagine ill. * Against my king and nephew, virtuous Henry, * * Be my last breathing in this mortal world! My troublous dream this night doth make me sad.

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Duch. What dream'd my lord? tell me, and
I'll requite it

With sweet rehearsal of my morning's dream. Glo. Methought, this staff, mine office-badge in court,

Was broke in twain, by whom, I have forgot, by the cardinal, But, as I think, it was by

And on the pieces of the broken wand

Were plac'd the heads of Edmond duke of Somerset,

· And William de la Poole, first duke of Suffolk. This was my dream; what it doth bode, God knows.

Duch. Tut, this was nothing but an argument, That he that breaks a a stick of Gloster's grove, Shall lose his head for his presumption.

But list to me, my Humphrey, my sweet duke: Methought, I sat in seat of majesty,

In the cathedral church of Westminster,

And in that chair where kings and queens are crown'd;

Where Henry, and dame Margaret, kneel'd to ind dame Mo

me,

And on my head did set the diadem.

Glo. Nay, Eleanor, then must I chide outright: * Presumptuous dame, ill nurtur'd 1 Eleanor! Art thou not second woman in the realm; And the protector's wife, belov'd of him? * Hast thou not worldly pleasure at command,

Ill nurtur'd is ill educated.

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Enter HUME.

Hume. Jesu preserve your royal majesty!

Duch. What say'st thou, majesty! I am but grace.

Hume. But, by the grace of God, and Hume's advice,

Your grace's title shall be multiplied.

Duch. What say'st thou, man? hast thou as yet conferr'd

With Margery Jourdain, the cunning witch 4;
And Roger Bolingbroke, the conjurer?
And will they undertake to do me good?
Hume. This they have promised,-to show your
highness

A spirit rais'd from depth of under ground,
That shall make answer to such questions,
As by your grace shall be propounded him.
Duch. It is enough; I'll think upon the ques-
tions:

When from Saint Albans we do make return,
We'll see these things effected to the full.
Here, Hume, take this reward; make merry, man,
With thy confederates in this weighty cause.
[Exit Duchess.
* Hume. Hume must make merry with the duch-
ess' gold;

Marry, and shall. But how now, Sir John Hume? Seal up your lips, and give no words but-mum! The business asketh silent secrecy,

* Dame Eleanor gives gold, to bring the witch:

It appears from Rymer's Fœdera, vol. 1. p. 505, that in the tenth year of Henry VI. Margery Jourdemayn, John Virley Clerk, and Friar John Ashwell, were, on the ninth of May, brought from Windsor by the constable of the castle, to which they had been committed for sorcery, before the council at Westminster, and afterwards committed to the custody of the Lord Chancellor. It was ordered that whenever the said Virley and Ashwell should find security for their good behaviour they should be set at liberty, and in like manner that Jourdemayn should be discharged on her husband's finding security. This woman was afterwards burned in Smithfield, as stated in the play, and also in the Chronicles,

Vol. VI.

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* Gold cannot come amiss, were she a devil. Yet have I gold, flies from another coast: I dare not say, from the rich cardinal, And from the great and new-made duke of Suffolk;

Yet I do find it so: for, to be plain,

They, knowing dame Eleanor's aspiring humour,
Have hired me to undermine the duchess,

And buz these conjurations in her brain. *They say, A crafty knave does need no broker 5;

* Yet am I Suffolk and the cardinal's broker. * Hume, if you take not heed, you shall go near *To call them both-a pair of crafty knaves. * Well, so it stands: And thus, I fear, at last, *Hume's knavery will be the duchess' wreck; *And her attainture will be Humphrey's fall: Sort how it will, I shall have gold for all.

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The same.

SCENE III.

A Room in the Palace.

Enter PETER, and Others, with Petitions.

1 Pet. My masters, let's stand close; my lord protector will come this way by and by, and then we may deliver our supplications in the quill1.

5 This expression was proverbial. It occurs in the old play, A Knacke to know a Knave, 1594:

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some will say

A crafty knave needs no broker,

But here is a craftie knave and a broker too.' It is to be found in Ray's Collection of Proverbs.

6 Let the issue be what it will. See note on Taming of the Shrew, Act iv. Sc. 3.

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1 There have been some strange conjectures in explanation of this phrase, in the quill. Steevens says that it may mean no more. than written or penned supplications. Mr. Tollet thinks it means with great cxactness and observance of form, in allusion to the quilled or plaited ruffs. Hawkins suggests that it may be the same with the French en quille, said of a man when he stands upright upon his feet, without moving from the place, in allusion to quille, a ninepin. It appears to me to be nothing more than an intention to mark the vulgar pronunciation of in the coi

2 Pet. Marry, the Lord protect him, for he's a good man! Jesu bless him!

Enter SUFFOLK, and QUEEN MARGARET.

* 1 Pet. Here 'a e 'a comes, methinks, and the queen * with him: I'll be the first, sure.

2 Pet. Come back, fool; this is the duke of Suffolk, and not my lord protector.

Suf. How now, fellow? wouldst any thing with me?

' 1 Pet. I pray, my lord, pardon me! I took ye for my lord protector..

Q. Mar. [Reading the superscription.] To my lord protector! are your supplications to his lordship? Let me see them: What is thine?

1 Pet. Mine is, an't please your grace, against John Goodman, my lord cardinal's man, for keeping my house, and lands, and wife and all, from

me.

Suf. Thy wife too? that is some wrong indeed 2. What's yours? What's here? [Reads.] Against the duke of Suffolk, for enclosing the commons of Melford. How now, sir knave?

2 Pet. Alas, sir, I am but a poor petitioner of our whole township.

Peter. [Presenting his petition.]

Against my master, Thomas Horner, for saying, That the duke of York was rightful heir to the crown.

Did the duke of the crown?

Q. Mar. What say'st thou York say, he was rightful heir Peter. That my master was? No, forsooth: my

i. e. in the bustle. This word is spelt in the old dictionaries quoil, and was no doubt often pronounced by ignorant persons qu le or quill.

2 This wrong seems to have been sometimes practised in Shakspeare's time. Among the Lansdowne MSS. we meet with the following singular petition Julius Bogarucius to the Lord Trea surer, in Latin, complaining that the Master of the Rolls keeps his wife from him in his own house, and wishes he may not teach her to be a papist.'

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