Come, come, my lords; * These oracles are hardily attain'd, *And hardly understood. The king is now in progress toward Saint Albans, With him the husband of this lovely lady: 'Thither go these news, as fast as horse can carry them; A sorry breakfast for my lord protector. Buck. Your grace shall give me leave, my lord of York, To be the post, in hope of his reward. York. At your pleasure, my good lord.-Who's within there, ho! [Exeunt. Enter KING HENRY, QUEEN MARGARET, GLOSTER, Cardinal, and SUFFOLK, with Falconers hollaing. Q. Mar. Believe me, lords, for flying at the brook 1, I saw not better sport these seven years' day: Yet, by your leave, the wind was very high; And, ten to one, old Joan had not gone out2. 1 The falconer's term for hawking at water-fowl. Johnson was informed that the meaning here is, the wind' being high, it was ten to one that the old hawk had flown quite away; a trick which hawks often play their masters in windy weather. But surely not going out cannot signify not coming home. Dr. Percy's interpretation is entirely opposed to this: he explains it "The wind was so high it was ten to one that old Joan would not have taken her flight at the game. Steevens says The ancient books of hawking do not enable him to decide on the merits of such discordant explanations. I think if he had looked into Latham's Falconry he would have found that Dr. Percy's is the right explanation. When you shall come afterward to fly K. Hen. But what a point, my lord, your falcon made, • And what a pitch she flew above the rest! A To see how God in all his creatures works! *Yea, man and birds, are fain of climbing high. Suf. No marvel, an it like your majesty, My lord protector's hawks do tower so well; They know their master loves to be aloft, *And bears his thoughts above his falcon's pitch. Glo. My lord, 'tis but a base ignoble mind That mounts no higher than a bird can soar. Car. I thought as much; he'd be above the clouds. Glo. Ay, my lord cardinal; How think you by that? Were it not good, your grace could fly to heaven? *K. Hen. The treasury of everlasting joy! Car. Thy heaven is on earth; thine eyes and thoughts Beat on a crown, the treasure of thy heart; Pernicious protector, dangerous peer, That smooth'st it so with king and commonweal! Glo. What, cardinal, is your priesthood grown eiperémptory? *Tantæne animis cœlestibus iræ? Churchmen so hot? good uncle, hide such malice; With such holiness can you do it? Suf. No malice, sir; no more than well becomes So good a quarrel, and so bad a peer. her, she must be altogether guided and governed by her stomacke; yea she will be kept and also lost by the same for let her faile of that never so little, and every pff of wind will blow her away from you; nay, if there be no wind stirring, yet she will wheele and sinke away from him and from his voice, that all the time before had lured and trained her up. Booke i. p. 60. Ed. 1633. 3 i. e. fond or glad. Thus Spenser: And in her hand she held a mirror bright, Wherein her face she often viewed fain.' 1. e. thy mind Miranda says: d is working on a crown. So, in The Tempest, For still 'tis beating in my mind." *** And Prospero: Do not infest your mind with beating on Act i. Sc. 2. *Car. -Medice teipsum; Protector, see to't well, protect yourself.f [Aside. K. Hen. The winds grow high; so do your stomachs, lords. * How irksome is this music to my heart! *When such strings jar, what hope of harmony? * I pray, my lords, let me compound this strife. Enter an Inhabitant of Saint Albans, crying, A Miracles! Glo. What means this noise? Fellow, what miracle dost thou proclaim? Suf. Come to the king, and tell him what miracle. Inhab. Forsooth, a blind man at Saint Alban's shrine, Within this half hour, hath receiv'd his sight; A man, that ne'er saw in his life before. K. Hen. Now, God be prais'd! that to believing souls Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair! Enter the Mayor of Saint Albans, and his Brethren; and SIMPCox, borne between two Persons in a Chair; his Wife, and a great Multitude following. * Car. Here come the townsmen on procession, To present your highness with the man. *K. Hen. Great is his comfort in this earthly vale, Although by his sight his sin be multiplied. Glo. Stand by, my masters, bring him near the king, *His highness' pleasure is to talk with him. * K. Hen. Good fellow, tell us here the circumstance, 8 This scene is founded on a story which Sir Thomas More has related, and which he says was communicated to him by his father. The impostor's name is not mentioned; but he was detected by Humphrey Duke of Gloster, and in the manner here represented. See More's Works, p. 134, Edit. 1557. Vol. VI. That we for thee may glorify the Lord. What, hast thou been long blind, and now restor❜d? Simp. Born blind, an't please your grace. Wife. Ay, indeed, was he. Suf. What woman is this? Wife. His wife, an't like your worship. Glo. Hadst thou been his mother, thou couldst have better told. K. Hen. Where wert thou born? Simp. At Berwick in the north, an't like your grace. K. Hen. Poor soul! God's goodness hath been great to thee: Let never day nor night unhallow'd pass, But still remember what the Lord hath done. * Q. Mar. Tell me, good fellow, cam'st thou here by chance, Or of devotion, to this holy shrine? Simp. God knows, of pure devotion; being call'd A hundred times, and oftner, in my sleep By good Saint Alban; who said,-Simpcox, come; Simp. Ay, God Almighty help me! Suf. How cam'st thou so? Simp. Wife. A plum-tree, master. How long hast thou been blind? Simp. O, born so, master. What, and wouldst climb a tree? Simp. But that in all my life, when I was a youth. Wife. Too true; and bought his climbing very dear. * Glo. 'Mass, thou lov'dst plums well, that wouldst venture so. Simp. Alas, good master, my wife desir'd some damsons, And made me climb, with danger of my life. |