And prove a deadly bloodfhed but a jest,
Exampled by this heinous spectacle.

BAST. It is a damned and a bloody work;
The graceless action of a heavy hand,
If that it be the work of any hand.

SAL. If that it be the work of any hand?—
We had a kind of light, what would enfue:
It is the fhameful work of Hubert's hand;
The practice, and the purpose, of the king :-
From whofe obedience I forbid my foul,
Kneeling before this ruin of fweet life,
And breathing to his breathless excellence
The incenfe of a vow, a holy vow;
Never to taste the pleasures of the world,'
Never to be infected with delight,
Nor converfant with ease and idleness,
Till I have fet a glory to this hand,
By giving it the worship of revenge.1

Mr. Pope and the fubfequent editors more elegantly read—fins of time; but the peculiarities of Shakspeare's diction ought, in my apprehenfion, to be faithfully preserved. MALONE.

—a holy vow;

Never to taste the pleasures of the world,] This is a copy of the vows made in the ages of fuperftition and chivalry.

JOHNSON.

Till I have fet a glory to this hand, By giving it the worship of revenge.] The worship is the dignity, the bonour. We ftill fay worshipful of magiftrates. JOHNSON.

I think it should be-a glory to this head;-pointing to the dead prince, and ufing the word worship in its common acceptation. A glory is a frequent term:

"Round a quaker's beaver cast a glory,"

fays Mr. Pope: the folemn confirmation of the other lords feems to require this fenfe. The late Mr. Gray was much pleased with this correction. FARMER.

PEMB. BIG. Our fouls religiously confirm thy words.

Enter HUBERT.

HUB. Lords, I am hot with hafte in feeking you: Arthur doth live; the king hath fent for you. SAL. O, he is bold, and blushes not at death :Avaunt, thou hateful villain, get thee gone!

HUB. I am no villain.
SAL.

Muft I rob the law?
[Drawing his fword.

The old reading feems right to me, and means,-till I have famed and renowned my own hand by giving it the honour of revenge for fo foul a deed. Glory means plendor and magnificence in St. Matthew, vi. 29. So, in Markham's Hufbandry, 1631, p. 353: "But if it be where the tide is fcant, and doth no more but bring the river to a glory," i. e. fills the banks without overflowing. So, in Act II. fc. ii. of this play:

66

O, two fuch filver currents, when they join, "Do glorify the banks that bound them in." A thought almoft fimilar to the prefent, occurs in Ben Jonson's Catiline, who, Act IV. fc. iv. fays to Cethegus: "When we meet again we'll facrifice to liberty. Cet. And revenge. That we may praise our hands once!" i. e. O! that we may fet a glory, or procure honour and praise, to our hands, which are the inftruments of action. TOLLET.

I believe, at repeating thefe lines, Salisbury fhould take hold of the band of Arthur, to which he promises to pay the worship of revenge. M. MASON.

I think the old reading the true one. In the next Act we have the following lines:

I will not return,

"Till my attempt fo much be glorify'd

As to my ample hope was promifed."

The following paffage in Troilus and Creffida is decifive in fupport of the old reading:

Jove, let Æneas live,

"If to my fword his fate be not the glory,

"A thousand cómplete courfes of the fun." MALONE.

BAST. Your fword is bright, fir; put it up again.' SAL. Not till I fheath it in a murderer's skin. HUB. Stand back, lord Salisbury, ftand back, I

fay;

By heaven, I think, my fword's as fharp as yours:
I would not have you, lord, forget yourself,
Nor tempt the danger of my true defence; *
Left I, by marking of your rage, forget
Your worth, your greatnefs, and nobility.

BIG. Out, dunghill! dar'ft thou brave a nobleman?

HUB. Not for my life: but yet I dare defend My innocent life against an emperor.

SAL. Thou art a murderer.

HUB.

Do not prove me so;

Yet, I am none: Whose tongue foe'er fpeaks falfe, Not truly fpeaks; who fpeaks not truly, lies.

PEMB. Cut him to pieces.

BAST.

Keep the peace, I fay.

SAL. Stand by, or I fhall gall you, Faulconbridge.

BAST. Thou wert better gall the devil, Salisbury: If thou but frown on me, or ftir thy foot,

Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shame,

3 Your fword is bright, fir; put it up again.] i. e. left it lofe its brightnefs. So, in Othello:

Keep up your bright swords; for the dew will ruft them.”
MALONE.

4-true defence ;] Honeft defence; defence in a good caufe.

JOHNSON.

5 Do not prove me fo; Yet, I am none:] Do not make me a murderer, by compelling me to kill you; I am hitherto not a murderer.

JOHNSON.

sell] Sondon

I'll strike thee dead. Put up thy sword betime;
Or I'll fo maul you and your toasting-iron,"
That you fhall think the devil is come from hell.
BIG. What wilt thou do, renowned Faulcon-
bridge?

Second a villain, and a murderer?
HUB. Lord Bigot, I am none.

BIG.

Who kill'd this prince?

HUB. 'Tis not an hour fince I left him well:
I honour'd him, I lov'd him; and will weep
My date of life out, for his fweet life's lofs.

SAL. Truft not thofe cunning waters of his eyes,
For villainy is not without fuch rheum;
And he, long traded in it, makes it seem
Like rivers of remorfe and innocency.
Away, with me, all you whofe fouls abhor
The uncleanly favours of a flaughter-house;
For I am ftifled with this fmell of fin.

BIG. Away, toward Bury, to the Dauphin there!
PEMB. There, tell the king, he may enquire

out.

us

Exeunt Lords. ^ BAST. Here's a good world!-Knew you of this

fair work?

Beyond the infinite and boundless reach

Of mercy, if thou didft this deed of death,
Art thou damn'd, Hubert.

HUB.

Do but hear me,

fir.

BAST. Ha! I'll tell thee what;
Thou art damn'd as black-nay, nothing is so black;

6

your toafting-iron,] The fame thought is found in King Henry V: "I dare not fight, but I will wink and hold out mine iron. It is a fimple one, but what though? it will toaft cheese." N STEEVENS.

Like rivers of remorfe-] Remarfe here, as almoft every where in thefe plays, and the contemporary books, fignifies pity. MALONE.

Again, in

Fletcher's Prize, or the Tamer tamed: dart ladles, toasting irons,

and tongs, like thurrder-botto="

8

Thou art more deep damn'd than prince Lucifer :*
There is not yet fo ugly a fiend of hell

As thou fhalt be, if thou didst kill this child.9

HUB. Upon my foul,

BAST.

If thou didst but confent

To this moft cruel act, do but despair,

And, if thou want'ft a cord, the smallest thread
That ever fpider twifted from her womb.

Will ferve to ftrangle thee; a rush will be

A beam to hang thee on; or, would'st thou drown
thyself,❜

Put but a little water in a spoon,
And it shall be as all the ocean,
Enough to stifle fuch a villain up.-
I do fufpect thee very grievously.

HUB. If I in act, confent, or fin of thought,
Be guilty of the ftealing that sweet breath
Which was embounded in this beauteous' clay,
Let hell want pains enough to torture me
I left him well.

Thou art more deep damn'd than prince Lucifer:] So, in the old play:

"Hell, Hubert, truft me, all the plagues of hell

Hangs on performance of this damned deed;

"This feal, the warrant of the body's blifs,

"Enfureth Satan chieftain of thy foul." MALONE.

9 There is not yet, &c.] I remember once to have met with a book, printed in the time of Henry VIII. (which Shakspeare poffibly might have feen,) where we are told that the deformity of the condemned in the other world, is exactly proportioned to the degrees of their guilt. The author of it obferves how difficult it would be, on this account, to diftinguish between Belzebub and Judas Iscariot. STEEVENS.

— drown thy felf,] Perhaps-thyfelf is an interpolation. It certainly fpoils the meafure; and drown is elfewhere used by our author as a verb neuter. Thus, in King Richard III:

"Good lord, methought, what pain it was to drown.”

STEEVENS.