Have stoop'd my neck under your injuries, This, and much more, much more than twice all this, Condemns you to the death:-See them deliver'd over To execution and the hand of death. BUSHY. More welcome is the ftroke of death to me, Than Bolingbroke to England.-Lords, farewell. GREEN. My comfort is,-that heaven will take our fouls, And plague injuftice with the pains of hell. BOLING. My lord Northumberland, fee them defpatch'd. [Exeunt NORTHUMBERLAND and Others, with prifoners. Difpark'd my parks,] To difpark is to throw down the hedges of an enclosure. Diffepio. I meet with the word in Barret's Alvearie or Quadruple Dictionary, 1580. It alfo occurs in The Establishment of Prince Henry, 1610: "Foreftes and Parkes of the Prince's difparked and in Leafe," &c. STEEVENS. 2 From my own windows torn my household coat,] It was the practice when coloured glafs was in ufe, of which there are still fome remains in old feats and churches, to anneal the arms of the family in the windows of the house. JOHNSON. 3 Raz'd out my imprefs, &c.] The imprefs was a device or motto. Ferne, in his Blazon of Gentry, 1585, obferves, " that the arms, &c. of traitors and rebels may be defaced and removed, wherefoever they are fixed, or fet." STEEVENS. Uncle, you fay, the queen is at your house; away; To fight with Glendower and his complices; 4 Thanks, gentle uncle.-Come, lords, away; [Exeunt. Awhile to work, and, after, holiday.] Though the intermediate line has taken poffeffion of all the old copies, I have great fufpicion of its being an interpolation; and have therefore ventured to throw it out. The firft and third lines rhyme to each other; nor do I imagine this was cafual, but intended by the poet. Were we to acknowledge the line genuine, it muft argue the poet of forgetfulnefs and inattention to hiftory. Bolingbroke is, as it were, but juft arrived; he is now at Bristol, weak in his numbers; has had no meeting with a parliament; nor is fo far affured of the fucceffion, as to think of going to fupprefs infurrections before he is planted in the throne. Befides, we find the oppofition of Glendower begins The First Part of K. Henry IV. and Mortimer's defeat by that hardy Welchman is the tidings of the firft fcene of that play. Again, though Glendower, in the very first year of K. Henry IV. began to be troublesome, put in for the fupremacy of Wales, and imprisoned Mortimer; yet it was not till the fucceeding year that the King employed any force against him. THEOBALD. This emendation, which I think is juft, has been followed by Sir T. Hanmer, but is neglected by Dr. Warburton. JOHNSON. It is evident from the preceding fcene, that there was a force in Wales, which Bolingbroke might think it neceffary to fupprefs; and why might not Shakspeare call it Glendower's? When we next fee Bolingbroke, he is in Wales, and mentions his having received intelligence that the Welchmen are dispersed.RED. Mr. Heath obferves, that Bolingbroke marched to Chester, probably with a view to attack the Welth army headed by Lord Salifbury. He thinks therefore the line is genuine. See fc. iii. p. 283. Stowe exprefsly fays that " Owen Glendower ferved King Richard at Flint-Caftle." MALONE. Rition As Action I am informed has somewhere made them sabre observation but I am unable to refers to it not semember, SCENE II.4 The coaft of Wales. A caftle in view. Flourish: drums and trumpets. Enter King RICHARD, Bishop of Carlisle, AUMERLE, and Soldiers. K. RICH, Barkloughly castle call you this at hand? AUM. Yea, my lord: How brooks your grace the air, After late toffing on the breaking feas?' K. RICH. Needs must I like it well; I weep for joy, To ftand upon my kingdom once again. Plays fondly with her tears, and smiles in meeting;" 4 Here may be properly inferted the laft fcene of the second act. JOHNSON. After late toffing, &c.] The old copies redundantly read: After your late toffing, &c. STEEVENS. -fmiles in meeting;] It has been proposed to read-in weeping; and this change the repetition in the next line feems plainly to point out. STEEVENS. As a long parted mother with her child Plays fondly with her tears, and smiles in meeting;] σε Ως ειπων, αλόχοιο Φίλης εν χερσιν έθηκε σε Παιδια τον η' δ' άρα μιν κηώδες δεξαιο κολπῶ « ΔΑΚΡΥΟΕΝ ΓΕΛΑΣΑΣΑ.” Hom. 11. Ζ. Perhaps miles is here used as a fubftantive. As a mother plays fondly with her child from whom she has been a long time parted, crying, and at the fame time fmiling, at meeting him. It has been propofed to read-fmiles in weeping; and I once thought the emendation very plaufible. But I am now perfuaded the text is right. If we read weeping, the long parted mother and And do thee favour with my royal hands. 8 BISHOP. Fear not, my lord; that Power, that Hath power to keep you king, in fpite of all. her child do not meet, and there is no particular cause affigned for From the actual fmiles and tears of the long parted mother, &c. ↑ Guard it, I pray thee,] Guard it, fignifies here, as in many other places, border it. MALONE. 8 This earth shall have a feeling,] Perhaps Milton had not forgot this paffage, when he wrote, in his Comus dumb things fhall be mov'd to fympathize, "And the brute earth fhall lend her nerves, and shake." STEEVENS, 9 Fear not, my lord; &c.] Of this fpeech, the four laft lines were restored from the first edition by Mr. Pope. They were, I fuppofe, omitted by the players only to fhorten the fcene, for they are worthy of the author and fuitable to the perfonage. JOHNSON. think, that - to guard, in this place, rather means, to watch or protect. M. Mason. And we will not, heaven's offer we refuse;' AUм. He means, my lord, that we are too remifs; 9 elfe, if heaven would, And we will not, heaven's offer we refufe;] Thus the quarto 1597, except that the word if is wanting. The quarto 1608, and the late editions, read-And we would not. The word if was fupplied by Mr. Pope. Both the metre and the fenfe show that it was accidentally omitted in the first copy. MALONE. 2 and lights the lower world,] The old copies read-that lights. The emendation was made by Dr. Johnfon. Senfe might be obtained by a flight tranfpofition, without changing the words of the original text: That when the fearching eye of heaven, that lights The lower world, is hid behind the globe;— By the lower world, as the paffage is amended by Dr. Johnson, we muft understand, a world lower than this of ours; I fuppofe, our Antipodes. MALONE. That this is the fenfe of the paffage, is obvious from the King's application of the fimile: So, when this thief, this traitor Bolingbroke,- "Shall fee us rifing in our throne the caft," &c. HENLEY. The lower world may fignify our world. MALONE. He fires the proud tops of the eaftern pines,] It is not easy to point out an image more ftriking and beautiful than this, in any poet, whether ancient or modern. STEEVENS. |