I do repent me; read not my name there, YORK. 'Twas, villain, ere thy hand did fet it down. I tore it from the traitor's bofom, king; O loyal father of a treacherous fon! Thou fheer, immaculate, and filver fountain, 9 Thon fheer, immaculate, &c.] Sheer is pellucid, tranfparent. Some of the modern editors arbitrarily read clear. So, in Spenfer's Faery Queen, B. III. c. ii: "Who having viewed in a fountain here Again, B. III. c. xi: "That fhe at laft came to a fountain here." Again, in the Fourth Book of Golding's Tranflation of Ovid's Metamorphofis, 1587: "The water was fo pure and heere," &c. Tranfparent muflin is ftill called beer muflin. STEEVENS. 2 Thy overflow of good converts to bad;] Mr. Theobald would read: converts the bad. STEEVENS. The old reading-converts to bad, is right, I believe, though Mr. Theobald did not understand it. "The overflow of good in thee is turned to bad in thy fon; and that fame abundant goodness in thee fhall excufe his tranfgreffion.", TYRWHITT. 3 -digreffing fon,] Thus the old copies, and rightly. So, in Romeo and Juliet: Digreffing from the valour of a man." To digrefs is to deviate from what is right or regular. Some of the modern editors read:-tranfgreffing. STEEVENS, YORK. So fhall my virtue be his vice's bawd; And he shall spend mine honour with his shame, As thriftless fons their fcraping fathers' gold. Mine honour lives when his dishonour dies, Or my fham'd life in his dishonour lies: Thou kill'ft me in his life; giving him breath, The traitor lives, the true man's put to death. DUCH. [Within.] What ho, my liege! for God's fake, let me in. BOLING. What fhrill-voic'd fuppliant makes this eager cry? DUCH. A woman, and thine aunt, great king; 'tis I. Speak with me, pity me, open the door; BOLING. Our fcene is alter'd,-from a ferious thing, And now chang'd to The Beggar and the King. YORK. If thou do pardon, whosoever pray, 4the Beggar and the King.] The King and the Beggar feems to have been an interlude well known in the time of our author, who has alluded to it more than once. I cannot now find that any copy of it is left. JOHNSON. The King and Beggar was perhaps once an interlude; it was certainly a fong. The reader will find it in the first volume of Dr. Percy's collection. It is there entitled, King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid; and is printed from Rich. Johnson's Crown Garland of Goulden Rofes, 1612, 12mo; where it is entitled fimply, A fong of a Beggar and a King. This interlude or ballad is mentioned in Cynthia's Revenge, 1613: "Provoke thy fharp Melpomene to fing " Enter Duchefs. DUCH. O king, believe not this hard-hearted man; Love, loving not itself, none other can. YORK. Thou frantick woman, what doft thou make here? 5 Shall thy old dugs once more a traitor rear? DUCH. Sweet York, be patient: Hear me, gentle [Kneels. liege. BOLING. Rife up, good aunt. DUCH. Not yet, I thee befeech: For ever will I kneel upon my knees," And never fee day that the happy fees, Till thou give joy; until thou bid me joy, By pardoning Rutland, my tranfgreffing boy. AUM. Unto my mother's prayers, I bend my knee. [Kneels. YORK. Against them both, my true joints bended [Kneels. Ill may'ft thou thrive, if thou grant any grace!' be. DUCH. Pleads he in earneft? look upon his face; His eyes do drop no tears, his prayers are in jeft; His words come from his mouth, ours from our breaft: 5 Thou frantick woman, what doft thou make here?] So, in The Merry Wives of Windsor: "What make you here?" Again, in Othello: 6 Ancient, what makes he here." MALONE. ·kneel upon my knees,] Thus the folio. The quartos read: walk upon my knees. STEEVENS. Ill may'st thou thrive, if thou grant any grace!] This line is not in the folio. MALONE. He prays but faintly, and would be denied; We pray with heart, and foul, and all befide: His weary joints would gladly rife, I know; Our knees fhall kneel till to the ground they grow: His prayers are full of falfe hyprocify; Ours, of true zeal and deep integrity. Our prayers do out-pray his; then let them have That mercy, which true prayers ought to have. BOLING. Good aunt, stand up. DUCH. Nay, do not fay-stand up; But, pardon, firft; and afterwards, stand up. An if I were thy nurse, thy tongue to teach, Pardon-should be the firft word of thy fpeech. I never long'd to hear a word till now; Say-pardon, king; let pity teach thee how: The word is fhort, but not fo fhort as sweet; No word like, pardon, for kings' mouths fo meet. YORK. Speak it in French, king; fay, pardonnez 8 moy. DUCH. Doft thou teach pardon pardon to deftroy? Ah, my four husband, my hard-hearted lord, pardonnez moy.] That is, excufe me, a phrase used when any thing is civilly denied. The whole paffage is fuch as I could well with away. JOHNSON. 9 The chopping French-] Chopping, I fuppofe, here means jabbering, talking flippantly a language unintelligible to Englishmen; or perhaps it may mean,-the French, who clip and mutilate their words. I do not remember to have met the word, in this fenfe, in any other place. In the universities they talk of chopping logick; and our author in Romeo and Juliet has the fame phrase: "How now! how now! chop logick?" MALONE. Z VOL. VIII. Thine eye begins to speak, set thy tongue there: Or, in thy piteous heart plant thou thine ear; That, hearing how our plaints and prayers do pierce, Pity may move thee pardon to rehearse. BOLING. Good aunt, ftand up, DUCH.. I do not fue to ftand, Pardon is all the fuit I have in hand. BOLING. I pardon him, as God fhall pardon me. DUCH. O happy vantage of a kneeling knee! Yet am I fick for fear: fpeak it again; Twice faying pardon, doth not pardon twain, BOLING. I pardon him.' DUCH. With all my heart A god on earth thou art.3 BOLING. But for our trusty brother-in-law,-and the abbot,' With all the reft of that conforted crew,Deftruction straight shall dog them at the heels."— Good uncle, help to order feveral powers With all my heart I pardon him.] The old copies read-I pardon him with all my heart. The tranfpofition was made by Mr. Pope. MALONE. 3 A god on earth thou art.] So, in Cymbeline: "He fits 'mongft men, like a defcended god." STEEVENS. But for our trusty brother-in-law,] The brother-in-law meant, was John duke of Exeter and Earl of Huntingdon (own brother to King Richard II.) and who had married with the lady Elizabeth, fifter of Henry Bolingbroke. THEOBALD. Deftruction ftraight fall dog them at the heels.] Again, in King Richard III: "Death and destruction dog thee at the heels." STEEVENS. |