Imatges de pàgina
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Peep'd harms that menac'd him: He privily 3
Deals with our cardinal; and, as I trow,-
Which I do well; for, I am fure, the emperor
Pay'd ere he promis'd; whereby his fuit was granted,
Ere it was afk'd ;-but when the way was made,
And pav'd with gold, the emperor thus defir'd ;-
That he would please to alter the king's course,
And break the forefaid peace. Let the king know,
(As foon he shall by me,) that thus the cardinal
Does buy and fell his honour as he pleases,
And for his own advantage.

Nor. I am forry

To hear this of him; and could wish, he were
Something mistaken in't 4.

Buck. No, not a fyllable;

I do pronounce him in that very shape,

He shall appear in proof.

Enter BRANDON; a Serjeant at arms before him, and two or three of the guard,

Bran. Your office, ferjeant; execute it.
Serj. Sir,

My lord the duke of Buckingham, and earl
Of Hereford, Stafford, and Northampton, I
Arreft thee of high treason, in the name
Of our most fovereign king.

Buck. Lo you, my lord,

The net has fall'n upon me; I fhall perish
Under device and practice.

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To fee you ta'en from liberty, to look on

The bufinefs prefent: 'Tis his highness' pleasure,

3-he privily-] He, which is not in the original copy, was added by the editor of the fecond folio. MALONE.

4 - be were

Something mistaken in't.] That is, that he were fomething different from what he is taken or supposed by you to be. MALONE. 5 I am forry

To fee you ta'en from liberty, to look on

The business prefent:] I am forry that I am obliged to be prefent and an eye-witnefs of your lofs of liberty. JOHNSON. VOL. VII.

liberty c

You

You fhall to the Tower.

Buck. It will help me nothing,

To plead mine innocence; for that dye is on me,
Which makes my whiteft part black. The will of heaven
Be done in this and all things!-I obey.-

O my lord Aberga'ny, fare you well.

Bran, Nay, he must bear you company :-The king

Is pleas'd, you shall to the Tower, till you know
How he determines further.

Aber. As the duke faid,

[to Aber,

The will of heaven be done, and the king's pleasure
By me obey'd.

Bran. Here is a warrant from

The king, to attach lord Montacute; and the bodies
Of the duke's confeffor, John de la Court,

One Gilbert Peck, his chancellor,

Buck. So, fo;

These are the limbs of the plot: No more, I hope,
Bran. A monk o' the Chartreux.

Buck. Q, Nicholas Hopkins"?

Bran. He.

Buck. My furveyor is falfe; the o'er-great cardinal
Hath fhew'd him gold: my life is spann'd already":
I am the fhadow of poor Buckingham;

Whofe

6 Fobn de la Court,] The name of this monk of the Chartreux was John de la Car, alias de la Court. See Holinfhed, p. 863. STEEVENS. 7 One Gilbert Peck, bis chancellor, ] Old Copy-counfeller. Corrected by Mr. Theobald. I believe the author wrote-And Gilbert, &c. MALONE. Our poet himself, in the beginning of the fecond act, vouches for this correction:

At which, appear'd against him bis furveyor,

Sir Gilbert Peck, bis chancellor. THEOBALD. Holinfhed calls this perfon, "Gilbert Perke prieft, the duke's chancellor." STEEVENS.

8 Nicholas Hopkins ] The old copy has Michael Hopkins. Mr. Theobald made the emendation, conformably to the chronicle: "Nichlas Hopkins, a monk of an houfe of the Chartreux order, befide Bristow, called Henton." In the Mf. Nicb. only was probably fet down, and mistaken for Mich. MALONE.

9-my life is fpann'd already :] To Span is to gripe, or inclofe in the band; to span is alfo to measure by the palm and fingers. The mean

Whose figure even this inftant cloud puts on,

By dark'ning my clear fun '.-My lord, farewel. [Exeunt. SCENE

ing, therefore, may either be, that bold is taken of my life, my life is in the gripe of my enemies; or, that my time is measured, the length of my life is now determined. JOHNSON.

1 I am the shadow of poor Buckingham;

Whofe figure even this inftant cloud puts on,

By dark ning my clear fun.] Thefe lines have paffed all the editors. Does the reader understand them? By me they are inexplicable, and must be left, I fear, to fome happier fagacity. If the ufage of our author's time could allow figure to be taken, as now, for dignity or importance, we might read:

Whofe figure even this inftant cloud puts out. But I cannot please myself with any conjecture.

Another explanation may be given, fomewhat harsh, but the best that occurs to me:

I am the badoru of poor Buckingham,

Whofe figure even this inftant cloud puts on,

whofe port and dignity affumed by this cardinal, that overclouds and oppreffes me, and who gains my place,

By dark'ning my clear fun. JOHNSON.

Perhaps Shakspeare has expreffed the fame idea more clearly in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Antony and Cleopatra, and King John: "O, how this fpring of love refembeleth

"The uncertain glory of an April day,

"Which now fhews all the beauty of the fun,
"And, by and by, a cloud takes all away."

Antony remarking on the various appearances affumed by the flying vapours, adds:

now thy captain is

"Even fuch a body: here I am Antony,

"But cannot hold this vifible shape, my knave."

Or yet more appofitely in King John:

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being but the fhadow of your fon,

"Becomes a fun, and makes your fon a fhadow."

Such another thought appears in The famous Hift. of The. Stukely, 1605: "He is the fubftance of my shadowed love."

We might, however, read-pouts on; i. e. look gloomily upon. So, in Coriolanus, A&t V. fc. i.

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"We pour upon the morning, are unapt
"To give, or to forgive."

Again, in Romeo and Juliet, Act III. fc. iii.

"Thou out upon thy fortune and thy love." STEEVENS. The following paffage in Greene's Doraftus and Fawnia, 1588, (a book which Shakspeare certainly had read,) adds support to Dr. Johnfon's conjecture: Fortune, envious of fuch happy fucceffe,-turned her

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wheele,

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Enter King HENRY, Cardinal WOLSEY, the Lords of the
Council, Sir Thomas Lovell, Officers, and Attendants,
The King enters leaning on the Cardinal's shoulder.

King. My life itself, and the beft heart of it 2,
Thanks you for this great care: I ftood i' the level
Of a full-charg'd confederacy 3, and give thanks
To you that chok'd it.-Let be call'd before us
That gentleman of Buckingham's: in perfon
I'll hear him his confeflions juftify;

And point by point the treafons of his mafter
He fhall again relate.

The King takes his ftate. The Lords of the Council take their feveral places. The Cardinal places himself under the king's feet, on his right fide.

A noife within, crying, Room for the Queen. Enter the wheele, and darkened their bright funne of profperitie with the mistie aloudes of mishap and mifery."

Mr. Mafon has obferved that Dr. Johnfon did not do juftice to his own emendation, referring the words whofe figure to Buckingham, when in fact they relate to fhadow. Sir W. Blackstone had already explained the paffage in this manner. MALONE.

By adopting Dr. Johnfon's first conjecture, "puts out," for "puts on, a tolerable fenfe may be given to thefe obfcure lines. "I am but the fhadow of poor Buckingham: and even the figure or outline of this fhadow begins now to fade away, being extinguished by this impending cloud, which darkens (or interpofes between me and) my clear fun; that is, the favour of my fovereign." BLACKSTONE. 2 and the beft heart of it,] Heart is not here taken for the great organ of circulation and life, but, in a common and popular fenfe, for the most valuable or precious part. Our author, in Hamlet, mentions the beart of beart. Exhausted and effete ground is faid by the farmer to be out of beart. The hard and inner part of the oak is called bearą of oak. JOHNSON.

3

-flood is the level

Of a full-charg'd confederacy,] To ftand in the level of a gun is to Aand in a line with its mouth, fo as to be hit by the shot. JOHNSON. So, in our author's 117th Sonnet:

"Bring me within the level of your frown,
"But fhoot not at me," &c.

See alfo Vol. IV. p. 160, n. 4; and p. 175, n. 7.

MALONE.

Queen,

Queen, ufbered by the Dukes of NORFOLK and SU FFOLK: fhe kneels. The King rifeth from his ftate, takes her up, kiffes, and placeth her by him.

2. Cath. Nay, we must longer kneel; I am a fuitor. King. Arife, and take place by us :-Half your fuit Never name to us; you have half our power: The other moiety, ere you afk, is giv'n; Repeat your will, and take it.

2. Cath. Thank your majefty.

That you would love yourfelf; and, in that love,
Not unconfider'd leave your honour, nor

The dignity of your office, is the point

Of my petition.

King. Lady mine, proceed.

2. Cath. I am folicited, not by a few,

And those of true condition, that your fubjects

Are in great grievance: there have been commiffions

Sent down among them, which hath flaw'd the heart
Of all their loyalties:-wherein, although,

My good lord cardinal, they vent reproaches

Moft bitterly on you, as putter-on

Of these exactions +, yet the king our mafter,

(Whose honour heaven fhield from foil!) even he efcapes not Language unmannerly, yea, fuch which breaks

The fides of loyalty, and almost appears

In loud rebellion.

Nor. Not almost appears,

It doth appear: for, upon thefe taxations,
The clothiers all, not able to maintain
The many to them 'longing', have put off

as putter-on

The

Of these exactions,] The infiigator of thefe exactions; the perfon who fuggefted to the king the taxes complained of, and incited him to exact them from his fubjects. So, in Macbeth:

"The powers above

"Put on their inftruments."

Again, in Hamlet:

"Of deaths put on by cunning and forc'd caufe." MALONE. 5 The many to them 'longing,-] The many is the meiny, the train, the people. Dryden is, perhaps, the last that used this word:

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"The

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