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Willo. Barely in title, not in revenue.

North. Richly in both, if juftice had her right.
Rofs. My heart is great; but it must break with
filence,

Ere't be difburden'd with a liberal tongue.

North. Nay,, fpeak thy mind; and let him ne'er fpeak more,

That fpeaks thy words again to do thee harm!

Willo. Tends, what thou'dit fpeak, to the duke of
Hereford?

If it be fo, out with it boldly, man:

Quick is mine ear to hear of good towards him.
Rofs. No good at all that I can do for him;

Unless you call it good to pity him,

Bereft and gelded of his patrimony.

North. Now, afore heaven, 'tis fhame, fuch wrongs
are borne

In him a royal prince, and many more
Of noble blood in this declining land.
The king is not himself, but bafely led
By flatterers; and what they will inform,
Merely in hate, 'gainst any of us all,
That will the king feverely profecute

'Gainst us, our lives, our children, and our heirs.
Rofs. The commons hath he pill'd with grievous

taxes,

And loft their hearts: the nobles he hath fin'd
For ancient quarrels, and quite loft their hearts.
Willo. And daily new exactions are devis'd;
As, blanks, benevolences, and I wot not what :
But what, o' God's name, doth become of this?
North. War hath not wafted it, for warr'd he hath

not,

But bafely yielded upon compromife

That which his ancestors atchiev'd with blows;
More hath he spent in peace, than they in wars.

Rofs. The earl of Wiltshire hath the realm in farm.
Willo. The king's grown bankrupt, like a broken

man.

North.

North. Reproach and diffolution hangeth over him. Rofs. He hath not money for these Irish wars, His burthenous taxations notwithstanding, But by the robbing of the banish'd duke.

North. His noble kinfiman. Moft degenerate king! But, lords, we hear this fearful tempeft fing, Yet feek no fhelter to avoid the ftorm:

We fee the wind fit fore upon our fails,

6

And yet we strike not, but fecurely perifh.

Rofs. We see the very wreck that we must suffer; And unavoided is the danger now,

For fuffering fo the caufes of our wreck.

North. Not fo; even through the hollow eyes of death

Ifpy life peering: but I dare not fay,

How near the tidings of our comfort is.

Willo. Nay, let us fhare thy thoughts, as thou doft

ours.

Rofs. Be confident to speak, Northumberland : We three are but thyfelf, and, fpeaking fo,

Thy words are but as thoughts; therefore be bold.
North. Then,thus: I have from Port le Blanc, a bay
In Britainy, receiv'd intelligence,

That Harry Hereford, Reginald lord Cobham,
That late broke from the duke of Exeter 7,
His brother, archbishop late of Canterbury,
Sir Thomas Erpingham, Sir John Ramston,
Sir John Norbery, Sir Robert Waterton, and Francis
Cuoint,

All these well furnish'd by the duke of Bretagne,
With eight tall fhips, three thoufand men of war,

And yet we frike not, &c.] To frike the fails, is, to contract them when there is too much wind. JOHNSON.

7

--

duke of Exeter,] I fufpect that fome of thefe lines are tranfpofed, as well as that the poet has made a blurder in his enumeration of perfons. No copy that I have feen, will authorize me to make an alteration, though, according to Holinfhead, whom Shakespeare followed in great measure, more than one is neceffary. STEEVENS.

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Are making hither with all due expedience,
And fhortly mean to touch our northern fhore:
Perhaps, they had ere this; but that they stay
The first departing of the king for Ireland.
If then we shall shake off our flavish yoke,
Imp out our drooping country's broken wing,
Redeem from broking pawn the blemish'd crown,
Wipe off the duft that hides our scepter's gilt,
And make high majesty look like itself,
Away with me in poft to Ravenfpurg:
But if you faint, as fearing to do fo,
Stay, and be fecret, and myself will go.

Rofs. To horfe, to horfe! urge doubts to them that fear.

Willo. Hold out my horfe, and I will first be there,

SCENE II.

The court.

Enter queen, Busby, and Bagot.

[Exeunt.

Bufby. Madam, your majefty is much too fad:
You promis'd, when you parted with the king,
To lay afide life-harming heavinefs,
And entertain a chearful difpofition.

Queen. To please the king, I did; to please myself,
I cannot do it; yet I know no cause
Why I fhould welcome fuch a guest as grief,
Save bidding farewell to fo fweet a gueft
As my fweet Richard: yet again, methinks,

• Imp out] As this expreffion frequently occurs in our author, it may not be amifs to explain the original meaning of it. When the wing-feathers of a hawk were dropped, or forced out by any accident, it was ufual to fupply as many as were deficient. This operation was called, to imp a hawk.

So in The Devil's Charter, 1607.

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"His plumes only imp the mufe's wings."

STEEVENS,

Some

Some unborn forrow, ripe in fortune's womb,
Is coming toward me; and my inward foul
With nothing trembles, at fomething it grieves,
More than with parting from my lord the king.
Bufby. Each fubftance of a grief hath twenty fha-
dows,

Which fhew like grief itself, but are not fo:
For forrow's eye, glazed with blinding tears,
Divides one thing entire to many objects;
Like perspectives, which, rightly gaz'd upon,
Shew nothing but confufion; ey'd awry,
Diftinguish form:-fo your fweet majesty,
Looking awry upon your lord's departure,
Finds fhapes of grief, more than himself, to wail;
Which, look'd on as it is, is nought but shadows
Of what it is not; then, thrice gracious queen,
More than your lord's departure weep not; more's not
feen:

With nothing trembles, yet at fomething grieves,] The following line requires that this should be read juft the contrary

way,

With fomething trembles, yet at nothing grieves.
WARBURTON.

All the old editions read,

-my inward foul

With nothing trembles; at fomething it grieves.

The reading, which Dr. Warburton corrects, is itself an innovation. His conjectures give indeed a better fenfe than that of any copy, but copies must not be needlefly forfaken.

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Like perfpectives, which, rightly gaz'd upon, Shew nothing but confufion; ey'd awry,

JOHNSON.

Diftinguifh form:] This is a fine fimilitude, and the thing meant is this; amongst mathematical recreations, there is one in optics, in which a figure is drawn, wherein all the rules of perfpective are inverted: fo that, if held in the fame pofition with thofe pictures which are drawn according to the rules of perspective, it can prefent nothing but confufion: and to be feen in form, and under a regular appearance, it must be looked upon from a contrary tation; or, as Shakespeare fays, ey'd awry. WARBURTON.

Or if it be, 'tis with false forrow's eye,

Which, for things true, weeps things imaginary.
Queen. It may be fo; but yet my inward foul
Pertuades me it is otherwife. Howe'er it be,
I cannot but be fad; fo heavy-fad,

As, though, in thinking, on no thought I think,
Makes me with heavy nothing faint and fhrink.
Busby. 'Tis nothing but conceit, my gracious lady,
Queen. 'Tis nothing lefs: conceit is still deriv'd
From fome fore-father grief; mine is not fo
3 For nothing hath begot my fomething grief;
Or fomething hath, the nothing that I grieve;
'Tis in reverfion that I do poffefs;

2

;

But

As, though, on thinking, on no thought I think,] We should read, as though in thinking; that is, though mufing I have no diftinct idea of calamity. The involuntary and unaccountable depreffion of the mind, which every one has fometime felt, is here very forcibly defcribed. JOHNSON.

3 For nothing bath begot my fomething grief;

Or fomething bath, the nothing that I grieve:] With these lines I know not well what can be done. The queen's reafoning, as it now ftands, is this: my trouble is not conceit, for conceit is fill derived from fome antecedent caufe, fome fore-father grief; but with me the cafe is, that either my real grief hath no real caufe, or fome real caufe has produced a fancied grief. That is, my grief is not conceit, becanje it either has not a caufe bike conceit, or it has a caufe like conceit. This can hardly ftand. Let us try again, and read thus:

For nothing hath begot my fomething grief;

Not fomething hath the nothing which I grieve: That is; my grief is not conceit; conceit is an imaginary uneasiness from fome paft occurrence. But, on the contrary, here is real grief avithout a real caufe; not a real caufe with a fanciful forrow. This. I think, muft be the meaning, harsh at the belt, yet better than contradiction or abfurdity. JOHNSON.

4 'Tis in reverfion that I do poffefs;

But what it is, that is not yet known, &c.] I am about to propofe an interpretation which many will think harsh, and which I do not offer for certain. To poffefs a man, is, in Shakefpeare, to inform him fully, to make him comprehend. To Le poffeffed, is, to be fully informed. Of this fenfe the examples are

numerous :

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