On equal terms to give him chastisement? Fitzw. 4 If that thy valour stand on fympathies, We learn from Pliny's Nat. Hift. that the vulgar error affigned the bright and fair ftars to the rich and great. Sidera fingulis attributa nobis et clara divitibus, minora pauperibus, &c. Lib. 1. cap. 8. Anonymous. 4 If that thy valour ftand on fympathies,] Here is a translated fenfe much harfher than that of ftars explained in the foregoing note. Aumerle has challenged Bagot with fome hesitation, as not being his equal, and therefore one whom, according to the rules of chivalry, he was not obliged to fight, as a nobler life was not to be flaked in a duel against a bafer. Fitzwalter then throws down his gage, a pledge of battle; and tells him that if he ftands upon fympathies, that is, upon equality of blood, the combat is now offered him by a man of rank not inferior to his own. Sympathy is an affection incident at once to two subjects. This community of affection implies a likenefs or equality of nature, and thence our poet transferred the term to equality of blood. JOHNSON. my rapier's point.] Shakespeare deferts the manners of the age in which his drama is placed very often, without neceffity or advantage. The edge of a fword had ferved his purpofe as well as the point of a rapier, and he had then escaped the impropriety of giving the English nobles a weapon which was not feen in England till two centuries afterwards. JOHNSON. Aum. Aum. Thou dar'ft not, coward, live to fee the day. Fitzw. Now, by my foul, I would it were this hour. Aum. Fitzwalter, thou art damn'd to hell for this. Percy. Aumerle, thou lieft; his honour is as true, In this appeal, as thou art all unjuft : And, that thou art fo, there I throw my gage To prove it on thee to the extremeft point Of mortal breathing; feize it, if thou dar'st. Aum. And if I do not, may my hands rot off, And never brandifh more revengeful steel Over the glittering helmet of my foe! Another Lord. I take the earth to the like, forfworn Aumerle, And spur thee on with full as many lies As may be hollow'd in thy treach'rous ear Aum. Who fets me elfe? by heaven, I'll throw at all. I have a thousand spirits in one breast To answer twenty thousand fuch as you. Surry. My lord Fitzwalter, I do remember well The very time Aumerle and you did talk. Fitzw. My lord, 'tis true: you were in prefence then; And you can witnefs with me, this is true. Surry. As falfe, by heaven, as heaven itself is true. Fitz. Surry, thou lieft. Surry. Difhonourable boy! That lie fhall lye fo heavy on my fword, I take the earth to the like, &c.] This fpeech I have restored from the first edition in humble imitation of former editors, though, I believe, against the mind of the author. For the earth I fuppofe we should read, thy oath. JOHNSON. . From fin to fin. So both the quarto's and folio. I fufpect we should read, From fun to fun; i. e. from one day to another. STEEVENS. In proof whereof, there is mine honour's pawn; Fitz. How fondly doft thou spur a forward horse? If I dare eat, or drink, or breathe, or live, 7 I dare meet Surry in a wilderness, And fpit upon him, whilst I fay, he lies, As I intend to thrive in this new world, Aum. Some honest Christian trust me with a gage, Boling. Thefe differences fhall all reft under gage, To his lands and figniories; when he's return'd, Car. That honourable day fhall ne'er be seen.- 7 I dare meet Surry in a wilderness,] I dare meet him where no help can be had by me against him. So in Macbeth, 8 "O be alive again, "And dare me to the defert with thy fword." JoHNS. -in this new world,] In this world where I have just begun to be an actor. Surry has, a few lines above, called him boy. JOHNSON. Carl. Carl. Sure as I live, my lord. Boling. Sweet peace conduct his fweet foul to the Of good old Abraham!-Lords appellants, York. Great duke of Lancaster, I come to thee Afcend his throne, defcending now from him, Worft in this royal prefence may I fpeak, 9 Yet beft befeeming me to speak the truth.] It might be read more grammatically, Yet beft befeems it me to speak the truth. But I do not think it is printed otherwife than as Shakespeare wrote it. JOHNSON. And fall the figure, &c.] Here is another proof that our author did not learn in king James's court his elevated notions of the right of kings. I know not any flatterer of the Stuarts, who has expreffed this doctrine in much ftronger terms. It must be obferved that the poet intends, from the beginning to the end, to exhibit this bishop as brave, pious, and venerable. JOHNSON. Shakespeare has reprefented this character of the bilhop as he found it in Holinfhed. The politics of the hiftorian were the politics of the poet. STEEVENS. His captain, steward, deputy elect, Anointed, crown'd, and planted many years, Shall here inhabit, and this land be call'd Left childrens' children cry against you, woe! pains, Of capital treafon we arreft you here. My lord of Westminster, be it your charge, 2 his day of trial.] After this line, whatever follows, almoft to the end of the act, containing the whole process of dethroning and debafing king Richard, was added after the first edition of 1598, and before the fecond of 1615. Part of the addition is proper, and part might have been forborn without much lofs. The author, I fuppofe, intended to make a very moving fcene. JOHNSON. Boling. |