Upon the innocent and awless throne :-
Welcome destruction, blood, and massacre!
I see, as in a map, the end of all.

DUCH. Accursed and unquiet wrangling days,
How many of you have mine eyes beheld !
My husband lost his life to get the crown;
And often up and down my sons were toss'd,
For me to joy, and weep, their gain and loss:
And being seated, and domestic broils

Clean over-blown, themselves, the conquerors,
Make war upon themselves; brother to brother,
Blood to blood, self against self:-O, preposterous
And frantic outrage, end thy damned spleen;
Or let me die, to look on death* no more!

(*) First folio, earth.

(*) First folio, Go.

In the quartos the dialogue run thus:

"Qu. Come, come, my boy, we will to sanctuarie. DUT. Ile go along with you."

Trumpets sound. Enter the PRINCE of WALES, GLOUCESTER, BUCKINGHAM, CARDINAL BOURCHIER, and others.

BUCK. Welcome, sweet prince, to London, to your chamber.(1)

GLO. Sweet prince, the untainted virtue of your

years

Hath not yet div'd into the world's deceit ;
Nor* more can you distinguish of a man,
Than of his outward show; which, God he knows,
Seldom or never jumpeth with the heart.
Those uncles which you want were dangerous;
Your grace attended to their sugar'd words,
But look'd not on the poison of their hearts:
God keep you from them, and from such false
friends!

PRINCE. God keep me from false friends! but they were none.

GLO. My lord, the mayor of London comes to greet you.

To mild entreaties, God in heaven forbid
We should infringe the holy privilege
Of blessed sanctuary! not for all this land
Would I be guilty of so deep a sin.
BUCK. You are too senseless-obstinate, my
lord,

C

age: (2)

Too ceremonious, and traditional,
Weigh it but with the grossness of this
You break not sanctuary in seizing him ;
The benefit thereof is always granted
To those whose dealings have deserv'd the place,
And those who have the wit to claim the place:
This prince hath neither claim'd it, nor deserv'd
it;

And therefore, in mine opinion, cannot have it :
Then, taking him from thence that is not there,
You break no privilege nor charter there.
Oft have I heard of sanctuary-men;
But sanctuary-children, ne'er till now.

CAR. My lord, you shall o'errule my mind
for once.-

Come on, lord Hastings, will you go with me?
HAST. I go, my lord.

PRINCE. Good lords, make all the speedy haste

you may.

[Exeunt CARDINAL and HASTINGS. Say, uncle Gloster, if our brother come, Where shall we sojourn till our coronation? GLO. Where it seems best unto your royal self.

If I may counsel you, some day or two,
Your highness shall repose you at the Tower:
Then where you please, and shall be thought most
fit

For your best health and recreation.

PRINCE. I do not like the Tower, of any place:Did Julius Cæsar build that place, my lord? GLO. He did, my gracious lord, begin that

place;

Which since succeeding ages have re-edified.
PRINCE. Is it upon record, or else reported
Successively from age to age, he built it?
BUCK. Upon record, my gracious lord.

PRINCE. But say, my lord, it were not register'd; Methinks the truth should live from age to age, As 't were retail'd to all posterity,

Even to the general all-ending§ day.

GLO. [Aside.] So wise, so young, they say, ne'er live long.

PRINCE. What say you, uncle?

GLO. I say, without charácters, fame lives long.-

(*) First folio omits, in heaven.

(1) First folio, think'st.

(§) First folio, generall ending day.

(+) First folio, great.

c Grossness of this age:] The quarto, 1622, reads, ". greatness of his age;" Warburton, "the greenness of his age ;" and Mr. Collier's annotator, "the goodness of his age." See note on the passage in the Illustrative Comments to Act III.

[Aside.

Thus, like the formal Vice, Iniquity,
I moralize two meanings in one word."
PRINCE. That Julius Cæsar was a famous man ;
With what his valour did enrich his wit,
His wit set down to make his valour live:
Death makes no conquest of this* conqueror;
For now he lives in fame, though not in life.-
I'll tell you what, my cousin Buckingham-
BUCK. What, my gracious lord?

PRINCE. An if I live until I be a man,
I'll win our ancient right in France again,
Or die a soldier, as I liv'd a king.

Too late he died, that might have kept that title, Which by his death hath lost much majesty.

GLO. How fares our cousin, noble lord of York? YORK. I thank you, gentle uncle. O, my lord, You said that idle weeds are fast in growth: The prince my brother hath outgrown me far. GLO. He hath, my lord. YORK. And therefore is he idle? GLO. O, my fair cousin, I must not say so. YORK. Then he is more beholden to you than I? GLO. He may command me as my sovereign; But you have power in me as in a kinsman. YORK. I pray you, uncle, give me this dagger. GLO. My dagger, little cousin? with all my heart.

PRINCE. A beggar, brother?

YORK. Of my kind uncle, that I know will

a

(1) First folio, deare.

Thus, like the formal Vice, Iniquity,
I moralize two meanings in one word.]

On what expression does the equivocation of Gloucester depend?
Johnson thinks he alludes to the line,-

"So wise, so young, they say, do ne'er live long."

In which he conceals under a proverb, his design of hastening the Prince's death. Mason conceives the ambiguity to lie in the words "live long," and Warburton adopts the extraordinary change of,

-formal-wise Antiquity"!

GLO. How? YORK. Little.

PRINCE. My lord of York will still be cross in talk;

Uncle, your grace knows how to bear with him. YORK. You mean, to bear me, not to bear with

me:

you

Uncle, my brother mocks both and me;
Because that I am little, like an ape,

He thinks that you should bear me on your shoulders.

BUCK. With what a sharp provided wit he

reasons!

To mitigate the scorn he gives his uncle,
He prettily and aptly taunts himself:
So cunning and so young is wonderful.

GLO. My lord, will 't please you pass along?
Myself, and my good cousin Buckingham,
Will to your mother, to entreat of her,
To meet you at the Tower, and welcome you.
YORK. What, will you go unto the Tower, my
lord?

PRINCE. My lord protector needs t† will have

it so.

YORK. I shall not sleep in quiet at the Tower.
GLO. Why, what should you fear?

YORK. Marry, my uncle Clarence' angry ghost; My grandam told me he was murder'd there. PRINCE. I fear no uncles dead.

GLO. Nor none that live, I hope.

PRINCE. An if they live, I hope I need not fear. But come, my lord, and with a heavy heart, Thinking on them, go I unto the Tower. [Sennet. Exeunt PRINCE, YORK, HASTINGS, CARDINAL, and Attendants.

May he not refer to the double sense of the word characters, which signifies both the signs by which we communicate ideas, and the good or evil qualities which distinguish us? For an account of the Vice, see note (5), p. 658, Vol. I.

b Lightly-] Commonly, usually.

Too late-] That is, too recently, too lately.

d Provided wit-] A wit furnished him beforehand. Buckingham suspects the young prince had been instigated by the Queen

to mock his uncle Gloucester,

"Think you, my lord, this little prating York
Was not incensed by his subtle mother,
To taunt and scorn you thus opprobriously

BUCK. Think you, my lord, this little prating
York

Was not incensed by his subtle mother,
To taunt and scorn you thus opprobriously?

GLO. No doubt, no doubt: O, 't is a parlous boy;

Bold, quick, ingenious, forward, capable;
He's all the mother's, from the top to toe.

BUCK. Well, let them rest.-Come hither,

Catesby,

Thou 'rt sworn as deeply to effect what we intend,
As closely to conceal what we impart :

Thou know'st our reasons urg'd upon the way;—
What think'st thou ? is it not an easy matter
To make William lord Hastings of our mind,
For the instalment of this noble duke
In the seat royal of this famous isle?

CATE. He for his father's sake so loves the
prince,

That he will not be won to aught against him. BUCK. What think'st thou then of Stanley? will not he?*

CATE. He will do all in all as Hastings doth.
BUCK. Well then, no more but this: go, gentle
Catesby,

And, as it were far off, sound thou lord Hastings,
How he doth stand affected to our purpose;
[And summon him to-morrow to the Tower,
To sit about the coronation.]*

If thou dost find him tractable to us,
Encourage him, and show+ him all our reasons:
If he be leaden, icy, cold, unwilling,
Be thou so too, and so break off your‡ talk,
And give us notice of his inclination :
For we to-morrow hold divided councils,(3)
Wherein thyself shalt highly be employ’d.

GLO. Commend me to lord William; tell him,
Catesby,

His ancient knot of dangerous adversaries
To-morrow are let blood at Pomfret-castle;
And bid my friend,§ for joy of this good news,
Give mistress Shore one gentle kiss the more.
BUCK. Good Catesby, go, effect this business
soundly.

CATE. My good lords both, with all the heed

I may.

GLO. Shall we hear from you, Catesby, ere we sleep?

He dreamt the boar had rased off his helm: Besides, he says, there are two councils held; §§ And that may be determin'd at the one,

Which may make you and him to rue at the other. Therefore he sends to know your lordship's pleasure,

If you will presently take horse with him,

(*) First folio, Crosby-House. (1) First folio inserts, a l. (1) First folio, kindness. (**) First folio, appeares. (1) First folio, What.

Gloucester's energy by reading,—

(†) First folio omits, William. (§) First folio, was.

(4) First folio, my lord Stanley (tt) Quartos, lordship. (§§) First folio, kept.

"Chop off his head; Something wee will determine."

e A messenger from the lord Stanley.] In the folio, the scene begins,-

"MESS. My Lord, my Lord.

HAST. Who knockes?

MESS. One from the Lord Stanley."