K. HEN. Peace thou! and give king Henry leave to speak. WAR. Plantagenet fhall speak firft:-hear him, lords; star one And be you filent and attentive too, For he, that interrupts him, fhall not live. "K. HEN. Think'ft thou, that I will leave my kingly throne,5 Wherein my grandfire, and my father, fat? 5 Think'ft thou, &c.] The old play here exhibits four lines that are not in the folio. They could not have proceeded from the imagination of the tranfcriber, and therefore they must be added to the many other circumstances that have been already urged, to fhow that these plays were not originally the production of Shakspeare: "Ah Plantagenet, why feek'ft thou to depofe me? "And from two brothers lineally discent? "Think'st thou," &c. MALONE. Shall be my winding-fheet.] Perhaps Mr. Gray had this paffage in his mind, when he wrote: "Weave the warp, and weave the woof, "The winding-Sheet of Edward's race-." STteevens. 7 But prove it, Henry, and thou shalt be king.] Thus the fecond folio. The firft omits the neceffary word-But. STEEVENS. Henry is frequently used by Shakspeare and his contemporaries as a word of three fyllables. MALONE. But not as in the present inftance, where fuch a trifyllable must prove offenfive to the ear. STEEVENS, K. HEN. Henry the fourth by conqueft got the crown. YORK. 'Twas by rebellion against his king. K. HEN. I know not what to fay; my title's weak. Tell me, may not a king adopt an heir? YORK. What then? 'K. HEN. An if he may, then am I lawful king: For Richard, in the view of many lords, Refign'd the crown to Henry the fourth; Whofe heir my father was, and I am his. YORK. He rofe against him, being his fovereign, And made him to refign his crown perforce. WAR. Suppofe, my lords, he did it unconstrain'd, Think you, 'twere prejudicial to his crown ?8 EXE. No; for he could not fo refign his crown, But that the next heir fhould fucceed and reign. K. HEN. Art thou against us, duke of Exeter? EXE. His is the right, and therefore pardon me. * YORK. Why whisper you, my lords, and answer not? EXE. My confcience tells me he is lawful king. Think you, 'twere prejudicial to his crown?] The phrafe prejudicial to his crown, if it be right, muft mean, detrimental to the general rights of hereditary royalty; but I rather think that the tranfcriber's eye caught crown from the line below, and that we should read prejudicial to his fon, to his next heir. JOHNSON. Dr. Percy obferves on Dr. Johnfon's note, that fon could not have been the right word, as Richard the Second had no iffue; and our author would hardly have used it fimply for heir general. Prejudicial to the crown, is right, i. e. to the prerogative of the crown. STEEVENS. K. HEN. All will revolt from me, and turn to him. NORTH. Plantagenet, for all the claim thou lay'st, Think not, that Henry fhall be fo depos'd. • WAR. Depos'd he fhall be, in despite of all. NORTH. Thou art deceiv'd: 'tis not thy fouthern power, Of Effex, Norfolk, Suffolk, nor of Kent,Which makes thee thus prefumptuous and proud,Can fet the duke up, in defpite of me. CLIF. King Henry, be thy title right or wrong, Lord Clifford vows to fight in thy defence: May that ground gape, and fwallow me alive, "Where I fhall kneel to him that flew my father! "K. HEN. O Clifford, how thy words revive my heart! YORK. Henry of Lancafter, refign thy crown:What mutter you, or what confpire you, lords? WAR. Do right unto this princely duke of York; Or I will fill the houfe with armed men, And, o'er the chair of ftate, where now he fits, Write up his title with ufurping blood. 9 [He ftamps, and the Soldiers fhow themselves. * K. HEN. My lord of Warwick, hear me but one word;' May that ground gape, and fwallow me alive,] So, in Phaer's tranflation of the fourth Eneid: "But rather would I with the ground to gape for me below." Steevens. hear but one word;] Hear is in this line, as in fome other places used as a diffyllable. See Vol. XI. p. 411, n. 4. The editor of the third folio, and all the fubfequent editors, read -hear me but one word. MALONE. The word-hear, in this place, may certainly pafs as a dif Let me, for this my life-time, reign as king. YORK. Confirm the crown to me, and to mine heirs, And thou fhalt reign in quiet while thou liv'ft. K. HEN. I am content: Richard Plantagenet, Enjoy the kingdom after my decease.2 CLIF. What wrong is this unto the prince your fon? WAR. What good is this to England, and him- WEST. Bafe, fearful, and defpairing Henry! us? WEST. I cannot stay to hear these articles. CLIF. Come, coufin, let us tell the queen these news. *WEST. Farewell, faint-hearted and degenerate king, * In whose cold blood no spark of honour bides.. NORTH. Be thou a prey unto the house of York, And die in bands for this unmanly deed! : CLIF. In dreadful war may'ft thou be overcome! fyllable. Refpecting that referred to by Mr. Malone, I am of a contrary opinion. STEEVENS. Since the third folio reads-hear me but one word, which improves both the language and the metre, why should it not be followed? M. MASON. 2 I am content; &c.] Inftead of this speech the old play has the following lines: King. Convey the foldiers hence, and then I will. "War. Captaine, conduct them into Tuthilfields." .See Vol. XIII. p. 210, n. 9; p. 220, n. 6; p. 234, n. 1; p. 317, n. 3; p. 322, n. 3. MALONE. Or live in peace, abandon'd, and defpis'd! [Exeunt NORTHUMBERLAND, CLifford, and WESTMORELAND. * WAR. Turn this way, Henry, and regard them not. EXE. They feek revenge,3 and therefore will not yield. K. HEN. Ah, Exeter! WAR. Why fhould you figh, my lord? K. HEN. Not for myfelf, lord Warwick, but my fon, Whom I unnaturally shall difinherit. 'The crown to thee, and to thine heirs for ever; 3 They feek revenge,] They go away, not because they doubt the juftice of this determination, but because they have been conquered, and feek to be revenged. They are not influenced by principle, but paffion. JOHNSON. 4"And neither- Neither, either, whether, brother, rather, and many fimilar words, were ufed by Shakspeare as monofyllables. So, in A Midfummer-Night's Dream: "Either death or you I'll find immediately." The editor of the fecond folio, who appears to have been entirely ignorant of our author's metre and phrafeology, not knowing this, omitted the word And. MALONE. My ignorance must be content to accompany that of the editor of the fecond folio; for how-either, brother, neither, or rather, can be pronounced as monofyllables, I am yet to learn. The verfification, however, in this and the preceding play is often fo irregular, that I leave the paffage before us as it ftands in the first folio. STEEVENS.. |