For Glofter's dukedom is too ominous.8 WAR. Tut, that's a foolish obfervation; Richard, be duke of Glofter: Now to London, To see these honours in poffeffion. [Exeunt. ACT III. SCENE I. A Chace in the North of England. Enter Two Keepers, with Cross-bows in their Hands. 1 KEEP. Under this thick-grown brake1 we'll shroud ourselves; too ominous.] Alluding, perhaps, to the deaths of Thomas of Woodstock, and Humphrey, Dukes of Glofter. STEEVENS. The author of the original play, in which this line is found, probably had here a paffage in Hall's Chronicle in his thoughts: "It feemeth to many men that the name and title of Gloucefter hath bene unfortunate and unluckie to diverse, whiche for their honor have bene erected by creation of princes to that stile and dignitie; as Hugh Spencer, Thomas of Woodstocke, fon to kynge Edwarde the thirde, and this duke Humphrey, [who was killed at Bury ;] whiche three perfons by miferable death finished their daies; and after them king Richard the iii. alfo duke of Gloucefter, in civil warre was flaine and confounded; fo that this name of Gloucester is taken for an unhappie and unfortunate ftile, as the proverbe speaketh of Sejanes horfe, whofe ryder was ever unhorfed, and whofe poffeffor was ever brought to miferie." MALONE. 9 two Keepers,] In the folio, inftead of two keepers, we have, through negligence, the names of the perfons who represented these characters; Sinklo and Humphrey. See Vol. IX. p. 23, n.7. MALONE. For through this laund anon the deer will come; Dr. Grey obferves from Hall and Holinfhed, that the name of the person who took King Henry, was Cantlowe. See Mr. Tyrwhitt's note on the first scene in The Taming of a Shrew. I learn alfo from one of the Pafton Letters, Vol. I. p. 249, that Giles Senctlowe was among the perfons then in Scotland with the Queen. STEEVENS. One Giles Santlowe, Efquire, is among thofe attainted by King Edward's firft parliament, and may poffibly be here meant, but no perfón of that name seems to have been any way concerned in the capture of the late king; who, according to W. Wyrcefter, was actually taken in Lancashire, by two knights named John Talbois and Richard Tunfiall,-July, 1464. Drummond of Hawthornden obferves, it was recorded" that a fon of Sir Edward Talbots apprehended him as he fat at dinner in Waddingtown-hall; and like a common malefactor, with his legs under the horse's belly, guarded him toward London." It is a more certain fact, which I have from records in the Duchy Office, that King Edward granted to Sir James Harrington a rent-charge of one hundred pounds out of his lordship of Rowland in Lancashire, in recompence of his great and laborious diligence about the capture and detention of the king's great traitor, rebel and enemy, lately called Henry the Sixth, made by the said James; and likewife annuities to Richard Talbot, Thomas Talbot, Efquires,Talbot, and-Livefey, for their fervices in the fame capture. See also, Rymer's Fœdera, xi. 548. Henry had for some time been harboured by James Maychell of Crakenthorpe, Weftmoreland, Ib. 575. It seems clear, however, that the present scene is to be placed near the Scottish border. The King himself says: "From Scotland am I ftol'n, even of pure love;" And Hall (and Holinfhed after him) tells us "He was no fooner entered [into England,] but he was knowen and taken of one Cantlow, and brought toward the king." RITSON. I brake-] A brake anciently fignified a thicket. So, in A Midfummer-Night's Dream: "This green plot shall be our ftage, this hawthorn brake our tiring houfe." Again: "Enter into that brake, and fo every one according to his cue." See the latter part of a note on Meafure for Meafure, Vol. VI. p. 232. STEEVENS. 2 this laund-] Laund means the fame as lawn; a plain extended between woods. So, in the old play of Orlando Furiofo, 1594: And in this covert will we make our ftand, * 2 KEEP. I'll stay above the hill, fo both may fhoot. *1 KEEP. That cannot be; the noise of thy cross-bow 3 * Will feare the herd, and fo my fhoot is loft. * In this felf-place where now we mean to stand. 2 KEEP. Here comes a man, let's ftay till he be past.4 Enter King HENRY, difguifed, with a Prayer-book. K. HEN. From Scotland am I ftol'n, even of pure love, To greet mine own land with my wifhful fight.5 'No, Harry, Harry, 'tis no land of thine; * Thy place is fill'd, thy fcepter wrung from thee, Again : 3 "Tread she these lawnds, kind Flora boasts her pride." STEEVENS. the noife of thy cross-bow-] The poet appears not to have forgot the fecrets of his former profeffion. So, in The Merry Devil of Edmonton, 1608: read : 66 66 Did I not hear a bow go off, and the buck bray?" - let's Stay till he be past.] So the folio. The quartos let's liften him a while." STEEVENS. 5 To greet mine own land with my wifhful fight.] So the folio. The quartos perhaps better, thus: "And thus difguis'd to greet my native land." STEEVENS. *Thy balm wafh'd off, wherewith thou waft anointed: No bending knee will call thee Cæfar now, 1 KEEP. Ay, here's a deer whose skin's a keeper's fee: This is the quondam king;7 let's feize upon him. Thy balm wash'd off] This is an image very frequent in the works of Shakspeare. So again, in this scene: "I was anointed king." It is common in thefe plays to find the fame images, whether jocular or ferious, frequently recurring. JOHNSON. So, in King Richard II: "Not all the water in the rough rude fea "Can wath the balm from an anointed king." It is obfervable that this line is one of thofe additions to the original play, which are found in the folio, and not in the quarto. MALONE. 7 This is the quondam king; &c.] Thus the folio. The quartos thus: 66 Ay, marry, fir, here's a deer; his skin is a Keeper's fee. Sirrah ftand close; for as I think, "This is the king, king Edward hath depos'd." STEEVENS. Quondam had not in Shakspeare's time uniformly acquired a ludicrous fenfe. "Make them quondams (fays Latimer in one of his Sermons,) out with them, caft them out of their office." And in another place: "He will have every man a quondam, as he is. As for my quondamfhip I thank God that he gaue me the grace to come by it, by fo honeft a meanes as I did; I thanke him for myne owne quondamfhip, and as for them I will not haue then made quondams, if they discharge their office. I would haue them doe their duety. I would haue no more quondams, as God help me." Fol. 53. Again, in Warner's Albion's England, B. V. ch. 28, 1602: "Not knights alone, but prelates too, and queens of were twain, "The quondam & in effe queenes-." where HOLT WHITE. *K. HEN. Let me embrace thefe four adverfities; * For wife men say, it is the wifest course. *2 KEEP. Why linger we? let us lay hands upon him. *1 KEEP. Forbear a while; we'll hear a little more. K. HEN. My queen, and fon, are gone to France for aid; And, as I hear, the great commanding Warwick Is thither gone, to crave the French king's fifter To wife for Edward: If this news be true, 'Poor queen, and fon, your labour is but loft; 'For Warwick is a fubtle orator, "And Lewis a prince foon won with moving words. "By this account, then, Margaret may win him; 'For fhe's a woman to be pitied much: * Her fighs will make a battery in his breast; * Her tears will pierce into a marble heart; *The tiger will be mild, while the doth mourn; * And Nero will be tainted with remorse, I *To hear, and fee, her plaints, her brinish tears. * Ay, but fhe's come to beg; Warwick, to give : She, on his left fide, craving aid for Henry; He, on his right, afking a wife for Edward. She weeps, and fays-her Henry is depos'd; He fmiles, and fays-his Edward is install'd ; 8 thefe four adverfities ;] The old copy reads-the fowre adverfaries. STEEVENS. Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE. 9 The tiger will be mild, while fhe doth mourn;] So, in Othello: She will fing the savageness out of a bear." STEEVENS. 1 And Nero will-] Perhaps we might better read—A Nero |