* I have not been desirous of their wealth, * Nor much oppress'd them with great subsidies, * Nor forward of revenge, though they much err'd; * Then why should they love Edward more than me? * No, Exeter, these graces challenge grace : * And, when the lion fawns upon the lamb, * The lamb will never cease to follow him. [Shout within. A Lancaster ! A Lancaster! EXE. Hark, hark, my lord! what shouts are thefe ? Enter King EDWARD, GLOSTER, and Soldiers. K. Edw. Sieze on the shame-fac'd Henry, bear him hence, And once again proclaim us king of England.* You are the fount, that makes small brooks to flow; * Now stops thy spring; my fea shall fuck them dry, * And swell so much the higher by their ebb.' Hence with him to the Tower; let him not speak. [Exeunt fome with King HENRY. 'And, lords, towards Coventry bend we our course, Where peremptory Warwick now remains:1 Shout within. A Lancaster!] Surely the shouts that ushered King Edward should be, A York! A York! I suppose the author did not write the marginal directions, and the players confounded the characters. JOHNSON. We may suppose the shouts to have come from fome of Henry's guard, on the appearance of Edward. MALONE. T And, lords, towards Coventry bend we our course, Where peremptory Warwick now remains :] Warwick, as Mr. M. Mason has observed, [p 166, n. 4.] has but just left the stage, declaring his intention to go to Coventry. How then 'The fun shines hot, and, if we use delay, 'Cold biting winter mars our hop'd-for hay. * GLO. Away betimes, before his forces join, * And take the great-grown traitor unawares: * Brave warriors, march amain towards Coventry. [Exeunt. could Edward know of that intention? Our author was led into this impropriety by the old play, where also Edward says : "And now towards Coventry let's bend our course, Some of our old writers seem to have thought, that all the perfons of the drama must know whatever was known to the writers themselves, or to the audience. MALONE. 2 The fun shines hot, &c.] These lines are formed on two others which are found in the old play in a fubfequent scene in the next Act, being spoken by Edward, after the battle of Barnet, and just before he fets out for Tewksbury. Come, let us go; "For if we flack this fair bright summers day, Sharp winters showers will mar our hope, for haie." I suspect, haie was inadvertently written in the manufcript instead of aye, and that Shakspeare was thus led to introduce an idea different from that intended to be conveyed by the original、 author. MALONE. The old reading is undoubtedly the true one; the allusion, being to a well-known proverb-" Make hay while the fun shines." See Ray's Collection, edit. 1768, p. 117. STEEVENS. ACT V. SCENE I. Coventry. Enter, upon the Walls, WARWICK, the Mayor of Coventry, Two Messengers, and Others. WAR. Where is the post, that came from valiant Oxford? How far hence is thy lord, mine honest fellow ? '1 MESS. By this at Dunsmore,3 marching hi therward. WAR. How far off is our brother Montague?Where is the poft that came from Montague? 2 MESS. By this at Daintry, with a puissant troop. Enter Sir JOHN SOMERVILLE. WAR. Say, Somerville, what says my loving fon ? 'And, by the guess, how nigh is Clarence now ? SoM. At Southam I did leave him with his forces, 'And do expect him here some two hours hence. [Drum heard. 3 WAR. Then Clarence is at hand, I hear his drum. * Som. It is not his, my lord; here Southam lies; at Dunsmore,] The quartos read-at Daintry: i. e. Daventry. STEEVENS. 4 - at Daintry, The quartos read-at Dunsmore. STEEVENS. * The drum your honour hears, marcheth from Warwick. * WAR. Who should that be? belike, unlook'd for friends. * Som. They are at hand, and you shall quickly know. Drums. Enter King EDWARD, GLOSTER, and Forces, marching. * K. Edw. Go, trumpet, to the walls, and found a parle. GLO. See, how the furly Warwick mans the wall. WAR. O, unbid spite ! is sportful Edward come? Where slept our scouts,5 or how are they seduc'd, That we could hear no news of his repair? * K. Edw. Now, Warwick, wilt thou ope the city gates, 'Speak gentle words, and humbly bend thy knee?'Call Edward-king, and at his hands beg mercy, And he shall pardon thee these outrages. WAR. Nay, rather, wilt thou draw thy forces hence, Confess who set thee up and pluck'd thee down?Call Warwick-patron, and be penitent, And thou shalt still remain the duke of York. GLO. I thought, at least, he would have faid-the king; Or did he make the jest against his will ? * WAR. Is not a dukedom, fir, a goodly gift? 5 Where flept our scouts?] So, in King John : "O, where hath our intelligence been drunk? * I'll do thee service for so good a gift. WAR. 'Twas I, that gave the kingdom to thy brother. K. EDW. Why, then 'tis mine, if but by Warwick's gift. WAR. Thou art no Atlas for so great a weight: And, weakling, Warwick takes his gift again; And Henry is my king, Warwick his fubject. * K. EDW. But Warwick's king is Edward's pri foner: And, gallant Warwick, do but answer this,What is the body, when the head is off? GLO. Alas, that Warwick had no more forecaft, But, whiles he thought to steal the single ten, • The king was flily finger'd from the deck !? • I'll do thee service-] i. e. enroll myself among thy dependants. Cowell informs us, that fervitium is "that fervice which the tenant, by reason of his fee, oweth unto his lord." STEEVENS. 7 The king was flily finger'd from the deck!] The quartos read-finely finger'd. Finely is fubtly. So, in Holinshed's reign of King Henry VI. p. 640 : "In his way he tooke by fine force, a tower," &c. Again, p. 649, - and by fine force either to win their purpose, or end their lives in the fame." A pack of cards was anciently termed a deck of cards, or a pair of cards. It is still, as I am informed, fo called in Ireland. Thus, in King Edward I. 1599: -as it were, turned us, with duces and trays, out of the deck." Again, in The Two Maids of Moreclacke, 1609: "I'll deal the cards and cut you from the deck." Again, in Selimus, Emperor of the Turks, 1594: "Well, if I chance but once to get the deck, "To deal about and thuffle as I would." STEEVENS. An inftance of a pack of cards being called a deck, occurs in the feffions paper, for January, 1788. So that the term appears to be still in use, RITSON. |