* Hume. Hume must make merry with the duchess'

gold;

Marry, and shall. But, how now, Sir John Hume?

Seal up your lips, and give no words but-mum!
The business asketh silent secrecy.

*Dame Eleanor gives gold, to bring the witch:
* Gold cannot come amiss, were she a devil.
Yet have I gold, flies from another coast:
'I dare not say, from the rich cardinal,

*

And from the great and new-made duke of Suffolk;
Yet I do find it so: for, to be plain,

They, knowing dame Eleanor's aspiring humour,
Have hired me to undermine the duchess,

And buz these conjurations in her brain.

They say, A crafty knave does need no broker; * Yet am I Suffolk and the cardinal's broker. *Hume, if you take not heed, you shall go near * To call them both-a pair of crafty knaves.

Well, so it stands: And thus, I fear, at last, * Hume's knavery, will be the duchess' wreck; * And her attainture will be Humphrey's fall: * Sort how it will, I shall have gold for all.

8

The same.

SCENE III.

A Room in the Palace.

Enter PETER, and Others, with Petitions.

7

[Exit.

Pet. My masters, let's stand close; my lord pro'tector will come this way by and by, and then we may 'deliver our supplications in the quill.9

7- A crafty knave does need no broker;] This is a proverbial sentence. See Ray's Collection. Steevens.

8 Sort how it will,] Let the issue be what it will. Johnson. This whole speech is very different in the original play. Instead of the last couplet we find these lines:

9

"But whist, Sir John; no more of that I trow,

"For fear you lose your head, before you go." Malone.

in the quill.] In quill is Sir Thomas Hanmer's reading; the rest have-in the quill. Johnson.

Perhaps our supplications in the quill, or in quill, means no more than our written or penn'd supplications. We still say, a drawing in chalk, for a drawing executed by the use of chalk. Steevens.

In the quill may mean, with great exactness and observance of form, or with the utmost punctilio of ceremony. The phrase

2 Pet. Marry, the Lord protect him, for he 's a good 'man! Jesu bless him!

Enter SUFFOLK, and Queen MARGARET.

* 1 Pet. Here 'a comes, methinks, and the queen with *him: I'll be the first, sure.

2 Pet. Come back, fool; this is the duke of Suffolk, and not my lord protector.

Suf. How now, fellow? would'st any thing with me? 1 Pet. I pray, my lord, pardon me! I took ye for my lord protector.

Q. Mar. [reading the superscription] To my lord protector! are your supplications to his lordship? Let 'me see them: What is thine?

• 1 Pet. Mine is, an 't please your grace, against John Goodman, my lord cardinal's man, for keeping my house, ' and lands, and wife and all, from me.

Suf. Thy wife too? that is some wrong, indeed. What's your's?-What's here! [reads] Against the duke of Suffolk, for enclosing the commons of Melford. How now, sir knave?

2 Pet. Alas, sir, I am but a poor petitioner of our whole township.

Peter. [presenting his petition] Against my master, Thomas Horner, for saying, That the duke of York was rightful heir to the crown.

'Q. Mar. What say'st thou? Did the duke of York say, he was rightful heir to the crown?

seems to be taken from part of the dress of our ancestors, whose ruffs were quilled. While these were worn, it might be the vogue to say, such a thing is in the quill, i. e, in the reigning mode of taste.. Tollet.

To this observation I may add, that after printing began, the similar phrase of a thing being in print was used to express the same circumstance of exactness. "All this," (declares one of the quibbling servants in The Two Gentlemen of Verona) "I say in print, for in print I found it " Steevens.

In quill may be supposed to have been a phrase formerly in use, and the same with the French en quille, which is said of a man, when he stands upright upon his feet without stirring from the place. The proper sense of quille in French is a nine-pin, and, in some parts of England, nine-pins are still called cayls, which word is used in the statute 33 Henry VIII, c. 9 Quelle in the old British language also signifies any piece of wood set upright. Hawkins.

Peter. That my master was? No, forsooth: my master said, That he was; and that the king was an

usurper.

Suf Who is there? [enter Servants]-Take this fellow in, and send for his master with a pursuivant presently: —we 'll hear more of your matter before the king.

---

[Exeunt Servants, with Peter. 'Q. Mar. And as for you, that love to be protected Under the wings of our protector's grace,

'Begin your suits anew, and sue to him.

[Tears the petition. 'Away, base cullions!-Suffolk, let them go.

*All. Come, let 's be gone. [Exeunt Petitioners.. * Q. Mar. My lord of Suffolk, say, is this the guise, Is this the fashion in the court of England? * Is this the government of Britain's isle, * And this the royalty of Albion's king? * What, shall king Henry be a pupil still, * Under the surly Gloster's governance? * Am I a queen in title and in style, * And must be made a subject to a duke? 'I tell thee, Poole, when in the city Tours Thou ran'st a tilt in honour of my love, 'And stol'st away the ladies' hearts of France; 'I thought, king Henry had resembled thee, In courage, courtship, and proportion: But all his mind is bent to holiness, *To number Ave-Maries on his beads:

His champions are-the prophets and apostles; *His weapons holy saws of sacred writ;

1 That my master was?] The old copy-that my mistress was? The present emendation was supplied by Mr. Tyrwhitt, and has the concurrence of Mr. M. Mason. Steevens.

The folio reads-That my mistress was; which has been followed in all subsequent editions. But the context shows clearly that it was a misprint for master. Peter supposes that the Queen had asked, whether the duke of York had said that his master (for so he understands the pronoun he in her speech) was rightful heir to the crown. "That my master was heir to the crown! (he replies) No, the reverse is the case. My master said, that the duke of York was heir to the crown." In The Taming of the Shrew mistress and master are frequently confounded. The mistake arose from these words being formerly abbreviated in MSS: and an M. stood for either one or the other. Malone.

* His study is his tilt-yard, and his loves
* Are brazen images of canoniz'd saints.
* I would, the college of the cardinals

* Would choose him pope, and carry him to Rome,
* And set the triple crown upon his head;
*That were a state fit for his holiness.

Suf. Madam, be patient: as I was cause 'Your highness came to England, so will I "In England work your grace's full content.

* Q. Mar. Beside the haught protector, have we Beaufort,

*The imperious churchman; Somerset, Buckingham; * And grumbling York: and not the least of these, *But can do more in England than the king.

*Suf. And he of these, that can do most of all, * Cannot do more in England than the Nevils: *Salisbury, and Warwick, are no simple peers.

'Q. Mar. Not all these lords do vex me half so much, 'As that proud dame, the lord protector's wife.

She sweeps it through the court with troops of ladies, More like an empress than duke Humphrey's wife; Strangers in court do take her for the queen:

She bears a duke's revenues on her back,2
* And in her heart she scorns our poverty:
* Shall I not live to be aveng❜d on her?
*Contemptuous base-born callat as she is,
‹ She vaunted 'mongst her minions t'other day,
The very train of her worst wearing-gown
Was better worth than all my father's lands,
Till Suffolk gave two dukedoms3 for his daughter.
Suf. Madam, myself have lim'd a bush for her;

* And plac'd a quire of such enticing birds,
* That she will light to listen to the lays,
* And never mount to trouble you again.

4

2 She bears a duke's revenues &c.] See King Henry VIII, Act I, sc. i. Malone.

3 two dukedoms-] The duchies of Anjou and Maine, which Henry surrendered to Reignier, on his marriage with Margaret. See sc. i. Malone.

-lim'd a bush for her;] So, in Arden of Feversham, 1592: "Lime your twigs to catch this weary bird." Steevens.

In the original play in quarto:

"I have set lime-twigs that will entangle them." Malone..

* So, let her rest: And, madam, list to me;
* For I am bold to counsel you in this.
*Although we fancy not the cardinal,

* Yet must we join with him, and with the lords,
*Till we have brought duke Humphrey in disgrace.
*As for the duke of York,-this late complaints
*Will make but little for his benefit:

*So, one by one, we 'll weed them all at last,
*And you yourself shall steer the happy helm.

Enter King HENRY, YORK, and SOMERSET, conversing with him; Duke and Duchess of GLOSTER, Cardinal BEAUFORT, BUCKINGHAM, SALISBURY, and WAR

WICK.

K. Hen. For my part, noble lords, I care not which; Or Somerset, or York, all 's one to me.

York. If York have ill demean'd himself in France Then let him be denay'de the regentship..

Som. If Somerset be unworthy of the place, Let York be regent, I will yield to him.

War. Whether your grace be worthy, yea, or no,
Dispute not that; York is the worthier.

Car. Ambitious Warwick, let thy betters speak.
War. The cardinal 's not my better in the field.
Buck. All in this presence are thy betters, Warwick.
War. Warwick may live to be the best of all.

* Sal. Peace, son;- -and show some reason, Buckingham,

* Why Somerset should be preferr'd in this.

* Q. Mar. Because the king, forsooth, will have it so. Glo. Madam, the king is old enough himself to give His censure:7 these are no women's matters.

5

this late complaint-] That is, The complaint of Peter the armourer's man against his master, for saying that York was the rightful king. Johnson.

6

be denay'd —] Thus the old copy. I have noted the word only to observe, that denay is frequently used instead of deny, among the old writers.

So, in Twelfth Night:

7

66

My love can give no place, bide no denay." Steevens. his censure:] Through all these plays censure is used in an indifferent sense, simply for judgment or opinion Johnson. So, in King Kichard III:

"To give your censures in this weighty business."