And, o'er the chair of state, where now he sits, [He stamps, and the Soldiers show themselves. K. Hen. My lord of Warwick, hear me but one word; 9 'Let me, for this my life-time, reign as king. York. Confirm the crown to me, and to mine heirs, Clif. What wrong is this unto the prince your son? Clif. How hast thou injur'd both thyself and us? North. Nor I. Clif. Come, cousin, let us tell the queen these news. *West. Farewel, 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'st thou be overcome! Or live in peace, abandon'd, and despis'd! [Exeunt NORTH. CLIF. and West. *War. Turn this way, Henry, and regard them not. Exe. They seek revenge, and therefore will not yield. K. Hen. Ah, Exeter! War. 9 Why should you sigh, my lord! K. Hen. Not for myself, lord Warwick, but my son, Whom I unnaturally shall disinherit. But, be it as it may :-I here entail 'The crown to thee, and to thine heirs forever; Conditionally, that here thou take an oath 8 I am content: &c.] Instead of this speech the old play has the following lines: "King. Convey the soldiers hence, and then I will. "War. Captaine, conduct them into Tuthilfields." See p. 139, n, 6; p. 145, n. 8; p. 152, n. 5; p. 218, n. 1; and p. 223, n. 1. Malone. 9 They seek revenge,] They go away, not because they doubt the justice of this determination, but because they have been conquered, and seek to be revenged. They are not influenced by sprinciple, but passion. Johnson. To cease this civil war, and, whilst I live, To honour me as thy king and sovereign; * And neither33 by treason, nor hostility, *To seek to put me down, and reign thyself. York. This oath I willingly take, and will perform. [Coming from the Throne. War. Long live king Henry!-Plantagenet, embrace him. ‹ K. Hen. And long live thou, and these thy forward sons! York. Now York and Lancaster are reconcil'd. [Exeunt YORK, and his Sons, WAR. NORF.. *K. Hen. And I, with grief and sorrow to the court. Enter Queen MARGARET and the Prince of Wales. Exe. Here comes the queen, whose looks bewray2 her anger: I'll steal away. K. Hen. Exeter, so will I. [Going. 'Q. Mar. Nay, go not from me; I will follow thee. K. Hen. Be patient, gentle queen, and I will stay. 'Q. Mar. Who can be patient in such extremes? * Ah, wretched man! 'would I had died a maid, * And never seen thee, never borne thee son, *Seeing thou hast prov'd so unnatural a father! * Hath he deserv'd to lose his birthright thus? *Hadst thou but lov'd him half so well as I; *Or felt that pain which I did for him once; * Or nourish'd him, as I did with my blood; * Thou wouldst have left thy dearest heart-blood there, * Rather than made3 that savage duke thine heir, 1 shire. 2 I'll to my castle.] Sandal Castle near Wakefield, in York- bewray -] i. e. betray, discover. So, in King Lear: Again, ibid: "He did betray his practice." Steevens. VOL. X. * ́And disinherited thine only son. * Prince. Father, you cannot disinherit me: * If you be king, why should not I succeed? *K. Hen. Pardon me, Margaret;-pardon me, sweet son; * The earl of Warwick, and the duke, enforc❜d me. I shame to hear thee speak. Ah, timorous wretch! * Warwick is chancellor, and the lord of Calais; 3 Rather than made-] Old copy-Rather than have made. The compositor inadvertently repeated the word-have, from the preceding line. Steevens. Rather is here used as a monosyllable. Malone. 4 What is it, but to make thy sepulchre,] The Queen's reproach is founded on a position long received among politicians, that the loss of a king's power is soon followed by loss of life. Johnson. 5 Stern Faulconbridge commands the narrow seas;] So, in Marlowe's Edward 11: "The haughty Dane commands the narrow seas. This may be too slight a circumstance to prove Marlowe the author of The Whole Contention; it is, however, in other respects, sufficiently probable that he had some hand in it. The person here meant was Thomas Nevil, bastard son to the lord Faulconbridge, "a man," says Hall," of no lesse corage then audacitie, who for his euel condicions was such an apte person, that a more meter could not be chosen to set all the worlde in a broyle, and to put the estate of the realme on an yl hazard." He had been appointed by Warwick vice-admiral of the sea, and had in charge so to keep the passage between Dover and Calais, that none which either favoured King Henry or his friends should escape untaken or undrowned: such at least were his instructions, with respect to the friends and favourers of King Edward, after the rupture between him and Warwick On Warwick's death, he fell into poverty, and robbed, both by sea and land, as well friends as enemies. He once brought his ships up the Thames, and with a considerable body of the men of Kent and Essex, made a spirited assault on the city, with a view to plunder and pillage, which was not repelled but after a sharp conflict and the loss of The duke is made protector of the realm; * But thou preferr'st thy life before thine honour: The northern lords, that have forsworn thy colours, • Thus do I leave thee :-Come, son, let's away; K. Hen. Stay, gentle Margaret, and hear me speak. gone. K. Hen. Gentle son Edward, thou wilt stay with me? Prince. When I return with victory from the field," I'll see your grace: till then, I'll follow her. Q. Mar. Come, son, away; we may not linger thus, [Exeunt Q. MAR. and the Prince. K. Hen. Poor queen! how love to me, and to her son, Hath made her break out into terms of rage! • Reveng❜d may she be on that hateful duke; *Whose haughty spirit, winged with desire, * Will cost my crown, and, like an empty eagle, many lives; and, had it happened at a more critical period, might have been attended with fatal consequences to Edward. After roving on the sea some little time longer, he ventured to land at Southampton, where he was taken and beheaded. See Hall and Holinshed. Ritson. 6 Whereby my son is disinherited.] The corresponding line in the old play is this. The variation is remarkable: "Wherein thou yieldest to the house of York." Malone. from the field,] Folio-to the field. The true reading is found in the old play. Malone. 7 8 Whose haughty spirit, winged with desire, Will cost my crown, and, like an empty eagle, &c.] Read coast, i. e. hover over it. Warburton. *Tire on the flesh of me, and of my son !9 *The loss of those three lords1 torments my heart: ́ * I'll write unto them, and entreat them fair Come, cousin, you shall be the messenger.2 - * Exe. And I, I hope, shall reconcile them all. [Exeunt. The word which Dr. Warburton would introduce, has been supposed to violate the metaphor; nor indeed is to coast used as a term of falconry in any of the books professedly written on that subject. To coast is a sea-faring expression, and means to keep along shore. Yet, on further inquiry, I am become less certain, that to coast is merely a sea-faring expression. It is used in the following instance to denote speed: "And all in haste she coasteth to the cry." Shakspeare's Venus and Adonis, Again, in The Loyal Subject, by Beaumont and Fletcher: "Take you those horse, and coast them." Mr. Tollet therefore observes, that Dr. Warburton's interpretation may be right, as Holinshed often uses the verb to coast, i. e. to hover, or range about any thing. Steevens. I have no doubt but coast is the true reading. To coast is to keep along side of it, and watch it. In King Henry VIII, the Chamberlain says of Wolsey: the king perceives him how he coasts "And hedges his own way." And in the last Act of The Loyal Subject, Archas says: 66 Lord Barris, "Take you those horse, and coast them." M. Mason. Will cost my crown,] i. e. will cost me my crown; will induce on me the expence or loss of my crown. Malone. Had this been our author's meaning, he would have otherwise formed his verse, and written "cost me my crown." So, in King Lear: "The dark and vicious place where thee he got, "Cost him his eyes." Steevens. 9 Tire on the flesh of me,] To tire is to fasten, to fix the talons, from the French tirer. Johnson, To tire is to peck. So, in Decker's Match me in London, 1631: the vulture tires 1 "Upon the eagle's heart." Steevens. those three lords-] That is, of Northumberland, Westmoreland, and Clifford, who had left him in disgust. Johnson. 2 you shall be the messenger.] Instead of the six last lines of this speech, the first copy presents these: "Come, cousin of Exeter, stay thou here, "For Clifford and those northern lords be gone, "I fear towards Wakefield, to disturb the duke." See p. 292, n. 8, and the notes there referred to. Malone. |