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Exe. Hark, hark, my lord! what shouts are these?

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 sea shall suck them dry, * And swell so much the higher by their ebb.Hence with him to the Tower; let him not speak.

[Exeunt some with K. HEN. And, lords, towards Coventry bend we our course, Where peremptory Warwick now remains :1 The sun 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. did not write the marginal directions, and the players confounded the characters. Johnson.

We may suppose the shouts to have come from some of Henry's guard, on the appearance of Edward. Malone.

1 And, lords, towards Coventry bend we our course,

Where peremptory Warwick now remains:] Warwick, as Mr. M. Mason has observed, [p. 399, n. 4,] has but just left the stage, declaring his intention to go to Coventry. How then 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,

"To meet with Warwick and his confederates."

Some of our old writers seem to have thought, that all the persons of the drama must know whatever was known to the writers themselves, or to the audience. Malone.

2 The sun shines hot, &c.] These lines are formed on two others which are found in the old play in a subsequent scene in the next Act, being spoken by Edward, after the battle of Barnet, and just before he sets out for Tewksbury.

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Come, let us go;

"For if we slack this fair bright summers day,

"Sharp winters showers will mar our hope, for haie."

I suspect, haie was inadvertently written in the manuscript 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 sun 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 hitherward. War. How far off is our brother Montague ?Where is the post that came from Montague?

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2 Mess. By this at Daintry, with a puissant troop. Enter Sir JOHN SOMERVILLE.

War. Say, Somerville, what says my loving son? And, by thy 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.

' War. Then Clarence is at hand, I hear his drum. * Som. It is not his, my lord; here Southam lies; * 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 sound a parle. Glo. See, how the surly Warwick mans the wall. War. O, unbid spite! is sportful Edward come? Where slept our scouts, or how are they seduc'd, That we could hear no news of his repair?

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*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,

3 — at Dunsmore,] The quartos read-at Daintry: i. e. Daventry. Steevens.

4 ―at Daintry,] The quartos read-at Dunsmore. Steevens. Where slept our scouts,] So, in King John:

"O, where hath our intelligence been drunk?
"Where hath it slept ?" Steevens.

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 said—the king; Or did he make the jest against his will?

* War. Is not a dukedom, sir, a goodly gift?
*Glo. Ay, by my faith, for a poor earl to give;
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 subject.
*K. Edw. But Warwick's king is Edward's prisoner:
And, gallant Warwick, do but answer this,
What is the body, when the head is off?

Glo. Alas, that Warwick had no more forecast,
But, whiles he thought to steal the single ten,
The king was slily finger'd from the deck !7
You left poor Henry at the bishop's palace,
And, ten to one, you 'll meet him in the Tower,

6 I'll do thee service-] i. e. enroll myself among thy depen dants. Cowell informs us, that servitium is, "that service which the tenant, by reason of his fee, oweth unto his lord." Steevens.

The king was slily finger'd from the deck!] The quartos read finely finger'd.

Finely is subtly. 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 same."

A pack of cards was anciently termed a deck of cards, or a pair of cards. It is still, as I am informed, so 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 eards 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 shuffle as I would."

Steevens.

An instance of a pack of cards being called a deck, occurs in the sessions paper, for January, 1788. So that the term appears to be still in use. Ritson.

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the bishop's palace,] The palace of the bishop of London. Malone.

*

K. Edw. 'Tis even so; yet you are Warwick still.9 * Glo. Come, Warwick, take the time,1 kneel down, kneel down:

Nay, when?2 strike now, or else the iron cools.

* War. I had rather chop this hand off at a blow, * And with the other fling it at thy face,

* Than bear so low a sail, to strike to thee.

*K. Edw. Sail how thou canst, have wind and tide thy friend;

*This hand, fast wound about thy coal-black hair, * Shall, whiles the head is warm, and new cut off, * Write in the dust this sentence with thy blood,• Wind-changing Warwick now can change no more. Enter OXFORD, with Drum and Colours. * War. O cheerful colours! see, where Oxford comes! Oxf. Oxford, Oxford, for Lancaster!

[OxF. and his Forces enter the City... Glo. The gates are open, let us enter too.3 • K. Edw. So other foes may set upon our backs. *Stand we in good array; for they, no doubt, * Will issue out again, and bid us battle:

If not, the city being but of small defence,
We'll quickly rouse the traitors in the same.
*War. O, welcome, Oxford! for we want thy help.
Enter MONTAGUE, with Drum and Colours.
Mont. Montague, Montague, for Lancaster!

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[He and his Forces enter the City.

- yet you are Warwick still.] Thus the folio. The old play reads-and yet you are ould Warwick still. Malone.

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but we 'll take to-morrow."

An expression which Mr. Malone would change for " talk tomorrow." See Vol. VII, p. 121, n. 1. Steevens.

2 Nay, when] This exclamation, expressive of impatience, has already occurred in King Richard II. See Vol. VIII, p. 14, n. 5. Steevens.

3 The gates are open, let us enter too.] Thus the folio. The quartos read:

"The gates are open, see, they enter in;

"Let's follow them, and bid them battle in the streets.
"Ed. No: so some other might set upon our backs,
"We'll stay till all be enter'd, and then follow them."
Steevens.

Glo. Thou and thy brother both shall buy this treason Even with the dearest blood your bodies bear.

* K. Edw. The harder match'd, the greater victory; My mind presageth happy gain, and conquest.

Enter SOMERSET, with Drum and Colours. Som. Somerset, Somerset, for Lancaster!

[He and his Forces enter the City. Glo. Two of thy name, both dukes of Somerset, Have sold their lives unto the house of York;4 And thou shalt be the third, if this sword hold.

Enter CLARENCE, with Drum and Colours.

War. And lo, where George of Clarence sweeps along, Of force enough to bid his brother battle; 5 *With whom an upright zeal to right prevails, *More than the nature of a brother's love:

*

Come, Clarence, come; thou wilt, if Warwick calls. Clar. Father of Warwick, know you what this means? [Taking the red Rose out of his Cap.6 Look here, I throw my infamy at thee: I will not ruinate my father's house,

4 Two of thy name, both dukes of Somerset,

Have sold their lives unto the house of York;]. The first of these noblemen was Edmund, slain at the battle of Saint Alban's, 1455. See p. 274. The second was Henry his son, beheaded after the battle of Hexham, 1463. The present duke Edmund, brother to Henry, was taken prisoner at Tewksbury, 1471, and there beheaded, (infra, sc. v,) his brother John losing his life in the same fight. Ritson.

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to bid his brother battle;] Here the quartos conclude this speech, and add the following:

"Clar. Clarence, Clarence, for Lancaster!

"Edw. Et tu brute! wilt thou stab Cæsar too? "A parly, sirra, to George of Clarence."

To bid battle is a phrase that often occurs in ancient writers. Thus, in the Batrachomuomachia of Homer, as translated by Chapman:

"O frogs! the mice send threats to you of arms,

"And bid me bid you battle." Steevens.

This line of the old play, Et tu Brute! &c. is found also in Acolastus his Afterwitte, a poem by S. Nicholson, 1600; and the Latin words, though not retained here, were afterwards transplanted by Shakspeare into his Julius Caesar, Act III. Malone.

Taking the red Rose out of his Cap.] This note of direction 1 restored from the old quarto. And, without it, it is impossible that any reader can guess at the meaning of this line of Clarence: Look here, I throw my infamy at thee. Theobald.

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