Or but allay, the fire of passion *. BUCK Sir, I am thankful to you; and I'll go along By your prescription:-but this top-proud fellow, NOR. Say not, treasonous. BUCK. To the king I'll say't; and make my vouch 6 as strong As shore of rock. Attend. Attend. This holy fox, Or wolf, or both, (for he is equal ravenous As he is subtle; and as prone to mischief, As able to perform't: his mind and place Infecting one another 7, yea, reciprocally,) Only to show his pomp as well in France As here at home, suggests the king our master® To this last costly treaty, the interview, That swallow'd so much treasure, and like a glass 4 If with the sap of reason you would quench, Or but allay, the fire of passion.] So, in Hamlet : "Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper 66 Sprinkle cool patience." STEEVENs. sincere motions,] Honest indignation, warmth of integrity. Perhaps name not, should be blame not. "Whom from the flow of gall I blame not." JOHNSON. 6 — for he is EQUAL ravenous,] Equal for equally. Shakspeare frequently uses adjectives adverbially. See King John, vol. xv. p. 365, n. 6. MALONE. his mind and place Infecting one another,] This is very satirical. His mind he represents as highly corrupt; and yet he supposes the contagion, of the place of first minister as adding an infection to it. 8 - SUGGESTS the king our master -] So, in King Richard II. : WARBURTON. Suggests, for excites. WARBURTON. Suggest his soon-believing adversaries." STEEVENS. Did break i' the rinsing *. NOR. 'Faith, and so it did. BUCK. Pray, give me favour, sir. This cunning cardinal The articles o'the combination drew, As himself pleas'd; and they were ratified, As he cried, Thus let be: to as much end, As give a crutch to the dead: But our count-car dinal 9 Has done this, and 'tis well; for worthy Wolsey, Now this follows, (Which, as I take it, is a kind of puppy 1 To the old dam, treason,)-Charles the emperor, 9 our COUNT-cardinal-] Wolsey is afterwards called king cardinal. Mr. Pope and the subsequent editors read court-cardinal. MALONE. I HE privily-] He, which is not in the original copy, was added by the editor of the second folio. MALONE. thus the cardinal Does BUY and SELL his honour as he pleases,] This was a proverbial expression. See King Richard III. p. 233, n. 9. MALONE. I am sorry And for his own advantage. NOR. To hear this of him; and could wish, he were BUCK. No, not a syllable; I do pronounce him in that very shape, He shall appear in proof. Enter BRANDON; a Sergeant at Arms before BRAN. Your office, sergeant; execute it. BUCK. Sir, him, Lo, you, my lord, The net has fall'n upon me; I shall perish Under device and practice*. BRAN. I am sorry To see you ta'en from liberty, to look on The business, present': 'Tis his highness' pleasure, You shall to the Tower. The same phrase occurs also in King Henry VI. Part I.: 66 from bought and sold lord Talbot." Again, in The Comedy of Errors: "It would make a man as mad as a buck, to be so bought and sold." STEevens. 3 - he were Something MISTAKEN in't.] That is, that he were something different from what he is taken or supposed by you to be. MALONE. practice.] i. e. unfair stratagem. So, in Othello, vol. ix. 4 p. 487: "Fallen in the practice of a cursed slave." And in this play, Surrey, speaking of Wolsey, says: 66 How came his practices to light?" REED. 5 I am sorry To see you ta'en from liberty, to look on The business present:] I am sorry that I am obliged to be present and an eye-witness of your loss of liberty. JOHNSON. BUCK. It will help me nothing, To plead mine innocence; for that die is on mé, Which makes my whitest part black. The will of heaven Be done in this and all things!-I obey.- king BRAN. Nay, he must bear you company;-The [To ABERGAVENNY. Is pleas'd, you shall to the Tower, till you know How he determines further. ABER. As the duke said The will of heaven be done, and the king's pleasure By me obey'd. BRAND. Here is a warrant from The king, to attach lord Montacute; and the bodies BUCK. So, so; These are the limbs of the plot: No more, I hope. BRAN. A monk o' the Chartreux. BUCK. O, Nicholas Hopkins?? 6-lord Montacute;] This was Henry Pole, grandson to George Duke of Clarence, and eldest brother to Cardinal Pole. He had married the Lord Abervagenny's daughter. He was restored to favour at this juncture, but was afterwards executed for another treason in this reign. REED. 7- John de la CAR,] So the first folio. The modern editors, I know not why, have altered it to “ John de la Court." Boswell. The name of this monk of the Chartreux was John de la Car, alias de la Court. See Holinshed, p. 863. STEEvens. ONE Gilbert Peck, his CHANCELLOR,] The old copies have it-his counsellor; but I, from the authorities of Hall and Holinshed, changed it to chancellor. And our poet himself, in the beginning of the second Act, vouches for this correction : "At which, appear'd against him his surveyor, "Sir Gilbert Peck, his chancellor." THEOBALD. I believe [in the former instance] the author wrote-And Gilbert, &c. MALONE. NICHOLAS Hopkins?] The old copy has-Michael Hopkins. Mr. Theobald made the emendation, conformably to BRAN. He. BUCK. My surveyor is false; the o'er-great cardinal Hath show'd him gold: my life is spann'd already1: I am the shadow of poor Buckingham2; Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on, By darkening my clear sun 3.-My lord, farewell. [Exeunt. the Chronicle: "Nicholas Hopkins, a monk of an house of the 'Chartreux order, beside Bristow, called Henton." In the MS. Nich. only was probably set down, and mistaken for Mich. I MALONE. my life is SPANN'D already :] To span is to gripe, or inclose in the hand; to span is also to measure by the palm and fingers. The meaning, therefore, may either be, that "hold is taken of my life, my life is in the gripe of my enemies;" or, that "my time is measured, the length of my life is now determined." JOHNSON. Man's life, in scripture, is said to be but a span long. Probably, therefore, it means, when 'tis spann'd 'tis ended. REED. 2 I am the shadow of poor Buckingham ;] So, in the old play of King Leir, 1605: "And think me but the shadow of myself." STEEvens. 3 I am the shadow of poor Buckingham; Whose figure even this instant cloud PUTS ON, By dark ning my clear sun.] These lines have passed all the editors. Does the reader understand them? By me they are inexplicable, and must be left, I fear, to some happier sagacity. If the usage of our author's time could allow figure to be taken, as now, for dignity or importance, we might read: 66 Whose figure even this instant cloud puts out." But I cannot please myself with any conjecture. Another explanation may be given, somewhat harsh, but the best that occurs to me: "I am the shadow of poor Buckingham, "Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on," whose port and dignity is assumed by the Cardinal, that overclouds and oppresses me, and who gains my place 66 By dark'ning my clear sun." JOHNSON. Perhaps Shakspeare has expressed the same idea more clearly in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Antony and Cleopatra, and King John: "O, how this spring of love resembleth |