Enter BUCKINGHAM, and Old CLIFFORD, with
Forces.

'Buck. Ay, here they be that dare and will dis-
turb thee:

Know, Cade, we come ambassadors from the king
Unto the commons whom thou hast misled;
And here pronounce free pardon to them all,
That will forsake thee, and go home in peace.
" Cliff. What say ye, countrymen? will ye relent,
And yield to mercy, whilst 'tis offer'd you;
Or let a rabble lead you to your deaths?

throne,

*And could command no more content than I?
No sooner was I crept out of my cradle,
* But I was made a king, at nine months old:1
* Was never subject long'd to be a king,

Who loves the king, and will embrace his pardon,* As I do long and wish to be a subject.

Fling up his cap, and say-God save his majesty! "Who hateth hini, and honours not his father, Henry the Fifth, that made all France to quake, Shake he his weapon at us, and pass by. 'All. God save the king! God save the king!

Cade. What, Buckingham, and Clifford, are ye so brave?-And you, base peasants, do ye believe him? will you needs be hanged with your " pardons about your necks? Hath my sword there'fore broke through London Gates, that you should leave me at the White Hart in Southwark? I thought, ye would never have given out these arms, till you had recovered your ancient freedom: but you are all recreants, and dastards; and delight to live in slavery to the nobility. Let them break your backs with burdens, take your houses over your heads, ravish your wives and ' daughters before your faces; For me, I will 'make shift for one; and so-God's curse 'light upon you all!

"All. We'll follow Cade, we'll follow Cade.

" Clif. Is Cade the son of Henry the Fifth, That thus you do exclaim-you'll go with him? 'Will he conduct you through the heart of France, And make the meanest of you earls and dukes? Alas, he hath no home, no place to fly to;

'Nor knows he how to live, but by the spoil,
Unless by robbing of your friends, and us.
Wer't not a shame, that whilst you live at jar,
The fearful French, whom you late vanquished,
• Should make a start o'er seas, and vanquish you?
Methinks, already, in this civil broil,

I see them lording it in London streets,
Crying--Villageois! unto all they meet.
Better, ten thousand base-born Čades miscarry,
Than you should stoop unto a Frenchman's mercy.
To France, to France, and get what you have lost;
Spare England, for it is your native coast:
Henry hath money, you are strong and manly;
"God on our side, doubt not of victory.

All. A Clifford a Clifford! we'll follow the king, and Clifford.

Enter BUCKINGHAM and CLIfford.

* Buck. Health, and glad tidings, to your majesty!
*K. Hen. Why, Buckingham, is the traitor, Cade,
surpris'd?

* Or is he but retir'd to make him strong?
Enter, below, a great number of CADE's Followers,

with Halters about their Necks.

Clif. He's fled, my lord, and all his powers do
yield;

And humbly thus, with halters on their necks,
Expect your highness' doom, of life, or death.
'K. Hen. Then, heaven, set ope thy everlasting

gates,

To entertain my vows of thanks and praise!-
Soldiers, this day have you redeem'd
And show'd how well you love your prince and
your lives,
country:

Continue still in this so good a mind,
And Henry, though he be infortunate,
Assure yourselves, will never be unkind:
And so, with thanks, and pardon to you all,
I do dismiss you to your several countries.
All. God save the king! God save the king!
Enter a Messenger.

*Mess. Please it your grace to be advertised,
*The duke of York is newly come from Ireland;
* And with a puissant and a mighty power,
*Of Gallowglasses, and stout Kernes,2
And still proclaimeth, as he comes along,
*Is marching hitherward in proud array;

* His arms are only to remove from thee
The duke of Somerset, whom he terms a traitor.
*K. Hen. Thus stands my state, 'twixt Cado
Like to a ship, that, having scap'd a tempest,
and York distress'd;
* Is straightway calm'd' and boarded with a pirate;
* But now is Cade driven back, his men dispers'd;
And now is York in arms to second him.--

*I

And ask him, what's the reason of these arms, pray thee, Buckingham, go forth and meet him; And, Somerset, we will commit thee thither, * Tell him, I'll send Duke Edmund to the Tower;Until his army be dismiss'd from him. I'll yield myself to prison willingly, *Som. My lord, Or unto death, to do my country good.

Cade. Was ever feather so lightly blown to and fro, as this multitude? the name of Henry the "Fifth hales them to a hundred mischiefs, and makes them leave me desolate. I see them lay their heads together, to surprise me: my sword make way for me, for here is no staying.--In despight of the devils and hell, have through the very midst* of you! and heavens and honour be witness, that no want of resolution in me, but only my follow'ers' base and ignominious treasons, makes me betake me to my heels. [Exit. 'Buck. What, is he fled? go some, and follow him;

And he, that brings his head unto the king, 'Shall have a thousand crowns for his reward.[Exeunt some of them.

For he is fierce, and cannot brook hard language.
*K. Hen. In any case, be not too rough in terms;
* Buck. I will, my lord; and doubt not so to deal,
* As all things shall redound unto your good.
*K. Hen. Come, wife, let's in, and learn to go-
vern better:

*For yet may England curse my wretched reign.
[Exeunt.

SCENE X. Kent. Iden's Garden. Enter CADE *Cade. Fye on ambition! fye on myself; that

1 So all the historians agree; and yet in Part I. Act The second folio printed by mistake claimed; and the iii. Sc. 4, King Henry is made to say :

'I do remember how my father said

a plain proof that the whole of that play was not written by the same band as this.

2 The Galloglasse useth a kind of pollax for his weapon. These men are grim of countenance, tall of stature, big of limme, lusty of body, wel and strongly timbered. The kerne is an ordinary foot-soldier, using for apon his sword and target, and sometimes his piece, being commonly good markmen.'-Stanihurst's Descript, of Ireland, c. viii. f. 21.

3 The first folio reads calme; which may be right. third folio calm'd. This reading has been adopted as most perspicuous, and because in Othello we have :must be be-lee'd and calm'a.

4 But is here not adversative. 'It was only just now (says Henry,) that Cade and his followers were routed.' 5A gentleman of Kent, named Alexander Eden, awaited so his time, that he took the said Cade in a gar den in Susser, so that there he was slaine at Hothfield,' &c.-Holinshed, p. 635. This Iden was, in fact, the new sheriff of Kent, who had followea Cade from Rochester.-William of Wyrcerat, p. 472.

*have a sword, and yet am ready to famish! These
*five days have I hid me in these woods; and
*durst not peep out, for all the country is lay'd for
me: but now am I so hungry, that if I might have
a lease of my life for a thousand years, I could
stay no longer. Wherefore, on a brick-wall have
*I chmbed into this garden; to see if I can eat
grass, or pick a sallet another while, which is nor*
amiss to cool a man's stomach this hot weather.
* And, I think, this word sallet was born to do me
good: for, many a time, but for a sallet,' my
*brain-pan had been cleft with a brown bill; and,
many a time when I have been dry, and bravely
marching, it hath served me instead of a quart-
pot to drink in; and now the word sallet must
serve me to feed on.

Enter IDEN, with Servants.

'Iden. Lord, who would live turmoiled in the court,
And may enjoy such quiet walks as these?
This small inheritance, my father left me,
'Contente.h me, and is worth a monarchy.
I seek not to wax great by others' waning;
Or gather wealth, I care not with what envy;
Sufficeth, that I have maintains my state,
And sends the poor well pleased from my gate.

Cade. Here's the lord of the soil come to seize me for a stray, for entering his fec-simple without leave. Ah, villain, thou wilt betray me, and get a thousand crowns of the king for carrying my head to him; but I'll make thee eat iron like an ostrich, and swallow my sword like a great pin, 'ere thou and I part.

'Iden. Why, rude companion, whatsoe'er thou be, I know thee not; Why then should I betray thee? 'Is't not enough, to break into my garden,

owner,

And, like a thief, to come and rob my grounds, Climbing my walls in spite of me the • But thou wilt brave me with these saucy terms? Cade. Brave thee? ay, by the best blood that ever was broached, and beard thee too. me well: I have eat no meat these five days; yet, come thou and thy five men, and if I do not leave you all as dead as a door nail,2 I pray God, I may

never eat grass more.

Look on

ing-place to all that do dwell in this house, because
the unconquered soul of Cade is fled.
'Iden. Is'i Cade that I have slain, that monstrous
traitor?

Sword, I will hallow thee for this thy deed,
And hang thee o'er my tomb, when I am dead
*Ne'er shall this blood be wiped from thy point;
But thou shalt wear it as a herald's coat,
To emblaze the honour that thy master got.
'Cade. Iden, farewell; and be proud of thy vic-
" tory: Tell Kent from me, she hath lost her best
man, and exhort all the world to be cowards; for
I, that never feared any, am vanquished by famine,
not by valour.
[Dies.

* Iden. How much thou wrong'st me, heaven be my judge.

*Die, damned wretch, the curse of her that bare
thee!

*And as I thrust thy body in with my sword,
*So wish I, I might thrust thy soul to hell."
Hence will I drag thee headlong by the heels
Unto a dunghill, which shall be thy grave,
And there cut off thy most ungracious head;
"Which I will bear in triumph to the king,
Leaving thy trunk for crows to feed upon.

Iden. Nay, it shall ne'er be said, while England.
stands,

That Alexander Iden, an esquire of Kent,
Took odds to combat a poor famish'd man.

Oppose thy steadfast-gazing eyes to mine,
See if thou canst outface me with thy looks.
Set limb to limb, and thou art far the lesser
Thy hand is but a finger to my fist;

Thy leg a stick, compared with this truncheon;
My foot shall fight with all the strength thou hast;
And if mine arm be heaved in the air,
· Thy grave

is digg'd already in the earth.

As for words, whose greatness answers words,'
Let this my sword report what speech forbears.

[Exit, dragging out the Body.

ACT V.

SCENE I. The same. Fields between Dartford
and Blackheath. The King's Camp on one side.
On the other, enter YORK attended with Drum and
Colours: his Forces at some distance.

York. From Ireland thus comes York, to claim

his right,

And pluck the crown from feeble Henry's head:
Ring, bells, aloud; burn, bonfires, clear and bright,
Ah, sancta majestas! who would not buy thee dear?
To entertain great England's lawful king.
This hand was made to handle nought but gold:
Let them obey that know not how to rule;
I cannot give due action to my words,
Except a sword, or sceptre, balance it.
On which I'll toss the flower-de-luce of France.
A sceptre shall it have, have I a soul;

Enter BUCKINGHAM.

Whom have we here? Buckingham, to disturb me?

The king hath sent him, sure: I must dissemble. Buck. York, if thou meanest well, I greet thee well.

York. Humphrey of Buckingham, I accept thy greeting.

Art thou a messenger, or come of pleasure? 'Buck. A messenger from Henry, our dread liege, To know the reason of these arms in peace; Or why, thou-being a subject as I am,Against thy oath and true allegiance sworn, 'Should'st raise so great a power without his leave, 'Or dare to bring thy force so near the court. York. Scarce can I speak, my choler is

so great.

Carle. By my valour, the most complete cham*pion that ever I heard.-'Steel, if thou turn the edge, or cut not out the burly-boned clown in 'chines of beef ere thou sleep in thy sheath, I beseech God on my knees, thou mayest be turned to hobnails. [They fight; CADE falls.] O, I am slain! famine, and no other, hath slain me: let 'ten thousand devils come against me, and give me but the ten meals I have lost, and I'd defy them all. Wither, garden; and be henceforth a bury-On sheep or oxen could I spend my fury!]

3 Johnson explains this, 'As for words, whose pomp and rumour may answer words, and only words, I shall forbear them, and refer the rest to my sword.'

4 In the folio I beseech Jore' was substituted to avoid the penalty of the statute, 3 Jac. I. c. 2, against profane swearing. Cade was very unlikely to swear by Jove. 5 This sentiment is much more correctly expressed in the quarto:

'O sword, I'll honour thee for this, and in my chamber
Shalt thou hang, as a monument to after age,
For this great service thou hast done to me.'

'O, I could hew up rocks, and fight with
flint,

'I am so angry at these abject terms;
And now, like Ajax Telamonius,

Aside.

that I am proud of my victory. Iden evidently means 6 Johnson erroneously interprets this, 'In supposing that Cade wrongs him by undervaluing his prowess.

wish, with which Iden debases his character, the whole 7 Not to dwell upon the wickedness of this horrid favourable both to Iden's morality and language. This of this speech is wild and confused. The quarto is more faulty amplification was owing to the desire of expandtreated as an interpolation, however we may desire to ing a scanty thought in the old play. It can hardly be think it such.

9 i. e. balance my hand.

9 York means to say, 'If i have a soul, my hand shall not be without a sceptrc.

Clif. Health and all happiness to my lord the
king!
[Kneels.

"York. I thank thee, Clifford: Say, what news
with thee?

Nay, do not fright us with an angry look:
We are thy sovereign, Clifford, kneel again;

K. Hen. How art thou call'd? and what is thy For thy mistaking so, we pardon thee.

Iden. Alexander Iden, that's my name;
A poor esquire of Kent, that loves his king.
*Buck. So please it you, my lord, 'twere not amiss
*He were created knight for his good service.
"K. Hen. Iden, kneel down; [He kneels.] Rise‹
up a knight.

We give thee for reward a thousand marks;
And will, that thou henceforth attend on us.

Iden. May Iden live to merit such a bounty,'
And never five but true unto his liege!
'K. Hen. See, Buckingham! Somerset comes
with the queen:
'Go, bid her hide him quickly from the duke.

4 This has been thought an anachronism; but Stowe shows that it is not: Next unto the parish of St. But tolph is a fayre inne for receipt of travellers; then an hospitall of S. Mary of Bethlehem, founded by Simon Fitz-Mary, one of the Sheriffes of London, in the yeare 1246. He founded it to have beene a priorie of cannons with brethren and sisters, and King Edward the Thirde granted a protection, which I have seene, for the brethren Milicia beata Maria de Bellem, within the citie of London, the 14th yeare of his raigne. It was an hos pitall for distracted people.'-Survey of London, p.

127, 1893.

* Clif. Why, what a brood of traitors have we here!

* York. Look in a glass, and call thy image so; *I am thy king, and thou a false-heart traitor.Call hither to the stake my two brave bears,' *That, with the very shaking of their chains, They may astonish these fell lurking curs; Bid Salisbury, and Warwick, come to me. Drums. Enter WARWICK and SALISBURY, with Forces.

Clif. Are these thy bears? we'll bait thy bears to death,

And manacle the bearward in their chains, If thou dar'st bring them to the baiting-place. * Rich. Oft have I seen a hot o'erweening cur *Run back and bite, because he was withheld; *Who, being suffer'd with the bear's fell paw, *Hath clapp'd his tail between his legs, and cried: *And such a piece of service will you do,

* If you oppose yourselves to match Lord Warwick. *Clif. Hence, heap of wrath, foul indigested Jump,

* As crooked in thy manners as thy shape!

*York. Nay, we shall heat you thoroughly anon. *Clif. Take heed, lest by your heat you burn yourselves.

*K. Hen. Why, Warwick, hath thy knee forgot
to bow?

*Old Salisbury,-shame to thy silver hair,
*Thou mad misleader of thy brain-sick son!-'
*What, wilt thou on thy death-bed play the ruffian,
*And seek for sorrow with thy spectacles?
*O, where is faith? O, where is loyalty?
*If it be banish'd from the frosty head,
*Where shall it find a harbour in the earth ?-
*Wilt thou go dig a grave to find out war,
*And shame thine honourable age with blood?
*Why art thou old, and want'st experience?
*Or wherefore dost abuse it, if thou hast it?
* For shame! in duty bend thy knee to me,
*That bows unto the grave with mickle age.
*Sal. My lord, I have consider'd with myself
*The title of this most renowned duke;
*And in my conscience do repute his grace
*The rightful heir to England's royal seat.

*K. Hen. Hast thou not sworn allegiance unto
me?

*Sal. I have.

Clif. The first I warrant thee, if dreams prove

To keep thee from the tempest of the field.
Clif. I am resolv'd to bear a greater storm,
Than any thou canst conjure up to-day;
And that I'll write upon thy burgonet,
Might I but know thee by thy household badge.
War. Now, by my father's badge, old Nevil's

crest,

The rampant bear chain'd to the ragged staff,
This day I'll wear aloft my burgonet,
(As on a mountain top the cedar shows,
That keeps his leaves in spite of any storm,
Even to affright thee with the view thereof.

Clif. And from thy burgonet I'll rend thy bear,
And tread it under foot with all contempt,
Despight the bearward that protects the bear.
'Y. Clif. And so to arms, victorious father,
To quell the rebels, and their 'complices.
Rich. Fye! charity, for shame! speak not in spite,
For shall sup
you
with Jesu Christ to-night.
'Y. Clif. Foul stigmatic, that's more than thou

canst tell.

4

'Rich. If not in heaven, you'll surely sup in hell. [Exeunt severally. SCENE II. Saint Albans. Alarums: Excursions. Enter WARWICK.

War. Clifford of Cumberland, 'tis Warwick calls'
And if thou dost not hide thee from the bear,
Now,-when the angry trumpet sounds alarm,
And dead men's cries do fill the empty air-
Clifford, I say, come forth and fight with me!
Proud northern lord, Clifford of Cumberland,
Warwick is hoarse with calling thee to arms.

Enter YORK.

Enter CLIFFORD.

'War. Of one or both of us the time is come. York. Hold, Warwick, seek thee out some other chase,

* K. Hen. Canst thou dispense with heaven for For I myself must hunt this deer to death,

such an oath?

*Sal. It is great sin, to swear unto a sin; * But greater sin, to keep a sinful oath. * Who can be bound by any solemn vow *To do a murderous deed, to rob a man, *To force a spotless virgin's chastity,

To reave the orphan of his patrimony,

* To wring the widow from her custom'd right;
*And have no other reason for this wrong,
*But that he was bound by a solemn oath?

*Q. Mar. A subtle traitor needs no sophister.
K. Hen. Call Buckingham, and bid him arm

himself.

♦ York. Call Buckingham, and all the friends thou hast,

I am resolv'd for death or dignity.

I The Nevils, earls of Warwick, had a bear and ragged staff for their crest.

2 Bear-baiting was not only a popular but a royal entertainment in the poet's time. See Stowe's account of Queen Elizabeth's amusements of this kind, or Laneham's Letter concerning the entertainments at Kenel worth Castle. Being suffer'd to approach the bear's ⚫ fell paw' may be the meaning; but it is probable that suffer'd is used for made to suffer.

3 A burgonet is a helmet; a Burgundian's steel cap

or casque,

War. Then, nobly, York; 'tis for a crown thou
fight'st-

As I intend, Clifford, to thrive to-day,
It grieves my soul to leave thee unassail'd.

[Exit WARWICK. 'Clif. What seest thou in me, York? why dost

thou pause?

"York. With thy brave bearing should I be in love,

But that thou art so fast mine enemy.

Clif. Nor should thy prowess want praise and
esteem,

But that 'tis shown ignobly, and in treason.
York. So let it help me now against thy sword,
As I in justice and true right express it!

Clif. My soul and body on the action both!-"York. A dreadful lay!-address thee instantly. [They fight, and CLIFFORD falls. Clif. La fin couronne les œuvres. [Dies.'

5 In the old play :—

"The bonniest gray, that e'er was bred in north.' 6 This passage will remind the classical reader of Achilles' conduct in the twenty-second Iliad, v. 205, where he expresses his determination that Hector should fall by no other hand than his own.

7 A dreadful wager; a tremendous stake.

8 The author, in making Clifford fall by the hand of York, has departed from the truth of history, a practice not uncommon with him when he does his utmost to 4 One on whom nature has set a mark of deformity, make his characters considerable. This circumstance, a stigma. It was originally and properly a person however, serves to prepare the reader or spectator for who had been branded with a hot iron for some crime.the vengeance afterwards taken by Chifford's son on One notably defamed for naughtiness.' See Bullokar's York and Rutland. At the beginning of the third part of this drama the poet has forgot this circumstance, and Expositor, 1616; or Blount's Glossography. 1674

H

*K. Hen. Can we outrun the heavens? good Margaret, stay.

Q. Mar. What are you made of? you'll not
fight, nor fly:

*Nor is it manhood, wisdom, and defence,"
To give the enemy way: and to secure us
By what we can, which can no more but fly.
[Alarum afar off.

*Fear frames disorder, and disorder wounds
* Where it should guard. O war, thou son of hell,*
*Whom angry heavens do make their minister,
Throw in the frozen bosoms of our part

* Hot coals of vengeance! Let no soldier fly:
*He that is truly dedicate to war,
*Hath no self-love; nor he, that loves himself,
*Hath not essentially, but by circumstance,
* The name of valour.-O, let the vile world end,
[Seeing his dead Father.

* And the premised' flames of the last day
Knit earth and heaven together!
Now let the general trumpet blow his blast,
Particularities and petty sounds

To cease!-Wast thou ordain'd, dear father,
To lose thy youth in peace, and to achieve
The silver livery of advised age;

* And, in thy reverence, and thy chair-days, thus
*To die in ruffian battle ?-Even at this sight,
*My heart is.turn'd to stone: and, while 'tis mine,
It shall be stony. York not our old men spares;
*No more will I their babes: tears virginal

Shall be to me even as the dew to fire;
* And beauty, that the tyrant oft reclaims,
* Shall to my flaming wrath be oil and flax.
* Henceforth I will not have to do with pity:
*Meet I an infant of the house of York,
*Into as many gobbets will I cut it,

As wild Medea young Absyrtus did :"

* In cruelty will I seek out my fame.
Come, thou new ruin of old Clifford's house:
[Tuking up the body.

As did Eneas old Anchises bear,
So bear I thee upon my manly shoulders:
*But then Æneas bare a living load,
*Nothing so heavy as these woes of mine. [Exit.
Enter RICHARD PLANTAGENET and SOMERSET,
fighting, and SOMERSET is killed.

Rich. So, lie thou there ;For underneath an alehouse' paltry sign, The Castle in Saint Albans, Somerset Hath made the wizard famous in his death."*Sword, hold thy temper; heart, be wrathful still: * Priest's pray for enemies, but princes kill. [Exit. Alarums: Excursions. Enter KING HENRY, QUEEN MARGARET, and others, retreating. Q. Mar. Away, my lord! you are slow; for shame, away!"

there represents Clifford's death as it really pened:

If you be ta'en, we then should see the bottom *Of all our fortunes: but if we haply scape *(As well we may, if not through your neglect,) *We shall to London get; where you are lov'd; *And where this breach, now in our fortunes made, *May readily be stopp'd.

Enter Young CLIFFORD.

*Y. Cliff. But that my heart's on future mischief
set,

*I would speak blasphemy ere bid you fly;
But fly you must; uncurable discomfit
*Reigns in the hearts of all our present parts.10
Away, for your relief! and we will live

To see their day, and them our fortune give:
*Away, my lord, away!
[Exeunt.
SCENE III. Fields near Saint Albans. Alarum:
Retreat. Flourish; then enter YORK, RICHARD
PLANTAGENET, WARWICK, and Soldiers, with
Drum and Colours.

*

York. Of Salisbury, who can report of him; That winter lion, who, in rage forgets

Aged contusions and all brush of time;"
* And, like a gallant in the brow of youth,12
*Repairs him with occasion? this happy day
*Is not itself, yor have we won one foot,
*If Salisbury be lost.

Rich.
My noble father
Three times to-day I holp him to his horse,
Three times bestrid him, thrice I led him off,
'Persuaded him from any further act:

But still, where danger was, still there I met him;
*And like rich hangings in a homely house,
*So was his will in his old feeble body.

*

But, noble as he is, look where he comes.
Enter SALISBURY.

'Sal. Now, by my sword, well hast thou fought

By

to-day;

the mass, so did we all.-I thank you, Richard: God knows, how long it is I have to live;

And it hath pleas'd him, that three times to-day 'You have defended me from imminent death.*Well, lords, we have not got that which we have;14 "Tis not enough our foes are this time fled, *Being opposites of such repairing nature.

York. I know, our safety is to follow them; For, as I hear, the king is fled to London, Chronicles represented as accomplishing them: being hap-delivered in obscure terms, any fortuitous event was the more readily supposed to verify them.

'Lord Clifford, and Lord Stafford, all abreast,
Charg'd our main battle's front, and, breaking in,
Were by the swords of common soldiers slain.
These lines were adopted by Shakspeare from The
True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York, upon which
the Third Part of King Henry VI. is founded.

1 Premised is sent before their time. The sense is
let the flames reserved for the last day be sent now.'
2 To cease is to stop, a verb active.

8 To achieve is to arrive at, or accomplish.
4 i. e. circumspect, cautious.

5 In that period of life which is entitled to command reverence. Reverenda canities. Shakspeare has used the word in the same manner in As You Like It, where Orlando says to his brother (speaking of their father) 'thou art indeed nearer to his reverence.'

6 When Medea fied with Jason from Colchos, she murdered her brother Absyrtus, and cut his body into several pieces, that her father might be prevented for some time from pursuing her.

7 The death of Somerset here accomplishes that equivocal prediction of Jourdain the witch in the first

act:

Let him shun castles:

Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains
Than where castles mounted stand.'

Buch equivocal predictions were much in vogue in early
times and the fall of many eminent persons is by the

8 This line, Steevens observes, may serve to countenance his emendation of a passage at the commence. ment of the third scene, Act iv. of Macbeth, where he proposed to read and wisdom is it to offer,' &c. See note on that passage.

9 This expression, the bottom of all our fortunes, is peculiarly Shakspeare's; he has it in King Henry IV.

Part 1.:

The very bottom and the soul of hope,
The very list, the very utmost bound ́
Of all our fortunes.

10 Parts may stand for parties; but I cannot help thinking that it is an error for party; by which, as Mr. Tyrwhitt and Steevens observe, the jingle of hearts and parts would be avoided.

11 Warburton would substitute all bruise of time.' But, as Steevens observes, 'the brush of time' is the gradual detrition of time.

12 i. e. the height of youth: the brow of a hill is its summit.

13 That is three times I saw him fallen, and striding over him defended him till he recovered.'

14 i. e. we have not secured that which we have ac quired.

15 i. e. being enemies that are likely so soon to rally and recover themselves from this defeat. To repair, in ancient language, was to renovate, to restore to a former condition.