*Thy balm wafh'd off, wherewith thou waft anointed: No bending knee will call thee Cæfar now, 1 KEEP. Ay, here's a deer whose skin's a keeper's This is the quondam king;7 let's feize upon him. 6 Thy balm wash'd off] This is an image very frequent in the works of Shakspeare. So again, in this fcene: "I was anointed king." It is common in these plays to find the fame images, whether jocular or serious, frequently recurring. JOHNSON. So, in King Richard II: "Not all the water in the rough rude fea "Can wafh the balm from an anointed king." It is obfervable that this line is one of those additions to the original play, which are found in the folio, and not in the quarto. MALONE. 7 This is the quondam king; &c.] Thus the folio. The quartos thus: Ay, marry, fir, here's a deer; his skin is a Keeper's fee. Sirrah ftand clofe; for as I think, "This is the king, king Edward hath depos'd." STEEVENS. Quondam had not in Shakspeare's time uniformly acquired a ludicrous fenfe. "Make them quondams (lays Latimer in one of his Sermons,) out with them, caft them out of their office," And in another place : "He will have every man a quondam, as he is. As for my quondamfhip I thank God that he gaue me the grace to come by it, by fo honeft a meanes as I did; I thanke him for myne owne quondamfhip, and as for them I will not haue then made quondams, if they discharge their office. I would haue them doe their duety. I would haue no more quondams, as God help me." Fol. 53. Again, in Warner's Albion's England, B. V. ch. 28, 1602: "No knights alone, but prelates too, and queens where of were twain, "The quondam & in effè queenes-," HOLT WHITE. UNIV. OF *K. HEN. Let me embrace these four adverfities;8 * For wife men say, it is the wifest course. *2 KEEP. Why linger we? let us lay hands upon him. *1 KEEP. Forbear a while; we'll hear a little more. K. HEN. My queen, and fon, are gone to France And, as I hear, the great commanding Warwick Poor queen, and fon, your labour is but loft; "And Lewis a prince foon won with moving words. * Her fighs will make a battery in his breast; * To hear, and fee, her plaints, her brinifh tears. 8 - thefe four adverfities ;] The old copy reads-the foure adverfaries. STEEVENS. Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE. The tiger will be mild, while he doth mourn;] So, in Othello : She will fing the favagenefs out of a bear." STEEVENS. * And Nero will-] Perhaps we might better read-A Ner● will. STEEVENS. *That fhe, poor wretch, for grief can speak no more: * Whiles Warwick tells his title, fmooths the wrong, * Inferreth arguments of mighty ftrength;2 * And, in conclufion, wins the king from her, * With promise of his fifter, and what else, *To ftrengthen and fupport king Edward's place. *O Margaret,3 thus 'twill be; and thou, poor foul, *Art then forfaken, as thou went'ft forlorn. 2 KEEP. Say, what art thou, that talk'ft of kings and queens? 'K. HEN. More than I seem, and less than I was born to :4 A man at least, for lefs I fhould not be ;5 And men may talk of kings, and why not I? 2 KEEP. Ay, but thou talk'ft as if thou wert a king. 'K. HEN. Why, fo I am, in mind ; and that's enough.7 Inferreth arguments of mighty ftrength ;] In the former A& was the fame line: "Inferring arguments of mighty force." JOHNSON. This repetition, like many others in these two plays, feems to have arifen from Shakspeare's firft copying his original as it lay before him, and afterwards in fubfequent paffages (added to the old matter) introducing expreffions which had ftruck him in preceding fcenes. In the old play the line occurs but once. MALONE. 30 Margaret, &c.] The piety of Henry scarce interefts us more for his misfortunes, than this his conftant folicitude for the welfare of his deceitful Queen. STEEVENS. thus lefs than I was born to:] Thus the folio. The quartos for lefs I fhould not be. STEEVENS. 5for lefs I fhould not be ;] Such is the reading of the. folio. The quartos thus- -and more I cannot be. STEEVENS. but thou talkft as if thou wert a king. 6 K. Hen. Why, fo I am, in mind;] There feems to be an 2 KEEP. But, if thou be a king, where is thy crown? K. HEN. My crown is in my heart, not on my head; *Not deck'd with diamonds, and Indian fiones, * Nor to be feen: my crown is call'd, content; A crown it is, that feldom kings enjoy. 2 KEEP. Well, if you be a king crown'd with content, Your crown content, and you, muft be contented To go along with us: for, as we think, You are the king, king Edward hath depos'd; • Will apprehend you as his enemy. * K. HEN. But did you never wear, and break an oath? *2 KEEP. No, never fuch an oath, nor will not now. *K. HEN. Where did you dwell, when I was king of England? * 2 KEEP. Here in this country, where we now remain. * K. HEN. I was anointed king at nine months old; allufion to a line in an old fong, (quoted in Every Man out of his Humour): My mind to me a kingdom is." MALONE. See Dr. Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, 3d edit. Vol. I. p. 293. STEEVENS. 7 and that's enough.] So the folio, The quartos thus : though not in fhow." STEEVENS. And we his fubjects, &c.] So the folio. The quartos thus: "And therefore we charge you in God's name, and the king's, "To go along with us unto the officers." STEEVENS. HA *My father and my grandfather, were kings; * And you were fworn true fubjects unto me: * And, tell me then, have you not broke your oaths? *1 KEEP. No; For we were fubjects, but while you were king. * K. HEN. Why, am I dead? do I not breathe a man? * Ah, fimple men, you know not what you fwear. * Look, as I blow this feather from my face, *And as the air blows it to me again,9 *Obeying with my wind when I do blow, *And yielding to another when it blows, * Commanded always by the greater guft; *Such is the lightnefs of you common men. * But do not break your oaths; for, of that fin *My mild entreaty fhall not make you guilty. *Go where you will, the king fhall be commanded; * And be you kings; command, and I'll obey. *1 KEEP. We are true fubjects to the king, king Edward. * K. HEN. So would you be again to Henry, *If he were feated as king Edward is. 1 KEEP. We charge you, in God's name, and in the king's,' To go with us unto the officers. 9 Look, as I blow this feather from my face, And as the air blows it to me again, &c.] So, in The Win- · ter's Tale: "I am a feather for each wind that blows." MALONE. --and in the king's,] The prepofition-in, which is wanting in the old copy, I have fupplied for the fake of metre. STEEVENS. |