2 Cit. Ill news, by'r lady; seldom comes the better: I fear, I fear, 'twill prove a giddy world3. Enter another Citizen. 3 Cit. Neighbours, God speed! 1 Cit. Give you good morrow, sir. 3 Cit. Doth the news hold of good king Edward's death? 2 Cit. Ay, sir, it is too true; God help, the while! 3 Cit. Then, masters, look to see a troublous world. 1 Cit. No, no; by God's good grace, his son shall reign. 3 Cit. Woe to that land that's govern'd by a child! 2 Cit. In him there is a hope of government ; That, in his nonage, council under him, And, in his full and ripen'd years, himself, No doubt, shall then, and till then, govern well. 1 Cit. So stood the state, when Henry the Sixth Was crown'd in Paris but at nine months old. 3 Cit. Stood the state so? no, no, good friends, God wot; For then this land was famously enrich'd With politic grave counsel: then the king Had virtuous uncles to protect his grace. 1 Cit. Why, so hath this, both by his father and mother. 3 Cit. Better it were they all came by his father, Or by his father there were none at all; For emulation, who shall now be nearest, Will touch us all too near, if God prevent not. O! full of danger is the duke of Gloster; And the queen's sons, and brothers, haught and proud : And were they to be rul'd, and not to rule, 8 a GIDDY world.] So the folio: the quarto, 1597, troublous: the quartos, 1598, 1602, and the later editions in the same form, have troublesome. There are other minor variations in this scene, which it is not necessary to mark, as they do not at all change the sense. Our text is that of the folio. This sickly land might solace as before. 1 Cit. Come, come; we fear the worst: all will be well. 3 Cit. When clouds are seen, wise men put on their cloaks; When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand: 2 Cit. Truly, the hearts of men are full of fear : You cannot reason almost with a man That looks not heavily, and full of dread. 3 Cit. Before the days of change, still is it so. 2 Cit. Marry, we were sent for to the justices. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. London. A Room in the Palace. Enter the Archbishop of YORK, the young Duke of YORK, Queen ELIZABETH, and the Duchess of YORK. Arch. Last night, I heard, they lay at Stony-Stratford, And at Northampton they do rest to-night': PURSUING danger ;] So the folio; from which there is no reason to vary, since the meaning is quite as evident, as if the usually substituted word ensuing were the text. 1 Last night, I heard, they lay at Stony-Stratford; And at Northampton they do rest to-night.] This seems to be historically To-morrow, or next day, they will be here. Duch. I long with all my heart to see the prince : I hope, he is much grown since last I saw him. Q. Eliz. But I hear, no: they say, my son of York Hath almost overta'en him in his growth. York. Ay, mother, but I would not have it so. Duch. Why, my young cousin, it is good to grow. York. Grandam, one night, as we did sit at supper, My uncle Rivers talk'd how I did grow More than my brother; "Ay," quoth my uncle Gloster, "Small herbs have grace, great weeds do grow apace:" And since, methinks, I would not grow so fast, Because sweet flowers are slow, and weeds make haste. Duch. 'Good faith, 'good faith, the saying did not hold In him that did object the same to thee: He was the wretched'st thing when he was young, That, if his rule were true, he should be gracious. Arch. And so, no doubt, he is, my gracious madam3. Duch. I hope, he is; but yet let mothers doubt. York. Now, by my troth, if I had been remember'd, I could have given my uncle's grace a flout, To touch his growth nearer than he touch'd mine. hear it. York. Marry, they say, my uncle grew so fast, That he could gnaw a crust at two hours old: 'Twas full two years ere I could get a tooth. Grandam, this would have been a biting jest. Duch. I pr'ythee, pretty York, who told thee this? correct, according to Hall's Chronicle. The quartos reverse the order of places: “Last night, I hear, they lay at Northampton ; At Stony Stratford will they be to-night." 2 And so, no doubt, he is, my gracious madam.] This line is assigned to the young duke of York in the folio; but modern editors, without giving any notice, have transferred it to the Archbishop, to whom, however, it probably belongs, as the corresponding speech in the quartos is given to the Cardinal. York. Grandam, his nurse. Duch. His nurse! why, she was dead ere thou wast born. York. If 'twere not she, I cannot tell who told me. Enter a Messenger*. Arch. Here comes a messenger: what news? Mess. Well, madam, and in health. Duch. What is thy news? Mess. Lord Rivers and lord Grey are sent to Pom fret, And with them sir Thomas Vaughan, prisoners. Duch. Who hath committed them? Mess. Gloster and Buckingham. Arch. The mighty dukes, For what offence? Mess. The sum of all I can, I have disclos'd: Why, or for what, the nobles were committed, Is all unknown to me, my gracious lady. Q. Eliz. Ah me! I see the ruin of my house. The tiger now hath seiz'd the gentle hind; Insulting tyranny begins to jet° 6 3 A PARLOUS boy.] "Parlous" means perilous, from which, as Ritson says, it was probably corrupted; but it sometimes seems to be used in the sense of satirically talkative. See Vol. ii. p. 419; and Vol. iii. p. 48. The word occurs again in Act iii. sc. 1, of this play, and there it is spelt perilous in all the old copies, quarto and folio. 4 Enter a Messenger.] In the quarto editions, the Marquess of Dorset is made the messenger. "Enter Dorset " is the stage-direction, followed by "Here comes your son, Lo. M. Dorset.-What news, Lord Marquess?" 5 as grieves me to REPORT.] The quartos have "to unfold.” Insulting tyranny begins to JET] To "jet" is to strut. See Vol. iii. p. 366. The quartos all have "jet," and the folio, jut, which, no doubt, was meant for the same word. VOL. V. D d Upon the innocent and awless throne':- Duch. Accursed and unquiet wrangling days, Q. Eliz. Come, come, my boy; we will to sanctuary. Madam, farewell. Duch. Stay, I will go with you. Q. Eliz. You have no cause. Arch. My gracious lady, go, [To the Queen. And thither bear your treasure and your goods. For my part, I'll resign unto your grace The seal I keep and so betide to me, 7 Upon the innocent and AWLESS throne:] i. e. The throne deprived of awe or reverence: the quartos read lawless. In the next line, the quartos have death for "blood." 8 Make war upon themselves; brother to brother, Blood to blood, self against self:] The quarto here reads, imperfectly, "Make war upon themselves, blood against blood, Self against self." 9 And frantic OUTRAGE,] So every old edition, in quarto and folio. Malone substituted courage, much to the detriment of the sense. It may have been a misprint, but Boswell has a note upon it, stating that the quarto, 1597, has "outrage." He was, therefore, aware of it, and passed it over. 1 Or let me die, to look on DEATH no more.] The folio has "on earth" for "on death," which is the reading of every old quarto. It is a mistake to assert, as some modern editors have unhesitatingly done, that any of the quartos countenance 66 on earth." The duchess of course refers to the scenes of slaughter to which her eyes had been witness. Other slight changes in the folio, at the close of this scene, are not worth remark, as they do not at all affect the poet's meaning. |