For this great journey. What did this vanity, A most poor issue 16 Nor. Grievingly I think, The peace between the French and us not values Buck. 5 Have broke their backs with laying manors on them For this great journey.] In the ancient Interlude of Nature, bl. 1. no date, but apparently printed in the reign of King Henry VIII, there seems to have been a similar stroke aimed at this expensive expedition: 66 Pryde. I am unhappy, I se it well, "For the expence of myne apparell What in horses and other aray "Hath compelled me for to lay "All my land to mortgage." Chapman has introduced the same idea into his version of the second Iliad: "Proud-girle-like, that doth ever beare her dowre upon her backe." Steevens. Again, in Camden's Remains, 1605: "There was a nobleman merrily conceited, and riotously given, that having lately sold a mannor of an hundred tenements, came ruffling into the court, saying, am not I a mighty man that beare an hundred houses on my backe?" Malone. So also Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy: "Tis an ordinary thing to put a thousand oakes, or an hundred oxen, into a sute of apparell, to weare a whole manor on his back." Edit. 1634, p. 482. Whalley. 6 What did this vanity, But minister &c.] What effect had this pompous show, but the production of a wretched conclusion. Johnson. 7 Every man, After the hideous storm that follow'd, &c.] From Holinshed: "Monday the xviii of June was such an hideous storme of wind and weather, that many conjectured it did prognosticate trouble and hatred shortly after to follow between princes."-Dr. Warburton has quoted a similar passage from Hall, whom he calls Shakspeare's author; but Holinshed, and not Hall, was his author; as is proved here by the words which I have printed in Italicks, which are not found so combined in Hail's Chronicle. This fact is indeed proved by various circumstances. Malone. Dashing the garment of this peace, aboded Nor. Which is budded out; For France hath flaw'd the league, and hath attach'd Our merchants' goods at Bourdeaux. Aber. The ambassador is silenc'd?8 Nor. Aber. A proper title of a peace; and purchas'd At a superfluous rate! Buck. Is it therefore Marry, is 't. Why, all this business 'Like it your grace, Our reverend cardinal carry'd.1 Nor. The state takes notice of the private difference What his high hatred would effect, wants not You'll find it wholesome. Lo, where comes that rock,2 8 The ambassador is silenc'd?] Silenc'd for recalled. This being proper to be said of an orator; and an ambassador or public mi. nister being called an orator, he applies silenc'd to an ambassador. Warburton. I understand it rather of the French ambassador residing in England, who, by being refused an audience, may be said to be silenc'd. Johnson. 9 A proper title of a peace;] A fine name of a peace. Ironically. Johnson. So, in Macbeth: "O proper stuff! "This is the very painting of your fear." Steevens. 1- this business Our reverend cardinal carry'd.] To carry a business was at this time a current phrase for to conduct or manage it. So, in this Act: "he'd carry it so, "To make the sceptre his." Reed. That I advise your shunning. Enter Cardinal WOLSEY, (the Purse borne before him) certain of the Guard, and two Secretaries with Papers. The Cardinal in his passage fixeth his eye on BUCKINGHAM, and BUCKINGHAM on him, both full of disdain. Wol. The duke of Buckingham's surveyor? ha? Where 's his examination? 1 Secr. Here, so please you. Wol. Is he in person ready? 1 Secr. Ay, please your grace. Wol. Well, we shall then know more; and Bucking ham Shall lessen this big look. [Exeunt WoL. and Train. Nor. What, are you chaf'd? Ask God for temperance; that's the appliance only, Buck. I read in his looks Matter against me; and his eye revil'd 2 comes that rock,] To make the rock come, is not very just. 3 Johnson. butcher's cur-] Wolsey is said to have been the son of a butcher. Johnson. Dr. Grey observes, that when the death of the duke of Buckingham was reported to the Emperor Charles V, he said, "The first buck of England was worried to death by a butcher's dog." Skelton, whose satire is of the grossest kind, in Why come you not to Court, has the same reflection on the meanness of Cardinal Wolsey's birth: "For drede of the boucher's dog, 4 - A beggar's book Steevens. Out-worths a noble's blood.] That is, the literary qualifications of a bookish beggar are more prized than the high descent of hereditary greatness. This is a contemptuous exclamation very naturally put into the mouth of one of the ancient, unlettered, martial nobility. Johnson. It ought to be remembered that the speaker is afterward pronounced by the King himself a learned gentleman. Ritson. He bores me with some trick: He's gone to the king; I'll follow, and out-stare him. Nor. Stay, my lord, As you would to your friend. Buck. Nor. Be advis'd; More stronger to direct you than yourself; 5 He bores me with some trick:] He stabs or wounds me by some artifice or fiction. Johnson. So, in The Life and Death of Lord Cromwell, 1602: 6 "One that hath gull'd you, that hath bor'd you, sir." Anger is like Steevens. A full-hot horse;] So, Massinger, in The Unnatural Combat: Again, in our author's Rape of Lucrece: 7 "Till, like a jade, self-will himself doth tire." Malone. -from a mouth of honour -] I will crush this base-born fellow, by the due influence of my rank, or say that all distinction of persons is at an end. Johnson. 8 Heat not a furnace &c.] Might not Shakspeare allude to Dan. iii, 22?"Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshac, and Abednego." Steevens. 9 If with the sap of reason you would quench, 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 as strong As shore of rock. Attend. This holy fox, Or wolf, or both, (for he is equal ravenous,2 That swallow'd so much treasure, and like a glass 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, 1 Or but allay, the fire of passion.] So, in Hamlet : 66 Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper •sincere motions,)] Honest indignation, warmth of integrity. Perhaps name not, should be blame not. Whom from the flow of gall I blame not. Johnson. 2 for he is equal ravenous,] Equal for equally. Shakspeare frequently uses adjectives adverbially. See King John, Vol. VII, p. 415, n. 4. Malone. 3 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. Warburton. suggests the king our master -] Suggests, for excites. So, in King Richard II: "Suggest his soon-believing adversaries." 5 Warburton. |