The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix,
Her ashes new create another heir,

So shall she leave her blessedness to one,

As great in admiration as herself;

(When Heaven shall call her from this cloud of darkness,)
Who, from the sacred ashes of her honour,
Shall star-like rise, as great in fame as she was,

And so stand fix'd: Peace, plenty, love, truth, terror,
That were the servants to this chosen infant,
Shall then be his, and like a vine grow to him;
Wherever the bright sun of heaven shall shine,
His honour, and the greatness of his name,
Shall be, and make new nations: He shall flourish,
And, like a mountain cedar, reach his branches
To all the plains about him:-

Shall see this, and bless Heaven.

K. HEN.

-Our children's children

Thou speakest wonders.

CRAN. She shall be, to the happiness of England,

An aged princess; many days shall see her,

And yet no day without a deed to crown it.

Would I had known no more! but she must die-
She must, the saints must have her—yet a virgin,
A most unspotted lily shall she pass

To the ground, and all the world shall mourn her.
K. HEN. O lord archbishop,

Thou hast made me now a man; never, before

This happy child, did I get anything:

This oracle of comfort has so pleas'd me,

That, when I am in heaven, I shall desire

To see what this child does, and praise my Maker.
I thank ye all,-to you, my good lord mayor,
And you, good brethren, I am much beholding;
I have receiv'd much honour by your presence,
And ye shall find me thankful. Lead the way, lords;
Ye must all see the queen, and she must thank ye,
She will be sick else. This day, no man think
He has business at his house; for all shall stay;
This little one shall make it holiday.

[Exeunt.

EPILOGUE.

"Tis ten to one, this play can never please All that are here; Some come to take their ease, And sleep an act or two; but those, we fear, We have frighted with our trumpets; so, 't is clear, They'll say 't is naught: others, to hear the city Abus'd extremely, and to cry,-"That 's witty!" Which we have not done neither: that, I fear, All the expected good we are like to hear, For this play at this time, is only in The merciful construction of good women; For such a one we show'd them: If they smile, And say, 't will do, I know, within a while All the best men are ours; for 't is ill hap, If they hold, when their ladies bid them clap.

VARIOUS READINGS.

ACT II., Sc. 4.

"You have, by fortune, and his highness' favours, Gone slightly o'er low steps; and now are mounted Where powers are your retainers: and your wards, Domestics to you, serve your will." The original has "your words." The alteration to wards was proposed by Tyrwhitt. He holds that the Queen "paints the powers of government depending upon Wolsey, under three images-as his retainers, his wards, his do mestic servants."

Tyrwhitt has certainly taken a prosaic view of this passage. What an image is presented of an able but unscrupulous statesman, to say, that his powers, or persons in power under him, are used as the mere agents of his pleasurehis personal" retainers;" and that his words, without regard to the general obligation of truth, are "domestics," who serve but his will.

"You have scarce time,

ACT III., Sc. 2.

To steal from spiritual labour a brief span
To keep your earthly audit."
The folio Corrector has labour,
instead of the original leisure.

Surely the meaning is-"You have scarce time to keep your span stolen

earthly audit in a brief
from spiritual leisure."

"A man that more detests, more strives against
Defacers of a public peace."

The original has stirs. The change is made by the folio Cor

rector.

ACT V., Sc. 2.

A man that stirs against offenders is doing a more definite service than he that only strives against them.

"We are all men,

In our own natures frail, incapable

Of our flesh; few are angels."

ACT V., Sc. 2. MALONE.

"In our own natures frail, and culpable

Of our flesh."

M. MASON, and MS. Corrector.

"We are all men ;

In our natures frail and culpable.
Of our flesh few are angels."

The original has "capable."

R. G. WHITE.

We think Mr. White's change is the better.

"Let me ne'er hope to see a queen again,
And that I would not for a crown."

The original has chine and cow. The above is the MS. Corrector's reading.

ACT V., Sc. 3. The original is stark nonsense. Is the correction much better?

GLOSSARY.

ABHOR. Act II., Sc. 4.

"I utterly abhor, yea, from my soul
Refuse you for my judge."

It has been observed by Sir W. Blackstone that abhor and
refuse are technical terms of the canon law-detestor and
recuso- -used in similar processes.
The queen has used
challenge in a technical sense previously.

AGAINST. Act II., Sc. 4.

66

Against your sacred person."

This is one of the many elliptical phrases so numerous in this play. The construction requires that aught, used in the preceding sentence, should be understood also before against. ANDREN. Act I., Sc. 1.

"Met in the vale of Andren."

The original folio, as well as the Chroniclers, have Andren, but in most modern editions it is printed Arde. Arde, or Ardres, which is the name of the town, occurs in the following line as Arde; but Andren or Ardren is the name of the village near the place of meeting.

BEHOLDING. Act IV., Sc. 1.

"I should have been beholding to your paper." Beholding is not a corruption, but is more than once used by Shakspere, and constantly by the writers of his time. It occurs in Greene's 'Groat's Worth of Wit.'

BEVY. Act I., Sc. 4.

"In all this noble bevy."

Bevy is a company or assembly of females. Spenser uses it thus in the 'Shepherd's Calendar '—

"A lovely bevy of fair ladies sat."

BORES. Act I., Sc. 1.

"He bores me with some trick."

To bore is to wound, to thrust at. In 'The Winter's Tale' (Act III., Sc. 3), we have-" Now the ship boring the moon with her mainmast."

BROKEN WITH.

Act V., Sc. 1.

"Have broken with the king."

Broken with is communicated to; as in "The Two Gentlemen of Verona' (Act I., Sc. 3, and Act II., Sc. 1). The phrase

was a common one.

BUMBARDS. Act V., Sc. 3.

"And here ye lie baiting of bumbards."

Bumbards were vessels or barrels for holding ale or beer. CENSURE. Act I.. Sc. 1.

"Durst wag his tongue in censure."

Censure is here not used as dispraise, but as comparative judg.

ment.

CHEVERIL. Act II., Sc. 3.

"Of your soft cheveril conscience."

Cheveril was prepared flexible kid-skin, used for gloves; Shak. spere uses the word in 'Romeo and Juliet' (Act II., Sc. 4), and Shirley and Chapman, in 'Chabot, Admiral of France,' (Act I., Sc. 1), have—

"No tough hides limiting our cheveril minds."

CLINQUANT. Act I., Sc. 1.

"All clinquant, all in gold.”

Clinquant is bright, glittering, with gingling ornaments. It is from the same root as clink.

CONVENTED. Act V., Sc. 1.

"To the council board

He be convented."

Convented is a Latinism for summoned.

ELEMENT. Act I., Sc. 1.

"One, certes, that promises no element."

Element is here used for constituent quality of mind, qualification. Malvolio, in 'Twelfth Night' (Act III., Sc. 4), says,