ACT II. Line 41. _HE sweat extremely,] This circum stance is taken from Holinshed. "After he was found guilty, the duke was brought to the bar, sore chafing, and sweat marvelously.” STEEVENS. 70. Sir William.] The old copy reads, Sir Walter. 87. STEEVENS. -You few that lov'd me, &c.] These lines are remarkably tender and pathetic. JOHNSON. 101. -no black envy Shall make my grave.. -] I believe Shak spere, by this expression, meant to make the duke say, No action expressive of malice shall conclude my life. Envy by our author is used for malice and hatred in other places, and, perhaps, in this. Again, in the ancient metrical romance of Syr Bevis of Hampton, bl. let. no date : "Traytoure, he sayd with great envy, Again : "They drewe theyr swordes hastely, "And smot together with great envy.” And Barrett, in his Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionary, STEEVENS. 1580, thus interprets it. 118. Buck. Nay, Sir Nicholas, Let it alone; my state now will but mock me. The The last verse would run more smoothly, by making the monosyllables change places: Let it alone, my state will now but mock me. WHALLEY. Mr. Mason, in his Cara&tacus, hath used the same collocation with Shakspere : "I, that all despotic reign, "Claim but there a moment's power." 121. -poor Edward Bohun :] The duke of Buckingham's name was Stafford; Shakspere was led into the mistake by Holinshed. STEEVENS. This is not an expression thrown out at random, or by mistake, but one strongly marked with historical propriety. The name of the duke of Buckingham, most generally known, was Stafford; but the History of Remarkable Trials, 8vo. 1715, p. 170, says: " it seems he affected that surname [of Bohun] before that of Stafford, he being descended from the Bohuns, earls of Hereford." His reason for this might be, because he was lord high constable of England by inheritance of tenure from the Bohuns; and as the poet has taken particular notice of his great office, does it not seem probable that he had fully considered of the duke's foundation for assuming the name of Bohun? In truth, the duke's name was BAGOT; for a gentleman of that very ancient family married the heiress of the barony of Stafford, and their son relinquishing his paternal surname, assumed that of his mother, which continued in his posterity. TOLLET. 123. -I now seal it, &c.] I now seal my truth, my my loyalty, with blood, which blood shall one- day make them groan. JOHNSON. 153. And when you would say something that is sad, &c.] So, in K. Richard II. "Tell thou the lamentable tale of me, "And send the hearers weeping to their beds." STEEVENS. 165. Strong faith-] is great fidelity. JOHNSON. 239. The French king's sister.] i. e. the dutchess of Alençon. STEEVENS. 246. From princes into pages:—] This may allude to the retinue of the cardinal, who had several of the nobility among his menial servants. JOHNSON. 248. Into what pitch ke please.] The allusion seems to be to the 21st verse of the 9th chapter of the Epis tle of St. Paul to the Romans: "Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” COLLINS. 265. A door opens, &c.] old copy is a singular one. the King draws the curtain, 282. -have great care The stage direction in the Exit Lord Chamberlain, and and sits reading pensively. STEEVENS. I be not found a talker.] I take the meaning to be, Let care be taken that my promise be performed, that my professions of welcome be not found empty talk. JOHNSON. 290. -so sick though,-] That is, so sick as he is proud. JOHNSON. 342. Kept him a foreign man still:-] Kept him out of the king's presence, employed in foreign embassies. JOHNSON. 368. To give her the avaunt!. -] To send her away contemptuously; to pronounce against her a sentence of ejection. JOHNSON. 374. Yet, if that quarrel, fortune,-] The poet may be easily supposed to use quarrel for quareller, as murder for the murderer, the act for the agent. JOHNSON. Dr. Johnson may be right. So, in Antony and Cleopatra: -but that your royalty "Holds idleness your subject, I should take you "For Idleness itself." Like Martial's-"Non vitiosus homo es, Zoile, sed Vitium." We might, however, read Yet if that quarrel fortune to divorce It from the bearer.. i. e. if any quarrel happen or chance to divorce it from the bearer. To fortune is a verb used by Shakspere: -I'll tell you as we pass along, "That you will wonder what hath fortuned ?" Again, in Spenser's Faery Queen, Book I. c. ii. "It fortuned (high heaven did so ordaine)," &c. STEEVENS. 378. stranger now again.] i. e. She is alienated from the king's affection, is a stranger to his bed. TOLLET. 386. -our best having.] That is, our best possession. See note on Merry Wives of Windsor, act iii. JOHNSON. -cheveril-] is kid-skin, soft leather. SC. 2. 397. So, in Histriomastix, 1610: JOHNSON. "The cheveril conscience of corrupted law." STEEVENS. 407. -Pluck off a little;] The old lady first questions Anne Bullen about being a queen, which she declares her aversion to; she then proposes the title of a dutchess, and asks her if she thinks herself equal to the task of sustaining it; but as she still declines the offer of greatness; Pluck off a little, saye she, i. e. let us descend still lower, and more upon a level with your own quality; and then adds, I would not be a young count in your way, which is still an inferior degree of honour to any yet spoken of. STEEVENS. 416. You'd venture an emballing:-] You would venture to be distinguished by the ball, the ensign of royalty. JOHNSON. Dr. Johnson's explanation cannot be right, because a queen-consort, such as Anne Bullen was, is not distin guished by the ball, the ensign of royalty, nor has the poet expressed that she was so distinguished. TOLLET. Anne. I swear again, I would not be a queen' For all the world. 4 Old |