THE FIRST PART OF KING HENRY VI ACT I. SCENE I. Westminster Abbey. Dead march. The corpse of King HENRY the Fifth, in state, is brought in, attended on by the Dukes of BEDFORD, GLOSTER, and EXETER, the Earl of WARWICK, the Bishop of WINCHESTER, Heralds, &c. Bed. Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night! Comets, importing change of times and states, Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky, And with them scourge the bad revolting stars Glo. England ne'er had a king until his time. His brandish'd sword did blind men with his beams; His sparkling eyes, replete with wrathful fire, (1) Henry the Fifth,] So Pope.-The folio has "King Henry the Fift." -Compare a line in the next speech of the same speaker; "Henry the Fifth! thy ghost I invocate."-Walker (Crit. Exam., &c., vol. iii. p. 141) says, "Possibly 'King Henry Fifth." (Here Mr. Collier, in the second edition of his Shakespeare, writes as follows; "In the corr. fo. 1632 'King' is erased, probably for the sake of the measure; but as 'King' may have been considered necessary in order to denote more emphatically who was intended, we leave it in the text.") More dazzled and drove back his enemies Than mid-day sun fierce bent against their faces. He ne'er lift up his hand, but conquered. Exe. We mourn in black: why mourn we not in blood? Henry is dead, and never shall revive: Upon a wooden coffin we attend; Like captives bound to a triumphant car. Win. He was a king bless'd of the King of kings. So dreadful will not be as was his sight. The battles of the Lord of hosts he fought: The church's prayers made him so prosperous. Glo. The church! where is it? Had not churchmen pray'd, His thread of life had not so soon decay'd: None do you like but an effeminate prince, Win. Gloster, whate'er we like, thou art protector, Glo. Name not religion, for thou lov'st the flesh; Bed. Cease, cease these jars, and rest your minds in peace! Let's to the altar-heralds, wait on us : Instead of gold, we'll offer up our arms; Since arms avail not, now that Henry's dead. Posterity, await for wretched years, When at their mothers' moist (2) eyes babes shall suck; () moist] The folio has "moistned."-Corrected in the second folio. Our isle be made a marish of salt tears,(3 Enter a Messenger. Mess. My honourable lords, health to you all! Guienne, Champagne, Rheims, Rouen, Orleans,(5) Paris, Guysors, Poictiers, are all quite lost. Bed. What say'st thou, man! before dead Henry's corse Speak softly, or the loss of those great towns Will make him burst his lead, and rise from death. Glo. Is Paris lost? is Rouen yielded up? If Henry were recall'd to life again, These news would cause him once more yield the ghost. That here you maintain several factions; (3) Our isle be made a marish of salt tears,] So Pope, and (as Warburton remarks) very judiciously.-The folio has ". a Nourish of salt Teares," a flagrant error (in support of which, however, an example of the substantive "nourish," i.e. nourice, nurse, has been adduced from Lydgate!).—Here Ritson appositely quotes Kyd's Spanish Tragedy; "Made mountains marsh with spring-tides of my tears." Compare too Smith's Hector of Germanie, 1615; "Ere long Ile set them free, or make the soyle, Sig. C 4. (4) Berenice.] Here the folio has a blank, which, as Malone observes, "undoubtedly arose from the transcriber's or compositor's not being able to make out the name.' "-"Berenice" is Johnson's proposed addition; of which Walker (Crit. Exam., &c., vol. iii. p. 147) unhesitatingly approves.-Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector supplies "Cassiopé." (5) Guienne, Champagne, Rheims, Rouen, Orleans,] So Capell, with an eye to Gloster's next speech.-Here the folio omits "Rouen." And, whilst a field should be dispatch'd and fought, One would have lingering wars, with little cost; Exe. Were our tears wanting to this funeral, Bed. Me they concern; regent I am of France.- Enter a second Messenger. Sec. Mess. Lords, view these letters, full of bad mis chance. France is revolted from the English quite, Except some petty towns of no impórt : The Dauphin Charles is crownèd king in Rheims; Reignier, duke of Anjou, doth take his part;(8) The Duke of Alençon flieth to his side. Exe. The Dauphin crownèd king! all fly to him! O, whither shall we fly from this reproach? Glo. We will not fly, but to our enemies' throats :Bedford, if thou be slack, I'll fight it out. Bed. Gloster, why doubt'st thou of my forwardness? (And a third thinks,] The folio has "A third thinkes."-The editor of the second folio gives "A third man thinks,"—which, to me at least, is far from satisfactory. () their flowing tides.] The folio has "her flowing Tides,”—“ i.e.,” says Pope, absurdly enough, "England's flowing tides. (8) Reignier, duke of Anjou, doth take his part,] The folio has "Reynold, Duke," &c.-Here "doth take" was altered to "takes" by Hanmer. An army have I muster'd in my thoughts, Enter a third Messenger. Third Mess. My gracious lords, to add to your laments, Wherewith you now bedew King Henry's hearse. I must inform you of a dismal fight Betwixt the stout Lord Talbot and the French. Win. What! wherein Talbot overcame ? is't so? Third Mess. O, no; wherein Lord Talbot was o'erthrown: The circumstance I'll tell you more at large. The tenth of August last, this dreadful lord, Having full scarce six thousand in his troop, He wanted pikes to set before his archers; To keep the horsemen off from breaking in. Hundreds he sent to hell, and none durst stand him; (*) Here, there, and every where, enrag'd he flew:] The folio has " enrag'd, he slew."-Malone "suspects" (as he well might) "that the author wrote 'flew:""-if he had taken the trouble to examine Rowe's sec. edition, or Pope's edition, or Theobald's, &c., he would have found that correction. (10) Fastolfe] The folio throughout the play corrupts this name to "Falstafle." |