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* "Tis that they seek: and they, in seeking that, * Shall find their deaths, if York can prophesy.

6

* Sal. My lord, break we off; we know your mind at full.

War. My heart assures me, that the earl of
Warwick

• Shall one day make the duke of York a king. York. And, Nevil, this I do assure myself,Richard shall live to make the earl of Warwick 'The greatest man in England, but the king.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III. The same. A Hall of Justice.

Trumpets sounded. Enter KING HENRY, QUEEN
MARGARET, GLOSTER, YORK, SUFFOLK, and
SALISBURY; the Duchess of Gloster, MARGERY
JOURDAIN, SOUTHWELL, HUME, and BOLING-
BROKE, under guard.

K. Hen. Stand forth, dame Eleanor Cobham,
Gloster's wife :

In sight of God, and us, your guilt is great; • Receive the sentence of the law, for sins

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Such as by God's book are adjudg'd to death.*You four, from hence to prison back again; [To JOURD. &c. * From thence, unto the place of execution: *The witch in Smithfield shall be burn'd to ashes, * And you three shall be strangled on the gallows.— You, madam, for you are more nobly born,

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Despoiled of your honour in your life,

• Shall after three days' open penance done, 'Live in your country here, in banishment, With Sir John Stanley, in the Isle of Man. • Duch. Welcome is banishment, welcome were my death.

* Glo. Eleanor, the law, thou seest, hath judged thee;

* I cannot justify whom the law condemns.—

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[Exeunt the Duchess, and the other prison-
ers guarded.

Mine eyes are full of tears, my heart of grief.
Ah, Humphrey, this dishonour in thine age

Will bring thy head with sorrow to the ground! I beseech your majesty, give me leave to go; 'Sorrow would solace, and mine age would ease1. 'K. Hen. Stay, Humphrey duke of Gloster: ere thou go,

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Give up thy staff; Henry will to himself
Protector be: and God shall be my hope,
My stay, my guide, and lantern to my feet2;
And go in peace, Humphrey; no less belov'd,
Than when thou wert protector to thy king.

*

Q. Mar. I see no reason, why a king of years *Should be to be protected like a child.—

God and King Henry govern England's helm:' Give up your staff, sir, and the king his realm. Glo. My staff?-here, noble Henry, is my staff; As willingly do I the same resign,

As e'er thy father Henry made it mine; And even as willingly at thy feet I leave it, As others would ambitiously receive it.

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Farewell, good king: When I am dead and gone, May honourable peace attend thy throne! [Exit. * Q. Mar. Why, now is Henry king, and Mar

garet queen;

* And Humphrey, duke of Gloster, scarce himself, * That bears so shrewd a maim; two pulls at once,— * His lady banish'd, and a limb lopp'd off.

1 i. e. sorrow requires solace, and age requires ease.

2 The image is probably from our Liturgy: A lantern to my feet, and a light to my paths.'

* This staff of honour raught 3, there let it stand, . Where it best fits to be, in Henry's hand.

* Suf. Thus droops this lofty pine, and hangs his sprays;

* Thus Eleanor's pride dies in her youngest days *. • York. Lords, let him go 5.-Please it your ma

jesty,

This is the day appointed for the combat; And ready are the appellant and defendant, The armourer and his man, to enter the lists, So please your highness to behold the fight. * Q. Mar. Ay, good my lord; for purposely therefore

* Left I the court, to see this quarrel tried.

'K. Hen. O' God's name, see the lists and all things fit;

'Here let them end it, and God defend the right! * York. I never saw a fellow worse bested", * Or more afraid to fight, than is the appellant, * The servant of this armourer, my lords.

3 Raught is the ancient preterite of the verb reach. Shakspeare uses it again in Antony and Cleopatra, Act iv. Sc. 9:The hand of death has raught him.' We have it again in Love's Labour's Lost, Act iv. Sc. 2. Spenser also uses it frequently:'Sir Guyon's sword he lightly to him raught.' F. Q. II. viii. 11.

It is true that it is sometimes used by old writers in the sense of snatched or obtained by violence, but the instances are rare. Here, and wherever Shakspeare uses it, means reached, attained unto. This passage has been absurdly pointed in the late editions. The punctuation of the first folio, which I have followed, need not have been disturbed.

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4 Her in this line relates to pride, and not to Eleanor. The pride of Eleanor dies before it has reached maturity.'

5 i. e. let him pass out of your thoughts. Duke Humphrey had already left the stage.

6 In a worse plight.

Enter, on one side, HORNER, and his neighbours, drinking to him so much that he is drunk; and he enters bearing his staff with a sand-bag fastened to it; a drum before him; at the other side, PETER, with a drum and a similar staff; accompanied by Prentices drinking to him.

1 Neigh. Here, neighbour Horner, I drink to you in a cup of sack; And fear not, neighbour, you shall do well enough.

2 Neigh. And here, neighbour, here's a cup of charneco 8.

3 Neigh. And here's a pot of good double beer, neighbour: drink, and fear not your man.

Hor. Let it come, i'faith, and I'll pledge you all; And a fig for Peter!

1 Pren. Here Peter, I drink to thee; and be not afraid.

2 Pren. Be merry, Peter, and fear not thy master; fight for credit of the prentices.

Peter. I thank you all: * drink, and pray for me,

7 As, according to the old law of duels, knights were to fight with the lance and the sword, so those of inferior rank fought with an ebon staff, or battoon, to the farther end of which was fixed a bag crammed hard with sand. Butler has alluded to this custom in Hudibras :

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Engag'd with money bags, as bold

As men with sand bags did of old.'

The practice must have been of great antiquity, being mentioned by St. Chrysostom.

8 Charneco appears to have been a kind of sweet wine. Warburton imagines that it may have had its name from charneca, the Spanish name for a species of turpentine tree; but Steevens says Charneco is the name of a village in Portugal where this wine was made. It is frequently mentioned by old writers. Thus in Wit's Miserie, or the World's Madness, 1596, it is said that three cups of charneco fasting is the only medicine for the fleghm.' And in the Puritan, a comedy, Come, my inestimable bullies, we'll talk of your noble acts in sparkling charneco.'

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