About a certain question in the law, Ver. And that is my petition, noble lord: Yet know, my lord, I was provok'd by him; York. Will not this malice, Somerset, be left? Som. Your private grudge,my lord of York, will out, Though ne'er so cunningly you smother it. K. Hen. Good lord! what madness rules in brainsick men; When, for so slight and frivolous a cause, York. Let this dissension first be tried by fight, And then your highness shall command a peace. Som. The quarrel toucheth none but us alone; Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then. strife! York. There is my pledge; accept it, Somerset. Ver. Nay, let it rest where it began at first. Bas. Confirm it so, mine honourable lord. Glo. Confirm it so? Confounded be your And perish ye, with your audacious prate! Presumptuous vassals! are you not asham'd, With this immodest clamorous outrage, To trouble and disturb the king and us? 9 i. e. discovered. Thus in Lear, Act ii. Sc. 1: He did bewray his practice and receiv'd The hurt you see striving to apprehend him.' And you, my lords,—methinks, you do not well, K. Hen. Come hither, you that would be combatants: Henceforth, I charge you, as you love our favour, I see no reason, if I wear this rose, [Putting on a red Rose. That any one should therefore be suspicious I more incline to Somerset, than York: Both are my kinsmen, and I love them both: As well they may upbraid me with my crown, Because, forsooth, the king of Scots is crown'd. But your discretions better can persuade, Than I am able to instruct or teach: And therefore, as we hither came in peace, So let us still continue peace and love. Cousin of York, we institute your grace Your troops of horsemen with his bands of foot;- Your angry choler on your enemies. With Charles, Alençon, and that traitorous rout. War. My lord of York, I promise you, the king Prettily, methought, did play the orator. York. And so he did; but yet I like it not, In that he wears the badge of Somerset. War. Tush! that was but his fancy, blame him not; I dare presume, sweet prince, he thought no harm. York. And if I wist he did 10,-But let it rest; Other affairs must now be managed. [Exeunt YORK, WARWICK, and VERNON. 10 The old copy reads 'And if I wish he did;' an evident typographical error. York says that he is not pleased that the king should prefer the red rose, the badge of Somerset, his enemy; Warwick desires him not to be offended at it, as he dares say the king meant no harm. To which York, yet unsatisfied, hastily replies, in a menacing tone, 'If I thought he did;'—but he instantly checks his threat with, let it rest. It is an example of a rhetorical figure not uncommon. Thus in Coriolanus:An 'twere to give again-But 'tis no matter.' And if, or an if, in old phraseology, are frequently used for if. The following instance, from the Interlude of Jack Jugler, confirms this emendation: And if I wist the fault were in him, I pray God I be ded This passage has been most absurdly pointed in all the late editions. Exe. Well didst thou, Richard, to suppress thy voice: For, had the passions of thy heart burst out, But howsoe'er, no simple man that sees This should'ring of each other in the court, 'Tis much 11, when sceptres are in children's hands; [Exit. SCENE II. France. Before Bordeaux. Enter TALBOT, with his Forces. Tal. Go to the gates of Bordeaux, trumpeter, Trumpet sounds a Parley. Enter, on the Walls, the 11 'Tis an alarming circumstance, a thing of great consequence, or much weight. 12 Envy, in old English writers, frequently means malice, enmity. 13 Unkind is unnatural. See note on As You Like It, Act ii. Sc. 7, p. 150. VOL. VI. Lean famine, quartering steel, and climbing fire; If Gen. Thou ominous and fearful owl of death, And strong enough to issue out and fight: And no way canst thou turn thee for redress, Upon no Christian soul but English Talbot. This is the latest glory of thy praise, 1 The old editions read their love.' Sir Thomas Hanmer altered it to our love;' and I think, with Steevens, that the alteration should be adopted. ་ 2 To rive their dangerous artillery' is merely a figurative way of expressing to discharge it. To rive is to burst; and burst is applied by Shakspeare more than once to thunder, or to a similar sound. Thus in King Lear, Aet iii. Sc. 2: 'Such bursts of horrid thunder.' And in The Winter's Tale, Act iii. Sc. 1: the burst And the ear-deafening voice o'the oracle 3 Due for endue, or giving due and merited praise. |