Turning your books to graves, your ink to blood, Arch. Wherefore do I this?-so the question Briefly to this end:-We are all diseas'd; And purge the obstructions, which begin to stop What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we suffer, 8 And find our griefs heavier than our offences. And have the summary of all our griefs, 7 Warburton very plausibly reads glaives. Steevens proposed greaves; and this emendation has my full concurrence. It should be remarked that greaves, or leg-armour, is sometimes spelt graves. 8 Grievances. 9 The old copies read from our most quiet there.' Warburton made the alteration; I am not quite persuaded that it was necessary. We are denied access unto his person 10 Even by those men that most have done us wrong. The dangers of the days but newly gone, Of every (Whose memory is written on the earth West. When ever yet was your appeal denied? peer And consecrate commotion's bitter edge 12? I make my quarrel in particular13. 10 In Holinshed the Archbishop says, 'Where he and his companie were in armes, it was for feare of the king, to whom he could have no free accesse, by reason of such a multitude of flatterers as were about him.' 11 6 Examples of every minute's instance' are Examples which every minute instances or supplies,' Which even the present minute presses on their notice. 12 Commotion's bitter edge? that is, the edge of bitter strife and commotion; the sword of rebellion. This line is omitted in the folio. 13 The second line of this very obscure speech is omitted in the folio. As the passage stands I can make nothing of it; nor do any of the explanations which have been offered appear to me satisfactory. I think with Malone that a line has been lost, though I do not agree with him in the sense he would give to it. It is with all proper humility I offer the following reading :— My quarrel general, the commonwealth, I make my quarrel in particular.' : i. e. my general cause of discontent is public wrongs, my particular cause the death of my own brother, who was beheaded by West. There is no need of any such redress; Or, if there were, it not belongs to you. Mowb. Why not to him, in part; and to us all, That feel the bruises of the days before; And suffer the condition of these times To lay a heavy and unequal hand Upon our honours? West. O my good lord Mowbray 14, Construe the times to their necessities, And you shall say indeed, it is the time, And not the king, that doth you injuries. Yet, for your part, it not appears to me, Either from the king, or in the present time, That you should have an inch of any ground To build a grief on: Were you not restor❜d To all the duke of Norfolk's signiories, Your noble and right well remember'd father's? Mowb. What thing in honour had my father lost, That need to be reviv'd and breath'd in me? The king, that lov'd him, as the state stood then, Was, force perforce, compell'd to banish him: And then, when Harry Bolingbroke, and he,Being mounted, and both roused in their seats, Their neighing coursers daring of the spur, Their armed staves 15 in charge, their beavers 16 down, the king's order. This circumstance is referred to in the first part of this play:— "The archbishop-who bears hard J His brother's death at Bristol, the Lord Scroop.' The answer of Westmoreland makes it obvious that something about redress of public wrongs should have fallen from the archbishop. Johnson proposed to read quarrel instead of brother in the first line, and explained the passage much as I have done. I have merely superadded the line, which seems to me necessary to complete the sense, and make Westmoreland's reply intelligible. 14 The thirty-seven following lines are not in the quarto. 15 i. e. their lances fixed in the rest for the encounter. 16 It has been already observed that the beaver was a moveable piece of the helmet, which lifted up or down, to enable the bearer to drink or breathe more freely. Their eyes of fire sparkling through sights 17 of steel, O, when the king did throw his warder 18 down, West. You speak, Lord Mowbray, now you know not what: The earl of Hereford 19 was reputed then In England the most valiant gentleman; To know your griefs; to tell you from his grace, West. Mowbray, you overween, to take it so; Upon mine honour, all too confident 17 The perforated part of the helmets, through which they could see to direct their aim. Visière, Fr. 18 Truncheon. 19 This is a mistake: he was duke of Hereford. To give admittance to a thought of fear. Mowb. Well, by my will, we shall admit no parley. A rotten case abides no handling. In Hast. Hath the Prince John a full commission, very ample virtue of his father, To hear, and absolutely to determine Of what conditions we shall stand upon? West. That is intended 20 in the general's name: I muse, you make so slight a question. Arch. Then take, my lord of Westmoreland, this For this contains our general grievances ;- All members of our cause, both here and hence, again, And knit our powers to the arm of peace. 20 Intended is understood, i. e. meant without expressing it. Entendu, Fr.; subauditur, Lat. 21 The old copy reads confin'd. Johnson proposed to read consign'd; which must be understood in the Latin sense, consignatus, signed, sealed, ratified, confirmed; which was indeed the old meaning according to the dictionaries. Shakspeare uses consign and consigning in other places in this sense. 22 Awful for lawful; or under the due awe of authority. Thus in The Two Gentlemen of Verona : 'From the society of awful men.' It is also used in the same sense in Pericles : A better prince and benign lord— Awful seems peculiar to Shakspeare in this acceptation. |