And, like a gallant in the brow of youth," RICH. My noble father, Three times to-day I holp him to his horfe, Three times beflrid him,' thrice I led him off, • Perfuaded him from any further act: › But ftill, where danger was, fill there I met him; * And like rich hangings in a homely house, So was his will in his old feeble body. But, noble as he is, look where he comes. Enter SALISBURY. SAL. Now, by my fword, well haft thou fought to-day; 8 The brush of time, is the gradual detrition of time. The old reading I fuppofe to be the true one. So, in Timon: one winter's brush." STEEVENS. 6 - gallant in the brow of youth,] The brow of youth is an expreffion not very easily explained. I read the blow of youth; the bloffom, the fpring. JOHNSON. The brow of youth is the height of youth, as the brow of a hill is its fummit. So, in Othello: the head and front of my offending." Again, in K. John: 7 Three times beftrid him, ] That is, Three times I faw him fallen, and, ftriding over him, defended him till he recovered. JOHNSON. See Vol. XII. p. 383, n. 9. Of this act of friendship, which Shakspeare has frequently noticed in other places, no mention is made in the old play, as the reader may find on the oppofite page; and its introduction here is one of the numerous minute circumftances, which when united form almost a decifive proof that the piece before us was conftructed on foundations laid by a preceding writer. MALONE. Well haft thou fought &c.] The variation between this fpeech and that in the original play deferves to be noticed: By the mafs, fo did we all.-I thank you, Richard: God knows, how long it is I have to live; And it hath pleas'd him, that three times to-day You have defended me from imminent death.*Well lords, we have not got that which we have; 'Tis not enough our foes are this time fled, Being oppofites of fuch repairing nature.' "YORK. I know, our fafety is to follow them; For, as I hear, the king is fled to London, To call a prefent court of parliament.3 Sal. Well haft thou fought this day, thou valiant duke; I hold for thee, for with thy warlike arm MALONE. Well, lords, we have not got that which we have; ] i. e. we have not fecured, we are not fure of retaining, that which we have acquired. In our anthor's Rape of Lucrece, a poem very nearly contemporary with the prefent piece, we meet with a fimilar expreffiou : 2 "That oft they have not that which they poffefs." MALONE. Being oppofites of fuch repairing nature. ] Being enemies that are likely fo foon to rally and recover themfelves from this defeat. See Vol. V. p. 308. n, 9. To repair in our author's language is, to renovate. So, in Cymbeline: O, difloyal thing! "That should'ft repair my youth,-." Again, in All's well that ends well: It much repairs me, "To talk of your good father." MALONE. 3 To call a prefent court of parliament. ] The king and queen left the ftage only juft as York eutered, and have not faid a word about calling a parliament. Where then could York hear this ?-The fact is, as we have feen, that in the old play the king does fay, "he will call a parliament," but our author has omitted the lines. He has, therefore, here as in fome other places, fallen into an impropriety, by fometimes following and at others deferting his original. MALONE. : Let us pursue him, ere the writs go forth :What lays lord Warwick? fhall we after them? ⚫ WAR. After them! nay, before them, if we can. Now by my faith, lords, 'twas a glorious day: Saint Albans' battle, won by famous York, Shall be eterniz'd in all age to come.— Sound, drums and trumpets ;-and to London all: And more fuch days as these to us befall! [Exeunt. 4 Now by my faith,] The first folio reads-Now by my hand. This undoubtedly was one of the many alterations made by the /editors of that copy, to avoid the penalty of the Stat. 3 Jac. I. See p. 346, n. 2. The true reading I have reftored from the old play. MALONE. C. 21. |