And, like a mountain, not to be remov'd. As princes do their courts, when they are cloy'd Plan. O, uncle! would some part of my young years Might but redeem the passage of your age. Mor. Thou dost, then, wrong me; as the slaughterer doth, Which giveth many wounds, when one will kill. And so farewell; and fair be all thy hopes, And prosperous be thy life, in peace, and war! [Dies. And like a hermit overpass'd thy days.- [Exeunt Keepers, bearing out MORTIMER. Or make my ill th' advantage of my good3. [Exit. 5 Or make my ILL th' advantage of my good.] The old editions read, "Or make my will," &c. But we adopt Theobald's amendment, which clears the sense, and preserves the antithesis. Malone properly understands by “ill,” ill usage. Some modern editors have printed "ill" for will of the folios, without any information that it was not the ancient reading. It is necessary to mark these variations, if only to test the general value of the old copies, as representing the language of the poet. ACT III. SCENE I. The Same. The Parliament-House. Flourish. Enter King HENRY, EXETER, GLOSTER, Win. Com'st thou with deep premeditated lines, Glo. Presumptuous priest! this place commands my patience, Or thou should'st find thou hast dishonour'd me. Win. Gloster, I do defy thee.-Lords, vouchsafe Glo. Thou bastard of my grandfather! As good? Win. Ay, lordly sir; for what are you, I pray, Win. And am not I a prelate of the church? And useth it to patronage his theft. Win. Unreverent Gloster! Glo. Thou art reverent Touching thy spiritual function, not thy life. War. Roam thither then. My lord, it were your duty to forbear. Som. Ay, see the bishop be not overborne. Methinks, my lord should be religious, And know the office that belongs to such. War. Methinks, his lordship should be humbler; It fitteth not a prelate so to plead. And know the office that belongs to such.] Theobald changed the prefixes to this and some preceding lines, but apparently without sufficient reason for varying from the old copies. The altered arrangement of the speeches seems quite as liable to objection, though some editors have adopted it without notice. VOL. V. E Som. Yes, when his holy state is touch'd so near. Plan. Plantagenet, I see, must hold his tongue; [Aside. K. Hen. Uncles of Gloster, and of Winchester, The special watchmen of our English weal, I would prevail, if prayers might prevail, To join your hearts in love and amity. O! what a scandal is it to our crown, That two such noble peers as ye should jar. Believe me, lords, my tender years can tell, Civil dissension is a viperous worm, That gnaws the bowels of the commonwealth.— [A Noise within: Down with the tawny coats ! What tumult's this? War. An uproar, I dare warrant, Begun through malice of the bishop's men. [A Noise again: Stones! Stones! Enter the Mayor of London, attended. May. O, my good lords, and virtuous Henry, Pity the city of London, pity us! The bishop and the duke of Gloster's men, Forbidden late to carry any weapon, Have fill'd their pockets full of pebble-stones; That many have their giddy brains knock'd out. Enter, skirmishing, the Retainers of GLOSTER and WIN- K. Hen. We charge you, on allegiance to ourself, To hold your slaught'ring hands, and keep the peace. Pray, uncle Gloster, mitigate this strife. 1 Serv. Nay, if we be Forbidden stones, we'll fall to it with our teeth. 2 Serv. Do what ye dare; we are as resolute. [Skirmish again. Glo. You of my household, leave this peevish broil, And set this unaccustom'd fight aside. 1 Serv. My lord, we know your grace to be a man Just and upright; and, for your royal birth, Inferior to none but to his majesty ; And ere that we will suffer such a prince, 3 Serv. Ay, and the very parings of our nails And, if you love me, as you say you do, Let me persuade you to forbear a while. K. Hen. O, how this discord doth afflict my soul!— Can you, my lord of Winchester, behold My sighs and tears, and will not once relent? Or who should study to prefer a peace, If holy churchmen take delight in broils? War. Yield, my lord protector;-yield, Winchester; Except you mean, with obstinate repulse, 7 an INKHORN mate,] The epithet "inkhorn" was usually applied in derision of pedantry. Thus Churchyard in his " Choice," sign. E e 1, has this line: "As ynkhorne termes smell of the schoole sometyme;" and in the comedy "The Weakest goeth to the Wall," 1600, one of the characters asks, "Is not this better farre than respice, And precor, and such ink-horne terms?" We, and our wives, and children,] Malone inserts our before "children," unnecessarily for the sense of the passage, and to the injury of the line as it stands in the old copies. |