And give sweet passage to my sinful soul ! Now, lords, take leave until we meet again, Where'er it be, in heaven, or on earth. Rich. Brother,give me thy hand, and, gentle Warwick, Let me embrace thee in my weary arms :— I, that did never weep, now melt with woe, War. Away, away! Once more, sweet lords, farewell. This may plant courage in their quailing breasts ;6 Fore-slow no longer, make we hence amain. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. The same. Another Part of the Field. Excursions. Enter Rich. Now, Clifford, I have singled thee alone : Clif. Now, Richard, I am with thee here alone : And so, have at thee. [They fight. WARWICK enters; CLIFFORD flies. Rich. Nay, Warwick, single out some other chase ; For I myself will hunt this wolf to death. [Exeunt. SCENE V. Another Part of the Field. Alarum. Enter King HENRY. (K.Hen. This battle fares like to the morning's war, When dying clouds contend with growing light; What time the shepherd, blowing of his nails, [6] Quailing-that is, sinking into dejection. [7] To fore-slow is to be dilatory, to loiter. STEEV. STEEV. 20* VOL. V. Can neither call it perfect day, nor night. Sometime, the flood prevails; and then, the wind : To carve out dials quaintly, point by point, When this is known, then to divide the times: I So many days my ewes have been with young; [8] Hence, perhaps, the vulgarism that gives such acknowledged force to the following lines in Lee's Rival Queens: When Greeks join'd Greeks, then was the tug of war." STEEV. [9] This speech is mournful and soft, exquisitely suited to the character of the king, and makes a pleasing interchange, by affording, amidst the tumult and horror of the battle, an unexpected glimpse of rural innocence and pas toral tranquillity. JOHNS.-This speech strongly confirms the remark made by sir Joshua Reynolds on a passage in Macbeth, Act I. sc. vi. MAL, [1] Poor fool, it has already been observed, is an expression of tenderness, often used by our author. MAL. Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave. To kings, that fear their subjects' treachery? And to conclude,-the shepherd's homely curds, His viands sparkling in a golden cup, His body couched in a curious bed, When care, mistrust, and treason wait on him. him. Alarum. Enter a Son that had killed his Father,2 dragging in the dead body. Son. Ill blows the wind, that profits nobody.- [2] These two horrible incidents are selected to show the innumerable calamities of civil war. JOHNS.In the battle of Constantine and Maxentius, by Raphael, the second of these incidents is introduced on a similar occasion. STEEV. Be blind with tears, and break o'ercharg'd with grief.2 Enter a Father, who has killed his Son, with the Body in his arms. Fath. Thou, that so stoutly hast resisted me, Ah, boy, if any life be left in thee, Throw up thine eyes; see, see, what showers arise, What stratagems, how fell, how butcherly, 3 K.Hen. Woe above woe! grief more than common grief! O, that my death would stay these ruthful deeds! The red rose and the white, are on his face, The one, his purple blood right well resembles ; Fath. How will my wife, for slaughter of my son, K.Hen. How will the country, for these woful chances, Mis-think the king, and not be satisfy'd !5 Son. Was ever son, so rued a father's death Fath. Was ever father, so bemoan'd a son ? K.Hen. Was ever king so griev'd for subjects' woe? Much is your sorrow; mine, ten times so much. [2] The meaning is here inaccurately expressed. The king intends to say that the state of their hearts and eyes shall be like that of the kingdoms in a civil war, all shall be joined by power formed within themselves. JOHNS. [3] I think the meaning of the line, And hath bereft thee of thy life too soon, to be this: Thy father exposed thee to danger by giving thee life too soon and hath bereft thee of life by living himself too long. JOHNS. [4] To take on is a phrase still in use among the vulgar, and signifies-to persist in clamorous lamentation. STEEV. [5] To mis-think is to think ill, unfavourably. STEEV. Son. I'll bear thee hence, where I may weep my fill. I'll bear thee hence; and let them fight that will, [Exit with the body. K.Hen. Sad-hearted men, much overgone with care, Here sits a king more woeful than you are. Alarums: Excursions. Enter Queen MARGARET, Prince of Wales, and ExETER. Prince. Fly, father, fly ! for all your friends are fled, And Warwick rages like a chafed bull; ! Away for death doth hold us in pursuit. Q.Mar. Mount you, my lord, towards Berwick post amain: Edward and Richard, like a brace of greyhounds, With fiery eyes, sparkling for very wrath, And bloody steel grasp'd in their ireful hands, Are at our backs and therefore hence amain. Exe. Away for vengeance comes along with them: Nay, stay not to expostulate, make speed; Or else come after, I'll away before. K.Hen. Nay, take me with thee, good sweet Exeter; Not that I fear to stay, but love to go Whither the queen intends. Forward; away! [Exeunt. SCENE VI. The same. A loud Alarum. Enter CLIFFORD, wounded. Clif. Here burns my candle out, ay, here it dies, Which, while it lasted, gave king Henry light. O, Lancaster! I fear thy overthrow, More than my body's parting with my soul: My love, and fear,giew'd many friends to thee; And, now, I fall, thy tough commixtures melt. JOHNS. [61 Obsequious is here careful of obsequies, or of funeral rites. [7] I having but one son, will grieve as much for that one, as Priam, who had many, could grieve for many. JOHNS. |