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Or any creeping venom'd thing that lives!
If ever he have child, abortive be it,
Prodigious, and untimely brought to light,
Whofe ugly and unnatural aspect

May fright the hopeful mother at the view;
And that be heir to his unhappiness !
If ever he have wife, let her be made
More miferable by the death of him,

Than I am made by my young lord, and thee !—
Come, now, toward Chertsey with your holy load,
Taken from Paul's to be interred there;

And, ftill as you are weary of the weight,
Reft you, whiles I lament king Henry's corfe.

Enter Glofter.

Glo. Stay you, that bear the corfe, and fet it down. Anne. What black magician conjures up

To stop devoted charitable deeds?

this fiend,

Glo. Villains, fet down the corfe; or, by faint Paul, I'll make a corfe of him that disobeys ".

Gen. My lord, ftand back, and let the coffin pass. Glo. Unmanner'd dog! ftand thou when I command:

Advance thy halberd higher than my breast,
Or, by faint Paul, I'll ftrike thee to my foot,
And fpurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness.
Anne. What, do you tremble? are you all afraid?
Alas, I blame you not; for you are mortal,
And mortal eyes cannot endure the devil.-
Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell!
Thou had'ft but power over his mortal body,
His foul thou canft not have; therefore, be gone.
Glo. Sweet faint, for charity, be not fo curst.
Anne. Foul devil, for God's fake, hence, and
trouble us not;

Ill make a corfe of him that disobeys.] So, in Hamlet :
"I'll make a ghost of him that lets me." JOHNSON.

For

For thou haft made the happy earth thy hell,
Fill'd it with curfing cries, and deep exclaims.
If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds,
Behold this pattern of thy butcheries :-"
Oh, gentlemen, fee, fee! dead Henry's wounds
Open their congeal'd mouths, and bleed afresh!-7
Blush, blush, thou lump of foul deformity;
For 'tis thy prefence that exhales this blood
From cold and empty veins, where no blood dwells;
Thy deed, inhuman, and unnatural,
Provokes this deluge moft unnatural.

6 pattern of thy butcheries:] Pattern is infiance, or example. JOHNSON. Holinfhed fays: "The dead corps on the Afcenfion even was conveied with billes and glaives pompouflie (if you will call that a funerall pompe) from the Tower to the church of faint Paule, and there laid on a beire or coffen bare-faced; the fame in the prefence of the beholders did bleed; where it rested the space of one whole daie. From thenfe he was carried to the Black-friers, and bled there likewife; &c." STEEVENS.

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-fee, dead Henry's wounds,

Open their congeal'd mouths, and bleed afresh!-]

It is a tradition very generally received, that the murdered body bleeds on the touch of the murderer. This was fo much believed by fir Kenelm Digby that he has endeavoured to explain the reafon. JOHNSON.

So, in Arden of Feverfham, 1592:

"The more I found his name, the more he bleeds:
"This blood condemns me, and in gushing forth
"Speaks as it falls, and asks me why I did it."

Again, in the Widow's Tears, by Chapman, 1612:

The captain will affay an old conclufion often approved; that at the murderer's fight the blood revives again and boils afresh; and every wound has a condemning voice to cry out guilty against the murderer."

Again, in the 46th Idea of Drayton :

If the vile actors of the heinous deed, "Near the dead body happily be brought,

"Oft t'hath been prov'd the breathlefs corps will bleed." Mr. Tollet obferves that this opinion feems to be derived from the ancient Swedes, or Northern nations from whom we descend; for they practifed this method of trial in dubious cafes, as appears from Pitt's Atlas, in Sweden, p. 20. STEEVENS.

O God!

O God, which this blood mad'ft, revenge his death!
O earth, which this blood drink'ft, revenge his death!
Either, heaven, with lightning ftrike the murderer
dead,

Or, earth, gape open wide, and eat him quick;
As thou doft fwallow up this good king's blood,
Which his hell-govern'd arm hath butchered!
Glo. Lady, you know no rules of charity,
Which renders good for bad, bleffings for curfes.
Anne. Villain, thou know'ft no law of God nor

man;

No beaft fo fierce, but knows fome touch of pity.
Glo. But I know none, and therefore am no beaft.
Anne. O wonderful, when devils tell the truth!
Glo. More wonderful, when angels are fo angry.-
Vouchfafe, divine perfection of a woman,
Of these fuppofed evils, to give me leave,
By circumftance, but to acquit myself.

8

Anne. Vouchfafe, diffus'd infection of a man,
For these known evils, but to give me leave,
By circumftance, to curfe thy curfed felf.

Glo. Fairer than tongue can name thee, let me have Some patient leisure to excuse myself.

Anne. Fouler than heart can think thee, thou canst make

No excufe current, but to hang thyfelf.

Glo. By fuch defpair, I fhould accufe myself.

Vouchsafe, diffus'd infection of a man,] I believe, diffus'd in this place fignifies irregular, uncouth; fuch is its meaning in other paffages of Shakespeare. JOHNSON.

Diffus'd infection of a man may mean, thou that art as dangerous as a peftilence, that infects the air by its diffufion. Diffus'd may, however, mean irregular. So, in The Merry Wives, &c.

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rush at once

"With fome diffused fong."

Again, in Green's Farewell to Follie, 1617:

"I have feen an English gentleman fo defufed in his futes; his doublet being for the weare of Caftile, his hofe for Venice, &c.".

STEEVENS.

Anne.

Anne. And, by defpairing, fhalt thou ftand excus'd For doing worthy vengeance on thyself,

That didft unworthy flaughter upon others.
Glo. Say, that I flew them not ?

Anne. Then fay, they were not flain :

But dead they are, and, devilish flave, by thee.
Glo. I did not kill your husband.

Anne. Why, then he is alive.

Glo. Nay, he is dead; and flain by Edward's hand. Anne. In thy foul throat thou ly'ft; queen Margaret faw

Thy murderous faulchion fmoking in his blood; The which thou once didft bend against her breast, But that thy brothers beat afide the point.

Glo. I was provoked by her fland'rous tongue, That laid their guilt upon my guiltlefs fhoulders. Anne. Thou waft provoked by thy bloody mind, That never dreamt on aught but butcheries: Didft thou not kill this king?

Glo. I grant ye.

Anne. Doft grant me, hedge-hog? then, God grant

me too,

Thou may'ft be damned for that wicked deed!

O, he was gentle, mild, and virtuous '.

Glo. The fitter for the King of heaven that hath

him.

Anne. He is in heaven, where thou fhalt never

come.

Glo. Let him thank me, that holp to fend him thither;

For he was fitter for that place, than earth.

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• That laid their guilt- -] The crime of my brothers. He has just charged the murder of lady Anne's husband Ed. ward. JOHNSON.

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O, he was gentle, mild, and virtuous.

Glo. The fitter for the king of heaven, &c.]

So, in Pericles Prince of Tyre, 1609:

"I'll do't: but yet the is a goodly creature.

upon

"Dion. The fitter then the gods fhould have her." STEEVENS.

Anne.

Anne. And thou unfit for any place, but hell.
Glo. Yes, one place elfe, if you will hear me
name it.

Anne. Some dungeon.

Glo. Your bed-chamber.

Anne. Ill reft betide the chamber where thou lyeft! Glo. So will it, madam, 'till I lie with you.

Anne. I hope fo.

Glo. I know fo.-But, gentle lady Anne,-
To leave this keen encounter of our wits,
And fall somewhat into a flower method' ;-
Is not the caufer of the timeless deaths

Of thefe Plantagenets, Henry, and Edward,
As blameful as the executioner?

6

Anne. Thou waft the caufe, and most accurs'd

effect.

Glo. Your beauty was the caufe of that effect; Your beauty, which did haunt me in my fleep, To undertake the death of all the world.

So I might live one hour in your sweet bofom. Anne. If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide,

2

-a flower method;-] As quick was used for sprightly, fo flower was put for ferious. In the next fcene lord Grey delires the queen to

-cheer his grace with quick and merry words. STEEVENS.

Thou waft the cause, and most accurs' d effect;] Effect, for executioner. He afks, was not the caufer as ill as the executioner? She answers, Thou waft both. But, for caufer, using the word caufe, this led her to the word effect, for execution, or executioner. But the Oxford editor, troubling himself with nothing of this, will make a fine oratorical period of it:

Thou waft the caufe. And moft accurs'd th' effect!
WARBURTON.

I cannot but be rather of fir T. Hanmer's opinion than Dr. Warburton's, because effect is ufed immediately in its common fenfe, in answer to this line. JOHNSON.

I believe the old reading is the true one. So, in the Yorkshire Tragedy, 1608:

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thou art the cause,

"Effect, quality, property; thou, thou." STEEVENS.

2. VOL. VII.

C

These

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