Or any creeping venom'd thing that lives! May fright the hopeful mother at the view; Than I am made by my young lord, and thee !— And, ftill as you are weary of the weight, 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, Ill make a corfe of him that disobeys.] So, in Hamlet : For For thou haft made the happy earth thy hell, 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. 7 -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: 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! Or, earth, gape open wide, and eat him quick; man; No beaft fo fierce, but knows fome touch of pity. 8 Anne. Vouchfafe, diffus'd infection of a man, 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. 66 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. Anne. Then fay, they were not flain : But dead they are, and, devilish flave, by thee. 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. • That laid their guilt- -] The crime of my brothers. He has just charged the murder of lady Anne's husband Ed. ward. JOHNSON. 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. 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,- Of thefe Plantagenets, Henry, and Edward, 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! 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: 66 thou art the cause, "Effect, quality, property; thou, thou." STEEVENS. 2. VOL. VII. C These |