Glo. Why, this it is, when men are rul'd by wo men: 'Tis not the king, that sends you to the Tower; Was it not she, and that good man of worship, That made him send Lord Hastings to the Tower; Clar. By heaven, I think, there is no man secure, Brak. I beseech your graces both to pardon me; His majesty hath straitly given in charge, That no man shall have private conference, Of what degree soever, with his brother. Glo. Even so? an please your worship, Brakenbury, 10 i.e. frames his temper, moulds it to this extremity. This word is often used in the same figurative sense by Spenser and other cotemporaries of Shakspeare. " Now will I to that old Andronicus; And temper him with all the art I have, To pluck proud Lucius from the warlike Goths.' Titus Andronicus. 11 The Queen and Shore. You may partake of any thing we say: A bonny eye, a passing pleasing tongue; And that the queen's kindred are made gentlefolks : How say you, sir? can you deny all this? Brak. With this, my lord, myself have naught to do. Glo. Naught to do with mistress Shore? I tell thee, fellow, He that doth naught with her, excepting one, Brak. What one, my lord? Glo. Her husband, knave:-Would'st thou betray me? Brak. I beseech your grace to pardon me; and, withal, Forbear your conference with the noble duke. Clar. We know thy charge, Brakenbury, and will obey 13 Glo. We are the queen's abjects 14, and must obey. 12 This odd expression was preceded by others equally singular, expressing what we now call' an advanced age.' Thus in Arthur Hall's translation of the first book of Homer's Iliad, 1581: 'In Grea's forme, the good handmaid, nowe wel ystept And in Spenser's Faerie Queene, book v. can. 6:— 'Well shot in years he seem'd.' Warton has justly observed that,' by an imperceptible progression from one kindred sense to another, words at length obtain a meaning entirely foreign to their etymology.' 13 This and the three preceding speeches were probably all designed for prose. It is at any rate impossible that this line could have been intended for metre. 14 i. e. the lowest of her subjects. This substantive is found in Psalm xxxv. 15:- Yea the very abjects came together against Brother, farewell: I will unto the king; Were it, to call King Edward's widow-sister,— Mean time, this deep disgrace in brotherhood, Glo. Well, your imprisonment shall not be long; I will deliver you, or else lie for you Mean time, have patience. Clar. 15: I must perforce; farewell. [Exeunt CLARENCE, BRAKENBURY, and Guard. Glo. Go, tread the path that thou shalt ne'er re turn, Simple, plain Clarence!-I do love thee so, Hast. Good time of day unto my gracious lord! me unawares, making mouths at me, and ceased not.' Again, in Chapman's translation of Homer's Odyssey, 21st book:'Whither? rogue! abject! wilt thou bear from us That bow propos'd?' Again in the same author's version of Homer's Hymn to Venus :-That thou wilt never let me live to be An abject, after so divine degree Taken in fortune.' 15 He means, or else be imprisoned in your stead.' To lie signified anciently to reside, or remain in a place, as appears by many instances in these volumes, Glo. No doubt, no doubt; and so shall Clarence too; For they, that were your enemies, are his, Hast. No news so bad abroad as this at home; Glo. Now, by Saint Paul, this news is bad indeed. O, he hath kept an evil diet long, And over-much consum'd his royal person; 'Tis very grievous to be thought upon. What, is he in his bed? Glo. Go you before, and I will follow you. [Exit HASTINGS. He cannot live, I hope; and must not die, Till George be pack'd with posthorse up to heaven. Which done, God take King Edward to his mercy, ·17: 16 A mew was a place in which falcons were kept; and being confined therein, while moulting, was metaphorically used for any close place or places of confinement. The verb to mew was formed from the substantive. Thus in Albumazar: 'Stand forth, transform'd Antonio, fully mew'd From brown soar feathers of dull yeomanry 17 Lady Anne, the betrothed widow of Edward prince of Wales. See King Henry VI. Part III. The readiest way to make the wench amends, By marrying her, which I must reach unto. When they are gone, then must I count my gains. [Exit. SCENE II. The same. Another Street. Enter the Corpse of KING HENry the Sixth, borne in an open Coffin, Gentlemen bearing Halberds, to guard it; and LADY ANNE as mourner, 2 Anne. Set down, set down your honourable load,— If honour may be shrouded in a hearse,— Whilst I a while obsequiously1 lament The untimely fall of virtuous LancasterPoor key-cold figure of a holy king! Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster! Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood! Be it lawful that I invocate thy ghost, To hear the lamentations of poor Anne, Wife to thy Edward, to thy slaughter'd son, Stabb'd by the self-same hand that made these wounds! 1 Funereal. Thus in Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 2: 'To do obsequious sorrow.' 2 A key, on account of the coldness of the metal of which it is composed, was often employed to stop any slight bleeding. The epithet is common to many old writers. Thus in The Country Girl, by T. B. 1647: 'The key-cold figure of a man.' Shakspeare employs it again in the Rape of Lucrece: 'And then in key-cold Lucrece' bleeding stream |