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Haft. And fo fay I.

Glo. Then be it fo; and go we to determine Who they fhall be that straight shall post to Ludlow, Madam, and you my mother,—will you go

To give your cenfures 4 in this weighty bufinefs? [Exeunt Queen, &i.

Manent Buckingham, and Glofter.

Buck. My lord, whoever journeys to the prince, For God's fake, let not us two stay at home: For, by the way, I'll fort occafion,

As index to the story we late talk'd of 3,

To part the queen's proud kindred from the prince.
Glo. My other felf, my counfel's confiftory,

My oracle, my prophet!-My dear coufin,
I, as a child, will go by thy direction.

Towards Ludlow then, for we'll not stay behind.

your cenfures

[Exeunt.

-] To cenfure formerly meant to deliver an opinion. So, in Heywood's Golden Age, 1611:

66

yet if I cenfure freely,

"I needs must think that face and perfonage
"Was ne'er deriv'd from baseness."

Again, in Marius and Sylla, 1594:

"Cinna affirms the fenate's cenfure just,

"And faith, let Marius lead the legions forth."

Again, in Orlando Furiofo, 1594:

i. e.

"Set each man forth his paffions how he can,
"And let her cenfure make the happiest man."

I'll fort occafion,

As index to the ftory—]

STEEVENS.

preparatory-by way of prelude. So, in Hamlet:
That ftorms fo loud and thunders in the index."

See the note on that paffage. MAlone.

SCENE

E

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Enter two Citizens, meeting.

1 Cit. Good morrow, neighbour: Whither away fo faft?

2 Cit. I promise you, I hardly know myself: Hear you the news abroad?.

1 Cit. Yes, that the king is dead.

2 Cit. Ill news, by'r lady; feldom comes a better: I fear, I fear, 'twill prove a giddy world.

Enter another Citizen.

3 Cit. Neighbours, God fpeed!
1 Cit. Give you good morrow, fir.

3 Cit. Doth the news hold of good king Edward's

death?

2 Cit Ay, fir, it is too true; God help, the while! 3 Cit. Then, mafters, look to fee a troublous world. I Cit. No, no; by God's good grace, his fon fhall reign.

3 Cit. Woe to that land, that's govern'd by a child' !

2 Cit. In him there is a hope of government; 7 That, in his nonage, council under him, And, in his full and ripen'd years, himself, No doubt, fhall then, and 'till then, govern well.

• Woe to that land that's govern'd by a child!]

"Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child." Ecclefiaftes, ch. x. STEEVENS. 7 Which in his nonage, ] The word which has no antecedent, nor can the sense or connection be easily restored by any change. I believe a line to be loft, in which fome mention was made of the land or the people. JOHNSON.

The quarto reads, that. STEEVENS.

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1 Cit. So ftood the ftate, when Henry the fixth Was crown'd in Paris but at nine months old.

3 Cit. Stood the ftate fo? no, no, good friends, God wot;

For then this land was famoufly enrich'd
With politick grave counfel; then the king
Had virtuous uncles to protect his grace.

1 Cit. Why, fo hath this, both by his father and mother.

3 Cit. Better it were, they all came by his father; Or, by his father, there were none at all: For emulation now, who fhall be nearest, Will touch us all too near, if God prevent not. O, full of danger is the duke of Glofter; And the queen's fons, and brothers, haught and proud:

And were they to be rul'd and not to rule,
This fickly land might folace as before.

1 Cit. Come, come, we fear the worft; all will be well.

3 Cit. When clouds are seen, wife men put on their cloaks;

When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand;
When the fun fets, who doth not look for night?
Untimely ftorms make men expect a dearth:
All may be well; but, if God fort it fo,
'Tis more than we deserve, or I expect.

2 Cit. Truly, the hearts of men are full of fear: You cannot reason almost with a man

That looks not heavily, and full of dread.

3 Cit. Before the days of change, ftill is it fo: By a divine inftinct, men's minds mistrust Enfuing danger; as, by proof, we see

Before the days of change, &c.] This is from Holinshed's Chronicle, Vol. III. p. 721. "Before fuch great things, men's hearts of a fecret inftinct of nature mifgive them; as the fea without wind fwelleth of himself fome time before a tempeft."

TOLLET.

The

The water fwell before a boift'rous ftorm.
But leave it all to God. Whither away?

2 Cit. Marry, we were fent for to the juftices.
3 Cit. And fo was I; I'll bear you company.

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[Exeunt.

Enter Archbishop of York, the young Duke of York, the Queen, and the Dutchess of York.

Arch. Laft night, I heard, they lay at Northampton; At Stony-Stratford they do reft to-night: To-morrow, or next day, they will be here.

Dutch. I long with all my heart to fee the prince; I hope, he is much grown fince laft I saw him. Queen. But I hear, no; they say, my son of York Has almoft overta'en him in his growth.

York. Ay, mother, but I would not have it fo. Dutch. Why, my young coufin? it is good to grow. York. Grandam, one night as we did fit at fupper, My uncle Rivers talk'd how I did grow

More than my brother; Ay, quoth my uncle Glofter,
Small herbs have grace, great weeds do grow apace:
And fince, methinks, I would not, grow so fast,
Because sweet flowers are flow, and weeds make hafte.
Dutch. Good faith, good faith, the faying did not

hold

In him that did object the fame to thee :

He was the wretched'ft thing, when he was young, So long a growing, and fo leifurely,

That, if his rule were true, he should be gracious. Arch. And fo, no doubt, he is, my gracious madam.

-the wretched'ft thing,-] Wretched is here used in a sense yet retained in familiar language, for paltry, pitiful, being below expectation. JOHNSON.

Dutch.

Dutch. I hope, he is; but yet let mothers doubt. York. Now, by my troth, if I had been remember'd,

I could have given my uncle's grace a flout,

To touch his growth, nearer than he touch'd mine. Dutch. How, my young York? I pr'ythee, let me hear it.

York. Marry, they fay, my uncle grew so fast, That he could gnaw a cruft at two hours old ; 'Twas full two years ere I could get a tooth. Grandam, this would have been a biting jeft. Dutch. I pr'ythee, pretty York, who told thee this? York. Grandam, his nurse.

Dutch. His nurfe! why, fhe was dead ere thou waft

born.

York. If 'twere not fhe, I cannot tell who told me. Queen. A parlous boy :-Go to, you are too

fhrewd.

2

Dutch. Good madam, be not angry with the child. Queen. Pitchers have ears.

Enter a Messenger 3.

Arch. Here comes a meffenger: What news? Mef. Such news, my lord, as grieves me to unfold. Queen. How doth the prince?

Mef. Well, madam, and in health.

Dutch. What is thy news?

Mef. Lord Rivers, and lord Grey,

Are fent to Pomfret, prifoners; and, with them, Sir Thomas Vaughan.

1-been remember'd,] To be remembered is in Shakespeare, to have one's memory quick, to have one's thoughts about one. JOHNSON.

2 A parlous boy.] Parlous is keen, fhrewd. So, in Law Tricks, &c. 1608:

"A parlous youth, fharp and fatirical." STEEVENS. 3 Enter a Messenger. The quarto reads-Enter Dorset.

STEEVENS.

Dutch.

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