SCENE II. The Council Chamber. Cornet. Enter King Henry, leaning on the Cardinal's Shoulder; the Nobles, and Sir Thomas Lovel. The Cardinal places himself under the King's feet, on his right fide. I King. My life itfelf, and the beft heart of it, And point by point the treasons of his master A noife within, crying, Room for the Queen. Enter the Queen, ufbered by the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk : he kneels. The King rifeth from his state, takes her up, kiffes, and placeth her by him. 1 Queen. Nay, we muft longer kneel; I am a fuitor. and the beft heart of it,] The expreffion is monftrous. The heart is fuppofed the feat of life: but, as if he had many lives, and to each of them a heart, he says, his beft heart. Ă way of speaking that would have become a cat rather than a king. WARBURTON. This expreffion is not more monftrous than many others. Heart is not here taken for the great organ of circulation and life, but, in a common and popular fenfe, for the most valuable or precious part. Our author, in Hamlet, mentions the heart of heart. Exhausted and effete ground is faid by the farmer to be out of heart. The hard and inner part of the oak is called heart of_oak. Of a full-charg'd confederacy; -] JOHNSON. To ftand in the level of a gun is to stand in a line with its mouth, fo as to be hit by the shot. JOHNSON. Ŏ 2 King King. Arife, and take your place by us :-Half your fuit Never name to us; you have half our power: Queen. Thank your majesty. That you would love yourself; and, in that love, Not unconfider'd leave your honour, nor The dignity of your office, is the point Of my petition. King. Lady mine, proceed. Queen. I am folicited, not by a few, And thofe of true condition, that your fubjects Are in great grievance: There have been commiffions Sent down among them, which have flaw'd the heart Of all their loyalties:wherein, although, [To Wolfey. My good lord cardinal, they vent reproaches Moft bitterly on you, as putter-on Of these exactions, yet the king our mafter, Language unmannerly, yea, fuch which breaks Nor. Not almost appears, It doth appear for, upon these taxations, The many to them 'longing, have put off 3 The many to them 'longing,-] The many is the meiny, the train, the people. Dryden is, perhaps, the last that used this word : The kings before their many rode." JOHNSON. I believe the many is only the multitude. Thus, Coriolanus, fpeaking of the rabble, calls them: 66 the mutable rank-fcented many." STEEVENS. And + And lack of other means, in defperate manner Wherein and what taxation ?-My lord cardinal, You that are blam'd for it alike with us, Know you of this taxation? Wol. Please you, fir, I know but of a fingle part, in aught Pertains to the ftate; and front but in that file Where others tell fteps with me. Queen. No, my lord, ↑ And lack of other means,-] Means does not fignify methods of livelihood, for that was faid immediately before: Unfit for other life, but it fignifies, neceffaries-compelled, fays the fpeaker, for want of bread and other neceffaries. But the poet ufing for the thing [ant of bread the effect of it, [bunger] the paffage is become doubly obfcure; firft, by ufing a term in a licentious fenfe, and then by putting it to a vicious conftruction. The not apprehending that this is one of the diftinguishing peculiarities in Shakefpeare's stile, has been the occafion of fo much ridiculous cor rection of him. WARBURTON. I have inferted this note rather because it feems to have been the writer's favourite, than because it is of much value. It explains what no reader has found difficult, and, I think, explains it wrong. JOHNSON. 5 And Danger ferves among them.] Could one eafily believe, that a writer, who had, but immediately before, funk fo low in his expreffion, should here rife again to a height fo truly fublime? where, by the noblest stretch of fancy, Danger is perfonalized as serving in the rebel army, and shaking the established govern. ment. WARBURTON. Chaucer, Gower, Skelton, and Spenfer, have perfonified Danger. The firft, in his Romaunt of the Rofe; the fecond, in his fifth book De Confeffione Amantis; the third in his Bouge of Court: "With that, anone out start dangere." and the fourth, in the 10th Canto of the fourth book of his Faery Queen, and again in the fifth book and the ninth Canto, STEEVENS. -front but in that file] I am but primus inter pares. I am but first in the row of counfellors. JOHNSON, You know no more than others: but you frame Things, that are known alike; which are not wholefome To thofe which would not know them, and yet muft King. Still exaction! The nature of it? In what kind, let's know, Queen. I am much too venturous In tempting of your patience; but am bolden'd Under your promis'd pardon. The fubject's grief Comes through commiffions, which compel from each The fixth part of his fubftance, to be levy'd Is nam'd, your wars in France: This makes bold mouths: Tongues fpit their duties out, and cold hearts freeze Allegiance in them; their curfes now,, Live where their prayers did; and it's come to pass, To each incensed will. I would, your highness 7 King. tractable obedience &c.] i. e. thofe who are tractable and obedient must give way to others who are angry. MUSGRAVE. There is no primer bufinefs.] In the old edition: There is no primer bafenefs. The queen is here complaining of the fuffering of the commons; which, the fufpects, arofe from the abufe of power in fome great men. But he is very referved in speaking her thoughts concerning the quality of it. We may be affured then, that the did not, in conclufion, call it the highest basenefs; but rather made use of a word King. By my my life, This is against our pleasure. Wol. And for me, I have no further gone in this, than by The chronicles of my doing, let me fay, 'Tis but the fate of place, and the rough brake That virtue muft go through. We must not stint? Our neceffary actions, in the fear To cope malicious cenfurers; which ever, As ravenous fifhes, do a veffel follow That is new trimm'd; but benefit no further 2 By fick interpreters, once weak ones 3, is a word that could not offend the cardinal, and yet would incline the king to give it a speedy hearing. I read therefore : There is no primer business. i. e, no matter of state that more earnestly preffes a dispatch. WARBURTON, 9 We must not ftint] To fint is to ftop, to retard. Many instances of this fenfe of the word are given in a note on the first act of Romeo and Juliet. STEEVENS. To cope-] To engage with; to encounter, fstill used in some counties. JOHNSON. 2 By fick &c.] The old edition reads: By fick interpreters, (once weak ones) is Not ours, The word is I do not know, that the old reading ought to be restored, but it may be noted. JOHNSON. The modern editors read- -or weak ones; but once is not unfrequently used for fometime, or at one time or other, among our ancient writers. So, in the 13th Idea of Drayton : "This diamond shall once confume to duft." Again, in the Merry Wives of Windfor:-" I pray thee once tonight give my sweet Nan this ring." STEEVENS, |