For there, they say, he daily doth frequent, So dissolute a crew. PERCY. My lord, some two days since I saw the And told him of these triumphs held at Oxford. PERCY. His answer was, he would unto the And from the commonest creature pluck a glove3, And wear it as a favour; and with that He would unhorse the lustiest challenger. BOLING. As dissolute, as desperate: yet, through both 4 I see some sparkles of, a better hope 2 WHILE he,] All the old copies read-Which he. STEEVENS. The correction was made by Mr. Pope. MALONE. 3 -pluck a GLOVE,] So, in Promos and Cassandra, 1578, Lamia, the strumpet, says: "Who loves me once is lymed to my heast, 66 My colour some, and some shall wear my glove." Again, in The Shoemaker's Holiday, or Gentle Craft, 1600: "Or shall I undertake some martial sport 66 Wearing your glove at turney or at tilt, "And tell how many gallants I unhors'd?" STEEVENS. 4 I see some SPARKLES of A better hope,] The folio reads: sparks of better hope." 66 The quarto, 1615: 66 -sparkles of better hope." STEEVENS. The first quarto has-" sparkes of better hope." The article was inserted by Mr. Steevens. MALONE, AUM. Enter AUMERLE, hastily. Where is the king? What means Our cousin, that he stares and looks so wildly? AUM. God save your grace. I do beseech your majesty, To have some conference with your grace alone. BOLING. Withdraw yourselves, and leave us here [Exeunt PERCY and Lords. alone. What is the matter with our cousin now? AUM. For ever may my knees grow to the earth, [Kneels. My tongue cleave to my roof within my mouth, Unless a pardon, ere I rise, or speak. BOLING. Intended or committed, was this fault? If on the first, how heinous ere it be, 5 To win thy after-love, I pardon thee. AUM. Then give me leave that I may turn the key, That no man enter till my tale be done. BOLING. Have thy desire. [AUMERLE locks the door. YORK. [Within] My liege, beware; look to thy self; Thou hast a traitor in thy presence there. BOLING. Villain, I'll make thee safe. [Drawing. AUM. Stay thy revengeful hand; thou hast no cause to fear. YORK. [Within.] Open the door, secure, foolhardy king: Shall I, for love, speak treason to thy face? 5 If ON] So the old copies. If your fault stand only on intention.' Mr. Pope and the subsequent editors read but, which affords an easy sense; but it is very unlikely that a compositor should print on for but.. MALONE. Open the door, or I will break it open. [BOLINGBROKE opens the door. Enter YORK. BOLING. What is the matter, uncle? speak; Recover, breath; tell us how near is danger, That we may arm us to encounter it. YORK. Peruse this writing here, and thou shalt know The treason that my haste forbids me show. I do repent me; read not my name there, YORK. "Twas, villain, ere thy hand did set it down. I tore it from the traitor's bosom, king; O loyal father of a treacherous son! Thou sheer, immaculate, and silver fountain, From whence this stream through muddy passages, Hath held his current, and defil'd himself! 6 Thou SHEER, immaculate, &c.] Sheer is pellucid, transparent. Some of the modern editors arbitrarily read clear. So, in Spenser's Fairy Queen, b. iii. c. ii. : "Who having viewed in a fountain shere "Her face," &c. Again, in b. iii. c. xi. : "That she at last came to a fountain shere." Again, in the fourth book of Golding's translation of Ovid's Metamorphosis, 1587: "The water was so pure and sheere," &c. Transparent muslin is still called sheer muslin, STEEVENS, Thy overflow of good converts to bad"; 8 YORK. So shall my virtue be his vice's bawd; And he shall spend mine honour with his shame, As thriftless sons their scraping fathers' gold. Mine honour lives when his dishonour dies, Or my sham'd life in his dishonour lies: Thou kill'st me in his life; giving him breath, The traitor lives, the true man's put to death, DUCH. [Within.] What ho, my liege! for God's sake let me in. BOLING. What shrill-voic'd suppliant makes this eager cry? DUCH. A woman, and thine aunt, great king; 'tis I. Speak with me, pity me, open the door; BOLING. Our scene is alter'd,-from a serious thing, And now chang'd to The Beggar and the King'. 7 Thy overflow of good converts To bad,] Mr. Theobald would read: 66 converts the bad." STEEVENS. The old reading" converts to bad," is right, I believe, though Mr. Theobald did not understand it. "The overflow of good in thee is turned to bad in thy son; and that same abundant goodness in thee shall excuse his transgression." TYRWHITT. 8 DIGRESSING Son,] Thus the old copies, and rightly. in Romeo and Juliet: So, Digressing from the valour of a man." To digress is to deviate from what is right or regular. Some of the modern editors read:-transgressing. STEEVENS. 9 - The Beggar and the King.] The King and the Beggar seems to have been an interlude well known in the time of our author, who has alluded to it more than once. I cannot now find that any copy of it is left. JOHNSON. "The King and Beggar" was perhaps once an interlude; it was certainly a song. The reader will find it in the first volume My dangerous cousin, let your mother in; Enter DUCHESS. DUCH. O king, believe not this hard-hearted man; Love, loving not itself, none other can. YORK. Thou frantick woman, what dost thou make here1? Shall thy old dugs once more a traitor rear? DUCH. Sweet York, be patient: Hear me, gentle [Kneels. liege. BOLING. Rise up, good aunt. DUCH. Not yet, I thee beseech: For ever will I kneel upon my knees 2, And never see day that the happy sees, of Dr. Percy's collection. It is there entitled, King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid; and is printed from Rich. Johnson's Crown Garland of Goulden Roses, 1612, 12mo. where it is entitled, simply, A Song of a Beggar and a King. This interlude, or ballad, is mentioned in Cynthia's Revenge, 1613: "Provoke thy sharp Melpomene to sing "The story of a Beggar and the King." STEEVENS. I Thou frantick woman, what dost thou MAKE here ?] So, in The Merry Wives of Windsor: "What make you here? Again, in Othello: 66 Ancient, what makes he here?" MALONE. 2 For ever will I WALK upon my knees;] Thus the original copy, 1597; and the following quartos. In the folio, kneel was substituted for walk, in consequence of the reviser's not understanding the phrase. In our author's time it was common, in speaking of a loquacious person, to say, "his tongue walks fast." See also our poet's 128th Sonnet : They would change their state |