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Condemns you to the death:-See them deliver'd

over

To execution and the hand of death.

BUSHY. More welcome is the stroke of death to

me,

Than Bolingbroke to England.-Lords, farewell. GREEN. My comfort is,—that heaven will take our souls,

And plague injustice with the pains of hell. BOLING. My lord Northumberland, see them dispatch'd.

[Exeunt NORTHUMBERLAND and Others, with

Prisoners.

Uncle, you say the queen is at your house;
For heaven's sake, fairly let her be entreated:
Tell her I send to her my kind commends;
Take special care my greetings be deliver❜d.
YORK. A gentleman of mine I have dispatch'd
With letters of your love to her at large.

BOLING. Thanks, gentle uncle.—Come, lords, away;

To fight with Glendower and his complices;
Awhile to work, and, after, holiday.5

5 Thanks, gentle uncle.-Come, lords, away;

[Exeunt.

TO FIGHT WITH GLENDOWER AND HIS COMPLICES; Awhile to work, and, after, holiday.] Though the intermediate line has taken possession of all the old copies, I have great suspicion of its being an interpolation: and have therefore ventured to throw it out. The first and third lines rhyme to each other; nor do I imagine this was casual, but intended by the poet. Were we to acknowledge the line genuine, it must argue the poet of forgetfulness and inattention to history. Bolingbroke is, as it were, but just arrived; he is now at Bristol, weak in his numbers; has had no meeting with a parliament; nor is so far assured of the succession, as to think of going to suppress insurrections before he is planted in the throne. Besides, we find the opposition of Glendower begins The First Part of King Henry IV. and Mortimer's defeat by that hardy Welchman is the tidings of the first scene of that play. Again, though Glendower, in the very first year of King Henry IV. beginning to be troublesome, put in for the supremacy of Wales, and imprisoned Mortimer; yet it was

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Condemns you to the death:-See them deliver'd

over

To execution and the hand of death.

BUSHY. More welcome is the stroke of death to me,

Than Bolingbroke to England.-Lords, farewell. GREEN. My comfort is,-that heaven will take our souls,

And plague injustice with the pains of hell. BOLING. My lord Northumberland, see them dispatch'd.

[Exeunt NORTHUMBERLAND and Others, with
Prisoners.

Uncle, you say the queen is at your house;
For heaven's sake, fairly let her be entreated:
Tell her I send to her my kind commends;
Take special care my greetings be deliver'd.
YORK. A gentleman of mine I have dispatch'd
With letters of your love to her at large.

BOLING. Thanks, gentle uncle.-Come, lords,
away;

To fight with Glendower and his complices;
Awhile to work, and, after, holiday."

5 Thanks, gentle uncle.-Come, lords, away;

[Exeunt.

TO FIGHT WITH GLENDOWER AND HIS COMPLICES; Awhile to work, and, after, holiday.] Though the intermediate line has taken possession of all the old copies, I have great suspicion of its being an interpolation: and have therefore ventured to throw it out. The first and third lines rhyme to each other; nor do I imagine this was casual, but intended by the poet. Were we to acknowledge the line genuine, it must argue the poet of forgetfulness and inattention to history. Bolingbroke is, as it were, but just arrived; he is now at Bristol, weak in his numbers; has had no meeting with a parliament; nor is so far assured of the succession, as to think of going to suppress insurrections before he is planted in the throne. Besides, we find the opposition of Glendower begins The First Part of King Henry IV. and Mortimer's defeat by that hardy Welchman is the tidings of the first scene of that play. Again, though Glendower, in the very first year of King Henry IV. beginning to be troublesome, put in for the supremacy of Wales, and imprisoned Mortimer; yet it was

SCENE II°.

The Coast of Wales. A Castle in view.

Flourish: Drums and Trumpets.

Enter King RICHARD, Bishop of CARLISLE, AUMERLE, and Soldiers.

K. RICH. Barkloughly castle call they' this at hand?

AUM. Yea, my lord: How brooks your grace the

air,

After your late tossing on the breaking seas?
K. RICH. Needs must I like it well; I weep for

joy,

To stand upon my kingdom once again.

Dear earth, I do salute thee with my hand,

Though rebels wound thee with their horses' hoofs:

As a long parted mother with her child

not till the succeeding year that the King employed any force against him. THEOBALD.

This emendation, which I think is just, has been followed by Sir T. Hanmer, but is neglected by Dr. Warburton. JOHNSON.

It is evident from the preceding scene, that there was a force in Wales, which Bolingbroke might think it necessary to suppress; and why might not Shakspeare call it Glendower's? When we next see Bolingbroke, he is in Wales, and mentions his having received intelligence that the Welchmen are dispersed. RITSON.

Mr. Heath observes, that Bolingbroke marched to Chester, probably with a view to attack the Welsh army headed by Lord Salisbury. He thinks, therefore, the line is genuine. See Sc. III. p. 104. Stowe expressly says, that "Owen Glendower served King Richard at Flint-Castle." MALONE.

6 Here may be properly inserted the last scene of the second

Act. JOHNSON.

7 Call THEY,] So, the quarto 1597. The folio, following the quarto 1608, reads-call you. MALONE.

8 After late tossing, &c.] The old copies redundantly read: "After your late tossing," &c. STEEVENS.

Plays fondly with her tears, and smiles in meet

ing;

So, weeping, smiling, greet I thee, my earth,
And do thee favour with my royal hands.
Feed not thy sovereign's foe, my gentle earth,
Nor with thy sweets comfort his rav'nous sense:
But let thy spiders, that suck up thy venom,
And heavy-gaited toads, lie in their way:
Doing annoyance to the treacherous feet,
Which with usurping steps do trample thee.
Yield stinging nettles to mine enemies :
And when they from thy bosom pluck a flower,
Guard it, I pray thee, with a lurking adder:
Whose double tongue may with a mortal touch
Throw death upon thy sovereign's enemies.-
Mock not my senseless conjuration, lords;

This earth shall have a feeling 1, and these stones

8

smiles in MEETING ;] It has been proposed to read-in weeping; and this change the repetition in the next line seems plainly to point out.

STEEVENS.

"As a long parted mother with her child

66

Plays fondly with her tears, and smiles in meeting;
Ως ειπων, αλόχοιο φιλης εν χερσιν έθηκε

Παιδ ̓ εον· ἡ δ ̓ ἄρα μιν κηωδεί δεξαιο κολπῶ

ΔΑΚΡΥΟΕΝ ΓΕΛΑΣΑΣΑ.

Hom. Il. Z.

Perhaps smiles is here used as a substantive. As a mother plays fondly with her child from whom she has been a long time parted, crying, and at the same time smiling, at meeting him.

It has been proposed to read-smiles in weeping; and I once thought the emendation very plausible. But I am now persuaded the text is right. If we read weeping, the long parted mother and her child do not meet, and there is no particular cause assigned for either her smiles or her tears. MALONE.

From the actual smiles and tears of the long parted mother, &c. we may, I think, sufficiently infer that she had met with her child. STEEVENS.

9 GUARD IT, I pray thee,] Guard it, signifies here, as in many other places, border it. MALOne.

I think, that to guard, in this place, rather means, to watch or protect. M. MASON.

iThis earth shall have a feeling,] Perhaps Milton had not forgot this passage, when he wrote, in his Comus

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