Enter CLARENCE, with Drum and Colours. WAR. And lo, where George of Clarence sweeps along, Of force enough to bid his brother battle ;5 * Come, Clarence, come; thou wilt, if Warwick calls. CLAR. Father of Warwick, know you what this means? [Taking the red Rofe out of his Cap. thefe noblemen was Edmund, flain at the battle of Saint Alban's, 1455. See Vol. XIII. p. 389. The fecond was Henry his fon, beheaded after the battle of Hexham, 1463. The present duke Edmund, brother to Henry, was taken prifoner at Tewksbury, 1471, and there beheaded, (infra, fc. v.) his brother John lofing his life in the fame fight. RITSON. S to bid his brother battle;] Here the quartos conclude this fpeech, and add the following: "Clar. Clarence, Clarence, for Lancaster! "Edw. Et tu brute! wilt thou ftab Cæfar too? "A parly, firra, to George of Clarence." To bid battle is a phrafe that often occurs in ancient writers. Thus, in the Batrachomuomachia of Homer, as tranflated by Chapman : "O frogs! the mice fend threats to you of arms, "And bid me bid you battle." STEEVENS. This line of the old play, Et tu Brute! &c. is found also in Acolaftus his Afterwitte, a poem by S. Nicholson, 1600; and the Latin words, though not retained here, were afterwards transplanted by Shakspeare into his Julius Cæfar, A& III. MALONE. • Taking the red Rofe out of his Cap.] This note of direction I reftored from the old quarto. And, without it, it is impoffible that any reader can guess at the meaning of this line of Clarence: Look, here, I throw my infamy at thee. THEOBALD. VOL. XIV. N 'Look here, I throw my infamy at thee: I will not ruinate my father's house, 7 Who gave his blood to lime the stones together, ' And fet up Lancaster. Why, trow'ft thou, Warwick, That Clarence is fo harfh, fo blunt, unnatural,8 To bend the fatal inftruments of war Against his brother, and his lawful king ?9 * Perhaps, thou wilt object my holy oath : *To keep that oath, were more impiety * Than Jephtha's,' when he facrific'd his daughter. * I am fo forry for my trespass made, * That, to deferve well at my brother's hands, 7 to lime the fiones-] That is, to cement the ftones. Lime makes mortar. JOHNSON. That Clarence is fo harfh, fo blunt, unnatural,] This line (too long by a foot) was, in my opinion, interpolated by the players, who appear the fworn enemies of an ellipfis.-Omit the words-That and is, and no want of them will be felt by fuch readers as are well acquainted with ancient language.—Why, conceiveft thou, Warwick, Clarence fo harsh, &c.-? STEEVENS. -fo blunt,] Stupid, infenfible of paternal fondness. JOHNSON. 9 To bend the fatal inftruments of war Against his brother, and his lawful king ?] Thus the folio. The old play thus: I "To lift his fword against his brother's life." MALONE. Jephtha's, &c.] See the book of Judges, xi. 30. STEEVENS. And, Richard, do not frown upon my faults, 'K. Edw. Now welcome more, and ten times more belov'd, Than if thou never hadft deferv'd our hate. 'GLO. Welcome, good Clarence; this is brotherlike. WAR. O paffing traitor,2 perjur'd, and unjust! K. EDW. What, Warwick, wilt thou leave the town, and fight? Or fhall we beat the ftones about thine ears? 'WAR. Alas, I am not coop'd here for defence: I will away towards Barnet presently, And bid thee battle, Edward, if thou dar'st. K. EDW. Yes, Warwick, Edward dares, and leads the way: Lords, to the field; Saint George, and victory. [March. Exeunt. 2 paffing traitor,] Eminent, egregious; traitorous be yond the common track of treason. JOHNSON. So, in Othello : "'twas ftrange, 'twas paffing ftrange." STEEVENS. SCENE II. A Field of Battle near Barnet. Alarums, and Excurfions. Enter King EDWARD, bringing in WARWICK wounded. *K. EDW. So, lie thou there: die thou, and die our fear; * For Warwick was a bug, that fear'd us all.3-----*Now, Montague, fit faft; I seek for thee, *That Warwick's bones may keep thine company. [Exit. WAR. Ah, who is nigh? come to me, friend, or foe, And tell me, who is victor, York, or Warwick? Why afk I that? my mangled body shows, *My blood, my want of ftrength, my fick heart shows, That I muft yield my body to the earth, 3 -a bug, that fear'd us all.] Bug is a bugbear, a terri fick being. JOHNSON. "The mortal bugs of the field." Again, in Stephen Goffon's Schoole of Abufe, 1579: "These bugs are fitter to fear babes than to move men.' STEEVENS. To fear in old language frequently fignifies, to terrify. So, in The Merchant of Venice: "I tell thee, lady, this afpéct of mine MALONE. Whofe arms 4 gave shelter to the princely eagle, Under whofe fhade the ramping lion slept ;5 Whofe top-branch overpeer'd Jove's fpreading tree, * And kept low thrubs from winter's powerful wind. * These eyes, that now are dimm'd with death's black veil,' * Have been as piercing as the mid-day fun, For who liv'd king, but I could dig his grave? 4 Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge, Whofe arms &c.] It were better to readThus to the axe's edge the cedar yields, Whofe arms &c. Otherwife, Whofe arms will refer to the are instead of the cedar. STEEVENS. 5 Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge, Whofe arms gave Shelter to the princely eagle, Under whofe fhade the ramping lion flept ; &c.] It has been obferved to me, that the 31ft chapter of the prophet Ezekiel fuggefted these images to Shakspeare. "All the fowls of heaven. made their nefts in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beafts of the field bring forth their young." STEEVENS. 6 My parks, &c.] Cedes coemptis faltibus, et domo, Villáque. Hor. This mention of his parks and manors diminishes the pathetick effect of the foregoing lines. JOHNSON. 7 and, of all my lands, Is nothing left me, but my body's length !] Mors fola fatetur "Quantula fint hominum corpufcula." Juv. Camden mentions in his Remains, that Conftantine, in order |