H́nh ảnh trang
PDF
ePub

Thofe eyes of thine from mine have drawn falt

tears,

Sham'd their aspects with store of childish drops:
These eves, which never fhed remorseful tear,3—
Not, when my father 4 York and Edward wept,
To hear the piteous moan that Rutland made,
When black-fac'd Clifford fhook his fword at him:
Nor when thy warlike father, like a child,
Told the fad ftory of my father's death;

And twenty times made paufe, to fob, and weep,
That all the ftanders-by had wet their cheeks,
Like trees bedash'd with rain in that fad time,
My manly eyes did scorn an humble tear ;5
And what these forrows could not thence exhale,
Thy beauty.hath, and made them blind with weeping.
I never fu'd to friend, nor enemy;

My tongue could never learn fweet foothing word;"

"For I have heard it [love] is a life in death,

"That laughs and weeps, and all but with a breath."

MALONE.

3 Thefe eyes, which never &c.] The twelve following beautiful lines added after the first editions. POPE.

They were added with many more. JOHNSON.

4 Not, when my father -] The old copies read-No, when, &c. The correction was made by Mr. Pope. I am not sure that it is neceffary.

This doubt derives ftrength from a fubfequent paffage :

"Duch. I hope he is much grown fince last I saw him. 'Q. Elix. But I hear, no." MALONE.

[ocr errors]

My manly eyes did fcorn &c.] Here is an apparent reference to King Henry VI. P. III. A&t II. fc. i. See p. 52, n. 5. STEEVENS.

6 -fweet foothing word;] Thus the quarto, 1598. The folio has-fweet Smoothing word. MALONE.

Smooth is, probably, the true reading. So again, p.301, line ult:

"Smile in men's faces, Smooth, deceive, and cog." See also, Pericles, A&t I. fc. ii. STEEVENS.

But now thy beauty is propos'd my fee,

My proud heart fues, and prompts my tongue to
speak. [She looks fcornfully at him.
Teach not thy lip fuch fcorn; for it was made
For kiffing, lady, not for fuch contempt.
If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive,
Lo! here I lend thee this fharp-pointed fword;
Which if thou please to hide in this true breast,
And let the foul forth that adoreth thee,

I lay it naked to the deadly ftroke,

And humbly beg the death upon my knee.

[He lays his Breaft open; fhe offers at it with his Sword.

Nay, do not pause; for I did kill king Henry ;But 'twas thy beauty that provoked me.

Nay, now despatch; 'twas I that stabb'd young Ed

ward ;

[She again offers at his Breaft. But 'twas thy heavenly face that fet me on.

[She lets fall the Sword.

Take up the fword again, or take up me.

ANNE. Arife, diffembler: though I wish thy death,

I will not be thy executioner.

GLO. Then bid me kill myself, and I will do it.
ANNE. I have already.

GLO.

That was in thy rage:

Speak it again, and, even with the word,

This hand, which, for thy love, did kill thy love, Shall, for thy love, kill a far truer love;

To both their deaths fhalt thou be acceffary.

7 But 'twas thy beauty-] Shakspeare countenances the obfervation, that no woman can ever be offended with the mention of her beauty. JOHNSON,

ANNE. I would, I knew thy heart.

[blocks in formation]

ANNE.

Was never true.

Well, well, put up your fword.

GLO. Say then, my peace is made.

[blocks in formation]

GLO.

Vouchsafe to wear this ring.

ANNE. To take, is not to give.

[She puts on the Ring.

GLO. Look, how this ring encompaffeth thy finger, Even fo thy breaft enclofeth my poor heart;

Wear both of them, for both of them are thine.
And if thy poor devoted fervant may

But beg one favour at thy gracious hand,
Thou doft confirm his happiness for ever.
ANNE. What is it?

GLO. That it may please you leave these fad defigns

To him that hath more caufe 9 to be a mourner,

8 Then man

Was never true.] Old copy

Then never man was true.

For the fake of measure, I have hazarded this flight tranfpofition. STEEVENS.

9-more caufe-] The folio-moft caufe. STEEVENS.

And presently repair to Crosby-place:
Where-after I have folemnly interr'd,
At Chertsey monaft'ry this noble king,
And wet his grave with my repentant tears,-
I will with all expedient duty fee you:
For divers unknown reafons, I beseech
Grant me this boon.

2,

you,

ANNE. With all my heart; and much it joys me

too,

To fee you are become fo penitent.

Treffel, and Berkley, go along with me.

GLO. Bid me farewell.

ANNE.

"Tis more than you

deferve:

But, fince you teach me how to flatter you,
Imagine I have faid farewell already.3

[Exeunt Lady ANNE, TRESSEL, and BERKLEY.

I

Crosby-place:] A house near Bishopfgate Street, belonging to the Duke of Glofter. JOHNSON..

Crosby-Place is now Crosby-fquare in Bishopfgate Street; part of the house is yet remaining, and is a meeting place for a prefbyterian congregation. SIR J. HAWKINS.

This magnificent house was built in the year 1466, by Sir John Crosby, grocer and woolman. He died in 1475. The ancient hall of this fabrick is ftill remaining, though divided by an additional floor, and incumbered by modern galleries, having been converted into a place of worship for Antinomians, &c. The upper part of it is now the warehouse of an eminent Packer. Sir J. Crosby's tomb is in the neighbouring church of St. Helen the Great.

2

STEEVENS.

with all expedient duty-] See Vol. XI. p. 41, n. 6.

MALONE.

3 Imagine I have faid farewell already.] Cibber, who altered King Richard III. for the ftage, was fo thoroughly convinced of the ridiculousness and improbability of this fcene, that he thought himself obliged to make Treffel fay:

When future chronicles fhall fpeak of this,

They will be thought romance, not hiftory.

Thus alfo, in Twelfth-Night, where Fabian obferving the

UA

[blocks in formation]

GENT.

Towards Chertsey, noble lord?

GLO. No, to White-Friars; there attend my

coming.

[Exeunt the reft, with the Corfe.

Was ever woman in this humour woo'd?

Was ever woman in this humour won?

I'll have her, but I will not keep her long.
What! I, that kill'd her husband, and his father,
To take her in her heart's extremeft hate;

With curfes in her mouth, tears in her eyes,

The bleeding witness of her hatred by;

With God, her confcience, and these bars against me,

And I no friends to back my fuit withal,

But the plain devil, and diffembling looks,

And yet to win her,-all the world to nothing!

conduct of Malvolio, fays: "If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.”

From an account of our late unsuccessful embaffy to the Emperor of China, we learn, indeed, that a scene of equal abfurdity was reprefented in a theatre at Tien-fing: "One of the dramas, particularly, attracted the attention of those who recollected fcenes, fomewhat fimilar, upon the English stage. The piece represented an Emperor of China and his Empress living in fupreme felicity, when, on a fudden, his fubjects revolt, a civil war enfues, battles are fought, and at laft the arch-rebel, who was a general of cavalry, overcomes his fovereign, kills him with his own hand, and routs the imperial army. The captive Emprefs then appears upon the stage in all the agonies of despair, naturally refulting from the lofs of her husband and of her dignity, as well as the apprehenfion for that of her honour. Whilst fhe is tearing her hair, and rending the fkies with her complaints, the conqueror enters, approaches her with respect, addresses her in a gentle tone, foothes her forrows with his compaffion, talks of love and adoration, and like Richard the Third, with Lady Anne in Shakspeare, prevails in less than half an hour, on the Chinese Princess to dry up her tears, to forget her deceased confort, and yield to a confoling wooer."

STEEVENS.

1

« TrướcTiếp tục »