If two fuch murderers as yourselves came to you,—
Would not entreat for life?-

My friend, I fpy fome pity in thy looks;
O, if thine eye be not a flatterer,

Come thou on my fide, and entreat for me,
As
you would beg, were you in my distress.
A begging prince what beggar pities not ?3
2 MURD. Look behind you, my lord.

3 —what beggar pities not ?] I cannot but fufpect that the lines, which Mr. Pope obferved not to be in the old edition, are now, mifplaced, and fhould be inferted here, fomewhat after this manner :

Clar. A begging prince what beggar pities not?.
Vil. A begging prince!

Clar. Which of you, if you were a prince's fon, &c. Upon this provocation, the villain naturally ftrikes him.

JOHNSON.

Mr. Pope's note is not accurately stated. I believe this passage fhould be regulated thus:

Clar. Relent and fave your fouls.

1. Vil. Relent! 'tis cowardly and womanish.

Clar. Not to relent is beaftly, favage, devilish.

Which of you if you were a prince's fon,

Being pent

If two fuch

Would not entreat for life?

My friend, I fpy

O, if thine eye

Come thou on my fide, and entreat for me,

As you would beg, were you in my distress.

A begging prince what beggar pities not. TYRWHITT.

I think with Mr. Tyrwhitt that these lines have been inferted

in a wrong place. MALONE.

I have regulated the text according to Mr. Tyrwhitt's inftruc tion. STEEVENS.

A begging prince what beggar pities not ?] To this, in the quarto, the Murderer replies:

"I, thus and thus: if this will not ferve

"I'll chop thee in the malmesey but in the next roome." and then ftabs him. STEEVENS.

1 MURD. Take that, and that; if all this will not

I'll drown

do,
in the malmsey-butt within.

you

[Stabs him.

[Exit, with the Body.

2 MURD. A bloody deed, and desperately de

fpatch'd!

hands

How fain, like Pilate, would I wash my
Of this moft grievous guilty murder done!

Re-enter firft Murderer.

1 MURD. How now? what mean'st thou, that thou help'ft me not?

By heaven, the duke fhall know how flack you have

been.

2 MURD. I would he knew, that I had fav'd his

brother!

Take thou the fee, and tell him what I fay;

For I repent me that the duke is flain.

[Exit.

1 MURD. So do not I; go, coward, as thou art.Well, I'll go hide the body in fome hole, Till that the duke give order for his burial: And when I have my meed, I will away;

For this will out, and then I muft not stay. [Exit.

ACT II. SCENE I.

The fame. A Room in the Palace.

Enter King EDWARD, (led in fick,) Queen ELIZA

BETH, DORSET, RIVERS,, HASTINGS, BUCK

INGHAM, GREY, and Others.

K. EDW. Why, fo:-now have I done a good
day's work ;-

You peers, continue this united league :
I every day expect an embassage

From my Redeemer to redeem me hence;

And more in peace 4 my soul shall part to heaven, Since I have made my friends at peace on earth. Rivers, and Haftings, take each other's hand; Diffemble not your hatred,5 fwear your love.

RIV. By heaven, my foul is purg'd from grudging hate;

And with my hand I feal my true heart's love.

HAST. So thrive I, as I truly swear the like!

K. EDW. Take heed, you dally not before your king;

Left he, that is the fupreme King of kings,

And more in peace-] The folio-more to peace. The quarto-And now in peace-. STEEVENS.

5 Diffemble not your hatred,] i. e. do not gloss it over.

STEEVENS.

I fuppofe he means, Diveft yourselves of that concealed hatred which you have heretofore fecretly borne to each other. Do not merely, fays Edward, conceal and cover over your fecret ill will to each other by a fhow of love, but eradicate hatred altogether from your bofoms. MALONE.

Confound your hidden falfehood, and award
Either of you to be the other's end.

HAST. So profper I, as I fwear perfect love!
RIV. And I, as I love Hastings with my heart!
K. EDW. Madam, yourself are not exempt in
this,-

Nor your fon Dorfet,-Buckingham, nor you ;-
You have been factious one against the other.
Wife, love lord Haftings, let him kifs your hand;
And what you do, do it unfeignedly.

Q. ELIZ. There, Haftings;-I will never more remember

Our former hatred, So thrive I, and mine!

K. EDW. Dorfet, embrace him,-Hastings, love lord marquis.

DOR. This interchange of love, I here protest, Upon my part fhall be inviolable.

HAST. And fo fwear I.

[Embraces DORset.

K. Edw. Now, princely Buckingham, seal thou this league

With thy embracements to my wife's allies,
And make me happy in your unity.

BUCK. Whenever Buckingham doth turn his hate Upon your grace, [To the Queen.] but with all duteous love

Doth cherish you, and yours, God punish me
With hate in those where I expect most love!
When I have moft need to employ a friend,
And moft affured that he is a friend,
Deep, hollow, treacherous, and full of guile,
Be he unto me! this do I beg of heaven,
When I am cold in love, to you, or yours.

[Embracing RIVERS, &c.

K. EDW. A pleasing cordial, princely Bucking

ham,

Is this thy vow unto my fickly heart.

There wanteth now our brother Glofter here,
To make the bleffed period of this peace.

BUCK. And, in good time, here comes the noble duke.6

Enter GLOSTER.

GLO. Good-morrow to my fovereign king, and queen ;

And, princely peers, a happy time of day !

K. EDW. Happy, indeed, as we have spent the

day:

Brother, we have done deeds of charity;
Made peace of enmity, fair love of hate,
Between these swelling wrong-incensed peers.
GLO. A bleffed labour, my moft fovereign liege.-
Among this princely heap, if any here,
By falfe intelligence, or wrong furmife,
Hold me a foe;

If I unwittingly, or in my rage,7

Have aught committed that is hardly borne

reads :

here comes the noble duke.] So the quarto. The folio

"And in good time

"Here comes Sir Richard Ratcliffe and the duke."

MALONE.

If I unwittingly, or in my rage,] So the quarto. Foliounwillingly. This line and the preceding hemiftick are printed in the old copies, as one line; a mistake that has very frequently happened in the early editions of thefe plays. Mr. Pope, by whose licentious alterations our author's text was much corrupted, omitted the words—or in my rage; in which he has been followed by all the fubfequent editors. MALONE.