WAR. Away, away! Once more, sweet lords,

farewell.

GEO. Yet let us all together to our troops, 'And give them leave to fly that will not stay; And call them pillars, that will stand to us; 'And, if we thrive, promise them such rewards 'As victors wear at the Olympian games : * This may plant courage in their quailing & breasts; * For yet is hope of life, and victory.* Fore-flow no longer, make we hence amain.

8

beline:

"

I

[Exeunt.

quailing-] i. e. finking into dejection, So, in Cym

my false spirits

Quail to remember:-" STEEVENS.

9 Fore-flow no longer,] To fore-low is to be dilatory, to loiter.

So, in The Battle of Alcazar, 1594:

"Why, king Sebastian, wilt thou now foreflow ?"

Again, in Marlowe's Edward II. 1598 :

"Foreflow no time; sweet Lancaster, let's march,"

Again, in Promos and Caffandra, 1578:

"Good knight, for time do not my fuit foreflow."

STEEVENS.

make we hence amain.] Instead of this and the two

preceding speeches, we have in the old play the following: "Geo. Then let us hafte to cheare the souldiers' hearts, "And call them pillers that will stand to us, "And highly promise to remunerate "Their truftie service in these dangerous warres.

"Rich. Come, come away, and fstand not to debate, "For yet is hope of fortune good enough. "Brothers, give me your handes, and let us part, "And take our leaves untill we meete againe; Where ere it be, in heaven or in earth. "Now I that never wept, now melt in woe, "To see these dire mishaps continue so. "Warwick, farewell."

" War. Away, away; once more, sweet lords, fare

well." MALONE.

's

:

SCENE IV.

The fame. Another Part of the Field.

Excursions. Enter RICHARD and CLIFFORD.

RICH. Now, Clifford, I have fingled thee alone:* 'Suppose, this arm is for the duke of York, ' And this for Rutland; both bound to revenge, Wert thou environ'd with a brazen wall.3

CLIF. Now, Richard, I am with thee here alone : This is the hand, that stabb'd thy father York; And this the hand that flew thy brother Rutland; And here's the heart, that triumphs in their death, And cheers these hands, that flew thy fire and bro

ther,

To execute the like upon thyself;
And so, have at thee.

2

[They fight. WARWICK enters; CLIFFORD flies.

Now, Clifford, I have fingled thee alone: &c.] Thus the folio. The quartos thus:

"Now, Clifford, for York and young Rutland's death,
"This thirsty sword, that longs to drink thy blood,
"Shall lop thy limbs, and flice thy cursed heart,

"For to revenge the murders thou haft made."

STEEVENS.

3 Wert thou environ'd with a brazen wall.] So, in the second Thebaid of Statius, v. 453 :

non fi te ferreus agger

"Ambiat,-" STEEVENS.

،

chase;

RICH. Nay, Warwick,4 single out fome other

'For I myself will hunt this wolf to death.

[Exeunt.

SCENE V.

Another Part of the Field.

Alarum. Enter King HENRY.

* K. HEN. This battle fares like to the morning's war, 5

* When dying clouds contend with growing light;

* Nay, Warwick, &c.] We have had two very fimilar lines in the preceding play, p. 384:

"Hold, Warwick, seek thee out some other chace;
" For I myself must hunt this deer to death."

See p. 102, n.2. MALONE.

5 This battle fares like to the morning's war, &c.] Instead of this interesting speech, the quartos exhibit only the following: "O gracious God of heaven, look down on us, "And set some ends to these incessant griefs ! "How like a mastless ship upon the seas, "This woeful battle doth continue still,

"Now leaning this way, now to that fide driven,
" And none doth know to whom the day will fall.
"Oh, would my death might stay these civil * jars !
"Would I had never reign'd, nor ne'er been king!
Margaret and Clifford chide me from the field,
Swearing they had best success when I was thence.
"Would God that I were dead, so all were well;
"Or, would my crown suffice, I were content
"To yield it them, and live a private life!"

"

The leading thought in both these soliloquies is borrowed from Holinshed, p. 665 :-" This deadly conflict continued ten hours in doubtful state of victorie, uncertainlie heaving and setting on both fides," &c.

* The quarto, 1600, printed by W. W. reads---cruel jars.

* What time the shepherd, blowing of his nails, * Can neither call it perfect day, nor night. 'Now sways it this way, like a mighty sea, 'Forc'd by the tide to combat with the wind; 'Now sways it that way, like the self-fame fea Forc'd to retire by fury of the wind : 'Sometime, the flood prevails; and then, the wind; 'Now, one the better; then, another best; 'Both tugging to be victors, breast to breast, Yet neither conqueror, nor conquered : 'So is the equal poise of this fell war. * Here on this molehill will I fit me down. * To whom God will, there be the victory!

For Margaret my queen, and Clifford too, 'Have chid me from the battle; swearing both, 'They profper best of all when I am thence. ''Would I were dead! if God's good will were fo : • For what is in this world, but grief and woe? * O God! methinks, it were a happy life,

Virgil, however, Æn. Lib. X. v. 354, has a fimilar comparison:

66

Expellere tendunt

"Nunc hi, nunc illi: certatur limine in ipfo
"Aufoniæ. Magno discordes æthere venti
"Prælia ceu tollunt, animis et viribus æquis :

" Non ipfi inter fe, non nubila, non mare cedunt;

Anceps pugna diu: stant obnixi omnia contra," &c. This fimile, however, originates with Homer; Iliad, XIV. STEEVENS.

6

-the Shepherd, blowing of his nails,] So, in Love's Labour's Loft :

"When icicles hang by the wall,

"And Dick the Shepherd blows his nail,-." MALONE.

7 Both tugging to be victors, breast to breast,] Hence, perhaps, the vulgarism that gives fuch acknowledged force to the following line in Lee's Rival Queens :

8

"When Greeks join'd Greeks, then was the tug of war." STEEVENS.

-methinks, it were a happy life,] This speech is mournful and soft, exquifitely suited to the character of the King, and

To be no better than a homely swain ; * To fit upon a hill, as I do now,

* To carve out dials quaintly, point by point, * Thereby to fee the minutes how they run : * How many make the hour full complete, * How many hours bring about the day, * How many days will finish up the year, * How many years a mortal man may live. * When this is known, then to divide the times:

* So many hours must I tend my flock;

* So many hours must I take my rest;

* So many hours must I cóntemplate;

* So many hours must I sport myself;

I

* So many days my ewes have been with young;
* So many weeks ere the poor fools will yean;
* So many years ere I shall sheer the fleece :

makes a pleasing interchange, by affording, amidst the tumult and horror of the battle, an unexpected glimse of rural innocence and paftoral tranquillity. JOHNSON.

This speech strongly confirms the remark made by Sir Joshua Reynolds on a passage in Macbeth, Vol. X. p. 72, n. 3.

9 Thereby to see the minutes how they run :

MALONE.

How many make the hour full complete,] So, in our author's Rape of Lucrece:

I

"Stuff up his luft, as minutes fill up hours." MALONE.

-ere the poor fools will yean ;) Poor fool, it has already been observed, is an expression of tenderness, often used by our author. MALONE.

So, in King Lear, scene the last:

"And my poor fool is hang'd."

See hotes on this passage, Vol. XVII. STEEVENS.

* So many years ere I shall sheer the fleece:] i. e. the years which must elapsebetween the time of the yeaning of the ewes, and the lambs arriving to such a state as to admit of being shorn. Mr. Rowe changed years to months; which was followed by the subsequent editors; and in the next line inserted the word weeks; not observing that hours is used there, and throughout this speech, VOL. XIV.

G