Wither one rofe, and let the other flourish! ८ * If you contend, a thousand lives must wither.1 SON. How will my mother, for a father's death, Take on with me, and ne'er be fatisfied? FATH. How will my wife, for flaughter of my fon, 'Shed feas of tears, and ne'er be fatisfied? 6 K. HEN. How will the country, for these woeful chances, 'Misthink the king, and not be fatisfied? SON. Was ever son, so ru'd a father's death? 'FATH. Was ever father, so bemoan'd a fon ?4 If you contend, a thousand lives must wither,] Thus the folio. The quartos thus : "For if you strive, a thousand lives must perish." STEEVENS. I think the word wither is more likely to have been inadvertently repeated by the transcriber, than substituted by Shakspeare for the former word. MALONE. 2 Take on with me,] Be enraged at me. So, in a pamphlet by T. Nashe, 1592: "Some will take on, like a madman," &c. See Vol. VII. p. 344, n. 6. MALONE. To take on is a phrase still in use among the vulgar, and fignifies to perfift in clamorous lamentation. STEEVENS. 3 How will the country, &c.] So the folio. The quartos thus: "How will the country now mifdeem their king! "Oh, would my death their minds could fatisfy !" To mif-think is to think ill, unfavourably. So, in The Northern Lass, 1633 : "- and heaven pardon me what I mif-thought every hour of the night!" STEEVENS. This word, which Shakspeare substituted for misdeem, he has again ufed in Antony and Cleopatra : "Be it known, that we the greatest are mis-thought, "For things that others do." MALONE. • Was ever fon, so ru'd a father's death? Was ever father, fo bemoan'd his fon?] The variation is here woe? K. HEN. Was ever king, so griev'd for fubjects' 'Much is your forrow; mine, ten times so much. SON. I'll bear thee hence,5 where I may weep my fill. [Exit, with the Body. * FATH. These arms of mine shall be thy winding-sheet; * My heart, sweet boy, shall be thy sepulchre; I'll bear thee hence; and let them fight that will, [Exit, with the Body, worth remarking, for in the old play the corresponding lines are: " Was ever son so rude, his father's blood to spill! MALONE. $ I'll bear thee hence; &c.] Thus the folio. The old play thus: "I'll bear thee hence from this accursed place, "For woe is to me, to see my father's face." MALONE. • And so obsequious will thy father be,] Obfequious is here careful of obfequies, or of funeral rites. JOHNSON. In the same sense it is used in Hamlet : to do obfequious forrow." STEEVENS. 7 Sad for the loss of thee,] The old copy reads-men for the lofs &c. Mr. Rowe made the alteration; but I think we might read; -fo obfequious will thy father be, "Man, for the loss of thee" &c. STEEVENS. * As Priam was for all-] I having but one fon, will grieve as much for that one, as Priam, who had many, could grieve for many. JOHNSON. 'K. HEN. Sad-hearted men, much overgone with care, 'Here fits a king more woful than you are. Alarums: Excursions. Enter Queen MARGARET, Prince of Wales, and EXETER. 'PRINCE. Fly, father, fly! for all your friends are fled, 'And Warwick rages like a chafed bull : Q. MAR. Mount you, my lord, towards Ber wick post amain : 'Edward and Richard, like a brace of greyhounds 'Having the fearful flying hare in fight, 'With fiery eyes, sparkling for very wrath, 'And bloody steel grasp'd in their ireful hands, Are at our backs; and therefore hence amain. 'EXE. Away! for vengeance comes along with them: 'Nay, stay not to expoftulate, make speed; Or else come after, I'll away before. K. HEN. Nay, take me with thee, good sweet Exeter; 'Not that I fear to stay, but love to go Whither the queen intends. Forward; away! [Exeunt, SCENE VI. The fame. A loud Alarum. Enter CLIFFORD, wounded.9 CLIF. Here burns my candle out, ay, here it Which, while it lasted, gave king Henry light. 2 • Enter Clifford, wounded.] The quarto adds, with an arrow in his neck. In ridicule of this, Beaumont and Fletcher, have introduced Ralph, the grocer's prentice, in The Knight of the Burning Pestle, with a forked arrow through his head. It appears, however, from Holinshed, p. 664, that this circumstance has fome relation to the truth: "The lord Clifford, either for heat or paine, putting off his gorget fuddenlie, with an arrow (as fome faie) without a head, was striken into the throte, and immediately rendered his spirit." STEEVENS. I Here burns my candle out, ay, here it dies,] So, in the first part of this play : Here dies the dusky torch of Mortimer." STEEVENS. - thy tough commixtures melt.] Perhaps better, the tough commixture. JOHNSON. 2 The quartos read-" that tough commixture melts." STEEVENS. 3 The common people Swarm like fummer flies: This line, which is not in the folio, was recovered from the old play by Mr. Theobald. The context shows, that like a line in The Second Part of King Henry VI. it was omitted by the negligence of the transcriber or compofitor. MALONE. And whither fly the gnats, but to the sun ?4 nity? Bootless are plaints, and cureless are my wounds; * The common people swarm like fummer flies : And whither fly the gnats, but to the fun?] Hence, perhaps, originated the following passage in The Bard of Gray: "The swarm that in thy noontide beam were borne? "Gone to falute the rifing morn." STEEVENS. 5 O Phœbus! hadst thou never given confent-] The Duke of York had been entrusted by Henry with the reins of government both in Ireland and France; and hence perhaps was taught to afpire to the throne. MALONE. • No way to fly, nor strength to hold out flight:] This line is clear and proper as it is now read; yet perhaps an oppofition of images was meant, and Clifford said : No way to fly, nor ftrength to hold out fight. JOHNSON. The sense of the original reading is-No way to fly, nor with strength fufficient left to sustain myself in flight, if there were. STEEVENS. |