* YORK. And I and now we three have spoke it, It kills not greatly who impugns our doom.

5

Enter a Meffenger.

6

MER. Great lords, from Ireland am I come amain,

To fignify that rebels there are up,

· And put the Englifhmen unto the fword:
* Send fuccours, lords, and ftop the rage betime,
*Before the wound do grow uncurable;

For, being green, there is great hope of help.
*CAR. A breach, that craves a quick expedient
ftop!"

we three.

-] Surely, the word three thould be omit ted. The verse is complete without it:

And fo fay I.

And I and now we have spoke it,。 But the metre of these plays scarce deserves the reformation which it too frequently requires. STEEVENS.

5 It kills not- It is of no importance. JOHNSON.

So, in Sir T. More's Utopia, tranflated by R. Robinson, 1624: "I will defcribe to you one or other of them, for it fkilleth not greatly which." MALONE.

6 Great lords, &c.] I fhall fubjoin this fpeech as it flands in the

quarto:

Madam, I bring you news from Ireland ;
The wild Onele, my lord, is up in arms,
With troops of Irish kernes, that uncontrolla
Doth plant themselves within the English pale,
And burn and Spoil the country, as they go.

Surely here is not an imperfe& exhibition of the lines in the folio, haftily taken down in the theatre by the ear or in short-hand, as I once concurred with others in thinking to be the cafe. We have here an original and diftin& draught; fo that we must be obliged to maintain that Shakspeare wrote two plays on the prefent fubje&, a hafty sketch, and a more finished performance; or elfe muft acknowledge, that he formed the piece before us on a foundation laid by another writer. MALONE.

7 expedient top!] i. e expeditious. So, in King John? "His marches are expedient to this town." VOL. XIV.

STEEVENS.

What counfel give you in this weighty caufe? YORK. That Somerset be fent as regent thither: 'Tis meet, that lucky ruler be employ'd;

• Witness the fortune he hath had in France. SOM. If York, with all his far-fet policy, Had been the regent there instead of me, He never would have staid in France fo long. YORK. No, not to lofe it all, as thou haft done: I rather would have loft my life betimes, *Than bring a burden of difhonour home, * By flaying there fo long, till all were loft, * Show me one fcar character'd on thy skin: * Men's flesh preferv'd fo whole, do feldom win. * Q. MAR. Nay then, this spark will prove a raging fire,

* If wind and fuel be brought to feed it with :*No more, good York;-fweet Somerset, be ftill;— *Thy fortune, York, hadst thou been regent there, Might happily have prov'd far worse than his.

*

YORK. What, worfe than naught? nay, then a

'fhame take all!

SOм. And, in the number, thee, that wishest fhame!

CAR. My lord of York, try what your fortune is.

The uncivil Kernes of Ireland are in arms,

And temper clay with blood of Englishmen:
To Ireland will you lead a band of men,
Collected choicely, from each county fome,
And try your hap against the Irifhmen?

* YORK. I will, my lord, fo please his majesty. *SUF. Why, our authority is his consent;

* And, what we do eflablifh, he confirms:

Then, noble York, take thou this talk in hand. YORK. Iam content: Provide me foldiers, lords,

• Whiles I take order for mine own affairs.

SUF. A charge, lord York, that I will fee perform'd.'

• But now return we to the falfe duke Humphrey. ⚫ CAR. No more of him; for I will deal with

เ

him,

That, henceforth, he fhall trouble us no more.
And fo break off; the day is almoft fpent:
Lord Suffolk, you and I muft talk of that event.
YORK: My lord of Suffolk, within fourteen
days,

At Bristol I expect my foldiers;

For there I'll ship them all for Ireland.

SUF. I'll fee it truly done, my lord of York,

Exeunt all but YORK.

YORK. Now, York, or never, fteel thy fearful

thoughts,

And change mifdoubt to refolution :

* Be that thou hop'ft to be; or what thou art Refign to death, it is not worth the enjoying:

*

Let pale-fac'd fear keep with the mean-born mań, *And find no harbour in a royal heart.

*Fafter than spring-time fhowers, comes thought on thought;

* And not a thought, but thinks on dignity.

7

that I will fee perform'd.] in the old play this office is given to Buckingham:

Queen. my lord of Buckingham,

Let it be your charge to mufter up fuch foldiers,
As fhall fuffice him in thefe needful wars.

Buck. Madam, I will; and levy such a band

As foon fhall overcome those Irish rebels:

But York, where fhall thofe foldiers Atay for thee?
York. At Briftol I'll exped them ten days hence.
Buck. Then thither hall they come, and fo farewell.
[Exit Buck.

Here again we have a very remarkable variation. MALONE.

*My brain, more busy than the labouring spider, *Weaves tedious fnares to trap mine enemies. * Well, nobles, well; 'tis politickly done, * To fend me packing with an hoft of men: * I fear me, you but warm the starved snake, Who, cherish'd in your breasts, will fting your

hearts.

'Twas men I lack'd, and you will give them me: I take it kindly; yet, be well affur'd

You put fharp weapons in a madman's hands. • Whiles I in Ireland nourish a mighty band, * I will stir up in England some black storm, *Shall blow ten thoufand fouls to heaven, or

hell:

*And this fell tempeft fhall not cease to rage * Until the golden circuit on my head,

8

Like to the glorious fun's tranfparent beams,

* Do calm the fury of this mad-bred flaw.9 And, for a minister of my intent,

*

I have feduc'd a head-strong Kentifhman,
John Cade of Afhford,

To make commotion, as full well he can,
Under the title of John Mortimer.

In Ireland have I feen this ftubborn Cade
Oppofe himself against a troop of Kernes;

8 Until the golden circuit on my head, ] So, in Macbeth:
"All that impedes thee from the golden round,
"Which fate and metaphyfical aid doth seem
"To have thee crown'd withall."

Again, in K. Henry IV. P. II:

66 - a fleep,

"That from this golden rigol hath divorc'd

"So many English kings." MALONE.

mad-bred Haw.] Flaw is a fudden violent guft of wind.

JOHNSON.

a troop of Kernes;] Karnes were light-armed Irish footfoldiers. STEEVENS.

3

And fought fo long, till that his thighs with

darts

* Were almost like a fharp-quill'd porcupine: * And, in the end being rescu'd, I have feen him * Caper upright like a wild Mórisco,*

* Shaking the bloody darts, as he his bells. *Full often, like a fhag-hair'd crafty kern, * Hath he converfed with the enemy; *And undifcover'd come to me again, * And given me notice of their villainies. *This devil here fhall be my fubftitute; * For that John Mortimer, which now is dead,

4

And fought fo long, ] Read-And fight fo long. RITSON.

a wild Mórisco,] A Moor in a military dance, now called Morris, that is, a Moorish dance. JOHNSON.

In Albion's Triumph, a mafque, 1631, the feventh entry confift of mimicks or Morifcos.

Again, in Marfton's What you will, 1607:

Your wit fkips a Morifco."

The Morris-dance was the Tripudium Mauritanicum, a kind of hornpipe. Junius describes it thus: faciem plerumque inficiunt fuligine, & peregrinum veftium cultum affumunt, qui ludicris talibus indulgent, ut Mauri effe videantur, aut e longius remotâ patriâ credantur advolasse, atque infolens recreationis genus. advexiffe."

In the churchwardens' accompts of the parish of St. Helen's in Abington, Berkshire, from the first year of the reign of Philip and Mary, to the thirty-fourth of queen Elizabeth, the Morrice bells are mentioned. Anno 1560, the third of Elizabeth, "For two doffin of Morres bells." As thefe appear to have been purchased by the community, we may suppose this diversion was conftantly prac tifed at their publick festivals. See the plate of Morris-dancers at the end of the firft part of K. Henry IV. with Mr. Tollet's remarks annexed to it. STEEVENS.

The editor of The Sad Shepherd, 8vo. 1783, p. 255, mentions feeing a company of morrice-dancers from Abington, at Richmond in Surrey, fo late as the fummer of 1783. They appeared to be making a kind of annual circuit. REED.

like a fhag-hair'd crafty kern,] See Vol. XI. p. 12

n. 6; and p. 203, n. 4. MALONE.