SUF. Blunt-witted lord, ignoble in demeanour!

If ever lady wrong'd her lord fo much,

Thy mother took into her blameful bed
Some ftern untutor'd churl, and noble ftock
Was graft with crabtree flip; whofe fruit thou art,
And never of the Nevils' noble race.

WAR. But that the guilt of murder bucklers thee,

And I fhould rob the deathfman of his fee,
Quitting thee thereby of ten thousand fhames,
And that my fovereign's prefence makes me mild,
I would, falfe murderous coward, on thy knee
Make thee beg pardon for thy paffed fpeech,
And fay it was thy mother that thou meant'ft,
That thou thyfelf waft born in bastardy :
And, after all this fearful homage done,

Give thee thy hire, and send thy foul to hell,
Pernicious bloodfucker of fleeping men!

SUF. Thou shalt be waking, while I fhed thy

blood,

If from this prefence thou dar'ft go with me. WAR. Away even now, or I will drag thee hence: * Unworthy though thou art, I'll cope with thee, And do fome fervice to duke Humphrey's ghost. [Exeunt SUFFOLK and WARWICK. * K. HEN. What ftronger breaftplate than a

heart untainted?

3

* Thrice is he arm'd, that hath his quarrel just; *And he but naked, though lock'd up in steel, * Whose confcience with injuftice is corrupted. [A noife within.

3 Thrice is he arm'd, &c.]. So, in Marlowe's Luft's Dominion: "Come, Moor; I'm arm'd with more than complete teel, "The justice of my quarrel.

MALONE.

Q. MAR. What noife is this?

Re-enter SUFFOLK and WARWICK, with their weapons

drawn.

K. HEN. Why, how now, lords? your wrathful

weapons drawn

Here in our prefence? dare you be fo bold? Why, what tumultuous clamour have we here? SUF. The traiterous Warwick, with the men of

Bury,

Set all upon me, mighty fovereign.

Noife of a crowd within.

*SAL. Sirs, ftand apart;

Re-enter SALISBURY.

the king fhall know your mind. Speaking to thofe within.

Dread lord, the commons fend you word by me, Unless false Suffolk ftraight be done to death,

Or banished fair England's territories,

They will by violence tear him from your palace, And torture him with grievous ling'ring death.

They fay, by him the good duke Humphrey died; They fay, in him they fear your highness' death; And mere infting of love, and loyalty, Free from a ftubborn opposite intent, As being thought to contradict your liking, Makes them thus forward in his banishment. *They fay, in care of your moft royal perfon, That, if your highnefs fhould intend to fleep, * And charge-that no man fhould disturb your rest, * In pain of your dislike, or pain of death; * Yet, notwithstanding such a strait edict, * Were there a ferpent seen, with forked tongue, That flily glided towards your majefty,

*It were but neceffary you were wak'd;

4

* Left, being suffer'd in that harmful flumber, The mortal worm might make the fleep eternal: And therefore do they cry, though you forbid, * That they will guard you, whe'r you will, or no, * From fuch fell ferpents as false Suffolk is; *With whofe envenomed and fatal fting, Your loving uncle, twenty times his worth, *They fay, is fhamefully bereft of life.

COMMONS. [within. ] An anfwer from the king, my lord of Salisbury.

SUF. 'Tis like, the commons, rude unpolish'd hinds,

Could fend fuch meffage to their fovereign:
But you, my lord, were glad to be employ'd,
To fhow how quaint an orator you are:
But all the honour Salisbury hath won,
Is that he was the lord ambaffador,

Sent from a fort of tinkers to the king. COMMONS. [within.] An answer from the king, or we'll all break in.

K. HEN. Go, Salisbury, and tell them all from

me,

I thank them for their tender loving care:

4 The mortal worm ] i, e. the fatal, the deadly worm. So,

in The Winter's Tale:

"This news is mortal to the queen."

Serpents in general, were anciently called worms. So, in The Devil's Charter, 1607, Pope Alexander fays, when he takes off the afpicks from the young princes:

"How now,

proud worms? how taftes yon princes' blood?"

how quaint an orator So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona: of cords.

6

MALONE.

a ladder quaintly made

a fort. ] Is a company. JOHNSON. So, in A Midfummer-Night's Dream:

66

ruffet-pated choughs, many in fort." STEEVENS.

And had I not been 'cited fo by them,
Yet did I purpose as they do entreat;
For, fure, iny thoughts do hourly prophecy
Mifchance unto my ftate by Suffolk's means.
And therefore, by his majesty I swear,
Whofe far unworthy deputy I am, -

He fhall not breathe infection in this air'

But three days longer, on the pain of death. [Exit SALISBURY. Q. MAR. O Henry, let me plead for gentle

Suffolk!

K. HEN. Ungentle queen, to call him gentle
Suffolk.

No more, I fay; if thou doft plead for him,
Thou wilt but add increase unto my wrath.

Had I but faid, I would have kept my word;

But, when I fwear, it is irrevocable:

* If, after three days' space, thou here be'ft found *On any ground that I am ruler of,

The world fhall not be ranfom for thy life. — Come, Warwick, come, good Warwick, go with me; I have great matters to impart to thee.

[Exeunt K. HENRY. WARWICK, Lords, &c. Q. MAR. Mifchance, and forrow, go along with you!

Heart's difcontent, and four affliction,

Be playfellows to keep you company!
There's two of you; the devil make a third!
And threefold vengeance tend upon your fteps!

He fhall not breathe infection in this air] That is, he fhall not contaminate this air with his infe&ed breath. MALONE. Mifchance, and forrow, &c.] In the original play the queen is fill more violent :

"Hell-fire and vengeance go along with you!"

MALONE.

SUF. Ceafe, gentle queen, thefe execrations,

* And let thy Suffolk take his heavy leave.

Q. MAR. Fie, coward woman, and soft-hearted wretch !

Haft thou not fpirit to curfe thine enemies?
SUF. A plague upon them! wherefore fhould I
curse them?

Would curfes kill, as doth the mandrake's groan,'
I would invent as bitter-searching terms,
*As curft, as harfh, and horrible to hear,
Deliver'd ftrongly through my fixed teeth,

With full as many figns of deadly hate,
As lean-fac'd Envy in her loathfome cave:
My tongue should ftumble in mine earneft words;
Mine eyes fhould fparkle like the beaten flint;
My hair be fix'd on end, as one diftract;
Ay, every joint should feem to curfe and ban:

Would curfes kill, as doth the mandrake's groan, ] The fabulous accounts of the plant called a mandrake give it an inferior degree of animal life, and relate, that when it is torn from the ground it groans, and that this groan being certainly fatal to him that is offering fuch unwelcome violence, the practice of those who gather mandrakes is to tie one end of a ftring to the plant, and the other to a dog, upon whom the fatal groan discharges its malignity.

JOHNSON. The fame allufion occurs in Ariftippus, or the Jovial Philofopher, by Randolph:

"This is the mandrake's voice that undoes me. STEEVENS. Bulleine in his Bulwarke of Defence against Sickneffe, &c. fol. 1579, P. 41, speaking of Mandragora fays "They doe affyrme that this herbe commeth of the feede of fome convided dead men and alfo without the death of fome lyvinge thinge it cannot be drawen out of the earth to man's use. Therefore they did tye fome dogge or other lyving beaft unto the roote thereof wyth a corde, and digged the earth in compaffe round about, and in the meane tyme flopped their own cares for feare of the terreble fhriek and cry of this Mandrack. In whych cry it doth not only dye itfelfe, but the feare thereof killeth the dogge or beaft whych pulleth it out of the earth.

REED.