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Why, what is pomp, rule, reign, but earth and

duft?

And, live we how we can, yet die we must.

Enter OXFORD and SOMERSET.

*SOM. Ah, Warwick, Warwick !9 wert thou as

we are,

* We might recover all our lofs again!

to diffuade a perfon from covetousness, drew out with his lance the length and breadth of a man's grave, adding, "this is all thou shalt have when thou art dead, if thou canst happily get so much." MALONE.

8

- what is pomp, &c.] This and the following line make no part of this speech in the old play; but were transposed by Shakspeare from a subsequent speech, addreffed by Warwick to Somerset. MALONE.

9 Ah, Warwick, Warwick! &c.] These two speeches ftand thus in the quartos:

"Oxf. Ah, Warwick, Warwick! chear up thyself, and live;

"For yet there's hope enough to win the day.

"Our warlike queen with troops is come from France,
"And at Southampton landed hath her train;
"And, might'ft thou live, then would we never fly.
"War. Why, then I would not fly, nor have I now;
"But Hercules himself muft yield to odds:
"For many wounds receiv'd, and many more repaid,
"Hath robb'd my ftrong-knit finews of their ftrength,
"And spite of fpites needs must I yield to death.”

STEEVENS.

One of these lines, "But Hercules," &c. Shakspeare has tranfpofed and inferted in the Meffenger's account of the death of the Duke of York. See p. 51. Not being aware of this, I inadvertently marked that line as our author's, which I ought not to have done. The three following lines have already been spoken by Warwick in a former scene (see p. 72,) and therefore were here properly rejected by Shakspeare. MALONE.

< The queen

from France hath brought a puiffant

power;

"Even now we heard the news: Ah, could'ft thou fly!

WAR. Why, then I would not fly.—Ah, Mon

tague,

* If thou be there, fweet brother, take my hand, * And with thy lips keep in my foul a while!

* 'I hou lov'ft me not; for, brother, if thou didft, * Thy tears would wash this cold congealed blood, *That glews my lips, and will not let me speak. * Come quickly, Montague, or I am dead.

SOM. Ah, Warwick, Montague hath breath'd his last ;

And to the latest gafp, cried out for Warwick, And faid-Commend me to my valiant brother. And more he would have faid; and more he spoke, 'Which founded like a cannon in a vault,'

▾ Which founded like a cannon in a vault,] The old quarto reads clamour, which is undoubtedly right, i. e. a clamour of tongues, which, as he fays, could not be diftinguished. This was a pertinent fimilitude: the other abfurd, and neither agrees with what is predicated of it, nor with what it is intended to illuftrate. WARBURTON.

Which founded like a cannon in a vault,

That might not be diftinguifh'd;] That is, like the noise of a cannon in a vault, which, &c. Shakspeare's alteration here is perhaps not fo judicious as many others that he has made. In the old play, inftead of cannon, we have clamour, and the speech ftands thus:

"Thy brother Montague hath breath'd his laft,
"And at the pangs of death I heard him cry,
"And fay, commend me to my valiant brother;
"And more he would have faid, and more he said,
"Which founded like a clamour in a vault,
"That could not be diftinguish'd for the found;
"And fo the valiant Montague gave up the ghott."

MALONE.

The indiftin&t gabble of undertakers, while they adjust a cof

"That might not be distinguish'd; but, at last,
"I well might hear deliver'd with a groan,—
'O, farewell, Warwick!

WAR.

Sweet reft to his foul !

Fly, lords, and fave yourselves; for Warwick bids You all farewell, to meet again in heaven." [Dies. OXF. Away, away,3 to meet the queen's great power!

[Exeunt, bearing off WARWICK's Body.

fin in a family vault, will abundantly illuftrate the preceding fimile. Such a peculiar hubbub of inarticulate founds, might have attracted our author's notice: it has too often forced it, felf on mine. STEEVENS.

2 to meet again in heaven.] I have fupplied the wordagain, for the fake of metre, by the advice of Mr. Ritson, and with countenance from the following line in King Richard III : Farewell, until me meet again in heaven."

66

STEEVENS.

S Away, away, &c.] Inftead of this line, the quartos have the following:

"Come, noble Somerset, let's take our horse,
"And cause retreat be founded through the camp;
"That all our friends remaining yet alive
"May be forewarn'd, and fave themselves by flight.
"That done, with them we'll poft unto the queen,
"And once more try our fortune in the field."

STEEVENS. It is unneceffary to repeat here an observation that has already been more than once made. I fhall therefore only refer to for mer notes. See p. 16, n. 2. Malone.

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SCENE III.

Another Part of the Field.

Flourish. Enter King EDWARD in triumph; with CLARENCE, GLOSTER, and the reft.

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'K. EDW. Thus far our fortune keeps an upward course,

' And we are grac'd with wreaths of victory.4
But, in the midft of this bright-fhining day,
I fpy a black, fufpicious, threat'ning cloud,
"That will encounter with our glorious fun,
'Ere he attain his eafeful western bed:

'I mean, my lords,-thofe powers,5 that the queen

4 Thus far our fortune keeps an upward courfe,

And we are grac'd with wreaths of victory.] Thus the folio. The quartos thus:

"Thus ftill our fortune gives us victory,

And girts our temples with triumphant joys. "The big-bon'd traitor Warwick hath breath'd his last, "And heaven this day hath smil'd upon us all."

STEEVENS.

It is obfervable, that the expreffion which Shakspeare had subftituted for " temples engirt with triumphant joys," occurs again in King Richard III:

"Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths,—.” Again, in his Rape of Lucrece:

"Made glorious by his manly chivalry,
"With bruised arms, and wreaths of victory."

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MALONE.

I mean, my lords,-thofe powers, &c.] Thus the folio. The old play thus:

"I meane those powers which the queen hath got in

France,

"Are landed, and meane once more to menace us."

MALONE.

'Hath rais'd in Gallia, have arriv'd our coaft," 'And, as we hear, march on to fight with us. *CLAR. A little gale will foon difperfe that cloud, And blow it to the fource from whence it came: * Thy very beams will dry thofe vapours up; * For every cloud engenders not a storm.

* GLO. The queen is valu'd thirty thousand strong, 'And Somerset, with Oxford, fled to her; "If the have time to breathe, be well affur'd, Her faction will be full as ftrong as ours.

K. EDW. We are advértis'd by our loving friends, That they do hold their courfe toward Tewksbury; "We having now the beft at Barnet field,

Will thither straight, For willingness rids way; 'And, as we march, our ftrength will be augmented In every county as we go along.

Strike

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up the drum; cry-Courage! and away.7

[Exeunt.

have arriv'd our coaft,] So, in Coriolanus:

and now arriving

"A place of potency,-."

Again, in Julius Cæfar:

"But ere we could arrive the point propos'd,-." Milton uses the fame ftructure, Paradife Loft, B. II:

66

ere he arrive

"The happy ifle." STEEVENS.

7 Strike up the drum; cry-Courage! and away.] Thus the folio. The quartos have the following couplet :

"Come, let's go ;

"For if we flack this faire bright fummer's day,

"Sharp winter's fhowers will mar our hope for haie." Something like this has occurred in p. 171. STEEVENS.

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