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You faid, that idle weeds are faft in growth:
The prince my brother hath outgrown me far.
GLO. He hath, my lord.

YORK.

And therefore is he idle?

GLO. O, my fair cousin, I must not say so. YORK. Then is he more beholden to you, than I. GLO. He may command me, as my fovereign; But you have power in me, as in a kinsman.

YORK. I pray you, uncle, then, give me this
dagger."

GLO. My dagger, little coufin? with all my heart.
PRINCE. A beggar, brother?

YORK. Of my kind uncle, that I know will give; And, being but a toy, which is no grief to give." GLO. A greater gift than that I'll give my coufin.

I pray you, uncle, then, give me this dagger.] Then was added by Sir Thomas Hanmer for the fake of metre.

STEEVENS.

7 And, being but a toy, which is no grief to give.] The reading of the quartos is-gift. The firft folio reads:

And, being but a toy, which is no grief to give. This reading, made a little more metrical, has been followed, I think, erroneoufly, by all the editors. JOHNSON.

The quarto 1612 reads:

no grief.

STEEVENS.

which is no grief to give.] Which to give, or the gift of which, induces no regret. Thus the authentick copies, the quarto, 1598, and the first folio. A quarto of no authority changed grief to gift, and the editor of the second folio capri-` ciously altered the line thus:

"And being a toy, it is no grief to give." MALONE.

In conformity to our old elliptical mode of speaking and writing, the words-which is, might be omitted. They hurt the measure, without advancement of the sense. Perhaps, however, the correction in the second folio (which was received by Sir Thomas Hanmer) is preferable. STEEVENS.

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YORK. A greater gift! O, that's the fword to it? GLO. Ay, gentle coufin, were it light enough.

YORK. O then, I fee, you'll part but with light gifts;

In weightier things you'll fay a beggar, nay.

GLO. It is too weighty for your grace to wear.
YORK. I weigh it lightly, were it heavier.
GLO. What, would you have my weapon, little

lord?

YORK. I would, that I might thank you as you call me.

GLO. How?

YORK. Little...

PRINCE. My lord of York will ftill be crofs in

talk ;

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Uncle, your grace knows how to bear with him.

YORK. You mean, to bear me, not to bear with

me:

Uncle, my brother mocks both you and me;
Because that I am little, like an ape,9

* I weigh it lightly, &c.] i. e. I fhould ftill efteem it but a trifling gift, were it heavier. But the Oxford editor reads:

I'd weigh it lightly,

i. e. I could manage it, though it were heavier. WARBURTON. Dr. Warburton is right. So, in Love's Labour's Loft, A& V. fc. ii:

"You weigh me not,-O that's you care not for me.” STEEVENS,

9 Because that I am little, like an ape,] The reproach feems to confift in this: at country fhows it was common to set the monkey on the back of fome other animal, as a bear. The Duke therefore in calling himself ape, calls his uncle bear.

JOHNSON,

To this cuftom there feems to be an allufion in Ben Jonfon's Mafque of Gypfies:

He thinks that you should bear me on your fhoul

ders.

BUCK. With what a fharp-provided wit he reafons!

To mitigate the fcorn he gives his uncle,
He prettily and aptly taunts himfelf:
So cunning, and fo young, is wonderful.

GLÓ. My gracious lord,' will't please you pafs along?

Myfelf, and my good coufin Buckingham,
Will to your mother; to entreat of her,
To meet you at the Tower, and welcome

you.

YORK. What, will you go unto the Tower, my lord?

PRINCE. My lord protector needs will have it fo.

"A gypfy in his fhape,
"More calls the beholder,

"Than the fellow with the ape,
"Or the ape on his fhoulder.'

Again, in The First Part of the Eighth liberal Science, entituled Ars Adulandi &c. devifed and compiled by Ulpian Fulwel, 1576: " thou haft an excellent back to carry my lord's ape.' See likewife Hogarth's Humours of an Election, plate IV. York alfo alludes to the protuberance on Glofter's back, which was commodious for carrying burdens, as it supplied the place of a porter's knot. STEEVENS.

I do not believe that the reproach is what Johnfon fuppofes, or that York meant to call his uncle a bear. He merely alludes to Richard's deformity, his high fhoulder, or hump-back, as it is called. That was the fcorn he meant to give his uncle. In the third A&t of the Third Part of King Henry VI. the fame thought occurs to Richard himself, where defcribing his own figure, he fays:

I

"To make an envious mountain on my back,

"Where fits deformity, to mock my body." M. MASON.

My gracious lord,] For the infertion of the word gracious, I am anfwerable. Glofter has already used the fame addrefs. The defect of the metre fhows that a word was omitted at the press.

MALONE.

YORK. I fhall not fleep in quiet at the Tower.
GLO. Why, fir, what should you fear?2

YORK. Marry, my uncle Clarence' angry ghoft; My grandam told me, he was murder'd there. PRINCE. I fear no uncles dead.

GLO. Nor none that live, I hope.

PRINCE. An if they live, I hope, I need not fear. But come, my lord, and, with a heavy heart, Thinking on them, go I unto the Tower.

[Exeunt Prince, YORK, HASTINGS, Cardinal,
and Attendants.

BUCK. Think you, my lord, this little prating
York

Was not incenfed by his fubtle mother,3
To taunt and scorn you thus opprobriously?

GLO. No doubt, no doubt: O, 'tis a parlous boy;
Bold, quick, ingenious, forward, capable;4
He's all the mother's, from the top to toe.
BUCK. Well, let them reft.—

* Why, fir, &c.] The word-fir, was added by Sir Thomas Hanmer. Without it this half line is harfh, and quite unmetrical. STEEVENS.

3 Was not incenfed by his fubtle mother,] Incensed means here, incited or fuggefted. So, in King Henry VIII. Gardiner fays of Cranmer :

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"Incens'd the lords of the council, that he is

"A moft arch heretick."

And in Much Ado about Nothing, Borachio fays to Pedro: -how Don John your brother incenfed me to flander the lady Hero." M. MASON.

capable;] here, as in many other places in these plays, means intelligent, quick of apprehenfion. See p. 347, n. 1.

MALONE.

So again, in Troilus and Creffida: "Let me carry another to his horfe, for that's the more capable creature." RITSON.

Come hither, gentle Catesby;5 thou art fworn
As deeply to effect what we intend,

As clofely to conceal what we impart :

Thou know'ft our reafons urg'd upon the way;—
What think'ft thou? is it not an easy matter
To make William lord Haftings of our mind,
For the inftalment of this noble duke

In the feat royal of this famous isle?

CATE. He for his father's fake fo loves the

prince,

That he will not be won to aught against him. BUCK. What think'ft thou then of Stanley? will not he?

CATE. He will do all in all as Haftings doth.

BUCK. Well then, no more but this: Go, gentle

Catesby,

And, as it were far off, found thou lord Haftings,
How he doth ftand affected to our purpose;
And fummon him to-morrow to the Tower,
To fit about the coronation.

If thou doft find him tractable to us,
Encourage him, and tell him all our reafons:
If he be leaden, icy, cold, unwilling,
Be thou fo too; and fo break off the talk,
And give us notice of his inclination :
For we to-morrow hold divided councils,"
Wherein thyfelf fhalt highly be employ'd.

5

gentle Catesby; I have fupplied the epithet-gentle, for the fame reasons urged by Mr. Malone in the foregoing page, n. 1, in defence of a fimilar infertion. STEEVENS.

6

divided councils,] That is, a private confultation, feparate from the known and publick council. So, in the next fcene, Haftings fays:

"Bid him not fear the feparated councils." JOHNSON. This circumftance is conformable to history. Hall, p. 13, fays,

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