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Wither one rofe, and let the other flourish!
If you contend, a thousand lives must wither.1

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SON. How will my mother, for a father's death, Take on with me,2 and ne'er be satisfied?

FATH. How will my wife, for flaughter of my fon, 'Shed feas of tears, and ne'er be fatisfied?

"K. HEN. How will the country,3 for these woe ful chances,

'Misthink the king, and not be fatisfied?

I

'SON. Was ever son, so ru'd a father's death? FATH. Was ever father, fo bemoan'd a fon ?4

If you contend, a thousand lives muft wither,] Thus the folio. The quartos thus:

"For if you ftrive, 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 ftill in ufe 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 m1633 :

ern Lafs,

is to think ill, unfavourably. So, in The North

- and heaven pardon me what I mif-thought every hour of the night!" STEEVENS.

This word, which Shakspeare fubftituted 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, fo ru'd a father's death?

Was ever father, fo bemoan'd his fan ?] The variation is here

'K. HEN. Was ever king, fo griev'd for fubjects"

woe?

'Much is your forrow; mine, ten times fo much. SON. I'll bear thee hence,5 where I may weep [Exit, with the Body.

my fill.

*FATH. These arms of mine shall be thy winding-fheet;

*My heart, fweet boy, fhall be thy fepulchre ;
*For from my heart thine image ne'er fhall go,
* My fighing breaft fhall be thy funeral bell;
*And fo obfequious will thy father be,"
*Sad for the lofs of thee," having no more,
*As Priam was for all his valiant fons.

I'll bear thee hence; and let them fight that will,
For I have murder'd where I fhould not kill.
[Exit, with the Body.

worth remarking, for in the old play the correfponding lines

are:

"Was ever son so rude, his father's blood to spill!
"Was ever father fo unnatural, his fon to kill?"

MALONE.

$ I'll bear thee hence; &c.] Thus the folio. The old play thus :

"I'll bear thee hence from this accurfed place,

"For woe is to me, to fee my father's face." MALONE. And fo obfequious will thy father be,] Obfequious is here careful of obfequies, or of funeral rites. JOHNSON.

In the fame sense it is used in Hamlet:

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to do obfequious forrow." STEEVENS.

7 Sad for the lofs 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 lofs of thee" &c. STEEVENS.

As Priam was for all-] I having but one fon, will grieve as much for that one, as Priam, many. JOHNSON.

who had many, could grieve for

"K. HEN. Sad-hearted men, much

overgone with

care,

'Here fits a king more woful than you are.

Alarums: Excurfions. 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:
'Away! for death doth hold us in pursuit.

Q. MAR. Mount you, my lord, towards Ber-
wick poft amain:

'Edward and Richard, like a brace of greyhounds 'Having the fearful flying hare in fight, With fiery eyes, fparkling for very wrath, 'And bloody fteel grafp'd in their ireful hands, Are at our backs; and therefore hence amain.

EXE. Away! for vengeance comes along with them:

'Nay, ftay not to expoftulate, make speed; Or else come after, I'll away before.

'K. HEN. Nay, take me with thee, good fweet Exeter;

'Not that I fear to ftay, but love to go

Whither the queen intends. Forward; away !

[Exeunt,

SCENE VI.

The fame.

Aloud Alarum. Enter CLIFFORD, wounded.

CLIF. Here burns my candle out, ay, here it
dies,'

Which, while it lafted, gave king Henry light.
O, Lancaster! I fear thy overthrow,

More than my body's parting with my foul.
My love, and fear, glew'd many friends to thee;
And, now I fall, thy tough commixtures melt."
Impairing Henry, ftrength'ning mis-proud York,
The common people fwarm like fummer flies :3

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 Pefile, with a forked arrow through his head. It appears, however, from Holinfhed, 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 ftriken into the throte, and immediately rendered his fpirit." STEEVENS.

I

1 Here burns my candle out, ay, here it dies,] So, in the first part of this play :

2

"Here dies the dusky torch of Mortimer."

STEEVENS.

thy tough commixtures melt.] Perhaps better, the tough commixture. JOHNSON.

The quartos read-" that tough commixture melts."

STEEVENS.

3 The common people fwarm like fummer flies:] This line, which is not in the folio, was recovered from the old play by Mr. Theobald. The context fhows, 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
And who shines now but Henry's enemies?
O Phœbus! hadft thou never given confent 5
That Phaeton fhould check thy fiery fteeds,
Thy burning car never had scorch'd the earth:
And, Henry, hadft thou sway'd as kings fhould do,
Or as thy father, and his father, did,

Giving no ground unto the houfe of York,
*They never then had fprung like fummer flies;
'I, and ten thousand in this lucklefs realm,
Had left no mourning widows for our death,
And thou this day hadft kept thy chair in peace.
For what doth cherish weeds but gentle air?
' And what makes robbers bold, but too much le-
nity?

Bootlefs are plaints, and cureless are my wounds;
No way to fly, nor ftrength to hold out flight :6
The foe is mercilefs, and will not pity;

For, at their hands, I have deserv'd no pity.
The air hath got into my deadly wounds,

And much effufe of blood doth make me faint :

The common people fwarm like fummer flies:

And whither fly the gnats, but to the fun ?] Hence, perhaps, originated the following paffage in The Bard of Gray: "The fwarm that in thy noontide beam were borne ? "Gone to falute the rifing morn." STEEVENS.

50 Phoebus! hadft 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 aspire to the throne. MALONE.

6

No way to fly, nor ftrength 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 faid:

No way to fly, nor ftrength to hold out fight. JOHNSON, The sense of the original reading is-No way to fly, nor with ftrength fufficient left to sustain myself in flight, if there were.

STEEVENS.

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