Still growing in a majesty and pomp,—the which To leave is a thousand-fold more bitter, than 'Tis sweet at first to acquire,-after this process, 5 To give her the avaunt! it is a pity Would move a monster. Old L. Hearts of moft hard temper Melt and lament for her. Anne. O, God's will! much better, She ne'er had known pomp; though it be temporal, "Yet, if that quarrel, fortune, do divorce It from the bearer, 'tis a fufferance, panging Old L. Alas, poor lady! 5 To give her the avaunt !- -] To fend her away contemptuously; to pronounce against her a fentence of ejection. JOHNSON. Yet, if that quarrel, fortune,-] She calls Fortune a quarrel or arrow, from her ftriking fo deep and fuddenly. Quarrel was a large arrow fo called. Thus Fairfax: -Twang'd the firing, out flew the quarrel long.". WARBURTON. Such is Dr. Warburton's interpretation. Sir Thomas Hanmer reads: That quarreller Fortune. I think the poet may be eafily fuppofed to ufe quarrel for quarreller, as murder for the murderer, the act for the agent. JOHNSON. Dr. Johnfon may be right. So, in Antony and Cleopatra: but that your royalty "Holds idleness your fubject, I fhould take you Like Martial's" Non vitiofus homo es, Zoile, fed Vitium." We might, however, read Yet if that quarrel fortune to divorce It from the bearer.. i. e. if any quarrel happen or chance to divorce it from the bearer. To fortune is a verb ufed by Shakspeare: -I'll tell you as we pass along, "That you will wonder what hath fortuned ?" Again, in Spenfer's Faery Queen, B. I. c. ii. : "It fortuned (high heaven did fo ordaine) &c." STEEVENS. She's She's 'ftranger now again. Anne. So much the more Muft pity drop upon her. Verily, Old L. Our content Anne. By my troth, and maidenhead, I would not be a queen. Old L. Befhrew me, I would, And venture maidenhead for't; and fo would you, You, that have so fair parts of woman on you, Which, to fay footh, are bleffings: and which gifts (Saving your mincing) the capacity Of your foft cheveril confcience would receive, Anne. Nay, good troth, Old L. Yes, troth and troth,-You would not be a queen? Anne. No, not for all the riches under heaven. 7-stranger now again.] Again an alien; not only no longer queen, but no longer an Englishwoman. JOHNSON. It rather means, fhe is alienated from the king's affection, is a ftranger to his bed; for fhe still retained the rights of an Englifhwoman, and was princefs dowager of Wales. So, in the fecond scene of the third act: 8 "Shall be call'd queen; but princefs dowager, -our beft having.] That is, our beft possession. See note on Merry Wives of Windfor, A&t III. fc. ii. JOHNSON. -cheveril-] is kid-fkin, foft-leather. JOHNSON. So, in Hiftriomeftix, 1610: 9 "The cheveril confcience of corrupted law." STEEVENS, Old Old L. 'Tis ftrange; a three-pence bow'd would hire me, Old as I am, to queen it: But, I pray you, What think you of a duchefs? have you limbs Anne. No, in truth. Old L. Then you are weakly made: Pluck off a little: I would not be a young count in your way, For more than blushing comes to: if your back Anne. How you do talk! I fwear again, I would not be a queen 2 Old L. In faith, for little England ? You'd venture an emballing: I myself Would -Pluck off a little :] What must she pluck off? I think we may better read: -Pluck up a little. Pluck up! is an idiomatical expreffion for take courage. JOHNSON. 2. The old lady firft questions Anne Bullen about being a queen, which the declares her averfion to; fhe then proposes the title of a duchefs, and afks her if the thinks herfelf equal to the task of fuftaining it; but as fhe ftill declines the offer of greatness; Pluck off a little, fays fhe, i. e. let us defcend ftill lower, and more upon a level with your own quality; and then adds: I would not be a young count in your way, which is still an inferior degree of honour to any yet spoken of. STEEVENS. 2 You'd venture an emballing:-] You would venture to be diftinguished by the ball, the enfign of royalty. JOHNSON. Dr. Johnson's explanation cannot be right, because a queenconfort, fuch as Anne Bullen was, is not diftinguished by the ball, the enfign of royalty, nor has the poet expreffed that he was fo diftinguished. TOLLET. Anne. I fear again, I would not be a queen For all the world. Old Would for Carnarvonshire, although there 'long'd No more to the crown but that. Lo, who comes here? Enter the Lord Chamberlain. Cham. Good morrow, ladies. What wer't worth, to know The fecret of your conference? Anne. My good lord, Not your demand; it values not your asking: Cham. It was a gentle bufinefs, and becoming Anne. Now I pray God, amen! Old L. In faith, for little England You'd venture an emballing: I myself Little England feems very properly oppofed to all the world; but what has Carnarvonshire to do here? Does it refer to the birth of Edward II. at Carnarvon? or may not this be the allufion? By little England is meant, perhaps, that territory in Pembroke fhire, where the Flemings fettled in Henry Ift's time, who fpeaking a language very different from the Welsh, and bearing fome affinity to the English, this fertile fpot was called by the Britons, as we are told by Camden, Little England beyond Wales; and, as it is a very fruitful country, may be justly opposed to the mountainous and barren county of Carnarvon. WHALLEY. -Might we read- -You'd venture an empalling; i. e. being invested with the pall or robes of ftate? The word occurs in the old tragedy of King Edward III. 1596: "As with this armour I impall thy breaft." And, in Macbeth, the verb to pall is ufed in the fenfe of enrobe: "And pall thee in the dunneft smoke of hell." MALONE. Might we not read, "an embalming " A queen confort is anointed at her coronation; and in K. Rich. II. the word is used in that fense: "With my own tears I wash away my balm." Dr. Johnson properly explains it, the oil of confecration. WHALLEY. Follow Cham. You bear a gentle mind, and heavenly Follow fuch creatures. That you may, fair lady, Anne. I do not know, What kind of my obedience I should tender; 3 More than my all is nothing: nor my prayers Are not words duly hallow'd, nor my wishes. More worth than empty vanities; yet prayers, and wishes; Are all I can return. 'Befeech your lordship, Vouchsafe to speak my thanks, and my obedience, As from a blushing handmaid, to his highness; Whose health, and royalty, I pray for. Cham. Lady, * I fhall not fail to approve the fair conceit, yet, 3 More than my all is nothing -] Not only my all is nothing, but if my all were more than it is, it were ftill nothing. JOHNSON. + I shall not fail &c.] I fhall not omit to ftrengthen by my commendation, the opinion which the king has formed. JOHNSON. I have perus'd her well;] From the many artful ftrokes of addrefs the poet has thrown in upon queen Elizabeth and her mother, it fhould feem that this play was written and performed in his royal mistress's time: if so, fome lines were added by him in the laft fcene, after the acceffion of her fucceffor, king James. THEOBALD. But |