Enter BUCKINGHAM from his Arraignment; TipStaves before him; the Axe with the Edge towards him; Halberds on each Side: with him, Sir THOMAS LOVELL, Sir NICHOLAS VAUX, Sir WILLIAM SANDS, and common People.

2 GENT. Let's stand close, and behold him. BUCK. All good people, You that thus far have come to pity me, Hear what I fay, and then go home and lofe me. I have this day receiv'd a traitor's judgment,

And by that name muft die; Yet, heaven bear witnefs,

And, if I have a confcience, let it fink me,

Even as the axe falls, if I be not faithful!
The law I bear no malice for my death,
It has done, upon the premifes, but justice:
But thofe, that fought it, I could with more chrif-
tians:

Be what they will, I heartily forgive them :
Yet let them look they glory not in mischief,

6 Sir William Sands,] The old copy reads-Sir Walter. STEEVENS.

The correction is justified by Holinfhed's Chronicle, in which it is faid, that Sir Nicholas Vaux, and Sir William Sands, received Buckingham at the Temple, and accompanied him to the Tower. Sir William Sands was, at this time, (May, 1521,) only a baronet, [rather, a knight; as baronetage was unknown. till 1611,] not being created Lord Sands till April 27, 1527. Shakspeare probably did not know that he was the fame perfon whom he has already introduced with that title. He fell into the error by placing the King's vifit to Wolfey, (at which time Sir William was Lord Sands,) and Buckingham's condemnation, in the fame year; whereas that vifit was made fome years after-* wards. MALONE.

Nor build their evils on the graves of great men;" For then my guiltless blood muft cry against them. For further life in this world I ne'er hope,

Nor will I fue, although the king have mercies More than I dare make faults. You few that lov'd me,8

And dare be bold to weep for Buckingham,

His noble friends, and fellows, whom to leave
Is only bitter to him, only dying,

Go with me, like good angels, to my end;
And, as the long divorce of steel falls on me,
Make of your prayers one sweet sacrifice,

And lift my foul to heaven.'-Lead on, o'God's

name.

Lov. I do befeech your grace, for charity, If ever any malice in your heart

Were hid against me, now to forgive me frankly.

BUCK. Sir Thomas Lovell, I as free forgive you, As I would be forgiven: I forgive all ;

There cannot be those numberless offences

7 Nor build their evils on the graves of great men ;] Evils, in this place, are foricæ. So, in Meafure for Measure: Having wafte ground enough,

"Shall we defire to raze the fanctuary,

"And pitch our evils there?"

See Vol. VI. p. 260, n. 8. STEEVENS.

8

You few that lov'd me, &c.] Thefe lines are remarkably tender and pathetick. JOHNSON.

9

1603 :

the long divorce-] So, in Lord Sterline's Darius,

"Scarce was the lasting laft divorcement made "Betwixt the bodie and the foule" &c. STEEVENS. And lift my foul to heaven.] So, Milton, Paradife Loft, Book IV:

"Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to heaven."

MALONE.

'Gainst me, I can't take

I can't take peace with: no black envy Shall make my grave.2-Commend me to his grace; And, if he fpeak of Buckingham, pray, tell him, You met him half in heaven: my vows and prayers

2

no black envy

Shall make my grave.] Shakspeare, by this expreffion, meant no more than to make the Duke fay, No action expreffive of malice hall conclude my life. Envy, by our author, is used for malice and hatred, in other places, and, perhaps, in this. Again, in the ancient metrical romance of Syr Bevys of Hampton, bl. 1. no date:

Traytoure, he fayd with great envy, "Turne thee now, I thee defye."

66

They drewe theyr fwordes haftely,
"And fmot together with great envy."

And Barrett, in his Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionary, 1580, thus interprets it.

To make a grave, however, may mean to close it. So, in The Comedy of Errors:

Why at this time the doors are made against you." i. e. clofed, hut. The fenfe will then be, (whether quaintly or poetically expreffed, let the reader determine) no malicious action fhall clofe my grave, i. e. attend the conclufion of my existence, or terminate my life; the last action of it shall not be uncharitable. STEEVENS.

Envy is frequently ufed in this fenfe by our author and his contemporaries. See Vol. VII. p. 341, n. 9; and p. 403, 1.30. I have therefore no doubt that Mr. Steevens's expofition is right. Dr. Warburton reads-mark my grave; and in fupport of the emendation it may be obferved that the fame error has happened in King Henry V.; or at least that all the editors have supposed fo, having there adopted a fimilar correction. See Vol. XII. p. 339, n. 1.

Dr. Warburton's emendation alfo derives fome support from the following paffage in The Comedy of Errors:

"A vulgar comment will be made of it;
"And that fuppofed by the common rout
Against your yet ungalled eftimation,

"That may with foul intrufion enter in,

“And dwell upon your grave, when you are dead."

MALONE.

Yet are the king's; and, till my foul forfake me,3
Shall cry for bleffings on him: May he live
Longer than I have time to tell his years!
Ever belov'd, and loving, may his rule be!
And, when old time fhall lead him to his end,
Goodness and he fill up one monument !

Lov. To the water fide I must conduct your grace; Then give my charge up to fir Nicholas Vaux,

Who undertakes

you to

your end.

VAUX.

Prepare there,

The duke is coming: fee, the barge be ready;
And fit it with fuch furniture, as fuits

The greatness of his perfon.

BUCK.

Nay, fir Nicholas, Let it alone; my ftate now will but mock me.4 When I came hither, I was lord high constable, And duke of Buckingham; now, poor Edward Bohun:5

3 forfake me,] The latter word was added by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

4 Nay, fir Nicholas,

Let it alone; my ftate now will but mock me.] The laft verfe would run more fmoothly, by making the monofyllables change places:

Let it alone, my ftate will now but mock me.

WHALLEY.

·poor Edward Bohun:] The Duke of Buckingham's name was Stafford. Shakspeare was led into the mistake by Holinfhed. STEEVENS.

This is not an expreffion thrown out at random, or by mistake, but one strongly marked with historical propriety. The name of the Duke of Buckingham, most generally known, was Stafford; but the Hiftory of Remarkable Trials, 8vo. 1715, p. 170, fays: "it feems he affected that furname [of Bohun] before that of Stafford, he being defcended from the Bohuns, earls of Hereford." His reason for this might be, because he was lord high VOL. XV.

F

Yet I am richer than my base accufers,

That never knew what truth meant: I now feal it; And with that blood will make them one day groan for't.

My noble father, Henry of Buckingham,
Who first rais'd head against ufurping Richard,
Flying for fuccour to his fervant Banister,
Being diftrefs'd, was by that wretch betray'd,
And without trial fell; God's peace be with him!
Henry the feventh fucceeding, truly pitying
My father's lofs, like a most royal prince,
Reffor❜d me to my honours, and, out of ruins,
Made my name once more noble. Now his fon,
Henry the eighth, life, honour, name, and all
That made me happy, at one stroke has taken
For ever from the world. I had my trial,
And, must needs fay, a noble one; which makes me
A little happier than my wretched father:
Yet thus far we are one in fortunes,--Both
Fell by our fervants, by those men we lov'd moft;
A most unnatural and faithlefs fervice!

Heaven has an end in all: Yet, you that hear me,
This from a dying man receive as certain:
Where you are liberal of your loves, and counfels,

conftable of England by inheritance of tenure from the Bohuns ; and as the poet has taken particular notice of his great office, does it not seem probable that he had fully confidered of the Duke's foundation for affuming the name of Bohun? In truth, the Duke's name was BAGOT; for a gentleman of that very ancient family married the heiress of the barony of Stafford, and their fon relinquishing his paternal furname, affumed that of his mother, which continued in his pofterity. TOLLET. Of all this probably Shakspeare knew nothing. MALONE.

6

I now feal it; &c.] I now feal my truth, my loyalty, with blood, which blood shall one day make them groan.

JOHNSON.