And make us wade even in our kindred's blood; -
Therefore, we banish you our territories:
You, coufin Hereford, upon pain of death,

Till twice five fummers have enrich'd our fields,
Shall not regreet our fair dominions,

But tread the ftranger paths of banishment.

In

by tranfcribers.
But his bufinefs is to alter as his fancy leads him,
not to reform errors as the text and rules of criticifm direct.
a word then, the true original of the blunder was this: the editors,
before Mr. Pope, had taken their editions from the folios, in which
the text flood thus:

This is fenfe. But Mr. Pope, who carefully examined the first printed plays in quarto (very much to the advantage of his edition) coming to this place, found five lines, in the firft edition of this play printed in 1598, omitted in the firft general colle&ion of the poet's works; and, not enough attending to their agreement with the common text, put them into their place. Whereas, in truth, the five lines were omitted by Shakspeare himself, as not agreeing to the reft of the context; which, on revise, he thought fit to alter. On this account I have put them into hooks, not às fpurious, but as rejected on the author's revife; and, indeed, with great judgement for,

To wake our peace, which in our country's cradle

Draws the fweet infant breath of gentle fleep,

as pretty as it is in the image, is abfurd in the fenfe: for peace awake is ftill peace, as well as when afleep. The difference is, that peace afleep gives one the notion of a happy people funk in floth and luxury, which is not the idea the speaker would raise, and from which ftate the fooner it was awaked the better.

WARBURTON.

To this note, written with fuch an appearance of tafte and judgement, I am afraid every reader will not fubfcribe. It is true, that peace awake is fkill peace, as well as when afleep; but peace awakened by the tumults of thefe jarring nobles, and peace indulging in profound tranquillity, convey images fufficiently opposed to each other for the poet's purpose. To wake peace is to introduce difcord. Peace afleep, is peace exerting its natural influence, from which it would be frighted by the clamours of war.

STEEVENS.

BOLING. Your will be done: This muft my com

That fun, that warms you here, shall shine on me; And thofe his golden beams, to you here lent, Shall point on me, and gild my banishment.

K. RICH. Norfolk, for thee remains a heavier doom,

Which I with fome unwillingness pronounce:
The fly-flow hours shall not determinate
The dateless limit of thy dear exile ; —
The hopeless word of never to return
Breathe I against thee, upon pain of life.

-

NOR. A heavy fentence, my moft fovereign liege, And all unlook'd for from your highness' mouth: A dearer merit, not fo deep a maim

As to be caft forth in the common air,

9

Have I deferved at your highnefs' hand,

The fly-flow hours-] The old copies read - The fly-flow hours. Mr. Pope made the change; whether it was neceffary or not, let the poetical reader determine. STEEVENS.

The latter word appears to me more intelligible:

minutes as they pass. MALONE.

9 A dearer merit, not fo deep a maim

"the thievifh

Have I deferved] To deferve a merit is a phrafe of which I know not any example. I wish fome copy would exhibit:

A dearer meed, and not fo deep a maim.

To deferve a meed or reward, is regular and eafy. JOHNSON.

As Shakspeare ufes merit in this place, in the fenfe of reward, he frequently ufes the word meed, which properly fignifies reward, to exprefs merit. So, in Timon of Athens, Lucullus fays.

เ

no meed but he repays

"Seven fold above itfelf,

And in the Third Part of Henry VI. Prince Edward fays
"We are the fons of brave Plantagenet,
"Each one already blazing by our meeds.

-

And again, in the fame play, King Henry fays -
"That's not my fear, my meed hath got me fame.

M. MASON.

The language I have learn'd these forty years,
My native English, now I must forego:
And now my tongue's ufe is to me no more,
Than an unftringed viol, or a harp;
Or like a cunning inftrument cas'd up,
Or being open, put into his hands
That knows no touch to tune the harmony.
Within my mouth you have engaol'd my tongue,
Doubly portcullis'd, with my teeth, and lips;
And dull, unfeeling, barren ignorance
Is made my gaoler to attend on me.
I am too old to fawn upon a nurse,
Too far in years to be a pupil now;

What is thy fentence then, but speechless death, Which robs my tongue from breathing native breath?

K. RICH. It boots thee not to be compaffionate;* After our fentence plaining comes too late.

NOR. Then thus I turn me from my country's

light,

To dwell in folemn fhades of endless night.

[ Retiring. K. RICH. Return again, and take an oath with

thee.

Lay on our royal fword your banish'd hands;
Swear by the duty that you owe to heaven,
(Our part therein we banish with yourselves,) 3
To keep the oath that we administer: —

compaffionate] for plaintive. Warburton.

3 (Our part, &c.] It is a queftion much debated amongst the writers of the law of nations, whether a banifhed man may be ftill tied in his allegiance to the ftate which fent him into exile. Tully and Lord Chancellor Clarendon declare for the affirmative; Hobbes and Puffendorf hold the negative. Our author, by this line, seems to be of the fame opinion. WARBURTON.

You never fhall (fo help you truth and heaven!)
Embrace each other's love in banishment;

Nor ever look upon each other's face;
Nor never write, regreet, nor reconcile
This lowering tempeft of your-home-bred hate `;
Nor never by advised purpose meet,
To plot, contrive, or complot any ill,

'Gainft us, our ftate, our fubjects, or our land.
BOLING. I fwear.

NOR. And I, to keep all this.

BOLING. Norfolk, fo far as to mine enemy;
By this time, had the king permitted us,
One of our fouls had wander'd in the air,

3 advised] i. e. concerted, deliberated, So, in The Merchant of Venice:

66-- with more advifed watch." STEEVENS.

Norfolk, fo far, &c.] I do not clearly fee what is the fenfe of this abrupt line; but fuppofe the meaning to be this. Hereford immediately after his oath of perpetual enmity addresses Norfolk, and, fearing fome mifconftru&ion, turns to the king and fays-fo far as to mine enemy. that is, I fhould fay nothing to him but what enemies may fay to each other.

Reviewing this paffage, I rather think it fhould be underflood thus. Norfolk, so far have addreffed myfelf to thee as to mine enemy, I now utter my laft words with kindness and tenderness, Confefs thy treafons. JOHNSON.

fo fare, as to my enemy;] i. e. he only wishes him to fare like his enemy, and he difdains to fay fare well as Aumerle doés in the next fcene. TOLLET.

The firft folio reads fare; the second farre. Bolingbroke only ufes the phrafe by way of caution, left Mowbray fhould think he was about to addrefs him as a friend. Norfolk, fays he, fo far as a man may speak to his enemy, &c. RITSON.

Surely fare was a misprint for farre, the old spelling of the word now placed in the text. Perhaps the author intended that Hereford in fpeaking this line fhould fhow fome courtesy to Mowbray; —— and the meaning may be, So much civility as an enemy has` a right to, I am willing to offer to thee. MALONE.

Sir T. Haumer's marginal dire&ion is · In Jalutation, STEEVENS.

5

Banifh'd this frail fepulcher of our flesh,
As now our flesh is banifh'd from this land:
Confefs thy treafons, ere thou fly the realm;
Since thou haft far to go, bear not along
The clogging burden of a guilty foul.

NOR. No, Bolingbroke; if ever I were traitor, My name be blotted from the book of life, And I from heaven banish'd, as from hence! But what thou art, heaven, thou, and I do know; And all too foon, I fear, the king shall rue, Farewell, my liege:Now no way can I firay; Save back to England, all the world's my way.

6

[ Exit. K. RICH. Uncle, even in the glaffes of thine eyes I fee thy grieved heart: thy fad aspéct Hath from the number of his banish'd years Pluck'd four away; Six frozen winters spent, Return To BOLING.] with welcome home from banishment.

BOLING. How long a time lies in one little word!

this frail fepulcher of our flesh,] So afterwards:

thou King Richard's tomb,

"And not King Richard.

And Milton, in Samfon Agonistes:

Myfelf my fepulchre, a moving grave. HENLEY.

all the world's my way. ] Perhaps Milton had this in his mind when he wrote thefe lines:

"The world was all before them, where to choose
"Their place of reft, and Providence their guide.

JOHNSON.

The duke of Norfolk after his banishment went to Venice, where, fays Holinfhed, "for thought and melancholy he deceased."

I fhould point the paffage thus:

Now no way can I ftray,
Save back to England: ·-

all the world's my way.

MALONE.

There's no way for me to go wrong, except back to England.

M. MASON.