K. RICH. Let them lay by their helmets and their fpears, And both return back to their chairs again :Withdraw with us :-and let the trumpets found, While we return these dukes what we decree. [A long flourish. To the Combatants. Draw near, Of civil wounds plough'd up with neighbours' fwords; [4And for we think the eagle-winged pride Of sky-afpiring and ambitious thoughts, With rival-hating envy, fet you on 5 To wake our peace, which in our country's cradle Draws the sweet infant breath of gentle fleep;] Which fo rous'd up with boisterous untun'd drums, With harsh refounding trumpets' dreadful bray, And grating fhock of wrathful iron arms, have been a kind of truncheon carried by the person who prefided at these fingle combats. So, in Daniel's Civil Wars, &c. B. I: "When lo, the king, fuddenly chang'd his mind, "Cafts down his warder to arreft them there." STEEVEN'S. 3 With that dear blood which it hath fostered ;] The quartos read With that dear blood which it hath been fofter'd. I believe the author wrote With that dear blood with which it hath been foster'd. The quarto, 1608, reads, as in the text. STEEVENS. 4 And for we think the eagle-winged pride &c.] These five verses are omitted in the other editions, and reftored from the first of 1598. S POPE. fet you on -] The old copy reads-on you. Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE. Might from our quiet confines fright fair peace, And make us wade even in our kindred's blood ; 0 To wake our peace, Which fo rous'd up Might fright fair peace,] Thus the fentence stands in the common reading abfurdly enough; which made the Oxford editor, inftead of fright fair peace, read, be affrighted; as if thefe latter words could ever, poffibly, have been blundered into the former by transcribers. But his bufinefs is to alter as his fancy leads him, not to reform errors, as the text and rules of criticism direct. In 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 ftood thus: the dire afpect Of civil wounds plough'd up with neighbour fwords; fright fair peace. This is fenfe. But Mr. Pope, who carefully examined the firft printed plays in quarto, (very much to the advantage of his edition,) coming to this place, found five lines, in the first edition of this play printed in 1598, omitted in the first general collection 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 rest of the context; which, on revise, he thought fit to alter. On this account I have put them into hooks, not as fpurious, but as rejected on the author's revife; and, indeed, with great judgment; for To wake our peace, which in our country's cradle as pretty as it is in the image, is abfurd in the fenfe for peace awake is ftill peace, as well as when asleep. 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 raife, and from which state the fooner it was awaked the better. WARBURTON. To this note, written with fuch an appearance of taste and judgment, I am afraid every reader will not fubfcribe. It is true, that peace awake is fill 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 oppofed to each other for the poet's purpose. To wake peace, is, to introduce difcord. Peace afleep, is peace exerting Therefore, we banish you our territories :- But tread the stranger paths of banishment. BOLING. Your will be done: This muft my comfort be, 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 Which I with fome unwillingness pronounce : NOR. A heavy fentence, my most sovereign liege, And all unlook'd for from your highness' mouth: A dearer merit, not fo deep a maim its natural influence, from which it would be frighted by the clamours of war. STEEVENS. 7 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. In Chapman's version of the second Book of Homer's Odyssey, we have: 66 and thofe flie hours "That still surprise at length." It is remarkable, that Pope, in the 4th Book of his Essay on Man, v. 226, has employed the epithet which, in the present instance, he has rejected: 66 All Лy flow things, with circumfpective eyes." STEEVENS. The latter word appears to me more intelligible: the thievish minutes as they país." MALONE, As to be caft forth in the common air, That knows no touch to tune the harmony. 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. * A dearer merit, not fo deep a maim Have I deferved-] To deferve a merit is a phrase of which I know not any example. I wish some copy would exhibit : A dearer meed, and not fo deep a maim. To deferve a meed or reward, is regular and easy. JOHNSON. As Shakspeare ufes merit in this place, in the fense of reward, he frequently uses the word meed, which properly fignifies reward, to express merit. So, in Timon of Athens, Lucullus fays: no meed but he repays 66 "Seven fold above itfelf." And in The Third Part of K. Henry VI. Prince Edward says: "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. 9 -compaffionate;] for plaintive. WARBURTON. 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 sword your banish'd hands; Nor never look upon each other's face; I NOR. And I, to keep all this. BOLING. Norfolk, fo far as to mine enemy;3 (Our part &c.] It is a queftion much debated amongst the writers of the law of nations, whether a banished 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. 2 advifed- i. e. concerted, deliberated. So, in The Merchant of Venice : with more advised watch." STEEVENS. 3 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, addreffes Norfolk, and, fearing fome mifconftruction, turns to the King and fays-fo far as to mine enemy- -that is, I should fay nothing to him but what enemies may fay to each other. Reviewing this paffage, I rather think it should be understood |