Erroneous, mutinous, and unnatural, octavo, 1616. Florio, in his Italian Dict. 1598, defines Stratagema, " a policie, a wile, or wittie shift in warre." This was undoubtedly its ordinary sense in our author's time, though then and afterwards it was occasionally used for any subtle device or policy. Here it has unquestionably its ordinary signification. MALONE. Mr. Malone asserts that stratagem in this place means a subtle device in war; but I still adhere to my former opinion, that it means a disastrous event, or an atrocious action. Can we suppose that a father in the paroxysm of despair, on finding that he had killed with his own hand, his only son, should call that horrid deed a subtle device in war? When Lorenzo says, in The Merchant of Venice, that "The man who hath no musick in himself &c. Could he mean to rank the subtle devices of war in the same class with the worst of crimes ? We find the word stratagem in The True Chronicle History of King Lear, p. 417, where Regan says to the Messenger"Hast thou the heart to act a stratagem, " And give a stab or two, if need require? "Do but command me do it, it shall be done." It is evident that Regan's stratagem, or subtle device, was assassination. M. MASON. 8 O boy, thy father gave thee life too soon,] Because had he been born later, he would not now have been of years to engage in this quarrel. WARBURTON. 9 And hath bereft thee of thy life too late!] i. e. He should have done it by not bringing thee into being, to make both father and son thus miserable. This is the sense, such as it is, of the two lines; however, an indifferent sense was better than none, K. HEN. Woe above woe! grief more than com mon grief! 'O, that my death would stay these ruthful deeds!* O pity, pity, gentle heaven, pity!The red rose and the white are on his face, The fatal colours of our striving houses : * The one, his purple blood right well resembles; * The other, his pale cheeks, methinks, present : as it is brought to by the Oxford editor, by reading the lines thus: O boy! thy father gave thee life too late, And hath bereft thee of thy life too soon. WARBURTON. I rather think the meaning of the line, And hath bereft thee of thy life too soon, to be this: Thy father exposed thee to danger by giving thee life too soon, and hath bereft thee of life by living himself too long. JOHNSON. The Oxford editor might have justified the change he made, from the authority of the quarto, according to which I would read; explaining the first line thus: Thy father begot thee at too late a period of his life, and therefore thou wert not old and strong enough to cope with him. The next line can want no explanation. Mr. Tollet thinks, that by too late is meant too lately, as in King Richard III. Act III : "Too late he died that might have kept that title." STEEVENS. Too late, without doubt, means too recently. The memory of thy virtues and thy hapless end is too recent, to be thought of without the deepest anguish. The same quaint expression is found in our author's Rape of Lucrece : "O, quoth Lucretius, I did give that life, Here late clearly means lately. Again, in this Third Part of King Henry VI : "Where fame, late entering at his heedful ears." In the old play this and the preceding line stand thus: "Poor boy, thy father gave thee life too late, " And hath bereft thee of thy life too soon." MALONE. The present reading appears to be far the more eligible. Had the son been younger, he would have been precluded from the levy that brought him into the field; and had the father recognized him before the mortal blow, it would not have been too late to have saved him from death. HENLEY./YO Wither one rose, and let the other flourish! ' If you contend, a thousand lives must wither.1 SON. How will my mother, for a father's death, Take on with me, and ne'er be satisfied? FATH. How will my wife, for slaughter of my son, 'Shed seas of tears, and ne'er be satisfied? 'K. HEN. How will the country, for these woful chances, 'Misthink the king, and not be satisfied? 'SON. Was ever son, so ru'd a father's death? 'FATH. Was ever father, so bemoan'd a son ?4 If you contend, a thousand lives must wither.] Thus the folio. The quartos thus: " For if you strive, 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. * 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 still in use among the vulgar, and signifies--to persist in clamorous lamentation. STEEVENS. 66 3 How will the country, &c.] So the folio. The quartos thus: How will the country now misdeem their king! "Oh, would my death their minds could satisfy!" To mis-think is to think ill, unfavourably. So, in The Northern Lass, 1633: 66 20 and heaven pardon me what I mis-thought every hour of the night!" STEEVENS. This word, which Shakspeare substituted for misdeem, he has again used in Antony and Cleopatra : 4 "Be it known, that we the greatest are mis-thought, " For things that others do." MALONE. Was ever son, so ru'd a father's death? Was ever father, so bemoan'd his son?] The variation is here K. HEN. Was ever king, so griev'd for subjects' woe? Much is your sorrow; mine, ten times so much. my fill. SON. I'll bear thee hence, where I may weep [Exit, with the Body. * FATH. These arms of mine shall be thy winding-sheet; * My heart, sweet boy, shall be thy sepulchre; * For from my heart thine image ne'er shall go. * My sighing breast shall be thy funeral bell; * And so obsequious will thy father be, * Sad for the loss of thee, having no more, * As Priam was for all his valiant sons. I'll bear thee hence; and let them fight that will, For I have murder'd where I should not kill. [Exit, with the Body. worth remarking, for in the old play the corresponding lines are: " Was ever son so rude, his father's blood to spill! MALONE. I'll bear thee hence, &c.] Thus the folio. The old play thus: "I'll bear thee hence from this accursed place, • And so obsequious will thy father be,] Obsequious is here careful of obsequies, or of funeral rites. JOHNSON. In the same sense it is used in Hamlet : 66 to do obsequious sorrow." STEEVENS. * Sad for the loss of thee, The old copy reads-men for the loss &c. Mr. Rowe made the alteration; but I think we might read: - so obsequious will thy father be, 8 As Priam was for all] I having but one son, will grieve as much for that one, as Priam, who had many, could grieve for many. JOHNSON. K. HEN. Sad-hearted men, much overgone with care, Here sits a king more woful than you are, Alarums: Excursions. 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 post amain : • Edward and Richard, like a brace of greyhounds 2 'Having the fearful flying hare in sight, With fiery eyes, sparkling for very wrath, ' And bloody steel grasp'd in their ireful hands, Are at our backs; and therefore hence amain. 'EXE. Away! for vengeance comes along with them: Nay, stay not to expostulate, make speed; Or else come after, I'll away before. K. HEN. Nay, take me with thee, good sweet Exeter; 'Not that I fear to stay, but love to go Whither the queen intends. Forward; away! [Exeunt. |