He ne'er had borne it out of Coventry;

For all the country in a general voice

Cry'd hate upon him; all their prayers and love
Were fet on Hereford, whom they doated on,
And blefs'd, and grac'd, inded, more than the King.
But this is mere digreffion from my purpose.
Here come from our princely General,

To know your griefs, to tell you from his Grace,
That he will give you audience, and wherein
It fhall appear that your demands are juft,
You fhall enjoy them; every thing fet off,
That might fo much as think you enemies.
Mowb. But he hath forc'd us to compel this offer,
And it proceeds from policy, not love.

Weft. Mowbray, you over-ween to take it fo
This offer comes from mercy, not from fear.
For lo! within a ken, our army lies,
Upon mine honour, all too confident
To give admittance to a thought of fear.
Our battle is more full of names than yours,
Our men more perfect in the ufe of arms,
Our armour all as ftrong, our

caufe the best;

Then reafon wills, our hearts fhould be as good.
Say you not then, our offer is compell'd.

T

Mowb. Well; by my will, we fhall admit no parley.
Weft. That argues but the fhame of your

A rotten cafe abides no handling.

offence,

Haft. Hath the Prince John a full commiffion,

In very ample virtue of his father,

To hear and abfolutely to determine
Of what conditions we fhall ftand upon ?

woad od

4

Weft. That is intended in the General's name *;

3 And bless'd and grac'd more very near to the Traces of the than the King himself.] The corrupted Reading. THEOBALD. Two oldeft Folio's (which firft 4 This is intended in the Gegave us this Speech of Weimar- neral's name: ] That is, land) read this Line thus; this power is included in the name or office of a general. We wonder that you can ask a question fo trifting.

And blefs'd and grac'd and did
more than the King.
Dr. Thirlby reform'd the Text

X 3

I muse,

I mufe, you make fo flight a queftion.

York. Then take, my lord of Westmorland, this For this contains our general grievances;T [schedule, Each feveral article herein redrefs'duino on T All members of our cause, both here and hence, \\ That are infinewed to this action, geral dout noqu Acquitted by a true fubftantial formibro: wo th And prefent executions of our wills top 100. To us, and to our purpofes, confin'd "We come within our awful banks again, And knit our powers to the arm of peace. Weft. This will I fhew the General, Pleafe you, "In fight of both our battles, we may meet; And either end in peace, which heav'n fo frame! Or to the place of difference call the fwords, Which muft decide it.

York. My lord, we will do fo.

161T. [lords,

Exit Welt.

Tous and to our PROPERTIES confin'd;

ble demand.

vela Se. we defire no more than feCurity for our liberties and properand this was no unreafonaWARBURTON. This paffage is fo obfcure that I know not what to make of it. Nothing better occurs to me, than to read confign'd, for confin'd. That is, let the execution of our demands be put into our hands ac cording to our declared purposes.

And prefent execution of our wills To us and to our PURPOSES confin'd. nants saladt The first line thews they had fomething to demand, and the fecond expreffes the modefty of that demand. The demand, fays the peakery is confined to us and to our purposes. A very modelt kind of restriction truly! only as extenfive as their appetites and paflions. Without question ShakeSpeare wrote,

We come within our AWFUL we fhould read LAWFUL. WARE. banks again,]

Awful banks are the proper limits of reverence.***

n

7 The old copies: We may meet At either end in peace; which Heav'n fo frame!] That eafy, but certain, Change in the Text, I owe to Dr. Thiilby.

THEOBALD.

SCENE

eid tromi to bio von UT AS
Mowb. There is a thing within my bofom tells me,
That no conditions of our peace can stand.val no
Haft. Fear you not that; if we can make our peace
Upon fuch large terms and so abfolute, a
As our conditions fhall infift upon,

Our peace fhall ftand as firm as rocky mountains.
Mowb. Ay, but our valuation fhall be fuch,"
That ev'ry flight and falfe-derived caufe,

Yea, ev'ry idle, nice and wanton reafon,
Shall to the

8

King tafte of this action.

That, were our loyal faiths martyrs in love, We fhall be winnow'd with fo rough a wind, That ev❜n our corn fhall feem as light as chaff, And good from bad find no partition.

York. No, no, my lord, note this; the King is weary *Of_dainty and fuch picking grievances:

For he hath found, to end one doubt by death,

Revives two greater in the heirs of life.

And therefore will he wipe his tables clean,
And keep no tell-tale to his memory,
That may repeat and hiftory his lofs

To new remembrance. For full well he knows,
He cannot fo precifely weed this land,

As his mifdoubts prefent occafion;

4. A

His foes are fo enrooted with his friends,
That, plucking to unfix an enemy,
He doth unfaften fo and shake a friend.

So that this Land, like an offenfive wife,
301 D72

8 In former Editions:
That, were our royal faiths
ne martyrs in love.] If royal

faiths can mean faith to a king,
it yet cannot mean it without
much violence done to the lan-
guage. I therefore read, with
Sir T. Hanmer, loyal faiths, which
is proper, natural, and fuitable
to the intention of the fpeaker.

む

C1

Of dainty and fuch picking grievancies.] I cannot but think that this line is corrupted, and that we should read,

Of picking out fuch dainty griev

ances

9 wipe his tables clean,] Alluding to a table-book of flate, ivory, &c. WARBURTON.

X 4

That

That hath enrag'd him on to offer ftrokes,

As he is ftriking, holds biss infant up, studs p
And hangs refolv'd correction in the arm
That was uprear'd to executiones

adw żela abul to wobi, it al Haft. Befides, the King hath wafted all his rods et al On late offenders, that he now doth lack voy qoob woH The very inftruments of chaftifemente sa

So that his pow'r, like to a fanglefs Lion

May offer, but not hold, 19

York. 'Tis very true:**

い

And therefore be affur'd, my good lord Marthal,
If we do make our atonement well,

Our peace will, like a broken limb united,
Grow ftronger for the breaking.

Mowb. Be it so.

Here is return'd my lord of Westmorland.

7 Enter Weftmorland.

1

Weft. The Prince is here at hand, pleaseth your lordship To meet his Grace, juft diftance 'tween our armies? Mowb. Your Grace of York in God's name then fet forward.

York. Before, and greet his Grace.-My lord, we

come.

S CEN E IV.

SCEN

Enter Prince John of Lancafter.

Lan. You're well encounter'd here, my coufin Mowbray
Good day to you, my gentle lord Arch-bishop;
And fo to you, lord Haftings, and to all.

My lord of Fork, it better fhew'd with you,
When that your flock, affembled by the bell,
Encircled you, to hear with reverence
Your expofition on the holy text,
Than now to fee you here an iron man,
Cheering a rout of Rebels with your drum,
Turning the word to fword, and life to death.
That man, that fits within a monarch's heart,

And

And ripens in the fun-fhine of his favour,
Would he abufe the count'nance of the King,
Alack, what mifchiefs might he fet abroach, t
In fhadow of fuch Greatnefs? With you, lord Bishop,
It is evin fold Who hath not heard it spoken,
How deep you were within the books of heav'n?
To us, the Speaker in his Parliament,

To us, th' imagin'd voice of heav'n it self,
The very opener and intelligencer

I

Between the grace, the fanctities of heav'n,
And our dull workings. O, who fhall believe.
But you mifufe the rev'rence of your place,
Employ the countenance and grace of heav'n,
As a falfe favourite doth his Prince's name
In deeds difhon'rable? you've taken up,
Under the counterfeited zeal of God,
The Subjects of his Subftitute, my father;
And both against the peace of heav'n and him
Have here up-fwarm'd them.

*

Tork. Good my lord of Lancaster,

I am not here againft your father's peace,
But, as I told my lord of Westmorland,

The time mif-order'd doth in common fenfe
Crowd us and crush us to this monftrous form,"
To hold our fafety up. I fent your Grace
The parcels and particulars of our grief,

་་

The which hath been with fcorn fhov'd from the Court;
Whereon this Hydra-fon of war is born,

Whofe dangerous eyes may well be charm'd afleep
With Grant of our most juft and right defire,

And true Obedience, of this madness cur'd,

The fanclities of Heav'n.]
This expreffion Milton has co-
pied.
Around him all the Sanctities of

heav'n
Stood thick as ftars.

To take up, is to levy, to raise in arms.

In common SENSE] I believe, Shakespeare wrote common FENCE, i.e. drove by felf-defence. WARE. Common fenfe is the general fenfe of general danger. Stoop