They fell on; I made good my place; at length they came to the broomstaff with me, I defied them still; when suddenly a file of boys behind them, loose shot, delivered such a shower of pebbles, that I was fain to draw mine honour in, and let them win the work: The devil was amongst them, I think, surely. 5 Port. These are the youths that thunder at a playhouse, and fight for bitten apples; that no audience, but the Tribulation of Tower-Hill, or the limbs of Limehouse, their dear brothers, are able to endure. I have some of them in Limbo Patrum, and there they are like to dance these three days; besides the running banquet of two beadles,7 that is to come. Enter the Lord Chamberlain. Cham. Mercy o'me, what a multitude are here! Your faithful friends o'the suburbs? We shall have Port. An't please your honour, We are but men; and what so many may do, Cham. As I live, If the king blame me for't, I'll lay ye all By the heels, and suddenly; and on your heads Clap round fines, for neglect: You are lazy knaves; Ye should do service. Hark, the trumpets sound : A Marshalsea, shall hold you play these two months. Man. You great fellow, stand close up, or I'll make your head ake. Port. You i'the camblet, get up o'the rail; I'll pick you o'er the pales else." [Exeunt. [5] I suspect this to have been a puritanical meeting-house. JOHNSON. 6 He means in confinement. In limbo continues to be a cant phrase, in the same sense, at this day. MALONE. [7] A public whipping. JOHNSON. [8] A bumbard is an ale-barrel; to bait bumbards is to tipple, to lie at the spigot JOHNSON. [9] To pick is to pitch. MALONE. SCENE IV. The Palace. Enter trumpets, sounding; then two Aldermen, Lord Mayor, Garter, CRANMER, Duke of NORFOLK, with his marshal's staff, Duke of SUFFOLK, two Noblemen bearing great standing bowls for the christening gifts; then four noblemen bearing a canopy, under which the Duchess of NORFOLK, godmother, bearing the child richly habited in a mantle, &c. Train borne by a Lady: then follows the Marchioness of DORSET, the other godmother, and Ladies. The troop pass once about the stage, and Garter speaks. Gart. Heaven, from thy endless goodness, send prosperous life, long, and ever happy, to the high and mighty princess of England, Elizabeth! Flourish. Enter King, and Train. Cran. [Kneeling.] And to your royal grace, and the My noble partners, and myself, thus pray;- [good queen, All comfort, joy, in this most gracious lady, Heaven ever laid up to make parents happy, K. Hen. Thank you, good lord archbishop; Cran. Elizabeth. K. Hen. Stand up, lord. [The King kisses the child With this kiss take my blessing: God protect thee! Into whose hands I give thy life. Cran. Amen. K. Hen. My noble gossips, ye have been too prodigal : I thank ye heartily; so shall this lady, When she has so much English. Cran. Let me speak, sir, For Heaven now bids me; and the words I utter Shall still be doubled on her: truth shall nurse her, Holy and heavenly thoughts still counsel her: She shall be lov'd and fear'd: her own shall bless her : Her foes shake like a field of beaten corn, And hang their heads with sorrow. Good grows with her : Under his own vine, what he plants; and sing As great in admiration as herself; So shall she leave her blessedness to one, (When heaven shall call her from this cloud of darkness,) Who from the sacred ashes of her honour, Shall star-like rise, as great in fame as she was, Shall be, and make new nations: He shall flourish, To all the plains about him :-Our children's children K. Hen. Thou speakest wonders. Cran. She shall be, to the happiness of England, To the ground, and all the world shall mourn her. Thou hast made me now a man; never, before This oracle of comfort has so pleas'd me, That, when I am in heaven, I shall desire To see what this child does, and praise my Maker.--- [2] These lines, to the interruption by the king, seem to have been inserted at some revisal of the play, after the accession of king James. JOHNSON. And your good brethren, I am much beholden; [Exeunt. EPILOGUE. 'TIS ten to one, this play can never please [3] Though it is very difficult to decide whether short pieces be genuine or spurious, yet I cannot restrain myself from expressing my suspicion that neither the prologue nor epilogue to this play is the work of Shakespeare; non vultus, non color. It appears to me very likely that they were supplied by the friendship or officiousness of Jonson, whose manner they will be found exactly to resemble. There is yet another supposition possible: the prologue and epilogue may have been written after Shakespeare's departure from the stage, upon some accidental revival of the play, and there will then be reason for imagining that the writer, whoever be was, intended no great kindness to him, this play being recommended by a subtle and covert censure of his other works. There is, in Shakespeare, so much of fool and fight; --------the fellow, "In a long motley coat, guarded with yellow," appears so often in his drama, that I think it not very likely that he would have animadverted so severely on himself. All this, however, must be received as very dubious, since we know not the exact date of this or the other plays, and cannot tell how our author might have changed his practice or opinions. JOHNSON. [4] The historical dramas are now concluded, of which the two parts of Henry IV and Henry V. are among the happiest of our author's compositions ; and King John, Richard the Third, and Henry VIII. deservedly stand in the second class. Those whose curiosity would refer the historical scenes to their original, may consult Holinshed, and sometimes Hall: from Holinshed Shakespeare has often inserted whole speeches, with no more alteration than was necessary to the numbers of his verse. To transcribe them into the margin was unnecessary, because the original is easily examined, and they are seldom less perspicuous in the poet than in the historian. To play histories, or to exhibit a succession of events by action and dialogue, was a common entertainment among our rude ancestors upon great festivities. The parish clerks once performed at Clerkenwell a play which lasted three days, containing The History of the World. JOHNSON. |