Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind. Cam. So may your highness, and yet punish too. Grey. Sir, you show great mercy, if you give him life, After the taste of much correction. K. Hen. Alas, your too much love and care of me Are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch. If little faults, proceeding on distemper,2 Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye, When capital crimes, chew'd, swallow'd, and digested, 3 Appear before us?-We'll yet enlarge that man, Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey,-in their dear care, And tender preservation of our person, Would have him punish'd. And now to our French causes; Who are the late commissioners ?4 Cam. I one, my lord; Your highness bade me ask for it to-day. K. Hen. Then, Richard, earl of Cambridge, there is yours: There yours, lord Scroop of Masham ;-and, sir knight, Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours :-Read them; and know, I know your worthiness.My lord of Westmoreland,—and uncle Exeter, -proceeding on distemper,] It has been just said by the king, that it was excess of wine that set him on, and distemper may therefore mean intoxication. Distemper'd in liquor is still a common expression. 3 how shall we stretch our eye,] If we may not wink at small faults, how wide must we open our eyes at great. + Who are the late commissioners?] That is, as appears from the sequel, who are the persons lately appointed commissioners? 10 We will aboard to-night.-Why, how now, gentle men? What see you in those papers, that you lose That hath so cowarded and chas'd your blood Cam. I do confess my fault; And do submit me to your highness' mercy. K. Hen. The mercy, that was quick' in us but late, By your own counsel is suppress'd and kill'd: You know, how apt our love was, to accord Could out of thee extract one spark of evil, With patches, colours, and with forms being fetch'd 8 But he, that temper'd thee, bade thee stand up, Gave thee no instance why thou should'st do trea son, Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor. If that same dæmon, that hath gull'd thee thus, 6 though the truth of it stands off as gross As black from white,] Though the truth be as apparent and visible as black and white contiguous to each other. To stand off is étre relevé, to be prominent to the eye, as the strong parts of a picture. 7 so grossly - Palpably; with a plain and visible connection of cause and effect. 8 he, that temper'd thee,] i. e. rendered thee pliable to his will. 9vasty Tartar-] i. e. Tartarus, the fabled place of future punishment. The sweetness of affiance! Show men dutiful? Ere. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Richard earl of Cambridge. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Henry lord Scroop of Masham. 10, how hast thou with jealousy infected The sweetness of affiance!] Shakspeare uses this aggravation of the guilt of treachery with great judgment. One of the worst consequences of breach of trust is the diminution of that confidence which makes the happiness of life, and the dissemination of suspicion, which is the poison of society. JOHNSON. 2 Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement;] Complements, in the age of Shakspeare, meant the same as accomplishments in the present one. 3 Not working with the eye, without the ear,] The king means to say of Scroop, that he was a cautious man, who knew that fronti nulla fides, that a specious appearance was deceitful, and therefore did not work with the eye, without the ear, did not trust the air or look of any man till he had tried him by enquiry and conversation. — and so finely bolted,] Bolted is the same with sifted, and has consequently the meaning of refined. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Thomas Grey, knight of Northumberland. Scroop. Our purposes God justly hath discover'd; And I repent my fault, more than my death; Which I beseech your highness to forgive, Although my body pay the price of it. Cam. For me, the gold of France did not seduce; Although I did admit it as a motive, My fault, but not my body, pardon, sovereign. sentence. You have conspir'd against our royal person, coffers Receiv'd the golden earnest of our death; 5 Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice,] Cambridge means to say, at which prevention, or, which intended scheme that it was prevented, I shall rejoice. Shakspeare has many such elliptical expressions. The intended scheme that he alludes to, was the taking off Henry, to make room for his brother-in-law. |