miliarly of John of Gaunt, as if he had been sworn brother to him: and I'll be sworn he never saw him but once in the Tilt-yard; and then he burst his head, for crouding among the marshal's men. I saw it; and told John of Gaunt, he beat his own name;' for you might have truss'd him, and all his apparel, into an eel-skin; the case of a treble hautboy was a mansion for him, a court; and now has he land and beeves. Well; I will be acquainted with him, if I return: and it shall go hard, but I will make him a philosopher's two stones to me: If the young dace be a bait for the old pike, I see no reason, in the law of nature, but I may snap at him. Let time shape, and there an end. [Exit. ACT IV. SCENE I. A Forest in Yorkshire. Enter the Archbishop of York, MOWBRAY, HASTINGS, and Others. Arch. What is this forest call'd? Hast. "Tis Gualtree forest, an't shall please your grace. Arch. Here stand, my lords: and send discoverers. forth, To know the numbers of our enemies. Hast. We have sent forth already. Arch. "Tis well done. My friends, and brethren in these great affairs, I must acquaint you that I have receiv'd beat his own name:] That is, beat gaunt, a fellow so slender, that his name might have been gaunt. Their cold intent, tenour and substance, thus :- Mowb. Thus do the hopes we have in him touch ground, And dash themselves to pieces. Hast. Enter a Messenger. Now, what news? Mess. West of this forest, scarcely off a mile, In goodly form comes on the enemy: And, by the ground they hide, I judge their numher Upon, or near the rate of thirty thousand. Mowb. The just proportion that we gave them out. Let us sway on, and face them in the field. Enter WESTMORELAND. Arch. What well-appointed leader3 fronts us here? Mowb. I think, it is my lord of Westmoreland. West. Health and fair greeting from our general, The prince, lord John and duke of Lancaster. Arch. Say on, my lord of Westmoreland, in peace; What doth concern your coming? West. Unto Then, my lord, your grace do I in chief address 3-well-appointed] i. e. completely accoutred. 4 guarded with rage,] Guarded is an expression taken from dress; it means the same as faced, turned up. And countenanc'd by boys, and beggary; With your fair honours. You, lord archbishop, Whose beard the silver hand of peace hath touch'd; 5 Arch. Wherefore do I this?-so the question stands. Briefly to this end:-We are all diseas'd; And purge the obstructions, which begin to stop 5 -graves,] For graves Dr. Warburton very plausibly reads glaives, and is followed by Sir Thomas Hanmer. But we might perhaps as plausibly read greaves, i. e. armour for the legs, a kind of boots, I have in equal balance justly weigh'd' What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we suffer, 6 And find our griefs heavier than our offences. And have the summary of all our griefs, Even by those men that most have done us wrong. West. When ever yet was your appeal denied? Wherein have you been galled by the king? What peer hath been suborn'd to grate on you That you should seal this lawless bloody book Of forg'd rebellion with a seal divine, And consecrate commotion's bitter edge?" Arch. My brother general, the commonwealth, To brother born an household cruelty, I make my quarrel in particular. 7 8 our griefs - i. e. our grievances. commotion's bitter edge?] i. e. the edge of bitter strife and commotion; the sword of rebellion. My brother general, &c. I make my quarrel in particular.] The sense is this" My brother general, the commonwealth, which ought to distribute its West. There is no need of any such redress; Or, if there were, it not belongs to you. Mowb. Why not to him, in part; and to us all, That feel the bruises of the days before; And suffer the condition of these times To lay a heavy and unequal hand Upon our honours ? West. O my good lord Mowbray, Construe the times to their necessities,9 it is the time, And not the king, that doth you injuries. you To build a grief on: Were you not restor❜d Your noble and right-well-remember'd father's? Mowb. What thing, in honour, had my father lost, That need to be reviv'd, and breath'd in me? Was, force perforce, compell'd to banish him: benefits equally, is become an enemy to those of his own house, to brothers born, by giving all to some, and others none; and this (says he) I make my quarrel or grievance that honours are unequally distributed," the constant birth of male-contents, and the source of civil commotions. WARBURTON. Other senses have been attempted by other commentators, but none more probable. "Construe the times to their necessities,] That is,-Judge of what is done in these times, according to the exigencies that over-rule us. * Either from the king, &c.] Whether the faults of government be imputed to the time or the king, it appears not that you have, for your part, been injured either by the king or the time. |