Grey of Northumberland, this fame is yours :- What fee you in those papers, that you lofe That hath fo cowarded and chas'd your blood CAM. I do confefs my fault; And do fubmit me to your highnefs' mercy. GREY. SCROOP. To which we all appeal. K. HEN. The mercy, that was quick' in us but By your own counfel is fupprefs'd and kill'd: You know, how apt our love was, to accord 6 quick-] That is, living. JOHNSON. 7 To furnish him-] The latter word, which is wanting in the firft folio, was fupplied by the editor of the fecond. MALONE. Ingrateful, favage, and inhuman creature! Could out of thee extract one fpark of evil, With patches, colours, and with forms being fetch'd But he, that temper'd thee, bade thee ftand up, 8 -though the truth of it ftands off as grofs As black from white,] Though the truth be as apparent and vifible as black and white contiguous to each other. Toftand off is être relevé, to be prominent to the eye, as the strong parts picture. JOHNSON. of a fo grofsly-] Palpably; with a plain and visible connexion of caufe and effect. JOHNSON. he, that temper'd thee,] Though temper'd may ftand for formed or moulded, yet I fancy tempted was the author's word, for it anfwers better to fuggeft in the oppofition. JOHNSON. Temper'd, I believe, is the true reading, and means-rendered thee pliable to his will. Falstaff fays of Shallow, that he has him "tempering between his thumb and finger." STEEVENS, Gave thee no inftance why thou fhould'ft do treason, The sweetness of affiance!+ Show men dutiful? Why, fo didst thou: Or are they spare in diet; Free from grofs paffion, or of mirth, or anger; Conftant in fpirit, not fwerving with the blood; Garnifh'd and deck'd in modeft complement;' Not working with the eye, without the ear," STEEVENS. 3vafty Tartar-] i. e. Tartarus, the fabled place of future punishment. So, in Heywood's Brazen Age, 1613: "With aconitum that in Tartar fprings.' Again, in The troublefome Raigne of King John, 1591: "And let the black tormentors of black Tartary, Upbraide them with this damned enterprize.' 40, how haft thou with jealouly infected MALONE. The sweetness of affiance!] Shakspeare uses this aggravation of the guilt of treachery with great judgement, One of the worst confequences of breach of truft is the diminution of that confidence which makes the happiness of life, and the diffemination of fufpicion, which is the poifon of fociety. JOHNSON. 5 Garnish'd and deck'd in modeft complement;] Complement has in this inftance the fame fenfe as in Love's Labour's Loft, A&t I. Complements, in the age of Shakspeare, meant the fame as accomplishments in the present one. STEEVENS. See Vol. V. p. 190, n. 3. By the epithet modeft the king means that Scroop's accomplishments were not oftentatiously display'd. MALONE. Not working with the eye, without the ear,] The king means to fay of Scroop, that he was a cautious man, who knew that fronti mulla fides, that a fpecious appearance was deceitful, and therefore And, but in purged judgement, trusting neither? EXE. I arreft thee of high treafon, by the name of Richard earl of Cambridge. I arreft thee of high treason, by the name of Henry lord Scroop of Mafham. 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. JOHNSON. 7 and fo finely boulted,] i. e. refined or purged from all faults. РОРЕ. Boulted is the fame with fifted, and has confequently the meaning of refined. JOHNSON. 8 To mark the full-fraught man, and best indued, &c.] Beft indued is a phrafe equivalent to-gifted or endowed in the moft extraordinary manner. So, Chapman : "His pow'rs with dreadful strength indu'd." STEEVENS. The folio, where alone this line is found, reads-To make the full fraught man, &c. The emendation was made by Mr. Theobald. Mr. Pope endeavoured to obtain fome fenfe by pointing thus: To make the full-fraught man and beft, indu'd With fome fufpicion. But to make a perfon indued with fufpicion," does not appear, to my ear at least, like the phrafeology of Shakspeare's or any other age. Make or mock are so often confounded in these plays, that I once fufpected that the latter word might have been used here: but this alfo would be very harsh. The old copy has thee inftead of the. The correction was made by Mr. Pope. MALONE. Our authour has the fame thought again in Cymbeline : "Wilt lay the leaven to all proper men; I arreft thee of high treafon, by the name of Thomas Grey, knight of Northumberland. SCROOP. Our purposes God juftly hath difcover'd; And I repent my fault, more than my death; CAM. For me, the gold of France did not feduce;" Although I did admit it as a motive, 9 For me, the gold of France did not feduce;] Holinfhed, p. 549, obferves from Hall, "that diverfe write that Richard earle of Cambridge did not confpire with the lord Scroope and Thomas Graie for the murthering of king Henrie to please the French king withall, but onlie to the intent to exalt to the crowne his brother-in-law Edmunde, earl of March, as heire to Lionell duke of Clarence: after the death of which earle of March, for diverfe fecret impediments not able to have iffue, the earle of Cambridge was fure that the crowne fhould come to him by his wife, and to his children of her begotten. And therefore (as was thought) he rather confeffed himfelfe for neede of monie to be corrupted by the French king, than he would declare his inward mind, &c. which if it were efpied, he faw plainlie that the earle of March fhould have tafted of the fame cuppe that he had drunken, and what fhould have come to his owne children, he much doubted," &c. STEEVENS. 2 Which I in fufferance heartily will rejoice,] I, which is wanting in the old copy, was added by the editor of the fecond folio. Cambridge means to fay, at which prevention, or, which intended fcheme that it was prevented, I fhall rejoice. Shakspeare has many fuch elliptical expreffions. The intended fcheme that he alludes to, was the taking off Henry, to make room for his brother-inlaw. See the preceding note. MALONE. |