Bereft and gelded of his patrimony.

North. Now, afore heav'n, it's fhame, fuch wrongs

are borne

In him a royal Prince, and many more
Of noble blood in this declining Land;*
The King is not himfelf, but bafely led
By flatterers; and what they will inform
Merely in hate 'gainft any of us all,
That will the King feverely profecute

'Gainft us, our lives, our children, and our heirs. Refs. The Commons hath he pill'd with grievous Taxes,

And loft their hearts; the Nobles he hath fin'd
For ancient quarrels, and quite loft their hearts.
Willo. And daily new exactions are devis'd;
As Blanks, Benevolences, I wot not what?
But what o' God's name doth become of this?
North. Wars have not wafted it, for warr'd he hath

not,

But bafely yielded upon compromife

That, which his Ancestors atchiev'd with blows;
More hath he spent in peace, than they in wars.
Rofs. The Earl of Wiltshire hath the Realm in farm.
Willo. The King's grown bankrupt, like a broken

man.

North. Reproach, and diffolution, hangeth over him. Rofs. He hath not money for thefe Irish wars, His burthenous taxations notwithstanding, But by the robbing of the banish'd Duke.

North. His noble Kinfman. Moft degenerate King! But, lords, we hear this fearful tempeft fing, Yet feek no fhelter to avoid the ftorm: We fee the wind fit fore upon our fails, 'And yet we strike not, but fecurely perifh. Rofs. We fee the very wreck, that we muft fufer;

wind.

To frike the fails, is, to contract them when there is too much

And unavoided is the danger now,

For fuff'ring fo the caufes of our wreck.

North. Not fo; ev'n through the hollow eyes of
Death

I fpy life peering; but I dare not fay,
How near the tidings of our comfort is.

Willo. Nay, let us fhare thy thoughts, as thou doft

ours.

Rofs. Be confident to speak, Northumberland; We three are but thyfelf, and speaking fo, Thy words are but as thoughts, therefore be bold. North. Then thus, my friends. I have from Port le Blanc,

A bay in Bretagne, had intelligence,

That Harry Hereford, Rainald lord Cobham,
That late broke from the Duke of Exeter,
His brother, Archbishop late of Canterbury,
Sir Thomas Erpingham, Sir John Rainfton,

Sir John Norberie, Sir Robert Waterton, and Francis
Coines,

All thefe, well furnish'd by the Duke of Bretagne,
With eight tall fhips, three thousand men of war,
Are making hither with all due expedience,
And fhortly mean to touch our northern fhore;
Perhaps, they had ere this; but that they stay
The first departing of the King for Ireland.
If then we fhall fhake off our flavish yoak,
Imp out our drooping Country's broken wing,
Redeem from broking Pawn the blemish'd Crown,
Wipe off the duft that hides our Scepter's gilt,
And make high Majefty look like itself.
Away with me in poft to Ravenfpurg;
But if you faint, as fearing to do fo,
Stay, and be fecret, and myself will go.

Rofs. To horfe, to horfe; urge Doubts to them that

fear.

Willo. Hold out my horse, and I will first be there.

[Exeunt. SCENE

SCENE V.

The COURT.

Enter Queen, Bufhy, and Bagot.

Bubby.MAdam, your Majefty is much too fad :
Μ

You promis'd, when you parted with the
King,

To lay aside self-harming heaviness,

And entertain a chearful difpofition.

Queen. To please the King, I did; to please myself, I cannot do it; yet I know no cause,

Why I should welcome fuch a guest as grief;
Save bidding farewel to fo fweet a Guest
As my fweet Richard. Yet again, methinks,
Some unborn forrow, ripe in fortune's womb,
Is coming tow'rd me; and my inward foul

2 With nothing trembles, at fomething it grieves,
More than with parting from my lord the King.
Bushy. Each fubftance of a grief hath twenty fha-
dows,

Which fhew like grief itself, but are not fo:
For forrow's eye, glazed with blinding tears,
Divides one thing entire to many objects;
Like Perspectives, which, rightly gaz'd upon,

Shew

The reading, which Dr. Warburton corrects, is itself an innovation. His conjecture gives indeed a better fenfe than that of any copy, but copies must not be needlefly forfaken.

3 Like Perfpectives, which
rightly gaz'd upon,
Shew nothing but confufion;
ey'd awry,

Diftinguish form.] This is a fine fimilitude, and the thing

meant

Shew nothing but confufion; ey'd awry
Diftinguish form. So your sweet Majefty,
Looking awry upon your lord's departure,
Finds fhapes of grief, more than himself, to wail;
Which look'd on, as it is, is nought but fhadows
Of what it is not; gracious Queen, then weep not
More than your lord's departure; more's not feen:
Or if it be, 'tis with falfe forrow's eye,

Which, for things true, weeps things imaginary.
Queen. It may be fo; but yet my inward foul
Perfuades me otherwife. Howe'er it be,
I cannot but be fad; fo heavy-fad,

*As, though, on thinking, on no thought I think,
Makes me with heavy nothing faint and shrink.
Bufhy. 'Tis nothing but Conceit, my gracious lady.
Queen. 'Tis nothing lefs; Conceit is ftill deriv'd
From fome fore-father grief; mine is not fo;
5 For nothing hath begot my fomething grief;

meant is this. Amongst mathematical recreations, there is one in Optics, in which a figure is drawn, wherein all the rules of Perfective are inverted: fo that, if held in the fame pofition with thofe pictures which are drawn according to the rules of Perfpeftive, it can prefent nothing but confufion: and to be feen in form, and under a regular Appearance, it must be look'd upon from a contrary ftation: or, as Shalfcare fays, ey'd azury.

WARBURTON. 4A, though, on thinking, on no thought I think.] We fhould read, as though in thinking: That is, though mufing, I kave no diftinct idea of calamity. The involuntary and unaccountable depreffion of the mind, which every one has fom.time

Or

felt, is here very forcibly defcribed.

5 For nothing hath begot my Something grief;

Or Jomething Lath, the nothing

that I grieve.] With thefe lines I know not well what can be done. The Queen's reafoning, as it now ftands, is this. My trouble is not conceit, for conceit is fill derived from fome antecedent caufe, fome forefather grief; but with me the Cafe is, that either my real grief hath no real cause, or fome real caufe has produces a fancy`'d grief. That is, my grief is not conceit, because it either has not a caufe like conceit, or it has a caufe like conceit. This can hardly ftand. Let us try again, and read thus: For nothing bath begot my fumething grief; Not

6

Or fomething hath, the nothing that I grieve; 'Tis in reverfion That I do poffefs;

But what it is, that is not yet known, what

I cannot name, 'tis namelefs woe, I wot.

SCENE VI.

Enter Green.

Green. Heav'n fave your Majefty! and well met, gentlemen:

I hope, the King is not yet fhipt for Ireland.

Queen. Why hop'ft thou fo? 'tis better hope, he is: For his defigns crave hafte, his hafte good hope: Then wherefore doft thou hope, he is not fhipt? Green. That he, our hope, might have retir'd his Power?

7

And driv'n into defpair an enemy's Hope,
Who strongly hath fet footing in this Land.
The banish'd Bolingbroke repeals himself;

Not fomething hath the nothing

which I grieve. That is, My grief is not conceit; conceit is an imaginary uncafiness from fome paft occurrence.

But,

on the contrary, here is real grief without a real caufe; not a real caufe with a fanciful forrow. This, I think, must be the meaning; harsh at the beft, yet better than contradiction or abfurdity.

'Tis in reverfion that I do pof. fefs, But what it is, that is not yet known, &c.] I am about to propose an interpretation which many will think harfh, and which I do not offer for certain. To poefs a man, is, in ShakeSpeare, to inform him fully, to make him comprehend. To be poffeffed, is, to be fully informed. Of this fenfe the examples are

numerous.

I have poffeft him my most fay Can be but bort. Meal. for Meaf. Is he polleft what fum you need. Merch. of Venice. I therefore imagine the Queen fays thus:

Tis in reverfion
poffefs.

that I do

The event is yet in faturity-that I know with full conviction --but what it is, that is not yet known. In any other interpretation fhe must fay that the pfiffes what is not yet come, which, though it may be allowed to be poctical and figurative language, is yet, I think, lefs natural than my explanation.

7 Might have retired his power.] Might have drawn it back. A French fenfe.