Turn'd on themselves, like dull and heavy lead.
And as the thing that's heavy in itself,
Upon enforcement, flies with greatest speed;
So did our men, heavy in Hotspur's lofs,
Lend to this weight fuch lightness with their fear,
That arrows fled not swifter toward their aim,
Than did our foldiers, aiming at their fafety,
Fly from the field: Then was that noble Worcester
Too foon ta'en prifoner: and that furious Scot,
The bloody Douglas, whose well-labouring sword
Had three times flain the appearance of the king,
'Gan vail his ftomach, and did grace the fhame
Of those that turn'd their backs; and, in his flight,
Stumbling in fear, was took. The fum of all
Is, that the king hath won; and hath sent out
A fpeedy power, to encounter you, my lord,
Under the conduct of young Lancaster,
And Weftmoreland: this is the news at full.

NORTH. For this I fhall have time enough to mourn. In poifon there is phyfick; and these news,

to a fingle edge. Abated means reduced to a lower temper, or, as the workmen call it, let down. JOHNSON.

4 'Gan vail his ftomach,] Began to fall his courage, to let his fpirits fink under his fortune. JOHNSON.

From avaller, Fr. to caft down, or to let fall down. MALONE. This phrafe has already appeared in The Taming of the Shrew, Vol. VI. p. 556:

"Then vail your ftomachs, for it is no boot;

"And place your hands below your hufbands' foot." REED. Thus, to vail the bonnet is to pull it off. So, in The Pinner of Wakefield, 1599:

"And make the king vail bonnet to us both."

To vail a ftaff, is to let it fall in token of refpect. Thus, in the fame play:

"And for the ancient custom of vail-staff,

66

Keep it fill; claim thou privilege from me. "If any afk a reafon, why? or how?

"Say, English Edward vail'd his fiaff to you." See Vol. V. p. 398, n. 9. STEEVENS.

Having been well, that would have made me fick," Being fick, have in fome measure made me well: And as the wretch, whofe fever-weaken'd joints, Like strengthless hinges, buckle under life, Impatient of his fit, breaks like a fire

Out of his keeper's arms; even fo my limbs, Weaken'd with grief, being now enrag'd with grief, Are thrice themfelves: hence therefore, thou nice* crutch;

4 Having been well, that would have made me fick,] i. e. that would, had I been well, have made me fick. MALONE.

5buckle-] Bend; yield to preffure. JOHNSON.

Weaken'd with grief, being now enrag'd with grief,

Are thrice themselves:] As Northumberland is here comparing himself to a perfon, who, though his joints are weakened by a bodily diforder, derives ftrength from the distemper of the mind, I formerly propofed to read-" Weakened with age," or, "Weakened with pain."

When a word is repeated, without propriety, in the fame or two fucceeding lines, there is great reafon to fufpect fome corruption. Thus, in this fcene, in the firft folio, we have "able heels," instead of " armed heels," in confequence of the word able having occurred in the preceding line. So, in Hamlet: " Thy news fhall be the news,' &c. inftead of "Thy news fhall be the fruit."-Again, in Macbeth, instead of " Whom we, to gain our place," &c. we find

"Whom we, to gain our peace, have fent to peace."

In this conjecture I had once fome confidence; but it is much diminished by the fubfequent note, and by my having lately obferved, that Shakspeare elsewhere ufes grief for bodily pain. Falstaff, in K. Henry IV. Part I. p. 569, fpeaks of the grief of a wound." Grief in the latter part of this line is ufed in its prefent fenfe, for forrow; in the former part for bodily pain. MALONE.

Grief, in ancient language, fignifies, bodily pain, as well as forrow. So, in A Treatife of fundrie Difeafes, &c. by T. T. 1591: "—he being at that time griped fore, and having grief in his lower bellie." Dolor ventris is, by our old writers, frequently tranflated " grief of the guts." I perceive no need of alteration. STEEVENS. 7-nice- i. e. trifling. So, in Julius Cafar:

"That every nice offence should bear his comments."

STEEVENS.

A fcaly gauntlet now, with joints of steel,

Muft glove this hand: and hence, thou fickly quoif;

Thou art a guard too wanton for the head,

Which princes, flefh'd with conqueft, aim to hit.
Now bind my brows with iron; And approach
The ragged'ft hour that time and spite dare bring,
To frown upon the enrag'd Northumberland!
Let heaven kifs earth! Now let not nature's hand
Keep the wild flood confin'd! let order die!
And let this world no longer be a stage,
To feed contention in a lingering act;
But let one spirit of the firft-born Cain
Reign in all bofoms, that, each heart being fet
On bloody courfes, the rude fcene may end,
And darkness be the burier of the dead!"

8 The ragged'ft hour-] Mr. Theobald and the fubfequent editors read-The rugged'ft. But change is unneceffary, the expreffion in the text being used more than once by our author. In As you like it, Amiens fays, his voice is ragged; and rag is employed as a term of reproach in The Merry Wives of Windfor, and in Timon of Athens. See alfo the Epistle prefixed to Spenfer's Shepherd's Calender, 1579: as thinking them fitteft for the ruftical rudeness of fhepheards, either for that their rough found would make his rimes more ragged, and ruftical," &c. The modern editors of Spenfer might here fubftitute the word rugged with just as much propriety as it has been fubftituted in the prefent paffage, or in that in As you like it. See Vol. VI. p. 54, n. 5.

66

Again, in The Rape of Lucrece :

Thy fecret pleasure turns to open shame,→ "Thy fmoothing tiles to a ragged name."

Again in our poet's eighth Sonnet:

"Then let not Winter's ragged hand deface

"In thee thy fuminer."

Again, in the play before us:

"A ragged and fore-flall'd remiffion." MALONE.

9 And darkness be the burier of the dead!] The conclufion of this noble fpeech is extremely ftriking. There is no need to fuppofe it exactly philofophical; darkness, in poetry, may be absence of

2

TRA. This ftrained paffion doth you wrong, my

lord.

BARD. Sweet earl, divorce not wifdom from your honour.

MOR. The lives of all your loving complices Lean on your health; the which, if you give o'er To ftormy paffion, must perforce decay.

You caft the event of war,' my noble lord,

And fumm'd the account of chance, before you

faid,

Let us make head. It was your presurmise,
That, in the dole of blows your fon might drop:

eyes, as well as privation of light. Yet we may remark, that by an ancient opinion it has been held, that if the human race, for whom the world was made, were extirpated, the whole system of fublunary nature would cease. JOHNSON.

This ftrained paffion-] This line in the quarto, where alone it is found, is given to Umfrevile, who, as Mr. Steevens has obferved, is fpoken of in this very fcene as abfent. It was on this ground probably rejected by the player-editors. It is now, on the fuggeftion of Mr. Steevens, attributed to Travers, who is prefent, and yet (as that gentleman has remarked) is made to fay nothing on this interefting occafion." MALONE.

3 You caft the event of war, &c.] The fourteen lines from hence to Bardolph's next fpeech, are not to be found in the first editions till that in the folio of 1623. A very great number of other lines in this play were inferted after the firft edition in like manner, but of fuch fpirit and maftery generally, that the infertions are plainly by Shakspeare himself. POPE.

To this note I have nothing to add, but that the editor speaks of more editions than I believe him to have feen, there having been but one edition yet difcovered by me that precedes the first folio. JOHNSON.

in the dole of blows-] The dole of blows is the diftri bution of blows. Dole originally fignified the portion of alms (confifting either of meat or money) that was given away at the door of a nobleman. See Vol. VIII. p. 429, n. 5. STEEVENS.

You knew, he walk'd o'er perils, on an edge,
More likely to fall in, than to get o'er:'
You were advis'd, his flesh was capable"

Of wounds, and scars; and that his forward spirit
Would lift him where moft trade of danger rang'd;
Yet did you fay,-Go forth; and none of this,
Though ftrongly apprehended, could restrain
The ftiff-borne action: What hath then befallen,
Or what hath this bold enterprize brought forth,
More than that being which was like to be?

BARD. We all, that are engaged to this lofs,"
Knew that we ventur'd on fuch dangerous feas,
That, if we wrought out life, 'twas ten to one:
And yet we ventur'd, for the gain propos'd
Chok'd the respect of likely peril fear'd;
And, fince we are o'erfet, venture again.
Come, we will all put forth; body, and goods.
MOR. 'Tis more than time: And, my moft no-
ble lord,

5 You knew, he walk'd o'er perils, on an edge,

P. I:

More likely to fall in, than to get o'er :] So, in King Henry IV.

"As full of peril and adventurous fpirit,

"As to o'erwalk a current roaring loud,

"On the unsteadfast footing of a fpear." MALONE.

6 You were advis'd, his flesh was capable—] i. e. you knew. So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona :

"How fhall I doat on her with more advice.

i. e. on further knowledge. MALONE.

Thus alfo, Thomas Twyne, the continuator of Phaer's tranflation of Virgil, 1584, for haud infcius, has advis'd:

"He fpake: and ftrait the fword advisde into his throat receives." STEEVENS.

We all, that are engaged to this lofs,] We have a fimilar phrafeology in the preceding play:

"Hath a more worthy intereft to the state,

"Than thou the fhadow of fucceffion." MALONE.