Willo. Barely in title, not in revenue. North. Richly in both, if juftice had her right. Ere't be difburden'd with a liberal tongue. North. Nay,, fpeak thy mind; and let him ne'er fpeak more, That fpeaks thy words again to do thee harm! Willo. Tends, what thou'dit fpeak, to the duke of If it be fo, out with it boldly, man: Quick is mine ear to hear of good towards him. Unless you call it good to pity him, Bereft and gelded of his patrimony. North. Now, afore heaven, 'tis fhame, fuch wrongs In him a royal prince, and many more 'Gainst us, our lives, our children, and our heirs. taxes, And loft their hearts: the nobles he hath fin'd not, But bafely yielded upon compromife That which his ancestors atchiev'd with blows; Rofs. The earl of Wiltshire hath the realm in farm. man. North. North. Reproach and diffolution hangeth over him. Rofs. He hath not money for these Irish wars, His burthenous taxations notwithstanding, But by the robbing of the banish'd duke. North. His noble kinfiman. 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, 6 And yet we strike not, but fecurely perifh. Rofs. We see the very wreck that we must suffer; And unavoided is the danger now, For fuffering fo the caufes of our wreck. North. Not fo; even through the hollow eyes of death Ifpy 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, fpeaking fo, Thy words are but as thoughts; therefore be bold. That Harry Hereford, Reginald lord Cobham, All these well furnish'd by the duke of Bretagne, And yet we frike not, &c.] To frike the fails, is, to contract them when there is too much wind. JOHNSON. 7 -- duke of Exeter,] I fufpect that fome of thefe lines are tranfpofed, as well as that the poet has made a blurder in his enumeration of perfons. No copy that I have feen, will authorize me to make an alteration, though, according to Holinfhead, whom Shakespeare followed in great measure, more than one is neceffary. STEEVENS. Are making hither with all due expedience, Rofs. To horfe, to horfe! urge doubts to them that fear. Willo. Hold out my horfe, and I will first be there, SCENE II. The court. Enter queen, Busby, and Bagot. [Exeunt. Bufby. Madam, your majefty is much too fad: Queen. To please the king, I did; to please myself, • Imp out] As this expreffion frequently occurs in our author, it may not be amifs to explain the original meaning of it. When the wing-feathers of a hawk were dropped, or forced out by any accident, it was ufual to fupply as many as were deficient. This operation was called, to imp a hawk. So in The Devil's Charter, 1607. "His plumes only imp the mufe's wings." STEEVENS, Some Some unborn forrow, ripe in fortune's womb, Which fhew like grief itself, but are not fo: With nothing trembles, yet at fomething grieves,] The following line requires that this should be read juft the contrary way, With fomething trembles, yet at nothing grieves. All the old editions read, -my inward foul With nothing trembles; at fomething it grieves. The reading, which Dr. Warburton corrects, is itself an innovation. His conjectures give indeed a better fenfe than that of any copy, but copies must not be needlefly forfaken. Like perfpectives, which, rightly gaz'd upon, Shew nothing but confufion; ey'd awry, JOHNSON. Diftinguifh form:] This is a fine fimilitude, and the thing meant is this; amongst mathematical recreations, there is one in optics, in which a figure is drawn, wherein all the rules of perfpective are inverted: fo that, if held in the fame pofition with thofe pictures which are drawn according to the rules of perspective, it can prefent nothing but confufion: and to be feen in form, and under a regular appearance, it must be looked upon from a contrary tation; or, as Shakespeare fays, ey'd awry. WARBURTON. Or if it be, 'tis with false forrow's eye, Which, for things true, weeps things imaginary. As, though, in thinking, on no thought I think, 2 ; But As, though, on thinking, on no thought I think,] We should read, as though in thinking; that is, though mufing I have no diftinct idea of calamity. The involuntary and unaccountable depreffion of the mind, which every one has fometime felt, is here very forcibly defcribed. JOHNSON. 3 For nothing bath begot my fomething grief; Or fomething bath, the nothing that I grieve:] With these 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 fore-father grief; but with me the cafe is, that either my real grief hath no real caufe, or fome real caufe has produced a fancied grief. That is, my grief is not conceit, becanje it either has not a caufe bike conceit, or it has a caufe like conceit. This can hardly ftand. Let us try again, and read thus: For nothing hath begot my fomething grief; Not fomething hath the nothing which I grieve: That is; my grief is not conceit; conceit is an imaginary uneasiness from fome paft occurrence. But, on the contrary, here is real grief avithout a real caufe; not a real caufe with a fanciful forrow. This. I think, muft be the meaning, harsh at the belt, yet better than contradiction or abfurdity. JOHNSON. 4 'Tis in reverfion that I do poffefs; But what it is, that is not yet known, &c.] I am about to propofe an interpretation which many will think harsh, and which I do not offer for certain. To poffefs a man, is, in Shakefpeare, to inform him fully, to make him comprehend. To Le poffeffed, is, to be fully informed. Of this fenfe the examples are numerous : |