Weft. There is no need of any fuch redrefs;
Or, if there were, it not belongs to you.

Mowb. Why not to him, in part, and to us all,
That feel the bruifes of the days before;
And fuffer the condition of these times
To lay a heavy and unequal hand
Upon our honours?

Weft. O my good lord Mowbray,
Conftrue the times to their neceffities,
And you shall fay, indeed, it is the time,
And not the king, that doth you injuries.
Yet, for your part, it not appears to me,
2 Or from the king, or in the present time,
That you should have an inch of any ground
To build a grief on. Were you not reftor'd
To all the duke of Norfolk's figniories,
Your noble and right-well-remember'd father's?

"bute its benefits equally, is become an enemy to thofe of his "own house, to brothers-born, by giving fome all, and others "none; and this (fays he) I make my quarrel or grievance "that honours are unequally diftributed;" the conftant birth of male-contents, and fource of civil commotions.

WARBURTON.

In the first folio the fecond line is omitted, yet that reading, unintelligible as it is, has been followed by Sir T. Hanmer. How difficultly fenfe can be drawn from the beft reading the explication of Dr. Warburton may fhow. I believe there is an error in the first line, which perhaps may be rectified thus, My quarrel general, the common-wealth,

To brother born an houfehold cruelty,

I make my quarrel in particular.

That is, my general caufe of difcontent is publick mifmanagement; my particular cause a domeftic injury done to my natural brother, who had been beheaded by the king's order. JOHNSON.

Conftrue the times to their neceffities,] That is, Judge of what is done in these times according to the exigencies that overrule us. JOHNSON.

2

Or 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.

Mcwb. What thing, in honour, had my father loft, That need to be reviv'd and breath'd in me?

The king, that lov'd him, as the state stood then,
Was, force perforce, compell'd to banish him.
And then, when Harry Bolingbroke, and he
Being mounted, and both roufed in their feats,
Their neighing courfes daring of the spur,

3 Their armed ftaves in charge, their beavers down,
Their eyes of fire sparkling through sights of steel,
And the loud trumpet blowing them together;
Then, then, when there was nothing could have ftaid
My father from the breaft of Bolingbroke,
O, when the king did throw his warder down,
His own life hung upon the ftaff he threw :
Then threw he down himfelf; and all their lives,
That, by indictment, or by dint of fword,
Have fince mifcarried under Bolingbroke.

Weft. You fpeak, lord Mowbray, now, you know not what :

The earl of Hereford was reputed then

In England the moft valiant gentleman :

Who knows on whom fortune would then have fmil'd?

But if your father had been victor there,
He ne'er had borne it out of Coventry :
For all the country, in a general voice,

Cry'd hate upon him; and all their prayers and love
Were fet on Hereford, whom they doated on,

4 And bless'd, and grac'd, indeed, more than the king. But this is mere digreffion from my purpose.Here come I from our princely general,

3 Their armed faves in charge, &c.] An armed ftaff is a lance. To be in charge, is to be fixed in the rest for the encounter. JOHNSON.

And blefs'd and grac'd more than the king himself] The two oldeft folio's (which firit gave us this fpeech of Weftmorland) read this line thus;

And blefs'd and grac'd and did more than the king. Dr. Thirlby reform'd the text very near to the traces of the corrupted reading. THEOLALD,

grace,

To know your griefs; to tell you from his
That he will give you audience: and wherein
It fhall appear that your demands are juft,
You fhall enjoy them; every thing fet off,
That might fo much as think you enemies.

Mowb. But he hath forc'd us to compel this offer; And it proceeds from policy, not love.

Weft. Mowbray, you over-ween to take it fo;
This offer comes from mercy, not from fear.
For, lo! within a ken, our army lies;
Upon my mine honour, all too confident
To give admittance to a thought of fear.
Our battle is more full of names than yours,
Our men more perfect in the use of arms,
Our armour all as ftrong, our cause the best;
Then reason wills our hearts fhould be as good:-
Say you not then our offer is compell'd.

Mowb. Well, by my will, we fhall admit no parley. Weft. That argues but the fhame of your offence: A rotten cafe abides no handling.

Haft. Hath the prince John a full commiffion, In very ample virtue of his father,

To hear, and abfolutely to determine

Of what conditions we shall stand upon ?

Weft. 5 That is intended in the general's name : I muse, you make fo flight a question.

York. Then take, my lord of Weftmorland, this schedule,

For this contains our general grievances.

Each feveral article herein redrefs'd;

All members of our caufe, both here and hence,
That are infinew'd to this action,

6

Acquitted by a true fubftantial form;

5 This is intended in the general's name :] That is, This power is included in the name or office of a general. We wonder that you can afk a question fo trifling. JOHNSON.

6

fubftantial form;] That is, By a pardon of due form and legal validity. JOHNSON,

And

And prefent execution of our wills

7 To us, and to our purposes, confin'd;
8 We come within our awful banks again,
And knit our powers to the arm of peace.
Weft. This will I fhew the general.

lords,

Please you,

9 In fight of both our battles we may meet:
And either end in peace, which heaven fo frame!
Or to the place of difference call the fwords,
Which muft decide it.

York. My lord, we will do fo.
[Exit Weft.
Mowb. There is a thing within my bofom, tells me,
That no conditions of our peace can stand.

Haft. Fear you not that: if we can make our peace Upon fuch large terms, and fo abfolute

7 To us, and to our purposes, confin'd;] This schedule we fee confifts of three parts, 1. A redrefs of general grievances. 2. A pardon for those in arms. 3. Some demands of advantage for them. But this third part is very ftrangely expressed.

And prefent execution of our wills

To us, and to our purposes, confin'd.

The first line fhews they had fomething to demand, and the fecond expreffes the modefty of that demand. The demand, fays the fpeaker, is confined to us and to our purposes. A very modeft kind of reftriction truly! only as extenfive as their appetites and paffions. Without question Shakespeare wrote,

To us and to our properties confin'd;

i. e. We defire no more than fecurity for our liberties and properties; and this was no unreasonable demand. WARBURTON.

This paffage is fo obfcure that I know not what to make of it. Nothing better occurs to me than to read confign'd for confin'd. That is, let the execution of our demands be put into our hands according to our declared purpofes. JOHNSON.

I believe we should read confirm'd. This would obviate every difficulty. STEEVENS.

8

We come within our awful banks again,] Awful banks are the proper limits of reverence. JOHNSON.

• In fight of both our battles we may meet, &c.] The old copies read,

we may meet

At either end in peace; which heaven so frame! That eafy, but certain, change in the text, I owe to Dr. Thirlby. THEOBALD,

As

As our conditions fhall infift upon,

Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains,
Mowb. Ay, but our valuation shall be such,
That every flight and falfe-derived cause,
Yea, every idle, nice, and wanton reason,
Shall, to the king, tafte of this action.

1 That, were our loyal faiths martyrs in love,
We shall be winnow'd with fo rough a wind,
That even our corn fhall feem as light as chaff,
And good from bad find no partition.

459

York. No, no, my lord; note this: the king is weary
? Of dainty and fuch picking grievances :
For he hath found, to end one doubt by death,
Revives two greater in the heirs of life.
And therefore will he 3 wipe his tables clean;
And keep no tell-tale to his memory,
That may repeat and hiftory his lofs
To new remembrance. For full well he knows,
He cannot fo precifely weed this land,
As his mifdoubts prefent occafion:
His foes are fo enrooted with his friends,
That, plucking to unfix an enemy,
He doth unfaften fo, and fhake a friend.
So that this land, like an offensive wife,
That hath enrag'd him on to offer strokes,
As he is ftriking, holds his infant up,
And hangs refolv'd correction in the arm
That was uprear'd to execution.

That, were our loyal faiths, &c.] In former editions:
That, were our royal faiths martyrs in love.

If royal faiths can mean faith to a king, it yet cannot mean it
without much violence done to the language. I therefore read,
with Sir Thomas Hanmer, loyal faiths, which is
proper, natu-
ral, and suitable to the intention of the fpeaker. JOHNSON.
2 Of dainty and fuch picking grievances:] I cannot but think
that this line is corrupted, and that we should read,

Of picking out fuch dainty grievances. JOHNSON. Picking means piddling, infignificant. STEEVENS.

3

wipe his tables clean;] Alluding to a table-book of late, ivory, c. WARBURTON,

Haft,