Car. It ferves you well; my Lord, to fay fo much. Glo. I fay no more than truth, fo help me God! York. In your protectorship you did devife Strange tortures for offenders, never heard of; That England was defam'd by tyranny.

Glo. Why, 'tis well known, that, while I was protector,

Pity was all the fault that was in me,

For I fhould melt at an offender's tears,

And lowly words were ranfom for their fault;
Unless it were a bloody murderer,

Or foul felonious thief that fleec'd poor paffengers,
I never gave them condign punishment.
Murder, indeed, that bloody fin I tortur'd
Above the felon, or what trefpafs elfe.

Suf. My Lord, thefe faults are eafy, quickly an fwer'd: +

But mightier crimes are laid unto your charge,
Whereof you cannot eafily purge yourself.
I do arrest you in his Highness' name,
And here commit you to my Lord Cardinal
To keep, until your further time of trial.

K. Henry My Lord of Glofter, 'tis my fpecial hope
That you will clear yourfelf from all fufpicion;
My confcience tells me you are innocent.

Glo. Ah, gracious Lord, thefe days are dangerous, Virtue is choak'd with foul ambition,

And charity chas'd hence by Rancour's hand,
Foul fubornation is predominant,

And equity exil'd your Highness' Land..
I know, their complot is to have my life,

And, if my death might make this ifland happy,
And prove the period of their tyranny,
I would expend it with all willingness.
But mine is made the prologue to their play

thefe faults are easy,] Eafy is fight, inconfiderable, as

in other paffages of this authour.

VOL. V.

E

For

For thousands more, that yet fufpect no peril,
Will not conclude their plotted tragedy...
Beauford's red fparkling eyes blab his heart's malice,
And Suffolk's cloudy brow his ftormed hate;
Sharp Buckingham unburdens with his tongue
The envious load that lies upon his heart;
And dogged York, that reaches at the moon,
Whofe over-weening arm I have pluck'd back,
By falfe accufe doth level at my
life.

And you, my fovereign lady, with the rest;
Caufelefs have laid difgraces on my head;
And with your best endeavour have stirr'd up,
My's liefeft Liege to be mine enemy:
Ay, all of you have laid your heads together;
(Myfelf had notice of your conventicles)
And all to make away my guiltless life.

I shall not want falfe witness to condemn me,
Nor ftore of treafons to augment my guilt:
The antient proverb will be well effected,
A ftaff is quickly found to beat a dog.

Car. My Liege, his railing is intolerable.
If those, that care to keep your royal perfon
From treafon's fecret knife and traitor's rage
Be thus upbraided, chid and rated at,
And the offender granted fcope of fpeech,
'Twill make them cool in zeal unto your Grace.
Suf. Hath he not twit our fovereign lady here
With ignominious words, though clarkly coucht?
As if he had fuborned fome to swear

False allegations, to o'erthrow his state.

Q. Mar. But I can give the lofer leave to chide.
Glo. Far truer fpoke than meant; I lofe indeed;
Befhrew the winners, for they play'd me false;
And well fuch lofers may have leave to speak.

Buck. He'll wreft the fenfe, and hold us here all day. --Lord Cardinal, he is your prifoner.

5 Liefet is dearest.

Car

Car. Sirs, take away the Duke, and guard him fure. Glo. Ah, thus King Henry throws away his crutch, Before his legs be firm to bear his body;

Thus is the fhepherd beaten from thy fide,

And wolves are gnarling, who fhall knaw thee first.
Ah, that my fear were falfe! ah, that it were!

For, good King Henry, thy decay I fear. [Exit guarded.

SCENE III.

K. Henry. My Lords, what to your wisdom feemeth best,

Do or undo as if ourself were here.

Q. Mar. What, will your Highnefs leave the Parliament ?

K. Henry. Ay, Margaret, my heart is drown'd with grief,

Whose food begins to flow within my eyes,

My body round engirt with mifery,

For what's more miserable than discontent ?
Ah, uncle Humphry! in thy face I fee
The map of honour, truth, and loyalty;
And yet, good Humphry, is the hour to come,
That e'er I prov'd thee falfe, or fear'd thy faith.
What low'ring ftar now envies thy estate?
That these great Lords, and Margaret our Queen,
Do feek fubverfion of thy harmless life,
That never didft them wrong, nor no man wrong.
And as the butcher takes away the calf,
And binds the wretch, and beats it when it strays,

And as the Butcher takes away the Calf, And binds the wretch, and beats it when it ftrays.] But how can it fray when it is bound? The Poet certainly intended, when it frives i. e. when it

6

Bearing it to the bloody flaughter-house;
Even fo, remorflefs, have they borne him hence.
And as the dam runs lowing up and down,
Looking the way her harmless young one went,
And can do nought but wail her darling's lofs
Even fo myself bewail good Glo'fter's cafe
With fad unhelpful tears, and with dimm'd eyes
Look after him, and cannot do him good,
So mighty are his vowed enemies.

His fortunes I will weep, and 'twixt each groan
Say, Who's a traitor? Glo'fter be is none.

7

[Exit. Q. Mar. Free Lords, cold fnow melts with the fun's hot beams;

Henry my Lord is cold in great affairs,
Too full of foolifh pity. Glo'fter's fhew
Beguiles him as the mournful crocodile
With forrow fnares relenting paffengers;
Or as the fnake, roll'd in a flowry bank,
With fhining checker'd flough, doth fting a child
That for the beauty thinks it excellent.
Believe me, Lords, were none more wife than I,
And yet herein I judge my own wit good,
This Glofter fhould be quickly rid the world,
To rid us from the fear we have of him.
Car. That he fhould die, is worthy policy,
But yet we want a colour for his death;
'Tis meet, he be condemn'd by course of law.
Suf. But, in my mind, that were no policy;
The King will labour ftill to fave his life,
The commons haply rife to fave his life,

believe that in this paffage,
as in many, there is a con-
fufion of ideas, and that the
poet had at once before him a
butcher carrying a calf bound,
and a butcher driving a calf to
the flaughter, and beating him
when he did not keep the path.
Part of the line was fuggefted
by one image and part by ano-

ther, fo that frive is the best word, but fray is the right.

7 Free Lords, &c.] By this fhe means, (as may be feen by the fequel) you, who are not bound up to fuch precife regards of religion as is the King; but are men of the World, and know how to live. WARBURTON

And

And yet we have but trivial argument,
More than miftruft, that fhews him worthy death.
York. So that by this you would not have him die.
Suf. Ah, York, no man alive so fain as I.

York.'Tis York, that hath more reafon for his death. But, my Lord Cardinal, and you, my Lord of Suffolk, Say as you think, and speak it from your fouls; Wer't not all one, an empty eagle were fet

To guard the chicken from a hungry kite,

As place Duke Humphry for the King's protector? Q. Mar. So the poor chicken should be fure of death.

Suf. Madam, 'tis true; and wer't not madness, then, To make the fox furveyor of the fold? Who being accus'd a crafty murderer, His guilt fhould be but idly posted over, Because his purpose is not executed. No; let him die, in that he is a fox, By Nature prov'd an enemy to the flock, Before his chaps be ftain'd with crimson blood, As Humphry prov'd by reafons to my Liege; And do not stand on quillets how to flay him, Be it by ginns, by fnares, by fubtilty, Sleeping or waking, 'tis no matter how,

* 'Tis York that hath more reafon for his death.] Why York had more reafon than the reft for defiring Humphry's death, is not very clear; he had only decided thedeliberationabout the regency of France in favour of Somerfet.

ཧ

8 No; let him die, in that he

is a fox By Nature prov'd an enemy to the flock, Before his chaps be flain'd with crimfan blood,

As Humphry prov'd by reafons to my Liege.] The meaning of the fpeaker is not hard to be

difcovered, but his expreffion is very much perplexed. He means that the fox may be lawfully killed, as being known to be by nature an enemy to sheep, even before he has actually killed them; fo Humphry may be properly deftroyed, as being proved by arguments to be the king's enemy. before he has committed any actual crime.

Some may be tempted to read treafons for reafons, but the drift of the argument is to fhew that there may be reafon to kill him before any treafon has broken out.