ACT I.....SCENE I. London. An Ante-chamber in the Palace. Enter the Duke of NORFOLK, at one door; at the other, the Duke of BUCKINGHAM, and the Lord ABERGAVENNY.6 Buck. Good morrow, and well met. How have you done, Since last we saw in France? Nor. I thank your grace : Healthful; and ever since a fresh admirer? Buck. 8 An untimely ague Stay'd me a prisoner in my chamber, when Nor. "Twixt Guynes and Arde:9 I was then present, saw them salute on horseback; 6 Lord Abergavenny.] George Nevill, who married Mary, daughter of Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. Reed. 7 --α a fresh admirer -] An admirer untired; an admirer still feeling the impression as if it were hourly renewed. Johnson. The edi. 8 Those suns of glory,] That is, those glorious suns. tor of the third folio plausibly enough reads-Those sons of glory; and indeed as in old English books the two words are used indiscriminately, the luminary being often spelt son, it is sometimes difficult to determine which is meant; sun, or son. However, the subsequent part of the line, and the recurrence of the same expression afterwards, are in favour of the reading of the original copy. Malone. Pope has borrowed this phrase in his Imitation of Horace's Epistle to Augustus, v. 22: "Those suns of glory please not till they set." Steevens. 9 Guynes and Arde:] Guynes then belonged to the English, and Arde to the French; they are towns in Picardy, and the valley of Ardren lay between them. Arde is Ardres, but both Hall and Holinshed write it as Shakspeare does. Reed. In their embracement, as they grew together;1 Which had they, what four thron'd ones could have weigh'd Such a compounded one? Buck. All the whole time Then you lost I was my chamber's prisoner. Nor. The view of earthly glory: Men might say, 1 as they grew together;] So, in All's Well that Ends Well: grow to you, and our parting is as a tortured body." Again, in A Midsummer Night's Dream: "So we grew together." Steevens. as they grew together;] That is, as if they grew together. We have the same image in our author's Venus and Adonis: a sweet embrace; 66 Incorporate then they seem; face grows to face." Malone. 2 Till this time, pomp was single; but now marry'd To one above itself] The thought is odd and whimsical; and obscure enough to need an explanation. Till this time (says the speaker) pomp led a single life, as not finding a husband able to support her according to her dignity; but she has now got one in Henry VIII, who could support her, even above her condition, in finery Warburton. Dr. Warburton has here discovered more beauty than the author intended, who only meant to say in a noisy periphrase, that pomp was encreased on this occasion to more than twice as much as it had ever been before Pomp is no more married to the English than to the French King, for to neither is any preference given by the speaker. Pomp is only married to pomp, but the new pomp is greater than the old. Johnson. Before this time all pompous shows were exhibited by one prince only. On this occasion the Kings of England and France vied with each other. To this circumstance Norfolk alludes. M. Mason. 3 Each following day Became the next day's master, &c.] Dies diem docet. Every day learned something from the preceding, till the concluding day collected all the splendor of all the former shows. Johnson. 4 All clinquant,] All glittering, all shining. Clarendon uses this ward in his description of the Spanish Fuego de Toros Johnson. It is likewise used in A Memorable Masque, &c. performed be Shone down the English; and, to-morrow, they Beyond thought's compass; that former fabulous story, Buck. O, you go far. Nor. As I belong to worship, and affect In honour honesty, the tract of every thing Would by a good discourser lose some life, Which action's self was tongue to. All was royal;" fore King James at Whitehall in 1613, at the marriage of the Palsgrave and Princess Elizabeth: ·his buskins clinquant as his other attire." Steevens. him in eye,, Still him in praise:] So, Dryden: "Two chiefs "So match'd, as each seem'd worthiest when alone.” Johnson. 6 Durst wag his tongue in censure.] Censure for determination, of which had the noblest appearance. Warburton. 7 That Bevis was believ'd.] The old romantic legend of Bevis of Southampton. This Bevis, (or Beavois) a Saxon, was for his prowess created by William the Conqueror Earl of Southampton : of whom Camden in his Britannia. Theobald. 8 the tract of every thing &c.] The course of these triumphs and pleasures, however well related, must lose in the description part of that spirit and energy which were expressed in the real action. Johnson. All was royal; &c.] This speech was given in all the edi To the disposing of it nought rebell'd, Buck. Who did guide, I mean, who set the body and the limbs Of this great sport together, as you guess? Buck. I pray you, who, my lord? Nor. All this was order'd by the good discretion Of the right reverend cardinal of York. Buck. The devil speed him! no man's pie is freed From his ambitious finger 4 What had he To do in these fierce vanities? I wonder, tions to Buckingham; but improperly: for he wanted information, having kept his chamber during the solemnity. I have therefore given it to Norfolk. Warburton. The regulation had already been made by Mr. Theobald. 11 the office did Malone. Distinctly his full function.] The commission for regulating this festivity was well executed, and gave exactly to every particular person and action the proper place. Johnson. 2 certes,] An obsolete adverb, signifying-certainly, in truth. So, in The Tempest: "For, certes, these are people of the island." It occurs again in Othello, Act I, sc. i. It is remarkable, that, in the present instance, the adverb certes must be sounded as a monosyllable. It is well understood that old Ben had no skill in the pronunciation of the French language; and the scene before us appears to have had some touches from his pen. By genuine Shakspeare certes is constantly employed as a dissyllable. Steevens. 3 element-] No initiation, no previous practices. Elements are the first principles of things, or rudiments of knowledge. The word is here applied, not without a catachresis, to a person. Johnson. 4 no man's pie is free'd From his ambitious finger.] To have a finger in the pie, is a proverbial phrase. See Ray, 244. Reed. 5 fierce vanities?] Fierce is here, I think, used like the French fier for proud, unless we suppose an allusion to the mimi. cal ferocity of the combatants in the tilt. Johnson. It is certainly used as the French word fier. So, in Ben Jon. son's Bartholomew Fair, the puritan says, the hobby horse "is a fierce and rank idol." Steevens. That such a keech can with his very bulk Nor. Surely, sir, Out of his self-drawing web," he gives us note, Again, in The Rape of Lucrece: 66 Thy violent vanities can never last." In Timon of Athens, we have 8 "O the fierce wretchedness that glory brings!" Malone. 6 That such a keech-] A keech is a solid lump or mass. A cake of wax or tallow formed in a mould, is called yet in some places, a keech. Johnson. There may, perhaps, be a singular propriety in this term of contempt. Wolsey was the son of a butcher, and in The Second Part of King Henry IV, a butcher's wife is called-Goody Keech. Steevens. 7 Out of his self-drawing web,] Thus it stands in the first edition. The latter editors, by injudicious correction, have printed: Out of his self-drawn web. Johnson. 8 he gives us note,] Old copy-O gives us &c. Corrected by Mr. Steevens. Malone. 9 A gift that heaven gives for him, which buys A place next to the king.] It is evident a word or two in the sentence is misplaced, and that we should read: A gift that heaven gives; which buys for him A place next to the king. Warburton. It is full as likely that Shakspeare wrote: ·gives to him, which will save any greater alteration. Johnson. I am too dull to perceive the necessity of any change. What he is unable to give himself, heaven gives or deposits for him, and that gift, or deposit, buys a place, &c. Steevens. I agree with Johnson that we should read: A gift that heaven gives to him: for Abergavenny says in reply, "I cannot tell "What heaven hath given him." which confirms the justness of this amendment. I should other wise have thought Steevens's explanation right. M. Mason. |