Aber.

I cannot tell

Whence has he that?

What heaven hath given him, let some graver eye
Pierce into that; but I can see his pride
Peep through each part of him:
If not from hell, the devil is a niggard;
Or has given all before, and he begins
A new hell in himself.

Buck.

Why the devil,

Upon this French going-out, took he upon him,
Without the privity o' the king, to appoint
Who should attend on him? He makes up the file2
Of all the gentry; for the most part such
Too, whom as great a charge as little honour
He meant to lay upon: and his own letter,
The honourable board of council out,3

Must fetch him in he papers.*

I do know

Aber.
Kinsmen of mine, three at the least, that have
By this so sicken'd their estates, that never
They shall abound as formerly.

Buck.

O, many

Have broke their backs with laying manors on them

1

2

I can see his pride

Peep through each part of him:] So, in Troilus and Cressida: her wanton spirits look out

"At every joint and motive of her body." Steevens.

3-

· the file —] That is, the list. Johnson.

Council out,] Council not then sitting. Johnson. The expression rather means, "all mention of the board of council being left out of his letter." Steevens.

That is, left out, omitted, unnoticed, unconsulted with. Ritson. It appears from Holinshed, that this expression is rightly explained by Mr. Pope in the next note: without the concurrence of the council. "The peers of the realme receiving letters to prepare themselves to attend the king in this journey, and no apparent necessarie cause expressed, why or wherefore, seemed to grudge that such a costly journey should be taken in hand-without consent of the whole boarde of the Counsaille." Malone.

4 Must fetch him in he papers.] He papers, a verb; his own letter, by his own single authority, and without the concurrence of the council, must fetch in him whom he papers down.-I don't understand it, unless this be the meaning. Pope.

Wolsey published a list of the several persons whom he had appointed to attend on the King at this interview. See Hall's Chronicle, Rymer's Fadera, Tom. XIII, &c. Steevens.

For this great journey. What did this vanity,
But minister communication of

A most poor issue?6

Nor.

Grievingly I think,

The peace between the French and us not values
The cost that did conclude it.

Buck.
Every man,
After the hideous storm that follow'd," was
A thing inspir'd; and, not consulting, broke
Into a general prophecy,-That this tempest,

5 Have broke their backs with laying manors on them

For this great journey.] In the ancient Interlude of Nature, bl. 1. no date, but apparently printed in the reign of King Henry VIII, there seems to have been a similar stroke aimed at this expensive expedition:

'Pryde. I am unhappy, I se it well,

"For the expence of myne apparell
66 Towardys this vyage-

"What in horses and other aray
"Hath compelled me for to lay
"All my land to mortgage."

Chapman has introduced the same idea into his version of the second Iliad:

66

Proud-girle-like, that doth ever beare her dowre upon her backe." Steevens.

Again, in Camden's Remains, 1605: "There was a nobleman merrily conceited, and riotously given, that having lately sold a mannor of an hundred tenements, came ruffling into the court, saying, am not I a mighty man that beare an hundred houses on my backe?" Malone.

So also Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy: "Tis an ordinary thing to put a thousand oakes, or an hundred oxen, into a sute of apparell, to weare a whole manor on his back." Edit. 1634, p. 482. Whalley.

6 What did this vanity,

But minister &c.] What effect had this pompous show, but the production of a wretched conclusion. Johnson.

7 Every man,

After the hideous storm that follow'd, &c.] From Holinshed: "Monday the xviii of June was such an hideous storme of wind and weather, that many conjectured it did prognosticate trouble and hatred shortly after to follow between princes."-Dr. Warburton has quoted a similar passage from Hall, whom he calls Shakspeare's author; but Holinshed, and not Hall, was his author; as is proved here by the words which I have printed in Italicks, which are not found so combined in Hall's Chronicle. This fact is indeed proved by various circumstances. Malone.

Dashing the garment of this
The sudden breach on 't.

Nor.

peace, aboded

Which is budded out;

For France hath flaw'd the league, and hath attach'd Our merchants' goods at Bourdeaux.

Aber.

The ambassador is silenc'd?

Nor.

Aber. A proper title of a peace; and purchas'd At a superfluous rate!

Buck.

Is it therefore

Marry, is 't.

9

Why, all this business

'Like it your grace,

Our reverend cardinal carry'd.1

Nor.

The state takes notice of the private difference
Betwixt you and the cardinal. I advise you,

(And take it from a heart that wishes towards you
Honour and plenteous safety) that you read
The cardinal's malice and his potency
Together: to consider further, that

What his high hatred would effect, wants not
A minister in his power: You know his nature,
That he's revengeful; and I know, his sword
Hath a sharp edge: it's long, and, it may be said,
It reaches far; and where 'twill not extend,
Thither he darts it. Bosom up my counsel,
You'll find it wholesome. Lo, where comes that rock,2

8 The ambassador is silenc'd?] Silenc'd for recalled. This being proper to be said of an orator; and an ambassador or public minister being called an orator, he applies silenc'd to an ambassador. Warburton.

I understand it rather of the French ambassador residing in England, who, by being refused an audience, may be said to be silenc'd. Johnson.

9 A proper title of a peace;] A fine name of a peace. Ironically. Johnson.

So, in Macbeth:

1

"O proper stuff!

"This is the very painting of your fear." Steevens.

this business

Our reverend cardinal carry'd.] To carry a business was at this

time a current phrase for to conduct or manage it. So, in this Act:

66—

- he 'd carry it so,

"To make the sceptre his." Reed.

That I advise your shunning. Enter Cardinal WOLSEY, (the Purse borne before him) certain of the Guard, and two Secretaries with Papers. The Cardinal in his passage fixeth his eye on BUCKINGHAM, and BUCKINGHAM on him, both full of disdain.

Wol. The duke of Buckingham's surveyor? ha? Where 's his examination?

1 Secr.

Here, so please you.

Wol. Is he in person ready?

1 Secr.

Ay, please your grace.

Wol. Well, we shall then know more; and Bucking

ham

Shall lessen this big look. [Exeunt WoL. and Train:
Buck. This butcher's cur3 is venom-mouth'd, and I
Have not the power to muzzle him; therefore, best
Not wake him in his slumber. A beggar's book
Out-worth's a noble's blood.4

Nor.

What, are you chaf'd? ́ Ask God for temperance; that's the appliance only, Which your disease requires.

Buck.

I read in his looks

Matter against me; and his eye revil'd
Me, as his abject object: at this instant

2 ·comes that rock,] To make the rock come, is not very just.

3

Johnson.

butcher's cur-] Wolsey is said to have been the son of a butcher. Johnson.

Dr. Grey observes, that when the death of the duke of Buckingham was reported to the Emperor Charles V, he said, "The first buck of England was worried to death by a butcher's dog." Skelton, whose satire is of the grossest kind, in Why come you not to Court, has the same reflection on the meanness of Cardinal Wolsey's birth:

4

"For drede of the boucher's dog,

"Wold wirry them like an hog." Steevens.

A beggar's book

Out-worths a noble's blood.] That is, the literary qualifications of a bookish beggar are more prized than the high descent of hereditary greatness. This is a contemptuous exclamation very naturally put into the mouth of one of the ancient, unlettered, martial nobility. Johnson.

It ought to be remembered that the speaker is afterward pronounced by the King himself a learned gentleman. Ritson.

He bores me with some trick: He's gone to the king; I'll follow, and out-stare him.

Nor.

Stay, my lord,
And let your reason with your choler question
What 'tis you go about: To climb steep hills,
Requires slow pace at first: Anger is like
A full-hot horse; who being allow'd his way,
Self-mettle tires him. Not a man in England
Can advise me like you: be to yourself

As you would to your friend.

Buck.
I'll to the king;
And from a mouth of honour" quite cry down
This Ipswich fellow's insolence; or proclaim,
There's difference in no persons.

Nor.

Be advis'd;
Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot
That it do singe yourself: We may outrun,
By violent swiftness, that which we run at,
And lose by over-running. Know you not,
The fire, that mounts the liquor till it run o'er,
In seeming to augment it, wastes it? Be advis'd:
I say again, there is no English soul

More stronger to direct you than yourself;

If with the sap of reason you would quench,
Or but allay, the fire of passion.9

5 He bores me with some trick:] He stabs or wounds me by some artifice or fiction. Johnson.

So, in The Life and Death of Lord Cromwell, 1602:

6

"One that hath gull'd you, that hath bor'd you, sir."

Anger is like

Steevens.

A full-hot horse;] So, Massinger, in The Unnatural Combat:
"Let passion work, and, like a hot-rein'd horse,
""Twill quickly tire itself." Steevens.

Again, in our author's Rape of Lucrece:

7

Till, like a jade, self-will himself doth tire." Malone. from a mouth of honour-] I will crush this base-born fellow, by the due influence of my rank, or say that all distinction of persons is at an end. Johnson.

8 Heat not a furnace &c.] Might not Shakspeare allude to Dan. iii, 22 "Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshac, and Abednego." Steevens. 9 If with the sap of reason you would quench,