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Manent Buckingham, and Glofter.

Buck. My lord, whoever journeys to the prince, For God's fake, let not us two stay at home: For, by the way, I'll fort occafion,

As index to the story we late talk'd of9,

To part the queen's proud kindred from the prince.
Glo. My other felf, my counfel's confiftory,
My oracle, my prophet!-My dear cousin,
I, as a child, will go by thy direction.

Towards Ludlow then, for we'll not ftay behind.

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1 Cit. Good morrow, neighbour: Whither away fo faft?

2 Cit. I promise you, I hardly know myself: Hear you the news abroad?

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1 Cit. Yes, that the king is dead.

2 Cit. Ill news, by'r lady; feldom comes a better':

I fear, I fear, 'twill prove a giddy world.

9 I'll fort occafion,

As index to the ftory]

i. e. preparatory-by way of prelude. So, in Hamlet:

"That ftorms fo loud and thunders in the index."

See the note on that paffage. MALONE.

66

feldom comes a better:] A proverbial faying, taken notice of in The English Courtier and Country Gentleman, 4to. bl. 1. 1586, fign. B. as the proverb fayth, feldome coms "the better. Vall. That proverb in deed is auncient, and for "the moft part true, &c." EDITOR.

Enter

Enter another Citizen.

3 Cit. Neighbours, God speed!

I Cit. Give you good morrow, fir.

3 Cit. Doth the news hold of good king Edward's death?

3

2 Cit. Ay, fir, it is too true; God help, the while! Cit. Then, mafters, look to fee a troublous world. 1 Cit. No, no; by God's good grace, his fon fhall reign.

3 Cit. Woe to that land, that's govern'd by a child *!

2 Cit. In him there is a hope of government; 'That, in his nonage, council under him, And, in his full and ripen'd years, himself, No doubt, fhall then, and 'till then, govern well. I Cit. So ftood the state, when Henry the fixth Was crown'd in Paris but at nine months old.

3 Cit. Stood the state fo? no, no, good friends, God wot;

For then this land was famously enrich'd
With politick grave counfel; then the king
Had virtuous uncles to protect his grace.

1 Cit. Why, fo hath this, both by his father and mother.

3 Cit. Better it were, that all came by his father; Or, by his father, there were none at all: For emulation now, who fhall be nearest,

Woe to that land that's govern'd by a child!]

"Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child."

Ecclefiaftes, ch. x.

STEEVENS.

3 Which in his nonage, -] The word which has no antecedent, nor can the fenie or connection be eafily reftored by any change. I believe a line to be loft, in which fome mention was made of the land or the people. JOHNSON.

The quarto reads, that. STEEVENS.

Which was frequently ufed by our ancient writers for the perfonal pronoun who. It is ftill fo ufed in our Liturgy.

MALONE.

Will touch us all too near, if God prevent not.
O, full of danger is the duke of Glofter;

And the queen's fons, and brothers, haught and proud:

And were they to be rul'd and not to rule,
This fickly land might folace as before.

I Cit. Come, come, we fear the worft; all will be well.

3 Cit. When clouds are seen, wife men put on their cloaks;

When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand;
When the fun fets, who doth not look for night?
Untimely storms make men expect a dearth :
All may be well; but, if God fort it fo,
'Tis more than we deserve, or I expect.

2 Cit. Truly, the hearts of men are full of fear: You cannot reafon almoft with a man That looks not heavily, and full of dread.

3 Cit. Before the days of change+, ftill is it fo: By a divine inftinct, men's minds mistrust Enfuing danger; as, by proof, we fee The water fwell before a boift'rous ftorm. But leave it all to God. Whither away? 2 Cit. Marry, we were fent for to the justices. Cit. And fo was I; I'll bear you company. [Exeunt.

3

Before the days of change, &c.] This is from Holinfhed's Chronicle, Vol. III. p. 721. "Before fuch great things, men's hearts of a fecret inftinct of nature mifgive them; as the fea without wind fwelleth of himself fome time before a tempeft." TOLLET.

It is evident in this paffage, that both Holinfhed and Shakspeare allude to St. Luke. See Ch. xxi. 25, &c. HENLEY.

SCENE

SCENE IV.

A room in the palace.

Enter Archbishop of York, the young Duke of York, the Queen, and the Dutchess of York.

5

Arch. Laft night, I heard, they lay at Stony-
Stratford;

And at Northampton they do reft to-night:
To-morrow, or next day, they will be here.

Dutch. I long with all my heart to fee the prince; I hope, he is much grown fince laft I faw him. Queen. But I hear, no; they fay, iny fon of York Has almoft overta'en him in his growth.

York. Ay, mother, but I would not have it so. Dutch. Why, my young coufin? it is good to grow. York. Grandam, one night as we did fit at fupper, My uncle Rivers talk'd how I did grow

More than my brother; Ay, quoth my uncle Glofter, Small berbs have grace, great weeds do grow apace: And fince, methinks, I would not grow fo faft, Because sweet flowers are flow, and weeds make hafte. Dutch. Good faith, good faith, the faying did not hold

5 Laft night, I heard, they lay at Stony Stratford;

And at Northampton they do reft to-night :] Thus both the folio's. The quarto's, as well as the modern editors, read: Laft night, I heard, they lay at Northampton;

At Stony-Stratford they do reft to-night:

I have followed the folio's; the hiftorical fact being as there reprefented. The prince and his company did, in their way to London, actually lye at Stony-Stratford one night, and were the next morning taken back by the duke of Gloucester to Nor thampton, where they lay the following night. See Hall, Edw, V. fo. 6. See alfo THE REMARKS, P. 133. EDITOR.

VOL. VII.

F

In

4

In him that did object the fame to thee:

6

He was the wretched'ft thing, when he was young, So long a growing, and fo leifurely,

That, if his rule were true, he should be gracious.
Arch. And fo, no doubt, he is, my gracious madam.
Dutch. I hope, he is; but yet let mothers doubt.
York. Now, by my troth, if I had been remem-
ber'd,

I could have given my uncle's grace a flout,
To touch his growth, nearer than he touch'd mine.
Dutch. How, my young York? I pr'ythee, let me
hear it.

York. Marry, they fay, my uncle grew so fast,
That he could gnaw a cruft at two hours old;
'Twas full two years ere I could get a tooth.
Grandam, this would have been a biting jeft.

Dutch. Ipr'ythee, pretty York, who told thee this?
York. Grandam, his nurse.

Dutch. His nurfe! why, fhe was dead ere thou waft

born.

York. If 'twere not fhe, I cannot tell who told me. Queen. A parlous boy:-Go to, you are too fhrewd.

Dutch. Good madam, be not angry with the child. Queen. Pitchers have ears.

-the wretched'ft thing,

-] Wretched is here used in a fenfe yet retained in familiar language, for paltry, pitiful, bering below expectation. JOHNSON.

7

-been remember'd,] To be remembered is in Shakspeare, to have one's memory quick, to have one's thoughts about one.

JOHNSON.

A parlous boy.] Parlous is keen, fhrewd. So, in Law Tricks, &c. 1608:

"A parlous youth, fharp and fatirical." STEEVENS. It is a corruption of perilous, dangerous; the fenfe it has here. The queen evidently means to chide him. REMARKS,

Enter

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