Upon the daring huntsman, that has gall'd him;
Then makes him nothing.

Falling Greatness.

Nay, then farewel!

I've touch'd the highest point of all my greatnefs;
And from that full meridian of my glory

I fhall fall,

I haste now to my setting.
Like a bright exhalation in the evening,"
And no man. fee me more.

SCENE VI. The Viciffitudes of Life.

So farewel to the little good you bear me. Farewe', a long farewel to all my greatnefs';" This is the state of man; to-day he puts forth The tender leaves of hopes, to-morrow bloffoms,. And bears his blushing honours thick upon him ;The third day comes a frost, a killing froft, And when he thinks, good easy man, full furely His greatness is a ripening, (6) nips his root; And then he falls as I do; I have ventur'd, Like little wanton boys, that swim on bladders, These many fummers in a fea of glory; But far beyond my depth; my high-blown pride At length broke under me; and now has left me, Weary, and old with service, to the mercy Of a rude stream, that must for ever hide me. Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye; I feel my heart new open'd. Ch, how wretched Is that poor man, that hangs on prince's favours!

(6) Nips bis root.] It is plain the poet speaks of the destruction of the tree by the froft nipping and killing the root, not the leaves and bloffoms fo that Mr. Warburton's criticism is unneceffàry. See Love's Labour Loft: V. 1. p. 32.

There

There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
That sweet afpect of princes, and our ruin

More pangs and fears than war or women have;
And, when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
Never to hope again.

Cardinal Wolfey's Speech to Cromwell, Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear In all my miferies; but thou haft forc'd me, Out of thy honeft truth, to play the womanLet's dry our eyes; and thus far hear me Cromwell; And when I am forgotten, as I fhall be,

And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention Of me must more be heard; say then I taught thee; Say, Wolfey, that once trod the ways of glory, And founded all the depths and fhoals of honour, Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in : A fure, and safe one, though thy mafter mifs'd it.. Mark but my fall, and that which ruin'd me: (7) Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition; By that fin fell the angels; how can man then (The image of his maker) hope to win by't? (8) Love thyself laft; cherish those hearts, that hate

thee:

Corruption

(7) Cromwell, &c.] In the fecond part of Henry VI. A. 1. S. 4. the duke of Glofter fays to his wife,

Banish the canker of ambitious thoughts.

(8) Love, &c.] The whole meaning of this advice seems to be this: "Pay lefs regard to your own intereft than to that of your friends; love them first, yourself last, nay, even after your enemies; for it is neceflary for you to cherish those that hate you, to heap favours on them, and thereby make 'em your friends; for even corruption and bribery itfelf wins not more than honefty and open-dealing." There feems a peculiar excellence in this advice of Wolfey, whofe pride had occafioned him to efpife his enemies, and contemn all their feeble efforts, as he judg'd, to harm him; and inftead of loving himself last, he has.

places

B

Corruption wins not more than honefty.
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,

To filence envious tongues. (9) Be juft, and fear not.
Let all the ends, thou aim'ft at, be thy country's,

Thy God's, and truths; then if thou fall'ft, O Crom.
well,

Thou fall'ft a bleffed martyr. Serve the king;

And, pry'thee, lead me in

There take an inventory of all I have;

To the last penny, 'tis the king's. My robe,
And my integrity to heav'n, is all

I dare now call mine own. J O Cromwell, Crom-
well,

Had I but fery'd my God with half the zeal

I ferv'd my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.

placed there his first and fole affection: So that Mr. Warburton's criticifm falls to the ground, who, obferving, "that this, tho' an admirable precept for our conduct in private life, was never defign'd for the magiftrate or publick minister, gives his opinion the poet wrote,

Cherish thofe hearts that wait thee.

Sir T. Hanmer too flattens the line by reading it,
Cherish ev'n the hearts that hate thee.

This paffage appears with double propriety, when we confider, it
comes from the mouth of a divine, who may be fuppofed to
"Love your
have had this verfe of St. Matthew in view.
enemies. bless them that curse you, do good to them that bate
you. Chap. v. Ver. 44.

(9) Be juft, &c.] The power and bleffing of a good heart and confcience, are mentioned in the 40th page foregoing. Milton, in his Comus, fpeaks thus excellently of a virtuous man.

He that has light within his own clear breast

May fit ith' center and enjoy bright day:
But he that hides a dark foul, and foul thoughts,
Benighted walks under the mid-day fun;

Himself is his own dungeon.

ACT

ACT IV. SCENE I.

APPLAUSE.

(10) Such a noise arose

As the fhrouds make at fea in a stiff tempeft,
As loud, and to as many tunes. Hats, cloaks,
Doublets, I think, flew up; and had their faces
Been loofe, this day they had been lost. Such joy
I never faw before. Great belly'd women,
That had not half a week to go, like rams
In the old time of war, would fhake the prefs,
And make 'em reel before 'em. No man living
Could fay, this is my wife there, all were woven
So ftrangely in one piece.

SCENE II. Cardinal Wolfey's Death.

At last, with easy roads he came to Leicester ; Lodg'd in the abbey; where the rev'rend abbot, With all his convent, honourably receiv'd him; To whom he gave thefe words, "O father abbot, "An old man, broken with the ftorms of ftate, "Is come to lay his weary bones among you; "Give him a little earth for charity!" So went to bed; where eagerly his fickness Purfu'd him ftill, and three nights after this, About the hour of eight, (which he himself Foretold, fhould be his laft) full of repentance, Continual meditations, tears and forrows, He gave his honours to the world again, His bleffed part to heav'n, and flept in peace.

(10) Such, &c.] See Vol. I. p. 173, 174.

His Vices and Virtues.

So may he reft, his faults lie gently on him!
Yet thus far, Griffith, give me leave to speak him,
And yet with charity; he was a man
Of an unbounded Stomach, ever ranking
Himself with princes; (11) one, that by fuggeftion
Ty'd all the kingdom: fimony was fair play;
His own opinion was his law. I' th' prefence
He would fay untruths, and be ever double
Both in his words and meaning. He was never,
But where he meant to ruin, pitiful.

His promises were, as he then was, mighty;
But his performance, as he now is, nothing,
Of his own body he was ill, and gave
The clergy ill example.

Griff. Noble madam,

Mens

(11) One that, &. Mr. Warburton explains this paffage thus, "One that by giving the king pernicious counfel,, ty'd or enflav'd the kingdom." And he obferves, that Shakespear ufes the word fuggeftion, with great propriety and feeming knowledge of the Latin tongue. For the late Roman writers and their gloffes agree to give this fenfe to it; Suggeftio, eft cum magiftratus quilibet principi falubre confilium fuggerit. A fuggeftion, is, when a magiftrate gives a prince wholfome counfel. "So that nothing cou'd be feverer than this reflection, that that wholesome counsel which it is the minifters duty to give his prince, was fo impoisoned by him, as to produce flavery to his country." The commentator here (with great fhew of reafon) feems to ftrike out a meaning his author most probably never meant; if the reading be juft, the paffage is plain and easy, fhould we take fuggeftion in its vulgar acceptation: but it seems very exceptionable, nor can I be fatisfied with ty'd, especially, when I confider the words immediately following; indeed, it may be faid, fhe is particularizing his vices without any connection: The Oxford editor reads tyth'd, which is too forc'd, and unwarrantable: Wolfey certainly had great fway in the Kingdom by means of the high credit he was in with the king, but he could not be faid properly, I think, by fuggeftion, by underhand dealings, or by pernicious counsel (which you will,) to tye the kingdom, properly; the word is printed very imperfectly in the old editions; perhaps it

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was