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 greatness;
And from that full meridian of my glory
I haste now to my setting. I shall fall,
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 greatness; This is the state of man; to-day he puts forth The tender leaves of hopes, to-morrow blossoms,. 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. Oh, 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 frost nipping and killing the root, not the leaves and bloffoms: fo that Mr. Warburton's criticiím is unneceffary. See Love's Labour Loft. V. I. p. 32.

There

There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
That sweet aspect 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.

5

Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear In all my miferies; but thou hast forc'd me, Out of thy honest truth, to play the womanLet's dry our eyes; and thus far hear me Cromwell, And when I am forgotten, as I shall be, And fleep 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 shoals of honour, Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in : A fure, and safe one, though thy master miss'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 last; 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 says to his wife,

Banish the canker of ambitious thoughts.

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

B

Corruption wins not more than honesty.
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
To filence envious tongues. (9) Be just, and fear not.
Let all the ends, thou aim'st at, be thy country's,

'Thy God's, and truths; then if thou fall'st, O Crom

well,

Thou fall'st a blessed 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. O Cromwell, Crom

well,

Had I but ferv'd my God with half the zeal
I serv'd my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.

placed there his first and sole affection. So that Mr. Warburton's criticism falls to the ground, who, observing, "that this, thơ an admirable precept for our conduct in private life, was never design'd for the magistrate or publick minister, gives his opinion the poet wrote,

Cherish those hearts that wait thee.

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

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

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

He that has light within his own clear breaft
May fit ith' center and enjoy bright day:
But he that hides a dark foul, and foul thoughts,
Benighted walks under the mid-day sun;
Himself is his own dungeon.-

ACT

ACTIV. SCENE I.

APPLAUSE.

(10) Such a noise arofe

As the shrouds make at sea in a stiff tempest,
As loud, and to as many tunes. Hats, cloaks,
Doublets, I think, flew up; and had their faces
Been loose, 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 shake the press,
And make 'em reel before 'em. No man living
Could say, this is my wife there, all were woven
So strangely 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 these words, " O father abbot, "An old man, broken with the storms of state, " Is come to lay his weary bones among you; "Give him a little earth for charity!" So went to bed; where eagerly his fickness Pursu'd him still, and three nights after this, About the hour of eight, (which he himself Foretold, should be his last) full of repentance, Continual meditations, tears and forrows, He gave his honours to the world again, His blessed part to heav'n, and flept in peace.

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

Hi

His Vices and Virtues.

So may he rest, 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 suggestion
Ty'd all the kingdom: simony was fair play;
His own opinion was his law. I' th' prefence
He would say 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 counsel, ty'd or enslav'd the kingdom." And he obferves, that Shakespear uses the word Suggestion, with great propriety and feeming knowledge of the Latin tongue. For the late Roman writers and their gloffes agree to give this sense to it; Suggestio, eft cum magiftratus quilibet principi falubre confilium fuggerit. A suggestion, is,

when a magiftrate gives a prince wholsome counsel. "So that nothing cou'd be feverer than this reflection, that that wholesome counsel which it is the ministers duty to give his prince, was fo impoisoned by him, as to produce slavery to his country." The commentator here (with great shew of reason) seems to strike out a meaning his author most probably never meant ; if the reading be just, the passage is plain and easy, should we take fuggeftion in its vulgar acceptation : but it seems very exceptionable, nor can I be satisfied with ty'd, especially, when I confider the words immediately following; indeed, it may be faid, she is particularizing his vices without any connection : The Oxford editor reads tyth'd, which is too forc'd, and unwarrantable:, Wolfey certainly had great sway 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 suggestion, by underhand dealings, or by pernicious counsel (which you you will,) to tye the kingdom, properly; the word is printed very imperfectly in the old editions ; perhaps it

was