Deals with our cardinal; and, as I trow,-
Which I do well; for, I am fure, the emperor
Pay'd ere he promis'd; whereby his fuit was granted,
Ere it was afk'd;-but when the way was made,
And pav'd with gold, the emperor thus defir'd;-
That he would please to alter the king's course,
And break the forefaid peace. Let the king know,
(As foon he shall by me,) that thus the cardinal
Does buy and fell his honour as he pleases,'
And for his own advantage.

I am forry

Nor.
To hear this of him; and could wish, he were
Something 'mistaken in't.*

BUCK.

No, not a fyllable;

I do pronounce him in that very shape,

He fhall appear in proof.

Enter BRANDON; a Sergeant at arms before him, and two or three of the guard.

BRAN. Your office, fergeant; execute it.

SERG.

My lord the duke of Buckingham, and earl
Of Hereford, Stafford, and Northampton, I

Sir,

Does buy and fell his honour as he pleafes,] This was a proverbial expreffion. See King Richard III, A&t V. fc. iii.

The fame phrafe occurs alfo in King Henry VI. Part I:

from bought and fold lord Talbot."

MALONE.

Again, in The Comedy of Errors: "It would make a man as mad as a buck, to be fo bought and fold." STEEVENS.

he were

Something mistaken in't.] That is, that he were fomething different from what he is taken or fuppofed by you to be.

MALONE.

Arreft thee of high treafon, in the name
Of our most fovereign king.

BUCK.

The net has fall'n upon me;
Under device and practice.'

BRAN.

Lo you, my lord,

I shall perish

I am forry

To see you ta'en from liberty, to look on

The business prefent: 'Tis his highness' pleasure, You fhall to the Tower.

BUCK.

It will help me nothing,

To plead mine innocence; for that die is on me, Which makes my whiteft part black. The will of heaven

Be done in this and all things!-I obey.

O my lord Aberga'ny, fare you well.

king

BRAN. Nay, he must bear you company :-The [To ABERGAVENNY. Is pleas'd, you fhall to the Tower, till you know How he determines further.

ÁBER.

As the duke faid,

The will of heaven be done, and the king's pleafure

By me obey'd.

BRAN.

Here is a warrant from

The king, to attach lord Montacute; and the bodies

-practice,] i. e. unfair ftratagem. So, in Othello, A& V: "Fallen in the practice of a cursed slave."

And in this play, Surry, fpeaking of Wolfey, fays:

"How came his practices to light?" REED.

6 I am forry

To fee you ta'en from liberty, to look on

The bufinefs prefent:] I am forry that I am obliged to be prefent and an eye-witness of your lofs of liberty. JOHNSON.

7-lord Montacute;] This was Henry Pole, grandfon to George Duke of Clarence, and eldest brother to Cardinal Pole.

Of the duke's confeffor, John de la Court,
One Gilbert Peck, his chancellor,'-

BUCK.

So, fo;

These are the limbs of the plot: No more, I hope.

BRAN. A monk o' the Chartreux.

BUCK.

BRAN.

O, Nicholas Hopkins?*

He.

BUCK. My furveyor is falfe; the o'er-great car

dinal

Hath show'd him gold: my life is fpann'd already: ' I am the shadow of poor Buckingham;

He had married the Lord Abergavenny's daughter. He was reftored to favour at this juncture, but was afterwards executed for another treafon in this reign. REED.

8 John de la Court,] The name of this monk of the Chartreux was John de la Car, alias de la Court. See Holinfhed, p. 863. STEEVENS.

9 One Gilbert Peck, his chancellor,] The old copies have ithis counsellor; but I, from the authorities of Hall and Holinfhed, changed it to chancellor. And our poet himself, in the beginning of the fecond act, vouches for this correction:

"At which, appear'd against him his furveyor,
"Sir Gilbert Peck, his chancellor." THEOBALD.

I believe [in the former inftance] the author wrote-And Gilbert &c. MALONE.

2

Nicholas Hopkins?] The old copy has-Michael Hopkins. Mr. Theobald made the emendation, conformably to the Chronicle: "Nicholas Hopkins, a monk of an houfe of the Chartreux order, befide Bristow, called Henton." In the MS. Nich. only was probably fet down, and mistaken for Mich. MALONE.

3 my life is fpann'd already:] To span is to gripe, or inclofe in the hand; to span is alfo to measure by the palm and fingers. The meaning, therefore, may either be, that hold is taken of my life, my life is in the gripe of my enemies; or, that my time is meafured, the length of my life is now determined. JOHNSON.

Man's life in Scripture is faid to be but a Span long. Probably therefore it means, when 'tis pann'd 'tis ended. REED.

Whose figure even this inftant cloud puts on, By dark'ning my clear fun. My lord, farewell. [Exeunt.

4 I am the shadow of poor Buckingham;

Whofe figure even this inftant cloud puts on,

By dark'ning my clear fun.] Thefe lines have paffed all the editors. Does the reader understand them? By me they are inexplicable, and must be left, I fear, to fome happier fagacity. If the ufage of our author's time could allow figure to be taken, as now, for dignity or importance, we might read:

Whofe figure even this inftant cloud puts out. But I cannot please myself with any conjecture.

Another explanation may be given, fomewhat harsh, but the beft that occurs to me:

I am the fhadow of poor Buckingham,

Whofe figure even this inftant cloud puts on,

whofe port and dignity is affumed by the cardinal, that overclouds and oppreffes me, and who gains my place

By dark'ning my clear fun. JOHNSON.

Perhaps Shakspeare has expreffed the fame idea more clearly in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Antony and Cleopatra, and King John:

"O, how this fpring of love resembleth

"Th' uncertain glory of an April day,

"Which now fhows all the beauty of the fun,

"And, by and by, a cloud takes all away."

Antony remarking on the various appearances affumed by the flying vapours, adds:

now thy captain is

"Even fuch a body: here I am Antony,

"But cannot hold this visible shape, my knave."

Or yet more appofitely in King John:

being but the fhadow of your fon

"Becomes a fun, and makes your fon a shadow."

Such another thought occurs in the famous Hiftory of Tho. Stukely, 1605:

"He is the fubftance of my fbadowed love."

There is likewife a paffage fimilar to the conclufion of this, in Rollo, or the Bloody Brother of Beaumont and Fletcher:

is drawn fo high, that, like an ominous comet, "He darkens all your light."

We might, however, read-pouts on; i. c. looks gloomily upon. So, in Coriolanus, A& V. fc. i:

SCENE II.

The Council-Chamber.

Cornets. Enter King HENRY, Cardinal WOLSEY, the Lords of the Council, Sir THOMAS LOVELL, Officers, and Attendants. The King enters leaning on the Cardinal's shoulder.

K. HEN. My life itself, and the best heart of it, Thanks you for this great care: I ftood i' the level

then

"We pout upon the morning, are unapt
"To give, or to forgive."

Again, in Romeo and Juliet, Act III. fc. iii:

"Thou pout'ft upon thy fortune and thy love."

Wolfey could only reach Buckingham through the medium of the King's power. The Duke therefore compares the Cardinal to a cloud, which intercepts the rays of the fun, and throws a gloom over the object beneath it. "I am (fays he) but the shadow of poor Buckingham, on whofe figure this impending cloud looks gloomy, having got between me and the funshine of royal favour.” Our poet has introduced a fomewhat fimilar idea in Much Ado about Nothing:

the pleached bower,

"Where honeyfuckles, ripen'd by the fun,
"Forbid the fun to enter;-like favorites
"Made proud by princes.

To pout is at this time a phrafe defcriptive only of infantine fullennefs, but might anciently have had a more confequential meaning.

I should wish, however, instead of

By dark'ning my clear fun,

to read

I have be-dimm'd

"The noontide fun." STEEVENS.

The following paffage in Greene's Doraftus and Fawnia, 1588, (a book which Shakspeare certainly had read,) adds fupport to Dr.