COUNT.

To me, blood-thirsty lord;

And for that cause I train'd thee to my house.
Long time thy fhadow hath been thrall to me,
For in my gallery thy picture hangs :

But now the fubftance fhall endure the like;
And I will chain thefe legs and arms of thine,
That haft by tyranny, thefe many years,
Wafted our country, flain our citizens,
And fent our fons and hufbands captivate."
TAL. Ha, ha, ha!

COUNT. Laugheft thou, wretch? thy mirth fhall

turn to moan.

TAL. I laugh to see your ladyfhip fo fond,8 To think that you have aught but Talbot's fhadow, Whereon to practice your feverity.

COUNT. Why, art not thou the man?

TAL.

COUNT. Then have I fubftance too.

I am indeed.

TAL. No, no, I am but fhadow of myself:9.
You are deceiv'd, my fubftance is not here;
For what you fee, is but the smallest part
And leaft proportion of humanity:

I tell you, madam, were the whole frame here,
It is of fuch a spacious lofty pitch,

Your roof were not fufficient to contain it.

7 captivate.] So, in Soliman and Perfeda: "If not deftroy'd and bound, and captivate, "If captivate, then forc'd from holy faith."

STEEVENS.

-fo fond,] i. e. fo foolish. So, in King Henry IV. P. II : Fondly brought here, and foolishly fent hence."

STEEVENS.

I am but fhadow of myself:] So, in K. Henry VIII: "I am the Shadow of poor Buckingham." STEEVENS.

COUNT. This is a riddling merchant for the

nonce;1

He will be here, and yet he is not here:
How can these contrarieties agree ?

TAL. That will I fhow you prefently."

He winds a Horn. Drums heard; then a Peal of Ordnance. The Gates being forced, enter Soldiers.

How fay you, madam? are you now perfuaded,
That Talbot is but fhadow of himself?

These are his fubftance, finews, arms, and ftrength,
With which he yoketh your rebellious necks;
Razeth your cities, and fubverts your towns,
And in a moment makes them defolate.

COUNT. Victorious Talbot! pardon my abufe:
I find, thou art no less than fame hath bruited,3
And more than may be gather'd by thy fhape.
Let my prefumption not provoke thy wrath;
For I am forry, that with reverence

I did not entertain thee as thou art.

TAL. Be not difmay'd fair lady; nor misconstrue The mind of Talbot, as you did mistake The outward compofition of his body.

1 This is a riddling merchant &c.] So, in Romeo and Juliet : "What faucy merchant was this?"

See a note on this paffage, Act II. fc. iv. STEEVENS.

2 That will I show you prefently.] The deficient foot in this line may properly be fupplied, by reading:

3

That, madam, will I show you prefently. STEEVENS.

bruited,] To bruit is to proclaim with noife, to an nounce loudly.

65

So, in Macbeth:

one of greatest note
"Seems bruited." STEEVENS,

What you have done, hath not offended me:
No other fatisfaction do I crave,

But only (with your patience,) that we may
Taste of your wine, and fee what cates you have;
For foldiers' ftomachs always ferve them well.

COUNT. With all my heart; and think me honoured

To feaft fo great a warrior in my houfe. [Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

London. The Temple Garden.

Enter the Earls of SOMERSET, SUFFOLK, and WARWICK; RICHARD PLANTAGENET, VERNON, and another Lawyer.4

PLAN. Great lords, and gentlemen, what means this filence?

Dare no man answer in a cafe of truth?

SUF. Within the Temple hall we were too loud; The garden here is more convenient.

PLAN. Thén fay at once, If I maintain'd the truth;

Or, elfe, was wrangling Somerset in the error ?5

4 — and another Lawyer.] Read-a lawyer. This lawyer was probably Roger Nevyle, who was afterward hanged. See W. Wyrcefter, p. 478. RITSON.

5 Or, elfe, was wrangling Somerset in the error?] So all the editions. There is apparently a want of opposition between the two queftions. I once read:

Or else was wrangling Somerset i'th' right? JOHNSON.

SUF. 'Faith, I have been a truant in the law;
And never yet could frame my will to it;
And, therefore, frame the law unto my will.

SOM. Judge you, my lord of Warwick, then be

tween us.

WAR. Between two hawks, which flies the higher

pitch,

Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth,
Between two blades, which bears the better temper,
Between two horfes, which doth bear him beft,
Between two girls, which hath the merrieft eye,
I have, perhaps, fome fhallow fpirit of judgment:
But in these nice fharp quillets of the law,
Good faith, I am no wifer than a daw.

PLAN. Tut, tut, here is a mannerly forbearance:
The truth appears fo naked on my fide,
That any purblind eye may find it out.

SOM. And on my fide it is fo well apparell'd, So clear, fo fhining, and fo evident,

That it will glimmer through a blind man's eye.

PLAN. Since you are tongue-ty'd, and so loath

to speak,

In dumb fignificants 7 proclaim your thoughts:
Let him, that is a true-born gentleman,

And ftands upon the honour of his birth,

6

-bear him beft,] i. e. regulate his motions moft adroitly. So, in Romeo and Juliet :

"He bears him like a portly gentleman." STEEVENS. ? In dumb fignificants-] I suspect, we should read-fignifi MALONE.

cance.

I believe the old reading is the true one. So, in Love's Labour's Loft: "Bear this fignificant [i, e. a letter] to the country maid, Jaquenetta." STEEVENS.

If he fuppofe that I have pleaded truth,
From off this brier pluck a white rose with me.3
SOM. Let him that is no coward, nor no flat-
terer,

But dare maintain the party of the truth,

Pluck a red rofe from off this thorn with me.

WAR. I love no colours; and, without all colour

* From off this brier pluck a white rofe with me.]_This is given as the original of the two badges of the houses of York and Lancaster, whether truly or not, is no great matter. But the proverbial expreffion of faying a thing under the rofe, I am perfuaded came from thence. When the nation had ranged itself into two great factions, under the white and red rofe, and were perpetually plotting and counterplotting against one another, then, when a matter of faction was communicated by either party to his friend in the fame quarrel, it was natural for him to add, that he faid it under the rofe; meaning that, as it concerned the faction, it was religiously to be kept fecret. Warburton.

This is ingenious! What pity, that it is not learned too!The rofe (as the fables fay) was the fymbol of filence, and confecrated by Cupid to Harpocrates, to conceal the lewd pranks of his mother. So common a book as Lloyd's Dictionary might have inftructed Dr. Warburton in this: "Huic Harpocrati Cupido Veneris filius parentis fuæ rofam dedit in munus, ut fcilicet fi quid licentius dictum, vel actum fit in convivio, sciant tacenda effe omnia. Atque idcirco veteres ad finem convivii fub rofa, Anglice under the rose, transacta effe omnia ante digreffum con teftabantur; cujus formæ vis eadem effet, atque ifta, Miouuvapovа σvμпoтav. Probant hanc rem verfus qui reperiuntur in mar

more:

"Eft rofa flos Veneris, cujus quo furta laterent

Harpocrati matris dona dicavit amor.

"Inde rofam menfis hofpes fufpendit amicis,

"Convivæ ut fub ea dicta tacenda fciant." UPTON.

9 I love no colours;] Colours is here ufed ambiguously for tints and deceits.

JOHNSON.

So, in Love's Labour's Loft : colours." STEEVENS.

-I do fear colourable