Chapter LXXXVII: Act I: SCENE 1. Page 506

BED. And with them scourge the bad revolting stars,
That have _consented_ unto Henry's death.

IT is conceived that most readers, after perusing the several notes on these lines, will be of opinion that some further elucidation is necessary. The first attempt should be to ascertain the respective significations of the words _concent_ and _consent_, which can only be effected by an attention to their Latin etymology.

_Concent_, in its simple and primitive acceptation, is nothing more than a _singing together harmoniously_; but because in such harmony there is an _agreement_ of sounds, the word was sometimes metaphorically used to express _concord or agreement generally_. _Consent_ never means _union of sounds_, but _agreement generally_, or an union of _sense_ or _opinion_. Cicero has most carefully distinguished them when he says, "Ubi enim perspecta vis est rationis ejus qua causæ rerum atque exitus cognoscuntur, mirus quidam omnium quasi _consensus_ doctrinarum, _concentusque_ reperitur."--De oratore, lib. iii. Among English writers, the similitude in sound and an inattention to orthography have contributed to their common and promiscuous use.

Mr. Steevens inclines to the meaning above given of _concent_, and yet he adopts _consent_ in his text; nor are his instances uniform. Thus in the quotation from Cicero _De nat. deorum_, concentus simply means _concord_ or _agreement_. In the passage from Milton, _consent_ evidently denotes the same thing. The rest of his quotations relate to _musical concent_.

Mr. Mason, in his own words, assents to Mr. Steevens's explanation; yet his instances are all unfortunately calculated to illustrate the other sense of _barely agreeing_.

The books of Elizabeth's time indiscriminately use both modes of orthography. Thus we have, "Broughton's _concent_ of Scripture," for _consent_; though, as is shown already, either will serve for _agreement_.

In the two passages cited by Mr. Steevens from Spenser, the orthography varies, though the meaning is evidently the same, i. e. _musical concent_. His expectations will be often disappointed who shall seek an exact meaning from some particular mode of orthography in ancient writers. There does not perhaps exist a more fallible rule; and it was reserved for the superior accuracy of modern times to affix any thing like uniformity of spelling, and consequently of sense, to our language.

It is impossible at this time to collect precisely what the author of the lines in question intended. The only guide we have is the passage quoted by Mr. Malone from another part of this play, "You all _consented_ unto Salisbury's death." Yet, had the poet written _concented_, the sense in both places might be, _you all acted in concert, or jointly in unison, to accomplish the death, &c._ This accords with the following passage in _Pericles_, Act I. Scene 1:--

"The Senate house of planets _all did sit_
To knit in her their best perfections."

An opportunity here presents itself of remarking how injudiciously we have discarded the more expressive and legitimate term _consort_, as a company of musicians playing together, for the new-fangled Italian _concert_. The other would be vulgar to a modern ear, and is now marked in our dictionaries as a _corrupt spelling_.

ACT III.

SCENE 1. Page 584.

MAY. The bishop's and the duke of Gloster's men,
_Forbidden late to carry any weapon_,
Have fill'd their pockets full of _pebble stones_, &c.

This fact is borrowed, with some variation, from Stowe or Fabian. "Men being forbidden to bring swords or other weapons, brought great battes and staves on their neckes; and when _those weapons were inhibited them_, they took _stones_ and plomets of lead, &c."

SCENE 1. Page 587.

WAR. Sweet king!--the bishop hath a _kindly gird_.

Mr. Steevens has on this occasion, for the sake of the last word, introduced two notes which might very well have been spared. There is no doubt that Warwick means to say that the young king has given Winchester a gentle reproof. This is the plain and obvious meaning of _gird_. Dr. Johnson is wide, very wide, of the mark.

ACT V.

SCENE 3. Page 645.

PUC. You speedy helpers, that are substitutes
Under the lordly _monarch of the north_,
Appear.

The _monarch of the North_ was Zimimar, one of the four principal devils invoked by witches. The others were, Amaimon king of the East, Gorson king of the South, and Goap king of the West. Under these devil kings were devil marquesses, dukes, prelates, knights, presidents and earls. They are all enumerated, from Wier _De præstigiis dæmonum_, in Scot's _Discoverie of witchcraft_, book xv. c. 2 and 3.

KING HENRY VI.