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.