Note return to page 1 [2] (2) The Life of K. Henry] The Transactions, compriz'd in this Historical Play, commence about the latter end of the first, and terminate in the 8th Year of this King's Reign; when he married Catharine Princess of France, and closed up the Differences betwixt England and that Crown.

Note return to page 2 [1] (1) O for a Muse of Fire,] Milton, who was a zealous Admirer, and studious Imitator of our Author, seems to have had the fine opening of this Prologue in his Eye, when he began the 4th Book of his Paradise Lost. O for that warning Voice, which he, who saw Th' Apocalyps, heard cry in Heav'n aloud, Then, when the Dragon, put to second Rout, Came furious down to be reveng'd on Men, Woe to th' Inhabitants on Earth!

Note return to page 3 [3] (3) So that the Art and practic part of Life] All the Editions, if I am not deceiv'd, are guilty of a slight corruption in this Passage. The Archbishop has been shewing, what a Master the King was in the Theory of Divinity, War, and Policy: so that it must be expected (as I conceive, he would infer;) that the King should now wed that Theory to Action, and the putting the several parts of his Knowledge into practice. If this be our Author's Meaning, I think, we can hardly doubt but he wrote, So that the Act, and practic &c. Thus we have a Consonance in the Terms and Sense. For Theory is the Art, and Study of the Rules of any Science; and Action, the Exemplification of those Rules by Proof and Experiment.

Note return to page 4 [4] (4) King Lewis his Satisfaction,] Thus all the authentick Copies; Mr. Pope in the room of it, either out of a particular Delicacy of Ear, or religious Adherence to the Chronicles, has substituted, Possession. But I believe the other to have been the Author's Word, of Choice: he seems to be briefly recapitulating his own Terms, and he had told us just above, that Lewis IX. could not wear the Crown with a quiet Conscience, &lblank; till satisfied That fair Queen Isabel, his Grandmother, &c.

Note return to page 5 [5] (5) Than openly imbrace] This is Mr. Pope's Reading, and not any ways authoriz'd that I can find. But where is the Antithesis betwixt hide in the preceding Line, and imbrace in this? The two old Folio's read, Than amply to imbarre—But here is a slight Corruption in the Spelling, by the superfluous Reduplication of a Letter. We certainly must either read (as Mr. Warburton advis'd me,)—Than amply to imbare— (or, as I had suspected, unbare;) i. e. lay open, make naked, display to View. I am surpriz'd, Mr. Pope did not start this Conjecture, as Mr. Rowe has led the way to it in his Edition, who reads; Than amply to make bare their crooked Titles.

Note return to page 6 [6] (6) They know your Grace hath cause, and means and might; So hath your highness, never King of England Had Nobles richer, &lblank;] Thus has this Speech hitherto been most stupidly pointed, without any regard to common Sense. As I have regulated it, we see the Poet's Drift, and come at an easy and natural Reasoning.

Note return to page 7 [7] (7) To tear and havock more than she can eat.] 'Tis not much the Quality of the Mouse to tear the Food it comes at, but to run over and defile it. The old 4to reads, spoile; and the two first folio's, tame: from which last corrupted Word, I think, I have retriev'd the Poet's genuine Reading, taint.

Note return to page 8 [8] (8) Yet that is but a curs'd Necessity;] So the old 4to. The folio's read crush'd: Neither of the Words convey any tolerable Idea; but give us a counter-reasoning, and not at all pertinent. 'Tis Exeter's business to shew, there is no real Necessity for staying at home: he must therefore mean, that tho there be a seeming Necessity, yet it is one that may be well excus'd, and got over. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 9 [9] (9) For Government, though high, and low, and lower,] The Foundation and Expression of this Thought seem to be borrow'd from Cicero, de Republica, lib. 2. Sic ex summis, & mediis, & infimis interjectis Ordinibus, ut sonis, moderatam ratione Civitatem, Consensur dissimiliorum concinere: & quæ Harmonia à Maficis dicitur in Cantu, eam esse in Civitate Concordiam.

Note return to page 10 [10] (10) Now all the Youth of England] I have replaced this Chorus here, by the Authority of the Old Folio's; and ended the first Act, as the Poet certainly intended. Mr. Pope remov'd it, because (says He) This Chorus manifestly is intended to advertise the Spectators of the Change of the Scene to Southampton; and therefore ought to be placed just before that Change, and not here. 'Tis true, the Spectators are to be inform'd, that, when they next see the King, they are to suppose him at Southampton. But This does not imply any Necessity of this Chorus being contiguous to that Change. On the contrary, the very concluding Lines vouch absolutely against it. But, till the King come forth, and not till then, Unto Southampton do we shift our Scene. For how absurd is such a Notice, if the Scene is to change, so soon as ever the Chorus quits the Stage? Besides, unless this Chorus be prefix'd to the Scene betwixt Nim, Bardolfe, &c, We shall draw the Poet into another Absurdity. Pistol, Nim, and Bardolfe are in this Scene talking of going to the Wars in France: but the King had but just, at his quitting the Stage, declar'd his Resolutions of commencing this War: And without the Interval of an Act, betwixt that Scene and the Comic Characters entring, how could They with any Probability be inform'd of this intended Expedition? If Mr. Pope had ever read Monsieur Hedelin's most curious Treatise, call'd, La Pratique du Theatre, he would have known, that one main use of the Intervals of Acts is, that such a Pause should (facilite cette agreable illusion qu'il faut faire aux Spectateurs;) facilitate that agreeable Deception, which must be put upon the Spectators. Tho a Tune between the Acts takes up but a very little time, yet the Audiences are always willing to help their own Deception so far, to allow as much Time spent in it, as the Poet finds necessary should be employ'd in the Conduct of his Fable. And therefore 'tis the Practice of all knowing Poets, where more Time is to be skip'd over than could be taken up in the Action upon the Stage, to suppose that intermediate Time spent during the Intervals of the Acts: by which Artifice the Spectators come into the Deceit, and are not shock'd by a too flagrant Improbability.

Note return to page 11 [11] (11) &lblank;charming the narrow Seas To give you gentle Pass:] Ben Jonson, in the Prologue to his Every Man in his Humour, seems to me to have flurted invidiously at this Play of our Author's. He rather prays, you will be pleas'd to see One such to day, as other Plays should be; Where neither Chorus wafts you o'er the Seas, &c. Now this Comedy of Ben's was acted in the Year 1598, so that Henry 5th, consequently, had made its Appearance on the Stage earlier than that Period.

Note return to page 12 [12] (12) Bard. Well met, Corporal Nim.] I have chose to begin the 2d Act here, because each Act may close regularly with a Chorus. Not that I am perswaded, this was the Poet's Intention to mark the Intervals of his Acts: as the Chorus did on the old Grecian Stage. He had no Occasion of this sort: since, in his Time, the Pauses of Action were fill'd up, as now, with a Lesson of Musick. And therefore he might think himself at Liberty to introduce his Chorus where he pleas'd; and whenever any Gap was made in History, which was necessary to be explain'd for the Connection betwixt Action and Action. In Pericles, Prince of Tyre, (a Play, which has been attributed to our Author; and, indeed, some Part of it is certainly of his Writing:) it is evident, that the Chorus sometimes speaks in the middle of the Acts. I'll make one Observation, that in the obsolete Plays, a little before our Author's time, these Stage-Divisions were more precisely ascertain'd. For then a Dumb Show, representing what was expected to follow, was prefix'd at the Head of every Act.

Note return to page 13 [13] (13) Tho Patience be a tir'd name, yet She will plod.] A tir'd Name plodding, sure, is a very singular Expression. I make no Doubt, but it is a Corruption of the Press, and that I have restor'd the true Reading from the old Quarto.

Note return to page 14 [14] (14) O welliday Lady, if he be not hewn now,] I cannot understand the Drift of this Expression. If he be not hewn, must signify, if he be not cut down; and in that Case, the very Thing is suppos'd, which Quickly was apprehensive of. But I rather think, her Fright arises upon seeing their Swords drawn: and I have ventur'd to make a slight Alteration accordingly. If he be not drawn, for, if he has not his Sword drawn, is an Expression familiar with our Poet: So, in the Tempest. Why, how now, ho? awake? why are you drawn? And in Romeo and Juliet; What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?

Note return to page 15 [15] (15) Not working with the Eye without the Ear,] He is here giving the Character of a compleat Gentleman, and says, he did not trust his Eye without the Confirmation of his Ear. But was ever any thing so preposterous? When Men have Eyesight-proof, they think they have sufficient Evidence, and don't stay for the Confirmation of an Hear-say. But prudent Men, on the contrary, won't trust the Credit of the Ear, till it be confirmed by the Demonstration of the Eye. And this is that Conduct for which the King would here commend him. So that we must assuredly read, Not working with the Ear, but with the Eye. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 16 [16] (16) And thus thy Fall hath left a kind of Blot, To make the full-fraught Man, the best, endued With some suspicion.] Thus Mr. Pope has stop'd this Passage. If he understands the Sense of it, as it stands here, it is more than I do; or if he believes, that, to make a Man endued with Suspicion, was the Phrase of our Author, I must beg to be excus'd if I have not so much Credulity. I am persuaded, I have rescued the Text from the Obscurity and Corruption it lay under. Our Author has the same Thought again in his Cymbeline. &lblank; So thou, Posthumus, Wilt lay the Leven to all proper Men; Goodly, and gallant, shall be false and perjur'd, From thy great Fail. I had almost forgot to observe, that in Timon of Athens, we again meet with mark, employ'd as in this Passage. &lblank; For mine own part, I never tasted Timon in my Life; Nor any of his Bounties came o'er me, To mark me for his Friend. &lblank;

Note return to page 17 [17] (17) &lblank;by the name of Thomas Lord Scroop of Masham.] The Blunder of the Editors in the first Folio's led Mr. Rowe and Mr. Pope into an Error here: which they might have been aware of, had they either consulted the Chronicles, or the Reading of the old 4to's in this Passage. Nay, had they but turn'd back to the Chorus at the End of the first Act, they might have found that Lord Masham's Christian Name was Henry, and not Thomas.

Note return to page 18 [18] (18) His Nose was as sharp as a Pen, and a Table of green fields.] So the first Folio. Mr. Pope has observ'd, that these Words, and a Table of green fields, are not in the old 4to's. This Nonsense, (continues He,) got into all the following Editions by a pleasant Mistake of the Stage-Editors, who printed from the common peacemeal-written Parts in the Play-house. A Table was here directed to be brought in (it being a Scene in a Tavern where they drink at parting) and this Direction crept into the Text from the Margin. Greenfield was the Name of the Property-man in that time who furnish'd Implements, &c. for the Actors. A Table of Greenfield's.— As to the History of Greenfield being then Property-man, whether it was really so, or it be only a gratis dictum, is a Point which I shall not contend about. But were we to allow this marginal Direction, and suppose that a Table of Greenfield's was wanting; yet it never was customary in the Promptor's Book, (much less, in the peacemeal Parts;) where any such Directions are marginally inserted for Properties or Implements wanted, to add the Property-man's Name, whose Business it was to provide them. Besides, the furnishing Chairs and Tables is not the Province of the Property-man, but of the Scene-keepers. But there is a stronger Objection yet against this Observation advanced by the Editor. He seems to imagine, that when Implements are wanted in any Scene, the Direction for them is mark'd in the middle of that Scene, though the Things are to be got ready against the Beginning of it. But the Directions for Entrances and Properties wanting, ('tis well known,) are always mark'd in the Book at about a Page in Quantity before the Actors quoted are to enter, or the Properties to be used; that the Stage may not stand still. And therefore, Greenfield's Table can be of no Use to us for this Scene. Nor, indeed, is any Table requisite. The Scene, 'tis true, is in a Tavern; but the Company have no Business to sit down. There is not the least Intimation of any Drink going round: It is in Pistol's own House, as he had married Quickly: he and his Comerades are on their Feet, and just setting out for France. The Description of Falstaffe's Death, and what he talk'd of, is the only Thing that retards them for a few Minutes: after which they kiss their Hostess, and part. The Conjectural Emendation I have given, is so near to the Traces of the Letters in the corrupted Text; that I have ventur'd to insert it as the genuine Reading. It has certainly been observ'd (in particular, by the Superstition of Women;) of People near Death, when they are delirious by a Fever, that they talk of removing: as it has of Those in a Calenture, that they have their heads run on green Fields.—To bable, or babble, is to mutter, or speak indiscriminately; like Children, that cannot yet talk; or like dying Persons, when they are losing the Use of Speech.

Note return to page 19 [19] (19) While that his mountain Sire, on mountain standing,] But why mountain Sire? The French King does not mean to say any thing derogatory, or scoffingly of King Edward the Third; as Fluellin afterwards, in this Play, as a Welchman, is styl'd Mountain-Squire: nor is the Size, or Stature of King Edward alluded to, as if he had been instar Montis. I have no Doubt, but our Author intended mounting Sire, i. e. high-minded, aspiring. In this Sense, in the first Act, the Archbishop of Canterbury seems to be speaking of this Prince. While his most mighty Father on a hill, &c. And the Epithet, mounting, our Poet has more than once employ'd in these Significations. So in Love's Labour lost; Who e'er he was, he shew'd a mounting Mind. And in King John. But this is worshipful Society; And fits the mounting Spirit like My self.

Note return to page 20 [20] (20) &lblank; The pining Maidens Groans,] This is the Epithet Mr. Pope has espoused from the old 4to's. Mr. Rowe read with the first folio's The privy Maidens groans, Which, according to poetical Usage, might signify, the Groans of Maidens vented in private. From this Word, which he esteems a Corruption, Mr. Warburton ingeniously would substitute; &lblank; The prived Maidens groans, i. e. the deprived: the Verse, which immediately follows, necessarily requiring such a Sense. As all the Epithets make Sense, I have contented my self with giving the various Readings, together with my Friend's Conjecture.

Note return to page 21 [21] (21) The well-appointed King at Dover peer Embark his Royalty.] Thus all the Editions downwards, implicitly after the first Folio. But could the Poet possibly be so discordant from himself, (and the Chronicles, which he copied;) to make the King here embark at Dover; when he has before told us so precisely, and that so often over, that he embark'd at Southampton? I dare acquit the Poet from so flagrant a Variation. The Indolence of a Transcriber, or a Workman at Press, must give Rise to such an Error. They, seeing Peer at the End of the Verse, unluckily thought of Dover-peer, as the best known to them: and so unawares corrupted the Text.

Note return to page 22 [22] (22) Cath. Alice, tu as été] I have regulated several Speeches in this French Scene: Some whereof were given to Alice, and yet evidently belong'd to Catharine: and so, vice versâ. It is not material to distinguish the particular Transpositions I have made. Mr. Gildon has left no bad Remark, I think, with Regard to our Poet's Conduct in the Character of this Princess: for why He should not allow her (says He) to speak in English as well as all the other French, I can't imagine: since it adds no Beauty; but gives a patch'd and pye-bald Dialogue of no Beauty or Force.

Note return to page 23 [23] (23) In that short nooky Isle of Albion.] If the Editor meant by this Reading little Island, it will be hard to reconcile it to the largest Island in the known World. If he means short in regard to its Circumference, it is still a greater Blunder, as every one knows. And if he means, that the Nooks, or Angles of it, are short, that will crown the Absurdity. Nothing, so ridiculous as this Reading, could have come from the pen of Shakespeare, who certainly wrote it, just as his Editor found it, nook-shotten Isle. This on Examination will be proved to be as true and proper a Description of Great Britain, as Camden, or the most exact Topographer, could have given. For shotten signifies any thing that is projected; or, as we say, shot out. So nook-shotten is a Place that shoots out into Capes, Promontories, and Necks of Land; the very Situation of our Island! Anonymus.

Note return to page 24 [24] (24) &lblank; while more frosty People, Sweat drops of gallant Blood in our rich Fields: Poor, We may call them, in their native Lords.] As the last Verse here was a long time obscure, and stuck with me, tho' now I clearly understand it; it may not be amiss, lest some Readers should likewise be at a Loss, to give a short comment on it. The Lord Constable is wondering, how the English should derive such Spirit and Courage, as they shew'd, under the Disadvantages of their Climature and Beverage; and that his own Countrymen should seem cold and frosty, when their Blood was spirited up with generous Wine, and they had so warm a Sun, and so rich a Soil: But he has no sooner said This, than a Reflection on their cold Behaviour makes him correct himself; What talk I of a rich Soil? Surely; we may call it poor enough; if it may receive Disparagement from the Quality of its Possessors.

Note return to page 25 [25] (25) &lblank; Barons, Lords, and Kings;] Thus it stands in the Old Folio's; but I corrected it to Knights in my Shakespeare restor'd, and Mr. Pope has, in his last Edition, embrac'd the Correction.

Note return to page 26 [26] (26) For he hath stoln a Pax,] Thus all the Editions, from the very first: “And this is conformable to History, (says Mr. Pope;) a Soldier (as Hall tells us) being hang'd at this Time for such a Fact.”—But to see this Gentleman's Accuracy, and Inaccuracy, in one and the same Circumstance! Both Hall and Holingshead agree as to the point of the Theft; but as to the Thing stoln, there is not that Conformity betwixt them and Mr. Pope. But let us see, what is understood by a Pax. It was an antient Custom, at the Celebration of Mass, that when the Priest pronounc'd these Words, Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum! The Peace of the Lord be always with you! both Clergy and People kiss'd one another. And This was call'd Osculum Pacis, the Kiss of Peace. But that Custom being abrogated, a certain Image is now presented to be kiss'd, which, as most Catholicks know, is call'd a Pax. (Vid. Du Fresne's Glossary Mediæ & Infimæ Latinitatis; and from Him, the Glossary subjoin'd to Urrey's Chaucer: for that Poet talks of kissing Pax, in his Parson's Tale.) But it was not this Image, which Bardolfe stole; it was a Pix; or little Chest, (from the Latin Word, Pixis, a Box;) in which the consecrated Host was used to be kept. “A foolish Soldier (says Hall expressly, and Holingshead after him;) stale a Pix out of a Church; and unreverently did eat the holy Hostes within the same contained.” Is there the least Question, but that our Poet's Text must be set right from these Chroniclers?

Note return to page 27 [27] (27) The King is coming, and I must speak with him from the pridge.] “Speak with him from the Bridge, Mr. Pope tells us, is added in the latter Editions; but that it is plain from the Sequel, that the Scene here continues, and the affair of the Bridge is over.” Tis plain, this is a most inaccurate Criticism, and worthy only of its Author. The Scene, 'tis true, continues, and the Affair of the Bridge is over; but these Words are to be continued for all That. Tho the Affair of the Bridge be over, is That a Reason, that the King must receive no Intelligence from thence? Fluellen, who comes from the Bridge, means no more than this, that he wants to acquaint the King with the Transactions that had happen'd there, and with the Duke of Exeter's having repuls'd the French from thence. And this is what he calls speaking to the King from the Bridge.

Note return to page 28 [28] (28) Like a Kerne of Ireland, your French hose off, and in your strait Strossers.] Thus all the Editions have mistaken this Word, which should be Trossers; and signifies, a pair of Breeches. So Beaumont and Fletcher, in their Coxcomb; &lblank; O you hobby-headed Rascal, I'll have you flea'd, and Trossers made of thy Skin to tumble in. The French call, to truss or pack up, trosser; whether our Word, Trowsers, be deriv'd from thence, I am not certain: But, by strait Trossers, our Poet humourously means, femoribus denudatis: for the Kernes of Ireland wear no Breeches, any more than the Scotch-Highlanders do.

Note return to page 29 [29] (29) &lblank; Fear; that mean and gentle all Behold, (as may, &c.] As this stood, it was a most perplex'd and nonsensical Passage: and could not be intelligible, but as I have corrected it. The Poet, first, expatiates on the real Influence that Harry's Eye had on his Camp: and then addressing himself to every Degree of his Audience, he tells them, he'll shew (as well as his unworthy Pen and Powers can describe it) a little Touch, or Sketch of this Hero in the Night: a faint Resemblance of that Chearfulness and Resolution which this brave Prince express'd in himself, and inspired in his Followers. The Poet has in the like manner before, in the Prologue to this Play, address'd himself to the Spectators. &lblank; Pardon, Gentles all, The flat unraised Spirit, that hath dar'd On this unworthy Scaffold to bring forth So great an Object. And likewise in one of the preceding Chorus's. &lblank; and the Scene Is now transported, Gentles, to Southampton. So we find him too, in the Epilogue to this Play, again modestly speaking of his own Inability. Thus far with rough and all-unable Pen Our bending Author hath pursued the Story, &c.

Note return to page 30 [30] (30) K. Henry. Under Sir John Erpingham.] Thus all the Editions blunderingly, till I corrected it, in my Shakespeare restor'd, Sir Thomas Erpingham: Since which, Mr. Pope has vouchsaf'd to rectify the Name in his last Edition.

Note return to page 31 [31] (31) What are thy Rents? What are thy Comings-in? O Ceremony, shew me but thy Worth: What! is thy Soul of Adoration?] Thus is the last Line given us, and the Nonsense of it made worse by the ridiculous Pointing. Let us examine, how the Context stands with my Emendation. What are thy Rents? What are thy Comings-in? What is thy Worth? What is thy Toll?—(i. e. the Duties, and Imposts, thou receivest;) All here is consonant, and agreeable to a sensible Exclamation. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 32 [32] (32) &lblank; take from them now The Sense of reckning of th' opposed Numbers: Pluck their hearts from them.] Thus the first folio reads and points this Passage. The Poet might intend, “Take from them the Sense of reckoning those opposed Numbers; which might pluck their Courage from them.” But the relative not being express'd, the Sense is very obscure; and the following Verb seems a Petition, in the Imperative Mood. The slight Correction I have given, makes it clear and easie.

Note return to page 33 [33] (33) Since that my Penitence comes after all, Imploring pardon.] We must observe, that Henry IV. had committed an Injustice, of which he and his Son reap'd the Fruits. But Justice and right Reason tell us, that they, who share the Profits of Iniquity, shall share likewise in the Punishment. Scripture again tells us, that, when Men have sinn'd, the Grace of God gives frequent Invitations to Repentance; which, in Scripture language, are styled Calls. These, if they have been carelessly dallied with, and neglected, are at length irrevocably withdrawn; and then Repentance comes too late. This, I hope, will sufficiently vouch for my Emendation, and explain what the Poet would make the King say. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 34 [34] (34) Bed. Farewel, good Salisbury, and good Luck go with thee. And yet I do thee wrong to mind thee of it, For thou art fram'd of the firm Truth of Valour. Exe. Farewel, kind Lord: fight valiantly to day.] What! does he do Salisbury Wrong, to wish him good Luck? Can any Thing be more ridiculous than to say so? The ingenious Dr. Thirlby prescrib'd to me the Transposition of the Verses, which I have made in the Text: and the old 4to's plainly lead to such a Regulation.

Note return to page 35 [35] (35) Mark then abounding Valour in our English:] Thus the Old Folio's. The 4to's, more erroneously still, Mark then aboundant &lblank; Mr. Pope degraded the Passage in both his Editions, because, I presume, he did not understand it. I corrected it sometime ago in Print, as I have now reform'd the Text, and the Allusion is exceedingly beautifull; comparing the Revival of the English Valour to the rebounding of a Cannonball.

Note return to page 36 [36] (36) I did never know so wofull a Voice issue from so empty a Heart;] This corrupted Reading, which both Mr. Rowe and Mr. Pope have espoused, took its Rise from a Blunder of the 2d Edition in Folio. But why, wofull? Pistol was all Bounce and Noise. Besides, where's the Antithesis? We must certainly read with the first Folio,—I did never know so full a Voice —But then the arch Boy immediately corrects himself from the old Saying, The empty Vessel makes the greatest Sound.

Note return to page 37 [37] (37) Let us dye, instant: Once more back again;] This Verse, which is quite left out in Mr. Pope's Editions, stands imperfect in the first Folio. By the Addition of a Syllable, I think, I have retriev'd the Poet's Sense. It is thus in the Old Copy; Let us dye in once more back again.

Note return to page 38 [38] (38) For, hearing this, I must perforce compound With mixtfull Eyes,] What Monster of a Word is this mixtfull? The Poet certainly wrote, mistfull: i. e. just ready to over-run with Tears. The Word he took from his Observation of Nature: for just before Tears burst out, it appears as if there was a Mist before our Eyes. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 39 [39] (39) Kill the Poyes and the luggage! 'tis expressly against the Law of Arms;] In the Old Folio's, the 4th Act is made to begin here. But as the Matter of the Chorus, which is to come betwixt the 4th and 5th Acts, will by no means sort with the Scenary that here follows; I have chose to fall in with the other Regulation. Mr. Pope gives a Reason, why this Scene should be connective to the preceding Scene; but his Reason, according to Custom, is a mistaken one. The Words of Fluellen, (he says,) immediately follow those of the King just before. The King's last Words, at his going off, were; Then ev'ry Soldier kill his Prisoners: Give the Word through. Now Mr. Pope must very accurately suppose, that Fluellen overhears this: and that by replying, Kill the Poyes and the Luggage! 'tis expressly against the Law of Arms;—he is condemning the King's Order, as against martial Discipline. But this is a most absurd Supposition. Fluellen neither overhears, nor replys to, what the King had said: nor has kill the Poyes and the Luggage any reference to the Soldiers killing their Prisoners. Nay, on the contrary (as there is no Interval of an Act here,) there must be some little Pause betwixt the King's going off, and Fluellen's Entring: (and therefore I have said, Alarms continued;) for we find by Gower's first Speech, that the Soldiers had already cut their Prisoners Throats, which requir'd some Time to do. The Matter is this. The Baggage, during the Battle, (as K. Henry had no Men to spare,) was guarded only by Boys and Lacqueys; which some French Run-aways getting Notice of, they came down upon the English Camp-boys, whom they kill'd, and plunder'd and burn'd the Baggage: in Resentment of which Villany it was, that the King, contrary to his wonted Lenity, order'd all Prisoners Throats to be cut. And to this Villany of the French Runaways Fluellen is alluding, when he says, Kill the Poyes and the Luggage. The Fact is set out, (as Mr. Pope might have observed) both by Hall and Hollingshead.

Note return to page 40 [40] (40) Her Vine &lblank; Unpruned dyes:] We must read, as Mr. Warburton intimated to me, lies: For neglect of Pruning does not kill the Vine, but causes it to ramify immoderately, and grow wild; by which the requisite Nourishment is withdrawn from its Fruit.

Note return to page 41 [41] (41) Defective in their Natures, grow to Wildness.] Quite contrary; they were not defective, but exuberant in their Natures, and crescive Faculty: only, wanting their due Cultivation, they degenerated. We must therefore read, Nurtures. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 42 [42] (42) &lblank; we will suddenly Pass our accept, and peremptory answer.] As the French King desires more Time to consider deliberately of the Articles, tis odd and absurd for him to say absolutely, that he would accept them all. He certainly must mean, that he would at once wave and decline what he dislik'd, and consign to such as he approv'd of. Our Author uses pass in this manner, in other places. K. John; But if you fondly pass our proffer'd Love; And Othello; Yet, surely, Cassio, I believe, receiv'd From him that fled some strange Indignity, Which Patience could not pass. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 43 [43] (43) That shall go to Constantinople, and take the Turk by the beard?] The Poet is unwittingly guilty of an Anachronism in this passage; for the Turks were not Masters of Constantinople till the Year 1453, (in the Beginning of Mahomet the IId. his Reign,) when K. Henry V. had been dead 31 years.

Note return to page 44 [44] (44) Our Tongue is rough, and my Condition not smooth; so that having neither the Voice nor the Heart of Hatred about me. &lblank;] What Mock-reasoning is here! Where the Tongue is rough and harsh, and the Disposition rugged too, do not both the Voice and Heart give Suspicion of Hatred, or, at least, Dislike? If the late Editor purposely departed from the Text here, he should have given us his Reasons for it: if he did not, the Deviation is no great Praise to his Diligence as a Collator. The Old Folio's read,—Flattery about me,—which makes all easie and consonant.

Note return to page 45 [45] (45) Thrust in between the passion of these Kingdoms] The Old Folio's have it, the pation; which makes me believe, the Author's Word was paction; a Word, more proper on the occasion of a Peace struck up. A Passion of two Kingdoms for one another, is an odd Expression. An Amity and political Harmony may be fix'd betwixt two Countries, and yet either People be far from having a Passion for the other.

Note return to page 46 [1] (1) The first Part of K. Henry VI.] The Historical Transactions, contain'd in this Play, take in the Compass of above 30 Years. I must observe, however, that our Author, in the three Parts of K. Henry VI. has not been very precise to the Date and Disposition of his Facts; but shuffled them, backwards and forwards, out of Time. For Instance; The Lord Talbot is kill'd at the End of the 4th Act of this Play, who in reality did not fall till the 13th of July 1453: and the 2d Part of Henry VI. opens with the Marriage of the King, which was solemniz'd 8 Years before Talbot's Death, in the Year 1445. Again, in the 2d Part, Dame Eleanor Cobham is introduc'd to insult Q. Margaret; though her Penance and Banishment for Sorcery happen'd three Years before that Princess came over to England. I could point out many other Transgressions against History, as far as the Order of Time is concern'd. Indeed, tho there are several Master-Strokes in these three Plays, which incontestibly betray the Workmanship of Shakespeare; yet I am almost doubtful, whether they were entirely of his Writing. And unless they were wrote by him very early, I shou'd rather imagine them to have been brought to him as a Director of the Stage; and so to have receiv'd some finishing Beauties at his hand, An accurate Observer will easily see, the Diction of them is more obsolete, and the Numbers more mean and prosaical, than in the Generality of his genuine Compositions.

Note return to page 47 [2] (2) Our Isle be made a Marish of salt Tears,] Thus it is in both the Impressions by Mr. Pope: upon what Authority, I cannot say. All the old Copies read, a Nourish: and considering it is said in the Line immediately preceding, that Babes shall suck at their Mothers moist Eyes, it seems very probable that our Author wrote, a Nourice: i. e. that the whole Isle should be one common Nurse, or Nourisher, of Tears: and those be the Nourishment of its miserable Issue. The Word, 'tis true, is purely French; but it had been adopted, long before our Author's Time into our Tongue, and frequently used by Chaucer.

Note return to page 48 [3] (3) A far more glorious Star thy soul will make Than Julius Cæsar, or bright &lblank;] Whether this was a design'd Break of the Author's, occasion'd by the sudden and abrupt Entrance of the Messenger; or whether the latter End of the Verse was lost, by its not being legible to the first Editors, is not very easy now to determine. Mr. Pope thinks (for Rhyme-sake, I suppose;) that the Poet might possibly have fill'd up the Hemistich thus; &lblank; or bright Sir Francis Drake. But there are more Objections than one to be made to this Conjecture. In the first place, Sir Francis Drake did not die till the Year 1595; before which time, I believe, this Play had made its Appearance. Besides, the Poet, as he mentioned the Star of Julius Cæsar, must be supposed, to talk Sense in the Close of the Verse, to instance in some other deified Hero, and who had the Rule likewise of a Star. Mr. Pope has attempted to be smart upon me for restoring a genuine Anachronism to our Poet; and yet is here for foisting a fictitious one upon him, which, I dare say, the Poet never once conceiv'd in his Imagination. In all Anachronisms, as in other Licences of Poetry, this Rule ought certainly to be observ'd; that the Poet is to have Regard to Verisimilitude. But there is no Verisimilitude, when the Anachronism glares in the Face of the common People. For this Falshood is, like all other Falshoods in Poetry, to be only tolerated, where the Falshood is hid under Verisimilitude. No sober Critick ever blamed Virgil, for instance, for making Dido and Æneas contemporary. (Such a Prolepsis may be justified by the Examples of the greatest Poets of Antiquity.) But had he made Æneas mention Hamilcar, what Man in his Senses would have thought of an Excuse for him? For the Name of Hamilcar, tho a Foreigner, was too recent in the Acquaintance of the People; as he had for five Years together infested the Coast of Italy; and after that, begun the second Punic War upon them. The Case of our Author differs in his mentioning Machiavel in some of his Plays, the Action of which was earlier than that Statesman's Birth. For Machiavel was a Foreigner, whose Age, we may suppose, the common Audience not so well acquainted with; as being long before their time, and, indeed, very near the Time of the Action of those Plays. Besides, He having so establish'd a Reputation, in the time of our Author, amongst the Politicians; might well be suppos'd by those, who were not Chronologers, to be of much longer Standing than he was. This, therefore, was within the Rules of Licence; and if there was not Chronological Truth, there was at least Chronological Likelihood: without which a Poet goes out of his Jurisdiction, and comes under the Penalty of the Criticks Laws. I have only one further Remark to make upon the Topick in hand, and 'tis this: That where the Authority of all the Books makes the Poet commit a Blunder, (whose general Character it is, not to be very exact;) 'tis the Duty of an Editor to shew him as he is; and to detect all fraudulent tampering to make him better. But to fill up a Chasm by Conjecture, with an Anachronism that stares Sense out of Countenance; this, with Submission to Mr. Pope, Nec homines, nec Dii, nec concessere Columnæ.

Note return to page 49 [4] (4) If Sir John Falstaffe] Mr. Pope has taken Notice, in a Note upon the third Act of this Play, “That Falstaffe is here introduc'd again, who was dead in Henry V; the Occasion whereof is, that this Play was written before Henry IV. or Henry V.” This seems to me but an idle piece of Criticism. It is the Historical Sir John Fastolfe, (for so he is call'd by both our Chroniclers) that is here mention'd; who was a Lieutenant-General in the Wars with France, Deputy Regent to the Duke of Bedford in Normandy, and a Knight of the Garter: and not the Comic Character afterwards introduced by our Author; and which was a Creature merely of his own Brain. Nor, when he nam'd him Falstaffe, do I believe, he had any Intention of throwing a Slur on the Memory of this renowned old Warrior. Especially, if the Tradition be true, that this humorous Character was at first call'd Oldcastle by our Author; and afterwards chang'd to Falstaffe, upon a Representation made to Queen Elizabeth; some of the Oldcastles surviving, who thought themselves aggriev'd in that Character bearing the Name of their Family.

Note return to page 50 [5] (5) Mars his true moving,] Our Poet, in an hundred Passages of his Works, has shewn us his Acquaintance with judicial Astrology; he here gives us a Glimpse of his Knowledge in Astronomy. The Revolutions of the Planet Mars were not found out till the beginning of the 17th Century. Kepler, I think, was the Person, who first gave Light to Discovery upon this Subject, from the Observations of Ticho-Brahe, in his Treatise De Motibus Stellæ Martis: of which Treatise I have seen no earlier Edition than that from Frankfort publish'd in 1609; at least 15 years, if not more, after the Appearance of this Play.

Note return to page 51 [6] (6) Exceeding the nine Sibylls of old Rome.] Either the Poet is forgetful here of Tradition, or purposely gives himself a Latitude of Expression. The Cumœan Sibyll is the only one supposed to have visited Italy; and she it was, according to some Authors, who brought the nine Volumes of Sibylline Oracles to Tarquinius Superbus. To this Fable, no doubt, our Author here alludes.

Note return to page 52 [7] (7) How now, ambitious umpire, what means this?] This Reading has obtain'd in all the Editions since the 2d Folio. The first Folio has it, Umpheir. It is observable that, in both, the Word is distinguish'd in Italicks. But why, Umpire? Or of What? Gloucester was Protector of the Realm in the King's Minority, but not an Umpire in any particular Matter that we know of. The Traces of the Letters, and the Word being printed originally in Italicks, convince me, that the Duke's Christian Name lurk'd under this Corruption. I have therefore ventur'd to restore it in the Text: and Gloucester is not so seldom as 50 times call'd Humphrey in this and the succeeding Play.

Note return to page 53 [8] (8) Thou, that giv'st Whores] The Brothel-houses, or Stews, which were of old licens'd on the Bankside at Southwark, were within the District, and under the Jurisdiction, of the Bishop of Winchester. To this our Poet has again alluded in the last Speech of his Troilus and Cressida: &lblank; but that my Fear is this, Some galled Goose of Winchester would biss. For the Venereal Tumour, call'd a Winchester-goose, deriv'd its Name from that Bishop giving Dispensations to Strumpets. Nor were Harlots alone permitted to exercise their Function at the Bankside; but Male-Bauds were likewise indulg'd to keep publick Houses for the Reception of such Cattle. And these became so infamous, that in the 11th Year of Henry VI. we find, a Statute was made, That none, who dwelt at the Stews in Southwark, should be impannell'd in Juries, nor keep any Inn, or Tavern, but there. These Stews, in the 37th Year of King Henry VIII. (Anno 1546) were, by Proclamation and Sound of Trumpet, suppress'd; and the Houses let to People of Reputation, and honest Callings.

Note return to page 54 [9] (9) This be Damascus,] About 4 Miles from Damascus is a high Hill, reported to be the same on which Cain kill'd his brother Abel. Maundr. Trav. p. 131.

Note return to page 55 [10] (10) Thy Promises are like Adonis' Garden,] This is a piece of poetical History, which, I own, I have not been able to trace. Alcinous's Garden, in the Odyssey, has something in it, I know, that might countenance this Simile of our Author. “There a perpetual Zephyr blowing, some Fruits blossom'd, others were ripen'd, by it.” &lblank; &gras;&grl;&grl;&grag; &grm;&graa;&grl;&grap; &gras;&gri;&gre;&grig; &grZ;&gre;&grf;&gru;&grr;&gria;&grh; &grp;&grn;&gre;&gria;&gro;&gru;&grs;&gra; &grt;&grag; &grm;&greg;&grn; &grf;&grua;&gre;&gri;, &grasa;&grl;&grl;&gra; &grd;&grhg; &grp;&grea;&grs;&grs;&gre;&gria;. But our Poet speaks here locally of Adonis's Garden, as Homer there does of Alcinous's: for which I can find no Warrant in any antient Writer. We read, 'tis true, of &GRAs;&grd;&grwa;&grn;&gri;&grd;&gro;&grst; &grk;&grhc;&grp;&gro;&gri;, but they were moveable Gardens in Machine, and not capable of such Improvements. In the Festival celebrated to the Memory of Adonis, his Image was carried in Pomp; as were also certain Shells, or Vessels, fill'd with Earth, in which several sorts of Grain and Herbs were sown, especially Lettices: because Adonis was thought to have been laid out by Venus upon a Bed of Lettices. This Plantation was made so long before the Festival, as to sprout forth, and be green at that time. Theocritus, I remember, describing Arsinoe, Ptolemy's Queen in her Celebration of this Festival, takes notice that she had prepar'd these Gardens of Adonis in silver Flaskets: &grP;&grag;&grr; &grd;&grap; &grar;&grp;&gra;&grl;&gro;&grig; &grK;&grac;&grp;&gro;&gri; &grp;&gre;&grf;&gru;&grl;&gra;&grg;&grm;&grea;&grn;&gro;&gri; &gres;&grn; &grt;&gra;&grl;&gra;&grr;&gria;&grs;&grk;&gro;&gri;&grst; &GRAs;&grr;&grg;&gru;&grr;&grea;&gro;&gri;&grst;. This Species of portable Gardens in Honour of Adonis (a Superstition, that has been variously explain'd;) is mentioned by Theophrastus, Aristotle, Plato, Pausanias, Athenæus, Eustathius, and a Croud of Authors more, who are quoted by Castellanus, and Meursius in his Græcia Feriata. To any other Garden belonging to Adonis, I am utterly a stranger. What Author our Shakespeare traded with for this Hint, I cannot pretend to say: nor dare I, on the other hand, assert, that his Mind was on Alcinous, tho his Copies all exhibit Adonis.7Q0002

Note return to page 56 [11] (11) &lblank; Coffer of Darius] When Alexander the Great took the City Gaza, the Metropolis of Syria, amidst the other Spoils and Wealth of Darius treasur'd up there, he found an exceeding rich and beautiful little Chest, or Casket. Having survey'd the singular Rarity of it, and ask'd those about him what they thought fittest to be laid up in it; when they had severally deliver'd their Opinions, he told them. He esteem'd nothing so worthy to be preserv'd in it as Homer's Iliads. Vide Plutarchum in Vitâ Alexand. Magni.

Note return to page 57 [12] (12) That with his Name the Mothers still their Babes?] This Description of the Terror, which Talbot struck into the French, seems to me to be ridicul'd by Beaumont and Fletcher in their Knight of the Burning Pestle, in which several other passages of our Author are sneer'd at: We'll fear our Children with him; If they be never so unruly, do but cry, Ralph comes! Ralph comes! to them; And they'll be as quiet as Lambs.

Note return to page 58 [13] (13) I scorn thee and thy passion, peevish boy.] The old Copies read, Fashion: which the Epithet peevish, I presume, induc'd Mr. Pope to change into Passion. But I dare say, I have restor'd the true Word, Faction: i. e. I scorn thee, and those that uphold thee. Somerset had said but just before, Well, I'll find Friends to wear my bleeding Roses. And Plantagenet says a little after; &lblank; this pale and angry Rose Will I for ever and my Faction wear; Besides, if Faction were not the true Reading, why should Suffolk immediately reply, Turn not thy Scorns this way, Plantagenet?

Note return to page 59 [14] (14) To scourge you for this Apprehension.] Tho' this Word possesses all the Copies, I am perswaded, it did not come from the Author. I have ventur'd to read, Reprehension: and Plantagenet means, that Somerset had reprehended or reproach'd him with his Father the Earl of Cambridge's Treason.

Note return to page 60 [15] (15) This Edmund Mortimer, when K. Richard II. set out upon his fatal Irish Expedition, was declared by that Prince Heir Apparent to the Crown: for which Reason K. Henry IV. and V. took Care to keep him in Prison during their whole Reigns. Mortimer's Pretensions to the Crown, by Descent, in Right of his Mother, stood thus.

Note return to page 61 [16] (16) &lblank; and fair be all thy Hopes,] Mortimer knew Plantagenet's Hopes were fair, but that the Establishment of the Lancastrian Line disappointed them: sure, he would wish, that his Nephew's fair Hopes might have a fair Issue; and this the Restitution of a single Letter, which might easily have dropt out at Press, will give us; as, I am perswaded, the Poet wrote; &lblank; and fair befall thy Hopes! So, in Love's Labour's lost; Bir. Now fair befall your Mask! Rosa. Fair fall the Face, it covers! And so Falconbridge in K. John; Fair fall the Bones, that took the Pains for me! Besides, the first Line of Plantagenet's Reply to Mortimer confirms my Emendation: And Peace, no War, befall thy parting Soul!

Note return to page 62 [17] (17) Or make my Will th' Advantage of my Good.] So all the printed Copies: but with very little regard to the Poet's Meaning. What was Plantagenet's Will, but to be restor'd to his Blood? The Conjunction disjunctive therefore here is absurd and ungrammatical. Besides, I dare say, a Contrast was design'd in the Terms, which is lost by the Corruption of the Text. I restore, only throwing out a single Letter, Or make my Ill th' Advantage of my Good. Thus we recover the Antithesis of the Expression; and the disjunctive becomes proper and necessary to the Meaning. “Either I will procure the Honours of my Blood to be restor'd; or my Misfortune, my Hardship in being refused this, shall at least gain me Friends, and turn to my Advantage.”

Note return to page 63 [18] (18) That hardly we escap'd the Pride of France.] All the Copies concur in this Reading: but it seems to be an absurd and unmeaning one. The best Construction, that can arise from escaping the Pride of France, is, escaping the proud French: which would come very improperly from Talbot's Mouth. I have ventur'd to suppose, our Author wrote, the Prize: i. e. We hardly escap'd being seiz'd by, becoming the Prize of the French. So in Richard the IIId. A beauty-waining, and distressed Widow, Ev'n in the Afternoon of her best days, Made prize and purchase of his wanton Eye. So likewise in the French Tongue, la Prise signifies the seizure, or apprehending of any thing, as well as the Thing seized.

Note return to page 64 [19] (19) Done like a Frenchman; turn, and turn again.] I make no doubt but this was a secret Wipe on Henry IVth of France, who so oft turn'd his Religion, as the Exigencies of State requir'd: and whose last Turn, which was in the Year 1593, when he reconciled himself to the Church of Rome, was so ungrateful to his old fast friend Queen Elizabeth, that it threw her into a kind of Melancholy: in the Pomp and Parade of which, she is said to have pass'd some of her time in translating Boetius de Consolatione Philosophiæ. Our Author could not have paid his Court with more Address to his Royal Mistress's Resentment, than by the Sacrifice of this Piece of Satire on Henry of Navarre for his Apostacy from the reform'd Church. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 65 [20] (20) I do remember how my Father said,] But Henry VI. was but nine Months old, when his Father dy'd: We have this twice from his own Mouth, in the two subsequent Parts of this History. 2 Henry VI. Act 4. No sooner was I crept out of my Cradle, But I was made a King at nine Months old. 3 Henry VI. Act 3. I was anointed King at nine Months old. A Forgetfulness, therefore, of this Pitch, (careless as our Author was in some respects,) could hardly come from him, had these Plays been his in the first Concoction: however he might pass such an absurd Circumstance inadvertently, while he was only putting the finishing Hand to them. Contradictions of so gross a Stamp put me in Mind of Sir Martin Marr-all, (in Dryden,) who says, “he was born at Cambridge, and he remembers “it as perfectly as if it were but yesterday.”

Note return to page 66 [21] (21) &lblank; the Law of Arms is such, That, whoso draws a Sword, 'tis present Death.] We are not to understand this, with regard to any Penalty for drawing a Sword in the Presence, or within the Verge of the Royal Palace: neither can the Poet mean, that by the Law of Arms in general it was Death to draw a Sword. Why then does Basset say, he'll crave Liberty of the King to revenge his Wrongs? Let us hear what the King says afterwards, when both Parties come to ask his Leave for the Combat. &lblank; remember, where we are; In France, amongst a fickle wav'ring Nation: If they perceive Dissention in our Looks, And that within ourselves we disagree, How will their grudging Stomachs be provok'd To wilful Disobedience, and Rebell? 'Tis probable therefore, that the King, considering himself, as it were, in an Enemy's Country, and fearful of ill Consequences from any of his own Subjects bandying and quarrelling there with one another, had made it a Capital Offence by the Martial Law for any of his People to draw a Weapon upon one another: And, this granted, there's some Reason, why these Combatants could not carve for their own Revenge, without first obtaining a Dispensation from this strict Order: and why they could no more draw their Swords in another Place, than in the Presence, without Licence granted them.

Note return to page 67 [22] (22) And if I wish he did.] Thus the Editions have slightly corrupted this Passage. By the Pointing reform'd, and a single Letter expung'd, I have restor'd the Text to its Purity. And if I wis, he did. &lblank; The Sense is this. Warwick had said, the King meant no harm in wearing Somerset's Rose: to which York testily replies; “Nay, if I think right, or know any thing of the Matter, he did think harm.” To wis and wist, (from the Saxon word wistan, cognoscere;) is a word frequent in this Sense, both with Chaucer and Spenser. Nor is this the only place, in which it occurs in our Author. Richard III. Act I. I wis, your Grandam had a worser Match. Mr. Pope, in his last Edition; has embraced my Correction.

Note return to page 68 [23] (23) On that advantage, bought with such a Shame, To save a paltry life, and slay bright Fame! Before young Talbot from old Talbot fly, The Coward horse, that bears me, fall and dye.] This passage seems to lie obscure, and disjointed. Neither the Grammar is to be justified; nor is the Sentiment better. I have ventur'd at a slight Alteration, which departs so little from the Reading which has obtain'd, but so much raises the Sense, as well as takes away the Obscurity, that I am willing to think it restores the Author's Meaning.

Note return to page 69 [24] (24) How can'st thou tell, &c.] This Inattention of Suffolk to Margaret, while he is ruminating to himself, is practis'd before by our Author, (and with infinitely more Mastery, and Humour;) in his Second part of K. Henry the IVth, in a Scene betwixt the Lord Chief Justice and Sir John Falstaffe.

Note return to page 70 [25] (25) &lblank; I could be well content To be mine own Attorney in this Case.] i. e. I could like to act in my own Behalf in this Affair, to negotiate for myself. So, before, in King John; In us, that are our own great Deputy; i. e. in me, who act for myself, in my own Right. Tho this kind of Expression, in strictness of Sense, or Language, may not be so justifiable; yet they are Either of them very intelligible by Implication: and there are many Authorities in our Author, and other Poets, to keep them in Countenance, where there is such a Contradiction in the Terms, that they cannot be reconcil'd but by being explain'd into a Meaning. To instance in a few Passages; Two Gentlemen of Verona; Is it mine Eye, or Valentino's Praise, Her true Perfection, or my false Transgression, That makes me reasonless, to reason thus? So likewise in Hamlet; &lblank; Try what Repentance can; Yet what can it, when One cannot repent? Nor are Examples of this sort wanting in Beaumont and Fletcher. Queen of Corinth: Come, we must do these mutual Offices; We must be our own Seconds. King and no King: Think, how this Want of Grief discredits you, And you will weep, because you cannot weep. And in Bonduca: Those Men, beside themselves, allow no Neighbours. I have produced these Authorities, in Reply to a Criticism of Mr. Pope's; because, in the Gaiety of his Wit and good Humour, he was pleas'd to be very smart upon me, as he thought, for a Line, in a posthumous Play of our Author's which I brought upon the Stage. Double Falshood: Nought, but itself, can be its Parallel. It is spoken of an Action so enormous, that the Poet meant, it had no Equal upon Record. I have shewn from Examples, that such a Licence in Expression was practis'd in our English Writers: I'll subjoin a few Instances of the same Liberty, taken by the best Roman Classics. &lblank; tàm consimil' est atque ego. Plaut. in Amphitr. &lblank; modo formosissimus Infans, J'àm juvenis, jàm vir, jàm se formosior ipso. Ovid. Metam. &lblank; quæris Alcidæ parem? Nemo est, nisi ipse. Senec. Herc. fur. Proximus sum Egomet mihi. Terent. Andriâ. &lblank; Gnata, quid genubus meis Fles advoluta, quid prece indomitum domas? Senec. Thebaid. Patriam petendo perdis? ut fiat tua, Vis esse nullam? Idem ibid. Sed vetuêre Patres, quod non potuere vetare. Ovid. Metam. I know, some learned Men have suspected the Pointing of this last Passage, and clapp'd the latter Part of the Hemistich to agree with a subsequent Line there. But, I think, the Verse is perfectly Ovidian as it is, and means this; But the Parents forbad what they could not hinder.— For vetare signifies, prohibere dictis & factis, as Martinius tells us.

Note return to page 71 [1] (1) The second Part of K. Henry VI.] This and the third part of K. Henry VI. contain that troublesom Period of this Prince's Reign, which took in the whole Contention betwixt the two Houses of York and Lancaster: And under that Title were these Two Plays first acted and publish'd. The present Scene opens with K. Henry's Marriage, which was in the 23d Year of his Reign; and closes with the first Battle fought at St. Albans, and won by the York Faction, in the 33d Year of his Reign. So that it comprizes the History and Transactions of 10 Years. There are besides, as I have above hinted, some intermediate Incidents crowded in; which transgress upon the Order of Time. For Eleanor Dutchess of Gloucester's Conviction and Banishment for Sorcery, (which are here introduc'd) happen'd in the 20th Year of K. Henry VI. in the 3d Year before his Marriage with Queen Margaret.

Note return to page 72 [2] (2) Ere the thirteenth of May next ensuing.] This is an Error only of our modern Impressions. I have set the Text right from the joint Authorities of the first old Quarto, the first and second Folio's, and the Chronicles both of Hall and Hollingshead.

Note return to page 73 [3] (3) Or hath mine Uncle Bedford &lblank;] Here again the Indolence of our modern Editors is very signal; for within six Lines Gloucester is made to call Bedford both his Brother and Uncle. I have the Warrant of the older Books for restoring the true Reading here.

Note return to page 74 [4] (4) K. Henry. Then be it so, &c.] These two Lines I have inserted from the Old Quarto; and, as I think, very necessarily. For, without them, the King has not declar'd his Assent to Gloucester's Opinion: and the Duke of Somerset is made to thank him for the Regency, before the King has deputed him to it.

Note return to page 75 [5] (5) These Oracles are hardly attain'd, And hardly understood.] Not only the Lameness of the Versification, but the Imperfection of the Sense too, made me suspect this passage to be corrupt. The Meaning is very poor, as it stands in all the printed Copies; but I have formerly, by the Addition of a single Letter, both help'd the Verse and the Sentiment. York, seizing the Parties and their Papers, says, he'll see the Devil's Writ; and finding the Wizard's Answers intricate and ambiguous, he makes this general Comment upon such sort of Intelligence, as I have restor'd the Text: These Oracles are hardily attain'd, And hardly understood. i. e. A great Risque and Hazard is run to obtain them, (viz. going to the Devil for them, as 'twas pretended and suppos'd:) and likewise the incurring severe Penalties by the Statute-Law against such Practices; and yet after these hardy Steps taken, the Informations are so perplex'd that they are hardly to be understood.

Note return to page 76 [6] (6) &lblank; Come with thy two-hand Sword. Glo. True, Uncle, are ye advis'd? The east side of the Grove. Cardinal, I am with You.] Thus is this whole Speech plac'd to Gloucester, in all the Editions: but surely, with great Inadvertence. It is the Cardinal, who first appoints the East Side of the Grove for the place of Duell: and how finely does it express the Rancour and Impetuosity of the Cardinal, for Fear Gloucester should mistake, to repeat the Appointment, and ask his Antagonist if he takes him right! So I have ventur'd to regulate the Speeches; as it improves a Beauty, and avoids an Absurdity.

Note return to page 77 [7] (7) &lblank; who said, Simon, come; Come offer at my Shrine, and I will help thee.] The Editions here are all at odds with the History.—For why, Simon? The Chronicles, that take Notice of Gloster's detecting this pretended Miracle, tell us, that the Impostor, who asserted himself to be cur'd of Blindness, was call'd Saunder Simpcox.—Simon was therefore a Corruption thro' the Negligence of the Copyists, and continued by the Indolence of the Editors. Nor have we need of going back to Chronicles to settle this Point, since our Poet, in the Course of this very Scene, gives us the Fellow's Names correspondent with the History. I corrected this Blunder in my Shakespeare restor'd, and Mr. Pope has vouchsaf'd to reform it from thence in his last Impression.

Note return to page 78 [8] (8) With a Sand-bag fasten'd to it.] As, according to the Old Laws of Duels, Knights were to fight with the Lance and Sword; so those of inferior Rank fought with an Ebon Staff or Battoon, to the farther End of which was fix'd a Bag cram'd hard with Sand. To this Custom Hudibras has alluded in these humorous Lines: Engag'd with Money-bags, as bold As Men with Sand-bags did of old. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 79 [9] (9) And as the Butcher takes away the Calf, And binds the wretch, and beats it when it strays,] But how can it stray, when it is bound? The Poet certainly intended, when it strives; i. e. when it struggles to get loose. And so he elsewhere employs this Word. Love's Labour lost. Thus dost thou hear the Nemean Lion roar, 'Gainst thee, thou Lamb, that standest as his Prey; Submissive fall his princely Feet before, And he from Forage will incline to play. But if thou strive, poor Soul, what art thou then? Food for his Rage, repasture for his Den. So in Othello, where he is strangling his Wife; Desd. Kill me to morrow, let me live to night. Oth. Nay, if you strive; &lblank; Dr. Thirlby.

Note return to page 80 [10] (10) I thank thee, Nell, these Words content me much.] This is K. Henry's Reply to his Wife Margaret. Our Poet, I remember, in his King John, makes Falconbridge the Bastard, upon his first stepping into Honour, say, that he will study to forget his old Acquaintance; And if his Name be George, I'll call him Peter; For new-made Honour doth forget Men's Names. But, surely, this is wide of King Henry's Case; and it can be no Reason why he should forget his own Wife's Name, and call her Nell instead of Margaret. Perhaps, it may be alledg'd, that the Blunder was original in the Poet; that his Head was full of another Character, which he introduces in this Play, Eleanor Dutchess of Gloucester, whom her Husband frequently calls Nell: and thence thro' Inadvertence he might slip into this Mistake. Were this to be allow'd the Case, is not the Mistake therefore to be rectified. As the Change of a single Letter sets all right, I am much more willing to suppose it came from his Pen thus; I thank thee: Well; these Words content me much. K. Henry was a Prince of great Piety and Meekness, a great Lover of his Uncle Gloucester, whom his Nobles were rigidly persecuting; and to whom he suspected the Queen bore no very good Will in her Heart: But finding her, beyond his hopes, speak so candidly in the Duke's Case, he is mightily comforted and contented at her impartial Seeming. I believe, every Body in Conversation must have observ'd, that, Well, is used to express an Air of Satisfaction, when any Incident in Life goes to our Wish; or any Purpose, that was dreaded, happens to be disappointed. —I amended this Passage in my Shakespeare restor'd, and Mr. Pope has since embrac'd the Correction.

Note return to page 81 [11] (11) To sit and watch, me as Ascanius did, When he to madding Dido would unfold His Father's Acts, commenc'd in burning Troy?] The Poet here is unquestionably alluding to Virgil, (Æneid. I.) but he strangely blends Fact with Fiction. In the first Place, it was Cupid, in the Semblance of Ascanius, who sat in Dido's Lap, and was fondled by her. But then it was not Cupid, who related to her the Process of Troy's Destruction, but it was Æneas himself, who related this History. Again, how did the suppos'd Ascanius sit and watch her? Cupid was order'd, while Dido mistakenly caress'd him, to bewitch and infect her with Love. To this Circumstance the Poet certainly alludes; and unless he had wrote, as I have restor'd to the Text; To sit and witch me, &lblank; Why should the Queen immediately draw this Inference, Am I not witch'd like her? Nor is this the only Place, in which we find the Verb witch, us'd (where the Numbers require) for, bewitch. So in I Henry IV. As if an Angel drop'd down from the Clouds, To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus; And witch the World with noble Horsemanship. So in 3 Henry VI. I'll make my Heaven in a Lady's Lap; And deck my Body in gay Ornaments; And witch sweet Ladies with my Words and Looks.

Note return to page 82 [12] (12) What stronger Breast-plate than a Heart untainted? Thrice is he arm'd &lblank;] The Poet seems to have had in View this Expression of Horace, (Li. i. Ode. 3.) Illi robur & æs triplex Circà pectus erat, &c. however he has varied it in the Application.

Note return to page 83 [13] (13) &lblank; as smart as Lizards' Stings!] In several other Passages, I have observ'd, our Poet speaks of the Lizard, so inoffensive with us, as of a noxious Animal. I don't know, whether in Italy these Reptiles be venomous, or no; or whether, by Lizard, the Poet means Serpent, as Virgil is said to do, Eclog. 2. v. 9. Nunc virides etiam occultant Spineta Lacertos. Lacertos.] Genus Serpentis; says Servius. But we know, these Animals are terrible and noxious in some Parts of the World; as in the Island of Java, for Instance. In Sylvis Javæ, in paludibus & cæno, Lacertæ quoddam genus, aut, ut aptiùs dicam, Crocodili terrestris species.—Nullus, ex plurimis quos vidi, ultrà quinque pedes excreverat. Ferunt tamen Javani, sævos et majores in montibus versari. Animal per totum Vertebrarum dorsi processum serratum est, cute rugosâ et squamosâ, fædè viridi & maculosâ ità ut solo aspectu suo insuetis horrorem incutiat. Bontius in Natural. Histor. lib. v. c. 4.

Note return to page 84 [14] (14) Than Bargulus the strong Illyrian Pirate.] The old 4to reads, than mighty Abradas the great Macedonian Pirate. Neither of these Wights have I been able to trace, or discover from what Legend our Author deriv'd his Acquaintance with them.

Note return to page 85 [15] (15) Pine gelidus timor occupat artus.] Thus the 1st Folio Impression. Whence the Poet glean'd this Hemistich, I do not know. Tis certain, the first Word is corrupted. I believe, I have restor'd it, as it ought to be. Suffolk would say, the Fear of that Punishment, that Revenge, they were about to take upon him, put his Limbs into a cold trembling.

Note return to page 86 [16] (16) They use to write it on the Top of Letters,] Emanuel, which, 'tis well known, signifies, God with us; was in use on the Top of Letters missive, (not of common Letters;) as now in publick Acts, In the Name of God. Several Instances of this Superstition may be found in Mabillon's Diplomata.

Note return to page 87 [17] (17) Is there any more of them that be Knights? Mich. Ay, his Brother. Cade. Then kneel down, Dick Butcher. Rise up Sir Dick Butcher. Now sound up the Drum.] This Passage I have inserted from the old 4to, because, I think, it greatly encreases the Pleasantry and Extravagance of Cade's Humour; not only to knight himself, but, because Stafford's Brother was also a Knight, to dub one of his own Scoundrel Followers, by way of Equality.

Note return to page 88 [18] (18) Ah thou Say, thou Serge, nay thou buckram Lord.] The Poet makes Cade here pun upon my Lord Say's Name, comparing him to that coarse Stuff which we call a Say; and which the French likewise term, une Saie, Saiette.

Note return to page 89 [19] (19) Is straightway claim'd, and boarded with a pirate.] I doubt not but my Readers will agree, that I have restor'd to the Text its true Reading. After the violent Working of a Tempest, the Sea is, for the most part, totally becalm'd. Besides, with Allusion to the King's Affairs, the Tempest of Cade's Rebellion was just blown over; the State was in a Calm, by that Insurrection being quieted: and immediately York, like an usurping Pirate, comes to seize the Vessel of Government. And again, which heightens the Justness of the Metaphor, a Calm is the most usual Occasion of that Misfortune of being taken by Pirates; which, by the Use of the Sails, they might otherwise escape. The Oldest folio Edition led me to this Emendation, where we find it—Is strait way calme:—and the 3d Fol. Impression, as I have observ'd since, anticipates my Correction.

Note return to page 90 [20] (20) Would'st have me kneel? First, let me ask of these, If they can brook I bow a knee to man. Sirrah, call in my Sons to be my bail.] As these Lines have hitherto stood, I think the Sense perplex'd and obscure. I have ventur'd to transpose them, and make a slight Alteration, by the Advice of my ingenious Friend Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 91 [21] (21) Shall be their Father's Bail, and Bane to those,] Considering, how our Author loves to play on Words similar in their Sound, but opposite in their Signification, I make no Doubt but I have here restor'd his genuine Reading. Bale, (from whence our common Adjective, baleful) signifies, Detriment, Ruin, Misfortune, &c. We meet with this Word again in Locrine, a Play ascrib'd to our Author, and printed above 20 years before his Death. Yea, with these Eyes thou hast seen her, and therefore pull them out, for they will work thy Bale. But I shall have Occasion to enlarge my Authorities for its Usage; when I come to Coriolanus.

Note return to page 92 [22] (22) &lblank; Oh, let the vile World end, And the premised Flames of the last day Knit Earth and Heav'n together!] i. e. Let the vile World end now; and let those Flames, which are reserv'd for its Destruction hereafter, be sent now.—Shakespeare is very peculiar in his Adjectives; and it is much in his Manner to use the Words borrow'd from the Latine closer to their original Signification, than they were vulgarly used in. So here he uses premised, in the Sense of the Word from which it is deriv'd, præmissus.

Note return to page 93 [23] (23) For underneath an Alehouse paltry Sign, The Castle in St. Albans, Somerset Hath made the Wizard famous in his Death.] The Death of Somerset here accomplishes that equivocal Prediction given by Jordan, the Witch, concerning this Duke; which we met with at the Close of the First Act of this Play: Let him shun Castles; Safer shall he be upon the sandy Plains, Than where Castles, mounted, stand. i. e. the Representation of a Castle, mounted for a Sign.

Note return to page 94 [1] (1) The Third Part of K. Henry VI.] The Action of this Play (which was at first printed under this Title, The true Tragedy of Richard Duke of York, and the good K. Henry VIth: or, The Second Part of the Contention of York and Lancaster) opens just after the first Battle at St. Albans, wherein the York Faction carried the day; and closes with the Murther of King Henry VIth, and the Birth of Prince Edward, afterwards King Edward V. So that this History takes in the Space of full 16 Years. The Rancour of the contending Factions, in this Play, is painted too strongly to be agreeable; but the Poet, in a great measure, goes on the Authority of Tradition: and if the Noblemen appear more savage than can suit with their Dignity or our present Notion of Politeness; considerable Allowances must be made for the Inveteracy, with which this Civil War was carried on in all its Vicissitudes.

Note return to page 95 [2] (2) Westm. But when the Duke is slain, &c.] Ever since the old Edition by the Players, hath this Line been given to Westmorland: but, tis plain, the King in his Speech immediately following replies as to Exeter, who in the modern Books has not as yet spoke a Word. I have, upon the Authority of the oldest Quarto, restor'd this Line, therefore, to Exeter.

Note return to page 96 [3] (3) No Quarrel, but a slight Contention.] Thus the Players, first, in their Edition; who did not understand, I presume, the force of the Epithet in the old Quarto, which I have restor'd;—sweet Contention. i. e. the Argument of their Dispute was upon a grateful Topick; the Question of their Father's immediate Right to the Crown.

Note return to page 97 [4] (4) But for a Kingdom any Oath may be broken;] It seems very probable to me, that the Poet is here copying the Spirit of this Passage of Seneca's Thebais. &lblank; Pro regno velim Patriam, Penates, Conjugem flammis dare; Imperia precio quolibet constant benè. To the same Tenour Euripides, in his Phænissæ; &lblank; &grT;&gru;&grr;&gra;&grn;&grn;&gria;&grd;&gro;&grst; &grp;&gre;&grr;&gria; &grK;&graa;&grl;&grl;&gri;&grs;&grt;&gro;&grn; &gras;&grd;&gri;&grk;&gre;&gric;&grn;; &c.

Note return to page 98 [5] (5) Witty, courteous, liberal, full of Spirit.] What a blessed harmonius Line have the Editors here given us, and what a promising Epithet, in York's behalf, from the Kentishmen being so witty? I can't be so partial, however, to my own Country, as to let this Compliment pass. I make no Doubt to read; &lblank; For they are Soldiers, Wealthy, and courteous, liberal, full of Spirit. Now these 5 Characteristicks answer to Lord Say's Description of them in the preceding Play. Kent, in the Commentaries Cæsar writ, Is term'd the civil'st Place in all this Isle; The people liberal, valiant, active, wealthy.

Note return to page 99 [6] (6) Dii faciant, laudis, &c.] This is the 66th Verse of Phillis her Epistle to Demophoon, in Ovid. It is a signal Instance, I think, that the Author knew perfectly well how to apply his Latine.

Note return to page 100 [7] (7) And buckler with thee Blows twice two for one.] This is the Reading of all the Impressions, from the first Folio downwards. But, to buckler, is to defend; which certainly is not Clifford's Meaning here: And in that Sense we have the Word afterwards in this very Play; Can Oxford, that did ever fence the Right, Now buckler Falshood with a Pedigree? Mr. Pope, who pretends to have collated the old Quarto, might have observ'd the Reading is there, as I have restor'd it to the Text, buckle; i. e. coap, struggle with. So before, in the 1 Henry VI. In single Combat thou shalt buckle with me. And again; &lblank; All our general Force Might, with a Sally of the very Town, Be buckled with. And again; And He'll too strong for me to buckle with.

Note return to page 101 [8] (8) Would not have stain'd the Roses just with Blood.] This Reading we deriv'd from the 2d Folio Edition. The old 4to and the first Folio Impression exhibit the Passage thus. That Face of his the hungry Canibals Would not have touch'd, would not have stain'd with Blood. But how are we to understand, Staining the Roses just with Blood? Can the Poet mean, that the Canibals would not have just stain'd the Roses in his Cheeks with Blood? The Position of the Words is forc'd, to admit of this Construction: and, just, seems a very idle Expletive. The Conjecture, which I gave in Print sometime ago, and with which I have now restor'd the Text, I am very willing to think, retrieves the Poet's Thought. Would not have stain'd the Roses juic'd with Blood. i. e. would not have spilt that Blood, whose Juices shone thro' his young Cheeks, bright as the Vermilion Dye in Roses.

Note return to page 102 [9] (9) And harmless pity must be laid aside.] This Reading, I don't know for what Reason, was introduc'd by Mr. Rowe, and follow'd by Mr. Pope: But all the old Books have it rightly, harmful: meaning, that the King's Lenity and Pity were prejudicial to his Interest.

Note return to page 103 [10] (10) And happy always was it for that Son, Whose Father for his boarding went to Hell.] Mr. Rowe and Mr. Pope in this Pointing have err'd with some of the Old Impressions, and quite subverted the Poet's Meaning. They make the King assert a Sentiment, which he, in Fact, is calling in Question. I have restor'd the true Pointing from the Old Quarto, which Mr. Pope would have us believe he had collated. The King would argue thus; “Tho 'tis a general Saying, that the Son is happy, whose miserly Father goes to the Devil; yet is every such Son, without Exception, happy, in having had such a parsimonious Father?”

Note return to page 104 [11] (11) Thy Brother's Blood the thirsty Earth hath drunk,] This Passage, from the Variation of the Copies, gave me no little Perplexity. The old 4to applies this Description to the Death of Salisbury, Warwick's Father. But this was a notorious Deviation from the Truth of History. For the Earl of Salisbury in the Battel at Wakefield, wherein Richard Duke of York lost his Life, was taken Prisoner, beheaded at Pomfret, and his Head, together with the Duke of York's, fix'd over York-gates. Then, the only Brother of Warwick, introduc'd in this Play, is the Marquess of Montacute; (or Mountague, as he is call'd by our Author:) but he does not dye, till ten years after, in the Battel at Barnet; where Warwick likewise was kill'd. The Truth is, the Brother, here mention'd, is no Person in the Drama: and his Death is only an incidental Piece of History. Consulting the Chronicles, upon this Action at Ferribridge, I find him to have been a natural Son of Salisbury, (in that respect, a Brother to Warwick;) and esteem'd a valiant young Gentleman.

Note return to page 105 [12] (12) Enter Clifford wounded.] In the 1st Quarto, there is this Circumstance added; Enter Clifford wounded, with an Arrow in his Neck. The Players, in their Edition, had Reason to make a Retrenchment of this; for, no doubt, 'twas a point of Ridicule to see an Actor come upon the Stage to die, with an Arrow fixt in his Neck. And this Passage I find rallied by Beaumont and Fletcher in their Knight of the Burning Pestle. For Ralph; the Grocer's Prentice, is there introduc'd, with a forked Arrow through his Head; and makes a long burlesque Harangue in a bantering Imitation of Clifford's Speech here. Take a short Sample of his last dying Words. Farewell, all you good Boys in merry London, Nere shall we more upon Shrovetuesday meet, And pluck down Houses of Iniquity. My Pain encreaseth:—I shall never more Hold open, whilst Another pumps both Legs; Nor daub a Sattin Gown with rotten Eggs. Set up a Stake, oh, never more I shall; I dye: fly, fly, my Soul, to Grocer's Hall. Dyes.

Note return to page 106 [13] (13) The common People swarm like Summer flies.] This Line, which is a necessary Introduction to That which follows, and which is left out in all the other Impressions, I have restor'd from the Old Quarto.

Note return to page 107 [14] (14) For Gloster's Dukedom is too ominous.] This Passage seems sneer'd at by B. Jonson in his Devil's an Ass: where a foolish Fellow is duped into the Opinion of being created a Duke. Meer-cr. I think, we ha' found a place to fit you now, Sir: Gloucester. &lblank; Fitz-dot. O, no; I'll none. Meer-cr. Why, Sir? Fitz-dot. 'Tis fatal. Meer-cr. That you say right in. Spencer, I think, the younger, had his last Honour thence. But he was but an Earl. Fitz-dot. I know not That, Sir: But Thomas of Woodstock, I'm sure, was Duke; and he was made away at Calice, as Duke Humphry was at Bury: And Richard the Third, you know, what End he came to. Meer-cr. By my Faith, you're cunning in the Chronicle, Sir. Fitz-dot. No, I confess, I ha't from the Play-books; and think, they're more authentick.

Note return to page 108 [15] (15) Because, in Quarrel of the House of York, The worthy Gentleman did lose his Life.] I am afraid, our Poet puts false Colours on the Death of Sir John Gray, to palliate King Edward's Marriage with the Widow. Sir John Gray was slain at the last Battel of St. Albans, by the Power of King Edward; as Hall expressly says: so that He was in Queen Margaret's Army, and really slain on the Quarrel of Lancaster. And King Edward's Queen, in Richard III. is reproach'd with this by Gloucester. In all which Time you and your Husband Gray Were factious for the House of Lancaster. &lblank; Was not your Husband In Margret's Battel at St. Alban's slain?

Note return to page 109 [16] (16) O, but Impatience waiteth on true Sorrow; And see, where comes the Breeder of my Sorrow.] Tho I have not disturb'd the Text here, I cannot smother an ingenious Conjecture of my Friend's on this Passage.—“How does Impatience wait more particularly on true Sorrow? On the contrary, those Sorrows, such as this Queen's, which came gradually, by a long Course of Misfortunes, are generally less impatient than That of Those, who, having been unacquainted with Misfortunes, fall into sudden Miseries. Perhaps, the true Reading might be;” O, but Impatience, waiting, rues to Morrow: And see, where comes the Breeder of my Sorrow. “i. e. When Impatience waits and sollicits for Redress, there is Nothing She so much dreads as being put off till to Morrow; (a proverbial Expression for Procrastination) and a very proper Reply to the King. Besides, a Rhyme is hereby added, in which Custom the Poet so much delighted; and a Sentiment is convey'd truely worthy of him.” Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 110 [17] (17) I'll join my eldest Daughter, and my Joy, To him forthwith, &lblank;] Surely, this is a Mistake of the Copyists. Hall, in the 9th Year of K. Edward IV. says, Edward, Prince of Wales, wedded Anne Second Daughter to the Earl of Warwick.—And the Duke of Clarence was in Love with the Elder, the Lady Isabel; and in Reality was married to her five Years before Prince Edward took the Lady Anne to Wife. And in K. Richard 3d, Gloucester, who married this Lady Anne when a Widow, says. For then I'll marry Warwick's Youngest Daughter. What tho' I kill'd her Husband and her Father? i. e. Prince Edward, and K. Henry VI. her Father in Law. See likewise Holingshead in his Chronicle; p. 671 and 674.

Note return to page 111 [18] (18) Belike, the Elder; Clarence will have the Younger.] I have ventur'd to make Elder and Younger change Places in this Line, against the Authority of All the printed Copies. The Reason of it will be obvious to every one, from the Proofs in my Note preceding this.

Note return to page 112 [19] (19) His Soldiers lurking in the Town about.] Dr. Thirlby advised the reading Towns here, very justly, upon the Proof of this Passage spoken by the Guard in the Scene immediately following. &lblank; but why commands the King, That his chief Foll'wers lodge in Towns about him, &c.

Note return to page 113 [20] (20) But while he thought to steal the single ten, The King was slily finger'd from the Deck.] Tho there may seem no Consonance of Metaphors betwixt a single Ten and a Deck, the latter Word being grown obsolete, and not acknowledg'd by our Dictionaries in the Sense here required; yet Deck, in all our Northern Counties, is to this day used to signify a Pack or Stock of Cards. The Allusion to Cards every Reader must have observ'd is very familiar with our Author; but I'll subjoin a few Instances in Proof, that occur to me at present. Antony and Cleopatra. &lblank; She Eros, She Pack'd Cards with Cæsar. Titus Andronicus. As sure a Card, as ever won the Set. Taming the Shrew. A Vengeance on your crafty wither'd Hide! Yet I have fac'd it with a Card of Ten. 1 Henry VI. There all is marr'd; there lies a cooling Card. King John. Have I not here the best Cards for the Game, To win this easie Match play'd for a Crown. And shall I now give o'er the yielded Sett?

Note return to page 114 [21] (21) A Parley is sounded, &c.] This necessary Note of Direction, which explains the Matter in Action, I restor'd from the old Quarto. And, without it, it is impossible that any Reader can guess at the Meaning of this Line of Clarence; Look, here I throw my Infamy at Thee.

Note return to page 115 [22] (22) My Parks, my Walks, my Manors that I had, Ev'n now forsake me; and of all my Lands Is nothing left me, but my Body's Length.] I won't venture to affirm, our Author is imitating Horace here; but, surely, this Passage is very much of a Cast with that which I am about to quote. Linquenda Tellus & Domus, & placens Uxor; neq; harum, quas colis, Arborum Te præter invisas Cupressos,   Ulla brevem Dominum sequetur. Lib. ii. Ode 14.

Note return to page 116 [23] (23) What though the Mast be now blown overboard, The Cable broke, the holding Anchor lost, And half our Sailors swallow'd in the Flood?] The Allusion which the Queen pursues here, of the Kingdom harrass'd by the Calamities of Civil War, to a Ship distress'd by hard Weather, seems a close Copy from this fine Draught of Horace:     Nonne vides, ut Nudum remigio latus, Et Malus celeri saucius Africo, Antennæq; gemant? Ac sine funibus   Vix durare Carinæ     Possint imperiostus Æquor? Non tibi sunt integra lintea, &c. Lib. i. Ode 14. And what is very remarkable, this Image in both Poets is made on the same Occasion, on the Storms of civil Fury. Only our Poet very judiciously, as using it metaphorically, is much shorter than Horace, who used it allegorically, which requir'd its being drawn out to greater Length. There have been some modern Criticks, I know, who won't allow this Ode in the Roman Poet to be an Allegory on the Civil Wars; but only a civil Invitation to a shatter'd Ship, that bore one of Horace's Friends, to stay quietly in Harbour. But we may as safely, I think, go along with Quintilian, (who must have been, at least, as well inform'd in this Matter) and he directly says, the Ship is the Roman Commonwealth. Totusq; etiàm ille Horatii locus, quo Navim pro Republicä, Fluctuum Tempestates pro Bellis Civilibus, Portum pro Pace atq; Concordia dicit.— Institut. Orator. lib. viii. cap. 6. De Tropis. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 117 [24] (24) &lblank; Where is that Devil's Butcher, Richard?] Thus all the Editions. But Devil's Butcher, in other Terms, I think, is Kill-devil: rare News for the Freethinkers, if there were any Grounds for depending on it. But the Poet certainly wrote devil-Butcher; and the first Part of the Compound is to be taken adjectively, meaning, execrable, infernal, devilish.

Note return to page 118 [25] (25) What Scene of Death hath Roscius now to act?] Tho I have not disturb'd the Text here, I cannot but subjoin my Friend's Suspicion of it, in his own Words.—I believe, there never was a sillier Corruption than this Reading; certainly introduced by some shallow-pated conceited Fellow of the Scene. For, in the first Place, what Similitude between Richard's Murthers, and Roscius's Scenes of Death? But what is still worse, Roscius was a Comedian, and not a Tragedian. Were a Player here to be brought in by head and shoulders, it should have been Æsopus. —Roscius citatior, Æsopus gravior fuit; quòd Ille Comædias, hic Tragœdias egit; says Quintilian. And to shew what Kind of Walk in Playing Roscius was famous for, we need only cite Tully, in his Oration in Behalf of that Comedian.—Cujus Personam præclarè Roscius in Scenâ tractare consuevit: neq; tamen pro beneficio ei par gratia refertur. Nam Ballionem illum improbissimum, & perjurissimum lenonem cum agit, agit Chæream.—(By the Bye, had L'Abbé d' Aubignac remember'd this Passage, he need not have made it a Question in his La Practique du Theatre, whether Plautus's Plays were acted after his Death.) Now this being premised, I cannot but think that we ought to read; What Scene of Death hath Richard now to act? And this not only makes good Sense of the Line, but is infinitely more agreeable to the Character of the Speaker, and the Circumstances he was then in. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 119 [26] (26) And, if the rest be true which I have heard, Thou cam'st &lblank;] Had our Editors had but a Grain of Sagacity, or due Diligence, there could have been no Room for this absurd Break: since they might have ventur'd to fill it up with Certainty too. The old Quarto would have led them part of the way, Thou cam'st into the World &lblank; And that the Verse is to be compleated in the manner I have given it, is incontestible; or funless we suppose King Henry actually reproaches him with this his preposterous Birth, how can Richard in his very next Soliloquy say? Indeed, 'tis true that Henry told me of, For I have often heard my Mother say, I came into the World with my Legs forward. I can easily see, that this Blank was caus'd by the Nicety of the Players, to suppress an indecent Idea. But, with Submission, this was making but half a Cure, unless they had expung'd the Repetition of it out of Richard's Speech too.

Note return to page 120 [27] (27) Thanks, noble Clarence; worthy Brother, thanks.] This Line, ever since the first Edition by the Players, has been given to K. Edward; but I have, with the old Quarto, restored it to the Queen, from whom it comes with much more Propriety.

Note return to page 121 [1] (1) The Life and Death of King Richard III.] This Tragedy, tho it is call'd the Life and Death of this Prince, comprizes, at most, but the last 8 Years of his Time: For it opens with George Duke of Clarence being clap'd up in the Tower, which happen'd in the beginning of the Year 1477; and closes with the Death of Richard at Bosworth-field, which Battle was fought on the 22d of August in the Year 1485. This short historical Interval, however, is so crowded with Incidents, (if plotted and premeditated Murthers may bear that Title,) that it is from the Beginning to the End an Oglio of bloody Dissimulation and ambitious Cruelty. It has been very well observ'd by the late Mr. Gildon, that Richard, as he is drawn, is not a fit Character for the Stage; being shocking in all he does: That tho' the Antients had introduc'd an Atreus, Thyestes, &c. yet the Cruelties committed by them have been the suddain Effect of Anger and Revenge: But Richard is a calm Villain; and does his Murthers deliberately, wading thro' a Sea of his nearest Relations Blood to the Crown.—Tho' many worthy and wholesome Laws were enacted under the Protectorship and Government of this Usurper, 'tis obvious, that the Historians and Poets, in loading his Character, have at the same time been paying their Compliments to that Line, which gave them an Elizabeth. The Miseries and Iniquities of Civil War were richly compensated in such a Blessing. Jam nihil, O Superi, querimur: Scelera ipsa, Nefasque, Hâc Mercede Placent. &lblank; Lucan.

Note return to page 122 [2] (2)About a Prophecy, which says, that G Of Edward's Heirs the Murtherer shall be.] These two Lines are in all the old Books whatsoever, as well as in all the modern ones that I have seen, except the two Impressions by Mr. Pope. By what Authority he has thought fit to leave them out, I don't know: If he did it, because Clarence in the next Scene says something much to the same Effect, I think, that is no Reason for expunging them. Mr. Pope has, in other Cases, where he thought any Thing superfluous, thrown it out of the Text, but then he has degraded it to the Bottom of the Page.

Note return to page 123 [3] (3)More pity, that the Eagle should be mew'd, While Kites and Buzzards play at Liberty.] I have, upon the authority of the old Quarto's, restored prey, as the most expressive and proper Word. And our Author again in this very Play makes Glocester repeat the same Thought, and use the same Expression. &lblank; the World is grown so bad, That Wrens make Prey, where Eagles dare not perch.

Note return to page 124 [4] (4)&lblank; repair to Crosby-place.] This was a House of Richard Duke of Glocester near Bishop's-gate Street. It was formerly, I presume, a part of the Estate of Sir John Crosbie, (a Lord Mayor of London) who, in the year 1477, was buried at St. Helen's in Bishop's-gate Street, and left the Bulk of his Effects to publick Benefactions.

Note return to page 125 [5] (5)Here come the Lords of Buckingham and Derby.] This is a Blunder of Inadvertence, which has run thro' the whole Chain of Impressions. It could not well be original in Shakespeare, who was most minutely intimate with his History and the Intermarriages of the Nobility. The Person, here called Derby, was Thomas Lord Stanley, Lord Steward of King Edward the IVth's Household. He had married Margaret, Daughter of John Duke of Somerset, and Widow of Edmund Earl of Richmond, by whom she had Henry Earl of Richmond, afterwards King Henry VIIth. But this Thomas Lord Stanley was not created Earl of Derby till after the Accession of that Prince; and, accordingly, afterwards in the Fourth and Fifth Acts of this Play, before the Battel of Bosworth-field, he is every where call'd Lord Stanley. This sufficiently justifies the Change I have made in his Title.

Note return to page 126 [6] (6)Tell him, and spare not; Look, what I have said,] This Verse, which was at first left out by the Players in their Impression (in which the modern Editors have follow'd them) I have restor'd from the old Quarto's; and, indeed, without it, the Verse, which immediately follows, is hardly Sense.

Note return to page 127 [7] (7)The Slave of Nature, &lblank;] It was suggested to me, that, probably, the Author might have wrote The Shame of Nature, &lblank; But, as Mr. Warburton ingeniously observ'd to me, the first is a most beautiful and satirical Expression. For, as it was customary formerly for Masters to brand their Slaves, especially their fugitive Slaves, both as a Punishment, and as a Mark to ascertain the Ownership; so, when any Person is born ill-shap'd, 'tis usually said, Nature has stigmatiz'd him, or set a Mark upon him that Men may beware of his ill Conditions. It is the old Rule in Physiognomy, and we do not want living Proofs of its being well-grounded, that Distortum Vultum sequitur Distortio Morum.

Note return to page 128 [8] (8)If you are hir'd for Need, &lblank;] I have chose to restore the Word, which possesses all the old Copies, Meed; and as I have elsewhere observ'd in these Notes, it signifies, with our Author, both Merit and the Reward of Merit. One of the Murtherers at the Close of this Scene says: And when I have my Meed, I must away. And Gloster says before in this Act; And for his Meed, poor Lord, he is mov'd up. In both which Places it signifies Reward. I'll now subjoin a Passage or two, in which it means Merit. 3 Henry VI. Each one already blazing by our Meeds. And, again; That's not my Fear, my Meed hath got me Fame. And, Timon of Athens; &lblank; no Meed, but he repays Sev'nfold above it self.

Note return to page 129 [9] (9)Forthwith from Ludlow the young Prince be fetch'd,] Edward, the young Prince, in his Father's life time and at his Demise, kept his Household at Ludlow as Prince of Wales; under the Governance of Antony Woodvile Earl of Rivers, his Uncle by the Mother's side. The Intention of his being sent thither was to see Justice done in the Marches; and, by the authority of his presence, to restrain the Welshmen, who were wild, dissolute, and ill-disposed, from their accustom'd Murthers and Outrages. Vid. Hall, Holingshead, &c.

Note return to page 130 [10] (10)My other self, my Counsel's Consistory, My Oracle, my Prophet, my dear Cousin!] I have alter'd the Pointing of this Passage, by the Direction of my ingenious Friend Mr. Warburton: because, by this new Regulation, a strange and ridiculous Anticlimax is prevented.

Note return to page 131 [11] (11)Or let me die, to look on Earth no more.] This is the Reading of all the Copies, from the first Edition, put out by the Players, downwards. But the old Dutchess had no Antipathy to the World, or looking upon the Earth in general: Her Complaints are restrain'd to the calamitous Days she had seen, the Miseries and Slaughters of civil Wars at home: during the Process of which she had been witness to so many Murthers, such Havock and Destruction; that she very reasonably wishes, that such Outrage may cease, or that she may not live to behold any more Friends massacred. I have therefore restored the Reading of the old Quarto in 1597 (which is copied by all the other authentick Quarto's;) by which the Thought is finely and properly improv'd. Or let me dye, to look on Death no more.

Note return to page 132 [12] (12)Thus like the formal Vice, Iniquity, I moralize two Meanings in one Word.] All the Editions agree in this Reading, without the least Variation; and therefore I have not ventured to disturb the Text. But as the Passage has been most ingeniously attempted, it is incumbent on me to give the Conjecture a Place; after which, I will see how far the present Reading may be defended and accounted for: and then submit both to publick Judgment. To begin with the Anonymous Corrector;—“Richard, having gloss'd over a villainous Meaning with an equivocal Expression, makes his Reflection upon it. But, I believe, neither the Attribute given to Iniquity of moralizing, nor the Epithet of a formal Vice, are very intelligible: sure, they make the Sense of the two Lines altogether incomprehensible. Those, who attend to the Speaker's Character, and are acquainted with ancient Literature, will agree with me that the Lines should be read thus; Thus, like the formal wise Antiquity, I moralize two Meanings in one Word. Alluding to the mythologic Learning of the Ancients, which explain'd the Fables of their Gods by moral Verities; a Sentiment wonderfully well adapted to the Character of Richard, who must be suppos'd here to speak ironically and to this Effect. You Men of Morals, who so much extoll your formal wise Antiquity, in what am I inferior to it, which was but an Equivocator as I am, and could moralize two Meanings in one Word?” I come now to the Explanation of the Text, as it is exhibited in the printed Copies. By Vice, perhaps, the Author may mean not a Quality but a Person. There was hardly an old Play, till the Period of the Reformation, which had not in it a Devil, and a drole Character, a Jeaster; (who was to play upon, and work, the Devil;) and this Buffoon went by the Name of a Vice. A Vice in a Play, badin, mime; To play the Vice, badiner; Mime, a Vice, Fool, Jeaster, &c. in a Play; says Cotgrave. Mimo, (mimus) a Jeaster, a Vice; says Minshew in his Spanish Dictionary. If it be worth the while to spend a Word or two upon Derivation, we are told, this Vice comes from the Saxon Word Ieck, which comes from the Greek &gre;&gris;&grk;&gra;&gric;&gro;&grst;, vanus, fatuus. I confess, I think, we may go a nearer way to work. This Vice, in my Mind, comes from the Greek Original: for, adding the Æolic Digamma to &gre;&gris;&grk;&gra;&gric;&gro;&grst;, (scil. F&gre;&gri;&grk;&gra;&gric;&gro;&grst;) and then throwing out the Termination, Vice is very nearly produced. But to pass over from Etymology. This Buffoon was at first accoutred with a long Jerkin, a Cap with a Pair of Ass's Ears, and a Wooden Dagger, with which (like another Arlequin) he was to make Sport in belabouring the Devil. This was the constant Entertainment in the Times of Popery, whilst Spirits, and Witchcraft, and Exorcising held their own. When the Reformation took place, the Stage shook off some Grossities, and encreas'd in Refinements. The Master-Devil then was soon dismiss'd from the Scene; and this Buffoon was chang'd into a subordinate Fiend, whose Business was to range on Earth, and seduce poor Mortals into that personated vicious Quality, which he occasionally supported; as, Iniquity in general, Hypocrisy, Usury, Vanity, Prodigality, Gluttony, &c. Now as the Fiend, (or Vice,) who personated Iniquity (or Hypocrisy, for Instance,) could never hope to play his Game to the purpose but by hiding his cloven Foot, and assuming a Semblance quite different from his real Character; he must certainly put on a formal Demeanour, moralize, and prevaricate in his Words, and pretend a Meaning directly opposite to his genuine and primitive Intention. If this does not explain the Passage in Question, 'tis all that I can at present suggest upon it.—Sub judice lis est: I relinquish it to more able Judgments.

Note return to page 133 [13] (13)Vaugh. You live, that shall cry Woe for This hereafter. Rat. Dispatch; the Limit of your Lives is out.] These two Lines Mr. Pope has thought fit to suppress in his Editions, for what Reason I can't pretend to say; tho they have the Authority both of the Old Folio's, and are likewise in Mr. Rowe, whom he seems generally to follow. Without them, I would observe, that Sir Thomas Vaughan is introduced, and led off to dye, without a single syllable spoken by him.

Note return to page 134 [14] (14)When she exclaim'd on Hastings, You, and I,] This Verse is likewise tacitly suppress'd by Mr. Pope, tho it has the same Authorities as the former.

Note return to page 135 [15] (15)I think, there's ne'er a Man in Christendom Can lesser hide his Love, or Hate, than He; For by his Face strait shall you know his Heart.] The Character here given of Richard, (tho very falsly) exactly tallies with a Fragment from One of Ennius's Tragedies, quoted by Nonius Marcellus. &lblank; Eô Ego ingeniô &lblank; Natus fum, Amicitiam atq; Inimicitiam in frontem promptamgero.

Note return to page 136 [16] (16)Lovel and Ratcliff, look that it be done.] There are two Things to be observ'd, which will warrant the Variation I have made upon this Passage. The Scene is here in the Tower: and Lord Hastings was cut off on that very day, when Rivers, Gray and Vaughan suffer'd at Pomfret. How then could Ratcliff at the same Instant be both in Yorkshire and the Tower? In the very Scene preceding This, we find him conducting those Gentlemen to the Block. The Players in their Edition first made the Blunder, as to Ratcliff attending Lord Hastings to Death: for, in the old Quarto, we find it rightly;—Exeunt: Manet Catesby with Hastings.

Note return to page 137 [17] (17)Baynard's Castle.] A House, belonging to the Duke of Gloucester, in Thames-street; so call'd from William Baynard Baron of Dunmow, the Builder of it.

Note return to page 138 [18] (18)Who meets us here? my Neice Plantagenet, Led in the Hand of her kind Aunt of Glo'ster?] Here is a manifest Intimation, that the Dutchess of Glo'ster leads in somebody in her hand; but there is no Direction, or Entrance mark'd in any of the Copies, from which we can learn who it is. I have ventur'd to guess, it must be Clarence's young Daughter. The old Dutchess of York calls her Neice, i. e. Grand-daughter; as Grandchildren are frequently call'd Nephews.—In like manner the Latins us'd their Nepos and Neptis: (as they did likewise Nepotes in a greater Latitude, to signify Descendants in general. Sive neglectum Genus, & Nepotes,   Respicis Autor. Hor. l. i. Ode. 2.) So, in Othello, Iago says to Brabantio, when his Daughter was run away with the Moor. You'll have your Daughter cover'd with a Barbary horse; you'll have your Nephews neigh to you, &c.

Note return to page 139 [19] (19)Eighty odd Years of Sorrow I have seen, And each hour's joy wreck'd with a Week of Anguish.] This, Anguish, is a Word of Mr. Pope's Adoption; for all the Copies, that I have seen, read &lblank; wreck'd with a Week of Teen. The Poet certainly intended, that the old Dutchess should conclude with a Rhyme; and Teen is a Term which he chuses to use elsewhere. So, in his Tempest. &lblank; O, my Heart bleeds To think o'th' Teen that I have turn'd you to, Which is from my Remembrance. And in numberless other Passages.

Note return to page 140 [20] (20)Ah! Buckingham, now do I play the Touch.] Mr. Warburton thinks, the technical Term is absolutely requisite here, and that the Poet wrote; &lblank; Now do I 'ply the Touch. i. e. apply the Touchstone: for that is meant by what he calls Touch. So, again, in Timon of Athens, speaking of Gold, he says; &lblank; O, thou Touch of Hearts! i. e. thou Trial, Touchstone.

Note return to page 141 [21] (21)Airy Succeeders of intestine joys,] Thus the Generality of the Editions, from the oldest Folio Impression. But I cannot understand this Reading. I have adopted another from the Quarto in 1597, which, I think, must be the true one: Airy Succeeders of intestate joys, i. e. Words, tun'd to Complaints, succeed Joys that are dead; and unbequeath'd to them, to whom they should properly descend.

Note return to page 142 [22] (22)The liquid Drops of Tears, that you have shed, Shall come again, transform'd to orient Pearl, Advantaging their Love with Interest, Oftentimes double Gain of Happiness.] The great Improvement to the Sense, which my easy Emendation makes here, will, I flatter my self, convince every judicious Reader, of its being the genuine Reading. Love and Lone (which was the obsolete Manner of spelling Loan;) are made out of one another, only by a Letter turn'd upside down. Oftentimes is a stupid Concretion of three Words, from the Indolence of the Editors, which strangely flattens the Sentence. My Emendation gives this apt and easy Sense. The Tears, that you have lent to your Afflictions, shall be turn'd into Gems; and requite you, by way of Interest, with Happiness twenty times as great as your Sorrows have been.

Note return to page 143 [23] (23)Sir Christopher, tell Richmond this from me;] The Person, who is call'd Sir Christopher here, and who has been styl'd so in the Dramatis Personæ of all the Impressions, I find by the Chronicles to have been Christopher Urswick, a Batchellor in Divinity, and Chaplain to the Countess of Richmond, who had intermarried with the Lord Stanley. This Priest, the History tells us, frequently went backwards and forwards, unsuspected, on Messages betwixt the Countess of Richmond, and her Husband, and the young Earl of Richmond, whilst he was preparing to make his Descent on England.

Note return to page 144 [24] (24)Let us be laid within thy Bosom, Richard,] This is a poor feeble Reading, which has obtain'd by Corruption, ever since the first Edition put out by the Players: and, indeed, up as high as the Quarto in 1602. But I have restor'd from the elder Quarto, publish'd in 1597, which Mr. Pope does not pretend to have seen; Let us be Lead within thy Bosom, Richard, This corresponds with what is said in the Line immediately following, And weigh thee down to Ruin, Shame, and Death! And likewise with what the Generality of the Ghosts say threateningly to Richard; Let me sit heavy on thy Soul to morrow!

Note return to page 145 [25] (25)I dy'd for Hope, ere I could lend thee Aid,] All the Editions concur in this Reading, to the absolute Detriment of the Sense. I restore, with the Addition of a single Letter; I dy'd for Holpe, ere I could lend thee Aid; i. e. I perish'd for that Help, which I had intended and was preparing to lend Thee; tho I could not essentially give Thee any Assistance.

Note return to page 146 [26] (26)And who doth lead them but a paltry Fellow, Long kept in Britaine at our Mother's Cost?] This is spoken by Richard, of Henry Earl of Richmond: but they were far from having any common Mother, but England: and the Earl of Richmond was not subsisted abroad at the Nation's publick Charge. He fled with the Earl of Pembroke into Bretagny in King Edward IVth's Reign: And many Artifices were tried both by that King first, and King Richard afterwards, to get him deliver'd up by the French King and Duke of Bretagny. But he happily escap'd all the Snares laid for him. During the greatest part of his Residence abroad, he was watch'd and restrain'd almost like a Captive; and subsisted by Supplies convey'd from the Countess of Richmond, his Mother. It seems probable therefore, that we must read; Long kept in Bretagne at his Mother's Cost. I publish'd this Conjecture in the Appendix to my Shakespeare restored; and Mr. Pope has thought fit to adopt it in his last Edition of our Poet.

Note return to page 147 1120401 ADDENDUM. At the End of the 10th Note upon 1 Henry VI. p. 129. A learned and Reverend Gentleman having attempted to impeach Dr. Bentley of Error, for maintaining that there never was existent any magnificent or spacious Garden of Adonis; an Opinion, in which as it has been my Fortune to second the Doctor upon this Head, I thought myself concern'd in some part to weigh those Authorities, which are alledg'd by the Objector, for Adonis having any real Garden. Pliny, (in the xixth Book of his Natural History, ch. iv.) has these Words: Antiquitas nihil priùs mirata est quàm Hesperidum Hortos, ac Regum Adonidis & Alcinoi. The First and Third of these suppos'd Gardens, it must be granted, are merely fictitious and mythological; and depend only on the Testimony of poetic Imagination: And therefore there is very little reason to conclude, that the Naturalist meant any more by Adonis's Gardens, than those planted in honour of him, and carried about at his Festivals. The Scholiast on Theocritus tells us, It was a Custom to sow Wheat, Barley, and other Grain, in the Suburbs of their Towns; (where Adonis was worship'd;) and these planted Spots were call'd Adonis's Gardens, and consecrated to him: and the Fruits and Plants, which were produc'd there, were of those that were carried about in the Ceremonies perform'd to his Worship. But it will not be pretended, I hope, that these were Gardens cultivated by him; but barely consecrated to his Memory. The Learned Huetius, indeed, in his Demonstrat. Evangelic. mentions, that the Greeks relate of Adonis, that he was exceedingly devoted to the Culture of Gardens: Regem Adonidem Hortorum curæ impensè fuisse deditum narrantes. But what does this imply more, than that he was an Admirer of rural Pleasures; of Gardens, as well as Lawns and Chases? Not that there was any known or celebrated Garden, formed and cultivated by himself, and which therefore carried his Name. Nay, Huetius was so far from believing any such Matter, that he thinks, the Original of the portable Gardens came from the Resemblance of the Name Adon to that of Eden: and that Gan-Eden, or the Garden of Pleasure, the Term which the Phœnician Women gave to these portable Gardens, in process of Time was chang'd into Gan-Adon, the Gardens of Adonis. So Gerard Croesius, in his Homerus Hebræus, gives it as his Opinion, that whatever the old Fables have said of the Hesperides, and the Gardens of Adonis, as well as what Homer has said of Alcinous's Gardens, have all their Foundation from the Mosaic Eden. And I'll add, that the Elysian Fields, in many Respects, are a Copy from the same Picture.—Marino, indeed, the Italian Poet, has planted a fictitious Garden for Adonis; as our Spenser has likewise done since, upon the other's Plan. But these are Poetic Descriptions, and founded on no Basis of Truth or real Locality. When I wrote the Note, to which I make this a Supplement, I observ'd, that what Author our Shakespeare traded with for his Hint about Adonis's Gardens, I could not pretend to say: but I am now convinc'd, that he copied the Thought of his Simile from the following Passage of Spenser. There is continual Spring, and Harvest there   Continual, Both meeting at one Time; For both the Boughs do laughing Blossoms bear,   And with fresh Colours deck the wanton Prime; And eke at once the heavy Trees they climb,   Which seem to labour under their Fruit's Load, &c. Fairy Queen, Bo. iii. Can. 6. St. 42.

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