Note return to page 1 “The Life and Death of King John” was first printed in the folio of 1623, where it occupies twenty-two pages; viz. from p. 1 to p. 22 inclusive, a new pagination beginning with the “Histories.” It occupies the same place and the same space in the re-impressions of 1632, 1664, and 1685.

Note return to page 2 1It purports to be divided into acts and scenes, but very irregularly: thus what is called Actus Secundus fills no more than about half a page, and Actus Quartus is twice repeated. The later folios adopt this defective arrangement, excepting that in that of 1632 Actus Quintus is made to precede Actus Quartus.

Note return to page 3 2On the 29th Nov. 1614, “a booke called the Historie of George Lord Faulconbridge, bastard son of Richard Cordelion,” was entered on the Stationers' Registers, but this was evidently the prose romance of which an edition in 1616, 4to. is extant. Going back to 1558, it appears that a book, called “Cur de Lion,” was entered on the Stationers' Register of that year.

Note return to page 4 3“It was written, I believe (says Malone), by Robert Greene, or George Peele,” but he produces nothing in support of his opinion. The mention of “the Scythian Tamberlaine,” in the Prologue to the edition of the old “King John,” in 1591, might lead us to suppose that it was the production of Marlowe, who did not die until 1593; but the style of the two parts is evidently different: rhyming couplets are much more abundant in the first than in the second, and there is reason to believe, according to the frequent custom of that age, that more than one dramatist was concerned in the composition of the play.

Note return to page 5 4The edition of 1591 was printed for Sampson Clarke: that of 1611, by Valentine Simmes, for John Helme; and that of 1622, by Aug. Mathews, for Thomas Dewe.

Note return to page 6 5The edition of 1591 is preceded by a Prologue, omitted in the two later impressions, which makes it quite clear that the old “King John,” was posterior to Marlowe's “Tamberlaine:” it begins, “You that with friendly grace of smoothed brow Have entertained the Scythian Tamberlaine,” &c. In the Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poetry and the Stage, vol. iii. p. 112, reasons are assigned for believing that Marlowe's “Tamberlaine” was acted about 1587.

Note return to page 7 6In Henslowe's MS. Diary, under the date of May, 1598, we meet with an entry of a play by Robert Wilson, Henry Chettle, Anthony Munday, and Michael Drayton, entitled “The Funerals of Richard Cordelion.” It possibly had no connexion with the portion of history to which Shakespeare's play and the old “King John” relate.

Note return to page 8 1A list of characters was first added by Rowe.

Note return to page 9 1Farewell, Chatillon.] Spelt Chatillion in the folio, and so anglicised for the sake of the verse elsewhere, (as in the first line of the play) though it might not be necessary to vary from the French pronunciation here, if “to't” were pronounced as a dissyllable.

Note return to page 10 2&lblank; the manage &lblank;] i. e. the conduct. Shakespeare (though he uses it also in “Richard II.” &c.) found this word in the old “King John,” which preceded his own play. The King of France there says, “Till I had, with an unresisted shock, Control'd the manage of proud Angiers' walls.”

Note return to page 11 3Enter the Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who whispers Essex.] The stage-direction in the folio, 1623, is only “Enter a Sheriff;” but it is evident that he was Sheriff of Northamptonshire. In the old play of “King John,” he is said to “whisper Salisbury,” who stands in the place of Essex.

Note return to page 12 4Of Cœur-de-lion knighted in the field.] In the old “King John,” a speech like this is assigned to Robert, and not to Philip:— “My father (not unknown unto your grace) Received his spurs of knighthood in the field, At kingly Richard's hand in Palestine.”

Note return to page 13 5I put you o'er to heaven, and to my mother:] In the old “King John,” the mother of Philip and Robert being present while the legitimacy of the former is canvassed, Robert says, “And here my mother stands to prove him so;” i. e. not the legitimate son of sir Robert Faulconbridge: the mother affects to be very indignant at the accusation.

Note return to page 14 6But whe'r I be as true begot, or no,] Printed “But where I be,” &c. in the folios, to indicate that whether, for the sake of the metre, was to be read as one syllable.

Note return to page 15 7Because he hath a half-face, like my father, With half that face would he have all my land: A half-fac'd groat five hundred pound a year!] This is the reading of all the folios; and the meaning is, that because Robert had only a thin narrow face, like his father, yet with only half the face of his father, he would have all his father's land. Since the time of Theobald, all editors have printed the second line “With that half-face,” &c., which does not express what the poet seems to have intended. Philip ridicules Robert for having, in fact, only half of the half-face of his father, yet claiming all the inheritance by reason of it. The allusion in the words, “half-faced groat,” is to the coin issued by Henry VII. in 1504, (as Theobald pointed out,) with his profile on one side of it. At that date, this was a very unusual mode of representing the king's head upon coins.

Note return to page 16 8Full fourteen weeks]. Six weeks in the old “King John.”

Note return to page 17 9&lblank; “Look, where three-farthings goes,”] Philip here again jokes on the thinness of Robert's face. Elizabeth coined thin silver pieces, of the value of three farthings, on which, at the back of the ear, was a rose, and to this Philip alludes. Costard, in “Love's Labour's Lost,” Vol. ii. p. 315, mentions three-farthing pieces, current when that comedy was written.

Note return to page 18 10I would not be sir Nob &lblank;] The old copy reads, “It would not be, &c.” The correction was made by the editor of the second folio. In both it is printed sir nobbe, without a capital letter.

Note return to page 19 10&lblank; good fortune come to thee, For thou wast got i' the way of honesty.] Alluding to the proverb, that “bastards are born lucky.” Philip wishes his brother good fortune, because Robert was not a bastard: had he been illegitimate, the wish, according to the proverb, would have been needless.

Note return to page 20 1Good den,] An abbreviation of “good even,” or evening; but sometimes used for good day. See “Much Ado about Nothing,” Vol. ii. p. 229.

Note return to page 21 2And then comes answer like an ABC-book:] In the old copies it is printed, “like an absey-book;” and so it must be pronounced for the measure.

Note return to page 22 3That doth not smack of observation;] The folio, 1623, reads smoak, and the second and later folios do not correct the misprint, although very obvious from the next line. “Smack” was first substituted by Theobald.

Note return to page 23 4That will take pains to blow a horn before her?] The allusion is of course double,—to the horn of a post, and to the horn of such a husband as Lady Faulconbridge had rendered hers.

Note return to page 24 5Colbrand &lblank;] Colbrand was the Danish giant, whom Guy of Warwick discomfited in the presence of King Athelstan. This line reads as if quoted from an old romance or ballad, in which the acts of Guy and Colbrand were celebrated. “The History of Guy Earl of Warwick,” by S. Rowlands, did not come out until 1607; but a romance on the same incidents had appeared long before, having been printed by W. Copland and J. Cawood. A fragment of an edition, from the types of Pynson, or Wynkyn de Worde, is also in existence.

Note return to page 25 6Philip?—sparrow!] Philip was the old name given to a sparrow. The Bastard means, that he is no longer to be called by an appellation which belongs to so insignificant an animal.

Note return to page 26 7Could he get me?] The folios omit “he,” which is necessary to the sense.

Note return to page 27 8&lblank; Basilisco-like.] Basilisco is a cowardly braggart in the old play of “Soliman and Perseda,” 1599, who claims to be a knight. The piece must have been popular, and has been attributed to Thomas Kyd, the author of “The Spanish Tragedy.” The date when “Soliman and Perseda” was written has not been ascertained, but it was anterior to “King John,” and in it we meet with just the same substitution of “knave” for “knight,” in a passage which Theobald pointed out:— “Basilisco. I, the aforesaid Basilisco, knight; good fellow, knight. Piston. Knave, good fellow, knave.”

Note return to page 28 9That art the issue of my dear offence,] The meaning is, “Let not heaven and you, that art the issue of my dear offence, lay the transgression to my charge.” The modern reading has generally been to make a period at “charge,” and to begin a new sentence with “Thou art,” &c.; but all the old editions give the passage as in our text, and no alteration is required.

Note return to page 29 1By this brave duke came early to his grave:] In the old “King John,” the King of France tells Arthur, “Brave Austria, cause of Cordelion's death, Is also come to aid thee in thy wars.” This, as Steevens observes, is an historical error; Richard I. having lost his life at the siege of Chaluz, long after he had been ransomed out of Austria's power. Leopold, duke of Austria, who threw Richard I. into prison, was killed by a fall from his horse, in 1195, four years before John ascended the throne.

Note return to page 30 2At our importance hither is he come,] i. e. at our importunity. Shakespeare many times uses “important” for importunate. See Vol. ii. pp. 169. 203. 348. Vol. iii. p. 273, &c.

Note return to page 31 3&lblank; expedient &lblank;] i. e. expeditious. See Vol. iii. p. 46, note 6.

Note return to page 32 4With them a bastard of the king's deceas'd,] So in the old “King John,” “Next them a bastard of the king's deceas'd, A hardy wild-head, tough and venturous.”

Note return to page 33 5That thou hast under-wrought his lawful king,] i. e. under-mined: the opposite to over-reached.

Note return to page 34 6Shall draw this brief into as huge a volume.] The word “brief” meant, in the time of Shakespeare, an abstract, or a short statement. We still use it in the same manner when we speak of a brief delivered to counsel in a cause.

Note return to page 35 7To draw my answer from thy articles?] It has been suggested that we ought to read, “To draw my answer to thy articles;” but the old wording is very intelligible: the answer of John was to be drawn from the articles of the King of France, just before propounded.

Note return to page 36 8Lewis, determine what we shall do straight.] This line, in the folios, is made part of what is said by Austria, and it stands thus:— “King Lewis, determine,” &c. Lewis was not king, but Philip. The error may have arisen merely from not printing King in Italic, as the prefix of the speech, which seems clearly to belong to King Philip.

Note return to page 37 9&lblank; Anjou,] In all the old copies, Angiers is misprinted for Anjou.

Note return to page 38 10Now shame upon you, whe'r she does, or no!] Another instance in which whether is printed where in the old copies. The usual course is to leave these dissyllables to be pronounced in the time of a monosyllable.

Note return to page 39 1And all for her: a plague upon her!] This speech is given in our text exactly as it stands in the old copies: it has been the source of some contention among the commentators; but the meaning, though involved, seems sufficiently clear. Malone “suspected that two half lines had been lost.”

Note return to page 40 2A woman's will:] So in the old “King John,” Elinor says, &lblank; “I can infer a will, That bars the way he urgeth by descent.” And Constance replies, “A will indeed! a crabbed woman's will,” &c.

Note return to page 41 3&lblank; to cry aim] i. e. to give the word for taking aim; a phrase derived from archery. [Subnote: P. 24.&lblank; to cry aim] To this note ought to have been added, that the phrase “to cry aim,” was used in the text metaphorically for to encourage. See Vol. vi. p. 361, note 1.]

Note return to page 42 4Enter Citizens upon the walls.] The economy of our old stage could only allow one citizen to make his appearance. “Enter a Citizen upon the walls” is the direction in the folios.

Note return to page 43 5Comfort your city's eyes,] So all the old copies: King John is evidently speaking ironically. Rowe altered “comfort” to confront, and such has since been the received reading.

Note return to page 44 6To pay that duty, which you truly owe, To him that owes it;] This passage affords an instance of the use of the verb “owe” in its two senses; to owe, as we now ordinarily employ it, and to own, which it formerly signified, and of which sense examples in Shakespeare and his contemporaries are endless. See Vol. ii. pp. 45. 136. 297. 416. Vol. iii. pp. 254. 348, &c.

Note return to page 45 7For him, and in his right, we hold this town.] So in the old “King John,” the citizen on the wall replies, “For him, and in his right, we hold our town.”

Note return to page 46 8Cit. Heralds, from off our towers, &c.] In the old copies, this speech has the prefix of Hubert. Possibly the actor of the part of Hubert also personated the citizen, in order that the speeches might be well delivered, and this may have led to the insertion of his name in the MS.

Note return to page 47 9&lblank; Austria, and forces.] The following is the simple direction in the old folios, and it is worth preserving, on account of the manner in which the two armies, headed by their kings, are represented to come upon the stage:—“Enter the two Kings with their powers, at several doors.”

Note return to page 48 1&lblank; mousing the flesh of men,] See “Midsummer-Night's Dream,” Vol. ii. p. 462, note 1. In both instances the word is mousing, and it also occurs in Sir R. Fanshaw's translation of Pastor Fido, 1648.

Note return to page 49 2You equal potents,] “Potents” may, as Steevens says, be put for potentates; but by “equal potents” the Bastard seems rather to mean, that the victory being undecided, the two kings are equi-potent.

Note return to page 50 3Kings of our fear;] This is the old authentic reading, which the sense does not require us to alter. The meaning of the citizens is, that they will be ruled by their fear, admitting no other monarch, until it shall have been seen which power is the strongest, that of England or France. Tyrwhitt recommended that the passage should run “King'd of our fear,” and Warburton, “Kings are our fear.” Malone adopted the former. The speech is erroneously assigned to King Philip in all the folios.

Note return to page 51 4&lblank; these scroyles of Angiers] i. e. scabs of Angiers, from the French, escroulles. Ben Jonson uses it twice in the same sense, but I do not recollect to have met with it in any other dramatist of the time.

Note return to page 52 5Do like the mutines of Jerusalem,] i. e. the mutineers of Jerusalem. In the case alluded to, the mutineers, or seditious parties, of Jerusalem combined their forces against the Roman besiegers: here, the converse was proposed—the besiegers were to unite against the inhabitants of the town. This event, during the siege of Jerusalem, as Malone pointed out, is found related in Joseph Ben Gorion's “Historie of the Latter Tymes of the Jewes Common-Weale,” translated by Peter Morwyng, and originally published, not as Malone states in 1575, but in 1558. Henslowe, in his Diary, mentions a play to which he gives the title of “Titus and Vespasian,” under date April, 1591, perhaps relating to the siege of Jerusalem, in which the combination of “the mutines of Jerusalem” against the Roman besiegers might form an incident.

Note return to page 53 6If not complete of, say, he is not she;] The meaning is that if the Dauphin be not complete of, or in, these qualities, it is merely because he is not Blanch. Sir Thomas Hanmer, and subsequent editors, changed the preposition “of” into the interjection O! but needlessly, the old copies being quite intelligible.

Note return to page 54 7&lblank; by such as she;] Possibly we ought to read, “by such a she.”

Note return to page 55 8For Anjou,] The old copy reads Angiers, but the same mistake has been before committed. See p. 23. Angiers is specially excepted by King John.

Note return to page 56 9&lblank; Volquessen,] “This,” says Steevens, “is the ancient name for the country now called the Vexin; in Latin, Pagus Velocassinus. That part of it called the Norman Vexin was in dispute between Philip and John.” In the old “King John,” Philip demands these provinces as the dower of Blanch: “Then, I demand Volquesson, Torain, Main, Poiters, and Anjou, these five provinces, Which thou, as King of England, hold'st in France.” John agrees to cede them, but not until he has consulted his mother.

Note return to page 57 10&lblank; at your highness' tent.] In the old “King John,” Constance is present at the discussion and contract, and inveighs bitterly against it after the rest of the characters, excepting Arthur, have withdrawn.

Note return to page 58 1&lblank; rounded in the ear] i. e. whispered in the ear. See Vol. iii. p. 441.

Note return to page 59 2The world, who of itself is peised well,] i. e. poised, or balanced well: the sense is, that “commodity,” i. e. expediency, convenience, or interest, throws the world off its balance, and makes it run unevenly, like a bowl with a bias. See vol. ii. p. 520.

Note return to page 60 3Not that I have the power to clutch my hand, When his fair angels would salute my palm;] The sense would perhaps be clearer if we read, “Not but I have the power to clutch my hand;” or, with as slight a change, “Not that I have not power to clutch my hand;” though the meaning of the poet is sufficiently explained by what follows in the sentence: the Bastard says that he has the power to clutch or close his hand, but that he has yet had no temptation to do so.

Note return to page 61 4Act iii. sc. 1.] In the folios the second act ends at the line p. 41, “Here is my throne, bid kings come bow to it;” but it is a decided error, set right by Theobald: the two Kings, &c. enter while Constance is seated on the ground, and there is no change of place, and no interruption of the action.

Note return to page 62 5A widow,] This was not the fact. “Constance,” says Malone, “was at this time married to a third husband, Guido, brother to the Viscount of Touars. She had been divorced from her second husband, Ranulph, Earl of Chester.” In the old “King John,” Constance speaks of herself as a widow:— “If any power will hear a widow's plaint,” &c.

Note return to page 63 6&lblank; swart,] i. e. brown, inclining to black. In “Henry VI.” pt. i. Act i. sc. 2, we meet with the word again. “And whereas I was black and swart before.” In the “Comedy of Errors,” vol. ii. p. 144, we have “Swart like my shoe, but her face nothing so clean kept.”

Note return to page 64 7For grief is proud, and makes his owner stoop.] This old and sufficiently intelligible reading has been misunderstood and perverted by most modern editors: Sir Thomas Hanmer, and others after him, substituted stout for “stoop,” and Malone, who adheres to “stoop,” prints its for “his.” The meaning seems to be that grief (which the poet personifies) is proud even while he compels his owner to stoop, as Constance did to the earth, to receive the homage of monarchs.

Note return to page 65 8&lblank; high tides,] i. e. solemn seasons, times to be observed above others. We now say, high days and holy days.

Note return to page 66 9But on this day, &c.] i. e. Except on this day.

Note return to page 67 10And sooth'st up greatness.] So Lodge, in the first Satire of his “Fig for Momus,” 1595, “To wink at follies, and to sooth up sins.” This opportunity may be taken to state, that the re-impression of this very able and interesting work, made at the Auchinleck Press in 1817, is full of misprints, extending even to the omission of entire lines.

Note return to page 68 1&lblank; I do demand of thee.] In the old “King John,” this speech thus stands in prose, which Shakespeare has done little more than convert into not very unprosaic verse:— “I, Pandulph, Cardinal of Milan, and Legate from the see of Rome, demand of thee, in the name of our holy father the Pope, Innocent, why thou dost (contrary to the laws of our holy mother the Church, and our holy father, the Pope) disturb the quiet of the Church, and disannul the election of Stephen Langton, whom his holiness hath elected Archbishop of Canterbury? this, in his holyness name, I demand of thee.”

Note return to page 69 2What earthy name to interrogatories Can task the free breath of a sacred king?] Modern editors, since the time of Pope, have substituted earthly for “earthy,” an alteration not required. The change in the next line of tast, as it stands in the old copies, to “task,” is necessary, and was an easy misprint.

Note return to page 70 3Though you, and all the kings of Christendom,] This line shows how Shakespeare sometimes altered merely a word in order to render a prose passage verse: in the old “King John” it stands “Though thou and all the princes of Christendom,” &c.

Note return to page 71 4In likeness of a new untrimmed bride.] A misprint may be suspected here. Theobald reads, “and trimmed,” in reference to Blanch's adornments.

Note return to page 72 5A cased lion] So the old copies, taking “cased” in the sense of caged, for which it was perhaps a misprint, the g having been read for a long s by the compositor. Some editors would read chafed, but this supposes a double error in the word.

Note return to page 73 6The truth is then most done not doing it:] The meaning of this and of the three preceding lines is a little obscure, and Dr. Johnson's emendation, “Is't not amiss when it is truly done?” would clear the text with little violence. Perhaps, however, no alteration is necessary, taking the sense of “Is not amiss when it is truly done” to be “what you have sworn to do amiss, is not amiss when it is done truly, as it ought to be, that is, not done at all.” This was Ritson's notion of the passage. We preserve the original reading.

Note return to page 74 7&lblank; the truth, thou art unsure To swear, swears only not to be forsworn;] i. e. “the truth, which you are unsure to swear, swears only that it will not be forsworn.” This is the authentic reading, making “truth” the nominative to “swears,” which Malone and some other modern editors print swear, leaving it without any word to govern it. The whole passage is difficult.

Note return to page 75 8&lblank; Austria's head, lie there, While Philip breathes.] The old “King John,” 1591, partakes more of the barbarism of the stage when it was written, and Philip spurns and tramples on Austria's head:— “Lie there, a prey to every ravening fowl, And as my father triumph'd in thy spoils, And trod thine ensigns underneath his feet, So do I tread upon thy cursed self.”

Note return to page 76 9&lblank; imprisoned angels Set at liberty:] The old copies are uniform in this reading, which Malone thus changes: “&lblank; angels imprisoned Set thou at liberty:” but the transposition is not required and is unauthorised, and the pronoun is needless for the sense, as well as too much for the metre.

Note return to page 77 10But I will fit it with some better time.] The old copies have tune for “time:” Pope made the correction. As Steevens observes, in the hand-writing of that day, tune could hardly be distinguished from time; and as the improvement is manifest, we may reasonably infer that “time” was Shakespeare's word, which the printer misread. In the printed productions of that period “time” and tune are often confounded.

Note return to page 78 1Sound on into the drowsy race of night:] We prefer the old reading on all accounts. Many of the commentators would read one instead of “on,” which is contradicted by the “midnight bell” in a line just preceding. There is more plausibility for reading ear instead of “race,” recollecting that of old ear was spelt eare, and the words might possibly be mistaken by the printer; but still “race,” in the sense of course or passage, conveys a finer meaning: the midnight bell, with its twelve times repeated strokes, may be very poetically said to “sound on into the drowsy race of night;” one sound produced by the “iron tongue” driving the other “on,” or forward, until the whole number was complete, and the prolonged vibration of the last blow on the bell only left to fill the empty space of darkness.

Note return to page 79 2A whole armado of convicted sail] i. e. of conquered sail. In Minshew's Dictionary, 1617, as quoted by Malone, we read “To convict or convince: a Lat. convictus, overcome.” In “Love's Labour's Lost,” vol. ii. p. 377, we have “convince,” used in the sense of overcome. Webster in his “Appius and Virginia” uses convince for convict. Edit. Dyce, vol. ii. p. 241.

Note return to page 80 3No, I defy all counsel,] One of the old senses of “defy” was refuse.

Note return to page 81 4Which scorns a modern invocation.] i. e. a common or ordinary invocation, a sense in which the word often occurs. See vol. iii. pp. 44. 238, 309, &c.

Note return to page 82 5Thou art not holy, &c.] The negative having dropped out in the first folio, the deficiency was not supplied until the publication of the fourth folio in 1685.

Note return to page 83 6&lblank; ten thousand wiry friends] In the old copies fiends is misprinted for “friends:” there can be no doubt that it is an error of the press.

Note return to page 84 7I will not keep this form upon my head,] In the modern editions this line is followed by the stage-direction “Tearing off her head-dress,” but nothing of the kind is found in the old copies. Constance perhaps wore no head-dress, but her hair, as we may gather from the preceding part of the scene, and when she says, “I will not keep this form upon my head,” she begins again to disorder her hair, which she had previously knit up at the words “But now, I envy at their liberty,” &c.

Note return to page 85 8&lblank; the sweet word's taste,] Malone understands “word” here to refer to life, and as such may be the sense: we prefer the old text, although Pope, with much plausibility, altered “word's” to world's.

Note return to page 86 9This act, so evilly born,] It may be doubted whether we ought to understand “so evilly borne,” as it is printed in the old copies, in the sense of having an evil birth, or merely as ill borne by John's subjects. The last is consistent with what is said afterwards, but seems to afford a poorer sense. A few lines afterwards the old copies have, “No scope of nature,” usually, but perhaps injuriously printed scape by the modern editors.

Note return to page 87 10Strong reasons make strange actions:] So the first folio: the second substitutes strong for “strange,” but certainly without any improvement, and perhaps, it was merely an error of the press.

Note return to page 88 1Northampton.] Such has been the usual locality assigned to this scene, but on no authority, though it will answer the purpose as well as any other. “The fact is,” says Malone, “that Arthur was first confined at Falaise, and afterwards at Rouen, where he was put to death.” The old stage-direction is merely, “Enter Hubert and Executioners,” and all that is clear seems to be, that in Shakespeare, as well as in the old “King John,” the scene is transferred to England.

Note return to page 89 2Fast to the chair:] In the old “King John,” we read at this point, “When you shall hear me (says Hubert) cry ‘God save the king,’ issue suddenly forth, lay hands on Arthur, set him in a chair, wherein once fast-bound, leave him to me to finish the rest.”

Note return to page 90 3I should be as merry &lblank;] Malone reads, “I would be as merry:” in other places he has confounded shall and will, as well as should and would. “Should” is as proper in this line, as “would” in the line which immediately follows.

Note return to page 91 4And quench this fiery indignation,] Such is the reading of the old copies, unnecessarily altered in modern editions to “his fiery indignation.” “This fiery indignation” refers to the iron “heat red-hot” of a line just preceding: that was the fiery indignation which was to be quenched.

Note return to page 92 5&lblank; that doth tarre him on.] The expressive word to “tarre” also occurs in “Hamlet,” A. ii. sc. 2, and in “Troilus and Cressida,” A. i. sc. 3, exactly in the same sense, that of to provoke or excite; but I do not recollect to have met with it in any other dramatist of the time. It has been derived by Johnson with no great probability from the Greek &grt;&gra;&grr;&graa;&grs;&grs;&grw;, and by Serenius, in his Dict. Anglo-Suethico-Latinum, from the Saxon tyrian, in which etymology Horne Tooke agrees. In Todd's Dictionary, it is also stated that Wickliffe uses the word in the form of terre, but not in what part of his writings it is found: it would seem to have been coined from the imitative sound made in provoking dogs to fight.

Note return to page 93 6Well, see to live; I will not touch thine eyes] In the old “King John,” Hubert says, “Cheer thee, young lord, thou shalt not lose an eye, Though I should purchase it with loss of life. I'll to the king, and say his will is done, And of the languor tell him thou art dead. Go in with me, for Hubert was not born, To blind those lamps that nature polish'd so.”

Note return to page 94 7&lblank; once again crown'd,] Old copies, against. Corrected in the third folio.

Note return to page 95 8To guard a title that was rich before,] To guard (as we have already seen in “Measure for Measure,” “Much Ado about Nothing,” and “The Merchant of Venice,” Vol. ii. pp. 51. 196. & 498) means generally to ornament, and in that sense it is here used. It arose out of the protection often afforded by lace, &c. to garments.

Note return to page 96 9And more, more strong than lesser is my fear, I shall indue you with:] The first folio has then for “than,” the commonest mode of printing the word in the time of Shakespeare; but the commentators not adverting to this circumstance do not seem to have understood the passage, and printed “when lesser is my fear,” putting it in parentheses: the meaning, however, seems to be, that the king will hereafter give his lords reasons “stronger than his fear was lesser:” the comparative “lesser” is put for the positive little, because the poet had used “more strong,” in the preceding part of the line.

Note return to page 97 1Your tender kinsman,] The reasoning is much the same in the old “King John:”— “We crave, my lord, to please the commons with, The liberty of Lady Constance' son; Whose durance darkeneth your highness' right, As if you kept him prisoner to the end Yourself were doubtful of the thing you have.”

Note return to page 98 2That blood which ow'd the breadth of all this isle,] To “owe” is of course to own. In Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell, the word “breadth” is printed breath; probably an error of the press.

Note return to page 99 3And here's a prophet,] “This man,” says Douce, “was a hermit in great repute with the common people. Notwithstanding the event is said to have fallen out as he had prophesied, the poor fellow was inhumanly dragged at horses' tails through the streets of Warham, and, together with his son, who appears to have been even more innocent than his father, hanged afterwards upon a gibbet.” See Holinshed's Chronicle, under the year 1213. In the old “King John,” there is a scene between the prophet and the people.

Note return to page 100 4&lblank; five moons were seen to-night:] In the old “King John,” the five moons were in some way made visible to the audience: the stage-direction is, “There the five moons appear.”

Note return to page 101 5Hub. Had none, my lord!] It stands in the first and other folios, “No had (my Lord!)” which may have been misprinted for “None had;” but it is more likely that Hubert took up, and repeated the King's words.

Note return to page 102 6Makes deeds ill done!] The Rev. H. Barry suggests that this passage ought to run, “Makes ill deeds done! [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0533” and there may be some ground for the proposed transposition; but in the first and all the other folios, the words stand as in our text, and are very intelligible, whether the adjective be put before or after the substantive: “ill” is here not an adverb, but agrees with “deeds.” Mr. Knight makes the transposition.

Note return to page 103 7Quoted,] i. e. noted, or distinguished.

Note return to page 104 8As bid me tell my tale] i. e. “turn'd such an eye of doubt, &c. as bid or bade me tell my tale.” Malone and others read And for “As.”

Note return to page 105 9I conjure thee but slowly; run more fast.] Here “the first part” of the old “King John” ends in these lines:— “Hie, Hubert; tell these tidings to my lords, That throb in passions for young Arthur's death. Hence, Hubert; stay not, 'till thou hast reveal'd The wished news of Arthur's happy health. I goe my self, the joyfull'st man alive, To story out this new supposed crime.” For “new supposed” we ought probably to read “now supposed.” There is a sort of prologue, under the title of an address “To the Gentlemen Readers,” before “the second part” of the old “King John,” which opens with a scene exactly corresponding to that of Shakespeare, and with nearly the same stage-direction. Shakespeare has it, “Enter Arthur on the Walls,” and the old “King John,” “Enter young Arthur on the Walls.”

Note return to page 106 1Whose private,” &c.] i. e. says Pope, “Whose private account of the Dauphin's affection to our cause is much more ample than the letters.”

Note return to page 107 2'Tis true; to hurt his master, no man else.] This is another, though a trifling instance of the advantage of referring to two different copies of the first folio. That belonging to Lord Francis Egerton reads, “no man's else, (as Malone's copy seems to have done) but that of the Duke of Devonshire is corrected to “no man else,” which is certainly right. The error must have been discovered while the sheet was going through the press, and corrected before any more copies were worked off.

Note return to page 108 3Have you beheld,] In the old copies, anterior to the third folio, it is printed, “You have beheld.”

Note return to page 109 3The unowed interest] i. e. unowned interest; the interest which has no owner.

Note return to page 110 4&lblank; whose cloak and cincture can] We adopt Pope's amendment of the old text, which has center for “cincture,” an easy misprint, when we recollect that perhaps the MS., from which the compositor printed, had the word written ceinture, from the French.

Note return to page 111 5An empty casket, where the jewel of life By some damn'd hand was robb'd and ta'en away.] The prettiest passage in the old “King John” relates to the death of Arthur, of whom, when his body is found by the peers, it is said, “&lblank; Lo! lords, the wither'd flower, Who is his life shin'd like the morning's blush, Cast out a-door.” These lines occur when the body of Arthur is first found.

Note return to page 112 6A voluntary zeal, and an unurg'd faith,] Malone and the modern editors silently omit “an,” probably under the notion that they had a right to correct Shakespeare's metre.

Note return to page 113 7&lblank; who clippeth thee about,] i. e. who embraceth thee. To clip, from the Saxon clippan, is of perpetual occurrence in our old writers.

Note return to page 114 8Would bear thee from the knowledge of thyself,] By a strange error this line, in Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell, is transferred from this, its proper place, to twenty-six lines earlier, where it stands without the slightest connexion. In the next line, “And grapple thee,” &c., which is unquestionably the true reading, is printed “And cripple thee” in the old copies. The correction was not introduced until the time of Pope. Seven lines lower, “thou,” necessary both to the sense and metre, was not inserted until the fourth folio.

Note return to page 115 9&lblank; as I have bank'd their towns?] It is doubtful in what sense we are to take “bank'd;” whether Lewis means to say that he has thrown up embankments before the towns, or whether he uses “bank'd” in reference to the towns on the shores of the Thames. In the old “King John” Lewis thus mentions “Rochester” as having submitted, and in Shakespeare the same character may allude to that and other places on the river: “Your city, Rochester, with great applause, By some divine instinct laid arms aside; And from the hollow holes of Thamesis Echo apace replied Vive le roi.”

Note return to page 116 1This unheard sauciness, and boyish troops,] So the ‘old copies without exception, and we adhere to the ancient and most intelligible text, notwithstanding Theobald's suggestion, that “unheard” ought to be unhair'd. Some modern editors have unscrupulously printed unhair'd, without the slightest intimation that it was not the old reading.

Note return to page 117 2&lblank; and make you take the hatch;] i. e. leap over the hatch of the door.

Note return to page 118 3Even at the crying of your nation's crow,] Malone thinks that this line refers to “the voice or caw of the French crow,” but Douce truly contends that the allusion is to the “crow” of a cock, that being the national bird of France; “gallus meaning both a cock and a Frenchman.”

Note return to page 119 4Their needl's to lances,] So printed in the old copies of 1623 and 1632, to show that “needles” was to be read in the time of a monosyllable. Modern editors have taken the liberty of printing it neelds, a form of the word which, as far as we can judge, Shakespeare never employed; for when it occurs elsewhere in his works, even if it be to be read as one syllable, we find it printed needles. See “Midsummer Night's Dream,” Vol. ii. p. 433, note 4.

Note return to page 120 5&lblank; toward Swinstead,] i. e. Swineshead, but called Swinstead also in the old “King John,” and in ballands of the time.

Note return to page 121 6Resolveth from his figure 'gainst the fire?] To “resolve” of old was the same as to dissolve. “This is said,” remarks Steevens, “in allusion to the images made by witches. Holinshed observes, that it was alleged against dame Eleanor Cobham and her confederates, ‘that they had devised “an image of wax,” representing the king, which, by their sorcerie, by little and little consumed, intending thereby, in conclusion, to waste and destroy the king's person.’”

Note return to page 122 7Awakes my conscience to confess all this.] In the old “King John” we find these lines, which form part of a speech by Melun of the same tenor as that in Shakespeare:— “This I aver, if Lewis win the day, &c. Two causes, lords, make me display this drift: The greatest for the freedom of my soul, That longs to leave this mansion free from guilt; The other on a natural instinct, For that my grandsire was an Englishman.” In the old “King John” there is previously a long scene in which Lewis takes the oath referred to by the dying Melun:— “There's not an English traitor of them all, John once dispatch'd, and I fair England's king, Shall on his shoulders bear his head one day, But I will crop it for their guilt's desert,” &c. Shakespeare has shown great judgment in the total omission of scenes which only served to lengthen out the old play, or to which, as in this instance, reference merely was necessary.

Note return to page 123 8When English measur'd backward their own ground,] The old copies have measure: the necessary alteration was made by Pope.

Note return to page 124 9And wound our tattering colours clearly up,] Here we have an instance, not uncommon in Shakespeare and his contemporaries, of the use of the active for the passive participle, “tattering” for tattered. The words “tattering” and “tattered” were almost invariably spelt in our old writers tottering and tottered, and it would be easy to accumulate instances from Marlowe, Dekker, Heywood, Munday, Chapman, &c. Steevens altered “tattering” in the text to tatter'd, against all the authorities.

Note return to page 125 1&lblank; thou, and endless night,] So printed in all the old copies: the alteration to eyeless, made by Theobald, is quite unnecessary, and perverts the sense of the poet. Hubert is referring to the length of the night, and “endless” could not well have been a misprint for eyeless.

Note return to page 126 2The king, I fear, is poison'd by a monk:] “Not one of the historians,” says Malone, “who wrote within sixty years after the death of King John, mentions this very improbable story. The tale is, that a monk, to revenge himself on the king for a saying at which he took offence, poisoned a cup of ale, and having brought it to his majesty, drank some of it himself, to induce the king to taste it, and soon afterwards expired. Thomas Wykes is the first who relates it in his Chronicle, as a report. According to the best accounts, John died at Newark, of a fever.” The incident answered the purpose of Bishop Bale too well for him not to employ it in his “Kynge Johan.”

Note return to page 127 3Leaves them, invisible;] i. e. invisibly, the adjective for the adverb: “Death, after he has preyed upon the outward parts, invisibly leaves them.” This interpretation by Malone renders the alteration, made by some editors, of “invisible” to insensible or invincible, quite unnecessary.

Note return to page 128 4&lblank; who bring in King John in a chair.] The old simple stage-direction merely is, “John brought in.”

Note return to page 129 5To thrust his icy fingers in my maw;] Malone quoted the following lines, under the mistaken supposition that they were by Marlowe, and that Shakespeare had adopted one of them with the change of a single word:— “O! I am dull, and the cold hand of sleep Hath thrust his icy fingers in my breast, And made a frost within me.” This passage is found in a play called “Lust's Dominion,” printed in 1657, and assigned to Marlowe; but the historical portion of the incidents did not occur until five years after the death of Marlowe. See Dodsley's Old Plays, last edit. vol. ii. p. 311. In “The History of Dramatic Poetry and the Stage,” vol. iii. p. 96, reasons are given for attributing “Lust's Dominion” to Dekker, Haughton, and Day; and in Dekker's “Gull's Hornbook,” 4to. 1609, we meet with this expression: “the morning waxing cold, thrust his icy fingers into thy bosom.” Shakespeare's “King John” was indisputably written before 1598, and “Lust's Dominion,” was probably not produced until 1600; so that although the authors of that play may have copied Shakespeare, there can be no pretence for saying that he imitated them.

Note return to page 130 6And model of confounded royalty.] See Vol. iii. p. 285, note 8. Here again “model” is spelt modale in the old copies, but, as has been shown, modale and model were in fact the same word.

Note return to page 131 7At Worcester must his body be interr'd;] “A stone coffin,” Steevens informs us, “containing the body of King John, was discovered in the cathedral church of Worcester, July 17, 1797.”

Note return to page 132 “The Tragedie of King Richard the second. As it hath beene publikely acted by the right Honourable the Lorde Chamberlaine his Seruants. London Printed by Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, and are to be sold at his shop in Paules church yard at the signe of the Angel. 1597.” 4to. 37 leaves. “The Tragedie of King Richard the second. As it hath beene publikely acted by the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. By William Shake-speare. London Printed by Valentine Simmes for Andrew Wise, and are to be sold at his shop in Paules churchyard at the signe of the Angel. 1598.” 4to. 36 leaves. “The Tragedie of King Richard the Second: with new additions of the Parliament Sceane, and the deposing of King Richard. As it hath been lately acted by the Kinges Maiesties seruantes, at the Globe. By William Shake-speare. At London, Printed by W. W. for Mathew Law, and are to be sold at his shop in Paules churchyard, at the signe of the Foxe. 1608.” 4to. 39 leaves. “The Tragedie of King Richard the Second: with new additions of the Parliament Sceane, and the deposing of King Richard. As it hath been lately acted by the Kinges Maiesties seruants, at the Globe. By William Shake-speare. At London, Printed for Mathew Law, and are to be sold at his shop in Paules Church-yard, at the signe of the Foxe. 1615.” 4to. 39 leaves. In the folio of 1623, “The life and death of King Richard the Second” occupies twenty-three pages, viz. from p. 23 to p. 45, inclusive. The three other folios reprint it in the same form, and in all it is divided into Acts and Scenes.

Note return to page 133 1There is another circumstance belonging to the title-page of the Duke of Devonshire's copy which deserves notice: it states that the play was printed “as it hath been publikely acted by the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlaine, his seruantes.” The company to which Shakespeare belonged were not called the servants of the Lord Chamberlain after James I. came to the throne, but “the King's Majesty's servants,” as in the title-page of the other copy of 1608. This fact might give rise to the supposition, that it had been intended to reprint an edition of Richard II., including “the Parliament scene,” but not mentioning it, before the death of Elizabeth; but that for some reason it was postponed for about five years.

Note return to page 134 2There might be many reasons why the exhibition of the deposing of Richard II. would be objectionable to Elizabeth, especially after the insurrection of Lords Essex and Southampton. Thorpe's Custumale Roffense, p. 89, contains an account of an interview between Lambarde (when he presented his pandect of the records in the Tower) and Elizabeth, shortly subsequent to that event, in which she observed, “I am Richard the Second, know you not that?” Lambarde replied, “Such a wicked imagination was determined and attempted by a most unkind gentleman, the most adorned creature that ever your Majestie made.” “He (said the Queen) that will forgett God will alsoe forgett his benefactors.” The publication of the edition of 1608, without the mention on the title-page of “the Parliament Scene, and the deposing of King Richard,” might have been contemplated about this date.

Note return to page 135 3It may perhaps be inferred that there was an intention to publish the “history,” with these “new additions,” in 1603: at all events, in that year the right in “Richard II.” “Richard III.” and “Henry IV.” part i. was transferred to Matthew Law, in whose name the plays came out when the next editions of them appeared. The entry relating to them in the books of the Stationers' Company runs thus:— “27 June 1603 “Matth. Lawe] in full Courte, iij Enterludes or playes. The first of Richard the 3d. The second of Richard the 2d. The third of Henry the 4, the first pte. all Kings.”

Note return to page 136 4“Ich unternehme darzuthun, dass Shakspeare's Anachronismen mehrentheils geflissentlich und mit grossem Bedacht angebracht sind.”—Ueber dramatische Kunst und Litteratur, vol. ii. 43.

Note return to page 137 1A list of characters is not in any of the old editions, and was first supplied by Rowe.

Note return to page 138 1Brought hither Henry Hereford thy bold son;] In all the ancient copies, quarto and folio, this name is here spelt Herford, showing that it was pronounced in Shakespeare's time as a dissyllable. The difficulty is easily overcome, by reading the first two syllables in the time of one, H&eshort;r&eshort;ford, and the rhythm of the line is preserved. Numberless instances to justify this practice might be adduced from our poet's dramas. In the speech of Richard after the entrance of Bolingbroke, the title is printed Hereford in the editions of 1598, 1608, and 1615, as well as in the folio, 1623; and the most usual course in the later part of this play, in the oldest edition as well as in the folio, 1623, is to print it Hereford. On the other hand, in the first scene of “Henry IV.” part i., we have Herefordshire uniformly printed “Herdfordshire” in the quarto editions, and Herefordshire in the folio. Daniel, in his “Civil Wars,” 1595, always prints Bolingbroke's title, Herford.

Note return to page 139 2In rage deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.] This couplet is quoted in a MS. common-place book of the time in my possession, and there the last line is made to run, “Deaf as the sea in rage, hasty as fire.” Possibly this might be the original reading.

Note return to page 140 3Add an immortal title to your crown!] For the sake of forming a judgment of the value of editions, and of showing what copies were printed from those that preceded, it may be just worth noting, that the edition of 1615 follows that of 1608, in reading “Add in immortal title,” &c.

Note return to page 141 4&lblank; doubled &lblank;] So every quarto: the folio, 1623, doubly.

Note return to page 142 5Or any other ground inhabitable] i. e. uninhabitable: so used by Ben Jonson, Donne, and other writers of the time. The following passage occurs in T. Heywood's “General History of Women,” fo. 1624:—“Where all the country was scorched by the heat of the sun, and the place almost inhabitable for the multitude of serpents.”

Note return to page 143 6&lblank; kindred of the king;] The editions after the quarto, 1597, read “kindred of a king;” but Bolingbroke, of course, refers to the king before whom he stood, and whose “kinsman” Norfolk had just said that he was.

Note return to page 144 7What I have spoke, or thou canst worse devise.] So the quarto, 1597. Quarto, 1598, “What I have spoke, or thou canst devise.” Quartos, 1608 and 1615, “What I have spoke, or what thou canst devise.” Folio, 1623, “What I have spoken, or thou canst devise.”

Note return to page 145 8And, when I mount, alive may I not light,] The quartos of 1608 and 1615 repeat the word “alive.”

Note return to page 146 9Look, what I speak &lblank;] This is the reading of the earliest quarto, that of 1597: the other quartos and the first folio have said for “speak.” “Speak,” in the present tense, seems the more proper, as it refers to the particular accusations Bolingbroke is about to bring against Mowbray.

Note return to page 147 10&lblank; for lewd employments,] i. e. for wicked purposes: this is one of the old senses of “lewd.” See Vol. ii. p. 267, note 2.

Note return to page 148 11Fetch from false Mowbray &lblank;] All editions, after the first of 1597, read fetch'd. Lower down, “my kingdom's heir” is printed only in the folio our.

Note return to page 149 1Suggest his soon-believing adversaries;] In Shakespeare, to “suggest” usually means to tempt. See Vol. ii. p. 288; iii. p. 264. 296.

Note return to page 150 2Disburs'd I Duly &lblank;] “Duly” is only in 4to, 1597. The necessity of the word for the completeness of the verse is obvious.

Note return to page 151 3Wrath-kindled gentleman, be rul'd by me;] So all the quartos; the king addressing himself to Norfolk, who had just concluded his angry speech. The folio reads gentlemen; but Bolingbroke, merely as the accuser, was not so properly “wrath-kindled,” and, moreover, had had time to cool.

Note return to page 152 3Our doctors say this is no month to bleed.] This line, and three others preceding it, are quoted in a MS. of the time in my hands. It may be worth noting, that the line, “Deep malice makes too deep incision,” is there omitted, supporting Pope's notion, that the rhyming lines are not always necessary to the intelligibility of the context. The folio, 1623, contrary to all the earlier printed authorities, and my MS., has time instead of “month.”

Note return to page 153 4When, Harry? when?] This expression of impatience is followed, in all the old copies, quarto and folio, by the words “obedience bids,” as the conclusion of the line, though the same words begin the next line. They are surplusage, as is obvious both from the sense and the rhyme. “When, Harry? when?” is the conclusion of the line commenced by the king with “And, Norfolk, throw down his.”

Note return to page 154 5O! God defend my soul from such deep sin.] So all the quarto editions: the folio, 1623, substitutes heaven for “God,” and foul for “deep.” The change seems to have been merely arbitrary.

Note return to page 155 6Or with pale beggar-fear &lblank;] So the quarto, 1597, and the first folio: the other quartos have “beggar-face.”

Note return to page 156 7Since we cannot atone you, we shall see &lblank;] “Atone” is reconcile or at one you. See Vol. iii. p. 96, note 4. “We shall see” is the preferable reading of the 4to, 1597.

Note return to page 157 8Justice design the victor's chivalry.] To “design” was used in Shakespeare's time in its etymological sense, from the Lat. designo, to mark out, or point out. Pope injudiciously altered the word to decide.

Note return to page 158 9Alas! the part I had in Gloster's blood] In all the quarto editions, prior to the folio, 1623, it stands “Woodstock's blood.” Mr. Amyot has furnished me with the following note:—“He was born at Woodstock, and was always called Thomas of Woodstock by the historians, till Richard II. first created him Earl of Buckingham, and afterwards (according to Dugdale and Sandford) Duke of Gloster in the 9th year of his reign.”

Note return to page 159 1Who when they see the hours ripe on earth,] So all the ancient copies, quarto and folio, which the moderns have needlessly altered to he sees. Gaunt uses “heaven” as a plural noun.

Note return to page 160 2Is hack'd down, and his summer leaves all faded,] All the quarto editions have “faded,” and the folio vaded. They were in fact the same word. Some modern editors have said that “all the old copies have vaded, while the modern editors read faded.” They could not have looked at one of the old quarto editions, or they would have seen the inaccuracy of the assertion.

Note return to page 161 3God's is the quarrel; for God's substitute,] So the quarto editions. The folio, 1623, has heaven's in both instances. Three lines lower, all the copies, folio and quarto, read, “Let heaven revenge,” &c. but farther on, “To God, the widow's champion,” is the reading of the quartos, and “To heaven” that of the folio. These changes were, of course, made in consequence of the statute, 3 Jac. I. c. 21, but the original words of Shakespeare were nevertheless preserved in all the 4to. impressions.

Note return to page 162 4Why then, I will.—Farewell, old Gaunt.] Sir T. Hanmer, Steevens, and Ritson, consider this line defective, inasmuch as it has only eight syllables. All the old copies, folio and quarto, are uniform in giving it as in our text, and probably Shakespeare meant so to leave it. The time is amply made up by the pause after “Why then, I will,” before the Duchess continues “Farewell, old Gaunt.” Shakespeare has many lines of eight syllables.

Note return to page 163 5And what hear there for welcome, but my groans?] Malone made a singular error with respect to the word “hear” in this line: he asserted, that in the first edition of this play, in 1597, it stands cheer, and “hear” in all the subsequent impressions, adding, “this passage furnishes an evident proof of the value of first editions, and also shows at how very early a period the revisers of Shakespeare's pieces began to tamper with his text,” &c. The fact is, that the word is “hear” in all the editions, quarto and folio, and that cheer has been substituted in the text against every authority. Those who have followed Malone's reading have adopted his blunder, by placing confidence in the accuracy of his collation, and by not taking the trouble, or by not having the opportunity of making a new collation. Malone does not appear to have possessed a copy of the first edition of “Richard II.”

Note return to page 164 6(Which, God defend,] So all the quartos: the folio, “(Which heaven defend,)” &c. Just before, however, it has, “In God's name.”

Note return to page 165 7&lblank; and my succeeding issue,] The quartos are uniform in reading “my succeeding issue,” while the folio, 1623, has his, in which it is followed by the later folio impressions. “Mowbray's issue,” as Johnson remarks, “was in danger of an attainder, and therefore he might come, among other reasons, for their sake.”

Note return to page 166 8Enter Bolingbroke, in armour, preceded by a Herald.] The old stage-direction in the quarto editions terms Bolingbroke appellant, and omits the herald, a deficiency supplied by the folio.

Note return to page 167 9Marshal, ask yonder knight in arms,] Why not as before, asks Ritson, “Marshal, demand of yonder knight in arms?” Precisely, because Shakespeare might wish to vary the metre. Here we have another instance of an eight-syllable line.

Note return to page 168 10&lblank; as thy cause is right,] So every 4to: the folio has just.

Note return to page 169 1&lblank; but not revenge thee dead.] The quartos of 1597 and 1598 read “the dead;” that of 1608, and subsequent editions, “thee dead,” which is doubtless right. Thee was often of old written the.

Note return to page 170 2earthly author &lblank;] The folio of 1623 reads earthy. A few lines lower it misprints “furbish,” the word in all the quartos, furnish.

Note return to page 171 3God in thy good cause &lblank;] All the quartos have “God,” which is doubtless what Shakespeare wrote, and is therefore to be preferred. The folio, 1623, as already shown, is by no means consistent in this particular, but sometimes has “God,” and sometimes heaven. Lower down, the folio reads amaz'd for “adverse.”

Note return to page 172 4Mine innocence, and Saint George to thrive!] This is the word in every old copy, and not innocency, as the verse has been amended by Capel and the rest of the modern editors. Surely “Mine innocence, and St. George to thrive!” is much more forcible than “Mine innocency,” &c.

Note return to page 173 5&lblank; defend the right!] So the 4to, 1597, correctly: subsequent editions “thy right.”

Note return to page 174 6&lblank; hath thrown his warder down.] A warder, says Steevens, appears to have been a kind of truncheon carried by the person who presided at these single combats. So, in Daniel's “Civil Wars,” 1595, in reference to this transaction, book i. st. 63:— “When, lo! the king chang'd suddenly his mind, Casts down his warder, and so stays them there.”

Note return to page 175 7Draws the sweet infant breath of gentle sleep;] It is not easy to discover why this and the four preceding lines, within brackets, were omitted in the folio, 1623: nothing can be more beautiful. They are fortunately preserved in all the quartos, and the sense is incomplete without them. Capel inserts these lines, but omits the five which follow them.

Note return to page 176 8&lblank; upon pain of life,] i. e. of the loss of life. Thus all the quarto editions, and afterwards, when the king addresses Norfolk: the folio 1623, with some inconsistency, has “upon pain of death” in one place, and “upon pain of life” in another. Malone followed the folio, but does not seem to have been aware that it was opposed to the quartos, which in both instances have “upon pain of life.” It is obvious that it ought to be “upon pain of life,” or “upon pain of death,” in both sentences.

Note return to page 177 9The sly slow hours &lblank;] So all the old copies, but perhaps, as Pope suggested, it was only a misprint for fly-slow.

Note return to page 178 10What is thy sentence, then, but speechless death,] “Then” is found in the first folio: it is clearly necessary to the measure, and perhaps had originally dropped out.

Note return to page 179 9Nor never look upon each other's face;] This reduplication of the negative was the language of Shakespeare's time, and is preserved in all the quarto editions: the folio, 1623, has “Nor ever,” &c.

Note return to page 180 1Norfolk, so fare, as to mine enemy.] i. e. “so fare as I wish my enemy to fare.” Our text is that of all the quartos and the first folio; and why the clear meaning and ancient reading has been abandoned by the modern editors we know not, excepting that the second folio misprints “fare” farre. The correct text makes the sense complete, which is otherwise left imperfect.

Note return to page 181 2&lblank; with sullen sorrow,] The folio, 1623, alone reads, sudden.

Note return to page 182 3And in the sentence my own life destroy'd.] This and the three preceding lines are omitted in the folio editions.

Note return to page 183 4Nay, rather, every tedious stride I make] This and the twenty-five next lines, inclosed within brackets, are in all the quarto editions, but unaccountably omitted in the folio of 1623, and in the other folios reprinted from it.

Note return to page 184 5Than when it bites,] Only the quarto of 1597 reads he for “it:” the pronoun refers to the tooth, and not to the impersonation of sorrow. In the preceding line the folio misprints ever for “never.”

Note return to page 185 6We did observe.] These words are addressed by the King to Bagot and Green, and are the continuation of something that had passed between them before their entrance. Bushy is mentioned in the old stage-direction of the quartos, but he does not in fact enter till afterwards.

Note return to page 186 7Which then blew bitterly against our faces,] The folio, 1623, reads, “Which then grew bitterly,” &c.; a misprint followed by the later impressions of the same volume: every 4to. edition has “blew.” The quartos also have “faces” for face of the folio, and “sleeping” for sleepy in the next line.

Note return to page 187 8Ourself, and Bushy, Bagot here, and Green,] This line (with the transposition of “here”) is from the folio, 1623: the quartos merely have “Ourself and Bushy;” but Bushy was not on the stage, entering some time afterwards.

Note return to page 188 9Expedient manage &lblank;] i. e. expeditious conduct, or arrangements. See pp. 8 and 19 of this Vol.

Note return to page 189 1Enter Bushy.] The old stage-direction, as if to indicate that Bushy was to enter in haste, has “Enter Bushy with news.”

Note return to page 190 2&lblank; is grievous sick, my lord,] The folio poorly substitutes very for “grievous.”

Note return to page 191 3&lblank; and music at the close,] The folios have “music is the close:” our reading is that of the quarto, 1597: the later quartos print glose for “close.” The passage is quoted in “England's Parnassus,” 1600, p. 54, as in our text.

Note return to page 192 4As praises of his state: then, there are found] The two earliest quartos, those of 1597 and 1598, give this line, “As praises, of whose taste the wise are found,” which yields admirable sense, if we read fond for “found,” a very easy corruption. The two quartos of 1608 and 1615 have the line as in our text, and they are followed by the folio, 1623: these authorities we feel unwillingly bound to take.

Note return to page 193 5Then, all too late &lblank;] So the quartos: the folio reads “That.”

Note return to page 194 6Against infection,] Every ancient copy, quarto and folio, has “infection,” and it affords the clearest possible meaning. In “England's Parnassus,” 1600, p. 348, this line among others is misquoted, and there we read “against intestion,” which led Farmer to conjecture that we ought to read infestion. If this authority were to guide us, we ought also to read farther on “For charity, service, and true chivalry,” instead of “For Christian service,” &c. There cannot, we apprehend, be a moment's doubt as to the propriety of adhering to the text of every old edition, and of rejecting that of nearly every modern one.

Note return to page 195 7&lblank; and famous by their birth,] This reading is that of all the quartos: the folio has, “famous for their birth.”

Note return to page 196 8&lblank; flatter with those that live?] The folio omits the preposition. Farther on it reads, “I see thee ill:” the quartos, “and see thee ill.”

Note return to page 197 9And yet, incaged in so small a verge,] The four early quartos have inraged: the error is corrected in the first folio.

Note return to page 198 1Landlord of England art thou now, not king:] In the old copies, this line is differently printed: in the quarto, 1597, thus:— “Landlord of England art thou now not, not king;” and so it is repeated in the quartos of 1598 and 1608; but that of 1615 substitutes nor for the last not. The folio, 1623, reads, “Landlord of England art thou, and not king;” which is much less forcible than our text, in which the repetition of the negative, injurious to the metre and to the sense of the passage, is omitted. None of the commentators have pointed out the variation. The allusion, of course, is to the manner in which Richard had let out his kingdom “to farm.”

Note return to page 199 2A lunatic lean-witted fool,] This is the reading of all the quarto editions: the folio gives it thus:— “And— Rich. And thou a lunatic lean-witted fool,” &c.

Note return to page 200 3&lblank; chasing the royal blood] So all the quartos: the folio, 1623, chafing.

Note return to page 201 4And let them die, that age and sullens have,] This is the reading of all the old copies, and therefore to be adopted; but it may be doubted whether it be correct. In a MS. common-place book of the time, already quoted, the couplet runs as follows, under the head of “Age and Fulness,” “And let them die, that age and fulness have, For both hast thou, and both become the grave.” “Sullens” might be easily misread by the compositor for fulness; but, nevertheless, what York says seems to show, that the King meant to reproach Gaunt with ill-temper.

Note return to page 202 5Accomplished with the number of thy hours;] This is the correct reading of the folio: the quartos all have the indefinite for the definite article.

Note return to page 203 6His livery,] “On the death of every person (says Malone) who held by knight's service, the escheator of the court in which he died summoned a jury, who inquired what estate he died seized of, and of what age his next heir was. If he was under age, he became a ward of the king; but if he was found to be of full age, he then had a right to sue out a writ of ouster le main, that is, his livery, that the king's hand might be taken off, and the land delivered to him.”

Note return to page 204 7Ere't be disburden'd with a liberal tongue.] This line, and five others from this part of the play, are found in the MS. of the time, in my possession. I quote them precisely as they stand there, under the head of “Silence.” “My heart is greate, but it must break with silence Ere't be disburden'd with a liberall tongue, &c. Nay, speake thy mynde, and let him nere speake more, That speakes thy words againe to doe thee harme. We three are but thy selfe, and speakinge soe Thy words are but as thoughts: therefore be bould. Free speech and fearelesse we to thee allowe.” Whether these lines were copied from any printed edition of the play cannot be decided; but they agree precisely with none extant. The “&c.” after the second line might indicate that something was there omitted; but a good deal is certainly wanting after “to doe thee harme:” forty-three lines are there found in the printed copies, which may possibly have been left out in representation, on account of their strong political tendency. The writer of the MS. may have put down the words as he heard them at the theatre. The last line, “Free speech and fearlesse we to thee allowe,” is not to be traced in this scene in any edition, but the same words occur in an earlier part of the play. See p. 116.

Note return to page 205 8That which his noble ancestors achiev'd with blows:] Every quarto printed in the lifetime of the author has “noble,” which makes the line of twelve syllables, and of such we have numerous examples. The folio, 1623, omits the epithet. Yet on p. 153, under exactly similar circumstances, the folio preserves the same word.

Note return to page 206 9That Harry duke of Hereford, Reginald lord Cobham,] Malone, not content with omitting the words “duke of” in this line, (if verse any part of this enumeration of names can be considered,) added after it one of his own manufacture, in order to add the Earl of Arundel to the list, because he found him mentioned in Holinshed. Surely, we may leave the poet to select what nobles he pleased as the companions of Bolingbroke: perhaps he had some reason for omitting “the son of Richard Earl of Arundel,” as Malone gives it in his addition to Shakespeare. To insert lines of his own is a province of a commentator of which we have not before heard. It is to be admitted, however, as Malone remarks, that the line, “That late broke from the duke of Exeter,” will not apply to any of the personages actually enumerated; but this is an error to be pointed out by an annotator, not to be corrected in Malone's mode.

Note return to page 207 1&lblank; and Francis Quoint,] In the quartos he is called Coines.

Note return to page 208 2Imp out &lblank;] When (says Steevens) the wing-feathers of a hawk were dropped, or forced out by any accident, it was usual to supply as many as were deficient. This operation was called to imp a hawk. Tubervile has a whole chapter on “The Way and Manner howe to ympe a Hawke's Feather, how-soever it be broken or broosed.”

Note return to page 209 3To lay aside life-harming heaviness,] This is the reading of the two earliest editions in 1597 and 1598: those of 1608 and 1615 have the compound absurdly corrupted to half-harming; which the folio corrected to self-harming; certainly an improvement, but not the word employed by Shakespeare.

Note return to page 210 4As,—though in thinking on no thought I think,] The quarto of 1597 has the line, “As thought on thinking on no thought I think,” which the 4to, 1598, alters to “As though on thinking on no thought I think,” which was followed in all the later impressions, quarto and folio; but it seems necessary, with Johnson, to make a farther alteration of on to “in,” the meaning being, that the queen in reflecting can fix her thought upon nothing.

Note return to page 211 5Or something hath the nothing that I grieve:] Johnson “did not know well what could be done” with this and the preceding line; but the meaning seems to be, that either nothing hath begotten the Queen's grief, or there really is something in the nothing that she grieves about. “Conceit,” of course, here is to be understood as conception.

Note return to page 212 6&lblank; his son, young Henry Percy,] So the quartos: the folio, 1623, “his young son,” &c. We have “my son, young Harry Percy,” on p. 153.

Note return to page 213 7And all the rest of the revolted faction, traitors?] This is the reading of the quartos of 1597 and 1598: those of 1608 and 1615 omit “all,” and have revolting for “revolted.” Some modern editors, who profess to have followed the folio, 1623, read revolting, and tell us that so it stands in the folio. Malone makes the same assertion; but he was in error, and, without reference to the original, others seem to have taken his word for it. We only notice the circumstance for greater accuracy.

Note return to page 214 8[Should I do so, I should belie my thoughts:] This line is found in all the quartos, but is wanting in the folio.

Note return to page 215 9To day, as I came by, I called there;] The folio, 1623, spoils this line by omitting “as,” and printing “called” call'd.

Note return to page 216 1What! are there no posts dispatch'd for Ireland?] So the quarto, 1597: the three other quartos substitute two for “no,” and the folio omits both words.

Note return to page 217 2Gentlemen, will you go muster men? If I know how, or which way to order these affairs,] This is the regulation of the lines in all the old copies, (excepting that the folio, 1623, omits “go”) and Shakespeare obviously intended the measure to be irregular and hurried, the better to accord with York's state of mind. The modern regulation, by adding “If I know” to “Gentlemen, will you go muster men?” is just as irregular, without having any warrant from those authorities in which the text is printed as, from their uniformity, we may suppose it to have come from the poet's pen.

Note return to page 218 3And meet me presently at Berkley.] This is the text of all the quarto editions: the folio needlessly adds castle, as if to complete the line which, perhaps for the reason assigned in the preceding note, Shakespeare left imperfect. Bolingbroke and others, in the next scene, mention Berkley.

Note return to page 219 4I fear me, never.] We follow the division of the dialogue marked out in all the quartos, which seems the natural distribution. The folio, 1623, improbably, gives the desponding line, “Farewell at once,” &c. to Bushy, who had spoken cheerfully just before of the possible success of the duke of York, and who in the quartos consistently adds, “Well, we may meet again,” which the folio strangely appends to “Farewell at once,” &c. The modern editors, including Malone, not seeing how naturally the dialogue was parted between the characters in the quartos, and observing that the folio could not be right, followed neither original, but gave to Green what belongs to Bushy, and to Bushy what belongs to Green.

Note return to page 220 5And yet your fair discourse &lblank;] The folio only reads our.

Note return to page 221 6Enter Berkley.] The entrances of the different characters are rarely marked in the quarto editions, but the defect here, and in other places, is supplied in the folio, 1623.

Note return to page 222 7My lord, my answer is—to Lancaster,] i. e. “My answer is to a message to Lancaster, which name I am come to seek in England.”

Note return to page 223 8From the most gracious regent of this land,] So the quarto, 1597. The quarto of 1598 alters “gracious” to glorious, and omits “regent.” In this blunder it is followed by the other quartos, and by the folio, 1623. Such a fact as this of itself establishes, without other and abundant evidence, that the folio was not printed from the earliest quarto.

Note return to page 224 9Whose duty is deceivable and false.] We have had the word “deceivable” in the same sense in “Twelfth Night,” Vol. iii. p. 406.

Note return to page 225 1&lblank; nor uncle me no uncle:] So the quartos: the folio omits “no uncle.”

Note return to page 226 2But then, more why;] i. e. “But then, still more.” The quarto, 1598, and the subsequent quartos, as well as the folio, read, “But more then why,” certainly lessening the force of the expression.

Note return to page 227 3Were I but now the lord &lblank;] In the quarto editions “the” is omitted, having, perhaps, dropped out in the original edition of 1597, which the others followed: it is found in the folio, 1623.

Note return to page 228 4Scene iv.] Johnson, with appearance of reason, complains that this scene is “inartfully and irregularly” thrust in here, and he suspects that it ought to form the second scene of Act iii.

Note return to page 229 5&lblank; the death or fall of kings.] The folio, 1623, has it merely “the death of kings:” it follows the quartos subsequent to that of 1597, in which the line is complete.

Note return to page 230 6Lords, farewell.] These words are omitted in the folios, though necessary to the line, and found in all the quarto impressions.

Note return to page 231 7&lblank; fairly let her be entreated:] It was very usual with our old writers, especially with our dramatists, to use “entreat” for treat. So in the old play, “The Weakest goeth to the Wall,” 1600, “Entreat them well, as thou wilt answer me At my return.”

Note return to page 232 8&lblank; call they this at hand?] Malone says that the quarto, 1608, first substituted you for “they.” You, in fact, is found in the quarto of 1598, as well as in the two later quartos and in the folios. The quarto, 1597, has furnished our text.

Note return to page 233 9&lblank; foul rebellion's arms.] Malone states that the quarto of 1597 only reads “rebellion's arms,” and all the others rebellious. The quarto of 1598 follows the reading of that of the preceding year.

Note return to page 234 10The proffer'd means of succour and redress.] These four lines, within brackets, are omitted in the folio impressions, and the sense consequently left imperfect, because, without them, Aumerle's reply, “He means, my lord, that we are too remiss,” has no application. Why they were omitted it is difficult to understand. In the second line Pope necessarily inserted “if,” which had perhaps accidentally dropped out.

Note return to page 235 1&lblank; in substance, and in power.] So all the quarto copies: the folio has friends for “power.” Lower down it reads lightning for “light.”

Note return to page 236 2&lblank; bloody here;] The quarto of 1597 has “bouldy here,” which we may conjecture was a misprint for bouldly, or boldly; but all the subsequent editions have “bloody here.” “Boldly here” seems to accord better with the simile.

Note return to page 237 3[Whilst we were wandering with the antipodes,] Modern editors do not notice the fact that this line is wanting in the folio, 1623, though found in every quarto edition. Six lines lower the folio properly omits “off” after “balm.”

Note return to page 238 4All souls that will be safe, fly from my side; From time hath set a blot upon my pride.] This couplet is quoted in the MS. common place book of the time, before referred to.

Note return to page 239 5Awake, thou coward majesty!] Every quarto edition has “coward:” the folio reads sluggard, much to the injury of the force of the passage.

Note return to page 240 6Is not the king's name twenty thousand names?] So all the quarto impressions: the folio has forty.

Note return to page 241 7We'll serve him too, and be his fellow so.] This passage is extracted in the MS. before quoted, but with three variations, not found in any of the copies, which may show that the lines were put down from memory. The line, “And what loss is it to be rid of care?” is omitted. In the preceding line we read in the MS., “why, that's my care,” and in the last line equal is put instead of “fellow.”

Note return to page 242 8Of double-fatal yew &lblank;] “Called so,” says Warburton, “because the leaves of the yew are poison, and the wood is employed for instruments of death.”

Note return to page 243 9&lblank; for this offence!] The word “offence” was added by the editor of the folio, 1623. The quartos thus regulate the passage:— “Would they make peace? terrible hell Make war upon their spotted souls for this.” It may be disputed which is the more forcible reading, but that of the folio completes the defective measure.

Note return to page 244 10&lblank; death's destroying wound,] The folio, in opposition to all the quartos, and to the rhyme, reads hand for “wound.”

Note return to page 245 1&lblank; and there the antick sits,] In “Henry VI.,” part i. we meet with the expression, “thou antick death;” and Douce observes, that Shakespeare may have borrowed this idea of death sitting in the king's crown from the wood-cuts called Imagines Mortis, attributed, though falsely, to Holbein. He refers to the seventh print, a fac-simile of which may be seen at the end of his learned and beautiful work, “The Dance of Death,” octavo, 1833. In that cut, however, death is represented taking off an emperor's crown, and not sitting and keeping his court in it; so that though Shakespeare may have had it in his mind, he did not follow it.

Note return to page 246 2How can you say to me—I am a king?] We follow here the regulation of all the old copies, quarto and folio, which is to be preferred to the modern arrangement, which only varies without curing the defect. Were we to adopt Capel's advice, we should insert like you twice over, in order to complete what he considered defective lines. The case might be different if there were any difference in the original editions. In the next line the folio, 1623, reads, “My lord, wise men ne'er wail their present woes,” omitting the word “sit,” which is important, because from it we may, perhaps, gather, that in his despondency Richard had thrown himself upon the ground, where he remained until roused by the reproof of the Bishop, (whom Malone calls Bishop in one place and Carlisle in another,) and by the hope expressed by Aumerle, when Richard starts up with the exclamation, “Thou chid'st me well.”

Note return to page 247 3[And so your follies fight against yourself.] This line is omitted in the folios.

Note return to page 248 4Your uncle York is join'd &lblank;] So all the old copies: Malone reads “hath joined.” Three lines lower the four early quartos read “party,” and the folio faction.

Note return to page 249 5To ear the land that hath some hope to grow,] i. e. to cultivate that soil which promises to be productive. To “ear the land” meant to prepare it for seed by ploughing it. In “Antony and Cleopatra,” Shakespeare speaks of “earing” or ploughing the sea:— “Make the sea serve them, which they ear and wound With keels.”

Note return to page 250 6Have been so brief with you,] The words “with you” are from the first folio. They improve the sense, and complete the metre.

Note return to page 251 7&lblank; the heavens are o'er our heads.] So the quartos of 1597 and 1598. The folio has “o'er your head,” an error easily explained, because the quartos of 1608 and 1615 read, “o'er your heads,” which being clearly wrong, the editor of the folio, 1623, made heads singular.

Note return to page 252 8That from the castle's tatter'd battlements &lblank;] Tottered in the quartos of 1597 and 1598: “tattered” in the quartos of 1608, 1615, and the folios. Boswell suggested that tottered was put for tottering, but as has been stated in note 9, p. 94, of this volume, the oldest mode of spelling “tattered” was tottered: consequently, “tattered battlements” merely means ragged battlements: if the battlements were tottering, they would have been no very good defence for the King. We may add one proof of what we have advanced from the old play of the “Alarum for London,” 1602, which is peculiarly apposite:— “Whose streetes besmear'd with blood, whose blubber'd eyes, Whose tottered walls, whose buildings overthrowne,” &c.

Note return to page 253 9&lblank; when their thundering shock] It stands “thundering smoke” in the folio, and in three of the quartos, and some modern editors have expressed wonder whence “shock” was obtained? The answer is very short—from the first quarto in 1597, which indisputably contains the best text of this play.

Note return to page 254 10Of his bright passage to the occident.] In every old edition, quarto and folio, this and the preceding five lines are given to Bolingbroke, and there is no sufficient reason for taking them from him, and giving them to York, as has been done by all the editors since the time of Warburton, some with and others without notice. It is not at all inconsistent with the character of Bolingbroke, and with what he has before said of Richard, that he should now so speak of him; and, as has been remarked, all the authorities are in favour of the restoration. After he has so spoken, and after York's answer, we must suppose Bolingbroke to retire with York, and to leave the conduct of the interview to Northumberland, until he rejoins Bolingbroke just before Richard descends to the plain. Richard's observation to Northumberland, “For yond', methinks, he stands,” shows that Bolingbroke was not out of sight.

Note return to page 255 1This swears he, as he is a prince, is just,] The correct reading of the folio. The quartos of 1597 and 1598 have, “as he is a princesse just,” and the quartos of 1608 and 1615, “as he is a prince, just.”

Note return to page 256 2&lblank; and Bolingbroke says ay.] For the rhyme we ought to read, as in the old copies, “and Bolingbroke says I,” for “ay” was then almost invariably spelt with a capital I. Hundreds of instances may be found in our dramatists of the reigns of Elizabeth and James I.

Note return to page 257 3Of sorrow, or of joy?] All the old copies read, “Of sorrow, or of grief?” Pope made the alteration, which the context fully supports.

Note return to page 258 4We at time of year] The word We is not in any of the old copies, but it seems necessary, and most likely had dropped out in the press. In the next line the folio has, “And wound the bark.”

Note return to page 259 5Lest, being over-proud in sap and blood,] So the quarto, 1597: all later impressions read, “with sap and blood.”

Note return to page 260 6Superfluous branches] So every old copy previous to the folio, 1632, which inserts all for the sake of the metre; but with a due pause after “duty,” the addition is needless, if not injurious.

Note return to page 261 7Which waste of idle hours &lblank;] The folio, 1623, has “waste and idle hours.” None of the quartos countenance the substitution.

Note return to page 262 8'Tis doubt, he will be:] The folio, 1623, reads, “'Tis doubted he will be,” to the injury of the measure. In this part of the scene, the folio, 1623, was very careless of the metre: it omitted “then” in the 1st Servant's speech just above, and “good” in the line, “To a dear friend of the good duke of York's:” the latter is not, however, absolutely necessary.

Note return to page 263 9&lblank; for telling me these news of woe,] So the quarto, 1597. It was subsequently printed “this news;” yet in the second line of the speech of the gardener, just above, we meet with “these news” in the folio, 1623.

Note return to page 264 1Here did she fall a tear;] This is the reading of the quarto, 1597, and, doubtless, the language of Shakespeare. The later quartos and folios substitute drop for “fall.” In Othello, A. iv. sc. 1, we have a corresponding expression, “Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile.” So in “The Comedy of Errors,” Vol. ii. p. 131, &lblank; “as easy may'st thou fall A drop of water.” And in “Midsummer-Night's Dream,” Vol. ii. p. 457, we meet with, “her mantle she did fall.” It would be easy to point out other instances in which Shakespeare uses to fall as a verb active.

Note return to page 265 2I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace:] “Rue” was often called “herb of grace” by our old writers; but Shakespeare's authority on the point is sufficient. We have it mentioned as “herb of grace” only in “All's Well that Ends Well,” Vol. iii. p. 295; and in “Hamlet,” Act iv. sc. 5, it is introduced by both names: “There's rue for you, and here's some for me: we may call it herb of grace o' Sundays.” It was frequently termed herbgrace for brevity.

Note return to page 266 3Westminster Hall.] “The rebuilding of Westminster Hall, (says Malone,) which Richard had begun in 1397, being finished in 1399, the first meeting of parliament in the new edifice was for the purpose of deposing him.” The old brief stage-direction is, “Enter Bolingbroke with the Lords to Parliament.”

Note return to page 267 4On equal terms to give him chastisement?] The quarto of 1597 has them; that of 1598, my; and the quartos of 1608 and 1615, with the folios, read “him.”

Note return to page 268 5[I task the earth to the like, forsworn Aumerle;] This and the seven next lines, are only in the quarto editions, in the three last of which the reading is, “I take the earth,” &c. The expression is difficult, and the explanation uncertain; but the lord may mean that he tasks the earth, when he throws down the weight of his gage upon it. The mere circumstance that “I take the earth” was substituted for “I task the earth” in 1598, seems to show that even then the phrase was not understood. Steevens quoted the following line from Warner's “Albion's England,” book iii. c. 16, a poem first printed in 1586:— “Lo! here my gage (he terr'd his glove) thou know'st the victor's meed.”

Note return to page 269 6Who sets me else? by heaven, I'll throw at all.] Expressions used in games with dice.

Note return to page 270 7'Tis very true;] Thus the quartos: the folio has, superfluously, “My lord, 'tis very true.”

Note return to page 271 8&lblank; here do I throw down this,] Steevens remarks that Holinshed says, that on this occasion “he threw down a hood that he had borrowed.”

Note return to page 272 9As surely as I live, my lord.] The quarto of 1598 and all subsequent impressions have “As sure,” &c. Malone and other editors have, “As sure as I live,” not being aware, perhaps, of the true reading in the 4to, 1597.

Note return to page 273 10And long live Henry, of that name the fourth!] Thus the folio: the quartos, less harmoniously, “And long live Henry, fourth of that name.”

Note return to page 274 1&lblank; then true nobless would] So the quarto, 1597, and so the verse requires. All the other quartos and folios have nobleness, which some modern editors have followed, asserting that all the old copies read nobleness. They evidently never saw the first 4to.

Note return to page 275 2O! forfend it, God,] The folio, 1623, in opposition to all the quartos, has “forbid it, God.”

Note return to page 276 3O, if you raise &lblank;] The folio, rear: all the quartos, “raise.”

Note return to page 277 4Prevent it, resist it, let it not be so,] This line, were we authorised so to alter it, would read better, “Prevent, resist it, let it not be so.” The folio, 1623, makes it worse than in the 4to. editions, by printing, “Prevent it, resist it, and let it not be so.”

Note return to page 278 5May it please you, lords, to grant the commons' suit.] This line, and what follows to the line, “That rise thus nimbly by a true king's fall,” (p. 193,) were first inserted in the quarto, 1608, and constitute the “new additions” mentioned on the title-page. They were included in all subsequent impressions.

Note return to page 279 6Without suspicion.] In the quartos of 1608 and 1615, this and the two preceding lines are made a continuation of the speech of Northumberland. The folio, 1623, first gave them to Bolingbroke.

Note return to page 280 7&lblank; and bend my limbs:] The reading of the folio alone is knee.

Note return to page 281 8The favours of these men:] i. e. the countenances. See Vol. iii. p. 361, note 6.

Note return to page 282 9Give me the crown.—Here, cousin,] These words are only in the folio, 1623, and in the subsequent impressions of the same volume.

Note return to page 283 10That owes two buckets &lblank;] i. e. owns. See Vol. ii. p. 45, &c.; iii. p. 254, &c.

Note return to page 284 1&lblank; release all duties, rites:] The folio, 1623, has it “release all duteous oaths:” this can hardly be correct, because Richard afterwards mentions “oaths” as broken to him: they would not have been broken if he had released them.

Note return to page 285 2&lblank; that swear to thee!] The folio, less forcibly, but, perhaps, more correctly, “are made to thee.”

Note return to page 286 3Nay, all of you, that stand and look upon me,] The quartos give this line imperfectly as follows, me having, probably, dropped out:— “Nay, of you that stand and look upon.”

Note return to page 287 4But they can see a sort of traitors here.] i. e. a company of traitors. The use of the word in this sense is extremely common in Shakespeare and his contemporaries. See Vol. ii. p. 427, note 8.

Note return to page 288 5Made glory base, and sovereignty a slave,] So the quartos of 1608 and 1615. The folio misprints it “a sovereignty,” &c.

Note return to page 289 6&lblank; thou haught, insulting man,] The adjective “haught” was nearly in as common use as haughty. We meet with it in Spenser and Marlowe, and down to the time of Milton.

Note return to page 290 7An if my name be sterling yet in England,] This is the reading of the two quartos: the folio altered “name” to word, but without necessity, or even propriety, as the King has just been talking about his name, and now wishes to see if it yet have power to command a mirror to be brought.

Note return to page 291 8&lblank; and therein will I read. &lblank;] These necessary words are first found in the folio, 1623.

Note return to page 292 9Thou dost beguile me.] Not in either of the quartos. In the same line the quartos read, “Was this the face?”

Note return to page 293 1&lblank; Was this the face, That like the sun did make beholders wink?] This passage was also added in the folio.

Note return to page 294 2There lies the substance:] These words are from the folio, as well as “For thy great bounty,” in the next line.

Note return to page 295 3Shall I obtain it?] Not in the quartos.

Note return to page 296 4Fair cousin! I am greater than a king;] The quartos read, “Fair Coz! why I am,” &c. Bolingbroke's words were “fair cousin,” which, it is obvious, the king ought to repeat.

Note return to page 297 5O, good! Convey!—Conveyers are you all,] To “convey,” “conveyer,” and “conveyancer” were, in Shakespeare's time, words of double meaning. To “convey” meant to cheat and defraud, or, more strictly, to pick pockets; and “conveyers” and “conveyancers” were not only lawyers, but persons who practised these tricks of sleight of hand.

Note return to page 298 6That rise thus nimbly by a true king's fall.] This is the last line of the “new additions,” which first appeared in the quarto, 1608, and afterwards in the quarto, 1615, and in the folios.

Note return to page 299 7On Wednesday next we solemnly set down Our coronation: lords, prepare yourselves.] The quartos of 1597 and 1598 read:— “Let it be so: and lo! on Wednesday next We solemnly proclaim our coronation: Lords, be ready all.” The change was in part rendered necessary by the “new additions.”

Note return to page 300 8&lblank; have stricken down.] So the folios. The quartos read “thrown down,” which might be measure if thrown were read as two syllables, as it was formerly often spelt, throwen.

Note return to page 301 9&lblank; and a king of beasts?] The quarto has “and the king of beasts.”

Note return to page 302 1Tell thou the lamentable tale of me,] This is the reading of every quarto, 1597, 1598, 1608, and 1615, and it accords with what has been previously said about narrating “tales.” The folio prints fall, but evidently with some loss of force, as well as of correctness.

Note return to page 303 2My wife to France:] All the quartos have “wife:” the folio, 1623, queen. She was no longer queen, and Richard just before calls her “wife.”

Note return to page 304 3That were some love, &c.] The quartos give this speech to the king. It is probably an error, which the folio corrects.

Note return to page 305 4&lblank; where rode he the whilst?] This is the reading of the first quarto: the others, “where rides he the whilst?”

Note return to page 306 3Did scowl on gentle Richard:] This important epithet is wanting in the folio, but is found in all the quartos. Malone, who professed generally to follow the first edition, omitted “gentle” without notice. Lines of twelve syllables are of frequent occurrence in Shakespeare, and they are more especially abundant in this play.

Note return to page 307 6&lblank; hold those justs and triumphs?] The quartos, to the sacrifice of the verse, read, “Do these justs and triumphs hold.”

Note return to page 308 7What seal is that, that hangs without thy bosom?] The seals of deeds (as Malone observes) were formerly impressed on slips or labels of parchment appendant to them.

Note return to page 309 8For gay apparel 'gainst the triumph day.] The word “day” dropped out in the folio, 1623. It is recovered from the quartos.

Note return to page 310 9Thou fond, mad woman,] It is almost unnecessary to say that “fond” here, as in many other places, is used in the sense of foolish. See Vol. ii. p. 37. 92, &c., and Vol. iii. p. 30. 220, &c.

Note return to page 311 1And beat our watch, and rob our passengers;] The folio absurdly transposes the words “beat” and “rob.”—“And rob our watch and beat our passengers.”

Note return to page 312 2While he,] All the old copies, quarto and folio, read—Which he. The correction was made by Pope.

Note return to page 313 3I see some sparks of better hope,] So the quarto, 1597; and we adopt also the regulation of the passage, as a twelve-syllable line. The quarto of 1598 alters “sparks” to sparkles, which error the two quartos of 1608 and 1615 adopt. The folio, 1623, returns to “sparks.” Bolingbroke afterwards (p. 115) speaks of “sparks of honour.” [Subnote: P. 203.—In note 3, for “p. 115” read p. 215.]

Note return to page 314 4Enter Aumerle, in great haste.] “Enter Aumerle amazed,” old quartos.

Note return to page 315 5&lblank; that I may turn the key,] In the first quarto the pronoun “I” is accidentally omitted.

Note return to page 316 6York. [Within.] The old stage-direction in the quartos is, “The duke of York knocks at the door, and crieth.”

Note return to page 317 7Hath held his current.] The folio poorly substitutes had.

Note return to page 318 8What shrill-voic'd suppliant &lblank;] This is the reading of the quartos of 1608, 1615, and of the folio. The two earlier quartos have “shrill voice suppliant,” which may be right, though more probably a misprint.

Note return to page 319 9And now chang'd to “The Beggar and the King.”] This ballad has been already mentioned by Shakespeare in “Love's Labour's Lost,” Vol. ii. pp. 297 and 320. The earliest known copy of it is dated 1612, (in R. Johnson's “Crown Garland,” printed in that year,) but it was doubtless considerably older.

Note return to page 320 10For ever will I walk upon my knees,] The folio substitutes kneel, but all the quarto editions have “walk,” avoiding the tautology.

Note return to page 321 1[Ill may'st thou thrive, if thou grant any grace!] This line, found in every quarto copy, and necessary for the rhyme, is omitted in the folios.

Note return to page 322 2Good aunt, stand up.] Assigned in the first quarto to York, but corrected in old MS. in the copy belonging to the Duke of Devonshire. The error was not repeated in the later editions.

Note return to page 323 3&lblank; pardonnez moi.] That is, (as Johnson remarks,) excuse me; a French phrase used when any thing is civilly denied.

Note return to page 324 4But for our trusty brother-in-law, and the abbot,] So the quartos: the folio reads “our trusty brother-in-law, the abbot.” The abbot of Westminster was not brother-in-law to the king, but the duke of Exeter, who had married the sister of Bolingbroke.

Note return to page 325 5Uncle, farewell,—and cousin too, adieu:] Some monosyllable must have dropped out in this rhyming line. Theobald supplied “too,” not found in any of the old copies.

Note return to page 326 6And, speaking it, he wishtly look'd on me;] So the quartos of 1597 and 1598; probably, as the context shows, an abridgment of wishfully, for the sake of the metre. The two later quartos and the folio read wistly, which is a different word, meaning attentively, and sometimes silently.

Note return to page 327 7&lblank; how I may compare] So the quarto, 1597: other editions read “how to compare.”

Note return to page 328 8&lblank; and do set the word itself Against the word:] So the four quarto editions: the folios have faith for “word” in both instances. Perhaps it was thought that this allusion to Holy Writ was too direct for the times when the folio, 1623, was published.

Note return to page 329 9To thread the postern of a small needle's eye.] All the quartos agree in the insertion of “small,” which is excluded in the folio, probably because the editor did not advert to the fact, that the dissyllable “needle” is to be pronounced in the time of a monosyllable, as in Midsummer-Night's Dream,” Vol. ii. p. 433, and in “Lucrece,” quoted in note 4.

Note return to page 330 1Thus play I, in one person,] All the copies, quarto and folio, excepting the first quarto, read prison for “person;” another out of many proofs of the value of the edition of 1597.

Note return to page 331 2To check time broke &lblank;] The four early quartos have “To check:” the folio alone, “To hear.”

Note return to page 332 3My thoughts are minutes, and with sighs they jar, Their watches on unto mine eyes the outward watch,] This is the reading and pointing of the quartos, excepting that that of 1615 has There in the second line for “Their:” the folio, 1623, follows the three earliest quartos, and the folio of 1632 omits “on,” and prints “into” to. We have stated the original text thus particularly, on account of the difficulty of extracting sense from the passage by any of the old readings. The commentators gave up the attempt, and Johnson reasonably supposed the passage to be corrupt. “Jar” is explained by the use of the same word in “The Winter's Tale,” Vol. iii. p. 433, to signify the tick of a clock, and Steevens suggested that “outward watch” meant the figure of a watchman, or watch, above the dial-plate. Still, this will not explain what is intended by “with sighs they jar their watches on unto my eyes.” The reading of the second line in the second folio is good measure, “Their watches to mine eyes, the outward watch,” but it does not clear the sense of the passage.

Note return to page 333 4Now, sir, the sound, that tells what hour it is, Are clamorous groans,] Here again we must leave the text as it is found in every old edition. Ritson suggests that “sound” should be in the plural, which seems plausible; but what has “sir” to do in the line, and whom is Richard addressing? If we read for instead of “sir,” a not unfrequent error, arising from the long s and f having been confounded by the compositor, the verb are will have no nominative, but that perhaps might be they or “sounds” understood:— “Now, for the sounds that tell what hour it is, Are clamorous groans.” This perhaps is the nearest point of explanation at which we can arrive.

Note return to page 334 5&lblank; his Jack o' the clock.] The figure that in old clocks used to strike the hour was called the “Jack of the clock,” and “Jack of the clock-house.” It is often mentioned by old writers.

Note return to page 335 6Is a strange brooch in this all-hating world.] i. e. says Malone, “is as strange as a brooch, which is now no longer worn;” and we have already seen, in “All's Well that Ends Well,” Vol. ii. p. 212, that brooches were out of fashion,—“just like the brooch and tooth-pick, which wear not now.”

Note return to page 336 7The cheapest of us is ten groats too dear.] Some allusion may be intended here (as Boswell supposes) to the “royal” and “noble,” as pieces of money.

Note return to page 337 8Enter Keeper, with a dish.] This is the stage-direction of the folio, 1623: the quarto, 1597, and other quartos, have “Enter one to Richard with meat.”

Note return to page 338 9[Strikes the Keeper.] This stage-direction is not in the old copies. Something of the kind seems necessary.

Note return to page 339 1[He kills another: Exton strikes him down.] Neither this nor the preceding stage-direction is in the old copies; but that Richard kills two of “the murderers” (as they are called in the oldest editions) is quite evident from the last line of this scene.

Note return to page 340 2Whilst my gross flesh sinks downward, here to die.] Mr. Amyot, who has taken so much and such successful pains in investigating the curious point of Richard's death, has favoured me with the following note:— “In dramatizing the account of Richard's death, which he found in Holinshed, Shakespeare, as the late Lord Dover observed, has perhaps done more than all other writers to render it the popular version of the story. Malone supposed it to have first appeared in ‘Fabyan's Chronicle;’ but it was of earlier origin, being found in Caxton's additions to Hygden's ‘Polychronicon,’ and in a MS. of still earlier date in the Royal Library at Paris. Two other stories, however, had precedence of it, one of them relating that the king had died of grief and voluntary famine, and the other that the starvation had been compulsory. On these conflicting narratives (all three of which Shakespeare had seen in Holinshed) a controversy will be found in vol. xx. of the ‘Archæologia.’ The twenty-third vol. of that work contains an attempt to refute the improbable relation of Richard's escape from his prison at Pontefract into Scotland, as narrated by Bower and Winton, and supported, as Mr. Tytler maintains, by other Scottish authorities. This romantic tale was countenanced by Sir Walter Scott, who adopted it in his ‘History of Scotland,’ but afterwards, in a letter to the writer of this note, he stated that he had not meant to express a conviction of his belief in it, though he had thought it worth grave observation, which it had not hitherto received. Of these four stories, whichever may have been the true one, Shakespeare may be held justified in adapting to stage-representation that which seemed best suited to the taste, and was probably most acceptable to the belief of his audience.”

Note return to page 341 3&lblank; of Salisbury, Spencer, Blunt, and Kent:] So the folio. The quarto reads, “—of Oxford, Salisbury, Blunt, and Kent.” The reading of the folio (says Malone) is historically right.

Note return to page 342 4A deed of slander with thy fatal hand] This is the original, and, no doubt, authentic reading of the quarto, 1597. That of 1598 printed slaughter for “slander,” and it was followed by all the other quartos and folios. Modern editors do not appear to have noticed the variation.

Note return to page 343 5&lblank; grace my mournings here,] The quarto, 1597, has “mournings” in the plural: the folio prints it in the singular. The same remark will apply to “the shades of night,” eight lines above.

Note return to page 344 “The History of Henrie the Fovrth; With the battell at Shrewsburie, betweene the King and Lord Henry Percy, surnamed Henrie Hotspur of the North. With the humorous conceits of Sir Iohn Falstalffe. At London, Printed by P. S. for Andrew Wise, dwelling in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of the Angell. 1598.” 4to. 40 leaves. “The History of Henrie the Fovrth; With the battell at Shrewsburie, betweene the King and Lord Henry Percy, surnamed Henry Hotspur of the North. With the humorous conceits of Sir Iohn Falstalffe. Newly corrected by W. Shake-speare. At London, Printed by S. S. for Andrew Wise, dwelling in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of the Angell. 1599.” 4to. 40 leaves. “The History of Henrie the Fourth, With the battell at Shrewsburie, betweene the King, and Lord Henry Percy, surnamed Henry Hotspur of the North. With the humorous conceits of Sir Iohn Falstalffe. Newly corrected by W. Shake-speare. London Printed by Valentine Simmes, for Mathew Law, and are to be solde at his shop in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of the Fox. 1604.” 4to. 40 leaves. “The History of Henry the fourth, With the battell of Shrewseburie, betweene the King, and Lord Henry Percy, surnamed Henry Hotspur of the North. With the humorous conceites of Sir Iohn Falstalffe. Newly corrected by W. Shake-speare. London, Printed for Mathew Law, and are to be sold at his shop in Paules Churchyard, neere unto S. Augustines gate, at the signe of the Foxe. 1608.” 4to. 40 leaves. The 4to edition of 1613 also consists of 40 leaves; and the only differences between its title-page and that of 1608 are the date, and the statement that it was “Printed by W. W.” In the folio of 1623, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, with the Life and Death of Henry Sirnamed Hot-spvrre,” occupies twenty-six pages, viz. from p. 46 to p. 73 inclusive. In the later folios it is reprinted in the same form.

Note return to page 345 1The third edition of “The Famous Victories” was printed after James I. came to the throne: it has no date, but it states on the title-page that “it was acted by the King's Majesty's servants.” This assertion was probably untrue, the object of the stationer being to induce buyers to believe that it was the same play as Shakespeare's work, which was certainly performed by “the King's Majesty's servants.” From this impression Steevens reprinted it in the “Six Old Plays,” 8vo, 1779.

Note return to page 346 2The same conclusion may perhaps be drawn from the mention of “fat Sir John Oldcastle,” in “The Meeting of Gallants at an Ordinarie,” 1604, 4to, a tract recently reprinted, under the editorial care of Mr. Halliwell, for the Percy Society.

Note return to page 347 3There is another entry, under date 27th June, 1603, by which “Henry the 4 the first pte.” seems to have been transferred by Wise to Law, for whom the edition of 1604 was in fact printed.

Note return to page 348 4Mr. Halliwell does not seem to have been aware, when speaking of “The First part of the true and honorable History of the Life of Sir John Oldcastle, the good Lord Cobham,” a play attributed to Shakespeare on the title-page of most of the copies printed in 1600, that two other copies of it have recently been discovered, which have no author's name. Hence it might be inferred, that the original title-page was cancelled at the instance of our great dramatist, and another substituted.

Note return to page 349 5See also another relic of the name of Oldcastle for Falstaff on p. 230, and the note upon it.

Note return to page 350 1The old copies have no list of persons: it was first prefixed by Rowe.

Note return to page 351 1No more the thirsty entrance of this soil] When Shakespeare wrote this line he had, no doubt, as Malone suggests, a personification of England in his mind: by “thirsty entrance” he meant thirsty mouth, and forgetting that he had given no more of the personification than the allusion to the mouth, he added the next line, “Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood.” This seems the natural explanation of a passage that excited much dispute among the commentators. Steevens first recommended entrants, and subsequently adopted into his text a conjecture by M. Mason, that it was a misprint for Erinnys, than which few things could be more unlikely. Coleridge thought Theobald's interpretation right, that “thirsty entrance” meant the dry penetrability of the soil; and he added, “the obscurity of this passage is of the Shakespearean sort.” Lit. Rem. vol. ii. p. 179.

Note return to page 352 2In forwarding this dear expedience.] i. e. expedition. Shakespeare constantly uses “expedient” for expeditious; see Vol. iii. p. 46, note 6; and in “Antony and Cleopatra,” we have “expedience” in exactly the same sense as above. However, afterwards in this play, A. i. sc. 3, we have expedition used instead of “expedience.”

Note return to page 353 3And many limits of the charge &lblank;] i. e. bounds of the expense.

Note return to page 354 4A thousand of his people butchered:] So every quarto edition: the folio, “And a thousand,” &c.

Note return to page 355 5This, match'd with other, did,] So the two earliest quartos: the later editions print like for did.

Note return to page 356 5For more uneven &lblank;] The folio, following the quarto of 1613, has Far instead of “For,” the reading of the quartos, 1598, 1599, 1604, and 1608.

Note return to page 357 7Balk'd in their own blood;] Some of the commentators would read bak'd; but Tollet showed that “balk'd,” which means laid up in a ridge or hillock, is correct, and all the old editions concur in so printing it.

Note return to page 358 8West. In faith. It is &lblank;] In the old copies, these words are made part of what the king says, and run on as a portion of the same line, which, it is quite evident, is complete at “is it not?” In the two oldest quartos there is a wide space between “is it not?” and “In faith it is,” and there can be little doubt that the latter words were placed by mere accident in the preceding line.

Note return to page 359 9&lblank; the father to so blest a son:] The folio, 1623, adopting the reading of the later quartos, reads “of so blest a son.”

Note return to page 360 1Will hold at Windsor: so inform the lords;] The folio, 1623, without the authority of any preceding edition, inserts and in the middle of this line to the injury of the metre.

Note return to page 361 2&lblank; upon benches after noon,] The folio has it “in the afternoon.”

Note return to page 362 3&lblank; why thou should'st be so superfluous &lblank;] “So” is the reading of the quarto, 1598, and of the folio, 1623: all the other quartos omit “so.”

Note return to page 363 4&lblank; and the seven stars;] “The” is omitted in the quartos subsequent to that of 1608, and in the folio, 1623.

Note return to page 364 5&lblank; “that wandering knight so fair. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0576”] Perhaps an expression from some ballad upon the adventures of the Knight of the Sun, a well-known romance of the time, translated from the Spanish, by Margaret Tyler, under the title of “The Mirror of Princely Deeds and Knighthood.” It forms nine parts.

Note return to page 365 6As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the castle.] The folio, 1623, merely reads, “As in the honey, my old lad of the castle.” The words “old lad of the castle” are conjectured to be an allusion to the name of Oldcastle, by which Falstaff was originally known in this play: there could otherwise be no joke in the expression. See this point considered in the Introduction; and it may be here added, that Mr. Halliwell, in his “Essay on the Character of Sir John Falstaff,” there referred to, goes far to establish the three following propositions: —“1. That the stage was in possession of a rude outline of Falstaff before Shakespeare wrote either part of ‘Henry IV.,’ under the name of Sir John Oldcastle. 2. That the name of Oldecastle was retained for a time in Shakespeare's ‘Henry IV.,’ but changed to Falstaff before the play was printed. 3. That in all probability some of the theatres, in acting ‘Henry IV.,’ retained the name of Oldcastle, after the author had made the alteration.”— Mr. Halliwell has a fourth proposition, in which I cannot concur, for reasons adverted to in the Introduction, viz., “That Shakespeare probably made the change before the year 1593.” I am disposed to fix the composition of “Henry IV.” part i. in 1596.

Note return to page 366 7What a plague have I to do with a buff jerkin?] We have already seen in “The Comedy of Errors,” Vol. ii. p. 153, that buff was the usual dress of serjeants, whose business it was to arrest debtors. When Falstaff asks, whether “his hostess is not a sweet wench?” the prince asks in return, “whether it will not be a sweet thing to go to prison, by running in debt to this sweet wench?” This is Johnson's explanation of the passage. There seems also a joke intended by the words “robe of durance;” and in “The Comedy of Errors,” Dromio terms a serjeant “a devil in an everlasting garment.”

Note return to page 367 8&lblank; that were it not here apparent &lblank;] In the folio, 1623, the negative is omitted, as well as in all the re-impressions of that volume.

Note return to page 368 9&lblank; I am as melancholy as a gib cat,] The melancholy of a cat is proverbial; and Ray has “as melancholy as a gibd cat.” Such seems of old to have been the most usual way of printing it, but in all the copies of this play it stands “gib cat.” Coles, in his Dictionary, 1677, gives felis mas as the explanation of “gib cat.”

Note return to page 369 1&lblank; a Lincolnshire bagpipe.] Lincolnshire bagpipes are spoken of by several old writers; and, as Steevens pointed out, in the “Three Lords and Three Ladies of London,” 1590, (a play partaking of the character of a morality and a historical drama,) “the sweet ballad of the Lincolnshire bagpipes” is mentioned.

Note return to page 370 2What sayest thou to a hare, or the melancholy of Moor-ditch?] The melancholy of a hare seems to have also been proverbial; and Taylor, in his “Penniless Pilgrimage,” 1618, speaks of “Moor-ditch melancholy,” in reference to the filthy stagnant condition of the water in it formerly. According to Stowe's “Survey,” it “separated Bedlam Hospital from the fields,” another reason for associating it with melancholy.

Note return to page 371 3&lblank; unsavoury similes;] All the old copies, until the folio of 1632, have “unsavory smiles.”

Note return to page 372 4&lblank; wisdom cries out in the streets, and &lblank;] These words are left out in the folio, and the point of the reply thereby sacrificed.

Note return to page 373 5Thou hast done much harm upon me,] The quarto, 1598, has this reading: later editions alter “upon” to unto.

Note return to page 374 6&lblank; to labour in his vocation.] According to the erroneous printing of the folio, the speech of Falstaff is made to end with these words; and Poins (called Pointz) is represented to begin what he says at, “Now shall we know,” &c.

Note return to page 375 7&lblank; if Gadshill have set a match.] So every quarto edition: the folio, “set a watch,” which was a very easy misprint; and it seems, by the following quotation, pointed out by Farmer in “Ratsey's Ghost,” a tract printed about 1606, that “to set a match” was technical among thieves:—“I have been many times beholding to tapsters and chamberlains for directions and setting of matches.” In addition, we have the phrase “setting a match,” for making an appointment, in Ben Jonson's “Bartholomew Fair.” To “set a watch” would therefore seem to be directly contrary to what Shakespeare intended. See also what Gadshill says, in Act ii. sc. 1, to the chamberlain.

Note return to page 376 8&lblank; stand for ten shillings.] Such was the value of the coin called a “royal,” the word upon which Falstaff plays, when he says to the Prince, “nor thou cam'st not of the blood royal.”

Note return to page 377 9Farewell, thou latter spring! Farewell, All-hallownsummer!] The old copies read the for “thou,” which Pope substituted. “All-hallown summer” means a summer on the first of November, which was All-hallows-day.

Note return to page 378 1Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto, and Gadshill,] In all the old copies, Harvey and Rossill are put for Bardolph and Peto: perhaps these were the names of the actors of the parts, though we do not meet with them in any list of the company. It is possible that Harvey and Rossill were names by which Peto and Bardolph were called in the play as it originally stood, before Oldcastle was changed to Falstaff. At all events, the robbery was committed by Bardolph and Peto, and their names ought to be inserted in the text.

Note return to page 379 2&lblank; and, sirrah,] This and other instances may be quoted to show that “sirrah” was not applied merely to inferiors, or derogatorily.

Note return to page 380 3&lblank; for the nonce,] A phrase of perpetual occurrence in the writers of the time; but the word “nonce” is of disputed etymology. The meaning is, for the occasion, and Gifford (Ben Jonson, iii. 218) tells us that “for the nonce” is simply for the once, the letter n having been inserted to prevent elision in pronouncing for the once. There is little doubt that he is right, though Tyrwhitt would derive it from nunc. Note on Cant. Tales, v. 381.

Note return to page 381 4The moody frontier of a servant brow.] “Frontier,” observes Steevens, “was anciently used for forehead.” So Stubbs, in his “Anatomy of Abuses,” 1583, “Then on the edges of their bolstered hair, which standeth crested round their frontiers, and hanging over their faces,” &c.

Note return to page 382 5Either envy, therefore, or misprision] This is the reading of every quarto; but the folio, without the slightest necessity, and to the injury of the sense, prints this line as follows:— “Who either through envy or misprision:” there is here nothing for the relative who to agree with.

Note return to page 383 6A pouncet-box,] “A small box,” says Warburton, “for musk or other perfumes then in fashion: the lid of which, being cut with open work, gave it its name; from poinsoner, to prick, pierce, or engrave.”

Note return to page 384 7This villainous salt-petre &lblank;] So every quarto: the folio, 1623, That. The oldest reading seems on every account preferable.

Note return to page 385 8Whate'er Lord Harry Percy then had said,] So the original quarto of 1598. All the later quartos spoil the line by omitting “Lord,” and the folio of 1623 remedies the defect of the metre by reading Whatever. Blunt in Percy's presence would hardly omit his title.

Note return to page 386 9Against that great magician,] So the quartos previous to that of 1608: the rest, and the folio, have “the great magician.” In the next line, the quarto, 1598, properly reads, “that earl of March,” i. e. Mortimer.

Note return to page 387 1&lblank; and indent with fears,] i. e. subscribe an indenture, as if under apprehension. This interpretation accords with what Hotspur afterwards says of the king's “trembling even at the name of Mortimer.” “They,” in the next line, refers to Mortimer, and others taken with him. This passage seems to have puzzled nearly all the commentators; and Warburton, Johnson, and Steevens, have given explanations equally wide of the mark.

Note return to page 388 3Never did base and rotten policy] “Base” is the reading of the folio: bare, the reading of the quartos, would seem to be a misprint. Johnson says, that all editions after the folio, 1623, adopted base; such was not the case with the quarto of 1639.

Note return to page 389 4Albeit I make a hazard of my head.] This is the reading of every quarto; and there seems no reason to vary from it in order to read with the folio, “Although it be with hazard of my head,”—a poorer and less expressive line.

Note return to page 390 5'Zounds! I will speak of him;] How poor, tame, and uncharacteristic is the folio, “Yes, I will speak of him.” All the quartos support our text. Perhaps “'zounds” was struck out by the Master of the Revels.

Note return to page 391 6Yea, on his part,] The folio, “On his behalf.” Two lines lower the folio prints the original word “down-trod” downfall.

Note return to page 392 7That wish'd him on the barren mountains starve.] i. e. to starve: the folio 1623, in opposition to all the quartos, has starv'd. Northumberland is repeating the words used by the king.

Note return to page 393 8By heaven, methinks, it were an easy leap,] In the earlier quartos, this line and seven others that follow it are assigned to Northumberland. The error was corrected in the quarto, 1608.

Note return to page 394 9And that same sword-and-buckler prince of Wales,] Servants, and riotous fellows, were in the habit of wearing swords and bucklers. Steevens, on this point, refers to a tract by William Basse, called, “Sword and Buckler, or Serving Man's Defence,” printed in 1602.

Note return to page 395 1I would have him poison'd &lblank;] The folio thus transposes the words “I would have poison'd him.”

Note return to page 396 2Why, what a wasp-stung and impatient fool] This is the epithet in the first quarto, and it is surely much superior to wasp-tongued, the reading of the folio and other editions. Northumberland, of course, means that his son is as impatient as if he had been stung by a wasp, not that he had a wasp's tongue in his head, for the tongue of the wasp is harmless. Malone nevertheless has a long vindication of wasp-tongued.

Note return to page 397 3'Sblood!] All the quartos give, and all the folios omit, this characteristic interjection. The same circumstance occurs afterwards.

Note return to page 398 4Good uncle, tell your tale: I have done.] The word “for” is inserted in the folio, 1623, after “tale;” but the line, though syllabically imperfect, reads with more spirit without it. It is followed by a line of only eight syllables.

Note return to page 399 5Upon my life it will do wondrous well.] “Wondrous” is obtained from the folio, and seems on all accounts necessary.

Note return to page 400 6I'll steal to Glendower, and Lord Mortimer;] Regarding this line see the Introduction, p. 223.

Note return to page 401 7&lblank; out of all cess.] i. e. “out of all measure (says Warburton): the phrase being taken from a cess, tax, or subsidy; which being by regular and moderate rates, when anything was exorbitant, or out of measure, it was said to be out of all cess.”

Note return to page 402 8&lblank; as dank here as a dog,] The Rev. Mr. Barry suggests to me, that we should read dock for “dog,” the error having easily arisen from the mishearing of the word.

Note return to page 403 9&lblank; breeds fleas like a loach.] Why one carrier should say that he has been “stung like a tench,” and the other that “chamber lie breeds fleas like a loach,” has not been satisfactorily explained. Farmer thought that “tench” was a misprint for trout, which is spotted; and Monck Mason suggests that the “loach” is a very prolific fish, and hence that the carrier uses it as a simile.

Note return to page 404 1Ay, when? canst tell?] This proverbial expression has occurred in “The Comedy of Errors,” Vol. ii. p. 137.

Note return to page 405 2At hand, quoth pick-purse.] A proverbial phrase met with in many writers of the time.

Note return to page 406 3Enter Chamberlain.] The entrance of the chamberlain takes place, according to the old copies, when first Gadshill calls him, but it is evidently improperly marked there.

Note return to page 407 4God knows what.] Though the folio, every now and then, omits such expressions as “zounds” and “i' faith,” there is not the slightest consistency in its corrections of this kind: it permits these words to stand.

Note return to page 408 5&lblank; saint Nicholas' clerks,] This was a very common cant term applied to highwaymen and robbers, but why, it is not easy to decide. Warburton suggests that the patron saint of clerks being St. Nicholas, and Old Nick being a cant name for the devil, the word “clerks” became indifferently applied to scholars and robbers. Grey has shown, that highwaymen were sometimes termed “St. Nicholas' knights.” See Dodsley's Old Plays, last edit. vol. vii. p. 308; where several instances are collected relative to “St. Nicholas' clerks,” particularly from Dekker's tracts.

Note return to page 409 6&lblank; burgomasters, and great oneyers;] Various interpretations of this term “oneyers” have been suggested, but none of them at all satisfactory. Capell's suggestion, supported by Sir D. Dalrymple, seems the best, and he inserted it in his text; viz. mynheers, the Dutch word “burgomasters” just preceding it. Johnson held that “oneyers” (spelt Oneyres in the oldest copy) was nothing more than one-eers, or ones, similar in its form to privateer, auctioneer, &c. Theobald read moneyers, and Hanmer, owners.

Note return to page 410 7&lblank; we have the receipt of fern-seed, we walk invisible.] Fern-seed being of old supposed to be invisible, those who carried it about them were supposed to be invisible also. Possibly the origin of the phrase was, that people walked like fern-seed, invisible.

Note return to page 411 8&lblank; thou shalt have a share in our purchase,] “Purchase” was a common term for booty, or the property obtained by robbery of any kind. It is used exactly in the same sense in “Henry V.” Act iii. sc. 2. “They will steal anything and call it purchase.” The use of the word in this sense is ancient. [Subnote: P. 251.—Add to note 8: The word “purchase” was in use, to signify booty made by plunder, in the time of Defoe, if not later: he employs it in the commencement of his “Life of Colonel Jack.”]

Note return to page 412 9Go to; homo is a common name to all men.] The words “true man” and “false thief” were frequently opposed in writers of the time; and when Gadshill says, in reply to the chamberlain, that “homo is a common name to all men,” he means that it was just as applicable to the “true man,” which he had called himself, as to the “false thief,” which the chamberlain had termed him.

Note return to page 413 1&lblank; he frets like a gummed velvet.] Velvets and taffatas, when gummed, fretted or wore themselves out by reason of their stiffness: to fret like a gummed velvet, or like a gummed taffata, was a phrase so often in use with our old writers that it became almost proverbial. Steevens made the following apposite quotation from Marston's “Malcontent,” 1604, which is all that is necessary:— “I'll come among you, like gum into taffata, fret, fret.”

Note return to page 414 2&lblank; four foot by the squire &lblank;] i. e. by the square, or rule. See “Love's Labour's Lost,” Vol. ii. p. 368, note 3, and “The Winter's Tale,” Vol. iii. p. 505, note 7.

Note return to page 415 3What a plague mean ye to colt me thus?] To colt is to trick or fool, as Johnson explains, and as many quotations would prove. The prince in his reply plays upon the word, in reference to the fact that Falstaff was on foot, “uncolted,” by reason of the loss of his horse.

Note return to page 416 4Go, hang thyself &lblank;] “Go” is from the folio: it is wanting in the quartos previous to that of 1608.

Note return to page 417 5Gads. Case ye, case ye;] There is some little confusion of persons here in all the old copies, quarto and folio. “Bardolph, what news?” is made part of what Poins says, and Bardolph is made to reply, “Case ye, case ye,” &c. Our text is regulated as Johnson recommended. The fact seems to be, that “Bardolph,” as a prefix, was mistaken by the printer, and he was thus made a person addressed instead of speaking. Gadshill was the “setter,” and ought to bring the information.

Note return to page 418 6How many be there of them?] So the 4to, 1598: that of 1599, “How many be they of them?” and the subsequent quartos have, “But how many be they of them?” The folio omits both there and they, “But how many be of them?”

Note return to page 419 7Well, we leave that to the proof.] The folio has “We'll leave that,” &c. and makes other more minute variations in this scene.

Note return to page 420 8&lblank; happy man be his dole,] i. e. happiness be his portion, or “dole.” See Vol. iii. p. 123, note 6, and 439, note 8.

Note return to page 421 9Hang ye, gorbellied knaves.] “Gorbellied” is a very common epithet used for fat-bellied, corpulent. The etymology is uncertain, but perhaps from gor, which, in the dialect of Craven, still means rotten or decayed. (See Holloway's Gen. Dict. of Provincialisms, 8vo, 1838.) Gor is Saxon for dung, and hence Skinner and Junius derive “gorbellied.” On the other hand, in Derbyshire it should seem that the word gorrel-bellied, for pot-bellied, is a word yet employed. No etymology is given by our lexicographers for gorrel. In “Lingua,” (Dodsley's Old Plays, last edit. v. 189,) “a gorbelly” signifies a glutton.

Note return to page 422 P. 255.&lblank; Hang ye, gorbellied knaves] Nash in his “Pierce Penniless,” 1592, sign. F 3. b. (Shakesp. Society's repr. p. 45,) seems to use “dorbellied” in the same sense. The word occurs in Skelton; but the Rev. A. Dyce, vol. ii. p. 180 and 183, merely states its meaning of big-bellied, which of course is not to be disputed. E. Guilpin, in his “Skialetheia,” 1598, Sat. iii. employs the word “gorbelly,” to signify a part of dress, doubtless giving the wearer an appearance of corpulency: “Like the French quarter slop, the gorbelly, The long stockt hose, or close Venetian.” Sign. D.

Note return to page 423 1Exeunt Fal. &c. driving the Travellers out.] The old stage-direction in all the old editions is, “Here they rob them and bind them.” It is very clear, however, that Falstaff and the rest go out, leaving the stage to the prince and Poins, who return to it.

Note return to page 424 2The thieves have bound the true men.] Here again we see “thieves” and “true men” put in opposition. See p. 251, note 2.

Note return to page 425 3&lblank; leaving the booty behind them.] This is verbatim the oldest stage-direction, which there can be no objection to preserve instead of the modern alteration.

Note return to page 426 4Got with much ease.] This speech is printed as prose in all the old copies.

Note return to page 427 5By the Lord,] The folio, 1623, merely I protest; and just afterwards, instead of “zounds!” it substitutes “by this hand:” elsewhere the Master of the Revels seems to have objected even to “by this hand.”

Note return to page 428 6In thy faint slumbers,] So the two earlier quartos, and no doubt rightly. The later quartos and folio have “my faint slumbers;” but Lady Percy was watching, not slumbering.

Note return to page 429 7Of sallies, and retires; of trenches, tents,] The folio, 1623, following the quartos of 1608 and 1613, omits “of.” Lower down it reads beds for “beads,” for the same reason.

Note return to page 430 8On some great sudden hest.] “Hest,” for behest, is a very common word; but none of the commentators have observed that the earliest quarto prints “hest,” and not haste, as they have given it. “On some great sudden hest,” is “On some great sudden command.”

Note return to page 431 9O, esperance!] The motto of the Percy family. The folio omits “O.”

Note return to page 432 1An if thou wilt not tell me all things true.] This speech and some others are mistakenly printed as prose in the old copies, which error the editor of the folio, 1623, not perceiving, thought himself warranted in varying from the text of the five quarto impressions. In a preceding line he inserted shall, and this line he gives thus prosaically, “if thou wilt not tell me true.”

Note return to page 433 2It must, of force.] i. e. of necessity. See Vol. iii. p. 508, note 1.

Note return to page 434 3&lblank; (by the Lord, so they call me,)] These words, which, of course, came from Shakespeare's pen, are omitted in the folio, 1623: every quarto has them. Above, the folio has confidence for “salvation.”

Note return to page 435 4&lblank; under-skinker;] An under-drawer. A skinker is one that serves drink at table. Schenken, Germ. is to fill a glass or cup; and schenk is a cup-bearer, one that waits at table to fill the glasses. Hence our common word “skinker.”

Note return to page 436 5Pray you, stay a little, my lord.] “You” is not in the 4to, 1598, but in all the subsequent editions: three lines lower the folio adds “sir” after “O lord!” perhaps to qualify the expression.

Note return to page 437 6&lblank; puke-stocking, caddis-garter,] “Puke” appears to have been some dark colour, possibly what we now call puce: also the name of a species of cloth, perhaps, usually of that colour. We have had “caddisses” mentioned in “The Winter's Tale.” See Vol. iii. p. 500, note 10.

Note return to page 438 7&lblank; your brown bastard is your only drink:] “Bastard” was a species of wine which Barrett, in his Alvearie, 1580, says is synonymous with “muscadel, sweet wine.” It seems to have been either brown or white, and is often mentioned in writers of Shakespeare's time, not unfrequently as the ground-work of a pun.

Note return to page 439 8Dost thou not hear them call?] The folio omits “not,” against all authority. The stage-direction is that of the old copies.

Note return to page 440 9Exit.] The modern editors make Francis properly re-enter, but they never inform us at what point he goes out again. He no doubt merely hurries across the stage upon his vocation.

Note return to page 441 1“Rivo!” says the drunkard.] Rivo! is a drinking exclamation, “the etymology of which (says the Rev. A. Dyce, in his edit. of Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 243) has not been discovered.” See “Twelfth Night,” Vol. iii. p. 331, where “Rivo Castiliano!” is quoted from Marlowe's “Rich Jew of Malta.” This might show it to be of Spanish origin: possibly, after all, it is only a corruption of bibo.

Note return to page 442 2I'll sew nether-stocks,] i. e. lower stocks, or stockings.

Note return to page 443 3Pitiful-hearted Titan, that melted at the sweet tale of the sun!] This is the reading of the folio, 1623: the first and second quartos have sonnes for sun: the later quartos are like the folio. The passage has been hotly disputed by Theobald, Warburton, Steevens, Malone, &c., but we think that Warburton's interpretation of the meaning must be adopted: he read “pitiful-hearted Titan” as in parenthesis, and made the word. “that” refer to the butter, which melted “at the sweet tale of the sun:” still a difficulty remains in the words “at the sweet tale,” unless we suppose Titan to whisper a tale, while he is kissing the “dish of butter.” Malone would make out an allusion to Phaeton, and that the “tale” was that of the destruction of the son of Titan. No explanation can perhaps be entirely satisfactory.

Note return to page 444 4There is nothing but roguery to be found in villainous man:] This line is given, not quoted, in the Palladis Tamia of Francis Meres, fo. 281. The work was printed in the same year as the play before us.

Note return to page 445 5I could sing psalms or any thing.] This is the text of the quarto, 1598, and of all the other quarto editions: the folio, 1623, alters it to, “I could sing all manner of songs,” as Malone says, to avoid the penalty of the statute, 3 Jac. I. c. 21. This may be so, but the folio is anything but consistent in this mode of mutilating the original, for just before it offends against the statute by inserting the name of the Creator, “God help the while!” We prefer to give the language of Shakespeare as nearly as possible as he wrote it, and not as it might be corrected by the Master of the Revels, in order not to offend against a law which did not exist at the time when this play was composed.

Note return to page 446 6Poins. 'Zounds!] In the folio, 1623, this speech (omitting the interjection) is assigned to the Prince, a misprint which had first found its way into the quarto, 1613, from which the folio was reprinted.

Note return to page 447 7&lblank; this day morning.] So the first two quartos, according to the phraseology of the time: later editions omit “day.” The expression “this day morning” is still used in our eastern counties.

Note return to page 448 8A hundred upon poor four of us.] So all the old copies. Malone and the modern editors omit “of.”

Note return to page 449 9P. Hen. Speak, sirs: how was it!] In the quarto editions these words are erroneously assigned to Gadshill, and Ross. stands as the prefix to what Bardolph ought to say. We have seen before, p. 235, that Rossill was inserted in the text for Bardolph. Instead of Rossill we have, therefore, placed Bardolph as the prefix; but the editors of the first folio mistakenly assigned the speeches to Gadshill, who, in the quarto copies, speaks in his own person. Modern editors have inadvertently adopted the error of the first folio.

Note return to page 450 1P. Hen. Pray God, you have not murdered some of them.] This speech is given in all the quartos, prior to that of 1613, to the Prince, but the quarto, 1613, having misprinted Poins for Prin, the folio repeated the blunder, and the modern editors followed the folio.

Note return to page 451 2&lblank; but took all their seven points &lblank;] Malone omits “all,” which is in every old copy, and much heightens the force of what Falstaff says.

Note return to page 452 3Down fell their hose.] See “The Winter's Tale,” Vol. iii. p. 500: their hose fell down because the points, i. e. the laces (with metal points), broke. Falstaff uses “points” in one sense, and Poins in another.

Note return to page 453 4&lblank; in Kendal green,] i. e. green cloth made at Kendal in Westmoreland, famous of old for the manufacture, as might be proved by innumerable authorities of the time.

Note return to page 454 5&lblank; greasy tallow-keech,] In the old copies it is printed tallow-catch, but it is probably meant for tallow-keech. Percy informs us that a keech of tallow is the fat of an ox, or cow, rolled up by the butcher in a round lump, in order to be carried to the chandler. It is the proper word in use now. In “Henry IV.” Part ii. Act ii. sc. 1, a butcher's wife is called “dame Keech.”

Note return to page 455 6No; were I at the strappado,] The punishment of the strappado (often alluded to by writers of the time) is thus described in a passage quoted by Steevens:—“The strappado is when the person is drawn up to his height, and then suddenly to let him fall half way with a jerk, which not only breaketh his arms to pieces, but also shaketh all his joints out of joint; which punishment is better to be hanged, than for a man to undergo.” Randle Holme's “Academy of Arms and Blazon,” b. iii. ch. vii. p. 310.

Note return to page 456 7Away, you starveling, you elf-skin,] So all the copies; but Sir Thomas Hanmer and Warburton, with considerable appearance of probability, read eel-skin, an easy compositor's error. Johnson would have it elf-kin, as if Falstaff intended to call Prince Henry a little fairy; but if eel-skin be not right, “elf-skin” seems quite as near the truth as elf-kin.

Note return to page 457 8&lblank; you bound them,] The old editions have “and bound them,” which does not read with the rest of the passage: “you” was substituted by Pope.

Note return to page 458 9By the Lord, I knew ye,] The folio omits “By the Lord:” it is found in all the quartos. The same thing occurs again just afterwards; but these matters in the folio seem governed by no rule, as if the Master of the Revels had been merely arbitrary in his corrections.

Note return to page 459 1Give him as much as will make him a royal man,] The hostess has previously called the messenger a nobleman: the joke lies in the difference between the coins, a royal, which was 10s., and a noble, which was only 6s. 8d. Perhaps Prince Henry meant also that the hostess was to make the messenger royally drunk, and then send him to the queen.

Note return to page 460 2Now, sirs; by'r lady, you fought fair;] The folio omits “by'r lady.” In the next speech of Prince Henry it omits “Faith,” which is, nevertheless, inserted just above. In a subsequent speech by Falstaff, “by'r lady” is preserved in the folio, as if it were unobjectionable.

Note return to page 461 3&lblank; my sweet creature of bombast!] Bombast was cotton-wool; and according to Steevens, Gerard in his “Herbal” calls the cotton-tree the bombast tree. It was used, as well as horse-hair, to stuff out the dress of both sexes.

Note return to page 462 4&lblank; if there come a hot June,] So both the earliest quartos: the folio, following the corrupt reading of the later quartos, has Sun for “June.”

Note return to page 463 5&lblank; king Cambyses' vein.] The allusion is to a play called “A Lamentable Tragedy, mixed ful of Pleasant Mirth, conteyning the Life of Cambises, King of Persia,” by Thomas Preston, printed by John Allde, n. d. In the “Revels' Accounts,” by P. Cunningham, Esq., printed by the Shakespeare Society, the curious fact (previously conjectured) has been ascertained, that Thomas Preston received an annuity of Twenty Pounds a year from Elizabeth for acting in the play of “Dido,” represented before her in 1564. See Introd. p. xix.

Note return to page 464 6&lblank; my leg.] i. e. my obeisance to my father.

Note return to page 465 7&lblank; my tristful queen,] All the old copies, trustful. Corrected by Rowe.

Note return to page 466 8&lblank; peace! good tickle-brain.] “Tickle-brain,” from several authorities of the time, appears to have been a species of liquor.

Note return to page 467 9&lblank; so youth,] The folio and the later quartos read yet, and thus spoil in some degree the non-appropriateness of the simile, in which the joke may be said to consist. Malone and the modern editors adopt yet.

Note return to page 468 1&lblank; prove a micher,] i. e. truant; to mich is to lurk out of sight. “The allusion,” says Johnson, “is to a truant boy, who, unwilling to go to school, and afraid to go home, lurks in the fields, and picks wild fruits.”

Note return to page 469 2A goodly portly man,] So the quartos and folios; but Malone and the modern editors have good for “goodly,” as if Falstaff here referred to the virtues for which he had just before given himself credit, when he is only speaking of his personal appearance.

Note return to page 470 3&lblank; for a rabbit-sucker,] i. e. a sucking-rabbit, as Steevens has shown by a variety of quotations.

Note return to page 471 4'Sblood, my lord, they are false:] The folio softened this oath into I' faith, which made the prince's subsequent reproof almost inapplicable, and rendered necessary the omission of “i' faith” at the end of the speech.

Note return to page 472 5&lblank; that bolting-hutch of beastliness,] A “bolting-hutch,” according to Steevens, is the wooden receptacle into which meal is bolted or sifted.

Note return to page 473 6&lblank; that huge bombard of sack,] A “bombard” is used by Ben Jonson and others, as well as by Shakespeare, for a large barrel. Heywood, however, in his “Philocothonista,” 1635, speaks of “the great black-jacks and bombards of the court,” as large vessels out of which people used to drink.

Note return to page 474 7&lblank; that roasted Manningtree ox &lblank;] Probably an allusion to the roasting of an ox at Manningtree fair, which was held, as Nash, Heywood, Dekker, and others inform us, by exhibiting a species of stage-play called “morals,” or “moralities,” annually. This brings to the mind of the prince the Vice and Iniquity, &c. characters in those plays.

Note return to page 475 8&lblank; wherein cunning, but in craft?] i. e. knowing or skilful but in trickery.

Note return to page 476 9I would your grace would take me with you:] i. e. let me understand you; or, as Johnson explains it, “go no faster than I can follow.” The phrase is of perpetual occurrence.

Note return to page 477 1&lblank; the devil rides upon a fiddle-stick.] Probably this proverbial expression had its origin in the dislike of the Puritans to music and dancing. In Beaumont and Fletcher's “Humorous Lieutenant,” we meet with “the fiend rides upon a fiddlestick.”

Note return to page 478 2&lblank; thou art essentially mad without seeming so.] This speech is far from clear. Falstaff appears to be awaking the prince to his supposed danger, and inciting him to deny any guilt: the old copies read “essentially made,” which Rowe altered to “mad.” In “The Winter's Tale,” Vol. iii. p. 484, we had mad misprinted for “made,” and here we have made misprinted for “mad.”

Note return to page 479 3Exeunt all but the Prince and Peto.] There is no stage-direction here in the quartos, and the folio has only “Exit.” The modern editors have retained Poins on the stage with the prince, and it is to be admitted that Poins has generally been his companion; but in this instance it is quite clear that Peto remains; for in the quarto and folio editions, after the sheriff and carrier have retired, the conversation respecting the contents of Falstaff's pockets is entirely between the prince and Peto, whom the prince by name afterwards wishes good morrow, nothing being said about Poins. We therefore without scruple restore the old reading. The other arrangement may seem preferable to some persons, but probably Shakespeare thought otherwise.

Note return to page 480 4Item, Bread, . . . . . . . ob.] So all the old copies; and ob. for obolum, was the universal mode, at that time, of writing a half-penny. In the quartos and folios the account is drawn up like a tavern bill, with the separate items and the prices carried out, and in this form it ought to be preserved.

Note return to page 481 5&lblank; a March of twelve-score.] The folio, after the later quartos, reads match; but the first and second quartos have it correctly, “march.” The printer of the quarto, 1608, was possibly misled by the fact, that in archery matches, “twelve-score” yards was the usual distance.

Note return to page 482 6&lblank; induction &lblank;] i. e. entrance, commencement, or introduction.

Note return to page 483 7Of burning cressets;] Cressets and cresset-lights are often mentioned: they were used for beacons, and sometimes instead of torches to light processions, &c. They had their name from croissette, Fr., because the fire was placed upon a little cross.

Note return to page 484 8&lblank; huge foundation &lblank;] “Huge” is only found in the quarto, 1598.

Note return to page 485 9&lblank; though yourself had never been born.] This and preceding speeches by Hotspur, are printed as prose in all the old copies, and it is not easy to make any thing like verse of them. The measure is elsewhere irregular.

Note return to page 486 1The archdeacon hath divided it] The Rev. Mr. Barry suggests to me, that for archdeacon we ought to read archbishop, meaning Scroop, because no archdeacon has been mentioned. If so, the scene should also be laid at the archbishop's instead of the archdeacon's. This may be so; but as all the old copies, quarto and folio, agree in reading archdeacon, we do not feel warranted in varying from them.

Note return to page 487 2Methinks, my moiety,] In Shakespeare's age, “moiety” was often used to signify a share, and not merely a half part.

Note return to page 488 3&lblank; cantle out.] “This word, in its strict sense,” says Douce, “signifies a small piece of any thing, but here a portion or parcel. The French have chanteau and chantel, from the Latin quantulum.” The quarto editions have scantle, the letter s having been carried on from the preceding word; the folio, 1623, reads cantle.

Note return to page 489 4I had rather hear a brazen canstick turn'd,] Candlestick was often written and printed “canstick,” as here, for the sake of the metre, and so it stands in every old quarto: the folio, 1623, first introduced candlestick.

Note return to page 490 5In faith, he is a worthy gentleman;] The folio has was for “is,” a corruption it introduced from the later quartos: those of 1598 and 1599 have “is.” In the next line the folio has Exceeding for “Exceedingly.”

Note return to page 491 6&lblank; you are too wilful-blame;] So all the old copies: the expression is awkward, perhaps corrupt, but the meaning is very intelligible.

Note return to page 492 7&lblank; a peevish self-will'd harlotry,] “Peevish” is silly. See Vol. ii. p. 150, and Vol. iii. p. 348. The same words are applied by Capulet to his daughter, “A peevish, self-will'd harlotry it is.” “Romeo and Juliet,” Act iv. sc. 2.

Note return to page 493 8She bids you on the wanton rushes lay you down,] The floors of apartments at this period were usually strewed with rushes. This fact is over and over again mentioned in old writers. The familiarity of our ancestors with rushes, gave rise to various sayings regarding them.

Note return to page 494 9By that time will our book, I think, be drawn.] It was very common to call any paper writing at this period “a book.” In “The Egerton Papers,” published by the Camden Society, 4to, 1840, many instances may be found where persons sent patents, deeds, or drafts of deeds, to the Lord Chancellor, calling them “books.” The “book” to which Mortimer refers was the agreement between himself, Glendower, and Percy, in the preparation of which Glendower had undertaken to “haste the writer.”

Note return to page 495 10Then, should you &lblank;] The folio adopts the corruption of the quartos, 1608, and 1613, by having, “Then would you,” &c.

Note return to page 496 1I had rather hear, lady, my brach, howl in Irish.] “Brach” is hound. See Vol. iii. p. 108, note 6.

Note return to page 497 2Neither; 'tis a woman's fault.] He refuses either to listen or to be still, and he seems to mean that to refuse to hear, and to be constantly talking, is a usual fault in a woman.

Note return to page 498 3To velvet-guards,] Stubbes, in his “Anatomy of Abuses,” 1583, (a great authority in matters of ancient dress) says, that women's gowns in his day were “guarded with great guards of velvet.” See, for an explanation of “guards,” Vol. ii. p. 51. 196. and 498.

Note return to page 499 4Find pardon on my true submission.] The construction is, says Johnson, “Let me beg so much extenuation, that upon confutation of many false charges, I may be pardoned some that are true.” The whole speech is parenthetically involved: the sense of “reproof” is disproof in this passage; or, as Johnson explains it, confutation.

Note return to page 500 5That I did pluck allegiance from men's hearts,] “Apparently copied (says Malone) from Marlowe's ‘Lust's Dominion,’ written before 1593.” This play was not by Marlowe, (as has been shown in a note on p. 98) nor was it written until after 1598, in which year some of the historical events employed in the play occurred: the parallel passage is “And pull obedience from thy subjects' hearts:” if there were any imitation, it was of and not by Shakespeare.

Note return to page 501 6&lblank; and rash bavin wits,] A “bavin” is a faggot made of brushwood, but not merely brushwood, as Johnson supposes. Holloway, in his “General Dictionary of Provincialisms,” 8vo, 1838, states that in Kent and Sussex a bavin means “a brush faggot.”

Note return to page 502 7&lblank; carded his state;] Warburton understood “carded” as discarded: Steevens believed it to mean that Richard II. mixed his state with baser materials, and he introduced several quotations to support his notion. Ritson, on the other hand, took it that Richard played his state away, as at cards. The explanation of Steevens seems preferable.

Note return to page 503 8Mingled his royalty with carping fools;] The quarto, 1598, reads capring; that of 1599 and all subsequent editions have “carping,” which is perhaps right, as is indicated by the next line, “Had his great name profaned with their scorns,” i. e. with the scorns of “carping fools.” To carp, as Warton showed, formerly meant to prate and jest; but in 1617, Minsheu explains it in his Dictionary, “to taunt, to find fault with, or bite with words,” and such certainly was its most usual signification. “Carping” might be easily misprinted capring; or capring, i. e. capering, may be the true reading, in reference to the court-revels and dances.

Note return to page 504 9As cloudy men use to their adversaries,] The folio, 1623, adopting the corruption of the two later quartos, reads, “use to do to their adversaries.

Note return to page 505 1Capitulate against us,] This use of the verb in this sense is unusual, but warranted by its etymology: the confederates had drawn up heads of articles against Henry IV., which they dispatched to different quarters, in vindication of their rebellion. Malone quotes Minsheu, who explains “capitulate,” per capita seu articulos pacisci.

Note return to page 506 2To show how much thou art degenerate.] So all the authorities, quarto and folio. Malone thought fit to place the verb last,—“To show how much degenerate thou art.” In the next line but one he read, “have so much,” instead of “so much have.”

Note return to page 507 3And stain my favours in a bloody mask,] All the old copies have “favours,” but, as Warburton suggests, we ought perhaps to read “favour,” i. e. countenance. On the other hand, Steevens and Monck Mason contend that “favours” is to be taken in the common acceptation; but the word “mask” seems to show clearly that the prince meant to allude to his face.

Note return to page 508 4The which, if he be pleas'd, I shall perform,] The folio, 1623, gives this line, “The which, if I perform and do survive.” The change being considered necessary in consequence of the substitution of heaven for “God” in the preceding line. In the next line but one it inserts intemperature for “intemperance.”

Note return to page 509 5&lblank; while I am in some liking;] While I have some flesh, some substance. Well-liking has occurred in the same sense in “Love's Labour's Lost,” Vol. ii. p. 360:— “Well-liking wits they have; gross, gross; fat, fat.” The phrase “in good liking” for thriving, occurs in Job xxxix. 4.

Note return to page 510 6Thou art our admiral, &c.] Dekker, (says Steevens,) in his “Wonderful Yeare,” 1603, has the same thought. He is describing the host of a country inn:—“An antiquary might have pickt rare matter out of his nose.—The Hamburghers offered I know not how many dollars for his companie in an East-Indian voyage, to have stoode a nightes in the Poope of their Admirall, onely to save the charges of candles.”

Note return to page 511 7By this fire, that's God's angel:] This is the reading of all the quartos, and not of those of 1599 and 1608 merely, which Steevens only had the opportunity of consulting. The folio omits “that's God's angel.”

Note return to page 512 8&lblank; and they have made bolters of them.] “Bolters” are sieves, used for bolting or sifting meal.

Note return to page 513 9&lblank; eight shillings an ell.] Stubbes, in the second edition of his “Anatomy of Abuses,” in 1583, states, that some shirts cost 5l. or 10l. each. This information is omitted in the first edition of the same year.

Note return to page 514 1&lblank; shall I not take mine ease in mine inn,] This expression was proverbial, and it is found in John Heywood's “Epigrams,” in Greene's “Farewell to Folly,” &c. Of old, an inn, as Percy remarks, meant a dwelling, but it came afterwards to be used only for a house of entertainment. We still preserve the ancient use of it in our Inns of Court and Chancery.

Note return to page 515 2&lblank; a sneak-cup;] So spelt in the old copies; but it may be doubted whether it be not in fact the same word as “snick-up,” a mere term of contempt. See “Twelfth-Night,” Vol. iii. p. 356, note 6.

Note return to page 516 3Enter Prince Henry and Poins,] Poins is omitted in the old stage direction.

Note return to page 517 4&lblank; maid Marian &lblank;] Maid Marian was the female companion of Robin Hood, and she was subsequently introduced into morris-dances. “Shakespeare (says Steevens) speaks of her in her degraded state, when she was represented by a strumpet or a clown” in these exhibitions.

Note return to page 518 5Go, you thing, go.] The folio reads, “you nothing.”

Note return to page 519 6Go, Poins, to horse, to horse! for thou and I,] The old copies have Peto for “Poins;” but Poins suits the measure, and as Johnson remarks, Peto is afterwards introduced as lieutenant to Falstaff. The printer of the folio, 1623, omitted the repetition of “to horse;” but if we substitute Poins for Peto, those words are necessary to the completion of the line. In the next line “yet” seems surplusage in all the old copies, but we have no right to correct versification that may have been Shakespeare's.

Note return to page 520 7Nay, task me to my word; approve me, lord.] So all the old copies: Malone reads, “Nay, task me to the word.” “Approve me” is, of course, prove me, or try me.

Note return to page 521 8'Zounds! how has he the leisure to be sick,] The first folio poorly reads, “How? has he the leisure to be sick now,” for the sake of avoiding “'Zounds!” so characteristic of Hotspur.

Note return to page 522 9His letters bear his mind, not I, my Lord.] “Not I my mind” is the reading of the two earliest quartos: the rest, and the folio, “not I his mind.” The compositor, as Capel points out, repeated “mind” instead of “lord.”

Note return to page 523 1The quality and hair of our attempt Brooks no division:] The word “hair” in this passage has caused some dispute, and it seems very clear that the printers of the old editions did not understand the use of it. In the quarto, 1598, it stands haire: in the quarto, 1599, haire also: in the quarto, 1608, heaire, and in the later quartos and the folios heire. Johnson thought that “hair” was to be taken for complexion, character, and Steevens and Malone agreed with him. Boswell recommended the substitution of air; but no change seems necessary. Worcester, perhaps, means that there ought to be no splitting or division of their power, already small enough for the attempt: “the hair of our attempt brooks no division.” [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0598

Note return to page 524 2&lblank; we of the offering side] i. e. of the challenging side, the side “offering” battle. This is the reading of every old copy, and is sufficiently intelligible without reading offending, as was done by editors previous to the time of Johnson, who restored the true word.

Note return to page 525 3&lblank; to our great enterprize,] The folio reads your.

Note return to page 526 4&lblank; as this term of fear.] So the quartos previous to that of 1613, which, like the folio, 1623, has “this dream of fear.” In Vernon's first speech the folio omits “him,” and in his second speech substitutes hath for “is” in the line, “The King himself in person is set forth.”

Note return to page 527 5&lblank; that with the wind Bated, like eagles &lblank;] This is the reading of all the ancient editions, but not the old punctuation. To bate was a term of falconry, and meant to beat the air, as eagles would do after bathing, in order to dry their plumage. The modern reading has usually been “that wing the wind;” but it rather confuses than clears the difficulty of the passage.

Note return to page 528 6&lblank; Come, let me taste my horse,] i. e. try my horse; which was the phraseology of the time, from the old Fr. taster, to try. In Chapman's translation of the Odyssey, book 21, the expression occurs:— &lblank; “he now began To taste the bow.” And in “Twelfth Night,” Vol. iii. p. 375, Sir Toby tells Viola to “taste her legs.” The two earliest quartos of “Henry IV.” part i., have “taste my horse;” but take was introduced into the quarto, 1608, and from thence transferred to the quarto, 1613, and so to the folio, 1623.

Note return to page 529 7&lblank; hot horse to horse,] So the two earliest quartos: the others, and the folio, substitute not for “hot.” [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0599

Note return to page 530 8He cannot draw &lblank;] The quarto copies (excepting that of 1639) have “He can draw.” The folio, 1623, also, has “cannot.”

Note return to page 531 9&lblank; worse than a struck fowl,] So the two oldest quartos. The folio, 1623, has fool for “fowl,” an error, Malone says, adopted from the quarto, 1613. He probably had not seen the quarto of 1608, in which the blunder is also committed. The quarto of 1613 was printed from that of 1608.

Note return to page 532 1&lblank; an old faced ancient:] Shakespeare here uses the word “ancient” to signify a standard: just before he has employed it to designate officers who carried the colours. Other writers of the same age were often guilty of the same confusion of terms. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0600

Note return to page 533 2There's not a shirt and a half in all my company:] So all the old copies, folio and quarto, the meaning being, “There's not above a shirt and a half,” &c. This seems to have been the phraseology of the time; for afterwards, Falstaff says, according to every ancient authority, “There's not three of my hundred and fifty left alive, and they are for the town's end.” Modern editors, in both cases, have printed it “There's but,” &c.

Note return to page 534 3&lblank; good enough to toss;] i. e. to toss upon pikes; a military phrase of the time. It occurs again in “Henry VI.” Part 3. Act i. sc. 1.

Note return to page 535 4My father, and my uncle, and myself,] The folio, 1623, spoils the line by omitting the conjunction before “my uncle.” [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0602

Note return to page 536 5Gave him their heirs, as pages follow'd him,] This is old punctuation, which ought to be some guide, though no rule. Malone suggests that the sense may be, “Gave him their heirs as pages; follow'd him,” &c.

Note return to page 537 6&lblank; task'd the whole state;] i. e. tax'd the whole state. In the time of Shakespeare, to task seems to have been as commonly used as to tax.

Note return to page 538 7&lblank; to be engag'd in Wales,] Theobald altered “engag'd” into incag'd, but without any ground for the change: “engag'd” signifies delivered as a gage or hostage; and Mr. Barron Field refers me to a line in Act v. sc. 2 of this play, which directly supports the old reading:— “And Westmoreland, that was engag'd, did bear it.” Here Malone properly printed “engag'd,” though in the instance of the text above he strangely preferred incag'd.

Note return to page 539 8&lblank; and Sir Michael.] So called here, so addressed by the archbishop, and so printed in the prefixes: why his name should be omitted in the modern editions, and he only called “a gentleman,” is not explained.

Note return to page 540 9&lblank; a rated sinew too,] The folio reads, “rated firmly.”

Note return to page 541 10Above yond' busky hill!] i. e. woody; from the middle Latin boscus, or from the French bosque; therefore more properly spelt bosky, as it stands in “The Tempest,” Act iv. sc. 1. Milton also writes it bosky. Peele, in his “Edward I.” 1593, speaks of “a busky wood,” which is tautologous, unless we understand it bushy wood. See Dodsley's Old Plays, last edit. vol. xi. p. 78.

Note return to page 542 1With quiet hours; for, I do protest,] “Do” was first inserted in the folio, 1623, for the purpose of completing the metre. It also adds to the emphasis.

Note return to page 543 2Peace, chewet, peace!] Steevens quotes a book of cookery, printed in 1596, and Bacon's Natural History, to prove that “chewet” was a species of fat dish, made of minced meat. On the other hand, Theobald asserts that “chewet” is “a noisy chattering bird—a pie.” He quotes no authority, and seems to have mistaken the species of pie intended. After all, “chewet” may be only a form of printing suet, a word very applicable to Falstaff.

Note return to page 544 3These things, indeed, you have articulate,] So every quarto: “articulate” is to be taken as the past tense, for articulated, as it is printed in the folio. The meaning is, that the rebels have set these things down in articles. In the preceding line the folio omits “your,” which is necessary, as well for the sense as the verse.

Note return to page 545 4What is in that word, honour? What is that honour? Air.] Our reading is that of the two earliest editions. The quarto of 1608 reads, “What is that word honour? What is that honour? Air;” and the quarto, 1613, only “What is that word, honour? Air.” This last is the text adopted by the folio, 1623. Farther on, in the question, “But will it not live with the living?” the earliest quarto omits “it,” which is necessary, and is found in the quarto, 1599, and in all subsequent editions.

Note return to page 546 5Suspicion all our lives, &c.] All the old copies have supposition for “suspicion.” Pope made the correction. Lower down, “Look how we can” is misprinted “Look how he can” in the folio, 1623. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0606

Note return to page 547 6My lord of Westmoreland.] He had been “impawned, as a surety for the safe return” of Worcester. See Act iv. sc. iii.

Note return to page 548 7How show'd his tasking?] The folio, and indeed all editions but the first quarto, have talking.

Note return to page 549 8&lblank; made a blushing cital. &lblank;] i. e. recital of his past life.

Note return to page 550 9Of teaching, and of learning, instantly.] i. e. at the same instant.

Note return to page 551 1Of any prince so wild o' liberty.] The three oldest quartos have this reading; but the quarto, 1613, having “at liberty,” the error was introduced into the folio. The phrase “so wild of liberty” is perfectly intelligible; whereas Malone and Steevens were obliged to produce authorities for “at liberty,” which they adopted. Johnson thought it meant, that the prince ought to have been “confined as a madman,” and not left “at liberty.”

Note return to page 552 2Than I,] The quarto, 1608, introduced “That” for “Than,” and was followed by the later editions.

Note return to page 553 3A sword, whose temper &lblank;] The folio inserts worthy before “temper.”

Note return to page 554 4Scene iii.] According to the old copies, the place of action was only imagined to be changed; for in the stage-direction it is said that after Hotspur, &c. have embraced, without any exit marked for them, “the king entereth with his power,” &c.

Note return to page 555 5&lblank; as my prisoner.] The quarto, 1613, having substituted a for “my,” it was adopted into the text by the folio.

Note return to page 556 6I was not born a yielder, thou proud Scot;] So the quartos of 1598, 1599, and 1608: that of 1613 corrupted the line thus:— “I was not born to yield, thou proud Scot;” and the editor of the folio, 1623, finding this line defective, substituted a dissyllable for a monosyllable, and printed it, “I was not born to yield, thou haughty Scot.” There can be little doubt that the words of Shakespeare are those found in the earliest authorities.

Note return to page 557 7I never had triumph'd upon a Scot.] Here again we have the authentic reading of the two earliest quartos: the others read “over a Scot,” and the folio, 1623, “o'er a Scot.”

Note return to page 558 8A fool go with thy soul, whither it goes!] The old copies have “Ah fool,” as an exclamation; but the letter h seems to have been accidentally inserted.

Note return to page 559 9&lblank; there's not three of my hundred and fifty left alive.] See p. 309, and the note upon the words, “There's not a shirt and a half in all my company.” In the instance before us, modern editors needlessly substitute but for “not.”

Note return to page 560 1Whose deaths are yet unrevenged.] The folio, 1623, omits “yet,” found in all the quarto editions.

Note return to page 561 2Turk Gregory never did such deeds in arms,] “Meaning (says Warburton) Gregory the Seventh, called Hildebrand. This furious friar surmounted almost invincible obstacles to deprive the emperor of his right of investiture of bishops, which his predecessors had long attempted in vain. Fox, in his History, hath made Gregory so odious, that I don't doubt but the good Protestants of that time were well pleased to hear him thus characterized, as uniting the attributes of their two great enemies, the Turk and Pope, in one.”

Note return to page 562 3&lblank; let him make a carbonado of me.] A “carbonado” is a piece of meat cut and hacked for broiling.

Note return to page 563 4Nor shall it, Harry,] So the folio, 1623: all the quarto editions read, corruptly no doubt, “Now shall it, Harry.” By a collation of this play, made by the late J. P. Kemble, now before me, it should appear that he had seen a copy of the quarto, 1598, in which the passage ran “Nor shall it, Harry.” If so, it must have been a correction made as the first edition of the drama went through the press.

Note return to page 564 5Well said, Hal!] i. e. “Well done, Hal!” See “As You Like It,” Vol. iii. p. 39, note 8.

Note return to page 565 6&lblank; worse than thy sword my flesh:] So every quarto, excepting that of 1613, which has the for “thy,” and is followed by the folio, 1623.

Note return to page 566 7But that the earthy and cold hand of death &lblank;] Here again the folio, 1623, adopted a corruption of the text from the quartos of 1608 and 1613, where the line runs, “But that the earth and cold hand of death:” to amend the defective metre, the folio, however, inserted the before “cold,” without referring to any previous edition. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0609

Note return to page 567 8Fare thee well,] The folio, contrary to all authority, omits “thee.”

Note return to page 568 9This earth that bears thee dead,] This is doubtless the true reading, by which the antithesis is preserved. All the copies, quarto and folio, anterior to the quarto of 1639, read, “bears the dead,” but in old MSS. “thee” was often written the, and hence the original and long existing error.

Note return to page 569 1I should not make so dear a show of zeal: &lblank;] So the quarto, 1598: other editions poorly substitute great for “dear.”

Note return to page 570 2Thy ignomy &lblank;] The word “ignomy” (of course abridged from ignominy for the sake of the verse) has occurred in “Measure for Measure,” Vol. ii. p. 45. It is also found in Troilus and Cressida, as pointed out in a note on the passage. The quartos of 1598, 1599, and 1639, have “ignominy,” and those of 1608 and 1613, as well as the folio, “ignomy.”

Note return to page 571 P. 332.&lblank; Thy ignomy] Words of this kind were not necessarily abbreviated for the sake of the verse: Sir George Buc, in his History of the reign of Richard III., uses “testimy” for testimony:—“But this testimy being avouched by one who loved not the Protector,” &c.

Note return to page 572 3&lblank; I'll give you leave to powder me,] To “powder” was the old word for to salt, and is not yet entirely out of use in some parts of the kingdom. The country people in the lower part of Surrey still speak of “powdered beef,” as well as of “corned beef.”

Note return to page 573 4I lie; I am no counterfeit:] The quarto, 1613, and the folio, 1623, omit “I lie.” It is found in all the previous editions, but the folio took its text from that of 1613.

Note return to page 574 5By my faith,] These expletives, as well as “'Sblood!” and “'Zounds!” above, are omitted in the folio; and Malone, who introduced the others, rejected “by my faith,” without notice, from his text.

Note return to page 575 6&lblank; a double man;] “That is,” says Johnson, “I am not Falstaff and Percy together, though having Percy on my back, I seem double.” In Falstaff's next speech, the quarto, 1613, and the folio, 1623, read, “how the world.”

Note return to page 576 7If I do grow great,] The folio alone inserts again after “great,” to the injury of the antithesis and of the poet's meaning.

Note return to page 577 8Bear Worcester to the death,] The folio, 1623, injures the metre by rejecting the, unless Worcester be pronounced as three syllables.

Note return to page 578 9Hath taught us how to cherish such high deeds,] Malone prints “shown us” for “taught us,” though “shown” occurs in the line immediately preceding. His avowed reason was, that the quarto, 1598, has “shown us;” but this is a mistake, (into which Steevens also fell, taking Malone's representation of the fact,) for not only has the quarto, 1598, “taught us,” but every subsequent copy, quarto and folio. Malone had no copy of the first quarto, and hence, probably, arose his error.

Note return to page 579 1I thank your grace for this high courtesy, Which I shall give away immediately.] This reply of Prince John of Lancaster is found in the quartos of 1598, 1599, 1604, and 1608, but not in those of 1613, 1639, nor in the folio, 1623. There can be no sufficient reason for omitting what originally came from the pen of Shakespeare, even if we were to suppose him afterwards to have struck out the passage. It is natural that Prince John should make some such answer to his brother. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0612

Note return to page 580 “The Second part of Henrie the fourth, continuing to his death, and coronation of Henrie the fift. With the humours of Sir Iohn Falstaffe, and swaggering Pistoll. As it hath been sundrie times publikely acted by the right honourable, the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. Written by William Shakespeare. London Printed by V. S. for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley. 1600.” 4to. 43 leaves. Other copies of the same edition, in quarto, not containing Sign. E 5 and E 6, have only 41 leaves. In the folio, 1623, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, containing his Death: and the Coronation of King Henry the Fift,” occupies twenty-nine pages in the division of “Histories,” viz. from p. 74 to p. 102 inclusive, the last two not being numbered. Pages 89 and 90, by an error of the press, are numbered 91 and 92. In the reprint of the folio, 1632, this mistake is repeated. In the two later folios the pagination continued from the beginning to the end of the volume.

Note return to page 581 1A list of “the Actors' names” fills the last leaf of the play in the folio, 1623.

Note return to page 582 1Induction.] So called in the folio, 1623, where it is treated as the first scene of the play. The word is used in the same way by Ben Jonson, Marston, and other dramatists of the time. The quarto is not divided into Acts and Scenes; and Rumour enters as if to deliver a Prologue.

Note return to page 583 2Enter Rumour, painted full of Tongues.] This is the descriptive stage-direction of the quarto, 1600: the folio, 1623, has only “Enter Rumour.” It was common in the time of Shakespeare, and long before, to speak of “Rumour,” as dressed in a robe covered with tongues.

Note return to page 584 3Between that royal field of Shrewsbury] The folio, 1623, has the for “that;” but “that” of the quarto, 1600, is probably right, as the reference is to the “bloody field by Shrewsbury,” before mentioned. Besides, “that royal field,” and “this worm-eaten hold,” in the next line, seem put in opposition.

Note return to page 585 4And this worm-eaten hold &lblank;] Misprinted hole in the old copies, quarto and folio: the compositor perhaps printed by his ear. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0615

Note return to page 586 5Where Hotspur's father,] The quarto, 1600, has When for “Where” of the folio, 1623. The latter is of course right.

Note return to page 587 6&lblank; come with you?] The folio, from: eight lines lower, the folio reads, “ill luck.” Our text is that of the quarto.

Note return to page 588 7&lblank; struck his armed heels] We can have no difficulty in preferring the reading of the quarto, to that of the folio, which has “able heels;” the compositor having caught the word able from the preceding line. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0617

Note return to page 589 8He seem'd in running to devour the way,] So, observes Steevens, in the book of Job, chap. xxxix. 24: “He swalloweth the ground in fierceness and rage.” The same expression occurs in Ben Jonson's “Sejanus:” “But with that speed and heat of appetite, With which they greedily devour the way To some great sports.”

Note return to page 590 9&lblank; for a silken point] i. e. a silken lace, with a tag or point at the end of it. See Vol. iii. p. 500, note 9.

Note return to page 591 10He was some hilding fellow,] i. e. some low fellow: it is applied to both sexes. See Vol. iii. pp. 138 and 268.

Note return to page 592 1whereon th' imperious flood] The folio substitutes when for “whereon,” the authentic word in the quarto, 1600.

Note return to page 593 2Tell thou thy earl &lblank;] “Tell thou an earl” is the reading of the quarto; and it may be right, though that of the first folio seems preferable, because Morton was one of the retainers of the Earl of Northumberland.

Note return to page 594 3To speak a truth. If he be slain, say so:] “Say so” are words from the folio: the quarto leaves the line incomplete, but the passage would read more forcibly without the addition.

Note return to page 595 4Remember'd knolling &lblank;] The folio has “knolling,” the quarto “tolling:” either may be right; but in “As You Like It,” Vol. iii. p. 43, Shakespeare uses the word “knoll'd:” “If ever been where bells have knoll'd to church.”

Note return to page 596 5Rendering faint quittance,] Steevens truly explains “faint quittance” to be faint return of blows.

Note return to page 597 6&lblank; th' appearance of the king,] These elisions are not very frequent in the folio impression of Shakespeare's plays, and are unusual in the quarto editions. We give them wherever authorized by the old copies.

Note return to page 598 7&lblank; buckle under life,] “Buckle” here means bend, and has been derived from the Sax. bugan. We find it used in the same sense in no other author of the time that I am aware of: buckles of hair, for curls, may have the same etymology, though traced no higher than the Fr. boucle.

Note return to page 599 8Hence, therefore, thou nice crutch!] “Nice” is often used by Shakespeare in the sense of insignificant, trifling. In “Romeo and Juliet,” Act iii. sc. 1, we have “Bid him bethink how nice the quarrel was;” and in Act v. sc. 2, of the same tragedy, “the letter was not nice, but full of charge.” Other instances from other authors are needless.

Note return to page 600 9[This strained passion doth you wrong, my lord.] This line is omitted in the folio: in the quarto it is mistakenly assigned to Umfr. or Umfrevile, who is not upon the stage. This mistake perhaps led the editors of the folio to exclude the line, as of little importance to the scene. It probably, as Steevens suggested, belongs to Travers.

Note return to page 601 10You cast the event of war, my noble lord,] This and the thirteen lines following are not in the quarto; but were first printed in the folio, 1623.

Note return to page 602 1That in the dole of blows &lblank;] The “dole” of blows is the dealing of blows, the distribution of them. See Vol. iii. pp. 123. 439.

Note return to page 603 2I hear for certain, and dare speak the truth,] So the quarto; meaning, that Morton ventures to say that what he speaks is true. The folio reads, “and do speak the truth.” The twenty-one lines following the above are only in the folio, and it will be observed that the sense requires the addition. It seems that the quarto, having been brought out in haste, perhaps to avoid rivalry, was printed from a defective manuscript.

Note return to page 604 3&lblank; and never yet more need.] The folio has nor for “and.”

Note return to page 605 4&lblank; any thing that tends to laughter,] The quarto has intends.

Note return to page 606 5&lblank; but I will in-set you neither in gold nor silver,] The folio alters “in set” of the quarto to set. When Falstaff just above calls his page “mandrake” and “agate,” he uses the words in reference to the small size of the boy. A mandrake was a vegetable production, which, being forked in the root, was said to resemble a human creature, and to utter a cry when it was extracted from the earth. Agates were often worn in rings, and were of old supposed to possess the virtue of preventing the wearer from suffering misfortune.

Note return to page 607 6&lblank; get one on his cheek;] The quarto less intelligibly reads “get one off his cheek.” Perhaps, we ought to read, “get one of his cheek:” the use of prepositions at this date was often different from the modern practice.

Note return to page 608 7&lblank; he may keep it still as a face-royal,] The quarto, 1600, and the folio, 1623, have it “at a face-royal:” it was corrected in the folio, 1632. The allusion seems to be to the coin called a royal, having a face upon it which produced no beard profitable to a barber.

Note return to page 609 8&lblank; a rascally yea-forsooth knave, to bear a gentleman in hand,] The quarto has rascal for “rascally” of the folio: “to bear a gentleman in hand,” meant to be in treaty with a gentleman, and to lead him to expect compliance with his wishes.

Note return to page 610 9&lblank; honest taking up,] i. e. honest dealing for purchasing goods: “to take up a commodity” is a phrase of frequent occurrence.

Note return to page 611 1I bought him in Paul's,] The allusions in old authors to St. Paul's church, as the resort, or lounge, of the idle, dissolute, poor, and fraudulent are interminable.

Note return to page 612 2Lord Chief Justice,] “This judge,” says Steevens, “was Sir Wm. Gascoigne, Chief Justice of the King's Bench. He died December 17, 1413, and was buried in Harwood church, in Yorkshire. His effigy, in judicial robes, is on his monument.”

Note return to page 613 3What! a young knave, and begging?] The quarto reads “begging,” and the folio beg. Just below, the quarto has “need,” and the folio want.

Note return to page 614 4You hunt-counter,] In “The Comedy of Errors,” Vol. ii. p. 153, we meet with the expression “a hound that runs counter,” (meaning a dog that runs the wrong way in the chase,) applied to the officer who has arrested Antipholus of Ephesus. The allusion by Falstaff, when he calls the attendant “hunt-counter,” Johnson supposes to be the same: he terms him “hunt-counter,” probably because he is upon a wrong scent, and has made a mistake. Monck Mason imagined that Falstaff referred to the prison called the Counter, as if the attendant were an officer belonging to it, accompanying the Chief Justice; but this seems hardly probable, because Falstaff wishes to appear ignorant of the person in whose presence he stands.

Note return to page 615 5Sir John, I sent for you &lblank;] The folio omits “for.”

Note return to page 616 6&lblank; a kind of lethargy, an't please your lordship; a kind of sleeping in the blood,] The folio omits “an't please your lordship,” and “kind of,” to the evident injury of the speech, as Falstaff is putting on a constrained civility towards the Chief Justice.

Note return to page 617 7Very well, my lord,] The prefix to this speech in the quarto is Old., in all probability for Oldcastle, the name by which Falstaff was first called by Shakespeare. This is a relic of the original MS., an instance in which the change of name was accidentally not marked, and the printer was thereby misled. In the folio, 1623, Old. is changed to Fal.

Note return to page 618 8&lblank; if I do become your physician.] The folio merely “if I be,” &c.

Note return to page 619 9&lblank; I am the fellow with the great belly, and he my dog.] Alluding, doubtless, to some fat blind beggar, well known in that day, who was led about by a dog. No other mention of him has been found in any other writer of the time, dramatic or undramatic.

Note return to page 620 1&lblank; like his ill angel.] So the quarto, 1600, both here and in Falstaff's reply. The folio has “evil angel” in the first place, and “ill angel” in the second. The mistake seems obvious: “ill angel” answers the purpose both of Falstaff and the Chief Justice.

Note return to page 621 2&lblank; in these coster-monger times,] The folio omits “times.” [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0619

Note return to page 622 3&lblank; as the malice of this age shapes them,] The quarto reads, “shapes the one,” which obvious error the folio corrects.

Note return to page 623 4&lblank; your chin double, your wit single,] The folio loses the antithesis by omitting “your chin double.”

Note return to page 624 5&lblank; about three of the clock in the afternoon,] These words the folio, 1623, excludes arbitrarily. Throughout this part of the play, the printer of the folio seems, for some reason, to have compressed the text into as small a compass as possible, and some of these omissions may have arisen from that circumstance. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0620

Note return to page 625 6&lblank; and prince Harry:] These words are only in the folio: they are not absolutely necessary.

Note return to page 626 7&lblank; I take but two shirts &lblank;] The folio inserts if before “I take.”

Note return to page 627 8&lblank; I would I might never spit white again.] Steevens thus explains this expression:—“May I never have my stomach inflamed again with liquor; for, to spit white is the consequence of inward heat.” It may however be doubted, whether Falstaff would wish to “spit white,” that being the result of disease; and the expression may merely have reference to his exertions and wounds in the expected conflict, which might compel him to spit blood.

Note return to page 628 9&lblank; than to be scoured to nothing with perpetual motion.] The passage within brackets, ending with these words, is not in the folio.

Note return to page 629 1&lblank; you are too impatient to bear crosses.] We have had the same pun in “Love's Labour's Lost,” Vol. ii. p. 94. Crosses were pieces of money.

Note return to page 630 2If I do, fillip me with a three-man beetle.] A beetle is a large wooden mallet, and “a three-man beetle” is a beetle with three handles, so heavy that it required three men to use it.

Note return to page 631 3&lblank; both the degrees prevent my curses.] i. e. come before, or anticipate my curses. Pope uses the word in this sense, and it was its most usual meaning of old. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0621

Note return to page 632 4&lblank; since I perceived the first white hair of my chin.] “Of” was frequently used for on in the time of Shakespeare. The quarto, 1600, has “of,” and the folio, 1623, on. See Vol. iii. pp. 165. 196. 267. 384. In “Twelfth Night,” Vol. iii. p. 352, we have “on” used for of in the line, “And I, poor monster, fond as much on him.”

Note return to page 633 5Of aids incertain should not be admitted.] This and the three preceding lines are only in the folio.

Note return to page 634 6Eating the air on promise of supply,] The quarto, 1600, reads and for “on,” which last, from the folio, seems preferable. In the next line, the quarto has in, and the folio “with.”

Note return to page 635 7Yes, if this present quality of war,] This and the nineteen lines following are only to be found in the folio. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0622

Note return to page 636 8I think we are a body strong enough,] The quarto has so for “a,” an error of the press. Possibly the line originally ran thus:— “I think we're so a body strong enough.”

Note return to page 637 9Are in three heads:] The quarto, 1600, “And in three heads.”

Note return to page 638 1&lblank; never fear that.] This speech is given in the folio as we have printed it. As Capel observed, there is an omission of a preposition in the quarto, to having probably dropped out: with that deficiency supplied, it runs intelligibly thus in prose, although meant for verse:—“If he should do so, [to] French and Welsh he leaves his back unarmed, they baying him at the heels: never fear that.”

Note return to page 639 2Let us on;] This speech is only in the folio editions.

Note return to page 640 3Past, and to come, seem best; things present, worst.] It may be worth noting, that this line is unusually printed in Italic type, and with inverted commas at the commencement of it, as if to point it out as a quotable axiom, or possibly as if it were itself a quotation.

Note return to page 641 4Where's your yeoman?] The follower of a serjeant or bailiff was called his “yeoman.”

Note return to page 642 5&lblank; for he will stab.] The folio omits “for.”

Note return to page 643 6&lblank; an he come but within my vice;] The quarto has view for “vice” of the folio, which is probably the true reading.

Note return to page 644 7&lblank; since my exion is entered,] i. e. action, which she before called it, though the word is here printed “exion” in all the copies.

Note return to page 645 8I'll throw thee in the channel.] The folio has, “I'll throw thee there.” Above, it omits “knave” after “malmsey-nose.”

Note return to page 646 9Away, you scullion!] This speech is given to the page attending Falstaff in all the old editions prior to that of 1664, where it is, no doubt rightly, assigned to Falstaff.

Note return to page 647 1I'll tickle your catastrophe.] The folio has tuck for “tickle,” and four lines above it omits “or two.” Both these variations are to the evident injury of the text.

Note return to page 648 2I am as like to ride the mare,] The gallows was anciently and jocosely called the two-legged, and sometimes the three-legged “mare.” It is to this that Falstaff alludes, in answer to the hostess, who threatens to ride him like a nightmare.

Note return to page 649 3&lblank; parcel-gilt goblet,] “Parcel-gilt,” says Malone, “means what is now called by artists party-gilt; that is, where part of the work is gilt, and part left plain or ungilded.”

Note return to page 650 4&lblank; for likening his father &lblank;] The folio, 1623, has only “likening him:” “his father,” instead of him, is the reading of the quarto, 1600. It affords, in the original edition, a fine trait of the character of prince Henry, who, as Johnson remarks, would not allow his father to be ridiculed.

Note return to page 651 5&lblank; to be no more so familiarity, &c.] The folio corrects the intended blunder, and prints, “to be no more familiar.”

Note return to page 652 6&lblank; and made her serve your uses both in purse and person.] These words are from the quarto, 1600. They seem necessary to the pertinence of the next speech of the Chief Justice.

Note return to page 653 7&lblank; I will not undergo this sneap &lblank;] In “Love's Labour's Lost,” Vol. iii. p. 286, and in “The Winter's Tale,” Vol. iii. p. 331, we have had “sneaping,” for snipping or nipping. Here the substantive would rather signify what we now call a snub, which may be only a corruption of “sneap.” [Subnote: P. 368.—In note 7, for “Vol. iii.,” read Vol. ii., and for “p. 331,” read p. 431.]

Note return to page 654 8No, my lord, my humble duty remembered,] The folio substitutes your for “my” of the quarto. Two lines earlier, the folio rejects “make,” and has other trifling variations.

Note return to page 655 9&lblank; German hunting in water-work,] i. e. in water colours.

Note return to page 656 1&lblank; dost not know me?] These words are only in the quarto, 1600: it is difficult to conjecture any reason for their omission in the folio.

Note return to page 657 2&lblank; i' faith I am loath to pawn my plate,] The folio reads merely, “I loath to pawn my plate.”

Note return to page 658 3I have heard better news.] So the quarto: the folio, “bitter news.” In the next speech of the Chief Justice, the quarto by mistake has “to-night” for “last night,” and the messenger's answer, instead of being “at Basingstoke,” by a singular misprint, is “at Billingsgate.”

Note return to page 659 4&lblank; in counties as you go.] The folio reads countries.

Note return to page 660 5&lblank; viz. these,] The quarto reads “with these.” The folio puts the enumeration in parenthesis.

Note return to page 661 6&lblank; and kindreds are mightily strengthened.] This and four preceding lines are not in the folio; and Malone supposed that they had been struck out by the Master of the Revels. They are certainly of little comparative value, and the meaning of them is not very intelligible; but as they came from Shakespeare's pen, they ought to be preserved.

Note return to page 662 7&lblank; you should talk so idly!] In Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell, highly is misprinted for “idly.”

Note return to page 663 8&lblank; being so sick as yours at this time is?] The folio has merely “lying so sick as yours is.”

Note return to page 664 9By this light, I am well spoken on;] The folio omits “By this light,” at the beginning of this speech, and “By the mass,” near the end of it. In previous speeches of the prince, the folio rejects “Marry” and “By this hand.”

Note return to page 665 1Come, you virtuous ass,] The folio has it, “pernicious ass;” and all the old editions assign the speech to Poins instead of Bardolph, to whom it evidently belongs. Theobald made the change.

Note return to page 666 2&lblank; through a red lattice,] Nothing is more common in our old writers than the mention of “red lattice,” or as it is sometimes misprinted “red lettice,” at the doors and windows of ale-houses. It was through one of these lattices that Bardolph was looking, when the page thought he was peeping through two holes in the new red petticoat of the ale-wife. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0624

Note return to page 667 3&lblank; Althea dreamed, &c.] “Shakespeare,” says Johnson, “is here mistaken in his mythology, and has confounded Althea's fire-brand with Hecuba's. The fire-brand of Althea was real: but Hecuba, when she was big with Paris, dreamed that she was delivered of a fire-brand that consumed the kingdom.”

Note return to page 668 4&lblank; for look you how he writes.] So the quarto: the folio omits “how.”

Note return to page 669 5&lblank; frank?] “Frank,” Pope informs us, is sty.

Note return to page 670 6&lblank; a heavy descension!] So the quarto: the folio needlessly substitutes declension. The earliest was, probably, Shakespeare's word.

Note return to page 671 7&lblank; when my heart-dear Harry,] This compound epithet is from the folio, and is certainly finer than “my heart's dear Harry” of the quarto.

Note return to page 672 8He had no legs, that practised not his gait;] This and the twenty-one lines following are only in the folio editions.

Note return to page 673 9And speaking thick,] Steevens truly observes, that “speaking thick” here means speaking rapidly, (as contradistinguished from “tardily,”) a circumstance strongly characteristic of Hotspur. In a song by Weelkes, quoted by Mr. Rimbault in his reprint of Dekker's “Knights' Conjuring” for the Percy Society, a musician is told to play more rapidly in the words, “Pipe it up thicker.”

Note return to page 674 1&lblank; apple-Johns?] The apple-John was a species of apple remarkable for keeping, and presenting a shrivelled withered appearance. They seem to be the same as those the French call deux-ans, known in England also by the corrupted name of deusants in the time of Shakespeare.

Note return to page 675 2&lblank; Sneak's noise;] Sneak was perhaps the nick-name of some street-musician of the time: “a noise of musicians” meant formerly a band of musicians: innumerable quotations might be adduced to establish the point.

Note return to page 676 3[Dispatch:] From this word to the end of the sentence, in brackets, is only in the quarto. It is there mistakenly assigned to the attendant “drawer,” and not to Francis, as the principal drawer is called in the oldest edition.

Note return to page 677 4By the mass, here will be old utis:] The folio omits “By the mass:” “old” (misprinted oll in one of the quartos of 1600, and corrected in the other) is a frequent augmentative in writers of the time: “utis,” derived by Skinner from the Fr. huit, meant properly the octave of a saint's day, and was also used to express a time of rejoicing and festivity in general. It is sometimes spelt utas, as in the following quotation from “The Contention between Liberality and Prodigality,” 1602. Sign. D 1:— &lblank; “with some roysting harmony Let us begin the utas of our jollitie.”

Note return to page 678 5Lo! here comes sir John.] The folio, 1623, for “Lo!” has Look.

Note return to page 679 6When Arthur first in court.] For this ballad, see Percy's “Reliques,” vol. i. p. 217, edit. 1812, under the title of “Sir Lancelot du Lake.”

Note return to page 680 7&lblank; gluttony and diseases make them;] The quarto omits “them,” which is supplied by the folio. In the next speech the folio omits “help to.”

Note return to page 681 8Yea, joy,] Ay, marry, is the needless substitution of the folio. Doll means that men “catch” or take their chains and jewels from women of her class.

Note return to page 682 9“Your brooches, pearls, and owches:”] This is a quotation, with the alteration of a word, “pearls” for rings, of a line in the more modern version of the ballad of “The Boy and the Mantle.” See Percy's “Reliques,” vol. iii. p. 401, edit. 1812. “Owches (says Pope correctly) were bosses of gold;” and he adds “set with diamonds,” which was not necessarily the case.

Note return to page 683 1&lblank; to venture upon the charged chambers &lblank;] There is an obvious pun here, as “chamber” also meant a piece of artillery.

Note return to page 684 2[Hang yourself, &c.] This abuse of Falstaff is omitted in the folio, for no very assignable reason.

Note return to page 685 3What the good-year!] This exclamation is used by Conrad, in “Much Ado about Nothing.” See Vol. ii. p. 198, note 6. Shakespeare elsewhere in this play (see p. 386) uses the same exclamation, to which Steevens, with misplaced ingenuity, would give a very different meaning.

Note return to page 686 4Sir, ancient Pistol's below,] Ancient Pistol is the same as ensign Pistol. The word ancient was used of old either for a standard or a standard-bearer, and ensign has the same double signification at present.

Note return to page 687 5Tilly-valley, sir John,] We have had the same exclamation put into the mouth of sir Toby, in “Twelfth-Night,” Vol. iii. p. 355.

Note return to page 688 6I will bar no honest man my house, nor no cheater;] “The humour of this consists,” says Warburton, “in the woman's mistaking the title of cheater, (which our ancestors gave to him whom we now, with better manners, call a gamester,) for that officer of the exchequer called an escheator, well known to the common people of that time; and named, either corruptly or satirically, a cheater.”

Note return to page 689 7No more, Pistol:] This speech is omitted in the folio.

Note return to page 690 8&lblank; as odious as the word occupy,] This word is used with its different senses in the following jest, from “Wits, Fits, and Fancies,” 1595:—“One threw stones at an yll-fauor'd old womans Owle, and the olde woman said: Faith (sir knaue) you are well occupy'd, to throw stones at my poore Owle, that doth you no harme. Yea marie (answered the wag) so would you be better occupy'd too (I wisse) if you were young againe, and had a better face.”

Note return to page 691 9&lblank; before it was ill sorted:] i. e. ill accompanied. The folio omits the whole of the latter part of this sentence, after the word “odious,” making the sense complete there by also excluding “as.” The Master of the Revels seems to have been unusually scrupulous in this part of the play, for “by this hand” of the quarto edition is again excluded in the folio.

Note return to page 692 1&lblank; down fates! Have we not Hiren here?] The quarto has faters; the folio, fates; a difference that seems to have been passed over without notice, excepting by Boswell; and the commentators have given themselves the trouble to explain faters as faitours, when in fact it is a mere misprint for “fates.” Pistol has been talking of Pluto and Erebus, and he very consistently threatens to hurl down the “fates.” There was an old play by Peele, now lost, called “The Turkish Mahomet and Hiren the fair Greek,” to which Pistol may allude; but it is difficult to understand what he means by it. The phrase, “Have we not Hiren here?” occurs in other plays of the time, as in “Eastward Ho!” 1605, and “Law Tricks,” 1608, which Malone quoted. Douce was of opinion, that Pistol intended by “Hiren” to call attention to his sword or iron, and that he afterwards repeated the Italian motto on the blade of it. The hostess takes it for a lady's name, as is very evident from her answer to the same question, when Pistol subsequently repeats it.

Note return to page 693 2And hollow pamper'd jades of Asia,] This is a perverted quotation from the second part of Marlowe's “Tamberlane the Great,” 1590, a play which enjoyed great popularity. The lines in the original run as follows:— “Holla, you pamper'd jades of Asia, What, can you draw but twenty miles a day?” Sign. G. 3. and they are put into the mouth of the hero, when he enters in his triumphant chariot, drawn by the kings of Trebizond and Syria. The same lines are quoted in a song in Sharpham's comedy, “The Fleire,” 1615, sign. C. 4. The Rev. A. Dyce is about to publish a new edition of Marlowe's works: it is much wanted, and we have no doubt that it will be as conspicuous for its accuracy, as the reprint in 3 vols. 8vo, 1826, is remarkable for its errors.

Note return to page 694 3Then feed, and be fat, my fair Calipolis:] In “The Battle of Alcazar,” 1594, a play assigned by the Rev. A. Dyce with great probability to Peele, we meet with the following line:— “Feed then, and faint not, my fair Calipolis.” See Peele's Works, by Dyce, vol. ii. p. 110, edit. 1829. Elsewhere, the words “Feed and be fat” are addressed to the heroine.

Note return to page 695 4Se fortuna me tormenta, il sperare me contenta.] Printed in the old copies thus corruptly, si fortune me tormente, sperato me contento, which Sir T. Hanmer corrected as in the text. Douce, as already remarked, supposes this to have been the motto on Pistol's sword, which he placed upon the table with the words, “and, sweetheart, lie thou there.” There is no old stage-direction to this effect, but it seems necessary.

Note return to page 696 5Sweet knight, I kiss thy neif.] “Neif” is fist or hand. It occurs in “Midsummer-Night's Dream,” Vol. ii. p. 443, and is met with in other plays of the time, besides those of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson.

Note return to page 697 6&lblank; know we not Galloway nags?] i. e. “Common hackneys,” as Johnson explains it.

Note return to page 698 7&lblank; like a shove-groat shilling:] “Shove-groat” was a game prohibited (as Blackstone informs us) by stat. 33 Henry VIII. c. 9.

Note return to page 699 8&lblank; and drinks off candles' ends for flap-dragons;] See Vol. ii. p. 346, and Vol. iii. p. 484.

Note return to page 700 9&lblank; and rides the wild mare with the boys;] The game of see-saw, Douce informs us, was formerly called “riding the wild mare.”

Note return to page 701 10Look, whether &lblank;] Folio, “Look if:” the quarto, where for “whether.” Below, both editions have “Look, whether.”

Note return to page 702 1&lblank; the fiery Trigon, &c.] “Trigonum igneum (says Steevens) is the astronomical term when the upper planets meet in a fiery sign. The fiery Trigon, I think, consists of Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius.”

Note return to page 703 2&lblank; his master's old tables, his note-book, his counsel-keeper.] Meaning Hostess Quickly, to whom Bardolph was whispering.

Note return to page 704 3What stuff wilt have a kirtle of?] It does not seem at all settled what was a kirtle: our lexicographers say that it means “a gown, a jacket, a petticoat, a mantle, a cloak,” and passages in our old authors may be produced to show that it was each of these. Some authors, including Shakespeare, also mention half-kirtles. The word is very old in our language, and at one time was applied also to a sort of gown worn by men. It has been derived from the Saxon cyrtel.

Note return to page 705 4&lblank; that the wicked might not fall in love with him;] So the folio, 1623: the quarto, 1600, has thee for “him.”

Note return to page 706 5&lblank; but the devil out-bids him too.] The quarto has “but the devil blinds him too,” which, as Malone remarks, may be right, but hardly so intelligible or so forcible as “out-bids,” the reading of the folio.

Note return to page 707 6&lblank; she is in hell already,] We ought probably to read a for “in;” but the old editions are uniform. Sir T. Hanmer prints “poor soul,” as if the words applied to Doll.

Note return to page 708 7Who knocks so loud at door?] The old stage-direction in the quarto here is “Peto knocks at door;” but when he comes upon the stage, his entrance is not marked: in the folio we have only “Enter Peto.”

Note return to page 709 8Come:—She comes blubbered.—Yea—will you come, Doll?] These words, partly addressed to Doll, and partly to Bardolph within, are only found in the quarto. There can be no sufficient reason for omitting them, as has been done by modern editors.

Note return to page 710 9Act iii. scene i.] The early quartos of this play here differ materially. The printer omitted the whole of this scene, and only two known copies contain it— one in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire, and the other among Malone's books at Oxford. How the mistake happened must be matter of mere conjecture; but it was discovered before the quarto impressions were all struck off, and to remedy the defect a sheet was reprinted, making sign. E to consist of six, instead of four, leaves. The folio, 1623, was reprinted from one of the complete copies, and contains the whole of the text.

Note return to page 711 1&lblank; give thy repose To the wet sea-boy &lblank;] So the folio: the quarto has them for “thy,” and season for “sea-boy.”

Note return to page 712 2Enter Warwick and Surrey.] The quarto adds, “and sir John Blunt;” but if he came on the stage he said nothing, and there is no reason for his appearance. Besides, the King had sent the Page to Warwick and Surrey, and did not mention Blunt.

Note return to page 713 3Would shut the book, and sit him down and die.] This and the preceding lines, within brackets, were not reprinted in the folio, 1623. Possibly the general import of the passage seemed objectionable to the Master of the Revels. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0629

Note return to page 714 4&lblank; ascends my throne;] Shakespeare did not mean to quote his own lines exactly. They occur in “Richard II.” Act ii. sc. 1, p. 196:— “Northumberland, thou ladder, wherewithal The mounting Bolingbroke ascends my throne,” &c. The earl of Warwick was not present on the occasion; neither, as Ritson showed, was the family name of Warwick Nevil, but Beauchamp, at that date.

Note return to page 715 5&lblank; upon my soul, my lord,] The folio has life for “soul.”

Note return to page 716 6&lblank; page to Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk.] This is a passage on which Mr. Halliwell justly relies, to show that sir John Falstaff was originally called sir John Oldcastle. Sir John Oldcastle was “page to Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk,” not sir John Falstaff. See “On the Character of Falstaff,” 12mo, 1841, p. 36.

Note return to page 717 7&lblank; Skogan's head &lblank;] John Skogan, Scogin, or Skoggin, is stated to have taken the degree of master of arts at Oxford, and “being (says Warton) an excellent mimick, and of great pleasantry in conversation, became the favourite buffoon of the court of King Edward IV.” From this anachronism it has been conjectured, that Shakespeare referred to Henry Skogan; but he took Skogan as the name of a well-known jester. Skogan's Jests were published by Andrew Borde, a physician in the reign of Henry VIII. They were entered in the Stationers' books in 1565, by Thomas Colwell: and were probably published in that year. They were often republished, and there was an edition of them in 1626: they were reprinted in 1796.

Note return to page 718 8&lblank; crack,] This is an old Icelandic word, says Tyrwhitt, signifying a boy or child. One of the fabulous kings and heroes of Denmark, called Hrolf, was surnamed Krake.

Note return to page 719 9&lblank; he would have clapped in the clout at twelve score;] i. e. He would have hit the nail or pin, which of old supported the target, at twelve score yards. Twelve score was a usual distance in archery matches.

Note return to page 720 1&lblank; Good morrow, honest gentlemen.] In one quarto, 1600, these words are given to Silence: in the other to Bardolph, who is made to speak again with a distinct prefix at the words, “I beseech you, which is justice Shallow?” We follow the distribution of the folio, which seems natural and proper.

Note return to page 721 2&lblank; and ever were,] The folio reads, “and every where.”

Note return to page 722 3By this good day,] The folio omits “good.”

Note return to page 723 4By my troth, you like well,] “Like” is the reading of the two quarto impressions, for in this part of the play they are to be considered as distinct editions. The folio substitutes look for “like.” “To like well” was the phraseology of the time, as may be seen by reference to p. 296 of this volume, note 5, where other passages in point are cited and referred to. Possibly the expression had gone somewhat out of use in 1623, when the first folio was printed, or looke may have been a misprint for “like.”

Note return to page 724 5&lblank; but not of the father's substance.] So the folio: the quarto, “but much of the father's substance.”

Note return to page 725 6She never could away with me.] This expression of dislike, meaning, “she never could abide me,” is of most frequent occurrence in writers before and after the time of Shakespeare.

Note return to page 726 7&lblank; caliver &lblank;] i. e. a hand-gun. The caliver was lighter than the musket, and was fired without a rest.

Note return to page 727 8&lblank; I was then sir Dagonet in Arthur's show,] Arthur's show seems to have been an exhibition of archery at Mile-end green, where the archers assumed various characters, connected with king Arthur and his round table. Shallow represented sir Dagonet, the fool or buffoon of Arthur's court, on one of these occasions. This association was called (as appears by a tract by Richard Mulcaster, master of the Children of Paul's) “The friendly and frank Fellowship of Prince Arthur's Knights, in and about the City of London.”

Note return to page 728 9At your return, visit our house.] The folio reads, “As you return, visit my house.”

Note return to page 729 1On, Bardolph; lead the men away.] By a printer's error, the prefix of Shallow is given to these words and what follows them in the old quartos.

Note return to page 730 2&lblank; Turnbull-street;] Properly, Turnmill-street, near Clerkenwell; a place often mentioned in our old dramatists as the residence of prostitutes. Falstaff must refer to what has passed while he was in Shallow's house, for Turnbull-street was not spoken of on the stage, until it was here introduced by Falstaff.

Note return to page 731 3&lblank; to any thick sight were invincible:] So every old copy: it was probably a misprint for invisible, but as sense can easily be made of “invincible,” we are not warranted in changing the word. Just afterwards, the quarto, for “the very genius of famine,’ misprints “the very gemies of famine.”

Note return to page 732 4&lblank; the over-scutched huswives &lblank;] The meaning of this epithet is not clear; but Steevens understands it over-scotch'd, as if cut and slashed by the beadle's whip. This seems the most probable interpretation.

Note return to page 733 5&lblank; his fancies, or his good-nights.] The names given by our old poets to small lyrical pieces for the voice. This passage, and one above, included in brackets, are only in the quartos.

Note return to page 734 6And now is this Vice's dagger become a squire;] The Vice was a character in our early dramatic performances, who was armed with a wooden dagger. The notices of it in old writers are innumerable.

Note return to page 735 7&lblank; and then he burst his head,] The commentators cite various passages to show that “burst” was of old used for break, but they omit the most apposite from Shakespeare himself, where, in the opening of “The Taming of the Shrew,” Vol. iii. p. 107, the hostess calls upon Sly to “pay for the glasses he had burst.”

Note return to page 736 8&lblank; he beat his own name;] i. e. gaunt; alluding to Shallow's figure.

Note return to page 737 9&lblank; you might have thrust him,] So the quarto, 1600: the folio, trussed.

Note return to page 738 1&lblank; Hastings, and Others.] “Within the forest of Gaultree,” adds the old stage-direction in the quarto, with unusual particularity. Shakespeare took Holinshed as his authority for the place.

Note return to page 739 2&lblank; their opposite.] i. e. adversary. See Vol. ii. p. 63; Vol. iii. p. 381. 392.

Note return to page 740 3Then, my lord,] These words are not in the quarto: the folio inserted them, no doubt, to complete the preceding imperfect line.

Note return to page 741 4&lblank; so appear'd,] Old copies, so appear. Corrected by Pope.

Note return to page 742 5Turning your books to graves,] So the old copies; and it may be right. Warburton and Hanmer read glaives, and Steevens more plausibly greaves, armour for the legs. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0633

Note return to page 743 6And, with our surfeiting, and wanton hours,] This and the twenty-four following lines are not in the quarto editions of this play.

Note return to page 744 7And are enforc'd from our most quiet there] So the folio, the only old copy of this passage: the meaning seems to be, that the archbishop complains that he and his friends are driven from their chief quiet in the stream of time by a rough torrent. Warburton altered “there” to sphere, but without any obvious necessity.

Note return to page 745 8[And consecrate commotion's bitter edge!] This line is not in the folio.

Note return to page 746 9I make my quarrel in particular.] The second line of this speech is omitted in the folio, and is restored from the quarto. The whole is obscure, but Malone, following Monck Mason, thus explains the probable intention of the author:—“My brother-general, who is joined here with me in command, makes the commonwealth his quarrel, i. e. has taken up arms on account of public grievances; a particular injury done to my own brother, is my ground of quarrel.” Malone supposed a line to have been lost, which possibly may have been the case; and the second line of the archbishop's speech is said to be wanting in some copies of the quarto impressions, as well as in the folio. It is found in both the quartos belonging to the Duke of Devonshire, and in two others that I have had the opportunity of examining. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0635

Note return to page 747 1O! my good lord Mowbray,] This and the thirty-six lines following it are not in the quarto edition.

Note return to page 748 2And then, when &lblank;] The folio reads “And then, that.” The error was corrected by Pope.

Note return to page 749 3And bless'd, and grac'd, indeed, more than the king.] The folio, 1623, followed by the three other folio impressions, corruptly reads and did for “indeed.” Thirlby proposed the present emendation.

Note return to page 750 4To us, and to our purposes confin'd;] So both the quarto and folio editions; and there is no need of alteration, though Johnson proposed consign'd, and it has found its way into all modern editions: the meaning is, “the execution of our wills being confined, or restricted, to us and to our purposes.” The quarto omits “to,” to the injury of the metre.

Note return to page 751 5And either end in peace,] The old copies read, “At either,” &c. The change was made by Thirlby.

Note return to page 752 6Than now to see you here an iron man,] After “man” the quarto edition adds, quite unnecessarily, and to the injury of the line, talking.

Note return to page 753 7My lord, our army is dispers'd already.] The folio has only, “Our army is dispers'd.”

Note return to page 754 8&lblank; and such acts as yours.] These words are only in the folio: in the quarto, the line is left imperfect.

Note return to page 755 9&lblank; and of what place, I pray?] The quarto has not the words “I pray.”

Note return to page 756 1&lblank; the hook-nosed fellow of Rome,] The quarto adds unintelligibly “their cousin” after “Rome.” Possibly Falstaff meant to claim relationship, in point of valour, with Julius Cæsar, and called him “my cousin.” Some have supposed that “their cousin” ought to be read there, Cæsar, and such a misprint might easily have been introduced.

Note return to page 757 2&lblank; gavest thyself away gratis;] So the quarto: the folio rejects “gratis.”

Note return to page 758 3&lblank; stand my good lord, pray, in your good report.] The meaning seems to be, that Falstaff asks prince John to stand his good lord, or his good friend, in the report he makes to the king. This is Steevens's interpretation. The folio inserts “pray,” not found in the quarto, as if to complete the measure, and as if a couplet were intended, though not so printed:— “Through Glostershire; and when you come to court, Stand my good lord, pray, in your good report.”

Note return to page 759 4&lblank; till sack commences it, and sets it in act and use.] “It seems probable to me,” says Tyrwhitt, “that Shakespeare in these words alludes to the Cambridge Commencement; and in what follows to the Oxford Act: for by those different names our two universities have long distinguished the season, at which each of them gives to her respective students a complete authority to use those hoards of learning which have entitled them to their several degrees in arts, law, physick, and divinity.”

Note return to page 760 5&lblank; the first human principle &lblank;] The folio omits “human.”

Note return to page 761 6Our navy is address'd,] i. e. ready, prepared. See Vol. ii. p. 466 and 512.

Note return to page 762 7&lblank; congealed in the spring of day.] “Alluding,” says Warburton, “to the opinion of some philosophers, that the vapours being congealed in the air by cold, (which is most intense towards the morning,) and being afterwards rarified and let loose by the warmth of the sun, occasion those sudden and impetuous gusts of wind which are called flaws.”

Note return to page 763 8&lblank; give him line and scope,] The quarto, to the injury of the metaphor, reads, “give him time and scope.”

Note return to page 764 9Mingled with venom of suggestion,] “Suggestion” here, as in many other places, (see Vol. ii. p. 288; iii. p. 264. 296, &c.) means temptation.

Note return to page 765 1&lblank; can'st thou tell that?] These words are only in the folio.

Note return to page 766 2In the dead carrion.] “As the bee,” says Johnson, “having once placed her comb in a carcase, stays by her honey, so he that has once taken pleasure in bad company, will continue to associate with those that have the art of pleasing him.” This explanation is, perhaps, a little more than was meant by the poet.

Note return to page 767 3But write her fair words still in foulest letters?] So the folio: the quarto gives the line as follows:— “But wet her fair words still in foulest terms.”

Note return to page 768 4So thin, that life looks through, and will break out.] Malone and others have pointed out the following parallel passage in Daniel's “Civil Wars,” 1595, book iii. st. 116, where that poet is speaking of the illness of Henry IV. “Wearing the wall so thin, that now the mind Might well look thorough, and his frailty find.” Steevens, referring to this couplet, quotes from some later edition, in which the lines were considerably altered. Daniel never reprinted a work without making changes in it. The words in the text, “and will break out,” are from the folio.

Note return to page 769 5The people fear me;] i. e. alarm me, or make me fear. By “unfather'd heirs,” in the next line, Johnson understands “animals that had no animal progenitors.”

Note return to page 770 6&lblank; softly, pray.] These words were added in the folio.

Note return to page 771 7He alter'd much upon the hearing it.] The quarto erroneously has utter'd for “alter'd.”

Note return to page 772 8&lblank; this golden rigol &lblank;] “Rigol” (perhaps for ringol) means a circle. I know not (observes Steevens) that it is used by any author but Shakespeare, who introduces it likewise in his “Rape of Lucrece:” “About the mourning and congealed face Of that black blood a watery rigol goes.” Here, however, it would seem to be the same as the Welsh rhigol, a trench or furrow. See Owen's Dictionary. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0640

Note return to page 773 9Lo! here it sits,] The quarto has where for “here.” The reading of the folio seems preferable.

Note return to page 774 1How fares your grace?] These words are added in the folio: four lines lower it omits “He is not here,” found in the quarto.

Note return to page 775 2&lblank; tolling from every flower The virtuous sweets;] The folio has calling for “tolling,” by which the image of the bee taking toll from each flower is lost. The words “The virtuous sweets” are from the folio.

Note return to page 776 3Till his friend sickness' hands determined me?] i. e. “Until the hands of his friend, sickness, ended me.” The folio poorly substitutes hath for “hands,” and injures the personification. All the modern editors follow the misreading of the folio, and take no notice of the variation in the text.

Note return to page 777 4O my son! God put it in thy mind &lblank;] “O my son” is from the folio; and the quarto, in the following line, omits “it.” In the next line the folio misprints “win” join. Above, it omits “most” before “royal liege;” perhaps, because the editor thought it injured the line.

Note return to page 778 5&lblank; for what in me was purchas'd,] We have already seen that the word “purchase” was used of old for booty obtained by plunder. The king here uses the verb in a kindred sense, meaning that he had obtained the crown by undue means—by robbing the right owner. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0642

Note return to page 779 6And all thy friends,] Tyrwhitt suggests plausibly that we ought to read “my friends;” but still the difficulty of the passage is not removed, inasmuch as five lines lower the king states that he has “cut off” those persons whom he advises his son to make his friends. Monck Mason, therefore, for “I cut them off,” would read “I cut some off.” The old copies agree in both places, and we, of course, have followed them. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0643

Note return to page 780 7My gracious liege,] This hemistich is only found in the folio.

Note return to page 781 8I should not die but in Jerusalem,] We add the following passage from Holinshed, to show the verbal accuracy with which Shakespeare sometimes followed the old chronicler. “At length he recovered his speech, and understanding; and perceiving himselfe in a strange place, which he knew not, he willed to know if the chamber had anie particular name, whereunto answer was made, that it was called Jerusalem. Then said the king; Lauds be given to the Father of heaven, for now I know that I shall die here in this chamber, according to the prophesie of me declared, that I should depart this life in Jerusalem.”

Note return to page 782 9By cock and pie,] An exclamation of frequent occurrence in our old dramatists, but of disputed origin.

Note return to page 783 10&lblank; William cook,] i. e. William, the cook. It was very common for our ancestors to distinguish their servants by the departments they filled: hence many surnames.

Note return to page 784 1&lblank; those precepts cannot be served:] Shallow, as a justice of the peace, would have to issue “precepts” or warrants.

Note return to page 785 2&lblank; the other day &lblank;] These words were added in the folio.

Note return to page 786 3&lblank; than they are back-bitten, &lblank;] The folio injures the joke by reading only bitten.

Note return to page 787 4&lblank; therefore, I beseech your worship,] So the folio: the quarto only has “I beseech you.”

Note return to page 788 5&lblank; without intervallums.] The folio has “with intervallums,”—obviously an error; the meaning is of course the same as the “sans intermission” of Jaques, in “As You Like It,” Vol. ii. p. 40. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0644

Note return to page 789 6&lblank; impartial conduct &lblank;] Thus the quartos, rightly, beyond dispute. The folio reads imperial.

Note return to page 790 7A ragged and forestall'd remission.] Both “ragged” and “forestall'd” are rather puzzling epithets as applied to “remission,” which of course is pardon. By “ragged,” Johnson understands poor and base; and “forestall'd” perhaps means anticipated by the king before it is asked.

Note return to page 791 8We hope no other from your majesty.] This line has the prefix of Bro. for Brothers, in the quarto; and John, &c. in the folio.

Note return to page 792 9My father is gone wild into his grave,] The meaning (remarks Malone) is, My wild dispositions having ceased on my father's death, and being now as it were buried in his tomb, he and wildness are interred in the same grave. Pope, not perceiving the true intention of the poet, substituted wail'd for “wild;” but no subsequent editor followed his example.

Note return to page 793 1By the mass,] Even this exclamation, having reference to a ceremony exploded in our reformed church, was expunged in the folio, probably at the instance of the Master of the Revels.

Note return to page 794 2And ever among so merrily.] “Ever among” is an idiomatic expression, used by Chaucer and many later writers. No originals of this and other musical outbreaks by Silence have been discovered. They are printed as prose in the old copies.

Note return to page 795 3&lblank; proface!] A word or expression of frequent occurrence in English, French, and Italian: probably we derived it from the latter, and buon pro vi faccia occurs in the Orlando Innam. of Boiardo, c. 47, st. 35. The meaning is the same in all languages—“much good may it do you.” It is needless to multiply instances of its employment in English; but it may be mentioned that it was so little understood by Reed, in 1780, that when he published his edition of Dodsley's Old Plays, he altered it to “profess,” in the reprint of Chapman's “All Fools.”

Note return to page 796 4But you must bear: the heart's all.] Meaning, you must put up with your ill fare, the intention being all that is important. The folio omits “must.”

Note return to page 797 5&lblank; leather-coats &lblank;] The apple (says Henley) commonly denominated russetine, in Devonshire is called the buff-coat.

Note return to page 798 6Samingo.] i. e. San Domingo, as it has been explained; but nobody has been able to show why Domingo, or San Domingo, was thus introduced in a drinking song. The portion Silence gives, with two preceding lines, is found in Nash's “Summer's Last Will and Testament,” 1600, reprinted in the last edition of Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. xi. p. 47. “To do a man right” was to pledge him; and the words “dub me knight” had reference to a supposed knighthood, conferred when parties drank healths on their knees.

Note return to page 799 7&lblank; that blows no man to good.] The folio, “that blows none to good.”

Note return to page 800 8&lblank; goodman Puff of Barson.] i. e. Barston, a village lying between Coventry and Solyhull.

Note return to page 801 9Under which king, Bezonian?] This term of reproach is derived from the Italian bisogno, and signifies, according to Florio, “a fresh needy soldier,” as well as need. Bezonian occurs in other writers of the time, and sometimes in its original form of bisogno. Nash, in his “Pierce Pennilesse,” 1592, (not 1595, as Steevens quotes it,) uses Bezonian in precisely the same sense as Shakespeare.

Note return to page 802 1&lblank; fig me, like The bragging Spaniard.] To fig is to insult by putting the thumb between the fore and middle finger. From this custom, perhaps, we yet say in contempt, “a fig for you.” Allusions to the “fig,” and fico, or figo, are perpetual in our old writers. Douce tells us, that the phrase is of Italian origin.

Note return to page 803 2“Where is the life that late I led,” say they:] This line from some old song is also quoted by Petruchio in “The Taming of the Shrew.” See Vol. iii. p. 168, note 8.

Note return to page 804 3Enter Beadles, &c.] This stage-direction, in the quarto of 1600, stands thus: “Enter Sincklo, and three or four Officers.” And the name of Sincklo the actor is prefixed to those speeches, which in the folio are given to the Beadle, who is called Officer in the prefixes.

Note return to page 805 4&lblank; whipping-cheer enough,] “Enough” is from the folio.

Note return to page 806 5Enter Falstaff, &c.] The old stage-direction in the quarto, 1600, would show that the king and his train had passed over the stage before the entrance of Falstaff: it is, “Trumpets sound, and the King and his train pass over the stage; after them enter Falstaff, Shallow, Pistol, Bardolph, and the Boy.” The king, &c. return again soon afterwards, introduced by the words, “Enter the King and his train.” Possibly, for the sake of the show, the king was originally made to walk in procession twice. The stage-directions in the folio correspond with those in the text.

Note return to page 807 6It doth, it doth, it doth.] We have distributed these and some other speeches as in the folio. In the quarto they are confusedly given, and some modern editors seem to have felt themselves at liberty to dispose of them as they thought best. The quarto and folio vary in other more minute particulars.

Note return to page 808 7And as we hear you do reform yourselves,] Boswell states that the folio has redeem for “reform” of the quarto. No copy of the folio that I have ever met with has redeem.

Note return to page 809 8&lblank; the tenor of our word.] So the folio: the quarto has “the tenor of my word.”

Note return to page 810 9I heard a bird so sing,] The folio, “I hear a bird so sing,” which is clearly wrong: the quarto, “heard.”

Note return to page 811 1Epilogue.] Johnson remarks upon the flatness of the conclusion of this play, and this epilogue (which was evidently spoken by an actor, who was also a dancer) was perhaps added in order, in the words of Barten Halliday, “the more cheerfully to dismiss the spectators.”

Note return to page 812 2&lblank; which was never seen before in such an assembly.] The word “before” is from the folio. There is a more important variation at the end of this epilogue; for in the quarto, the words “and so kneel down before you; but, indeed, to pray for the queen,” (with the addition of I before “kneel,”) are inserted at the end of the first paragraph, instead of being placed at the close of the Epilogue, as in the folio. We have adopted the arrangement of the folio, though it hardly seems likely that the dancer would have jumped up from his prayer for the queen, in order to treat the audience with a dance.

Note return to page 813 3&lblank; for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man.] Here also we have a relic of the fact that the original name of Falstaff was Oldcastle.

Note return to page 814 “The Cronicle History of Henry the fift, With his battell fought at Agin Court in France. Togither with Auntient Pistoll. As it hath bene sundry times playd by the Right honorable the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. London Printed by Thomas Creede, for Tho. Millington, and Iohn Busby. And are to be sold at his house in Carter Lane, next the Powle head. 1600.” 4to. 27 leaves. “The Chronicle History of Henry the fift, With his battell fought at Agin Court in France. Together with Auntient Pistoll. As it hath bene sundry times playd by the Right honorable the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. London Printed by Thomas Creede, for Thomas Pauier, and are to be sold at his shop in Cornhill, at the signe of the Cat and Parrets, neare the Exchange. 1602.” 4to. 26 leaves. “The Chronicle History of Henry the fift, with his battell fought at Agin Court in France. Together with ancient Pistoll. As it hath bene sundry times playd by the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlaine his Seruants. Printed for T. P. 1608.” 4to. 27 leaves. “The Life of Henry the Fift,” in the folio of 1623, occupies twenty-seven pages, viz. from p. 69 to p. 95 inclusive. The pagination from “Henry IV.” Part ii. to “Henry V.” is not continued, but a new series begins with “Henry V.” on p. 69, and is regularly followed to the end of the “Histories.” The folio, 1632, adopts this error, but it is avoided in the two later folio impressions.

Note return to page 815 1Rowe first gave a list of the characters.

Note return to page 816 1Enter Chorus.] The old stage-direction is “Enter Prologue,” but it was the same “Chorus” as in a subsequent part of the play: near the end of the address the speaker calls himself “Chorus,” and only professes to deliver the lines “Prologue-like,” not absolutely as the Prologue. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0647

Note return to page 817 2Within this wooden O] The Globe Theatre, on the Bankside, was circular within, and probably this historical drama was first acted there; but the company to which Shakespeare belonged also played in the winter at the Blackfriars Theatre, regarding the shape of which we have no information. See Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poetry and the Stage, vol. iii. p. 296. The Globe differed from the Fortune in Cripplegate, which was a square building. Ibid. vol. iii. p. 302.

Note return to page 818 3And make imaginary puissance:] A chorus of a similar kind precedes the anonymous play of “The Famous History of Thomas Stukely,” printed in 1605, but acted some years before. The speaker of the chorus there says, in accordance with Shakespeare, “Your gentle favour we must needs entreat For rude presenting such a royal fight; Which more imagination must supply Than all our utmost strength can reach unto.”

Note return to page 819 4But that the scambling and unquiet time] “Scambling” is a word which occurs again in this play, and has before been employed in “Much Ado About Nothing,” Vol. II. p. 259. It was in frequent use among our old authors, and is what we have changed to scrambling, though they also had it in that form.

Note return to page 820 5Shall we call in th' ambassador, my liege?] At this point the play, according to the quartos of 1600, 1602, and 1608, begins, but they all assign the line to Exeter, and give it thus: “Shall I call in th' ambassadors, my liege?”

Note return to page 821 6Shall drop their blood in approbation] i. e. in probation or proof.

Note return to page 822 7&lblank; unjustly gloze,] i. e. Expound, explain.

Note return to page 823 8Where Charles the great, &lblank;] In the quarto editions it stands, “Where Charles the fift.”

Note return to page 824 9To find his title] So the folio, and it is not necessary to alter it, though the quartos read fine, which on some accounts (in the sense of refine) might seem preferable. The quartos can only be a guide, even in more doubtful cases. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0648

Note return to page 825 1Than amply to imbare their crooked titles] With reference to the word “imbare,” it is necessary to state the old readings. The quartos of 1600 and 1602 read imbace, and have causes for “titles:” the quarto, 1608, alters the word to embrace. These are no doubt wrong, and the folio, 1623, substitutes imbarre. The true reading seems that of Malone, supported by Steevens and M. Mason, “imbare,” in the sense of expose, lay bare, or lay open. The printer of the first quarto inserted, by mistake, a c for an r, and subsequent compositors, not knowing how to correct the error, the corruption of the text was only varied.

Note return to page 826 2So hath your highness, &c.] Perhaps, says Coleridge, (Lit. Remains, vol. ii. p. 183.) these lines ought to be recited dramatically thus:— “They know your grace hath cause, and means, and might:— So hath your highness—never king of England Had nobles, richer,” &c. Westmoreland breaks off from the grammar and natural order from earnestness, and in order to give the meaning more passionately. Malone would poorly understand Westmoreland to confirm the opinion of Henry's “brother kings,” as to his powers and resources—“So hath your highness.”

Note return to page 827 3With blood,] The folios, 1623 and 1632, have bloods, an obvious misprint, corrected in the folio, 1664.

Note return to page 828 4And make their chronicle, &c.] The folio has “their,” the quarto your: “their chronicle” is the chronicle of that time.

Note return to page 829 5To tear and havoc more than she can eat.] The folio reads, “To tame and havoc:” the quartos have spoil. Theobald substitutes taint, but it is very evident that it is a mere misprint of “tame” for tear, which was of old spelt with a final e. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0651

Note return to page 830 6Yet that is but a curs'd necessity;] So the quartos, in reference, perhaps, to the disposition of a cat. The folios read crush'd. It has been suggested to me that we might read “a cur's necessity,” or necessity imposed by a cur, Scotland being afterwards called “the dog.” [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0652

Note return to page 831 7Congreeing] i. e. agreeing together, an unusual but expressive word. The quartos have congrueth. Pope substituted congruing, but the change seems for the worse.

Note return to page 832 8End in one purpose,] The folio has And; precisely the same error as that made in “All's Well that Ends Well,” Vol. II. p. 252, where “And ere I do begin” is misprinted for “End ere I do begin.” The quartos have it “End in one moment.” “End” is of course right, but moment seems to have been a mere guess. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0655

Note return to page 833 9Tennis-balls, my liege.] In the old play of “The Famous Victories,” this present consists of “a gilded tun of tennis-balls, and a carpet.” [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0656

Note return to page 834 10With chases.] A “chase” at tennis is the duration of a contest between the players, in which the strife on each side is to keep up the ball. The other terms in the text belonging to the game are sufficiently intelligible.

Note return to page 835 P. 479.&lblank; With chases] Douce in his “Illustrations,” from not understanding the game of tennis, is mistaken in his definition of a “chase:” a “chase” is not “the spot where a ball falls,” but the duration of a contest in which the players hunt or “chase” the ball, bandying it from one to the other. For the same reason, probably, the Rev. A. Dyce in his Skelton's Works, vol. ii. p. 206, commits a similar error, and we think misunderstands the passage he quotes from the “Merry Jests of the Widow Edith.” To “mark a chase,” the expression there employed, is to have a chase scored or marked in favour of the successful player; and such is the metaphorical meaning, as applied to the widow, who scored her own chases as she walked along.

Note return to page 836 1&lblank; and well digest Th' abuse of distance: force a play.] This is the reading of the folio, 1623, excepting “well” for we'll; and though the measure be defective, we have no warrant for an arbitrary correction of it, especially when sense may be extracted without any addition. The Chorus calls upon the audience to digest well the abuse to the scene, arising out of the distance of the various places, and to “force a play,” or put constraint upon themselves in this respect, for the sake of the drama. Malone reads, with Pope, “While we force a play.” [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0660

Note return to page 837 2But, till the king come forth, and not till then, Unto Southampton do we shift our scene.] The meaning is clear, though obscurely expressed: the scene is not to be changed to Southampton until the king makes his appearance. No change is necessary, though various new readings have been recommended by Sir T. Hanmer, Edwards, Health, and Malone.

Note return to page 838 3&lblank; and there's an end.] So the folio: the quartos, “and there's the humour of it,” which was certainly a favourite phrase with Corporal Nym.

Note return to page 839 4&lblank; a tired mare,] The folio reads name; the quartos, mare. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0662

Note return to page 840 5&lblank; offer nothing here.] In the folio, 1623, this speech is properly given to Bardolph; the first part being addressed to Pistol, though called “lieutenant, and the last to Nym. All modern editors appear to have varied the text to their own liking; but why they should add “Good lieutenant Bardolph” to the end of Mrs. Quickly's speech we cannot imagine.

Note return to page 841 6&lblank; yea, in thy maw, perdy;] “Perdy” is a corruption of par dieu, often occurring in our old writers. It seems to have been going out of use in Shakespeare's time, but is affectedly given to Pistol, in imitation of the style of drama preceding that of our great poet.

Note return to page 842 7I am not Barbason;] “Barbason” was the name of a fiend or demon, whom Nym pretends to suppose Pistol intended to conjure by his absurd phraseology. Barbason is mentioned as a devil's name, “a devil's addition,” in “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” Act ii. sc. 2.

Note return to page 843 8Thy spirits are most tall.] i. e. courageous or valiant. See Vol. iii. p. 330. 401. and 436.

Note return to page 844 9&lblank; the lazar kite of Cressid's kind,] “Kites of Cressid's kind” are mentioned in the same sense by Gascoigne and by Greene.

Note return to page 845 10—pauca, there's enough.] The folio adds, “to go to,” but it seems merely surplusage. Possibly we ought to read only “go to.”

Note return to page 846 1[I shall have my eight shillings, I won of you at betting?] This repetition, which seems necessary to the continuity of the dialogue, is from the quarto: the folio omits it.

Note return to page 847 2Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow,] Steevens referred to the following apposite passage from Holinshed, Shakespeare's usual authority:—“The said lord Scroop was in such favour with the king, that he admitted him sometime to be his bedfellow.” The commentators collected many examples to prove that it was usual for men to speak of other men as their “bedfellows” when they wished to show their extreme intimacy and friendship.

Note return to page 848 3His sovereign's life to death and treachery.] After this line the quarto, 1600, and the two subsequent editions in the same form, add “O the good lord Marsham,” but the general variations are too worthless and minute to be regularly noticed. The folio is the only authentic original of this play.

Note return to page 849 4&lblank; worrying you.] The quartos have them for “you;” but that of the folio seems the better reading.

Note return to page 850 5To furnish him with all appertinents] “Him” is omitted in the folio, 1623, and properly inserted in that of 1632.

Note return to page 851 6To mark the full-fraught man, and best indued,] The folio reads make for “mark,” which was Theobald's amendment. Pope's rather forced reading of the original text was this:— “To make the full fraught man, and best, indued With some suspicion.”

Note return to page 852 7Another fall of man.] Of this hemistich, and the thirty-seven preceding lines, there is no trace in the quartos.

Note return to page 853 8Henry lord, &c.] Thus the quarto. The folio, erroneously, Thomas.

Note return to page 854 9Which I in sufferance &lblank;] The folio, 1623, omits “I,” which was added in the folio, 1632.

Note return to page 855 1And his whole kingdom into desolation.] So the folio: perhaps we ought to read unto. On a previous page, 473, we also have “into,” where to modern ears unto would seem preferable.

Note return to page 856 2Whose ruin you have sought,] “Have” we take from the quarto impressions, and it is required by the measure. Malone, without any authority from the quartos or folios, printed “Whose ruin you three sought.”

Note return to page 857 3'A made a finer end,] So the folio copies. Johnson was of opinion that “finer end” was Mrs. Quickly's blunder for final end; but Monck Mason, much more plausibly, suggests that we ought to read “fine end.” The quartos, which print this and many other prose passages as verse, afford us no light.

Note return to page 858 4&lblank; and 'a babbled of green fields.] The folio reads, “for his nose was as sharp as a pen, and a table of green fields.” Theobald deserves to be recorded as the author of this judicious amendment. Pope, who at first proposed a different explanation, subsequently admitted it. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0665

Note return to page 859 5&lblank; the pining maiden's groans,] The folio reads privy, and the quartos “pining.” It was very easy to misprint the one for the other, especially when we recollect that v was then written u, and there can be little doubt that “pining” is the true word.”

Note return to page 860 6In second accent of his ordinance.] So spelt in the original, and the orthography is necessarily preserved on account of the verse. In the next page, in the line “Behold the ordnance on their carriages,” it is only wanted as a dissyllable, but it is nevertheless spelt as a trisyllable in the folio.

Note return to page 861 7&lblank; at Hampton pier] “At Dover pier,” all the folios.

Note return to page 862 8&lblank; Phœbus fanning.] The folio, fayning. Corrected by Rowe.

Note return to page 863 9&lblank; rivage,] The bank or shore. Rivage, French.

Note return to page 864 1&lblank; Chambers go off.] “Chambers” were small pieces of ordnance. See “Henry IV.” Part 2. Act ii. sc. 4. They seem to have been used in theatres, and the Globe was burnt by a discharge of them in 1613.

Note return to page 865 2Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;] No fragment of this speech is to be found in the quarto editions.

Note return to page 866 3&lblank; summon up the blood,] Old copy, commune, &c. Corrected by Rowe.

Note return to page 867 4On, on, you noblest English!] So the folio, 1632: the folio, 1623, has “you noblish English,” a clear misprint, the compositor having confounded the two terminations.

Note return to page 868 5Whose blood is fet &lblank;] This form of the participle is very common in the writers of Shakespeare's time. Pope quite needlessly altered it to fetch'd.

Note return to page 869 6&lblank; I have not a case of lives:] Meaning, “I have not two lives:” a case of poignards meant a couple of poignards; and in a passage referred to by Whalley, Ben Jonson speaks of two masques as “a case of masques.”

Note return to page 870 7But thither would I hie.] It does not appear from whence Pistol quotes these scraps: probably from some lost ballads of the time. They are printed as prose in the folio, 1623, and they are not found in the quarto editions.

Note return to page 871 8&lblank; the men would carry coals.] Innumerable passages might be cited from our old authors, from Skelton downwards, to show that “carrying coals” was synonymous with what the boy calls “pocketing up of wrongs:” it is so used by Shakespeare in “Romeo and Juliet,” A. i. sc. 1. The origin of the expression was probably the low occupation of colliers in former times, which rendered “collier” a term of abuse. Thus sir Toby Belch, in “Twelfth-Night,” Vol. ii. p. 388, speaking of the devil, exclaims, “Hang him, foul collier!” The same point might be proved from the works of Greene, Nash, Dekker, Chapman, Day, and nearly all the contemporaries of Shakespeare.

Note return to page 872 9&lblank; I sall quit you &lblank;] i. e. I shall requite you.

Note return to page 873 1Of heady murder,] So the folio, 1632: that of 1623 has headly: the true word may have been deadly; but, as Malone remarks, “deadly is an epithet of little force as applied to murder;” nevertheless he adopted it in preference to “heady,” which is authorised by the next best authority to the folio, 1623, and which is a word Shakespeare has already employed in a preceding play, “Henry IV.” Part i. Act ii. sc. iii. p. 258, of this volume. The quartos contain a short speech by Henry V. to the citizens of Harfleur, but no lines, nor fragments of lines, between “The gates of mercy shall be all shut up” and the closing couplet.

Note return to page 874 2Defile the locks &lblank;] The folio, 1623, and all the subsequent impressions of that volume, read “Desire the locks,” an obvious misprint, which Pope corrected.

Note return to page 875 3&lblank; et tu parles bien le langage.] Gildon very reasonably asked why the princess and Alice should be made to speak French, when other French characters talk English? and Farmer supposed that these French scenes came from “a different hand.” Of this we have not the slightest evidence; but it was certainly opposed to the ordinary practice of the stage to make foreign characters speak a foreign language, though not unusual to represent them using broken English. Such is the case in the old “Famous Victories of Henry V.” where, towards the close, the French soldiers throw dice for the English and their “brave apparel.” We have printed the old French nearly as it stands in the folio, 1623, with a few changes made by Theobald in the persons of the speakers, as the prefixes in the original copies are confused.

Note return to page 876 4&lblank; we may call them,] “May” was added by the editor of the second folio.

Note return to page 877 5&lblank; and knights,] The old copy reads kings. The emendation was made by Theobald.

Note return to page 878 6Here is the man.] The quarto, 1600, reads, “Do you not know him? here comes the man.” Malone injudiciously made up his text from the two editions, quarto and folio, often without giving notice of the variations from the one or the other. Of this play, as before remarked, the folio, 1623, is the only authentic copy.

Note return to page 879 7a pax,] The “pax” was a small image of the Saviour, on which the kiss of peace was bestowed by the congregation.

Note return to page 880 8Very good.] It may be worth while to quote this part of the scene from the quarto, 1600, with which the other editions in the same form agree. “Pist. Die and be damn'd: a fico for thy friendship. “Flu. That is good. “Pist. The fig of Spain within thy jaw. “Flu. That is very well. “Pist. I say a fig within thy bowels and thy dirty maw. [Exit Pistol. “Flu. Captain Gower, cannot you hear it lighten and thunder?” It is very possible that this enlargement was made by the actors.

Note return to page 881 9&lblank; and Soldiers.] The stage-direction in the folio deserves to be quoted, as proving the appearance that the sick and enfeebled soldiers of Henry V. were intended to bear upon the stage, “Drum and colours. Enter the King and his poor soldiers.” The quarto, 1600, has, “Enter King, Clarence, Gloster, and others;” but Clarence was not present.

Note return to page 882 1&lblank; when lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom,] The folio, 1623, by the turning of the letter n, has leuity instead of “lenity.” The later folios repeat the error.

Note return to page 883 2&lblank; that treads but upon four pasterns.] For “pasterns,” the folio has postures.

Note return to page 884 3&lblank; like a kern of Ireland, your French hose off, and in your strait trossers.] The old copy (as Malone states) reads strossers. The correction was made by Theobald, who observes, that “by strait trossers the poet means femoribus denudatis, for the kerns of Ireland wore no breeches, any more than the Scotch Highlanders.” The explication (Malone adds) is right; but that the kerns of Ireland universally rode without breeches, may be doubted. It is clear from many passages in books of our author's age, that the Irish strait trossers or trowsers were not merely figurative; though in consequence of their being made extremely tight, Shakespeare has here employed the words in an equivocal sense. Trowsers, or trossers, were formerly the reverse of what we now understand by the word.

Note return to page 885 4&lblank; my mistress wears his own hair.] The mistress of the dauphin is his horse, and therefore he properly says, “my mistress wears his own hair;” but modern editors, (including Malone) not understanding how “his” could apply to a “mistress,” altered it to her, without stating that they varied from the old copies.

Note return to page 886 5&lblank; and when it appears it will bate.] Respecting the word “bate,” see this Vol. p. 306, note 5. The allusion in the words “hooded valour” is to falcons and their hoods.

Note return to page 887 6&lblank; peevish fellow &lblank;] i. e. silly, foolish fellow. See Vol. ii. p. 150, 162; and Vol. iii. p. 348; and this Vol. p. 286.

Note return to page 888 7&lblank; of drowsy morning name.] The folio reads nam'd. The error was corrected by Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 889 8Presenteth them &lblank;] The folio, presented.

Note return to page 890 9speak lower.] This is doubtless the true reading, and not “speak fewer,” as it stands in the folio. The origin of the error seems to have been this; in the two earliest quartos, those of 1600 and 1602, the word is by accident printed lewer instead of “lower:” the printer of the folio, who may have seen the quarto, 1600, or 1602, thought that the mistake was lewer for fewer, and therefore changed the wrong letter. The quarto, 1608, has it “lower,” as in the text. It is only in cases of this kind that the quarto editions can be of any use. In accordance with this emendation Gower afterwards says, “I will speak lower.” [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0673

Note return to page 891 3Enter Bates, Court, and Williams.] In the quartos they are called “three soldiers;” but in the stage-direction of the folio even their Christian names are inserted—“Enter three soldiers; John Bates, Alexander Court, and Michael Williams.”

Note return to page 892 4Your reproof is something too round:] i. e. too plain or unceremonious. See Vol. ii. p. 125; and Vol. iii. p. 356. The quartos have it, “Your reproof is somewhat too bitter.”

Note return to page 893 5What is thy soul of adoration?] In the folio, where alone the speech is found, this line stands exactly thus:—“What? is thy soul of odoration?” Odoration is an evident misprint; and it may be questioned whether we ought read “What is the soul of adoration?” or what is the essence or worth of adoration? but we prefer adhering to the original. Johnson recommended, “What is thy soul, O adoration?” [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0674

Note return to page 894 6The farced title running 'fore the king,] i. e. the stuffed, tumid, or inflated title. The use of “farced” for stuffed is common. It has been plausibly suggested by Mr. Knight, in his “Pictorial Shakspere,” that “the farced title running 'fore the king,” refers to the herald who preceded the king on some state occasions to proclaim his title.

Note return to page 895 7&lblank; if th' opposed numbers Pluck their hearts from them.] The folio has of for “if,” an easy misprint, the correction of which seems necessary to the intelligibility of the passage; unless we were to read, “Pluck their hearts from them not to-day, O Lord!” which would be an awkward inversion, and would injure the emphasis of the imprecation, that the manner in which Henry IV. came by the crown should not that day be remembered.

Note return to page 896 8Via! les eaux et la terre!] “Via!” is an exclamation, signifying away! often met with: it is not easy to understand what the dauphin means by les eaux et la terre, or his cousin by l'air et le feu, unless they are to be taken as exhortatory exclamations, or have reference to the four elements, which, in a previous scene (p. 520), the Dauphin had spoken of in connection with his horse.

Note return to page 897 9And doubt them with superfluous courage:] This is the old reading, and taking “doubt them” in the sense of making them doubt, or alarming them for the issue, is quite as intelligible as dout or do out, extinguish, which some modern editors would substitute. Pope read daunt.

Note return to page 898 10&lblank; the shales and husks of men.] “Shale” was the old form of shell; from the Sax. schale.

Note return to page 899 1The tucket-sonnance,] i. e. The sounding of the tucket. A tucket, as is explained in a note to “The Merchant of Venice,” Vol. ii. p. 557, note 7, was properly not a trumpet, but the sound produced by a trumpet. This is what the constable of France calls “the tucket-sonnance.”

Note return to page 900 2&lblank; the gimmal bit] i. e. the double bit, from the Latin gemellus: it seems to have meant a bit composed of two links.

Note return to page 901 3&lblank; thou art fram'd of the firm truth of valour.] This part of the dialogue is given according to Theobald's distribution of it, supported in part by the quarto editions. In the folio, 1623, the line “Farewell, kind lord. Fight valiantly today,” is assigned to Bedford, and follows the two next lines, which it evidently ought to precede. The later folios adopt the error of the first.

Note return to page 902 4It yearns me not,] i. e. It grieves me not. We have had “yearn” in this sense earlier in the play, Act. ii. sc. 3, where Pistol “yearns” for the death of Falstaff.

Note return to page 903 5&lblank; of Crispian:] The battle of Agincourt was fought upon the 25th of October [1415], St. Crispin's day.

Note return to page 904 6He, that shall live this day, and see old age,] The folio reads, “He that shall see this day and live old age.” The transposition was corrected by Pope.

Note return to page 905 7Then will he strip his sleeve, and show his scars.] To this line Malone added another, found in the quartos, “And say, these wounds I had on Crispin's day.” It is quite unnecessary to the completeness of the sense, the defectiveness of which could form the only excuse for such an insertion.

Note return to page 906 8&lblank; gentle his condition:] This day shall advance him to the rank of a gentleman. Tollet informs us, that king Henry V. inhibited any person, but such as had a right by inheritance or grant, to assume coats of arms, except those who fought with him at the battle of Agincourt.

Note return to page 907 9Our gayness and our gilt, are all besmirch'd] “Gilt” is gilding; and we find it used in the same sense in “Timon of Athens,” as well as in “Twelfth-Night.” “Besmirch'd” is smirched, sullied, dirtied, of the use of which instances may be found in Vol. ii. pp. 235. 246, and in Vol. iii. p. 26.

Note return to page 908 1But, by the mass,] Here, and elsewhere in this play, this asseveration was not objected to, though we have seen it carefully erased, probably at the instance of the Master of the Revels, who had carefully purged the copies of some preceding dramas.

Note return to page 909 2The leading of the vaward.] i. e. the vanward, or advanced body of the army. See “Midsummer-Night's Dream,” Vol. ii. p. 447.

Note return to page 910 3Quality? Callino, castore me!] This is an old tune, to which a song was sung, printed in Clement Robinson's “Handful of Pleasant Delights,” 1584. The notes are preserved in Playford's “Musical Companion,” 1673. There can be no doubt that this is what is meant, though the words put into Pistol's mouth in the old copy are “Calmie custure me.” He heard the French soldier speak a foreign jargon, and he replied by the first foreign words that occurred to him, being the Irish burden of an old ballad. Boswell pointed out the air, and the true reading, and thus put an end to the doubt as to an expression which had puzzled the commentators.

Note return to page 911 4&lblank; thou diest on point of fox,] “Fox” was a very common word for a sword in the time of Shakespeare, and long afterwards. Webster, in his “White Devil,” 1612, (edit. Dyce, i. 62,) makes one of his characters ask, “O! what blade is it—a Toledo, or an English fox?” Why it was called a fox, has not been explained,—possibly because a person of that name, like Andrea Ferrara, was once a celebrated sword cutler.

Note return to page 912 5For I will fetch thy rim out at thy throat,] Malone has shown, from the authority of Coles's Dictionary, 1677, that “rim” is “the caul in which the bowels are wrapped.” Pistol means merely that he will drag the Frenchman's vitals out through his throat. We find rim used in this sense by Chapman, Philemon Holland, and others, and we need not therefore conjecture, with Warburton, that we ought to read ransom, or with Monck Mason, that the true word is ryno.

Note return to page 913 6&lblank; this roaring devil i' the old play,] An allusion to the introduction of the devil in the old Moralities, who was often made to roar for the amusement of the spectators, sometimes by the Vice, who beat him with his “wooden dagger,” also mentioned by the boy.

Note return to page 914 7Let us die:—in!—Once more back again;] Thus the line stands in the folio, and seems to require no alteration. Bourbon is urging his companions to return to the battle, “Let us die: in!” that is, “let us in,” and “once more back to the fight.” The line consists, it is true, of only nine syllables, but we have many such in Shakespeare; and the time is amply made up by the proper pauses after the exhortations, “Let us die:—in!—” Theobald reads very lamely, “Let us die instant;” and Malone very needlessly, “Let us die in fight.”

Note return to page 915 8His fairest daughter is contaminate.] The folio has contaminated: the quarto, 1600, has contamuracke, which nonsense is repeated in the quartos of 1602 and 1608. In Shakespeare, and other writers of the time, we often meet with “create” for created, “consecrate” for consecrated, &c. In “The Comedy of Errors,” Vol. ii. p. 131, this apposite passage occurs:— “And that this body, consecrate to thee, By ruffian lust should be contaminate.”

Note return to page 916 9Let us, in heaps, go offer up our lives] The quartos here add another line, which may be worth preserving, though it ought not to be inserted in the text, where Malone placed it:— “Unto these English, or else die with fame.”

Note return to page 917 1&lblank; raught me his hand,] i. e. reached me his hand: the old past tense of to reach. See “Love's Labour's Lost,” Vol. ii. p. 326.

Note return to page 918 2With mistful eyes,] The folio reads mixtful, an obvious misprint, set right by Warburton.

Note return to page 919 3Scene vii.] Here in the folio the third Act ends, but, as Pope showed, erroneously, the business of the preceding scene being continued. It may be even doubted whether a new scene ought to be marked, as the place is not necessarily changed.

Note return to page 920 4And make them skirr away,] A word of not uncommon occurrence, and signifying the same as what we now call scour: it was sometimes spelt of old scur and scurr. We meet with “skirr” in “Macbeth,” Act v. sc. 3, and it is found in Beaumont and Fletcher, Heywood, and other dramatists of the time of Shakespeare.

Note return to page 921 5&lblank; and their wounded steeds] The folio has “and with wounded steeds.”

Note return to page 922 6&lblank; Monmouth caps;] “The best caps,” says Fuller, in his “Worthies of Wales,” p. 50, “were formerly made at Monmouth, where the Cappers' chapel doth still remain.” They were worn both by soldiers and sailors, as various authorities might be adduced to show, even considerably after the restoration. Heywood, in a song in his “Challenge for Beauty,” 1636, speaks of Monmouth caps as much worn by the Welsh.

Note return to page 923 7&lblank; I will give treason his payment into plows,] This is certainly a strange use of the preposition “into,” and Heath suggested that the true reading was “in two plows.” However, the employment of prepositions of old, as has already been remarked, was licentious in Shakespeare's time, and Fluellen, as a Welshman, might not be very well skilled in them.

Note return to page 924 8&lblank; with wives,] “With,” wanting in the first folio, was supplied in the second.

Note return to page 925 9&lblank; a mighty whiffler &lblank;] Douce correctly states that a “whiffler” is properly a fifer. “In process of time (he adds) the word ‘whiffler,’ which had always been used in the sense of fifer, came to signify any person who went before in a procession.” “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” vol. i. p. 507.

Note return to page 926 1To order peace between them; and omit All the occurrences,] The construction is not easy, although the meaning is evident:—As yet the lamentations of the French invite or induce the king of England to remain in his own country: omit (understood) the coming of the emperor Sigismond, to procure peace between England and France, and omit besides all the occurrences, &c.

Note return to page 927 2&lblank; a squire of low degree.] An expression, derived from the title of an old popular romance, called “The Squyre of Lowe Degre,” printed by W. Copland, formerly among Garrick's Plays in the British Museum, but now properly separated from that collection, and bound by itself. It was reprinted by Ritson in vol. iii. of his Collection. He was of opinion that it was of English origin, and that the author was not indebted to any foreign source for the story, or the treatment of it.

Note return to page 928 3I have seen you gleeking &lblank;] To gleek is to scoff, gird, or jest. Bottom uses the word in “Midsummer-Night's Dream,” Vol. ii. p. 424.

Note return to page 929 4&lblank; my Doll is dead i' the spital] So the folio, confirmed by the quarto editions. Modern editors (some without any notice) substitute Nell for “Doll.” It was much more likely that Doll Tearsheet would follow the army to France, than Nell Quickly, who had been left in England to manage the business of the tavern during Pistol's absence.

Note return to page 930 5&lblank; brother England,] The folio has “brother Ireland.”

Note return to page 931 6&lblank; her hedges even-pleached, Like prisoners wildly over-grown with hair, &c.] The meaning seems to be, that the hedges, formerly “even-pleached,” were neglected, so that the long branches, instead of being cut and intertwined, shot up irregularly, and looked like the long wildly over-grown hair of prisoners. The Rev. Mr. Barry suggests to me, that “even-pleached” ought to be “never-pleached;” but though it would, perhaps, make the reading more distinct, the change from the old text seems not necessary.

Note return to page 932 7Wanting the scythe, all uncorrected, rank,] The folio has “withall uncorrected,” but the measure, as well as the sense, show that it was a printer's error. The quarto editions contain no part of this speech after the line in our text, “Why that the naked poor and mangled peace,” which is thus given, apparently for the sake of concluding the sentence, “To keep you from the gentle speech of peace.” It seems probable that this enlargement of Burgundy's address was a subsequent introduction.

Note return to page 933 8And all our vineyards,] The folio has “all,” which modern editors, from not attending to the old punctuation, have needlessly changed to as.

Note return to page 934 9&lblank; with a cursorary eye] Our lexicographers cite no other instance of the use of this word for cursory. The folio, 1623, prints it curselary, and the quarto, 1600, cursenary.

Note return to page 935 1&lblank; to consent winking.] Malone reads, “to consent to winking.”

Note return to page 936 2&lblank; that war hath never entered.] The folios all omit “never,” clearly wanting to the sense, and modern editors have supplied the deficiency without any notice. The quarto editions have no corresponding passage. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0684

Note return to page 937 3&lblank; and in sequel, all,] Then, which is not in the folio, 1623, was added after “and,” most likely for the sake of the metre, in the folio, 1632; but, with a due pause after “His daughter, first;” it does not seem required: and we may infer, from the omission of so necessary a word as “never” on the preceding page, that the editor of the folio, 1632, corrected the play from no authority.

Note return to page 938 4&lblank; Notre tres cher filz—and thus in Latin,—Præclarissimus filius &lblank;] It appears here as if Shakespeare intended to translate très cher by the Latin word præclarissimus; but the fact is, as Steevens remarked, he only, as usual, followed Holinshed: Malone adds, “In all the old historians that I have seen, as well as in Holinshed, I find this mistake; but in the preamble of the original treaty of Troyes, Henry is styled præcarissimus; and in the 22d article the stipulation is, that he shall always be called, ‘in lingua Gallicana notre tres cher fils, &c. in lingua vero Latina hoc modo, noster præcarissimus filius Henricus,’ &c. See Rymer's Fœd. ix. 893.” In Hall's Chronicle, as Mr. Knight states, the epithet is precharissimus.

Note return to page 939 5&lblank; the paction of these kingdoms,] The two earliest folios have “the pation of these kingdoms,” an obvious typographical error, the letter c having dropped out. The third folio, 1664, substitutes passion for pation, which has much less appearance of being the right word than “paction,” which of course means, compact, or contract, and is used in that sense by our old writers.

Note return to page 940 6And may our oaths well kept and prosperous be!] It may be worth while to add here the concluding lines (if such they may be called) of the quarto, 1600, to show in what manner the end of the play was there huddled up. Shakespeare, probably, added, in the MS. of this part of the play from which the folio was printed, lines which were not in the drama when it was originally acted; but it is very evident that what follows must have been mere fragments, extremely ill-combined by the party who furnished the copy of “Henry V.” to Millington and Busby, the publishers of the quarto, 1600. The subsequent follows the declaration of the style of Henry:— “Fran. Nor this have we so nicely stood upon, But you, faire brother, may intreat the same. “Har. Why then, let this among the rest Have his full course: And withall Your daughter Katherine in mariage. “Fran. This and what else Your majestie shall crave. God, that disposeth all, give you much joy. “Har. Why then, faire Katherine, Come give me thy hand. Our mariage will we present solemnise, And end our hatred by a bond of love. Then will I sweare to Kate, and Kate to mee: And may our vows, once made, unbroken bee!” The whole play is printed in this manner, affording evidence, that although Shakespeare probably rendered his “Henry V.” more complete, by large additions at a subsequent date, the quarto copies give but a very imperfect notion of the form in which the drama was originally produced: it was not “mangled by starts,” but from the beginning to the end.

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