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THE
PLAYS
OF
WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.
VOLUME THE TWELFTH.
Printed by S. Hamilton, VVejbridge, Surry.
THE
PLAYS
OF
WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.
VOLUME THE TWELFTH. *
CONTAINING
KING HENRY IV. PART II.
KING HENRY V.
LONDON:
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ICIS.
30345
xns'3
KING HENRY IV,
PART II.*
VOL. XII. B
* Second Part of King Henry IV.] The transactions
comprized in this history take up about nine years. The action
commences with the account of Hotspur's being defeated and
killed [1403]; and closes with the death of King Henry IV.
and the coronation of King Henry V. [1412-13.] Theobald.
This play was entered at Stationers' Hall, August 23, 1600.
Steevens.
The Second Part of King Henry IV. 1 suppose to have been
written in 1598. See An Attempt to ascertain the Order of
Shakspeare's PlaySy Vol. II. Malone.
Mr. Upton thinks these two plays improperly called The First
and Second Parts of Henry the Fourth. The first play ends, he
says, with the peaceful settlement of Henry in the kingdom by
the defeat of the rebels. This is hardly true ; for the rebels are
not yet finally suppressed. The second, he tells us, shows Henry
the Fifth in the various lights of a good-natured rake, till, on
his father's death, he assumes a more manly character. This is
true ; but this representation gives us no idea of a dramatick
action. These two plays will appear to every reader, who shall
peruse them without ambition of critical discoveries, to be so
connected, that the second is merely a sequel to the first ; to be
two only because they are too long to be one. Johnson.
b2
Enemies to the
King.
PERSONS REPRESENTED.
King Henry the Fourth :
Henry, Prince of Wales, qftenvards'
King Henry V ;
Thomas, Duke of Clarence ;
Prince John of Lancaster, * afterwards > his Sons.
(2 Henry V.) Duke ofBedford;
Prince Humphrey 0/ Gloster, afterwards
(2 Henry V.) Duke o/' Gloster ;
Earl of Warwick ; "J
Earl of Westmoreland ; > of the King^s Party.
Gower; Harcourt ; }
Lord Chief Justice of the King^s Bench.
A Gentleman attending on the Chief Justice.
Earl of Northumberland ;
Scroop, Archbishop of York ;
Lord Mowbray ; Lord Hastings ;
Lord Bardolph ; xS'ir John Colevile ; ^
Travers andMoTton,Domesticks o/'Northumberland.
FalstafF, Bardolph, Pistol, and Page.
Poins and Peto, Attendants on Prince Henry.
Shallow and Silence, Country Justices.
Davy, Servant to Shallow.
Mouldy, Shadow, Wart, Feeble, and Bullcalf,
Recruits.
Fang and Snare, Sheriff's Officers.
Rumour. A Porter.
A Dancer, Speaker of the Epilogue.
Lady Northumberland. Lady Percy.
Hostess Quickly. Doll Tear-sheet.
Lords and other Attendants; Officers, Soldiers, Mes-
senger, Drawers, Beadles, Grooms, &c.
SCENE, England.
' See note under the Personce Dramatis of the First Part of
this play. Steevens.
INDUCTION.
Warkworth. Before Northumberland's Castle,
Enter Rumour,^ painted full of Tongues,^
Hum. Open your ears ; For which of you will
stop
The vent of hearing, when loud Rumour speaks ?
* Enter Rumour,] This speech of Rumour is not inelegant
or unpoetical, but it is wholly useless, since we are told nothing
which the first scene does not clearly and naturally discover.
The only end of such prologues is to inform the audience of
some facts previous to the action, of which they can have no
knowledge from the persons of the drama. Johnson.
^ Rumour, painted full of Tongues.] This the author
probably drew from Holinshed's Description of a Pageant^
exhibited in the court of Henry VIII. with uncommon cost and
magnificence : " Then entered a person called Report, apparelled
in crimson sattin,yM// oftoongSy or chronicles." vol. III. p. 805.
This however might be the common way of representing this
personage in masques, which were frequent in his own times.
T. Warton.
Stephen Hawes, in his Pastime of Pleasure, had long ago
exhibited her [Rumour^ in the same manner:
" A goodly lady, envyroned about
" With tongues of fire. "
And so had Sir Thomas More, in one of his Pageants :
" Fame I am called, mervayle you nothing
*' Thoughe with tonges I am compassed all rounde."
Not to mention her elaborate portrait by Chaucer, in The Booke
of Fame ; and by John Higgins, one of the assistants in The
Mirror for Magistrates, in his Legend of King Albanacte.
Farmer.
6 INDUCTION.
I, from the orient to the drooping west,*
Making the wind my post-horse, still unfold
The acts commenced on this ball of earth ;
Upon my tongues continual slanders ride ;
The which in every language I pronounce,
Stuffing the ears of men with false reports.
I speak of peace, while covert enmity.
Under the smile of safety, wounds the world :
And who but Rumour, who but only I,
Make fearful musters, and prepared defence ;
Wliilst the big year, swoPn with some other grief.
Is thought with child by the stern tyrant war.
And no such matter ? Rumour is a pipe ^
Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures ;
In a masque presented on St. Stephen's night, 1614, by Thomas
Campion, Rumour comes on in a skin-coatyw// o/'winged tongues.
Rumour is likewise a character in Sir Clyomoriy Knight qfthe
Golden Shield, &c. 1599.
So also, in The tchole magnificent Entertainment given to
King James, and the Queen his Wife, &c. &c. 15th March,
1603, by Thomas Decker, 4-to. 1604 : " Directly under her in
a cart by herselfe, Fame stood upright : a woman in a watchet
roabe, thickly set with open eyes and tongues, a payre of large
golden winges at her backe, a trumpet in her hand, a mantle of
sundry cullours traversing her body : all these ensignes display-
ing but the propertie of her swiftnesse and aptnesse to disperse
Rumoure.'* Sxeevens.
painted Jiill of Tongues.'] This direction, which is only
to be found in the first edition in quarto of 1600, explains a
passage in what follows, otherwise obscure. Pope.
* the drooping tvest,'] A passage in Macbeth will best
explain the force of this epithet :
" Good things of day begin to droop and drowse,
" And night's black agents to their preys do rouse."
Malone.
* Rumour is a pipe ] Here the poet imagines himself
describing Rumour, and forgets that Rumour is the speaker.
JpHNSON.
INDUCTION. 7
And of so easy and so plain a stop,^
That the blunt monster with uncounted heads.
The still-discordant wavering multitude.
Can play upon it. But what need I thus
My well-known body to anatomize
Among my houshold ? Why is Rumour here ?
Trun before king Harry's victory ;
Who, in a bloody field by Shrewsbury,
Hath beaten down young Hotspur, and his troops,
Quenching the flame of bold rebellion
Even with the rebels' blood. But what mean I
To speak so true at first ? my office is
To noise abroad, that Harry Monmouth fell
Under the wrath of noble Hotspur's sword ;
And that the king before the Douglas' rage
Stoop'd his anointed head as low as death.
This have I rumour'd through the peasant towns
Between that royal field of Shrewsbury
And this worm-eaten hold of ragged stone,''^
* so easy and so plain a stop,] The stops are*the holes
in a flute or pipe. So, m Hamlet : " Govern these ventages
with your finger and thumb : Look you, these are the stops"
Again : " You would seem to know my stops." Steevens.
^ And this luorm-eaten hold of ragged stoney"] The old copies
read worm-eaten hole. Malone.
Northumberland had retired and fortified himself in his castle,
a place of strength in those times, though the building might be
impaired by its antiquity; and, therefore, I believe our poet
wrote :
And this tuorm-eaten hold of ragged stone. Theobald.
Theobald is certainly right. So, in The Wars of Cyrus, &c.
1594:
" Besieg'd his fortress with his men at arms,
" Where only I and that Libanio stay'd
" By whom I live. For when the hold was lost," &c.
Again, in King Henry VI. P. Ill :
" She is hard by with twenty thousand men,
" And therefore fortify your hold, my lord." Steevens.
9 INDUCTION.
Where Hotspur's father, old Northumberland,
Lies crafty-sick : the posts come tiring on,
And not a man of them brings other news
Than they have learn*d of me ; From Rumour's
tongues
They bring smooth comforts false, worse than
true wrongs. [^Ea^iL
SECOND PART OF
KING HENRY IV.
ACT I. SCENE I.
The same.
The Porter before the Gate; Enter Lord
Bardolph.
Bard, Who keeps the gate here, ho ? Where
is the earl ?
Port, What shall I say you are ?
Bard, Tell thou the earl,
That the lord Bardolph doth attend him here.
Port, His lordship is walk'd forth into the or-
chard ;
Please it your honour, knock but at the gate,
And he himself will answer.
Enter Northumberland.
Bard, Here comes the earl.
North, What news, lord Bardolph ? every mi-
nute now
10 SECOND PART OF act l
Should be the father of some stratagem : '
The times are wild ; contention, like a horse
Full of high feeding, madly hath broke loose,
And bears down all before him.
Bard. Noble earl,
I bring you certain news from Shrewsbury.
North. Good, an heaven will !
Bard. As good as heart can wish :
The king is almost wounded to the death j
And, in the fortune of my lord your son.
Prince Harry slain outright ; and both the Blunts
KilPd by the hand of Douglas : young prince John,
And Westmoreland, and Stafford, fled the field ;
And Harry Monmouth's brawn, the hulk sir John,
Is prisoner to your son : O, such a day.
So fought, so follow*d, and so fairly won.
Came not, tiU now, to dignify the times,
Since Caesar's fortunes !
North. How is this deriv'd ?
Saw you the field ? came you from Shrewsbury ?
Bard. I spake with one, my lord, that came
from thence; (, , .v
A gentleman well bred, and of good name.
That freely rendered me these news for true.
North. Here comes my servant, Travers, whom
I sent
On Tuesday last to listen after news.
Bard. My lord, I over-rode him on the way ^
- some stratagem :] Some stratagem means here some
great, important, or dreadful event. So, in The Third Part of
King Henri/ VI. the father who had killed his son says :
" O pity, God! this miserable age!
. * ' " What stratagems, how fell, how butcherly !
" This mortal quarrel daily doth beget!" M. Masow.
sc. I. KING HENRY IV. 11
And he is furnish'd with no certainties.
More than he haply may retail from me.
Enter Travers.
North. Now, Travers, what good tidings come
with you ?
Tra, My lord, sir John Umfrevile turn'd me
back " : i :3t -rv-^r j^^
With joyful tidings ; and, being better hors'd.
Out-rode me. After him, came, spurring hard,
A gentleman almost forspent with speed,^
That stopp'd by me to breathe his bloodied horse:
He ask'd the way to Chester ; and of him
I did demand, what news from Shrewsbury.
He told me, that rebellion had bad luck.
And that young Harry Percy's spur was cold :
With that, he gave his able horse the head,
And, bending forward, struck his armed heels *
Against the panting sides of his poor jade ^
^ forspent with speed,"] To forspend is to waste, to ex-
haust. So, in Sir A. Gorges' translation of Lucan, B. VII :
" crabbed sires Jbrspent with age.'* Steevens.
' armed keels ] Thus the quarto, 1600. The folio,
1623, reads able heels; the modern editors, without au-
thority agile heels. Steevens.
* poor jade ] Poor jade is used, not in contempt,
but in compassion. Poor jade means the horse wearied with
his journey.
Jade, however, seems anciently to have signified what we
now call a hackney ; a beast employed in drudgery, opposed to
a horse kept for show, or to be rid by its master. So, in a
comedy called A Knack to kn&uo a Knave^ 1594 :
" Besides, I'll give you the keeping of a diozen jades,
" And now and then meat for you and your horse.**
This is said by a. former to a courtier. Steevens.
Shakspeare, however, (as Mr. Steevens has observed,) cer-
12 SECOND PART OF act r.
Up to the rowel-head ; ^ and, starting so,
He seem'd in running to devour the way,*
Staying no longer question.
North. Ha ! Again.
Said he, young Harry Percy's spur was cold ?
Of Hotspur, coldspur?^ that rebellion
Had met ill luck !
Bard. My lord, I'll tell you what j
If my young lord your son have not the day.
tainly does not use the word as a term of contempt ; for King
Richard the Second gives this appellation to his favourite horse
Roan Barbary, on which Henry the Fourth rode at his corona-
tion:
** That jade hath eat bread from my royal hand."
Malone.
* rofwel-head ;"] I think that I have observed in old
prints the roftuel of those times to have been only a single spike.
Johnson.
He seerri'd in running to devour the iioay,~\ So, in the Book
of Job, chap, xxxix : " He siuallouseth the ground with fierce-
ness 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 luay
** To some great sports." Steevens.
So Ariel, to describe his alacrity in obeying Prospero's com-
mands:
** I drink the air before me." M. Mason.
So, in one of the Roman poets (I forget which) :
cur&u consumere campum. Blackstone.
The line quoted by Sir William Blackstone is in Nemesian :
latumque fuga consumere campum. Malone.
* Of Hotspur, coldspur ?] Hotspur seems to have been a
very common term for a man of vehemence and precipitation.
Stanyhurst, who translated four books of Virgil, in 1584, ren-
ders the following line :
Nee victoris heri tetigit captiva cuhile.
** To couch not mounting of mayster vanquisher hoat-
spur.'" Steevens.
sc. I, KING HENRY IV. 18
Upon mine honour, for a silken point ^
1*11 give my barony : never talk of it.
North. Why should the gentleman, that rode by
Travers,
Give then such instances of loss ?
Bard. Who, he ?
He was some hilding fellow,'' that had stoPn
The horse he rode on ; and, upon my life.
Spoke at a venture. Look, here comes more news.
Enter Morton.
North. Yea, this man's brow, like to a title-
leaf,
Foretells the nature of a tragick volume :
So looks the strond, whereon the imperious flood
Hath left a Avitness'd usurpation.'-'
Say, Morton, didst thou come from Shrewsbury ?
MoR. I ran from Shrewsbury, my noble lord;
Where hateful death put on his ugliest mask.
To fright our party.
North, How doth my son, and brother ?
* silken point ]) A point is a string tagged, or lace.
Johnson.
' some hilding ye//oU),] For hilderling, i. e. base, de-
generate. Pope.
Hilderlingf Degener; vox adhuc agro Devon, familiaris.
Spelman. Keed.
* like to a title-leaf^'} It may not be amiss to observe,
that, in the time of our poet, the title-page to an elegy, as
well as every intermediate leaf, was totally black. I have several
in my possession, written by Chapman, the translator of Homer,
and ornamented in this manner. Steevens.
^ a voitness'd usurpation."} i. e. an attestation of its ra-
vage. Steevens.
14 SECOND PART OF act L
Thou tremblest ; and the whiteness in thy cheek
Is apter than thy tongue to tell thy errand.
Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless,
So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone,^
Drew Priam*s curtain in the dead of night,
And would have told him, half his Troy was
burn*d :
But Priam found the fire, ere he his tongue.
And I my Percy's death, ere thou report* st it.
This thou would*st say, Your son did thus, and
thus;
Your brother, thus ; so fought the noble Douglas;
Stopping my greedy ear with their bold deeds :
But in the end, to stop mine ear indeed.
Thou hast a sigh to blow away this praise.
Ending with ^brother, son, and all are dead.
MoR. Douglas is living, and your brother, yet :
But, for my lord your son,
North. Why, he is dead.
See, what a ready tongue suspicion hath !
He, that but fears the thing he would not know%
" so xjooe-begone,'] This word was common enough
amongst the old Scottish and English poets, as G. Douglas,
Chaucer, Lord Buckhurst, Fairfax; and signifies, ^ar gone in
xiooe. Warburton.
So, in The Spanish Tragedy :
** Awake, revenge, or we are xvo-begone P*
Again, in Arden of Feversham, 1592:
** So tvoe-begone, so inly charg'd with woe."
Again, in A Looking Glass for London and England j 1598 :
" Fair Alvida, look not so tvoe-begone.**
Dr. Bentley is said to have thought this passage corrupt, and
therefore (with a greater degree of gravity than my readers will
probably express) proposed the following emendation:
So dead so dull in look^ Ucalegon,
Drew Priam's curtain &c.
The name of Ucalegon is found in the third Book of the Iliad,
and the second of the jEneid. Steevens.
sc. /. KING HENRY IV. 15
Hath, by instinct, knowledge from others* eyes,
Thatwhathefear'd is chanced. Yet speak, Morton;
Tell thou thy earl, his divination lies ;
And I will take it as a sweet disgrace.
And make thee rich for doing me such wi'ong.
MoR. You are too great to be by me gainsaid :
Your spirit^ is too true, your fears too certain.
North, Yet, for all this, say not that Percy's
dead.^
I see a strange confession in thine eye :
Thou shak'st thy head; and hold'st it fear, or sin,*
* Your spirit ] The impression upon your mind, by which
you conceive the death of your son. Johnson.
' Yetf for all thiSf say not &c.] The contradiction in the
first part of this speech might be imputed to the distraction of
Northumberland's mind; but the calmness of the reflection,
contained in the last lines, seems not much to countenance such
a supposition. I will venture to distribute this passage in a man-
ner which will, I hope, seem more commodious; but do not
wish the reader to forget, that the most commodious is not always
the true reading :
Bard. Yet^ for all thisy say not that Percy's dead.
North. / see a strange confession in thine eye.
Thou shak'st thy heady and nold'st itfoar^ or sin.
To speak a truth. If he he slain^ say so :
The tongue offends not, that reports his death ;
And he doth sin^ that doth behe the dead ;
Not he, "which says the dead is not alive.
Mor. Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news
Hath but a losing office ; and his tongue
Sounds ever after as a sullen bell.
Remember' d knolling a departing friend.
Here is a natural interposition of Bardolph at the beginning,
who is not pleased to hear his news confuted, and a proper pre-
paration of Morton for the tale which he is unwilling to tell.
Johnson.
* ' - hold'st r'^fear, or sin,"^ Fear for danger.
Warburton.
16 SECOND PART OF act r.
To speak a truth. If he be slain, say so :'
The tongue offends not, that reports his death :
And he doth sin, that doth belie the dead ;
Not he, which says the dead is not alive.
Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news
Hath but a losing office ; and his tongue
Sounds ever after as a sullen bell.
Remembered knolling a departing friend.^
Bard. I cannot think, my lord, your son is dead.
MoR. I am sorry, I should force you to believe
That, which I would to heaven I had not seen :
But these mine eyes saw him in bloody state,
Rend*ring faint quittance,*^ wearied and out-
breath'd,
* If he he slain^ say so .] The words say so are in the
first folio, but not in the quarto : they are necessary to the verse,
but the sense proceeds as well without them. Johnson.
Sounds ever after as a sullen belly
Remembered knolling a departing yreVnrf. 3 So, in our au-
thor's 71st Sonnet :
" you shall hear the surly svUen bell
" Give warning to the world that / amjled**
This significant epithet has been adopted by Milton :
** I hear the far-off curfew sound,
** Over some wide-water*d shore
** Swinging slow with sullen roar.'*
Departingy I believe, is here used for departed. Malone.
I cannot concur in this supposition. The bell, anciently, was
rung before expiration, and thence was called the passing bell,
i. e. the bell that solicited prayers for the sovlpassing into another
world. Steevens.
I am inclined to think that this bell might have been originally
used to drive away demons who were watching to take possession
of the soul of the deceased. In the cuts to some of the old ser-
vice books which contain the Vigilics mortuorum, several devils
are waiting for this purpose in the chamber of a dying man, to
whom the priest is administering extreme unction. Douce.
' . faint quittance,] Quittance is return. By Joint
sc. J. KING HENRY IV. 17
To Harry Monmouth ; whose swift wrath beat down
The never-daunted Percy to the earth,
From whence with Hfe he never more sprung up.
In few, his death (whose spirit lent a fire
Even to the dullest peasant in his camp,)
Being bruited once, took fire and heat away
From the best tempered courage in his troops :
For from his metal was his party steel' d ;
Which once in him abated,^ all the rest
Turn*d on themselves, like dull and heavy lead.
And as the thing that's heavy in itself.
Upon enforcement, flies with greatest speed ;
So did our men, heavy in Hotspur's loss,
Lend to this weight such lightness with their fear.
That arrows fled not swifter toward their aim.
Than did our soldiers, aiming at their safety.
Fly from the field : Then was that noble Worcester
Too soon ta'en prisoner ; and that furious Scot,
The bloody Douglas, whose well-labouring sword
Had three times slain the appearance of the king,
'Gan vail his stomach,^ and did grace the shame
quittance is meant a Jhint return of blows. So, in King
Henri/ V. :
" We shall forget the office of our hand,
" Sooner than quittance of desert and merit.**
Steevens.
* For from his metal tons his parti/ steel' d f
Which once in him abated,] Abated is not here put for
the general idea of diminished, nor for the notion of blunted,
as applied to a single edge. Abated means reduced to a lower
temper, or, as the workmen call it, let down. Johnson,
^ ' *Gan vail his stomach,"] Began to fall his courage, to let
his spirits sink under his fortune. Johnson.
From avaller, Fr. to cast down, or to let fall down.
Malone.
This phrase has already appeared in The Taming of the
SArew, Vol. IX. p. 194:
VOL. XII, C
18 SECOND PART OF act i.
Of those that turn'd their backs ; and, in his flight,
Stumbling in fear, was took. The sum of all V
Is, ^that the king hath won ; and hath sent out I
A speedy power, to encounter you, my lord.
Under the conduct of young Lancaster,
And Westmoreland : this is the news at full.
North. For this I shall have time enough to
mourn. ^^^'^^^!^
In poison there is physick ; and these ne^s, '^
Having been well, that would have made me sick,*
Being sick, have in some measure made me well:
And as the wretch, whose fe ver- weaken* d joints,
Like strengthless hinges, buckle^ under life, "
Impatient of his fit, breaks like a fire \
Out of his keeper's arms ; even so my limbs, ' /
Weakened with grief, being now enrag'd with grief,
Are thrice themselves:^ hence therefore, thou nice*
crutch ;
*' Then vail your stomachs^ for it is no boot ;
" And place your hands below your husbands* foot."
Reed.
Thus, to vail the bonnet is to pull it off. So, in The Pinner
0/ Wakefield y 1599; '
*' And make the king vail bonnet to us both."
To vail a staff, is to let it fall in token of respect. Thus, in
the same play :
"And for the ancient custom of vail-stqffy
" Keep it still ; claim thou privilege from me r
. . * If any ask a reason, why ? or how ?
" Say, English Edward vail'd his staffs to you.'*
See Vol. VII. p. 235, n. 1. Steevens.
' Having been ivelif that tjoould have made me sicky'] i. e<
that would, had I been well, have made me sick. Malone.
* buckle ] Bend; yield to pressure.. Johnson.^
even so my limbs, ^^ ^^- ^* '"^^ ^^' ^^ -^ - -
Weakened with grief, being now enraged with grief,
Are thrice themselves -.I As Northumberland is here com-
paring himself to a person, who, though his joints are weakened
5tt 2\ KING HENRY IV. 19
A scaly gauntlet now, with joints of steel;*'''s^ n '^-
Must glove this hand : and hence, thou sickly
quoif;
Thou art a guard too wanton for the head,
"Which princes, flesh* d with conquest, aim to hit.
Now bind my brows with iron ; And approach
The ragged' St hour^ that time and spite dare bring,
by a bodili/ disorder, derives strength from the distemper of the
mindy I formerly proposed to read " Weakened with age," or,
*' Weakened with pain."
When a word is repeated, without propriety, in the same or
two succeeding lines, there is great reason to suspect some cor-
ruption. Thus, in this scene, in the first folio, we have " able
heels," instead of " armed heels," in consequence of the word
able having occurred in the preceding line. So, in Hamlet :
" Thy news shall be the news" &c. instead of " Thy news shall
be the fruit." Again, in Macbeth^ instead of " Whom we, to
gain our place," &c. we find
" Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace."
In this conjecture I had once some confidence ; but it is much
diminished by the subsequent note, and by my having lately
observed that Shakspeare elsewhere uses grief for bodUy pain.
Falstafi", in King Henry IV. Part I. p. 406, speaks of " the
grief of a wound." Grief, in the latter part of this line, is
used in its present sense, for sorrow ; in the former part for
bodily pain. Malone.
Grief, in ancient language, signifies bodily pain, as well as
sorrow. So, in A Treatise of sundrie Diseases, &c. by T. T.
1591 : " he being at that time griped sore, and having grief
in his lower bellie." Dolor ventris is, by our old writers, fre-
quently translated " grief of the guts." I perceive no need of
alteration. Steevens.
nice 3 i. e. trifling. So, in Julius Ccesar :
" it is not meet
" That every nice offence should bear his comments."
Steevens.
* The ragged'st hour ] Mr. Theobald and the subsequent
editors read The rugged'st. But change is unnecessary, the
expression in the text being used more than once by our author.
In As you like it, Amiens says, his voice is ragged ; and rag is
employed as a term of reproach in The Merry Wives of Winmor,
C 2
aa SECOND PART OF act i.
To frown upon the enrag'd Northumberland !
Let heaven kiss earth ! Now let not nature's hand
Keep the wild flood confin'd ! let order die !
And let this world no longer be a stage.
To feed contention in a lingering act ;
But let one spirit of the first-born Cain
Reign in all bosoms, that, each heart being set
On bloody courses, the rude scene may end.
And darkness be the burier of the deadl^
'"'Tra. This strained passion "^ doth you wrong, my^
lord.
and in Timon of Athens. See also the Epistle prefixed to Spen-
ser's Shepherd's Calender ^ 1579: " as thinking them fittest
for the rustical rudeness of shepheards, either for that their rough
sound would make his rimes more ragged, and rustical," &c.
The modern editors of Spenser might here substitute the word
rugged with just as much propriety as it has been substituted in
the present passage, or in that in As i/ou like it. See Vol. VIII.
p. 59, n. 7.
Again, in The Rape of Lucrece :
" Thy secret pleasure turns to open shame,
" Thy smoothing titles to a ragged name."
Again, in our poet's eighth Sonnet :
" Then let not Winter's ragged hand deface
** In thee thy summer."
Again, in the play before us ;
" A ragged and fore-stall'd remission." Malone.
^ And darkness be the burier of the dead .'2 The conclusion
of this noble speech is extremely striking. There is no need to
suppose it exactly philosophical ; darkness, in poetry, may be ab-
sence of eyes, as well as privation of light. Yet we may remark,
that by an ancient opinion it has been held, that if the human
race, for whom the world was made, were extirpated, the whole
system of sublunary nature would cease. Johnson.
^ This strained passion ] This line, in the quarto, where
alone it is found, is given to Umfrevile, who, as Mr. Steevens
has observed, is spoken of in this very scene as absent. It was
on this ground probably rejected by the player-editors. It is
now, on the suggestion of Mr. Steevens, attributed to Travers,
who is present, and yet (as that gentleman has remarked) " is
made to say nothing on this interesting occasion." Malone. ^
sc.A KING HENRY IV. 21
Bard. Sweet earl, divorce not wisdom from your
honour.
MoR. The lives of all your loving complices
Lean on your health ; the which, if you give o'er
To stormy passion, must perforce decay.
You cast the event of war,^ my noble lord.
And summed the account of chance, before you
said,
Let us make head. It was your presurmise,
That, in the dole of blows^ your son might drop :
You knew, he walk'd o'er perils, on an edge^jiii.
More likely to fall in, than to get o'er : ^ '
You were advis'd, his flesh was capable^
* You cast the event of war, &c.] The fourteen lines, from
hence to Bardolph's next speech, are not to be found in the first
editions, till that in the folio of 1623. A very great number of
other lines in this play were inserted after the first edition in like
manner, but of such spirit and mastery generally, that the in-
sertions are plainly by Shakspeare himself. Pope.
To this note I have nothing to add, but that the editor speaks
of more editions than I believe him to have seen, there having
been but one edition yet discovered by me that precedes the first
folio. Johnson.
' in the dole of blows ] ^^ ^o?(? of blows is the
distribution of blows. Dole originally signified the portion of
sims ( consisting either of meat or money ) that was given away
at the door of a nobleman. See Vol. XI. p. 256, n. 1.
Steevens.
' You knew, he walk'd o'er perils, on an edge.
More likely to Jail in, than to get o*er :'] So, in King
Henry IV. Fart I:
" As full of peril and adventurous spirit,
** As to o'erwalk a current roaring loud,
** On the unsteadfast footing of a spear." Malone.
* You were advis'd, hisjlesh was capable ] i. e. you knew.
So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona :
" How shall I doat on her with more advice ."
i. e. on further knowledge. Malone.
22 SECOND PART OF act i.
Of wounds, and scars ; and that his forward spirit
Would lift him where most trade of danger rang*dj
Yet did you say, Go forth ; and none of this.
Though strongly apprehended, could restrain
The stiff-borne action : What hath then befallenj*
Or what hath this bold enterprize brought forthj,_
More than that being which was like to be ?
Bard. We all, that are engaged to this loss,^
Knew that we ventured on such dangerous seas.
That, if we wrought out life, 'twas ten to one :
And yet we ventured, for the gain proposed
Chok'd the respect of likely peril iear*d ;
And, since we are o'erset, venture again.
Come, we will all put forth ; body, and goods.
MoR. 'Tis more than time : And, my most noble
lord,
I hear for certain, and do speak the truth,
The gentle archbishop of York is up,*
With well-appointed powers ; he is a man.
Who with a double surety binds his followers.
Thus also, Thomas Twjnie, the continuator of Phaer*s transla-
tion of Virgil, 1584, for haud inscius, has advis'd:
** He spake : and strait the sword advisde into his throat
receives." SteevEns.
' We ally that are engaged to this loss,"] We have a similar
phraseology in the preceding play :
** Hath a more worthy interest to the state,
" Than thou the shadow of succession." Malone.
* The gentle &c.] These one-and-twenty lines were added
since the first edition. Johnson.
This and the following twenty lines are not found in the
quarto, 1600, either from some inadvertence of the transcriber
or compositor, or from the printer not having been able to pro-
cure a perfect copy. They first appeared in the folio, 1623 ;
but it i^ manifest that they were written at the same time with
the rest of the play, Northumberland's answer referring to them.
Malone.
scT. KING HENRY IV. ^^
My lord your son had only but the corps.
But shadows, and the shows of men, to fight :
For that same word, rebellion, did divide
The action of their bodies from their souls ;
And they did fight with queasiness, constrain'd,
As men drink potions ; that their weapons only. ,
Seem*d on our side, but, for their spirits and souls,
This word, rebellion, it had froze them up.
As fish are in a pond : But now the bishop
Turns insurrection to religion :
Suppos*d sincere and holy in his thoughts,
He*s foUow'd both with body and with mind ;
And doth enlarge his rising with the blood
Of fair king Richard, scrap*d from Pomfret stones:
Derives from heaven his quarrel, and his cause ;
Tells them, he doth bestride a bleeding land,*
Gasping for life under great Bolingbroke ;
And more, and less,^ do flock to follow him.
North. I knew of this before ; but, to speak
truth.
This present grief had wip'd it from my mind.
Go in with me ; and counsel every man
The aptest way for safety, and revenge :
Get posts, and letters, and makefriends with speed;
Never so few, and never yet more need. \_Ejoeunt,
* Tells iheniy he doth bestride a bleeding land,"] That is,
stands over his country to defend her as she Ties bleeding on the
ground. So Falstaff before says to the Prince, If thou see me
down J Half and bestride we, so; it is an office of friendships
Johnson,
" And more, and less,] More and less mean greater and
iess. So, in Macbeth:
" Both more and less have given him the revolt,"
Steevens.
24 SECOND PART OF act i.
SCENE II.
London. A Street.
Enter Sir John Falstaff, with his Page bearing
his Sword and Buckler,
Fal. Sirrah, you giant, what says the doctor to
my water?''
Page. He said, sir, the water itself was a good
healthy water : but, for the. party that owed it, he
might have more diseases than he knew for.
^ what says the doctor to wy water?^ The method of
investigating diseases by the inspection of urine only, was once
so much the fashion, that Linacre, the founder of the College of
Physicians, formed a statute to restrain apothecaries from carry-
ing the toater of their patients to a doctor, and afterwards giv-
ing medicines, in consequence of the opinions they received
concerning it. This statute was, soon after, followed by another,
which forbade the doctors themselves to pronounce on any dis-
order from such an uncertain diagnostic.
John Day, the author of a comedy called Laxu Tricks^ or
Who voould have thought it? 1608, describes an apothecary
thus : " his house is set round with patients twice or thrice a
day, and because they'll be sure not to want drink, every one
brmgs his otvn water in an urinal with him."
Again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady:
" I'll make her cry so much, that the physician,
" If she fall sick upon it, shall want urine
" To find the cause by."
It will scarcely be believed hereafter, that in the years 1775
and 1776, a German, who had been a servant in a public
riding-school, (from which he was discharged for insufficiency,)
revived this exploded practice of water-casting. After he had
amply increased the bills of mortality, and been publicly hung
up to the ridicule of those who had too much sense to consult
him, as a monument of the folly of his patients, he retired with
a princely fortune, and perhaps is now indulging a hearty laugh
at the expence of English credulity. Steevens.
sen, KING HENRY IV. 25
Fal. Men of all sorts take a pride to gird at
me : ^ The brain of this foolish-compounded clay,
man, is not able to vent any thing that tends to
laughter, more than I invent, or is invented on me :
I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that
wit is in other men. I do here walk before thee,
like a sow, that hath overwhelmed all her litter but
one. If the prince put thee into my service for
any other reason than to set me off, why then I have
no judgment. Thou whoreson mandrake,^ thou art
fitter to be worn in my cap, than to wait at my heels.
I was never manned with an agate till now : ^ but I
' to gird at me .] i. e. to gibe. So, in Lyly*s Mother
Bombie, 1594: " We maids are mad wenches; we giVc? them,
and flout them," &c. Steevens.
' mandrake,'] Mandrake is a root supposed to have the
shape of a man ; it is now counterfeited with the root of briony.
Johnson.
' / tjoas never manned with an agate till noiK :] That is, I
never before had an agate for my man. Johnson.
Alluding to the little figures cut in agates^ and other hard
stones, for seals ; and therefore he says, / voill set you neither
in gold nor silver. The Oxford editor alters it to aglet, a tag to
the points then in use, (a word, indeed, which our author uses
to express the same thought) : but aglets, though they were
sometimes of gold or silver, were never set in those metals.
Warburton.
It appears from a passage in Beaumont and Fletcher's Coxcomhy
that it was usual for justices of peace either to wear an agate in
a ring, or as an appendage to their gold chain : ** Thou wilt
spit as formally, and show thy agate and hatched chain, as well
as the best of them.'*
The same allusion is employed on the same occasion in The
Isle of Gulls, 1606:
** Grace, you Agate ! hast not forgot that yet ?'*
The virtues of the agate were anciently supposed to protect
the wearer from any misfortune. So, in Greene's Mamillia,
1593: " the man that hath the stone agathes ahowihiva, is
surely defenced against adversity." Steevens.
26 SECOND PART OF act i.
will set you neither in gold nor silver, but in vile
apparel, and send you back again to your master,
for a jewel ; the juvenal,^ the prince your master,
whose chin is not yet fledged. I will sooner have
a beard grow in the palm of my hand, than he shall
get one on his cheek ; and yet he will not stick to
say, his face is a face-royal : God may finish it when
he will, it is not a hair amiss yet : he may keep it
still as a face-royal,^ for a barber shall never earn
sixpence out of it ; and yet he will be crowing, as
if he had writ man ever since his father was a
bachelor. He may keep his own grace, but he is
almost out of mine, I can assure him. What
said master Dumbleton* about the satin for my
short cloak, and slops ?
I believe an agate is used merely to express any thing remark-
ably littley without any allusion to the figure cut upon it. So,
in Much Ado about Nothings Vol. VI. p. 82, n. 3 :
" If lotv, an agate very vilely cut." Malone.
* the Juvenal,] This term, which has already occurred
in A Midsummer- Night's Dream, and Love's Labour's Lost, is
used in many places by Chaucer, and always signifies a young
man. Steevens.
^ he may keep it still as a face-royal,] That is, a face
exempt from the touch of vulgar hands. So, a stag-royal is not
to be hunted, a mine-royal is not to be dug. Johnson.
Old copies at a face-royal. Corrected by the editor of the
second folio. Malone.
Perhaps this quibbling allusion is to the English real, rial, or
royal. The poet seems to mean that a barber can no more earn
sixpence by hisjace-royal, than by the face stamped on the coin
called a royal j the one requiring as little shaving as the other.
Steevens.
If nothing be taken out of a royal, it will remain a royal as
it was. This appears to me to be FalstafF's conceit. A royal
was a piece of coin of the value of ten shillings. I cannot ap-
prove either of Johnson's explanation, or of that of Steevens.
M. Mason.
* -Dumbleton ] The folio has Dombledon; theqiiarto
sc. If. KING HENRY IV. 27
t'Page. He said, sir, you should procure him
better assurance than Bardolph : he would not take
his bond and yours ; he liked not the security.
Fal. Let him be damned like the glutton ! may
his tongue be hotter ! ^ A whoreson Achitophel !
a rascally yea-forsooth knave ! to bear a gentleman
in hand,^ and then stand upon security! The
whoreson smooth-pates do now wear nothing but
high shoes, and bunches of keys at their girdles ;
and if a man is thorough with them in honest taking
up,"^ then they must stand upon -security. I had
Dommelton. This name seems to have been a made one, and
designed to afford some apparent meaning. The author might
have written Double-done, (or, as Mr. M. Mason observes,
Double-dotoTif) from his making the same charge twice in his
books, or charging twice as much for a commodity as it is
"worth.
I have lately, however, observed that Dumbleton is the name
of a town in Glocestershire. The reading of the folio may
therefore be the true one. Steevens.
The reading of the quarto (the original copy) appears to be
only a mis-spelling of Dumbleton. Malone.
* Let him be damned like the glutton ! may his tongue be
hotter /] An allusion to the fate of the rich man, who had
fared sumptuously every day, when he requested a drop of water
to cool his tongue, being tormented with the flames. Henley.
. to bear in hand,] is, to keep in expectation.
JOHNSO .
So, in Macbeth :
" How you were borne in hand, how crossed."
Steevens.
' if a man is thorough ivith them in honest taking up^^
That is, if a man by taking up goods is in their debt. To be
thorough seems to be the same with the present phrase, to be
in "with a tradesman. Johnson.
So, in Ben Jonson's Every Man out of his Humour t
" I will take upt and bring myself into credit.**
So again, in Northward Hoe, by Decker and Webster, 1607:
28 SECOND PART OF act i.
as lief they would put ratsbane in my mouth, as
offer to stop it with security. I looked he should
have sent me two and twenty yards of satin, as I
am a true knight, and he sends me security. Well,
he may sleep in security ; for he hath the horn of
abundance, ^ and the lightness of his wife shines
through it : and yet cannot he see, though he have
his own lantern to light him.' Where's Bar-
dolph?
Page. He's gone into Smithfield, to buy your
worship a horse.
*' They will take up, I warrant you, where they may be trusted."
Again, in the same piece : *' Sattin gowns must be taken up.**
Again, in Love Restored, one of Ben Jonson's masques :
** A pretty fine speech was taken up 6* the poet too, which if he
never be paid for now, *tis no matter." Steevens.
* the horn of abundance,"} So, in Pasquil's Night-Cap,
1612, p. 43:
** But chiefly citizens, upon whose crowne
" Fortune her blessings most did tumble downe ;
" And in whose eares (as all the world doth know)
*' The home of great aooundance still doth blow."
Steevens.
^ the lightness of his toife shines through it : and yet
cannot he see, though he have his fftun lantern to light him.']
This joke seems evidently to have been taken from that of
Plautus : " Quo ambulas tu, qui Vulcanum in comu conclusum
geris ?" Amph. Act. I. sc. i. and much improved. We need not
doubt that a joke was here intended by Plautus ; for the prover-
bial term of horns for cuckoldom, is very ancient, as appears
by Artemidorus, who says: " Yi^oemiiv dvrtjj o ri rj yjvij a-ou
tto^vsvo'si, Kou ro Xsyo^svov, y.sa,Ta. dvrd ifoirnrsi, xou o vtias dits'^ri.'*
"Ovsi^oi. Lib. II. cap. 12. And he copied from those before
him. Warburton.
The same thought occurs in The Two Maids of Moreclacke,
1609:
your wrongs
Shine through the horn, as candles in the eve.
To light out others." Steevens.
sc. II. KING HENRY IV. 29
Fal. 1 bought him in Paul's,^ and he'll buy me
a horse in Smithfield : an I could get me but a wife
in the stews, I were manned, horsed, and wived.
' I bought him in Paul's,] At that time the resort of idle
people, cheats, and knights of the post. Warburton.
So, in Fearful and lamentable Effects of Ttvo dangerous
Comets, &c. no date ; by Nashe, in ridicule of Gabriel Harvey :
*' Pauleys church is in wonderfuU per ill thys yeare without the
help of our conscionable brethren, for that day it hath not eyther
broker, maisterless serving-man, or pennilesse companion, in the
middle of it, the usurers of London have sworne to bestow
a newe steeple upon it."
In an old Collection of Proverbs, I find the following:
" Who goes to Westminster for a wife, to <S^ Paul's for a
man, and to Smithfield for a horse, may meet with a whore,
a knave, and a jade."
See also Burton's Anatomy/ of Melancholy/, edit. 1632, p. 631.
In a pamphlet by Dr. Lodge, called fVit's Miserie, and the
World's Madnesse, 1596, the devil is described thus:
" In Pffids hee walketh like a gallant courtier, where if he
meet some rich chufFes worth the gulling, at every word he
speaketh, he maketh a mouse an elephant, and telleth them of
wonders, done in Spaine by his ancestors," &c. &c.
I should not have troubled the reader with this quotation, but
that it in some measure familiarizes the character of Pistol, which
(from other passages in the same pamphlet) appears to have
been no uncommon one in the time of Shakspeare. Dr. Lodge
concludes his description thus : " His courage is boasting, his
learning ignorance, his ability weakness, and his end beggary."
Again, in Ram- Alley, or Merry Tricks, 1611 :
" get thee a gray cloak and hat,
" And walk in Paul's among thy cashier'd mates,
" As melancholy as the best."
I learn from a passage in Greene's Disputation between a He
Coneycatcher and a She Coneycatcher, 1592, that St. Paul's was
a privileged place, so that no debtor could be arrested within its
precincts. Steevens.
In The Choice of Change, 1598, 4to. it is said, " a man must
not make choyce of three thinges in three places. Of a wife in
Westminster ; of a servant in Paule's ; of a horse in Smithfield ;
least he chuse a queane, a knave, or a jade." See also Moryson's
Itinerary, Part III. p. 53, 1617. Reed.
" It was the fashion of those times," [the times of King
m SECOND PART OF act i.
Off
JEnter the Lord Chief Justice,^ and an Attendant.
Page. Sir, here comes the nobleman that com-
mitted the prince for striking him about Bardolph.
Fal. Wait close, I will not see him.
Ch. Just. What's he that goes there ?
Atten. FalstafF, an't please your lordship.
Ch. Just. He that was in question for the rob-
bery ?
Atten. He, my lord. : but he hath since done
good service at Shrewsbury ; and, as I hear, is now
going with some charge to the lord John of Lan-
caster.
Ch. Just. What, to York ? Call him back again.
Atten. Sir John Falstaff !
Fal. Boy, tell him, I am deaf.
Page. You must speak louder, my master is deaf.
Ch. Just. I am sure, he is, to the hearing of any
thing good. Go, pluck him by the elbow ; I must
speak with him.
James I.] says Osborne, In his Memoirs of that monarch, " and
did so continue till these, [the interregnum,] for the principal
gentry, lords, courtiers, and men of all professions, not merely
mechanicks, to meet in St. Paul's church by eleven, and walk
in the middle isle till twelve, and after dinner from three to six ;
during which time some discoursed of business, others of news.
Now, in regard of the universal commerce there happened little
that did not first or last arrive here." Malone.
' * Lord Chief Justice,'] This judge 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. Steevens.
His portrait, copied from the monument, may be found in
The Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. LI. p. 516. Malone.
sc, II. KING HENRY IV. 31
Atten. Sir John, - ttK
Fal. What I a young knave, and beg ! Is there
not wars ? is there not employment ? Doth not the
king lack subjects ? do not the rebels need soldiers ?
Though it be a shame to be on any side but one, it
is worse shame to beg than to be on the worst side,
were it worse than the name o^ t^ebellion can tell
how to make it. . .; -
Atten. You mistake me, sir.
Fal. Why, sir, did I say you were an honest
man ? setting my knighthood and my soldiership
aside, I had lied in my throat if I had said so.
. Atten, I pray you, sir, then set your knighthood
and your soldiership aside ; and give me leave to tell
you, you lie in your throat, if you say I am any
other than an honest man.
Fal. I give thee leave to tell me so ! I lay aside
that which grows to me ! If thou get'st any leave
of me, hang me ; if thou takest leave, thou wert
better be hanged: You hunt-counter,^ hence]
avaunt !
' hunt-counter,'] That is, blunderer. He does not,
I think, allude to any relation between the judge's servant and
the counter-prison. Johnson.
Dr. Johnson's explanation may be countenanced by the fol-
lowing passage in Ben Jonson's Tale of a Tub :
" Do you mean to make a hare
" Of me, to hunt counter thus, and make these doubles,
' And you mean no such thing as you send about ?"
Again, in Hamlet :
" O, this is countevy you false Danish dogs.*'
It should not, however, be concealed, that Randle Holme,
in his Academy of Armory and Blazon^ Book III. ch. 3. says :
" Hunt counter, when hounds hunt it by the heeV Steevens.
Hunt counter means, base tyke, or ivorthless dog. There can
be no reason why FalstaflF should call the attendant a blunderer,
but he seems very anxious to prove him a rascal. After all, it
32 SECOND PART OF act i.
Atten. Sir, my lord would speak with you,
Ch. Just. Sir John FalstafF, a word with you.
Fal. My good lord ! God give your lordship
good time of day. I am glad to see your lordship
abroad : I heard say, your lordship was sick : I hope,
your lordship goes abroad by advice. Your lord-
ship, though not clean past your youth, hath yet
some smack of age in you, some relish of the salt-
ness of time ; and I most humbly beseech your lord-
ship, to have a reverend care of your health.
Ch. Just. Sir John, I sent for you before your
expedition to Shrewsbury.
Fal. An't please your lordship, I hear, his ma-
jesty is returned with some discomfort from Wales.
Ch. Just. I talk not of his majesty : You would
not come when I sent for you.
Fal. And I hear moreover, his highness is fallen
into this same whoreson apoplexy.
Ch. Just. Well, heaven mendhim! I pray, let
me speak with you. ' . .V
Fal. This apoplexy is, as I take it, a kind of le-
thargy, an't please your lordship ; a kind of sleeping
in the blood, a whoreson tingling.
Ch. Just. What tell you me of it ? be it as it is.
Fal, It hath its original from much grief; from
is not impossible the word may be found to signify a catchpole or
bum-bailtff'. He was probably the Judge's tipstaff". Ritson.
Perhaps the epithet hunt-counter is applied to the officer, in re-
ference to his having reverted to Falstatf's salvo. Henley.
I think it much more probable that Falstaff means to allude to
the counter-prison. Sir T. Overbury, in his character of A Ser-
jeant's Yeoman, 1616, ( in modern language, a. bailiff's Jbllowerf)
calls him " a counter'Tat.** Malone.
sc. i/., KING HENRY IV. . S3
study, and perturbation of the brain : I have read
the cause of his effects in Galen ; it is a kind of
deafness.
Ch. Just. 1 think, you are fallen into the disease j
for you hear not what I say to you.
Fal. Very well, my lord, very well ;* rather, an't
* Fal. Veri/ tuelly my lord^ very well :~\ In the quarto edition,
printed in 1609, this speech stands thus :
Old. Very well, my lord, very well:
I had not observed this, when I wrote my note to The First
Part of Henry IV. concerning the tradition of FalstaiPs character
having been first called Oldcastle. This almost amounts to a self-
evident proof of the thiitg being so : and that, the play being
pjinted from the stage manuscript, Oldcastle had been all along
altered into FalstafF, except in this single place by an oversight ;
of which the printers not being aware, continued these initial
traces of the original name. Theobald. ,
I am unconvinced by Mr. Theobald's remark. Old. might
have been the beginning of some actor's name. Thus we have
Kempe and Cowley, instead of Dogberry and Verges, in the 4to.
edit, o^ Much Ado about Nothing, 1600.
Names utterly unconnected with the Personas Dramatis o^
Shakspeare, are sometimes introduced as entering on the stage.
Thus, in The Second Part of King Henry IV. edit. 1600:
" Enter th' Archbishop, Thomas Mowbray, ( Earle Marshall, )
the Lord Hastings, Fauconbridge, and Bardolfe." Sig. B 4.
Again: " Enter the Prince, Poynes, Sir John Russell, with
others." Sig. C 3 Again, in King Henry V. 1600: " Enter
Burbon, Constable, Orleance, Gebon.^' Sig. D 2. '
Old. might have been inserted by a mistake of the same kind ;
or indeed through the laziness of compositors, who occasionally
permit the letters that form such names as frequently occur, to
remain together, when the rest of the page is distributed. Thus
it will sometimes happen that one name is substituted for another.
This observation will be well understood by those who have been
engaged in long attendance on a printing-house ; and those to
whom my remark appears obscure, need not to lament their
ignorance, as this kind of knowledge is usually purchased at the
expence of much time, patience, and disappointment.
In 1778, when the foregoing observations first appeared, they
had been abundantly provoked. Justice, however, obliges me
VOL. XII. D
34 SECOND PART OF acti,
please you, it is the disease of not listening, the
inalady of not marking, that I am troubled withal.
Ch. Just. To punish you by the heels, would
amend the attention of your ears ; and I care not,
if I do become your physician.
Fal. I am as poor as Job, my lord ; but not so
patient : your lordship may minister the potion of
imprisonment to me, in respect of poverty ; but
how I should be your patient to follow your pre-
scriptions, the wise may make some dram of a
scruple, or, indeed, a scruple itself.
Ch. Just. I sent for you, whqn there were matters
against you for your life, to come speak with me.
to subjoin, that no part of the same censure can equitably fall
on the printing-office or compositors engaged in our present
republication.. Steevens.
I entirely agree with Mr. Steevens in thinking that Mr. Theo-
bald's remark is of no weight. Having already discussed the
subject very fully, it is here only necessary to refer the reader to
Vol. IX. p. 194', et seq. in which I thmk I haye shewn that
there is no proof whatsoever that Falstaff' ever was called Old-
castle in these plays. The letters prefixed to this speech crept
into the first quarto copy, I have no doubt, merely from Old-
castle being, behind the scenes, the familiar theatrical appellation
of Falstaff, who was his stage-successor. All the actors, copyists,
&c. were undoubtedly well acquainted with the former character,
and probably used the two names indiscriminately. Mr. Stee-
vens's suggestion that Old. might have been the begmning of
some actor's name does not appear to me probable ; because in
the list of " the names of the principal actors in all these plays'*
prefixed to the first folio, there is no actor whose name begins
with this syllable ; and we may be sure that the part of Falstaff
was performed by a principal actor. Malone.
Principal actors, as at present, might have been often changing
firom one play-house to another ; and the names of such of them
as had quitted the company of Hemings and Condell, might
therefore have been purposely omitted, when the list prefixed tc
the folio 1623 was drawn up. Stebvenjs.
sc. //. KING HENRY IV. 35
Fal. As I was then advised by my learned coun-
sel in the laws of this land-service, I did not come.
Ch. Just. Well, the truth is, sir John, you live
in great infamy.
Fal, He that buckles him in my belt, cannot
live in less.
Ch. Just. Your means are very slender, and your
waste is great.
Fal. I would it were otherwise ; I would my
means were greater, and my waist slenderer.
Ch. Just. You have misled the youthful prince.
Fal. The young prince hath misled me : I am
the fellow with the great belly, and he my dog. ^
Ch. Just. Well, I am loath to gall a new-healed
wound ; your day's service at Shrewsbury hath a
little gilded over your night's exploit on Gads-hill :
you may thank the unquiet time for your quiet o'er-
posting that action.
Fal. My lord ?
Ch. Just. But since aU is well, keep it so : wake
not a sleeping wolf.
Fal. To wake a wolf, is as bad as to smell a fox.
Ch. Just. What ! you are as a candle, the better
part burnt out.
* he my dog.'] I do not understand this joke. Dogs lead
the blind, but why does a dog lead the fat ? Johnson.
If the Jelloto*s great belly prevented him from seeing his way,
he would want a dog as well as a blind man. Farmer.
And though he had no absolute occasion for him, Shakspeare
would still have supplied him with one. He seems to have been
very little solicitous that his comparisons should answer com-
pletely on both sides. It was enough for him that men were
Sometimes led by dogs. Malone.
d2
36 SECOND PART OF act i,
Fal. a wassel candle, my lord ;^ all tallow : if I
did say of wax, my growth would approve the
truth.
Ch. Just. There is not a white hair on your face,
but should have his effect of gravity.
Fal. His effect of gravy, gravy, gravy.
Ch. Just. You follow the young prince up and
down, like his ill angel.'^
"' A tvassel candle^ &c.] A toassel candle is a large candle
lighted up at a feast. There is a poor quibble upon the word
waXf which signifies increase as well as the matter of the honey-
comb. Johnson.
The same quibble has already occurred in Love*s Labour's
Lost, Act V. sc. ii :
*' That was the way to make his godhead tvax.'*
Steevens.
See Vol. VII. p. 165, n. 6. Malone.
"^ You follov} the young prince up and dotvn, like his ill
angel.] Thus the quarto, 1600. Mr. Pope reads with the folio,
1623, evil angel. Steevens.
What a precious collator has Mr. Pope approved himself in
this passage ! Besides, if this were the true reading, FalstafF
could not have made the witty and humorous evasion he has
done in his reply. I have restored the reading of the oldest
quarto. The Lord Chief Justice calls FalstafF the Prince's ill
angel or genius: which FalstafF turns off by saying, an ill angel
(meaning the coin called an angel) is light ; but, surely, it can-
not be said that he wants weight : ergo the inference is obvious.
Now money may be called ^7/, or bad; but it is never called
evil, with regard to its being under weight. This Mr. Pope will
facetiously call restoring lost puns : but if the author wrote a pun,
and it happens to be lost in an editor's indolence, I shall, in spite
of his grimace, venture at bringing it back to light.
Theobald.
" As light as a dipt angel," is a comparison frequently used in
the old comedies. So, in Ram- Alley, or Merry Tricks, 161 1 :
*' The law speaks profit, does it not?
" Faith; some bad angels haunt us now and then."
Steevens.
sc. II, KING HENRY IV. 37
Fal. Not so, my lord ; your ill angel is light ;
but, I hope, he that looks upon me, will take me
without weighing: and yet, in some respects, I
grant, I cannot go, I cannot tell :^ Virtue is of so
little regard in these coster-monger times,^ that true
valour is turned bear-herd: Pregnancy^ is made a
tapster, and hath his quick wit wasted in giving
reckonings : all the other gifts appertinent to man,
as the malice of this age shapes them, are not worth
a gooseberry. You, that are old, consider not the
capacities of us that are young : you measure the
heat of our livers with the bitterness of your galls :
and we that are in the vaward of our youth, I must
confess, are wags too.
Ch. Just. Do you set down your name in the
scroll of youth, that are written down old with all
the characters of age ? Have you not a moist eye ?
a dry hand ? a yeUow cheek ? a white beard ? a de-
creasing leg ? an increasing belly ? Is not your voice
broken ? your wind short ? your chin double ? your
wit single ?^ and every part about you blasted with
* 1 cannot go, I cannot tell:] I cannot be taken in a
reckoning ; I cannot pass current. Johnson.
" in these coster-monger timeSf'] In these times when
the prevalence of trade has produced that meanness that rates
the merit of every thing by money. Johnson.
A coster-monger is a costard-monger, a dealer in apples called
by that name, because they are shaped like a costard, i. e. man's
head. See Vol. VII. p. 56, n. 3 ; and p. 60, n. 8.
SxEiEVENS.
' I "Pregnancy ] Pregnanc_y is readiness. So, in Hamlet :
" How pregnant his replies are !'* Steevens.
' your tvit single f] We call a man single-witted, who
attains but one species of knowledge. This sense I know not
how to apply to Falstaff, and rather think that the Chief Justice
hints at a calamity always incident to a grey-haired wit, whose
$11 SECOND PART OF act i.
antiquity ?^ and will you yet call yourself young ?
Fye, fyej fye, sir John !
misfortune is, that his merriment is unfashionable. His allusions
are to forgotten facts ; his illustrations are drawn from notions
obscured by time ; his tvit is therefore single, such as none has
any part in but himself. Johnson.
I believe all that Shakspeare meant was, that he had more Jat
than tvit ; that though his body was bloated by intemperance to
twice its original size, yet his wit was not increased in proportion
to it.
In ancient language, however, single often means small, as
in the instance of beer ; the strong and weak being denominated
double and single beer. So, in The Captain, by Beaumont and
Fletcher : " sufficient single beer, as cold as chrystal." Macbeth
also speaks of his " single state of man." See Vol. X. p. 4?9,
n. 6. Steevens.
Johnson's explanation of this passage is not conceived with his
usual judgment. It does not appear that FalstafPs merriment
was antiquated or unfashionable ; for if that had been the case,
the young men would not have liked it so well, nor would that
circumstance have been perceived by the Chief Justice, who was
older than himself. But though Falstaff had such a fund of wit
and humour, it was not unnatural that a grave judge, whose
thoughts were constantly employed about the serious business of
life, should consider such an improvident, dissipated old man, as
single-witted, or half-witted, as we should now term it. So,
in the next Act, the Chief Justice calls him, & great fool ; and
even his friend Harry, after his reformation, bids him not to
answer " with a fool-born jest," and adds, " that white hairs ill
become a. fool and jester."
I think, however, that this speech of the Chief Justice is
somewhat in FalstafF's own style ; which verifies what he says of
himself, " that all the world loved to gird at him, and that he
was not only witty himself, but the cause that wit is in other
men." M. Mason.
I think Mr. Steevens's interpretation the true one. Single,
however, (as an anonymous writer has observed,) may mean,
feeble or weak. So, in Fletcher's Qwen of Corinth, Act III.
sc. i:
" All men believe it, when they hear him speak,
" He utters such single matter, in so infantly a voice."
^ Again, in Romeo and Juliet : " O single-soal'd jest, solely
singular for the singleness," i. e. the tenuity.
sa n, KING HENRY IV. S9
Fal. My lord, I was born about three of the
clock in the afternoon, with a white head, and some-
thing a round belly. For my voice, I have lost it
with hollaing, and singing of anthems. To ap-
prove my youth further, I will not : the truth is, I
am only old in judgment and understanding ; and
he that will caper with me for a thousand marks, let
him lend me the money, and have at him. For the
box o'the ear that the prince gave you, ^he gave it
like a rude prince, and you took it like a sensible
lord. I have checked him for it ; and the young
lion repents : marry, not in ashes, and sackcloth j
but in new silk, and old sack.*
Ch, Just. Well, heaven send the prince a better
companion !
Fal. Heaven send the companion a better
prince ! I cannot rid my hands of him.
Ch. Just. Well, the king hath severed you and
prince Harry : I hear, you are going with lord John
of Lancaster, against the archbishop, and the earl
of Northumberland.
Fal. Yea ; I thank your pretty sweet wit for it.
But look you pray, all you that kiss my lady peace
In our author's time, as the same writer observes, sm^ll beer
was called single beer, and that of a stronger quality, double
beer. Malone.
' antiquity ?] To use the word antiquity for old age,
is not peculiar to Shakspeare. So, in Two Tragedies in One, &c.
1601:
** For false illusion of the magistrates
" With borrow'd shapes of false antiquity" Stee vens.
* marry ^ not in ashest and sacJccloth ; but in new silk,
and old sack.'} So, Sir John Harrington, of a reformed brother.
Epigrams f L. 3, 17 :
" Sackcloth and cinders they advise to use ;
** Sack, cloves and sugar thou would'st have to chuse."
BOWLE.
4Q SECOND PART OF act i.
at home, that our armies join not in a hot day ! for,
by the Lord, I take but two shirts out with me, and
I mean not to sweat extraordinarily : if it be a hot
day, an I brandish any thing but my bottle, I would
I might never spit white again.^ There is not a
dangerous action can peep out his head, but I am
thrust upon it: Well, I cannot last ever: But it
was always^ yet the trick of our English nation, if
they have a good thing, to make it too common. If
you will needs say, I am an old man, you should
give me rest. I would to God, my name were not
so terrible to the enemy as it is. I were better to
be eaten to death with rust, than to be scoured to
nothing with perpetual motion.
Ch. Just. Well, be honest, be honest ; And God
bless your expedition !
Fal. Will your lordship lend me a thousand
pound, to furnish me forth ?
Ch. Just. Not a penny, not a penny ; you are
too impatient to bear crosses.' Fare you well :
Commend me to my cousin Westmoreland.
\_Exeunt Chief Justice and Attendant.
* XBould I might never spit white again.'] i. e. May I
never have my stomach inflamed again with liquor ; for, to ^it
white is the consequence of inward heat. So, in Mother BomSief
a comedy, 1594: " They have sod their livers in sack these
forty years; that makes them spit vohite broth as they do."
Again, in The Virgin Martyr, by Massinger :
" 1 could not have spit white for want of drink."
Steevens.^
" But it was always &c.] This speech, in the folio, con-
cludes at / cannot tast ever. All the rest is restored from the
quarto. A clear proof of the superior value of those editions,
when compared with the publication of the players. Steevens.
'' you are too impatient to hear crosses.] I believe a
quibble was here intended. Falstaff had just asked his lordship
to lend him a thousand pounds and he tells hira in return that
sc. //.
KING HENRY IV.
41
Fal. If I do, fillip me with a three-man beetle.
A man can no more separate age and covetuous-
ness, than he can part young limbs and lechery :
but the gout galls the one, and the pox pinches the
other ; and so both the degrees prevent my curses.*
Boy!
he is not to be entrusted with money. A cross is a coin, so called
because stamped with a cross. So, in As you like it :
" If I should bear you, I should bear no cross.^*
Steevens.
' fillip me mth a three-man beetle.] A beetle wielded
by three men. Pope.
A diversion is common with boys in Warwickshire and the
adjoining counties, on finding a toad, to lay a board about two
or three feet long, at
right angles, over a stick
about two or three inches
diameter, as per sketch.
Then, placing the toad
at A, the other end is struck by a bat or large stick, which
throws the creature forty or fifty feet perpendicular from the
earth, and its return in general kills it. This is called Filliping
the Toad. A three-man beetle is an implement used for driving
piles ; it is made of a log of wood about eighteen or twenty
inches diameter, and fourteen orfifteen inches thick, with one short
and two long handles, as
per sketch. A man at
each of the long handles
manages the fall of the
beetle, and a third man,
by the short handle, assists
in raising it to strike the blow. Such an implement was, without
doubt, very suitable ^ox filliping so corpulent a being as Falstaff.
With this happy illustration, and the drawings annexed, I was
favoured by Mr. Johnson, the architect. Steevens.
So, in A World of Wonders, A Mass of Murthers, A Covie
of Cosenagesy &c. 1595, sign. F: whilst Arthur Hall was
weighing the plate, Bullock goes into the kitchen andfetcheth a
heavie washing betle, wherewith he comming behinde Hall,
strake him," &c. Reed.
9 prevent mi/ curses.'] To .prevent means, in this place,
to anticipate. So, in the 119th Psalm: Mine eyes prevent
the night watches." Steevens.
42 SECOND PART OF act i.
Page. Sir?
Fal. What money is in my purse ?
Page, Seven groats and two-pence.
Fal. I can get no remedy against this consump-
tion of the purse : borrowing only lingers and
lingers it out, but the disease is incurable. Go
bear this letter to my lord of Lancaster ; this to
the prince ; this to the earl of Westmoreland ; and
this to old mistress Ursula, whom I have weekly
sworn to marry since I perceived the first white hair
on my chin ; About it ; you know where to find
me. [jEJ^iV Page.] A pox of this gout ! or, a gout
of this pox ! for the one, or the other, plays the
rogue with my great toe. It is no matter, if I do
halt ; I have the wars for my colour, and my pen-
sion shall seem the more reasonable : A good wit
will make use of any thing ; I will turn diseases to
commodity. * \^Ea:it.
SCENE III.
York. A Room in the Archbishop's Palace,
Enter the Archbishop o/'York, the Lords Hastings,
Mowbray, and Bardolph.
Arch. Thus have you heard our cause, and known
our means ;
And, my most noble friends, I pray you all.
Speak plainly your opinions of our hopes :
And first, lord marshal, what say you to it ?
' to commodity.] i. e. profit, self-interest. See Vol. X.
p. 408, n. 8. Steevens.
sc. iir, KING HENRY IV. 43
MowB. I well aUow the occasion of our arms ;
But gladly would be better satisfied,
How, in our means, we should advance ourselves
To look with forehead bold and big enough
Upon the power and puissance of the king.
Hast. Our present musters grow upon the file
To five and twenty thousand men of choice ;
And our supplies live largely in the hope
Of great Northumberland, whose bosom burns
With an incensed fire of injuries.
BARD,The question then,lord Hastings, standeth
thus ;
Whether our present five and twenty thousand
May hold up head without Northumberland.
Hast. With him, we may.
Bard. Ay, marry, there's the point ;
But if without him we be thought too feeble,
My judgment is, we should not step too far*^
Till we had his assistance by the hand :
For, in a theme so bloody-fac'd as this.
Conjecture, expectation, and surmise
Of aids uncertain, should not be admitted.
Arch. 'Tis very true, lord Bardolph ; for, indeed,
It was young Hotspur's case at Shrewsbury.
Bard. It was, my lord ; who lin'd himself with
hope.
Eating the air on promise of supply.
Flattering himself with project of a power
Much smaller^ than the smallest of his thoughts :
And so, with great imagination,
* step too Jar ] The four following lines were added
in the second edition. Johnson.
' Muck smaller ] i. e. which turne^l out to be much smaller.
MUSGRAVE.
44 SECOND PART OF acti.
Proper to madmen, led his powers to death,
And, winking, leap*d into destruction.
Hast. But, by your leave, it never yet did hurt,
To lay down likelihoods, and forms of hope.
Bard. Yes, in this present quality of war ;
Indeed the instant action,* (a cause on foot,)
* YeSf in this present qnnlity ofvoar; &c.] These first twenty
lines were first inserted in the folio of 1623.
The first clause of this passage is evidently corrupted. All the
folio editions and Mr. Rowe's concur in the same reading, which
Mr. Pope altered thus :
Yes, if this present quality of iuar
Impede the instant act.
This has been silently followed by Mr. Theobald, Sir Thomas
Hanmer, and Dr. Warburton ; but the corruption is certainly
deeper, for, in the present reading, Bardolph makes the incon-
venience of hope to be that it may cause delay, when, indeed,
the whole tenor of his argument is to recommend delay to the
rest that are too forward. I know not what to propose, and am
afraid that something is omitted, and that the injury is irremedi-
able. Yet, perhaps, the alteration requisite is no more than
this:
YeSy in this present qtuility of war.
Indeed of instant action.
It never, says Hastings, did harm to lay dotvn likelihoods of
hope. YeSf says Bardolph, it has done harm in this present
quality of toar, in a state of things such as is now before us,
o/" tuflr, indeed of instant action. This is obscure, but Mr.
Pope's reading is still less reasonable. Johnson.
I have adopted Dr. Johnson's emendation, though I think we
might read:
j/' this present quality of war
Impel the instant action.
Hastings says, it never yet did hurt to lay down likelihoods
and forms of hope. Yes, says Bardolph, it has in every case
like ours, where an army inferior in number, and waiting for
supplies, has, without that reinforcement, impelledy or hastily
brought on, an immediate action. Steevens.
If we may be allowed to read instanced, the text may
mean Yes, it has done harm in every case like ours ; indeed,
it did harm in young Hotspur's case at Shrewsbury, which the
Archbishop of York has just instanced or given as an example.
TOLLET.
sc. III. KING HENRY IV. 45
Lives so in hope, as in an early spring
We see the appearing buds ; which, to prove fruit,
Hope gives not so much warrant, as despair.
That frosts will bite them. When we mean to build,^
We first survey the plot, then draw the model ;
And when we see the figure of the house.
Then must we rate the cost of the erection :
Which if we find outweighs ability.
What do we then, but di'aw anew the model
In fewer offices ; or, at least,^ desist
To build at all ? Much more, in this great work,
(WTiich is, almost, to pluck a kingdom down.
And set another up,) should we survey
The plot of situation, and the model ;
Consent upon a sure foundation
.7
This passage is allowed on all hands to be corrupt, but a slight
alteration will, I apprehend, restore the true reading :
Yes, if this present quality of ivar
Induc'd the instant action. Henley.
Mr. M. Mason has proposed the same reading. Steevens.
in this present quality of ivar;'] This and the following
nineteen lines appeared first in the folio. That copy reads:
YeSf if this present &c.
I believe the old reading is the true one, and that a line is
lost; but have adopted Dr. Johnson's emendation, because it
makes sense. The punctuation now introduced appears to me
preferable to that of the old edition, in which there is a colon
after the word action.
Bardolph, I think, means to say, " Indeed the present action
(our cause being now on foot, war being actually levied,) lives,"
&c. otherwise the speaker is made to say, in general, that all
causes once on foot afford no hopes that may securely be relied
on; which is certainly not true. M alone.
* When xve mean to build,'} Whoever compares the rest
of this speech with St. Luhe, xiv. 28, &c. will find the former
to have been wrought out of the latter. Henley.
^ at least,'] Perhaps we should read at last.
Steevens.
' Consent upon a sure foundation ;"] i. e. agree. So, in As
46 SECOND PART OF Acr l
Question surveyors ; know our own estate,
How able such a work to undergo,
To weigh against his opposite ; or else.
We fortify in paper, and in figures,
Using the names of men, instead of men :
Like one, that draws the model of a house
Beyond his power to build it ; who, half through,
Gives o'er, and leaves his part-created cost
A naked subject to the weeping clouds.
And waste for churlish winter's tyranny.
Hast, Grant, that our hopes (yet likely of fair
birth,)
Should be still-born, and that we now possess'd
The utmost man of expectation ;
I think, we are a body strong enough.
Even as we are, to equal with the lang.
Bard, What 1 is the king but five and twenty
thousand ?
Hast. To us, no more ; nay, not so much, lord
Bardolph.
For his divisions, as the times do brawl.
Are in three heads : one power against the French,*
And one against Glendower ; perforce, a third
Must take up us : So is the unfirm king
In three divided ; and his coffers sound
With hollow poverty and emptiness.
Arch, That he should draw his several strengths
together,
f^ou like itf Act V. sc. i : " For all your writers do consent that
ipse is he." Again, ibid. sc. ii : ** consent with both, that we
may enjoy each other.'* Steevens.
' one pofiver against the French,'] During this rebellion
of Northumberland and the Archbishop, a French army of
twelve thousand men landed at Milford Haven, in Wales, for
the aid of Owen Glendower. See Holinshed, p. 531.
Steevens.
sc. III, KING HENRY' IV. 41
And come against us in full puissance,
Need not be dreaded.
Hast. If he should do so,*
He leaves his back unarm' d, the French and Welsh
Baying him at the heels : never fear that.
Bard. Who, is it like, should lead his forces
hither ?
Hast. The duke of Lancaster, and Westmore-
land:^
Against the Welsh, himself, and Harry Monmouth t
But who is substituted 'gainst the French,
I have no certain notice.
^ If he should do so,"] This passage is read, in the first
edition, thus: If he should do so, French and Welsh he leaves
his back unarmed. They baying him at the heels, never fear that.
These lines, which were evidently printed from an interlined
copy not understood, are properly regulated in the next edition,
and are here only mentioned to show what errors may be sus-
pected to remain. Johnson.
I believe the editor of the folio did not correct the quarto
lightly ; in which the only error probably was the omission of
the word to :
To French and Welsh he leaves his back unarm'dy
They baying him at the heels : never fear that.
Malone.
' The duke of Lancaster, &c.] This is an anachronism.
Prince John of Lancaster was not created a duke till the second
year of the reign of his brother. King Henry V. Malone.
This mistake is pointed out by Mr. Steevens in another place.
It is not, however, true, that " King Henry IV. was himself
the last person that ever bore the title of Duke of Lancaster," as
Prince Henry actually enjoyed it at this very time, and had done
so from the first year of his father's reign, when it was conferred
upon him in full parliament. iJo/. Par^. Ill, 428, 532. Shak-
speare was misled by Stowe, who, speaking of Henry's first
parliament, says, " then the King rose, and made his eldest
son Prince of Wales, &c. his second sonne was there made
Duke of Lancaster." Annales, 1631, p. S23. He should there-
fore seem to have consulted this author between the times of
finishing the last play, and beginning the present. Ritson.
48/ SECOND PART OF act i.
Arch. Let us on ; ^
And publish the occasion of our arms.
The commonwealth is sick of their own choice.
Their over-greedy love hath surfeited :
An habitation giady and unsure
Hath he, that builcleth on the vulgar heart,
O thou fond many !^ with what loud applause
Didst thou beat heaven with blessing Bolingbroke,
Before he was what thou would' st have him be ?
And being now trimm'd in thine own desires,*
Thou, beastly feeder, art so full of him,
That thou provok*st thyself to cast him up.
So, so, thou common dog, didst thou disgorge
Thy glutton bosom of tlie royal Richard ;
And now thou would' st eat thy dead vomit up.
And howl'st to find it. What trust is in theses
' times ?
They that, when Richard liv'd, would have him die.
Are now become enamour'd on his grave :
Thou, that threw' st dust upon his goodly head,
Wlien through proud London he came sighing on
After the admired heels of Bohngbroke,
Cry'st now, O earth, yield us that king again.
And take thou this ! O thoughts of men accurst !
Past, and to come, seem best ; things present, worst.
* Let us on; &c.] This excellent speech of York was one of
the passages added by Shakspeare after his first edition. Pope.
This speech first appeared in the folio. M alone.
' Othoujbnd many!] Many or meyny^ from tlie French
mesnief a multitude. Douce.
* in ihine own desires,] The latter word is employed
here as a trisyllable. Malone.
I do not perceive that a trisyllable is wanted on this occasion^
a& any dissyllable will complete the verse ; for instance :
And being now trimm'd in thine own surtout.
DesireSy like surtout^ is a word of two syllables. Steevens.
ACTiL KING HENRY IV. 49
Mows, Shall we go draw our numbers, and set
on ?
Hast, We are time's subjects, and time bids be
gone. \_Exeunt, .
ACT II. SCENE I.
London. A Street,
Mnter Hostess j Fang, and his Boy, xvith her ; and
^ - Snare Jbllowing.
Host. Master Fang, have you enter'd the action ? ,
Fang. It is entered.
Host. Where is your yeoman?^ Is it a lusty
yeoman ? will a* stand to't ?
Fang. Sirrah, where' s Snare ?
Host. O lord, ay : good master Snare.
Snare. Here, here.
Fang. Snare, we must arrest sir John Falstaff.
Host. Yea, good master Snare ; I have entered
him and all.
Snare. It may chance cost some of us our lives,
for he will stab.
Host. Alas the day ! take heed of him j he
stabbed me in mine own house, and that most beastly :
in good faith, a* cares not what mischief he doth,
* Where is your yeoman >"] A bailifPs follower was, in our
author's time, called a Serjeant's yeoman. Malone.
VOL. XII. E
50 SECOND PART OF act n.
if his weapon be out : he will foin like any devil j
he will spare neither man, woman, nor child.
Fang, If I can close with him, I care not for
his thrust.
Host. No, nor I neither : I'll be at your elbow.
Fang. An I but fist him once ; an a' come but
within my vice 5 ^
Host. I am undone by his going ; I warrant you,
he's an infinitive thing upon my score : Good
master Fang, hold him sure ; ^good master Snare,
let him not 'scape. He comes continuantly to Pie-
corner, (saving your manhoods,) to buy a saddle ;
and he's indited to dinner to the lubbar's head'' in
Lumbert-street, to master Smooth's the silkman :
I pray ye, since my exion is entered, and my case so
openly known to the world, let him be brought in
to his answer. A hundred mark is a long loan^
* an a* come but toithin my vice;] Vice or grasp; a
metaphor taken from a smith's vice : there is another reading in
the old edition, w'eio, which I think not so good. Pope.
Vice is the reading of the folio, viefa of the quarto.
Steevens.
The J?5f is vulgarly called the vice in the West of England.
Henley.
' lubbar's head ] This is, I suppose, a colloquial
corruption of the Libbard's head. Johnson.
See Vol. VII. p. 185, n. 7. Malone.
' A hundred mark is a long loan ] Old copy long one.
Steevens.
A long one ? a long what ? It is almost needless to observe,
how familiar it is with our poet to play the chimes upon words
similar in sound, and differing in signification ; and therefore I
make no question but he wrote A hundred mark is a long loan
Jbr a poor lone woman to bear : i. e. a hundred mark is a good
round sum for a poor widow to venture on trust. Theobald.
sc. I. XING HENRY IV. Si
for a poor lone woman' to bear : and I have borne,
and borne, and borne ; and have been fubbed off,
and fubbed off, and fubbed oiF, from this day to that
day, that it is a shame to be thought on. There
is no honesty in such dealing; unless a woman
should be made an ass, and a beast, to bear every
knave's wrong.
Enter Sir John Falstaff, Page, and Bardolph.
Yonder he comes ; and that arrant malmsey-nose^
knave, Bardolph, with him. Do your offices, do
your offices, master Fang, and master Snare ; do
me, do me, do me your offices.
Fal. How now? whose mare's dead ? what's the
matter ?
Fang. Sir John, I arrest you at the suit of mis-
tress Quickly.
' a poor lone tooman J A lone tooman is an un-
married woman. So, in the title-page to A Collection of
Recordsy &c. 1642: " That Queen Elizabeth being a lone
wymauy and having few friends, refusing to marry" &c. Again,
in Maurice Kyffin's translation of Terence's Andria, 1588 :
*' Moreover this Glyceric is a lone tuoman ;" " turn haec sola
est mulier." In The First Part of King Henry IV. Mrs.
Quickly had a husband alive. She is now a widow.
Steevens.
' malmsey'nose ] That is, red nose, from the effect
of malmsey wine. John^son.
In the old song of Sir Simon the Kingy the burthen of each
stanza is this :
" Says old Sir Simon the king,
" Says old Sir Simon the king,
" With his ale-dropt hose,
** And his malmsey-nose y
" Sing hey ding, ding a ding." Pjercy.
E 2
52 SECOND PART OF act n,
Fal Away, varlets ! Draw, Bardolph ; cut me
off the villain's head; throw the quean in the
channel.
Host. Throw me in the channel ? I'll throw
thee in the channel. Wilt thou ? wilt thou ? thou
bastardly rogue ! Murder, murder ! O thou
honey-suckle villain ! wilt thou kill God's officers,
and the king's ? O thou honey-seed rogue 1*^ thou
art a honey-seed; a man-queller,^ and a woman-
queller.
Fal. Keep them off, Bardolph.
Fang, A rescue ! a. rescue !
Host. Good people, bring a rescue or two. -
Thou wo't, wo't thou?* thou wo't, wo't thou ? do,
do, thou rogue ! do, thou hemp-seed !
Fal. Away, you scidlion ! ^ you rampallian ! you
fustilarian !^ I'll tickle your catastrophe.*^
* honey-suckle villain! honey-seed rogue!'] The land-
lady's corruption of homicidal and homicide. Theobald.
^ -a man-queller,'] WiclifF, in his Translation of the
New Testament^ uses this word for carnifex. Mark vi. 27 :
" Herod sent a man-quellery and conunanded his head to be
brought." Steevens.
* Thou ivo*ty tKoH thou ? &c.] The first folio reads, I think
less properly, thou toilt not? thou wilt not? Johnson.
* Fal. Away^ you scullion!'] This speech is given to the
Page in all the editions to the folio of 1664. It is more proper
for FalstafF, but that the boy must not stand quite silent and use-
less on the stage. Johnson.
^ rampallian ! fustilarian /] The first of these terms
of abuse may be derived from ramper, Fr. to be low in the
world. The other from Justis, a club ; i. e. a person whose
weapon of defence is a cudgel, not being entitled to wear a
sword.
The following passage, however, in A nexu Trick to cheat the
sc, I. KING HENRY IV. 53
Enter the Lord Chief Justice, attended,
Ch. Just. What's the matter ? keep the peace
here, ho !
Host. Good my lord, be good to me ! I beseech
you, stand to me !
Ch.Just. How now, sir John? what, are you
brawling here ?
Doth this become your place, your time, and busi-
ness?
You should have been well on your way to York.-
Stand from him, fellow ; Wherefore hang'st thou
on him ?
Host. O my most worshipful lord, an't please
your grace, I am a poor widow of Eastcheap, and
he is arrested at my suit.
Ch. Just. For what sum ?
Host. It is more than for some, my lord ; it is
for all, all I have : he hath eaten me out of house
Devil f 1639, seems to point out another derivation of ram-
pallian :
" And bold rampallian like, swear and drink drunk."
It may therefore mean a ramping riotous strumpet. Thus, in
Greene's Ghost haunting Coneycatchers : " Here was Wiley
Beguily rightly acted, and an aged rampalion put beside her
schoole-tricks." Steevens.
Fustilarian is, I believe, a made word, from fusty. Mr.
Steevens*s last explanation of rampallian appears the true one.
Malone.
'' ril tickle your catastrophe.'} This expression occurs
several times in The Merry Devil of Edmonton^ 1608 : Bankes
your ale is a Philistine ; foxe zhart there fire i'th' tail ont ; you
are a rogue to charge us with mugs i'th' rereward. A plague
o' this wind! O, it tickles our catastrophe.'* Again: " to
seduce my blind customers ; I'll tickle his catastrophe for this."
Steevens.
54 SECOND PART OF act n.
and home ; he hath put all my substance into that
fat belly of his : ^but I will have some of it out
again, or Til ride thee o'nights, like the mare.
Fal. I think, I am as like to ride the mare, if
I have any vantage of ground to get up.
Ch. Just. How comes this, sir John ? Fye !
what man of good temper would endure this
tempest of exclamation ? Are you not ashamed, to
enforce a poor widow to so rough a course to come
by her own ?
Fal. What is the gross sum that I owe thee ?
Host. Marry, if thou wert an honest man, thy-
self, and the money too. Thou didst swear to me
upon a parcel-gilt goblet,^ sitting in my Dolphin
* to ride the mare,] The Hostess had threatened to ride
FalstafF like the Incubm or Nisht-Mare; but his allusion, (if it
be not a wanton one,) is to tne GallavoSy which is ludicrously
called the Timber^ or tvoo-legs^d Mare. So, in Like tvill to
dike, quoth the Devil to the Colliery 1587. The Vice is talking
of Tyburn:
" This piece of land whereto you inheritors are,
*' Is called the land of the t'wo-legg'd Mare.
" In this piece of ground there is a Mare indeed,
" Which is the quickest Mare in England for speed.**
Again:
** I win help to bridle the tivo-leo^g'd Mare
** And both you for to ride need not to spare.*'
Stejbvens.
I think the allusion is only a wanton one. Ma lone.
^ a parcel-gilt goblet y"] A parcel-gilt goblet is a goblet
gilt only on such parts of it as are embossed. On the books of
the Stationers' Company, among their plate 1560, is the follow-
ing entry : ** Item, nine spoynes of silver, whereof vii gylte and
ii parcell-gylte." The same records contain fifty instances to the
same purpose : of these spoons the saint or other ornament on
the handle was the only part gilt. Thus, in Ben Jonson's
Alchemist :
** or changing
" His parcel-gilt to massy gold."
sc. I. KING HENRY IV. 55
chamber, at the round table, by a sea-coal fire, upon
Wednesday in Whitsun-week, when the prince
broke thy head for liking his father to a singing-
man ^ of Windsor ; thou didst swear to me then,
as I was washing thy wound, to marry me, and
make me my lady thy wife. Canst thou deny it ?
Did not goodwife Keech, the butcher's wife,^ come
in then, and call me gossip Quickly ? coming in to
borrow a mess of vinegar ; ^ telling us, she had a
Again, in Heywood's Siher Age^ 1613:
" I am little better than a parcel-gilt bawd."
Holinshed, describing the arrangement of Wolsey's plate,
says : " and in the council-chamber was all white, and
parcel-gilt plate." Steevens.
Langham, describing a bride-cup, says it was " foormed of
a sweet sucket barrell, a faire turn'd foot set too it, all seemly
besylvered and parcel gilt.** Again, in The XII merry lestes of
the Widdow Edyth :
" A standjmg cup with a cover parcell gilt.** Ritson.
Parcel-gilt means what is now called by artists party-gilt ;
that is, where part of the work is gilt, and part left plain or
ungilded. Ma lone.
' f or liking his father to a singing-man ] Such is the
reading of the first edition ; all the rest have -/or likening him
to a singing-man. The original edition is right; the Prince
might allow familiarities with himself, and yet very properly
break the knight's head when he ridiculed his father.
Johnson.
Liking is the reading of the quarto, 1600, and is better suited
to dame Quickly than likening^ the word substituted instead of
it, in the folio. Malone.
* goodwife Keech, the butcher* s tunfcy'] A Keech is the
fat of an ox rolled up by the butcher into a round lump.
Steevens.
' a mess of vinegar ;"] So, in Mucedorus:
" I tell you all the messes are on the table already,
" There wants not so much as a mess of mustard.**
Again, in an ancient interlude published by Rastel ; no title
or date :
" Ye mary sometjrme in a messe of vergesse.**
56 SECOND PART OF act n.
good dish of prawns ; whereby thou didst desire to
eat some ; whereby I told thee, they were ill for a
green wound ? And didst thou not, when she was
gone down stairs, desire me to be no more so fa-
miharity with such poor people ; saying, that ere
long they should call me madam ? And didst thou
not kiss me, and bid me fetch thee thirty shillings ?
I put thee now to thy book-oath ; deny it, if thou
canst.
Fal, My lord, this is a poor mad soul ; and she
says, up and down the town, that her eldest son is
like you: she hath been in good case, and, the truth
is, poverty hath distracted her. But for these foolish
officers, I beseech you, I may have redress against
them.
Ch. Just. Sir John, sir John, I am well ac-
quainted with your manner of wrenching the true
cause the false way. It is not a confident brow, nor
the throng of words that come with such more than
impudent sauciness from you, can thrust me from
a level consideration ; you have,* as it appears to
me, practised upon the easy-yielding spirit of this
woman, and made her serve your uses both in piurse
and person.
A mess seems to have been the common term for a small pro-
portion of any thing belonging to the kitchen. Steevens.
So the scriptural term : " a mess of pottage." Malone.
* you have, &c.] In the first quarto it is read thus:
You have, as it appears to me, practisd upon the easy-yielding
spirit of this xvoman, and made her serve your uses both in
purse and person. Without this, the following exhortation of
the Chief Justice is less proper. Johnson.
In the folio the words " and made her serve" &c. were
omitted. And in the subsequent speech " the villainy you have
done icith her," is improperly changed to " the vUIainy you
have done her," Malone.
sc, I, KING HENRY IV. SI
Host. Yea, in troth, my lord.
Ch. Just. Pr'ythee, peace : Pay her the debt
you owe her, and unpay the villainy you have done
with her ; the one you may do with sterling money,
and the other with current repentance.
Fal. My lord, I will not undergo this sneap^
without reply. You call honourable boldness, im-
pudent sauciness : if a man will make court' sy, and
say nothing, he is virtuous : No, my lord, my hum-
ble duty remembered, I will not be your suitor ;
I say to you, I do desire deliverance from these offi-
cers, being upon hasty employment in the king's
affairs. .
Ch. Just. You speak as having power to do
wrong : but answer in the effect of your reputation,^
and satisfy the poor woman.
Fal. Come hither, hostess. \_Tahing her aside.
* this sneap ] A Yorkshire word for rebuke. Pope.
Sneap signifies to check; as children easily sneaped ; herbs
and fruits sneaped with cold weather. See Ray's Collection.
Again, in Brome's Antipodes^ 1638 :
" Do you sneap me too, my lord ?"
Again :
** No need to come hither to be sneap'd.^*
Again :
*' even as now I was not,
" When you sneap*d me, my lord.'*
The word is derived from snyby Scotch. We still use snub
in the same sense. Steevens.
* answer in the effect of your reputationy'] That is,
answer in a manner suitable to your character. Johnson.
S8 SECOND PART OF act ii.
Enter Gower.
Ch. Just, Now, master Gower ; What news ?
Gow. The king, my lord, and Harry prince of
Wales,
Are near at hand : the rest the paper tells.
Fal, As I am a gentleman ;
Host, Nay, you said so before.
Fal, As I am a gentleman j Come, no more
words of it.
Host. By this heavenly ground I tread on, I must
be fain to pawn both my plate, and the tapestry of
my dining- chambers.
Fal. Glasses, glasses, is the only drinking i^ and
for thy walls, a pretty slight drollery, or the story
of the prodigal, or the German hunting in water-
work,^ is worth a thousand of these bed-hangings,'
' . / must be Jain to pawn my plate,
Glasses, glasses, is the only drinking :] Mrs. Quickly
is here in the same state as the Earl of Shrewsbury, who, not
having been paid for the diet, &c. of Mary Queen of Scots,
while she was in his custody, in 1580, writes as follows to
Thomas Bawdewyn : " I wold have you bye me glasses to drink
in : Send me word what olde plat yeldes the ounce, for I wyll
not leve me a cuppe of sylvare to drink in^ but I wyll see the
next terme my creditors payde." See Lodge's Illustrations of
English History^ Vol. II. p. 252. Steevens.
German hunting in water- work,] i. e. in water
colours. Warburton.
So, in Holinshed, p. 819: " The king for himself had a
house of timber, &c. and for his other lodgings he had great
and goodlie tents of blew waterwork garnished with yellow and
white." It appears also from the same Chronicle^ p. 840, that
these painted cloths were brought from Holland. The German
hunting was therefore a subject very likely to be adopted by the
artists of that country.
sc. /. KING HENRY IV. 59
and these fly-bitten tapestries. Let it be ten pound,
if thou canst. Come, an it were not for thy hu-
mours, there is not a better wench in England.
Go, wash thy face, and 'draw thy action : ^ Come,
thou must not be in this humour with me ; dost not
know me ? Come, come, I know thou wast set on
to this.
Host. Pray thee, sir John, let it be but twenty
nobles; i*faith I am loath to pawn my plate, in
good earnest, la.
Fal. Let it alone ; I'll make other shift : you'll
be a fool still.
Host. Well, you shall have it, though I pawn my
gown. I hope, you'll come to supper : You'll pay
me all together ?
Fal. Will I live ? Go, with her, with her ; [To
Bardolph.'^] hook on, hook on.
Drayton, in his ^th Eclogue, speaks contemptuously of such
hangings :
** Nor painted rags then cover'd rotten walls.**
Steevens.
The German hunting is, I suppose, hunting the voild boar.
Shakspeare, in another place, speaks of " a fuU-acorn'd boar, a
German one." Farmek.
^ these hed'hangingSf"] We should read dead hangings,
i. e. faded. Warburton.
I think the present reading may well stand. He recommends
painted canvas instead of tapestry, which he calls bed-hangings,
in contempt, as fitter to make curtains than to hang walls.
Johnson.
' *draw thi/ action .] Draiv means here tvithdraw.
M. Mason.
* To Bardolph.] In former editions the marginal direction
i To the Officers. Malo!IE.
I rather suspect that the words hook on, hook on, are addressed
to Bardolph f and mean, go you with her, hang upon her, and
60 SECOND PART OF act ii.
Host. "Will you have Doll Tear-sheet meet you
at supper ?
Fal. No more words ; let's have her.
\^Ea:eunt Hostess, Bardolph, Officers,
and Page,
Ch. Just. I have heard better news.
Fal. What's the news, my good lord ?
Ch. Just. Where lay the king last night ?
Gow. At Basingstoke,^ my lord.
Fal. I hope, my lord, all's well: What's the
news, my lord ?
Ch. Just.^ Come all his forces back ?
Gow. No; fifteen hundred foot, five hundred
horse.
Are march' d up to my lord of Lancaster,
Against Northumberland, and the archbishop.
Fal. Comes the king back from Wales, my no-
ble lord ? if,
Ch. Just. You shall have letters of me presently:
Come, go along with me, good master Gower.
Fal. My lord !
Ch. Just. What's the matter ?
Fal. Master Gower, shall I entreat you with me
to dinner ?
Gow. I must wait upon my good lord here : I
thank you, good sir John.
keep her in the same humour. In this sense the expression is
used in The Guardian, by Massinger :
" Hook on ; follow him, harpies." Steevens.
' At Basingstoke,] The quarto reads, At Billingsgate. The
players set down the name of the place which was the most fa-
miliar to them. Steevens.
sc. IL KING HENRY IV. 61
Ch. Just. Sir John, you loiter here too long,
being you are to take soldiers up in counties as you
go.
Fal. Will you sup with me, master Gower ?
Ch. Just. What foolish master taught you these
manners, sir John ?
Fal. Master Gower, ifthey become me not, he
was a fool that taught them me. This is the right
fencing grace, my lord; tap for tap, and so part
fair.
Ch. Just. Now the Lord lighten thee ! thou art
a great fool. [^Fa^eunt.
SCENE II.
The same. Another Street*
Enter Prince Henry and Poms.
P. Hen. Trust me, I am exceeding weary.
PojNS. Is it come to that? I had thought,
weariness durst not have attached one of so high
blood.
P. Hen. 'Faith, it does me ; though it discolours
the complexion of my greatness to acknowledge it.
Doth it not show vilely in me, to desire small beer?
PoiNS. Why, a prince should not be so loosely
studied, as to remember so weak a composition.
P. Hen. Belike then, my appetite was not princely
got ; for, by my troth, I do now remember the poor
creature, small beer. But, indeed, these humble
considerations make me out of love with my great-
ness. What a disgrace is it to me, to remember
62 SECOND PART OF act ii.
thy name ? or to know thy face to-morrow ? or to
take note how many pair of silk stockings thou
hast ; viz. these, and those that were the peach-
colour'd ones ? or to bear the inventory of thy
shirts ; as, one for superfluity, and one other for
use? ^but that, the tennis-court-keeper knows
better than I ; for it is a low ebb of linen with
thee, when thou keepest not racket there ; as thou
hast not done a great while, because the rest of thy
low-countries have made a shift to eat up thy hol-
land : and God knows,* whether those that bawl
put the ruins of thy linen, ^ shall inherit his king-
* and God kn<yu)s, &c.] This passage Mr. Pope restored
from the first edition. I think it may as well be omitted. It is
omitted in the first fialio, and in all subsequent editions before
Mr. Pope's, and was perhaps expunged by the author. The
editors, unwilling to lose any thing of Shakspeare's, not only
insert what he has added, but recall what he has rejected.
Johnson.
I have not met with positive evidence that Shakspeare rejected
any passages whatever. Such proof may indeed be inferred from
the quartos which were published in his life-time, and are de-
clared (in their titles) to have been enlarged and corrected by
his own hand. These I would follow, in preference to the folio,
and should at all times be cautious of opposing its authority to
that of the elder copies. Of the play in question, there is no
quarto extant but that in 1600, and therefore we are unautho-
rized to assert that a single passage was omitted by consent of
the poet himself. I do not think I have a right to expunge what
Shakspeare should seem to have written, on the bare authority
of the player-editors. I have therefore restored the passage in
question to the text. Steevens.
This and many other similar passages were undoubtedly struck
out of the playhouse copies by the Master of the Revels.
Malone.
* that bmol out the ruins of thy linen^'] I suspect we
should read that havol out of the ruins of thy linen ; i. e. his
bastard children, wrapt up in his old shirts. The subsequent
words confirm this emendation. The latter part of this speech,
* and God knows,** &c. is omitted in the folio. Malone.
8C, IL KING HENRY IV. 65
dom : but the midwives say, the children are not in
the fault; whereupon the world increases, and
kindreds are mightily strengthened.
PoiNS. How ill it follows, after you have laboured
so hard, you should talk so idly ? Tell me, how
many good young princes would do so, their fathers
being so sick as yours at this time is ?
P. Hen. Shall I tell thee one thing, Poins ?
PoiNS. Yes; and let it be an excellent good
thing.
P. Hen. It shall serve among wits of no higher
breeding than thine.
Poins. Go to ; I stand the push of your one
thing that you will tell.
P. Hen. Why, I tell thee, it is not meet that I
should be sad, now my father is sick : albeit I could
tell to thee, (as to one it pleases me, for fault of a
better, to call my friend,) I could be sad, and sad
indeed too.
Poins. Very hardly, upon such a subject.
P. Hen. By this hand, thou think' st me as far in
the devil's book, as thou, and FalstafF, for obduracy
and persistency : Let the end try the man. But I
tell thee, my heart bleeds inwardly, that my father
is so sick : and keeping such vile company as thou
art, hath in reason taken from me all ostentation of
sorrow.^
** Out the ruins" is the same as " out of** &c. Of this ellip-
tical phraseology I have seen instances, though I omitted to note
them. Steevens.
ali ostentation of sorrow."] Ostentation is here liot
boastful show, but simply show. Merchant of Venice .
" one well studied in a sad ostent
*' To please his grandame." Johnson.
64 SECOND PART OF act n.
PoiNS. The reason ?
P. Hen. What would'st thou think of me, if I
should weep ?
PoiNS. I would think thee a most princely hypo-
crite.
P. Hen. It would be every man's thought : and
thou art a blessed fellow, to think as every man
thinks ; never a man's thought in the world keeps
the road- way better than thine : every man would
think me an hypocrite indeed. And what accites
your most worshipful thought, to think so ?
PoiNS. Why, because you have been so lewd,
and so much engraffed to Falstaff.
P. Hen. And to thee.
PoiNS. By this light, I am well spoken of, I can
hear it with my own ears : the worst that they can
say of me is, that I am a second brother, and that I
am a proper fellow of my hands ; ^ and those two
things, I confess, I cannot help. By the mass, here
comes Bardolph.
P. Hen. And the boy that I gave Falstaff: he
had him from me christian ; and look, if the fat
villain have not transformed him ape.
^ proper Jelloxv of my hands ;] A tall or proper fellow
of his hands, was a stout fighting man. Johnson.
In this place, however, it means a good looking, well made,
personable man. Poins might certainly have helped his being a
fighting fellow. Ritson.
A handsome fellow of my size; or of my inches, as we should
now express it. M. Mason.
Proper, it has been already observed, in our author's time,
signified handsome. See Vol. VI. p. 74-, n. 8 ; and Vol. VII.
p. 248, n. 1. As tall a man of his hands" has already
occurred in The Merry Wives of Windsor. See Vol. V. p. 50,
n. 4. Malone.
sc, II. KING HENRY IV. 65
Enter Bardolph and Page.
Baud. *Save your grace !
P. Hej!^. And yours, most noble Bardolph !
Bard. Come, you virtuous ass,^ [To the Page.]
you bashful fool, must you be blushing ? wherefore
blush you now ? What a maidenly man at arms are
you become ? Is it such a matter, to get a pottle-
pot's maidenhead? F^f
Page. He called me even now, my lord, through
a red lattice,^ and I could discern no part of his
face from the window : at last, I spied his eyes ;
and, methought, he had made two holes in the ale-
wife's new petticoat, and peeped through.
P. Hen. Hath not the boy profited ?
Bard. Away, you whoreson upright rabbit, away!
Page. Away, you rascally Althea's dream, away!
P. Hen. Instruct us, boy : What dream, boy ?
Page. Marry, my lord, Althea dreamed she was
delivered of a fire-brand j * and therefore I call him
her dream.
Bard. Corner you virtuous ass^ &c.] Though all the editions
give this speech to Poins, it seems evident, by the Page's im-
mediate reply, that it must be placed to Bardolph : for Bardolph
had called to the boy from an ale-house, and it is likely, made
him half-drunk; and, the boy being ashamed of it, it is natural
for Bardolph, a bold unbred fellow, to banter him on his auk-
ward bashfulness. Theobald.
' through a red latticcy'] i. e. from an ale-house window.
See Vol. V. p. 83, n. 4. Malone.
' Althea dreamed &.] Shakspeare is here mistaken
in his mythology, and has confounded Althea*s firebrand with
Hecuba's. The firebrand of Althea was real: but Hecuba,
when she was big with Paris, dreamed that she was delivered of
a firebrand that consumed the kingdom. Johnson.
VOL. XII. P
66 SECOND PART OF act il
P. Hen, a crown's worth of good interpreta-
tion.* There it is, boy. [^Gives him money,
PoiNS. O, that this good blossom could be kept
from cankers ! Well, there is sixpence to preserve
thee.
Bard. An you do not make him be hanged
among you, the gallows shall have wrong.
P. Hen. And how doth thy master, Bardolph ?
Bard. Well, my lord. He heard of your grace's
coming to town ; there's a letter for you.
PoiNS. Delivered with good respect. And how
doth the martlemas, your master?^
Bard. In bodily health, sir.
PoiNS, Marry, the immortal part needs a phy-
sician : but that moves not him ; though that be
sick, it dies not.
P. Hen. I do allow this wen* to be as familiar
with me as my dog : and he holds his place ; for,
look you, how he writes.
PojNS. \^Reads.2 John Falstaff, knight,
' A cro'wn's tvortk of good interpretation.'] A Pennyworth of
good Interpretation^ is, if I remember right, the title of some
old tract. Malone.
' the martlemas, your master?"} That is, the autumn,
or rather the latter spring. The old fellow with juvenile passions.
Johnson.
In The First Part of King Henry IV. the Prince calls FalstafF
" the latter spring, all-haflown summer." Malone.
Martlemas is corrupted from Martinmasy the feast of St.
Martin, the eleventh of November. The corruption is general
\u the old plays. So, in The Pinner of Wakefield, 1599:
** A piece of beef hung up since Martlemas.**
Steevens.
* ..I. this wen] This swoln excrescence of a man,
Johnson.
sc, it: king henry IV. 6^
Every man must know that, as oft as he has occasion
to name himself. Even like those that are kin to
the king ; for they never prick their finger, but
they say, There is some of the king*s blood spilt :
How comes that ? says he, that takes upon him not
to conceive : the answer is as ready as a borrower's
cap ;^ I am the king's poor cousiit, sir,
P. Hen. Nay, they will be kin to us, or they
will fetch it from Japhet. But the letter :
PoiNs. Sir John FalstafF, knight, to the son of
the king, nearest his father, Harri/ prince of Wales,
greeting, Why, this is a certificate.
P,Hen.^ Peace!
* the ansrver is as ready as a borrower's cop;] Old
copy a borrowed cap. Steevens.
But how is a borrowed cap so ready ? Read, a borrower's cap,
and then there is some humour in it : for a man that goes to
borrow money, is of all others the most complaisant ; his cap is
always at hand. Warburton.
FalstafPs followers, when they stole any thing, called it a pur-
chase. A borrowed cap, in the same dialect, might be a stolen
one ; which is sufficiently ready, being, as FalstafF says, " to be
found on every hedge." Malone.
Such caps as were worn by men in our author's age, were
made of silk, velvet, or woollen; not of linen ; and consequently
would not be hung out to dry on hedges. Steevens.
I think Dr. Warburton's correction is right. A cap is not a
thing likely to be borrowed, in the common sense of the word :
and in the sense of stealing the sense should be a cap to be bor-
rowed. Besides, conveying was the cant phrase for stealing.
Farmer.
Dr. Warburton's emendation is countenanced by a passage in
Timon of Athens :
** be not ceas'd
" With slight denial ; nor then silenc'd, when
" Commend me to your master and the cap
" Plays in the right hand, thus : ." Steevens.
* P. Hen.'] All the editors, except Sir Thomas Hanmer, have
f2
68 SECOND PART OF act ii.
PoiNS. / 'will imitate the honourable Ronmn in
brevity :'^ he sure means brevity in breath ; short-
winded. / commend me to thee, I commend thee,
and I leave thee. Be not too familiar with Poins ',Jbr
he misuses thy favours so much, that he swears, thou
art to marry his sister Nell. Repent at idle times
as thou may* St, and so farewell.
Thine, by yea and no, (which is as
much as to say, as thou usest him, J
Jack FalstafF, with my familiars ;
John, with my brothers and sisters ;
and sir John with all Europe.
My lord, I will steep this letter in sack, and make
him eat it.
P. Hen^. That's to make him eat twenty of his
words.^ But do you use me thus, Ned ? must I
marry your sister ?
left this letter in confusion, making the Prince read part, and
Poins part. I have followed his correction. Johnson.
' I imllimitate the honourable Roman in brevity:'} The old
copy reads Romans^ which Dr. Warburton very properly cor-
rected, though he is wrong when he appropriates the character
to M. Brutus, who affected great brevity of style. I suppose
by the honourable Roman is intended Julius Caesar, whose veniy
vidiy viciy seems to be alluded to in the beginning of the letter,
I commend me to thee^ 1 commend thee, and I leave thee. The
very words of Csesar are afterwards quoted by Falstaff.
Heath.
' That's to make him eat twenty of his tvords."] Why just
twenty, when the letter contained above eight times twenty ?
We should read plenty; and in this word the joke, as slender
as it is, consists. Warburton.
It is not surely uncommon to put a certain number for an un-
certain one. Thus, in The Tempest, Miranda talks of playing
** for a score of kingdoms." Busby, in King Richard II. ob-
serves, that " each substance of a grief has twenty shadows.'*
In Julius Ccesar, Csesar says that the slave's hand " did bum
like twenty torches.'* In King Lear we meet with " tuienty
silly duckmg observants,'* and " not a nose among twenty**
sc. m. KING HENRY IV.^ ^
^ PoiNS. May the wench have no worse fortune !
but I never said so. ;/
P. Hen. Well, thus we play the fools with the
time ; and the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds,
and mock us. Is your master here in London?
. Bard. Yes, my lord.
P. Hen. Where sups he ? doth the old boar fee4
in the old frank ?^ - yod ^ / i^y .V:
Barb. At the old place, my lord; in Eastcheap.
P. Hen. What company? ' - ' '
Page. Ephesians,^ my lord; bfWe dd tliurth.
P. Hen. Sup any women wath him ?
Page. None, my lord, but old mistress Quickly,
and mistress Doll Tear-sheet.^ '^ ^ "L-^cs'-' -^.
P. Hen, What pagan may that be ?^ ^ '^
Robert Green, the pamphleteer, indeed, obliged an apparitor
lo eat his citation, wax and all. In the play of Sir John Oldcastle^
the Sumner is compelled to do the like ; and says on the occa-
sion, " I'll eat my ivord." Harpoole replies, " I meane you
shall eat more than your own wordf I'll make y<fa eate all the
tcorcfe'in the processe.'* Steevens. > ri^^ iui .'ir.'Au)
5 frankfli Frank is sty. Pope.' ' "'"'^1'^ ^^^^^ '"'''
"' EphesianSf'] Ephesian was a term in the cant of these tiiftes,
of which 1 know not the precise notion : it was, perhaps, a toper.
So, the Host, in The Merry Wives of Windsor : " It is. thine
host, thine Ephesian calls." Johnson.
* Doll Tear-sheet.'} Shakspeare might have taken the
hint for this name from the following passage in The Playe of
Robyn Hoodcy very proper to be played in Maye GameSy bl. I.
no dlate :
" She is a trul of trust, to serve a frier at his lust,
" A prycker, a prauncer, a terer of shetes" &c.
Steevens.
' What pagan may that be?1 Pagan seems to have been a
pant term, implying irregularity either of birth or manners.
70 SECOND PART OF act ii.
Page, A proper gentlewoman, sir, and a kins-
woman of my master's.
P. Hen. Even such kin, as the parish heifers are
to the town bull. Shall we steal upon them, Ned,
at supper ? ri&
PoiNS. I am your shadow, my lord ; I'll follow
you.
P. Hen. Sirrah, you boy, and Bardolph ; no
word to your master, that I am yet come to town :
There's for your silence.
Bard. I have no tongue, sir.
Page. And for mine, sir, I will govern it.
P. Hen. Fare ye well; go. \^Ea^eunt Bardolph.
and Page.] This Doll Tear-sheet should be some
road.
PoiNS. I warrant you, as common as the way be-
tween Saint Alban's and London.
,v P. Hen. How might we see Falstaff bestow him-
self to-night in his true colours, and not ourselves
be seen?
PoiNS. Put on two leather jerkins,* and aprons,
and wait upon him at his table as drawers.
So, in The Captain^ a comedy, by Beaumont and Fletcher :
* Three little children, one of them was mine ;
m(_ ** Upon my conscience the other two were pagans."
in The City Madam of Massinger it is used (as here) for a
prostitute :
" in all these places
" I've had my several Pagans billeted." Steevens.
* Put on two leather jerkins f"] This was a plot very unlikely
to succeed where the Prince and the drawers were all known ;
but it produces merriment, which our author found more useful
than probability. Johnson.
Johnson forgets that all the family were in the secret, except
Falstaff; and that the Prince and Poins were disguised.
M. Mason.
sc. Ill, KING HENRY IV. . 71
: P. Hen. From a god to a buU ? a heavy descen-
slon!^ it was Jove's case. From a prince to a
prentice? alow transformation! that shall be mine:
for, in every thing, the purpose must weigh with
the folly. loUow me, Ned. \_Exeunt.
SCENE III.
Warkworth. Before the Castle,
Enter Northumberland, Lady Northumber-
land, and Lady Percy.
North. I pray thee, loving wife, and gentle
daughter.
Give even way unto my rough affairs :
Put not you on the visage or the times.
And be, like them, to Percy troublesome.
But how does this circumstance meet with Dr. Johnson's ob-
jection ? The improbability arises from FalstafPs being perfectly
well acquainted with all the waiters in the house ; and however
disguised the Prince and Poins might be, or whatever aid they
might derive from the landlord and his servants, they could not
in fact pass for the old attendants, with whose person, voice,
and manner, FalstafF was well acquainted. Accordingly he dis-
covers the Prince as soon as ever he speaks. However, Shak-
speare's chief object was to gain an opportunity for Falstaff to
abuse the Prince and Poins, while they remain at the back part
of the stage in their disguises: a, jeu de theatre which he prac-
tised in other plays, and which always gains applause.
Malone.
* d heavy descension !] Descension is the reading of the
first edition.
Mr. Upton proposes that we should read thus by transposition :
From a god to a bull? a loxu transformation ! from a prince
to a prentice ? a heavy declension ! This reading is elegant, and
perhaps right. Johnson.
The folio reads declension. Malone.
n SECOND PART OF act ir.
Lady N. I have given over, I will speak no more :
Do what you will ; your wisdom be your guide.
North. Alas, sweet wife, my honour is at pawn ;
And, but my going, nothing can redeem it.
Lady P. O, yet, for God*s sake, go not to these
wars!
The time was, father, that you broke your word,
AVhen you were more endear' d to it than now ;
When your own Percy, when my heart's dear Harry,
Threw many a northward look, to see his father
Bring up his powers ; but he did long in vain,* t
Who then persuaded you to stay at home ?
There were two honours lost; yours, and your son's.
For yours, may heavenly glory brighten it !
For his, it stuck upon him, as the sun
In the grey vault of heaven :'^ and, by his light,
Did all the chivalry of England move
To do brave acts ; he was, indeed, the glass
Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves.
He had no legs,^ that practis'd not his gait;
* Thrextt many a northward looky to see his father
Bring up his potuers ; but he did long in vain."] Mr. Theo-
bald very elegantly conjectures that the poet wrote,
bui he did look in vain,
Statius, in the tenth Book of his Thebaidy has the same
thought :
** frustra de coUe Lycaei
*' Anxia prospectas, si quis per nubila longe
. ^ " Aut sonus, aut nostro sublatus ab agmine pulvls.'*
* > Steevens.
' In the grey vault of heaven .] So, in one of our author's
poems to his mistress :
" And truly, not the morning sun of heaven
** Better becomes the grey cheeks of the east," &c.
Steevens.
' He had no legSy &C.3 The twenty-two following lines arc
of those added by Shakspeare after his first edition. Pope.
They were first printed in the folio, 1623. Malone.
sc. Ill, KING HENRY IV. 73
And speaking thick, which nature made his blemish,
Became the accents of the vaHant ;^
For those that could speak low, and tardily,
Would turn their own perfection to abuse.
To seem like him : So that, in speech, in gait,
In diet, in affections of delight,
In military rules, humours of blood.
He was the mark and glass, copy and book.
That fashioned others.^ And him, O wondrous
O miracle of men ! ^him did you leave,^ ; . , ,
(Second to none, unseconded by you,)^ W - 17;
To look upon the hideous god of war
In disadvantage ; to abide a field.
Where nothing but the sound of Hotspur's name
Did seem defensible :^- so you left him : i^ i
^ And speaking thick, 'which nature made his blemish.
Became the accents of the valiant ;] Speaking thick- is,
peaking fasty crouding one word on another. So, in Cym-
oeline : 11C7 i
"say, and speak thick, .^-j...
** Love's counsellor should fill the bores of hearing .'*
<* Became the accents of the valiant" is, " came to be affected
by them," a sense which (as Mr. M. Mason observes) is con-
firmed by the lines immediately succeeding :
" For those that could speak low, and tardily,
** Would turn their own perfection to abuse,
* To seem like him : ."
The opposition designed by the adverb tardily, also serves ta
support my explanation of the epithet thick. Steevens.
' He xvas the mark and glass, copy and book,
ThatJashion*d others."] So, in our author's Rape ofLucrece,
1594- :
** For princes are the glass, the school, the book,
** Where subjects' eyes do learn, do read, do look."
Malone.
* Did seem defensible :] Defensible does not in this place
mean capable of defence, but bearing strength, Jurnishing the
means of defence ;'~^\hG passive for the active participle. *
Malone.'
74 SECOND PART OF act ii.
Never, O never, do his ghost the wrong.
To hold your honour more precise and nice
With others, than with him ; let them alone ;
The marshal, and the archbishop, are strong :
Had my sweet Harry had but half their numbers.
To-day might I, hanging on Hotspur's neck.
Have talk'd of Monmouth's grave.
North. Beshrew your heart.
Fair daughter ! you do draw my spirits from me.
With new lamenting ancient oversights.
But I must go, and meet with danger there ;
Or it will seek me in another place.
And find me worse provided.
Lady N, O, fly to Scotland,
Till that the nobles, and the armed commons.
Have of their puissance made a little taste.
Lady P. If they get ground and vantage of the
king.
Then join you with them, like a rib of steel.
To make strength stronger ; but, for all our loves.
First let them try themselves : So did your son ;
He was so suffer' d ; so came I a widow ;
And never shall have length of life enough.
To rain upon remembrance ^ with mine eyes.
That it may grow and sprout as high as heaven.
For recordation to my noble husband.
^-* To rain upon remembrance ] Alluding to the plant rose-
vnary^ so called, and used in funerals.
Thus, in The Winter's Tale :
* For you there's rosemary and rue, these keep
*' Seeming and savour all the winter long :
" Grace and remembrance be to you both," &c.
For as rue was called herb ojgrace^ from its being used in exor-
cisms ; so rosemary was called remembrance^ from its being a
cephalick. Warburton.
sc, IV. KING HENRY IV. 75
North. Come, come, go in with me : 'tis with
my mind.
As with the tide swell'd up unto its height.
That makes a still-stan^d, running neither way.
Fain would I go to meet the archbishop.
But many thousand reasons hold me back :
I will resolve for Scotland ; there am I,
Till time and vantage crave my company. [^Ea^eunt.
SCENE IV.
London. A Room in the Boar*s Head Tavern, in
Eastcheap.
Enter Two Drawers.
1 Draw. What the devil hast thou brought there ?
applfe- Johns ? thou know'st, sir John cannot endure
an apple- John.*
2 Draw. Mass, thou sayest true : The prince once
set a dish of apple-Johns before him, and told him,
there were five more sir Johns : and, putting off his
* an apple-John.] So, in The Ball, by Chapman and
Shirley, 1639:
" thy man, Apple-John, that looks
" As he had been a sennight in the straw,
" A ripening for the market."
This apple will keep two years, but becomes very wrinkled
and shrivelled. It is called by the French, Deux-ans. Thus,
Cogan, in his Haven of Health, 1595 : " The best apples that
we have in England are pepins, deusants, costards, darlings, and
such other." Again, among instructions given in the year 1580
to some of our navigators, " for banketting on shipboard persons
of credite," we meet with " the apple John that dureth two
yeares, to make shew of our fruits." See Hackluyt, Vol. I.
p. 441. Stekvens.
V6 SFXOND PART OF act n.
hat, said, / will now take my leave of these six dry,
round, old, xvitfiered knights. It angered him to the
heart ; but he hath forgot that.
1 Draw, Why then, cover, and set them down :
And see if thou canst find out Sneak's noise ; ^ mis-
tress Tear-sheet would fain hear some musick.
Despatch : ^ The room where they supped, is too
hot ; they'll come in straight.
2 Draw, Sirrah, here will be the prince, and
master Poins anon : and they will put on two of our
, * Sneak's noise;'] Sneak was a street minstrel, and
therefore the drawer goes out to listen if he can hear him in the
neighbourhood. Johnson.
A noise of miisicians anciently signified a concert or company
of them. In the old play of Henri/ V. (not that of Shakspeare)
there is this passage: " there came the young prince, and
two or three more of his companions, and called for wine good
store, and then they sent for a noyse of musitians,^* &c.
Falstaff addresses them as a company in another scene of this
play. So again, in Westward Hoe^ by Decker and Webster,
1607 : " All the noise that went with him, poor fellows, have
had their fiddle-cases pulled over their ears."
Again, in The Blind Beggar of Alexandria^ a comedy,
printed 1598, the Count says : " O that we had a noise of mU'
sicians, to play to this antick as we go."
Heywood, in his Iron Age^ 1632, has taken two expressions
from these plays of Henry IV. and put them into the mouth of
Thersites addressing himself to Achilles :
*' Where's this great sword and buckler man of Greece ?
" We shall have him in one of Sneak's noise,
" And come peaking into the tents of the Greeks,
" With, ^will you have any musick, gentlemen ?"
Among Ben Jonson's Leges convivales is
** Fidicen, nisi accersitus, non venito." Steevens.
* Despatch : &c.] This period is from the first edition.
Pope*
These words, which are not in the folio, are in the quarto
given to the second drawer. Mr. Pope rightly attributed them
to the first. M alone.
sc. IV. KING HENRY IV. 77
jerkins, and aprons ; and sir John must not know
of it : Bardolph hath brought word.
1 Draw, By the mass, here will be old utis -J It
will be an excellent stratagem.
2 Draw, I'll see, if I can find out Sneak. [jE^r/V.
Enter Hostess and Doll Tear-sheet.
Host. I'faith, sweet heart, methinks now you
are in an excellent good temperality : your pulsidge
' here will he old utis:] Utis, an old word yet in use
in some counties, signifying a merry festival, from the French
huity octo, ab A. S. Gahra, Octaves Jesti alicujtcs, Skinner.
Pope.
Skinner's explanation of utis (or utas) may be confirmed by
the following passage from T. M.'s Life of Sir Thomas More :
** to-morrow is St. Thomas of Canterbury's eeve, and the
utas of St. Peter .'* The eve of Thomas a Becket, according
to the new stile, happens on the 6th of July, and St. Peter's
day on the 29th of June.
Again, in A Contention between Liberality and Prodigalityy a
comedy, 1602:
** Then if you please, with some roysting harmony,
" Let us begin the utas of our ioUitie." Henley.
Old, in this place, does not mean ancient, but was formerly
a common augmentative in colloquial language. Old Utis
signifies festivity in a great degree.
So, in Lingua, 1607 :
** there's old moving among them.'*
Again, in Decker's comedy, called, If this be not a good
Play the Devil is in it, 1612 :
" We shall have old breaking of necks then."
Again, in Soliman and Perseda, 1599:
" I shall have old laughing."
Again, in Arden of Feversham, 1592:
" Here will be old filching, when the press comes out of
Paul's." Steevens.
See Vol. IX. p. lO*, n. 4. Malone.
78 SECOND PART OF act ii,
beats' as extraordinarily as heart would desire ; and
your colour, I warrant you, is as red as any rose :
But, i*faith, you have drunk too much canaries ;
and that's a marvellous searching wine, and it per-
fumes the blood ^ ere one can say, What's this ?
How do you now ?
DoL. Better than I was. Hem.
Host. Why, that's well said; a good heart's
worth gold. Look, here comes sir John.
Enter Falstaff, singing,
Fal. When Arthur first in court^ Empty the
Jordan. And was a worthy king : \^Ej:it Drawer.]
How now, mistress Doll ?
Host. Sick of a calm :^ yea, good sooth.
* 1/our pulsidge beats &c.] One would almost regard
this speech as a burlesque on the following passage in the inter-
lude called The Repentance of Mary Magdalene ^ 1567. Inji-
delity says to Mary :
" Let me fele your poulses, mistresse Mary, be you sicke ?
" By my troth in as good tempre as any woman can be :
" Your vaines are as full of blood, lusty and quicke,
" In better taking truly I did you never see."
Steevens.
^ a marvellous searching luiney and it perfumes the
blood ] The same phraseology is seriously used by Arthur
Hall, in his translation of the first Iliady 4". 1581 :
" good Chrise with wine so red
" The aulter throughly doth perfume : ** Steevens.
' When Arthur first in court ] The entire ballad is pub-
lished in the first volume of Dr. Percy's Reliques of ancient
English Poetry. Steevens.
The words in the ballad are
" When Arthur first in court began^
" And was approved king." Malone.
' Sick of a cahn :] I suppose she means to say of a qualm.
Steevens.
sc. IV. KING HENRY IV. 79
Fal. So is aU her sect ; ^ an they be once in a
calm, they are sick.
DoL. You muddy rascal, is that all the comfort
you give me ?
Fal. You make fat rascals,* mistress Doll.
^ So is all her sect ;] I know not why sect is printed in all
the copies ; I believe sex is meant. Johnson.
Sect is, I believe, right. FalstafF may mean all of her pro-
fession. In Mother BombiCy a comedy, 1594, the word is fre-
quently used :
" Sit. I am none of that sect.
" Can. Thy loving sect is an ancient sect, and an honour-
able," &c.
Since the foregoing quotation was given, I have found sect so
often printed for sex in the old plays, that I suppose these words
were anciently synonymous. Thus, in Marston's Insatiate
Countess , 1613:
" Deceives our sect of fame and chastity."
Again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Valentinian :
** Modesty was made
** When she was first intended : when she blushes
" It is the holiest thing to look upon,
" The purest temple of her secty that ever
** Made nature a blest founder."
Again, in Whetstone's Arbour of Vertue^ 1576:
" Who, for that these barons so wrought a slaunder to
her secty
* Their foolish, rash, and judgment false, she sharplie
did detect." Steevens.
In Middleton's Mad World my Masters, 1608, (as Dr.
Farmer has elsewhere observed, ) a courtezan says, *' it is the
easiest art and cunning for our sect to counterfeit sick, that are
always full of fits, when wp are well." I have therefore no
doubt that sect was licentiously used by our author, and his
contemporaries, for sex. Malone.
I believe sect is here used in its usual sense, and not for sex.
FalstafF means to say, that all courtezans, when their trade is at
a stand, are apt to be sick. Douce.
* You make fat rascals,] FalstafF alludes to a phrase of the
forest. Lean deer are called rascal deer. He tells her she calls
him wrong, being fat he cannot be a rascal. JohnsoK.
80 SECOND PART OF act ii,
DoL. I make them ! gluttony and diseases make
them ; I make them not.
Fal. If the cook help to make the gluttony, you
help to make the diseases, Doll : we catch of you,
Doll, we catch of you ; grant that, my poor virtue,
grant that.
DoL. Ay, marry, our chains, and our jewels.
Fal. Your brooches^ pearls, and owches ;^ ^for
So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of the Burning
Pestle : " The heavy hart, the blowing buck, the rascal^ and
the pricket."
Again, in The Tvoo angry Women ofAbington, 1599:
" What take you ? Deer. You'll ne'er strike rascal?'*
Again, in Quarles's Virgin WidoxK., 1656 :
*' and have known a rascal from a fat deer."
** Rascally (says Puttenham, p. 150,) is properly the hunting
terme given to young deere, leane and out of season, and not to
people." Steevens.
To grow fat and bloated is one of the consequences of the
venereal disease ; and to that FalstafF probably alludes. There
are other allusions, in the following speeches, to the same dis-
order. M. Mason.
* Your brooches, pearls^ and owches ;] Brooches were
chains of gold that women wore formerly about their necks.
Owches were bosses of gold set with diamonds. Pope.
I believe FalstafF gives these splendid names as we give that
of carbuncle, to something very different from gems and orna-
ments : but the passage deserves not a laborious research.
Johnson.
Brooches were, literally, clasps, or buckles, ornamented with
gems. See Vol. VII. p. 189, n. 5, and also note on Antony and
Cleopatra, Act IV. sc. xiii.
Mr. Pope has rightly interpreted oxvches in their original sense.
So, in Nash's Lenten Stuff, &c. 1599: " three scarfs,
bracelets, chains, and oumes." It appears likewise from a
passage in the ancient satire called Cocke Lorelles Bote, printed
by Wynkyn de Worde, that the makers of these ornaments
were called otvchers :
" Owchers, sk5mners, and cutlers."
Dugdale, p. 234, in his Account of the Will of T. de Beau-
champ, Earl of Warwick, in the time of Edward III. says :
scir. KING HENRY IV. 81
to serve bravely, is to come halting off, you know ;
To come off the breach with his pike bent bravely,
and to surgery bravely ; to venture upon the charged
chambers^ bravely : . -
" His jewels be thus disposed : to his daughter Stafford, an
ouche called the eagle, which the prince gave him; to his
daughter Alice, his next best ouche.**
With brooches, ringSf and ovoches, is, however, a line in the
ancient ballad of The Boy and the Mantle, See Percy's
Reliques, &c. 4th edit. Vol. III. p. 34-1. Dr. Johnson's con-
jecture may be supported by a passage in The IVidmu's Tears^ a
comedy, by Chapman, 1612:
" As many aches in his bones, as there are ouches
in his skin."
Again, in The Duke*s Mistress, by Shirley, 1638, Valerio,
speaking of a lady's nose, says :
" It has a comely length, and is well studded
" With gems of price ; the goldsmith would give money
for't." Steevens.
It appears from Stubbes's Anatomic of Abuses, 1595, that
otoches were worn by women in their hair in Shakspeare's time.
Dr. Johnson's conjecture, however, may be supported by the
following passage in Maroccus Exstaticus, 1595: " Let him pass
for a churle, and wear his mistress's favours, viz. rubies and
precious stones, on his nose, &c. and this et cetera shall, if you
will, be the perfectest p that ever grew in Shoreditch or
Southwarke." Malone.
* the charged chambers ] To understand this quibble,
it is necessary to say, that a chamber signifies not only an apart-
ment, but a piece of ordnance.
So, in The Fleire, a comedy, 1610: " ^he has taught my
ladies to make fireworks ; they can deal in chambers already, as
well as all the gunners that make them fly off with a train at
Lambeth, when the mayor and aldermen land at Westminster.'*
Again, in The Puritan, 1605 : " only your chambers are
licensed to play upon you, and drabs enow to give fire to them."
A chamber is likewise that part in a mine where the powder
is lodged. Steevens.
Chambers are very small pieces of ordnance which are yet
used in London on what are called rejoicing days, and were
sometime]? sed in our author's theatre on particular occasions.
See King Henry VIII. Act I. sc. iii. Malone.
VOL. XII. 6
82 SECOND PART OF act u.
: DoL. Hang yourself, you muddy conger, hang
yourself!
Host. By my troth, this is the old fashion ; you
two never meet, but you fall to some discord : you
are both, in good troth, as rheumatick'' as two dry
toasts ; * you cannot one bear with another's con-
firmities. What the good-year 1' one must bear,
and that must be you : \^To Doll.] you are the
weaker vessel, as they say, the emptier vessel.
DoL, Can a weak empty vessel bear such a huge
full hogshead ? there's a whole merchant's venture
of Bourdeaux stuff in him ; you have not seen a
hulk better stuffed in the hold. Come, I'll be
friends with thee. Jack: thou art going to the wars ;
and whether I shall ever see thee again, or no, there
is nobody cares.
.. ' rheumatick ] She would say splenetick. Hanmer.
I believe she means what she says. So, in Ben Jonson*s Every
Man in his Humour :
** Cob. Why I have my rewmCy and can be angry.**
Again, in our author's King Henry V : " He did in some sort
handle women ; but then he was rheumaticky* &c.
Rheumatick, in the cant language of the times, signified
capricious, humoursome. In this sense it appears to be used in
many other old plays. Steevens.
The word scorbutica (as an ingenious friend observes to me)
is used in the same manner in Italian, to signify a peevish ill-
tempered man. Ma lone.
Dr. Farmer observes, that Sir Thomas Elyott, in his Castell of
Helthy 1572, speaking of different complexions, has the follow-
ing remark : " Where cold with moisture prevaileth, that body
is csiXed-Jleumatick.** Steevens.
as two dry toasts ;] Which cannot meet but they grate
one another. Johnson.
' good-year /] Mrs. Quickly*s blunder for goujere, i. e.
morbus Gallicus. See Vol. V. p. 55^ n. 2, Steevens.
sc, IV. KING HENRY IV. 83
. R^'Cnter Drawer.
Draw. Sir, ancient Pistol's^ below, and would
speak with you.
DoL. Hang him, swaggering rascal ! let him not
come hither: it is the foul-mouth' dst rogue in Eng-
land.
Host. If he swagger, let him not come here :
no, by my faith ; I must live amongst my neigh-
bours; 1*11 no swaggerers: I am in good name and
fame with the very best : Shut the door ; there
comes no swaggerers here: I have not lived all this
while, to have swaggering now : shut the door, I
pray you.
Fal. Dost thou hear, hostess ?
Host. Pray you, pacify yourself, sir John ; there
comes no swaggerers here.^
Fal. Dost thou hear ? it is mine ancient.
Host. Tilly-fally,^ sir John, never tell me; your
ancient swaggerer comes not in my doors. I was
before master Tisick, the deputy, the other day ;
and, as he said to me, it was no longer ago than
Wednesday last, Neighbour Quickly^ says he ;
master Dumb, our minister, was by then ; Neigh-
' ancient Pistol ] Is the same as ensign Pistol. Fal-
stafF was captain, Peto lieutenant^ and Pistol ensign, or ancient.
Johnson.
' ; there comes no swaggerers here.'] A sxvaggerer was a
roaring, bullying, blustering, fighting fellow. So, in Greene's
Tu Quoque, a comedy, by Cooke, 1614 : " I will game with a
gamster, drinke with a drunkard, be ciuill with a ciXXzexiy fght
with a stJoaggereTf and drabb with a whoore-master.'*
RiTSON.
' Tilly-faUy,-\ See Vol. V. p. 296, n. 7. Malone.
g2
84 SECOND PART OF act lU
hour Quickly, says he, receive those that are civil;
for, saith he, you are in an ill name ; now he said
so, I can tell whereupon ; for, says he, you are an
honest woman, and well thought on ; therefore take
heed what guests you receive : Receive, says he, no
swaggering companions There comes none
here ; ^you would bless you to hear what he said :
no, 1*11 no swaggerers.
Fal, He'sno swaggerer, hostess; a tame cheater,*
* a tame cheater,] Gamester and cheater were, in
Shakspeare's age, synonymous terms. Ben Joason has an epi-
gram on Captain Hazard, the cheater.
A tame cheatevy however, as Mr. Whalley observes to me,
appears to be a cant phrase. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's
Fair Maid of the Inn :
" and will be drawn into the net,
*' By this decoy-duck, this tame cheater.'*
Greene, in his Mihil Mumchance, has the following passage :
** They call their art by a new-found name, as cheatijigy them-
selves cheatorSj and the dice chetersy borrowing the term from
among our lawyers, with whom all such casuals as fall to the
lord at the holding of his leets, as waifes, straies, and such like,
be called chetesy and are accustomably said to be escheted to the
lord's use." So, likewise in Lord Coke's Charge at Norwich,
1607 : " But if you will be content to let the escheator alone,
and not looke into his actions, he will be contented by deceiving
you to change his name, taking unto himselfe the two last syl-
lables only, with the es left out, and so turn cheater.** Hence
perhaps the derivation of the verb to cheaty which I do not
recollect to have met with among our most ancient writers. In
The Bell-man of Londony by T, Decker, 5th edit. 1640, the
same derivation of the word is given : *' Of all which lawes,
the highest in place is the cheating law, or the art of winning
money by false dyce. Those that practice this study call them-
selves cheaters, the dyce cheatorsy and the money which they
purchase cheate; borrowing the terme from our common law-
yers, with whom all such casuals as fall to the lord at the
holding of his leetes, as waifes, straies, and such like, are said
to be escheated to the lordes use, and are called cheates** This
account of the word is likewise given in A manifest Detection
of Dice-flay y printed by Vele, in the reign of Henry VUI.
Steevens.
sc. ir, KING HENRY IV. 85
he; you may stroke him as gently as a puppy grey-
hound : he will not swagger with a Barbary hen, if
her feathers turn back in any show of resistance.
Call him up, drawer.
Host. Cheater, call you him ? I will bar no ho-
nest man my house, nor no cheater:^ But I do not
love swaggering ; by my troth, I am the worse, when
one says swagger : feel, masters, how I shake ;
look you, I warrant you.
DoL. So you do, hostess.
Host. Do I ? yea, in very truth, do I, an 'twere
an aspen leaf: I cannot abide swaggerers.
Enter Pistol, Bardolph, and Page.
Pjst, 'Save you, sir John !
Fal. Welcome, ancient Pistol. Here, Pistol, I
charge you with a cup of sack : do you discharge
upon mine hostess.
Fist. I will discharge upon her, sir John, with
two bullets.
Fal. She is pistol-proof, sir; you shall hardly
offend her.
Host. Come, I'll drink no proofs, nor no bul-
lets : ru drink no more than will do me good, for
no man's pleasure, I.^
* / iJoUl bar no honest man my house^ nor no cheater :] The
humour of this consists in the woman's mistaking the title of
cheater y (which our ancestors gave to him whom we now, with
better manners, call a gamester^ for that officer of the exchequer
called an escheatory well known to the common people of that
time ; and named, either corruptly or satirically, a cheater.
Warburton.
' m drink no more ^or no man^s pleasure, I.] This
86 SECOND PART OF act ii,
Pjst. Then to you, mistress Dorothy; I will
charge you.
DoL. Charge me? I scorn you, scurvy companion.
What! you poor, base, rascally, cheating, lack-linen
mate ! Away, you mouldy rogue, away! I am meat
for your master.
PiST, I know you, mistress Dorothy.
DoL. Away, you cut-purse rascal! you filthy
bung,'' away! by this wine, I'll thrust my knife in
your mouldy chaps, an you play the saucy cuttle
with me. Away, you bottle-ale rascal! you basketr
should not be printed as a broken sentence. The duplication of
the pronoun was very common: in The London Prodigal we
have, " I scorn service, I.** ** I am an ass, I," says the stage-
keeper in the Induction to Bartholomew Fair ; and Kendal thus
translates a well-known epigram of Martial :
** I love thee not, Sabidius,
** I cannot tell thee why :
'* I can sale naught but this alone,
** I do not love thee I."
In Kendall's Collection there are many translations from Clau-
dian, Ausonius, the Anthologia, &c. Farmer.
So, in King Richard III. Act III. sc. ii :
" I do not like these separate councils, /." Steevens.
Again, in Romeo and Jtdiet .
" I will not budge, for no man's pleasure, /."
Again, in King Edward II. by Marlow, 1598 :
" I am none of those common peasants, /.'*
The French still use this idiom : Je suis Parisien, moi.
Malone.
' -^filthy bung,3 In the cant of thievery, to nip a hung
was to cut a purse; and among an explanation of many of these
terms in Martin Marh-alVs Apologie to the Bel-man of London^
1610, it is said that " Bu7ig is now used for a pockety heretofore
for a purse." Steevens.
* " an you play the saucy cuttle with me."] It appears
from Greene's Art of Coneycatching, that cuttle and cuttle-
hoting were the cant terms for the knife used by the sharpers of
that age to cut the bottoms of purses, which were then worn
sciv, KING HENRY IV.. 87
hilt stale juggler, you ! Since when, I pray you,
sir ? What, with two points* on your shoulder ?
much ! '
PiST. I will murder your ruff for this.
Fal. No more. Pistol ; ^ I would not have you
fo off here : discharge yourself of our company,
istol.
Host. No, good captain Pistol ; not here, sweet
captain.
DoL, Captain! thou abominable damned cheater,^
hanging at the girdle. Or the allusion may be to the foul lan-
guage thrown out by Pistol, which she means to compare with
such filth as the cuttle-Jish ejects. Steevens.
^ tjoith ttoo points ] As a mark of his commission.
Johnson.
* much!'] Much was a common expression of disdain
at that time, of the same sense with that more modem one,
Marry come up. The Oxford editor, not apprehending this,
alters it to march. Warburton.
Dr. Warbxirton is right. Much J is used thus in Ben Jonson's
Volpone:
" But you shall eat it. Much /"
Again, in Every Man in his Humour :
" Much, wench ! or much, son !"
Again, in Every Man out of his Humour :
" To charge me bring my grain unto the markets :
" Ay, mtich ! when I have neither barn nor garner."
Steevens.
* No more. Pistol; &c.] This is from the oldest edition of
1600. Pope.
^ Captain! thou abominable damned cheater, &c.] Pistol's
character seems to have been a common one on the stage in the
time of Shakspeare. In A Woman's a Weathercock, by N.
Field, 1612, there is a personage of the same stamp, who is
thus described :
** Thou unspeakable rascal, thou a soldier !
" That with thy slops and cat-a-mountain face,
" Thy blather chaps, and thy robustious words,
88 SECOND PART OF act ii,
art thou not ashamed to be called captain ? If cap-
tains were of my mind, they would truncheon you
out, for taking their names upon you before you
have earned them. You a captain, you slave ! for
what ? for tearing a poor whore's ruff in a bawdy-
house ? He a captain ! Hang him, rogue ! He
lives upon mouldy stewed prunes, and dried cakes.*
A captain ! these villains will make the word cap-
tain as odious as the word occupy;* which was an
" Fright'st the poor whore, and terribly dost exact
** A weekly subsidy, twelve pence a piece,
* Whereon thou livest ; and on my conscience,
* Thou snap*st besides with cheats and cut-purses,"
Malone.
* He lives upon mouldy stewed prunes, and dried cakes.']
That is, he lives on the refuse provisions of bawdy-houses and
pastry-cooks' shops. Stewed prunes y when mouldy, were per-
haps formerly sold at a cheap rate, as stale pies and cakes are at
present. The allusion to stewed prunes ^ and all that is necessary
to be known on that subject, has been already explained in the
First Part of this historical play, p. 361, n. 4. Steevens.
* 1 as odious as the word occupy;] So Ben Jonson, in
his Discoveries : " Many, out of their own obscene apprehen-
sions, refuse proper and fit words ; as, occupy ^ nature," &c.
Steevens.
This word is used with different senses in the following jest,
from WitSy Fits, and Fancies y 161 4-: " One threw stones at an
yll-fauor'd old womans Owle, and the olde woman said : Faith
(sir knaue) you are well occupy'* dy 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 yoi^ng
againe, and had a better face." Ritson.
Occupant seems to have been formerly a term for a woman of
the town, as occupier was for a wencher. So, in Marston's
Satiresy 1599 :
** He with his occupant
" Are cling'd so close, like dew-worms in the mome,
That he'll not stir."
Again, in a Song by Sir T. Overbury, 1616 :
" Here's water to quench maiden's fires,
" Here's spirits for old occupiers.** Mai,one,
sc. IT, KING HENRY IV. 89
excellent good word before it was ill sorted ; there-
fore captains had need look to it.
Bard, Pray thee, go down, good ancient.
Fal. Hark thee hither, mistress Doll.
Fist. Not I : tell thee what, corporal Bardolph ;
I could tear her : I'U be revenged on her.
Fage, Pray thee, go down.
Fist, I'll see her damned first ; to Pluto's
damned lake, to the infernal deep, with Erebus and
tortures vile also.^ Hold hook and line,'^ say I.
Again, in Promos and Cassandra^ bl. 1. 1578 : " Mistresse,
you must shut up your shop, and leave your occupying" This
IS said to a bawd. Henderson.
^ ril see her damned Jirst ; to Pluto's damned lakCf to the
infernal deep^ imth Erebus and tortures vile also.'] These
words, I beheve, were intended to allude to the following passage
in an old play called The Battel of Alcazar ^ 1594, from which
Pistol afterwards quotes a line (see p. 94, n. 6) :
** You dastards of the night and Erebus,
** Fiends, fairies, hags, that fight in beds of steel,
" Range through this army with your iron whips ;-
** Descend and take to thy tormenting hell
" The mangled body of that traitor king.
* Then let the earth discover to his ghost
** Such tortures as usurpers feel below.
** Damn*d let him be, damned and condemn'd to bear
** All torments, tortures, pains and plagues of hell."
Malone.
' Hold hook and line,'] These words are introduced in ridi-
cule, by Ben Jonson, in The Case is altered, 1609. Of absurd
and fustian passages from many plays, in which Shakspeare had
been a performer, I have always supposed no small part of
PistoVs character to be composed ; and the pieces themselves
being now irretrievably lost, the humour of his allusion is not a
little obscured.
Let me add, however, that in the frontispiece to an ancient
bl. 1. ballad, entitled The Royal Recreation of JoviaU Anglers,
one of the figures has the following couplet proceeding from his
mouth :
90 SECOND PART OF act il
Down ! down,, dogs ! down faitors !* Have we not
Hiren here?^
** Hold kooke and linej
" Then all is mine." Steevens.
In Tusser's Husbandry, bl. 1. 1580, it is said :
" At noone if it bloweth, at night if it shine,
" Out trudgeth Hew Makeshift, with hook and tvitk
line." Henderson.
' Down I doun, dogs! dffwn faitors!] A burlesque on a
play already quoted ; The Battle of Alcazar :
" Ye proud malicious dogs of Italy,
** Strike on, strike rfoww, this body to the earth."
Malone.
Faitours, says Minsheu's Dictionary^ is a corruption of the
French word faiseurSf i. e.Jactores, doers ; and it is used in the
statute 7 Rich. II. c. 5, for evil doers, or rather for idle livers ;
from the French, Jaitard, which in Cotgrave's Dictionary signi-
fies slothful, idle, &c. Tollet.
c?ott)w faitors !] i. e. traitors, rascals. So, Spenser:
" Into new woes, unweeting, was I cast
" By this false Jaitour."
The word often occurs in The Chester Mysteries, Steevens.
' Have we not Hiren here?"] In an old comedy, 1608,
called Lett) Tricks ; or. Who would have thought it ? the same
quotation is likewise introduced, and on a similar occasion. The
Prince Polymetes says :
" What ominous news can Polymetes daunt ?
" Have we not Hiren here?**
Again, in Massinger's Old Law :
" Clown. No dancing for me, we have Siren here.
*' Cook. Syren ! 'twas Hiren the fair Greek, man."
Again, in Decker's Satiromastix : " therefore whilst we
have Hiren here, speak my little dish-washers."
Again, in Love's Mistress, a masque, by T. Hejrwood, 1636:
*' say she is a foul beast in your eyes, yet she is my Hyren.**
Mr. Tollet observes, that in Adams's Spirittcal Navigator, &c
1615, there is the following passage: ** There be sirens in the
sea of the world. Syrens? Hirens, as they are now called.
What a number of these sirens, Hirens, cockatrices, courte-
ghians, in plain English, harlots, swimme amongst us?"
Pistol may therefore mean, Have we not a strumpet here i and
why am I thus used by her ? Steevens.
8c,m KING HENRY IV, 91
Host. Good captain Peesel, be quiet ; it is very
late,' i*faith : I beseek you now, aggravate your
choler.
Pjst. These be good humours, indeed! ShaU
packhorses.
From The merie conceited Jests of George Peele, Gentleman^
sometime Student in Oxford^ quarto, 1657, it appears that Peele
was the author of a play called The Turkish Mahomet, and
Hyren the fair Greek, which is now lost. One of these jests,
or rather stories, is entitled, Hoxu George read a Play-book to a
Gentleman. " There was a gentleman (says the tale) whom
God had endued with good living, to maintain his small wit,
one that took great delight to have the first hearing of any work
that George had done, himself being a writer. This self-con-
ceited brock had George invited to half a score sheets of paper ;
whose Christianly pen had writ Finis to the famous play of
The Turkish Mahomet and Hyren the fair Greek ; in Italian
called a curtezan ; in Spaine, a margarite ; in French, un cur-
tain ; in English, among the barbarous, a inshore ; among the
gentles, their usual associates, a punk. This fantastick, whose
brain was made of nought but cork and spunge, came to the
cold lodging of Monsieur Peel. George bids him welcome ;
told him he would gladly have his opinion of his book. He will-
ingly condescended, and George begins to read, and between
every scene he would make pauses, and demand his opinion how
he liked the carriage of it," &c.
Have tve not Hiren here ? was, without doubt, a quotation
from this play of Peele's, and, from the explanation of the word
Hiren above given, is put with peculiar propriety on the present
occasion into the mouth of Pistol. In Eastward Hoe, a comedy,
by Jonson, Chapman, and Marston, 1605, Quicksilver comes in
drunk, and repeats this, and many other verses, from dramatick
performances of that time : -
" Holla, ye pamper'd jades of Asia !" [ Tamburlaine.'\
" Hast thou not Hiren here ?"
[Probably The Turkish Mahomet.^
** Who cries on murther ? lady, was it you ?"
[A Parody on The Spanish Tragedy. '\
All these lines are printed as quotations, in Italicks. In John
Day's Laxu Tricks, quoted by Mr. Steevens, in the preceding
note, the Prince Polymetes, when he says, ** Have we not
Hiren here ?" alludes to a lady then present, whom he imagines
to be a harlot. Malone.
92 SECOND PART OF act ii.
And hollow pamper'd jades of Asia,*
Which cannot go but thirty miles a day,
Compare with Caesars, and with Cannibals,^
' hollow pampered jades of Asia^ &c.] These lines are
in part a quotation out of an old absurd fustian play, entitled,
Tamburlaine*s Conquests ; oVy The Scythian Shepherds^ 1590,
[by C. Marlow,] Theobald.
These lines are addressed by Tamburlaine to the captive princes
who draw his chariot :
*' Holla, you pamper'd jades of Asia,
** What ! can you draw but twenty miles a day ?**
The same passage is burlesqued by Beaumont and Fletcher, in
The Coxcomb. Young, however, has borrowed the idea for the
use of his Btisiris .-
" Have we not seen him shake his silver reins
** O'er hamess'd monarchs, to his chariot yok'd?"
I was surprised to find a simile, much and justly celebrated
by the admirers of Spenser's Fairy Queens inserted almost word
for word in the second part of this tragedy. The earliest edi-
tion of those books of The Fairy Queen^ in one of which it is
to be found, was published in 1590, and Tamburlaine had been
represented in or before the year 1588, as appears from the pre-,
face to Perimedes the Blacksmithf by Robert Greene. The first
copy, however, that I have met with, is in 1590, and the next
in 1593. In the year 1590 both parts of it were entered on the
books of the Stationers' Company :
" Like to an almond-tree )rmounted high
" On top of green Selinis, all alone,
* With blossoms brave bedecked daintily,
** WTiose tender locks do tremble every one
** At every little breath that under heaven is blown."
Spenser*
** I/ike to an almond-tree ymounted high
** Upon the lofty and celestial mount
** Of ever-green Selinis, quaintly deck'd
** With bloom more bright than Erycina*s brows ;
** Whose tender blossoms tremble every one
** At every little breath from heaven is blown."
Tamburlaine.
Steevens.
* ^ Cannibals y"] Cannibal is used by a blunder for Han-
nibal. This was afterwards copied by Congreve's Bluff and
sc. IV. KING HENRY IV. 93
And Trojan Greeks ? nay, rather damn them with
King Cerberus ; and let the welkin roar.^
Shall we fall foul for toys ?
Host, By my troth, captain, these are very bitter
words.
Bard. Be gone, good ancient : this wiU grow to
a brawl anon.
PiST. Die men, like dogs ;* give crowns like
pins ; Have we not Hiren here ?
Host. O' my word, captain, there's none such
here.^ What the good-year ! do you think, I would
deny her ? for God*s sake, be quiet.
Wittol. Bluff is a character apparently taken from this of
ancient Pistol. Johnson.
Perhaps the character of a bully on the English stage might
have been originally taken from Pistol ; but Congreve seems to
have copied his Nol Bluff more immediately from Jonson's
Captain Bobadil. Steevens.
' and let the welkin roar.'] Part of the words of an old
ballad entitled, JVhat the Father gathereth with the Bake, the
Son doth scatter with the Forke :
** Let the welkin roare,
" He never give ore," &c.
Again, in another ancient song, called The Man in the Moon
drinks Claret:
" Drink wine till the welkin roares,
** And cry out a p^ of your scores.*' Steevens.
So, in Eastward Hoe^ 1605 : " turn swaggering gallant,
and let the welkin roary and Erebus also.'* Malone.
* Die meuy like dogs /] This expression I find in Ram- Alley,
or Merry Tricks, 1611 :
" Your lieutenant's an ass.
" How an ass ? Die men like dogs f * Steevens.
* Have we not Hiren here ?
Host. O* my word, captain, there's none such here."] i. e.
shall I fear, that have this trusty and invincible sword by my
side ? For, as King Arthur*s swords were called Calibume and
Ron ; as Edward the Confessor*s, Curtana ; as Charlemagne's,
Joyeuse; Orlando*?, Durindana; Rinaldo's, Fusberta ; andKo-
94 SECOND PART OF act ii.
^ IP 1ST. Then, feed, and be fat, my fair Calipolis:*
Come, give's some sack.
gero*s, Balisarda ; so Pistol, in imitation of these heroes, calls his
sword Hiren. I have been told, Amadis de Gaul had a sword
of this name. Hirir is to strike, and from hence it seems pro-
bable that Hiren may be derived; and so signify a swashing,
cutting sword. But what wonderful humour is there in the
good Hostess so innocently mistaking Pistol's drift, fancying that
he meant to fight for a whore in the house, and therefore tell-
ing him, O* my rvordf captain^ there's none such here ; tvhat
t^e good-year ! do you thinky I would deny her ? Theobald.
* As it appears from a former note, that Hiren was sometimes
a cant term for a mistress or harlot. Pistol may be supposed to
give it on this occasion, as an endearing name, to his sword, in
the same spirit of fondness that he presently calls it sweetheart.
Steevens.
I see no ground for supposing that the words bear a different
meaning here from what they did in a former passage. He is
still, I think, merely quoting the same play he had quoted before.
Malone.
Have we not Hiren here ?] I know not whence Shak-
speare derived this allusion to Arthur's lance. " Accinctus etiam
Caliburno gladio optimo, lancea nomine iron, dexteram suara
decoravit." M. WestmonasteriensiSf p. 98. Bowle.
Geoffery of Monmouth, p. 65, reads Ron instead of Iron.
Steevens.
^ Jeedy and be fat, my fair Calipolis: [This is a bur-
lesque on a line in an old play called The Battel of Alcazar, &c.
printed in 1594, in which Muley Mahomet enters to his wife
with lion's flesh on his sword :
" Feed then, and faint not, my faire Calypolis."
And again, in the same play :
" Hold thee, Calipolis ; feed, and faint no more.**
And again :
** Feed and be fat, that we may meet the foe,
*' With strength and terrour to revenge our wrong.**
The line is quoted in several of the old plays ; and Decker,
in his Satiromastix, 1602, has introduced Shakspeare's burlesque
of it : " Feed and be fat, my fair Calipolis : stir not my beau-
teous wriggle-tails." Steevens.
It is likewise quoted by Marston, in his What you will, 1607
as it stands in Shakspeare.. Malone.
sc, IV, KING HENRY IV. 95
Si for tuna me tormenta-^ sperato Trie con-
tentaJ^
Fear we broadsides ? no, let the fiend give fire :
Give me some sack; and, sweetheart, lie thou
there.
[^Laying down his sword.
Come we to fuU points here ; ^ and are et cetera* s
nothing ?
Fal. Pistol, I would be quiet.
PiST. Sweet knight, I kiss thy neif : ^ What ! we
have seen the seven stars.
^ Sifortuna me tormentay sperato me contenta^ Sir Thomas
Hanmer reads :
Sijbrtuna me tormentay il sperare me contenta^
which is undoubtedly the true reading ; but perhaps it was in-
tended that Pistol should corrupt it. Johnson.
Pistol is only a copy of Hannibal Gonsaga, who vaunted on
yielding himself a prisoner, as you may read in an old collection
of tales, called WttSy Fits, and Fancies
** Si fortuna me tormenta,
*' II speranza me contenta.**
And Sir Richard Hawkins, in his Voyage to the South-Sea,
1593, throws out the same gingling distich on the loss of his
pinnace. Farmer. , iu j .i,^.> v v; ;
Come tee to full points here ; &c.] That is, 'shall we stop
here, shall we have no further entertainment ? Johnson.
* Svoeet knight, I kiss thy neif:] i. e. kiss thy fist. Mr.
Pope will have it, that neif here is from nativa ; i. e. a woman-
slave that is born in one*s house ; and that Pistol would kiss Fal-
stafF's domestick mistress, Doll Tear-sheet. Theobald.
Nief, neif, and naif, are certainly law-terms for a woman-
slave. So, in Thoroton*8 Antiquities of Nottinghamshire :
" Every naif or she-villain, that took a husband or committed
fornication, paid marcAe^ for redemption of her blood 5s. and 4d.*'
Again, in Stanyhurst*8 Virgil, 1582:
Me VAMVL AM Jamtdoque Heleno transmisit habendum.
" Me his nyefe to his servaunt Helenus full firmelye
betroathed."
But I believe neif is used by Shakspeare for Jist.' It is still
96 SECOND PART OF act ii.
DoL* Thrust him down stairs ; I cannot endure
such a fustian rascal.
PiST. Thrust him down stairs! know we not
Galloway nags ? *
Fal. Quoit him down, Bardolph, like a shove-
groat shilling : ^ nay, if he do nothing but speak
nothing, he shall be nothing here.
Bard. Come, get you down stairs.
PiST, What ! shall we have incision ? shall we
imbrue ? [^Snatching up Ms sword.
Then death rock me asleep, ^ abridge my doleful
days!
employed In that sense in the northern counties^ and by Ben
Jonson, in his Poetaster :
** Reach me thy neif.**
Again, in The Witch of Edmontoriy by Rowlej, &c. 1658 :
" Oh, sweet ningle, thy neif once agam." Steevens.
So, in A Midsummer-Night* s Dream : " Give me thy neif.
Monsieur Mustard- Seed." Malone.
' Gallovoatf nags ?] That is, common hacknies.
Johnson.
* like a shove-groat shilling .] This expression occurs
in Every Man in his Humour : " made it run as smooth off
the tongue as a shove-groat shilling.**
Again, in Humour* s Ordinary, by Samuel Rowlands, Satire iv :
** At shove-groaty venter-point, or crosse and pile."
I suppose it to have been a piece of polished metal made use
of in the play of shovel-board. See Vol. V, p. 22, n. 2.
Steevens.
Slide-thri/i, or shove-groat, is one of the games prohibited by
statute 33 Henry VIII. c. 9. Blackstone.
' Then death rock me asleep,] This is a fragment of an an-
cient song supposed to have been written by Anne Boleyn :
** O death rock me on slepe,
** Bring me on quiet rest," &c.
For the entire song, see Sir John Hawkins*s General History
of Musick, Vol. III. p. 31. Steevens.
In Arnold Cosine's Ultimum Vale to the vaine World, an elegie
sc. m KING HENRY IV; 97
Why then, let grievous, ghastly, gaping wounds
Untwine the sisters three ! Come, Atropos, I sayl*
Host. Here's goodly stuff toward !
Fal, Give me my rapier, boy.
DoL. I pray thee, Jack, I pray thee, do not draw.
Fal Get you down stairs.
\_Drawing, and driving Pistol out.
Host. Here's a goodly tumult ! I'll forswear
keeping house, afore I'll be in these tirrits and
frights. So ; murder, I warrant now. Alas,
alas! put up your naked weapons, put up your
naked weapons. \_Ea;eunt Pistol and Bardolph.
DoL. I pray thee. Jack, be quiet ; the rascal is
gone. Ah, you whoreson little valiant villain, you.
Host. Are you not hurt i'the groin ? ^ methought,
he made a shrewd thrust at your belly.
written by himselfe in the Marshalsea, after his condemnation,
for murthering Lord Brooke, 4to. 1591,are these lines :
' " O death, rock me asleepe ! Father of heaven,
" That hast sole power to pardon sinnes of men,
** Forgive the faults and follies of my youth." Reed.
* Come, Atropos, I say /] Perhaps Pistol alludes to a
poem printed in A gorgious Gallery of gallant Inuentions, &c.
4to. 1578: " The LouercomplaynethofhisLadie's Inconstancy,"
to the tune of I lathe that I did hue :
" I hate this lothsome life,
" O Atropos draix) nie,
Untwist ye thred of mortall strife,
*' Send death, and let mee die." Steevens.
Come, Atropos,] It has been suggested that this is a
name which Pistol gives to his sword ; but surely he means
nothing more than to call on one of the sisters three to aid him
jn the fray. Malone.
* Are you not hurt i'the groin?] FalstafF had promised to
marry IVfrs. Quickly, who, on this occasion, appears to have had
the widow Wadman's solicitudes about her. Steevens.
VOL. xn. H
98 SECOND PART OF act ii.
Re-enter Bardolph.
Fal. Have you turned him out of doors ?
Bard. Yes, sir. The rascal's drunk : you have
hurt him, sir, in the shoulder.
Fal. a rascal ! to brave me !
DoL. Ah, you sweet little rogue, you! Alas,
poor ape, how thou sweat* st ! Come, let me wipe
thy face ; come on, you whoreson chops : Ah,
rogue ! i'faith, I love thee. Thou art as valourous
as Hector of Troy, worth five of Agamemnon, and
ten times better than the nine worthies. Ah, vil-
lain!^
Fal. a rascally slave ! I will toss the rogue in a
blanket.
DoL. Do, if thou darest for thy heart : if thou
dost, 1*11 canvas thee between a pair of sheets. "^
Ah, villain! Thus the folio : the quarto reads a vil-
lain ; which may be right. She may mean Pistol.
Since this note was written, I have observed that a is fre-
quently printed in the quarto copies for ah : the reading of the
folio is therefore certainly right. Malone.
"^ ni canvas thee betrveen a pair o/" sheets.] This phrase
occurs in the 12th Meri/ Jeste of the Widow Edyth, 1573 :
" Hore, hore, by coks blood euen here,
" Sayd Cotes, and it were not for shame,
*' I should canvas thee, and make thee lame.**
Steevens.
Doll's meaning here is sufficiently clear. Tliere is however
an allusion which might easily escape notice, to the material of
which coarse sheets were formerly made. So, in the MS.
Account-book of Mr. Philip Henslow, which has been already
quoted : ** 7 Maye, 1594. Lent goody Nalle upon a payre of
canvas sheates, for v s." Malone.
sc. IK KING HENRY IV. 99
Enter Musick.
Page. The musick is come, sir.
Fal. Let them play ; Play, sirs. Sit on my
knee, Doll. A rascal bragging slave ! the rogue
fled from me like quicksilver.
DoL. I'faith, and thou followedst him like a
church. Thou whoreson little tidy Bartholomew
boar-pig,^ when wilt thou leave fighting o'days,
* little tidy Bartholomew boar-pig,] For tidy, Sir T.
Hanmer reads tiny ; but they are both words of endearment,
and equally proper. Bartholomeiv boar-pig is a little pig made
of paste, sold at Bartholomew Fair, and given to children for a
fairing. Johnson.
Tidy has two significations, timely, and neat. In the first of
these senses, I believe, it is used in The Arraignment of Paris,
1584:
** I myself have given good, tidie lambs.'* Steevens.
~ From Ben Jonson's play of Bartholomeiv Fair, we learn, that
it was the custom formerly to have booths in Bartholomew Fair,
in which pigs were dressed and sold, and to these it is probable
the allusion is here, and not to the pigs of paste mentioned by
Dr. Johnson.
The practice of roasting pigs at Bartholomew Faii* continued
until the beginning of the last century, if not later. It is
mentioned in Ned Ward's London Spy, 1697. When about the
year 1708 some attempts were made to limit the duration of
the fair to three days, a poem was published entitled The Pigs*
Petition against Bartholomew Fair, &c. See Dodsley's Collec-
tion of Old Plays, 1780, Vol. XII. p. 419.
Tidy, I apprehend, means only Jht, and in that sense it was
certainly sometimes used. See an old translation of Galateo of
Manners and Behaviour, bl. 1. 1578, p. 77: " and it is more
proper and peculiar speache to say, the shivering of an ague,
than to call it the colde; and Jlesh that is tidie, to terme it
rather fat than fulsome. ''* Reed.
Again, in Gawin Douglas's translation of the 5th JEneid:
" And ala mony swine and tydy qwyis.'* Stbevbns.
H 2
100 SECOND PART OF act ii.
and foining o*nights, and begin to patch up thine
old body for heaven ?
Enter behind. Prince Henry and Poins, disguised
like Drawers.
Fal. Peace, good Doll! do not speak like a
death*s head:^ do not bid me remember mine end.
DoL, Sirrah, what humour is the prince of?
Fal, a good shallow young fellow : he would
have made a good pantler, he would have chipped
bread well.
See also D'Avenant's burlesque Verses on a long Vacation,
written about 1630:
" Now London's chief on saddle new
" Rides into fair of Barthol'mew ;
*' He twirls his chain, and looking big
" As if to fright the head of pig,
** That gaping lies on greasy stall,
** Till female with great belly call," &c. Malone.
' like a death's head ;] It appears from the following
passage in Marston's Dutch Courtezan^ 1605, that it was the
custom for the bawds of that age to wear a deatli's head in a
ring, very probably with the common motto, memento mori.
Cocledemoy, speaking of some of these, says : " as for their
death, how can it be bad, since their wickedness is always be-
fore their eyes, and a deaih^s head most commonly on their
middle finger."
Again, in Massinger's Old Lave : " sell some of my cloaths
to buy thee a death's head, and put it upon thy middle finger :
your least considering batwls do so much."
Again, in Northward Hoc, 1607: " as if I were a batvd,
no ring pleases me but a death's head."
On the Stationers' books, Feb. 21, 1582, is entered a ballad
intitled Remember thy End. Steevens.
Falstaft"'s allusion, I should have supposed, was to the death*s
head, and motto on hatchments, grave-stones, and the like.
Such a ring, however, as Mr. Steevens describes, but without
any inscription, being only brass, is in my possession. Ritson.
sc. w. KING HENRY IV. lOl
DoL. They say, Poins has a good wit.
Fal. He a good wit ? hang him, baboon ! his
wit is as thick as Tewksbury mustard ; ^ there is no
more conceit in him, than is in a mallet.^
DoL. Why does the prince love him so then ?
Fal. Because their legs are both of a bigness ;
and he plays at quoits well ; and eats conger and
fennel ; and drinks off candles' ends for flap-dra-
gons;^ and rides the wild mare with the boys j*
* Tewksbury mustard:'] Tewksbury is a market town
in the county of Gloucester, formerly noted for mustard-balls
made there, and sent into other parts. Grey.
* in a mallet.] So, in Milton's Prose Works, 1738,
Vol. I. p. 300 : " Though the fancy of this doubt be as obtruse
and sad as any mallet" Tollet.
' eats conger and fennel ; and drinks off' candles* ends
for flap-dragons ;] Conger with fonnel was formerly regarded
as a provocative. It is mentioned by Ben Jonson, in his Bar-
tholomew Fair : " like a long-laced conger with green fonnel
in the joU of it." And in Philaster, one of the ladies advises
the wanton Spanish prince to abstain from this article of
luxury.
Greene likewise, in his Quip for an upstart Courtier ^ calls
fonnel " women's weeds," " fit generally, for that sex, sith
while they are maidens they wish wantonly."
The qualification that follows, viz. that of swallowing candles'
ends by tvay of flap-dragons ^ seems to indicate no more than
that the Prmce loved him, because he was always ready to do
any thing for his amusement, however absurd or unnatural.
Nash, in his Pierce Pennylesse his Supplication to the Devil,
advises hard drinkers " to have some shooing home to pull oh
their wine, as a rasher on the coals, or a red herring ; or to stir
it about with a candle's end to make it taste the better," &c.
And Ben Jonson, in his Newsfoom the Moon, &c. a masque,
speaks of those who oat candles' endsy as an act of love and
gallantry ; and Beaumont and Fletcher, in Monsieur Thomas :
" carouse her health in cans, and candles' ends."
In Rowley's Match at Midnight ^ 1633, a captain says, that
his " corporal was lately choaked at Delf by swallowing afoipr
dragon."
102 SECOND PART OF act ii,
and jumps upon joint-stools ; and swears with a
good grace ; and wears his boot very smooth, like
unto the sign of the leg ;^ and breeds no bate with
telling of discreet stories/ and such other gambol
faculties he hath, that show a weak mind and an
able body, for the which the prince admits him :
for the prince himself is such another ; the weight
Again, in Marston's Didch Courtezan^ 1605: " have I
not been drunk to your health, swallowed jiapdragons^ eat
glasses, drank urine, stabbed arms, and done aU the offices of
protested gallantry for your sake ?"
Again, in The Christian turned Turk, 1612: " as famili-
arly as pikes do gudgeons, $nd with as much facility as Dutch-
men swallow Jlapdragons.** Steevens.
A Jlap-dragon is some small combustible body, fired at one
end, and put afloat in a glass of liquor. It is an act of a toper's
dexterity to toss off the glass in such a manner as to prevent the
Jlap-dragon from doing mischief. Johnson.
"* and rides the wild mare with the iows;] He pro-
bably means the two-legged mare mentioned by Mr. Steevens in
p. 54, n. 8. Malone.
If Poins had ever ridden the mare alluded to by Mr. Steevens,
she would have given him such a fall as would effectually pre-
vent him from mounting her a second time. We must therefore
suppose it was a less dangerous beast, that would not have dis-
abled hin^ from afterwards jumping upon joint stools, &c.
Douce.
h
wears his boot very smooth^ like unto the sign of the
^^gy~\ The learned editor of Chaucer's Canterbury rales f
1 /75, observes, that such is part of the description of a smart
abbot, by an anonymous writer of the thirteenth century:
" Ocreas habebat in cruribus, quasi innatae essent, sine plica
porrectas." MS. Bod. Jamesy n. 6, p. 121. Steevens.
t -discreet stories^'] We should read indiscreet.
Warburton.
I suppose by discreet stories is meant what suspicious masters
and mistresses of families would call prudential information ;
i. e. what ought to be known, and yet is disgraceful to the teller.
Among the virtues of John Rugby, in The Merry Wives of
Wind^nry Mrs. Quickly adds, that " he is no tell-tale, no
breed-bate." Steevens.
sa IT, KING HENRY IV. lOS
of a hair wiU turn the scales between their avoirdu-
pois.
P. jffeisr. Would not this nave of a wheel "^ have
his ears cut off?
PoiNS. Let's beat him before his whore,
P. Hen. Look, if the withered elder hath not his
poll clawed like a parrot.^
PoiNS. Is it not strange, that desire should so
many years outlive performance ?
Fal. Kiss me, Doll.
P. Hen. Saturn and Venus this year in conjunc-
tion !^ what says the almanack to that?
PoiNS, And, look, whether the fiery Trigon,^ his
' nave of a wheel ] Nave and knave are easily re-
conciled, but why nave of a wheel f I suppose from his round-
ness. He was called round man^ in contempt, before.
Johnson.
So, in the play represented before the king and queen in
Hamlet :
" Break all the spokes and fellies of her wheel,
" And bowl the round nave down the steep of heaven.*'
Steevens.
his poll clawed like a parrot.] This custom, we may
suppose, was not peculiar to FalstafF, especially as it occurred
among the French, to whom we were indebted for most of our
artificial gratifications. So, in La Venerie &c. by Jaques de
Fouilloux, &c. Paris, 4to. 1585: " Le seigneur doit auoir sa
petite charette, la ou il sera dedans, auec sa fiUette, aagee de
seize a dix sept ans, la quelle lui Jrottera la teste par les
chemins." A wooden cut annexed, represents this operation on
an old man, who lies along in his carriage, with a girl sitting at
his head. Steevens.
^ Saturn and Venus this year in conjunction J] This was,
indeed, a prodigy. The astrologers, says Ficinus, remark, that
Saturn and Venus are never conjoined. Johnson.
the fiery Trigon, Sfc] Trigonum igneum is the
astronomical term when the upper planets meet m a fiery sign
104 SECOND PART OF act //.
man, be not lisping to his master's old tables j'^ his
note-book, his counsel-keeper.
The Jlery Tngotiy I think, consists of Aries, Leo, and Sa-
gittarius. So, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, B. VI.
chap, xxxi :
" Even at the jfierie Trigon shall your chief ascendant
be."
Again, in Pierce's Supererogation, or a new Praise of the old
Asse, &.C. by Gabriel Harvey, 1593: " now the warring
planet was expected in person, and the Jiery Trigon seemed to
give the alarm." Steevens.
So, in A Dialogue both pleasaunt and pietijidl, &c. by Wm.
BuUeyne, 1564 : " Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius, are hotte, drie,
bitter, and cholcrike, governing hot and drie thinges, and this is
called thefierie triplidtie." M alone.
* lisping to his master's old tables ; &c.] We should
read claspmg too his master's old tables ; &c. i. e. embracing
his master's cast oflP whore, and now his bawd [his note-book,
his counsel-keeper. 1 We have the same phrase again in Ci/m-
beline :
" You clasp young Cupid's tables." Warburton.
I believe the old reading to be the true one. Bardolph was
very probably drunk, and might lisp a little in his courtship ; or
might assume an affected softness of speech, like Chaucer's
Frere : Tyrwhitt's edit. Prol. v. 266 :
f. " Somewhat he lisped for his wantonnesse,
" To make his English swete upon his tonge."
Or, like the Page, in The Mad Lover of Beaumont and Fletcher,
who
" Lisps when he list to catch a chambermaid.'*
Again, in Love's Labour's Lost :
** He can carve too and lisp."
Again, in Marston's 8th Satire :
" With voyce distinct, all fine, articulate,
*' Lisping, * Fayre saint, my woe compassionate :
* By heaven thine eye is my soule-guiding fate."
Steevens.
Certainly the word clasping better preserves the integrity of
the metaphor ; or, perhaps, as the expression is old tables, we
miglit read licking : Bardolph was kissing the Hostess ; and old
ivory books were commonly cleaned by licking them. Farmer.
The old t^ble-book was a counsel-keeper, or a register of
sc. IV. KING HENRY IV. 105
Fal. Thou dost give me flattering busses.
DoL. Nay, truly ; I kiss thee with a most con-
stant heart.
Fal, I am old, I am old.
DoL. I love thee better than I love e'er a scurvy
young boy of them all.
Fal. AVTiat stuff wilt have a kirtle of ? ^ I shall
secrets ; and so also was Dame Quickly. I have therefore not
the least suspicion of any corruption in the text. Lisping is, in
our author's dialect, making love, or, in modern language,
saying soft things. So, in The Merry Wives of Windsor^ Fal-
stafF apologises to Mrs. Ford for his concise address to her, by
saying, " I cannot cog, and say this and that, like a many of
these lisping hawthorn-buds, that come like women in men's ap-
parel, and smell like Buckler's-bury in simple-time ; I cannot ;
but I love thee ;" &c. Malone.
' a kirtle off] I know not exactly what a kirtle is.
The following passages may serve to show that it was something
different from a gown: " How unkindly she takes the matter,
and cannot be reconciled with less than a gffivn or a kirtle of
silk." Greene's Art of Legerdemain, &c. 1612. Again, in
one of Stanyhurst's poems, 1582:
" This gotone your lovemate, that kirtle costly e she
craveth."
Bale, in his Ades of English Votaries, says, that Roger earl
of Shrewsbury sent " to Clunyake in France, for the kyrtle of
holy Hugh the abbot." Perhaps kirtle, in its common accepta-
tion, means a petticoat. " Half a dozen taffata gowns or sattin
kirtles.^* Cynthia's Revels, by Ben Jonson.
Stubbes mentions kirtles, but is not precise in his description of
them. Dr. Farmer supposes them to be the same as safe-guards
or riding-hoods.
In A lytell Treatyse for to lerne Englysshe and Frensshe, em-
prynted at Westminster, by Wynken de Worde, we find ** a
kyrtell" explained by the word " ung corset." Steevens.
A kirtle, I believe, meant a long cloak. Minsheu describes
it as an upper or exterior garment, worn over another ; what in
French is called a garde-robe. See his Diet. 1617. The latter
word is explained by Cotgrave thus : " A cloth or cloak worn or
cast over a garment to keep it from dust, rain," &c. That
writer, however, supposes kirtle and petticoat to be synony-
106 SECOND PART OF act ii.
receive money on Thursday : thou shalt have a cap
to-morrow. A merry song, come : it grows late,
Ve'll to bed. Thou'lt forget me, when I am gone.
mous ; for he renders the word vasquinc thus : " A kirtle or
petticoat ,'* and surcot he calls " an upper kirtle^ or a garment
worn over a kirtle."
When, therefore, a kirtle is mentioned sifliply, perhaps a
petticoat is meant; when an upper kirtle is spoken of, a long
cloak or mantle is probably intended; and I imagine a half-
kirtle, which occurs in a subsequent scene in this play, meant a
short cloak, half the length of the upper kirtle. The term
half'kirtle seems inconsistent with Dr. Farmer's idea; as does
Milton's use of the word in his Masque, ** the Aowery-kirtled
Naiades."
Stubbes, in his Anatomic of Abuses, 1595, describes a kirtle
as distinct from both a gown and a petticoat. After having de-
scribed the gowns usually worn at that time, he proceeds thus :
" then have thei petticots of the best clothe, of scarlette,
grograine, tafFatie, or silke, &c. But of whatsoever their petti-
coats be, yet must they have kirtlesy (for so they call them,)
either of silke, velvet, grograine, taffatie, satten or scarlet, bor-
dered with gardes, lace," &c. I suppose he means a mantle or
long cloak.
So also, in The First Part of the Contention of the Two
Houses of Yorke and Lancaster y 1600: " Marry, he that will
lustily stand to it, shall go with me, and take up these commo-
dities following: iteniy a gown, a kirtle, a petticoat, and a
smock."
My interpretation of kirtle is confirmed by Barret's Alvearie^
1580, who renders kirtle, by subminia, cyclas, palla, pallida,
^Xalva, surcot. Subminia Cole interprets in his Lnttn Dic'
tionary, 1697, " A kirtle, a light red coat." Cyclas, " a
kirtle, a cimarr." Palla, " a woman's long gown ; a veil that
covers the head." Pallida, " a short kirtle." Leena, " an
Irish rugge, a freeze cassock, a rough hairy gaberdine."
From hence it appears, that a tvoman's kirtle, or rather
upper-kirtle, (as distinguished from a petticoat, which was
sometimes called a kirtle,) was a long mantle which reached to
the ground, with a head to it that entirely covered the face ;
and It was, perhaps, usually red. A half-kirtle was a similar
farment, reaching only somewhat lower than the waist. See
lorio's Italian Diet. 1598 : " Semicinto. A garment coming
lower than the belly; also half-girt, as we may say a half
JcirtleJ'* Malone.
sc, ir, KING HENRY IV. 107
DoL. By my troth thou'lt set me a weeping, an
thou sayest so : prove that ever I dress myself hand-
some till thy return. Well, hearken the end.
Fal. Some sack, Francis.
P. Hen, Poins. Anon, anon, sir.* \_Advancing.
Fal. Ha ! a bastard son of the king's ? ^ And
art not thou Poins his brother ? ^
P. Hen. Why, thou globe of sinful continents,
what a life dost thou lead ?
Fal. a better than thou j I am a gentleman,
thou art a drawer.
P. Hen. Very true, sir; and I come to draw
you out by the ears.
Host. O, the Lord preserve thy good grace ! by
my troth, welcome to London. Now the Lord
bless that sweet face of thine ! O Jesu, are you
come from Wales ?
Fal. Thou whoreson mad compound of majesty,
^by this light flesh and corrupt blood, thou art
welcome. \_Leaning his hand 2ipon Doll.
DoL. How ! you fat fool, I scorn you.
Poins. My lord, he will drive you out of your
revenge, and turn all to a merriment, if you take
not the heat.*^
* Anon, anon, sii:'} The usual answer of drawers at this pe-
riod. So, in The Discoverie of the Knights of the Poste,
1597 : " wherefore hee calling, the drawer presently answered
with a shrill voyce, anon, anon, sir." Reed.
. * Ha ! a bastard &c.] The improbability of this scene is
scarcely balanced by the humour. Johnson.
Poins his brother?'] i. e. Poins's brother, or brother ta
Poins ; a vulgar corruption of the genitive case. Ritson.
"^ if you take not the heat.] Alluding, I suppose, to
the proverb, ** Strike while the iron is hot.** So again, in King
Lear : We must do something, and i'the heat.** Steevens.
108 SECOND PART OF act ii.
P. Hen, You whoreson candle-mine,^ you, how
vilely did you speak of me even now, before this
honest, virtuous, civil gentlewoman ?
Host. 'Blessing o' your good heart ! and so she
is, by my troth.
Fal. Didst thou hear me ?
P. Hen, Yes ; and you knew me, as you did
when you ran away by Gads-hill : you knew, I was
at your back ; and spoke it on purpose, to try my
patience.
Fal. No, no, no ; not so ; I did not think, thou
wast within hearing.
P. Hen. I shall drive you then to confess the
wilful abuse ; and then I know how to handle you.
Fal. No abuse, Hal, on mine honour ; no abuse.
P. Hen. Not ! to dispraise me ; ^ and call me
pantler, and bread-chipper, and I know not what?
Fal. No abuse, Hal.
PoiNS. No abuse !
Fal. No abuse, Ned, in the world ; honest Ned,
none. I dispraised him before the wicked, that the
wicked might not fall in love with him : ^in which
doing, I have done the part of a careful friend, and
a true subject, and thy father is to give me thanks
* candle-mine, 1 Thou inexhaustible magazine of tallow.
Johnson.
' Not! to dispraise me;'] The Prince means to say, " What!
is it not abuse to dispraise me," &c. Some of the modern edi-
tors read No! &c. but, I think, without necessity. So, in
Coriolanus:
" Com. He'll never hear him.
Sic. Not?'*
There also Not has been rejected by the modern editors, and
No inserted in its place. Malone.
sc. IV. KING HENRY IV. 109
for it. No abuse, Hal ; none, Ned, none j ^no,
boys, none.
F. Hen. See now, whether pure fear, and entire
cowardice, doth not make thee wrong this virtuous
gentlewoman to close with us? Is she of the wicked?
Is thine hostess here of the wicked? Or is the boy
of the wicked ? Or honest Bardolph, whose zeal
burns in his nose, of the wicked ?
PoiNS. Answer, thou dead elm, answer.
Fal. The fiend hath pricked down Bardolph
irrecoverable; and his face is Lucifer's privy-
kitchen, where he doth nothing but roast malt-
worms. For the boy, there is a good angel about
him ; but the devil outbids him too. '
P. Hen. For the women,
Fal. For one of them, she is in hell already,
and burns, poor soul ! ^ For the other, I owe her
money; and whether she be damned for that, I
know not.
Host. No, I warrant you.
Fal. No, I think thou art not; I think, thou
art quit for that : Marry, there is another indict-
ment upon thee, for suffering flesh to be eaten in
thy house, ^ contrary to the law ; for the which, I
think, thou wilt howl.
' outbids him 100."] Thus the folio. The quarto reads
blinds him too ; and perhaps it is right. Malone.
* and burnSf poor soul .'] This is Sir T, Hanmer's
reading. Undoubtedly right. The other editions had she is
in hell already y and burns poor souls. The venereal disease was
called, in those times, the brennynge^ or burning, Johnson.
' for sttfferingjlesh to be eaten &c.] By several statutes
made in the reigns or Elizabeth and James I. for the regulation
and observance of fish-days, victuallers were expressly forbidden
to utter Jlesh in Lenty and to these Falstaff alludes. I conceive
no SECOND PART OF act ii.
Host. All victuallers do so : * What's a joint of
mutton or two in a whole Lent ? ^
P. Hen. You, gentlewoman,
DoL. What says your grace ?
Fal. His grace says that which his flesh rebels
against.
Host. Who knocks so loud at door ? look to the
door there, Francis.
Enter Peto.
P. Hen. Peto, how now ? what news ?
Peto. The king your father is at Westminster ;
And there are twenty weak and wearied posts.
Come from the north : and, as I came along,
I met, and overtook, a dozen captains.
Bare-headed, sweating, knocking at the taverns.
And asking every one for sir John FalstafF.
that the Hostess, by her answer, understands him literally,
without the covert allusion suspected by Mr. Malone ; [see n. 53
for she must have been too well acquainted with the law to mis-
take his meaning, and "wit seems not to have been her talent.
Douce.
"* All victuallers do so -. ] The brothels were formerly screened,
under pretext of being victtmlling houses and taverns.
So, in Webster and Rowley's Cure for a Cuckold: ** This in-
former comes into TurnbuU Street to a victualling house, and
there falls in league with a wenchy &c. Now, Sir, this fellow,
in revenge, informs against the bawd that kept the house," &c.
Again, in Gascoigne's Glass of Government, 1575: " at a
house with a red lattice you shall find an old bawd called Pande-
rina, and a young damsel called Lamia.'*
Barrett, in his Alvearie, 1580, defines a victualling house
thus: " A tavern where meate is eaten out of dtie season."
Steevens.
* WJiat*s a joint of mutton or two in a whole Lent ?] Per-
hms a covert allusion is couched under these words. See Vol.
Iv, p. 185, n. 4'. Malone.
sc.ir, KING HENRY IV. ill
P. Hen. By heaven, Poins, I feel me much to
blame.
So idly to profane the precious time ;
When tempest of commotion, like the south
Borne with black vapour, doth begin to melt.
And drop upon our bare unarmed heads.
Give me my sword, and cloak: FalstafF, good night.
\_Eceunt Prince Henry, Poins, Peto,
and Bardolph.
Fal. Now comes in the sweetest morsel of the
night, and we must hence, and leave it unpicked.
[^Knocking keard.Ji More knocking at the door ?
Re-enter Bardolph.
How now ? what's the matter ?
Bard. You must away to court, sir, presently ; a
dozen captains stay at door for you.
Fal. Pay the musicians, sirrah. [To the Page.]
Farewell, hostess ; ^farewell, Doll. You see, my
good wenches, how men of merit are sought after :
the undeserver may sleep, when the man of action
is called on. Farewell, good wenches : If I be not
sent away post, I will see you again ere I go.
DoL, I cannot speak ; If my heart be not ready
to burst : Well, sweet Jack, have a care of thyself.
Fal. Farewell, farewell.
[Ecceunt Falstaff mid Bardolph.
Host. Well, fare thee well : I have known thee
these twenty nine years, come peascod-time ; but an
honester, and truer-hearted man, Well, fare thee
well.
Bard. \_WitJun.'] Mistress Tear-sheet,
Host. What's the matter ?
112 SECOND PART OF act iii.
Bard. [ Within.'] Bid mistress Tear-sheet come
to my master.
Host, O run, Doll, run j run, good DoU.^
\_Exeunt.
ACT III. SCENE I.^
A Room in the Palace.
Enter King Henry in his Nightgown, with a Page.
K. Hen. Go, call the earls of Surrey and of
Warwick ;
But, ere they come, bid them o*er-read these letters,
And well consider of them : Make good speed.
]^E^it Page.
How many thousand of my poorest subjects
Are at this hour asleep ! Sleep, gentle sleep,'
O ruTif Doll, run ; run, good Doll.] Thus the folio. The
quarto reads run, Doll run; run: Good Doll, come: she
comes blubbered : Yea, xvill you come, Doll ? Steevens.
' Scene /.] This first scene is not in my copy of the first
edition. Johnson.
There are two copies of the same date, and in one of these
the spene has been added. They are in all other respects, alike.
It should seem as if the defect in this quarto was undiscovered
till most of the copies of it were sold, for only one that I have
seen contains the addition. Signature E consists of six leaves.
Four of these, exclusive of the two additional ones, were re-
printed to make room for the omission. Steevens.
" Sleep, gentle sleep,"] The old copy, in defiance of
metre, reads:
O sleep, O gentle sleep.
The repeated tragic was probaoly a playhouse intrusion.
Steevens.
sc.L Icing henry iv. us
Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down,
And steep my senses in forgetfulness ?
Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs.
Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee,
And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber ;
Than in the perfum'd chambers of the great,
Under the canopies of costly state.
And lulPd with sounds of sweetest melody ?
O thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile.
In loathsome beds ; and leav'st the kingly couch,
A watch-case, or a common 'larum bell ?^
Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast
Seal up the ship-boy*s eyes, and rock his brains
In cradle of the rude imperious surge ;
And in the visitation of the winds.
Who take the ruffian billows by the top.
Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them
With deafening clamours in the slippery clouds,^
^ A watch-case, &c.] This alludes to the watchman set in
garrison-towns upon some eminence, attending upon an alarum-
bell, which was to ring out in case of fire, or any approaching
danger. He had a case or box to shelter him from the weather,
but at his utmost peril he was not to sleep whilst he was upon
duty. These akrum-bells are mentioned in several other places
of Shakspeare. Hanmer.
In an ancient inventory cited in Strutt's |3ojiba Anjel-cvnnan,
Vol. III. p. 70, there is the following article : " Item, a laume
or WATCHE of iron, in an iron case, with 2 leaden plumets."
Strutt supposes, and no doubt rightly, that laume is an error for
larum. Something of this kind, I believe, is here intended by
watch-case ^^mce this speech does not aftbrd any other expressions
to induce the supposition that the King had a sentry-box in his
thoughts. Holt White.
' slippery clouds,] The modern editors reaidi shrovodsy
meaning the rope-ladders by which the masts of ships are
ascended. The old copy in the slippery clouds ; but 1 know
not what advantage is gained by the alteration, for shroxvds had
VOL^ XII. I
114 SECOND PART OF act iii.
That, with the hurly,'^ death itself awakes ?
anciently the same meaning as clouds. I could bring many
instances of this use of the word from Drayton. So, in his
Miracles of Moses :
* And the Sterne thunder from the airy shroxvdSf
** To the sad world, in fear and horror spake."
Again, in Ben Jonson's Poem on Inigo Jones :
" And peering forth of Iris in the shrotuds."
Again, in Chapman's version of the twentieth Iliad:
" casting all thicke mantles made of clouds,
" On their bright shoulders. Th' oppos'd gods sat hid in
other shrouds."
A moderate tempest would hang the waves in the shroivds of
a ship ; a great one might poetically be said to suspend them on
the cloudsy which were too slippery to retain them.
So, in Julius Ccesar :
" 1 have seen
* Th' ambitious ocean swell, and rage and foam
" To be exalted with the threatening clouds."
Again, in Golding's translation of Ovid's Metamorphosis ^
Book XI:
** The surges mounting up aloft 'did seeme to mate the
skie,
** And with their sprinkling for to met the clouds that
hang on hie.**
Again, in Ben Jonson's Masque of Queens ^ 1609:
*' when the boisterous sea,
* Without a breath of wind, hath knocked the sky.**
Again, Virg. Mn. Lib. Ill :
** spumam elisam, et rorantia vidimus astra.'*
Drayton's airy shrotods are the airy covertures of heaven ;
which in plain language are the clouds.
A similar image to that before us, occurs in Churchyard's
Praise qfPoetrie, 1595 :
** The poets that can clime the cloudes,
" Like ship-boy to the top,
** When sharpest stormes do shake the shrowdes" &c.
Lee, in his Mithridatesy is the copier of Shakspeare :
" So sleeps the sea-boy on the cloudy mast,
" Safe as a drowsy Triton, rock'd by storms,
" WTiile tossing princes wake on beds of down."
Steevens.
The instances produced by Mr. Steevens prove that clouds
were sometimes called poetically airy shrouds, or shrouds sus-
sc. /. KING HENRY IV. 115
Can'st thou, O partial sleep ! give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude ;
And, in the calmest and most stillest night.
With all appliances and means to boot.
Deny it to a king?^ Then, happy low, lie down !*
Uneasy lies the head that wears a cro\VTi.
pended in air ; but they do not appear to me to prove that any
writer, speaking of a ship, ever called the shrouds of the ship
by the name of clotids. I entirely, however, agree with him
in thinking that clouds here is the true reading ; and the passage
produced from Julius Ccesar, while it fully supports it, shows
that the word is to be understood in its ordinary sense. So
again, in The Winter^ s Tale: " now the ship boring the.
moon with her main-mast, and anon swallowed up with yest and
froth." Malone.
My position appears to have been misunderstood. I meant
not to suggest that the shrotvds of a ship were ever called
clouds. What I designed to say was, that the clouds and the
shrouds of heaven were anciently synonymous terms, so that by
the exchange of the former word for the latter, no fresh idea
would, in fact, be ascertained ; as the word shrowds might be
received in the sense of clouds as well as that of ship-tackle.
Steevens.
* That, tuitk the hurly,] Ilurli/ is noise, derived from the
French Hurler to howl, as hurly-burly from Hurluberlu. Fr.
Steevens.
' Deny it to a king ?] Surely, for the sake of metre, we
should read
Deny^t a king ? Steevens.
* Then, happy low, lie down .'] Evidently corrupted
from happy lowly down. These two lines making the just
conclusion from what preceded. ** If sleep will fly a king and
consort itself with beggars, then happy the lowly clown, and
uneasy the crowned head." Warburton.
Dr. Warburton has not admitted this emendation Into his text i
I am glad to do it the justice which its author has neglected.
Johnson.
The sense of the old reading seems to be this : " You, who
are happy in your humble situations, lay down your heads to
rest ! the head that wears a crown lies too uneasy to expect such
a blessing." Had not Shakspeare thought it necessary to subject
I 2
116 SECOND PART OF act in.
Enter Warwick and Surrey.
War. Many good morrows to your majesty !
K. Hen. Is it good morrow, lords ?
War. 'Tis one o'clock, and past.
K, Hen. Why then, good morrow to you all,
my lords. ^
Have you read o*er the letters that I sent you ?
War. We have, my liege.
himself to the tyranny of rhyme, he would probably have said;
" then happy low, sleep on !"
So, in The Misfortunes of Arthur y a tragedy, 1587:
** Behold the peasant poore with tattered coate,
** Whose eyes a meaner fortune feeds with sleepe,
" How safe and sound the carelesse snudge doth snore."
Sir W. D'Avenant has the same thought in his Latu against
Lovers :
" How soundly they sleep, whose pillows lie low !'*
Steevens.
* Why therif good morrow to you all, my lords."] In my regula-
tion of this passage I have followed the late editors ; but I am
now persuaded the first line should be pointed thus :
Why then good morrow to you ally my lords.
This mode of phraseology, where only two persons are
addressed, is not very correct, but there is no ground for
reading
Whyj then, good morrow to you. Well, my lords, &c.
as Theobald and all the subsequent editors do ; for Shakspeare,
in King Henry VI. Part II. Act II. sc. ii. has put the same
expression into the mouth of York, when he addresses only his
two friends, Salisbury and Warwick ; though the author of the
original play, printed in 1600, on which The Second Part of
King Henry VI. was founded, had, in the corresponding place,
employed the word both :
" Where as all you know,
" Harmless Richard was murder'd traiterously."
This is one of the numerous circumstances that contribute to
prove that Shakspeare's Henries were formed on the work of a
preceding writer. See the Dissertation on that subject, in
Vol. XIV. Malone.
sc,i. KING HENRY IV. 117
K. Hen. Then you perceive, the body of our
kingdom
How foul it is ; what rank diseases grow.
And with what danger, near the heart of it.
War. It is but as a body, yet, distempered;^
Which to his former strength may be restored,
With good advice, and little medicine :
My lord Northumberland will soon be cooPd.'^
K. Hen. O heaven! that one might read the book
of fate ;
And see the revolution of the times
Make mountains level, and the continent
(Weary of solid firmness,) melt itself
Into the sea ! and, other times, to see^
* It is but as a body^ yety distemper'd ;] Distemper^ that is,
according to the old physick, a disproportionate mixture of hu-
mours, or inequality of innate heat and radical humidity, is less
than actual disease^ being only the state which foreruns or pro-
duces diseases. The difference between distemper and disease
seems to be much the same as between disposition and habit.
Johnson.
' My lord Northumberland loill soon be cool'd.] I believe
Shakspeare wrote schooled; tutor 'd, and brought to submission.
Warburton.
Cool'd is certainly right. Johnson.
So, in The Merry Wives of Windsor : " my humour shall
not cool." Steevens.
* O heaven J that one might read the book of fate i
And see the revolution of the times
Make mountains level, and the continent
( Weary of solid firmness ,) melt itself
Into the sea ! and, other times, to see &c.] So, in our
author's 64th Sonnet :
" When I have seen the hungry ocean gain
" Advantage on the kingdom of the shore,
** And the firm soil win of the watry main,
" Increasing store with loss, and loss with store ;
" When I have seen such interchange of state," &c.
Malone.
118 SECONB PART OF act iil
The beachy girdle of the ocean
Too wide lor Neptune's hips ; how chances mock,
And changes fill the cup of alteration
With divers liquors ! O, if this were seen,^
' O, if this "were seeriy &c.] These four lines are sup-
plied from the edition of 1600. Warburton.
My copy wants the whole scene, and therefore these lines.
There is some difficulty in the line
What perils past, tvhat crosses to ensue,
because it seems to make past perils equally terrible with ensuing
crosses. Johnson.
This happy youth, "who is to foresee the future progress of his
life, cannot be supposed, at the time of his happiness, to have
gone through many perils. Both the perils and the crosses that
the King alludes to were yet to come ; and what the youth is to
foresee is, the many crosses he would have to contend with, even
after he has passed through many perils. M. Mason.
In answer to Dr. Johnson's objection it may be observed, that
past perils are not described as equally terrible with ensuing
crosses, but are merely mentioned as an aggravation of the sum
of human calamity. He who has already gone through some
perils, might hope to have his quietus, and might naturally sink
m despondency, on being informed that " bad begins, and worse
remains behind.'* Even past perils are painful in retrospect, as
a man shrinks at the sight of a precipice from which he once
fell. To one part of Mr. M. Mason's observation it may be re-
plied, that Shakspeare does not say the happy, but the happiest,
youth ; that is, even the happiest of mortals, all of whom are
destined to a certain portion of misery.
Though what I have now stated may, I think, fairly be urged
in support of what seems to have been Dr. Johnson's sense of
this passage, yet I own Mr. M. Mason's interpretation is ex-
tremely ingenious, and probably is right. The perils here
spoken of may not have befen actually passed by the peruser of
the book of fate, though they have been passed by him in
** viewing his progress through ;" or, in other words, though
the register or them has been perused by him. They may be
said to be past in one sense only ; namely, with respect to those
which arc to ensue ; which are presented to his eye subsequently
to those which precede. If the spirit and general tendency of
the passage, rather than the grammatical expression, be attended
to, this may be said to be the most obvious meaning. The con-
sc. I. KING HENRY IV. 119
The happiest youth, ^viewing hisprogress through.
What perils past, what crosses to ensue,
Would shut the book, and sit him down and die.
'Tis not ten years gone,
Since Richard, and Northumberland, great friends,
Did feast together, and, in two years after.
Were they at wars : It is but eight years, since
This Percy was the man nearest my soul ;
Who like a brother toiPd in my affairs,
And laid his love and life under my foot ;
Yea, for my sake, even to the eyes of Richard,
Gave him defiance. But which of you was by, *
(You, cousin Nevil,^ as I may remember,)
\_To Warwick.
When Richard, ^with his eye brimfull of tears,
struction is, " What perils having been past, luhat crosses are to
ensice.** Malone.
* But which of you taas by, &c.'] He refers to King
Richard II. Act IV. sc. ii. But whether the king's or the au-
thor's memory fails him, so it was, that Warwick was not pre-
sent at that conversation. Johnson.
Neither was the King himself present, so that he must have
received information of what passed from Northumberland. His
memory, indeed, is singularly treacherous, as, at the time of
which he is now speaking, he had actually ascended the throne.
RiTSON.
* cousin Nevil,] Shakspeare has mistaken the name of
the present nobleman. The earldom of Warwick was at this
time in the family of Beauchampy and did not come into that
of the Nevils till many years after, in the latter end of the reign
of King Henry VI. when it descended to Anne Beauchamj), (the
daughter of the earl here introduced,) who was married to
Richard Nevil, Earl of Salisbury. Steevens.
Anne Beauchamp was the wife of that Richard Nevil, ^in her
right,) Earl of Warwick, and son to Richard Earl of Salisbury,
who makes so conspicuous a figure in our author's Second and
Third Parts ^ King Henry VI. He succeeded to the latter
title on his father's death, in 1460, but is never distinguished
by it. RiTSON.
120 SECOND PART OF act HL
Then check'd and rated by Northumberland,
Did speak these words, now prov'd a prophecy ?
Northumbei'land, thou ladder, by the which
My cousin Bolingbroke ascends my throne ;
Though then, heaven knows, I had no such intent;^
But that necessity so bow'd the state.
That I and greatness were compell'd to kiss :
The time shall come, thus did he follow it,
The time mil come, that foul sin, gatliering head.
Shall break into corruption : so went on.
Foretelling this same time's condition.
And the division of our amity. '
War. There is a history in all men's lives,
Figuring the nature of the times deceas'd :
The which observ'd, a man may prophecy,
AVith a near aim, of the main chance of things
As yet not come to life ; which in their seeds,
And weak beginnings, lie intreasured.
Such things become the hatch and brood of time j
And, by the necessary form of this,*
* / had no such intent;'] He means, " I should have
had no such intent, but that necessity" &c. or Shakspeare has
here also forgotten his former play, or has chosen to make
Henry forget his situation at the time mentioned. He had then
actually accepted the crown. See King Richard II. Act IV.
8C. i:
** In God*s name, I'll ascend the regal thr"
M4LONE.
* Andy by the necessary form of this,] I think we might
better read :
the necessary form o/" things.
The word this has no very evident antecedent. Johnson.
If any change were wanting, I would read :
Andy by the necessary form 0/ these,
i. e. the things mentioned in the preceding line. Steevens.
Andy by the necessary form /"this, is, I apprehend, to be un-
derstood this history of the times deceased. Henley.
sc. I, KING HENRY IV, 121
King Richard might create a perfect guess.
That great Northumberland, then false to him,
Would, of that seed, grow to a greater falseness ;
Which should not find a ground to root upon.
Unless on you.
K. Hen. Are these things then necessities ?^
Then let us meet them like necessities : ^
And that same word even now cries out on us ;
They say, the bishop and Northumberland
Are fifty thousand strong.
WARf It cannot be, my lord j
Rumour doth double, like the voice and echo.
The numbers of the fear'd : Please it your grace.
To go to bed ; upon my life, my lord.
The powers that you already have sent forth.
Shall bring this prize in very easily.
To comfort you the more, I have received
A certain instance, that Glendower is dead."^
* Are these things then necessities ?] I suspect that things
then are interpolated words. They corrupt the measure, do not
improve the sense, and the anticipation of then diminishes the
force of the same adverb in the following line. Steevens.
Then let us meet them like necessities :] I am inclined to
read :
Then let us meet them like necessity.
That is, with the resistless violence of necessity ; then comes
more aptly the following line :
Aiid that same word even notv cries out on us.
That is, the word necessity/. Johnson.
That is, let us meet them with that patience and iquiet temper
with which men of fortitude meet those events which they
know to be inevitable. I cannot approve of Johnson's explana-
tion. M. Mason.
' that Glendower is dead.'} Glendoiuer did not die till
after King Henry IV.
Shakspeare was led into this error by Holinshed, who places
Owen Glendower's death in the tenth year of Henry's reign.
See Vol. XI. p. 324', n. 5. Malone.
122 SECOND PART OF act iii.
Your majesty hath been this fortnight ill ;
And these unseason'd hours, perforce, must add
Unto your sickness.
K. Hen. I will take your counsel :
And, were these inward wars once out of hand.
We would, dear lords, unto the Holy Land.^
\_Ea:eunt.
SCENE II.
Court before Justice Shallow's House in Gloucester-
shire. ^
Enter Shallow and Silence, meeting; Mouldy,
Shadow, Wart, Feeble, Bull-calf, and Ser-
vants, behind,
Shal. Come on, come on, come on ; give me
your hand, sir, give me your hand, sir : an early
unto the Holy Land."] This play, like the former,
proceeds in one unbroken tenor through the first edition, and
there is therefore no evidence that the division of the Acts was
made by the author. Since, then, every editor has the same
right to mark the intervals of action as the players, who made
the present distribution, I should propose that this scene may be
added to the foregoing Act, and the remove from London to
Gloucestershire be made in the intermediate time, but that it
would shorten the next Act too much, which has not, even now,
its due proportion to the rest. Johnson.
^ Jtistice Shallow's House in Gloucestershire.'] From the
following passage in The Return Jrom Parnassus, 1606, we may
conclude that Kempe was the original Justice Shallotv. Bur-
bage and Kempe are introduced, instructing some Cambridge
students to act. Burbage makes one of the students repeat
some lines of Hieronymo and King Richard III. Kempe says
to another, " Now for you, methinks you belong to my
tuition ; and your face methinks would be good for a foolish
sc, II. KING HENRY IV. 12S
stirrer, by the rood. * And how doth my good cousin
Silence ?
SiL.^ Good morrow, good cousin Shallow.
Shal. And how doth my cousin, your bedfellow?
and your fairest daughter, and mine, my god-
daughter Ellen ?
SiL, Alas, a black ouzel, cousin Shallow.
Shal. By yea and nay, sir, I dare say, my cousin
William is become a good scholar: He is at Oxford,
stiU, is he not ?
Mayor, or a foolish Justice of Peace.''* And again : " Thou
wilt do well in time if thou wilt be ruled by thy betters, that is,
by myselfe, and such grave aldermen of the play-house as I am.'*
It appears from Nashe's Apologie of Pierce Penniless^ 1593, that
he likewise played the Clown : " What can be made of a rope-
maker more than a clotvne. Will. Kempey I mistrust it will fall
to thy lot for a merriment one of these dayes." Malone.
' by the rood.] i. e. the cross. Pope.
Hearne, in his Glossary to Peter Langtoft, p. 544, under the
word crossy observes, that although the cross and the rood are
commonly taken for the same, yet the rood properly signified
formerly the image of Christ on the cross ; so as to represent
both the cross and figure of our blessed Saviour, as he suffered
upon it. The roods that were in churches and chapels were
placed in shrines that were called rood lofts. " Roodlqfty (saith
Blount,) is a shrine whereon was placed the cross of Christ.
The rood was an image of Christ on the cross, made generally
of wood, and erected in a loft for that purpose, just over the
passage out of the church into the chancel." Reed.
BuUokar, however, is a better authority than any of these,
being contemporary with Shakspeare. In his English Expositor^
8vo. 1616, he defines roode thus : " In land it signifies a quarter
of an acre. It is sometimes taken for the picture of our Saviour
upon the cross." Malone.
' Sil.'] The oldest copy of this play was published in 1600.
It must however have been acted somewhat earlier, as in Ben
Jonson's Every Man out of his Humour y which was performed
in 1599, is the following reference to it : " No, lady, this is a
kinsman to Justice Silence." Steevens.
124 SECOND PART OF act im
SiL, Indeed, sir ; to my cost.
Shal. He must then to the inns of court shortly :
I was once of Clement' s-inn ; where, I think, they
will talk of mad Shallow yet.
SiL, You were called ^lusty Shallow, then,
cousin.
Shal By the mass, I was called any thing ; and
I would have done any thing, indeed, and roundly
too. There was I, and little John Doit of Stafford-
shire, andblack George Bare, and Francis Pickbone,
and Will Squele a Cotswold maii,^ ^you had not
four such swinge-bucklers* in all the inns of court
' Will Squele a Cotswold man,'] The games at Cotswold
were, in the time of our author, very famous. Of these I have
seen accounts in several old pamphlets ; and Shallow, by distin-
guishing Will Squele, as a Cotswold man, meant to have him
understood as one who was well versed in manly exercises, and
consequently of a daring spirit, and an athletic constitution.
Steevens.
The games of Cotswold, I believe, did not commence till the
reign of James I. I have never seen any pamphlet that mentions
them as having existed in the time of Elizabeth. Randolph
speaks of their revival in the time of Charles I. ; and from
Dover's book they appear to have been revived in 1636. But
this does not prove that they were exhibited in the reign of
Queen Elizabeth. They certainly were in that of King James,
and were probably discontinued after his death. However,
Cotswold might have been long famous for meetings of tumul-
tuous swinge-bucklers. See Vol. V. p. 16, n. 6. Malone.
* sxoinge-bucklers] Sivinge-bucklers and swash-buck-
lers were words implying rakes or rioters in the time of Shak-
speare.
Nash, addressing himself to his old opponent Gabriel Harvey,
1598, says : " Turpe senex miles, 'tis time for such an olde foole
to leave playing the swash-buckler.**
Again, in The Devil* s Charter, 1607, Caraffa says, " when
I was a scholar in Padua, faith, then I could haMe swinged a
stoord and buckler,*' &c. Steevens.
** West Smithfield (says the Continuator of Stowe's Annals,
sc, II. KING HENRY IV. 125
again : and, I may say to you, we knew where the
bona-robas^ were ; and had the best of them all at
commandment. Then was Jack FalstafF, now sir
John, a boy ; and page to Thomas Mowbray, duke
of Norfolk.^
1631,) was for many years called Rtuffians* Hall, by reason it
was the usual place of frayes and common fighting, during the
time that stvord and buckler were in use ; when every serving-
man, from the base to the best, carried a buckler at his backe,
which hung by the hilt or pummel of his sword which hung
before him. Untill the 20th year of Queen Elizabeth, it was
usual to have frayes, fights, and quarrels upon the sundayes and
holydayes, sometimes, twenty, thirty, and forty swords and
bucklers, halfe against halfe, as well by quarrels of appointment
as by chance. And in the winter season all the high streets
were much annoyed and troubled with hourly frayes, and sword
and buckler men, who took pleasure in that bragging fight ; and
although they made great shew of much furie, and fought often,
yet seldome any man was hurt, for thrusting was not then in
use, neither would any one of twenty strike beneath the waste,
by reason they held it cowardly and beastly." Malone. ^
^ bona-robas ] i. e. ladies of pleasure. Bona Roba,
Ital. So, in the The Bride, by Nabbes, 1640 :
** Some bona-roba they have been sporting with."
Steevens.
See Florio's Italian Dictionary, 1598: ** Buona roba, as we
ay good stuff; a good wholesome plump-cheeked wench."
Malone.
^ Then tvas Jack Falstqff, noto sir John, a boy ; and page
to Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk.'] The following cir-
cumstances, tending to prove that Shakspeare altered the name
of Oldcastle to that of Falstqff, have hitherto'been overlooked.
In a poem by J. Weever, entitled The Mirror of Martyrs, or
the Life and Death of that thrice valiant Capitaine and most
godly Martyre Sir John Oldcastle, Knight, Lord Cobham, 18mo.
1601. Oldcastle, relating the events of his life, says:
" Within the spring-time of my flow'ring youth,
" He [his father] stept into the winter of his age ;
" Made meanes (Mercurius thus begins the truth)
" That I was made Sir Thomas Mowbrais page.**
Again, in a pamphlet, entitled. The Wandering Jew telling
Fortunes to Englishmen, 4to. (the date torn off, but apparently
126 SECOND PART OF act in,
SiL. This sir John, cousin, that comes hither
anon about soldiers ?
a republication about the middle of the last century) [1640] is
the following passage in the Glutton* s speech : " I do not live
by the sweat of my brows, but am almost dead with sweating.
I eate much, but can talk little. Sir John Oldcastle was my
great grandfather's father's uncle. I come of a huge kindred."
Reed.
Different conclusions are sometimes drawn from the same pre-
mises. Because Shakspeare borrowed a single circumstance from
the life of the real Oldcastle, and imparted it to the Jictitious
Falstqff', does it follow 'that the name of the former was ever
employed as a cover to the vices of the latter ? Is it not more
likely, because Falstqff'was known to possess one feature in
common with Oldcasiie, that the vulgar were led to imagine
that Falstaff was only Oldcastle in disguise ? Hence too might
have arisen the story that our author was compelled to change
the name of the one for that of the other ; a story sufficiently
specious to have imposed on the writer of The Wandering Jew,
as well as on the credulity of Field, Ftdler, and others, whose
coincidence has been brought in support of an opinion contrary
to my own. Steevens.
Having given my opinion very fully on this point in a former
note, (see Vol. XI. p. 194, & seq. n. 3.) I shall here only
add, that I entirely concur with Mr. Steevens. There is no doubt
that the Sir John Oldcastle of the anonymous King Henry V.
suggested the character of Falstaff to Shakspeare ; and hence he
very naturally adopted this circumstance in the life of the real
Oldcastle, and made his Falstaff page to Mowbray Duke of Nor-
folk. The author of The Wandering Jew seems to have been
misunderstood. He describes the Glutton as related to some Sir
John Oldcastle, and therefore as a man of huge kindred ; but he
means a fat man, not a man nobly allied. From a pamphlet
already quoted, entitled, The Meeting of Gallants at an Ordi-
narie, it appears that the Oldcastle of the old King Henri/ V.
was represented as a very fat man ; (see also the prologue to a
play entitled Sir John Oldcastle, 1600, in which the Oldcastle of
the old King Henry V. is described as " a. pampered glutton,**)
but we have no authority for supposing that Lord Cobhara was
fatter than other men. Is it not evident then that the Oldcastle
of the play of King Henry V. was the person in the contempla-
tion of the author of The Wandering Jew ? and how does the
proof that Shakspeare changed the name of his character advance
SG. II. KING HENRY IV. 127
Shal, The same sir John, the very same. I saw
him break Skogan's head''' at the court gate, when
by this means one step ? In addition to what I have suggested
in a former note on this subject, I may add, that it appears from
Camden's Remaines, 1614, p. 146, that celebrated actors were
sometimes distinguished by the names of the persons they repre-
sented on the stage : " that I may say nothing of such as for
well acting on the stage have carried away the names of the
personage which they have acted, and lost their names among
the people.*^ If actors, then, were sometimes called by the
names of the persons they represented, what is more probable
than that Falstaff should have been called by the multitude,
and by the players, Oldcastle ; not only because there had been
a popular character of that name in a former piece, whose im-
mediate successor Falstaff was, and to whose clothes and fictitious
belly he succeeded ; but because, as Shakspeare himself intimates
in his Epilogue to this play, a false idea had gone abroad, that
his jolly knight was, like his predecessor, the theatrical repre-
sentative of Sir John Oldcastle, the good Lord Cobham ? See
the note to the Epilogue at the end of this play. Malone.
^ Skogan's head ^] Who Skogan was, may be under-
stood from the following passage in TheFortunate IsleSyS. masque,
by Ben Jonson, 1626 :
Methinks you should enquire now after Skelton^
And master Scogan.
Scogan ? what was he ?
Oh, a fine gentleman, and a master of arts
" Of Henri/ the Fourth's timesy that made disguises
For the king's sons, and writ in ballad royal
" Daintily well," &c.
Among the works of Chaucer is a poem called " Scogan
unto the Lordes anc^ Gentilmen of the Kinge's House."
Steevens.
In the written copy, (says the editor of Chaucer's Works,
1598,) the title hereof is thus: " Here followethe a morall
ballade to the Prince, now Prince Henry, the Duke of Clarence,
the Duke of Bedford, the Duke of Gloucester, the kinges sons,
by Henry Scogan^ at a supper among the merchants in the
vmtrey at London, in the house of Lewis John." The purport
of the ballad is to dissuade them from spending their youth
folily."
JoJm Skogan, who is said to have taken the degree of master
of arts at Oxford, " being (says Mr. Warton) an excellent
128 SECOND PART OF act' iiL
he was a crack, ^ not thus high : and the very same
mimick, and of great pleasantry in conversation, became the
favourite buffoon of the court of King Edward IV" Bale and
Tanner have confounded him with Henry Skogan, if indeed
they were distinct persons, which I doubt. The compositions
which Bale has attributed to the writer whom he supposes to
have lived in the time of Edward I V^ were written by the poet
of the reign of Henry IV. which induces me to think that there
was no poet or master of arts of this name, in the time of
Edward. There might then have been a jester of the same
name. Scogin's Jests were published by Andrew Borde, a
physician in the reign of Henry VUI. Shakspeare had probably
met with this book ; and as he was very little scrupulous about
anachronisms, this person, and not Henri/ Scogan, the poet of
the time of Henry IV. may have been in his thoughts : I say
mai/, for it is by no means certain, though the author of Re-
marks on the last edition of Shakspeare, &c. has asserted it with
that confidence which distinguishes his observations.
Since this note was written, I have observed that Mr. Tyr-
whitt agrees with me in thinking that there was no poet of the
name of Scogan in the time of King Edward IV. nor any
ancient poet of that name but Henry Scogan, Master of Arts,
who lived in the time of King Henry Iv'^. and he urges the
same argument that I have done, namely, that the compositions
which Bale ascribes to the supposed John Scogan, were written
by Henry. Bale and Tanner were, I believe, Mr. Warton's
only authority.
" As to the two circumstances (says Mr. Tyrwhitt,) of his
being a master of arts of Oxford, ano. jester to the king, I can.
find no older authority for it than Dr. Borders book. That he
was contemporary with Chaucer, but so as to survive him
several years, perhaps till the reign of Henry V. is sufficiently
clear from this poem [the poem mentioned in the former part of
my note.]
" Shakspeare seems to have followed the jest-book, in con-
sidering Scogan as a mere bufibon, when he mentions as one of
Falstaff's boyish exploits that he broke Scogan's head at the
court-gate." Tyrwhitt's Chaticer, Vol. V. Pref.
" Among a number of people of all sorts who had letters of
protection to attend Richard II. upon his expedition into Ireland
in 1399, is Henricus Scogan, Armiger.'* Ibidem, p. xv.
Malone.
This was John Scogan, jester to King Edward IV. ar>d not
Henry, the poet, who lived long before, but is frequently cor>-
sc, II. KING HENRY IV. 129
day did I fight with one Sampson Stockfish, a fruit-
founded with him. Our author, no doubt, was well read in
John's Jests, " gathered by Andrew Boarde, doctor of physick,"
and printed in ^to. and black letter, but without date ; and his
existence, which has been lately called in question, (for what
may not be called in question ? ) is completely ascertained by the
following characteristic epitaph, accidentally retrieved from a
contemporary manuscript in the Harleian library (No. 1587) :
Hie iacet in tumulo corpus Scogan ecee Johannis ;
Sit tibi pro speculo, letusjuit eius in annis :
Leti transibunt, transitus vitare neguibunt ;
Quo nescimus ibunt, vinosi cito peribunt.
Holinshed, speaking of the great men of Edward the Fourth's
time, mentions " Seogan, a learned gentleman, and student for
a time in Oxford, of a pleasaunte witte, and bent to mery de-
uises, in respect whereof he was called into the courte, where
giuing himselfe to his naturall inclination of mirthe and plea-
saunt pastime, he plaied many sporting parts, althoughe not in
suche vnciuill maner as hath bene of hym reported." These
uncivil reports evidently allude to the above jest-book, a cir-
cumstance of which no one who consults it will have the least
doubt. See also Bale's Scriptores BritannicB, and Tanner's
Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica, art. Skogan. After all,
there is some reason to believe that John was actually a little bit
of a poet. Drayton, in his preface to his Eclogues, says, that
*' the Colin Clout of Scogan, under Henry the Seventh, is
pretty ;" clearly meaning some pastoral under that title, and of
that age, which he must have read, and, consequently, not
Skelton's poem so called, nor any thing of Spenser's. Lang-
ham, in his enumeration of Captain Cox's library, notices " the
Seargeaunt that became a Fryar, Skogan, Collyn Cloout, the
Fryar and the Boy, Elynor Rumming, and the Nutbrooun
Maid ;" and that, by Skogan, the writer does not mean his Jests,
is evident, from the circumstance cff all the rest being poetical
tracts. He is elsewhere named in company with Skelton ; and,
in support of this idea, one may refer to the facetious epigram
he wrote on taking his degree, at Oxford, of Master of Arts.
Mr. Tyrwhitt's opinion will, on all occasions, be entitled to
attention and respect; but no opinion can have any weight
whatever against a positive and incontrovertible^d. Kitson.
" a crack,] This is an old Islandic word, signifying a
boy or child. One of the fabulous kings and heroes of Den-
mark, called Hrolf, was surnamed Krake. See the story in
Eddn, Fable 63. Tyrwhitt.
vol- XII. K
130 SECOND PART OF act iii,
erer, behind Gray's-inn. O, the mad days that I
have spent ! and to see how many of mine old ac-
quaintance are dead !
SiL. We shall all follow, cousin.
Shal. Certain, *tis certain; very sure, very sure:
death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all ; all
shall die. How a good yoke of bullocks at Stam-
ford fair ?
SiL. Truly, cousin, I was not there.
Shal. Death is certain. Is old Double of your
town living yet ?
SiL, Dead, sir.
Shal. Dead! See, see! ^hedi'ewagoodbow;
And dead! he shot a fine shoot: John of Gaunt
loved him well, and betted much money on hishead.
Dead! he would have clapped i*the clout ^ at
twelve score ; * and carried you a forehand shaft a
fourteen, and fourteen and a half,'^ that it would
^ clapped i*the clout ] i. e. hit the white mark.
Wahburton.
So, in King Lear : " O, well flown, bird ! Vthe clouty i^the
clout.** Steevens.
' at twelve score ;'\ i. e. of yards. So, in Drayton's
Polyolbioriy 1612 :
** At markes full fortie score they us'd to prick and rove."
Malone.
This mode of expression, certainly in this instance, and I be-
lieve in general, means yards; but the line from Drayton
makes this opinion doubtful, or shows the extreme inaccuracy
of the poet, for no man was ever capable of shooting an arrow
forty score yards. Douce.
' fourteen^ and fourteen and a half,'] That i^, fourteen
score of yards. Johnson.
Twelve score appears, however, from a passage in Church-
Jrard's Charitie^ 1595, to have been no shot of an extraordinary
ength :
sc. II. KING HENRY IV.
have done a man's heart good to see.
score of ewes now ?
SiL. Thereafter as they be : a score of good ewes
may be worth ten pounds.
Shal, And is old Double dead !
Enter Bardolph, and one with him.
SiL. Here come two of sir John FalstafF's men,
a,s I think.
Bard. Good morrow, honest gentlemen ; I be-
seech you, which is justice Shallow ?
Shal. I am Robert Shallow, sir ; a poor esquire
of this county, and one of the king's justices of the
peace : What is your good pleasure with me ?
Bard. My captain, sir, commends him to you ;
my captain, sir John FalstafF: a tall gentleman, b^
heaven, and a most gallant leader.
** They hit the white that never shot before,
" No marke-men sure, nay bunglers in their kind,
" A sort of swads that scarce can shoot tvoelve score.'*
Steevens.
The utmost distance that the archers of ancient times reached,
is supposed to have been about three hundred yards. Old Double
therefore certainly drew a. good bow. Malone.
Shakspeare probably knew what he was about when he spoke
qf archery, which in his time was practised by every one. He
is describing Double as a very excellent archer, and tliere is no
inconsistency in making such a one shoot fourteen score and a
half; but it must be allowed that none but a most extraordinary-
archer would be able to hit a mark at twelve score. Some al-
lowance, however, should be made when the speaker is con-
sidered. Douce.
The long field (I believe at Finsbury) is 16 score 10 yards.
A Mr. Bates once shot an arrow near 30 yards beyonjd the
bound of it, which was 18 score. Mr. John Rowston, of Man-
chester, has often shot 18 score. Miss Banks.
K 2
132 SECOND PART OF actiil
Shal. He greets me well, sir ; I knew him a
good backsword man : How doth the good knight?
may I ask, how my lady his wife doth ?
Bard. Sir, pardon ; a soldier is better accom-
modated, than with a wife.
Sh^il. It is well said, in faith, sir ; and it is well
said indeed too. Better accommodated ! it is
good ; yea, indeed, it is : good phrases are surely,
and ever were, very commendable. Accommo-
dated ! it comes from accommodo : very good ; a
good phrase.^
Bard. Pardon me, sir ; I have heard the word.
Phrase, call you it ? By this good day, I know not
the phrase : but I will maintain the word with my
sword, to be a soldier-like word, and a word of
exceeding good command. Accommodated ; That
is, when a man is, as they say, accommodated : or,
when a man is, ^being, whereby, he may be
thought to be accommodated j which is an excel-
lent thing. f *
* veri/ good ; a good phrase. &c.] Accommodate was a
modish term of that time, as Ben Jonson informs us : " You
are not to cast or wring for the perfumed terms of the time, as
accommodation^ complement, spirit, &c. but use them properly
in their places as others." Discoveries. Hence Bardolph calls
it a word of exceeding good command. His definition of it is
admirable, and highly satirical : nothing being more common
than for inaccurate speakers or writers, when they should define,
to put their hearers off with a synonymous term ; or, for want
of that, even with the same term differently accommodated : as
in the instance before us. Warbctrtdx.
The same word occurs in Ben Jonson's Every Man in his
Humour :
" Hostess, accommodate us- with another bedstaff :
" The woman does not understAnd the words of action.'*
Stzevens.
sa n. KING HENRY IV. IS$
JBwfer Falstaff.
Shal. It is very just : Look, here comes good
sir John. Give me your good hand, give me your
worship's good hand : By my troth, you look well,
and bear your years very well : welcome, good sir
John.
Fal. I am glad to see you well, good master
Hobert Shallow: Master Sure-card, as I think.*
Shal, No, sir John ; it is my cousin Silence, in
commission with me.
Fal. Good master Silence, it well befits you
should be of the peace.
SiL, Your good worship is welcome.
Fal, Fye! this is hot weather. Gentlemen,
have you provided me here half a dozen sufiicient
men ?
Shal, Marry, have we, sir. Will you sit ?
Fal, Let me see them, I beseech you.
Shal. Where's the roll? where's the roll?
where's the roll ? Let me see, let me see. So, so,
so, so: Yea, marry, sir: Ralph Mouldy: ^let
them appear as I call ; let them do so, let them do
so. Let me see ; Where is Mouldy ?
MouL, Here, an't please you.
* Master Sure-card, as I think.'] It is observable, that
many of Shakspeare's names are invented, and characteristical.
Master Forth-right, the tilter ; Master Shoe-tie, the traveller ;
Master Smooth, the silkman ; Mrs. Over-done, the bawd ; Kate
Keep-down, Jane Night-toork, &c. Sure-card was used as a
term for a boon companion, so lately as the latter end of the last
century, by one of the translators of Stietonius. Malone.
134 SECOND PART OF act m.
Shal. Wliat think you, sir John ? a good limbed
fellow : young, strong, and of good friends.
Fal. Is thy name Mouldy ?
MouL. Yea, an*t please you.
Fal. 'Tis the more time thou wert used.
Shal. Ha, ha, ha ! most excellent, i'faith !
things, that are mouldy, lack use : Very singular
good! In faith, weU said, sir John; very well
said.
Fal. Prick him. \^To Shallow.
MouL. I was pricked well enough before, an you
could have let me alone : my old dame will be un-
done now, for one to do her husbandry, and her
drudgery : you need not to have pricked me ; there
are other men fitter to go out than I.
Fal. Go to ; peace. Mouldy, you shall go.
Mouldy, it is time you were spent.
Moul. Spent!
Shal. Peace, fellow, peace ; stand aside ; Know
J row where you are ? For the other, sir John :
et me see ; Simon Shadow !
Fal. Ay marry, let me have him to sit under :
he's like to be a cold soldier.
Shal. Where's Shadow ?
Shad. Here, sir.
Fal. Shadow, whose son art thou ?
Shad. My mother's son, sir.
Fal. Thy mother's son ! like enough ; and thy
father's shadow : so the son of the female is the
shadow of the male : It is often so, indeed j but
not much of the father's substance.
SHAL. Do you like him, sir John ?
sc. II, KING HENRY IV. 135
Fal, Shadow wiU serve for summer, ^prick him ;
for we have a number of shadows to fill up the
muster-book.^
Shal, Thomas Wart !
Fal, Where's he ?
Wart, Here, sir.
Fal, Is thy name Wart ?
Wart, Yea, sir^
Fal, Thou art a very ragged wart.
Shal, Shall I prick him, sir John ?
Fal. It were superfluous ; for his apparel is built
upon his back, and the whole frame stands upon
pins : prick him no more.
Shal, Ha, ha, ha ! ^you can do it, sir; you can
do it : I commend you well. Francis Feeble !
Fee, Here, sir.
Fal. What trade art thou. Feeble ?
Fee, a woman's tailor, sir.
Shal, Shall I prick him, sir ?
Fal, You may : but if he had been a man's tai-
lor, he would have pricked you. Wilt thou make
as many holes in an enemy's battle, as thou hast
done in a woman's petticoat ?
* ijoe have a number ofshad&ws to Jill up the muster-book.']
That is, we have in the muster-book many names for which we
receive pay, though we have not the men.
Johnson.
So, in Bamabie Riche's Souldiers Wishe to Britons Welfare,
or Captaine Skill and Captaine Pill, 1604-, p. 19: " One spe-
cial! meane that a shifting captaine hath to deceive his prince,
is in his number, to take pay for a whole company, when he hath
not halfe.'* Steevevs.
136 SECOND PART OF act iii.
; Fee, I will do my good will, sir ; you can have
no more.
Fal. Well said, good woman's tailor ! well said,
courageous Feeble ! Thou wilt be as valiant as the
wrathful dove, or most magnanimous mouse. Prick
the woman's tailor well, master Shallow; deep,
master Shallow.
Fee. I would, Wart might have gone, sir.
Fal. I would, thou wert a man's tailor ; that
thou might'st mend him, and make him fit to go.
I cannot put him to a private soldier, that is the
leader of so many thousands : Let that suffice, most
forcible Feeble.
Fee, It shall suffice, sir.
Fal. I am bound to thee, reverend Feeble.
Who is next ?
Shal. Peter Bull-calf of the green !
Fal. Yea, marry, let us see Bull-calf.
Bull. Here, sir.
Fal. *Fore God, a likely fellow ! Come, prick
me Bull-calf till he roar again.
Bull. O lord ! good my lord captain,
Fal. What, dost thou roar before thou art
pricked ?
Bull, O lord, sir ! I am a diseased man.
Fal. What disease hast thou ?
Bull. A whoreson cold, sir; a cough, sir; which
I caught with ringing in the king's affairs, upon
his coronation day, sir.
Fal. Come, thou shalt go to the wars in a gown ;
we will have away thy cold ; and I will take such
sc, 11. KING HENRY IV. ISI
order/ that thy friends shall ring for thee. Is here
aU?
Shal. Here is two more called than your num-
ber ; '^ you must have but four here, sir ; and so, I
pray you, go in with me to dinner.
Fal. Come, I will go drink with you, but I cannot
tarry dinner. I am glad to see you, in good troth,
master Shallow.
Shal. O, sir John, do you remember since we
lay all night in the windmill in Saint George's
fields ?
Fal. No more of that, good master Shallow, no
more of that.
Shal. Ha, it was a merry night. And is Jane
Night- work alive ?
Fal. She lives, master Shallow.
. Shal. She never could away with me.^
** take stick order,"] i.e. take such measures. So in
Othello :
" Honest lago hath ^a'en order for't." Steevens.
' Here is tivo more called than your number ;] Five only have
been called, and the number required i&Jhur. Some name seems
to have been omitted by the transcriber. The restoration of this
sixth man would solve the difficulty that occurs below ; for when
Mouldy and Bull-calf are set aside, FalstafF, as Dr. Farmer has
observed, gets but three recruits. Perhaps our author himself
is answerable for this slight inaccuracy. Malone.
* the windmill in Saint George' sjields f] It appears from
the following passage in Churchyard's Dreame, a poem that makes
part of the collection entitled his Chippes, 4to. 1578, that this
ivindmill was a place of notoriety :
" And from the xvindmill this dreamd he,
" Where hakney horses hired be." Steevens.
" She never could away loith me.'] Tliis expression of dislike
is used by Maurice Kyffin, in his translation of the Andria of
Terence, 1588 : " All men that be in love can ill a'way to have
ISS SlECOND PART OF act in,
Fal. Never, never ; she would always say, she
could not abide master Shallow.
Shal. By the mass, I could anger her to the
heart. She was then a bona-roba.^ Doth she hold
her own well ?
Fal, Old, old, master Shallow.
Shal, Nay, she must be old ; she cannot choose
but be old ; certain, she*s old ; and had Robin
Night-work by old Night-work, before I came to
Clement's-inn.
SiL, That's fifty-five year ago.
Shal. Ha, cousin Silence, that thou hadst seen
that that this knight and I have seen ! Ha, sir
John, said I well?'^
Fal. We have heard the chimes at midnight,'
master Shallow.
wives appointed them by others.'* Perhaps the original meaning
was such a one cannot travel on the same road ivith me.
Steevens.
So, in Harrington's Orlando Furiosoy Book I :
* scarce to look on him she can aivai/.** Malone.
This mode of expression had not become obsolete even in the
time of Mr. Locke, who himself uses it in one of his popular
works : " with those alone he converses, and ca7i atuay with
no company whose discourse goes beyond what claret or disso-
luteness inspires." On the Conduct of the Understanding.
Reed.
' ' bona-roba."] A fine showy wanton. Johnson.
Bona-roba was, in our author's time, the common term for a
harlot. It is used in that sense by Ben Jonson, in his Every Man
out of his Humour^ and by many others. Steevens.
said I 'well?'] This phrase has already occurred in
The Merry Wives of Windsor. See Vol. V. p. 36, n. 1.
Steevens.
' the chimes at midnight y] So, in the second part of an
ancient song entitled A Bill of Fare, &c. bl. 1. :
" We rose from our mirth with the twelve o'clock chimes."
Steevens.
^.it. KING HENRY IV. isd
Shal. That we have, that we have, that we have j
in faith, sir John, we have ; our watch-word was.
Hem, hoys I Come, let's to dinner ; come, let's to
dinner : O, the days that we have seen ! Come,
come.
\Rxeunt Falstaff, Shallow, and Silence.
Bull, Good master corporate Bardolph, stand
my friend ; and here is four Harry ten shillings in
French crowns for you. In very truth, sir, I had
as lief be hanged, sir, as go ; and yet, for mine own
part, sir, I do not care ; but, rather, because I am
unwilling, and, for mine own part, have a desire to
stay with my friends ; else, sir, I did not care, for
mine own part, so much.
Bard. Go to ; stand aside.
MouL. And good master corporal captain, for
my old dame's sake, stand my friend : she has no-
body to do any thing about her, when I am gone ;
and she is old, and cannot help herself: you shall
have forty, sir.
Bard. Go to ; stand aside.
Fee. By my troth I care not ; a man can die
but once ;^ we owe God a death ; I'll ne'er bear
a base mind : an't be my destiny, so ; an't be not,
so : No man's too good to serve his prince ; and,
let it go which way it will, he that dies this year, is
quit for the next.
Bard. Well said ; thou'rt a good fellow.
Fee. 'Faith, I'll bear no base mind.
Re-enter Falstaff and Justices.
Fal. Come, sir, which men shall I have ?
Shal. Four, of which you please.
140 SECOND PART OF act iir.
Bard. Sir, a word with you : I have three
pound* to free Mouldy and Bull-calf.
Fal. Go to ; well.
Shal. Come, sir John, which four will you have ?
Fal. Do you choose for me.
Shal. Marry then, Mouldy, Bull-calf, Feeble,
and Shadow.
Fal. Mouldy, and Bull-calf: For you. Mouldy,
stay at home still ; you are past service : ^ and, for
your part. Bull-calf, ^grow till you come unto it j
I will none of you.
Shal. Sir John, sir John, do not yourself wrong;
they are your likeliest men, and I would have you
served with the best.
Fal. Will you tell me, master Shallow, how to
/ have three pound ] Here seems to be a wrong
computation. He had forty shillings for each. Perhaps he
meant to conceal part of the profit. Johnson.
* ^- For you^ Mouldy y stay at home still ; you are past ser-
vice: ] The old copies read ForyoUy Mouldy y stay at home till
you are past service. Steevens.
This should surely be : " For you, Mouldy y you have staled at
home," &c. Falstaff has before a similar allusion : " *Ti8 the
more time thou wert used.*'
There is some mistake in the number of recruits : Shallow
says, that Falstaff should have^wr there, but he appears to get
but three ; Wart, Shadow, and Feeble. Farmer.
See p. 137, n. 7. I believe, " stay at home till you are past
service," is right; the subsequent part of the sentence being
likewise imperative : " and, for your part. Bull-calf, grow tiu
you come unto it." Malone.
Perhaps this passage should be read and pointed thus : For
you J Mouldy y stay at home still ; you are past service :
Tyrwhitt.
I have admitted Mr. Tyrwhitt's amendment, as it is the least
violent of the two proposed, being effected by a slight change in
punctuation, and the supplement of a single letter. Steevens.
sc, n, KING HENRY IV; l4l
choose a man ? Care I for the limb, the thewes,*
the stature, bulk, and big assemblance of a manl"^
Give me the spirit, master Shallow. Here's Wart;
^you see what a ragged appearance it is : he shall
charge you, and discharge you, with the motion of
a pewterer's hammer ; come off, and on, swifter
than he that gibbets-on the brewer's bucket.^ And
this same half-faced fellow. Shadow, ^give me
this man ; he presents no mark to the enemy ; the
foeman^ may with as great aim level at the edge of
" the thewes,] i. e. the muscular strength or appearance
.of manhood. So again :
,s; " For nature crescent, does not grow alone
" In thewes and bulk."
In ancient writers this term usually implies manners, or be-
haviour only. Spenser often employs it; and I find it likewise
in Gascoigne's Glass of Government , 1575 :
" And honour'd more than bees of better thetoes."
Shakspeare is perhaps singular in his application of it to the
perfections of the body. The following passage, however, in
Turberville's translation of Ovid's Epistle from Paris to Helerij
leaves the question undecided :
" What doost thou thinke indeede
" that doltish silly man
" The thewes of Helen's passing forme
" may judge or throughly scan ?" Steevens.
' assemblance of a man .'2 Thus the old copies. The
modern editors read assemblage. Steevens.
* swifter than he that gibbets-on the brewer's bucket.'^
Swifter than he that carries beer from the vat to the barrel, in
buckets hung upon a gibbet or beam crossing his shoulders.
Johnson.
'^t do not think Johnson's explanation of this passage just.
The carrying beer from the vat to the barrel, must be a matter
that requires more labour than swiftness. Falstaff seems to mean,
" swifter than he that puts the buckets on the gibbet ;" for as
the buckets at each end of the gibbet must be put on at the same
instant, it necessarily requires a quick motion. M. Mason.
' ' foeman ] This is an obsolete term for an enemy in
tt'flr. Steevens.
14? SECOND PART OF act ui,
a penknife : And, for a retreat, how swiftly will
this Feeble, the woman's tailor, run off? O, give me
the spare men, and spare me the great ones. Put
me a caliver ' into Wart's hand, Bardolph.
So, in Selimus, 1594-:
" For he that never saw his foeman*s face,
*' But alwaies slept upon a ladies lap" &c. Henderson.
* caliver ] A hand-gun. Johnson.
So, in The Masque of FlotverSy 1613: " The serjeant of
Kawasha carried on nis shoulders a great tobacco-pipe as big as
a caliver,**
It is singular that Shakspeare, who has so often derived his
sources of merriment from recent customs or fashionable follies,
should not once have mentioned tobacco, though at a time when
all his contemporaries were active in its praise or its condemna-
tion.
It is equally remarkable (as Dr. Farmer observes to me,] that
he has written no lines on the death of any poetical friend, nor
commendatory verfees on any living author, which was the con-
stant practice of Jonson, Fletcher, &c. Perhaps the singular
modesty of Shakspeare hindered him from attempting to decide
on the merits of others, while his liberal turn of mind forbade
him to express such gross and indiscriminate praises as too often
disgrace the names of many of his contemporaries. Our author,
indeed, seems to condemn this practice, through a sentiment
given to Rosaline, in Love's Labour's Lost, where, speaking of
the Princess, she says :
" My lady [to the manner of these days)
** In courtesy, gives undeserving praise.** Steevens.
Mr. Grose, in A Treatise on ancient Armour and Weapons,
4to. p. 67, says : " That a caliver was less and lighter than a
musquet, as is evident from its being fired without a rest. This
is shown in a Military Treatise, containing the Exercise of the
Musket, Caliver, and Pike, with figures finely engraved by
J. de Gheyn." And, in a note in loc. Mr. Grose also observes,
* That this is confirmed by Shakspeare, where FalstafF, review-
ing his recruits, says of Wart, a poor, weak, undersized fellow,
* put me a caliver into Wart's hands,' meaning, that although
Wart is unfit for a musquetteer, yet, if armed with a lighter piece,
he may do good service.'* Vaillant.
sc. n, KING HENRY IV. 14S
Bard. Hold, Wart, traverse ;^ thus, thus, thus.
Fal. Come, manage me your caliver. So: ^very
well : go to: ^very good : exceeding good. O,
give me always a little, lean, old, chapped, bald shot. ^
Well said, i'faith. Wart ; thou*rt a good scab :
hold, there's a tester for thee.
Shal. He is not his craft* s-master, he doth not
do it right. I remember at Mile-end green,* (when
* traverse j"] An ancient tenn in military exercise.
So, in Othello :
" Traverse ; go ; provide thy money." Steevens.
' hald shot.] Shot is used for shooter, one who is to
fight by shooting. Johnson.
So, in The Exercise of Armes for Calivres, MusketteSy and
Pykes, 1619 : " First of all is in this figure showed to every shot
how he shall stand and marche, and carry his caliver ^^ &c. With
this instance I was furnished by Dr. Farmer. We still say of a
skilful sportsman or game-keeper, that he is a good shot.
Steevens,
Again, in Stowe's Annales, 1631 : *' men with armour, en-
signes, drums, fifes, and other furniture for the wars, the greater
part whereof were 5^0^, and other were pikes and halberts, in fajre
corslets." Malone. ,
"* Mile-end green,"] We learn from Stowe*s Chronicle,
(edit. 1615, p. 702,) that in the year 1585, 4O00 citizens were
trained and exercised at Mile-end. It appears, however, that
the pupils of this military school were but slightly thought of;
for, in Barnabie Riche's Sonldiers Wishe to Britons Welfare, or
Captaine Skill and Captaine Pill, 1604, is the following passage :
** Skill. God blesse me, my countrey, and frendes, from his di-
rection that hath no better experience than what hee hath
atteyned unto at the fetching home of a Maye-pole, at a Mid-
somer fightc, or from a trayning at Mile-end-greene.*'
Steevens.
From the same Chronicle, p. 789, edit. 1631, it appears that
" thirty thousand citizens shewed on the 27th of August 1599,
on the Miles-end, where they trained all that day, and other
dayes, under their captaines, (also citizens,) until the 4th of
September." Malone.
144 SJ:C0ND part op actih.
I lay at Clement's-inn,'* I was then sir Dagonet in
Arthur's show,)^ there was a little quiver fellow,"^
* / remember at Mile-end green, (when /lay at Clement* s-inn,"}
** Wlien I /a^," here signifies, when I lodged or lived. SoLeland:
" An old manor place where in tymes paste sura of theMoulbrays
Inu for a starte ;" u e. lived for a time, or sometimes. Itin. Vol. I.
fol. 119. T. Warton.
Again, in Marston's What you mil, a comedy, 1607 :
" Survey'd with wonder by me, when I lay
" Factor in London." Malone.
^ 1 was then sir Dagonet in Arthur's show,] The story
of Sir Dagonet is to be found in La Morte d'Arthure, an old
romance much celebrated in our author's time, or a little before
it. ** When papistry (says Ascham, in his Schoolmaster,) as a
standing pool, overflowed all England, few books were read in
our tongue, saving certaine books of chivalry, as they said, for
pastime and pleasure ; which books, as some say, were made in
monasteries by idle monks. As one for example La Mori
d* Arthure." In this romance Sir Dagonet is King Arthur's
fool. Shakspeare would not have shown his justice capable of
representing any higher character. Johnson.
Sir Dagonet is King Arthur's squire ; but does he mean that
he acted Sir Dagonet at Mile-end Green, or at Clement's-inn ?
By the application of a parenthesis only, the passage will be
cleared from ambiguity, and the sense I would assign will ap-
pear to be just. / remember at Mile-end Green {when I lay at
Clement* s-inn, I was then Sir Dagonet ?" Arthur's show) there
was, &c. That is : "I remember when I was a very young
man at Clement's-inn, and not fit to act any higher part than
Sir Dagonet fn the interludes which we used to play in the
society, that among the soldiers who were exercised at Mile-end
Green, there was," &c. The performance of this part of Sir
Dagonet was another of Shallow's feats at Clement's-inn, on
which he delights to expatiate ; a circumstance, in the mean
time, quite foreign to the purjjose of what he is saying, but in-
ti'oduced, on that account, to heighten the ridicule of his cha-
racter. Just as he had told Silence, a little before, that he saw
Scogan's head broke by Falstaff at the court-gate, " and the very
same day, I did fight with one Sampson Stockfish, a firuiterer,
behind Gray's-inn.'* Not to mention the satire implied in mak-
ing Shallow act Sir Dagonet, who was King Arthur's fool. Ar-
thur's show, here supposed to have been presented at Clement's-
sc. //. KING HENRY IV. 145
and 'a would manage you his piece thus : and 'a
would about, and about, and eoBfte you in, ajAd
inn, was probably an interlude, or masque, which actually ex-
isted, and was very popular in Shakspeare*8 age : and seems to
have been compiled from Mallory's Morte Arthur, or the History
of King Arthur, then recently published, and the favourite and
most fashionable romance.
That Mile-end Green was the place for public sports and ex-
ercises, we learn from Froissart.
Theobald remarks on this passage : " The only intelligence I
have gleaned of this worthy knight (Sir Dagonet) is from
Beaumont and Fletcher, in their Knight of the Burning
Pe&tle."
The commentators on Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight (^the
Burning Pestle have not observed that the design of that play
is founded upon a comedy called The Four Prentices of Lcmdon^
"aoith the Conquest of Jerusalem ; as it hath been diverse Times
acted at the Red Bull, by the Queen's Majesty's Servants,
Written by Thomas Heywood, 1613. For as in Beaumont and
Fletcher's play, a grocer in the Strand turns knight-errant, mak-
iag his apprentice his 'squire, &c. so in Hejrwood's play, four
apprentices accoutre themselves as knights, and go to JerusaleD*
in quest of adventures. One of them, the most important cha-
racter, is a goldsmith, another a grocer, another a mercer, and
a fourth an haberdasher. But Beaumont and Fletcher's play,
tliough founded upon it, contains many satirical strokes against
He)fWQod'3 comedy, the force of which are entirely lest to thos
who have not seen that comedy.
Thus, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Prologue, or first seepe, a
citizen is introduced, declaring that, in the play, he " will have
a grocer, and he shall do admirable things."
Again, Act I. sc. L Rafe says : " Amongst all the worthy
books osf achievements, I do not call to mind that I have yet
read of a grocer-errant : I will be the said knight. Have you
heard of any that hath wandered unfurnished of his 'squire and
dwarf? My elder brother Tim shall be my trusty 'squire, and
George my dwarf."
In the following passage the allusion to Heywood's comedy is
demonstrably manifest. Act IV. sc. i :
" Boy. It will show iil-favouredly to have a grocer's prentice
court a king's daughter.
** Cit, Will it so, sir ? You are well read in histories ; I pray
you who was Sir Dagonet ? Was he not prentice to a grocer in
VOL. XII. L
146 SECOND PART OF act iiL
come you in : rah, tah, tah, would *a say ; bounce^
would *a say ; and away again would 'a go, and again,
would 'a come : I shall never see such a fellow.
London ? Read the play of The Four PrenticeSf where they toss
their pikes so."
In Heywood's comedy, Eustace, the grocer's prentice, is in-
troduced, courting the daughter of the king of France ; and in
the frontispiece the four prentices are represented in armour,
tilting with javelins.
Immediately before the last quoted speeches we have the fol-
lowing instances of allusion :
" Cit. Let the Sophy of Persia come, and christen him a
child."
" Boi/. Believe me, sir, that will not do so well ; 'tis flat ; it has
been before at the Red Bull."
A circumstance in Heywood's comedy, which, as has been
already specified, was acted at the Red Bull. Beaumont and
Fletcher's play is pure burlesque. Heywood's is a mixture of
the droll and serious, and was evidently intended to ridicule the
reigning fashion of reading romances. T. Warton.
This account of the matter was so reasonable, that I believe
every reader must have been satisfied with it ; but a passage in
a forgotten book, which has been obligingly communicated to
me by the Reverend Mr. Bowie, induces me to think that the
words before us have hitherto been misunderstood ; that Arthur*s
Show was not an interlude, but an Exhibition of Archery;'
and that Shallow represented Sir Dagonet, not at Clement's Inn,
but at Mile-end Green. Instead therefore of placing the words*
" I was then Sir Dagonet in Arthur's show," in a parenthesis,
( as recommended very properly by Mr. Warton on his hypo-
' thesis,) I have included in a parenthesis the words ** when 1 lay
at Clement's Inn." And thus the meaning is, I remember,
when I was student and resided at Clement's Inn, that on a
certain exhihitio7i-day at Mile-end Green, when I was Sir
Dagonet, &c.
" A society of men, (I now use the words of Mr. Bowie,)
styling themselves Arthur's Knights, existed in our poet's
time. Richard Mulcaster, Master of St. Paul's School, in his
Positions concerning the training up of Children, twice printed
in London, 1581 and 1587, in 4to. (my copy wants the title,)
ch. xxvi. in praising oi Archerie as a principal exercise to the
preservation of health, says, * how can I but prayse them, who
professe it thoroughly, and maintaine it nobly, the friendly and
SG.iL KING HENRY IV. i4t
Fal, These fellows will do well, master Shallow*
^raxi^ fellowship of Prince Arthur's Knights, in and about
the citie of London ? which if I had sacred to silence, would
not my good friend in the citie, Maister Hewgh Offly, and the
same my noble fellow in that order, Syr Launcelot, at our
next meeting have given me a soure nodde, being the chief fur-
therer of the fact which I commend, and the famousest knight
of the Jellowship which I am of? Nay, would not even Prince
Arthur himselfe, Maister Thomas Smith, and the whole table
of those well known knights, and most active archers, have laid
in their challenge against their Jellotu-knight, if speaking of their
pastime I should have spared their names?' This quotation (adds
Mr. Bowie) rescues three of them from oblivion ; and it is not
to be presumed that the whole table of these well known knights,
most probably pretty numerous, could escape the knowledge of
Shakspeare. Maister Hewgh Offly was sheriff of London in
1588."
The passage above quoted places Shallow's words in so clear a
light that they leave me little to add upon the subject. We see
that though he is apt enough to introduce frivolous and foreign
circumstances, the mention of Sir Dagonet here, is not of that
nature. Mile-end Green being probably the place where Ar-
thur's Knights displayed their skill in archery, or, in other
words, where Arthur's Show was exhibited.
Whether this fellowship existed in the reign of Henry IV. is
very unnecessary to enquire. We see in almost every one of his
plays how little scrupulous Shakspeare was in ascribing the cus-
toms of his own time to preceding ages.
It may perhaps be objected, that the " little quiver fellow,"
afterwards mentioned, is not described as an archer, but as ma-
naging apiece ; but various exercises might have been practised
at the same time at Mile-end Green. If, however, this objection-
should appear to the reader of any weight, by extending the
parenthesis to the words " Arthur's Show," it is obviated ;
for Shallow might have resided at Clement's Inn, and displayed
his feats of archery in Arthur's show elsewhere, not on the day
here alluded to. The meaning will then be, I xemember when I
resided at Clement's Inn, and in the exhibition of archery
made by Arthur's knights I used to represent Sir Dagonet, that
among the soldiers exercised at Mile-end Green, there was, &c.
Malone.
^ a little quiver Jellow,"] Quiver is nimble, active, &c.'
' There is a maner fishe that hyght mugill, which is full quiver
and swifte." ^ariAo/orwews, 1535, bl.l. Henderson.
l2
148 SECOND PART OF act in.
God keep you, master Silence ; I will not use
many words with you ; Fare you well, gentlemen
both : I thank you : I must a dozen mile to-night.
> Bardolph, give the soldiers coats.
Shal. Sir John, heaven bless you, and prosper
your affairs, and send us peace! As you return, visit
my house ; let our old acquaintance be renewed :
peradventure, I will with you to the court.
Fal. I would you would, master Shallow.
Shal. Go to j I have spoke, at a word. Fare you
well. \_Exeunt Shallow and Silence.
Fal. Fare you well, gentle gentlemen. On, Bai'-
dolph ; lead the men away. {^Exeunt Bardolph,
Recruits, ^c] As I return, I will fetch off these
justices: 1 do see the bottom of justice Shallow.
Lord, lord, how subject we old men are to this vice
of lying ! This same starved justice hath done
nothing but prate to me of the wildness of his
youth, and the feats he hath done about Turnbull-
street; ^ and every third word a lie, duer paid to the
' about Turnbull-street ;] In an old comedy called Ram-.
Alleyy or Merry Tricks^ this street is mentioned again :
** You swaggering, cheating, Turnhdl-streei rogue.'*
Again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady: " Here
has been such a hurry, such a din, such dismal drinkmg, swear-
ing, &c. we have all lived in a perpetual TurnbuU'Street.**
Nash, in Pierce Pennilesse his Supplication^ commends the
sisters of Turnbull-street to the patronage of the Devil.
Again, in The Inner Temple Masque, by Middleton, 1619 :
*' *Tis in your charge to pull down bawdy-houses,
" Cause spoil in Shoreditch,
* And deface TurnbidV*
Again, in Middleton 's comedy, called Any Thing for a quiet
Life, a French bawd says : " J 'ay une fille qui parle im peu
Fran9ois ; elle conversera avec vous, a la Fleur de Lys, en Turn-
bull-street."
Turnbtdl or Turnmill'Street, is near Cow-cross, West Smith-
field.
X, II. KING HENRY IV; U0
hearer than the Turk's tribute. I do remember
him at Clement* s-inn, like a man made after supper
of a cheese-paring: when he was naked, he was,
for all the world, like a forked radish, with a he^d
fantastically carved upon it with a knife : he was so
forlorn, that his dimensions to any thick sight were
invisible :* he was the very Genius of famine; yet
lecherous as a monkey, and the whores called him
mandrake : ^ he came ever in the rear-ward of the
The cbntinuator of Stowe*s Annals informs us that West
Smitkfield, (at present the horse-market,) was formerly called
Ruffian*s Hall, where turbulent fellows met to try their skill at
sword and buckler. Steevens.
See Vol. V. p. 81, n. 4. Malone.
^ tjoere invisible :] The old copies read, by an apparent
error of the press, invincible. Mr. Rowe introduced the necesr
ary change. Steevens.
"were invincible :] That is, could not he mastered by any
thick sight. Mr. Rowe and the other modern editors read, I
think, without necessity, invisible. Malone.
Invincible cannot possibly be the true reading, invincible to,
not being English; for who ever wrote or said not be con-
quered to ?
Invincible bi/ is the usual phrase; though Shakspeare, in
Much Ado about Nothing, makes Don Pedro say, " I would
have thought her spirit had been invincible against all assaults
of affection ;" a sufficient proof that he would not have written
" invincible to a thick sight.'* Steevens.
' called him mandrake :] This appellation will be some-
what illustrated by the following passage in Caltha Poetarum, or
the Bumble Bee, composed by T. Cutwode, Esquyre, 1599. This
book was commanded by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the
Bishop of London to be burnt at Stationers* Hall in the 41 st
year of Queen Elizabeth :
* Upon the place and ground where Caltha grew,
" A mightie mandrag there did Venus plant ;
* An object for faire Primula to view,
** Resembling man from thighs unto the shank,'* &c.
The rest of the description might prove yet further explanatory;
150 SECOND PART OF act m.
fashion ; and sung those tunes to the over-scutched^
but on some subjects silence is less reprehensible than infonna-
tion.
In the age of Shakspeare, however, (as I learn from Thomas
Lupton's Third Booke of Notable Thinges, 4to. bl. 1.) it was
customary " to make counter/eat mandrag, which is sold by
deceyuers for much money." Out of the great double root of
briony (by means of a process not worth transcribing) they pro-
duced the kind of priapic idol to which Shallow has been com-
pared. Steevens.
BuUein, in his Bullvoark of Defence against all SicknessCy &c.
fail. 1597, p. 41, speaking o mandrake ^ says: " this hearbe
is called also anthrapomorphos, because it beareth the image of
a man ; and that is false. For no herbe hath the shape of a man
or woman ; no truly, it is not naturall of his owne growing :
but by the crafty invention of some false men it is done by
arte." " My friend Marcellus, the description of this man-
drakcy as I have sayd, was nothing but the imposterous subtility
of wicked people. Perhaps of fryers or supersticious monkes
whych have wrytten thereof at length ; but as for DioscorideSy
Galen, and Pliniey&c. they have not wrytten thereof so largely as
for to have head, armes, fyngers," &c. Reed.
See a former scene of this play, p. 25, n. 9 ; and Sir Thomas
Brown's Vulgar Errors, p. 72, edit. 1686. Malone.
' over-scutched ] That is, whipt, carted. Pope.
I rather think that the word means dirty or grimed. The
word hustoives agrees better with this sense. Shallow crept
into mean houses, and boasted his accomplishments to dirti/
women. Johnson.
Ray, among his north country words, says that an over-svoitched
JiustKife is a strumpet. Over'scutched has undoubtedly the mean-
ing which Mr. Pope has aflBxed to it. Over-scutched is the same
as over-scotched. A scutch or scotch is a cut or lash with a rod
or whip. Steevens.
The following passage in Maroccus Extaticus, or Bankes* Batf
Horse in a Traunce, 4-to. 1595, inclines me to believe that this
word is used in a wanton sense : " Tlie leacherous landlord hath
his wenph at his commandment, and is content to take ware for
his money ; his private scutcherie hurts not the common-wealth
farther than that his whoore shall have a house rent-free."
Malone.
lisqyf I bethink me, the pleasant Esquire aforesaid may have
sc. II, KING HENRY IV. 151
huswives that he heard the carmen whistle, and
sware they were his fancies, or his good-nights, ^
And now is this Vice's dagger* become a squire ;
reason on the side of his enucleation ; for is not the name of a
procuress Mrs. Overdone^ in Measure for Measure f and hath
not that festive varlet Sir John FalstaiF talked of his " white doe
with a black scut ?** Amner.
' fancies, or his good-nights.] Fancies and Good-nights
were the titles of little poems. One of Gascoigne's Good-nights
is published among his Flowers. Steevens.
* And notK) is this Yice's^dagger ] By Vice here die poet
means that droll character in the old plays /which I have several
times mentioned in the course of these notes) equipped with asses
ears and a wooden dagger. It was very satirical in Falstaff to
compare Shallow's activity and impertinence to such a machine
as a wooden dagger in the hands and management of a buffoon.
Theobald.
See Vol. V. p. 391, n. 9. Steevens.
Vice was the name given to a droll figure, heretofore much
shown upon our stage, and brought in to play the fool and make
sport for the populace. His dress was always a long jerkin, a
fool's cap with ass's ears, and a thin wooden dagger, such as is
still retained in the modern figures of Harlequin and Scaramouch.
Minsheu, and others of our more modern criticks, strain hard
to find out the etymology of the word, and fetch it from the
Greek : probably we need look no further for it than the old
French word ViSf which signified the same as Visage does now.
From this in part came Visdase, a word common among them
for a fool, which Menage says is but a corruption from Vis d'asne^
the face or head of an ass. It may be imagined therefore that
Visdase, or Vis d^asne^ was the name first given to this foolish
theatrical figure, and that by vulgar use it was shortened to plain
Vis or Vice. Hanmer.
The word Vice is an abbreviation of Device ; for in our old
dramatick shows, where he was first exhibited, he was nothing
more than an artificial figure, a puppet moved by machinery,
and then originally called a Device or ^ Vice. In these representa-
tions he Was a constant and the most popular character, after-
wards adopted into the early comedy. The smith's machine
called a vice^ is an abbreviation of the same sort. ; Hamlet
palls his imcle " a vice of kings," a fantastick axidi factitious
ISS SECOND PART OP act m.
and talks as familiarly of John of Gaunt, as if he
had been sworn brother to him : and Pll be sworn
he never saw him but once in the Tilt-yard ; and
then he burst his head/ for crouding among the
marshal's men. I saw it ; and told John of Gaunt,
he beat his own name / for you might have trussed
him, and all his apparel, into an eel-skin ; the case
of a treble hautboy was a mansion for him, a court;
and now has he land and beeves. Well ; I will be
acquainted with him, if I return : and it shall go
hard,butl will make him a philosopher's two stones
to me :'' If the young dace^ be a bait for the old
image of majesty, a mere puppet of royalty. See Jonsoo's
Alcnymisi, Act I. sc. iii :
" And on your stall apuppet with a vice.**
T. Warton.
* he burst his head,"] Thus the folio and quarto. The
modern editors read broke. To break and to burst were, in our
poet's time, synonymously used. Thus Ben Jonison, in his
Poetaster, translates the following passage in Horace :
' fracta pereuntes cuspide Gallos.
" The lances burst in Gallia's slaughter*d fbrcefe.**
SOf in The Old Legend of Sir Bevis of Hampton ;
" But syr Bevis so hard him thrust, that his ishouldfer-botie
he bur St. ^*
Again, in The Second Part of Tamburlaine, 1590:
" Whose chariot wheels have burst th' Afesyriati*s bt)lieS.**
Again, in Holinshed, p. 809 : " that mahie a speate was burst,
and manie a great stripe given."
To brast had the same meaning. Barrett, in his Alveaiie, or
Quadruple Dictonary, 1580, calls a housebreaker " a breaker and
br aster of doors." The same author constantly uses burst as
synonymous to broken. See Vol. IX. p. 13, n. 5.
StEEVfeNS.
* beat his otvn name :] That is, beat gaunt, a fellow so
slender, that his name might have been gaunt. Johnson.
' -^-philosopher's two stones ] One of which was an
universal medicine, and the other a tran*rauter of base metaifi
into gold. Warburton.
I believe the commentator has refined this passage too much.
sc. lu KING HENRY IV. 153
pike, I see no reason, in the law of nature, but I may
snap at him. Let time shape, and there an end.
{Exit
A philosopher's two stones is only more than the philosopher's
stone. The universal medicine was never, so far as I know,
conceived to be a stone before the time of Butler's stone.
Johnson.
Mr. Edwards ridicules Dr. Warburton's note on this passage,
but without reason. Gower has a chapter in his Confessio AmantiSf
" Of the three stones that philosophres made :" and Chaucer, in
his tale of the Chanon's Yeman^ expressly tells us, that one of
them is Alixar cleped ; and that it is a iioater made of the four
elements. Face, in the Alchi/mist, assures us, it is " a stone^ and
not a stone** Farmer.
That the ingredients of which this Elixir, or Universal Medi-
cine, was composed, were by no means difficult of acquisition,
may be proved by the following conclusion of a letter written by
Villiers Duke of Buckingham to King James I. on the subject of
the Philosopher's Stone. See the second Volume of Royal Let-
ters in the British Museum, No. 6987, art. 101 :
*' 1 confess, so longe as he conseled the meanes he
i^ought by, I dispised all he said : but when he tould me, that
which he hath given your sovrainship to preserve you from all
sicknes ever hereafter, was extracted out of a t d, I admired
the fellow ; and for theis reasons : that being a stranger to you,
yett he had found out the kind you are come of, and your natural
affections and apetis ; and so, like a skillful man, hath given you
natural fisicke, which is the onlie meanes to, preserve the radicall
hmrs : and thus I conclude : My sow is healthfull, my divill's
luckie, myself is happie, and needs no more than your blessing,
which is ray trew Felosophers stone, upon which I build as upon
a rocke.
Your Majesties most hmnble slave and doge
Stinie.**
The following passage in Churchyard's Commendation to them
that can make Gold, &c. 1593, will sufficiently prove that the
Elixir was supposed to be a stone before the time of Butler :
*' much matter may you read
" Of this rich art that thousands hold full deere :
** Remundus too, that long liud heere indeede,
* Wrate sundry workes, as well doth yet appeare,
* Of stone for gold, and shewed plaine and cleere,
** A stone for health. Arnolde wrate of the same,
' And many more that were too long to name."
154 SECOND PART OF activ.
ACT IV. SCENE I.
A Forest in Yorkshire.
Enter the Archbishop of York, Mowbray, Hast-
ings, and Others.
Arch. What is this forest call'd ?
Hast. *TisGualtree forest,^ an't shall please youi'
grace.
Arch. Here stand, my lords; and send discoverers
forth.
To know the numbers of our enemies.
Hast. We have sent forth already.
Arch. 'Tis well done.
My friends, and brethren in these great affairs,
I must acquaint you that I have received
New-dated letters from Northumberland ;
Again, in the Dedication of The Metamorphosis qfPigmalion*s
Image and certaine Satyr es^ 1598 :
" Or like that rare and rich Elixar stone ^
<* Can tume to gold leaden invention.'* Steevens.
I think Dr. Johnson's explanation of this passage is the tru6
one : " I will make him of twice the value of the philosopher's
stone." Malone.
If the young dace ] That is, if the pike may prey
upon the dace, if it be the law of nature that the stronger may
seize upon the weaker, Falstaff may, with great propriety, devour
Shallow. Johnson.
^ *Tis Gualtree /breif,] " The earle of Westmoreland, &c.
made forward against the rebels, and coming into a plaine, within
Galtree forest, caused their standards to be pitched down in like
sort as the archbishop had pitched his, over against them."
Holinsked, p. 529. Steevens,
^c, /. KING HENRY IV. 155
Their cold intent, tenour and substance, thus :
Here doth he wish his person, with such powers
As might hold sortance with his quality.
The which he could not levy ; whereupon
He is retir'd, to ripe his growing fortunes.
To Scotland : and concludes in hearty prayers.
That your attempts may overlive the hazard.
And fearful meeting of their opposite.
MowB. Thus do the hopes we have in him touch
ground.
And dash themselves to pieces.
Enter a Messenger.
Hast, Now, what news ?
Mess, West of this forest, scarcely oiF a mile.
In goodly form comes on the enemy :
And, by the ground they hide, I judge their number
Upon, or near, the rate of thirty thousand.
Mows. The just proportion that we gave them
out.
Let us sway on,^ and face them in the field.
' Let m sway ow,] I know not that I have ever seen miay
in this sense ; but I believe it is the true word, and was intended
to express the uniform and forcible motion of a compact body.
There is a sense of the noun in Milton kindred to this, where,
speaking of a weighty sword, he says, " It descends with huge
two-handed sway," Johnson.
The word is used in Holinshed, English History, p. 986:
* The left side of the enemy was compelled to stvay a good
jway back, and give ground," &c. Again, in King Henry VI.
Part III. Act II. sc. V :
** Now sways it this way, like a mightie sea,
" Forc'd by the tide to combat with the wind ;
" Now sviays it that way," &c.
Again, in King Henry V :
" Rather swaying more upon our part," &c.
JSteevens.
156 SECOND PART OF act ir.
Enter Westmoreland.
Arch* What well-appointed leader* fronts us
here ?
MowB. I think, it is my lord of Westmoreland.
West, H ealth and fair greeting from our general ,
The prince, lord John and duke of Lancaster.
Arch, Say on,mylordofWestmoreland,inpeace ;
What doth concern your coming ?
West. Then, my lord,
Unto your grace do I in chief address
The substance of my speech. If that rebellion
Came like itself, in base and abject routs.
Led on by bloody youth,^ guarded with rage,*
well-appointed leader ] Well-appointed is complete^/
accoutred. So, in The Miseries of Queen Margaret, by
Drayton :
** Ten thousand valiant, taell-appointed men.'*
Again, in The Ordinary^ by Cartwrignt :
** Naked piety
** Dares more, than fury toell-appointed.'* Steevens.
' Led on hy bloody youth,"] I believe Shakspeare wrote
heady jtouth. Warburton.
Bloody youth is only sanguine youth, or youth full of blood,
and of those passions which blood is supposed to incite or
nourish. Johnson.
So, The Merry Wives of Windsor : " Lust is but a bloody
fire." Malone.
* guarded ^ith rage,'] Guarded is an expression taken
from dress ; it means the same asjaced, turned up. Mr. Pope,
who has been followed by succeeding editors, reads goaded.
Guarded is the reading both of quarto and folio. Shakspeare
uses the same expression in the former part of this play :
" Vehet guards and Sunday citizens," &c.
Again, in The Merchant of Venice :
Give him a livery
" More guarded than his fellows." Steevens.
sc. I, KING ' HENRY IV. 157
And countenanc'd by boys, and beggaiy j
I say, if damn'd commotion so appear* d,^
In his true, native, and most proper shape.
You, reverend father, and these noble lords.
Had not been here, to dress the ugly form
Of base and bloody insurrection
With your fair honours. You, lord archbishop,
Whose see is by a civil peace maintained ;^
Whose beard the silver hand of peace hath touch'd;
Whose learning and good letters peace hath tutor'd j
Whose white investments figure innocence,*^
The dove atid very blessed spirit of peace,
Wherefore do you so ill translate yourself,
Out of the speech of peace, that bears such grace.
Into the harsh and boist*rous tongue of war ?
Turning your books to graves,^ your ink to blood,
Mr. Steevens is certainly right. We have the same aHusiQH
in former part of this play :
" "Yojace the garment of rebellion
" With some fine colour, that may please the eye
** Of fickle changelings," &c.
So again, in the speech before us :
" to dress the ugly form
" Of base and bloody insurrection .*' Malone.
so appear'd,] Old copies so appear. Corrected by
Mr. Pope. Malone.
^ Whose see is by a civil peace maintained j"] Civil is grave,
decent, solemn. So, in Romeo and Juliet :
* Come civil night,
** Thou sober-suited matron, all in black.'* Steevens.
^ Whose white investments Jigure innocence,! Formerly, (says
Dr. Hody, History of Convocations, p. 141,) all bishops wore
white, even when tney travelled. Grey.
By comparing this passage with another in p. 91, of Dr. Grey's
notes, we learn that the white investment meant the episcopal
rochet ; and this should be worn by the theatrick archbishop.
TOLLET.
* graves,"] For graves Dr. Warburton very plausibly
reads glaives, and is followed by Sir Thomas Hanmer.
Johnson.
158 SECOND PART OF act ir.
Your pens to lances ; and your tongue divine
To a loud trumpet, and a point of war ?
We might perhaps as plausibly read greaves, i. e. armour for
the legs, a kind of boots. In one of The Discourses on the Art
Military y written by Sir John Smythe, Knight, \ 5^6, greaves are
mentioned as necessary to be worn; and Ben Jonson employs
the same word in his Hymencei :
" upon their legs they wore silver greaves.^*
Again, in The Four Prentices of London, 1615 :
" Arm'd with their greaves and maces.'*
Again, in the second Canto of The Barons Wars, by Drayton :
* Marching in greaves, a helmet on her head.'*
Warner, in his Albion's England, 1602, B. XII. ch. Ixix. spells
the word as it is found in the old copies of Shakspeare :
* The taishes, cushes, and the graves^ staff, pensell,
baises, all."
I know not whether it be worth adding, that the ideal meta-
morphosis of leathern covers of books, into greaves, i. e. bootSf
seems to be more apposite than the conversion of them into in-
struments of war.
Mr. M. Mason, however, adduces a quotation (from the next
scene) which seems to support Dr. Warburton's conjecture :
" Turning the word to sword, and life to death."
SteKvens.
The emendation, or rather interpretation, proposed by Mr.
Steevens, appears to me extremely probable ; yet a following
line, in which the Archbishop's again addressed, may be urged
in favour o^ glaives, i. e. swords :
" Chearing a rout of rebels with your drum,
" Turning the word to sword, and life to death."
The latter part of the second of these lines, however, maybe,
adduced in support o^ graves in its ordinary sense. Mr. Steevens
observes, that " the metamorphosis of the leathern covers of
books into greaves, i. e. boots, seems to be more apposite than the
conversion of them into such instruments of war as glaives ;" but
surely Shakspeare did not mean, if he wrote either greaves or
glaives, that they actually made boots or swords of their books,
any more than that they made lances of their pens. The passage
already quoted, "turning the word to sword," sufficiently proves
that he had no such meaning. Malone.
I am afraid that the expression " turning the word to sword,'*
will be found but a feeble support for "glaives," if it be con-
sidered as a mere jea de mots. Douce.
sc. n KING HENRY IV. 159
Arch, Wherefore do I this ? so the question
stands.
Briefly to this end : We are all diseas'd ;
And, with our surfeiting, and wanton hours.
Have brought ourselves into a burning fever.
And we must bleed for it : of which disease
Our late king, Richard, being infected, died.
But, my most noble lord of Westmoreland,
I take not on me here as a physician ;
Nor do I, as an enemy to peace.
Troop in the throngs of military men :
But, rather, show a while like fearful war,
To diet rank minds, sick of happiness ;
And purge the obstructions, which begin to stop _
Our very veins of life. Hear me more plainly.
I have in equal balance justly weighed
What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we
suffer.
And find our griefs^ heavier than our offences.
We see which way the stream of time doth run.
And are enforc'd from our most quiet sphere^
^ our griefs ] i. e. our grievances. See Vol. X. p. 248,
n. 6. Malone.
' And are enforced from our most quiet sphere ] In former
editions :
And are enforc'd from our most quiet there.
This is said in answer to Westmoreland's upbraiding the Arch-
bishop for engaging in a course which so ill became his pro-
fession :
you, my lord archbishop,
" Whose see is by a civil peace maintain'd;" &c.
So that the reply nmst be this :
And are enforced from our most quiet sphere.
Warburton.
The alteration of Dr. Warburton destroys the sense of the
passage. There refers to the new channel which the rapidity of
the flood from the stream of time would force itself into.
Henley.
160 SECOND PART OF act if.
By the rough torrent of occasion :
And have the summary of all our griefs,
AVhen time shall serve, to show in articles ;
Which, long ere this, we offer' d to the king,
And might by no suit gain our audience :
When we are wrong* d, and would unfold our griefs.
We are denied access^ unto his person
Even by those men that most have done us wrong.
The dangers of the days but newly gone,
(Whose memory is written on the earth
With yet-appearing blood,) and the examples
Of every minute's instance,^ (present now,)
Have put us in these ill-beseeming arms :
Not to break peace,* or any branch of it ;
But to establish here a peace indeed.
Concurring both in name and quality.
West. When ever yet was your appeal denied ?
* We are denied access ] Tlie Archbishop says, in HoHn-
shed : " Where he and his companie were in armes, it was for
feare of the king, to whom he could have no free accesse, by rea-
son of such a multitude of flatterers, as were about him."
Steevens.
* Of every minute^ s instance,] The examples e an instanc*
does not convey, to me at least, a very clear idea. The frequent
corruptions that occur in the old copies in words of this kind,
make me suspect that our author wrote :
Of every minute's instants,
i. e. the examples furnished not only every minute, but during the
most minute division of a minute. Instance., however, is else-
where used by Shakspeare for example; and he has similar
pleonasms in other places. Malone.
Examples of every minute's instance are, I believe, examples
which every minute supplies, which every minute presses on our
notice. Steevens.
* Not to break peace^'] " He took nothing in hand against the
kiBg*s peace, but that whatsoever he did,tei\ded rather to advance
the peace and quiet of the commonwealth." Archbishop's speech
in Holindied. Steevens.
sc.L KING HENRY IV* 161
Wherein have you been galled by the king ?
What peer hath been suborn'd to grate on you?
That you should seal this lawless bloody book
Of forg*d rebellion with a seal divine,
And consecrate commotion's bitter edge?^
Arch. My brother general, the commonwealth.
To brother born an household cruelty,
I make my quarrel in particular/
* And consecrate commotion^ s bitter edge ?] It was an old
custom, continued from the time of the first croisades, for the
Pope to consecrate the general's sword, which was employed in
the service of the church. To this custom the line in question
alludes. Warburton.
^commotion's bitter edge ?] i. e. the edge of bitter strife
and commotion ; the sword of rebellioni So, in a subsequent
scene: ^
*' That the united vessel of their blood,'*
instead of " the vessel of their united blood." MAlone.
My brother general, &c.
I make my quarrel in particular.'] The sense is this ** My
brother general, the commonwealth, which ought to distribute
its benefits equally, is become an enemy to those of his own
house, to brothers born, by giving some to all, and others none ;
and this (says he) I make my quarrel or grievance that honours
are unequally distributed ;" the constant birth of male-contents,
and the source of civil commotions. Warburton.
In the first folio the second line is omitted, yet that reading,
unintelligible as it is, has been followed by Sir T. Hanmer. How
difficultly sense can be drawn from the best reading, the expli-
cation of Dr. Warburton may show. I believe there is an error
in the first line, which, perhaps, may be rectified thus :
My q\ia.rre\ general, the commonivealthf
To brother born an household cruelty,
I make my quarrel in particular.
That is, my general cause of discontent is public mismanage-
ment ; my particular cause, a domestick injury done to my na-
tural brother, who had been beheaded by the king's order.
Johnson.
This circumstance is mentioned in the First Part of the play :
" The archbishop ^who bears hard
" His brother's death at Bristol, the lord Scroop."
Steevens,
VOL. XII. M
162 SECOND PART OF act m
West, There is no need of any such redress ;
Or, if there were, it not belongs to you.
Mows. Why riot to him, in part ; and to us all,
That feel the bruises of the days before ;
And suffer the condition of these times
The meaning of tlie passage appears to me to' be this ** My
brother-general (meaning Mowbray, the Lord Marischal) makes
the misconduct of publick affairs, and the welfare of the com-
mxmity, his cause of quarrel ; but my particular cause of quarrel,
is a family injury, the cruelty with which my real brother has been
treated ;" meaning Lord Scroop. M. Mason.
Perhaps the meaning is " My brother general, 'vcho is joined
here tvilk me in command, makes the commonwealth his quarrel^
i. e. has taken up arras on account of publick grievances; a par-
ticular injury done to my own brother,,i8 my ground of quarrel.'*
I have, however, very little confideftce in this interpretation.
I have supposed the word general a substantive ; but probably it
is used as an adjective, and the meaning may be, I consider the
wrongs done to the commonwealth, the common brother of us all,
and he particular and domestick cruelty exercised against my
natural brother, as a sufficient ground for taking up arms. If the
former be the true interpretation, perhaps a semicolon should be
placed after commonxuealth. The word born in the subsequent
line fTo brother bor7i~\ seems strongly to countenance the sup-
position that general in the present line is an ^ithet applied to
brother, and not a substantive.
In that which is apparently the first of the two quartos, the
second line is found ; but is omitted in the other, and the folio.
I suspect that a line has been lost following the word common'
xvealth ; the sense of which was " is the general ground of our
taking up arms.'*
This supposition renders the whole passage i^o clear, that I am
now decidedly of opinion that a line has been lost. " My general
brother y the commontuealth, is the general ground of our taking
up arms ; a xvrong of a domestick nature, namely the cruelty sheivn
to my natural brother, is my particular ground for engaging in
this war.** Maloke.
It is now become certain that there are three varieties of the
quarto editions, 1600, of this play. They are all before me, and
in two of them (only one of which contains the additional scene
at the beginning of the third Act) the second line, pointed out
by Mr. Malone, is wanting. Steevens.
sc. h^ KING HENRY IV. 163
To lay a heavy and unequal hand ^^ nn:rri .
Upon our honours ?
West. O my good lord Mowbray,*^
Construe the times to their necessities,^
And you shall say indeed, it is the time.
And not the king, that doth you injuries.
Yet, for your part, it not appears to me.
Either from the king, or in the present time,^
That you should have an inch of any ground
To build a grief on : ^ Were you not restored
To all the duke of Norfolk's signiories.
Your noble and right- well-remember*d father's ?
Mow. What thing, in honour, had my father
lost.
That need to be reviv'd, and breath'd in me ?
The king, that lov'd him, as the state stood then,
Was, force perforce,^ compelFd to banish him :
And then, when^ Harry Bolingbroke, and he,
Being mounted, and both roused in their seats.
Their neighing coursers daring of the spur,
, .' '.. .o'j v;j i: iiiohr^ M.C ;;ovI i-^s ^33 oig ,:
' O my good lord Movuhray, &c.] The thirty -seven lines fol-
lowing are not in the quarto. Malone.
* Construe the times to their necessities ^~\ That is, Judge of
what is done in these times according to the exigiencies that over-
rule us. Johnson. ,' . >.
^ Either from the king^ &c.] Whether the faults of govern-
ment be imputed to the time or the king, it appears not that you
have, for your part, been injured either by the king or the time. "''
JOHNSOIJ.'
' '*. To huild a grief -dv] i. e. a grievance. Malone.
* Was, force perforce,'] Old copy Was forced. Corrected
by Mr. Theobald. In a subsequent scene we have the same
words:
' " As, ^^cffper/brce, the age will put it m." Malone.
* And then, when ] The old copies read AndiJieii, that .
Corrected by Mr. Pope. Mr. Rowe reads ifnrf whert'Mttl^.
;'* ' ' Malone.'^
M 2
164 SECOND PART OF act itr.
Their armed staves in charge,* their beavers down,*
Their eyes of fire sparkhng through sights of steel,^
And the loud trumpet blowing them together ;
Then, then, when there was nothing eould have staid
My father from the breast of Bolingbroke,
O, when the king did throw his warder down.
His own life hung upon the staiF he threw :
Then threw he down himself; and all their lives.
That, by indictment, and by dint of sword.
Have since miscarried under Bolingbroke.
West. You speak, lord Mowbray, now y^ou know
not what: iyfr'tii'gti hnn oicn
The earl of Hereford*^ wasreputed then
In England the most valiant gentleman ;
Who knows, on whom fortune would then have
smil'd ?
But, if your father had been victor there.
He ne'er had borne it out of Coventry:
For all the country, in a general voice.
Cried hate upon him ; and all their prayers, and loVe/
Were set on Hereford, whom they doted on,
Their armed staves in charge^ &c.] An armed stafF is a
lance. To be in charge, is to be fixed in the rest fpr the
encounter. Johnson.
* their beavers cfotcn,] Beaver, it has been already
observed in a former note, (see Vol. XI. p. 380, n. 5,) meant
properly that part of the helmet which let down, to enable the
wearer to drink ; but is confounded both here and in Hamlet with
visiercy or used for helmet in general.
Shakspeare, however, is not answerable for any confusion on
this subject. He uses the word beaver in the same sense in wbiph
it was xised by all his contemporaries. Malone. '^,\-\, ' V, .i
* sights of steel,'] i. e. the perforated part of their hel-
mets, through which they could see to direct their aim. Visiere,
Fr. Steevens*
7 TAearl of Hereford ] This is a mistake of our author's..
He was Duke of Hereford. See King Richard II. Malone.
sc, I, KING HENRY IV. 1 65
And bless*d,andgrac*d indeed, more than theking. ^
But this is mere digression from my purpose.
Here come I from our princely general.
To know your griefs ; to tell you from his grace,
That he will give you audience : and wherein
It shall appear that your demands are just.
You shall enjoy them ; every thing set off,
That might so much as think you enemies.
Mows, Buthehathforc'd us to compel this offer j
And it proceeds from policy, not love.
W'est. Mowbray, you overween, to take it so ;
This offer comes from mercy, not from fear :
For, lo ! within a ken, our army lies ;
Upon mine honour, all too confident
To give admittance to a thought of fear.
Our battle is more full of names than yours.
Our men more perfect in the use of arms.
Our armour all as strong, our cause the best ;
Then reason wiUs,^ our hearts should be as good :
Say you not then, our offer is compelPd.
MowB, Well, by my will, we shall admit no parley.
West. That argues but the shame of youi' offence :
A rotten case abides no handling.
* And Mess*d, and graced indeed, more than the king.'] The two
oldest folios, (which first gave us this speech of Westmoreland,)
read this line thus :
And blessed and graced and did more than the king.
Dr. Thirlby reformed the text very near to the traces ofthe cor-
rupted reading. Theobald.
^ Then reason wills,] The old copy has loill. Corrected by
Mr. Pope. Perhaps we ought rather to read -Then reason well .
The same mistake has, I think, happened in The Merry Wives of'
Windsor. Malone.
The sense is clear without alteration. Reason wills is, reason
determines, directs. Steevens.
166 SECOND PART OF act iv.
Hast. Hath the prince John a full commission.
In very ample virtue of his father,
To liear, and absolutely to determine
Of what conditions we shall stand upon ?
West, That is intended in the general's name ;*
I muse, you make so slight a question.
Arch, Then take, my lord of Westmoreland,
this schedule ;
For this contains our general grievances :
Each several article herein redress'd ;
All members of our cause, both here and hence,
That are insinewM to this action.
Acquitted by a true substantial form ; ^
And present execution of our wills
To us, and to our purposes, consigned j^
' That is intended in the general* s name .] That is, this power
is included in the name or office of a general. We wonder that
you can ask a question so trifling. Johnson.
Intended is understood, i. e. meant without expressing, like
entendu, Fr. subauditury Lat. Steevens.
substantial form ;] That is, by a pardon of due form
and legal validity. Johnson.
' To Its, and to our purposes, consign'd ;] The old copies
conjin'd. Steevens.
This schedule we see consists of three parts : 1. A redress of
general grievances. 2. A pardon for those in arms. 3. Some
demands of advantage for them. But this third part is very
strangely expressed.
And present execution of our imlis
To usy and to our purposes, confined.
The first line shows they had something to demand, and the
second expresses the modesty of that demand. The demand,
says the speaker, is confined to us and to our purposes. A very
modest kind of restriction truly ! only as extensive as their ap-
petites and passions. Without question Shakspeare wrote
To us and to our properties confined ;
i. e. we desire no more than security for our liberties and proper-
ties : and this was no unreasonable demand. Warbubton.
sc, I. KING HENRY IV. 167
We come within our awful banks again,*
And knit our powers to the arm of peace.
This passage is so obscure that I know not what to make of it.
Nothing better occurs to me than to read consign*d for coiifin'd.
That is, let the execution of our demands be put into our hands,
according to our declared purposes. Johnson.
Perhaps we should read confirmed. This would obviate every
difficulty. Steevens.
I believe two lines are out of place. I read :
For this contains our general grievances,
And present execution of our wills ;
To us and to our purposes confined. Farmer.
"The present reading appears to me to be right ; and what
they demand is, a speedy execution of their wills, so far as they
relate to themselves, and to the grievances which they proposed
to redress. M. Mason.
The quarto has confined. In my copy of the first folio, the
word appears to be confined. The types used in that edition were
so worn, thatyandyare scarcely distinguishable. But however
it may have been printed, I am persuaded that the true reading is
consigned; that is, sealed, ratified, confirmed; a Latin sense;
** auctoritate consignatae Uteres . Cicero t^to CluentioJ" It has
this signification again in this play :
" And (God consigning to my good intents)
** No prince nor peer'* &c.
Again, in King Henry V:
" And take with you free power to ratify,
*' Augment or alter, as your wisdoms best
* Shall see advantageable for our dignity,
*' Any thing in or out of our demands ;
" And we'll consign thereto."
Again, ibid. : " It were, my lord, a hard condition for a
maid to consign to ." Conjin'd, in my apprehension, is unin-
telligible.
Supposing these copies to have been made by the ear, and one
to have transcribed while another read, the mistake might easily
have happened, for consigned and consin'd are, in sound, un-
distinguishable ; and when the compositor found the latter word
in the manuscript, he would naturally print conjin'd, instead of a
word that has no existence.
Dr. Johnson proposed the reading that I have adopted, but
I6d SECOND PART OF act ir.
West. This will I show the general. Please you,
lords,
In sight of both our battles we may meet :
And either^ end in peace, which heaven so frame!
Or to the place of difference call the swords
Which must decide it.
Arch, My lord, we will do so.
\_Exit West.
Mows, There is a thing within my bosom, tells
me.
That no conditions of our peace can stand.
Hast, Fear you not that : if we can make our
peace
Upon such large terms, and so absolute,
explains the word differently. The examples above quoted show,
I think, that the explication of this word already given is the true
one. Malone.
Though I have followed Mr. Malone's example by admitting
Dr. Johnson's conjecture, the notes of various commentators are
left before the reader, to whose judgement they are submitted.
Steevens.
* We come xvithin our awful batiks againy'] Awful banks are
the proper limits of reverence. Johnson.
So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona :
" From the society of axvful men.'* Steevens,
It is also used in the same sense in Pericles :
" A better prince and benign lord
" Prove fltofu/ both in deed and word." M. Mason.
Dr. Warburton reads lawful. We have awful in the last Act
of this play :
" To pluck down justice from her awful bench."
Here it certainly means inspiring awe. Ifaivful banks be right,
the words must mean due and orderly limits, Malone.
* And either ] The old copies read At either &c. That
easy, but certain, change in the text, I owe to Dr. Thirlby.
Theobai;,d,
sa /. KING HENRY IV. 169
As our conditions shall consist upon,*'
Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains.
MowB. Ay, but our valuation shaU be such.
That every slight and false-derived cause.
Yea, every idle, nice,'' and wanton reason.
Shall, to the king, taste of this action :
That, were our royal faiths martyrs in love,*
We shall be winnow'd with so rough a wind,
That even our corn shall seem as light as chaff.
And good from bad find no partition.
Arch, No, no, my lord ; Note this, the king is
weary
* consist upon,"] Thus the old copies. Modern editors
insist. Steevens.
Perhaps the meaning is, as our conditions shall stand upon,
shall make tlie foundation of the treaty. A Latin sense. So, in-
Pericles f Prince of Tyre^ 1609 :
" Then welcome peace, if he on peace consist.^'*
See also p. 166 :
* Of what conditions we shall stand upon.** Malone.
' nicey'] I. e. trivial. So, in Romeo and Juliet :
** The letter was not mce, but full of charge."
Steevens.
* That, tvere our royaljaiths martyrs in love,'] If royal Jaith
can mean faith to a king, it yet cannot mean it without much
violence done to the language. I therefore read, with Sir T.Han-
mer, loyal faiths, which is proper, natural, and suitable to the in-
tention of the speaker. Johnson.
Royal faith, the original reading, is undoubtedly right. Royal
foith means, thejaith due to a king. So, in King Henry VIII. '
** The citizens have shown at full their royal minds ;'*
i. e. their minds well affected to the king. Wolsey, in the same
play, when he discovers the king in masquerade, says, " here
I'll make my royal choice," i. e. not such a choice as a king
would make, but such a choice as has a king for its object. So,
royal faith, the faith which is due to a king ; which has the
sovereign for its object. Malone.
This reading is judiciously restored, and well supported by
Mr. Malone. Steevens.
170 SECOND PART OF actif.
Of dainty and such picking grievances :^
Far he hath found, to end one doubt by death.
Revives two greater in the heirs of life.
And therefore will he wipe his tables clean;*
And keep no tell-tale to his memory.
That may repeat and history his loss
To new remembrance : For full well he knows.
He cannot so precisely weed this land.
As his misdoubts present occasion :
His foes are so enrooted with his friends.
That, plucking to unfix an enemy.
He doth unfasten so, and shake a friend.
So that this land, like an oflPensive wife.
That hath enrag'd him on to offer strokes ;
As he is striking, holds his infant up.
And hangs resoIvM correction in the arm
That was uprear'd to execution.
Hast, Besides, the king hath wasted all his rods
On late offenders, that he now doth lack
The very instruments of chastisement :
So that his power, like to a fangless lion.
May offer, but not hold.
Arch. 'Tis very true ;
And therefore be assured, my good lord marshal.
If we do now make our atonement well.
Our peace will, like a broken limb united.
Grow stronger for the breaking.
MowB. Be it so.
Here is return'd my lord of Westmoreland.
* Of dainty and such Y>^cVm^ grievances .*] I cannot but think
that this line is corrupted, and that we should read :
O/" picking out such dainty grievances. Johnson.
Picking means piddling, insignificant. Steevens.
* mpe his tables jclean;'\ Alluding to a table-book of
elate, ivory, &c. Warburton.
sciL . KING HENRY IV. I7i
Re-enter Westmoreland.
HOssT* The prince is here at hand: Pleaseth your
.^' ; - lordship, Ihlm ilL.hi^^uiL :^ \
To meet his grace just distance 'tween our armies ?
MoWB. Your grace of York, in God's name then
set forward.
Abch. Before, and greet his grace : my lord,
we come. [^E^eunt,
SCENE 11.
Another Fart of the Forest,
Enter, from one side, Mowbray, the Archbishop,
Hastings, and Others; from the other side.
Prince John of Lancaster, Westmoreland,
Officers, and Attendants,
P.John, You are well encountered here, my
cousin Mowbray :
Good day to you, gentle lord archbishop ;
And so to you, lord Hastings, and to all.
My lord of York, it better show*d with you.
When that your flock, assembled by the bell.
Encircled you, to hear with reverence
Your exposition on the holy text ;
Than now to see you here an iron man,'^
Cheering a rout of rebels with your drum,
* J an iron wiaw,] Holinshed says of the Archbishop, that
** coming foorth amongst them clad in armoury he incouraged
and pricked them foorth to take the enterprise in hand.*'
Steevens,
172 SECOND PART OF act iv.
Turning the word to sword, ^ and life to death.
That man, that sits within a monarch's heart.
And ripens in the sunshine of his favour.
Would he abuse the countenance of the king.
Alack, what mischiefs might he set abroach.
In shadow of such greatness! With you,lord bishop,
It is even so : Who hath not heard it spoken,
How deep you were within the books oi God?
To us, the speaker in his parliament ;
To us, the imagin*d voice of God himself;*
The very opener, and intelligencer.
Between the grace, the sanctities of heaven,^
And our dull workings :^ O, who shall believe.
But you misuse the reverence of your place ;
Employ the countenance and grace of heaven,
As a false favourite doth his prince's name.
' Turning the word to stvordy &c.] A similar thought occurs
in Gower's Confessio Amantis, 1554 :
** Into the svDorde the churche kaye
** Is turnedy and the holy bede," &c. Steevens.
* the imagin'd voke of God himself;'] The old copies,
by an apparent error of the press, have the imagine voice. Mr.
Pope introduced the reading of the text. Perhaps JShakspeare
wrote
To uSy the image and voice &c.
So, in a subsequent scene :
" And he, the noble image of my youth." Malone.
I cannot persuade myself to reject a harmonious reading, that
another eminently harsh may supply its place. Steevens,
* the sanctities of heaveny"} This expression Milton has
copied :
** Around him all the sanctities of heaven
" Stood thick as stars." Johnson.
* 'workings :'] i.e. labours of thought. So, in King
Henri/ V:
" the forge and vaorking-housc of thought."
Steevens.
,5^. //. KING HENRY IV. 173
In deeds dishonourable ? You have taken up,'
Under the counterfeited zeal of God,
The subjects of his substitute, my father;
And, both against the peace of heaven and him.
Have here up-swarm'd them.
Arch. Good my lord of Lancaster,
I am not here against your father's peace :
But, as I told my lord of Westmoreland,
The time misorder'd doth, in common sense,* ^
Croud us, and crush us, to this monstrous form.
To hold our safety up. I sent your grace
The parcels, and particulars of our grief;
The which hath been with scorn shov'd from the
court, ^^^-^^ '^'^ t^'-t^'^'wiri"''"'''' V;'
Whereon this Hydra son of war is 1)orn :
Whose dangerous eyes may well be charm'd asleep,?
With grant of our. most just and right desires ; '^
And true obedience of this madness cur*d.
Stoop tamely to the foot of majesty.
Mows. If not, we ready are to try.pux.fpjtun^^s.
To the last man. j/fi -liodi Wb, j^dT
Hast. And though we Here fall down.
We have supplies to second our attempt ;
If they miscarry, theirs shall second them :
' You have taken up,] To take up is ta levy, to raise in
arms. Johnson.
in common sense,] I believe Shakspeare wrote common
Jence^ i.e. drove by self-defence. Warburton.
Common sense is the general sense of general danger.
li.'i ';). r :\j'..i[<-: '::; i ;,,!,,! i^Ui'.i.'.. . Johnson.
"May not cew^J7i&w'ie>ieA4rii'to6iBn,.flccor</n^ to the dictates of
reason? M. Mason. '-' /'<'':' ' ' ' / '"' ' -<>
. ? Whose dangerous eyes may well be charmed asleepi"] Allud-
ing to the dragon charmed to rest by the spells of Medea.
.;k3v.. Steevens.
174 SECOND PART OF act m
And so, success of mischief shall be born ;
And heir from heir shall hold this quarrel up,
Whiles England shall have generation.
P, John. You are too shallow, Hastings, much
too shallow, j/^ '-*^ *'
To sound the bottom of the after-times.
West. Pleaseth your grace, to answer them di-
rectly.
How far-forth you do like their articles ?
P. John. I like them all, and do allow'^ them
well:
And swear here by the honour of my blood.
My father's purposes have been mistook ;
And some about him have too lavishly
Wrested his meaning, and authority.
My lord, these griefs shall be with speed redress*d;
Upon my soul, they shall. If this may please you.
Discharge your powers^ unto their several counties.
As we will ours : and here, between the armies.
Let's drink together friendly, and embrace ;
That all their eyes may bear those tokens home,
Of our restored love, and amity.
' And sOy success of mischief ] Success for succession.
Warburton.
* and do allow ] i. e. approve. So, in King Lear,
Act II. sc. iv :
" if your sweet sway
" Allou} obedience." Malone.
' Discharge t/our powers-r-"] It was Westmoreland who made
this deceitful proposal, as appears from Holinshed : " The earl
of Westmoreland using more policie than the rest, said, whereas
our people have been long in armour, let them depart home to
their woonted trades : in the meane time let us drink togither in
eigne of agreement, that the people on both sides may see it,
and know that it is true, that we be light at a point."
Steevens.
sc. m KING HENRY IV. 175
Arch, T take your princely word for these re-
dresses.
P. John, Igiveityou,andwillmamtammyword:
And thereupon I drink unto your grace.
Hast. Go, captain, [To an Officer.] and deliver
to the army
This news of peace ; let them have pay, and part :
I know, it will well please them; Hie thee, captain.
[Exit Officer.
ji^CH, To you, my noble lord of Westmoreland.
West. I pledge your grace : And,if you knew
what pains Lk.oi
I have bestow*d, to breed this present peace.
You would drink freely : but my love to you
Shall show itself more openly hereafter.
Arch. I do not doubt you. r.aio^ .' .
West. I am ^ad of it.
Health to my lord, and gentle cousin, Mowbray.
MowB.You wish me health in very happy season ;
For I am, on the sudden, something ill.
Arch. Against ill chances, men are eter raejjpy ;*
But heaviness foreruns the good event.
West. Therefore be merry, coz;^ since sudden
sorrow
Serves to say thus, Some good thing comes to-
morrow.
Arch. Believe me, I am passing light in spirit.
MowB, So much the worse, if your own rule be
true. [Shouts xcithin.
*' Agfiinst ill chances, men are ever merry ;1 Thus the poet
describes Romeo, as feeling an unaccustomed degree of cheerful-
ness just before he hears the news o the death of Juliet.
S.TEEVENS.
* Therefore he merry, coz;'] That is Therefore^ notwith-
standing this sudden impulse to heaviness, be merry, for such
sudden dejections forebode good. JohnsoK.
176 SECOND PART OF activ,
P. John. The word of peace is render'd; Hark,
how they shout !
MowB. This had been cheerful, after victory.
Arch. A peace is of the nature of a conquest ;
For then both parties nobly are subdued.
And neither party loser.
P. John. Go, my lord.
And let our army be discharged too.
' [_Ej:it Westmoreland.
And, good my lord, so please you, let our trains^
March by us ; that we may peruse the men
We should have cop*d withal.
Arch. Go, good lord Hastings,
And, ere they be dismissed, let them march by.
l^Ea^it Hastings.
P. John. I trust, my lords, we shall lie to-night
together.
Re-enter Westmoreland.
Now, cousin, wherefore stands our army still ?
West. The leaders, having charge from you to
fi stand,
Will not go off until they hear you speak.
P. John. They know their duties.
* let our trains &c.] That is, our army on each part,
that we may both see those that were to have opposed us.
Johnson.
We ought, perhaps, to read your trains. The Prince knew
his own strength sufficiently, and only wanted to be acquainted
Vrith that of the enemy. The plural, trains^ however, seems in
favour of the old reading. Malone.
The Prince was desirous to see their train, and therefore, under
pretext of affording them a similar gratification, proposed that
both trains should pass in review. Steevens.
sc.ii, KING HENRY IV. 177
Re-enter Hastings.
Hast. My lord, our army is dispersed already :
Like youthful steers]unyok*d,theytaketheir courses
East, west, north, south ; or, like a school broke up.
Each hurries toward his home, and sporting-place.
West. Good tidings, my lord Hastings; for
the which
I do arrest thee, traitor, of high treason :
And you, lord archbishop, and you, lord Mow-
bray,
Of capital treason I attach you both.
Mows. Is this proceeding just and honourable ?
West. Is your assembly so ?
Arch. Will you thus break your faith ?
P. John. I pawn*d thee none :
I promised you redress of these same grievances,''^
Whereof you did complain ; which, by mine honour,
I will perform with a most christian care.
But, for you, rebels, ^look to taste the due
Meet for rebellion, and such acts as yours.
Most shallowly did you these arms commence.
Fondly brought here,^ and foolishly sent hence.
Strike up our drums, pursue the scattered stray ;
Heaven, and not we, hath safely fought to-day.
' I promised you redress o/* these same grievances y"] Surely
the two redundant words tnese same, shomd be omitted, for the
sake of metre. They are vmdoubted interpolations.
Steevens.
* Fondly brought here, &c.] Fondly is foolishly. So, in
Lord Surrey's translation of the second Book of Virgil's jEneid:
" What wight sojbnd such offer to refuse ?"
Steevens,
VOL. XII. N
178 SECOND PART OF activ.
Some guard these traitors to the block of death ;
Treason's true bed, and yielder up of breath.
\^Ea:eunt.^
SCENE III.
Another Part of the Forest.
Alarums: E^ccursions. Enter Falstaff and
CoLEViLE, meeting.
Fal. What's your name, sir ? of what conditityn
are you ; and oi what place, I pray ?
Cole. I am a knight, sir ; and my name is-
Colevile of the dale. '
Fal. Well then, Colevile is your name ; a
knight is your degree ; and your place, the dale :
Colevile shall still be your name ; a traitor your de-
gree ; and the dungeon your place, a place deep
enough; so shall you still be Colevile of the dale.^
^ Exeunt.^ It cailnot but raise some indignation to find thk
horrid violation of faith passed over thus slightly by the poet>
without any note of censure or detestation. Johnson.
Shakspeare, here, as in many other places, has merely follow-
ed the historians who related this perfidious act without animad-
version, and who seem to have adopted the ungenerous senti-
ment of Chorcebus :
" dolus an virtus, quis in hoste requirat?"
But this is certainly no excuse ; for it is the duty of a poet
always to take the side of virtue. Malone.
' Colevile of the dale.'] " At the king's coming to
Durham, the Lord Hastings, sir John Colevile of the dale^ &c.
being convicted of the conspiracy, were there beheaded.*' Ho-
linshed, p. 530. Steevens.
But it is not clear that Hastings or Colevile was taken prisoner
in this battle. See Rot. Part. 7 and 8 Henry IV. p. 604-.
RlTSON.
* and the 3ungeon your placeda pluce deep enough ;
sc. HI. KING HENRY IV. 179
Cole. Are not you sir John FalstafF?
Fal. As good a man as he, sir, whoe'er I am.
Do ye yield, sir ? or shall I sweat for you ? If I do
sweat, they are drops of thy lovers, and they weep
for thy death : therefore rouse up fear and trem-
bling, and do observance to my mercy.
Cole. I think, you are sir John Falstaff j and,
in that thought, yield me.
Fal. I have a whole school of tongues in this
belly of mine ; and not a tongue of them all speaks
any other word but my name. An I had but a
belly of any indifFerency, I were simply the most
active fellow in Europe: My womb, my womb,
my womb undoes me. Here comes our general.
Enter Prince John of Lancaster, Westmore-
land, and Others.
P. John. The heat is past,^ follow no further
now;
Call in the powers, good cousin Westmoreland.
\^Ea:it West.
Now, Falstaff, where have you been all this while?
When every thing is ended, then you come :
so shall ^ou still be Colevile of the dale.'] But where is the wit, or
the logick of this conclusion ? I am almost persuaded that we
ought to read thus :
Colevile shall still he your name, a traitor your degree^
and the dungeon your place, a dale deep enough.
He may then justly infer,
so shall you still be Colevile of the dale.
Tyrwhitt.
The sense o^ dale is included in deep; a dale is a deep place ;
a dungeon is a deep place ; he that is in a dungeon may be there-
fore said to be in a dale. Johnson.
' The heat is past,] That is, the violence of resentment, the
eagerness of revenge. Johnson.
N 2
180 SECOND PART OF act iv.
These tardy tricks of yours will, on my life,
One time or other break some gallows* back.
Fal. I would be sorry, my lord, but it should be
thus ; I never knew yet, but rebuke and check was
the reward of valour. Do you think me a swallow,
an arrow, or a bullet ? have I, in my poor and old
motion, the expedition of thought ? I have speeded
hither with the very extremest inch of possibility ;
I have foundered nine-score and odd posts : and
here, travel-tainted as I am, have, in my pure and
immaculate valour, taken sir John Colevile of the
dale, a most furious knight, and valorous enemy :
But what of that ? he saw me, and yielded ; that I
may justly say with the hook-nosed fellow of Rome,*
1 came, saw, and overcame.
P. John. It was more of his courtesy than your
deserving.
Fal. I know not ; here he is, and here I yield
him : and I beseech your grace, let it be booked
with the rest of this day's deeds ; or, by the lord,
I will have it in a particular ballad else, with mine
own picture on the top of it, Colevile kissing my
foot : To the which course if I be enforced, if you
do not all show like gilt two-pencesi:o me ; and I,
in the clear sky of fame, o'ershine vou as much as
the full moon doth the cinders of the element,^
which show like pins* heads to her ; believe not
the word of the noble : Therefore let me have
right, and let desert mount.
P. John. Thine*s too heavy to mount.
* the hook-nosed fellovo of Rome,'] The quarto reads
the hook-nosed Jellow of Rome, their cosin. I have followed
the folio. The modern editors read, but without authority
the hook-nosed Jellaw of Rome, there, Caesar. Steevens.
* cinders of the element^'] A ludicrous term for the
stars. Steevens.
5C. ///. KING HENRY IV. 181
Fal. Let it shine then.
P. John. Thine's too thick to shine.
Fal. Let it do something, my good lord, that
may do me good, and call it what you will.
__P. John. Is thy name Colevile?^
<^ Cole. It is, my lord.
P. John. A famous rebel art thou, Colevile.
Fal. And a famous true subject took him.
Cole. I am, my lord, but as my betters are.
That led me hither : had they been ruFd by me.
You should have won them dearer than you have.
Fal. I know not how they sold themselves : but
thou, like a kind fellow, gavest thyself away ; and
I thank thee for thee.
Re-enter Westmoreland.
P. John. Now, have you left pursuit ?
West. Retreat is made, and execution stay*d.
P. John. Send Colevile, with his confederates,
To York, to present execution :
Blunt, lead him hence ; and see you guard him sure.
[^Ea^eunt some with Colevile.
And now despatch we toward the court, my lords;
I hear, the king my father is sore sick :
Our news shall go before us to his majesty,
Which, cousin, you shall bear, to comfort him ;
And we with sober speed will follow you.
Fal. My lord, I beseech you, give me leave to
' Colevile f] From the present seeming deficiency in the
structure of this and the two subsequent lines containing Cole-
vile's name, and from the manner in which it is repeatedly spelt
in the old copies, viz. Collevile^ I suspect it was designed to be
pronounced as a trisyllable. Steevens.
182 SECOND PART OF act ly,
go through Glostershire : and, when you come to
court, stand my good lord, *pray, in your good re-
port.'^
. ' stand y good lordy ^pray, in your good report.'] We
must either read, pray let me standy or, by a construction some-
what harsh, understand it thus . Give me leave to go and
stand . To stand in a report^ referred to the reporter, ig to
persist ; and Falstaff did not ask the prince to persist in his pre-
sent opinion. Johkson.
Stand my good lordy I believe, means only stand my good
Jriendf ( an expression still in common use, ) in your favourable
report of me. So, in The Taming of the Shreto :
" I pray you, stand good father to me now/*
Again, in King Lear :
" conjuring the moon
" To stand his auspicious mistress.**
Mr. M. Mason observes that the same phrase occurs in Ben
Jonson's Case is altered, where Onion says to Charaont :
" Monsieur Chamont, stand you my honour'd Sir.'*
Steevens.
Mr. Steevens is certainly right. In a former scene of this
play, the Hostess says to the Chief Justice, " good my lord, be
good unto me ; I beseech you, stand to me." Though an equi-
voque may have been there intended, yet one of the senses con-
veyed by this expression in that place is the same as here. So
in Cymbeline :
" Be my good lady."
Again, more appositely, m Coriolanus .*
" his gracious nature
** Would think upon you for your voices,
** Standing yourjriendly lord.**
Again, in The Spanish Tragedy:
** What would he with us?
* He writes us here
" To stand good lord, and help him in distress.'*
Malone.
Stand is here the imperative word, as give is before. Stand
tny good lord, i. e. be my good patron and benefactor. Be my
good lord was the old court phrase used by a person who asked
k favour of a man of high rank. So, in a Letter to the Earl of
Northumberland, (printed in the Appendix to The Northumber-
land Homehold Booh,) he desires that Cardinal Wolsey would
so far " be his good lord,** as to empower him to imprison a per-
son who had defrauded him. Percy.
sc. III. KING HENRY IV. 183
p. John, Fare you well, FalstaiF: I, in my con-
dition, j<S i)ii-'
Shall better speak of you than you deserve. ^ [jEj-i/.
Fal. I would, you had but the wit; 'twere better
than your dukedom. ^ Good faith, this same young
sober-blooded boy doth not love me ; nor a man
cannot make him laugh ;^ but that's no marvel,
he drinks no wine. There's never any of these
demure boys come to any proof :^ for thin drink
doth so over-cool their blood, and making many
fish-meals, that they fall into a kind of male green-
sickness; and then, when they marry, they get
* ' < /, ill my condition,
Sliall better speak of you than you deserve.'] I know not
well the meaning of" the word condition in this place ; I believe
it is the same with temper of mind : I shall, in my good nature,
speak better of you than you merit. Johnson.
I believe it means, /, in my condition, i. e. in my place as com-
manding officer, who ought to represent things merely as they
are, shall speak of you better than you deserve.
So, in The Tempest, Ferdinand says :
" 1 am, in my condition,
" A prince, Miranda ."
Dr. Johnson's explanation, however, seems to be countenanced
by Gower's address to Pistol, in King Henry V. Act V. sc. i :
** ^let a Welsh correction teach you a good English condition^
Steevens.
* your dukedom.] He had no dukedom. See Vol. XL p. 178.
RiTSON.
' ' this same young sober-blooded boy doth not love me ;
nor a man cannot make him laugh;'] FalstafFhere speaks like a
veteran in life. The young prince did not love him, and he de-
spaired to gain his affection, for he could not make him laugh.
Men only become friends by community of pleasures. He who
cannot be softened into gaiety, cannot easily be melted into
kindness. Johnson.
* to any proof:] i. e. any confirmed state of manhood.
The allusion is to armour hardened till it abides a certain trial.
So, in King Richard II:
" Add jsroo/" unto ray armour with thy prayers."
Steevens.
184. SECOND PART OF activ.
wenches :' they are generally fools and opwards ;
which some of us should be too, but for inflamma-
tion. A good sherris-sack* hath a two-rfold opera-
' for thin drink doth so over-cool their blood, and making
many Jish-mealsj that they Jail into a kind of male greensickness ;
and then, 'when they marry, they get ivenches : ] This ludicrous re-
mark is gravely and seriously introduced by Hippocrates in his
Treatise on Diet, (Lib. I. 20,) " and it is observed,'* says
Dr. Falconer, " in many parts of the East Indies at this day,
where they drink no wine, that the number of women exceeds
that of men very considerably." Falconer on the Influence of
Climate, &c. 4to. p. 248. Reed.
* sherris-sack ] This liquor is mentioned in The Cap-
tain, by Beaumont and Fletcher. Steevens.
Tlie epithet sherry or sherris, when added to sack, merely
denoted the particular part of Spain from whence it came. See
Minsheu's Spanish Dictionary, 1617: " Xeres, or Xeres, op-
pidum Bceticaj, i. e. Andalusiae, prope Cadiz, unde nomen vini
de Xeres, A. [^Anglice'} Xeres sacke." Sherris-Sack was there-
fore what we now denominate Sherry. The sack to which this
epithet was not annexed, came chiefly from Malaga. Cole, who
in 1679 renders sack, vinum Hispanicum, renders Sherry-Sack,
by Vinum Eseritanum ; and Ainsworth, by Vinum Andalusia-
num. See a former note, Vol. XI. p. 205. Malone.
What is ludicrously advanced by FalstafF, was the serious
doctrine of the School of Salernum : * Heere observe that the
witte of a man that hath a strong braine, is clarified and sharp-
ened more, if hee drinke good wine, then if he dranke none, as
Auicen sayth. And the cause why, is by reason that of good
toine (more than of any other drinkes) are engendered and
multiplyed subtile spirits, cleane and pure. And this is the cause
also why the divines, that imagine and study upon high and
subtile matters, love to drinke good wines : and after the opinion
of Auicen, These wines are good for men of cold and Jlegmaticke
complexion ; for such wines redresse and amend the coldnesse of
complexion, and they open the opilations and stoppings that are
wont to be ingendred in such persons, and they digest phlegme,
and they help nature to convert and turne them into blood, they
lightly digest, and convert quickly, they increase and greatly
quicken the spirits." The School of Salernes' Regiment of
Health, p. 33, 1634. Holt White.
Of this work there were several earlier translations, &p. one of
these was printed by Berthelet, in 1541. Steevens.
sc. III. ' KING HENRY IV. 185
tion in it. It ascends me into the brain ; dries me
there all the foolish, and dull, and crudy vapours^
which environ it : makes it apprehensive,^ quick,
forgetive,"^ full of nimble, iiery, and delectable
shapes ; which delivered o'er to the voice, (the
tongue,) which is the birth, becomes excellent wit.
The second property of your excellent sherris is,
the warming of the blood; which, before cold and
settled, left the liver white and pale, which is the
badge of pusillanimity and cowardice : but the
sherris warms it, and makes it course from the in-
wards to the parts extreme. It illumineth the face ;
which, as a beacon, gives warning to all the rest of
this little kingdom, man, to arm : and then the vital
commoners, and inland petty spirits, muster me all
to their captain, the heart ; who, great, and puffed
up with this retinue, doth any deed of courage ;
and this valour comes of sherris : So that skill in
the weapon is nothing, without sack ; for that sets
it a-work : and learning, a mere hoard of gold kept
by a devil ;^ till sack commences it,^ and sets it in
* It ascends me into the brain ; dries me there all the
crudy vapours ] This use of the pronoun is a famiHar redun-
dancy among our old writers. So Latimer, p. 91 : " Here
Cometh me now these holy fathers from their counsels."
" Tliere was one wiser than the rest, and he comes me to the
bishop." Edit. 1575, p. 75. Bowle.
^ apprehensive j'] i. e. quick to understand. So, in The
Revenger's Tragedy^ 1608 :
" Thou'rt a mad apprehensive knave."
Again, in Every Man out of his Humour : " You are too
quick, too apprehensive'* In this sense it is now almost disused.
Steevens.
'' forgetive,'] Forgetive from Jorge; inventive, imagi-
native. .Johnson.
' kept by a devil ;"] It was anciently supposed that all
the mines of gold, &c. were guarded by evil spirits. So, in
Certaine Secrete Wonders ofNaturCy &c. bl. 1. by Edward Fenton,
186 SECOND PART OF act iv.
act and use. Hereof comes it, that prince Harry
is valiant : for the cold blood he did naturally in-
herit of his father, he hath, like lean, steril, and
bare land, manured, husbanded, and tilled, with
excellent endeavour of drinking good, and good
store of fertile sherris ; that he is become very hot,
and valiant. If I had a thousand sons, the first
human principle I would teach them, should be,
to forswear than potations,^ and addict themselves
to sack.
1569: " There appeare at this day many strange visions and
wicked spirites in the metal-mines of the Greate Turke ." " In
the mine at Anneburg was a mettal sprite which killed twelve
workemen ; the same causing the rest to forsake the myne, albeit
it was very riche." P. 91. Stijievens.
* till sack commences it,'] I believe, till sack gives it a
beginning, brings it into action. Mr. Heath would read com-
merces it. Steevens.
It seems probable to me, that Shakspeare, in these words, al-
ludes to the Cambridge Commencement ; and in what follows to
the Oxford Act : for by those different names our two univer-
sities have long distinguished the season, at which each of them
fives to her respective students a complete authority to use those
oards of learning which have entitled them to their several de-
grees in arts, law, physick, and divinity. Tyrwhitt.
So, in The Roaring Girl, 1611 :
" Then he is held a freshman and a sot,
*' And never shall commence.'*
Again, in PasquiVs Jests, or Mother Bunch's Merriment, 1604< t
" A doctor that was newly commenst at Cambridge," &c.
Again, in Have with you to Saffron JValden, or Gabriel
Harvey's Hunt is up, 1596 : " Commence, commence, I admo-
nish thee ; thy merits are ripe for it, and there have been doc-
tors of thy facultie." Steevens.
' tojbrsiuear thin potations,"} In the preference given
by FalstaiF to sack, our author seems to have spoken the senti-
ments of his own time. In the Ordinances of the Household of
King James I. dated in 1604-, (the second year of his reign,) is
the following article : "And whereas in times past Spanish wines
called sackef were little or no whit used in our court, and that
sciiL KING HENRY IV. 187
Enter Bardolph.
How now, Bardolph ?
Bard. The army is discharged all, and gone.
Fal. Let them go. I'll through Glostershire ;
and there will I visit master Robert Shallow, es-
quire : I have him already tempering between my
finger and my thumb, ^ and shortly will I seal
with him. Come away. \_E:ceunU
in late yeares, though not of ordinary allowance, &c. we under-
standing that it is used as comon drinke and served at meales,
as an ordinary to every meane officer, contrary to all order,
using it rather for wantonesse and surfeiting, than for necessity,
to a great wastefuU expence," &c.
Till the above mentioned period, the " thin potations** com-
plained of by Falstaff, had been the common beverage. See the
Collection of Ordinances and Regulations Jbr the Government of
the Royal Household^ &c. published by the Antiquary Society,
4to. 1790.
The ancient and genuine Sherry was a dry wine, and there-
fore fit to be drank with sugar. What we now use is in some
degree sweetened by art, and therefore affords no adequate idea
of the liquor that was FalstaiPs favourite. Steevens.
' / have him already tempering <^c.] A very pleasant al-
lusion to the old use of sealing with soft wax. Warburton.
This custom is likewise alluded to in Any Thing Jbr a quiet
Lifey 1662, a comedy, by Middleton :
" You must temper him like wax, or he'll not seal.**
Again, in Your Five Gallants^ by Middleton, no date :
" Fetch a pennyworth of sqfi xvax to seal letters."
Again, in Chaucer's Marchante*s Tahy v. 9304 :
** Right as men may warm luax with handes plie"
Steevens.
In our poet's Venus and Adonis^ there is an allusion to the
same custom :
" What wax so frozen but dissolves with tempering^
" And yields at last to every light impression ?'*
Ma LONE.
188 SECOND PART OF act ir.
SCENE IV.
Westminster. A Room in the Palace.
Enter King Henry, Clarence, Prince Hum*
PHREY, Warwick, and Others.
K* Hen. Now, lords, if heaven doth give suc-
cessful end
To this debate that bleedeth at our doors,
We will our youth lead on to higher fields.
And draw no swords but what are sanctified.
Our navy is addressed, ^ our power collected.
Our substitutes in absence well invested.
And every thing lies level to our wish :
Only, we want a little personal strength ;
And pause us, till these rebels, now afoot.
Come underneath the yoke of government.
War. Both which, we doubt not but your ma*
jesty
Shall soon enjoy.
K. Hen. Humphrey, my son of Gloster,
Where is the prince your brother ?
p. Humph. I think, he's gone to hunt, my lord,
at Windsor.
K. Hen. And how accompanied ?
P. Humph. I do not know, my lord.
K. Hen. Is not his brother, Thomas of Clarence,
with him ?
Our navy is address'd,] i. e. Our navy is ready, prepared.
So, in King Henry V :
<* ' for our march we are addressed.** Steevens.
sc. IF. KING HENRY IV. 1 89
P. Humph. No, my good lord ; he is in presence
here.
Cla, What would my lord and father ?
K, Hen, Nothing but weU to thee, Thomas of
Clarence.
How chance, thou art not with the prince thy
brother?
He loves thee, and thou dost neglect him, Thomas j
Thou hast a better place in his affection.
Than all thy brothers : cherish it, my boy ;
And noble offices thou may'st effect
Of mediation, after I am dead.
Between his greatness and thy other brethren :
Therefore, omit him not ; blunt not his love :
Nor lose the good advantage of his grace,
By seeming cold, or careless of his will.
For he is gracious, if he be observed ;^
He hath a tear for pity, and a hand*
Open as day for melting charity :
Yet notwithstanding, being incens'd, he's flint j
As humorous as winter,^ and as sudden
* if he be observ'd ;] i. e. if he has respectful attention
shown to him. So, in The Merry Wives of Windsor :
" Follow'd her with doting observance.'* Steevens.
* He hath a tear for pityy and a hand &c.] So, in our au-
thor^s Lover's Complaint :
** His qualities were beauteous as his form,
** For maiden-tongu'd he was, and thereof free ;
* Yet, if men mov'd hiniy was he such a storm
" As oft 'twixt May and April is to see,
" When winds breathe sweet, unruly though they be."
Malone.
* humorous as 'vointery'\ That is, changeable as the
weather of a winter's day. Dryden says of Almanzor, that he
is humorous as wind. Johnson.
So, in The Spanish Tragedy, 1607 :
" You know that women oft are humourous."
190 SECOND PART OF actik
As flaws congealed in the spring of day.*
His temper, therefore, must be well observ'd :
Chide him for faults, and do it reverently.
When you perceive his blood inclined to mirth :
But, being moody, give him line and scope ;
Till that his passions, like a whale on ground.
Confound themselves with working. Learn this,
Thomas,
Again, in Cynthia's Revels^ by Ben Jonson : " a nymph of
a most wandering and giddy disposition, humourous as the air^*
&c.
Again, in The Silent Woman : *< as proud as May, and as
humourous as April." Steevens.
" As humorous as April'* is sufficiently clear. So, in Hey-
wood's Challenge for Beauty^ 1636 : " I am as full of humours
as an April day of variety ;" but a winter's day has generally too
decidea a character to admit Dr. Johnson's interpretation, with-
out some licence : a licence which yet our author has perhaps
taken. He may, however, have used the word humourous
equivocally : He abounds in capricious fancies, as winter abounds
in moisture. Malone.
congealed in the spring of day."] Alluding to tlie opi-
nion 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^ate^. Warburton.
So, Ben Jonson, in The Case is altered :
" Still wrack'd with winds more foul and contrary
** Than any northern gust, or southern^ic."
Again, in Arden of Feversham, 1592:
" And saw a dreadful southern /2fltu at hand."
Chapman uses the word in his translation of Homer ; and, I
believe, Milton has it in the same sense. Steevens.
Our author and his contemporaries frequently use the word
fiaui for a sudden gust of wind ; but a gust of wind congealed is,
I confess, to me unintelligible. Mr. Edwards says, that '^Jlaws
are small blades of ice which are struck on the edges of Uie wa-
ter in winter mornings." The spring of day our author might
have found in our liturgy : " whereby the day-spring from on
high hath visited us." Malone.
sc. IF. ICING HENRY IV. 191
And thou shalt prove a shelter to thy friends ;
A hoop of gold, to bind thy brothers in ;
That the united vessel of their blood,
Mingled with venom of suggestion,''
(As, force perforce, the age will pour it in,)
Shall never leak, though it do work as strong
As aconitum,^ or rash gunpowder.^
Cla. I shall observe him with all care and love.
K, Hen. Why art thou not at Windsor with him,
Thomas ?
Cla, He is not there to-day; he dines in London.
K. Hen. And how accompanied ? can*st thou
tell that ?
Cla. With Poins, and other his continual fol-
lowers.
K. Hen. Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds ;
And he, the noble image of my youth.
Is overspread with them : Therefore my grief
Stretches itself beyond the hour of death ;
The blood weeps from my heart, when I do shape.
In forms imaginary, the unguided days,
r r ,
' Mingled with venom o/' suggestion,] Though their blood be
inflamed by the temptations to which youth is peculiarly subject.
See Vol. IV. p. 232, n. 5. Malone.
* As aconitum,] The old writers employ the Latin word in-
stead of the English one, which we now use.
So, in Hey wood's Brazen Age, 1613:
" till from the foam
* The dog belch'd forth, strong aconitum sprung."
Again :
" With aconitum that in Tartar springs." Steevens.
rash gunponoder.'] Rash is quick, violent, sudden.
This representation of the prince is a natural picture of a young
man, whose passions are yet too strong for his virtues.
Johnson.
192 SECOND PART OF act iv.
And rotten times, that you shall look upon
When I am sleeping with my ancestors.
For when his headstrong riot hath no curb.
When rage and hot blood are his counsellors,
Wlien means and lavish manners meet together,
O, with what wings shall his affections' fly
Towards fronting peril and oppos'd decay 1
War, My gracious lord, you look beyond him
quite :
The prince but studies his companions.
Like a strange tongue : wherein, to gain the lan-
guage,
*Tis needful, that the most immodest word
Be look'd upon, and learn*d : which once attained,
Your highness knows, comes to no further use.
But to be known, and hated. '^ So, like gross terms.
The prince will, in the perfectness of time.
Cast off his followers : and their memory
Shall as a pattern or a measure live.
By which his grace must mete the lives of others;
Turning past evils to advantages.
K. Hen. *Tis seldom, when the bee doth leave
her comb
In the dead carrion.^ Who's here? Westmoreland?
' . his affections ] His passions ; his inordinate desires.
Johnson.
' But to be knawTiy and hated.'] A parallel passage occurs in
Terence :
-quo modo adolescentulus
*' Meretricura ingenia et mores posset noscere,
" Mature ut cum cognorit, perpetuo oderit."
Anonymous.
' *Tis seldom^ luhen the bee &c.] As the bee, 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. Johnson.
5c,7r. KING HENRY IV. ^ 193
: : V r Enter WESTMORELANIlk4t^n>5; hf m n'X
West. Health ;to i?jy^,0[yiereigiil and ne,w happi-
Added to that that I am to deliver !
Prince John, your son, doth kiss your grace's hand :
Mowbray, the bishop Scroop, Hastings, and all.
Are brought to the correction of your law ;
There is not now a rebel's sword unsheath'd.
But peace puts forth her olive every where.
The manner how this action hath been borne, ,^
Here at more leisure may your highness read^j^^'^/
With every course, in his particular.* ' ^^'^''^J ^'^;;^.;
K. Hen. O Westmoreland, thou art a summer
bird, . ^ ,j^
Which ever in the haunch of winter sings^,'*.^ * q
The lifting up of day. Look! here's more hews.
,,^j, J^nter Harcouibt.
' Har. From enemies heaveii'lceep your majesty j
And, when they stand against you, may they fall
'j<v:ilt fV/OfiJ oh JJO' , J.,injiJi;q Ovl .n.k'. .
* in his particuldr."] We should read, I think in this
particular ; that is, in this detail, in this account, which is mi-
nute and distinct. JohNsov, '^
His is used for its^ very frequently m the ol A plays. The
modern editors have too often made the change ; but it should
be remembered, (as Dr. Johnson has elsewhere observed,) that
by repeated changes the history of a language will be lost.
Steevens.
It may certainly have been used so here, as in almost every
other page of our author. Mr. Henley, however, observes, that
his particular may mean the detail contained in the letter of
Prince John. A Particular is yet used as a substantive, by legal
conveyancers, for a minute detail (^things sin^y^nmnerated.
VOL. XII. O
194 SECOND PART OF activ.
As those that I am come to tell you of!
The earl Northumberland, and the lord Bardolph,
With a great power of English, and of Scots,
Are by the sheriff of Yorkshire overthrown : ' '
The manner and true order of the fight.
This packet, please it you, contains at large^^'^V^
K, Hen. And wherefore should these good news
make me sick? ^
Will fortune never come with both hands full, \j^
But write her fair words still in foulest letters ?., rj^
She either gives a stomach, and np food, ^ ^ } ^
Such are the poor, in health ; or else a feas^.,^].
And takes away the stomach, such are the ncn^^
That have abundance, and enjoy it not. , .
I should rejoice now at this happy hew^ j^"^' '^
And now my sight fails, and my brain is giddyi-t
O me ! come near me, now I am much ill.
\^Swoons,
P. Humph, Comfort, your majesty !
Cla. O my royal father !
West. My sovereign lord, cl^eer.i^pi^y^ia^^elf,
look up 1 ' ' ji\, , ^/ ^Ixf/
War. Be patient, princes ; you do know, these
''.-' " "=' fits ' ^'-''^M-^ ^
'Ai% H^tK his highness Verjr oMinaiy/:';^* ' *;^;^^'**^^
Stand from him, give him air; he*ll straight be well,
CLii.' No, no; he cannot long hold out these
pangs; _ ',; .iqaiyd
. ihe mcessant care and labour or his mmd
Hath wrought the mure,^ that should confine it in,
* Hath wrought the mxirey Sfc."] i. e. the wall. Pofe. oah'!
Wrought it thirij is made it thin by gradual deifriiheiit.
Wrovght is the preterite ofrvork.
sc. in KING HENRY IV. 195
So thin, that life looks through, and will break out.
Mure is a word used by Heywood, in his Brazen Age^ 1613 :
" 'Till I have scal'd these muresy invaded Troy."
Again, in his Golden Age, 1611 :
" Girt with a triple mure of shining brass."
Again, in his Iron Age, 2d Part, 1632 :
" Through mures and counter-wiMre* of men and steel."
Again, in Dyonese Settle's Last Voyage of Gapteine Frobisher^
12mo. bl. 1. 1577: " the stoeightes seemed to be shutt up
with a long mure of yce ."
The same thought occurs in Daniel's Civil Warsy &c.
Book IV. Daniel is likewise speaking of the sickness of King
Henry IV:
" As that the tualls ivorn thin, permit the mind
** To look out thorotv, and his frailtie find.'*
The first edition of Daniel's poem is dated earlier than this
play of Shakspeare.
Waller has the same thought :
. > -. f The soul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd,
tu i :* Lets in the light thro' chinks that time has made."
J.U i-:j'-,''/7V) V_i!?>m StEEVENS.
On this passage the elegant and learned Bishop of Worcester
has the following criticism: "At times we find him (the imi-
tator) practising a different art ; not merely spreading as it were
and laying open the same sentiment, but adding to it, and by a
new and studied device improving upon it. In this case we
naturally conclude that the refinement had not been made, if the
plain and simple thought had not preceded and given rise to it*
You will apprehend my meaning by what follows. Shakspeare
had said of Henry the Fourth :
* The incessant care and labour of his mind
* Hath wrought the mure, that should confine it in,
* So thin, that life looks through, and will break out.*
" You have here the thought in its first simplicity. It was
not unnatural, after speaking of the body as a case or tenement
of the soul, the mure that confines it, to say, that as that case
wears away and grows thin, me looks through, and is ready to
break out.'*
After quoting the lines of Daniel, who, Ht is observed,) " by
refining on this sentiment, if by nothing else, shews himself to
be the copyist," the very learned writer adds," h6re we see,
not simply, that life is going to break through the infirm and
much-worn habitation, but that the mind looks through, and
Jinds his frailty, that it discovers that life will soon make his
o 2
196 SECOND PART OF act iv,
P. Humph. The people fear me ; ^ for they do
observe
Unfathered heirs,'' and loathly birds of nature :
The seasons change their manners/ as the year*
escape. Daniel's improvement then looks like the artifice of a
man that would outdo his master. Though he fails in the
attempt; for his ingenuity betrays him into a false thought.
The mind, looking through, does not find its own frailty y but
the frailty of the building it inhabits." Kurd's Dissertation on
the Marks of Imitation.
This ingenious criticism, the general principles of which can-
not be controverted, sho^vs, however, how dangerous it is to
suffer the mind to be led too far by an hypothesis : for after all,
there is very good reason to believe that Shakspeare, and not
Daniel, was the imitator. ** The Dissention between the Houses
of Yorke and Lancaster^ in verse, penned by Samuel Daniel,'*
was entered on the Stationers' books, by Simon Waterson, in
October, 1594, and four books of his work were printed in
1595. The lines quoted by Mr. Steevens are from the edition
o The Civil JVars^ in 1609. Daniel made many changes in
his poems in every new edition. In the original edition in 1595,
the verses run thus; Book III. st. 116:
* Wearing the wall so thin, that now the mind
" Might well look thorough, and his frailty find."
His is used for its, and refers not to mind, (as is supposed
above,) but to wall. There is no reason to believe that this
play was written before 1591', and it is highly probable that
Shakspeare had read Daniel's poem before he sat down to com-
pose these historical dramas. Malone.
The people fear me ;"] i. e. make me afraid. Warburton.
So, in The Merchant of Venice :
" this aspect of mine
" Hath Jear*d the valiant.'* Steevens.
' Unfathered heirs,'] That is, equivocal births ; animals that
had no animal progenitors ; productimis not brought forth ac*
cording to the stated laws of generation. Johnson. f
* The seasons change their mamiers,"] This is finely expressed;
alluding to the terms of rough and harsh, mild and soft, applied
to welther. Warburton.
as the year ] i. e. as if the year &c. So, in Cyni'
ieline ;
Bc, IV. KING HENRY IV. 197
Had found some months asleep, and leap'd them
over.
Cla. The river hath thrice flow'd,* no ebb be-
tween :
And the old folk, time's doting chronicles.
Say, it did so, a little time before
That our great grandsire, Edward, sick'd and died.
War. Speak lower, princes, for the king recovers.
P. Humph. This apoplexwill, certain, be his end.
K. Hen, I pray you, take me up, and bear me
hence
Into some other chamber : softly, 'pray.
[Tliey convey the King into an inner part of
the room, and place him on a Bed.
Let there be no noise made, my gentle friends ;
Unless some dull and favourable hand
Will whisper musick to my weary spirit.^
" He spake of her, as Dian had hot dreams,
** And she alone were cold."
In the subsequent line our author seems to have been thinking
d leap-year. Malone,
* The river hath thrice Jlow*d,'] This is historically true. It
Jiappened on the 12th of October, 1411. Steevens.
* Unless some dull and favourable hand
Will tohispcr musick to my weary spirit."^ So, in the old
anonymous King Henry V:
*' Depart my chamber,
** And cause some musick to rock me asleep.**
Steevens.
Unless some dull and favourable hand ] Dtdl signifies
melancholy, gentle, soothing. Johnson.
I believe it rather means producing dullness or heaviness ; and
consequently sleep. It appears from various parts of our au-
thor's works, that he thought musick contributed to produce
sleep. So, in A Midsummer-Night^ s Dream:
" musick call, and strike more dead
" Than common sleep, of all these five the sense."
198 SECOND PART OF act iv.
War. Call for the musick in the other room.
K. Hen. Set me the crown upon my pillow here.^
Cla. His eye is hollow, and he changes much.
War. Less noise, less noise.
Enter Prince Henry.
P. Hen. Who saw the duke of Clarence?
Cla. I am here, brother, full of heayiness.
Again, in Love*s Labour's Lost .*
* And when love speaks, the voice of all the gods
" Makes heaven drotosy with the harmony**
So also in The Tempest^ Act I. when Alonzo, Gonzalo, &c.
are to be overpowered by sleep, Ariel, to produce this eflFect,
enters, *' playing solemn musick** Malone.
' Set me the crown upon my pilloto here."] It is still the
custom in France to place the crown on the King's pillow, when
he is dying.
Holinshed, p. 541, speaking of the death of King Henry IV.
says : " During this his last sicknesse, he caused his crowne, (as
some write,) to be set on a pillow at his bed's head, and sud-
denlie his pangs so sore troubled him, that he laie as though all
his vitall spirits had beene from him departed. Such as were
about him, thinking verelie that heh had been departed, covered
his face with a linnen cloth.
" The prince his sonne being hereof advertised, entered into
the chamber, tooke awaie the crowne and departed. The father
being suddenlie revived out of that trance, quicklie perceived the
lacke of his crowne ; and having knowledge that the prince his
Sonne had taken it awaie, caused him to come before his pre-
sence, requiring of him what he meant so to misuse himselfe.
The prince with a good audacitie answered ; Sir, to mine and
all men's judgements you seemed dead in this world, and there-
fore I as your next heire apparant tooke that as mine owne, and
not as yours. Well, faire sonne, (said the kinge with a great
sigh,) what right I had to it, God knoweth. Well (said the
ErinceJ if you die king, I will have the garland, and trust to
eepe it with the sword against all mine enemies, as you have
doone," &c. Steevens.
8C, ir. KING HENRY IV. 199
P, Hen. How now! rain within doors, and none
abroad !
How doth the king ?
P. Humph, Exceeding ill.
P. Hen. Heard he the good news yet ?
Tell it him.
P. Humph. He alter'd much upon the hearing it.*
P. Hen. If he be sick
With joy, he wiU recover without physick.
War. Not so much noise, my lords: sweet
prince, speak low ;
The king your father is disposed to sleep.
Cla. Let us withdraw into the other room.
War, WilPt please your grace to go along with
us ?
P. Hen. No ; I will sit and watch here by the
king. \_Ea:eunt all but P. Henry.
Why doth the crown lie there upon his pillow.
Being so troublesome a bedfellow ?
O polish'd perturbation ! golden care !
That keep*st the ports of slumber^ open wide
To many a watchful night ! sleep with it now !
Yet not so sound, and half so deeply sweet,
Tell it him.
He altered muck upon the hearing it.li For the sake of
metre, I would read
Tell't him.
He altered much on hearing it. Steevens.
* the ports of slumber ] Are the gates of slumber.
So, in Timon of Athens : *' Our uncharged ports.** Again,
in Ben Jonson's 80th Epigram : " The ports of death are
gins ." Ports is the ancient military term for gates.
Steevens.
The word is yet used in this sense in Scotland. Malone.
200 SECOND PART OF act ir.
As he, whose brow, with homely biggin bound,*
Snores out the watch of night. O majesty !
When thou dost pinch thy bearer, thou dost sit
Like a rich armour worn in heat of day.
That scalds with safety. By his gates of breath
There lies a downy feather, which stirs not :
Did he suspire, that light and weightless down
Perforce must move. My gracious lord I my. fa-
ther !
This sleep is sound indeed ; this is a sleep.
That from this golden rigoP h9,th divorced
So many English kings. Thy due, from me.
Is tears, and heavy sorrows of the blood ;
Which nature, love, and filial tenderness.
Shall, O dear father, pay thee plenteously :
My due, from thee, is this imperial crown ;
Which, as immediate from thy place and blood.
Derives itself to me. Lo, here it sits,
[^Putting it on his head.
Which heaven shall guard : And put the world*s
whole strength
Into one giant arm, it shall not force
This lineal honour from me : This from thee
Will I to mine leave, as 'tis left to me. \_Ea:iL
^ homely biggin hound,'] A kind of cap, at present
worn only by children ; but so called from the cap worn by the
Beguines, an order of nuns.
So, in Monsieur Thomas, by Beaumpnt and Fletcher, 1639 1
** were the devil sick now,
** His horns saw'd off, and his head bound with a biggin."
Again, in Ben Jonson's Volpone :
" Get you a biggin more, your brain breaks loose."
Steevens.
' this golden rigol ] Rigol means a circle. I know
not that it is used by any author but Shakspeare, who introduces
it likewise in his Rape of Lucrece :
" About the mourning and congealed face
" Of that black blood, a watry rigol goes.'* Steevens.
sc, m KING HENRY IV. 201
K, Hen* Warwick ! Gloster ! Clarence !
Re-enter Warwick, and the rest
Cla, Doth the king call ?
War. What would your majesty ? How fares
your grace ?
K. Hen, Why did you leave me here alone, my
lords ?
Cla. We left the prince my brother here, my
liege.
Who undertook to sit and watch by you.
K Hen. The prince of Wales ? Where is he ?
let me see him :
Jle is not here.
War. This door is open ; he is gone this way.
P. Humph. He came not through the chamber
where we stay*d.
K. Hen. Where is the crown ? who took it from
my pillow ?
War. When we withdrew, my liege, we left it
here.
K, Hen, The prince hath ta'en it hence : ^go,
seek him out.
Is he so hasty, that he doth suppose
My sleep my death ?
Find him, my lord of Warwick ; chide him hither.
\^Ej:it Warwick.
This part of his conjoins with my disease.
And helps to end me. See, sons, what things you
are!
How quickly nature falls into revolt.
When gold becomes her object !
For this the foolish over-careful fathers
202 SECOND PART OF act iv.
Have broke their sleep with thoughts, their brains
with care.
Their bones with industry ;
For this they have engrossed and piPd up
The canker' d heaps of strange-achieved gold ;
For this tliey have been thoughtful to invest
Their sons with arts, and martial exercises :
When, like the bee, tolling from every flower*
The virtuous sweets ;
Our thighs pack'd with wax, our mouths with
honey.
We bring it to the hive ; and, like the bees.
Are murder'd for our pains. This bitter taste
Yield his engrossments' to the ending father.
Re-enter Warwick.
Now, where is he that will not stay so long
Till his friend sickness hath determin'd^ me ?
' toitk thoughts, 3 Condeming the education and pro-
motion of their children. So afterwards :
** For this they have been thoughtful to invest
** Their sons with arts," &c.
Mr. Rowe and the subsequent editors read ^with thought ;
but the change does not appear to me necessary. Malone.
' tolHng yrom every Jlotxer ] This speech has been
contracted, dilated, and put to ievery critical torture, in order to
force it within the bounds of metre, and prevent the admission
of hemistichs. I have restored it without alteration, but with
those breaks which appeared to others as imperfections. The
reading of the quarto is tolling. The folio reads culling. Tolling
is taking toll. Steevens.
' Yield his engrossments ] His accumulations. Johnson.
determined ] i. e. ended ; it is still used in this sense
in legal conveyances. Reed.
So, in Antony and Cleopatra :
" as it [the hailstone] determineSy so
" Dissolves my life." Steev^ins.
sc, ir, KING HENRY IV. 203
War, My lord, I found the prince in the next
room.
Washing with kindly tears his gentle cheeks ;
With such a deep demeanour in great sorrow.
That tyranny, which never quaff* d but blood.
Would, by beholding him, have wash'd his knife
With gentle eye-drops. He is coming hither.
K, Hen. But wherefore did he take away the
crown?
Re-enter Prince Henry.
Lo, where he comes. Come hither to me, Harry:
Depart the chamber, leave us here alone.
\_Ej:eunt Clarence, Prince Humphrey,
Lords, S^c. :[::- I i -
P. Hex. I never thought to hear you speak again.
K. Hen. Thy wish was father, Harry, to that
thought :
I stay too long by thee, I weary thee.
Dost thou so hunger for my empty chair.
That thou wilt needs invest thee with mine honours
Before thy hour be ripe ? O foolish youth !
Thou seek'st the greatness that wiU overwhelm thee.
Stay but a little ; for my cloud of dignity
Is held from falling with so weak a wind.
That it will quickly drop : my day is dim.
Thou hast stoPn that, which, after some few hours,
Were thine without offence ; and, at my death.
Thou hast seal'd up my expectation :^
Thy life did manifest, thou lov'dst me not.
And thou wilt have me die assured of it.
' seaVd up my expectation ;] Thou hast confirmed my
opinion. Johnson.
204 SECOND PART OF act m
Thou hid*st a thousand daggers in thy thoughts ;
WTiich thou hast whetted on thy stony heart.
To stab at half an hour of my life.*
What ! canst thou not forbear me half an hour ?
Then get thee gone ; and dig my grave thyself;
And bid the merry bells ring to thine ear,^
That thou art crowned, not that I am dead.
Let all the tears that should bedew my hearse.
Be drops of balm, to sanctify thy head :
Only compound me with forgotten dust ;
Give that, which gave thee life, unto the worms.
Pluck down my officers, break my decrees ;
For now a time is come to mock at form,
Harry the fifth is crown*d : Up, vanity !
Down, royal state! all you sage counsellors, hence!
And to the English court assemble now,
From eveiy region, apes of idleness !
Now, neighbour confines, purge you of your scum :
Have you a ruffian, that will swear, drink, dance,
Revel the night ; rob, murder, and commit
* half an hour of my life."] It should be remembered
that Shakspeare uses a few words alternately as monosyllables
and dissyllables. Mr. Rowe, whose ear was accustomed to the
utmost harmony of numbers, and who, at the same time, ap-
pears to have been little acquainted with our poet's manner, first
added the word frail to supply the syllable which he conceived
to be wanting. The quarto writes the word homer y as it was
anciently pronounced.
^o^ Ben Jonson, in The Case is alter* d, 1609:
** By twice so many ho/txers as would fill
** The circle of a year."
The reader will find many more instances in the soliloquy of
King Henry VI. Part III. Act II. sc. v. The other editors
have followed Mr. Rowe. Steevens,
* And bid the merry bells rbg to thine ear,"} Copied by
Milton:
** When the merry beUs ring round,
" And the jocundf rebecks sound.'* Malone.
sc, ir. KING HENRY IV. 205
The oldest sins the newest kind of ways ? -^ '"
Be happy, he will trouble you no more :
England shall double gild his treble guilt ;"' ;:/ ^i)
England shall give him office, honour, might Jf^-"
For the fifth Harry from curb*d licence plucks
The muzzle of restraint, and the wild dog
Shall flesh his tooth in every innocent.
O my poor kingdom, sick with civil blows !
England shall double gild Ins treUe guilt ;] Evidently the
nonsense of some foolish player: for we must make a difference
between what Shakspeare might be supposed to have written off
hand, and what he had corrected. These scenes are of the latter
kind ; therefore such lines are by no mean to be esteemed his.
But, except Mr. Pope, (who judiciously threw o\rt this line,) not
one of Shakspeare's editors seem ever to have had so reasonable
and necessary a rule in their heads, wheni ^thej^ set upon cor-
recting this author. Warbukton;-* '^^'I '"^^'-^ (^jiijt-. vL3 j.
I know not why this commentator should speak with so much
confidence what he cannot know, or determine so positively
what so capricious a writer as our poet might either deliberately
or wantonly produce. This line is, indeed, ^u'ch as disgraces a
few that precede and follow it, but it suits well enough with the
daggers hid in thoitghty arid whetted on thy stony heart ; and
the answer which the Princa makes, and which is applauded
[by the King] for wisdom, is not of a strain much higher than
this ejected line. Johnson.
How much this play on words, faulty as it is,- was admired
in the age of Shakspeare, appears from the most ancient writers
of that time having frequently indulged themselves in it. So)
xaM.axlovfe's Hero and Leander, 1617: >-v>,'i>
** And as amidst the enamour 'd waves he swims, -li 1
* The god of gold a purpose guilt his limbs ;^.,^ , ^
** That, this word guilt including double sebseV. ' ' -
*' The double gtdlt of his incontinence ' . .
" Might be expressM."
Again, in Acolastus his Afterxoity a poem, by Si Nicholson,
1600: .
" O sacred thirst of golde, what canst thou not ?
" Some terms thee gytt, that every soule might reade,.
" Even in thy name, thy milt is great indeede."
See also Vol. X. p. 1 l.'J, n. 5. Malonf..
on
7..i9ri
206 SECOND PART OF act iv.
When that my care could not withhold thy riots.
What wilt thou do, when riot is thy care V -^^ sll
O, thou wilt be a wilderness again, ' ^n
Peopled with wolves, thy old inhabitants! '^
P. Hen, O, pardon me, my liege ! but for my
tears, [^Knecling,
The moist impediments unto my speech,
I had forestalrd this dear and deep rebuke.
Ere you with grief had spoke, and I had heard
The course of it so far. There is your crown j
And He that wears the crown immortally.
Long guard it yours ! If I affect it more, Vrij brl"\
Than as yom' nojiour, and as your renown, j iLdii
Let me no more from this obedience rise, '"'p .^"^^
(Which my most true and inward-duteous spirit""
Teacheth,)^ this prostrate and exterior ben dingXn
'^ when riot is thy care ?3 i. e. Curator. A bold figure.
So Eumseus is styled by Ovid, Epist. I :
" immundee cura fidelis harae." Tyrwhitt*, ,^ ^.^
One cannot help wishing Mr. Tjrrwhitt's elegant explanation
to be true ; yet I doubt whether the poet meant to say more
than What wilt thou do, when riot is thy regular business and
occupation? Malone.
* Which my most true &c.] True is loyal. This passage is
obscure in the construction, though the general meaning is clear
enough. The order is, this obedience which is taught this ex-
terior bending by my duteous spirit; or, this obedience which
teaches this exterior bending to my inwardly duteous spirit.
I know not which is right. Johnson.
The former construction appears to me the least exceptionable
of the two ; but both are .extremely harsh, and neither of them,
I think, the true construction. Malone.
The latter words " this prostrate and exterior bending*'
appear to me to be merely explanatory of the former words
this obedience. Suppose the intermediate sentence " which my
most true and inward-duteous spirit teacheth" to be included
in a parenthesis, and the meaning I contend for will be evident.
(1 .<t./. M. Mason.
sc, ir. KING HENRY IV. 207
Heaven witness with me, when I here came in.
And found no course of breath within your majesty,
How cold it struck my heart ! if I do feign,
O, let me in my present wildness die ;
And never live to show the incredulous world ^^^
The noble change that I have purposed ! ^^
Coming to look on you, thinking you dead,^^'^-/^*
(And dead almost, my liege, to think you were,)*-
1 spake unto the crown, as having sense, r
And thus upbraided it: The care on thee devendmA
Hath fed upon the body of my father ;\^ Ov&i.i iJim
Therefore, thou, best of gold, art worst of golSJ^"^^
Other, less fine in carat, is more precious^ .^^^ .A.
Preserving life in medicine potable z^'\ tijq no/coH
But thou, mostfne, most honour^ d, most rehowri^S,
Hast eat thy bearer vp^ Thus, my most royal liege,
: hod vnt v(f h'O'ft jja //ii:H /txltfjf 'jrno'J
I have adopted Mr. M. Mason's regulatlota. STEEVEiiiJ^f f /^
,' Which my rt^ost true and intvard-duteous-spirit ; > i^'f fX
Teachethy~\ i. e. which my loyalty and inward sense of duty
prompt me to. The words, *' this prostrate and exterior bend-
ing," are, I apprehend, put in apposition #ith *** Obedience,"
which is used tor obeisance. Ma lone. :!(!
^ in medicine potable ij There has long prevailed an
opinion that a solution of gold has great medicinal virtues, and
that the incorruptibility of gold might be communicated to the
body impregnated with it. Some have pretended to make
potable gold, among other frauds practised on credulity.
JijnL.i t:; ..aw'JfeiU..; :'tl/.' h ii'^' .':: ':.li;:- JoHNSOX.
So, in the charalj'it>f 'Oi^ l)W6r< ^ /%(W<J*e, by Chaucer,
Mr. Tyrwhitt's edit. v. 446: ]: -., ij !) -I Ji 'io ilir^ '(\A
" For gdd in phisike is a, cordial" SxEjp WEf^., \ ,\i\'!f
^that gold ma.y he made potable is certain, (DotwijUistapdttJg
Dr. Johnson's incredulity. Tlie process is inserted in the Abbe
Guenee's incomparable work, intitled, Lettres de qiielquQs Juifs
dM.de Voltaire y 5th edit. Vol. I.p, 416, a work which every
j^erson unacquainted With it will be glad to be referired to.
' . ' V . Henley.
edit. 1780. Reed?^' -^"^ ru.^'tot,.s#.^Oirl^ff>d^..n ..^"
208 SECOND PART OF act if.
Accusing it, I put it on my head;,' -.f^t-vr n
To try with it, as with an enemy.
That had before my face murder'd my father,.^
The quarrel of a true inheritor. )
But ii it did infect my blood with joy.
Or swell my thoughts to any strain of pride j
If any rebel or vain spirit of mine r.* r;
Did, with the least affection of a welcome, jjixiv)
Give entertainment to the might of it, ^
Let God for ever keep it from my head !
And make me as the poorest vassal is, \^nv ^w^^tl
That doth with awe and terror kneelt^ WA^-^^V^
K, Hen, O my son ! ; '^' -rr-y. /\'yMO
Heaven put it in thy mind, to take it hence,^'. nS.
That thou might'st win the more thy father's lovi^.
Pleading so wisely in excuse of it.
Come hither, Harry, sit thou by my bed ;
And hear, I think, the very latest counsel
That ever I shall breathe. Heaven knows, my son,
By what by-paths, and indirect crook*d ways.''."./
I met this crown ; and I myself know well, '-^'nt
How troublesome it sat upon my head : ihiihr
To thee it shall descend with better quiet,
Better opinion, better confirmation ;
For all the soiP of the achievement goes
With me into the earth. It seem*d in me, Jl
But as an honour snatch*d with boisterous hand ;
And I had many living, to upbraid
My gain of it by their assistances f;'> > nlrinv * .-.-j
Which daily grew to quarrel, and td blodJshed,
Wounding supposed peace :^ all these bold fears,'
1 gfjii -J jg gpjjj^ (jjj.j^ turpitude, reproach. Johnson.
-7-supposed jjeace;] Counterfeited, imagined, not real. ,
JOHNSOW,
' all these bold fears,] Fear is here used in the active
sense, for that which causesy^ar. Johnson.
sc. IV. KING HENRY IV* 209
Thou see*st, with peril I have answered :
For all my reign hath been but as a scene
Acting that argument ; and now my death
Changes the mode :* for what in me was purchas'd,^
Falls upon thee in a more fairer sort ;
So thou the garland wear*st successively.^
Yet, though thou stand' st more sure than I could do.
Thou art not firm enough, since griefs are green ;
And all thy friends,*^ which thou must make thy
friends,
Have but their stings and teeth newly ta'en out ;
By whose fell working I was first advanced.
And by whose power I well might lodge a fear
To be again displaced ; which to avoid.
These bold fears are these audacious terrors, Tojear is often
used by Shakspeare for to fright. Steevens.
* Changes the mode :] Mode is the form or state of things.
Johnson.
* for what in me tvas purchas'd,] Purchased seems to
be here used in its legal sense, acquired hy a tnan*s oxvn act
ijperquisitio) as opposed to an acquisition by descent. Malone.
Purchased^ in this place, does not merely signify acquiredy
but acquired by unjust and indirect methods. Purchase^ in
Shakspeare, frequently means stolen goods, or goods dishonestly
obtained. M. Mason.
^ siiccessivelij.2 By order of succession. Every usurper
natches a claim oi hereditary right as soon as he can.
Johnson.
See The Speech of his Highness [Richard Cromwell] the
Lord Protector, made to both Houses of Parliament, at their
frst Meeting, on Thursday the ^Ith of January, 1658:
" for my own part, being by the providence of God, and the
disposition of the law, my father's Successor, and bearing the
place in the government that I do," &c. Harl. Misc. Vol. I.
p. 21. Malone.
' And all thy friends,'] Should not we read ?
And all my friends, Tyrwhitt.
VOL. XII. P
210 SECOND PART OF act iv.
I cut them ofF;^ and had a purpose now
To lead out many to the Holy Land ; ^
Lest rest, and lymg still, might make them look
Too near unto my state.' Therefore, my Harry,
Be it thy course, to busy giddy minds
With foreign quarrels ; that action, hence borne out,
May waste the memory of the former days.
More would I, but my lungs are wasted so.
That strength of speech is utterly denied me.
* tvkkh to avoidy
I cut them qff;'\ As this passage stands, the King is advising
the Prince to make those persons his friends, whom he has al-
ready cut off. We should surely therefore read, " I cut some
off," instead of Mem. M. Mason.
^ To lead out many to the Holy Land ;"] Tlie sense is: Of
those who assisted my usurpation^ some I have cut offf and many
/ intended to lead abroad. This jorney to the Holy Land, of
which the King very frequently revives the mention, had two
motives, religion and policy. He durst not wear the ill-gotten
crown without expiation, but in the act of expiation he contrives
to make his wickedness successful. Johnson.
I confess, I have no distinct comprehension of the foregoing
passage, which is ungrammatical as well as obscure. Dr.
Johnson's explanation pre-supposes the existence of such a read-
ing as is since offered by Mr. M. Mason, viz. some instead of
them. Steevens.
' Lest resty and lying stilly might make them look
Too near unto my state.'] The expedition that Caesar me-
ditated against the Parthians, immediately before his death, has
been ascribed to the same apprehension wnich dictated to Henry
a journey to the Holy Land : *
" Invidiae stimulos ergo ut lenire furentis,
" Et capite insidiaa, quas maturare quietem
" Non nescity Caesar tactis avertere possit,
" Nee non externa maculas abstergere bello
" Civiles ; cum jam Crassi vindicta perisset,
*^ Debita jamdudum Latio ; jussu ille Senatus,
" (Ne patrum imminui videatur sacra potestas)
" Decretoque togae, mandari Parthica bella
" Suppliciter petiit." Supplem. Lucani. Lib. VIL
Malone.
sc.m KING HENRY IV/- 211
How I came by the crown, O God, forgive!'^
And grant it may with thee in true peace live !
P. Hen^. My gracious liege.
You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me ;
Then plain, and right, must my possession be :
Which I, with more than with a common pain,
'Gainst all the world will rightfully maintain.
Enter Prince John of Lancaster, Warwick,:
Lords, and Others,
K, Hen. Look, look, here comes my John of
Lancaster.
P. John. Health, peace, and happiness, to my
royal father !
K. Hen. Thou bring'st me happiness, and peace,
son John ;
But health, alack, with youthful wings is flown
From this bare, withered trunk : upon thy sight,
My worldly business makes a period.
Where is my lord of Warwick ?
P. Hen. My lord of Warwick !
K. Hen. Doth any name particular belong
Unto the lodging where I first did swoon ?
War. *Tis calPd Jerusalem, my noble lord.
K. Hen. Laud be to God ! even there my life
must end.^
* Homo I came &c.] This is a true picture of a mind divided
between heaven and earth. He prays for the prosperity of guilt
while he deprecates its punishment. Johnson.
^ Laud he to God ! even there my life must end,'] " At length
he recovered his speech, and understanding and perceiving him-
selfe in a strange place, which he knew not, he willed to know
P 2
12 SECOND PART OF act IK
It hath been prophesied to me many years,
I should not die but in Jerusalem ;
Which vainly I suppos'd, the Holy Land :
But, bear me to that chamber ; there PU lie ;
In that Jerusalem shall Harry die. [_Ea:eunL
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 thb chamber, according to the prophesie of me declared,
that I should depart this life in Jerusalem." Holinshed, p. 541.
The same equivocal prediction occurs also in the Orygynale
CronyUl of Andr&w of IVyntown, B. VI. ch. xii. v. 47. Pope
Sylvester, having sold himself to the devil for the sake of worldly
advancement, was desirous of knowing how long he should live
and enjoy it :
" The dewil answeryd hym agayne,
** That in all ese wythowtyn payne
** He suld lyve in prosperyt^,
** Jerusalem quhill he suld se."
Our Pope soon afterwards was conducted, by the duties of his
office, into a church he had never visited before :
** Then speryd he, quhat thai oysyd to call
** That kyrk. Than thai answeryd all,
** Jerusalem in Vy Laterane." &c. &c.
And then the prophecy was completed by his death.
St EE YENS.
ACTV. KING HENRY IV. 213
ACT V. SCENE I.
Glostershire. A Hall in Shallow's House,
Enter Shallow, Falstaff, Bardolph, and
Page.
Shal. By cock and pye,* sir, you shall not away
to-night. What, Davy, I say !
* Bi/ cock and pye,3 This adjuration, which seems to have
been very popular, is used in Soliman and Perseda^ 1599 : " By
coch and pie and mousefoot."
Again, in Wily Beguiledy 1606 : " Now by coch and pie y you
never spake a truer word in your life."
Again, in The Two angry Women of Abington^ 1599 :
" Merry go sorry, cock andpie, my hearts."
Cock is only a corruption of the Sacred Name, as appears from
many passages in the old interludes. Gammer Gurton's Needle^
&c. viz. Cocks bones, cocks wounds j by cock's-mother, and some
others.
Cock's body, cock's passion, &c. occur in the old morality of
Hycke Scomer, and in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Ophelia
likewise says :
" By cock they are to blame."
The pie is a table or rule in the old Roman offices, showing,
in a technical way, how to find out the service which is to be read
upon each day.
Among some " Ordinances, however, made at Eltham, in
the reign of King Henry VIII." we have " Item that the Pye
of coals be abridged to the one halfe that theretofore had been
served."
A printing letter of a particular size, called the pica, \fras pro-
bably denominated from the pie, as the brevier from the bre'
viary, and the primer from the primer, Steevens.
What was called The Pie by the clergy before the Reforma-
tion, was called by the Greeks TLiva.^, or the index. Though
the word Iliva^ signifies a plank in its original, yet in its me-
taphorical sense it signifies <rav)? ?wyf a^i^ftevij, a painted table
214 SECOND PART OF act v.
Fal You must excuse me, master Robert Shallow.
Shal. I will not excuse you ; ^ you shall not be
excused ; excuses shall not be admitted ; there is
no excuse shaU serve ; you shall not be excused.
Why, Davy!
Enter Davy.
J)^ rr. Here, sir.
Shal. Davy, Davy, Davy, let me see, Davy ;
let me see : ^yea, marry, William cook, bid him
come hither. ^ Sir John, you shall not be excused.
or picture: and because indexes or tables of books were formed
into scfuare figures, resembling pictures or painters' tables, hung
up in a frame, these likewise were called HlvocKsst or, being
marked only with the first letter of the word, Ili*s or Pies. All
other derivations of the word are manifestly erroneous.
In the second preface Concerning the Service of the Church,
f)refixed to the Common Prayer, this table is mentioned as fol-
ows : " Moreover the number and hardness of the rules called
the Pie, and the manifold changes," &c. Ridley.
* / "will not excuse you ; &c.] The sterility of Justice Shal-
low's wit is admirably described, in thus making him, by one of
the finest strokes of nature, so often vary his phrase, to express
one and the same thing, and that the commonest.
Warburton.
^ William cook, hid him come hither."] It appears from
this instance, as well as many others, that anciently the lower
orders of people had no surnames, or, if they had, were only
called by the titles of their several professions. The cook of
William Canynge, the royal merchant of Bristol, lies buried
there under a flat stone, near the monument of his master, in
the beautiful church of St. Mary RedclifFe. On this stone are
represented the ensigns of his trade, a skimmer and a knife.
His epitaph is as follows : ** Hie jacet willm coke quondam
serviens willm* canynges mercatoris villce Bristoll ; cujus
animee propitietur Deus.'* Lazarillo, in The Woman Hater of
Beaumont and Fletcher, expresses a wish to have his tomb or-
namented in a like manner :
sc. /. KING HENRY IV. 215
Davy, Marry, sir, thus; those precepts cannot
be served:"^ and, again, sir, Shall we sow the head-
land with wheat ?
Shal, With red wheat, Davy. But for William
cook ; Are there no young pigeons ?
Davy. Yes, sir. Here is now the smith's note,
for shoeing, and plough-irons.
Shal. Let it be cast,^ and paid : sir John, you
shall not be excused.
Davy. Now, sir, a new link to the bucket must
needs be had : And, sir, do you mean to stop any
of William's wages, about the sack he lost the other
day at Hinckley fair ?^
Shal. He shall answer it : Some pigeons,
Davy ; a couple of short-legged hens ; a joint of
mutton ; and any pretty little tiny kickshaws, tell
William cook.
Davy. Doth the man of war stay all night, sir ?
Shal. Yes, Davy. I will use him well ; A friend
i'the court is better than a penny in purse. ^ Use
** for others* glorious shields,
** Give me a voider ; and above my hearse,
** For a trutch sword, my naked knife stuck up.'*
Steevens.
' -^ those precepts cannot be served:'] Precept is a justice's
warrant. To the offices which FalstafF gives Davy in the follow-
ing scene, maybe added that of justice's clerk. Davy has almost
as many employments as Scrub in The Stratagem. Johnson.
Let it be cast,] That is, cast up, computed. M. Mason.
. ' Hinckley yaiV?] Hinckley is a town in Leicestershire.
Steevens.
' A friend iHhe court &c.] So, in Chaucer's Romaunf
of the Rose, V. BS'iO I
" Friendship is more than cattell
** For Jrende in courte ate better isy
" Than peny is in pursCy certis.'* Steevens.
216 SECOND PART OF act k
his men well, Davy ; for they are arrant knaves, and
will backbite.
Daw. No worse than they are back-bitten, sir ;
for they have marvellous foul linen.
Shal. "Well conceited, Davy. About thy busi-
ness, Davy.
Daw. I beseech you, sir, to countenance Wil-
liam Visor of Wincot against Clement Perkes of
the hill,
Shal. There are many complaints, Davy, against
that Visor ; that Visor is an arrant knave, on my
knowledge.
Daw. I grant your worship, that he is a kjiave.
sir : but yet, Goa forbid, sir, but a knave should
have some countenance at his friend's request. An
honest man, sir, is able to speak for himself, when a
knave is not. I have served your worship truly, sir,
this eight years ; and if I cannot once or twice in a
quarter bear out a knave against an honest man, I
have but a very little credit with your worship. The
knave is mine honest friend, sir; therefore, I beseech
your worship, let him be countenanced.
Shal. Go to ; I say, he shall have no wrong.
Look about, Davy. [Ea:it Davy.] AVhere are you,
sir John ? Come, off with your boots. Give me
your hand, master Bardolph.
Bard. I am glad to see your worship.
- Shal, I thank thee with all my heart, kind master
** A friend in court is worth a penny in purse," is one of
Camden's proverbial sentences. See his RemaineSf 4to. 1605.
Malone.
SCI, KING HENRY IV. 217
Bardolph : and welcome, my tall fellow. ^ [ To the
Page.] Come, sir John. \_Exit Shallow.
Fal. I'll foUowyou, good master Robert Shallow.
Bardolph, look to our horses. \_Ea:eunt Bardolph
and Page.] If I were sawed into quantities, I should
make four dozen of such bearded hermit*s-staves^
as master Shallow.* It is a wonderful thing, to see
the semblable coherence of his men's spirits and
his : They, by observing him, do bear themselves
like foolish justices; he, by conversing with them, is
turned into a justice-like serving-man ; their spirits
are so married in conjunction with the participation
pf society, that they flock together in consent,^ like
1
t i my ts\\ fellow.'] Whether the epithet tall, in the pre-
sent instance, is used with reference to the diminutive size of the
page, or has the ancient signification gallant, let the reader
determine. Thus, in Chapman's version of the eleventh Iliad:
** . as little suffer I
** In this same tall exploit of thine." Stee vens.
' bearded hermit'* s-staves ] He had before called him
the starved justice. His want of flesh is a standing jest.
Johnson.
* master Skalloxv.'] Shallow*s folly seems to have been
almost proverbial. So, in Decker's Satiromastix, 1602 : *' rWe
must have false fires, to amaze these spangle babies, these true
heirs of master Justice Shalloxu," Steevens.
* theyjloclc together in consent,] i. e. in concentUy or in
one mind, one party. So, Macbeth:
" If you shall cleave to my consent.**
See Vol. X. p. 96, n. S, and note on King Henry VI. Part I.
Act I. sc. i. line 5, Vol. XIII. The word, however, may be de-
rived from consentio, consensiiSj Lat. Steevens.
in concent,] i. e. in vmion, in accord. In our author'*
time the word in this sense was written consent, ( as it here is in
the old copy, ) and that spelling continued to Cowley's time.
See Davideis, Book III :
** Learning consent and concord from his lyre.'*
Malone,
218 SECOND PART OF act r.
so many wild-geese. If I had a suit to master
Shallow, I would humour his men, with the impu-
tation of being near their master : " if to his men,
I would curry with master Shallow, that no man
could better command his servants. It is certain,
that either wise bearing, or ignorant carriage, is
caught, as men take diseases, one of another:
therefore, let men take heed of their company. I
will devise matter enough out of this Shallow, to
keep prince Harry in continual laughter, the wear-
ing-out of six fashions, (which is four terms, or two
actions,)'' and he shall laugh without intervallums,
O, it is much, that a lie, with a slight oath, and a
jest, with a sad brow, will do with a fellow that
never had the ache^ in his shoulders ! O^ you
shall see him laugh, till his face be like a wet'cloak
ill laid up.
Shal. I Within,^ Sir John! -
Fal, I come, master Shallow ; I come, master
Shallow. \^Ej:it Falstaff.
near their master :"] i. e. admitted to their master's con-
fidence. Steevens.
^ . two actions,'] There is something humorous in mak-
ing a spendthrift compute time by the operation of an action for
debt. Johnson.
. ' a sad brow,'] i. e. a serious face. So, in Tke^ Winter^ s
Tale:
" My father and the gentlemen are in sad talk."
Steevens.
' fellffoi that never had the ache ] That is, a young
fellow, one whose disposition to merriment time and pain -have
not yet impaired. Johnson.
BC. II. KING HENRY IV. 219
SCENE II.
Westminster. A Room in the Palace,
Enter Warwick, and the Lord Chief Justice.
War, How now, my lord chief justice ? whither
away ?
Ch, Just, How doth the king ?
War, Exceeding well 5 his cares are now all
ended.
Cn, Just. I hope, not dead.
War, He's walk'd the way of nature ;
And, to our purposes, he lives no more.
Ch. Just. I would, his majesty had callM me
with him :
The service that I truly did his life,
Hath left me open to all injuries.
War, Indeed, I think, the young king loves you
not.
Ch, Just. I know, he doth not ; and do arm my-
self.
To welcome the condition of the time ;
Which cannot look more hideously upon me
Than I have drawn it in my fantasy.
Enter Prince John, Prince Humphrey, Clarence,
Westmoreland, and Others.
War. Here come the heavy issue of dead Harry:
O, that the living Harry had the temper
Of him, the worst of these three gentlemen !
220 SECOND PART OF act r.
How many nobles then should hold their places.
That must strike sail to spirits of vile sort !
Ch. Just. Alas ! I fear, all will be overturned.
P, John, Good morrow, cousin Warwick.
P. Humph, Cla. Good morrow, cousin.
P. John, We meet like men that had forgot to
speak.
War. We do remember ; but our argument
Is all too heavy to admit much talk.
P. John, Well, peace be with him that hath
made us heavy 1
Ch, Just, Peace be with us, lest we be heavier !
P. Humph, O, good my lord, you have lost a
friend, indeed :
And I dare swear, you borrow not that face
Of seeming sorrow ; it is, sure, your own.
P. John, Though no man be assur'd what grace
to find.
You stand in coldest expectation :
I am the sorrier ; 'would, 'twere otherwise.
Cla. Well, you must now speak sir John Falstaff
fair ;
Which swims against your stream of quality.
Ch. Just, Sweet princes, what I did, I did in
honour.
Led by the impartial conduct^ of my soul ;
* impartial conduct ] Thus the quartos. The folio
reads imperial, Steevens.
Impartial is confirmed by a subsequent speech addressed by
the King to the Chief Justice :
** That you use the same
** With the like bold, just, and impartial spirit,
** As you have done Against me." Malone,
5c. //. KING HENRY IV. 221
And never shall you see, that I will beg
A ragged and forestalled remission.^
* A ragged and forestall'd remission.'^ Ragged has no sense
here. We should read :
A rated andjbrestall*d remission.
i. e. a remission that must be sought for, and bought with sup-
plication. Warburton.
Different minds have different perplexities. I am more puzzled
VTith.Jbrestall*d than with ragged ; for ragged, in our author's
licentious diction, may easily signify beggarly, mean, base, ig-
nominious ; hutjbrestall'd I know not how to apply to remission
in any sense primitive or figurative. I should be glad of another
word, but cannot find it. Perhaps, hyforestaWd remission, he
may mean a pardon begged by a voluntary confession of offence,
and anticipation of the charge. Johnson.
The same expression occurs in two different passages in
Massinger. In The Duke of Milan, Sforza says to the Em-
peror :
" Nor come I as a slave
" Falling before thy feet, kneeling and howling
" For ajbrestall'd remission.**
And, in The Bondman, Pisander says :
And sell
" Ourselves to most advantage, than to trust
* To aJbrestaWd remission.**
In all these passages a forestall* d remission seems to mean, a
remission that it is predetermined shall not be granted, or will be
rendered nugatory. Shakspeare uses, in more places than one,
the word Jbrestall in the sense of to prevent. Horatio says to
Hamlet, *' If your mind dislike any thing, obey it. I will
Jbrestall their repair hither.'* In this very play, the Prince says
to the King :
" But for my tears, &c.
" I hadjbrestall'd this dear and deep rebuke.'*
In Hamlet, the King says :
" And what's in prayer, but this twofold force,
" To hejbrestalled, ere we come to fall,
" Or pardon'd, being down ?" M. Mason.
I believe, forestall'd only means asked before it is granted.
If he will grant me pardon unasked, so ; if not, I will not con-
descend to solicit it. In support of the interpretation offorestall*d
remission, i. e. a remission obtained by a previous supplication,
the following passage in Cymbeline may be urged :
222 SECOND PART OF act r.
If truth and upright innocency fail me,
I'll to the king my master that is dead,
And tell him who hath sent me after him.
TVar. Here comes the prince.
Enter King Henry V.
Ch. Just, Good morrow j and heaven save your
majesty !
King. This new and gorgeous garment, majesty,
Sits not so easy on me as you think.-r-
Brother^, you mix your sadness with some fear ;
This is the English, not the Turkish court j^
Not Amurath an Arnurath succeeds.
But Harry Harry:* Yet be sad, good brothers.
mav
" This mghtjbrestall him of the coming day !"
Malone.
* not the Turkish couri ;"] Not the court where the
prince that mounts the throne puts his brothers to death.
Johnson.
*^Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds^
But Harry Harry :~\ Amurath the Third (the sixth Em-
peror of the Turks) died on January the 18th, 1595-6. The
people being generally disaffected to Mahomet, his eldest son,
and inclined to Amurath, one of his younger children, the Em-
peror's death was concealed for ten days by the Janizaries, till
Mahomet came from Amasia to Constantinople. On his arrival
he was saluted Emperor, by the great Bassas, and others his
favourers; " which done, (says Knolles,) he presently after
caused all his brethren to be invited to a solemn feast in the
court; whereunto they, yet ignorant of their father's death,
came chearfully, as men fearing no harm: but, being come,
ixiere there all most miserably strangled.** It is highly probable
that Shakspeare here alludes to this transaction; which was
pointed out to me by Dr. Farmer.
This circumstance, therefore, may fix the date of this play
subsequently to the beginning of the year 1596 ; and perhaps it
was written while this fact was yet recent. Malone.
sen. KING HENRY IV. 223
For, to speak truth, it very well becomes youj
Sorrow so royally in you appears,
That I will deeply put the fashion on,
And wear it in my heart. Why then, be sad :
But entertain no more of it, good brothers,
Than a joint burden laid upon us all.
For me, by heaven, I bid you be assur'd,
1*11 be your father and your brother too ;
Let me but bear your love, I'll bear your cares.
Yet weep, that Harry's dead ; and so will I :
But Harry lives, that shall convert those tears,
By number, into hours of happiness.
P. John, ^c. We hope no other from your ma-
jesty.
King. You all look strangely on me : and you
most; [_To the Chief Justice.
You are, I think, assured I love you not.
Ch. Just. I am assur'd, if I be measured rightly.
Your majesty hath no just cause to hate me.
King. No!
How might a prince of my great hopes forget
So great indignities you laid upon me ?
What ! rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison
The immediate heir of England! Was this easy?*
May this be wash'd in Lethe, and forgotten ?
Ch.Just. I then did use theperson of your father;
The image of his power lay then in me-:
* Was this easy ?] That is, was this not grievous? Shak-r
speare has easy in this sense elsewhere. Johnson.
Thus, perhaps, in King Henry VI. Part II. Act III. sc. i:
" these faults are easy^ quickly answer*d ."
Was this easyf may mean, was this a slight offence?
Thus, Lord Surrey :
" And easy sighes, such as folkes draw; in love.**
Steevens*
224 SECOND PART OF act r.
And^ in the administration of his law.
Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth,
Your highness pleased to forget my place.
The majesty and power of law and justice.
The image of the king whom I presented.
And struck me in my very seat of judgment ;*
" And struck me in my very seat of judgment ;] I do not recol-
lect that any of the, editors of our author have thought this re-
markable passage worthy of a note. The Chief Justice, in this
play, was Sir William Gascoigne, of whom the following memoii
may be as acceptable as necessary :
While at the bar, Henry of Bolingbroke had been his client ;
and upon the decease of John of Gaunt, by the above Henry,
his heir, then in banishment, he was appointed his attorney, to
sue in the Court of Wards the livery of the estates descended to
him. Richard H. revoked the letters patent for this purpose,
and defeated the intent of them, and thereby furnished a ground
for the invasion of his kingdom by the heir of Gaunt ; who be-
coming afterwards Henry IV. appointed Gascoigne Chief Justice
of the King's Bench in the first year of his reign. In that station
Gascoigne acquired the character of a learned, an upright, a
wise, and an intrepid judge. The story so frequently alluded to
of his committing the prince for an insult on his person, and the
court wherein he presided, is thus related by Sir Thomas El)'ot,
in his book entitled The Governour : ** The moste renouned
prince king Henry the tyfte, late kynge of Englande, durynge
the lyfe of his father, was noted to be fiers and of wanton cou-
rage : it hapned, Uiat one of his seruauntes, whom he fauoured
well, was for felony by him committed, arrained at the kynges
benche : whereof the prince being aduertised, and incensed by
lyghte persones aboute him, in furious rage came hastily to the
barre where his seruante stode as a prisoner, and commaunded
him to be vngyued and set at libertie : whereat all men were
abashed, reserved the chiefe Justice, who humbly exhorted the
prince, to be contented, that his seruaunt mought be ordred,
accordynge to the aunciente lawes of this realme : or if he
wolde haue hym saued from the rigour of the lawes, that he
shulde obteyne, if he moughte, of the kynge his father, his
gratious pardon, wherby no lawe or justyce shulde be derogate.
With whiche answere the prince nothynge appeased, but rather
more inflamed, endeuored hym selfe to take away his seruant.
The iuge considering the perillous example, and inconuenience
that mought therby ensue, with a valyant spirite and courage.
sc. It. KING HENRY IV. 225
Whereon, as an offender to your father,
commanded the prince vpon his alegeance, to leave the prisoner,
and depart his way. With which commandment the prince
being set all in a fury, all chafed and in a terrible maner, came
vp to the place of iugement, men thynking that he wold haue
slayne the iuge, or haue done to hym some damage : but the
iuge sittynge styll without mouing, declaring the maiestie of the
kynges place of iugement, and with an assured and bolde coun-
tenaunce, had to the prince, these wordes followyng,
" Syr, remembre yourselfe, I kepe here the place of the kyng
your soueraine lorde and father, to whom ye owe double obe-
dience : wherfore eftsoones in his name, I cliarge you desyste of
your wylfulnes and vnlaufull enterprise, & from hensforth giue
good example to those, whyche hereafter shall be your propre
subjectes. And nowe, for your contempte and disobedience, go
you to the prysone of the kynges benche, wherevnto I commytte
you, and remayne ye there prysoner vntyll the pleasure of the
kynge your father be further knowen."
" With whiche wordes being abashed, and also wondrynge at
the meruaylous gravitie of that Avorshypfulle justyce, the noble
prince layinge his weapon aparte, doying reuerence, departed,
and wente to the kynges benche, as he was commanded. Wherat
his servauntes disdaynynge, came and shewed to the kynge all
the hole aiFaire. Whereat he awhyles study enge, after as a man
all rauyshed with gladnes, holdynge his eien and handes vp to-
warde heuen, abraided, saying with a loude voice, * O merciful!
God, howe moche am I, aboue all other men, bounde to your
infinite goodnes, specially for that ye haue gyuen me a iuge, who
feareth not to minister iustyce, and also a sonne, who can suffer
semblably, and obeye iustyce !"
And here it may be noted, that Shakspeare has deviated from
history in bringing the Chief Justice and Henry V. together, for
it is expressly said by Fuller, in his Worthies of Yorkshire, and
that on the best authority, that Gascoigne diea in the life-time
of his father, viz. on the first day of November, 14 Henry IV.
See Dugd. Origines Juridic. in the Chronica Series, fol. 54, 56.
Neither is it to be presumed but that this laboured defence of
his conduct is a fiction of the poet : and it may justly be inferred
from the character of this very able lawyer, whose name fre-
quently occurs in the year-book of his time, that, having had
spirit and resolution to vindicate the authority of the law, in the
punishment of the prince, he disdained a formal apology for an
act that is recorded to his honour. Sir J. Hawkins.
VOL. xil. Q
226 SECOND PART OF act v.
I gave bold way to my authority, *
And did commit you. If the deed were ill.
Be you contented, wearing now the garland,
To have a son set your decrees at nought ;
To pluck down justice from your awful bench ;
To trip the course of law, "^ and blunt the sword
That guards the peace and safety of your person :
Nay, more j to spurn at your most royal image,
In the foregoing account of this transaction, there is no men-
tion of the Prince's having struck Gascoigne, the Chief Justice.
Holinshed, however, whom our author copied, speaking of the
" wanton pastime" in which Prince Henry passed his youth,
says, that " where on a time hee stroke the chiefe jtistice on the
Jace tvith hisJistCy for emprisoning one of his mates, he was not
only committed to straighte prison himselfe by the sayde chief
justice, but also of his father put out of the privie counsell and
banished the courte." Holinshed has here followed Hall. Our
author (as an anonymous writer has observed) [Mr. Ritson]
might have found the same circumstance in the old play of
King Henri/ V.
With respect to the anachronism. Sir William Gascoigne cer-
tainly died before the accession of Henry V. to the throne, as
appears from the inscription which was once legible on his tomb-
stone, in Harwood church, in Yorkshire, and was as follows :
* Hie jacet Wil'mus Gascoigne, nuper capit. justic. de banco.
Hen. nuper regis Anglise quarti, qui quidem Wil'mus ob. die
domi'ca 17." die Decembris, an. dom. 14-12, 14" Henrici quarti.
factus index, 14-01. " See Gent. Magazine^ Vol. LI. p. 6^.
Shakspeare, however, might have been misled on the autho-
rity of Stowe, who in a marginal note, 1 Henry V. erroneously
asserts that " William Gascoigne was chief justice of the Kings
Bench from the sixt of Henry IV. to the third of Henry the
Fift:'*or, (which is full as probable,) Shakspeare might have
been careless about the matter. Malone.
'' To trip the course of /aw, j To defeat the process of jus-
tice; a metaphor taken from the act of tripping a runner.
Johnson.
So, in Hamlet :
* Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven."
Steevens.
sc. iL KING HENRY IV. 227
And mock your workings in a second body.^
Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours;
Be now the father, and propose a son : ^
Hear your own dignity so much profan'd.
See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,
Behold yourself so by a son disdained ;
And then imagine me taking your part.
And, in your power, soft silencing your son :
After this cold considerance, sentence me ;
And, as you are a king, speak in your state, ^
What I have done, that misbecame my place,
My person, or my liege*s sovereignty.
King. You are right, justice, and you weigh this
well ;
Therefore still bear the balance, and the sword :
And I do wish your honours may increase.
Till you do live to see a son of mine
Offend you, and obey you, as I did.
So shall I live to speak my father's words j
Happy am I, that have a man so bold^
That dares do justice on my proper son :
And not less happy, having such a son.
That would deliver up his greatness so
Into the hands of justice. ^You did commit me : ^
And mock your toorJcings in a second body."] To treat with
contempt your acts executed by a representative. Johnson.
9 and propose a son .] i. e. image to yourself a son,
contrive for a moment to think you have one. So, in Titus
Andronicu^ :
a thousand deaths I could propose.*^ Stee vens.
' in your state,] In your regal character and office, not
with the passion of a man interested, but with the impartiality
of a legislator. Johnson.
"" You did commit me : &c.] So, in the play on this sub-
ject, antecedent to that of Shakspeare:
Q 2
22fft SECOND PART OF act r.
For which, I do commit into your hand
The unstained sword that you have us*d to bear ;
With this remembrance,^ That you use the same
With the like bold, just, and impartial spirit.
As you have done *gainst me. There is my handj
You shall be as a father to my youth :
My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear ;
And I will stoop and humble my intents
To your well-practis'd, wise directions.
And, princes all, believe me, I beseech you ;
My father is gone wild* into his grave,
For in his tomb lie my affections ;
And with his spirit sadly I survive,"
" You sent me to the Fleet ; and for revengement,
** I have chosen you to be the protector
** Over my realm." Steevens.
' remembrance,'] That is, admonition. Johnson.
* Mu father is gone wild ] Mr. Pope, by substituting fuaiVd
for mtd, without sufficient consideration, afforded Mr. Theobald
much matter of ostentatious triumph. JohksoJi.
The meaning is My voild 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.
A passage in King Henry V. Act I. sc.i. very strongly confirms'
this interpretation:
" The courses of his youth promis'd it not :
" The breath no sooner left his father's body,
** But that his toildness, mortified in him,
" Seem'd to die too."
So, in King Henri/ VIII:
" And when old time shall lead him to his end,
** Goodness, and he, fill up one monument."
A kindred thought is found in The Two Gentlemen of Verona:
*' And so suppose am I ; for in his grave
** Assure thyself my love is buried." Malone.
* ' idth his spirit sadly / survive,] Sadly is the same as
soberly, seriously, gravely. Sad is opposed to wild. JonNSON.
The quarto and first folio have spirits. The correction was
made by the editor of the third folio. Malone.
sc. iL KING HENRY IV. 229
To mock the expectation of the world ;
To frustrate prophecies ; and to raze out
Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down
After my seeming. The tide of blood in me
Hath proudly flow*d in vanity, till now :
Now doth it turn, and ebb back to the sea ;
Where it shall mingle with the state of floods,^
And flow henceforth in formal majesty.
Now call we our high court of parliament :
And let us choose such limbs of noble counsel.
That the great body of our state may go
In equal rank ^vith the best governed nation ;
That war, or peace, or both at once, may be
* the state of JlQods,~\ i. e. the assembly, or general
meeting of the floods : for all rivers, running to the sea, are
there represented as holding their sessions. This thought natu-
rally introduced the following :
" Now call we our high court of parliament.'*
But the Oxford editor, much a stranger to the phraseology of
that time in general, and to his author's in particular, out of
mere loss for his meaning, reads it backwards, thejloods of state.
Warburton.
The objection to Warburton's explanation is, that the word
statCy in the singular, does not imply the sense he contends for :
we say an assembly of the states, not of the state. I believe we
must either adopt Hanmer's amendment, or suppose that state
means dignity; and that, "to mingle with the state of floods," is
to partake of* the dignity of floods. I should prefer the amend-
ment to this interpretation. M. Mason.
I prefer the interpretation to the amendment. State most
evidently means dignity. So, in The Tempest :
" Highest queen o? state,
" Great Juno comes." Steevens.
xvith the state offloads,'] With the majestick dignity of
the ocean, the chief of floods. So before, in this scene :
" And, as you are a king, speak in your state, .'*
State and estate, however, were used in our author's time for
a person of high dignity, and may in that sense be applied to the
^a, supposing it to be personified. M alone.
2S0 SECOND PART OF act v.
As things acquainted and familiar to us
In which you, father, shall have foremost hand.
[ To the Lord Chief Justice.
Our coronation done, we will accite.
As I before remembered, all our state :
And (God consigning to my good intents,)
No prince, nor peer, shall have just cause to say,
Heaven shorten Harry's happy life one day.
[^E^ceunt.
SCENE III.
Glostershire. The Garden o/" Shallow's Home,
Enter Falstaff, Shallow, Silence, Bardolph,
the Page, and Davy.
Shal, Nay, you shall see mine orchard : where,
in an arbour, we will eat a last year's pippin of my
own graffing, with a dish of carraways, and so
forth j^ come, cousin Silence j and then to bed.
' a dish of caraways, Sfc."} A comfit or confection so
called in our author's time. A passage in De Vigneul Marville*s
Melanges d'Histoire et de Litt. will explain this odd treat:
*' Dans le dernier siecle ou I'on avoit le gout delicat, on ne
croioit pas pouvoir vivre sans Dragees. II n'etoit fils de bonne
mere, qui n'eut son Dragier ; et il est report? dans I'histoire du
due de Guise, que quand il fut tue a Blois, il avoit son Dragier
a la main." Wauburton.
Mr. Edwards has diverted himself with this note of Dr. War-
burton's, but without producing a happy illustration of flie pas-
sage. The dish of caratoays here mentioned was a dish of apples
of that name. Goldsmith.
Whether Dr. Warburton, Mr. Edwards, or Dr. Goldsmith, is
in the right, the following passage in Decker's Satiromastix has
left undecided :
sciii, KING HENRY IV. 231
Fal, 'Fore God, you have here a goodly dwell-
ing, and a rich.
Shal. Barren, barren, barren ; beggars all, beg-
*' By this handful of carrauoays I could never abide to say
grace."
" by these comfits we'll let all slide.'*
** By these comfits and these carravoays ; I warrant it does him
good to swear."
" 1 am glad, lady Petula, by this apple^ that they please
you."
That apples^ comfits, and caraivaySf at least were distinct
things, may be inferred from the following passage in the old
black letter interlude of The disobedient Child, no date :
" What running had I for apples and nuttes,
" What callying for biskettes, cumfettes, and carowaies.**
Again, in Hotv to chuse a good Wife from a bad, 1602:
" For apples, carrawaies, and cheese."
There is a pear, however, called a caraway, which may be
corrupted from caillouely Fr. So, in the French Roman de la
Rose :
" Ou la poire de caillouel.'*
Chaucer, in his version of this passage, says :
** With caletoeis,** &c. Steevens.
It would be easy to prove, by several instances, that caraxvays
were generally part of the desert in Shakspeare's time. See par-
ticularly MurrePs Cookery, &c. A late writer however asserts
that caraways is the name of an apple as well known to the
natural inhabitants of Bath, as nonpareil is in London, and as
generally associated with golden pippinsl He observes also that
if Shakspeare had meant comfits he would have said, " a dish of
last year's pippins with carraways." With a dish, &c. clearly
means something distinct from the pippins. Jackson's Thirty
Letters, 8vo. Vol. II. p. 42. Reed.
The following passage in Cogan's Haven of Health, 4to. bl. 1.
1595, will at once settle this important question : " This is a
confirmation of our use in England, for the serving of apples and
other fruites last after meales. Howbeit we are wont to eate
carawaies or biskets, or some other kind of comfits or seedes
together with apples, thereby to breake winde ingendred by
them : and surely it is a very good way for students."
Steevens.
232 SECOND PART OF act r.
fars all, sir John: marry, good air.' Spread,
)avy ; spread, Davy ; well said, Davy.
Fal. This Davy serves you for good uses ; he is
your serving-man, and your husbandman.^
Shal. a good varlet, a good varlet, a very good
varlet, sir John. By the mass,* I have drunk too
much sack at supper : A good varlet. Now sit
down, now sit down : come, cousin.
SiL. Ah, sirrah ! quoth-a, ^we shall
Do nothing but eat, and make good cheer,
[Singing.
And praise heaven for the merry year ;
Whenjlesh is cheap and females dear,^
And lusty lads roam here and there.
So merrily.
And ever among so merrily,^
barren, barren ; beggars ally -^good air."^ Justice
Shallow alludes to a witticism frequent among rusticks, who,
when talking of a healthy country, pleasantly observe : " Yes,
it is a good air, more run away than die." Holt White.
' - and your husbandxnan.~\ Old copy husband. Cor-
rected by Mr. Rowe. I am not sure that the emendation is
necessary. " He was a wise man, and a good,***was the language
of our author's time. See also FalstafF's preceding speech.
Malone.
' Bi/ the mass,'\ So, in Springes Jor Woodcocks, a collection
of epigrams, 1606, Ep. 221 :
" In elders* time, as ancient custom was,
" Men swore in weighty causes bi/ the masse;
* But when the masse went down, (as others note,)
" Their oathes were, by the crosse of this same groat," &c,
j) ,,, i,, , Steevens.
and females dear, &c.] This very natural character of
Justice Silence is not sufficiently observed. He would scarcely
^eak a word before, and now there is no possibility of stopping
his mouth. He has a catch for every occasion :
Whenjlesh is cheap andjemales dear.
sc. iij. KING HENRY IV. 233
Fal. There's a meriy heart ! Good master Si-
lence, 1*11 give you a health for that anon.
Shal. Give master Bardolph some wine, Davy.
Davy. Sweet sir, sit ; \_Seating Bardolph and
the Page at another table.'] I'll be with you anon:
most sweet sir, sit. Master page, good master
page, sit: proface!* What you want in meat, we'll
Here the double sense of the word dear must be remembered.
Ever among is used by Chaucer in The Romaunt of the Rose :
" Ever among (sothly to saine)
" I sufFre noie and mochil paine.** Farmer.
^ And ever among so merrily.^ Of the phrase ever among^
1 find an example in the old MS. romance of The Soivdon of
Bahyloyne :
" Thai eten and dronken right inowe,
" And made myrth ever among :
*' But of the Sowdon spake we nowe
" Howe of sorowe was his songe."
It is observable that this phrase, in both instances, is applied
to the purpose of festivity. Steevjens.
p rqface /] Italian from prqfaccia ; that is, much good
may it do you. Hanmer.
Sir Thomas Hanmer (says Dr. Farmer) is right, yet it is no
argument for his author's Italian knowledge.
Old Heywood, the epigrammatist, addressed his readers long
before :
*' Readers, reade this thus : for preface, proface^
" Much good may it do you," &c.
So, Taylor, the Water-poet, in the title of a poem prefixed to
his Praise of Hempseed : "A preamble, preatrot, preagallop,
preapace, or preface ; and prqface^ my masters, if your stomach
serve.*'
Decker, in his comedy of If this be not a good Play the Devil
is in it, makes Shackle-soule, in the character of Friar Rush,
tempt his brethren " with choice of dishes :"
" To which j9ro/ace ; with blythe lookes sit yee.**
I am still much in doubt whether there be such an Italian
word as profaccia. Baretti has it not, and it is more probable
.that we received it from the French ; prqface being a colloquial
234 SECOND PART OF act v.
have in drink. But you must bear ; The heart's
all> lExit
SffAL. Be merry, master Bardolph; and my
little soldier there, be merry.
SiL. Be merry, be merry, my *wife*s as all;^
[Singing.
For women are shrews, both short and tall :
*Tis merry in Jiall, "when beards "wag all,^
And welcome merry shrove-tide,'^
Be merry, be merry, &c.
abbreviation of the phrase, Bon prou leurjhce, i. e. Much good
may it do them. See Cotgrave, in voce Prou.
To the instances produced by Dr. Farmer, I may add one
more from Springes Jbr Woodcocks^ a collection of epigrams,
1606, Ep. 110:
" Prqface, quoth Fulvius, fill us t'other quart.**
And another from Heywood's Epigrams :
" I came to be merry, wherewith merrily
*' Prqface. Have among you,*' &c.
Again, in Stowe's Chronicle^ p. 528 : " the cardinall came in
booted and spurred, all sodainly amongst them, and bade them
prqface.** Steevens.
So, in Nashe's Apologiefor Pierce Penniless, 1593 : " A pre-
face to courteous minds, as much as to sayprofacey much good
may it do you ! would it were better for you !'*
Sir T. Hanmer, (as an ingenious friend observes to me,) was
mistaken in supposing prqfaccia a regular Italian word ; the
proper expression being buon pro vi Jaccia, much good may it
do you ! Prqfaccia is, however, as I am informed, a cant term
used by the common people in Italy, though it is not inserted in
the best Italian dictionaries. Malone.
* The heart's all.'] That is, the intention with which the
entertainment is given. The humour consists in making Davy
act as master of the house. Johnson.
* my "wife's as all ;'] Old copy has all. Dr. Farmer
very acutely observes, that we should read my wife** as all,
L e. a all women are. This affords a natural mtroduction to
what follows. Steevens.
^*Tis merry in hall, tohen beards tvag all,'] Mr. Warton,
sciii. KING HENRY IV. 235
Fal. I did not think, master Silence had been
a man of this mettle.
SiL. Who I ? I have been merry twice and once,
ere now.
in his History of English Poetry ^ observes, that this rhyme is
found in a poem by Adam Davie, called The Life of Alex-
ander :
' Merry swithe it is in halle,
" When the berdes ivaveth alle." Steevens.
This song is mentioned by a contemporary author : " which
done, gpace said, and the table taken up, the plate presently
conveyed into the pantrie, the hall summons this consort of com-
panions (upon payne to dyne with duke Humphfrie, or to kisse
the hare's foot) to appear at the first call: where a song is to be
sung, the under song or holding whereof is, It is mcrrie in hatd
ivhere beards wag all.'* The Serving-man's Cotnforty 1598,
sign. C.
Again : " It is a common proverbe It is merry in hally when
beardes wag all." Brief e Conceipte of English PoUicye, by
William Stafford, 1581. Reprinted 1751, as a work of Shak-
speare's. Reed.
' And welcome merry shrove-tide.] Skrove-tide was formerly
a season of extraordinary sport and feasting. In the Romish
church there was anciently a feast immediately preceding Lent,
which lasted many days, called Carniscapium. See Carpentier
in V. Supp. Lat. Gloss. Du Cajige, Tom. I. p. 381. In some
cities of France, an officer was annually chosen, called Le
Prince D'Amoreux, who presided over the sports of the youth
for six days before Ash- Wednesday. Ibid. v. Amoratus, p. 195;
and V. Cardinalis, p. 818. Also, v. Spinetum, Tom. III. 848.
Some traces of these festivities still remain in our universities.
In The Percy Homhold-Booh, 1512, it appears, "that the cler^
and officers of Lord Percy's chapel performed a play before his
lordship upon Shrowftewesday at night." P. 345.
T. Warton.
See also Dodsley's Collection of Old PlaySy VoL XII. p. 403,
last edition. Reed.
236 SECOND PART OF act r.
Re-enter Davy.
Davy. There is a dish of leather-coats for you.*
\_Setting them before Bardolph.
Shal. Davy,
Davy. Your worship ? I'll be with you straight.
[To Bard.] A cup of wine, sir?
SiL. A cup oftvine, thafs brisk andjine^
And drink unto the leman mine ; [Singing.
And a w^rry heart lives long-a.^
Fal. Well said, master Silence.
SiL. And we shall be merry ; now comes in the
sweet of the night. '
Fal. Health and long life to you, master Silence,
SiL. Fill the cup, and let it come ; ^
ril pledge you a mile to tlie bottom.
leather-coats ] The apple commonly denominated
^ussetine, in Devonshire, is called the biiff'-coat. Henley.
, ^ a merry heart lives long-a."] " A merry heart is the life
of the flesh.'* Proverbs xiv. 30.
" Gladness prolongs his days." Eccliis xjfx. 22. Steevens.
' nolo comes in the sweet of the night.'] So Falstaff, in a
former scene of this play : " Now comes in the sweetest morsel
of the night .'* Steevens.
I believe the latter words [those in the speech of Silence]
make part of some old ballad. In one of Autolycus*s songs we
find
" Why then comes in the sweet of the year.**
The words, And tue shall be merry ^ have a reference to a Song,
of which Silence has already sung a stanza. His speeches in
this scene are, for the most part, fragments of ballads. Though
his imagination did not furnish him with any thing original to
Bay, he could repeat the verses of others. Ma lone.
* Fill the cupy &c.] This passage has hitherto been printed
as prose, but 1 am told that it makes a part of an old song, and
have therefore restored it to its metrical form. Steevens.
sc. III. KING HENRY IV. 237
Shal. Honest Bardolph, welcome: Ifthouwant-
est any thing, and wilt not call,beshrewthy heart.
Welcome, my little tiny thief ; \^To /AePage.] and
welcome, indeed, too. I'll drink to master Bar-
dolph, and to all the cavaleroes^ about London.
Davy. 1 hope to see London once ere I die.*
Bard. An I might see you there, Davy,
Shal. By the mass, you'll crack a quart together.
Ha 1 will you not, master Bardolph ?
Bard. Yes, sir, in a pottle pot.
Shal. I thank thee : The knave will stick by
thee, I can assure thee that : he will not out j he is
true bred.
Bard. And I'll stick by him, sir.
Shal. Why, there spoke a king. Lack nothing ;
be merry. \_Knockmg heard.^ Look who's at door
there : Ho ! who knocks ? [^Ea^it Davy.
Fal. Wliy, now you have done me right.
l^To Silence, who drinks a bumper,
SiL. Do me right,^ [Singing.
And dub me knight : ^
Samingo.'^
Is*t not so ?
^ cavaleroes ] This was the term by which an airy,
splendid, irregular fellow was distinguished. The soldiers of
King Charles were called Cavaliers from the gaiety which they
affected in opposition to the sour faction of the parliament.
Johnson.
* / hope to see London once ere I die.'] OncCy I believe, here
signifies some timey or one time or another. So, in The Merry
Wives of Windsor t Fenton says : " I pray thee, once to-night
give my sweet Nan this ring." Steevens.
* Do me right y] To do a man right y and to do him reason,
were formerly the usual expressions in pledging healths. He
238 SECOND PART OF act v.
'i-FAL, *Tis so.
who drank a bumper, expected a bumper should be drank to his
toast.
So, in Ben Jonson's Silent Woman^ Captain Otter says in the
drinking scene : " Ha' you done me right, gentlemen ?"
Again, in The Bondman^ by Massinger :
" These glasses contain nothing ; do me right j
** As ere you hope for liberty." Steevens.
And dub me knight ;] It was the custom of the good fel-
lows of Shakspeare's days to drink a very large draught of wine,
and sometimes a less palatable potation, on their knees, to the
health of their mistress. He who performed this exploit was
dubb'd a knight for the evening.
So, in The Yorkshire Tragedy, 1608 : " They call it knighting
in London, when they drink upon their knees. Come follow
me ; I'll give you all the degrees of it in order." Malone.
^ Samingo."^ He means to say, Saw Domingo. Hanmer.
In one of Nashe's plays, entitled Summer*s last WiU and
Testament, 1600, Bacchus sings the following catch :
,1 ** Monsieur Mingo for quaffing doth surpass
"In cup, in can, or glass ;
** God Bacchus, do me right,
" And dub me knight,
" Domingo.**
Domingo is only the burthen of the song.
Again, in The letting of Humours Blood in the Head-vaine :
uiith a nexv Morisco, daunced by seaven Satyr es, upon the Bottome
of Diogenes Tubbe, 1600 :
Epigram I.
" Monsieur Domingo is a skilful man,
** For muche experience he hath lately got,
** Proving more phisicke in an alehouse can
" Than may be found in any vintner's pot ;
" Beere he protestes is sodden and refin'd,
" And this he speakes, being single-penny lind.
" For when his purse is swolne but sixpence bigge,
" Why then he sweares, Now by the Lorde I thinke,
* All beere in Europe is not worth a figge ;
" A cuppe of clarret is the only drinke.
" And thus his praise from beer to wine doth goe,
** Even as his purse in pence dothe ebbe and flowe.**
Steevens.
sc. III, KING HENRY IV. 239
SiL. Is't SO ? Why, then say, an old man can do
somewhat.
Re-enter Davy.
Davy. An it please your worship, there's one
Pistol come from the court with news.
Fal. From the court, let him come in.
Enter Pistol.
How now, Pistol ?
PiST, God save you, sir John !
Fal, What wind blew you hither, Pistol?
Samingo, that is, San DomingOj as some of the commen-
tators have rightly observed. But what is the meaning and pro-
priety of the name here, has not yet been shown. Justice
Silence is here introduced as in the midst of his cups : and I
remember a black-letter ballad, in which either a San Domingo^
or a signior Domingo, is celebrated for his miraculous feats in
drinking. Silence, in the abundance of his festivity, touches
upon some old song, in which this convivial saint or signior was
the burden. Perhaps too the pronunciation is here suited to the
character. T. Warton.
That is, to the present situation of Silence ; who has drunk
so deeply at supper, that Falstaff afterwards orders him to be
carried to bed. Malone.
Of the gluttony and drunkenness of the Dominicans, one of
their own order says thus in Weever's Funeral Monuments,
p. cxxxi : " Sanctus Dominicus sit nobis semper amicus, cui
canimus siccatis ante lagenis fratres qui non curant nisi ven-
tres.'* Hence Domingo might (as Mr. Steevens remarks) be-
come the burden of a drinking song. Tollet.
In Marston*s Antonio and Mellida, we meet with
" Do me right, and dub me knight, Ballurdo."
Farmer.
240 SECOND PART OF act v.
PiST. Not the ill wind which blows no man to
good.^ Sweet knight, thou art now one of the
greatest men in the realm.
SiL. By*r lady, I think 'a be ; but goodman Puff
of Bar son. ^
PiST. Puff?
Puff in thy teeth, most recreant coward base ! ^
no man to good.'] I once thought that we should
read which blows to no man good. But a more attentive
review of ancient Pistol's language has convinced me that it is
very dangerous to correct it. He who in quoting from Mar-
lowe's Tamburlaine, introduces holloiv-pamper^d jades, instead
of *' Holla, ye pamper'd jades," may be allowed to change the
order of the words in this common proverbial saying.
Since this note was written, I have found that I suspected
Pistol of inaccuracy without reason. He quotes the proverb as
it was used by our old English writers, though the \vords are
now differently arranged. So, in A Dialogue both pleasaunt and
pietifidly by William Bulleyne, 1564, sig. F 5 :
" No winde but it doth turn some man to good.'*
Malone.
' but goodman Puff /"Barson.] A little before, William
Visor of Woncot is mentioned. Woodmancot and Barton (say
Mr. Edwards's MSS.) which I suppose are these two places, and
are represented to be in the neighbourhood of Justice Shallow,
are both of them in Berkeley hundred in Glostershire. This, I
imagine, was done to disguise the satire a little ; for Sir Thomas
Lucy, who, by the coat of arms he bears, must be the real
Justice Shallow, lived at Charlecot, near Stratford, in Warwick-
shire. Steevens.
Barston is a village in Warwickshire, lying between Coventry
and SolyhuU. Percy.
Mr. Toilet has the same observation, and adds that Woncot
may be put for Wolphmancote, vulgarly Ovencote, in the same
county. Shakspeare might be unwilling to disguise the satire
too much, and therefore mentioned places within the jurisdiction
of Sir Thomas Lucy. Steevens.
Mr. Warton, in a note on The Taming of the Shretv, says that
WilnecotCf (or Wincot,) is a village in Warwickshire, near Strat-
ford. I suppose, therefore, in a former scene, we should read
Wincot instead of Woncot. Malone.
sc. III. tmO HENRY IV. 241
Sir John, I am thy Pistol, and thy friend.
And helter-skelter have I rode to thee ;
And tidings do I bring, and lucky joys.
And golden times, and happy news of price.
Fal. I pr'ythee now, deliver them like a man of
this world.
PiST. A foutra for the world, and worldlings
base!
I speak of Africa, and golden joys.
Fal. O base Assyrian knight, what is thy news?
Let king Cophetua know the truth thereof.*
SiL. And Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John. ^
[Sings.
PiST. Shall dunghill curs confront the Helicons ?
And shall good news be baffled ?
Then, Pistol, lay thy head in Furies* lap.^
Shal. Honest gentleman, I know not your
breeding.
Fist. AVhy then, lament therefore.*
' Let king Cophetua 8fc.'] Lines taken from an old bombast
play of King Cophetua ; of whom we learn from Shakspeare,
there were ballads too. Warburton.
This is mere conjecture, for no such play Is extant. From a
passage in King Richard II. it may indeed be surmized that
there was such a piece. See Vol. XI. p. 155, n. 9. The bal-
lad of The King (Cophetua) and the Beggar, may be found in
Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry, Vol. I. Malone.
See Lovers Labour's Lost, Vol. VII. p. 76, n. 8. Johnson.
* ^ Scarlet, and John.'] This scrap (as Dr. Percy has
observed In the first Volume of his Reliques of Ancient English
Poetry,) is taken from a stanza in the old ballad oi Robin Hood
and the Pinder of Wakefield. Steevens.
* in Furies' lap."] Should not we read ? in Fury's lap.
RlTSON.
* Why then, lament therefore.] This was perhaps intended to
be ridiculed by Ben Jonson, in his Poetaster, 1602 :
VOL. XII. R
242 SECOND PART OF act r,
Shal. Give me pardon, sir ; If, sir, you come
with news from the court, I take it, there is but
two ways ; either to utter them, or to conceal them.
I am, sir, under the king, in some authority.
Pjst. Under which king, Bezonian ?^ speak, or
die.
Shal, Under king Harry.
PiST. Harry the fourth ? or fifth ?
Shal, Harry the fourth.
TiST. A foutra for thine office !
Sir John, thy tender lambkin now is king ;
Harry the fifth's the man. I speak the truth :
When Pistol lies, do this ; and fig me, like
The bragging Spaniard.'*
** Why theriy lament therefore. Damn'd be thy guts
Unto king Pluto*s hell."
He might, however, have meant nothing more than to quote a
popular play. Ma lone.
* Bezonian?] So again, Suffolk says, in The Second
Part of Henry VI:
** Great men oft die by vile BezoniansJ*
It is a term of reproach, frequent in the writers contemporary
with our poet. Bisognoso, a needy person ; thence metaphori-
cally, a base scoundrel. Theobald.
Nash, in Pierce Pennylesse his Supplication &c. 1595, says :
" Proud lordes do tumble from the towers of their high descents
and be trod under feet of every inferior Besoman."
In The Widov3*s Tears ^ a comedy, by Chapman, 1612, the
primitive word is used :
" spurn'd out by grooms, like a base Besogno !**
And again, in Sir Giles Goosecap^ a comedy, 1606: " If he
come like to your Besogno^ your boor, so he be rich, they care
not." Steevens.
fig me, lik"
The bragging Spaniard."] To Jig, in Spanish, higas dar, is
to insult by putting the thumb between the fore and middle
tinger. From this Spanish custom we yet say in contempt, " a
fig for you." JoHNsox.
sc. III. KING HENRY IV. 243
Fal. What ! is the old king dead ?
PiST. As nail in door :'' the things I speak, are
just.
Fal. Away, Bardolph ; saddle my horse. Ma-
ster Robert Shallow, ehoose what office thou wilt in
the land, *tis thine. Pistol, I will double-charge
thee with dignities.
Bard. O joyful day! I would not take a knight-
hood for my fortune.
PiST. What ? I do bring good news ?
Fal. Carry master Silence to bed. Master
Shallow, my lord Shallow, be what thou wilt, I am
fortune's steward. Get on thy boots ; we'll ride
So, in The Shepherd*s Slumber^ a song published in England's
Helicon, 1600:
" With scowling browes their follies checke,
" And so give them the^^;" &c.
See my note on Romeo and Juliet, Act I. sc. i. Steevens.
Dr. Johnson has properly explained this phrase ; but it should
be added that it is of Italian origin. When the Milanese revolted
against the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, they placed the em-
press his wife upon a mule with her head towards the tail, and
ignominiously expelled her their city. Frederick afterwards be-
sieged and took the place, and compelled every one of his pri-
soners on pain of death to take with his teeth a fig from the pos-
teriors of a mule. The party was at the same time obliged to re-
peat to the executioner the words " ecco la fica." From this
circumstance *' far la fica" became a term of derision, and was
adopted by other nations. The French say likewise " faire la
figue." Douce.
^ Fal. What! is the old kin^ dead?
Pist. As nail in door :] This proverbial expression is oftener
used than understood. The door nail is the nail on which in
ancient doors the knocker strikes. It is therefore used as a com-
parison to any one irrecoverably dead, one who has fallen (as
Virgil says) multd moHe, i. e. with abundant death, such as re-
iteration of strokes on the head would naturally produce.
Stebve.vs.
R 2
244 SECOND PART OF act r.
all night: O, sweet Pistol: Away, Bardolph.
]^Ea:it Bard.] Come, Pistol, utter more to me ;
and, withal, devise something, to do thyself good.
Boot, bootj master Shallow j I know, the young
king is sick for me. Let us take any man's horses ;
the laws of England are at my commandment.
Happy are they which have been my friends ; and
woe to my lord chief justice !
Fist, Let vultures vile seize on his lungs also !
Where is the life that late I led, say they : ^
^Vhy, here it is j Welcome these pleasant days.^
'. \_Elteunt,
SCENE IV.
London. A Street.
Enter Beadles, dragging in Hostess Quickly, and
Doll Tpar-sheet.^
Host. No, thou arrant knave ; I would I might
die, that I might have thee hanged : thou hast
drawn my shoulder out of joint.
' Where is the life that late lied, &c.] Words of an old bal-
lad. Warburton.
The same has been already introduced in The Taming of the
Shretv. Steevens.
^ : Welcome these pleasant days.] Perhaps, (as Sir Thomas
Hanmer suggests, ) the poet concluded this scene with a rhym-
ing couplet, and therefore wrote :
Welcome this pleasant day. Steevens.
' Enter Beadles, ^c] This stage-direction, in the quarto
edit, of 1600, stands tlius: *^ Enter Sincklo, and three or Jour
Officersy And the name of Sincklo is prefixed to those speeches.
517. /r. KING HENRY IV. 245
1 Bead. The constables have delivered her
over to me; and she shall have whipping-cheer^
enough, I warrant her : There hath been a man
or two lately killed about her.
DoL. Nut-hook, nut-hook,^ you lie. Come on ;
which in the later editions are given. to the Beadle. This is an
additional proof that Sincklo was the name of one of the players.
See the note on The learning of the Shrevo, Act I. sc. i. [Vol. IX.
p. 23, n. 7.] Tyrwhitt.
* tuhipping-cheer ] So, in Thomas Newton's Herball
to the Bible, 8vo. 1587 : " in wedlocke all pensive suUenes and
lotvring-cheer ought to be utterly excluded," &c. Again, in an
ancient bl. 1. ballad, intitled, O, yes, &c.
" And if he chance to scape the rope,
** He shall have tvhipping-cheere." Steevens.
' Nut-hook, &c.] It has been already observed, in The Merry
Wives of Windsor, that nut-hook seems to have been in those
times a name of reproach for a catchpoll. Johnson.
A nut-hook was, I believe, a person who stole linen, &c. out
at windows, by means of a pole with a hook at the end of it.
Greene, in his Arte of Coney-catching, has given a very parti-
cular account of this kind of fraud ; so that nut-hook was proba-
bly as common a term of reproach as rogue is at present. In an *
old comedy intitled Match me in London, 1631, I find the fol-
lowing passage : " She's the king's nut-hook, that when any fil-
bert is ripe, pulls down the bravest boughs to his hand."
Again, in The Three Ladies of London, 1584 : " To go a
fishing with a cranke through a window, or to set lime-twigs to
catch a pan, pot, or dish."
Again, in Albumazar, 1615 :
** picking of locks and hooking cloaths out of
window."
Again, in The Jew of Malta, by Marlowe, 1633 :
** I saw some bags of money, and in the night
" I clamber'd up with my hooks."
Hence perhaps the phrase By hook or by crook, which iiS as
old as the time of Tusser and Spenser. The first uses it in his
Husbandry for the month of March, the second in the third
Book of his Fairy Queen. In the first Volume of Holinshed's
Chronicle, p. 183, the reader may find the cant titles bestowed
by the vagabonds of that age on one another, among which are
246 SECOND PART OF act v.
I'll tell thee what, thou damned tripe-visaged ras-
cal ; an the child I now go with, do miscarry, thou
hadst better thou hadst struck thy mother, thou
paper-faced villain.
Host, O the Lord, that sir John were come! he
would make this a bloody day to somebody. But
I pray God the fruit of her womb miscarry !
1 Bead. If it do, you shall have a dozen of
cushions* again ; you have but eleven now. Come,
I charge you both go with me ; for the man is
dead, that you and Pistol beat among you.
DoL. I'll tell thee what, thou thin man in a
censer!^ I will have you as soundly swinged for
hookers, or anglers ; and Decker, in The Bell-man of London^
5th edit. 1640, describes this species of robbery in particular.
Steevens.
See a former scene of this play, p. 89, n. 7. Malone.
* a dozen of cushions ] That is, to stuff her out that
she might counterfeit pregnancy. So, in Massinger's Old Law :
** I said I was with child, &c. Thou said*st it was a cushion,^*
&c.
Again, in Greene's Disputation between a He Coney catcher y
&c. 1592 : " to wear a cushion under her own kirtle, and to
faine herself with child." Steevens.
* thou thin man in a censer!] The old censers of
thin metal had generally at the bottom the figure of some saint
raised up with a hammer, in a barbarous kind of imbossed or
chased work. The hunger-starved beadle is compared, in sub-
stance, to one of these thin raised figures, by the same kind of
humour that Pistol, in The Merry Wives of Windsor, calls
Slender a latten bilboe. Warburton.
Dr. Warburton's explanation is erroneous. The embossed
figure to which Doll refers, was in the middle of the pierced
convex lid of the censer ; and not at the bottom, where it must
have been out of sight.
That Doll Tear-sheet, however, may not be suspected of ac-
quaintance with the censers mentioned in Scripture, and confined
sc. IV. KING HENRY IV. 247
t:his, you blue-bottle rogue !^ you filthy famished
correctioner ! if you be not swinged, I'll forswear
half-kirtles.''
to sacred use, it should be remarked, that the consummate slut-
tery of ancient houses rendered censers or fire-pans, in which
coarse perfumes were burnt, most necessary utensils. In Much
Ado about Nothings Act I. sc. iii. Borachio says he had been
** entertained for a perfumer to smoke a muMy room at Leona-
to's:" and in a Letter from the Lords of the Council, in the reign
of King Edward VI. (see Lodge's Illustrations of British His-
tory, &c. Vol. I. p. 141,) we are told that Lord Paget's house
was so small, that " after one month it would wax unsavery for
hym to contynue in,'* &c. Again,from the Correspondence of the
Earl of Shrewsbury with Lord Burleigh, during the confinement
of Mary Queen of Scots at Sheffield-castle, in 1572, (see Vol. II.
p. 68.) we learn that her Majesty was to be removed for five or
six days " to klense her chambar, being kept very unklenly."
Again, in a Memoir written by Anne, Countess of Dorset,
Pembroke, and Montgomery, 1603: " we all went to Tibbals
to see the Kinge, who used my mother and my aunt very gra-
tiouslie ; but we all saw a great chaunge betweene the fashion
of the Court as it was now, and of y* in y^ Queene's,yor voe tvere
all lotvzy by sittinge in S.^ Thomas Erskin's chamber." See Mr.
Seward's Anecdotes, &c. Vol. IV. p. 305. Steevens.
" blue-bottle rogue /] A name, I suppose, given to the
beadle, from the colour of his livery. Johnson.
Dr. Johnson is right with respect to the livery, but the allu-
sion seems to be to the great Jlesh^y, commonly called a blue-
bottle. Farmer.
The same allusion is in Northward Hoe, 1607:
*^ l^ow blue-bottle ! what flutter you for, sea-pie?" .
The serving men were anciently habited in blue, and this is
spoken on the entry of one of them. It was natural for Doll to
have an aversion to the colour, as a blue gotvn was the dress in
which a strumpet did penance. So, in The Northern Lass,
1633: " let jdl the good you intended me be a lockram coif,
a blew gown, a wheel, and a clean whip." Mr. Malone confirms
Dr. Johnson's remark on the dress of the beadle, by the follow-
ing quotation from Michaelmas Term, by Middleton, 1607:
" And to be free from the interruption of blue beadles and other
bawdy officers, he most politickly lodges her in a constable's
house." SxEiEVENs.
248 SECOND PART OF act v.
1 Bead. Come, come, you she knight-errant,
come.
Host. O, that right should thus overcome
might! Well J of sufferance comes ease.
DoL. Come, you rogue, come ; bring me to a
justice.
Host. Ay ; come, you starved blood-hound.
DoL. Goodman death ! goodman bones !
Host. Thou atomy thou ! ^
' half-kirtles.'] Probably the dress of the prostitutes of
that time. Johnson.
A halfkirtle was perhaps the same kind of thing as we call at
present a short-gown, or a bed-gown. There is a proverbial ex-
pression now in use which may serve to confirm it. When a
person is loosely dressed, the vulgar say Such a one looks like
a w in a bed-gown. See Westward Hoe, by Decker and
Webster, 1607 : " forty shillings I lent her to redeem two
half silk kirtles." Steevens.
The dress of the courtezans of the time confirms Mr. Steevens's
observation. So, in Michaelmas Term, by Middleton, 1607:
" Dost dream of virginity now? remember a loose-bodicd gown,
wench, and let it go." Again, in Skialeiheia, or a Shadow of
Truth in certain Epigrammes and Satires, 1598 :
" To women's loose gowns suiting her loose rhimes."
Yet, from the description of a kirtle already given, (see p.
105, n. 3,) a half-kirtle should seem to be a short cloak, rather
than a short gown. Perhaps such a cloak, without sleeves, was
here meant. Malone.
* Thou atomy thou .'] Atomy for anatomy. Atomy or otamy is
sometimes used by the ancient writers where no blunder or de-
pravation is designed. So, in Look about you, 1600;
" For thee, for thee, thou art otamie of honour,
" Thou worm of majesty .'* Steevens.
The preceding expression seems to confirm Mr. Steevens'*
explanation. But whether the otamies of Surgeons* Hall were
known at this time, may perhaps be questioned. Atomy is per-
haps here the motes or atoms in the sun beams, as the poet him-
self calls them, speaking of Queen Mab's chariot:
sc.jr. KING HENRY IV. 249
DoL. Come, you thin thing ; come, you rascal 1 *
1 Bead. Very well. \^Ej:eunt,
" Drawn with a team of little atomies.'* Romeo and
Juliet.
And otamie of honour, may very easily be so understood.
Whalley.
Shakspeare himself furnishes us with a proof that the word,
in his time, bore the sense which we now frequently affix to it,
having employed it in The Comedy of Errors precisely with the
signification in which the Hostess here uses atomy :
" They brought one Pinch, a hungry lean-fac'd villain,
" A mere anatomy, a mountebank,
" A needy, hoUow-ey'd, sharp-looking wretch,
** A living dead man.'*
Again, in King John .
" And rouse from sleep that fell anatomy." Malone.
^ you rascal !] In the language of the forest, lean deer
were called rascal deer. See p. 79, n. 4. Steevens.
On this note the following observation has been made : " Doll
could not speak but in the language of the forest. Rascal, does
not signify rascal, but lean deer. See what it is to be on the
watch to show a little musty reading and unknown knowledge.'*
Who, except this superficial writer, is so little acquainted with
our author's manner, as not to know that he often introduces
allusions to customs and practices with which he was himself
conversant, without being solicitous whether it was probable
that the speaker should have known any thing of the matter.
Thus, to give one instance out of a thousand, he puts into the
mouth of kings the language of his own stage, and makes them
talk o^cues and properties, who never had been in a tiring-room,
and probably had never heard of either the one or the other. Of
the language of the forest he was extremely fond; and the par-
ticular term rascal he has introduced in at least a dozen places.
Malone.
250 SECOND PART OF actk
SCENE V.
A public Place near Westminster Abbey,
Enter Two Grooms, strewing Rushes.
1 Groom. More rushes, more rushes/
2 Groom. The trumpets have sounded twice.
1 Groom. It will be two o'clock ere they come
from the coronation : Despatch, despatch.
[^Ej:eunt Grooms.
Enter Falstaff, Shallow, Pistol, Bardolph,
and the Page.
Fal. Stand here by me, master Robert Shallow;
I will make the king do you grace: I will leer
upon him, as 'a comes by ; and do but mark the
countenance that he will give me.
PiST. God bless thy lungs, good knight.
Fal. Come here. Pistol; stand behind me. O,
if I had had time to have made new liveries, I
would have bestowed the thousand pound I bor-
rowed of you. \^To Shallow.] But 'tis no mat-
' More rusheSf &c.] It has been already observed, that, at
ceremonial entertainments, it was the custom to strew the floor
with rushes. Cuius de Ephemera. Johnson.
Chambers, and indeed all apartments usually inhabited, were
formerly strewed in this manner. As our ancestors rarely washed
their floors, disguises of uncleanliness became necessary things.
See note on Cymbeliney Act II. sc. ii. In the present instance,
however, the rushes are supposed to be scattered on the pave-
ment of a street, or on a platform. Steevens.
sc. V. KING HENRY IV. 251
ter ; this poor show doth better : this doth infer
the zeal I had to see him.
Shal. It doth so.
Fal. It shows my earnestness of affection,
Shal. It doth so.
Fal. My devotion.
Shal. It doth, it doth, it doth.^
Fal. As it were, to ride day and night ; and not
to deHberate, not to remember, not to have pa-
tience to shift me.
Shal. It is most certain.
Fal. But to stand stained with travel,^ and sweat-
ing with desire to see him : thinking of nothing
else ; putting all affairs else in oblivion ; as if there
were nothing else to be done, but to see him.
PiST. 'Tis semper idem, for absque hoc nihil est:
'Tis all in every part. *
* It doth, it doth, it doth.] The two little answers which are
given to Pistol in the old copy, are transferred by Sir Thomas
Hanmer to Shallow. The repetition of it doth suits Shallow
best. Johnson.
In the quarto, Shallow's ^r^f speech in this scene, as well as
these two, is erroneously given to Pistol. The editors of the
folio corrected the former, but overlooked these. They likewise,
in my apprehension, overlooked an error in the end of FalstafPs
speech, below, though they corrected one in the beginning of it.
See note 4. Malone.
^ to stand stained with travel,] So, in King Henry IV.
Part I :
" Stain*d trnth the variation of each soil,
** Betwixt that Holmedon and this seat of ours."
Malone.
* ^ ' Tis all in every part."] The sentence alluded to is :
^* 'Tis all in all, and all in every part."
And so doubtless it should be read. 'Tis a common way of
expressing one's approbation of a right measiure to say, *tis all
252 SECOND PART OF act k
Shal. *Tis so, indeed.
PiST. My knight, I will inflame thy noble liver.
And make thee raffe.
Thy Doll, and Helen of thy noble thoughts.
Is in base durance, and contagious prison ;
HaulM thither
By most mechanical and dirty hand :
Rouze up revenge from ebon den with fell Alecto's
snake.
For Doll is in ; Pistol speaks nought but truth.
Fal, I will deliver her.
[_Shouts within, and the Trumpets sound.
PiST, There roar'd the sea, and trumpet-clangor
sounds.
in all. To which this fantastick character adds, with some
humour, and all in every part : which, both together, make up
the philosophick sentence, and complete the absurdity of Pistol's
phraseology. Warburton.
I strongly suspect that these words belong to FalstafPs speech.
They have nothing of Pistol's manner. In the original copy ia
quarto, the speeches in this scene are all in confusion. The
two speeches preceding this, which are jumbled together, are
given to Shallow, and stand thus: " Sh. It is best certain: but
to stand stained with travel," &c.
The allusion, if any allusion there be, is to the description of
the soul. So, in Nosce Teipsuruy by Sir John Davies, ito. 1599:
" Some say, she's all in ally and all in every part.**
Again, in Drayton's Mortimer iadoSj 4to. 1596:
" And as his soul possesseth head and heart,
" She's all in all, and aU in every part." Malone.
In The Phoenix Nest, &c. 4to. 1593, we find, p. 20: " Tota
in toto, et tota in qualibet parte." Ritson.
In my opinion, this speech accords but little with the phrase-
ology of FalstafF; and, on the contrary, agrees well with that
of Pistol, who (as Moth in Love's Labour's Lost says of Holo-
fernes) appears to " have been at a great feast of languages,
and stolen the scraps." See his concluding words in the scene
before us. Steevens.
so. r. . KING HENRY IV. 253
Enter the King and his Train, the Chief Justice
among tJiem,
Fal. God save thy grace, king Hal!^ my royal
PiST. The heavens thee guard and keep, most
royal imp of fame !^
Fal. God save thee, my sweet boy !
King. My lord chief justice, speak to that vain
man.
Ch. Just. Have you your wits? know you what
'tis you speak ?
* God save thy grace^ king Hal /] A similar scene occurs in
the anonymous Henry V. Falstaff and his companions address
the King in the same manner, and are dismissed as in this play
of Shakspeare. Steevens.
most royal imp of fame /] The word imj) is per-
petually used by Ulpian Fulwell, and other ancient writers, for
progeny :
** And were it not thy royal irwpe
" Did mitigate our pain .*'
Here Fulwell addresses Anne Boleyn, and speaks of the young
Elizabeth. Churchyard also calls Edward VI. " impe of grace.'*
Again, in The Battle of Alcazar, 1594:
" Amurath, mighty emperor of the east,
** That shall receive the imp. of royal race.'*
Again, in Fuimus Troes, 1633 ;
" From hence I bring
" A pair of martial imps ."
Imp-yn is a Welsh word, and primitively signifies a sprout, a
sucker. So, in the tragedy of Darius, 1603 :
" Like th'ancient trunk of some disbranched tree
" Which idol's rage hath to confusion brought,
** Disarm'd of all those imps that sprung from me,
" Unprofitable stock, I serve for nought."
Again, in Thomas Newton's Herball to the Bible, 8vo. 1587,
there is a chapter on " shrubs, shootes, slippes, graffes, sets,
^P'''ggGS, boughs, branches, twigs, yoong imps, sprayes, and
buds." Steevens.
254 SECOND PART OF act r.
Fal. My king! my Jove! ^ I speak to thee, my
heart!
King. I know thee not, old man : Fall to thy
prayers ;
How ill white hairs become a fool, and jester !
I have long dream*d of such a kind of man.
So surfeit-swell'd, so old, and so profane;
But, being awake, I do despise my dream.
Make less thy body, hence, ^ and more thy grace;
Leave gormandizing ; know, the grave doth gape
For thee thrice wider than for other men:
Reply not to me with a fool-born jest ; '
' My king! my Jove /] It appears, from many passages both
in our author's plays and poems, that he had dihgently read the
earher pieces oi Daniel. When he wrote the speech before us,
he perhaps remembered these lines in Daniel's Complaint of
Rosamond t \59^ :
" Doost thou not see, how that thy king, thy Jove,
" Lightens forth glory on thy dark estate?" M alone.
profane ;"] In our author it often signifies love of talk,
without the particular idea now given it. So, in Othello : " Is
he not a. profane and very liberal counsellor ?" Johnson.
^ hence^ i. e. henceforward, from this time, in the
future. Steevens.
' knffvo, the grave doth gape
For thee thrice 'wider than for other men :
Reply not to me imth a fool-born jest ;'\ Nature is highly
touched in this passage. The King having shaken off his vanities,
schools his old companion for his follies with great severity : he
assumes the air of a preacher, bids him fall to his prayers, seek
grace, and leave gormandizing. But that word unluckily pre-
senting him with a pleasant idea, he cannot forbear pursumg it.
Know, the grave doth gape for thee thrice voider &c. and is
just falling back into Hal, by an humorous allusion to FalstafPs
bulk; but he perceives it immediately, and fearing Sir John
should take the advantage of it, checks both himself and the
knight, with
Reply not to me toith a fool-horn jest ;
and so resumes the thread of his discourse, and goes moralizing
sc. V. KING HENRY IV. 255
Presume not, that I am the thing I was:
For heaven doth know, so shall the world perceive.
That I have turn*d away my former self j
So will I those that kept me company.
When thou dost hear I am as I have been.
Approach me ; and thou shalt be as thou wast.
The tutor and the feeder of my riots :
Till then, I banish thee, on pain of death,
As I have done the rest of my misleaders,
Not to come near our person by ten mile.^
on to the end of the chapter. Thus the poet copies nature with
great skill, and shows us how apt men are to fall back into their
old customs, when the change is not made by degrees, and
brought into a habit, but determined of at once, on the motives
of honour, interest, or reason. Warburton.
' Not to come near our person by ten mile.'] Mr. Rowe
observes, that many readers lament to see FalstafF so hardly used
by his old friend. But if it be considered, that the fat knight
has never uttered one sentiment of generosity, and with all his
power of exciting mirth, has nothing in him that can be esteemed,
no great pain will be suffered from the reflection that he is com-
pelled to live honestly, and maintained by the King, with a pro-
mise of advancement when he shall deserve it.
I think the poet more blameable for Poins, who is always
represented as joining some virtues with his vices, and is there-
fore treated by the Prince with apparent distinction, yet he does
nothing in the time of action; and though after the bustle is
over he is again a favourite, at last vanishes without notice.
Shakspeare certainly lost him by heedlessness, in the multiphcity
of his characters, the variety of his action, and his eagerness to
end the play. Johnson.
The dismission of Falstafi* was founded on an historical fact.
Stowe says, that " King Henry, after his coronation, called
unto him all those young lords and gentlemen that were the fol-
lowers of his young acts, to every one of whom he gave rich
gifts ; and then commanded, that as many as would change their
manners, as he intended to do, should abide with him in his
court ; and to all that would persevere in their former like con-
versation, he gave express commandment, upon pain of their
heads, never after that day to come in his presence,'*
Steevens.
256 SECOND PART OF act r.
For competence of life, I will allow you ;
That lack of means enforce you not to evil :
And, as we hear you do remrm yourselves,
We will, according to your strength, and quali-
ties,
Give you advancement. Be it your charge, my
lord.
To see performed the tenor of our word.
Set on. {^Ejceunt King, and his Train,
Fal. Master Shallow, I oweyoua thousandpound.
Shal. Ay, marry, sir John ; which I beseech you
to let me have home with me.
This circumstance was originally mentioned by Hall, and is
thus recorded by Holinshed, who was certainly Shakspeare*8
historian: ** Immediately after that he was invested kyng, and had
receyved the crowne, he determined with himselfe to putte upon
him the shape of a new man, turning insolence and wildness
into gravitie and sobernesse : and whereas he had passed his
youth in wanton pastime and riotous misorder, with a sorte of
misgoverned mates, and unthriftie playfeers, he now banished
them from his presence, (not unrewarded nor yet unpreferred,)
inhibiting them upon a great payncy not once to approche, lodge
or sqjourne ivithin ten miles of his courte or mansion : and m
their places he elected and chose men of gravitie, witte, and
hygh policie, by whose wise counsell he might at all times rule
to his honoure ; whereas if he should have reteined the other
lustie companions aboute him, he doubted least they might have
allured him into such lewde and lighte partes, as with them
before tyme he had youthfully used." Our author might have
found the same circumstance in the anonymous play of Ki7ig
Henry V:
** your former life grieves me,
" And makes me to abandon and abolish your company
for ever:
" And therefore not upon pain of death to approche my
presence,
' " By ten miles' space; then, if I heare well of you,
" It may be I will doe somewhat for you ;
*' Otherwise looke for no more favour at my hands,
" Than at any other man's." Malone.
sc. F. KING HENRY IV. 257
Fal, That can hardly be, master Shallow. Do
not you grieve at this ; I shall be sent for in pri-
vate to him : look you, he must seem thus to the
world. Fear not your advancement ; I will be the
man yet, that shall make you great.
Shal. I cannot perceive how ; unless you give
me your doublet, and stuff me out with straw. I
beseech you, good sir John, let me have five hun-
dred of my thousand.
Fal. Sir, I will be as good as my word : this
that you heard, was but a colour.
Shal. A colour, I fear, that you will die in, sir
John.
Fal. Fear no colours; go with me to dinner.
Come, lieutenant Pistol ; come, Bardolph : I
shall be sent for soon at night.
Re-enter Prince John, the Chief Justice, Officers,
Ch.Just. Go, carry sir John Falstaff to the Fleet ;^
Take all his company along with him.
Fal, My lord, my lord,
Ch. Just. I cannot now speak : I will hear you
soon.
Take them away.
' 'to the Fleet;"] I do not see why FalstafF is carried to
the Fleet. We have never lost sight of him since his dismission
from the King ; he has committed no new fault, and therefore
incurred no punishment : but the different agitations of fear,
anger, and surprize in him and his company, made a good scene
to the eye ; and our author, who wanted them no longer on the
stage, was glad to find this method of sweepMOg them away.
Johnson.
VOL. xir. s
iJ* SECOND PART OV act v.
PisT. Si for tuna me tormenta, spero me conten4a,
\_Ea:eunt FaL* Shau Plst. Bard. Page^
find Officers.
P.JOBN. I like this fair proceeding of the king's :
He hath intent, his wonted followers
Shall all be very well provided for ;
But all are banished, till their conversations
Appear more wise and modest to the world.
Ch. Just. And so they ar6.
P. JOH}^. The king hath calPd his parliament,
my lord.
G#. JtusT. He hath.
P. John. I will lay odds, that, ere this year
We bear our civil swords, and native fire.
As far as France : I heard a bird so sing,*
Whose musick, to my thinking, pleas*d the king.
Come^ will you hence ? \^Ea:euni. ^
* I heard a bird so singfJi This phrase, which I sup-
pose to be proverbial, occurs in the ancient ballad of The Rising
in the North :
*' / hears a bird sing in mine eare,
" That I must either fight or flee." Steevens.
* I fancy every reader, when he ends this play, cries out
with Desdemona, " O most lame and impotent conclusion !"
As this play was not, to our knowledge, divided into Acts by
the author, I could be content to conclude it with the death of
Henry the Fourth :
** In that Jerusalem shall Harry die.'*
These scenes, which now make the fifth Act of Henri/ the
Fourtky might then be the first of Henry the Fi/ih; but the
truth is, that they do not unite very commodiously to either
play. When these plays were represented, I believe they ended
as they are now ended in the books ; but Shakspeare seems to
have designed that the whole series of action, from the beginning
of Richard the Second^ to the end of Henry the Fifths should
KING HENRY IV. ass
be considered by the reader as one work, upon one plan, oniy
broken into parts by the necessity of exlnbition.
None of Shakspeare's plays are more read than the First and
Second Parts of Henri/ the Fourth. Perhaps no audior has
ever, in two plays, afforded so much delight. The great eyents
are interesting, for the fate of kingdoms depends upon tlie,ip ;
the slighter occurrences are diverting, andj except one qf tWQ^
sufficiently probable ; the incidents are multiplied with wond^r
ful fertility of invention, and the characters diversified witl;i the
utmost nicety of discernment, and the profoundest skill in the
nature of man.
The Prince, who is the hero bath of the coruipk^^d tra^ick part,
is a young man of great abilities and violent passions, ^hose
sentiments are right, though his actions are wron^ ; whose vir-
tues are obscured by negligence, and whose understanding .^
dissipated by levity. In his idle hours he is rather loQse than
wicked ; and when the occasion forces out his latent q\i^iitips,
he is great without effort, and brave without tumujt. The trifle'r
is roused into a hero, and the hero again reposes in _the .trifl^p.
The character is great, original, and just.
Percy is a, rugged soldier, cholerick and quarrelsome, an^^Jias
only the soldier's virtues, generosity an^ courage.
But Falstaff, unimitated unimitable Falstaff, how shall I de-
scribe thee ? thou compound of sense and vice ; of sense which
may be admired, but not esteemed ; of vice which may be
despised, but hardly detested. Falstaff i^ a character loaded
with faults, and with those faults which naturally produce con-
tempt. He is a thief and a glutton, a coward and a bpast;er,
always ready to cheat the weak, and prey upon the poor ; to
terrify the timorous, and insult the defenceless. At once ob-
sequious and malignant, he satirizes in their absence tijtose whom
he lives by flattering. He is familiar with the prince only as aii
agent of vice, but of this familiarity he is so proud, as not only
to be supercilious and haughty with common men, but to think
his interest of importance to the Duke of Lancaster. Yet the
man thus corrupt, thus despicable, makes himself necessary to
the prince that despises him, by the most pleasing of all qualities,
perpetual gaiety ; by an unfailing power of exciting laughter,
which is the more freely indulged, as his wit is not of the
splendid or ambitious kind, but consists in easy scapes and sallies
of levity, which make sport, but raise no envy. It must be ob-
served, that he is stained with no enormous or sanguinary
crimes, so that his licentiousness is not so offensive but that it
may be borne for his mirth.
The mpral to be drawn from this representation is, that no
S 2
260 SECOND PART OF &c.
man is more dangerous than he that, with a will to corrupt, hath
the power to please ; and that neither wit nor honesty ought to
think themselves safe with such a companion, when they see
Henry seduced by FalstafF. Johnson.
Dr. Johnson objects, with good reason, I think, to the " lame
and impotent conclusion" of this play. Our author seems to
have been as careless in the conclusion of the following plays as
in that before us.
In The Tempest the concluding words are :
** please you draw near.'*
In Much Ado about Nothing :
** Strike up pipers."
In Love*s Labour's Lost :
" You that way ; we this way."
In The Winter's Tale :
" Hastily lead away.**
In Timon of Athens:
" Let our drums strike.**
In Hamlet :
" Go, bid the soldiers shoot.** Ma lone.
That there is no apparent full and energetic close to any of
the plays envunerated by Mr. Malone, is undeniable ; but per-
haps the epilogue spoken in the character of Prosperoy the dance
which terminates Much Ado about Nothings a final and pictu-
resque separation and procession of the personages in Love's
Labour's Lost and The Winter's Tale, the symphony of warlike
instruments at the end of Timony and the peal of ordnance shot
off while the survivors in Hamlet are quitting the stage, might
have proved as satisfactory to our ancestors as the moral applica-
tions and polished couplets with which so many of our modem
dramatick pieces conclude. Steevens.
E P I L O G U E.
SPOKEN BY A DANCER.
FIRST, my fear ; then, my court' sy : last, my
speech. My fear is, your displeasure; my courfsy^
my duty ; and my speech, to beg your pardons. If
you look for a good speech now, you undo me : for
what I have to say, is of mine own making ; and
what, indeed, I should say, will, I doubt, prove
mine own marring. But to the purpose, and so to
the venture. Be it known to you, fas it is very well, J
I was lately here in the end of a displeasing play,
to pray your patience for it, and to promise you a
better. I did mean, indeed, to pay you with this ;
which, if, like an ill venture, it come unluckily
home, I break, and you, my gentle creditors, lose.
Here, I promised you, I would be, and here I
commit my body to your mercies : bate me some, and
I will pay you some, and, as most debtors do, pro-
mise you infinitely.
If my tongue cannot entreat you to acquit me,
will you command me to use my legs? and yet that
were but light payment, to dance out of your debt.
But a good conscience will make any possible satis-
faction, and so will I. All the gentlewomen liere
have forgiven me ;'' if the gentlemen will not, then
* This epilogue was merely occasional, and alludes to some
theatrical transaction. Johnson.
' All the gentlewomen &c.] The trick of influencing one
part of the audience by the favour of the other, has been played
?ilready in the epilogue to As you like it. Johnson.
262 EPILOGUE.
the gentlemen do not agree with the gentlewomen,
which was n^ver seen before in such an assembly.
One word piore, I beseech you. if you be not
too much cloyed with fat meat, our humble author
will continue the story, with Sir John in it, and
make you merry with fair Katharine of France : ^
where, for any' thing I know, Falstaff shall die of
a sweat, unless already he be killed with your hard
bpinions ; for OldcOstle died a martyr, and this is
not the man.^ My tongue is weary / when my leg$
* and make you merry 'with fair Katharine of France j}
I think this is a proof that the French scenes in King Henry V:
however unworthy of our author, were really written by hitti.
It is evident from this passage that he had at this time formed
the plan of that play ; and how was fair Katharine to make
ihe audience merry, but by speaking broken English ? The
conversation and courtship of a great princess, in the usual style
of the drama, was not likely to afford any merriment.
Tyrwhitt.
^ 'where, for any thing I knonv, Falstaff shall die tf a
sweat, unless already he he killed 'with your hard opinions {for
Dldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man.'\ ** This
(says Mr. Pope) alludes to a play in which Sir John Oldcastle
"i^as piit for Falstaff;" and " the word martyr," (says another
xrommentator, ) " hihts at this miserable performance, and its
fate, which was damnation." The play which these commenta-
tors suppose to be alluded to, is entitled The History of the
fdmouft Victories of king Henry V. printed in 1598. In this
play there is a buffoon character called Oldcastle. I have already
Bho\Vnj as I conceive, that there is no ground whatsoever for
supposing that Falstaff was ever called Oldcastle. See Vol. XI.
p. \9Af. h. 3. The assertion that the anonymous King Henry V.
Was damned, is equally unfounded. On the contrary, for ten 6t
twelve years before our Henries were produced, I make no
doubt that it was a very popular performance. Tarleton, the
celebrated comedian, who died in 1588, we know, was much
admired iii the parts both of the Kltfeafi attd the (Mef Jficsiice in
that play.
The allusion in the passage before us is undoubtedly not to
any play, nor to any character in any play, but to the real Sir
John Oldcastle. In 1559 feale published an account of his trial
EPIL0GU1&. 263
are too, I will hid you good night : and so kneel
down before you; but, indeed, to pray for the
queen. *
and condemnation, under the title of A brief Chronycle con-
cernyng the Examination and Death of the blessed Martyr of
Christy Syr Johan Oldcastell, &c. a book that was probably
much read in the reign of Elizabeth. In 1601 was published
The Mirror of Martyrs, or, the Life and Death of that thrice
valiant Captaine and most goodly Martyr, Sir John (Mdcastley
Lord Cobhara,
Shakspeare, I think, meant only to say, that " Falstaif may
perhaps die of his debaucheries in France, "-r-(having mentioned
FalstalPs death, he then, with his usual licence, uses the word
in a metaphorical sense, adding,) " unless he be already hilled
by the hard and unjust opinions'* of those who imagined that
the knight's character (like his predecessor) was intended as a
ridicule on Sir John Oldcastle, the good Lord Cobham. This
our author disclaims, reminding the audience that there can be
no ground for such a supposition. I call them (says he) hard
and unjust opinions, *' for Sir John Oldcastle was no debauchee,
but a protestant martyr, and our FalstafFi* not the man ;*' i. e.
is no representation of him, has no allusion whatsoever to him.
Shakspeare seems to have been pained by some report that
his inimitable character, like the despicable buffoon of the old
play already mentioned, whose dress and figure resembled that
of Falstaff, (see a note on King Henry IV. P. I. Vol. XI. p. 194?,)
was meant to throw an imputation on the memory of Lord
Cobham ; which, in the reign of so zealous a friend in the Pro-
testant cause as Elizabeth, would not have been easily pardoned
at court. Our author, had he been so inclined, (which we have
no ground for supposing,) was much too wise to have ever di-
rected any ridicule at the great martyr for that cause, which was
80 warmly espoused by his queen and patroness. Tlie former
ridiculous representations of Sir John Oldcastle on the stage were
undoubtedly produced by papists, and probably often exhibited,
in inferior theatres, to crouded audiences, betweeu the years
1580 and 1590. Malone.
' to pray for the queen.'] I wonder no one has re-
marked, at the conclusion of the epilogue, that it was the custom
of the old players, at the end of the performance, to pray for
their patrons. Thus, at the end of Nexo Custom :
** Preserve our noble Queen Elizabeth, id her eouncell
all."
264 EPILOGUE.
And in Locrine :
** So let us pray for that renowned maid," &c.
And in Middleton's Mad World my Masters : " This shows like
kneeling after the play ; I praying for my lord Owemuck and
his good countess, our honourable lady and mistress."
Farmer.
Thus, at the end of Preston's Cambyses :
** As duty binds us, for our noble queene let us pray,
" And for her honourable councel, the truth that they
may use,
** To practise justice, and defend her grace eche day ;
, ** To maintaine God's word they may not refuse,
* To correct all those that would her grace and grace's
laws abuse :
** Beseeching God over us she may reign long,
** To be guided by trueth and defended from wrong."
" Amen, q. Thomas Preston."
So, at the end of AU for Money ^ a morality, by T. Lupton,
" Let us pray for the queen's majesty, our sovereign
governour,
** That she may raign quietly according to God's will,'*
&c.
Again, at the end o^ Lusty Juvenilis, a morality, 1561 :
" Now let us make supplications together,
" For the prosperous estate of our noble and virtuous
king," &c.
Again, at the end of The Disobedient Childy an interlude, by
Thomas Ingeland, bl. 1. no date :
" Here the rest of the players come in, and kneel down all
togyther, eche of them sayinge one of these verses :
** And last of all, to make an end,
" O God to the we most humblye praye
** That to Queen Elizabeth thou do sende
** Thy lyvely pathe and perfect waye," &c. &c.
Again, at the conclusion of Tom Tyler and his Wife, 1661 :
" Which God preserve our noble queen,
** From perilous chance which hath been scene ;
** And send her subjects grace, say I, '
" To serve her highness patiently !"
Again, at the conclusion of a comedy called A Knack to kn<m
a Knave, 1594 :
* And may her days of blisse never have an end,
" Upon whose lyfe so many lyves depend."
EPILOGUE. 265
Again, at the end of Amus and Virginia f 1575 :
" Beseeching God, as duty is, our gracious queene to
save,
" The nobles and the commons eke, with prosperous life
I crave."
Lastly, Sir John Harrington's Metamorphosis of Ajaxy 1596,
finishes with these words : " But I will neither end with sermon
nor prayer, lest some wags liken me to my L. ( )
players, who when they have ended a baudie comedy, as though
that were a preparative to devotion, kneele down solemnly, and
pray all the companie to pray with them for their good lord and
maister."
Almost all the ancient interludes I have met with conclude
with some solemn prayer for the king or queen, house of com-
mons, &c. Hence, perhaps, the Vivant Rex Sf Regina^ at the
bottom of our modem play-bills. Steevens.
KING HENRY V.
*
* King Henry V.] This play was writ (as appears from, a
passage in the chorus to the fifth Act) at the time of the Earl of
Essex's commanding the forces in Ireland in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, and not till after Henry the Sixth had been played,
as may be seen by the conclusion of this play. Pope.
The transactions comprised in this historical play commence
about the latter end of the first, and terminate in the eighth
year of this king's reign : when he married Katharine princess
of France, and closed up the differences betwixt England and
that crown. Theobald.
This play, in the quarto edition, 1608, is styled The Chronicle
History of Henry &c. which seems to have been the title an-
ciently appropriated to all Shakspeare's historical dramas. So,
in The Antipodes, a comedy, by R. Brome, 1638 :
" These lads can act the emperors' lives all over,
" And Shakspeare's Chronicled Histories to boot."
The players likewise, in the folio edition, 1623, rank these
pieces under the title of Histories.
It is evident that a play on this subject had been performed
before the year 1592. Nash, in Pierce Penniless his Suppli-
cation to the Devil, dated 1592, says : " ^what a glorious thing
it is to have Henry the Fift represented on a stage, leading the
French king prisoner, and forcing both him and the Dolphin to
sweare fealtie."
Perhaps this is the same play as was thus entered in the books
of the Stationers' company : " Tho. Strode] May 2, 1594. A
booke entituled The fammis Victories of Henry the Fiji, con-
taining the honorable Battle of Agincourt.** There are two
more entries of a play of Henry V. viz. between 1596 and 1615,
and one August 14th, 1600. I have two copies of it in my
possession ; one without date, (which seems much the elder of
the two,) and another, (apparently printed from it,) dated
1617, though printed by Bernard Alsop, (who was printer of
the other edition,) and sold by the same person, and at the same
place. Alsop appears to have been a printer before the year
1600, and was afterwards one of the twenty appointed by de-
cree of the Star-chamber to print for this kingdom. I believe,
however, this piece to have been prior to that of Shakspeare,
for several reasons. First, because it is highly probable that it
is the very " displeasing play** alluded to in the epilogue to
The Second Part of King Henry IV. for Oldcastle died a
martyr. Oldcastle is the Falstaff of the piece, which is des-
picable, and full of ribaldry and impiety irom the first scene
to the last. Secondly, because Shakspeare seems to have takea
not a few hints from 'it : for it comprehends, in some "measure.
the story of the two Parts of Henry IV. as wdl as of H^nry V :
and no ignorance, I think, could debase the gold of Shakspeare
into such dross ; though no chemistry but that of Shakspeare
could exalt such base metal into gold. When the Prince of
Wales, in Henry IV. calls Falstaff my old lad of the Castle f it
is probably but a sneering allusion to the deserved fate which
this performance met with ; for there is no proof tlvit our poet
was ever obliged to change the name of Oidcastle into that of
Falstaff, though there is an absolute certainty that this piece mut
have been condemned by any audience before whom it was ever
represented. Lastly, because it appears (as Dr. Farmer has
observed) from the Jests of the famous comedian, Tarlton, ^to.
161 1 , that he had been particularly celebrated in the part of the
Clown,* in Henry V. and though this character does not exist
in our play, we find it in the other, w'hich, for the reasons
already enumerated, I suppose to have been prior to this.
This anonymous play of Henry V. is neither divided into Acts
or scenes, is uncommonly short, and has all the appearance ,of
having been imperfectly taken down during the representation.
As much of it appears to have been omitted, we may suppose
that the author did not think it convenient for his reputation to
publish a more ample copy.
There is, indeed, a play, called Sir. John Oidcastle^ published
in 1600, with the name of William Shakspeare prefixed to it.
The prologue being very short, I shall quote it, as it serves to
.prove -that a former piece, in which the character of Oidcastle
was 'introduced, had given great offence :
" The doubtful title (gentlemen) prefixt
" Upon the argument we have in hand,
** May breed suspense, and wTongfully disturbe
*< The peaceful quiet of your settled thoughts.
" To stop which scruple, let this breefe suffice :
" It is no pampered, glutton we present,
"Nor aged councellour to youthful sinne ;
** But one, whose vertue shone above the rest,
" A valiant martyr, and a vertuous peere ;
M ,jn whose true faith and loyalty exprest
Mr. X)ldyj3, In a manuscript note in ;his cop^y of Langbaine, says, tht
Tarleton appeared in the character of the Judge who receives tlie box on the
ear. This Judge is likewbe a character in the old play. I may add, mi the
jiuthority of the bodis at Stationers' HalJ, that Tarleton puUidied what -he
,ealled his Farewell, a ballad, in Sept. lo88. In Oct. 1589, was eatered
" Tarleton's Repentance, and his Farewell to his Friends in his Sicl^ess a
little before his Death;" in 1690, "Tarleton's Newes out of Pui^atorie;"
-and in the same year, " A pUtOMMt Ditty DtaUgue-win, betvtem 'f-ttrittn's
^Gh9St and Robyn CutodfelUmei" Stvens. S-i.', 4i X.-
" Unto his soveraigne, and his countries weale,
** We strive to pay that tribute of our love
" Your favours merit : let faire truth be grac'd,
" Since forg'd invention former thne defac'd."
Steevens.
The piece to which Nash alludes is the old anonymous play
of King Henry V. which had been exhibited before the year
1589 ; Tarlton, the comedian, who performed in it both the
parts of the Chief Justice and the Clown, having died in that
year. It was entered on the Stationers' books in 1594, and, i
believe, printed in that year, though I have not met with a copy
of that date. An edition of it, printed in 1598, was in the
valuable collection of Dr. Wright. See also Vol. XL p. 194, n. 3,
and. the present Vol. p. 125, n. 6.
The play before us appears to have been written in the middle
of the year 1599. See An Attempt to ascertain the Order of /
Shakspeare^s Plays, Vol. U.
The old King Henry V. may be found among Sixjold Plays
on which Shakspeare founded, &c. prints by S. Leacroit,
1778. Malone.
PERSONS REPRESENTED.
King Henry the Fifth.
otke o/Bedford, } ^'o"'"''*' '" ^^ ^'"^^
Duke ojf Exeter, Uncle to the King.
Duke o/'York, Cousin to the King.
Earls 0/* Salisbury, Westmoreland, mid Warwick.
Archbishop o/" Canterbury.
Bishop of Ely.
Earl o/' Cambridge, ^
Lord Scroop, > Conspirators against the King.
Sir Thomas Grey, }
Sir Thomas Erpingham, Gower, Fluellen, Mac-
morris, Jamy, Officers in King Henry's Army.
Bates, Court, Williams, Soldiers in the same.
Nym, Bardolph, Pistol, formerly Servants to Fal-
stafF, now Soldiers in the same.
Boy, Servant to them. A Herald. Chorus.
Charles the Sixth, King o/* France.
Lewis, the Dauphin.
Dukes o/* Burgundy, Orleans, and Bourbon.
Tiie Constable o/' France.
Rambures, and Grandpree, French Lords.
Governor o/'Harfleur. Montjoy, a French Herald,
Arnbassadors to the King o/* England.
Isabel, Queen o/' France.
Katharine, Daughter o/" Charles and Isabel.
Alice, a Lady attending on the Princess Katharine.
Quickly, Pistol's Wife, an Hostess.
Lords, Ladies, Officers,FrenchandEnglishSoldiers,
Messengers, and Attendants.
Tlie SCENE, at the Beginning of the Play, lies in
England ; but afterwards, wholly in France.
Enter Chorus.
O, for a muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention ! *
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act,
And monarchs to behold^ the sweUing scene I
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself.
Assume the port of Mars ; and, at his heels,
Leash*d in like hounds, should famine, sword, and
fire.
Crouch for employment.^ But pardon, gentles all,
* 0,for a muse of fire, &c.] This goes upon the notion of
the Peripatetic system, which imagines several heavens one above
another ; the last and highest of which was one of fire.
Warburton.
It alludes likewise to the aspiring nature of fire, which, by ita
levity, at the separation of the chaos, took the highest seat of all
the elements. Johnson.
* princes to act.
And monarchs to behold ] Shakspeare does not seem to
set distance enough between the performers and spectators.
Johnson.
' Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire.
Crouch for employment. "^ In King Henry VI. " Lean
famine^ quartering steel, and climbing fire," are called the three
attendants on the English General, Lord Talbot; and, as I sup-
pose, are the doss of war;, mentioned in Julius Ccesar.
This image or the warlike Henry very much resembles Mont-
faucon's description of the Mars discovered at Bresse, who leads
a lion and a lioness in couples, and crouching as for employ-
ment. TOLLET.
Warner, in his Albion* s England, 1602, speaking of King
Henry V. says :
" He led good fortune in a line, and did but war and
win."
Holinshed, (p. 567,) when the people of Roan petitioned
King Henry V. has put this sentiment into his mouth : " He
declared that the goddesse of battell, called Bellona, had three
handmaidens, ever of necessitie attending upon her, as blood,
fire, and Jamine." Stebvens.
VOL. XH. T
274 CHORUS.
The flat unraised spirit,* that hath dar'd,
On this unworthy scaffold, to bring forth
So great an object : Can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France ? or may we cram
Within this wooden O,* the very casques,
* spirit,'] Old copy spirits. Corrected by Mr. Rowe.
Malone.
* Within this toooden O,] Nothing shows more evidently the
power of custom over language, than that the frequent use of
calling a circle an could so much hide the meanness of the me-
taphor from Shakspeare, that he has used it many times where
he makes his most eager attempts at dignity of style.
Johnson.
Johnson's criticism on Shakspeare's calling a circle an O, is
rather injudiciously introduced in this place, where it was evi-
dently the poet's intention to represent the circle in which they
acted in as contemptible a light as he could. M. Mason.
Within this wooden O,] An allusion to the theatre where this
history was exhibited, being, from its circular form, called The
Globe. The same expression is applied, for the like reason, to
the loorldf in Antony and Cleopatra :
** A sun and moon which kept their course, and lighted
" The little o, the earth."
I know not whether Shakspeare calls the Globe playhouse a
cock-pit, from its being a round building, or else from its serving
that purpose also : the latter appears probable, from his styling
the floor an uniuorihu scaffold, which suggests tlie idea of its be*
ing temporary, and maX tlie edifice answered both turns, by means
of a slight alteration. Henley.
This theatre, like all our ancient ones, was denominated from
its sign, viz. The Globe, and not from its shape. Had playhouses
been named with reference to their form of construction, what
sort of building could have corresponded with the title of a Red
Bull, a Curtain, a Fortune, Cross Keys, a Phoenix, &c. ?
Shakspeare, meaning to degrade the stage he was describing,
may call it a cock-pit, because a cock-pit was the most diminutive
enclosure present to his mind ; or, perhaps, because there was a
playhouse called The Cock-pit, at which King Henry V. mi^ht
first have been acted. N. B. From Mr. Henley's own dra%vmg
of The Globe, the outside of it, at least, appears to have been
octagonal. Steevens.
" the very casques,] The helmets. Johnson.
CHORUS. 275
That did affright the air at Agincourt P
O, pardon ! since a crooked figure may
Attest, in little place, a million ;
And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,
On your imaginary forces^ work :
Suppose, within the girdte of these walls
Are now coniin*d two mighty monarchies,
Wliose high upreared and abutting fronts
The perilous, narrow ocean parts asunder.^
The very casques^ does not mean the identical casques, but the
casques onli/, the casques alone. So, in The Taming of the
Shrew, Katharine says to Grumio :
" Thou false deluding slave,
" That feed'st me with the veri/ name of meat."
The very name, means here, the name only. M. Mason.
The very casques, are even the casques or helmets ; much
less the men by whom they were worn. So, in Macbeth :
** . for fear
" Thy very stones prate of my whereabout."' Maloxe.
' i casques.
That did affright the air ] Thus Prudentius, in Psycho-
machia, 297 :
" clypeo dum territat auras." Steevens.
imaginary^ybrce* ] Imaginary for imaginative, or your
powers of fancy. Active and passive words are by this author
frequently confounded. Johnson.
Whose high upreared and abutting fronts
The perilous, narrow ocean parts asunder."^ Perilous narrotu,
in burlesque and common language, meant no more than very
narrfftii. In old books this mode of expression occurs perpetually,
A perilous broad brim to a hat, a perilous long sword, &c. So,
in Beaumont and Fletcher's Humourous Lieutenant:
" She is perilous crafty."
Thus, villainous is only used to exaggerate, in The Tempest:
** be tum'd to barnacles or apes
" With foreheads villainous low."
Again, in John Florio's Preface to his translation of Montaigne:
" in this perilous crook'd passage ."
Th narrow seas, however, were always reckoned dangerous,
T 2
27e CHORUS.
Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts ;
Into a thousand parts divide one man,'
And make imaginary puissance : ^
Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them
insomuch that Golding, in his version of the 14th Book of Ovid's
Metamorphosis, translates Scevior illajreto surgente,
" the lady crueller
" Than are the rising narrow seas**
Again, in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, edit. 1632, p. 326:
" How full of feare, how furious ?
** Thcnarroxa seas are not so boisterous." Steevens.
The present reading is right, but there should be a comma
between the vf or As perilous and narrow, as it was by no means
Shakspeare's intention to join them together, and to make a
burlesque phrase of them, such as Steevens describes. The
perilousness of the ocean to be passed by the army, before the
meeting of the kings, adds to the grandeur and interest of the
scene; and it is well known that narrow seas are the most
perilous. So the Chorus in the next Act insinuates that it was
necessary,
** To charm the narrovo seas
" To give them gentle pass."
And in The Merchant of Venice, the narrow seas are made the
scene of shipwrecks, where Salarino says, " Antonio hath a ship
of rich lading wrecked on the narrow seas ; the Goodwins I think
they call the place ; a very dangerous flat, and fatal," &c.
M.Mason.
' Into a thousand parts divide one man,'] The meaning of this
is. Suppose every man to represent a thousand ; but it is very ill
expressed. M. Mason.
* And make imaginary puissance:"] Tliis shows that Shak-
speare was fully sensible of the absurdity of showing battles on
the theatre, which, indeed, is never done but tragedy becomes
farce. Nothing can be represented to the eye, but by something
like it, and within a wooden nothing very like a battle can be
exhibited. Johnson.
Other authors of that age seem to have been sensible of the
same absurdities. In Hey wood's Fair Maid of the West, 1631,
a Chorus enters and says :
" Our stage so lamely can express a sea,
" That we are forc'd by Chorus to discourse
" What should have been in action," &c. Steevens.
CHORUS- 277
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth :
For His your thoughts that now miist deck our
kings,
Carry them here and there ;^ jumping o*er times;*
Turning the accompHshment of many years
Into an hour-glass ; For the which supply.
Admit me chorus to this history ;
Who, prologue-like, your humble patience pray.
Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.
* For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there ;~\ We may read king for kings.
The prologue relates only to this single play. The mistake was
made by referring them to kings, which belongs to thoughts. The
sense is, your thoughts must give the king his proper greatness ;
carry therefore your thoughts here and there, yam^'m^ over time,
and croudmg years into an hour. Johnson.
I am not sure that Dr. Johnson's observation is just. In this
play the king of France, as well as England, makes his appear-
ance ; and the sense may be this : It must be to your imagina-
tions that our kings are indebted for their royalty. Let the tancy
of the spectator furnish out those appendages to greatness which
the poverty of our stage is unable to supply. The poet is still
apologizing for the defects of theatrical representation.
Steevens.
Johnson is, in my opinion, mistaken also in his explanation of
the remainder of the sentence. Carry them here and there does
not mean, as he supposes. Carry your thoughts here and there;
for the Chorus not only calls upon the imagination of the audi-
ence to adorn his kings, but to carry them also from one place
to another, though by a common poetical license the copulative
be omitted. M. Mason.
* jumping o'er fzW*;] So, in the prologue to Troilus
and Cressida :
" Leaps o*er the vaunt and firstlings of those broils .'*
Steevens.
KING HENRY V.
ACT I. SCENE I.^
London.^ An Ante-chamber in the King's Palace,
Enter the Archbishop of Canterbury,"^ and Bishop
o/Ely.
Cant. My lord, I'll tell you, that self bill is
urg'd,
Which, in the eleventh year o' the last king's reign
Was like, and had indeed against us pass'd,
But that the scambling and unquiet time^
* This first scene was added since the edition of 1608, which
is much short of the present editions, wherein the speeches are
generally enlarged and raised : several whole scenes besides, and
all the chorusses also, were since added by Shakspeare. Pope.
London.'] It appears from Hall's and Holinshed's Chroni-
cles, that the business of this scene was transacted at Leicester,
where King Henry V. held a parliament in the second year of
his reign. But the chorus at the beginning of the second Act
shows that the author intended to make London the place of his
first scene. Malone.
' o/' Canterbury,] Henry Chicheley, a Carthiisian monk,
recently promoted to the see of Canterbury. Malone.
Ely,-] John Fordham, consecrated 1388 ; died 1426.
Reed.
^ the scambling and unauiet time ] In the household
book bf the 5th Earl of Nortnumberland there is a particular
280 KING HENRY V. act i.
Did push it out of further question. '
Ely. But how, my lord, shall we resist it now ?
Cant. It mustbe thought on. If it pass against us,
We lose the better half of our possession :
For all the temporal lands, which men devout
By testament have given to the church,
Would they strip from us ; being valued thus,
As much as would maintain, to the king's honour,
Full fifteen earls, and fifteen hundred knights j
Six thousand and two hundred good esquires;
Apd, to relief of lazars, and weak age.
Of indigent faint souls, past corporal toil,
A hundred alms-houses, right well supplied j
And to the coffers of the king beside,
lection, appointing the order of service for the scambling days iq
Lent ; that is, days on which no regular meals were provided,
but every one scamhled, i. e. scrambled and shifted for himself
as well as he could. So, ijti the old noted book intitled Leicester's
Commontvealtkf one of the marginal heads is, " Scambling
between Leicester and Huntington at the upshot." Where in
the text, the author says, " Hastings, for ought I see, when hee
commeth to the scambling, is like to have no better luck by the
beare [Leicester] then his ancestour had once by the boare."
[K. Richard HL] edit. 1641, 12mo. p. 87. So again, Shak-
speare himself makes King Henry V. say to the Princess Katha-
rine, " I get thee with scambling^ and thou must therefore prove
a good soldier-breeder." Act V. Percy.
Shakspeare uses the same word in Much Ado about Nothing :
" Scambling, out-facing, fashion-mong'ring boys.**
Again, in The Merry Devil of Edmonton, 1608 :
*' Leave us to scamble for her getting out.'*
See Vol. VL p. 150, n. 3. Steevens.
' out of further question.] i. e. of further debate.
. '' ; ; Malone.
So, in Antony and Cleopatra :
*' If we contend, out of our question wipe him.*'
Steeveni^.
sc\ I. KING HENRY V. ^Bl
A thousand pounds by the year : ^ Thus runs the
bill.
JEly. This would diink deep.
Cant. 'Twould drink the cup and all.
Ely. But what prevention ?
Cant. The king is full of grace, and fair regard.
Ely. And a true lover of the holy church.
Cant. The courses of his youth promised it not.
The breath no sooner left his father's body,
But that his wildness, mortified in him,
Seem'd to die too :^ yea, at that very moment,
Consideration like an angel came,*
And whipped the oifending Adam out of him ;
Leaving his body as a paradise.
To envelop and contain celestial spirits.
Never was such a sudden scholar made :
Never came reformation in a flood, ^
' A thousand pounds hy the year:'] Hall, who appears to have
been Shakspeare's authority, in the above enumeration, says,
^' and the kyng to have clerely in his cofers ttoentie thousand
poundes.'* Reed.
' The breath no sooner left hisjather*s body.
But that his wildness, mortified in hiniy
Seem*d to die too ] The same thought occurs in the last
scene of the preceding play, where Henry V. says :
My father is gone wild into his grave,
" For in his tomb lie my affections." M. Mason.
^ Consideration like an angel &c.] As paradise, when sin
and Adam were driven out by the angel, became the habitation
of celestial spirits, so the king's heart, since consideration has
driven out his follies, is now the receptacle of wisdom and of
virtue. Johnson.
Mr. Upton observes that, according to the scripture expression,
tie old Adam, or the old man, signified man in an unregenerated
ox gentile state. Malone.
* Never came reformation in ajlood,] Alluding to the method
28 KING HENRY V. act /.
With such a heady current/ scouring faults $
Nor never Hydra-headed wilfulness
So soon did lose his seat, and all at once,
As in this king.
Ely* We are blessed in the change.
Cant. Hear him but reason in divinity,''
by which Hercules cleansed the famous stables, when he turned
a river through them. Hercules still is in our author's head
when he mentions the Hydra. Johnson.
With stick a heady current,] Old copy currance. Cor-
rected by the editor of the second folio. Malone.
^ Hear him but reason in divinity ^ &c.] This speech seems
to have been copied from King James's prelates, speaking of
their Solomon ; when Archbishop Whitgift, who, as an eminent
writer says, died soon afterwards^ and probably doated then^ at
the Hampton-Court conference, declared himself verily per-
suadedf that his sacred majesty spake by the spirit of God. And,
in effect, this scene was added after King James's accession
to the crown : so that we have no way of avoiding its being
esteemed a compliment to Am, but by supposing it a compli-
ment to his bishops. Warburton.
Why these lines should be divided from the rest of the speech
and applied to King James, I am not able to conceive ; nor why
an opportunity should be so eagerly snatched to treat with con-
tempt that part of his characterwhich was the least contemptible.
King James's theological knowledge was not inconsiderable. To
preside at disputations is not very suitable to a king, but to un-
derstand the questions is surely laudable. The poet, if he had
James in his thoughts, was no skilful encomiast ; ror the mention
of Harry's skill in war forced upon the remembrance of his au-
dience the great deficiency of their present king ; who yet, with
ftll his faults, and many faults he had, was such, that Sir Robert
Cotton says, he ivotdd be content that England should never
have a better y provided that it should never have a xuorse.
Johnson.
Those who are solicitous that justice should be done to the
theological knowledge of our British Solomon, may very easily
furnish themselves with specimens of it from a book entitled.
Rex Platonicus, sive de poteniissimi Principis Jacobi Britanni-
tirum Regis ad illustrisstmam Academiam Oxoniensem adventu.
3C. I. KING HENRY V. 283
And, all-admiring, with an inward wish
You would desire, the king were made a prelate :
Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs,
You would say, it hath been all-in-all his study :
List his discourse of war, and you shall hear
A fearful battle rendered you in musick :
Turn him to any cause of policy.
The Gordian knot of it he will unloose.
Familiar as his garter ; that, when he speaks.
The air, a chartered libertine, is still, ^
And the mute wonder lurketh in men*s ears.
To steal his sweet and honeyed sentences j
So that the art and practick part of life ^
Aug. 27. Anno 1605. In this performance we may still hear
him reasoning in Divinity, Physick, Jurisprudence, and Philo-
sophy. On the second of these subjects he has not failed to ex-
press his well-known enmity to tobacco, and throws out many a
royal witticism on the " Medici Nicotianistae," and " Tobacco-
nistae" of the age ; insomuch, that Isaac Wake, the chronicler
of his triumphs at Oxford, declares, that " nemo nisi iniquissi-
mus rerum aestimator, bonique publici pessime invidus, Jacoho
nostro recusabit immortalem gloriae aram figere, qui ipse adeo
mirabilera in Theologi^, Jurisprudential et Medicince arcanis
peritiam eamque plane divinitus assecutus est, ut" &c.
Steevens.
The airy &c.] This line is exquisitely beautiful. Johnson.
The same thought occurs in As you like it. Act IL sc. vii :
** 1 must have liberty
** Withal, as large a charter as the wind,
** To blow on whom I please.*' Ma lone.
' So that the art and practick part of life ] He discourses
with so much skill on all subjects, that the art and practice of life
must be ihe mistress or teacher of his theorick; that is, that his
theory must have been taught by art and practice ; which, says he,
is strange, since he could see little of the true art or practice
among his loose companions, nor ever retired to digest his
practice into theory. Art is used by the author for practice, as
distinguished from science or theory. Johnson.
284 KING HENRY V. act i.
Must be the mistress to this theorick : *
Which is a wonder, how his grace should glean it,
Since his addiction was to courses vain :
His companies^ unlettered, rude, and shallow ;
His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sports j
And never noted in him any study,
Any retirement, any sequestration
From open haunts and popularity.^
Ely. The strawberry grows underneath the
nettle ; *
And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best.
Neighboured by fruit of baser quality :
And so the prince obscur'd his contemplation
Under the veil of wildness ; which, no doubt.
Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night.
Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty.^
^ to this theorick:] Theorick is what terminates in
speculation. So, in The Valiant Welshman, 1615:
son Caradoc,
" 'Tis yet unfit that, on this sudden warning,
** You leave your fair wife to the theoriquc
** Of matrimonial pleasure and delight."
Bookish theorick is mentioned in Othello. Steevens.
In our author's time this word was always used where we now
use theory. See Vol. VIII. p. So*, n. 7. Malone.
* companies r-"] is here used for companions. It is used
by other authors of Shakspeare's age in the same sense. See
Vol. IV. p. 331, n. 2. Malone.
' popularity.'] i. e. plebeian intercourse; an unusual
sense of the word : though perhaps the same idea was meant to
be communicated by it in King Henry IV. Part I. where King
Richard II. is represented as having
" EnfeofF'd himself to po/7M/ar%." Steevens.
* The strauoherry &c.] i. e. the wild fruit so called, that
grows in the woods. Steevens.
* crescive in hisjaculty.'} Increasing in its proper power.
Johnson.
sc. I. KING HENRY V. 285
Cant. It must be so : for miracles are ceas'd ;
And therefore we must needs admit the means.
How things are perfected.
Ely. But, my good lord.
How now for mitigation of this bill
Urg*d by the commons ? Doth his majesty
Incline to it, or no ?
Cant. He seems indifferent ;
Or, rather, swaying more upon our part,^
Than cherishing the exhibiters against us :
For I have made an offer to his majesty,
Upon our spiritual convocation ;
And in regard of causes now in hand,
Which I have open*d to his grace at large.
As touching France, to give a greater sum
Than ever at one time the clergy yet
Did to his predecessors part wthal.
Ely. How did this offer seem received, my lord?
Cant. With good acceptance of his majesty ;
Save, that there was not time enough to hear
(As, I perceived, his grace would fain have done,)
The severals, and unhidden passages,*^
Grew like the summer grass, Jastest by nighty
Unseen^ yet crescive in his faculty.']
** Crescit occulto velut arbor aevo
Faraa Marcelli.'*
Crescive is a word used by Drant, in his translation of
Horace's Art of Poetry^ 1567 :
* As lusty youths of crescive age doe flourishe freshe and
grow." Steevens.
" swaying more upon our joarf,] Svoaying is inclining.
So, in Kins Henry VI. Part III :
" Now sways it this way, like a mighty sea,
" Now sxuays it that way." Malone.
' ' The severals, and unhidden passages,] This line I suspect
of corruption, though it may be fairly enough explained: the
286 KING HENRY V. act i.
Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms ;
And, generally, to the crown and seat of France,
Derived from Edward, his great grandfather.
Ely. What was the impediment that broke this
off?
Cant. The French ambassador, upon that instant,
Crav'd audience : and the hour, I think, is come.
To give him hearing : Is it four o'clock ?
Ely. It is.
Cant. Then go we in, to know his embassy j
Which I could, with a ready guess, declare,
Before the Frenchman speak a word of it.
Ely, I'll wait upon you ; and I long to hear it.
[^Exeunt,
SCENE II.
The same. A Room of State in the same.
Enter King Henry, Gloster, Bedford, Exeter,
Warwick, Westmoreland, and Attendants.
K. Hen. Where is my gracious lord of Canter-
bury?
ExE. Not here in presence;
K. Hen. Send for him, good uncle.
passages of his titles are the lines of succession by which hi*
claims descend. Unhidden is opeity clear. Johnson.
I believe we should read several^ instead of severals.
M. Mason.
* Send for him, good uncle.'} The person here addressed was
sc. IL KING HENRY V. 287
West, Shall we call in the ambassador, my
liege ? '^
K. Hen. Not yet, my cousin ; we would be re-
solved,
Before we hear him, of some things of weight.
That task^ our thoughts, concerning us andFrance.
Enter the Archbishop o/* Canterbury, and Bishop of
Ely.
Cant, God, and his angels, guard your sacred
throne.
And make you long become it !
K, Hen. Sure, we thank you.
My learned lord, we pray you to proceed ;
And justly and religiously unfold.
Why the law Sahque, that they have in France,
Or should, or should not, bar us in our claim.
And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord,
That you should fashion, wrest, orbowyour reading.
Thomas Beaufort, Earl of Dorset, who was half-brother to King
Henry IV. being one of the sons of John of Gaunt, by Katha-
rine Swynford. Shakspeare is a little too early in giving him
the title of Duke of Exeter; for when Harfleur was taken, and
he was appointed governour of the town, he was only Earl of
Dorset. He was not made Duke of Exeter till the year after the
battle of Agincourt, Nov. 14, 1416. Malone.
Perhaps Shakspeare confounded this character with that of
John Holland, Duke of Exeter, who was married to Elizabeth,
the king's aunt. He was executed at Plashey in 1400 : but with
this circumstance our author might have been unacquainted.
See Remarks &c. on the last edition of Shakspeare, [i. e. that of
1778,] p. 239. Steevens.
^ Shall toe call in &c.] Here began the old play. Pope.
' ; task ] Keep busied with scruples and laborious dis-
quisitions. Johnson.
Sdg KING HENRY V. actl
Or nicely charge your understanding souP
With opening titles miscreate,^ whose right
Suits not in native colours with the truth ;
For God doth know, how many, now in healtli.
Shall di'op their blood in approbation*
Of what your reverence shall incite us to :
Therefore take heed how you impawn our person,^
How you awake the sleeping sword of war ;
Or nicely charge your understanding soul ] Take heed,
lest by nice and subtle sophistry you burthen your knowing soul,
or knotuingly burthen your soid, with the guilt of advancing a
false title, or of maintaining, by specious fallacies, a claim
which, if shown in its native and true colours, would appear to
be false. Johnson.
' miscreatey'] Ill-begotten, Illegitimate, spurious.
Johnson.
* in approbation ] I. e. in proving and supporting that
title which shall be now set up. So, in Braithwaite's Survey of
Histories^ 1614: " Composing what he wrote, not by report of
others, but by the approbation of his own eyes."
Again, in The Winter* s Tale:
" That lack'd sight only ; nought for approbation^
** But only seeing.** Malone.
* take heed how you impawn our person,^ The whole drift
of the king is to impress upon the archbishop a due sense of the
caution with which he is to speak. He tells him that the crime
of unjust war, if the war be unjust, shall rest upon him :
Therefore take heed hotu you impaivn your person.
So, I think, it should be read, Take heed how you pledge your-
self, your honour, your happiness, in support of bad advice.
Dr. Warburton explains impawn by engage^ and so escapes
the difficulty. Johnson.
The allusion here is to the game of chess, and the disposition
of the pawns with respect to the King^ at the commencement of
this mimetick contest. Henley.
To engage and to pawn were, in our author's time, synony-
mous. See Minsheu's Dictionary ^ in v. engage. But the word
pawn had not, I believe, at that time, its present signification.
To impawn seems here to have the same meaning as the French
phrase se commettre. Malone.
sc, IL KING HENRY V. 289
We charge you in the name of God, take heed :
For never two such kingdoms did contend.
Without much fall of blood ; whose guiltless drops
Are every one a woe, a sore complaint,
'Gainst him, whose wrongs give edge unto the
swords
That make such waste in brief mortality. ^
Under this conjuration,'^ speak, my lord:
And we will hear, note, and believe in heart,
That what you speak is in your conscience wash'd
As pure as sin with baptism.
Cant. Then hear me, gracious sovereign,- and
you peers.
That owe your lives, your faith, and services.
To this imperial throne ; There is no bar^
To make against your highness' claim to France,
^ brief mortality.']
" Nulla brevem dominum sequetur.** Horace.
Steevens.
^ Under this conjuration t"} The quartos, 1600 and 1608,
read :
After this conjuration^ . Steeveks.
* There is no bar Sec.'] This whole speech is copied
( in a manner verbatim ) from Hall's Chronicle^ Henry V. year
the second^ folio iv. xx. xxx. xl. &c. In the first edition it is
very imperfect, and the whole history and names of the princes
are confounded; but this was afterwards set right, and corrected
from the original, Hall's Chronicle, Pope.
This speech (together with the Latin passage in it) may as
well be said to be taken from Holinshed as from Hall.
Steeven*.
See a subsequent note, in which it is proved that Holinshed,
and not Hall, was our author's historian. The same facts, m-
deed, are told in both, Holinshed being a servile copyi;^ of Hall:
but Holinshed's book was that which Shakspeare read ; aD^
therefore I always quote it in preference to the elder chronicle,
contrary to the rule that ought in general to be observed.
Malone.
VOL. XII. U
290 KING HENRY V. act t.
But this, which they produce from Pharamond,
In terrain Salicam mulieres ne succedant.
No woman shall succeed in Salique land :
Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze,^
To be the realm of France, and Pharamond
The founder of this law and female bar.
Yet their own authors faithfully affirm,
That the land Salique lies in Germany,
Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe :
Where Charles the great, having subdued the
Saxons,
There left behind and settled certain French ;
Who, holding in disdain the German women,
For some dishonest manners of their life.
Established there this law, to wit, no female
Should be inheritrix in Salique land ;
WTiich Salique, as I said, 'twixt Elbe and Sala,
Is at this day in Germany calPd Meisen.
Thus doth it well appear, the Salique law
Was not devised for the realm of France :
Nor did the French possess the Salique land
Until four hundred one and twenty years
After defunction of king Pharamond,
Idly suppos'd the founder of this law ;
Who died within the year of our redemption
Four hundred twenty-six ; and Charles the great
Subdued the Saxons, and did seat the French
Beyond the river Sala, in the year
Eight hundred five. Besides, their writers say.
King Pepin, which deposed Childerick,
Did, as heir general, being descended
^ gloze,'] Expound, explain, and sometimes comment
upon. So, in Troilus and Cressida :
** you have said well ;
" And on the cause and question now in hand,
** Have gloz'd but superficially." Reed.
sc, //. KING HENRY V. 29i
Of Blithild, which was daughter to king Clothair,
Make claim and title to the crown of France.
Hugh Capet also, that usurp' d the crown
Of Charles the duke of Lorain, sole heir male
Of the true line and stock of Charles the great,
To fine his title with some show of truth, *
(Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught,)
Convey'd himself^ as heir to the lady Lingare,
Daughter to Charlemain, who was the son
To Lewis the emperor, and Lewis the son
' To fine his title &c.] This is the reading of the quarto of
1608; that of the folio is To find his title. I would read :
To line his title with some shotv of truth.
To line may signify at once to decorate and to strengthen. So,
in Macbeth :
" did line the rebel
** With hidden help and vantage; '* :: '^v
Dr. Warburton says, that tojine his title, is to refine or im-
prove it. The reader is to judge.
I now believe thaX Jind is right; the yxxy finds for the plain-
tiff, or finds for the defendant; to find his title is, to determine in
Javour of his title uith some shotv of truth. Johnson.
To fine his title, is to make it shoxuy or specious by some ap-
pearance of justice. Steevens.
^o, in Kins Henry IV. Vscrtl:
** To Face the garment of rebellion,
" With somefine colour."
The words in Holinshed's Chronicle are: " to make his
title seem true, and appear good, though indeed it was stark
naught.** In Hall, " to make &c. though indeed it was both
evil and untrue." Malone.
I believe that^ne is the right reading, and that the metaphor is
taken from the fining of liquors. In the next line the speaker
says:
" Though in pure truth it was corrupt and naught."
It is the jury that^W* a verdict, not the plaintiff or defendant,
and therefore a man cannotfind his own title.
M. Mason.
* Convey'd himself'] Derived his title. Our poet found
this expression also m Holinshed. Malone.
u 2
293 KING HENRY V. act i.
Of Charles the great. ^ Also king Lewis the tenth,*
' the ladif Liagat^,
Daughter to Charlemain, Sfc,'] By Charles the Great i
meant the Emperor Charlemagne, son of Pepin : Charlemain
is Charlechawoe, or Charles the Bald, who, as well as Charles
le Grosy assumed the title of Magnus. See Goldasti Animad-
versiones in Einhardum. Edit. 1711, p. 157. But then Char-
lechauve had only one daughter, named Jtidilh, married, or,
as seme say, only betrothed, to our King Ethelwulf, and car-
ried off, after his death, by Baldwin the forester, afterward
Earl of Flanders, whom, it is very certain, Hugh Capet was
neither heir to, nor any way descended from. This Judith,
indeed, had a great-grand-daughter called Luitgarde, married
to a Count Wichman, of whom nothing further is known. It
was likewise the name of Charlemagne's fifth wife; but no such
female as Lingare i t6 be met with in any French historian.
In fact, these fictitious personages and pedigrees seem to hare
been devised by the English heralds, to " fine a title with som*
show of truth," which " in pure truth was corrupt and naught."
It was manifestly impossible that Henry, who had no hereditary
title to his own dominions, could derive one, by the same colour,
to another person's. He merely proposes the invasion and con-
quest of France, in prosecution of the dying advice of his father:
*< to busy giddy minds
" In fbretgn quarrels; that action, thenee borne out,
" Might waste the memory of former days:"
that his subjects might have sufficient employment to mislead
their attention from the nakedness of his title to the crown.
The zeal and eloquence of the Archbishop ari owing to similar
motives. Ritson.
* Abtf king Levois the tenth,] The word ninth has
been inserted by some of the modern editors. The old copies
read tenth. Ninth is certainly wrong, and tenth certainly right.
Isabel was the wife of Philip the second^ father of Lewis th*
ninth, and grandfather of Lewis the tehtk. IIitson.
""TV- Letuis the tenth,] Tliis is a mistake, (as is observed in
The Gentleman'' s Magazine, Vol. LIII. P. II. p. 588,) into which
Shakspeai-e Was fed by Holinshed, (Vol. 11. p. 546, edit. 1577, |
whomnc copied. St. Lewis, (for he is the person here described, )
the grandson of Queen Isabel, the wife of Philip 11. King of
France, was Lewis the Ninth. He was the son of Lewis VIII.
by the Lady Biahch of Castile. In Hall's Chronicle, HenRy X.
folio iiii. b. ( which Holinshed has closely followed, exccjrt *J
9C, u, KING HENRY VI 9S
Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet,
Could not keep quiet in his conscience.
Wearing the crown of France, till satisfied
That fair queen Isabel, his grandmother.
Was lineal of the Jadj Ermengare,
Daughter to Charles the foresaid duke of Lorain:
Bj the which marriage, the line of Charles the
great
Was re-united to the crown of France.
So that, as clear as is the summer's sun.
King Pepin's title, and Hugh Capet's claim,
King Lewis his satisfaction,^ all appear
To hold in right and title of the female :
So do tlie kings of France ujato this day ;
Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law.
To bar your highness claiming from the female ^
And rather choose to hide them in a net.
Than amply to imbare their crooked titles^
Usurp' d from you and your progenitois.
this particular error, occasioned by either his own or his printer's
inaccuracy^ Lwis is rightly called the Ninth. Here therefore
we have a aecisive prooi that our author's guide in all his his-
torical plays was Holinshed, and not Hall. See n. 8, p. 289.
I have however left the error uncorrected, on the same principle
on which similar errors in Julius CUesar, into which Shakspeare
was led by the old translation of Plutarch, have been suffered
to remain undisturbed ; and also, beca^use it ^certains a fact of
soiQe importanec. Malone.
^ King Lewis his satisfaction,] He had told us just above,
^b^ Lewis could not wear the crown with safe conscience,
** lill sati^edf" &c. Theobald.
* imbare their crooked titles ] Mr. Pope reads :
Than openly imbrace -.
But where is tne antithesis betwixt hide i the preceding line,
and imbrace in this ? The two old folios read:
Than amply to imbarre
We certainly must read, as Mr. Warburtpn advised me:
# Than amply to imbare >
294 KING HENRY V. acti.
K Hen. May I, with right and conscience, make
this claim?
lay open, display to view. I am surprized Mr. Pope did not
start this conjecture, as Mr. Rowe had led the way to it in his
edition; who reads:
Than amply to make bare their crooked titles.
Theobald.
Mr. Theobald might have found, in the 4to. of 1608, this
reading :
Than amply to embrace their crooked causes :
out of which line Mr. Pope formed his reading, erroneous in-
deed, but not merely capricious. Johnson.
The quarto, 1600, reads imbace.
I have met with no example of the word imbare. To unbar
is to open, and might have been the word iset down by the pofet,
in opposition to bar.
So, in the first scene of Timony the poet says, ** 1*11 unbolt to
you."
To embary however, seems, from the following passage in the
first Book of Stanyhurst's translation of Virgil, 1583, to signify
to break or cut off abruptly :
" Heere Venus embarring his tale," &c.
Yet, as to bar, in Much Ado about Nothing, is to strengthen,-^
** that is stronger made,
" Which was before barr*d up with ribs of iron, "
so, amply to unbar, may mean to weaken by an open display of
invalidity.
As imbare, however, is not unintelligible, and is defended by
the following able criticks, I have left it in the text.
Steevens.
I have no doubt but imbare is the right reading. Though the
editor who has adopted it seems to argue against it, it makes
die sense more clear than any of the other readings proposed.
Imbare, in the last line, is naturally opposed to hide in that
which precedes, and it differs but little from the reading of the
quarto 1600. The objection that there is no such word as im-
bare, can have but little weight. It is a word so fairly deduced,
and so easily understood, that an author of much less celebrity
than Shakspeare, had a right to coin it. M. Mason.
In the folio the word is spelt imbarre. Imbare is, I believe, the
true reading. It is formed like impaint, impavon,a.nA. many otlieip
similar words used by Shakspeare. Malone. %
sc, II, KING HENRY V. 295
Can^t. The sin upon my head, di'ead sovereign 1
For in the book of Numbers is it writ,
When the son dies, let the inheritance
Descend unto the daughter. Gracious lord.
Stand for your own , unwind your bloody flag ;
Look back unto your mighty ancestors:
Go, my dread lord, to your great grandsire*s tomb,
From whom you claim ; invoke his warlike spirit.
And your great uncle's, Edward the black prince 5
Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy.
Making defeat on the full power of France ;
Whiles his most mighty father on a hill
Stood smiling, to behold his lion's whelp
Forage in blood of French nobility.'^
O noble English, that could entertain
With half their forces the fuU pride of France j
And let another half stand laughing by.
All out of work, and cold for action !^
' Whiles his most mighty father on a hill
Stood smiling, &c.] This alludes to the battle of Cressy,
QS described by Holinshed : " The earle of Northampton and
others sent to the king, where he stood aloft on a windmill-hill ;
the king demanded if his sonne were slaine, hurt, or felled to
the earth. No, said the knight that brought the message, but
he is sore matched. Well, ( said the king, ) returne to him and
them that sent you, and saie to them, that they send no more to
me for any adventure that falleth, so long as my son is alive;
for I will that this journeye be his, with the honour thereof.
The slaughter of the French was great and lamentable at the
same battle, fought the 26th August, 1346."
Holinshed, Vol. II. p. 372, col. i. BowLB.
" and cold Jbr action .f] This epithet all the commen-
tators have passed by, and I am unable to explain. I cannot but
suspect it to be corrupt. A desire to distinguish themselves seems
to merit the name of ardour, rather than the term here given it.
If cold be the true reading, their coldness should arise from in-
action; and therefore the reading must be, cold for ivant of
Actioo. So Lyly, in Euphues and his England^ 1581: " if
2^6 KING HENRY V. act j.
ElT. Awake remembrance of these valiant dead.
And with your puissant arm renew their feats :
You are their heir, you sit upon their throne ;
The blood and courage, that renowned them,
Runs in your veins ; and my thrice-puissant liege
Is in the very May-morn of his youth.
Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprizes.
EjE. Your brother kings and monarchs of the
earth
Do all expect that jyou should rouse yourself,
As did the former lions of your blood.
West. They know, your grace hath cause, and
means, and might;
So hath your highness ; ^ never king of England
he were too long for the bed, Procrustes cut off his legs, for
catching cold," i. e. for Jear o/' catching cold. Malone.
I always regarded the epithet cold as too clear to need ex-
planation. The soldiers were eager to warm themselves by
action, and were cold for want of it. A more recondite mean-
ing, indeed, may be found; a meaning which will be best
illustrated by a line in Statius, Theb. VI. 395:
*' Concurrit summos animosumjrigits in artus."
Steevens.
They Jcnouo, your grace hath cause, and means, and might;
So hath your highness ; J We should read:
your race had cause,
which is carrying on the sense of the concluding words of Exeter:
As did the former lions of your blood ;
meaning Edward III. and the Black Prince. Warburton.
I do not see but the present reading may stand as I have
pointed it. Johnson.
Warburton's amendment is unnecessary; but surely we should
point the passage thus :
They know your grace hath cause; and means, and might.
So hath your highness;
Meaning that the king had not only a good cause, but force to
support it. So, in this place, has the force of also, or likewise.
M. Mason.
So hath your highness;"] i. e. your highness hath indeed what
they think and know you have. Malone.
sc.Ji, KING HENRY V. 297
Had nobles richer, and more loyal subjects ;
Whose hearts have left their bodies here in England,
And lie pavilion*d in the fields of France.
Cant. O, let their bodies follow, my dear liege.
With blood,* and sword, and fire, to win your right:
In aid whereof, we of the spiritualty
Will raise your highness such a mighty sum.
As never did the clergy at one time
Bring in to any of your ancestors.
K, Hen. We must not only arm to invade the
French ;
But lay down our proportions to defend
Against the Scot, who will make road upon us
With all advantages.
Cant. They of those marches,^ gracious sovereign.
Shall be a wall sufficient to defend
Our inland from the pilfering borderers.
K. Hen. We do not mean the coursing snatchers
only.
But fear the main intendment of the Scot,*
' With blood, <^c.] Old copy bloods. Corrected in the third
folio. Malone.
This and the foregoing line Dr. Warburton gives to West-
moreland, but with so little reason that I have continued them
to Canterbury. The credit of old copies, though not great, is
yet more than nothing. Johxson.
' They of those marches,] The marches are the borders, the
limits, the confines. Hence the Lords Marchers^ i. e. the lords
presidents of the marches y &c. So, in the first canto of Drayton's
Barons* Wars:
" When now the marchers well upon their wdy," &c.
Steevens.
the main intendment of the Scot^"^ Intendment is here
perhaps used for intention^ which, in our author's time, signified
extreme exertion. The main intendment may, however, mean,
the general disposition. Malone.
298 KING HENRY V. act/.,
Who hath been still a giddy neighbour * to us ;
For you shall read, that my great grandfather
Never went with his forces into France,^
But that the Scot on his unfurnish'd kingdom
Came pouring, like the tide into a breach.
With ample and brim fulness of his force ;
Galling the gleaned land with hot essays ;
Girding with grievous siege, castles and towns j
That England, being empty of defence.
Hath shook, and trembled at the ill neighbourhood/'
Main intendment^ I believe, signifies exertion in a body.
The king opposes it to the less consequential inroads of detached
parties. Steevens.
* giddy neighbour ] That is, inconstant, changeable.
Johnson.
* Never ivent tuith his forces into jProjzce,] The quartos,
1600 and 1608, read:
never my great grandfather
Unmask'd his pouoerfor France .
What an opinion the Scots entertained of the defenceless state
of England, may be known by the following passage fro;n The
Battle of Floddon, an ancient historical poem:
** For England's king, you understand,
** To France is past with all his peers:
*' There is none at home left in the land,
*' But joult-head monks, and bursten freers.
" Of ragged rustles, without rules,
* Of priests prating for pudding shives ;
** Of milners madder than their mules,
" Of wanton clerks, waking their wives."
Thus also in Wyntown's Cronykily B. VIII. ch. xl. v. 96:
" Thai sayd, that thai mycht rycht welle fare v
** Til Lwndyn, for in Ingland than
*' Of gret mycht wes left na man,
** For, thai sayd, all war in Frawns,
** Bot sowteris, skynneris, or marchauns." Steevens.
* at the ill neighbourhood.] The quartos, 1600 and
1608, read:
at the bruit thereof. Steevens.
sc, II. KING HENRY V. 299
Cant. She hath been then more feai'd"^ than
harm'd, my liege :
For hear her but exampled by herself,
When all her chivalry hath been in France,
And she a mourning widow of her nobles,
She hath herself not only well defended.
But taken, and impounded as a stray.
The king of Scots ; whom she did send to France,
To fill king Edward's fame with prisoner kings ;
And make your chronicle as rich with praise,**
As is the ooze and bottom of the sea
With sunken wreck and sumless treasuries. ' :
West. But there's a saying, very old and true, '
^ . Jear*d ] i. e. frightened. Malone.
So, in Measurejbr Measure:
" Setting it up to Jear the birds of prey." Steevens.
* And make your chronicle as rich tvith praise, &c.] The
simihtude between the chronicle and the sea consists only in this,
that they are both full, and filled with something valuable. The
quarto has your, the folio their chronicle.
Your and their, written by contraction vr, are just alike, and
her, in the old hands, is not much unlike i/r. 1 believe we
should read her chronicle. Johnson.
Your chronicle means, I think, the chronicle oiyour kingdom,
England. Malone.
^ and sumless treasuries.'} The quartos, 1600 and 1608,
read:
and shipless treasury. Steevens.
* West. But there's a saying, &c.] This speech, which is
dissuasive of war with France, is absurdly given to one of the
churchmen in confederacy to push the king upon it, as appears
by the first scene of this Act. Besides, the poet had here an
eye to Hall, who gives this observation to the Duke of Exeter.
But the editors have made Ely and Exeter change sides, and
speak one another's speeches; for this, which is given to Ely, is
Exeter's; and the following given to Exeter, is Ely's.
Warburton.
This speech is given in the folio to the Bishop of Ely. But it
appears from Holinshed, ( whom our author followed, ) and from
soo KING HENRY V. icti.
ffthat you mil France ivht^
Then mth Scotland^ first begin :^
For once the eagle England being in prey.
To her unguaided nest the weasel Scot
Comes sneaking, and so sucks her princely eggs;
Playing the mouse, in absence of the cat,
To spoil and havock more than she can eat.^
ExE. It follows then, the cat must stay at home:
Yet that is but a curs'd necessity;*
Hall, that these words were the conclusion of the Earl of West-
moreland's speech; to whom, therefore, I have assigned them.
In the quarto Lord only is prefixed to tliis ^ech. Dr. War-
burton and the subsequent editors attributed it to ExeteVy but
certainly without propriety; for he, on the other hand, main-
tained that "he whiche would Scotland winne, with France must
first beginne." Malone.
' If that you loill France iviriy Sec."] Hall's Chronicle, Hen.
V. year 2, fol. 7, (p. 2,) x. Pope.
It is likewise found m Holinshed, and in the old anonymous
play of King Henry V, Steevens.
* To spoil and havock more than she can eet.2 It is not
much the quality of the mouse to tear the food it comes at, but
to run over it and defile it. The old quarto reads, spoik; and
the two first folios, tame: from which last corrupted word, I
think, I have retrieved the poet's genuine reading, taint.
Theobald.
* Yet that is but a curs'd necessity ;] So the old quarto
[1600]. The folios read crush'd: neither of the words convey
any tolerable idea ; but give us a counter-reasoning, and not at
all pertinent. We should read *scus'd necessity. It is Exeter's
business to show there is no real necessity for staying at home :
he must therefore mean, that though there be a seeming necessity,
yet it is one that may be well excus'd and got over.
Warburton.
Neither the old readings nor the emendation seem very satis-
factory. A curs'd necessity has no sense; a 'scus'd necessity is
so harsh that one would not admit it, if any thing else can be
found. A crush'd necessity may mean a necessity which is sub-
dued and overpotvered by contrary reasons. We might read
sc, II. KING HENRY V. 301
Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries.
And pretty traps ^ to catch the petty thieves.
While that the armed hand doth fight abroad.
The advised head defends itself at home :
For government, though high, and low, and lower,*
crude necessity, a necessity not complete^ or not well considered
and digested ; but it is too harsh.
Sir T. Hanmer reads :
Yet that is not o' course a necessity. Johnsok.
A curs'd necessity means, I believe, only an unfortunate
necessity. Curs'd, in colloquial phrase, signifies any thing un'
Jbrtunate. So we say, such a one leads a cursed life ; another has
got into a cursed scrape. It may mean, a necessity to be exe-
crated.
This vulgarism is often used by Sir Arthur Gorges, in his
translation of Lucan, 1614. So, Book VII. p. 293 :
" His cursed fortune he condemned."
Again, p. 297 :
" on the cruel destinies
" The people pour out cursed cries."
Again, in Chapman's translation of the 5th Odyssey:
** while thus discourse he held,
** A curs'd snrge *gainst a cutting rock impelPd
" His naked body.'* Steevens.
Mr. M. Mason justly observes that this interpretation, though
perhaps the true one, does not agree with the context; [Yet
that is but an unfortunate necessity, since we, &c.]J and therefore
proposes to read,
Yet that is not a curs'd necessity.
But and not are so often confounded in these plays, that I
think his conjecture extremely probable. See Vol. VlII. p. 40,
n. 1. It is certainly (as Dr. Warburton has observed) the
speaker's business to show that there is no real necessity for
staying at home. Malone.
* And pretty traps ] Thus the old copy ; but I believe we
should read petty.
Pretty, however, is a term colloquially employed by our au-
thor in Romeo and Juliet :
" my daughter's of & pretty age." Steevens.
" For government, though high, and low, OTtd lower,] Th
foundation and expression of this thought seems to be borrowed
302 KING HENRY V. act i.
Put into parts, doth keep in one concent;''^
Congruing^ in a full and natural close.
Like musick.
Cant. True : therefore doth heaven divide
The state of man in divers functions.
Setting endeavour in continual motion ;
To which is fixed, as an aim or butt.
Obedience:^ for so work the honey bees ;
Creatures, that, by a rule in nature, teach
from Cicero, De Republican Lib. II: " Sic ex summis, & mediis,
et infimis interjectis ordinibus, ut sonis, moderatam ratione civita-
teniy consensu dissimiliorum concinere; et qua; harmonia a musicis
dicitur in cantUj cam esse in civitate concordiam."
Theobald.
' in one concent;] I learn from Dr. Burney, that consent
is connected harmony, in general, and not confined to any spe-
cific consonance. Thus, (says the same elegant and well-informed
writer,) concentio and concentus are both used by Cicero for the
union of voices or instruments in what we should now call a
chorus, or concert.
In the same sense I suppose Ben Jonson to have used the
word in his Volpone^ Act III. sc. iv:
" as Plato holds your music
*' (And so does wise Pythagoras, I take it)
** Is your true rapture, when there is consent
** In face, in voice," &c. Steevens.
Congruing ] The folio has congreeing. The quarto co;i-
grueth. Corrected by Mr. Pope. Malone.
In the old quarto, 1608, the passage stands thus:
" For government, though high or low, being put in
parts,
" Congrtieth with a mutuall consent like musicke."
Steevens.
, ' Setting endeavour in continual motion ;
To xmich is fixed, as an aim or butt.
Obedience :~\ Neither the sense nor the construction of this
passage is very obvious. The construction is, endeavour, as an
aim or butt to tvhich endeavour, obedience is fixed. The sense
is, that all endeavour is to terminate in obedience, to be subor-
dinate to the publick good and general design of government.
Johnson,
sc, II, KING HENRY V. 303
The act of order ^ to a peopled kingdom.
They have a king,*^ and officers of sorts : ^
* The act of order ] Act here means law, or statute; as
appears from the old quarto, where the words are, " Creatures
that by awe ordain an act of order to a peopled kingdom.'*
Mr. Pope changed act to art, and was followed by all the
subsequent editors. Malone.
' for so tvork the honey bees ;
They have a kins, &c.] Our author, in this parallel, had,
I have no doubt, the following passage, in Lyly's Euphues and
his England, 1581, in view: " In like manner, Euphues, is the
government of a monarchic, that it is neither the wise foxe
nor the malicious woolfe, should venture so farre, as to learne
whether the lyon sleepe or wake in his denne, whether the
prince fast or feast in the court; but this should be their order,
to understand there is a king, but what he doth, is for the gods
to examine, whose ordinance he is, not for men whose overseer
he is. Then how vain is it, that the foot should neglect his
oflSce, to correct the face; or that subjects should seekemore to
know what their princes doe, than what they are; wherein
they shew themselves as bad as beasts, and much worse than my
bees, who, in my conceit, observe more order than they. If I
might crave pardon, I would a little acquaint you with the
commonwealth of my bees. I have for the space of these twenty
yeeres dwelt in this place, taking no delight in any thing but
only keeping my bees, and marking them; and this I find,
which had I not seen I should hardly have believed, that they
use as great wit by induction, and art by workmanship, as ever
man hath or can ; using between themselves no lesse justice than
wisdome, and yet not so much wisdome as majestic ; insomuch
as thou wouldest thinke that they were a kind of people, a com-
monwealth of Plato ; where they all labour, all gather hony, flie
together in a swarme, eat in a swarme, and sleepe in a swarme.
They live under a taw, using great reverence to their elder as
to the wiser. They choose a king, whose palace they frame.,
both braver in shew, and stronger in substance. If their prince
die, they know not how to live; they languish, weepe, sigh,
neither intending their worke, nor keeping their old society.
And that which is most marvellous and almost incredible, if there
be any that hath disobeyed his commandment, either of purpose
or unwitting, he killeth himself with his own sting, as an exe-
cuiioner to his own stubbornnesse. Tlie king himselfe hath a
sting, which he useth rather for honour than punishment. And
304 KING HENRY V. act r.
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home ;
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad;*
yet, Euphues, albeit they live under a prince, tliey have their
priviledges, and as great liberties as strait lawes. Tliey call a
parliament, wherein they consult for lawes, statutes, penalties,
choosing officerSy and creating their king. Every one hath his
office; some trimming the honey, some tvortcing the toax, one
framing hives, another the combes ; and that so artificially, that
Dedalus could not with greater art or excellency better dispose
the orders, measures, proportions, distinctions, joints, and cir-
cles. Diverse hcwy others polish, and are careful to do their
worke so strongly as they may resist the craft of such drones as
seek to live by their labours; which maketh them to keepe
watch and ward, as living in a camp to others, and as in a
court to themselves. When they goe forth io n)!orke,they marke
the rvinde, the clouds, and whatsoever doth threaten either their
ruin or rage ; and having gathered out of every fotver hony,
they return, loaded in their mouthes, thighcs, txinges, and all
the body; whom they that tarried at home receive readily, m
easing their backs of 50 great burthens. The king himselfe, not
idle, goeth up and down, intreating, threatening, commanding;
using the counsel of a sequell, but not losing the dignity of a
prince; preferring those that labour in greater authority, and
punishing those that loiter tmth due severity*^ ** The common-
wealth of your bees [replied Euphues] did so delight me, that
I was not a little sorry, that either their estates have not been
longer, or your leisure more ; for in my simple judgment, there
was suh an orderly government that men may not be almnied to
imitate them.** Malone.
' ajid officers of sorts:'} Thus the folio. The quarto
reads sort; i. e. hign rank. See Vol. VI. p. S75, n. 2; aiid
p. 396, n. 3. Malone.
Officers of sorts means officers of different degrees. In a
London haberdasher's bill to his customer in the country, I lately
saw the following charge: " To thread oi' sorts;** i. e. of differ-
ent kinds. Steevens.
In confirmation of Mr. Steevens's opinion it may be observed,
that in A true Relntion of the admirable Voi/age and Travel of
fVilliam Bush, Sfc. 4to. 1607, we have " drumnies and sortes
ofmusicke." Rkbo.
* venture trade abroad;"} To venture trade is a phrase
of the same import and structure as to hazard battle. Johnson.
sc. II, KING HENRY V. 305
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds ;
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent-royal of their emperor :
Who, busied in his majesty, surveys
The singing masons^ building roofs of gold ;
The civil ^ citizens kneading up the honey j,' ...
The poor mechanick porters crouding in y , w 'H
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate ;
The sad-ey'd justice, with his surly hum,
Delivering o'er to executors^ pale
The lazy yawning drone. I this infer,
That many things, having full reference
To one concent, may work contrariously j
As many arrows, loosed several ways,
Fly to one mark ;
As many several ways meet in one town ;
As many fresh streams run in one self sea ;
* The singing masons "] Our author probably had here two
images in his thoughts. The hum of a bee is obvious. I believe
he was also thinking of a common practice among masons, who,
like many other artificers, frequently sing while at work: a
practice that could not have escaped his observation. Malone.
^ civil ] i.e. sober, grave. So, in Ttvel/ih Night:
" Where is Malvolio ? he is sad and civil." See Vol. V. p. 357,
n. 3. Steevens.
'' kneading up the honey ;] To knead the honey gives
an easy sense, though not physically true. The bees do, in fact,
knead the wax more than the honey, but that Shakspeare per-
haps did not know. Johnson.
The old quartos read lading up the honey. Steevens.
" to executors ] Executors is here used for execu-
tioners. Malone.
It is so used by other authors. Thus, Burton, in the preface
to his Anatomy of Melancholy j p. 38, edit. 1632 :
" tremble at an executor, and yet not feare hell-
fire." Steevens.
VOL. XII. X
iOB KING HENRY V. agti.
As many lines close in the dial's center ;
So may a thousand actions, once afoot.
End in one purpose, and be ail well borne
Without defeat.^ Therefore to France, my liegCk
Divide your happy England into four j
Whereof take you one quarter into France,
And you withal shall make all Gallia shake.
If we, with thrice that power left at home,
Cannot defend our own door flom the dog.
Let us be worried ; and our nation lose
The name of hardiness, and policy*
K, Hen, Call in the messengers sent from the
Dauphin.
{^Eiit an Attendant. Tlie King ascends his
Throne. ' o ;i
Now are we well resolv'd : and, ^by Goiis nelp ;
And yours, the noble sinews of our power,
France being ours, we'll bend it to our awe.
Or break it all to pieces : Or there we'll sit,
Ruling, in large and ample empery,'
O'er France, and all her almost kingly dukedoms j
Or lay these bones in an unworthy urn,
Tombless, with no remembrance over them :
Either our history shall, with full mouth,
Speak freely of our acts ; or else our grave,
Like Turkish mute, shall have a tongueless mouth.
Not Worship'd with a waxen epitaph. ^
Without defeat.] The quartos 1600 and 1608 read :
Without defect. Steevens.
' empery,'} This word, which signifies dominion^ is now
obsolete, though formerly in general use. So, in Claudius Ti-
berius Nero, 1607:
" Within the circuit of our ertiperyy SxEfivtlis.
imth a waxen epitaph."} The quarto 1608 reads :
" voith a paper epitaph.
c. 17. KING HENRY V. 30';
Enter Ambassadors o/Trance.
Now are we well prepared to know the pleasure
Of our fair cousin Dauphin ; for, we hear,
Your greeting is from him, not from the king.
Either a waxen or a. paper epitaph is an epitaph easily obh'te-
rated or destroyed ; one which can confer no lasting honour on
the dead.
To the ancient practice of writing on tcaxen tablets Shak-
speare again alludes in the first scene of Timon of Athens :
" but moves itself
" In a wide sea of aoax."
See notes on this passage.
Thus also, in G. Whetstone's Garden of Untkriftiness, 1576:
** In UMxe, say I, men easily grave their will ;
" In marble stone the worke with paine is wonne :
** But perfect once, the print remaineth still,
** When ivaxen scales by every browse are donne."
Steevens.
The second reading is more unintelligible, to me at least, than
the other: a grave not dignified with the slightest memorial.
Johnson.
I think this passage has been misunderstood. Henry says,
*' he will either rule with full dominion in France, or die in the
attempt, and lay his bones in a paltry urn, without a tomb, or
any remembrance over him.'* With a view to the alternative
tiat he has just stated, he adds, by way of apposition and illus-
tration, ** either the English Chronicles shall speak, trumpet-
tongued, to the world, of my victories in France, or, being de-
feated there, my death shall scarcely be mentioned in history;
shall not be honoured by the best epitaph a prince can have, the
toritten account of his achievements." A paper epitaph, there-
fore, or, in other words, an historical eulogy, instead of a sliglU
token of respect, is mentioned by Henry as the most honourable
memorial ; and Dr. Johnson's objection founded on the incon-
gruity of saying that his grave should not be dignified by the
slightest memorial, falls to the ground.
The misrepresentation, I conceive, arose from understanding
a figurative expression literally, and supposing that a paper
epitaph meant an epitaph written on a paper, to be affixed to a
tenUf.
X 2
308 KING HENRY V. act i.
Amb. May it please your majesty, to give us leave
Freely to render what we have in charge ;
Or shall we sparingly show you far off
The Dauphin's meaning, and our embassy ?
K, Hen. We are no tyrant, but a Christian king;
Unto whose grace our passion is as subject.
As are our wretches fettered in our prisons :
Therefore, with frank and with uncurbed plain-
ness.
Tell us the Dauphin's mind.
Waxerif the reading of the folio, when it is used by Shak-
speare metaphorically, signifies soft, yielding, taking an impres-
sion easily ; (so, in Ttvel/lh- Nighty " women's tvaxen hearts ;**
and, in The Rape of Lucrece^ " For men have marble, women
waxen minds," &c. ) and consequently might mean also easily
obliterated : but this meaning is quite inconsistent with the con-
text ; for in the former part of the passage the event of Henry's
being buried without a tomb, and without an epitaph^ has been
already stated, and therefore the want of an epitaph (in its
literal acceptation) could not with propriety again be insisted on,
in the latter member of the sentence, which relates to a different
point ; the question in this place being only, whether his deeds
should be emblazoned by narration, or his actions and his bones
together consigned to " dust and damn'd oblivion.''^ If any
alteration was made by the author, in this passage, he might
perhaps have changed the epithet paper to lasting ; and the
transcriber who prepared the folio copy for the press, might
have been deceived by his ear, and have written waxen instead of
the latter word. There is not indeed much similarity in the
sound of the two words ; but mistakes equally gross are found
in these plays, which, it is highly probable, happened in this
way. Thus, in this very play, the folio has name for mare.
See p. 321, n. 5. Our poet's 55th Sonnet furnishes a strong
confirmation of my interpretation of this passage :
** Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
* Of princes, shall out-live this powerful rh3m[)e ;
** But you shall shine more bright in these contents
** Than unswept stone, besmear'd with sluttish time.
" When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
** And broils root out the work of masonry,
" Nor Mars his sword, nor war's quick fire, shall bura
The living record of your memory ;" &c. Malone.
sc, II, ' KING HENRY V. 309
Amb. Thus then, in few.
Your highness, lately sending into France,
Did claim some certain dukedoms, in the right
Of your great predecessor, king Edward the third.
In answer of which claim, the prince our master
Says, that you savour too much of your youth ;
And bids you be advis*d, there's nought in France,
That can be with a nimble galliard won ;^
You cannot revel into dukedoms, there :
He therefore sends you, meeter for your spirit,
This tun of treasure ; and, in lieu of this.
Desires you, let the dukedoms, that you claim.
Hear no more of you. This the Dauphin speaks.
K. Hen, What treasure, uncle ?
ExE, Tennis-balls, my liege.*
' a. nimble galliard toon;] A galliard was an ancient
dance, now obsolete. So, in All for Money ^ 1574:
" Where shall we get a pipe, to play the devil a gal-
liardf* Steevkns.
Galliards are thus described by Sir John Davis, in his poem
called Orchestra :
" But for more diverse and more pleasing show,
" A swift and wand'ring dance she did invent,
" With passages uncertain to and fro,
" Yet with a certain answer and consent
** To the quick musick of the instrument.
*' Five was the number of the musick's feet,
" Which still the dance did with five paces meet ;
** A gallant dance, that lively doth bewray
" A spirit and a virtue masculine,
** Impatient that her house on earth should stay,
* Since she herself is fiery and divine :
** Oft doth she make her body upward fine ;
" With lofty turns and capriols in the air,
" Which with the lusty tunes accordeth fair."
Reed.
* Tennis-ballsy my liege.'] In the old play of King Henry V.
already mentioned, this present consists of a gilded tun oftennis->
kails and a carpet. Steevens.
SIO KING HENRY V. act i.
K,He2^, We are glad, the Dauphin is so pleasant
with us ; ^
His present, and your pains, we thank you for :
When we have match'd our rackets to these balls,
We will, in France, by God*s grace, play a set.
Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard :
Tell him, he hath made a match with such a
wrangler.
That all the courts of France will be disturbed
With chaces/ And we understand him well.
How he comes o'er us with our wilder days.
Not measuring what use we made of them.
We never valu'd this poor seat of England ;'^
* We are glad, the Dauphin is so pleasant tvith us)2 Thus
stands the answer of King Henry in the same old play :
** My lord, prince Dolphin is very pleasant with me.
*' But tell him, that instead of balls of leather,
** We will toss him balls of brass and of iron :
* Yea, such balls as never were toss'd in France.
** The proudest tennis-court in France shall rue it."
The same circumstance also is thus expressed in Michael
Drayton's Battle of Agincourt :
** I'll send him balls and rackets if I live ;
* That they such racket shall in Paris see,
" When over line with bandies I shall drive ;
" As that, before the set be fully done,
" France may perhaps into the hazard run.'*
Steevens.
. . chacesJ^ Chace is a term at tennis. Johnson.
So, in Sidney's Arcadia, Book III : " Then Fortune (as if she
had made chases enow on the one side of that bloody Tems-court)
went on the other side of the line" &c.
Tlie hazard is a place in the tennis-court into which the ball
is sometimes struck. Steevens.
7 this poor seat of England ;] By the seat of England,
the King, I believe, means the throne. So, Othello boasts that
he is descended " from men of roi/al siege." Henry afterwards
says, he will rouse him in his throne of France. The words
below, " I will keep my state,'* likewise confirm this interpre-
7. //. KING HENRY V. si|
And therefore, living hence, ^ did give ourself
To barbarous license ; As 'tis ever common.
That men are merriest when they are frpm home.
tation. See Vol. XI. p, 301, n. I ; and Vol. X. p, 1Y8, n. 5.
So, in King Richard II:
" \ ea, distaff-women manage rusty bills
" Against thy seat"
Again, in King Richard III:
" The supreme seat, the throne majestical, .'*
Again, in King Henry VI. Part II :
" The rightful heir tp England's royal seat." Malone,
' And therefore^ living hence,] This expression has strength
and energy : he never valued England, and therefore lived hence,
\. e. as if absent fronj it. But the Oxford editor alters hence to
here. Warburton.
Living hence means, I believe, withdrawing from the court,
the place in which he is now speaking.
Perhaps Prospero, in The Tempest, has more clearly eijtpressed
the pame idea, when he says :
" The government I cast upon my brother,
" And to my state grew stranger.** Steevens.
In King Richard II. Act V. sc. ii. King Henry IV. com-
plains that he had not seen his son for three months, and desires
that he may be enquired for among the taverns, where he daily
frequents,
" With unrestrain'd and loose companions."
See also King Henry I V. Part II. Act III. sc. ii :
" Thy place in council thou hast rudely lost,
** Which by thy younger brother is supplied ;
*^ And art almost an alien to the hearts
" Of all the court and princes of my blqod.'*
There can therefore be no doubt that Mr. Steevens's explana-
tion is just. Hence refers to the seat or throne of England men-
tioned in the preceding line, on which Henry is now sitting.
An anonymous Remarker says, " It is evident that the word
hence implies here." J hence means here, any one word, as Dr.
Johnson has somewhere observed, may stand for another. It
undoubtedly does not signify here in the present passage ; and
if it did, would render what follows nonsense. Malone.
The naore I consider this passage, and the remarks of its vari-
ous commentators, the more convinced I am that the present
reading cannot be reconciled to sense. M. Mason.
312 KING HENRY V. act i.
But tell the Dauphin, I will keep my state ;
Be like a king, and show my sail of greatness.
When I do rouse me in my throne of France :
For that I have laid by ^ my majesty.
And plodded like a man for working-days ;
But I will rise there with so full a glory.
That I will dazzle all the eyes of France,
Yea, strike the Dauphin blind to look on us.
And tell the pleasant prince, this mock of his
Hath turn*d his balls to gun-stones ; ' and his soul
Shall stand sore charged for the wasteful vengeance
That shall fly with them: for many a thousand
widows
Shall this his mock mock out of their dear hus-
bands ;
Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles down ;
And some are yet ungotten, and unborn.
That shall have cause to curse the Dauphin's scorn.
But this lies all within the will of God,
' For that I have laid by ] To qualify myself for this un-
dertaking, I have descended from my station, and studied the
arts of life in a lower character. Johnsok.
The quartos 1600 and 1608 read for this. Steevens.
' his balls to gun-stones;] When ordnance was first
used, they discharged balls, not of iron, but of stone.
Johnson.
So, Holinshed, p. 947 : " About seaven of the clocke
marched forward the light pieces of ordinance, with stone and
powder."
In the Brut of England it is said, that when Henry the
Fifth before Hare-flete received a taunting message from the
Dauphine of France, and a ton of tennis-balls by way of con-
tempt, " he anone lette make tenes balles for the Dolfin
(Henry's ship) in all the haste that they myght, and they were
great gonnestones for the Dolfin to playe withalle. But this
game at tennis was too rough for the besieged, when Henry
playede at the tenes with his hard gonnestones ,* &c.
Steevens.
sc. II, KING HENRY V. 313
To whom I do appeal ; And in whose name.
Tell you the Dauphin, I am coming on.
To venge me as I may, and to put forth
My rightful hand in a well-hallow* d cause.
So, get you hence in peace ; and tell the Dauphin,
His jest will savour but of shallow wit,
When thousands weep, more than did laugh at it.-
Convey them with safe conduct. Fare you well.
\^Ea:unt Ambassadors.
ExE. This was a merry message.
K. Hen, We hope to make the sender blush at it.
[^Descends from his Throne*
Therefore, my lords, omit no happy hour.
That may give furtherance to our expedition :
For we have now no thought in us but France ;
Save those to God, that run before our business.
Therefore, let our proportions for these wars
Be soon collected ; and all things thought upon.
That may, with reasonable swiftness, add
More feathers to our wings ; ^ for, God before.
We'll chide this Dauphin at his father's door.
Therefore, let every man now task his thought,^
That this fair action may on foot be brought.
\_ExeunU
mth reasonable stoifiness, add
More feathers to our wings ;] So, in Troilus and Cressida:
set
" The very ijiiings of reason to his heels." Steevens.
task his thought^'] The same phrase has already oc-
curred at the beginning of the present scene :
" That task our thoughts^ concerning us and France,
See p. 287, n. 1. Steevens.
314 KING HENRY V. JCTif,
ACT II.
nter Chorus.
Chor. Now all the youth of England* are on fire,
And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies ;
Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought
Reigns solely in the breast of every man :
They sell the pasture now, to buy the horse ;
Following the mirror of all Christian kings,
With winged heels, as English Mercuries.
For now sits Expectation in the air ;
And hides a sword, from hilts unto the point.
With crowns imperial, crowns, and coronets,^
* Now all the youth of England ] I think Mr. Pope mis-
taken in transposing this Chorus, [to the end of the first scene of
the second Act,] and Mr. Theobald in concluding the [first] Act
with it. The Chorus evidently introduces that which follows,
not comments on that which precedes, and therefore rather
begins than ends the Act ; and so I have printed it. Johnson.
* For Hotu sits Expectation in the air ;
And hides a sword^Jrom hilts unto the pointy
With crofvons imperial, &c.] The imagery is wonderfully
fine, and the thought exquisite. Expectation sitting in the air
designs the height of their ambition ; and the sv)ord hid from,
the hilt to the point with crowns and coronets, that all senti-
ments of danger were lost in the thoughts of glory.
Warburton.
The idea is taken from the ancient representation of trophief
in tapestry or painting. Among these it is very common to see
swords encircled with naval or mural crowns. Expectation i
likewise personified by Milton, Paradise Lost, Book Vl :
*' while Expectation stood
" In horror ." Steevens.
In the Horse Armoury in the Tower of London, Edward III.
is represented with two crowns on his sword, alluding to the two
ACT IT. KING HENRY V. 315
Promis'd to Harry, and his followers.
The French, advis'd by good intelligence
Of this most dreadful preparation.
Shake in their fear ; and with pale policy
Seek to divert the English purposes.
O England ! model to thy inward greatness.
Like little body with a mighty heart,
What might' st thou do, that honour would thee do.
Were all thy children kind and natural !
But see thy fault ! France hath in thee found out
A nest of hollow bosoms, which he fills ^
With treacherous crowns : and three corrupted
men,
One, Richard earl of Cambridge;'' and the second,
Henry lord Scroop^ of Marsham ; and the third.
Sir Thomas Grey knight of Northumberland,
kingdoms, France and England, of both of which he was
crowned heir. Perhaps the poet took the thought from a similar
representation. Toleet.
This image, it has been observed by Mr. Henley, is borrowed
from a wooden cut in the first edition of Holinshed's Chronicle.
Malone.
^ iiohich he ] i. e. the king of France. So, in King
John :
" England, impatient of your just demands,
" Hath put himself in arms."
Hanmer and some other editors unnecessarily read she.
Again, in a subsequent scene of the play before us :
" Though France hiinself, and such another neighbour,
" Stood in our way." Malone.
' Richard earl of Cambridge ;"] was Richard de Conins-
bury, younger son of Edmund ofXangley, Duke of York. He
was father of Richard Duke of York, father of Edward the
Fourth. Walpole.
* Henri/ lord Scroop ] was a third husband of Joan Duchess
of York, (she had four,) mother-in-law of Richard Earl of
Cambridge. Malone.
316 KING HENRY V. actii.
Have, for the gilt of France,^ (O guilt, indeeU)
Confirm'd conspiracy with fearful France ;
And by their hands this grace of kings ' must die^
(If hell and treason hold their promises,)
Ere he take ship for France, and in Southampton.
Linger your patience on ; and well digest^
The abuse of distance, while we force a play.^
The sum is paid ; the traitors are agreed ;
The king is set from London ; and the scene
Is now transported, gentles, to Southampton ;
the gilt of France,"] Gilt, which, in our author,
generally signifies a display qfgoldy (as in this play,
" Our gayness and our gilt are all besmirch'd," )
in the present instance means golden money. So, in An Alarum
for London y 1602 :
" To spend the victuals of our citizens,
** Which we can scarcely compass now for gilt,**
Steevens.
' * this grace of kings ] i. e. he who does the greatest
honour to the title. By the same kind of phraseology the
usurper in Hamlet is called the Vice of kings, i. e. the oppro-
brium of them. Warburton. .
Shakspeare might have found this phrase in Chapman's trans-
lation of the first Book of Homer, 1598 :
* with her the grace of kings,
" Wise Ithacus ascended '*
Again, in the S-tth Book, [no date] :
" Idaeus, guider of the mules, discerned this grace of
men.** Steevens.
well digest ] The folio, in which only these choruses
are found, reads, and perhaps rightly xue*ll digest. Steevens.
This emendation was made by Mr. Pope ; and the words
while xve, which are not in the old copy, were supplied by him.
Malone,
'while we force a play.] The two first words were
added (as it should seem) very properly. To force a play, is
to produce a play by compelling many circumstmices intp a
narrow compass. Steevens.
ACT 11. KING HENRY V. 317
There is the playhouse now,* there must you sit:
And thence to France shall we convey you safe.
And bring you back, charming the narrow seas^
To give you gentle pass ; for, if we may,
* And by their hands this grace of kings must die,
{If hell and treason hold their promises,)
Ere he take ship for France, and in Southampton.
Linger your patience on ; and well digest
The abuse of distance, while we force a play.
The sum is paid ; the traitors are agreed ;
The king is set from London; and the scene
Is now transported, gentles, to Southampton :
There is the playhouse now,"] I suppose every one that reads
these lines looks about for a meaning which he cannot find.
There is no connection of sense nor regularity of transition from
one thought to the other. It may be suspected that some lines
are lost, and in that case the sense is irretrievable. I rather
think, them eaning is obscured by an accidental transposition,
which I would reform thus :
And by their hands this grace of kings must die.
If hell and treason hold their promises.
The sum is paid, the traitors are agreed,
The king is set from London, and the scene
Is now transported, gentles, to Southampton,
Ere he take ship for France. And in Southampton
Linger your patience on, and well digest
The abuse of distance, while we force a play.
There is the playhouse now .
This alteration restores sense, and probably the true sense.
The lines might be otherwise ranged, but this order pleases me
best. Johnson.
* charming the narrow seas ] Though Ben Jonson, as
we are told, was mdebted to the kindness of Shakspeare for the
introduction of his first piece. Every Man in his Humour, on
the stage, and though our author performed a part in it, Jon-
son, in the prologue to that play, as in many other places, en-
deavoured to ridicule and depreciate him :
** He rather prays, you will be pleas'd to see
" One such to-day, as other plays should be ;
" Where neither chorus wafts you o'er the seas,*' &C.
When this prologue was written, is unknown. The envioUB
author of it, however, did not publish it till 1616, the year of
Shakspeare*s death. Malone.
318 KING HENRY V. jktu.
We'll not offend one stomach'' with our play.
But, till the king come forth,' and not till then,
Unto Soutliampton do we shift our scene. \^Exit.
' WeHl not offend one stomach ] That is, you shall pass the
sea without the qualms of sea-sickness. Johnson.
' But, till the Icing comeybrM,] Here seems to be something
omitted. Sir T. Hanmer reads :
But when the king comesjbrthy
which, as the passage now stands, is necessary. These lines,
obscure as they are, refute Mr. Pope's conjectures on the true
place of the Chorus ; for they show that something is to inter-
vene before the scene changes to Southampton. Johnson.
The Catw7is qfCriticism read :
and but till then.
And Mr. Heath approves the correcticm. Steevens.
Mr. Roderick would read :
and but till then ;
that is, '* till the king appears next, you are to suppose the
scene shifted to Southampton, and no longer; for as soon as he
comes forth, it luill shift to France.'''' But this does not agree
with the fact ; for a scene in London intervenes.
In The Merchant of Venice, 1600, printed by J. Roberts, bul
is printed for not:
" Repent but you that you shall lose your friend."
and the two words, in many other places, are confounded. See
p. 300, n. 4. I suspect But is printed for Not in the beginning
of the line, and that not has taken the place of hut allerwards.
If we read :
Not till the Icing come forth, and but till then,
the meaning will be : " We will not shift our scene unto South-
ampton, till the king makes his appearance on the stage, and
the scene wUl be at Southampton only for the short time while
he does appear on the stage ; for soon after his appearance, it
will change to France.*' Malone.
sc. r. L KING HENRY V. S19
SCENE I.
The same. Eastcheap.
JSnter Nym and Bardolph.
Bard. Well met, corporal Nym.
Ntm. Good morrow, lieutenant Bardolph.*
Bard. What, are ancient Pistol and you friends
yet? .
Nym. For my part, I care not : I say little ; but
when time shall serve, there shall be smiles j^ ^but
? ^'^lieutenant Bardolph.'} At this scene begins the conk
nection of this play with the latter part oKing Henry IV. The
characters would be indistinct, and the incidents unintelligible,
without the knowledge of what passed in the two foregoing plays,
Johnson.
The author of Remarks on the last edition of Shakspeare
([1778] wishes to know, where Bardolph acquired this commis-
sion, (as heis no more than FalstaflF's corporal mKing Henry IV.y
and calls on Mr. Steevens for information on this subject. If
Shakspeare were now alive, he would perhaps find it as difficult
to give the desired information as Mr. Steevens. The intelligent
reader must long since have observed that our author not only
neglected to compare his plays with each other, but that, even
in the same play, " the latter end of his commonwealth some-
times forgets the beginning." Malone.
^ there shall be smiles ;] I suspect smiles to be a mar-
ginal direction crept into the text. It is natural for a man, when
he threatens, to break off abruptly, and conclude, But that
shall be as it may. But this fantastical fellow is made to smile
disdainfully while he threatens ; which circumstance was marked
for the player's direction in the margin. Warburton.
I do not remember to have met with these marginal directions
for expression of countenance in any of our ancient manuscript
plays: neither do I see occasion for Dr. Warburton's emendation,
as it is vain to seek the precise meaning of every whimsical
(^rase employed by this eccentric character. Nym, however,
320 KING HENRY V. act ii.
that shall be as it may. I dare not fight ; but I will
wink, and hold out mine iron : It is a simple one ;
but what though ? it will toast cheese ; and it will
endure cold as another man's sword will: and
there's the humour of it. *
Bard. I will bestow a breakfast, to make you
friends; and we'll be all three sworn brothers to
France :^ let it be so, good corporal Nym.
Nym. 'Faith, I will live so long as I may, that's
the certain of it ; and when I cannot live any
longer, I will do as I may:^ that is my rest,* that
is the rendezvous of it.
having expressed his indifference about the continuation of Pis-
tol's friendship, might have added, ixihen time serves^ there shall
be smileSy i. e. he should be merry, even though he was to lose
it ; or, that his face would be ready with a smile as often as
occasion should call one out into service, though Pistol, who had
excited so many, was no longer near him. Dr. Farmer, how-
ever, with great probability, would read, smites^ i. e. blovus^ a
word used in the midland counties. Steevens.
Perhaps Nym means only to say, I care not whether we are
friends at present ; however, when time shall serve, voe shall
he in good humour with each other : but be it as it may.
Ma LONE.
' the humour of it."] Thus the quarto. The folio reads,
and there^s an end. Steevens.
-and 'we'll be all three sworn brothers to France:'] We
should read, we^ll all go sworn brothers to France j or, we'll all
be sworn brothers in France. Johnson.
The humour of sworn brothers should be opened a little. In
the time of adventure, it was usual for two chiefs to bind them-
selves to share in each other's fortune, and divide their acquisi-
tions between them. So, in the Conqueror's expedition, Robert
de Oily, and Roger de Ivery, were Jratres jurati; and Robert
fave one of the honours he received to his sworn brother Roger,
o these three scoundrels set out for France, as if they were go-
ing to make a conquest of the kingdom. Whalley.
' and when I cannot live any longer, I will do as 1
wiay;] Surely we ought to read, " 1 will die as I may.**
M. Mason,
sc, /. KING HENRY V. 321
Bard. It is certain, corporal, that he is married
to Nell Quickly: and, certainly, she did you wrong j
for you were troth-plight to her.
Nym. I cannot tell ; things must be as they may :
men may sleep, and they may have their throats
about them at that time ; and, some say, knives
have edges. It must be as it may : though patience
be a tired mare,^ yet she will plod. There must
be conclusions. Well, I cannot tell.
Enter Pistol and Mrs. Quickly.
Bard. Here comes ancient Pistol, and his wife :
^good corporal, be patient here. How now,
mine host Pistol ?
PiST. Base tike,^ call'st thou me host?
that is my rest,] i. e. what I am resolved on. For a
particular account of this phrase, see notes on Romeo and Juliet t
Act IV. sc. V. and Act V. sc. iii. [Vol. XX.] Steevens.
* rfotience be a tired mare,] The folio reads, by cor-
ruption, tired name, from which Sir T. Hanmer, sagaciously
enough, derived tired dame. Mr. Theobald retrieved from the
quarto tired mare, the true reading. Johnson.
So, in Pierce's Supererogation ^ or a New Praise of the Old
Asse, &c. " Silence is a slave in a chaine, and patience the
common packkorse of the world." Steevens.
** Base tike,] Tijk is the Runick word for a little, or worth-
less dog. So, in Kine Lear :
" Or bobtail tike^ or trundle-tail."
This word is still employed in Yorkshire, and means a clown, or
rustick. So, in Henry Carey's ballad opera, entitled^ The Won-
der^ an Honest Yorkshiremany 1736:
" If you can like
" A Yorkshire tike^^* &c. Steevens.
In Minsheu*s Dictionarvy 1617, tike is defined, " a worme
that sucks the blood." It is now commonly spelt tick, an animal
VOL. XII. Y
322 KINCj henry V. ACTir.
Now, by this hand I swear, I scorn tlie term ;
Nor shall my Nell keep lodgers.
Quick. No, by my troth, not long : for we can-
not lodge and board a dozen or fourteen gentle-
women, that live honestly by the prick of their
needles, but it will be thought we keep a bawdy-
house straight. [Nym draws his 5Wor</.] O well-a-
day. Lady, if he be not drawn now!^ O Lord!
that infests sheep, dogs, &c. This may have been Pistol's term.
Our author has the word in the sense Mr. Steevens has assigned
to it, in King Lear ; and it occurs with the other signification
in Troilus and Cressida. Pistol's next speech, however, sup-
ports the formei| explanation. Malone.
' O todl-a-day. Lady, if he he net drawn note /] The folio
hewn. If he be not hevnn must signify, if he be not ctU dinum ,
and in that case the very thing is supposed which Quickly was
apprehensive of. But I rather think her fright arises upon see-
ing the swords drawn, and I have ventured to make a slight al-
teration accordingly. If he be not drawn, for, if he has not his
stvord dratKn^ is an expression familiar to our poet, Theobald.
The quarto omits this obscure passage, and only gives us,
Lord! here*s corporal Nyni's .-. But as it cannot be as-
certained which words (or whether any) were designedly ex-
cluded, I have left both exclamations in the text. Mrs. Quickly,
without deviation from her character, maybe supposed to utter
repeated outcries on the same alarm. And yet I think we might
read, if he be not hewing. To hack and heu> is a common vulgar
expression. So, in If you knorv not me you knoxu Nobody , by
He)nvood, 1606 : " ^ones o'me, he would hetv it."
Again, in King Edtvard III. 1599 :
" The sin is more to hack and heiv poor men.**
Again, in Froissart's Chronicle, Cap. CCClv. fol. ccxxxiiii:
* For they all-to hewed the maryners, and dyde putte out their
eyen, and so sente them to Gaunte, maymed as they were."
After all (as the late Mr. Guthrie observed) to be hewn might
mean, to be drunk. There is yet a low phrase in use on the
same occasion, which is not much unlike it; viz. " he is cf."
** Such a one was cut a little last night."
JSo, in The Witty Fair One, by Shirley, 1633 :
sc, J. KING HENRY V. 323
here's corporal Nym*s now shall we have wilful
adultery and murder committed. Good lieutenant
Bardolph,^ ^good corporal, offer nothing here.
* Then, sir, there is the cut of your leg.
" ^that's when a man is drunk, is it not ?
" Do not stagger in your judgment, for this cut is the grace
of your body."
Again, in The London Chaunticleres, 1659 : " when the
cups of canary have made our heads frisk ; oh how we shall foot
it when we can scarce stand, and caper when we are cut in the
leg !" Again, in Decker's Guls Hornbook, 1609 : " ^to accept
the courtesy of the cellar when it is offered you by the drawers
(and you must know that kindness never creepes upon tliem but
when they seeypu almost cleft to the shoulders)," &c.
Steevens.
I have followed the quarto, because it requires no emendation.
Here's corporal Nym's sword drawn, the Hostess would say,
but she breaks off abruptly.
The editor of the folio here, as in many other places, not
understanding an abrupt passage, I believe, made out something
that he conceived might have been intended. Instead of " O
Lord," to avoid the penalty of the statute, he inserted, " O ixelU
a-day. Lady,** and added, if he be not hevon now." The latter
wora is evidently corrupt, and was probably printed, as Mr.
Steevens conjectures, for hewing. But, for the reason already
given, I have adhered to the quarto. Malone.
How would the editor of the folio have escaped profaneness
by substituting Lady for Lord? for Lady is an exclamation on
our blessed Lady, the Virgin Mary. Steevens.
Goorf lieutenant <^c.] This sentence ( except the word i?cr-
dolph) is in the folio given to Bardolph, to whom it is evident
these words cannot belong, for he is himself, in this play, the
lieutenant. Mr. Steevens proposes to solve the difficulty by read-
ing good ancient, supposing Pistol to be the person addressed.
But it is clear, I think, from the quarto, that these words belong
to the speech of the Hostess, who, seeing Nym's sword drawn,
conjures him and his friend Bardolph to use noViolence. In the
quarto, the words, " Good corporal N)nm, show the valour of a
man," are immediately subjoined to " now shall we have wilful
adultery and murder committed." Bardolph was probably an
interlineation, and erroneously inserted before the words, " good
lieutenant," instead of being placed, as it now is, after them.
Y 2
324 KING HENRY V. act il
Nym. Pish!
PiST. Pish for thee, Iceland dog!^ thou prick-
eared cur' of Iceland !
Hence, he was considered as the speaker, instead of the person
addressed. Malone.
^ Iceland dog /] In the folio the word is spelt Island ; in
the quarto, Iseland. Malone.
I believe we should read, Iceland dog. He seems to allude
to an account credited in Elizabeth's time, that in the north
there was a nation with human bodies and dogs' heads.
Johnson.
The quartos confirm Dr. Johnson's conjecture. Steevens.
Iceland dog is probably the true reading ; yet in Hakluyt's
Voyages, we often meet with island. Drayton, in his Moon-calf,
mentions tvater-dogs, and islands. And John Taylor dedicates
his Sculler " To the whole kennel of Antichrist's hounds, priests,
friars, monks, and jesuites, mastiffs, mongrels, islands, blood-
hounds, bob-taile tikes." Farmer.
Perhaps this kind of dog was then in vogue for the ladies to
carry about with them.
So, in Ram- Alley, or Merry Tricks, 1611 :
*' you shall have jewels,
** A baboon, a parrot, and an Izeland dog.*'
Again, in Txko Wise Men, and all the rest Fools, 1619:
** Enter Levitia, cum Pedisequa, her periwig of dog's hair
white, &c.
" Insa. A woman ? 'tis not a woman. The head is a dog ;
'tis a mermaid, half dog, half woman.
" Par. No, 'tis but the hair of a dog in fashion, pulled from
these Iceland dogs."
Again : " for torturing of these Iceland imps, with eradi-.
eating their fleeces, thereby to enjoy the roots."
Again, in the Preface to Swetnam's Arraignment of Women,
1617 : " But if I had brought little dogs from Iceland, or
fine glasses from Venice," &c.
It appears from a Proclamation in Rymer's Feeder a, that in
tlie reign of Henry V. the English had a fishery on the coasts
of Norway and Iceland; and Holinshed, in his Description of
Britain, p. 231, says, " we have sholts or curs dailie brought
out oi Iseland." Steevens.
Island [that is, Iceland'^ cur is again used as a term of con-
SCI. KING HENRY V. 325
Quick. Good corporal Nym, show the valour of
a man, and put up thy sword.
Nym. Will you shog off?^ I would have you
solus. [^Sheathing his sword.
PisT. Solus, egregious dog ? O viper vile !
The solus in thy most marvellous face ;
The solus in thy teeth, and in thy throat.
And in thy hateful lungs, yea, in thy maw, perdy j ^
tempt in Epigrams served out in Fifty-two several Dishes^ no
date, but apparently written in the time of James the First:
** He wears a gown lac'd round, laid down with furre,
" Or, miser-like, a pouch, where never man
** Could thrust his linger, but this island curre.^'*
See also Britannia Triumphans, a masque, 1636 :
*' she who hath been bred to stand
" Near chair of queen, with Island shock in hand."
Malone.
p rick-eared cur ] A prick-eared cur is likewise in the
list of dogs enumerated in The Booke of Huntyngy &c. bl. 1. no
date:
*' trundle-tails and prick-eared curs.** Stee vens.
*' There were newly come to the citie two young men that
were Romans, which ranged up and downe the streetes, tvith
their ears upright.** Painter's Palace of Pleasure, This is said
of two sharpers, and seems to explain the term prick-eared.
Henderson.
* Will you shog qff^2 "^^is cant word is used in Beaumont
and Fletcher's Coxcomb :
" Come, pr'ythee, let us shog off".**
Again, in Pasquill and Kathariney 1601 :
*' thus it shogges,** i. e. thus it goes.
Thus, also, in Arthur Hall's translation of the 4th Iliad, 4to.
1581:
" ^ these fained wordes agog
** So set the goddesses, that they in anger gan to shog.**
Steevexs.
' in thy hateful lungs, yea, in thy maw, pcrdy ;2 Such
was the coarse language once in use among vulgar brawlers. So,
in The Life and Death of William Summers, &c :
" Thou lyest in thy throat and in thy guts.**
Steevens,
326 KING HENRY V. act lu
And, which is worse, within thy nasty mouth!*
I do retort the solus in thy bowels :
For I can take,^ and PistoPs cock is up,
And flashing fire will follow.
Nym. I am not Barbason ; you cannot conjure
me.^ I have an humour to knock you indifferently
well : If you grow foul with me, Pistol, I will scour
you with my rapier, as I may, in fair terms; if
you would walk off, I would prick your guts a lit-
tle, in good terms, as I may ; and that's the hu-
mour of it.
PiST, O braggard vile, and damned furious
wight !
The grave doth gape, and doting death is near;''
Therefore exhale.^ [Pistol and Nym draw,
* thi/ nasty mouth I"] The quartos read :
messful mouth. Steevens.
* For I can take,] I know not well what he can take. The
quarto reads talk. In our author to take^ is sometimes to blasts
which sense may serve in this place. Johnson.
The old reading, / can take^ is right, and means, / can take
Jire. Though Pistol's cock was up, yet if he did not take fire,
no flashing could ensue. The whole sentence consists in allu-
sions to his name. M. Mason.
The folio here, as in two other places, corruptly reads take.
See Vol. X. p. 146, n. 6. Malone.
^ I am not Barbason ; you cannot conjure me.'] Barbason is
the name of a daemon mentioned in The Merry Wives of Wind-
sory Vol. V. p. 98, n. 2. The unmeaning tumour of Pistol's
speech very naturally reminds Nym of the sounding nonsense
uttered by conjurers. Steevens.
^ doting death is near j] Thus the folio. The quarto
has groaning death. Johnson.
* Therefore exhale.] Exhale^ I believe, here signifies dra/Wf
or, in Pistol's language, hale or lug out. The stage-direction
in the old quarto, They drawe.'] confirms this explanation.
Malone.
sc. J. KING HENRY V. S27
Bard. Hear me, hear me what I say :-.^he that
strikes the first stroke, 1*11 run him up to the hilts,
as I am a soldier. \^Draws.
Fist. An oath of mickle might ; and fury shall
abate.
Give me thy fist, thy fore-foot to me give ;
Thy spirits are most tall.
NvM. I will cut thy throat, one time or other,
in fair terms ; that is the humour of it.
PisT. Coupe le gorge, that's the word ? I thee
defy again.
O hound of Crete,^ think*st thou my spouse to get?
No ; to the spital go.
And from the powdering tub of infamy
Fetch forth the lazar kite of Cressid's kind,^
Therefore exhale means only tJierefore breathe your lasty or
dicy a threat common enough among dramatick heroes of a
higher rank than Pistol, who only expresses this idea in the fan-
tastick language peculiar to his character.
In Chapman's version of the eighteenth Iliadf we are told
that
" Twelve men of greatest strength in Troy, left with
their lives exhaVd
" Their chariots'* &c. Steevens.
O hound of Crete,] He means to insinuate that Nym
thirsted for blood. The hounds of Crete, described by our au-
thor in A Midsummer-Nighfs Dream, appear to have been
bloodhounds. See Vol. IV. p. 451, n. 9. M alone.
This is an ingenious supposition; and yet I cannjt help think-
ing that Pistol on the present, as on many other occasions, makes
use of words to which he had no determinate meaning.
Steevens.
' the lazar kite of Cressid's kind,] The same expression
occurs in Green's Card of Fancy , 1601 : " What courtesy is to
be found in such kites of Cressid's kind?**
Again, in Gascoigne's Dan Bartholomeiv of Bathe, 1587 :
" Nor seldom scene in kites of Cressid's kiride.**
Shakspeare might design a ridicule on the last of these passages.
328 . KING HENRY V. act ii.
Doll Tear-sheet she by name, and her espouse :
I have, and I will hold, the quondam Quickly
For the only she ; and Pauca, there's enough.*
Enter the Boy.
Bov. Mine host Pistol, you must come to my
master, and you, hostess ; ^ he is very sick, and
would to bed. Good Bardolph, put thy nose be-
tween his sheets, and do the office of a warming-
pan : 'faith, he's very ill.
Bard. Away, you rogue.
Quick. By my troth, he'll yield the crow a pud-
ding one of these days : the king has killed his
heart. Good husband, come home presently.
\^Ea:euni Mrs. Quickly and Boy.
Bard. Come, shall I make you two friends ?
We must to France together; Why, the devil,
should we keep knives to cut one another's throats?
Fist. Let floods o'erswell, and fiends for food
howl on !
Nym. You'll pay me the eight shillings I won
of you at betting ?
Again, in The Forrest of Fancy y 1579 :
?* For such rewardes they dayly fjmde
** That fyxe their fancy faithfully
* On any catte of Cressed's kinde." Steevens.
* there's enough.'] Thus the quarto. The folio adds
to go to, Steevens.
' and yoxiy hostess ;"] The folio has and your hostess.
Corrected by Sir T. Hanmer. The emendation is supported by
the quarto : ** Hostess, you must come straight to my master,
jind you host Pistol." Malone.
sc. /. KING HENRY V. S29
Pjst, Base is the s'lave that pays.*
Nym. That now I will have ; that's the humour
of it.
PiST. As manhood shall compound ; Push home.
Bard. By this sword, he that makes the first
thrust, I'll kiU him ; by this sword, I will.
PiST, Sword is an oath, and oaths must have
their course.
Bard, Corporal Nym, an thou wilt be friends,
be friends : an thou wilt not, why then be enemies
with me too. Pr'ythee, put up.
Nym. I shall have my eight shillings, I won of
you at betting ?
PiST. A noble shalt thou have, and present pay;
And liquor likewise will I give to thee.
And friendship shall combine, and brotherhood :
1*11 live by Nym, and Nym shall live by me ;
Is not this just ? for I shall sutler be
Unto the camp, and profits will accrue.
Give me thy hand.
Nym. I shall have my noble ?
PiST. In cash most justly paid.
Nym. Well then, that's the humour of it.
Re-enter Mrs. Quickly.
Quick. As ever you came of women, come
in quickly to sir John : Ah, poor heart ! he is so
* Base is the slave that pays."] Perhaps this expression was
proverbial. I meet with it in The Fair Maid of the Westy by
Hey wood, 1631 :
" My motto shall be, Base is the man that pays. ^*
Steevens.
550 KING HENRY V. act ri.
shaked^ of a burning quotidian tertian, that it is
most lamentable to behold. Sweet men, come to
him.
Nfm, The king hath run bad humours on the
knight, that's the even of it.
PiST. Nym, thou hast spoke the right ;
His heart is fracted, and corroborate.
Nym, The king is a good king : but it must be
as it may ; he passes some humours, and careers.
PiST, Let us condole the knight; for, lambkins,
we will live.^ [^Ea^eunt,
' so shaked Sfc.'] Thus Sidney, in the first Book of his
Arcadia :
" And precious couches full oft are shaked with a feaver."
Steevens.
* Jbrf lambkins, tve voill liveJ^ That is, Ave will live as
quietly and peaceably together as lambkins. The meaning has,
I think, been obscured by a different punctuation : " for, lamb-
kins, we will live." Malone.
Lambkins seems to me a fantastick title by which Pistol ad-
dresses his newly-reconciled friends, Nym and Bardolph. The
words 'we will live, may refer to what seems uppermost in his
head, his expected pronts from the camp, of which he has just
given them reason to expect a share. I have not therefore de-
parted from the old punctuation. Steevens.
sc. 11. KING HENRY V. ssi
SCENE II.
Southampton. A Council-Chamber.
Enter Exeter, Bedford, and Westmoreland.
Bed. 'Fore God, his grace is bold, to trust these
traitors.
ExE. They shall be apprehended by and by.
West How smooth and even they do bear
themselves !
As if allegiance in their bosoms sat,
Crowned with faith, and constant loyalty.
Bed. The king hath note of all that they intend,
By interception which they dream not of.
Exe. Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow,'^
' that ivas his bedfellow,] So, Holinshed: " The said
Lord Scroop was in such favour with the king, that he admitted
him sometime to be his bedfeUotv." The familiar appellation of
bedfellowy which appears strange to us, was common among
the ancient nobility. There is a letter from the sixth Earl of
Northumberland, (still preserved in the collection of the present
Duke,) addressed " To his beloved cousyn Thomas Arundel,**
&c. which begins, ** BedfellotUy after my most harte recora-
mendacion." So, in a comedy called A Knack to knotv a
Knave f 1594! :
" Yet, for thou wast once bedfelUfw to a king,
" And that I iov'd thee as my second self," &c.
Again, in Look about you, 1600 :
" if I not err
** Thou art the prince's ward.
" 1 am his ward, chamberlain, and hedfelloxu,"
Again, in Cynthia's Revenge, 1613:
" Her 1*11 bestow, and without prejudice, '
" On thee alone, my noble bedfeUffw.** Steevens.
332 KING HENRY V. act ir.
Whom he hath cloy*d and grac'd^ with princely
favours,
That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell
His sovereign's life to death and treachery ! ^
Trumpet sounds. Enter King Henry, Scroop,
Cambridge, Grey, Lords, and Attendants.
K* Hen. Now sits the wind fair, and we will
aboard.
My lord of Cambridge, and my kind lord of
Masham,
And you, my gentle knight, give me your
thoughts :
Think you not, that the powers we bear with us.
Will cut their passage through the force of France;
Doing the execution, and the act,
For which we have in head assembled them ? ^
This unseemly custom continued common till the middle of
the last century, if not later. Cromwell obtained much of his
intelligence during the civil wars from the mean men with whom
he slept. Henry Lord Scroop was the third husband of Joan
Duchess of York, stepmother of Richard Earl of Cambridge.
Malone.
* cloy'd and grac*d ] Thus the quarto. The folio
reads dull'd and cloy\L Perhaps didl'd is a mistake for dol^d.
Steevens.
to death and treachery I"] Here the quartos insert a
line omitted in all the following editions :
Exe. Q! the lord of Masham! Johnson.
' For tsihich tee have in head assembled tkemf] This is not an
English phraseology. I am persuaded Shakspeare wrote :
For which toe have in aid assembled them ?
alluding tp the tenures of those times. Warburton.
It is strange that the commentator should forget a word so
eminently observable in this writer, as head for an armyjirmed.
Johnson,
sc. II. N KING HENRY V. 335
Scroop, No doubt, my liege, if each man do his
best.
K. Hen. I doubt not that : since we are well
persuaded,
We carry not a heart with us from hence.
That grows not in a fair consent with ours ;^
Nor leave not one behind, that doth not wish
Success and conquest to attend on us.
Cam. Never was monarch better fear'd, andlov'd,
Than is your majesty; there's not, Ithink, a subject.
That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness
Under the sweet shade of your government.
Grey. Even those, that were your father's ene-
mies.
Have steep'd their galls in honey; and do serve you
With hearts create^ of duty and of zeal.
K. Hen. We therefore have great cause of thank-
fulness ;
And shall forget the office of our hand,*
Sooner than quittance of desert and merit.
According to the weight and worthiness.
In head seems synonymous to the modern military term in
force. Malone.
* That grows not in a foir consent voith ours ;'\ So, in
Macbeth :
** If you shall cleave to my consent^* &c.
Consent is union, party, &c. Steevens.
iri a foir concent ] In friendly concord ; in unison
with ours. See Vol. X. p. 96, n. 3. Malone.
' hearts create ] Hearts compounded or made up of
duty and zeal. Johnson.
* And shall forget the office of our hand^'\ Perhaps our au-
thor, when he wrote this line, had the fifth verse of the 137th
Psalm in his thoughts : " If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my
right hand forget her cunning.'" Steevens..
334 KING HENRY V. ^ actit.
Scroop. So service shall with steeled sinews toil j
And labour shall refresh itself with hope,
To do yOur grace incessant services.
K, Hek, We judge no less. Uncle of Exeter,
Enlarge the man committed yesterday.
That raiPd against our person : we consider.
It was excess of wine that set him on;
And, on his more advice,^ we pardon him.
Scroop. That's mercy, but too much security :
Let him be punish'd, sovereign ; lest example
Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind.
K. Hen. O, let us yet be merciful.
Cam. So may your highness, and yet punish too.
Grey. Sir, you show great mercy, if you give
him life.
After the taste of much correction.
K. Hen. Alas, your too much love and care of me
Are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch.
If ^little faults, proceeding on distemper,^
* more advice,'] On his return to more coolness of mind.
JOHNSOK.
See Vol. IV. p. 227, n. 5, and Vol. VI. p. 412, n. 7.
Malone.
proceeding on distemper,^ i. e. sudden passions.
Warburton.
Perturbation of mind. Temper is equality or calmness of
mind, from an equipoise or due mixture of passions. Distemper
of mind is the predominance of a passion, as distemper of body
is the predominance of a humour. Johnson.
It has been just said by the king, that it toas excess of tuine
that set him on, and distemper may therefore mean intoxication.
Distemper*d in liquor is still a common expression. Chapman,
in his Epicedium on the Death of Prince Henry, 1612, has per-
sonified this species of distemper :
" Frantick distemper, and hare-ey*d unrest.**
And Brabantio says, that Roderigo is
" Full of supper and distempering draughts.*'
sc. u. KING HENRY V. 33S
Shall not be wink*d at, how shall we stretch our eye,'
When capital crimes, chewM, swallow'd, and di-
gested.
Appear before us ? We'll yet enlarge that man.
Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey, in their
dear care.
And tender preservation of our person,
Would have him punished. And now to our French
causes ;
Who are the late commissioners ?^
Cam. I one, my lord ;
Your highness bade me ask for it to-day.
Scroop. So did you me, my liege.
Grey. And me, my royal sovereign.
K. i/^iv. Then, Richard, earl of Cambridge, there
is yours ;
There yours, lord Scroop of Masham ; and, sir
knight.
Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours :
Read them ; and know, I know your worthiness.
My lord of Westmoreland, and uncle Exeter,
We will aboard to-night. Why, how now, gentle-
men ?
What see you in those papers, that you lose
So much complexion ? look ye, how they change \
Their cheeks are paper Why, what read you
there.
Again, Holinshed, Vol. III. p. 626 : " ^ave him wine and.
strong drink in such excessive sort, that he was therewith dis'
temperedy and reel'd as he went." Steevens.
^ hoio shall ive stretch our eye,] If we may not tvink at
small faults, how toide must tee open our eyes at great ?
Johnson.
Who are the late commissioners ?] That is, as appears from
the sequel, who are the persons lately appointed commissioners?
M. Mason.
336 KING HENRY V. act it.
That hath so cowarded and chas*d your blood
Out of appearance ?
Cam. I do confess my fault ;
And do submit me to your highness* mercy.
Grey, Scroop. To which we all appeal.
K, Hen. The mercy, that was quick^ in us but
late,
By your own counsel is suppressM and kilPd :
You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy j//
For your own reasons turn into your bosoms.
As dogs upon their masters, worrying them.
See you, my princes, and my noble peers.
These English monsters! My lord of Cambridge
here,
You know, how apt our love was, to accord
To furnish him' with all appertinents
Belonging to his honour ; and this man
Hath, for a few light crowns, lightly conspir*d,
And sworn unto the practices of France,
To kill us here in Hampton: to the which,
This knight, no less for bounty bound to us
Than Cambridge is, hath likewise sworn. ButO !
What shall I say to thee, lord Scroop ; thou cruel,
Ingrateful, savage, and inhuman creature !
Thou, that didst bear the key of all my counsels,
That knew'st the very bottom of my soul.
That almost might' st have coin*d me into gold,
Would'st thou have practised on me for thy use ?
May it be possible, that foreign hire
Could out of thee extract one spark of evil,
That might annoy my finger ? 'tis so strange,
* quick ] That is, living. Johnson.
* To furnish him ] The latter word, which is wanting in
the first folio, was supplied by the editor of the second.
Malone.
sc. 11. KING HENRY V. 337
That, though the truth of it stands oflP as gross
As black from white, ^ my eye will scarcely see it.
Treason, and murder, ever kept together.
As two yoke-devils sworn to either's purpose.
Working so grossly^ in a natural cause.
That admiration did not whoop at them :
But thou, 'gainst all proportion, didst bring in
Wonder, to wait on treason, and on murder:
And whatsoever cunning fiend it was.
That wrought upon thee so preposterously,
H*ath got the. voice in hell for excellence :
And other devils, that suggest by treasons.
Do botch and bungle up damnation
With patches, colours, and with forms being fetch'd
From glistering semblances of piety ;
But he, that temper'd thee,* bade thee stand up.
Gave thee no instance why thou should'st do treason.
Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor.
If that same daemon, that hath gulPd thee thus.
Should with his lion gait walk the whole world.
He might return to vasty Tartar^ back,
* though the truth of it stands off" as gross
As black from white,'] Though the truth be as apparent and
visible as black and white contiguous to each other. To stand
qff"is etre releve, to be prominent to the eye, as the strong parts
of a picture. Johnson.
' so grossly ] Palpably; with a plain and visible con-
nection of cause and effect. Johnson.
* hcy that temper'd thee,] Though tempered may stand
for formed or motdded, yet I fancy tempted was the author's
word, for it answers better to suggest in the opposition.
Johnson.
Tempered, I believe, is the true reading, and means ren-
dered thee pliable to his will. Falstaff says of Shallow, that he
has him " tempering between his thumb and finger."
Steevens.
* vasty Tartar ] i. e. Tartarus^ the fabled place of
future punishment.
VOL. xir. z
338 KING HENRY V. Acrn.
And tell the legions 1 can never win
A soul so easy as that Englishman's.
O, how hast thou with jealousy infected
The sweetness of affiance !^ Show men dutiful ?
Why, so didst thou : Seem they grave and learned?
Why, so didst thou : Come they of noble family ?
Why, so didst thou : Seem they religious ?
Why, so didst thou : Or are they spare in diet ;
Free from gross passion, or of mirth, or anger ;
Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood;
Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement j*^
Not working with the eye, without the ear,*
And, but in purged judgment, trusting neither ?
So, in Heywood's Brazen Age^ 1613 :
" With aeon itum that in Tartar siprmga." Steevens.
Again, in The troublesome Raigne of King John, 1591 :
* And let the black tormentors of black Tattary,
* Upbraide them with this damned enterprize."
Malonk.
* Of haw hast thou voith jealousy infected
The sviieetness of affiance !'\ ShaKspeare uses this aggrava-
tion of the guilt of treachery with great judgment. One of the
worst consequences of breach of trust is the diminution of that
confidence which makes the happiness of life, and the dissemi-
nation of suspicion, which is the poison of society. Johnson.
' Garnished and decked in modest complement ;] Complement
has, in this instance, the same sense as in Lovers Labour*s Lost,
Act I. Complements^ in the age of Shakspeare, meant the same
as accomplishments in the present one. Steevens.
See Vol. VIL p. 14, n. 2. By the epithet modest the king
means that Scroop's accomplishments were not ostentatiously
displayed. Malone.
Ndt working with the eye, tvithout the ear,] The king
means to say ofScroop, that he was a cautious man, who knew
that fronti nulla Jides, that a specious appearance was deceitful,
and therefore did not work with the eye, without the ear, did not
trust the air or look of any man till he had tried him by enquiry
and conversation. Johnson.
4^(7. //. KING HENRY V. 339
Such, and so finely bolted, didst thou seem : ^
And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot.
To mark the full-fraught man, and best indued,^
With some suspicion. I will weep for thee ;
For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like
Another fall of man. Their faults are open,
Arrest them to the answer of the law ;
And God acquit them of their practices !
ExE. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name
of Richard earl of Cambridge.
' and so finely bolted,] i. e. refined or purged from all
faults. Pope.
Bolted is the same with sifted^ and has consequently the
meaning of rejined. Johnson.
To mark the fidl-fraught man^ and best indued, <^c.] Best
indued is a phrase equivalent to gifted or endowed in the mos.t
extraordinary manner. So, Chapman :
" His pow'rs with dreadful strength indu*d'*
Steevens.
The folio, where alone this line is found, reads :
To make the full-fraught man, &c.
The emendation was made by Mr. Theobald. Mr. Pope endea-
voured to obtain some sense by pointing thus :
To make the full fraught man and best, indu*d
With some suspicion.
But **to make a person indtied with suspicion," does not appear,
to my ear at least, like the phraseology of Shakspeare's or any
other age. Make or mock are so often confounded in these plays,
that I once suspected that the latter word might have been used
here : but this also would be very harsh. The old copy has thee
instead of the. The correction was made by Mr. Pope.
Malone.
Qijr author has the same thought again in Cymbeline :
" So thou, Posthunms,
* Wilt lay the leaven to all proper men ;
" Goodly and gallant shall be false and perjur'd,
" From thy great fall." Theobald.
z 2
340 KING HENRY V. act n,
I arrest thee of higli treason, by the name of
Henry lord Scroop^ of Masham.
I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of
Thomas Grey, knight of Northumberland.
Scroop. Our purposes God justly hath discover'd j
And I repent my fault, more than my death ;
Which I beseech your highness to forgive,
Although my body pay the price of it.
Cam, For me, the gold of France did not se-
duce ; ^
Although I did admit it as a motive.
The sooner to effect what I intended :
But God be thanked for prevention ;
Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice,*
Beseeching God, and you, to pardon me.
- Henry lord &c.] Thus the quarto. The folio, erroneously,
Thomas lord &c. Steevens.
^ For mej the gold of France did not seduce ;] Holinshed,
p. 549, observes ftom Hall, " that diverse write that Richard
earle of Cambridge did not conspire with the lord Scroope and
Thomas Graie for the murthering of king Henrie to please the
French king withall, but onlie to the intent to exalt to the
crowne his brother-in-law Edmunde, earl of March, as heire to
Lionell duke of Clarence : after the death of which earle of
March, for diverse secret impediments not able to have issue,
the earle of Cambridge was sure that the crowne should come
to him by his wife, and to his children of her begotten. And
therefore (as was thought) he rather confessed himselfe for
neede of monie to be corrupted by the French king, than he
would declare his inward mind, &c. which if it were espied, he
saw plainlie that the earle of March should have tasted of the
same cuppe that he had drunken, and what should have come
to his owne children, he much doubted," &c. Steevens.
* Which I in sufferance heartily voill rejoice^] /, which is
wanting in the old copy, was added by the editor of the second
folio. Cambridge means to say, at which prevention, or, which
intended scheme that it was prevented, I shall rejoice. Shak-
sc. 11, KING HENRY V. ^%
Grey. Never did faithful subject more rejoice
At the discovery of most dangerous treason,
Than I do at this hour joy o'er myself.
Prevented from a damned enterprize :
My fault, ^ but not my body, pardon, sovereign.
K. Hen. God quit you in his mercy ! Hear your
sentence.
You have conspir'd against our royal person,
Join'd with an enemy proclaim*d,^ and from his
coffers
Receiv'd the golden earnest of our death ;
Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter.
His princes and his peers to servitude.
His subjects to oppression and contempt.
And his whole kingdom unto desolation.''
Touching our person, seek we no revenge ;
But we our kingdom's safety must so tender.
Whose ruin you three sought, that to her la w
speare has many such elliptical expressions. The intended scheme
that he alludes to, was the taking off Henry, to make room for
his brother-in-law. See the preceding note. Malone.
* My fault, &c.] One of the conspirators against Queen
Elizabeth, I think Parry, concludes his letter to her with these
words : " a culpa, hut not a poena, absolve me, most dear lady.**
This letter was much read at that time, [1585,] and our author
doubtless copied it.
This whole scene was much enlarged and improved after the
first edition ; the particular insertions in it would be tedious to
mention, and tedious without much use. Johnson.
The words of Parry's letter are, " Discharge me a culpd^ but
not a pcenoy good ladie." Reed.
proclaim' d,"] Mr. Ritson recon;imends the omission of
this word, which deforms the measure. Steevens.
" 'Unto desolation."] The folio, 1623, where alone this
passage is found, has into desolation. Corrected by Mr.
Steevens. Malone.
S42 KING HENRt V. act n.
We do deliver you. Get you therefore heflce,*
Poor miserable wretches, to your death :
The taste whereof, Gdd, of his mercy, give you
Patience to endure, and true repentance
Of all your dear offences ! Bear them hence.
\^Ej:eunt Conspirators, guarded,
No\^, lords, for France ; the enterprize whereof
Shall be to you, as us, like glorious.
We doubt not of a fair and lucky war ;
Since God so graciously hath brought to liglit
This dangerous treason, lurking in our way.
To hinder our beginnings, we doubt not now.
But every rub is smoothed on our way.
Then, forth, dear countrymen ; let us deliver
Our puissance into the hand of God,
Putting it straight in expedition.
Cheerly to sea ; the signs of war advance : ^
No king of England, if not king of France. '
[^Ej^eunt
' Get you therefore hence,'] So, ih Hdlihshed : " Get
ye hence therefore, ye poor miserable wretches, to the teCeiving
of your just reward : wherein God's majesty give yoU gracte," Arc.
Steevens.
^ the signs of war advance .-] So, in Phaer's translation
bf the first line of the eighth Book of the ^neid : Ut belli
signum &c.
" When signe of war from Laurent towres" &c.
SxEE^iNS.
' No Icing qfEnglandf if not king of France.'] So, in the old
play before that of Shakspeare :
** If not king of France, then of nothing must I be king."
Steevens.
sc. Ill, KING HENRY V. 343
SCENE III.
London. Mrs, Quickly's House in Eastcheap.
Enter Pistol, Mrs. Quickly, Nym, Bardolph,
and Boy.
Quick. Pr'ythee, honey-sweet husband, let me
bring thee to Staines. '^
Fist. No; for my manly heart doth yearn.
Bardolph, be blithe j Nym, rouse thy vaunting
veins ;
Boy, bristle thy courage up; for FalstafFhe is dead,
And we must yearn therefore.
Bard. 'Would, I were with him, wheresome'er
he is, either in heaven, or in hell !
Quick. Nay, sure, he's not in hell ; he's in Ar-
thur's bosom, if ever man went to Arthur's bosom.
'A made a finer end,^ and went away, an it had been
* let me bring thee to Staines.'] i. e. let me attend, or ac-
company thee. So, in Measure Jbr Measure:
** give me leave, my lord,
** That we may bring you something on the tuay?'*
Reed.
' ^ finer end,] Vorjinal. Johnson.
Every man that dies, makes a. final end; but Mrs. Quickly
means to describe FalstafPs behaviour at his exit, as uncommonly
placid. " He made Sifine end," is at this day a vulgar expres-
sion, when any person dies with resolution and devotion. So
Ophelia says of her father : " They say, he made a good end.**
M. Mason.
Again, in Macbeth :
" They say, he parted tueU, and paid his score ;
" Ana so God be with him !"
344 KING HENRY V. act ii,
any christom child;* 'a parted even just between
Our author has elsewhere used the comparative for the positive.
See Macbeth, Vol. X. p. 157, n. 2. Mrs. Quickly, however, needs
no justification for not adhering to the rules of grammar.
What seems to militate against Dr. Johnson's interpretation
is, that the word Jinal, which he supposes to have been meant,
is rather too learned for the Hostess. Malone.
* an it had been any christom child ;'] The old quarto
has iVcrisomb*d child.
" The chrusom was no more than the white cloth put on the
new baptised 'child." See Johnson's Canons of Eccles. Zaw,
1720.
I have somewhere (but cannot recollect where) met with this
further account of it ; that the chrysom was allowed to be carried
out of the church, to enwrap such children as were in too weak
a condition to be borne thither ; the chrysom being supposed to
make every place holy. This custom would rather strengthen
the allusion to the-w^eak' condition of FalstafF.
The child itself waS'' sometimes called a chrysom^ as appears
from the following passage in The Fancies Chaste and Noblcy
1 638 : " the boy surely I ever said was a very chrisome in the
thing you wot."
Again, in. TAe Wits, by Sir W. D'Avenant, 1637:
" - and would'st not join thy halfpenny
" To send for milk for the poor chrysome^*
Again, in Sir W. D'Avenant's Just Italian, 1630 :
" and they do awe
" The chrysome babe,"
Again, and more appositely, in his Albovine, 1629: " Sir, I
would fain depart in quiet, like other young chrysomes.''* Again,
in Your Five Gallants, by Middleton: " a fine old man to his fa-
ther, it would kill his heart i'faith : he^d atxay like a chrysom.''*
Steevens.
In the Liturgy, 2 E. VI. Form of private Baptism, is this
direction : " Then the minister shall put the white vesture, com-
monly called the chrisome, upon the child," &c. The Glossary
of Du Cange, vide Chrismale, explains this ceremony thus:
" Quippe olim ut et hodie, baptizatorum, statim atque chrismate
in fronte ungebantur, ne chrisma de Jlueret, capita panno can-
dido obvolvebantur, qui octava demum die ab iis auferebatur."
During the time therefore of their wearing this vesture, the
children were, I suppose, called chrisomes. One is registered
under this description in die register of Thatcham, Berks, 1605.
sc, XII. KING HENRY V. 345
twelve and one, e'en at turning o'the tide:^ for
after I saw him fumble with the sheets,^ and play
(Heame's Appendix to the History of Glastonhury, p. 275.)
** A younge crisome being a man child, beinge found drowned,'*
&c. Tyrwhitt.
The chrisom is properly explained as the white garment put
upon the child at its baptism. And this the child wore till the
time the mother came to be churched, who was then to offer it
to the minister. So that, truly speaking, a chrisom child was
one that died after it had been baptized, and before its mother
was churched. Erroneously, however, it was used for children
that die before they are baptized; and by this denomination
such children were entered in the bills of mortality down to the
year 1726. But have I not seen, in some edition, christom child ?
If that reading were supported by any copy of authority, I should
like it much. It agrees better with my dame's enunciation, who
was not very likely to pronounce a hard word with propriety,
and who just before had called Abraham Arthur.
Wh ALLEY.
Mr. Whalley is right in his conjecture. The first folio reads
christom. Blount, in his Glossography, 1678, says, that chrisoms
in the bills of mortality are such children as die within the
month of birth, because during that time they use to wear the
chrisom-cloth. Malone.
* turning o'the tide:'] It has been a very old opinion,
which Mead, de imperio solis, quotes, as if he believed it, that
nobody dies but in the time of ebb: half the deaths in London
confute the notion ; but we find that it was common among the
women of the poet's time. Johnson.
^ Jumble ivith the sheets,'] This passage is burlesqued
by Beaumont and Fletcher, in The Captain :
" 1. How does my master ?
" 2. Faith, he lies drawing on apace.
' 1. That's an ill sign.
" 2. Andjumbles with the pots too.
" 1. Then there's o tvay but one with him."
In the spurious play oi King John, 161 1, when Faulconbridge
sees that prince at the point of death, he says :
" O piercing sight! hejumbleth in the mouth,
" His speech doth fail ."
And Pliny, in his Chapter on The Signs of Death, makes
mention of " a fumbling and pleiting of the bed-cloths.'* See
346 KING HENRY V. Acrn.
with flowers, and smile upon his fingers* ends, I
knew there was but one way;^ for his nose was as
sharp as a pen, and *a babbled of green fields.'*
P. Holland's translation, chap. li. So also, in The Ninth Booke
of Notable ThingeSy by Thomas Lupton, 4to. bl. 1: ** If the fore-
neade of the sicke waxe redde and his nose wax sharpe if he
pull strawes, or the cloathes of his hedde these are most certain
tokens of death.'* Steevens.
There is this expression, and not, I believe, designed as a
sneer on Shakspeare, in Beaumont and Fletcher's iSpanwA Curat ey
Act IV. sc. V :
" A glimmering before death, 'tis nothing else, sir ;
* Do you see how hejumbles with the sheets?"
Whalley.
The same indication of approaching death is enumerated by
Celsus, Lommius, Hippocrates, and Galen. The testimony of
the latter is sufficient to show that sucl^ a symptom is by no
means imaginary : " Manus ante faciem attollere, muscas quasi
venari inani opera, floccos carpere de vestibus, vel pariete. Et
in seipso hoc expertus fuit Galenus. Quum enim," &c. Van
Swieten, Comm. Tom. II. sect. 708. Collins.
' / knevo there was but one way;'] I believe this phrase is pro-
verbial. I meet with it again m If you know not me, you know
Nobody, 1613:
" I heard the doctors whisper it in secret,
* There is no way but one.'*
Again, in The Life and Death of Gamaliel Ratsey, 1605 : " But
now the courtier is in huckster's handling, there ts no way with
him but one, for Ratsey seizes both on his money and books."
Again, in P. Holland's translation of the 13th Book of Pliny's
Natural History : " The leafe also is venomous as the graine,
yet otherwhiles there ensueth therof a fluxe and gurrie of the
belly, which saveth their life, or else there were no way but one."
Steevens.
. and *a babbled of Preen fields."] The old copy [i. e.
the first folio,] reads ^/or his nose was as sharp as a pen, and a
table of green fields. Steevens.
These words, and a table of green fields, are not to be found
in the old editions of 1600 and 1608. This nonsense got into
all the following editions by a pleasant mistake of the stage edi-
tors, who printed from the common piece-meal written parts in
sc, in. KING HENRY V. 347
How now, sir John? quoth I: what, man! be of
good eheer. So 'a cried out God, God^ God!
the play-house. A table was here directed to be brought in,
( it being a scene in a tavern where they drink at parting, ) and
this direction crept into the text from the margin. Greenfield
Was the name of the property-man in that time, who furnished
implements, &c. for the actors, A table of Greenfield* s. Pope.
So reasonable an account of this blunder, Mr. Theobald could
not acquiesce in. He thought a table of Greenfield's^ part of
the text, only corrupted, and that it should be read, he babbled
qf green JieldSf because men do so in the ravings of a calenture*
But he did not consider how ill this agrees with the nature of
the knight's illness, who was now in no babbling humour ; and
so far from wanting cooling in green Jields, that his feet wet e
very cold, and he just expiring. Warburton.
Upon this passage Mr. Theobald has a note that fills A pkgi,
which I omit in pity to my readers, since he only endeavours td
prove, what I think ievery reader perceives to be ttue, that dt
this time no table could be wanted. Mr. Pope, in an appehdix
to his own edition in 12mo. seems to admit Theobald's emenda-
tion, which we would have allowed to be uncommonly happy,
had we not been prejudicied against it by Mr. Pope's first note,
with which, as it excites merriment, we are loath to part.
JoHNSOl^.
Had the former editors been apprized, that table, in out
author, signifies a pocket-book, I believe they would have re-
tained it with the following alteration: ^/br his nose was as
sharp as a pen upon a table of green JHls. On table bookSf
silver or steel pens, very sharp-pointed, were formerly and still
are fixed to the backs or covers. Mother Quickly compares
Falstaff's nose (which in dying persons grows thin and sharp)
to one of those pens, very properly, and she meant probably to
have said, on a table-book with a shagreen cover or shagreen
table ; but, in her usual blundering way, she calls it a table of
freen Jells, or a table covered with green-skin; which the blun-
ering transcriber turned mto green-Jields ; and our editors have
turned the prettiest blunder in Shakspeare, quite out of doors.
Smith.
Dr. Warburton objects to Theobald's emendation, on the
ground of the nature of Falstaff's illness; " who was so far
from babbling, or wanting cooling in green fields, that his feet
were cold, and he was just expiring." But his disorder had
348 KING HENRY V. act ii.
three or four times: now I, to comfort him, bid
him, *a should not think of God;-' I hoped, there
was no need to trouble himself with any such
thoughts yet: So, 'a bade me lay more clothes on
his feet: I put my hand into the bed, and felt
them, and they were as cold as any stone ; then I
been a " burning quotidian tertian." It is, I think, a much
stronger objection, that the word Table, with a capital letter,
(for 80 it appears in the old copy,) is very unlikely to have been
printed instead of babbled. This reading is, however, preferable
to any that has been yet proposed.
On this difficult passage I had once a conjecture. It was, that
the word table is right, and that the corrupted word is and,
which may have been misprinted for in; a mistake that has
happened elsewhere in these plays: and thus the passage will
run and his nose was as sharp as a pen in a table of green
Jields. A pen may have been used for a pinfold, and a table
for & picture. See Vol. VIII. p. 212, n. 7.
The pointed stakes of which pinfolds are sometimes formed,
were perhaps in the poet's thoughts. M alone.
It has been observed (particularly by the superstition of
women) of people near death, when they are delirious by a
fever, that they talk of removing; as it has of those in a calen-
ture, that they have their heads run on green fields.
Theobald.
' ncnu 7, to comfort him, bid him, *a should not think
of God; &c.] Perhaps Shakspeare was indebted to the following
story in Wits, Fits, and Fancies, &c. 1595, for this very cha-
racteristick exhortation : " A gentlewoman fearing to be drowned,
said, now Jesu receive our soules ! Soft, mistress, answered the
waterman; I trow, we are not come to that passe yet.**
Malone.
Our author might as probably have been indebted to a passage
in the Continuation oi Harding's Chronicle, 1543, relative to
the death of Lord Hastings: " lliis Sir Thomas [Howard] while
the Lord Hastings stayed a while commonyng with a priestwhom
he met in the Tower strete, brake the Idrdcs tale, saying to him
merily, what my lorde, I pray you come on ; wherefore talke
you so long with the priest? you have no nede of a priest yet.**
Steevens.
sc. iiL KING HENRY V. S49
felt to his knees, and so upward, and upward, and
all was as cold as any stone. ^
Nym. They say, he cried out of sack.
Quick. Ay, that 'a did.
Bard. And of women.
Quick. Nay, that 'a did not.
Boy. Yes, that *a did; and said, they were devils
incarnate.
Quick. 'A could never abide carnation j* 'twas
a colour he never liked.
* . cold as any stone. '\ Such is the end of FalstafF, from
whom Shakspeare had promised us, in his epilogue to King
Henry IV. that we should receive more entertainment. It hap-
pened to Shakspeare, as to other writers, to have his imagination
crouded with a tumultuary confusion of images, which, while
they were yet unsorted and unexamined, seemed sufficient to
furnish a long train of incidents, and a new variety of merri-
ment; but which, when he was to produce them to view, shrunk
suddenly from him, or could not be accommodated to his general
design. That he once designed to have brought Falstaff on the
Scene again, we know from himself; but whether he could con-
trive no train of adventures suitable to his character, or could
match him with no companions likely to quicken his humour, or
could open no new vein of pleasantry, and was afraid to con-
tinue the same strain lest it should not find the same reception,
he has here for ever discarded him, and made haste to despatch
him, perhaps for the same reason for which Addison killed Sir
Roger, that no other hand might attempt to exhibit liira.
Let meaner authors learn from this example, that it is dan-
gerous to sell the bear which is yet not hunted ; to promise to
the publick what they have not written.
This disappointment probably inclined Queen Elizabeth to
command the poet to produce him once again, and to show him
in love or courtship. This was, indeed, anew source of humour,
and produced a new play from the former characters.
Johnson.
* incarnate.' carnation ;"] Mrs. Quickly blunders,
mistaking the word incarnate for a colour. In Questions of Love,
1566, we have, " Yelowe, pale, redde, blue, whyte, graye, and
incarnate.*' Henderson.
350 KING HENRY V. act u.
Boy. *A said once, the devil would have him
about women.
Quick. 'A did in some sort, indeed, handle wo-
men : but then he was rheumatick ) ^ and talked of
the whore of Babylon.
Boy. Do you not remember, *a saw a flea stick
upon Bardolph's nose ; and 'a said, it was a black
soul burning in hell-fire ?
Bard. Well, the fuel is gone, that maintained
that fire : that's all the riches I got in his service.
Nym. Shall we shog off? the king will be gone
^om Southampton.
PlST. Come, let's away. My love, give me thy
lips.
Look to my chattels, and my moveables :
Let senses rule;* the word is. Pitch and pay ;^
Again, in the Inventory of the Furniture to be provided for
the Reception of the Royal Family, at the Restoration, 1660,
we find ** For repairing, with some additions, of the rich
incarnate velvet bed, being for the reception of his majesty,
before the other can be made, 101." Again " For 12 new
fustian and Holland quilts for his majesty's incarnate velvet bed
and the two dukes beds, 4'8l."
Parliamentary History, Vol. XXII. p. 306. Reed.
' rJieumatick ;"] This word is elsewhere used by our
author for peevish, or splenetick, as scorbutica is in Italian.
Mrs. Quickly however probably means lunatick. Malone.
* Let senses rules'] I think this is wrong, but how to reform
it I do not see. Perhaps we may read:
Let sense us rule.
Pistol is taking leave of his wife, and giving her advice as he
kisses her ; he sees her rather weeping than attending, and, sup-
posing that in her heart she is still longing to go with him part of
the way, he cries. Let sense us rule^ that is, lei us not give tvay
to foolish fondness, but be ruled by our better understanding.
He then continues his flirections for her conduct in his absence.
Jqhnsqk.
sc. Ill, KING HENRY V. Ut
Trust none;
For oaths are straws, men's faiths are wafer-cajkes,
And hold-fast is the only dog,^ my duck;
Therefore, caveto be thy counsellor.'^
Go, clear thy chrystals.^ Yoke-fellows in ai'ms,
Let senses rule evidently means, let prudence govern ycu:
conduct yourself sensibly ; and it agrees with what precedes and
what follows. Mr. M. Mason would read " Let sentences
rule;" by which he means sayings, or proverbs; and accord-
ingly (says he) Pistol gives us a string of them in the remainder
of his speech. Steevens.
* ^ Pitch and pay i'] The caution was a very proper one
to Mrs. Quickly, who had suffered before, by letting Falstaff run
in her debt. The same expression occurs in Blurt Master Con-
stable, 1602 : " I will commit you, signior, to my house ; but
will you pitch and pay, or will your worship run? "
So again, in Herod and Antipater, 1622:
** <- he that will purchase this,
** Must pitch and pay.'*
Again, in The mastive, an ancient collection of epigrams:
" Susan, when she first bore sway,
" Had for one night a French crown, pitch and pay.**
Steevens.
Old Tusser, in his description of Norwich, tells us it is
" A city trim
** Where strangers well, may seeme to dwell,
** That pitch and paie, or keepe their daye."
John Florio says, " Pitch andpaie, and goe your waie.'*
One of the old laws of Blackwell-hall was, that a penny be
paid by the owner of every bale of cloth iox pitdiing.**
Farmer.
^ And hold-fast is the only dog,] Alluding to the proverbial
saying " Brag is a good dog, but holdfast is a better."
Douce.
' Therefore, caveto be thy counsellor.'] The old quartos read :
Jnerefore Cophetua be thy counsellor. Steevens.
The reading of the text is that of the folio. Malone.
' clear thy chrystals.] Dry thine eyes : but I think it
may better mean, in this place, ivash thy glasses. Johnson.
The first explanation is certainly the true one. So, in The
Gentleman Usher, by Chapman, 1602:
S52 KING HENRY V. actil
Let us to France ! like horse-leeches, my boys ;
To suck, to suck, the very blood to suck!
Bor, And that is but unwholesome food, they
say.
PiST. Touch her soft mouth, and march.
Bard. Farewell, hostess. \_Ktssing her.
Nym. I cannot kiss, that is the humour of it j
but adieu.
PiST. Let housewifery appear ; keep close,' I
thee command.
Quick. Farewell; adieu. {^Exeunt.
** an old wife's eye
** Is a blue chrystal full of sorcery."
Again, in A Match at Midnisht, 1633:
" ten thousand Cupids
" Methought, sat playing on that pair of chrmtals.**
Again, in The Double Marriage, by Beaumont and Fletcher:
** sleep, you sweet glasses,
** An everlasting slumber close those chrystalsl**
Again, in Coriolanusy Act III. sc. ii:
** The glasses of my sight.'*
The old quartos 1600 and 1608 read:
Clear M^ thy chrystals. Steevens.
^ keep close,~\ The quartos 1600 and 1608 read:
keepfost thy buggle boe ;
which certainly is not nonsense, as the same expression is used
by Shirley, in his Gentleman of Venice:
" the courtisans of Venice,
" Shall keep their bugle bouses for thee, dear uncle."
Perhaps, indeed, it is a Scotch term; for in Ane very excellent
and delectabiU Treatise intitulit Philotus, &c. printed at din>
burgh, 1603, 1 find it again :
" What reck to tak the bogill-bo,
** My bonie burd, for anes."
The reader may suppose buggle-boe to be just what he pleases.
Steevens.
' Whatever covert sense Pistol may have annexed to this word,
it appears from Cole's Latin Dictionary, 1678, that bogle-bo
(now corruptly sounded bugabow) signified "an ugly wide-
mouthed picture, carried about with May-games." Cole renders
5& ir, KING HENRY V. S5S
SCENE IV.
France. A Room in the French King^s Palace.
Enter the French King attended; the Daupliin,
the Duke of Burgundy, the Constable, and
Others.
Fr. King. Thus come the EngHsh with full
power upon us ;
And more than carefully it us concerns,*
To answer royally in our defences.
Therefore the dukes of Berry, and of Bretagne,
Of Brabant, and of Orleans, shall make forth,
Andyou, prince Dauphin, with all swift despatch,
To line, and new repair, our towns of war.
With men of courage, and with means defendant :
For England his approaches makes as fierce,
As waters to the sucking of a gulph.
it by the Latin words, manducus terrictilamentum. The inter-
pretation of the former word has been just given. The latter
he renders thus: " A terrible spectacle; a fearful thing; a
scare-crow.'* T. C.
An anonjrmous writer supposes that by the words keep close.
Pistol means, keep within doors. That this was not the meaning,
is proved decisively by the words of the quarto. Malone.
Perhaps, the words keep close, were rendered perfectly intel-
ligible by the action that accompanied them on the stage.
Steevens.
The inquisitive reader will best collect the sense in which
buggle hoe is here used, from a perusal of La Fontaine's tale of
he Diahle de pape-Jiguiere. Douce.
' A7id more than carefully it 7ts concerns,'] More than care-
fully is with more than common care ; a phrase of the same kind
with better than well. Johnson.-
VOL. XII. 2 A,
354 KING HENRY V. act IL
It fits us then, to be as provident
As fear may teach us, out of late examples
Left by the fatal and neglected English
Upon our fields.
Dau, My most redoubted father,
It is most meet we arm us 'gainst the foe :
For peace itself should not so dull a kingdom, ^
(Though war, nor no known quarrel, were in
question,)
But that defences, musters, preparations.
Should be maintained, assembled, and collected.
As were a war in expectation.
Therefore, I say, 'tis meet we all go forth.
To view the sick and feeble parts of France :
And let us do it with no show of fear ;
No, with no more, than if we heard that England
Were busied^ with a Whitsun morris-dance :
For, my good liege, she is so idly king'd,*
Her scepter so fantastically borne
By a vain, giddy, shallow, humorous youth.
That fear attends her not.
Con. O peace, prince Dauphin !
You are too much mistaken in this king ; ^
Question your grace the late ambassadors,
With what great state he heard thejr embassy,
..> . I . . ) - )
* -SO dull a kingdom,'] i. e., render it callous, insensible.
SOf in Hamlet :
.' " But do not dull thy palm," &c. Steevens.
' Were busied ] The quarto, 1600, reads ^were troubled.
Steevens.
* so idly king'd,] Shakspeare is not singular in his use
of this verb to king. I find it in Warner's AlMon*s England,
B. VIII. chap, xlii:
" and kin^d his sister's son." Steevens.
* You are too much mistaken in this king : ] This part is much
enlarged since the first writing. Pope.
sc, IV, KING HENRY V. 355
How well supplied with noble counsellors.
How modest in exception,*^ and, withal.
How terrible in constant resolution,
And you shall find, his vanities fore-spent
Were but the outside of the Roman Brutus,
Covering discretion with a coat of folly j"^
Hoik modest in exception^'] How diffident and decent in
making objections. Johnson.
' And you shall Jind^ his vanities Jore-spent
Were but the outside of the Roman Brutus^
Covering discretion "with a coat of folly ;] Shakspeare not
having given us, in the First or Second Part o^ Henry IV. or in
any other place but this, the remotest hint of the circumstance
here alluded to, the comparison must needs be a little obscure to
those who do not know or reflect that some historians have told
us, that Henry IV. had entertained a deep jealousy of his son's
aspiring superior genius. Therefore, to prevent all umbrage,
the prince withdrew from publick affairs, and amused himself in
consorting with a dissolute crew of robbers. It seems to me,
that Shakspeare was ignorant of this circumstance when he
wrote the two parts of Henry IV. for it might have been so
managed as to have given new beauties to the character of Hal,
and great improvements to the plot. And with regard to these
matters, Shakspeare generally tells us all he knew, and as soon
as he knew it. Warburton.
Dr. Warburton, as usual, appears to me to refine too much.
I believe, Shakspeare meant no more than that Henry, in his
external appearance, was like the elder Brutus, wild and giddy,
while in fact his understanding was good.
Our author's meaning is sufficiently explained by the following
lines in The Rape of Lucrece, 1594 :
" BrutuSy who pluck'd the knife from Lucrece* side,
" Seeing such emulation in their woe,
" Began to clothe his rvit in state and pride,
*' Burying in Lucrece' wound hisjblly\^ shotv.
* He with the Romans was esteemed so,
" As silly-jeering ideots are with kings,
** For sportive words, and uttering foolish things.
* But now he throws that ah alloxv habit hy,
" Wherein deep policy did him disguise;
" And ami'd his long-hid wits advisedly,
" To check the tears in CoUatinus* eyes."
2 \2
356 KING HENRY V. act ii.
As gardeners do with ordure hide those roots
That shall first spring, and be most delicate.
Dau. Well, 'tis not so, my lord high constable,
But though we think it so, it is no matter :
In cases of defence, *tis best to weigh
The enemy more mighty than he seems.
So the proportions of defence are filPd ;
Which, of a weak and niggardly projection,'
Thomas Otterbourne, and the translator of Titus Livius, in-
deed, say, that Henry the Fourth, in his latter days, was jealous
of his son, and apprehended that he would attempt to depose
him; to remove which suspicion, the prince is said (from the
relation of an earl of Ormond, who was an eye witness of the
fact,) to have gone with a great party of his friends to his father,
in the twelfth year of his reign, and to have presented him with
a dagger, which he desired the king to plunge into his breast,
if he still entertained any doubts of his loyalty: but, I believe,
it is no where said, that he threw himself into the company of
dissolute persons to avoid giving umbrage to his father, or betook
himself to irregular courses with a political view of quieting his
suspicions. Malone.
* Which, of a "weak and niggardlij projection,'] This passage,
as it stands, is so perplexed, that 1 formerly suspected it to be
cornipt. li'xvhich be referred to proportions of defence, (and I
do not see to what else it can be referred,) the construction
will be " which proportions of defence, of a weak and niggardly
projection, spoils his coat, like a miser," &c. ^
If our author had WTitten
While oft a toeak and niggardly projection
Doth, &c,
the reasoning would then be clear. In cases of defence, it is
best to imagine the enemy more powerful than he seems to be ;
by this means, we make more full and ample preparations to de-
fend ourselves : whereas, on the contrary, a poor and mean idea
of the enemy's strength induces us to make but a scanty pro-
vision of forces against him ; wherein we act as a miser does,
who spoils his coat by scanting of cloth.
Projection, I believe, is here used iovjbre-cast or preconception.
It may, however, mean preparation.
Perhaps, in Shakspeare's licentious diction, the meaning may
be " Which proportions of defence, when weakly and nig-
sc, m KING HENRY V. 3^
Doth, like a miser, spoil his coat, with scanting
A little cloth.
Fr. King. Think we king Harry strong ;
And, princes, look, you strongly arm to meet him.
The kindred of him hath been flesh'd upon us ;
And he is bred out of that bloody strain,^
That haunted us ^ in our familiar paths :
Witness our too much memorable shame.
When Cressy battle fatally was struck,^
And all our princes captiv'd, by the hand
Of that black name, Edward black prince of Wales ;
Whiles that his mountain sire, on mountain
standing,'
3
gardly projected, resemble a miser toho spoils his coat,'* &c. The
false concord is no objection to such a construction ; for the
same inaccuracy is found in almost every page of the old copy.
Malone.
^ strain^'} lineage. See Vol. IV. p. 57, n. 4. Reed.
So, in King Lear:
" Sir, you have shown to-day your valiant strain."
Steevens.
* That haunted us ] To haunt is a word of the utmost
horror, which shows that they dreaded the English as goblins
and spirits. Johnson.
* When Cressy battle Jatallt/ tuas struck,] So, in Robert of
Gloucester :
" .^>. and that fole of Somersete
** His come, and smyte a batat/le.'*
Again, in the title to one of Sir DavidLyndsay's poems : " How
king Ninus began the first warres and stroke the first battell."
Steevens.
* Whiles that his mountain sire, on mountain standing,'] Mr.
Theobald would read mounting; i. e. high-minded, aspiring.
Thus, in Lovers Labour* s Lost, Act IV :
" Whoe'er he was, he show'd a mounting mind."
The emendation may be right, and yet I believe the poet
meant to give an idea of more than human proportion in the
figure of the king :
Qtiantus Athos, aut quantum Eryx, &c. Virg.
** Like Teneriffe or Atlas unremov'd." Muton.
358 KING HENRY V. act ii.
Up in the air, crown 'd with the golden sun,*
Saw his heroical seed, and smil'd to see him
Mangle the work of nature, and deface
The patterns that by God and by French fathers
Had twenty years been made. This is a stem
Of that victorious stock ; and let us fear
The native mightiness and fate of him. ^
Drayton, in the 18th Song of his PolyolMoriy has a similar
thought :
" Then he above them all, himself that sought to raise,
** Upon some mountain top, like a pyramides."
Again, in Spenser's Fairy Queen, B. I. c. xi :
" Where stretch'd he lay upon the sunny side
** Of a great hill, himself like a great hill."
agmen agens, viagnique ipse agminis instar.
Mr. Toilet thinks this passage may be explained by another in
Act I. sc. i :
" his most mighty father on a hill." Steevens.
If the text is not corrupt, Mr. Steevens's explication is the
true one. See the extract from Holinshed, p. 295, n. 7. The
repetition of the word mountain is much in our author's manner,
and therefore I believe the old copy is right. Malone.
*. Up in the air, crown'd with the golden sun,'] Dr. War-
burton calls this " the nonsensical line of some player." The
idea, however, might have been taken from Chaucer's Legcnde
of good Women :
*' Her gilt heere was ycrorvnid tvith a son."
See also Additions to the History of the English Stage^ Vol. Ill:
" Item 1 crffvon with a sone."
Shakspeare's meaning, (divested of its poetical finery,) I sup-
pose, is, that the king stood upon an eminence, with me sun
shining over his head. Steevens.
* fate of him.] His Jhte is what is allotted him by des-
tiny, or what he is fated to perform. Johnson.
So Virgil, speaking of the future deeds of the descendants of
jSEneas :
AttoUens humerisjamamque et fata nepoium.
Steevens.
sc, IF, KING HENRY V. 359
Enter a Messenger.
Mess. Ambassadors from Henry King of England
Do crave admittance to your majesty.
Fr. King. We'll give them present audience.
Go, and bring them. '''I*
l^Ej^eunt Mess, and certain Lords.
You see, this chase is hotly followed, friends.
Dau. Turn head, and stop pursuit: for coward
dogs 'J ^
Most spend their mouths,^ when what they seem td
threaten, . . ,.
Runs far before them. Good my sovereign.
Take up the English short ; and let them know
Of what a monarchy you are the head : ~
Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin
As self-neglecting.
Re-enter Lords, with Exeter and Train.
Fr. King. From our brother England ?
ExE. From him ; and thus he greets your ma-
He wills you, in the name of God Almighty,
That you divest yourself, and lay apart
The borrowed glories, that, by gift of heaven.
By law of nature, and of nations, 'long
To him, and to his heirs ; namely, the crown,
And all wide-stretched honours that pertain.
By custom and the ordinance of times, ' '" ''
Unto the crown of France. That you may know,
" spend their moutksj^ That is, bark ; the i^ortsman's
term. Johnson.
360 KING HENRY V. act ih
*Tis no sinister, nor no aukward claim,
Pick'dfrom the worm-holes of long- vanished days.
Nor from the dust of old oblivion rak'd,
He sends you this most memorable line,''
\_Gives a paper.
In every branch truly demonstrative ;
Willing you, overlook this pedigree :
And, when you find him evenly deriv'd
From his most fam'd of famous ancestors,
Edward the third, he bids you then resign
Your crown and kingdom, indirectly held
From him the native and true challenger.
Fr, King. Or else what follows ?
ExE. Bloody constraint; for ifyouhide the crown
Even in your nearts, there will he rake for it :
And therefore in fierce tempest is he coming.
In thunder, and in earthquake, like a Jove ;
(That, if requiring fail, he will compel -,)
And bids you, in the bowels of the Lord,
Deliver up the crown ; and to take mercy
On the poor souls, for whom this hungry war
Opens his vasty jaws : and on your head
Turns he^ the widows' tears, the orphans' cries.
The dead men's blood, ' the pining maidens' groans,
' memorable line,] This genealogy ; tliis deduction of
his lineage. Johnson.
* And therefore &c.] The word And is wanting in the old
copies. It was supplied by Mr. Rowe, for the sake of measure.
Steevens.
' Turns he ] Thus the quarto, 1600. The folio reads
turning the widows' tears. Malone.
' The dead men's blood,'] The disposition of the images were
more regular, if we were to read thus:
upon your head
Turning the dead men's bloody the mdotvs'' tears.
The orphans' cries^ the pining maidens' groans.
Johnson,
sc. IF. KING HENRY V. 861
For husbands, fathers, and betrothed lovers.
That shall be swallow' d in this controversy.
This is his claim, his threatening, and my message;
Unless the Dauphin be in presence here,
To whom expressly I bring greeting too.
Fb. King. For us, we will consider of this further;
To-morrow shall you bear our full intent
Back to our brother England.
Dau, For the Dauphin,
I stand here for him ; What to him from England?
Ex:e. Scorn, and defiance; slight regard, con-
tempt.
And any thing that may not misbecome
The mighty sender, doth he prize you at.
Thus says my king: and, if your father's highness
Do not, in grant of all demands at large.
Sweeten the bitter mock you sent his majesty.
He'll call you to so hot an answer for it.
That caves and womby vaultages of France
Shall chide your trespass,^ and return your mock
The quartos 1600 and 1608 exhibit the passage thus:
And on your heads turns he the xuidows* tears.
The orphans' cries, the dead men's bones.
The pining maidens' groans.
For husbands, Jathers, and distressed lovers.
Which Sfc.
These quartos agree in all but the merest trifles : and therefore,
for the future, I shall content myself in general to quote the for-
mer of them, which is the most correct of the two.
Steevens.
Pining is the reading of the quarto, 1600. The folio has
privy. Blood is the reading of the folio. The quarto, instead
of it, has bones. Malone.
* Shall chide your trespass,"] To chide is to resound, to echo.
So, in A Midsummer-Night's Dream :
" never did I hear
" Such gallant chiding."
363 KING HENRY V. act il
In second accent of his ordnance.^
Dau. Say, if my father render fair reply.
It is against my will : for I desire
Nothing but odds with England ; to that end,
As matching to his youth and vanity,
I did present him with those Paris balls.
ExE. He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for it.
Were it the mistress court of mighty Europe :
And, be assur'd, you'll find a difference,
(As we, his subjects, have in wonder found,)
Between the promise of his greener days.
And these he masters now ;* now he weighs time.
Even to the utmost grain ; which you shall read^
In your own losses, if he stay in France.
Fr. King, To-morrow shall you know our mind
at full.
ExE. Despatch us with all speed, lest that our
king
Come here himself to question our delay ;
For he is footed in this land already.
Again, in King Henry VIII:
" As doth a rock against the chiding flood.'* Steevens.
This interpretation is confirmed by a passage in The Tempest :
** the thunder,
** That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounc'd
" The name of Prosper ; it did bass my trespass."
Malone.
' of his ordnance.] Ordnance is here used as a trisylla-
ble ; being, in our author's time, improperly written ordinance.
Malone.
* he masters now;] Thus the folio. So, in King
Henry IV. Part I. Act V. sc. 2:
" As if he mastered there a double spirit
** Of teaching and of learning," &c.
The quarto 1600 reads musters. Steevens.
* you shall read ] So the folio. The quarto 1600
has you shall find. Malone.
ACT HI, KING HENRY V. 363
Fr. King. You shall be soon despatch'd, with
fair conditions : t l * joy
A night is but small breath, and little pause,
To answer matters of this consequence. \^Ea:eunt,
ACT III.
Enter Chorus.
Chor. Thus with imagined wing our swift scene
flies.
In motion of no less celerity
Than that of thought. Suppose, that you have seen
The well-appointed^ king at Hampton pier -
Embark his royalty;'' and his brave fleet
" toell-appointed ] i. e. well furnished with all the ne-
cessaries of war. So, in Kin^ Henry VI. Part III:
" And very well appointed, as I thought,
" March'd towards Saint Alban's .'* STEEVEif s.
^ at Hampton pier
Embark his royalty;'] All the editions downwards, implicitly,
after the first folio, read Dover pier. But could the poet pos-
sibly be so discordant from himself (and the Chronicles, which
he copied,) to make the king here embark at Dover; when he
has before told us so precisely, and that so often over, that he
embarked at Southampton? I dare acquit the poet from so
flagrant a variation. The indolence of a transcriber, or a com-
positor at press, must give rise to such an error. They, seeing
pier at the end of the verse, unluckily thought of Dover p/er, as
the best known to them ; and so unawares corrupted the text.
Theobald.
Among the records of the town of Southampton, they have a
minute and authentick account (drawn up at that time) of the
encampment of Henry the Fifth near the town, berore this
embarkment for France. It is remarkable, that the place where
S64^ KING HENRY V. actiii.
With silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning.'
Play with your fancies; and in them behold.
Upon the hempen tackle, ship-boys climbing :
Hear the shrill whistle, which doth order give
To sounds confused :^ behold the threaden sails.
Borne with the invisible and creeping wind.
Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow' d sea.
Breasting the lofty surge: O, do but think,
You stand upon the rivage,* and behold
A city on the inconstant billows dancing;
For so appears this fleet majestical.
Holding due course to Harfleur. Follow, follow!
Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy y^
the army was encamped, then a low level plain or a down, is
now entirely covered with sea, and called Westport.
T. Warton.
Phoebus fanning.] Old copy ^fai/ning. Corrected
by Mr. Rowe. Ma lone.
So, in Macbeth :
" Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky,
" And^ our people cold." Steevens.
' Hear the shrill whistle, which doth order give
To sounds confus'd:] So, in Pericles^ Prince of TyrCy
1609:
" the boatswain 'whistles, and
" The master calls, and trebles the confusion.**
Malone.
' rivageyl The hank or shore. Johnson.
Rivage: French. So, in Spenser*8 Fairy Queen, B. IV. c. i :
* Pactolus with his waters shere
** Throws forth upon the rivage round about him nere."
Again, in Gower, De Cotifessione Amantis, Lib. VIII. fol. 186:
" Upon the stronde at rivage." Steevens.
' to sternage of this navy;"] The stem being the hinder
part of the ship, the meaning is, let your minds follow close
after the navy. Stern, however, appears to have been an-
ciently synonymous to rudder. So, in the King Leir, 1605:
" Left as it were a ship without a sterne."
ACT III. KING HENRY V. S65
And leave your England, as dead midnight, still,
Guarded with grandsires, babies, and old women.
Either past, or not arriv*d to, pith and puissance:
For who is he, whose chin is but enrich*d
With one appearing hair, that will not follow
These cull'd and choice-drawn cavaliers to France?
Work, work, your thoughts, and therein see a siege:
Behold the ordnance on their carriages.
With fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur.
Suppose, the ambassador from the French comes
back ;
Tells Harry that the king doth offer him
Katharine his daughter; and with her, to dowry.
Some petty and unprofitable dukedoms.
The offer likes not : and the nimble gunner
With linstock^ now the devilish cannon touches,
[^Alarum ; and Chambers^ go off.
Again, in Chapman's version of the second Iliad:
" Twelve ships he brought, which, in their course, ver-
milion sternes did move.'*
I suspect the author wrote, steerage. So, in his Pericles:
" Think his pilot, thought;
* So with his steerage shall your thoughts grow on,
* To fetch his daughter home." Malone.
* linstock ] The staff to which the match is fixed
when ordnance is fired. Johnson.
So, in Middleton's comedy of Blurt Master Constable^ 1602:
* O Cupid, grant that my blushing prove not a Unstockcy and
give fire too suddenly," &c.
Again, in The Jew of Malta, by Marlow, 1633:
" Till you shall hear a culverin discharg'd
" By him that bears the linstock kindled thus."
I learn from Smith's Sea Grammar, 1627, that the ** Lint-
stock is a handsome carved stick, more than halfe yard long,
with a cocke at the one end, to hold fast his match," &c.
Steevens.
* Chambers ] Small pieces of ordnance. See p. 81,
n. 6. Steevens.
366 KING HENRY V. act iii.
And down goes all before them. Still be kind^i .
And eke^ out pur performance with your mind.
SCENE I.
TJie same. Before Harfleur.
Alarums, Enter King Henry, Exeter, Bed-
ford, Gloster, and Soldiers, mth Scaling
Ladders.
K Hen, Once more unto the breach, dear
friends, once more;
Or close the walP up with our Englisli dead !
* And eke ]] This word is in the first folio written eech ;
as it was, sometimes at least, pronounced. So, in Pericles,
1609:
** And time that is so briefly spent,
" With your fine fancies quaintly each ;
** What's dumb in show I'll plain with speech.**
Malone.
See also the concluding speech of The First Part of the
Spanish Tragedy, 1605:
" My armes are of the shortest,
** Let your loves peece them out." Steevens.
* Or close the xuall &c.] Here is apparently a chasm. One
line at least is lost, which contained the other part of a disjunc-
tive proposition. The King's speech is, dear friends, either
win the town, or close up the wall toith dead. The old quarto
gives no help. Johnson.
I do not perceive the chasm which Dr. Johnson complains of.
What the King means to say, is, Re-enter the breach you have
made, or fill it up with your own dead bodies ; i. e. Pursue your
advantage, or give it up with your lives. Mount the breach in
the wall, or repair it by leaving your own carcases in lieu of the
sc, I. KING HENRY i 367
In peace, there's nothing so becomes a man,
As modest stillness, and humility :
But when the blast of war blows in oui" ears.
Then imitate the action of the tiger ;'^
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,^
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour -d rage :
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let it pry through the portage of the head,^
Like the brass cannon ; let the brow o'erwh^lra it.
As fearfully, as doth a galled rock
Overhang and jutty* his confounded base,^
stones you have displaced: in short Do one thing or the other.
So, in Churchyard's Siege of Edenbrough Castle :
*' we will possesse the place,
" Or leaue our bones and bov/els in the breat'ch."
This speech of King Henry was added after the <juartos 1600
and 1608. Steevens.
' xiohen the blast of war blows in our ^earSy
Then imitate the action of the tiger ; 2 Sir Thomas HAnmer
has observed on the following passage in Troilus and Cressida,
that in storms and high winds the tiger roars and rages most furi-
ously:
" even so
** Doth valour's show and valour's worth divide
" In storms of fortune: for, in her ray and brightness,
" The herd hatli more annoyance by the brize
*' Than by the tiger: but when splitting winds
" Make flexible the knees of knotted oaks,
"And flies flee under shade; why then the thing of
courage,
" As rouz'd with rage, with rage doth sympathize," &e.
Steevens.
* summon up the blood,"} Old copy commune, &c.
Corrected by Mr. Rowe. Malone.
' portage of the head,} Portage, open space, from oorf,
a gate. Let the eye appear in the head as cannon through the
battlements, or embrasures, of a fortification. Johnson.
So we now say the/>orf-hole8 of a ship. M. Mason.
' Jutt^ 3' The force of the verb tojutty, when ap-
3B8 KING HENRY V. act in,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.^
Now set the teeth,* and stretch the nostril wide ;
Hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit^
plied to a rock projecting into the sea, is not felt by those who
are unaware that this word anciently signified a mole raised to
withstand the encroachment of the tide. In an act, 1 Edw. VI.
c. 14, provision is made for " the maintenaunce of piers,jMf f iw,
walles, and bankes, against the rages of the sea."
' :: a" Holt White.
t/Mf/^-heads, in sea-language, are platforms standing on piles,
near the docks, and projecting without the wharfs, for the more
convenient docking and undocking ships. See Chambers's
Dictionary. Steevens.
* his confounded bascy} His xtiorn or xvasted base.
Johnson.
So, in The Tempest.'
** the shore, that o'er his wave-uorn basis bow*d,
** As stooping to relieve him." Steevens.
One of the senses of to confound, in our author's time, was,
to destroy. See Minsheu's Dictionaryy in v. Malone.
' let the brow o*envhelm it,
As fearfully, as doth a galled rock
Overhang andjutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and tvaste/iil ocean."] So, in Daniel's
Civil Warres, 1595:
" A place there is, where proudly rals'd there stands
*' A huge aspiring rock, neighbouring the skies,
*' Whose surly brow imperiously commands
** The sea his bounds, that at his proud foot lies;
** And spurns the waves, that in rebellious bands
** Assault his empire, and against him rise." Malone.
* Nffuo set the teeth,"] So, in Antony and Cleopatra :
** now I'll set my teeth,
* And eend to darkness all that stop me." Steevens.
* bend up every spirit ] A metaphor from the bow.
Johnson.
So, again, in Hamlet: " they fool me to the top of my bent.**
Again, in Macbeth:
** I am settled, and bend up
" Each corporal agent to tnis terrible feat." Malone.
sc. I, KING HENRY V. 369
To his full height ! On, on, you noblest English,^
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof V
Fathers, that, like so many Alexanders,
Have, in these parts, from morn till even fought,
And sheath' d their swords for lack of argument,^
Dishonour not your mothers ; now attest,
That those, whom you call'd fathers, did beget you !
Be copy now to men of grosser blood.
And teach them how to war! And you, good
yeomen.
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
The mettle of your pasture ; let us swear
That you are worth your breeding : which I doubt
not;
For there is none of you so mean and base.
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,^
Straining upon the start.* The game's afoot;
^ 1/ou noblest Engliskf'] Thus the second folio. The
first has noblish. Mr. Malone reads noble; and observes that
this speech is not in the quartos. Steevens.
^ Whose blood isi^X. from fathers of tuar-proof !"] Thus the
folio, 1623, and rightly. So, Spenser's Fairy Q,ueeny B. Ill:
" Whom strange adventure did from Britain^^^.'*
Again, in the Prologue to Ben Jonson's. Silent Woman :
" Though there be none far fet, there will dear bought."
Again, in Lord Surrey's translation of the second Book of
Virgil's ^neid:
" And with that winde had /e^ the land of Greece."
The sacred writings afford many instances to the same purpose.
Mr. Pope first made the change, which I, among others, had in-
advertently followed. Steevens.
argument,~\ Is matter, or subject. Johnson.
" like greyhounds in the slips,] Slips are a contrivance of
leather, to start two dogs at the same time. C.
' Straining upon the start."^ The old copy reads S/rayiw^.
Corrected by Mr. Rowe. Malone.
VOL. XII. 2 B
570 KING HENRY V. act iii.
Follow your spirit: and, upon this charge.
Cry God for Harry! England! and Saint George!
{^Ejceunt. Alarum^ and Chambers go off.
SCENE II.
TJie same.
' Forces pass over; then enter -^ym, Bardolph,
Pistol, and Boy.
Bard. On, on, on, on, on! to the breach, to the
breach !
Nym. *Pray thee, corporal,^ stay; the knocks are
too hot; and, for mine own part, I have not a case
of lives :^ the humoui* of it is too hot, that is the
very plain-^song of it.
' corporal f"^ We should read lieutenant. It is Bardolph
to whom he speaks. Steevens.
Though Bardolph is only a corporal in King Henry IV. as
our author has in this play, from inadvertence or design, made
him a lieutenant, I think, with Mr. Steevens, that we should
read lieutenant. See a former note, p. 319. The truth is, I
believe, that the variations in his title proceeded merely from
Shakspeare's inattention. Malone.
' a case of lives .'1^ A set of lives, of which, when one
is worn out, another may serve. Johnson.
Perhaps only tvoo ; as a case of pistols ; and, In Ben Jonson, a
Cfl5e of masques. Whalley.
I believe Mr. Whalley's explanation is the true one. A case
of pistols, which was the current phrase for a pair or brace of
pistols, in our author's time, is at this day the term always used
in Ireland, where much of the language of the age of Elizabeth
is yet retained.
See also The Life of Jack Wilton, by Thomas Nashe, 4to.
1594: " Memorandum, everie one of you after the perusal of
this pamphlet is to provide him a case of ponyards, that if you
come in companie with any man which shall dispraise it, ^you
may straight give him the stockado." Malone.
sc. II, KING HENRY V. Wl
PiST. The plain-song is most just; for humours
do abound;
Knocks go and come ; God's vassals drop and die ;
And sword and shield.
In bloody iieid,
Doth win immortal fame.
Boy. * Would I were in an alehouse in London!
I would give all my fame for a ^pt of ale^ ^nd
safety.
PlS^, And I :
If wishes would prevail with me,*
My purpose should not fail with me,
But thither would I hie.
Boy. As duly, but not as truly, as bird doth sin^
on bough.^
Enter Fluellen.^
Flu. Got's plood! Up to the preach^s,"^ yp^
rascals ! will you not up to the preaches ?
\^Driving them forward.
* Iftvishes &c.] This passage I have replaced from the first
folio, which is the only authentick copy of this play. These
lines, which perhaps are part of a song, Mr. Pope did not like,
and therefore changed them in conformity to the imperfect play
in quarto, and was followed by the succeeding editors. For
prevail I should read avail. Johnson.
* As dull/, &c] This speech I have restored from the folio.
* Steevens.
This should be printed as verse, being perhaps the remainder
of Pistol's song. Douce.
^ Fluellen.'] This is only the Welsh pronunciation of
Lluellyn. Thus also F/c^c? instead of Z,/oyc/. Steevens.
' Up to the preaches, ^c] Thus the quarto, with
only the difference of breaches instead of preaches. Modern
editors have been very liberal of their Welsh dialect. The folio
reads, Up to the breachy you dogges, avaunt^you cullions.
Stebvens.
2 B 2
372 KING HENRY V. actiii.
PiST, Be merciful, great duke,' to men of
mould!'
Abate thy rage, abate thy manly rage 1
Abate thy rage, great duke!
Good bawcock, bate thy rage! use lenity, sweet
chuck!
' Be merciful, great duke, 3 That is, great commander. So,
in Harrington's Orlando Furioso, 1591 :
" And as herself the dame of Carthage kill'd,
*' When as the Trojan duke did her forsake, .**
The Trojan duke is only a translation of dux Trojanus. So
also in many of our old poems, Duke Theseus, Duke Hannibal,
&c. See Vol. IV. p. 319, n. 6. In Pistol's ipouth the word has
here peculiar propriety.
The author of Remarks, &c. on the last edition of Shak-
speare, [Mr. Ritson,] says, that " in the folio it is the Duke of
Exeter, and notFluellen, who enters [here], and to whom Pistol
addresses himself." It is sufficient to say, that in the only folio
of any authority, that of 1623, this is not the case. When the
King retired before the entry of Bardolph, &c. the Duke of
Exeter certainly accompanied him, with Bedford, Gloster, &c.
though in the folio the word Exeunt is accidentally omitted. In
the quarto, before the entry of Bardolph, Fluellen, &c. we find
Exit Omnes.
In the quarto, Nym, on Fluellen's treating him so roughly,
says, " abate thy rage, sweet knight.** Had these words been
preserved, I suppose this Remarker would have contended, that
Nym's address was not to the honest Welshman, but to old Sir
Thomas Erpingham.
I should not have taken the trouble to refute this unfounded
remark, had I not feared that my readers, in consequence of the
above-mentioned misrepresentation of the state of the old copy,
might be led to suppose that some arbitrary alteration had here
been made in the text. Malone.
to men of movidl'] To men of earth, to poor mortal
men. Johnson.
So, in the Countess of Pembroke's Yvychurch :
*' At length man was made of mould, by crafty Prome-
theus." Steevens.
sen. KING HENRY V. a73
Nym. These be good humours! ^your honour
wins bad humours.^
\_Eji:eunt Nym, Pistol, and Bardolph,
followed by Fluellen.
Boy, As young as I am, I have observed these
three swashers. I am boy to them all three: but
all they three,^ though they would serve me, could
not be man to me; for, indeed, three such anticks
do not amount to a man. For Bardolph, he is
white-livered, and red-faced; by the means whereof,
'a faces it out, but fights not. For Pistol, he hath
a kilHng tongue, and a quiet sword; by the means
whereof 'a breaks words, and keeps whole weapons.
For Nym, he hath heard, that men of few words
are the best men f and therefore he scorns to say
his prayers, lest 'a should be thought a coward: but
his few bad words are match' d with as few good
deeds; for 'a never broke any man's head but his
own; and that was against a post, when he was
drunk. They will steal any thing, and call it,
purchase. Bardolph stole a lute-case; bore it
twelve leagues, and sold it for three hal^ence.
Nym, and Bardolph, are sworn brothers in filching;
and in Calais they stole a fire-shovel : I knew, by
' wins bad humours.'] In a former scene Nym says,
" the king hatli run bad humours on the knight." We should
therefore perhaps read runs here also. B.ut there is little cer-
tainty in any conjecture concerningthe dialect of Nym or Pistol.
Malone.
' hut all they three^l We should read, I think, ^all
the three. Malone.
They three, is a vulgarism, to this day in constant use.
Steevens.
^ best men;'] That is, bravest j so in the next lines, gootf
deeds are brave actions. Johnson.
S74 KING HENRY V. act iii.
that piece of service, the men would carry coals.*
They would have me as familiar with men*s pockets,
as their gloves or their handkerchiefs: which makes
much against my manhood, if I should take from
another's pocket, to put into mine ; for it is plain
pocketing up of wrongs. I must leave them, and
seek some better service : their villainy goes against
my weak stomach, and therefore I must cast it up.
[^Exit Boy.
Re-enter Fluellen, Govter follomng.
Gow, Captain Fluellen, you must come presently
to the mines ; the duke of Gloster would speak with
you.
Flu* To the mines ! tell you the duke, it is not
so good to come to the mines: For, look you, the
mines is not according to the disciplines of the war ;
the concavities of it is not sufficient ; for, look you,
th' athversary (you may discuss unto the duke, look
you,) is dight himself four yards under the counter-
mines:^ by Cheshu, I think, 'a will plow up all,^ if
there is not better directions.
* the men tvoidd carry coals.J It appears that, in Shak-
speare's age, to carry coals, was, I know not why, to endure
affronts. So, in Romeo and Juliet, one serving-man asks another
whether he will carry coals. Johnson.
See note on Romeo and Jidiet, Act I. sc. i.
Cant phrases are the ephemerons of literature. In the quartos,
1600 and 1608, the passage stands thus: " I knew by that they
meant to carry coales." Steevens.
* is dight himself four yards under the countermines:]
Fluellen nieans, that the enemy had digged himself couw^ermewe*
four yards under the mines. Johnson.
' iaiU plow up atf,] That is, he will blofw up all.
JOHNSOK.
sc, lu KING HENRY V. 9rm
Gow. The duke of Gloster, to whom the order
of the siege is given, is altogether directed by an
Irishman ; a very valiant gentleman, i*faith.
Flu, It is captain Macmorris, is it not ?
Gow. I think, it be.
Flu. By Cheshu, he is an ass, as in the *orld:
I will verify as much in his peard : he has no more
directions in the true disciplines of the wars, look
you, of the Roman disciplines, than is a puppy-dog.
Enter Macmorris and Jamy, at a distance.
Gow. Here 'a comes j and the Scots captain, cap-
tain Jamy, with him.
Flu. Captain Jamy is a marvellous falorous gen-
tleman, that is certain ; and of great expedition,
and knowledge, in the ancient wars, upon my par-
ticular knowledge of his directions : by Cheshu, he
will maintain his argument as well as any military
man in the 'orld, in the discipHnes of the pristine
wars of the Romans.
Jamy. I say, gud-day, captain Fluellen.
Flu. God-den to your worship, goot captain
Jamy.
Gow. How now, captain Macmorris? have you
quit the mines ? have tne pioneers given o'er ?
Mac. By Chrish la, tish ill done : the work ish
give over, the trumpet sound the retreat. By my
hand, I swear, and by my father's soul, the work isn
ill done ; it ish give over : I would have blowed
up the town, so Chrish save me, la, in an hour.
O, tish ill done, tish ill done; by my hand, tish ill
done !
376 KING HENRY V. actiii.
Flu. Captain Macmorris, I peseech you now*
will you voutsafe me, look you, a few disputations
with you, as partly touching or concerning the dis-
ciplines of the war, the Roman wars, in the way of
argument, look you, and friendly communication ;
partly, to satisfy my opinion, and partly, for the
satisfaction, look you, of my mind, as touching the
direction of the military discipline? that is the
point.
Jamy. It sail be very gud, gud feith, gud cap-
tains bath : and I sail quit you'' with gud leve, as I
may pick occasion; that sail I, marry,
Mac. It is no time to discourse, so Chrish save
me, the day is hot, and the weather, and the wars,
and the king, and the dukes; it is no time to dis-
course. The town is beseeched, and the trumpet
calls us to the breach ; and we talk, and, by Chrish,
do nothing; 'tis shame for us all: so God sa' me,
'tis shame to stand still ; it is shame, by my hand :
and there is throats to be cut, and works to be
done; and there ish nothing done, so Chrish sa'
me, la.
Jamy. By the mess, ere theise eyes of mine take
themselves to slumber, aile do gude service, or aile
ligge i'the grund for it; ay, or go to death ; and
aile pay it as valorously as I may, that sal I surely
do, that is the breff and the long : Mary, I wad
fiill fain heard some question 'tween you tway.
Flu. Captain Macmorris, I think, look you,
under your correction, there is not many of your
nation
' / sail quit you ] That is, I shall, with your permis-
sion, requite you^ that is, answier you^ or interpose with my argu-
ments, as I shall find opportunity. Johnson.
sc. II. KING HENRY V. S7t
Mac. Of my nation ? What ish my nation ? ish
a villain, and a bastard, and a knave, and a rascal?
What ish my nation ? Who talks of my nation ?
Flu. Look you, if you take the matter otherwise
than is meant, captain Macmorris, peradventure, I
shall think you do not use me with that affability
as in discretion you ought to use me, look you ;
being as goot a man as yourself, both in the disci-
plines of wars, and in the derivation of my birth,
and in other particularities.
Mac. I do not know you so good a man as my-
self: so Chrish save me, I will cut off your head.
Gow. Gentlemen both, you will mistake each
other.
J AMY. Am ! That's a foul fault.
\_A Parley sounded*
Gow. The town sounds a parley.
Flu. Captain Macmorris, when there is more
better opportunity to be required, look you, I will
be so bold as to tell you, I know the disciplines of
war ; and there is an end. ^ [^Exeunt
* there is an end.'} It were to be wished, that the poor
merriment of this dialogue had not been purchased with so much
profaneness. Johnson.
378 KING HENRY V. act m,
SCENE III.
TJie same. Before tJie Gates o/'Harfleur.
The Govemouf and some Citizens on the Walls ;
the English Forces below. Enter King Henry
and his Train,
K. Hen. How yet resolves the governour of the
town ?
This is the latest parle we will admit :
Therefore; to our best mercy give yourselves ;
Or, like to men proud of destruction,
Defy us to our worst : for, as I am a soldier, '
(A name, that, in my thoughts, becomes me best,)
If I begin the battery once again,
I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur,
Till in her ashes she lie buried.
The gates of mercy shall be all shut up ; ^
And the flesh'd soldier, rough and hard of heart,
In liberty of bloody hand, shall range
With conscience wide as hell ; mowing like grass
^ Hrfy us to our wonti Jbr^eu I am a soldier,'] The three
words in Roman, are, I suppose, an interpolation. They have
little value, and spoil the metre. Steevens.
' The gates of mercy shall be all shut up ;] Mr. Gray has bor-
rowed this thought in his inimitable Elegy :
" And shut the gates of mercy on mankind."
Steevens.
We again meet with this significant expression in King
Henry VI. Part III :
*' Open thy gate of mercy, gracious Lord !'*
Sir Francis Bacon uses the same expression in a letter to King
James, written a few days after the death of Shakspeare: " And
therefore, in conclusion, we wished him [the earl of Somerset]
not to shut the gate of your majesties mercy against himself, by
being obdurate any longer." Malone.
sv. III. KING HENRY V. 879
Your fresh-fair virgins, and your flowering infants.
What is it then to me, if impious war,
ArrayM in flames, like to the prince of fiends,
Do, with his smirch* d complexion, all fell feats
Enlink'd to waste and desolation f'*
What is*t to me, when you yourselves are cause.
If your pure maidens fall into the hand
Of hot and forcing violation ?
What rein can hold licentious wickedness.
When down the hill he holds his fierce career ?
We may as bootless spend our vain command
Upon the enraged soldiers in their spoil.
As send precepts to the Leviathan
To come ashore. Therefore, you men of Harfleur,
Take pity of your town, and of your people,
Whiles yet my soldiers are in my command ;
Whiles yet the cool and temperate wind of grace
Overblows the filthy and contagious clouds^
Of deadly murder,* spoil, and villainy.
If not, why, in a moment, look to see
The blind and bloody soldier with foul hand
Defile the locks of your shrill-shrieking daughters;^
-Jelljeats
Enlink'd to waste and desolation ?] All the savage practices
naturally concomitant to the sack of cities. Johnson.
' Whiles yet the cool and temperate ivind of grace
O'erblows thejilthy and contagious clouds ]] This is a very
harsh metaphor. To overbloiv is to drive atvay, or to keep off.
Johnson.
' 0/^ deadly murder^ The folio has headly. The passage is
not in the quarto. TTie emendation was made by the editor of
the second folio. Malone.
Perhaps We should read, heady murder. ^^ in King
Henry IV. P.I:
" And all the currents of a heady fight." Steevens.
' Defile the locks &c.] The folio reads :
Desire the locks ^c. Steevens.
The emendation is Mr. Pope's. Malone.
380 KING HENRY V. act iii.
Your fathers taken by the silver beards,
And their most reverend heads dash'd to the walls;
Your naked infants spitted upon pikes ;
Whiles the mad mothers with their howls confus'd
Do break the clouds, as did the wives of Jewry
At Herod*s bloody-hunting slaughtermen.
What say you ? wUl you yield, and this avoid ?
Or, guilty in defence, be thus destroyed ?
Gov. Our expectation hath this day an end :
The Dauphin, whom of succour we entreated,*
Returns us ^that his powers are not yet ready
To raise so great a siege. Therefore, dread Icing,
We yield our town, and lives, to thj soft mercy ;
Enter our gates ; dispose of us, and ours ;
For we no longer are defensible.
K.Hen. Open your gates. Come, uncle Exeter,
Go you and enter Harfleur ; there remain.
And fortify it strongly 'gainst the French :
Use mercy to them all. For us, dear uncle,
The winter coming on, and sickness growing
Upon our soldiers, ^we'll retire to Calais.
To-night in Harfleur will we be your guest ;
To-morrow for the march are we addrest. '
[^Flourish. The King, ^c. enter the Town.
* ivhom of succour xue entreated,"] Many instances of
similar phraseology are already given in a note on the following
passage in A Midsummer-Night* s Dream : " I shall you o/'more
acquaintance." See Act III. sc. i. Steevens.
^ are ive addrest.] i. e. prepared. So, in Heywood's
Brazen Age, 1613:
" clamours from afar,
" Tell us these champions are addrest for war."
Steevens,
sc. IK KING HENRY V. 381
SCENE IV.
Roiien. A Room in the Palace.
m
Enter Katharine and Alice.
Kath. AUce^ tu as este^ en Angleterre, et tu
paries bien le language.
^ Scene IV.'} I have left this ridiculous scene as I found it ;
and am sorry to have no colour left, from any of the editions, to
imagine it interpolated. Warburton.
Sir T. Hanmer has rejected it. The scene is indeed mean
enough, when it is read; but the grimaces of two French women,
and the odd accent with which they uttered the English, made
it divert upon the stage. It may be observed, that there is in
it not only the French language, but the French spirit. Alice
compliments the princess upon her knowledge of four words,
and tells her that she pronounces like the English themselves.
The princess suspects no deficiency in her instructress, nor the
instructress in herself. Throughout the whole scene there may
be found French servility, and French vanity.
I cannot forbear to transcribe the first sentence of this dia-
logue from the edition of 1608, that the reader, who has not
looked into the old copies, may judge of the strange negligence
with which they are printed.
** Kate. Alice venecioj voiis aves cates en, vou parte fort bon
Angloys englatara, coman saepalla vou la main enjrancoy.'*
Johnson.
We may observe, in general, that the early editions have not
half the quantity ; and every sentence, or rather every word,
most ridiculously blundered. These, for several reasons, could
not possibly be published by the author ; and it is extremely pro-
bable that the FVench ribaldry was at first inserted by a different
hand, as the many additions most certainly were after he had
left the stage. Indeed, every friend to his memory will not
easily believe, that he was acquainted with the scene between
Katharine and the old Gentlewoman : or surely he would not have
admitted such obscenity and nonsense. Farmer.
It is very certain that authors, in the time of Shakspeare, did
382 KING HENRY V. actiii,
Alice. Un peu madame.
KaTh. Je te prie, m*enseigneuz ; il faut que
j*apprenne d parler. Comment app^llez vous la
viain, en Anglois ?
Alice. La main ? elle est appellee^ de hand.
Kath. De hand. Et les doigts?
Alice. Zr^5 doigts? may foy,^ je oublie les
not correct the press for themselves. I hardly ever saw, in one
of the old plays, a sentence of either Latin^ Italian^ or French^
without the most ridiculous blunders. In The History of Cly-
omorij Knight of the Golden Shield, 1599, a tragedy which I have
often quoted, a warrior asks a lady, disguised like a page, what
her name is. She answers, " jCur DuceeVf' i. e. Cteurd*Aciery
Heart of SteeL Steevens.
* Kath. Alice, tu as esfe ] I have regulated several speeches
in this French scene ; some whereof are given to Alice, and yet
evidently belonged to Katharine : and so vice versa. It is not
material to distinguish the particular transpositions I have made.
Mr. Gildon has left no bad remark, I think, with regard to our
poet's conduct in the character of this princess : " For why he
should not allow her,*' says he, " to speak in English as wd>l as
all the other French, I cannot imagine ; since it adds no beauty,
but gives a patched and pye-bald dialogue of oo beauty pr
force.'* Theobald.
In the collection of Chester Whitsun Mysteries, among the
Harleian MSS. No. 1013, I find Frendi speeches introduced.
In the Vintner's Play, p. 65, the three kings, who come to
worship our infant Saviour, address themselves to Herod in that
language, and Herod very politely answers them in the same.
At first, I supposed the author to have appropriated a foreign
tongue to them, because they were strangers ; but in the
Skinner's Play, p. 144, I found Pilate talking French, when no
uch reason could be offered to justify a change of language.
These mysteries are said to have been written in 1328. It is
hardly necessary to mention that in this MS. the French is as
much corrupted as in the passage quoted by Dr. Johnson from
the quarto edition of Kitig Heury V. Steevens.
' ^^yfoy,'] Thus the old copies; but I suspect we should
read ma foy. Steevens.
sc. IV. KING HENRY V. 383
doigts ; mats je me souviendray. Les doigts? je
pense, quails sont appelle de fingres; oui/, de fin-
gres.
Kath. La main, de hand ; les doigts, de fingres.
Je pense, que je suis le bon escolier. J* ay gagne
deiuv mots d*Anglois vistement. Comment appeUez
vous les ongles ?
Alice. Les ongles ? les appellons, de nails.
Kath. De nails. Escoutez ; dites moy^ si je
parte hien : de hand, de fingres, de nails.
Alice. Oest bien dit, madame ; il est fort bon
Anglois.
Kath. Dites may en Anglois, le bras.
Alice. De arm, madame.
Kath. Et le coudei
Alice. De elbow.
Kath. De elbow. Je m^enfaitz la repetition de
tous les mots, que vous m*avez appris des a present.
Alice. // est trop difficile, madame, connne je
pense.
Kath. Excusez moy, Alice; escoutez; De hand,
de fingre, de nails, de arm, de bilbow.
Alice. De elbow, madame.
Kath. O Seigneur Dieuf je trCen oublie; "De
elbow. Comment appellez vous le col?
Alice. De neck, madame.
Kath. De neck : Et le menton ?
Alice. De chin.
Kath. De sin. Le col, de neck : le menton, de
sin.
Alice. Ouy. Sauf vostre honneur ; en verite.
384 KING HENRY V. act m.
'Dous prononces les mots aussi droict qtie les natijs
d'Angleterre.
Kath. Je ne doute point d*apprendre par la
grace de Dieu ; et en peu de temps,
Alice. N'avez vous pas deja oublie ce que je
\)Ous ay enseignee ?
Kath. Non^ je reciter ay a vous promptement.
De hand, de fingre, de mails,
Alice, De nails, madame,
Kath. De nails, de arme, de ilbow.
Alice. Saufvostre honneur, de elbow.
Kath. Ainsi dis je; de elbow, de neck, et de
sin : Comment appellez vous le pieds et la robe ?
Alice, De foot, madame ; et de con.
Kath. De foot, et de con ? O Seigneur Dieu !
ces sont mots de son mauvais, corruptible, grosse, et
impudique, et non pour les dames d'honneur d*user:
Je Tie voudrois prononcer ces mots devant les Sei-
gneurs de France, pour tout le monde. II faut de
foot, 8^ de con, neant-moins, Je reciterai une
autre fois ma legon ensemble: De hand, de fingre,
de nails, de arm, de elbow, de neck, de sin, de
foot, de con.
Alice. Excellent, madame!
Kath. Cest assez pour une Jots ; allons nous a
disner. [Exeunt.
sc. V. KING HENRY V. 385
SCENE V.
The same. Another Room in the same*
Enter the French King, the Dauphin, Duke of
Bourbon, the Constable o/Trance, and Others.
Fr. King. *Tis certain, he hath pass'd the river
Some.
Con. And if he be not fought withal, my lord,
Let us not live in France ; let us quit all.
And give our vineyards to a barbarous people.
Dau. O Dieu vivantf shall a few sprays of us,
The emptying of our fathers* luxury,^
Our scions, put in wild and savage ^ stock.
Spirt up so suddenly into the clouds.
And overlook their grafters ?
BouR. Normans, but bastard Nori^ians, Norman
bastards !
Mort de ma vie ! if they march along
Unfought withal, but I will sell my dukedom.
To buy a slobbery and a dirty farm
In that nook-shotten isle of Albion.*
* our fathers' luxury,] In this place, as in others,
liixury means lust. Johnson.
So, in King Lear:
" To't, luxury^ pell-mell, for I lack soldiers.'*
Steevens.
^ savage ] is here used in the French original sense,
for sihariy uncultivated, the same with voild. Johnson.
* In that nook-shotten isle of Albion.~\ Shotten signifies any
thing projected: so nook-shotten isle, is an isle that shoots out
into capes, promontories, and necks of land, the very figure of
Great Britain. Warburton.
VOL. XII. 2 C
S86 KING HENRY V. act in.
Con. Dieu de battailes ! where have they this
mettle?
Is not their climate foggy, raw, and dull ?
On whom, as in despite, the sun looks pale,
Killing their fruit with frowns ? Can sodden water,
A drench for sur-rein'd jades, ^ their barley broth.
Decoct their cold blood to such valiant heat?
And shall our quick blood, spirited with wine,
Seem frosty ? O, for honour of our land.
Let us not hang like roping icicles
Upon our houses' thatch, whiles a more frosty
people *
The same compound epithet is employed by Randle Holme,
in his Academy of Armory and Blazon^ B. III. c. ix. p. 385 :
" Querke is a nook-shotten pane" [of glass.] Steevens.
* Can sodden water j
A drench for sur-rein'd jVrrfw,] The exact meaning of sur-
rein*d I do not know. It is common to give horses over-ridden
or feverish, ground malt and hot water mixed, which is called a
mash. To this he alludes. Johnson.
The word sur-reht'd occurs more than once in the old plays.
So, in Jack Drum*s Entertainment ^ 1601:
** Writes he not a good cordial sappy style? *"
** A sur-rein'd jaded wit, but he rubs on."
It should be observed that the quartos 1600 and 1608 read:
A drench for swolne jades. Steevens.
I suppose, sur-rein*d means over-ridden ; horses on whom the
rein has remained too long. Malonx.
I believe that sur-rein'd means over toorked or ridden ; but
should suppose the word rather derived from the reins of the
back, than from those of the bridle. M. Mason.
^ Upon our houses* thatch, whiles a more frosty people ]
I cannot help supposing, for the sake of metre, that Snakspeare
wrote hou^e-thatch. Hou^e-top is an expression which the
reader will find in St. Matthew, xxiv. 17. Steevens.
upon our houses^ thatch,] Thus the folio. The quarto
has our houses' tops.
The reading of the folio is supported by a passage in The
Tempest :
" . like winter drops,
** From eaves of reeds.**
sc. r. KING HENRY V. S87
Sweat drops of gallant youth'' in our rich fields j
Poor we may call them,^ in their native lords.
Dau. By faith and honour,
Our madams mock at us ; and plainly say.
Our mettle is bred out; and they will give
Their bodies to the lust of English youth.
To new-store France with bastard warriors.
BouR. They bid us to the English dancing-
schools,
And teach lavoltas high, ^ and swift corantos ;
Again, in Lovers Labour* s Lost :
" When icicles hang by the toall,** &c. Malone.
' drops o/" gallant youth ] This is the reading of the
folio. The quarto reads drops oi youthful blood. Malone.
* voe may call them,'] May, which is wanting in the old
copy, was added by the editor of the second folio. Malone.
^ lavoltas high,'] Sir T. Hanmer observes, that in this
dance there was much turning and much capering. Shakspeare
mentions it more than once, but never so particularly as the
uthor of Muleasses the Turk, a tragedy, 1610:
" Be pleas'd, ye powers of night, and 'bout me skip
" Your antick measures ; like to coal-black Moors
*' Dancing their high lavoltoes to the sun,
* Circle me round : and in the midst I'll stand,
" And crack my sides with laughter at your sports."
Again, in Chapman's May-Day, 1611:
" let the Bourdeaux grape
" Skip like la volta's in their swelling veins.'*
Again :
* Where love doth dance la volta.** Steevens.
Lavoltas are thus described by Sir John Davies, in his poem
called Orchestra:
* Yet is there one the most delightful kind,
** A lofty jumping, or a leaping round,
" Where arm in arm, two dancers are entwin'd,
" And whirl themselves in strict embracements bound,
" And still their feet an anapest do sound:
" An anapest is all their musick's song,
" WTiose first two feet is short, and third is long.
2 C 2
388 KING HENRY V. act in.
Saying, our grace is only in our heels,
And that we are most lofty runaways.
Fr. King. Where is Montjoy, the herald?
speed him hence ;
Let him greet England with our sharp defiance.
Up, princes; and, with spirit of honour edg'd.
More sharper than your swords, hie to the field :
Charles De-la-bret, high constable of France ;^
You dukes of Orleans, Bourbon, and of Berry,
Alen9on, Brabant, Bar, and Burgundy ;
Jaques Chatillion, Rambures, Vaudemont,
Beaumont, Grandpre, Roussi, and Fauconberg,
Foix, Lestrale, Bouciqualt, and Charolois;
High dukes, great princes, barons, lords, and
. knights,^
" As the victorious twins of Leda and Jove
" That tauglit the Spartans dancing on the sands
* Of swift Eurotas, dance in heaven above,
," Knit and united with eternal hands;
*' Among the stars their double image stands,
" Where both are carried with an equal pace,
.i ' " " Together jumping in their turning race." Reed.
' Charles De-la-bret, &c.] Milton somewhere bids the
English take notice how their names are misspelt by foreigners,
and seems to think that we may lawfully treat foreign names, in
return, with the same neglect. This privilege seems to be ex-
ercised in this catalogue of French names, which, since the
sense of the author is not affected, I have left as I found it.
Johnson.
I have changed the spelling; for I know not why we should
leave blunders or antiquated orthography in the proper names,
when we have been so careful to remove tliem both from all
other parts of the text. Instead of Charles De-la-brety we
should read Charles D*Albretf but the metre will not allow of it.
Steevens.
Shakspeare followed Holinshed's Chronicle, in which the
Constable is called Delabreth, as he here is in the folio.
Malone.
* and knights,] The old copy reads kings. The
sc. V. KING HENRY V. 389
For your great seats, now quit you of great shames.
Bar Harry England, that sweeps through our land
With pennons^ painted in the blood of Harfleur:
Rush on his host, as doth the melted snow*
Upon the vallies ; whose low vassal seat
The Alps doth spit and void his rheum upon:^
emendation is Mr. Theobald's. It is confirmed by a line in the
last scene of the fourth Act:
*' princes, barons, lords, hnightSy '* Malone.
' With pennons ] Pennons armorial were small flags, on
which the arms, device, and motto of a knight were painted.
Pennon is the same as pendant. So, in The Stately Moral of
the Three Lords of London ^ 1590:
*' In glittering gold and particolour'd plumes,
" With curious pendants on their launces fix'd," &c.
Again, in Chaucer's Knyghtes Tale, v. 980, Mr. Tyrwhitt's
edition :
** And by his banner borne is his penon
** Of gold ful riche, in which there was ybete
" The Minotaure which that he slew in Crete."
In MS. Harl. No. 24'13, is the following note :
" Penon,
** A penon must bee tow yardes and a halfe longe, made round
att the end, and conteyneth the armes of the owner, and servith
for the conduct of fiftie men.
" Everye knight may have his pennon if bee bee cheefe cap-
taine, and in it sett his armes : and if bee bee made bannerett,
the kinge or the lieftenant shall make a slitt in the end of the
pennon, and the heralds shall raise it out.
" Pencelles.
" Pencells or flagges for horsemen must bee a yarde and a
halfe longe, with the crosses of St. George," &c. Steevens.
melted snoto ] The poet has here defeated himself
by passing too soon from one image to another. To bid the
French rush upon the English as the torrents formed from melted
snow stream from the Alps, was at once vehement and proper,
but its force is destroyed by the grossness of the thought in the
next line. Johnson.
* The Alps doth spit and void his rheum upon:"]
" Jupiter hybernas cana nivc consptiit Alpes."
F?cr. Bibac. ap. Hor.
Steevens,
390 KING HENRY V. actiij.
Go down upon him, ^you have power enough, f
And in a captive chariot, into Roiien
Bring him our prisoner.
Con. This becomes the great.
Sorry am I, his numbers are so few,
His soldiers sick, and famish*d in their march ;
For, I am sure, when he shall see our army,
He'll drop his heart into the sink of fear,
And, for achievement, offer us his ransomed
Fr. King. Therefore, lord constable, haste on
Montj6y;
And let him say to England, that we send
To know what willing ransome he will give."
Prince Dauplan, you shall stay with us in Roiien. '
' HeHl drop his heart into the sink qfjear^
And, for achievement, offer us his ransome."] I can make
no sense of these words as they stand, though it is to be supposed
that the editors understood them, since they have passed them
by unnoticed. I have little doubt but the words his andjhr, in
the last line, have been misplaced, and that the line should run
thus:
And his achievement offer us for ransome.
And accordingly the King of France sends to Henry to know
what ransome he will give. By his achievement is meant the
town of Harfleur, which Henry had taken. In the former par^
of this Act he says :
" I will not leave the ha\S-achieved Harfleur,
" Till in her ashes she be buried." M. Mason.
The first of the two lines which appear so obscure to Mr. M.
Mason, is to me at least sufficiently intelligible; yet as the idea
designed to be communicated by it, is not only contemptible but
dirty, I still choose to avoid explanation. Steevens.
And for achievement offer us his ransome.] That is, instead
of achieving a victory over us, make a proposal to pay us a cer
tain sum, as a ransom. So, in Henry VI. Part HI :
" For chair and dukedom, thrpne and kingdom say."
Malone.
' in Roiien.] Here, and a little higher, we have, in the
old copy Roan, which was, in Shakspeare's time, the mode of
sc. ri. KING HENRY V. 391
Dau. Not so, I do beseech your majesty.
Fr. King. Be patient, for you shall remain with
us.
Now, forth, lord constable, and princes all ;
And quickly bring us word of England's fall.
lEa^eunt
SCENE VI.
The English Camp in Picardy.
Enter Gower and Fluellen.
Gow. How now, captain Fluellen? come you
from the bridge ?
Flu. I assure you, there is very excellent ser-
vice committed at the pridge.
Gow. Is the duke of Exeter safe ?
Flu. The duke of Exeter is as magnanimous as
Agamemnon ; and a man that I love and honour
with my soul, and my heart, and my duty, and my
life, and my livings, and my uttermost powers: he
is not, (God be praised, and plessed !) any hurt in
the 'orld; but keeps the pridge most valiantly,*
spelling Rouen ^ in Normandy. He probably pronounced th?
word as a monosyllable, Roan; as indeed most Englishmen do
at this day. Malone.
hut keeps Me pridge most valiantly ^"^ This i$ not an
imaginary circvimstance, but founded on an historical fact. After
Henry had passed the Some, the French endeavoured to inter-
cept him in his passage to Calais ; and for that purpose attempted
to break down the only bridge that there was over the small
river of Ternois, at Blangi, over which it was necessary for
Jtienry to pass. But Henry, having notice of their design, sent
392 KING HENRY V. act in.
with excellent discipline. There is an ensign^
there at the pridge, I think, in my very con-
science, he is as valiant as Mark Antony; and he
is a man of no estimation in the *orld : but 1 did
see him do gallant service.
Gow. What do you call him ?
Flu. He is called ancient Pistol.
Gow. I know him not.
Enter Pistol.
Flu. Do you not know him ? Here comes the
man.
PiST. Captain, I thee beseech to do me favours :
The duke oi Exeter doth love thee well.
Flu. Ay, I praise Got ; and I have merited
some love at his hands.
PiST. Bardolph, a soldier, firm and sound of
heart,
Of buxom valour,' hath, ^by cruel fate.
And giddy fortune's furious fickle wheel,
That goddess blind.
That stands upon the rolling restless stone, ^
apart of his troops before him, who, attacking and putting the
French to flight, preserved the bridge, till Uie whole English
army arrived, and passed over it. Ma lone.
' There is an ensign ] Thus the quarto. The folio reads
there is an ancient lieutenant. Pistol was not a lieutenant.
Malone.
' O/* buxom valour,'] i. e. valour under good command,
obedient to its superiors. So, in Spenser's Fairi/ Queen :
" Love tyrannizeth in the bitter smarts
" Of them that to him are buxom and prone."
Steevens.
* That goddess blind.
That stands upon the rolling restless stone,] Fortune is de^
sc. VI, KING HENRY V. 393
Flu, By your patience, ancient Pistol. Fortune
is painted plind, with a muffler before her eyes, to
signify to you that fortune is plind :^ And she is
scribed by Cebes, and by Pacuvius, in the Fragments of Latin
Authors, p. 60, and the first Book of the Pieces to Herennius,
precisely in these words of our poet. It is unnecessary to quote
them. S. W.
rolling restless ] In an Ode to Concord, which con-
cludes the fourth Act of Gascoigne's Jocasta, we find the same
combination of epithets, though applied to a different object :
** bred in sacred brest
** Of him that rules the restlesse-r oiling skie."
Steevens.
For this idea our author seems indebted to The Spanish Tra-
gedy:
" Fortune is blinds
** Whose foot is standing on a rolling stone." Ritson.
^ Fortune is painted plind, ixiith a muffler before her eyes, to
signify to you that fortune is plind:'] Here the fool of a player
was for making a joke, as Hamlet says, not set down for him,
and showing a most pitiful ambition to be witty. For Fluellen,
though he speaks with his country accent, yet is all the way re-
presented as a man of good plain sense. Therefore, as it
appears he knew the meaning of the term plind, by his use of
it, he could never have said that Fortune was painted plind, to
signify she was plind. He might as well have said afterwards,
that she was painted inconstant, to signify she was inconstant.
But there he speaks sense ; and so, unquestionably, he did here.
We should therefore strike out the first plind, and read:
Fortune is painted with a muffler &c. Warburton.
The old reading is the true one. Fortune the goddess is re-
presented blind, to show that fortune, or the chance oflifo, is
without discernment. Steevens.
The picture of Fortune is taken from the old history ofFortu-
natus; where she is described to be a fair woman muffled over
the eyes. Farmer.
A muffler appears to have been a fold of linen which partially
covered a woman's face. So, in Monsieur Thomas, 1639:
" On with my muffler."
See The Merry Wives of Windsor, Vol. V. p. 170, n. 5.
Steevens.
394 KING HENRY V. act iii,
painted also with a wheel; to signify to you, which
IS the moral of it, that she is turning, and incon-
stant, and variations, and mutabilities: and her
foot, look you, is fixed upon a spherical stone,
which rolls, and rolls, and rolls; In good truth,*
the poet is make a most excellent description of
fortune: fortune, look you, is an excellent moral,
Pjst. Fortune is Bardolph's foe, and frowns on
him;
For he hath stoPn a pix^^ and hanged must 'a be.
Minsheu, in his Dictionary^ 1617, explains ** a woman's
pttifflery*' by the French word cachen^z, which Cotgrave defines
* a kind of mask for the face;" yet, I believe, it was made of
linen, and that Minsheu only means to compare it to a mast,
because they both might conceal part of the face. It was, I
believe, a kind of hood, of the same form as the riding-hood
now sometimes worn by ntien, that covered the shoulders, and a
great part of the face. This agrees with the only other passage
in which the word occurs in these plays: " I spy a great
beard under her muffler.** Merry Wives of Windsor. See also
the verses cited in Vol. ;*
" Now is she barefast to be scene, straight on her muffler
goes ;
** Now is she hufft up to the crowne, straight nuzled to
the nose.** Malone.
* . m ... In good triithf &c,] The reading here is made out of
two copies, the quarto, and the first folio. Malone.
* For he hath stol'n a pix,] The old editions read pax.
** And this is conformable to history," says Mr. Pope, " a sol-
dier (as Hall tells us) being hanged at this time for such a fact."
Both Hall and Holinshed agree as to the point of the thefi; but
as to the thing stolen^ there is not that conformity betwixt them
and Mr. Pope. It was an ancient custom, at the celebration of
mass, that when the priest pronounced these words, Pax Domini
sit semper vobiscum.' both clergy and people kissed one another.
And this was called Osculum Pads, the Kiss of Peace. But
that custom being abrogated, a certain image is now presented
to be kissed, which is called a Pax. But it wa not this image
Mr. Maione's reference being erroneous, a blank is here necessarily left.
8C, VL KING HENRY V. 395
A damned death !
Let gallows gape for dog, let man go free.
which Bardolph stole; it was a,pix, or little chest, (from thj*
Latin word, pixisy a box,) in which the consecrated host was
used to be kept. " A foolish soldier," says Hall expressly, and
Holinshed after him, " stole a pix out of a church, and unre-
verently did eat the holy hostes within the same contained."
Theobald,
What Theobald says is true, but might have been told in
fewer words : I have examined the passage in Hall. Yet Dr.
Warburton rejected that emendation, and continued Pope's note
without animadversion.
It is pax in the folio, 1623, but altered to pix by Tlieobald
and Sir T, Hanmer. They signified the same thing. See Paz
at MasSy Minsheu's Guide into the Tongues. Pix or pax was
^ little box in which were kept the consecrated wafers.
Johnson.
So, in May-Day y a comedy, by Chapman, 1611: " Kiss
the^aar, and be quiet, like your other neighbours."
So, in The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington, 1601:
" Then with this hallow'd crucifix,
" This holy wafer, and this pix."
That a pix and a pax were different things, may also be seen
from the following passage in The History of our Blessed Lady
ofLorettOy 12mo. 1608, p. 595: ** a cup, and a sprinkle for
holy water, a. pix and a. pax, all of excellent chrystal, gold and
amber."
Again, in Stowe's Chronicle, p. 677: ** palmes, chalices,
crosses, ve&Xxaeii\&, pixes, paxes, and such like." Steevens.
Pix is apparently right. In Henry the Vllth's will it is said:
Forasmoche aa we have often and many tymes, to our inwarde
regrete and displeasure seen at our Jen, in diverse and many
churches ofourreame, the holie sacrament oftheaulter, kept in ful
simple, and inhonest pixes, spicially pixes of copre and tymbre ;
we have appointed and commaunded the tresourer of our
chambre, and maistre of our juell-house, to cause to be made
furthwith,jDw:es of silver and gilt, in a greate nombre, for the
keeping of the holie sacrament of the aultre, after the faction of
a pixe that we have caused to be delivered to theim. Every of
the said pixes to be of the value of iiii/. garnished with our armes,
and rede roses and poort-colis crowned." P. 38. Reed.
The old copies have pax, which was a piece of board on
396 KING HENRY V. act iii.
And let not hemp his wind-pipe suffocate :
But Exeter hath given the doom of death.
For pix of little price.
Therefore, go speak, the duke will hear thy voice;
And let not Bardolph's vital thread be cut
With edge of penny cord, and vile reproach :
Speak, captain, for his life, and I will thee requite.
Flu. Ancient Pistol, I do partly understand your
meaning.
Fist. Why then rejoice therefore.^
Flu. Certainly, ancient, it is not a thing to re-
joice at: for if, look you, he were my brother, I
would desire the duke to use his goot pleasure, and
put him to executions ; for disciplines ought to be
used.
which was the image of Christ on the cross; which the people
used to kiss after the service was ended.
Holinshed (whom our author followed) says, " a foolish
soldier stole a pixe out of a church, for which cause he was
apprehended, and the king would not once more remove till the
box was restored, and the offender strangled."
The following, as Mr. Tyrwhitt has elsewhere observed, is one
of the Ordinances des Battailes, 9 R. II: .
" Item, que nul soit si hardi de toucher le corps de noster
Seigneur, ni le vessel en quel il est, sur peine d'estre trainez et
pendUf et le teste avoir coupe." MS. Cotton, Nero, D. 6.
Malone.
* fVhi/ then rejoice therefore.^ This passage, with several
others in the character of Pistol, is ridiculed by Ben Jonson, in
The Poetaster, as follows:
" Why then lament therefore ; damn'd be thy guts
** Unto king Pluto's hell, and princely Erebus ;
" For sparrows must have food." Steevens.
The former part of this passage, in The Poetaster, seems
rather to be a parody on one of Pistol's in King Henri/ IV. P. II.
p. 241 : " Why then lament therefore." Perhaps in that before
us our author had in his thoughts a very contemptible play of
Marlow's, The Massacre of Paris:
" The Guise is dead, and / rejoice therefore." Malone.
sc. VI. KING HENRY V. 397
PiST. Die and be damn'd; and j^^o for thy
friendship !'^
Flu. It is well.
PiST. The fig of Spain !^ \_EMt Pistol.
'' figo yor thy friendship !~\ This expression occurs like-
wise in Ram- Alley, or Merry Tricks, 1610:
" water at the dock ;
" AJico for her dock."
Again :
" AJico for the sun and moon." Steevens.
The fig o/" Spain!] This is no allusion to the ^co already
explained in Kins Henry IV. Part II. but to the custom of
fiving poisoned figs to those who were the objects either of
panish or Italian revenge. The quartos 1600 and 1608, read:
" The fig of Spain tvithin thyjaxv:" and afterwards: " The
fig tvithin thy bowels and thy dirty maixi.**
So, in The Fleire, 1610, a comedy :
" Fel. Give them afg.
" Flo. Make them drink their last.
" Poison them."
Again, in The Brothers, by Shirley, 1652:
" I must powon him ; onejig sends him to Erebus."
Again, in Ben Jonson's Every Man in his Humour :
" The lye to a man of my coat, is as ominous a fruit gs
the J?co."
Again, in one of Gascoigne*s Poems :
" It may fall out that thou shalt be entic'd
" To sup sometimes with a magnifico,
" And have afico foisted in thy dish," &c.
Again, in Decker's Match me in London, 1631 :
" Cor. Now do I look for Sifg.
" Gaz. Chew none, fear nothmg."
And the scene of this play lies at Seville.
Again, in The Noble Soldier, 1634 :
" Is it [poison] speeding ?
" As all our Spanish Jigs are."
Again, in Vittoria Corombona, 1612 :
" I look now for a Spanish fig, or an Italian sallad,
daily." Steevens.
I believe the^ff of Spain is here used only as a term of con-
tempt. In the old translation of Galateo of Manners and Beha-
viour, p. 81, we have :
398 KING HENRY V. act m.
Flu, Very good.*
Gow. Why, this is an arrant counterfeit rascal ;
I remember him now; a bawd; a cutpurse.
Flu. ril assure you, 'a utter*d as prave 'ords at
the pridge, as you shall see in a summer's day: But
it is very well ; what he has spoke to me, that is
well, I warrant you, when time is serve.
Gow. Why, 'tis a gull, a fool, a rogue ; that now
and then goes to the wars, to grace himself, at his
return into London, under the form of a soldier.
And such fellows are perfect in great commanders*
names ; and they will learn you by rote, where ser-
vices were done ; at such and such a sconce,' at
" She gave the Spanish figgCy
" With both her thumbes at once,'*
saith Dant.
And a note says, " Fiche is the thrusting of the thumbe be-
tweene the forefinger; which eyther for the worde, or the
remembrance of something thereby signified, is reputed amongst
the Italians as a word of shame.'* Reed.
And in Fulwell's Art of Flattery:
" And thus farewell I will returne
" To lady hope agayne;
" And for a token I thee sende
" A doting^g- of Spayne.^* Henley.
The quarto shews, I think, that Mr. Steevens is right. See
p. 242, n. 6. Malone.
" Very good.'] Instead of these two words, the quartos read :
" Captain Gower, cannot you hear it lighten and thun-
der ?'* Steevens.
* a sconce i~\ Appears to have been some hasty, rude,
inconsiderable kind of fortification. Sir Thomas Smythe, in one
of his Discourses on the Art Military^ 1589, mentions them in
the following manner : " and that certain sconces by them
devised, without any bulwarks, flanckers, travasses, mounts,
platformes, wet or drie ditches, in forme, with counterscarps,
or any other good forme of fortification ; but only raised and
formed with earth, turfe, trench, and certen poynts, angles, and
indents, should be able to hold out the eneraie," &c.
Steevens.
sc. VI. KING HENRY V. S99
such a breach, at such a convoy; who came off
bravely, who was shot, who disgraced, what terms
the enemy stood on ; and this they con perfectly in
the phrase of war, which they trick up with new-
tuned oaths: And what a beard of the generaPs
cut,^ and a horrid suit of the camp,^ will do among
So, Falstaff, in The Merry Wives of Windsor : ** I will en-
sconce (i. e. entrench) myself behind the arras.'* Blackstone.
* a beard of the general's cut,] It appears from an old
ballad inserted in a Miscellany, entitled Le Prince d* Amour y 8vo.
1660, that our ancestors were very curious in the fashion of their
beards, and that a certain cut or form was appropriated to the
soldier, the bishop, the judge, the clown, &c. The spade-heardf
and perhaps the stiletto-heard also, was appropriated to the first
of these characters. It is observable that our author's patron,
Henry Earl of Southampton, who spent much of his time in
camps, is drawn with the latter of these beards; and his unfor-
tunate friend. Lord Essex, is constantly represented with the
former. In the ballad above mentioned the various forms of
this fantastick ornament are thus described:
" Now of beards there be,
Such a companie,
" Of fashions such a throng,
That it is very hard
* To treat of the beard,
" Though it be ne'er so long.
# * *
* The steeletto beard,
" O, it makes me afeard,
" It is so sharp beneath;
" For he that doth place
* A dagger in his face,
" What wears he in his sheath ?
* * ft
" The soldiers beard
" Doth match in this herd,
** In figure like a spade;
" With which he will make
" His enemies quake,
" To think their grave is made.
<* Next the clown doth out-rush,
With the beard of the bush," &c. Malone.
400 KING HENRY V. act iii.
foaming bottles, and ale-washed wits, is wonderful
to be thought on! but you must learn to know
such slanders of the age,* or else you may be mar-
vellous mistook.
Flu. I tell you what, captain Gower ; I do
perceive, he is not the man that he would gladly
make show to the *orld he is; if I find a hole in his
coat, I will tell him my mind. [Drum heard.~\ Hark
you, the king is coming j and I must speak with
him from the pridge.^
* a horrid suit of the cnmp^~\ Thus the folio. The
quartos 1600, &c. read a horrid shout of the camp.
Steevens.
Suit, I have no doubt, is the true reading. Soldiers shout in
a field of battle f but not in a camp. Suit, in our author's time,
appears to have been pronounced shoot : ( See Vol. VII. p. 80,
n. 7.) hence probably the corrupt reading of the quarto.
Malone.
* such slanders of the age,'] This was a character very
troublesome to wise men in our author's time. " It is the
practice with him (says Ascham) to be warlike, though he never
looked enemy in tne face ; yet some warlike sign must be used,
as a slovenly buskin, or an over-staring frownced head, as though
out of every hair's top should suddenly start a good big oath.'*
Johnson.
Pistol's character seems to have been formed on that of Basi-
lisco, a cowardly braggart in Solyman and Perseda, which was
performed before 1592, A basilisk is the name of a great gun.
J <!^''i' Malone.
* 1 must speak "with him from the pridge."] " Speak tvith
him from the pridge, (Mr. Pope tells us,) is added to the latter
editions; but that it is plain, from the sequel, that the scene here
continues, and the affair of the bridge is over." This is a most
inaccurate criticism. Though the affair of the bridge be over,
is that a reason, that the king must receive no intelligence from
thence? Fluellen, who comes from the bridge, wants to ac-
quaint the king with the transactions that had happened there.
This he calls speaking to the king from the bridge.
Theobald.
With this Dr. Warburton concurs. Johnson.
scFi, KING HENRY V* 40i
Enter King Henry, Gloster, and Soldiers.^,
Flu. Got pless your majesty !
K. Hen. How now, Fluellen ? earnest thou from
the bridge ?
Flu. Ay, so please your majesty. The duke of
Exeter has very gallantly maintained the pridge :.
the French is gone off, look you; and there is gal-
lant and most prave passages: Marry, th'athversary
was have possession of thepridge; but he is enforced
to retire, and the duke of Exeter is master of the
pridge : I can tell your majesty, the duke is a prave
man.
K. Hen. What men have you lost, Fluellen ?
Flu. The perdition of th'athversary hath been
very great, very reasonable great: marry, for my
part, I think the duke hath lost never a man, but
one that is like to be executed for robbing a church,
one Bardolph, if your majesty know the man: his
face is all bubukles, and whelks, and knobs,'' and
The words,yrom the pridge y are in the folio, 1623, but not in
the quarto ; and I suspect that they were caught by the compo-
sitor from King Henry's first speech on his entrance.
Malonk.
* and Soldiers."] The direction in the folio is " Enter
the King and Ynspoor Soldiers." This was, I suppose, inserted,
that their appearance might correspond with the subsequent
description in the chorus of Act IV:
" The ^oor condemned English," &c. Malonb.
' and whelks, and knobs,] So, in Chaucer's character
of a Sompnour, from which, perhaps, Shakspeare took some
hints for his description of Bardolph's face :
" A Sompnour was ther with us in that place
" That hadde ajire-red cherubinnes face, &c.
VOL. XII. 2 D
4m KINCr HENRY Y, act nr.
flames of fire ; and his lips plows at his nose, and it
is like a coal of fire, sometimes plue, and sometimes
red; but his nose is executed," and his fire*s out.*
K. Hen. We would have all such offenders so cut
off*: and we give express charge, that, in our
marches through the country, there be nothing
compelled from the villages, nothing taken but
paid for ; none of the French upbraided, or abused
in disdainful language; For when lenity and' cruelty
play for a kingdom, the gentler gamester is the
soonest winner.
': ** Ther n*as quicksilver, lifarge; ne brlmston,
^ " Boras, ceruse, ne oile of tartre non,
* Ne oinement that wolde dense or bite,
** That might him helpcn of his vohelkes white,
*' Ne of the knobbes sitting on his chekes."
See the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, Mr. Tyrwhitt's
edition, V. 628, &c. Steevens.
' but his nose is executed, &c.] It appears, from what
Kstol has just said to Fluellen, that Bardolph was not yet exe-
cuted;, or^ at least, that Fluellen did not know that he was exe-
cuted. But Fluellen's language must not be too strictly examined..
Malone.
' his fire's otrf.] This is the last time that any sport can
be made with the red face of Bardolph, which, to confess the
truth, seems to have taken more hold on Shakspeare's imagina-
tion than on any other. The conception is very cold to the
solitary reader, though it may be somewhat invigorated by the
exhibitioaon the stage. This poet is always more careful about
tb&fvesen$ than Uie future, about his audience thaa his readers.
V. -. JoH^so&%
s^m>- ICMG iCEHRy^y^ 40S
Tucket sounds. jEwfer Montjov.
auii
Mont. You know me by my tiabit.*
K. Hen. Well then, I know thee; What shall I
know of thee? .
Mont. My master's mind.
K. Hen. Unfold it.
Mont. Thus says my king : Say thou to Harry
of England, Though we seemed dead, we did but
sleep y Advantage is abetter soldier, than rashness.
Tell him, we could have rebuked him at Harfleur;^
but that we thought not good to bruise an injury,
till it were full ripe: now we speak upon our cuej*'
and our voice is imperial : England shall repent his
folly, see his weakness, and admire our sufferance.
Bid him, therefore, consider of his ransome ; which
must proportion the losses we have borne, the sub-
jects we have lost, the disgrace we have digested;
which in weight to re-answer, his pettiness would
bow under. For our losses, his exchequer is too
Eoor; for the effusion of our blood, the muster of
is kingdom too faint a number; and for our dis-'
* Enter Montjoy."] Mont-joie is the title of the first king at
ittTa& in France, as Garter is in our own country. Steevens.
* by my habit.] That is, by his herald's costt. The pcF*'
son of a herald being inviotable, was distinguished in those times
of formality by a peculiar dress, which is likewise yet worn oft
particular occasions. Johnson.
' Though toe seemed deady toe did hut sleep;']. So^inr^
Measure for Measure:
** The law hath not been dead, though it hath sldpt.**^
MALONjZk
* upon our, cue,'] In our turn. This phrase the author
learned among playe|^, and has imparted it to kings.
Johnson.
2d2
404 KING HENRY V. ACTim
grace, his own person, kneeling at our ^^^i^ but a
weak and worthless satisfaction. To this add
defiance: and tell him, for conclusion, he hath be-
trayed his followers, whose condemnation is pro-
nounced. So far my king and master; so much
my office.*
' K. Hen. What is thy name ? I know thy quality.
Mont. Montjoy.
K. Hen. Thou dost thy office fairly. Turn
thee back,
And tell thy king, I do not seek him now;
But could be willing to march on to Calais
Without impeachment:^ for, to say the sooth,
(Though *tis no wisdom to confess so much
Unto an enemy of craft and vantage,)
My people are with sickness much enfeebled;
My numbers lessen*d; and those few I have.
Almost no better than so many French ;
Who when they were in health, I tell thee, herald,
I thought, upon one pair of English legs
* so much my office.'] This speech, as well as another
preceding it, was compressed into verse by Mr. Pope. Where
he wanted a syllable, he supplied it, and where there were too
many for his purpose, he made suitable omissions. Shakspeare
( if we may believe the most perfect copy of the play, i. e. that
in the first folio, ) meant both speeches for prose, and as such I
have printed them. Steevens.
" Without impeachment :3 i. e. hindrance. Empechementp
French. In a book entitled. Miracles lately tvrougkt by the
Intercession of the glorious Virgin Marie^ at Mont^aigUy nere
unto Siche in Brabant y* &c. printed at Antwarp, by Arnold
Conings, 1606, 1 meet with this word: " Wherefore he took it
and without empeschmenty or resistance, placed it agaiile in the
oke." Steevens.
Impeachmenty in the same sense, has alvvays been used as a
legal word in deeds, as " without impeachment of waste ;'*
i. e. without restraint or hindrance of waste. Reed.
sc. VL ' KING HENRY V. 405
Did march three Frenchmen. Yet, forgive me,
God,
That I do brag thus! this your air of Fr^ce
Hath blown that vice in me ; I must repent.
Go, therefore, tell thy master, here I am;
My ransome, is this trail and worthless trunk ;
My army, but a weak and sickly guard ;
Yet, God before,'^ tell him we will come on,
Though France himself, and such another neigh-
bour,
Stand in our way. There's for thy labour, Montjoy.
Go, bid thy master well advise himself:
If we may pass, we will ; if we be hindered.
We shall your tawny ground with your red blood
Discolour:^ and so, Montjoy, fare you well.
' God beforCy'] This was an expression in that age for
God being my guidCf or, when used to another, God be thy guide.
So, in An old Dialogue between a Herdsman and a Maiden
going on a Pilgrimage to Walsingham, the herdsman takes his
leave in these words :
" Now, go thy ways, and God before.**
To prevent was used m the same sense. Johnson.
* There's for thy labour, Montjoy.
Go, bid thy master well advise himself:
We shall your tawny ground toith your red blood
Discolour:] From Holinshed: " My desire is, that none
of you be so unadvised, as to be the occasion that I in my de-
fence shall colour and make red your taxvny ground with the
effusion of christian bloud. When he [|Henry] had thus an-
swered the herauld, he gave him a greate rexvarde, and licensed
him to depart." Malone.
It appears from many ancient books that it was always cus-
tomary to reward a herald, whether he brought defiance or con-
gratulation. So, in the ancient metrical history of The Battle
ofFloddon :
" Then gave he to the herald's hand,
" Besides, with it, a rich reward ;
" Who hasten'd to his native land
* To see how with his king it far'd.'* Steevens.
406 KING HENRY V. Aer m-
JJbe >8mn <^ all our iuvswer is but this : "\
We would not seek a battle, as we are ;
Nor,_ as we aie^ we say, we will not ^hun it ;
So tell your master.
Mont. I shall deliver so. Thanks to your higb-
, ^iju ness. [^Ej:^ Montjoy.
Glo. I hope, they will not come upon us now.
K. Hen, We are in God's hand, brother, not in
theirs.
March to the bridge; it now draws toward night :-t.
Beyond the river we'll encamp ourselves;
And on to-morrow bid them march away.
\_Ea:ev;nt,
SCENE VII.'
The French Camp, near Agincourt.
Enter the Constable of France, the Lord RatW'
BURES, the Duke of Orleans, Dauphin, and
Others, "
Con. Tuti I have \he best armour of the world.
'Would, it were day!
OjiL. You have an excellent armour; but let my
horse have his due.
Con. It is the best horse of Europe.
Orl. Will it never be morning ?
Dju. My lord of Orleans, and my lord high
constable, you talk of horse and armour,
Scene VII.~\ This scene is shorter, and I think better, in
the first editions of 1600 and 1608. But as the enlargements
appear to be the author's own, I would not omit them. Pope.
8C. vji. KING HEN:RY V. <lOf
Orl. You are as well provided of fcoth, -as any
prince in the world.
Dau. What a long night is this! 1 will not
change tny horse with any that treads but on four
pasterns. Ca, ha! He bounds from the earth, as
if his entrails were hairs^^ le cheval volant, the
Pegasus, qui a ks narines defeu! When I bestride
him, I soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the
earth sings when he touches it ; the basest horn of
his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes.
Orl. He's of the colour of the nutmeg.
Dau. And of the heat of the ginger. It is a
beast for Perseus: he is pure air and fire ; and the
duU elements of earth and water never appear in
him,^ but only in patient stillness, while his rider
mounts him : he is, indeed, a horse; and all other
jades you may call ^beasts.^
' He iounds from the earth, as if his entrails were hairs ;'^
Alluding to the bounding of tennis-balls, which were stufBed
with hair, as appears from Much Ado about Nothing: " And
the old ornament of his cheek hath already stufPd tennis-balls.**
Warburton.
* he is pure air and f re ; and the dull elements of earth
and ivater never appear in him,'] Thus Cleopatra, speaking of
herself:
" I am air andijirc; my other elements
" I give to baser life." Steevens.
fio, in our author's 4'4?th Sonnet :
" so much of earth and vsater wrought,
" I must attend time's leisure with my moan."
Again, in Twelfth Night: *' Do not our lives consist of the
four elements?" Malon2.
' and all other jades you may call ^beasts.] It is plain
that jacfcs and beasts should change places, it being the first
word and not the last, which is the term of reproach ; as after-
wards it is said :
** J iiad B Jief have any mistress at. jade.*' Warburton.
408 KING HENRY V. act m.
Con. Indeed, my lord, it is a most absolute and
excellent horse.
There is no occasion for this change. In The Second Part of
King Henri/ IV. sc. i :
" he gave his able horse the head,
" And, bending forward, struck his armed heels
" Against the panting sides of the ^oorjade^
Again, in Arthur Hall's translation of the 4th Iliad:
" Two horses tough ech one it [his chariot] hath, the
/'ades they are not du!,
barley white, of rie and oates, they feede in man-
gier full."
Jade is sometimes used for a post horse. Beast is always em-
ployed as a contemptuous distinction. So, in Macbeth :
" what beast was't then
" That made you break this enterprize to me V*
Again, in Timon of Athens : " what a wicked beast was I to
disfurnish myself against so good a time !" Steevens.
I agree with Warburton in supposing that the words beasts
and jades have changed places. Steevens says, that beast is
always employed as a contemptuous distinction, and, to' support
this assertion, he quotes a passage from Macbeth^ and another
from Timon, in which it appears that men were called beasts^
where abuse was intended. But though the word beast be a
contemptuous distinction, as he terms it, when applied to a man,
it does not follow that it should be so when applied to a horse.
He forgets the following speech in Hamlet, which militates
strongly against his assertion :
" he grew unto his seat,
" And to such wond'rous doings brought his horse,
" As he had been incorps'd, and demi-natur'd
" With the brave beast.**
But the word Jade is always used in a contemptuous sense ; and
in the passage which Steevens quotes from The Second Part of
Henry IV. ti\e able horse is called a jooor jade, merely because
the poor beast was supposed to be jaded. The word is there an
expression of pity, not of contempt. M. Mason.
I cannot forbear subjoining two queries to this note.
In the passage quoted by Mr. M. Mason from Hamlet, is not
the epithet brave added, to exempt the word beast from being
received in a slight sense of degradation ?
Is not, in the mstance quoted by me from Henry IV. the epi-
thet jooor supplied, to render jarfe an object of compassion ?
sc, viL KING HENRY V. 409
Dau. It is the prince of palfreys; his neigh is
like the bidding of a monarch, and his countenance
enforces homage.
Orl. No more, cousin.
Dau. Nay, the man hath no wit, that cannot,
from the rising of the lark to the lodging of the
lamb, vary deserved praise on my palfrey: it is a
theme as fluent as the sea ; turn the sands into elo-
quent tongues, and my horse is argument for them
all: 'tis a subject for a sovereign to reason on, and
for a sovereign's sovereign to ride on; and for the
world (familiar to us, and unknown,) to lay apart
their particular functions, and wonder at him. I
once writ a sonnet in his praise, and began thus ;
Wonder of nature,^
Jade is a term of no very decided meaning. It sometimes
signifies a hackney, sometimes a vicious horse, and sometimes a
tired one; and yet I cannot help thinking, in the present instance,
that as a horse is degraded by being called a jade^ so a jade is vi-
lified by being termed a beast. Steevens.
I do not think there is any ground for the transposition pro-
posed by Dr. Warburton, who would make jades and beasts
change places. Words under the hand of either a transcriber or
compositor, never thus leap out of their places. The Dauphin
evidently means, that no other horse has so good a title as his,
to the appellation peculiarly appropriated to that fine and useful
animal. The general term for quadrupeds may suffice for all
other horses. Malone.
* Wonder of nature,'] Here, I suppose, some foolish
poem of our author's time is ridiculed; which indeed partly ap-
pears from the answer. Warburton.
In The First Part of King Henry VI. Act V. sc. iv. Shak-
speare himself uses the phrase which he here seems to ridicule:
" Be not offended, nature's miracle P* Malone.
The phrase is only reprehensible through its misapplication.
It is surely proper when applied to a tvoman, but ridiculous in-
deed when addressed to a horse. Steevens.
410 KING HENRY V. Actr iii,
r; Orz* 1 have hesucd a sonnet Uegin so to one's
mistress.
Dau. Then did they imitate that which I com-
posed to my courser; for my horse is my mistress.
Orl. Your mistress bears well.
5 Djlu. Mb well; which is the prescript praise and
perfection of a good and parti<;ular mistress.
Con. Mafoy! the other day, methought, your
inistress shrewdly shook your back.
^iDau. So, perhaps, did yours.
2 tCojN', Mine was not bridled.
Dm:. O ! tlien, belike, she was old and gentle ;
and you rode, like a Keme of Ireland, your French
hose off, and in your strait trossers.^
. *- like a Kerne of Ireland^ i^ovir French hose off", und in
your strait trossers.] This word very frequently occurs in the
old dramatick writers. A man in The Coxcomb of Beaumont
and Fletcher, speaking to an Irish servant, says, " I'll have thee
flead, and trossers made of thy skin, to tumble in." Trossers
appear to have been tight breeches. The Kernes of Ireland
anciently rode without breeches, and therefore strait trossers^
I believe, means only iii their naked skin, w'hich sits close to
them. Tlie word is still preserved, but now written trawsers.
'Thus, says Randle Holme, in liis Academy of Arms and Blazon^
B. III. ch. iii : " The Spanish breeches are those that are stret
and close to the thigh, and are buttoned up the sides from the
knee with about ten or twelve buttons: anciently called
TROWSES.'* StEEVENS.
** Troivses,*' says the explanatory Index to Cox's History of
Ireland, " are breeches and stockings made to sit as close to the
body as can be." Several of the morris-dancers represented
upon the print of my window have such hose or strait trowsers ;
but the poet seems, by the waggish context, to have a further
meaning. Tollet.
The following passage in Hey wood's Challenge Jbr Beauty,
iB36, proves that the ancient Irish trousers were somewhat more
than mere btiff": ' '-
c, ru. KING HENRY Y. 411
Ck)N. You have g-ood judgment in horsemanstiip.
Dau. Be warned by me then: they that ride Sd,
and ride not warily, fall into foul bogs^ I had ra-
ther have my horse to my mistress. .::.{
Con. I had as iief have m.f jaistr^iss :& jade.;,!;
** Manhurst. No, for my money give me y^ur .substantial
English hose, round, and somewhat full aforel"
^' Mmd. l^w they are, methinks, a Kftle too great. " .
'* Mnnh. The more the -discretion of the landlord that builck
them, -he makes room enough far his tenant to stand upright in
them; ^he may -walk in and out at ease Avithout stooping: -but
of all the rest I am clean out of Jove with your Irish trotuse&i
they are for all the world like a jealous wife, always close at a
man's tayle."
The speaker is here circumstantially describing the fashions of
differedat countries. So again, in Bulwer's Pedigree of the English
Gallant, 1653: " Bombasted and paned hose were, since I re-
member, in fashion ; but now our hose are made so close to our
breeches, that, like Irish trowses, they too manifestly discover
the dimension of every part." In Sir John Oldcastle, die word
is .spelt strouces. Collins.
The old copy reads strossers. The correction was .made by
Mr. Theobald; who observes, that " by strait trossers the poeit
means Jeynoribus dejiudatis, for the Kerns of Ireland wore UQ
breeches, any more than the Scotch Highlanders." The expli-
cation is, I ^ink, right; but that the Kerns of Ireland univer-
sally rode without breeches, may be doubted. It is clear, from
Mr. Toilet's note, and from many passages in books of our
author's age, that tTie Irish strait trossers or trotvsers were not
taerely figurative ; though in consequence of their being made
extremely tight, Shakspeare has here employed the words in an
equivocal sense.
Wh^n "Sir John Perrot, Lord Deputy of Ireland in 158^
insisted -oh, the Iri^ nobility wearing the English dress, and
appearing in parliament in robes, one of them, being very loth to
change his old thabat, requested that the deputy would order
his chaplain to walk through the streets with him in trovosers.
* for then, (said he,) the boys will laugh at him as well as me.'*
See also Ware's Antiquities and History of Ireland^ ch., ii. edi.
1705: " Of the other garments of thie Irish, namely of -their little
coats and strait breeches, called ironses, I have Jittle worth no-
tice to deliver." ' Malon'e.
412 KING HENRY V. act iii.
Dau. I tell thee, constable, my mistress wears
her own hair.
Con, I could make as true a boast as that, if I
had a sow to my mistress.
Dau. Le chien est retoume d son propre vomisse-
ment, et la truie lavee au bourbier : thou makest
use of any thing.
Con. Yet do I not use my horse for my mistress;
or any such proverb, so little kin to the purpose.
Ram. My lord constable, the armour, that I saw
in your tent to-night, are those stars,^ or suns, upon
it?
Con. Stars, my lord.
Dau. Some of them will fall to-morrow, I hope.
Con. And yet my sky shall not want.
Dau. That may be, for you bear a many super-
fluously; and 'twere more honour, some were away.
Con. Even as your horse bears your praises ; who
would trot as well, were some of your brags dis-
mounted.
Dau. 'Would, I were able to load him with his
desert! Will it never be day? I will trot to-morrow
a mile, and my way shall be paved with English
faces.
Con. I will not say so, for fear I should be faced
out of my way : But I would it were morning, for
I would fain be about the ears of the English.
* the armour 'are those stars, ^c.^ This circumstance
of military finery is alluded to by Sidney, in his Astrophel and
Stella:
** But if I by a happy window passe,
'* If I but Starr es upon my armour beare
** Your mortal! notes straight my hid meaning teare ."
Steevens.
sc, VII. KING HENRY V. 413
Ram. Who will go to hazard with me for twenty
English prisoners ?'
Con. You must first go yourself to hazard, ere you
have them.
Dau. *Tis midnight, I'll go arm myself. \_Ea;iU
Orl. The Dauphin longs for morning.
Ram. He longs to eat the English.
Con. I think, he will eat all he kiUs.
Orl. By the white hand of my lady, he*s a gal-
lant prince.
Con. Swear by her foot, that she may tread out
the oath.
Orl. He is, simply, the most active gentleman of
France.
Con. Doing is activity: and he will still be doing.
Orl. He never did harm, that I heard of.
Con. Nor will do none to-morrow; he will keep
that good name still.
Orl. I know him to be valiant.
Con. I was told that, by one that knows him
better than you.
Orl. What's he?
Con. Marry, he told me so himself; and he said,
he cared not who knew it.
' Who mil go to hazard with me Jbr twenty English prisonersf]
So, in the old anonymous Henry V:
" Come and you see what me tro at the king's drummer and
fife."
" Faith, me will tro at the earl of Northumberland ; and now
I will tro at the king himself," &c.
This incident, however, might hare been furnished by the
Chronicle. Steevens.
See p. 420, n. 6. Malone.
4^14 KIKG HINKY V. ACT in:
Orl. He needs not, it is no Mdd!en virtue m Mm.
Con, By my faith, sir, but it is; never anybody
sraw it, but his lackey:** 'tis a hooded valour ^ amfd,
when it appears, it will bate.^
Orl. hi will never said wdl.
Con. I will cap that proverb^ with ^There is
flattery in friendship. J;.:^ cy
Orl. And I will take up that with Give the
devil his due.
Con. Well placed; there stands your friead foe
the devil: have at the very eye: of that provesb,
with A pox of the devil.^
""^ -:.:Kis lackey :'\ He has beaten nobody but his footboy.
Johnson.
,'f. -r *1is a hooded valour;, cmd\ when it appears^ it will
bate.] This is said with allusion to- falcons which are kept
hooded when they are not to fly at game, and, as soon as the
hpod IS ofF, bait or flap the wing. The meaning is, the Dau-
E bin's valour has never been let loose upon an enemy, yet, when
e makes his first essay, we shall see how he will flutter.
JoBrareoN.
See Vol. IX, p. 135, n. 5. Mauone.
" This is a poor pun, taken from the terms used in falcoiuy.
The whole sense and sarcasm depends upon the equivoque of
one word, viz. bate, in sound, but not in orthography, answer-
ing to the term bait in falconry. When the hawk is unhooded^
her first action is baiting, that is, flapping her wings, as a pre-
paration to her flying at the game. The hawk wants no courage,,
but invariably baits upon taking off the hood. The Constable
of France sarcastically says of the Dauphin's courage, " ' Tis a
hbodcd valour (i. e. it is hid from every body but his lackey,^
and when it appears^ (by preparing to engage the enetny,) it
win bate* (1. e. fall off, evaporate) ; and not, as Dr. Johnson
supposes, bluster or Jlutter the wings, in allusion to the meta-
phor." SuppL to the Gent. Mag. 1789, p. 1199. Steevens.
' / will cap that proverb'^'] Alluding to the practice of cap-
ping verses. Johnson.
* "voith A pox of the devil.'] The quartos, 1600 and
1608, read with, ajogge of the devil. Steevens.
ST. vm. KING KEHEY V. 415
Orl^ Yon are the better at proverbs, by how
much. A fbcd*s bolt is soon shot. .---^
Con. You have shot over.^
Orl. *Tis not the first time you were overshot.
Enter a Messenger.
Mess. My lord high constable, the English lie
within fifteen hundred paces of your tent. ^
Con. Who hath measured the ground.?
Mess. The lord Grandpre.
' Con. a vafliant and most expert gentleman.
Would it were day!^^ Alas, poor Harry of Eng-
land! he longs not for the dawning, as we do.
Orl. What a wretched and peevish* fellow is
this king of England, to mope with his fat-brained
followers so far out of his" knowledge!
Con. If the English had any apprehension, they
would run away. ,
Orl. That they lack ; for if their heads had any
intellectual armour, they could never Wear such
heavy head-pieces.
Ram. That islajid of England breeds, very valiant
creatures*, their mastiffs afe of unmatchaMe coUr
rage. .....' -. *
' Would it wer& day I"] Instead df thb and the succeeding
speechet, the quartos, 1600 and 1608, conclude this scene with
a couplet :
" Come, come away ;
" The sun is high, and we wear out the day.*'
Steevens.
* peevish ] In ancient language, signified foolish,
silly. Many examples of this are given in a note on Cymbelinef
Act I. sc. yii : " He's strange andpecvwA.'* Steevens.
416 KING HENRY V. act m.
Orl. Foolish curs ! that run winking into the
mouth of a Russian bear, and have their heads
crushed like rotten apples: You may as well say,
that's a valiant flea, that dare eat his breakfast on
the lip of a lion.
Con. Just, just ; and the men do sympathize with
the mastiffs, in robustious and rough coming on,
leaving their wits with their wives: and then give
them great meals of beef,^ and iron and steel, they
will eat like wolves, and fight like devils.
Orl. Ay, but these English are shrewdly out of
beef.
Con. Then we shall find to-morrow they have
only stomachs to eat, and none to fight. Now is
it time to arm: Come, shall we about it?
Orl. It is now two o'clock : but, let me see,
by ten.
We shall have each a hundred Englishmen.
\_ExeunL
* give them great meals o/'beef,] So, in King Edward III,
1596:
" but scant them of their chines ofheef^
** And take away their downy featherbeds," &c.
Steevens.
Our author had the Chronicle in his thoughts : " keep an
English man one month from his warm bed, ya^ 6ee^ stale
drink," &c.
So also, in the old Kirig Henry V:
* Why, take an Englishman out of his warm bed,
*' And his stale drink, but one moneth,
** And, alas, what will become of him .'" Malone.
ACT IF. KING HENRY V. 417
ACT IV.
Enter Chorus*
Chor. Now entertain conjecture of a time,
When creeping murmur, and the poring dark,
Fills the wide vessel of the universe. ^
From camp to camp, through the foul womb of
night,
* Fills the "wide vessel of the universe.] Universe for horizon .'
for we are not to think Shakspeare so ignorant as to imagine it
was night over the whole globe at once. He intimates he knew
otherwise, by that fine line in A Midsummer- Night* s Dream :
" following darkness like a dream.'*
Besides, the image he employs shows he meant but half the
globe; the horizon round, which has the shape. of a vessel or
goblet. Warburton.
There is a better proof, that Shakspeare knew the order of
night and day, in Macbeth :
*' Now o'er the one half world
" Nature seems dead."
But there was no great need of any justification. The universe,
in its original sense, no more means this globe singly than the
circuit of the horizon ; but, however large in its philosophical
sense, it may be poetically used for as much of the world as falls
under observation. Let me remark further, that ignorance can-
not be certainly inferred from inaccuracy. Knowledge is not
always present. Johnson.
The wide vessel of the universe is derived, I apprehend, from
a different source than that which Dr. Warburton supposes.
Shakspeare, in another play, styles night the blanket of the
dark : it is probable that the affinity between blanket and sheet
suggested to him the further relation between sheet and vessel,
which occurs in the Acts, ch. x. 11; " and saw heaven
opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as if it had
been a great sheet, knit at the four corners, and let down unto
the earth.** Henley.
VOL. XII. 2 E
418 KING HENRY V. act ir.
The hum of either army stilly sounds,'^
That the fix'd sentinels almost receive
The secret whispers of each other's watch :^
Fire answers fire ; ^ and through their paly flames
Each battle sees the other's umber'd face : '
' stilly sounds,"] A similar idea perhaps was meant to
be given by Barnaby Googe, in his version of Palingtnius^
1561 :
** Which with a pleasaunt hushyng sound
" Provok*d the ioyes of bed."
** Ssepe levi somnum suadebit inire su4nrro**
Virg. Eel. 1. 56. Steevens.
stilly sounds,"] i. e. gently, lowly. So, in the sacred
writings : " a still small voice." Malone.
The secret whispers of each other^s watch:] Holinslied says,
that the distance between the two armies was but two hundred
and fifty paces. Malone.
^ Fire answers Jire ;] This circumstance is also taken from
Holinshed: " but at their coming into the village, /;Ve5 were
made (by the English) to give light on every side, as there like-
wise were in the French hoste." Malone.
' the other^s umber'dyace.*] Of this epithet, used by
Shakspeare in his description of fires reflected by night, Mr.
Pope knew the value, and has transplanted it into the Iliad on
a like occasion t
* Whose umber'd arms by turns thick flashed send.**
Umber is a brown colour. So, in As you like it :
" And with a kind of umber smirch my face."
The distant visages of the soldiers would certainly appear of
this hue, when beheld through the light of midnight fires.
Umbered, however, may signify shaded. Thus Caxton tells u9
that he " emprysed tenprinte [ Tully on Old Ase] under the
icmbre and shadow of King Edward IV." Again, m an old poem
Called The Castell of Labour, falshood is said to act " under the
wmfire of veryte." Steevens.
Umber*d certainly means here discoloured by the gleam of the
fires. Umber is a dark yellow earth, brought from Umbria, in
Italy, which, being mixed with water, produces such a dusky
yello\<r colour as the gleam of fire by night gives to the counte-
nance. Our author's profession probably furnished him with
ACTir, KING HENRY V. 419
Steed threatens steed, in high and boastful neighs
Piercing the night's dull ear ; ^ and from the tents,^
The armourers, accomplishing the knights,
With busy hammers closing rivets up,
Give dreadful note of preparation.
The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll.
And the third hour of drowsy morning name.*
Proud of their numbers, and secure in soul.
this epithet ; for from an old manuscript play in my possession,
entitled The Telltale, it appears that umber was used in the
stage-exhibitions of his time. In that piece one of the marginal
directions is, " He umbers her face." Malone.
' Piercing the night's dull ear ;] Hence perhaps the following
idea in Milton's L' Allegro.-
" And singing startle the dull night." Steevens.
' and from the tents,~\ See the preparation for the battle
between Palamon and Arcite, in Chaucer :
** And on the morwe, when the day 'gan spring,
** Of horse and harneis noise and clattering,
" There was in the hostelries all aboute:
*' The fomy stedes on the golden bridel
" Gnawing, and/as^ the armureres also
** Withjile and hammer priking to and fro" &c.
T. Warton.
Thus also Statius, describing the preparations for the Trojan
war:
*' -innumerd resonant incude MycencB."
Achill. I. 414'. Steevens.
And the third hour of drowsy morning name.] The old copy
'^nam'd. Steevens.
How much better might we read thus ?
The country cocks do croxv, the clocks do toll,
And the third hour qfdroxvsy morning name.
Tyrwhitt.
I have admitted this very necessary and elegant emendation.
Steevens.
Sir T. Hanmer, with almost equal probability, reads :
And the third hour of drowsy morning's nam'd.
Maloke.
2 E 2
420 KING HENRY V. act iv.
The confident and over-lusty^ French
Do the low-rated English play at dice ;^
And chide the cripple tardy-gaited night.
Who, like a foul and ugly witch, doth limp
So tediously away. The poor condemned English,''
Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires
Sit patiently, and inly ruminate
The morning's danger ; and their gesture sad,
Investing lank-lean cheeks, and war-worn coats,
'-''* oper-lusty ] \. e. over-saucy. So, in Sir Thotiiaa
North's translation of " Plutarch : Cassius's soldiers did shewe
themselves verie stubborne and lustie in the campe," &c.
Steevens.
* Do the loiu-rated English play at dice ;"] i. e. do play them
away at dice. Warburton.
From Holinslied : " The Frenchmen in the mean while, as
though they had been sure of victory, made great triumphe, for
the captaines had determined before how to divide the spoil, and
the souldiers the night before had plaid the Englishmen at dice."
Malone.
' The confident and over-lusty French
The poor condemned English,'] Our classical readers
will not be displeased with an opportunity of comparing Shak-
speare's picture of the French and English camps with that of
the Barbarian and Roman troops, as exhibited in a night-scene
by the masterly pencil of Tacitus, Annal. I. Ixv : " Nox per di-
versa inquies; cum Barbari festis epulis, laeto cantu, aut truci
sonore subjecta vallium ac resultantes saltus complerent ; apud
Romanos invalidi ignes, interruptae voces, atque ipsi passim ad-
jacerent vallo, oberrarent tentoriis, insomnes magis quam per-
vigiles. Ducemque terruit dira quies." Steevens.
Investing lank-lean cheeksy] A gesture investing cheeks and
coats is nonsense. We should read :
Invest in lank-lean cheeks
vhich is sense ; i. e. their sad gesture was clothed, or set off,
in lean cheeks and worn coats. The image is strong and pictu-
resque. Warburton.
I fancy Shakspeare might have written:
In fsiSting lank-lean cheeks y &c. Heath.
' Change is unnecessary. The harshness of the metaphor is
ACTiv, KING HENRY V. 421
Presenteth them^ unto the gazing moon
So many horrid ghosts. O, now, who will behold
The royal captain of this ruin'd band,
Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent.
Let him cry Praise and glory on his head !
For forth he goes, and visits all his host ;
Bids them good-morrow, with a modest smile ;
And calls them ^brothers, friends, and country*
men.
Upon his royal face there is no note.
How dread an army hath enrounded him ;
Nor doth he dedicate one jot of colour
Unto the weary and all-watched night :
what offends, which means only, that their looks are invested in
mournful gestures.
Such another harsh metaphor occurs in Much Ado about
Nothing:
" For my part, I am so attir*d in wonder,
** I know not what to say." Steevens.
Gesture only relates to their cheeks, after which word there
should be a comma, as in the first folio. In the second Song of
Sidney's Astrophel and Stella :
" Anger invests the face with a lovely grace." Tollet.
^ Presenteth them ] The old copy reads -presented. But
the present time runs throughout the whole of the description,
except in this instance, where the change seems very improper.
I believe we should read, with Hanmer, presenteth. Steevens.
The emendation, in my opinion, needs no justification. The
false concord is found in every page of the old editions. Here
it cannot be corrected.
A passage in King Henry VI. Part III. in which the same
false concord is found, may serve to support and justify the
emendation here made :
" The red rose and the white are in his face,
" The fatal colours of our striving houses :
" The one his purple blood right well resembleth ;
" The other his pale cheeks, methvak%, presenteth.^*
Of the two last lines there is no trace in the old play on which
The Third Part of King Henry VI. is founded. M alone.
423 KING HENRY V. act jr.
But freshly looks, and over-bears attaint.
With cheerful semblance, and sweet majesty ;
That every wretch, pining and pale before.
Beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks :
A largess universal, like the sun.
His liberal eye doth give to every one,'
Thawing cold fear. Then, mean^ and gentle all.
Behold, as may unworthiness define,
A little touch of Harry in the night :
And so our scene must to the battle fly ;
Where, (O for pity !) we shall much disgrace
With four or five most vile and ragged foils.
Right ill dispos'd, in brawl ridiculous,
The name of Agincourt : Yet, sit and see ;
Minding true things,^ by what their mockeries be.
\_Emt,
' A largess universal, like the surty
His liberal eye doth give to every one,] " Non enim vox
ilia praeceptoris, ut ccena, minus pluribus sufficit ; sed ut sol,
universis idem lucis calorisque largitur." Quintil. de Instit.
Orat. Lib. I. c. ii. And rc^e. Rape of the Lock, Cant. II.
V. 14:
** Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike,
" And, like the sun, they shine on all alike."
Holt White.
* Then, mean &c.] Old copy Thatvaesxi. Malone.
As this stood, it was a most perplexed and nonsensical passage,
and could not be intelligible, but as I have corrected it. The
poet, addressing himself to every degree of his audience, tells
them he'll show (as well as his unworthy pen and powers can
(describe it) a little touch or sketch of this hero in the night; a
faint resemblance of that cheerfulness and resolution which this
brave prince expressed in himself, and inspired in his followers.
Theobald.
' Minding true things,"] To mind is the same as to call to
remembrance, Johnson.
^c. /. KING HENRY V. m9
SCENE I.
The English Cam^ at Agincourt.
Enter King Henry, Bedford, and Gloster.
K. Hen. Gloster, 'tis true, that we are in great
danger ;
The greater therefore should our courage be.
Good morrow, brother Bedford. God Almighty !
There is some soul of goodn 5ss in things evil.
Would men observingly distil it out ;
For our bad neighbour makes us early stirrers,
Which is both healthful, and good husbandry :
Besides, they are our outward consciences.
And preachers to us all ; admonishing.
That we should dress us fairly for our end.*
Thus may we gather honey from the weed.
And make a moral of the devil himself.
Enter Erpingham.
Good morrow, old sir Thomas Erpingham : ^
* That we should dress va fairly for our end.~] Dress us, I
believe, means here, address us ; i. e. prepare ourselves. So be-
fore, in this play:
" To-morrow for our march we are addressed."
It should therefore be printed ^'e^re*^ us. Malone.
I do not recollect that any one of our author's plays affords an
example of the word address thus abbreviated.
Dress, in its common acceptation, may be the true reading.
So, in Kinff Henry IV. Part I :
" They come like sacrifices in their trim.** Steevens.
^ old sir Thomas Erpingham :'\ Sir Thomas Erpingham
424 KING HENRY V. act ir.
A good soft pillow for that good white head
Were better than a churlish turf of France.
Erp. Not so, my liege ; this lodging likes me
better.
Since I may say now lie I like a king.
K, Hen. *Tis good for men to love their present
pains.
Upon example ; so the spirit is eased :
And, when the mind is quicken' d, out of doubt,
The organs, though defunct and dead before.
Break up their drowsy grave, and newly move
With casted slough and fresh legerity.^
Lend me thy cloak, sir Thomas. Brothers both.
Commend me to the princes in our camp ;
Do my good morrow to them ; and, anon.
Desire them all to my pavillion.
Glo, We shall, my liege.
\_Exeunt Gloster and Bedford.
Erp. Shall I attend your grace ?
K. Hen. No, my good knight j
Go with my brothers to my lords of England :
came over with Bolingbroke from Bretagne, and was one of the
commissioners to receive King Richard's abdication.
Edwards's MS.
Sir Thomas Erpingham was in Henry V.'s time warden of
Dover castle. His arms are still visible on one side of the Ro-
man pharos. Steevens.
With casted slough ^c] Slough is the skin which the
serpent annually throws off, and by the change of which he is
supposed to regain new vigour and fresh youth. Legerity is
ightness, nimbleness. Johnson.
So, in Stanyhurst's translation of Virgil, Book IV. 1582:
** His slough uncasing, himself now youthfully bleach-
eth.'
Legerity is a word used by Ben Jonson, in Every Man out of his
Humour. Steevens.
sc. I, KING HENRY V. 42^
I and my bosom must debate a while.
And then I would no other company.
jB^p. The Lord in heaven bless thee, noble
Harry ! \^Ea:it Erpingham.
K.Hen. God-a-mercy, old heart ! thou speakest
cheerfully.
Enter Pistol.
PisT. Qui va Id P
K, Hen. A friend.
PiST. Discuss unto me ; Art thou officer ?
Or art thou base, common, and popular ?
K, Hen. I am a gentleman of a company.
PiST. Trailest thou the puissant pike ?'^
K. Hen. Even so : What are you ?
PiST. As good a gentleman as the emperor.
K. Hen. Then you are a better than the king.
PiST. The king's a bawcock, and a heart of gold,
A lad of life, an imp of fame ; ^
Of parents good, of fist most valiant :
I kiss his dirty shoe, and from my heart-strings
I love the lovely bully. What's thy name ?
K. Hen. Harry le Roy.
' Trailest thou the puissant pike ?] So, at the beginning of
Chapman's Revenge for Honour:
" a wife
" Fit for the trayler of the puissant pike** Farmer.
* an imp offome;'] An imp is a shoot in its primitive
sense, but means a son in Shakspeare. In Holinshea, p. 951,
the last words of Lord Cromwell are preserved, who says:
" and after him that his Sonne prince Edward, that goodlie
impe, may long reigne over you." Steevens.
426 KING HENRY V. act ir.
PisT. Le Roy! a Cornish name: art thou of
Cornish crew ? '
K. Hen. No, I am a Welshman,
Fist. Knowest thou Fluellen ?
K, Hen. Yes.
PiST. Tell him, I'll knock his leek about his
pate.
Upon Saint Davy's day.
K. Hen. Do not you wear your dagger in your
cap that day, lest he knock that about yours.
PiST. Art thou his friend ?
K. Hen. And his kinsman too.
PiST. Thejigo for thee then !
K. Hen. I thank you : God be with you !
PiST. My name is Pistol called. \_ExiU
K. Hen. It sorts' well with your fierceness.
Enter Fluellen and Gower, severally.
Gow. Captain Fluellen !
Flu. So ! in the name of Cheshu Christ, speak
lower. ' It is the greatest admiration in the universal
' It sorts 3 i. e. it agrees. So, in Chapman's version of
the 17th Book of the Odyssey :
" His faire long lance well sorting with his hand.'*
Steevens.
' speak lower.] The earliest of the quartos reads
speak levoery which in that of 1608 is made lower. The altera-
tions made in the several quartos, and in all the folios that suc-
ceeded the first, by the various printers or correctors through
whose hands they passed, carry with them no authority what-
soever ; yet here the correction happens, I think, to be right.
The editors of the folio read speak fewer. I hkve no doubt
sc. /. KING HENKY V. 427
'orld, when the true and auncient prerogatifes and
laws of the wars is not kept : if you would take the
pains but to examine the wars of Pompey the
Great, you shall find, I warrant you, that there is
no tidcQe taddle, or pibble pabble, in Pompey*s
camp ; I warrant you, you shall find the ceremo-
nies of the wars,'^ and the cares of it, and the forms
of it, and the sobriety of it, and the modesty of it,
to be otherwise.
that in their MS. (for this play they evidently printed from a
MS. which was not the case in some others,) the word by the
carelessness of the transcriber was lewer, (as in that copy from
which the quarto was printed,) and that, in order to obtain
some sense, they changed this to Jeiver. Fluellen could not,
with any propriety, call on Gower to speak^wer, he not having
uttered a word except " Captain Fluellen !" Meeting Fluellen
late at night, and not being certain who he was, he merely pro-
nounced his name. Having addressed him in too high a key,
the Welshman reprimands him ; and Gower justifies himself by
saying that the enemy spoke so loud, that the English could hear
them all night. But what he says as he is going out, puts, I think,
the emendation that I have adopted beyond a doubt, I will do a*
you desire ; " I will speak lotver."
Shakspeare has here as usual followed HoHnshed : ** Order
was taken by commandement from the king, after the army wa
first set in battayle array, that no noise or clamour should be made
in the hoste." Malone.
To speak lower is the more familiar reading ; but to speak
/ea', is a provincial phrase still in use among the vulgar in some
counties ; signifying, to speak in a calm, small voice ; and con-
sequently has the same meaning as low. In Sussex I heard one
female servant say to another " Speak yetoer, or my mistress
will hear you." Steevens.
* / warrant youy &c.] Amongst the laws and ordi-
nances militarie set down by Robert Earl of Leicester in the
Low Countries, printed at Leyden, 1586, one is, that " No
man shall make anie outcrie or noise in any watch, ward,
ambush, or anie other place where silence is requisite^ and
necessarie, upon paine of losee of life or limb at the general's
discretion." Reed.
428 KING HENRY V. act iv,
Gow. Why, the enemy is loud ; you heard him
all night.
Flu, If the enemy is an ass, and a fool, and
a prating coxcomb, is it meet, think you, that we
should also, look you, be an ass, and a fool, and a
prating coxcomb ; in your own conscience now ?
Gow, I will speak lower.
Flu. I pray you, and beseech you, that you will.
\_Exeunt Gower and Fluellen.
K, Hen. Though it appear a little out of fashion.
There is much care and valour in this Welshman.
Enter Bates, Court, and Williams.
Court. Brother John Bates, is not that the
morning which breaks yonder ?
Bates. I think it be : but we have no great
cause to desire the approach of day.
Will. We see yonder the beginning of the day,
but, I think, we shall never see the end of it.
Who goes there ?
K. Hen. A friend.
Will. Under what captain serve you ?
K. Hen. Under sir Thomas Erpingham.
Will. A good old commander, and a most kind
gentleman : I pray you, what thinks he of our
estate ?
K. Hen. Even as men wrecked upon a sand,
that look to be washed off the next tide.
Bates. He hath not told his thought to the
king?
sc. I. KING HENRY V. 429
K. Hen, No; nor it is not meet he should. For,
though I speak it to you, I think, the king is but
a man, as I am : the violet smells to him, as it doth
to me; the element shows to him, as it doth to
me ; all his senses have but human conditions:^ his
ceremonies laid by, in his nakedness he appears
but a man ; and though his affections are higher
mounted than ours, yet, when they stoop, they
stoop with the like wing ;* therefore when he sees
reason of fears, as we do, his fears, out of doubt,
be of the same relish as ours are : Yet, in reason,
no man should possess him with any appearance
of fear, lest he, by showing it, should dishearten
his army. *;. / yii^A oi^s
Bates. He may show what outward courage he
will : but, I believe, as cold a night as 'tis, he could
wish himself in the Thames up to the neck ; and
so I would he were, and I by him, at all adventures,
so we were quit here.
K. Hen. By my troth, I will speak my conscience
of the king ; I think, he would not wish himself
any where but where he is.
^ conditions:'] Are qualities. The meaning is, that
objects are represented by his senses to him, as to other men by
theirs. What is danger to another is danger likewise to him ;
and, when he feelsyear, it is like the fear of meaner mortals.
Johnson.
* though his affections are higher mounted than ours,
yety when they stoop, they stoop luith the like txiing;] This
passage alludes to the ancient sport of falconry. When the hawk,
after soaring aloft, or mounting high, descended in its flight, it
was said to stoop. So, in an old song on falconry in my MS. of
old songs, p. 480 :
" She flieth at one
** H^r markejumpe upon,
" And mounteth the welkin cleare ;
** Then right she stoopes,
" When the falkner he whoopes,
" Triumphing in her chaunticleare.** Percy.
430 KING HENRY V. act ir.
Bates. Then, 'would he were here alone ; so
should he be sure to be ransomed, and a many poor
men's lives saved.
K. Hen. I dare say, you love him not so il>, to
wish him here alone ; howsoever you speak this, to
feel other men's minds : Methinks, I could not die
any where so contented, as in the king's company;
his cause being just, and his quarrel honourable. *
Will. That's more than we know.
c Bates. Ay, or more than we should seek after;*
for we know enough, if we know we are the king's
subjects ; if his cause be wrong, our obedience to
the king wipes the crime of it out of us.
Will. But, if the cause be not good, the king
himself hath a heavy reckoning to make ; when all
those legs, and arms, and heads, chopped off in a
battle, shall join together at the latter day,'' and cry
all We died at such a place ; some, swearing ;
some, crying for a surgeon ; some, upon their wives
left poor behind them ; some, upon the debts they
owe ; some, upon their children rawly left. I am
* his cause being just, and his quarrel honourable.'] So,
Holinshed : " calling his capitaines and his souldiers aboute
him, he [Henry V.] made to them a right harty oration, re-
quiring thera to play the men, that they might obtaine a glori-
ous victorie, as there was good hope they should, if they would
remember ihejust came and qtiarrel for the whiche they wught.**
Malone.
^ Bates. At/, or more &c.] This sentiment does not corre-
spond with what Bates has just before said. The speech, I be-
lieve, should be given to Court. See p. 432, n. 4. Malone.
' the latter dat/,'] i. e. the last day, the day of judgment.
Our author has, in other instances, used the comparativeiox the
superlative. Steevens.
* thHr childrgn rawly left.] That is, without prepara-
sc. r. KING HENRY V. 4Sl
afeard there are few die well, that die in battle ; for
how can they charitably dispose of any thing, when
blood is their argument ? Now, if these men do not
die well, it will be a black matter for the king that
led them to it ; whom to disobey, were against all
proportion of subjection.
K, Hen. So, if a son, that is by his father sent
about merchandise, do sinfully miscarry upon the
sea, the imputation of his wickedness, by your rule,
should be imposed upon his father that sent him :
or if a servant, under his master's command, trans-
porting a sum of money, be assailed by robbers, and
die in many irreconciled iniquities, you may call
the business of the master the author of the ser-
vant's damnation : But this is not so : the king is
not bound to answer the particular endings of his
soldiers, the father of his son, nor the master of his
servant ; for they purpose not their death, when
they purpose their sendees. Besides, there is no
king, be his cause never so spotless, if it come to
the arbitrement of swords, can try it out Avith all
unspotted soldiers. Some, peradventure, have on
them the guilt of premeditated and contrived mur-
der ; some, of beguiling virgins with the broken
seals of perjury ; ^ some, making the wars their bul-
wark, that have before gored the gentle bosom of
peace with pillage and robbery. Now, if these
iioTif hastily, suddenly. What is not matured is rdtu. So, in
Macbeth :
" Why in this ratvness left he wife and children ?"
Johnson.
Raivly left, is left young and helpless. RiTSON.
' ' ' the broken seals of perjury;] So, in the song at the
beginning of the fourth Act oi Measure for Measure:
" That so sweetly were /orstoorw.
" Seals of love, but seal'd in vain.'* Steevens.
432 KING HENRY V. act iv,
men have defeated the law, and outrun native
Eunishment, ' though they can outstrip men, they
ave no wings to fly from God : war is his beadle,
war is his vengeance ; so thathere men are punished,
for before-breach of the king's laws, in now the
king's quarrel : where they feared the death, they
haveborne life away; and where they would be safe,
they perish : Then if they die unprovided, no more
is the king guilty of their damnation, than he was
before guilty of those impieties for the which they
are now visited. Every subject's duty'^ is the king's;
but every subject's soul is his own. Therefore
should every soldier in the wars do as every sick
man in his bed, wash every mote^ out of his con-
science : and dying so, death is to him advantage ;
or not dying, the time was blessedly lost, wherein
such preparation was gained: and, in him that
escapes, it were not sin to think, that making God
so free an offer, he let him outlive that day to see
his greatness, and to teach others how they should
prepare.
Will. 'Tis certain,* every man that dies ill, the
* nBXwe punishment^ That is, punishment in their native
country. Heath.
So, in a subsequent scene :
** A many of our bodies shall, no doubt,
. " Find native graves." Malone.
Native punishment is such as they are born to, if they offend.
Steevens.
' Every suhject*s duty ~\ This is a very just distinction, and
the whole argument is well followed, and properly concluded.
Johnson.
' every mote "] Old copy moth, which was only the
ancient spelling of mote. I suspected, but did not know, this to
be the case, when I proposed the true reading of a passage in
King John. See Vol. X. p. ^66, n. 1. Malone.
* Will. '2Ys certain^ &c.] In the quarto this Uttle speech is
sc. h KING HENRY V. 433
ill is upon his own head, the king is not to answer
for it.
Bates. I do not desire he should answer for me ;
and yet I determine to fight lustily for him.
K. Hen, I myself heard the king say, he would
not be ransomed. Vi.r
Will. Ay, he said so, to make us fight cheer-
fully: but, when our throats are cut, he may be
ransomed, and we ne*er the wiser.
K. Hen. If I live to see it, I will never trust his
word after.
Will. 'Mass, you'll pay him thenl ^ That's a
perilous shot out of an elder gun,'' that a poor and
private displeasure can do against a monarch ! you
may as well go about to turn the sun to ice, with
fanning in his face with a peacock's feather. You'll
not given to the same soldier who endeavours to prove that the
King was answerable for the mischiefs of war ; and who after-
wards gives his glove to Henry, The persons are indeed there
only distinguished by figures, 1, 2, 3. But this circumstance,
as well as the tenour of the present speech, shows, that it does
not belong to Williams, who has just been maintaining the con-
trary doctrine. It might with propriety be transferred to Courts
who is on the scene, and says scarcely a word. Malone.
* *Mass youHl pay him then!"} To pay, in old language,
meant to thrash or beat; and here signifies to bring to account,
to punish. See Vol. XL p. 286, n. 2. The text is here made
out from the folio and quarto. Malone.
pay him ] In addition to my note, Vol. XI. p. 287,
it may be observed, that Falstaff says, in the same Vol. p. 417:
** I have paid Percy. I have made him sure." Here he cer-
tainly means more than thrashed or beaten. Reed.
* Thai's a perilous shot out of an elder guny"] In the old
play [the quarto, 1600,] the thought is more opened. It is a
great displeasure thai an elder gun can do against a cannon, or a
subject against a monarch. Johnson.
VOL. XII. 2 F
43* KING HENRY V. jctiv.
never trust his word after! come, 'tis a foolish say-
ing.
K, Hen. Your reproof is something too round;''
I should be angry with you, if the time were con-
venient.
Will. Let it be a quarrel between us, if you liveu
K, Hen. I embrace it.
Will. How shall I know thee again ?
K. Hen. Give me any gage of thine, and I will
wear it in my bonnet: then, if ever thou darest
acknowledge it, I will make it my quarrel.
Will, Here's my glove; give me another of
thine.
K.Hen. There.
Will. This will I also wear in my cap : if ever
thou come to me and say, after to-morrow. This is
my glove, by this hand, I will take thee a box on
the ear.
K. Hen. If ever I live to see it, I will challenge it.
Will. Thou darest as well be hanged.
K. Hen. Well, I wiU do it, though I take thee in
the king's company.
Will. Keep thy word: fare thee well.
Bates. Be friends, you English fools, be friends ;
we have French quarrels enough, if you could tell
how to reckon.
K. Hen. Indeed, the French may lay twenty
French crowns* to one, they wiU beat us ; for they
^ <oo round;] i. e. too rough, too unceremonious. So,
in Hamlet:
" 'Pray you, be round with him." Steevens.
* Uicenty French crowns ] This conceit, rather too
sc. /. KING HENRY V. 435
bear them on their shoulders: But it is no English
treason, to cut French crowns; and, to-morrow,
the king himself will be a clipper.
\^E^eunt Soldiers.
Upon the king!^ let us our lives, our souls.
Our debts, our careful wives, our children, and
Our sins, lay on the king; ^we must bear all.
O hard condition! twin-born with greatness.
Subjected to the breath' of every fool.
Whose sense no more can feel but his own wring-
ing!
What infinite heart's ease must kings neglect.
That private men enjoy?
And what have kings, that privates have not too.
Save ceremony, save general ceremony?
And what art thou, thou idol ceremony?
What kind of god art thou, that suffer* st more
Of mortal griefs, than do thy worsliippers ?
low for a king, has been already explained, as alluding to the
venereal disease. Johnson.
There is surely no necessity for supposing any allusion in this
pasmee to the venereal disease. The conceit here seems to turn
merely upon the equivocal sense of croivny which signifies either
a coiuy or a head. Tyrwhitt.
^ Upon the king! &c.] This beautiful speech was added after
the first edition. Pope.
There is something very striking and solemn in this soliloquy,
into which the King breaks immediately as soon as he is left
alone. Something like this, on less occasions, every breast has
felt. Reflection and seriousness rush upon the mind upon the
separation of a gay company, and especially after forced and un-
willing merriment. Johnson.
' Subjected to the breath ] The old copies have only
subject; but (for the sake of metre) I have not scrupled to read
subjected, on the authority of the following passage in King
John :
" Subjected tribute to commanding love ."
Steevins.
2 F 2
436 KING HENRY V. act IK
What are thy rents ? what are thy comings-in ?
O ceremony, show me but thy worth !
What is the soul of adoration?^
Art thou aught else but place, degree, and form.
Creating awe and fear in other men ?
Wherein thou art less happy being fear'd
Than they in fearing.
What drink' st thou oft, instead of homage sweet,
But poison'd flattery? O, be sick, great greatness.
And bid thy ceremony give thee cure !
Think' st thou, the fiery fever will go out
With titles blown from adulation?
' What are thy rents ? what are thy comings-in ?
ceremony f shotu me but thy tvorth f
What is the soul of adoration? ^ The first copy reads,
What ? is thy soul of adoration f
This is incorrect, but I think we may discover the true reading
easily enough to be,
What is thy souly O adoration ?
That is, O reverence paid to kings, what art thou within?
What are thy real qualities ? What is thy intrinsick value ?
Johnson.
I have received Mr. Malone's amendment, which he thus ex-
plains: " What is the real worth and intrinsick value of ado-
ration?"
The quarto has not this speech. The folio reads:
What ? is thy soul qfodoration ? Steevens.
The latter word was corrected in the second folio. For the
other emendation now made I am answerable. Thy, thee, and
they, are frequently confounded in the old copies. In many of
our author's plays we find similar expressions. In Troilus and
Cressida, " my very sotd o/" counsel;" in King Henry IV. P. I.
** the soul o/" hope;" and in A Midsummer- Night^s Dream f
** the soul of\o\e.** Again, in the play before us:
*' There is some soul of goodness in things evil."
Dr. Johnson reads:
What is thy soul, adoration?
But the mistake appears to me more likely to have happened in
the word thy than in of; and the examples that I have produced
support that opinion. Malone.
sc. I, KING HENRY V. 437
Will it give place to flexure and low bending?
Canst thou, when thou command* st the beggar's
knee,
Command the health of it? No, thou proud dream,
That play' St so subtly with a king's repose ;
I am a king, that find thee ; and I know,
*Tis not the balm, the sceptre, and the ball.
The sword, the mace, the crown imperial.
The enter-tissued robe of gold and pearl.
The farced title running 'fore the king,^
The throne he sits on, nor the tide of pomp
That beats upon the high shore of this world.
No, not all these, thrice-gorgeous ceremony.
Not all these, laid in bed majestical.
Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave ;*
Who, with a body fill'd, and vacant mind.
Gets him to rest, cramm'd with distressful bread ;
Never sees horrid night, the child of hell j
But, like a lackey, from the rise to set.
Sweats in the eye of Phoebus, and all night
^ farced title running &C.3 Farced is stiiffed. The
tumid puffy titles with which a king's name is always introduced.
This, I think, is the sense. Johnson.
So, in All for Money, by T. Lupton, 1578:
** belly-gods so swarm,
" Farced, and flowing with all kind of gall."
Again:
" And like a greedy cormorant with belly i\i&. farced**
Again, in Jacob and Esau, 1568:
" To make both broth andfarcing, and that full deinty.**
Again, in Stanyhurst's version of the first Book of Virgil:
" Or eels are farcing with dulce and delicat hoonny."
Agsun, in Every Man out of his Humour:
" farce thy lean ribs with it too." Steevens.
* Can sleep so soundly &c.] Tliese lines are exquisitely
pleasing. To stveat in the eye of Phoebus, and to sleep in
Elysium, are expressions very poetical. Johnson.
438 KING HENRY V. act ir.
Sleeps in Elysium ; next day, after dawn,
Doth rise, and help Hypenon to his horse;
And follows so the ever-running year
With profitable labour, to his grave:
And, but for ceremony, such a wretch.
Winding up days with toil, and nights with sleep,
Had the fore-hand and vantage of a king.
The slave, a member of the country*s peace,
Enjoys it ; but in gross brain little wots.
What watch the king keeps to maintain the peace,
Whose hours the peasant best advantages,*
Enter Erpingham,
Erp. My lord, your nobles, jealous of your ab
sence.
Seek through your camp to find you.
K. Hen. Good old knight,
Collect them all together at my tent :
I'll be before thee.
Erp, I shall do*t, my lord. [^.riY,
K.Hen. O God of battles! steel my soldiers*
hearts!
Possess them not with fear; take from them now
The sense of reckoning, if the opposed numbers
hut little 'woiSf
What watch the king keeps to maintain the peace^
Whose hours the peasant best advantages. "^ The sense of
this passage, which is expressed with some slight obscurity, seems
to be He little knoxus at the expence qfhotv muck royal vigilance
that peacey luhich brings most advantage to the peasant, is main-
tained. To advantage is a verb elsewhere used by Shakspeare.
Steevens,
sc. /. KING HENRY V. 439
Pluck their hearts from them!^ Not to-day, O
Lord,
take from them nata
The sense of reckoning, if the opposed numbers
Pluck their hearts from them!'] The first folio reads o^
the opposed numbers. Steevens.
The poet might intend, " Take from them the sense of reck-
oning those opposed numbers ; luhich might pluck their courage
from them." But the relative not being expressed, the sense is
very obscure. The slight correction I have given \lsst the op-
posed numbers ] makes it clear and easy. Theobald.
The change is admitted by Dr. Warburton, and rightly. Sir
T. Hanmer reads :
the opposed numbers
Which stand before them.
This reading he borrowed from the old quarto, which gives the
passage thus :
Take from them now the sense of reckonings
That the closed multitudes "which stand before them
May not appal their courage. Johnson.
Theobald's alteration certainly makes a very good sense; but,
I think, we might read, with less deviation from the present
text:
if tK* opposed numbers
Pluck their hearts from them.
In conjectural criticism, as in mechanicks, the perfection of
the art, I apprehend, consists in producing a given effect with
the least possible force. Tyrwhitt.
I think Theobald's reading preferable to that of Tyrwhitt,
which the editor has adopted; for if the opposed numbers did
actually pluck their hearts from them, it was of no consequence
whether they had or had not the sense of reckoning.
M. Mason.
The ingenious commentator seems to forget that, if the sense
of reckoning, in consequence of the King's petition, was taken
from them, the numbers opposed to them would be no longer
formidable. When they could no more count their enemies,
they could no longer fear them. It will be the lot of few
criticks to retire with advantage gained over the remarks of my
lamented friend, Mr. Tyrwhitt. Steevens.
The old reading appears to be right. The King prays that his
men may be unable to reckon the enemy's force, that their
440 KING HENRY V. act ir.
O not to-day, think not upon the fault
My father made in compassing the crown!
hearts (i. e. their sense and passions) may be taken from them :
that they may be as brave as a total absence of all feeling and
reflection can make them. An explanation which seems to be
countenanced by the old quarto. Ritson,
In King John, edit. 1632, these words [j/'and of: See the
preceding note by Mr. Tyrwhitt:] have again been confounded:
" Lord of our presence, Anglers, and j/you,"
instead of of yon. The same mistake has, I think, happened
also in Twelfth-Night, folio, 1623:
" For, such as we are made j^sqch wfe be.'-
where we should certainly read
" For, such as we are made of, such we be."
In the subsequent scene we have again the same thought. The
Constable of France, after exhorting his countrymen to take
horse, adds
" Do but behold yon poor and starved band,
** And your fair show shall suck maay their souls,
" Leaving them but the shales and husks of men."
In Hall's Chronicle, Henry IV. fol. 23, we find a kindred
expression to that in the text: " Henry encouraged his part so,
that they took their hearts to them, and manly fought with their
enemies."
A passage in the speech which the same chronicler has put
into Henry's mouth, before the battle of Agincourt, may also
throw some light on that before us, and serve to support the
emendation that has been made: " Therefore, putting your only
trust in him, let not their multitude Jeare your heartes, nor their
great number abate your courage."
The passage stands thus in the quarto, 1600:
Takefrom them now the sense of reckoning.
That the opposed numbers which stand before them
May not appal their courage.
This fully refutes the notion of an anonymous Remarker,
[Mr. Ritson,] who understands the -wordi pluck & optative, and
supposes that Henry calls on the God of battles to deprive his
soldiers of their hearts; that is, of their courage, for such is
evidently the meaning of the expression; (so in the common
phrase, " have a good heart," and in the passage just quoted
from Hall;) though this commentator chooses to understand by
the word sense and passions.
Mr. Theobald, and some other commentators, seem, indeed.
sc. I. KING HENRY V. 441
I Richard's body have interred new;
And on it have bestow' d more contrite tears.
Than from it issued forced drops of blood.
Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay.
Who twice a day their wither'd hands hold up
Toward heaven, to pardon blood; and I have built
Two chantries,'' where the sad and solemn priests
Sing still for Richard's soul. More will I do :
Though all that I can do, is nothing worth;
Since that my penitence comes after all.
Imploring pardon.^
to think that anu word maybe substituted for another, if thereby
sense may be obtained; but a word ought rarely to be substi-
tuted in the room of another, unless either the emendation bears
such an affinity to the corrupted reading, as that the error might
have arisen from the mistake of the eye or ear of the compositor
or transcriber; or a word has been caught inadvertently by the
compositor from a preceding or a subsequent line. Malone.
' Two chantries,'] One of these monasteries was for Carthusian
monks, and was called Bethlehem ; the other was for religious
men and women of the order of Saint Bridget, and was named
Sion. They were on opposite sides of the Thames, and adjoin-
ed the royal manor of Sheen, now called Richmond. Malone.
* Since that my ^penitence comes after all.
Imploring pardon.] We must observe, that Henry IV.
had committed an injustice, of which he and his son reaped the
fruits. But reason tells us, justice demands that they who
share the profits of iniquity, shall share also in the punishment.
Scripture again tells us, that when men have sinned, the grace
of God gives frequent invitations to repentance : which, in the
language of divines, are styled calls. These, if neglected, or
carelessly dallied with, are, at length, irrecoverably withdrawn,
and then repentance comes too late. All this shows that the
unintelligible reading of the text should be corrected thus :
" comes after call." Warburton.
I wish the commentator had explained his meaning a little
better ; for his comment is to me less intelligible than the text.
I know not what he thinks of the King's penitence, whether
coming in consequence of call, it is sufficient ; or whether com-
442 KING HENRY V. activ.
Enter Gloster.
Glo, My liege!
K. Hen, My brother Gloster's voice ? Ay ;
I know thy errand, I will go with thee :
The day, my friends, and all things stay for me.
\_Exeunt,
ing when calls have ceased, it is ineffectual. The first sense will
suit but ill with the position, that all xuhich he can do is nothing
worth; and the latter as ill with the intention of Shakspeare,
who certainly does not mean to represent the King as abandoned
and reprobate.
The old reading is, in my opinion, easy and right. / do all
this, says the King, though all that I can do is nothing worth,
is so far from an adequate expiation of the crime, that penitence
comes after all, imploring pardon both for the crime and the ex-
piation. Johnson.
I am sensible that every thing of this kind, f works of piety
and charity, ) which I have done or can do, will avail nothing
towards the remission of this sin ; since I well know that, after
all this is done, true penitence, and imploring pardon, are pre-
viously and indispensably necessary towards my obtaining it.
Heath.
I should not have reprinted Dr. Warburton's note but for the
sake of Dr. Johnson's reply. Mr. Malone, however, thinks
Mr. Heath's explication more correct. Steevens.
sc. JL KING HENRY V. 443
SCENE 11,
The French Camjp,
Enter Dauphin, Orleans, Rambures, and
Others.
Orl The sun doth gild our armour; up, my
lords.
Dau. Montez a chevah My horse ! valet! lac-
quay! ha!
Orl, O brave spirit!
Dau. Via! les eaux et la terre ^
' Via ! les eaux et la terre ] Via is an old hortatory ex-
clamation, as a&ws / Johnson.
Dr. Johnson is right. So, in King Edward III. 1596:
"Then Via.' for the spacious bounds of France!**
Again, in Parasitaster^ or The Fawne, by John Marston, 1606:
" Come Via ! to this feastful entertainment !"
Again, in Marston's What you Will^ 1607 :
" Tut, Via ! let all run glib and square !'* Steevens.
This dialogue will be best explained by referring to the seventh
scene of the preceding Act, in which the Dauphin, speaking in
admiration of his horse, says: " When I bestride him, I soar, I
am a hawk : he trots the air: It is a beast for Perseus ; he is
pure air oxvAJire, and the dull elements of earth and water
never appear in him." He now, seeing his horse at a distance,
attempts to say the same thing in French : " Les eaux et la
ferre" the waters and the earth -Aoue no share in my hor-se*^
composition f he was going to have said; but is prevented by the
Duke of Orleans, who replies Can you add nothing more ? I
he not air and fire ? Yes, says the Dauphin, and even heaven
itself. He had, in the former scene, called his horse Wonder o^
Nature. The words, however, may admit of a different in-
terpretation. He may mean to boast that, when on horseback,
he can bound over aUthe elements, and even soar to heaven itself.
Malone.
444 KING HENRY V. act jk
Orl. Rien puis ? Voir et lefeu
Dau. del! cousin Orleans.
Enter Constable.
Now, my lord Constable!
Con. Hark, how our steeds for present service
neigh.
Dau. Mount them, and make incision in their
hides;
That their hot blood may spin in English eyes.
And dout them* with superfluous courage: Ha!
It is not easy to determine the import of the Dauphin's words.
I do not, however, think the foregoing explanation right, be-
cause it excludes variety, by presuming that what has been
already said in one language, is repeated in another. Perhaps
this insignificant sprig of royalty is only capering about, and
uttering a " rhapsody of words" indicative of levity and high
spirits, but guiltless of any precise meaning. Steevens.
' And dout them ] The first folio reads doubt, which,
perhaps, may have been used for to make to doubt; to terrifie.
Tyrwhitt.
To doubt, or (as it ought to have been spelled ) dout, is a word
still used in Warwickshire, and signifies to do out, or extinguish.
See a note on Hamlet, Act I. sc. iv. For this information I was
indebted to my late friend, the Reverend H. Homer.
Steevens,
. In the folio, where alone this passage is found, the word is
written doubt. To dout, for to do out, is a common phrase at
this day in Devonshire and the other western counties; where
they often say, dout the fire, that is, put out the fire. Many
other words of the same structure are used by our author ; as,
to don, i. e. to do on, to doff] i. e. to do off", &c. In Hamlet
he has used the same phrase :
" the dram of base
" Doth all the noble substance of worth dout," &c.
The word being provincial, the same mistake has happened
in both places ; doubt being printed in Hamlet instead oidout.
sc. II. KING HENRY V. 445
Ram. What, will you have them weep our horses'
blood?
How shall we then behold their natural tears ?
Enter a Messenger.
Mess. The English are embattled, you French
peers.
Con. To horse, you gallant princes! straight to
horse 1
Do but behold yon poor and starved band.
And your fair show shall suck away their souls,*
Leaving them but the shales and husks of men.
There is not work enough for all our hands j
Scarce blood enough in all their sickly veins.
To give each naked curtle-ax a stain.
That our French gallants shall to-day draw out,
And sheath for lack of sport: let us but blow on
them.
The vapour of our valour will overturn them.
'Tis positive 'gainst all exceptions, lords.
That our superfluous lackeys, and our peasants,
Who, in unnecessary action, swarm
Mr. Pope for doubt substituted daunt j which was adopted in
the subsequent editions. For the emendation now made I ima-
gined I should have been answerable ; but on looking into Mr.
Kowe's edition I find he has anticipated me, and has printed the
word as it is now exhibited in the text. Malone.
* suck away their souls,] This strong expression did
not escape the notice of Dryden and Pope; the former having
(less chastely) employed it in his Don Sebastian^ King of
Portugal :
" Sucking each others' ?ouls while we expiire:"
and the latter, in his Eloisa to Abelard:
** Suck my last breath, and catch my flying soul.**
Stbevens.
446 KING HENRY V. actik
About our squares of battle,^ were enough
To purge this field of such a hilding foe ;*
Though we, upon this mountain's basis by*
Took stand for idle speculation:
But that our honours must not. What's to say ?
A very little little let us do.
And all is done. Then let the trumpets sound
The tucket-sonuance,^ and the note to mount:
For our approach shall so much dare the field.
That England shall couch down in fear, and yield.
' About our squares of battle,] So, in Antony and Cleopatra :
" no practice had
** In the brave sqvures qfiuar** Steevens.
* a hildingybe;] Hilding ^ or hinderlingy is a low toretch.
Johnson.
So, in King Henri/ IV. Part II :
* He was some hilding fellow, that had stole
" The horse he rode on." Steevens.
* upon this mountain's basis by ] See Henry's speech,
so. vii:
" Take a trumpet, herald ;
*< Ride thou unto the horsemen on yon hill.** Malone.
" The tucket'Sonuancef &c.] He uses terms of the field as if
they were going out only to the chace for sport. To dare the
Jield is a phrase in falconry. Birds are dared when by the falcon
in the air they are terrified from rising, so that they will be some-
times taken by the hand.
Such an easy capture the lords expected to make of the English.
Johnson.
The tucket-sonuance was, I believe, the name of an introduc-
tory flourish on the trumpet, as toccata in Italian is the prehide
of a sonata on the harpsichord, and toccar la tromba is to blow
the trumpet.
In The Spanish Tragedy ^ (no date,) " a /!ii*^ afar ofi"
A^ain, in The Devivs Law-case^ 1623:
" 2 tuckets by several trumpets."
Sonance is a word used by Hey wood, in bis Bope<^ Liter ecCj
1630:
** Or, if hjB chaoce to endure our tongues so much
" As but to hear their sonance.** Steevens.
sc,iL KING HENRY V. 447
Enter Grandpre.
Grand. Why do you stay so long, my lords of
France?
Yon island carrions,'^ desperate of their bones.
Ill-favour' dly become the morning field:
Their ragged curtains poorly are let loose,*
And our air shakes them passing scornfully.
Big Mars seems bankrupt in their beggar*d host.
And faintly through a rusty beaver peeps.
Their horsemen sit like fixed candlesticks.
With torch-staves in their hand:* and their poor
jades
' Yon island carrions^ &c.] This and the preceding descrip-
tion of the English is founded on the melancholy account given
by our historians, of Henry's army, immediately before the
battle of Agincourt :
" The Englishmen were brought into great misery in thia
journey [from Harfleur to Agincourt]; their victual was in
manner spent, and now could they get none : rest could they
none take, for their enemies were ever at hand to give them
alarmes: daily it rained, and nightly it freezed; of fewel there
was great scarcity, but of fluxes great plenty ; money they had
enough, but wares to bestowe it upon, for their relief or comforte,
had they little or none." Holinshed. Malone.
' Their ragged curtains jaoor/y are let loosey"] By their ragged
curtains y are meant their colours. M. Mason.
The idea seems to have been taken from what every man must
have observed, i. e. ragged curtains put in motion by the an-,
when the windows of mean houses are left open. Steevens.
' Their horsemen sit like fixed candlestickSf
With torch-staves in their hand:'] Grandpre alludes to
the form of ancient candlesticks, which frequently represented
human %ure8 holding the sockets for the lights in their extended
hands.
A similar image occurs in Vittoria Corombonay 1612: " he
showed like a pewter candlesticky fashioned like a man in armour,
holding a tilting staffs in his hand little bigger than a candle."
448
KING HENRY V.
ACT IV,
Lob down their heads, dropping the hides and hips;
The gum down-roping from their pale-dead eyes ;
And in their pale dull mouths the gimmal bit'
The following is an exact representation of one of these can-
dlesticks, now in the possession of Francis Douce, Esq. The
receptacles for the candles are wanting in the original. The
sockets in which they were to be placed are in the outstretched
hands of the figure.
The form o^ torch-slaves may be ascertained by a wooden cut
in Vol. IX. p. 359. Steevens.
' gimmal hit ] Gimmal is, in the western counties, a
ringi a pmmal bit is therefore a Ut of which the parts played
one withm another. Johnson.
sc. II, KING HENRY V. 449
Lies foul with chew*d grass, still and motionless ;
And their executors, the knavish crows, ^
Fly o'er them all, impatient for their hour.
Description cannot suit itself in words.
To demonstrate the life of such a battle
In life so lifeless^ as it shows itself.
Con. They have said their prayers, and they stay
for death.
Dau. Shall we go send them dinners, and fresh
suits.
And give their fasting horses provender.
And after fight with them ?
Con. I stay but for my guard ;* On, to the field :
I meet with the word, though differently spelt, in the old plaj
of The Raigne of King Edward the Third, 1596:
** Nor lay aside their jacks of gi/mold mail.'*
Gil/mold or gimmal'd mail means armour composed of links
like those of a chain, which by its flexibility fitted it to the shape
of the body more exactly than defensive covering of any other
contrivance. There was a suit of it to be seen in the Tower.
Spenser, in his Fairy Queen, Book I. ch. v. calls it woven mail :
" In woven mail all armed warily."
In Lingua, &c. 1607, is mentioned
" a gimmal ring with one link hanging.'*
Steevens.
" A gimmal or gemmow ring, (says Minsheu, Dictionary,
1617,) from the Gal. gemeau, l^at. gemellus, double, or twinnes,
because they be rings with two or more links.** Malone.
* their executors, the knavish crows,"] The crows who
are to have the disposal of what they shall leave, their hides and
their flesh. Johnson.
* In life so lifeless ] So, in The Comedy of Errors :
** A livmg dead man." Steevens.
* / stay hut for my guard ;] It seems, by what follows, that
guard in this place means rather something of ornament or of
distinction, than a body of attendants. Johnson.
VOL. XII. 2 G
450 KING HENRY V. act if.
I will the banner from a trumpet take,
The following quotation from Holinshed, p. 554!^ will best
elucidate this passage : " The duke of Brabant when his standard
was not come, caused a banner to be taken from a trumpet and
fastened upon a spear, the which he commanded to be borne
before him instead of a standard."
In the second part of Hey wood's Iron Age, 1632, Menelaus,
after having enumerated to Pyrrhus the treasures of his father
Achilles, as his myrmidons, &c. adds :
" His sword, spurs, armour, guard, pavilion."
From this last passage it should appear that guard was part of
the defensive armour ; perhaps what we call at present the gor-
get. Again, in Holinshed, p. 820 : " The one bare his helmet,
the second his grangiuzrdf** &c. Steevens.
By his guard, I believe, the Constable means, not any part of
his dress, but the guard that usually attended with his banner ;
to supply the want of which he afterwards says, that he will
take a banner from a trumpet, and use it for his haste. It ap-
pears, from a passage in the last scene of the fourth Act, that
the principal nobility, and the princes, had all their respective
banners, and of course their guards :
" Of princes in this number,
** And nobles bearing banjiers, there be dead
" One hundred," &c. M. Mason.
Dr. Johnson and Mr. Steevens are of opinion that ** guard in
this place means rather something of ornament, or of distinc-
tion, than a body of attendants." But from the following pas-
sage in Holinshed, p. 554-, which our author certainly had in his
thoughts, it is clear, in my apprehension, that guard is here
used in its ordinary sense : " \\Tien the messenger was come
back to the French hoste, the men of warre put on their hel-
mettes, and caused their trumpets to blow to the battaile. They
thought themselves so sure of victory, that diverse of the noble
men made such haste toward the battaile, that they left many of
their servants and men qftvarre behind them, and some of them
would not once stai/ for their standards; as amongst other the
Duke of Brabant, when his standard was not come, caused a
banner to be taken from a trumpet, and fastened to a speare,
the which he commanded to be borne before him, instead of a
standard." The latter part only of this passage is quoted by
Mr. Steevens ; but the whole considered together proves, in my
apprehension, that guard means here nothing more than the
men of war whose duty it was to attend on the Constable of
sc. m. KING HENRY V. 451
And use it for my haste. Come, come away !
The sun is high, and we outwear the day.
[^Ea:eunt,
SCENE III.
The English Cawp.
Enter the English Host; Gloster, Bedford,
Exeter, Salisbury,^ and Westmoreland.
Glo. Where is the king ?
Bed. The king himself is rode to view their
battle.
West, Of fighting men they have full threescore
thousand.
ExE. There's five to one ; besides, they all are
fresh.
France, and among those his standard^ that is, his standard-
bearer. In a preceding passage Holinshed mentions, that " the
Constable of France, the Marshal, &c. and other of the French
nobility, came and pitched down their standards and banners in
the county of St. Paule." Again : " Thus the French men be-
ing ordered under their standards and banners, made a great
shew ;" or, as Hall has it : " Thus the French men were every
man under his banner, only waiting," &c. It appears, from both
these historians, that all the princes and nobles in the French
army bore banners, and of these one hundred and twenty-six
were killed in this battle.
In a subsequent part of the description of this memorable
victory, Holinshed mentions that " Henry having felled the
Duke of Alanson, the king's guard, contrary to his mind, out-
rageously slew him." The Constable, being the principal leader
of the French army, had, without doubt, like Henry, his guard
also, one of whom bore before him, as we may collect from Hall,
the banner-royal of France. Malone.
* Salisbury,'] Thomas Montacute, Earl of Salisbury.
Malone.
2g 2
452 KING HENRY V. act ik
Sal. God's arm strike with us! 'tis a fearful odds.
God be wi* you, princes all ; I'll to my charge :
If we no more meet, till we meet in heaven.
Then, joyfully, my noble lord of Bedford,
My dear lord Gloster, and my good lord Exeter,
And my kind kinsman, ^ ^warriors all, adieu !
Bed. Farewell, good Salisbury j and good luck
go with thee 1
ExE. Farewell, kind lord ; fight valiantly to-day:
And yet I do thee wrong, to mind thee of it,
For thou art fram'd of the firm truth of valour.*^
\^Ej:it Salisbury.
' And my kind kinsman,] This must be addressed to West-
moreland : but how was that nobleman related to Salisbury ?
True it is, that the latter had married one of the sisters and co-
heirs of Edmund Earl of Kent, and that another of them was
wife to Westmoreland's eldest son. Salisbury's daughter was
likewise married to a younger son of Westmoreland's, who, in
her right, was afterward Earl of Salisbury, and appears in the
Second and Third Parts of King Henry VI. The present speaker
is Thomas Montacute, who is killed by a shot in the next play.
But these connections do not seem to make him akin to West-
moreland. RiTSON.
' Bed. Farevoelly good Salisbury ; &c.] Thus the old edition :
([i. e. the first folio :]
" Bed. Farewell, good Salisbury, and good luck go
with thee ;
** And yet I do thee wrong to mind thee of it,
** For thou art fram'd of the firm truth of valour.
" Exe. Farewell, kind lord : fight valiantly to-day.**
What ! does he do Salisbury wrong to wish him good luck ?
The ingenious Dr. Thirlby prescribed to me the transposition of
the verses, which I have made in the text : and the old quartos
plainly lead to such a regulation. Theobald.
I believe this transposition to be perfectly right, for it was
already made in the quartos, 1600 and 1608, as follows :
** FareAvell,, kind lord ; fight valiantly to-day,
*' And yet in truth I do thee wrong,
** For thou art made on the true sparkes of honour."
Steevens.
sc. III. KING HENRY V. 453
Bed. He is as full of valour, as of kindness ;^
Princely in both.
West. O that we now had here^
Enter King Henry.
But one ten thousand of those men in England,
That do no work to-day !
K. Hen. What's he, that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland ? ^ No, my fair cousin :
If we are mark'd to die, we are enough
To do our country loss ; and if to live.
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God*s will ! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove,^ I am not covetous for gold ;
He is as full of valour, as of kindness;'] So, in King
Richard II :
" AsJvU of valour, as o/" royal blood ." Steevens.
^ that toe nofw had here &c.] From Holinshed : " It is
said also, that he should heare one of the hoste utter his wishe
to another, that stood next to him, in this wise : I would to God
there were present here with us this day so many good souldiers
as are at this hour within the realme of England ; whereupon
the kyng answered : I would not wishe a man more here than I
have," &c. Malone.
' My cousin Westmoreland f] In the quartos, 1600 and 1608,
this speech is addressed to Warwick. Steevens.
* By Jove,"] The King prays like a christian, and swears
like a heathen. Johnson.
I believe the player-editors alone are answerable for this mon-
strous incongruity. In consequence of the Stat. 3 James I. c. xxi.
against introducing the sacred name on the stage, &c. they omit-
ted it where they could ; and in verse, (where the metre would
not allow omission,) they substituted some other word in its
place. The author, I have not the least doubt, wrote here
By heaven, . Malone.
45^ KING HENRY V. act m
Nor care I, who doth feed upon my cost ;
It yearns me not,^ if men my garments wear ;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires :
But, if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, *faith, my coz, wish not a man from England :
God's peace ! I would not lose so great an honour.
As one man more, methinks, would share from me.
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one
more
4
Ratherproclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he, which hath no stomach to this %ht.
Let him depart ; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse :
We would not die in that man*s company.
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is calPd the feast of Crispian : ^
He, that outlives this day, and comes safe home.
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd.
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
' It yearns me nof,]] To yearn is to grieve or vex. So, in
The Merry Wives of Windsor : " She laments for it, that it
would yearn your heart to see it." Steevens.
* O, do not tuish one more:~\ Read (for the sake of me-
tre) Wish not one more, Ritson.
* of Crispian {] The battle of Agincourt was fought
upon the 25th of October, St. Crispin's day. The legend upon
which this is founded, follows : " Crispinus and Crispianus
were brethren, bom at Rome ; from whence they travelled to
Soissons in France, about the year 303, to propagate the Chris-
tian religion ; but because they would not be chargeable to
others for their maintenance, they exercised the trade of shoe-
makers ; but the governor of the town discovering them to be
Christians, ordered them to be beheaded about the year 303.
From which time, the shoemakers made choice of them for their
tutelar saints." Wheatley's Rational Illustration^ folio edit. p.
76. See Hall's Chronicle^ fol. 47. Grey.
SC, ///. KING HENRY V. 455
He, that shall live this day, and see old age,^
Will yearly on the vigiP feast his friends,
And say to-morrow is Saint Crispian :
Then will he strip his sleeve, and show his scars,
And say, these wounds I had on Crispin's day.*
Old men forget ; yet alP shall be forgot.
But he'll remember, with advantages,*
What feats he did that day : Then shall our names.
Familiar in their mouths^ as household words,
Harry the king, Bedford, and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloster,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd :
This story shall the good man teach his son ;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
He^ that shall live this day^ and see old age,"] The folio
reads:
He that shall see this day and live old age.
The transposition (which is supported by the quarto) was
made by Mr. Pope. Malone.
' the vigil ] i. e. the evening before this festival.
Steevens.
And say^ these wounds I had on Crispin's day."] This line
I have restored from the quarto, 1600. The preceding line ap-
pears to me abrupt and imperfect without it. Malone.
^ yet all ] I believe we should read yea^ all, &c.
Malone.
' xmth advantages f"] Old men, notwithstanding the na-
tural forgetfulness of age, shall remember their Jeats of this davy
and remember to tell them txith advantage. Age is commonly
boastful, and inclined to magnify past acts and past times.-
Johnson.
* Familiar in their mouths ] i. e. in the mouths of the old
man (" who has outlived the battle and come safe home,") and
" his friends." This is the reading of the quarto, which I have
preferred to that of the folio, his mouth ; because their cups,
the reading of the folio in the subsequent line, would other\vise
appear, if not ungrammatical, extremely aukward. The quarto
reads in their flowing bo-wls ; and there are other considerable
variations in the two copies. Malone.
456 KING HENRY V. act ir.
From this day to the ending^ of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered :
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers ;
For he, to-day that sheds his blood with me.
Shall be my brother ; be he ne'er so vile.
This day shall gentle his condition :*
And gentlemen in England, now a-bed.
Shall think themselves accurs'd, they were not here;
And hold their manhoods cheap, while any speaks.
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.^
* From this day to the ending ] It may be observed that
we are apt to promise ourselves a more lasting memory than
the changing state of human things admits. This prediction is
not verified ; the feast of Crispin passes by without any mention
of Agincourt. Late events obliterate the former : the civil wars
have left in this nation scarcely any tradition of more ancient
history. Johnson.
* gentle his condition : ] This day shall advance him to
the rank of a gentleman. Johnson.
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 ; and, I think,
these last were allowed the chief seats of honour at all feasts and,
publick meetings. Tollet.
That Mr. Tollet is right in his account, is proved by the ori-
ginal writ to the Sheriff of Southampton and others, printed in
Kymer's Fcedera, anno 5 Henry V. Vol. IX. p. 457. And see
more fully on the subject Anstis's Order of the Garter^ Vol. II.
p. 108, who mentions it, and observes thereon, citing Gore*s
Catedog. rei Herald. Introduct. and Sandford's Geneal. Hist. p.
283. Vaillant.
* upon Saint Crispin's day.'] This speech, like many
others of tne declamatory kind, is too long. Had it been con-
tracted to about half the number of lines, it might have gained
force, and lost none of the sentiments. Johnson,
sc. Ill, KING HENRY V.: 457
Enter Salisbury.
Sal. My sovereign lord, bestow yourself with
speed :
The French are bravely^ in their battles set,
And will with all expedience'^ charge on us.
K. Hen. All things are ready, if our minds be so.
West. Perish the man, whose mind is backward
now!
K. Hen. Thou dost not wish more help from
England, cousin ?
West. God's will, my liege, 'would you and I
alone.
Without more help, might fight this battle out!^
K.Hen. Why, now thou hast unwish'd five thou-
sand men ; ^
* bravely ] is splendidly^ ostentatiously. Johnson.
Rather gallantly. So, in The Tempest:
** Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou
" Perform'd, my Ariel !" Steevens.
' expedience ] i. e. expedition. So, in K. Rickardll:
*' Are making hither with all due expedience.*'
Steevens,
* might ^ght this battle ont\2 Thus the quarto. The
folio reads :
coxxld^ght this royal battle. Malone.
' thou hast unxvish*d Jive thousand men;"] By wishing
only thyself and me, thou hast wished five thousand men away.
Shakspeare never thinks of such trifles as numbers. In the last
scene the French are said to be Jiill threescore thousand, which
Exeter declares to he Jive to one; but, by the king's account,
they are twelve to one. Johnson.
Holinshed makes the English army consist of 15,000, and the
French of 60,000 horse, besides foot, &c. in all 100,000; while
Walsingham and Harding represent the English as but 9000 ;
45af KING HENRY V. act if.
Which likes me better, than to wish us one.
You know your places : God be with you all !
and other authors say that the number of French amounted to
150,000. Steevens.
Fabian says the French were 40,000, and the English only
7000.
Dr. Johnson, however, I apprehend, misunderstood the King's
words. He supposes that Henry means to say, that Westmore-
land, wishing himself and Henry alone to fight the battle out
with the French, had ivished atvau the whole English army^
consisting of Jive thousand men. lout Henry*s meaning was, I
conceive, very different. Westmoreland had before expressed
a wish that ten thousand of those who were idle at that moment
in England were added to the King's army; a wish, for which,
when it was uttered, Henry, whether from policy or spirit, re-
primanded him. Westmoreland now says, he should be glad
that he and the King alone, without any other aid whatsoever,
were to fight the battle out against the French. " Bravely said,
( replies Henry, ) you have now half atoned for your former
timid wish for ten thousand additional troops. You have wt-
Kvished half of what you wish'd before." The King is speaking
figuratively, and Dr. Johnson understood him literally. Shak-
speare therefore, though often inattentive to " such trifles as
numbers," is here not inaccurate. He undoubtedly meant to
represent the English army, (according to Exeter's state of it, )
as consisting of about twelve thousand men; and according to the
best accounts this was nearly the number that Henry had in the
field. Hardyng, who was himself at the battle of Agincourt,
says that the French army consisted of one hundred thousand;
but the account is probably exaggerated. Malone.
Mr. Malone, in a very elaborate note, has endeavoured to
prove that Westmoreland, by wishing that he and the King
alone, without more help, might fight the battle out, did not
wish away the whole of the army, but 5000 men only. But I
must confess that I cannot comprehend his argument, and must
therefore concur with Johnson, in his observation on the poet's
inattention. M. Mason.
sc. III. KING HENRY V. 459
Tucket, Enter Montjoy.
Mont, Once more I come to know of thee, king
Harry,
If for thy ransome thou wilt now compound.
Before thy most assured overthrow :
For, certainly, thou art so near the gulf.
Thou needs must be englutted. Besides, in mercy.
The Constable desires thee thou wilt mindV
Thy followers of repentance ; that their souls
May make a peaceful and a sweet retire
From off these fields, where (wretches) their poor
bodies
Must lie and fester.
K. Hen. Who hath sent thee now ?
Mont, The Constable of France.
K, JFfsi^. Ipray thee,bear my former answerback;
Bid them achieve me, and then sell my bones.
Good God ! why should they mock poor fellows
thus ?
The man, that once did sell the lion's skin
While the beast liv*d, was kill'd with hunting him.
A many^ of our bodies shall, no doubt.
Find native graves; upon the which, I trust.
Shall witness live in brass^ of this day*s work:
And those that leave their valiant bones in France,
Dying like men, though buried in your dunghills,
' mind-'] i. e. remind. So, in Coriolanus :
" I minded him how royal 'twas to pardon.'*
SXEEVENS.
* A many'y Thus the foUo. The quarto And many.
SxEEVENS,
' in hrass''] i. e. in brazen plates anciently let into
tomb-stones. Steevens.
460 KING HENRY V. act ir.
They shall be fam'd; for there the sun shall greet
them,
And draw their honours reeking up to heaven ;
Leaving their earthly parts to choke your clime,
The smell whereof shall breed a plague in France.
Mark then a bounding valour in our English ;*
* Mark then a bounding valour in our English;'] The old
folios
Mark then abounding .
The quartos, more erroneously still
Mark then aboundant .
Mr. Pope degraded the passage in both his editions, because,
I presume, he did not understand it. I have reformed the text,
and the allusion is exceedingly beautiful ; comparing the revival
of the English valour to the rebounding of a cannon-ball.
Theobald.
Mr. Theobald was probably misled by the idle notion that our
author's imagery must be round and corresponding on every side,
and that this line was intended to be in unison with the next.
This was so far from being an object of Shakspeare*s attention,
that he seems to delight in passing hastily from one idea to
another. To support his emendation, Mr. Theobald misrepre-
sented the reading of the quarto, which he said was aboundant.
It is abundayit; and proves, in my apprehension decisively, that
the reading of the folio is not formed by any accidental union of
different words ; for though ahoundi?ig may, according to Mr.
Theobald's idea, be made two words, by what analysis can
abundant be separated?
We have had already, in this play " superfluous courage,"
an expression of nearly the same import as " abounding
valour."
Mr. Theobald's emendation, however, has been adopted in all
the modern editions.
That our author's word was abundant or abounding^ not a
bounding^ may be proved by King Richard III. where we again
meet with the same epithet applied to the same subject:
" To breathe the abundant valour of the heart."
Malone.
The preceding note (in my opinion at least) has not proved
that, though Shakspeare talks of abundant valour in King
Hichard III. he might not have written a bounding valour in
King Henry V. Must our author indulge himself in no varieties
sc. III. KING HENRY V. 4m
That, being dead, like to the bullet's grazing.
Break out into a second course of mischief.
Killing in relapse of mortality. ^
of phraseology, but always be tied down to the use of similar
expressions? Or does it follow that, because his imagery is
sometimes incongruous, it was always so ? Aboundant may
be separated as regularly as abounding; for boundant (like
mountant in Timon of Athens^ and questant in All's tvell that
ends toell) might have been a word once in use. The reading
stigmatized as a misrepresentation might also have been found in
the quarto consulted by Mr. Theobald, though not in such copies
of it as Mr. Malone and I have met with. In several quarto
editions, of similar date, there are varieties which till very lately
were unobserved. I have not therefore discarded Mr. Theobald's
emendation. Steevens.
* Killing in relapse of mortality.'] What it is to hill in re-
lapse of mortality f I do not know. I suspect that it should be
read :
Killing in reliques of mortality.
That is, contmuing to kill when they are the reliques that death
has left behind it.
That the allusion is, as Mr. Theobald thinks, exceedingly
beautifidy I am afraid few readers will discover. The valour of
a putrid body, that destroys by the stench, is one of the thoughts
that do no great honour to the poet. Perhaps from this putrid
valour Dryden might borrow the posthumous empire of Don Se-
bastian, who was to reign wheresoever his atoms should be scat-
tered. JOHNSOK.
By this phrase, however uncouth, Shakspeare seems to mean
the same as in the preceding line. Mortality is death. So, in
King Henry VI. Part I :
" 1 beg mortality
" Rather than life ."
Relapse may be used for rebound. Shakspeare has given mind
of honour for honourable mind; and by the same rule might
write relapse of mortality for fatal or mortal rebound; or by re-
lapse of mortality y he may mean after they heid relapsed into
inanimation.
, This putrid valour is common to the descriptions of other
poets, as well as Shakspeare and Dryden, and is predicated to
be no less victorious by Lucan, Lib. VII. v. 821 : .
462 KING HENRY V.^ act ir.
Let me speak proudly ; Tell the Constable,
We are but warriors for the working-day :*
Our gayness, and our gilt,'' are all besmirch*d
" Quid fugis banc cladem, quid olentes deseris agros?
** Has trahe, Caesar, aquas ; hoc, si potes, utere coelo.
** Sed tibi tabentes populi Pharsalica rura
** Eripiunt, camposque tenent victore fugato."
Comeille has imitated this passage in the first speech in his
Pompee:
* de chars,
** Sur ses champs empestes confusement epars,
*' Ces montagnes de morts prives d'honneurs supr^mes,
* Que la nature force d se venger eux-memes,
** Et de leurs troncs pourris exhale dans les vents
* De quoi faire la guerre au reste des vivans.**
Voltaire, in his Letter to the Academy of Belles Lettres at
Paris, opposes the preceding part of this speech to a quotation
from Shakspeare. The Frenchman, however, very prudently
stopped before he came to the lines which are here quoted.
Steevens.
The ruggedness of this line, which is rendered by the word
relapse (at least as we now accent it) scarcely metre, induces
me to think, with Dr. Johnson, that word corrupt.
In the following passage the word relapse seems to signify
nothing more than lapse: " Nothing so much do I retract as
that wherein soever I nave scandalized the meanest. Into some
pplenetive vaine of wantonness have I foolishly relapsed^ to sup-
ply my private wants ; of them no less do I desire to be absolved
than the rest." Christ* s rearsouer oTerusa/ew, by Thomas Nashe,
4to. 1594. Malone.
I am too dull to perceive that relapse, in the preceding quo-
tation, may not be used in its common and accepted sense.
Steevens.
luarriors for the working-day:] We are soldiers but
coarsely dressed ; we have not on our holiday apparel.
Johnson.
So, in Antony and Cleopatra :
" rr'ythee, tell her hxA Aworky-day fortune."
Steevens.
' our gilt,] i. e. golden show, superficial gilding. Ob-
solete. So, in Timon of Athens:
" When thou wast in thy gilt and thy perfume," &c.
7. ///. KING HENRY V. 46S
With rainy marching in the painful field ;
There's not a piece of feather in our host,
(Good argument, I hope, we shall not fly,)
And time hath worn us into slovenry :
But, by the mass, our hearts are in the trim:
And my poor soldiers tell me yet ere night
They'll be in fresher robes ; or they will pluck
The gay new coats o'er the French soldiers* heads.
And turn them out of service. If they do this,
(As, if God please, they shall,) my ransome then
Will soon be levied. Herald, save thou thy labour;
Come thou no more for ransome, gentle herald ;
They shall have none, I swear, but these my joints:
Which if they have as I will leave 'em to them.
Shall yield them little, tell the Constable.
Mont, I shall, king Harry. And so fare thee well:
Thou never shalt hear herald any more. [_Ea;it,
K. Hen. I fear, thou'lt once more come again
for ransome.
Enter the Duke of York. *
York. My lord, most humbly on my knee I beg
The leading of the vaward.
Again, in Ttuelfth- Night :
" The double gilt of this opportunity you let time wash
ofF."
Again, in Arden of Feversham, 1592:
" And now the rain hath beaten off thy gilt.**
Steevens.
* The Duke of Yorlc.'\ This personage is the same who
appears in our author's King Richard II. by the title o^ Duke of
Aumerle. His christian name was Edward. He was the eldest
son of Edmond of Langley, Duke of York, who is introduced in
the same play, and who was the fifth son of King Edward III.
Richard Earl of Cambridge, who appears in the second Act of
this play, was younger brother to this Edward Duke of York.
Mai.one.
464 KING HENRY VJ activ,
K. He^. Take it, brave York. Now, soldiers,
march away ;
And how thou pleasest, God, dispose the day !
[_Ea:eunU
SCENE IV.
The Field of Battle.
. Alarums: Excursions. Enter French Soldiery
Pistol, and Boy.
Fist, Yield, cur.
Fr. Sol. Je pense, que vous estes le gentilhomnie
de bonne qualite.
'^Fjst. Quality, call you me ? Construe me, art
thou a gentleman?' What is thy name ? discuss.'
^ Qualih/, call you me ? Construe mCf'] The old copy reads
Qualtitie calmie custure me . Steevens.
We should read this nonsense thus :
Quality, cality construe ?ne, art thou a gentleman ?
i. e. tell me, let me understand whether thou be'st a gentleman.
Warburton.
Mr. Edwards, in his MS. notes, proposes to read :
Quality, call you me? construe me, &c. Steevens.
The alteration proposed by Mr. Edwards has been too hastily
adopted. Pistol, who does not imderstand French, imagines the
prisoner to be speaking of his own quality. The line should
therefore have been given thus :
Quality! calmly; constme wie, art thou a gentleman.
RiTSON.
The words in the folio (where alone they are found) Quu-
litee calmie custure me, appeared such nonsense, that some
emendation was here a matter of necessity, and accordingly that
made by the joint efforts of Dr. Warburton and Mr. Edwards
has been adopted in mine and the late editions. But since I
have found reason to believe that the old copy is very nearly
sc. tv. KING HENRY V. 465
Fr. Sol. seigneur Dieu! rtfrr:: 't
PiST. O, signieur Dew should be a gentleman :'' i
right, and that a much slighter emendation than that which ha8
been made will suffice. In a book entitled, A Handfull ofPk-
sant Delites, containing sundrie new Sonets, ^^-netvli/ devised to
the newest Tunes, &c. by Clement Robinson and Others, 16mo.
1584!, is " A Sonet of a Lover in the Praise of his Lady, to
Calen o custure me, sung at every line's end."
" When as I view your coniely grace, Calen," &c.
Pistol, therefore, we see, is only repeating the burden of an
old song, and the words should be undoubtedly printed
Quality! Calen b custure me. Art thou a gentleman^ &c.
He elsewhere has quoted the old ballad beginning , ; ,.
" Where is the life that late I led?" -
With what propriety the present words are introduced, it iS ftot
necessary to inquire. Pistol is not very scrupulous in his quota-
tions.
It may also be observed, that construe me is not Shakspeare*s
phraseology, but construe to me. So, in Ttvel/ih- Night : " I
will construe to them whence you come," &c. Malone.
Construe me, though not the phraseology of our author's
more chastised characters, might agree sufficiently with that of
Pistol.
Mr. Malone's discovery is a very curious one, and when (as
probably will be the case ) some further ray of light is thrown on
the unintelligible words Calen &c. I will be the first to vote
them into the text. Steevens.
' discuss.li This affected word is used by Lyly, in his
Woman in the Moon, 1597:
" But first I must discuss this heavenly cloud."
Steevens.
* signieur Dew should be a gentleman:] I cannot help
thinking, that Shakspeare intended here a stroke at a passage in
a famous old book, called The Gentleman's Academic in Hawk-
ing, Hunting, and Armorie, written originally by Juliana
Barnes, and re-published by Gervase Markham, 1595. The
first chapter of the Booke of Armorie is, ** the difference *twixt
Churles and Gentlemen;" and it ends thus: ** From the of-
spring of gentlemanly Japhet came Abraham, Moyses, Aaron,
and the Prophets ; and also the king of the right line of Mary,
of whom that only absolute gentleman, Jesus, was borne;
gentleman, by his mother Mary, princesse of coat armor."
Farmer.
VOL. XII. 2 H
466 KING HENRY V. act ir.
Perpend my words, O signieur Dew, and mark;
signieur Dew, thou diest on point of fox,^
Except, O signieur, thou do give to me
Egregious ransome.
Fr. Sol. O, prennez misericorde ! ayez pitie de
moy!
PiST. Moy shall not serve, I will have forty moys ;
For I will fetch thy rim* out at thy throat.
In drops of crimson blood.
' . thou diest on point o/*fox,] Fox is an old cant word for
a sword. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster :
" I made my father's old^ox fly about his ears."
The same expression occurs in The Two angry Women of
Abington, 1599: " I had a sword, ay the flower of Smithfield
for a sword; a right^or, i'faith."
Again, in The Life and Death of Captain Thomas Stukely^
1605: * old hacked swords, foxes ^ bilbos, and horn-
buckles."
Again, in The Devil's Charter ^ 1607:
** And by this awful cross upon my blade,
" And by this^x which stinks of Pagan blood."
Steevens.
* For / mil fetch thy rim ] We should read:
Or, / xvUl fetch thy ransome out of thy throat.
Warburton.
I know not what to do with rim. The measure gives reason
to suppose that it stands for some monosyllable; and, besides,
ransome is a word not likely to have been corrupted.
Johnson.
It appears from Sir Arthur Gorges's translation of Lucan,
1614, that some part of the intestines was anciently called the
rwn, Lucan, Book I:
** The slender rimme too weake to part
* The boyling liver from the heart ."
^ parvusque secat vitalia limes. L. 623.
f* Parvus limes (says one of the scholiasts) praecordia indicat;
membrana iUa quae cor et pulmones a jecore et liene dirimit."
1 believe it is now called the diaphragm in human creatures,
and the skirt or midriflF in beasts; but still, in some places, the
rim.
Phil. Holland, in his translation of Pliny's Natural History^
sc, IV, KING HENRY V. 467
Fr. Sol. Est il impossible d*eschapper la force de
ton bras?
PiST. Brass, cur!^
several times mentions the rim of the paunch. See Book
XXVIII. ch. ix. p, 321, &c.
Again, in Chapman's version of the l^th Iliad:
" And strook him in his belly's rimme; ." Steevens.
Cole, in his Dictionary, 1678, describes it as the caul in
which the bowels are wrapped. Malone.
Ryno is at this day a vulgar cant expression for money;
reaay ryno means ready money. This was probably the ex-
pression that Pistol meant to use ; and I should suppose ryno^
mstead of rym, to be the true reading. M. Mason.
I ought to have some kindness for this conjecture, as it has
suggested itself to me more than once ; and yet I fear it is what
Dr. Warburton calls (in a note on Othello) a White Friars'
phrase f of Alsatian origin, and consequently much more modern
than the age of Shakspeare.
Mr. M. Mason's idea, however, may receive countenance
from a passage in Timon :
" Tim. Cut my heart in sums.
Tit. Mine, fifty talents.
*' Tim. Tell out my blood.
** Luc. Five thousand crowns, my lord.
* Tim. Five thousand drops pay that.'* Steevens.
* Brass, cur J'] Either Shakspeare had very little knowledge
in the French language, or his over-fondness for punning led
him, in this place, contrary to his own judgment, into an error.
Almost every one knows that the French word bras is pro-
nounced brau; and what resemblance of sound does this bear
to brass, that Pistol should reply, Brass, cur? The joke would
appear to a reader, but could scarce be discovered in the per-
formance of the play. Sir W. Rawlinson.
If the pronunciation of the French language be not changed
since Shakspeare's time, which is not unlikely, it may be sus-
pected that some other man wrote the French scenes.
Johnson.
Dr. Johnson makes a doubt, whether the pronunciation of the
French language may not be changed since Shakspeare's time;
** if not (says he) it may be suspected that some other man wrote
the French scenes ;" but this does not appear to be the case, at
2h 2
468 KING HENRY V. act m
Thou damned and luxurious mountain goat,"
OiFer'st me brass?
Fr. Sol. O pardonnezmoy!
PiST. Say*st thou me so? is that a ton of
moys ?''
least in this termination, from the rules of the grammarians, or
the practice of the poets. I am certain of the former from the
French Ajmhabeth of De la Mothe, and the Orthoepia Gallica
of John Eliot; and of the latter from the rhymes of Marot,
Ronsard, and Du Bartas. Connections of this kind were very
common. Shakspeare himself assisted Ben Jonson in his Sejanus,
as it was originally written; and Fletcher in his Two Noble
Kinsmen. Farmer.
Mr. Bowie has at least rendered doubtful the question con-
cerning the different pronunciation of the French language.
See ArchcEologia, Vol. VI. p. 76. Douce.
The word moi/ proves, in my apprehension, decisively, that
^Shakspeare, or whoever furnished him with his French, (if in-
deed he was assisted by any one,) was unacquainted with the
true pronunciation of that language. Mot/ he has, in King
Richard II. made a rhyme to destroy ^ so that it is clear that he
supposed it was pronounced exactly as it is spelled, as he here
supposes bras to be pronounced:
" Speak it in French, king ; say, pardonnez moy.
" Dost thou teach pardon pardon to destroy?'*
See also Vol. VII. p. 160, n. 9.
The word bras was, without doubt, pronounced, in the last
age, by the French, and by the English who understood French,
as at present, bravo. So, as Dr. Farmer observes to me, in the
prologue to The First Day's Entertainment at Rutland House,
by Sir W. D' Avenant :
* And could the walls to such a wideness draxv,
** That all might sit at ease in chaise a bras.'*
Drummond of Hawthornden tells us that Ben Jonson did not
understand French. It does not, I own, therefore follow that
Shakspeare was also unacquainted with that language; but I
think it is highly probable that that was the case; or at least that
his knowledge of it was very slight. Malone.
" luxurious mountain goat,'] Luxurious means lascivious.
So, in Much Ado about Nothing:
" She knows the heat oi a luxurious bed." Steevens.
' a ton of moys?] Moy is a piece of money; whence
moi d* or, or moi of gold. Johnson.
sc. IV. KING HENRY V. 469
Come hither, boy; Ask me this slave in French,
What is his name.
Boy. Escoutez ; Comment estes votes appelle ?
Fr. Sol. Monsieur le Fer.
Boy. He says, his name is master Fer.
PiST. Master Fer ! I'll fer him, and firk him,"
and ferret him : discuss the same in French unto
him.
Bor. I do not know the French for fer, and fer-
ret, and firk.
PiST. Bid him prepare, for I will cut his throat.
Fr. Sol. Que dit-il, monsieur^
Boy. // me commande de vous dire que vousfaites
vous prest ; car ce soldat icy est dispose tout a cette
heure de couper vostre gorge.
PiST. Ouy, couper gorge, par ma foy, pesant.
Unless thou give me crowns, brave crowns ;
Or mangled shalt thou be by this my sword.
Fr. Sol. O, je vous supplie pour V amour de
Dieu^ me pardonner ! Je suis gentilhomme de bonne
* and firk A/m,] The word^rk is so variously used by
the old writers, that it is almost impossible to ascertain its pre-
cise meaning. On this occasion it may mean to chastise. So,
in Ram- Alley J or Merry Tricks, 1611:
" nay, I will^r^
** My silly novice, as he was never ^rk'd
** Since midwives bound his noddle."
In Beaumont and Fletcher's Rule a Wife, &c. it means to
collect by low and dishonest industry:
" these five years she has^rk*d
" A pretty living."
Again, in Ram-Alley^ &c. it seems to be employed in the sense
of quibble:
" Sir, leave this^r^ of law, or by this light," &c.
In The Alchemistj it is obscenely used. Steevens,
470 KING HENRY V. act ir.
maison ; gardez ma vie, je votes donjierm/ deiue
cents escus.
Pjst. What are his words ?
Boy. He prays you to save his life : he is a gen-
tleman of a good house ; and, for his ransome, he
will give you two hundred crowns.
PiST. Tell him, my fury shall abate, and I
The crowns will take.
Fr. Sol. Petit monsieur, que dit-il?
Boy. Encore quHl est contre son jurement, de
pardonner aucun prisonnier ; neantmoins, pour les
escus que vous Favez promis, il est content de vous
donner la liberte, le franchisement.
Fr. Sol. Sur mes genoux,je vous donne mille re-
merciemens : ^ je m^estime heureux que je suis
tombe entre les mains d'un chevalier, je pense, le
plus brave, valiant, S^ tres distingue seigneur d^Ang-
leterre,
Pjst. Expound unto me, boy.
Boy. He gives you, upon his knees, a thousand
thanks: and he esteems himself happy that he hath
fallen into the hands of (as he thinks) the most
brave, valorous, and thrice-worthy signieur of
England.
Pist. As I suck blood, I will some mercy show.
Follow me, cur. \_Exit Pistol.
Boy. Suivez votis le grand capitaine.
\^Exit French Soldier,
I did never know so full a voice issue from so empty
a heart : but the saying is true, The empty vessel
makes the greatest sound. Bardolph, and Nym,
had ten times more valour than this roaring devil
A7. IV. KING HENRY V. 471
i*the old play,^ that every one may pare his nails
with a wooden dagger; and they are both hanged;
and so would this be, if he durst steal any thing
^ this roaring devil i'the old play y"] In modern puppet-
shows, which seem to be copied from the old farces, Punch
sometimes fights the devil, and always overcomes him. I sup-
pose the vice of the old farce, to whom Punch succeeds, used to
fight the devil with a wooden dagger. Johnson.
The devil, in the old mysteries, is as turbulent and vain-glo-'
rious as Pistol. So, in one of the Coventry Whitsun Plays, pre-
served in the British Museum. Vespasian. D. VIII. p. 136:
" I am your lord Lucifer that out of helle cam,
*' Prince of this world, and gret duke of helle;
** Wherfore my name is clepyd ser Satan,
** Whech aperyth among you a mater to spelle."
And perhaps the character was always performed in the most
clamorous manner.
In the ancient tragedy, or rather morality, called All for
Money, by T. Lupton, 1578, Sin says:
" I knew I would make him soon change his note,
* I will make him sing the Black Sanctus, I hold him a
groat. [Here Satan shall cry and roar ^*
Again, a little after:
" Here he roareth and crieth."
See Taming of the Shrew, Vol. IX. p. 24, n. 8. Steevens.
In the old moralities the devil was always attacked by the
Vice, who belaboured him with his lath, and sent him roaring
off the stage. So, in Twelfth Night:
*' In a trice,
*' Like to the old vice,
*' Who, with dagger of lath,
*' In his rage and his wrath,
Cries ah! ha! to the devil.'*
And in The old Taming of a Shrew, one of the players says,
" my lord, we must have a little vinegar to make our devU
roar.'*
The reason of the Vice's endeavouring to entertain the audi-
ence, by attempting to pare the devil's nails, has been already
assigned in a note on Twelfth- Night, Vol. V. p. 391, n. 1.
Malone.
See also a note on King Richard III. Act III. so. i. and Mr.
Upton's Dissertation at the end of the same play. Malone.
472 KING HENRY V. act ir.
adventurously. I must stay with the lackeys, with
the luggage of our camp: the French might have
a good prey of us, if he knew of it j for there is
none to guard it, but boys. [_Ej:iL
SCENE V.
Another Part of the Field of Battle,
Alarums. Enter Daufhin, Orleans, Bourbon,
Constable, Rambures, and Others.
Con. diablef
Orl. O seigneur! le jour est perdu, tout est
perdu/
Dau. Mort de ma vie! all is confounded, all!
Reproach and everlasting shame
Sits mocking in our plumes. O meschante for-
tune!
Do not run away. \^A short Alarum.
CoK. Why, all our ranks are broke.
Dau.O perdurable shame!' ^let's stab ourselves.
Be these the wretches that we play*d at dice for?
Orl. Is this the king we sent to for his ransome?
BouR. Shame, and eternal shame, nothing but
shame!
Let us die instant: Once more back again ;^
' perdurable shame!'] Perdurable is lasting, long to con-
tinue. So, in Daniel's Civil fVars, &c:
" Triumphant arcs of perdurable might." Steevens.
' Let us die instant: Once more back again;] This verse,
which is quite left out in Mr. Pope's editions, stands imperfect
sc, r. KING HENRY V. 473
And he that will not follow Bourbon now.
Let him go hence, and, with his cap in hand.
Like a base pander,^ hold the chamber-door.
Whilst by a slave, no gentler* than my dog.
in the first folio. By the addition of a syllable, I think, I have
retrieved the poet's sense. It is thus in the old copy :
Let us die in 07ice more back again. Theobald.
Let us die in fight;] For the insertion of the word Jight,
which (as I observed in my Second Appendix, 8vo. 1783,) ap-
pears to have been omitted by the negligence of the transcriber
or compositor, I am answerable. So Bourbon says afterwards :
" I'll to the throng ; Let life be short."
Macbeth utters the same sentiment:
" At least we'll die with harness on our backs."
Mr. Theobald corrected the text by reading instant instead of
ins but (as I have already remarked) it is highly improbable
that a printer should omit half a word; nor indeed does the
word instant suit the context. Bourbon probably did not wish
to die more than other men; but if we are conquered, (says he)
if we are to die, let us bravely die in combat tvitk our Joes y
and make their victory as dear to them as we can.
The editor of the second folio, who always cuts a knot in-
stead of untying it, substituted j^y for die, and absurdly reads
Let us fly in; leaving the metre, which was destroyed by the
omission of a word, still imperfect, and at the same time rendering
the passage nonsense. The lines stand thus in the quarto, 1600:
" Con. We are enough yet living in the field
*' To smother up the English,
" If any order might be thought upon.
" Bour. A plague of order! once more to the field;
' ** And he that will not follow," &c. Malone.
I have not adopted Mr. Malone's emendation, because, when
I read it, I cannot suppose myself to be reading the beginning
of a verse.
Instant may be an adjective used adverbially. In the course
of this publication my compositors will not deny their occasional
omission of several half-words. Steevens.
' Like a base pander,] The quartos read:
Like a base leno. Steevens.
* f-^- no gentler ] Who has no more gentility.
Malone.
474 KING HENRY VJ: activ.
His fairest daughter is contaminate.*
CoN^. Disorder, that hath spoilM us, friend us
now!
Let us, in heaps, go offer up our lives
Unto these English, or else die with fame.*
Orl. We are enough, yet living in the field,
To smother up the English in our throngs.
If any order might be thought upon.
BouR. The devil take order now! 1*11 to the
throng;
Let life he short; else, shame will be top long.
SCENE VI.
Another Part of the Field,
Alarums, Enter King Henry and Forces ; Ex-
eter, and Others,
K. Hek. Well have we done, thrice-valiant
countrymen ;
But all*s not done, yet keep the French the field.
* is contaminate.] The quarto has contamuracJcey which
corrupted word, however, is sufficient to lead us to the true
reading now inserted in the text : It is also supported by the
metre and the usage of our author and his contemporaries. We
have had in this play " hearts create" for hearts created: so,
elsewhere, combinatCy for combin*d ; consummatey for consum-
matedf &c. The folio reads contaminated. Malone.
Unto these English, or else die tvithjame.'] This line I
have restored from the quartos, 1600 and 1608. The Constable
of France is throughout the play represented as a brave and
generous enemy, and therefore we should not deprive him of a
resolution which agrees so well with his character. Steevens.
sc. VI. KING HENRY V. 475
ExE, The duke of York commends him to your
majesty.
K, Hen, Lives he, good uncle? thrice, within
this hour,
I saw him down; thrice up again, and fighting;
From helmet to the spur, all blood he was.
ExE. In which array, (brave soldier,) doth he lie,
Larding the plain 'J and by his bloody side,
(Yoke-fellow to his honour-owing wounds,)
The noble earl of Suffolk also lies.
Suffolk first died: and York, all haggled over.
Comes to him, where in gore he lay insteep'd.
And takes him by the beard; kisses the gashes.
That bloodily did yawn upon his face ;
And cries aloud, Tarry, dear cousin Suffolk !
My soul shall thine keep company to heaven :
Tarry, sweet soul, for mine, then fly a-breast ;
As, in this glorious and wellfoughten'Jield,
We kept together in our chivalry !
Upon these words I came, and cheer'd him up :
He smiPd me in the face, raught* me his hand.
And, with a feeble gripe, says, Dear my lordy
Commend my service to my sovereign.
So did he turn, and over Suffolk's neck
He threw his wounded arm, and kiss'd his lips ;
And so, espous'd to death, with blood he seal'd .
A testament of noble-ending love.^
The pretty and sweet manner of it forced
^ Larding the plain:"] So^ in King Henri/ IV. "Part I:
" And lards the lean earth as ne walks along.'*
Steevens,
* raughU] i. e. reached, See Vol. XIV. p. 38, n. 4.
Steevens.
^ A testament ofnohle-ending love.] So the folio. The quarto
reads:
An argument of never-ending love. Malone.
476 KING HENRY V. act iv.
Those waters from me, which I would have stopped j
But I had not so much of man in me,
But all my mother came into mine eyes,
And gave me up to tears. ^
K, Hen. I blame you not;
For, hearing this, I must perforce compound
With mistful eyes,'^ or they will issue too.
[^Alarum,
But, hark! what new alarum is this same?^
' But all my mother came into mine eyesy
And gave me up to tears.'] Thus the quarto. The folio
reads And all &c. But has here the force of But that.
Malone.
This thought is apparently copied by Milton, Paradise Lost,
Book IX :
" compassion quell'd
" His best of man, and gave him up to tears.'*
Steevens.
Dryden also, in All for Love^ Act I. has the same expression:
** Look, Emperor, this is no common dew.
" I have not wept this forty years; but now
" My mother comes afre&h into my eyes:
" I cannot help her softness." Keed.
* With mistful eyes^'] The ioWomixtfid. The passage is
not in the quarto. Malone.
The poet must have wrote mistful: i. e. just ready to over-
run with tears. The word he took from his observation of
nature: for, just before the bursting out of tears, the eyes grow
dim, a if in a mist. Warburton.
" tvkat new alarum is this samef] The alarum on
which Henry ordered the prisoners to be slain, was sounded by
the affrighted runaways from his own camp, who brought intelli-
gence that the French had got behind him, and had pillaged it.
See a subsequent note. Not knowing the extent of his danger,
he gave the order here mentioned, that every soldier should kill
his prisoners.
After Henry speaks these words, " what new alarum is this
same?'* Shakspeare probably intended that a messenger should
enter, and secretly communicate this intelligence to him; though
by some negligence no such marginal direction appears.
Malone.
sc. rii, KING HENRY V. 477
The French have reinforcM their scattered men:
Then every soldier kill his prisoners ;
Give the word through.* [^Ea:eunt.
SCENE VII.'
Another Part oftJie Field,
Alarums. Enter Fluellen and Gower.
Flu. Kill the poys and the luggage 1^ *tis ex-
pressly against the law of arms^: 'tis as arrant a
* Give the word through.^ Here the quartos 1600 and 1608
ridiculously add:
Pist. Couper gorge. Steevens.
' Scene VII.'] Here, in the other editions, they begin the
fourth Act, very absurdly, since both the place and time evi-
dently continue, and the words of Fluellen immediately follow
those of the King just before. Pope.
* Kill the poys and the luggage!'] The baggage, during the
battle, (as King Henry had no men to spare,) was guarded only
by boys and lackeys; which some French runaways getting
notice of, they came down upon the English camp-boys, whom
they killed, and plundered, and burned the baggage : m resent-
ment of which villainy it was, that the King, contrary to his
wonted lenity, ordered all prisoners' throats to be cut. And to
this villainy of the French runaways Fluellen is alluding, when
he says. Kill the pom and the luggage ! The fact is set out both
by Hall and Hohnshed. Theobald.
Unhappily the King gives one reason for his order to kill the
prisoners, and Gower another. The King killed his prisoners
because he expected another battle, and he had not men sufficient
to guard one army and fight another. Gower declares that the
fallant king has voorthily ordered the prisoners to be destroyed,
ecause the luggage was plundered, and the boys were slain.
Johnson.
Our author has here, as in all his historical plays, followed
Holinshed; in whose Chronicle both these reasons are assigned
478 KING HENRY V. act iv.
piece of knavery, mark you now, as can be offered,
m the *orld: In your conscience now, is it not?
Gow, 'Tis certain, there's not a boy left alive ;
and the cowardly rascals, that ran from the battle,
have done this slaughter : besides, they have burned
and carried away all that was in the king's tent ;
wherefore the king, most worthily, hath caused
every soldier to cut his prisoner's throat. O, 'tis a
gallant king !
Flu. Ay, he was porn at Monmouth, captain
Gower : What call you the town's name, where
Alexander the pig was born ?
Gow. Alexander the great.
Flu. Why, I pray you, is not pig, great ? The
pig, or the great, or the mighty, or the huge, or
the magnanimous, are all one reckonings, save the
phrase is a little variations.
Gow. 1 think, Alexander the great was born in
Macedon ; his father was called Philip of Mace-
don, as I take it.
Flu. I think, it is in Macedon, where Alexander
is porn. I tell you, captain, If you look in the
maps of the 'orld, I warrant, you shall find, in the
comparisons between Macedon and Monmouth,
that the situations, look you, is both alike. There
is a river in Macedon ; and there is also moreover a
river at Monmouth: it is called Wye, at Mon-
mouth J but it is out of my prains, what is the
name of the other river; but 'tis all one, 'tis so like
as my fingers is to my fingers, and there is salmons
for Henry's conduct. Shakspeare therefore has not departed
from history; though he has chosen to make Henry himself
mention one of the reasons which actuated him, and Gower
mentbn the other. See p. 480, n 2. M^lone.
sc. viL KING HENRY V. 479
in both. If you mark Alexander's life well, Harry
of Monmouth's life is come after it indifferent well;
for there is figures in all things. Alexander (God
knows, and you know,) in his rages, and his furies,
and his wraths, and his cholers, and his moods, and
his displeasures, and his indignations, and also being
a little intoxicates in his prains, did, in his ales and
his angers, look you, kill his pest friend, Clytus.
Gow. Our king is not like him in that ; he never
killed any of his friends.
Flu, It is not well done, mark you now, to take
tales out of my mouth, ere it is made an end and
finished. I speak but in the figures and compari-
sons of it : As Alexander"^ is kill his friend Clytus,
being in his ales and his cups ; so also Harry Mon-
mouth, being in his right wits and his goot judg-
ments, is turn away the fat knight^ with the great
pelly-doublet: he was full of jests, and gipes, and
knaveries, and mocks; I am forget his name.
Gow. Sir John Falstaff.
Flu. That is he : I can tell you, there is goot
men bom at Monmouth.
Gow. Here comes his majesty.
' As Alexander ] I should suspect that Shakspeare,
who was well read in Sir Thomas North's translation o Plutarch^
meant these speeches of Fluellen as a ridicule on the parallels of
the Greek author; in which, circumstances common to all men
are assembled in 'opposition, and one great action is forced into
comparison with another, though as totally different in themselves
as was thebehaviour of Harry Monmouth from that of Alexander
the Great. Steevens.
* the Jilt knight ] This is the last time that Falstaff
can make sport. The poet was loath to part with him, and has
.continued his memory as long as he could. Johnson.
48d KING HENRY V. actik
Alarum. Enter King Henry, with a Pari of the
English Forces ; Warwick,^ Gloster, Exeter,
ajid Otiiers,
K, Hen. I was not angry since I came to France
Until this instant. Take a trumpet, herald ;
Ride thou unto the horsemen on yon hill ;
If they will fight with us, bid them come down.
Or void the field; they do offend our sight :
If they'll do neither, we will come to them ;
And make them skirr away,^ as swift as stones
Enforced from the old Assyrian slings :
Besides, we*ll cut the throats of those we have f
^ Wanvickf'] Richard Bcauchamp, Earl of Warwick.
He did not, however, obtain that title till I^IT, two years after the
era of this play. Malone.
* And make them skirr away,] I meet with this word in Ben
Jonson's Newsjrom the MooHj a masque: " blow him afore
him as far as he can see him; or skir over him M'ith his bat's
wings,'* &c. Again, in Arthur Hall's translation of the 4th
Iliady 4to. 1581 :
" It thee becomes with piersing girde to cause thy arrow
skirre
" To wound the sturdie Menelau : .'*
The word has already occurred in Macbeth. See Vol. X.
p. 270, n. 9. Steevens.
* BesideSy tve'll cut the throats &c.] The King is in a very
bloody disposition. He has already cut the throats of his pri-
soners, and threatens now to cut them again. No haste of
composition could produce such negligence; neither was this
play, which is the second draught of the same design, written
in haste. There must be some dislocation of the scenes. If
we place these lines at the beginning of the twelfth scene, the
absurdity will be removed, and the action will proceed in a
regular series. This transposition might easily happen in copies
written for the players. Yet it must not be concealed, that in
the imperfect play of 1608 the order of the scenes is the same
as here. JohKson.
sc, VII. KING HENRY V. 481
And not a man of them, that we shall take,
Shall taste our mercy : -Go, and tell them so.
The difference of the two copies, may be thus accounted for.
The elder was, perhaps, taken down, during the representation,
by the contrivance of some bookseller, who was in haste to
publish it ; or it might, with equal probability, have been col-
lected from the repetitions of actors invited to a tavern for that
purpose. The manner in which many of the scenes are printed,
adds strength to the supposition; for in these a single line is
generally divided into two, that the quantity of the play might
be seemingly increased. The second and more ample edition
(in the folio 1623) may be that which regularly belonged to the
playhouse ; and yet with equal confidence we may pronounce,
that every dramatick composition would materially suffer, if only
transmitted to the publick through the medium of ignorance,
presumption, and caprice, those common attendants on a
theatre. Steevens.
Johnson's long note on this passage is owing to his inattention.
The prisoners whom the King had already put to death, were
those which were taken in the first action ; and those whom he
had now in his power, and threatens to destroy, are the prisoners
that were taken in the subsequent desperate charge made by
Bourbon, Orleans, &c. And accordingly we find, in the next
scene but one, an account of those prisoners, aniounting to up-
wards of 1500, with Bourbon and Orleans at the head of the
list. It was this second attack that compelled the King to kill
the prisoners whom he had taken in the first. M. Mason.
The order of the scenes is the same (as Dr. Johnson owns) in
the quarto and the folio ; and the supposition of a second draught
is, I am persuaded, a mistake, originating from Mr. Pope, whose
researches on these subjects were by no means profound. The
quarto copy of this play is manifestly an imperfect transcript pro-
cured by some fraud, and not a first draught or hasty sketch of
Shakspeare's. The choruses, which are wanting in it, and which
must have been written in 1599, before the quarto was printed,
prove this. Yet Mr. Pope asserts, that these choruses, and all
the other passages not found in the quarto, were added by the
author after the year 1600.
With respect nowever to the incongruity objected to, if it be
one, Holinshed, and not our poet, is answerable for it ; for thus
the matter is stated by him. Wliile the battle was yet going on,
about six hundred French horsemen, who were the first tlwt had
fled, hearing that the English tents were a good way distant from
VOL. XII. 2 I
482 KING HENRY V. act iv.
Enter Montjoy.
HxE. Here comes the herald of the French, my
liege.
the army, without a sufficient, guard, entered and pillaged the
king*s camp. " When the outcry of the lackies and bouSy which
ran atcay for fear of the Frenchmen^ thus spoiling the camp,
cprae to the king*s ears, he, doubting lest his enemies should
gather together again and begin a new fielde, and mistrusting
further that the prisoners would either be an aide to his enemies,
or very enemies to their takers indeed, if they were suffered to
live, contrary to his accustomed gentleness, commanded by
sounde of trumpet, that every man upon pain of death should
incontinently slea his prisoner.*' Here then we have the first
transaction relative to the killing of the prisoners, in consequence
of the spoiling of the camp, to which Fluellen alludes in the
beginning of this scene, when he complains of the French having
killed ** the poys and the luggage :" and we see, the order for
killing the prisoners arose partly from that outrage, and partly
from Henry's apprehension that his enemies might renew the
battle, and that his forces " were not sufficient to guard oBe
army, and fight another."
"What follows will serve to explain the King's threat in the
speech now before us, at least will show that it is not out of its
place. " When (proceeds the Chronicler,) this lamentalile
slaughter [of the prisoners] was ended, the Englishmen disposed
themselves in order of battayle, ready to abide a new fielde, and
also to invade and newly set on their enemies. Some write, that
the King perceiving his enemies in one parte to assemble together^
as though they meant to give a new battaeil for preservation of
the prisoners, sent to them a herault, commaunding them eith&r
to depart out of his sights or else to come forward at once, and
give battaile ; promising herewith^ that if they did offer
TO FIGHT AGAYNE, NOT ONLY THOS^ PRISONERS wklCH MIS
PEOPLE ALREADY HAD TAKEN, BUT ALSO SO MANY OF THEM
AS IN THIS NEW CONFLICTE, WHICH THEY THUS ATTEMPTED,
SHOULD FALL INTO HIS HANDS, SHOULD DIE THE DEATH
WITHOUT REDEMPTION."
The fact was, that notwithstanding the first order concerning
the prisoners, they were not all put to death, as appears from a
subsequent passage, (which ascertains what our author's concep-
tion Was,) and from the most authentick accounts of the battre
sc. rii, KING HENRY V. 483
Glo. His eyes are humbler than they us'd to be.
K. Hen. How now ! what means this, herald ?
know'st thou not,
That I have fin'd these bones of mine for ransome?
Com'st thou again for ransome ?
Mont. No, great king :
I come to thee for charitable licence,
of Agincourt. " When the King sat at Jiis refection, he was
served at his boorde of those great lords and princes that xvere
taken in thejield." According to Fabian, the Duke of Orleans,
who was among the captives, on hearing the proclamation for
putting the prisoners to death, was so alarmed, that he immedi-
ately sent a message to the newly assembled French troops, who
thereupon dispersed. Hardyng, who was himself at the battle
of Agincourt, says, the prisoners were put to death, " save dukes
and earles.'* Speed, on the authority of Monstrelet, says, " King
Henry, contrary to his wonted generous nature, gave present
commandment that every man should kill his prisoner, which
was immediately performed, certain principal men excepted;'*
who, as another Chronicler tells us, wpre tied back to back,
and left unguarded. With this account corresponds that of
Stowe ; who tells us, that " on that night, when the King s^t
at his refection, he was served at his boorde of those great lords
and princes that were taken in the Jielde." So also Polydore
Virgil : " Postquam bonam partem captivprum occiderunt," &c.
And lastly Mr. Hume, on the authority of various ancient his-
torians, says that Henry, on discovering that his danger was not
so great as he at first apprehended from the attack on his camp,
" stopped the slaughter, and was still able to save a great
number**
But though this fact were not established by the testimony of
so many historians, and though every one of the prisoners had
tbeen put to death, according to the original order, it was cer-
tainly policy in Henry to conceal that circumstance, and tp
.threaten to kill them, as if they were living ; for the motive iha,t
induced the French to rally was, (we are told,) to save these
prisoners ; and if they had been informed that they were already
executed, they might have been rendered desperate ; at least
would have had less inducement to lay down their ai:ms. This
however is a disquisition which is not necessary to our author's
vindication. He followed the Chronicle just as he found it.
Malone.
2l2
484 KING HENRY V. ACTjy.
That we may wander o*er this bloody field.
To book our dead, and then to bury them ;
To sort our nobles from our common men ;
For many of our princes (woe the while !)
Lie drown'd and soak'd in mercenary blood ;
(So do our vulgar drench their peasant limbs
In blood of princes;) and their wounded steeds'*
Fret fetlock deep in gore, and, with wild rage,
Yerk out their armed heels* at their dead masters.
Killing them twice. O, give us leave, great king,
To view the field in safety, and dispose
Of their dead bodies.
K. Hen. I tell thee truly, herald,
I know not, if the day be ours, or no ;
For yet a many of your horsemen peer.
And gallop o*er the field.
Mont. The day is yours.
K. Hen. Praised be God, and not our strength,
for it ! -
What is this castle call'd, that stands hard by ?
Mont. They call it Agincourt.
K, Hen. Then call we this the field of Agin-
court.
Fought on the day of Crispin Crispianus.
Flu. Your grandfather of famous memory, an*t
' and their luounded steeds ] The old copy reads
And with their &c. the compositor's eye having probably glanced
on the line beneath. Mr. Pope unnecessarily rejected both words,
reading ^while their uounded steeds^ in which he was followed
by the subsequent editors. Malone.
* Yerk out their armed heels ] So, in The Weakest goeth
to the Wall, 1600:
" Their neighing gennets, armed to the field,
" Ho yerk andfUng, and beat the sullen ground.'*
Steevens.
sc, VII. KING HENRY V. 485
please your majesty, and your great-uncle Edward
the plack prince of Wales, as I have read in the
chronicles, fought a most prave pattle here in
France.
K. Hen, They did, Fluellen.
Flu. Your majesty says very true : If your ma-
jesties is remembered of it, the Welshmen did goot
service in a garden where leeks did grow, wearing
leeks in their Monmouth caps ;^ which, your ma-
jesty knows, to this hour is an honourable padge of
the service; and, I do believe, your majesty takes
no scorn to wear the leek upon Saint Tavy's day.
K. Hen. I wear it for a memorable honour :
For I am Welsh, you know, good countryman.
Flu. All the water in Wye cannot wash your
majesty's Welsh plood out of your pody, I can tell
you that : Got pless it and preserve it, as long as it
pleases his grace, and his majesty too !
K. Hen. Thanks, good my countryman.
Flu. By Cheshu, I am your majesty's country-
man, I care not who know it ; I will confess it to
aU the 'orld : I need not to be ashamed of your
* Monmouth caps ;'\ Monmouth caps were formerly
much worn. From the following stanza in an old ballad of The
' Caps, printed in The Antidote against Melancholy y 1661, p. 31,
it appears they were particularly worn by soldiers :
* The soldiers that the Monmouth wear,
** On castles' tops their ensigns rear.
" The seaman with the thrumb doth stand
" On higher parts than all the land." Reed.
" The best caps, (says Fuller, in his Worthies of Wales,
p. 50,) were formerly made at Monmouth, where the Capper* s
chapel doth still remain. If (he adds) at this day [1660] the
phrase of wearing a Monmouth cap be taken in a bad acception,
I hope the inhabitants of that town will endeavour to disprove
the occasion thereof." Malone.
48 KING HENRY V. act iv,
majesty, praised be God, so long as your majesty
is an honest man.
K. Hen. God keep me so ! Our heralds go with
him ;
Bring me just notice of the numbers dead
On both our parts. Call yonder fellow hither.
\_Points to Williams. Exeunt Montjoy
and Others.
ExE. Soldier, you must come to the king.
K. Hen. Soldier, why wear*st thou that glove
in thy cap ?
Will. An't please your majesty, *tis the gage of
one that I should fight withal, if he be alive.
K. Hen. An Englishman ?
Will. An't please your majesty, a rascal, that
swaggered with me last night : who if 'a live, and
ever dare to challenge this glove, I have sworn to
take him a box o'the ear : or, if I can see my glov6
in his cap, (which he swore, as he was a soldier, he
would wear, if alive,) I will strike it out soundly.
K. Hen. What think you, captain Fluellen f is
it fit this soldier keep his oath ?
Flu. He is a craven and a villain else, an't please
your majesty, in my conscience.
K. Hen. It may be, his enemy is a gentleman of
great sort,* quite from the answer of his degree.^
" great 5orf,] High rank. So, in the ballad of Jane
Shore :
" Lords and ladies oi great scni.** Johnson.
The quartos, 1600 and 1608, read his enemy may he a.
gentleman of worth. Steevens.
' quite from the ansvoer of his degree.'] A man of such
station as is not bound to hazard his person to angtver to a chal-
lenge from one of the soldier's low degree. Joh^sOn.
s, VII. KING HENRY V. 487
Flu. Though he be as goot a gentleman as the
tevil is, as Lvicifer and Belzebub himself, it is ne-
cessary, look ycmr grace, that he keep his vow and
his oath : if he be perjured, see you now, his repu-
tation is as arrant a villain, and a Jack-sauce,* as
ever his plack shoe trod upon Got's ground and
his earth, in my conscience, la.
K. Hen. Then keep thy vow, sirrah, when thoii
meet*st the fellow.
Will* So I will, my liege, as I live.
K. Hen. Who servest thou under ?
Will. Under captain GQ\7er, my liege.
Flu. Gower is a goot captain ; and is good
knowledge and literature in the wars.
K. Hen. Call him hither to me, soldier.
Will. I will, my liege. [jB.r?V.
K, Hen. Here, Fluellen; wear thou this favour
for me, and stick it in thy cap : When Ale^9on
and myself were down together,^ I plucked this
glove from his helm : if any man challenge this, l^e
is a friend to Alen9on and an enemy to our person ;
if thou encounter any such, apprehend him, an
thou dost love me.
Flu. Your grace does me as great honours, as
can be desired in the hearts of his subjects : I would
Jack-sauce f"] i. e. saucy Jack. See Vol. VI. p. 18.
n. 8. Malone.
^ When Alengon and myself were down together,'] This
circumstance is not an invention of Shakspeare's. Henry was
felled to the ground at the battle of Agincourt, by the Duke of
Alen^on, but recovered and slew two of the Duke's attendants.
Afterwards Alen9on was killed by the King's guard, contrary to
Henry's intention, who wished to have saved him. Malone.
488 KING HENRY V. act iv.
fain see the man, that has but two legs, that shall
find himself aggriefed at this glove, that is all ;
but I would fain see it once ; an please Got of his
grace, that I might see it.
K, Hen. Knowest thou Gower ?
Flu. He is my dear friend, an please you,
K. Hen. Pray thee, go seek him, and bring him
to my tent.
Flu. I will fetch him. [^Exit.
K. Hen. My lord of Warwick, and my brother
Gloster,
Follow Fluellen closely at the heels :
The glove, which I have given him for a favour,
May, haply, purchase him a box o*the ear ;
It is the soldier*s ; I, by bargain, should
Wear it myself. Follow, good cousin Warwick :
If that the soldier strike him, (as, I judge
By his blunt bearing, he will keep his word,)
Some sudden mischief may arise of it ;
For I do know Fluellen valiant.
And, touch'd with choler, hot as gunpowder.
And quickly will return an injury :
Follow, and see there be no harm between them.
Go you with me, uncle of Exeter. [^Exeunh
sc. nil. KING HENRY V. 489
SCENE VIII.
Before King Henry's Pavilion*
Enter Gower and Williams.
Will, I warrant, it is to knight you, captain.
Enter Fluellen.
Flu. Got*s wiU and his pleasure, captain, I pe-
seech you now, come apace to the king : there is
more goot toward you, peradventure, than is in
your knowledge to dream of.
Will. Sir, know you this glove ?
Flu, Know the glove ? I know, the glove is a
glove.
Will. I know this ; and thus I challenge it.
[^Strikes him.
Flu. 'Sblud, an arrant traitor, as any*s in the
universal 'orld, or in France, or in England.
Gow. How now, sir? you villain!
Will. Do you think I'll be forsworn ?
Flu. Stand away, captain Gower ; I will give
treason his payment into plows, ^ I warrant you.
' into ploKioSy'] Mr. Heath very plausibly reads in two
plows. Johnson.
The quarto reads/ tmll give treason his Amq presently. We
might therefore read in due plows, i. e. in the beating tJhat is so
well his due.
Fuller, in his Church History ^ p. 139, speaks of the task-
masters of Israel, " on whose back the number of bricks want-
ing were only scored in blous." Steevens.
490 KING HENRY V, ACTiK
Will. I am no traitor.
Flu. That's a lie in thy throat. I charge you in
his majesty's name, apprehend him ; he's a friend
of the duke Alen9on*s,
Enter Warwick and Gloster.
War. How now, how now ! what's the matter ?
Flu. My lord of Warwick, here is (praised be
Got for it!) a most contagious treason come to
light, look you, as you shall desire in a summer's
day. Here is his majesty.
Enter King Henry and Ej^eter.
K, Hen, How now ! what's the matter ?
Flu. My liege, here is a villain, and a traitor,
that, look your grace, has struck the glove which
your majesty is take out of the helmet of Alen9on.
Will. My liege, this was my glove ; here is the
fellow of it : and he, that I gave it to in change,
promised to wear it in his cap ; I promised to strike
him, if he did : I met this man with my glove in
his cap, and I have been as good as my word.
Flu. Your majesty hear now, (saving your ma-
jesty's manhood,) wnat an arrant, rascally, begr
garly, lowsy knave it is : I hope, your majesty is
pear me testimony, and witness, and avouchments,
that this is the glove of Alen9on, that your majesty
is give me, in your conscience now.
The Scotch, both in speaking and in writing, frequently use
into for in. However, if it should be thought necessary to amend
the text, the readiest way would be to omit a syllable, and read
in plows. RiTsoN.
sc. Fill. KING HENRY V. 491
K, Hen. Give me thy glove,^ soldier; Look, here
is the fellow of it. 'Twas I, indeed, thou promised* st
to strike; and thou hast given me most bitter terms.
Flu. An please your majesty, let his neck answer
for it, if there is any martial law in the *orld.
K. Hen. How canst thou make me satisfaction?
Will. All offences, my liege, come from the
heart : never came any from mine, that might of-
fend your majesty.
K. Hen. It was ourself thou didst abuse.
Will. Your majesty came not like yourself: you
appeared to me but as a common man ; witness the
night, your garments, your lowliness ; and what
your highness suffered under that shape, I beseech
you, take it for your own fault, and not mine : for
had you been as I took you for, I made no oftence;
therefore, I beseech your highness, pardon me.
K. Hen. Here, uncle Exeter, fill this glove with
crowns.
And give it to this fellow. Keep it, fellow ;
And wear it for an honour in thy cap.
Till I do challenge it. Give him the crowns :
And, captain, you must needs be friends with him.
* Groe me tliy glove,"] It must be Give me ray glove; for of
the soldier's glove the King had not the fellow. Johnson.
" Give me my glove," cannot be right, for the King had not
yet acknowledged the glove to be his. M. Mason.
The text is certainly right. By " thy glove,'* the King means
the glove that thou hast now m thy cap ; i. e. Henry's glove,
which he had given to Williams, (see Act IV. sc. i.) ajod of
which he had retained the fellow.
So, in Romeo and Juliet y Act I. sc. iii. the Nurse says to
Juliet :
" were I not thme only nurse,
" I'd say, thou had'st suck'd wisdom from thy teat."
i. e. the nurse's teat. Malone.
492 KING HENRY V. act iv.
Flu. By this day and this light, the fellow has
mettle enough in hispelly: Hold, there is twelve
pence for you, and I pray you to serve Got, and
Keep you out of prawls, and prabbles, and quarrels,
and dissensions, and, I warrant you, it is the petter
for you.
Will. I will none of your money.
Flu. It is with a goot will ; I can tell you, it
will serve you to mend your shoes : Come, where-
fore should you be so pashful ? your shoes is not so
goot : ^ 'tis a goot silling, I warrant you, or I will
change it.
Enter an English Herald.
K. Hen. Now, herald; are the dead number*d?*
Her. Here is the number of the slaughter'd
French. \_Delivers a Paper.
K.Hen. What prisoners of good sort are taken,
uncle ?
Exe. Charles duke of Orleans, ^ nephew to the
king ;
John duke of Bourbon, and lord Bouciqualt :
* your shoes is not so goot:"] In the most minute par-
ticulars we find Shakspeare as observant as in matters of the
highest moment. Shoes are, above any other article of dress, an
object of attention to the common soldier, and most liable to be
worn out. Malone.
* Nofiv, herald; are the dead number'' df] I have little doubt
but that this defective line was originally written as follows :
NofWf heraldy are the dead on both sides numbered?
Steevens.
Charles duke of Orleans^ &c.] This list is copied from
HaU. Pope.
It is taken from Holinshed. Malone.
sc. nil, KING HENRY V. 493
Of other lords, and barons, knights, and 'squires,
Full fifteen hundred, besides common men.
K. Hen. This note doth tell me often thousand
French,
That in the field lie slain : of princes, in this number.
And nobles bearing banners, there lie dead
One hundred twenty-six : added to these.
Of knights, esquires, and gallant gentlemen.
Eight thousand and four hundred ; of the which.
Five hundred were but yesterday dubb'd knights:^
So that, in these ten thousand they have lost.
There are but sixteen hundred mercenaries;'^
The rest are princes, barons, lords, knights,
'squires.
And gentlemen of blood and quality.
The names of those their nobles that lie dead, -
Charles De-la-bret,* high constable of France ;
" Five hundred tvere but yesterday dubb'd knights .] In
ancient times, the distribution of this honour appears to have
been customary, on the eve of a battle. So, in Lawrence
Minot's 6th Poem on the Successes of King Edward III. p. 28:
" Knightes war thar wele two score,
" That war neia dubbed to that dance^ ." Steevexs.
' sixteen hundred mercenaries;]] Mercenaries are in
this place common soldiers, or hired soldiers. The gentlemen
served at their own charge in consequence of their tenures.
Johnson.
I doubt the accuracy of Dr. Johnson's assertion, that " the
gentlemen served at their own charge in consequence of their
tenures ;" as, I take it, this practice, which was always confined
to those holding by knight's service, and to the term of forty
days, had fallen into complete disuse long before Henry the
Fifth's time ; and personal service would not, at that period, have
excused the subsidies which were paid in lieu of it. Even the
nobility were, for the most part, retained by contract to serve,
with the numbers, for the time, and at the wages, specified in
the indenture. Ritson.
* Charles De-la-bret,] De-la-bret, as is already observed,
should be Charles D'Albret, would the measure permit of such a
494 KING HENRY V. actif.
Jaques of Chatillon, admiral of France ;
The master of the cross-bows, lord Rambures ;
Great-master of France, the brave sir Guischard
Dauphin ;
John duke of Alen9on ; Antony duke of Brabant,
The brother to the duke of Burgundy ;
And Edward duke of Bar : of lusty earls,
Grandpre, and Roussi, Fauconberg, and Foix,
Beaumont, and Marie, Vaudemont, and Lestrale.
Here was a royal fellowship of death !
Where is the number of our Englisli dead ?
[llerBld presents another Paper,
Edward the duke of York, ^ the earl of Suffolk,
Sir Richard Ketly, Dav}^ Gam, esquire : *
None else of name ; and, of all other m^n,
But five and twenty. O God, thy arm was here.
And not to us, but to thy arm alone.
Ascribe we all. When, without stratagem.
But in plain shock, and even play of battie.
Was ever known so great and little loss,
change. Holinshed fometimes apologizes for the omission of
foreign names, on account of his inability to spell them, but
always calls this nobleman " the lord de la Srsthy constable of
France." See p. 388, n. 1. Steevens.
^ Edward the duke of York,'] This, and the Imto rfollowing
lines, in the quartos, are given to Exeter. Steevens.
* Daw/ Gam, esquire:'} This gentleman being sent by .
Henry, before the battle, to reconnoitre the enemy, and to.~find
out their strength, made this report : *' May it please you, my
liege, there are enough to be killed, enough to be taken pri-
soners, and enough to run away." He saved the king's life in
the field. Had our poet been apprized of this circumstance, this
brave Welshman would probably have been more particularly
noticed, and not have been merely registered in a^muster-roU of
names. Malone.
See Drayton's Battaile of Agincourt, edit. 1627, pp. SO and
54 : and a note on Mr. Dunster's excellent edition of P^ilips's
Cider, p. 64. Steevens.
sc, VIII. KING HENRY V. 4^5
On one part and on the other ? Take it, God,
For it is only thine !
ExE. 'Tis wonderful !
K. Hen. Come,go we in procession to thevillage:
And be it death proclaimed through our host.
To boast of this, or take that praise from God,
Which is his only.
Flu. Is it not lawful, an please your majesty, to
tell how many is killed ?
K. Hen. Yes, captain; but with this acknow-
ledgmentj
That God fought for us.
Flu. Yes, my conscience, he did d^ great goot.
K. Hen. Do we all holy rites ; '^
Let there be sung No% nobis ^ and Te ^enm.
The dead with charity enclos'd in clay,
We*il then to Calais ; knd to Englancf then ;
Where ne*er from iPrance arriv*d more happy men.
[^Ecveunt.
Do we all holy rites;'] The King (say the Chronicles)
caused the psalm, In exitu Israel de Mgypto (ih which, accord-
ing to the vulgate,is included the psalm, Non nobh Dominey &.C.)
to be sung after the victory. Pope.
" The king (says Holinshed) when he saw no appearance of
eheinies, caused the retreat to be blowen, and gathering his
army together, gave thanks to Almighty God for bo happy a
victory, causing his prelates and chapeleins to sing this psalrae.
In exitu Israel de Egypto ; and commaunding every man to
kneele downe on the grounde at this verse Non nobis domine,
fion nobis : sed nomini tvo da gloriam : which done, he caused
Te Deum and cei*tain anthems to be sung, giving laud and praise
to God, and not boasting of his owne force, or any humaine
power." Malone.
496 KING HENRY V. act r.
ACT V.
Enter Chorus.
Chor, Vouchsafe to those that have not read the
story.
That I may prompt them : and of such as have,
I humbly pray them to admit the excuse
Of time, of numbers, and due course of things,
Wliich cannot in their huge and proper life
Be here presented. Now we bear the king
Toward Calais : grant him there ; there seen,^
Heave him away upon your winged thoughts.
Athwart the sea : Behold, the English beach
Pales in the flood with men, with wives,* and boys.
Whose shouts and claps out-voice the deep-mouth'd
sea.
Which, like a mighty whiffler^ *fore the king,
* grant him there ; there seeny"] If Twoard be not ab-
breviatea, our author, with his accustomed licence, uses one of
these words as a dissyllable, while to the other he assigns only-
its due length. See Vol. VII. p. 309, n. 7. Malone.
I suspect the omission of some word or words essential to the
metre. Our poet might have written :
Toward Calais : grant him there ; there seen a while.
Heave him aiuay &c. Steevens.
with uivesy'] Withy which is wanting in the old copy,
was supplied by the editor of the second folio. Malone.
* a mighty whiflSer ] An officer who walks first in
processions, or before persons in high stations, on occasions of
ceremony. The name is still retained in London, and there is
an officer so called that walks before their companies at times of
publick solemnity. It seems a corruption from the French word
huissier. Hanmer.
ACT V, KING HENRY V. 497
Seems to prepare his way : so let him land ;
And, solemnly, see him set on to London.
So smft a pace hath thought, that even now
You may imagine him upon Blackheath :
Where that his lords desire him, to have borne^
His bruised helmet, and his bended sword.
Before him, through the city : he forbids it,
Being free from vainness and self-glorious pride ;
Giving full trophy ,'' signal, and ostent.
Quite from himself, to God. But now behold.
In the quick forge and workinghouse of thought.
How London doth pour out her citizens !
See Mr. T. Warton's note to the tragedy of Othello, Act III.
sc. ii.
In the play of Clyomon, Knight of the Golden Shield, &c.
1599, a whiffier makes his appearance at a tournament, clearing
the way before the King. In fVestward Hoe, by Decker and
Webster, 1607, the term is often mentioned.
Again, in Monsieur D*Olive, 1606:
" I can go into no corner, but I meet with some of my
tvhifflers in their accoutrements; you may hear them half a mile
ere they come at you.'*
" I am afraid of nothing but that I shall be balladed, I
and all my lohijlers.*'
Again, in Westward Hoe, 1607: " The torch-men and tjohif-
Jlers had an item to receive him."
Again, in TEXNOFAMIA, 1618 :
" Tobacco is a ixhiffi^r,
** And cries huff snufF with furie :
" His pipe's his club and linke," &c.
Again, in The Isle of Gulls, 1606: " And Manasses shall go,
before like a whijffler, and make way with his horns."
Steevens.
* to have borne &c.] The construction is, to have his
bruised helmet, &c. borne before him through the city: i. e. to
order it to be borne. This circumstance also our author found
in Holinshed. Malone.
'' Giving Jtdl trophy,'] Transferring all the honours of con-
quest, all trophies, tokens, and shows, from himself to God.
Johnson.
VOL. XII. 2 K
498 KING HENRY V. act r.
The mayor, and all his brethren, in best sort,
Like to the senators of the antique Rome,
With the plebeians swarming at their heels,
Go forth, and fetch their conquering Caesar in :
As, by a lower but by loving likelihood,*
* likelihood,'] Likelihood for similitude. Warburton.
The later editors, in hope of mending the measure of this
line, have injured the sense. The folio reads as I have printed ;
but all the books, since revisal became fashionable, and editors
have been more diligent to display themselves than to illustrate
their author, have given the line thus :
As hy a low, hut loving likelihood.
Thus they have destroyed the praise which the poet designed for
Essex; for who would think himself honoured by the epithet
loVD f The poet, desirous to celebrate that great man, whose
popularity was then his boast, and afterwards his destruction,
compares hira to King Harry; but being afraid to offend the
rival courtiers, or perhaps the Queen herself, he confesses that
he is lower than a King, but would never have represented him
absolutely as low. Johnson.
Mr. Pope made this improper alteration; as well as a thou-
sand others equally reprehensible. Our author had the best
grounds for supposing that Lord Essex, on his return from Ire-
land, would be attended with a numerous concourse of well-
wishers; for, on his setting out for that country in the spring of
the year in which this play was written, " he took horse (says
the Continuator of Stowe's Chronicle) in Seeding lane, and from
thence being accompanied with diverse noblemen and many
others, himselfe veryplainly attired, roade through Grace-church
street, Cornhill, Cheapside, and other high streets, in all which
places and in the fields, the people pressed exceedingly to behold
him, especially in the high way for more than foure miles space,
crying, and saying, God blesse your Lordship, God preserve
your honour, &c. and some followed him till the evening, only
to behold him." " Such and so great (adds the same writer)
was the hearty love and deep affection of the people towards
him, by reason of bis bounty, liberalitie, affiabilitie, and mild
behaviour, that as well schollars, souldiers, citizens, saylers, &c.
protestants, papists, sectaries and atheists, yea women and chil-
dren which never saw hira, that it was held in them a liappiness
to follow the worst of his fortunes." That such a man should
have fallen a sacrifice to the caprice of a fantastick woman, and
ACT K KING HENRY V. 499
Were now the general of our gracious empress^
(As, in good time, he may,) from Ireland coming.
Bringing rebellion broached^ on his sword,
How many would the peaceful city quit.
To welcome him ? much more, and much more
cause.
Did they this Harry. Now in London place him ;
(As yet the lamentation of the French
Invites the king of England's stay at home :
The emperor's coming^ in behalf of France,
the machinations of the detestable Cecil, must ever be lamented.
His return from Ireland, however, was very different from what
our poet predicted. See a curious account of it in the Sydney
Papers, Vol. II. p. 127. Malone.
the general of our gracious empress ] The Earl of
Essex, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Pope.
Few noblemen of his age were more courted by poets. From
Spenser, to the lowest rhymer, he was the subject of numerous
sonnets or popular ballads. I will not except Sydney. I could
produce evidence to prove that he scarce ever went out of Eng-
land, or left London, on the most frivolous enterprize, without
a pastoral in his praise, or a panegyrick in metre, which were sold
or sung in the streets. T. Warton.
To such compliments as are here bestowed by our author on
the earl of Essex, Barnabie Riche, in his Souldier's Wishe to
Britons Welfare^ or Captain Skill and Captain Pill, 1604,
p. 21, seems to allude : " not so much as a memorandum for
the most honourable enterprizes, how worthily so ever per-
formed, unless perhaps a little commendation in a ballad, or if a
man be favoured by a playmaker^ he may sometimes be canonized
on a stage." Steevens.
' Bringing rebellion broached- ] Spitted, transfixed.
Johnson.
* The emveror*s coming "] The emperor Sigismond, who
was marriea to Henry's second cousin. If the text be right, I
Suppose the meaning is The emperor is coming, &c. but I sus-
pect some corrnption, for the Chorus speaks of the emperor's
visit as now past. I believe a line has been lost before " The
emperor's" &c.-^If we transpose the words and omity we have
2 K 2
500 KING HENRY V. act r.
To order peace between them ;) and omit
All the occurrences, whatever chanc*d,
Till Harry's back-return again to France ;
There must we bring him ; and myself have play*d
The interim, by remembering you 'tis past.
Then brook abridgement ; and your eyes advance
After your thoughts, straight back again to France.
\_Exit,
SCENE I.
France. An English Court of Guard.
Enter Fluellen and Gower.
Gow, Nay, that's right ; but why wear you your
leek to-day? Saint Davy's day is past.
a very unmetrical line, but better sense. " Omit the emperor's
coming, and all the occurrences which happened till Harry's
return to France." Perhaps this was the author's meaning,
even as the words stand. If so, the mark of parenthesis should
be placed after the word Jiome, and a comma after them.
Malone.
The embarrassment of this passage will be entirely removed by
a very slight alteration, the omission of a single letter, and
reading
The emperor coming in hehalf of France ^
instead of emperor'*. M. Mason.
^ Scene /.] This scene ought, in my opinion, to conclude
the fourth Act, and be placed before the last Chorus. There is
no English camp in this Act; the quarrel apparently happened
before the return of the army to England, and not after so long
an interval as the Chorus has supplied. Johnson.
Fluellen presently says, that he wore his leek in consequence
of an affront he had received but the day before from Pistol.
Their present quarrel has therefore no reference to that begun
in the sixth scene of the third Act. Steevens. ,
sc. 7. KING HENRY V. 501
Flu. There is occasions and causes why and
wherefore in all things : I will tell you, as myfriend,
captain Gower j The rascally, scald,beggarly,lowsy,
pragging knave. Pistol, which you and yourself,
and all the 'orld, know to be no petter than a fellow,
look you now, of no merits, he is come to me,
and prings me pread and salt yesterday, look you,
and bid me eat my leek : it was in a place where I
could not breed no contentions with him ; but I
will be so pold as to wear it in my cap till I see
him once again, and then I will tell him a little
piece of my desires.
Enter Pistol.
Gow. Why, here he comes, swelling like a tur-
key-cock.
Flu. 'Tis no matter for his swellings, nor his
turkey-cocks. Got pless you, ancient Pistol ! you
scurvy, lowsy knave. Got pless you !
PiST. Ha ! art thou Bedlam ? dost thou thirst,
base Trojan,
To have me fold up Parca's fatal web ?*
Hence! I am qualmish at the smell of leek.
Flu. I peseech you heartily, scurvy lowsy knave,
at my desires, and my requests, and my petitions,
to eat, look you, this leek ; because, look you, you
do not love it, nor your affections, and your appe-
tites, and your digestions, does not agree with it, I
would desire you to eat it.
PiST. Not for Cadwallader, and all his goats.
* To have mejold up &c.] Dost thou desire to have me put
thee to death ? Johnson.
^02 KING HENRY V. act r.
FlU. There is one goat for you. \_Strikes kim.~\
Will you be so goot, scald knave, as eat it ?
PiST. Base Trojan, thou shalt die.
Flu, You say very true, scald knave, when Got*s
will is : I will desire you to live in the mean time,
and eat your victuals; come, there is sauce for it.
[^Striking him again."] You called me yesterday,
mountain-squire ; but I will make you to-day a
squire of low degree.* I pray you, lall to ; if you
can mock a leek, you can eat a leek.
Gojv. Enough, captain ; you have astonished
him.^
Flu. I say, I will make him eat some part of my
leek, or I will peat bis pate four days : Pite, I pray
you ; it is goot for your green wound, and your
ploody coxcomb.
Fist, Must I bite ?
* squire of low degref.^ That is, / toill bring thee to the
ground. Johnson.
The Squire of hmc Degree is the title ef an old romance,
enumerated, among other books, in A Letter concerning Queen
Elizabeth's Entertainmeut at Kenelworth. SxKEVEiJa.
This metrical romance, which was very popular aniong our
countrymen in ancient times, was burlesqued by Chaucer, in
his rhyme of Sir Thopax, and begins thus :
" It was a squyre oj lovoe degre^
' That loved the king's daughter of Hungre,"
ee Reli^ues of English Poetry^ Vol. III. p. 30, 2d edition.
Percy.
astonished him.'] That is, you have stunned him with
the blow. Johnson.
Rather, you have confounded him. M. Mason.
Dr. Johnson's explanation is the true one. So, in the second
Book of The Destruclion of Troy: " Theseus smote again upon
his enemy, which &c. r-and struck Theseus so fiercely with his
sword that he was astonished with the stroko." Steevbks.
SC.1. KING HENRY V. 503
Flu. Yes, certainly; and out of doubt, and out
of questions too, and ambiguities.
PiST, By this leek, I will most horribly revenge;
I eat, and eke I swear ."^
Flu. Eat, I pray you: Will you have some more
sauce to your leek ? there is not enough leek to
swear by.
PiST. Quiet thy cudgel ; thou dost see, I eat.
Flu. Much goot do you, scald knave, heartily.
Nay, *pray you, throw none away ; the skin is goot
for your proken coxcomb. When you take occa-
sions to see leeks hereafter, I pray you, mock at
them ; that is all.
PiST. Good.
Flu. Ay, leeks is goot: Hold you, there is a
groat to heal your pate.
PiST. Me a groat !
Flu. Yes, verily, and in truth, you shall take it;
or I have another leek in my pocket, which you
shall eat.
PiST. I take thy groat, in earnest of revenge.
Flu. If I owe you any thing, I will pay you in
cudgels; you shall be a woodmonger, and buy
nothing of me but cudgels. God be wi' you, and
keep you, and heal your pate. \_Exit,
PiST. All hell shall stir for this.
'/ eatf and eke / sixear .] The first folio has ea^, for
which the later editors have put / eat and sivear. We should
read, I suppose, in the frigid tumour of Pistol's dialect:
/ eaty and eke / swear. Johnson.
Thus also Pistol, in The Merry JVives of Windsor :
" And I to Ford shall eke unfold " Steevens.
Perhaps " I eat, and eating swear.** Holt WnrTE.
504 KING HENRY V. act v,
: Gow, Go, go; you are a counterfeit cowardly
knave. Will you mock at an ancient tradition,
begun upon an honourable respect, and worn as a
memorable trophy of predeceased valour, and dare
not avouch in your deeds any of your words ? I
have seen you gleeking** and galling at this gentle-
man twice or thrice. You thought, because he
could not speak English in the native garb, he
could not therefore handle an English cudgel: you
find it otherwise ; and, henceforth, let a Welsh
correction teach you a good English condition,'
Fare ye well. \^Ej:iL
Fist, Doth fortune play the huswife^ with me
now?
News have I, that my Nell is dead^ i'the spital
' gleehng '] \. e. scoffing, sneering. GleeJc was a
game at cards. So, in Greene's Tu Quoque, 1614: " Why
gleeky that's your only game " " Gleek let it be; for I am
persuaded I shall gleek some of you."
Again, in Tom Tyler and his Wife^ 1661 : " I suddenly
gleelc, or men be aware." Steevens.
^ English condition.] Condition is temper, disposition
of mind. So, in The Merchant of Venice : " if he have the
condition of a saint, with the complexion of a devil."
Steevens.
See p. 521, n. 7. Ma lone.
' Doth fortune vlay the huswife ] That is, the jilt. Htis-
toife is here used m an ill sense. Johnson.
News have /, that my Nell is dead &.C.J Old copy Doll.
Steevens.
We must read my Nell is dead. In a former scene Pistol
says : " Nor shall my Nell keep lodgers." Malone.
Doll Tearsheet was so little the favourite of Pistol, that he
offered her in contempt to Nym. Nor would her death have
ctU off" his rendezvous, that is, deprived him of a home. Perhaps
the poet forgot his plan.
In the quartos 1600 and 1608 the lines are read thus:
sc. /. KING HENRY V. sSttS
Of malady of France ;
And there my rendezvous is quite cut off.
Old I do wax ; and from my weary limbs
Honour is cudgell'd. Well, bawd will I turn.
And something lean to cutpurse of quick hand.
To England will I steal, and there I'll steal :
And patches will I get- unto these scars.
And swear, I got them in the Gallia wars. [^Exit.^
" Doth fortune playe the huswyfe with me now ?
" Is honour cudgel'd from my warhke Unas [loins]] ?
*' Well, France farewell. News have I certainly
** That Doll is sick one [on] mallydie of France.
* The warres affordeth nought ; home will I trug,
" Bawd will I turne, and use the slyte of hand ;
*' To England will I steal, and there I'll steal ;
" And patches will I get unto these skarres,
" And I swear I gat them in the Gallia wars."
Johnson.
' The comick scenes of The History of Henry the Fourth and
Fifth are now at an end, and all the comick personages are now
dismissed. FalstafF and Mrs. Quickly are dead ; Nym and
Bardolph are hanged ; Gadshill was lost immediately after the
robbery ; Poins and Peto have vanished since, one knows not
how ; and Pistol is now beaten into obscurity. I believe every
reader regrets their departure. Johnson.
506 KING HENRY V. act r.
SCENE II.
Troyes in Champagne.* An Apartment in the
French King's Palace.
Enter, at one Door, King Henry, Bedford,
Gloster, Exeter, Warwick, Westmoreland,
atid other Lords ; at another, tlie French King,
Queen Isabel, the Princess Katharine, Lords,
Ladies, S^c. the Duke of Burgundy, and his
Train.
K. Hen. Peace to this meeting, wherefore
we are met !^
* Henry, some time before his marriage with Katharine, ac-
companied by his brothers, uncles, &c. had a conference with
her, the French King and Queen, the Duke of Burgundy, &c.
in a field near Melun, where two pavilions were erected for the
royal families, and a third between them for the council to
assemble in and deliberate on the articles of peace. " The
Frenchmen, (says the Chronicle,) ditched, trenched, and paled
their lodgings for fear of after-clappes ; but the Englishmen had
their parte of the field only barred and parted." But the treaty
was then broken off. Some time afterwards they again met in
St. Peter's church at Troyes in Champagne, where Katharine
was afiianced to Henry, and the articles of peace between
France and England finally concluded. Shakspeare, having
mentioned, in the course of this scene, " a bar and royal inter-
view," seems to have had the former place of meeting in his
thoughts ; the description of the field near Melun, in the Chro-
nicle, somewhat corresponding to that of a bar or barriers. But
the place of the present scene is certainly Troyes in Chanipagne.
However, as St. Peter's church would not admit of the French
King and Queen, &c. retiring, and then appearing again on the
scene, I have supposed, with the former editors, the interview
to take place in a palace. Malone.
* Peace to this meeting, toherejbre we are met /] Peace, for
which we are here met, be to this meeting.
Here, after the chorus, the fifth Act seems naturally to begin.
JOHKSON.
sc. II, KING HENRY V. 507
Unto our brother France, and to our sister,
Health and fair time of day : -joy and good wishes
To our most fair and princely cousin Katharine ;
And (as a branch and member of this royalty,
By whom this great assembly is contriv'd,)
We do salute you, duke of Burgundy ;
And, princes French, and peers, health to you all !
Fr. King. Right joyous are we to behold your
face.
Most worthy brother England ; fairly met :
So are you, princes English, every one.
Q. IsA. So happy be the issue, brother England,
Of this good day, and of this gracious meeting,
As we are now glad to behold your eyes ;
Your eyes, which hitherto have borne in them
Against the French, that met them in their bent.
The fatal balls of murdering basilisks :^
The venom of such looks, we fairly hope.
Have lost their quality ; and that this day
Shall change all griefs, and quarrels, into love.
K. Hen. To cry amen to that, thus we appear.
Q. ISA You English princes all, I do salute you.
Bur. My duty to you both, on equal love.
Great kings of France and England ! That I have
laboured
With all my wits, my pains, and strong endeavours.
To bring your most imperial majesties
Unto this bar'' and royal interview.
" The fatal balls of inwrdering basilisks :] So, in The Winter^s
Tale :
" Make me not siglited like the basilisk.'*
It was anciently supposed that this serpent could destroy the
object of its vengeance by merely looking at it. See Vol. aIU*
p, 281, n. 1. SxEEViNs.
'' Unto this bar-] To this barrier ; to this place of con-
gress. Johnson.
508 KING HENRY V. act v.
Your mightiness on botli parts best can witness.
Since then my office hath so far prevaiPd,
That, face to face, and royal eye to eye,
You have congreeted ; let it not disgrace me,
If I demand, before this royal view,
AVhat rub, or what impediment, there is.
Why that the naked, poor, and mangled peace,
Dear nurse of arts, plenties, and joyful births.
Should not, in this best garden of the world.
Our fertile France, put up her lovely visage ?
Alas ! she hath from France too long been chas*d ;
And all her husbandry doth lie on heaps,
Corrupting in its own fertility.
Her vine, the merry cheerer of the heart,
Unpruned dies :" her hedges even-pleached,
Like prisoners wildly over-grown with hair,^
Unpruned 6ies'.'} Wemust read, Zies; for neglect of pruning
does not kill the vine, but causes it to ramify immoderately, and
grow wild; by which the requisite nourishment is withdrawn
from its fruit. Warburton.
This emendation is physically right, but poetically the vine
may be well enough said to die, which ceases to bear fruit.
Johnson.
her hedges even-pleached,
Like prisoners tvildly over-grown mth hair, &c.] This
image of prisoners is oddly introduced. A hedge even-pleached
is more properly imprisoned than when it luxuriates in unprun-
ed exuberance. Johnson.
Johnson's criticism on this passage has no just foundation.
The Duke compares the disorderly shoots of an undipped hedge,
to the hair and beard of a prisoner, which he has neglected to
trim ; a neglect natural to a person who lives alone, and in a
dejected state of mind. M. Mason.
The learned commentator [Dr. Johnson] misapprehended, I
believe, our author's sentiment. Hedges are pleached, that is,
their long branches being cut off, are twisted and woven through
the lower part of the hedge, in order to thicken and strengthen
the fence. The following year, when the hedge shoots out, it
is customary, in many places, to clip the shoots, so as to render
sc. II. KING HENRY V. 509
Put forth disorder' d twigs : her fallow leas
The darnel, hemlock, and rank fumitory,
Doth root upon ; while that the coulter rusts,^
That should deracinate^ such savagery :
The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth
The freckled cowslip, burnet, and green clover.
Wanting the scythe, all^ uncorrected, rank.
Conceives by idleness ; and nothing teems,
But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burs.
Losing both beauty and utility.
And as our vineyards,* fallows, meads, and hedges,
them even. The Duke of Burgundy, therefore, among other
instances of the neglect of husbandry, mentions this ; that the
hedges, which were even-pleached, for want of trimming, put
forth irregular twigs; like prisoners, who in their confinement
have neglected the use of the razor, and in consequence are
wildly overgrown with hair. The hedge, in its cultivated state,
when it is even-pleached^ is compared to the prisoner ; in its
*' wild exuj?erance,*' it resembles the prisoner " overgrown with
hair."
As a hedge, however, that is even-pleached or woven together,
and one that is dipt, are alike reduced to an even surface, our
author, with his usual licence, might have meant only by eve7i-
pleachcd, " our hedges which were heretofore clipped smooth
and even.'*
The line " Like prisoners" &c. it should be observed, relates
to the one which follows, and not to that which precedes it.
The construction is, Her even-pleached hedges put forth disor-
dered twigs, resembling persons in prison, whose faces are from
neglect over-grown with hair. Malone.
' coulter ] The ploughshare. See Johnson's Diet.
in voce. Reed.
* deracinate 3 To deracinate is to force up by the
roots. So, in Troilus and Cressida :
" rend and deracinate
" The unity," &c. Malone.
' all ] Old copy, unmetrically tvith&U.
Steevens.
* And as our vineyards,^ The old copy reads And all our
vineyards. The emendation was made by Mr. Roderick.
' Malone.
SIO KING HENRY V. act v.
Defective in their natures,^ grow to wildness ;
Even so our houses, and ourselves, and children.
Have lost, or do not learn, for want of time.
The sciences that should become our country;
But grow, like savages, as soldiers will.
That nothing do but meditate on blood,
To swearing, and stern looks, diffus*d attire,*
And every thing that seems unnatural.
Which to reduce into our former favour,"^
You are assembled : and my speech entreats.
That I may know the let, why gentle peace
Should not expel these inconveniencies,
And bless us with her former qualities.
K. Hen. If, duke of Burgundy, you would the
peace.
Whose want gives growth to the imperfections
* Defective in their natures,] Nature had been changed by
some of the editors into nurture' ; but, as Mr. Upton observes,
unnecessarily. Sun deficiuntiir natura. They were not defective
in their crescive nature, for they grew to wildness ; but they
were defective in their proper and favourable nature, which was
to bring forth food for man. Steevens.
' diffus'd attire,'] Diffits^d, for extravagant. The mili-
tary habit of those times was extremely so. Act III. Gower
says, And vohat a heard of the generates cut, and a horrid suit of
the camp, imll do amongst, &c. is voonderful to be thought on.
Warburton.
Diffused is 80 much used by' our author for voild, irregular,
and strange, that in The Merry Wives of Windsor he applies it
to a song supposed to be sung by fairies. Johnson.
So, in King Lear, Act I. sc. iv:
" If that as well I other accents borrow,
** That can my speech diffuse, ."
See note on this passage. Steevens.
' former favour,] Former appearance. Johnson.
So, in Othello :
" nor should I know him,
" Were he in favour as in humour alter'd."
Steevens.
sc. 11. KING HENRY V. 511
Which you have cited, you must buy that peace
With full accord to all our just demands ;
Whose tenours and particular effects
You have, enschedul'd briefly, in your hands.
Bur. The king hath heard them ; to the which,
as yet.
There is no answer made.
K. Hen. Well then, the peace.
Which you before so urg'd, lies in his answer.
Fr. King. I have but with a cursorary eye
0*er-glanc*d the articles : pleaseth your grace
To appoint some of your council presently
To sit with us once more, with better heed
To re-survey them, we will, suddenly.
Pass our accept, and peremptory answer.^
^ 'we ivill, suddenly ^
Pass our accept, and peremptory ans'wer.~\ As the French
King desires more time to consider deliberately of the articles,
'tis odd and absurd for hira to say absolutely, that he would ac-
cept them all. He certainly must mean, that he would at once
wave and decline what he disliked, and consign to such as he
approved of. Our author uses pass in this manner in other
places ; as in King John :
" But if you fondly pass our proffer*d love."
Warburton.
The objection is founded, I apprehend, on a misconception of
the word accept, which does not, I think, import that he would
accept them all, but means acceptation. We will immediately,
says he, deliver our acceptation of these articles, the opinion
which we shall form upon them, and our peremptory answer to
each particular. Fuller, in his Worthies, 1660, uses acception
for acceptation. See sc. vii. of the preceding Act, p. 485, n. 5.
If any change were to be made, I would rather read, " Pass
or except,** &c. i. e. agree to, or except against the articles, as I
should either approve or dislike them. So, in a subsequent part
of this scene :
** Nor this I have not, brother, so denied,
But your request shall make me let it pass.**
Maloxe.
512 KING HENRY V. act r.
K, Hen. Brother, we shall. Go, uncle Exeter,
And brother Clarence,^ and you, brother
Gloster,
Warwick, and Huntington, go with the king :
And take with you free power, to ratify,
Augment, or alter, as your wisdoms best
Shall see advantageable for our dignity.
Any thing in, or out of, our demands ;
And we'll consign thereto. Will you, fair sister.
Go with the princes, or stay here with us ?
Q. IsA. Our gracious brother, I will go with
them ;
Haply, a woman's voice may do some good.
When articles, too nicely urg'd, be stood on.
K. Hen. Yet leave our cousin Katharine here
with us ;
She is our capital demand, compris'd
Within the fore-rank of our articles.
Q. IsA. She hath good leave.
\_Ejceunt all but Henry, Katharine,
and her Gentlewoman.
K. Hen. Fair Katharine, and most fair P
Pass our accept ^ and peremptory answer. "^ u e. we will pass
our acceptance of what we approve, and we will pass a peremp-
tory answer to the rest. Politeness might forbid his saying, we
will pass a deni^, but his own dignity required more time for
deliberation. Besides, if we read pass or accept, is not peremp-
tory answer superfluous, and plainly implied in the former
words ? TOLLET.
' And brother Clarence,] Neither Clarence nor Huntington^
whom the King here addresses, has been enumerated in the
Dramatis Personce, as neither of them speaks a word. Hun-
tington was John Holland, Earl of Huntington, who afterwards
married the widow of Edraond Mortimer, Earl of March.
Malone.
' Fair Katharine^ and most fair /] Shakspeare might have
taken the hint for this scene from the anonymous play of Henry V.
^c. II. KING HENRY V. 513
Will you vouchsafe to teach a soldier terms,
Such as will enter at a lady's ear.
And plead his love-suit to her gentle heart ?
Kath. Your majesty shall mock at me j I cannot
speak your England.
K, Hen, O fair Katharine, if you will love me
soundly with your French heart, I will be glad to
hear you confess it brokenly with your English
tongue. Do you like me, Kate ?
Kath. Pardonnez moy, I cannot tell vat is like
me.
K. Hen. An angel is like you, Kate ; and you
are like an angel.
Kath. Que dit-il ? que je suis semblahle a les
anges f
Alice. Ouy, vrayment, (saufvostre grace) ainsi
dit il,
K. Hen. I said so, dear Katharine j and I must
not blush to affirm it.
Kath. O bon Dieu ! les langues des hommes sont
pleines des tromperies,
K. Hen. What says she, fair one ? that the
tongues of men are full of deceits ?
Alice. Ouy ; dat de tongues of de mans is be
full of deceits : dat is de princess. ^
so often quoted, where the King begins with greater bluntness,
and with an exordium most truly English :
" How now, fair lady Katharine of France!
" What news ?" Steevens.
dat is de princess.'] Surely this should be " Dat says
de princess." This is in answer to the King, who asks, "What
says she, fair one ?'* M. Mason.
I believe the old reading is the true one. By dat is de
VOL. XII. 2 L
314 KING HENRY V. act v.
K, Hen, The princess is the better English-
woman. I*faith, Kate, mv wooing is fit for thy
understanding : I am glad, thou can*st speak no
better English ; for, if thou couldst, thou wouldst
find me such a plain king,^ that thou would' st think,
I had sold my farm to buy my crown. I know no
ways to mince it in love, but directly to say I love
princess^ the lady, in her broken English, meana. i^cf is xvhat
the princess has said. Perhaps, the speaker was desirous to ex-
empt herself from suspicion of concurrence in a general censure
on the sincerity of mankind. Steevens.
' such a plain kingyli ^ know not why Shakspeare now
gives the King nearly such a character as he made him formerly
ridicule in Percy. This military gros?oess and unskilfulness in
all the softer arts does not suit very well with the gaieties of his
youth, with the general knowledge ascribed to him at his acces-
sion, or with the contemptuous message sent him by the Dau-
phin, who represents him as fitter for a ball-room than the field,
and tells him that he is not to revel into duchies^ or win pro-
vinces toith a nimble gaUiard. The truth is, that the poet's
matter failed him in the fifth Act, and he was glad to fill it up
with whatever he could get; and not even Shakspeare can write
well without a proper subject. It is a vain endeavour for the
most skilful hand to cultivate barrenness, or to paint upon
vacuity. Johnson.
Our author, I believe, was led imperceptibly by the old play
to give this representation of Henry, and meant probably, in
this speech at least, not to oppose the soldier to the lovers but
the plain, honest Englishman^ to the less sincere and more talka-
tive Frenchman. In the old King Henry V. quarto^ 1598, the
corresponding speech stands thus :
" Hen. Tush Kate, but tell me in plain terms,
" Canst thou love the king of England ?
** / cannot do as these countries [perhaps counties^ i. e.
noblemen] </o,
" That spend half their time in wooing :
** Tush, wench, / am none such;
" But wilt thou go over to England ?"
The subsequent speech, however, " Marry, if you would put
me to verses," &c. fully justifies Dr. Johnson's observation.
Malone.
sc. II. KING HENRY V. 515
you : then, if you urge me further than to say
Do you in faith ? I wear out my suit. Give me
your answer ; i'faith, do ; and so clap hands, and a
bargain : * How say you, lady ?
Kath. Saufvostre honneur, me understand well.
K. Hen. Marry, if you would put me to verses,
or to dance for your sake, Kate, why you undid me:
for the one, I have neither words nor measure; and
for the other, I have no strength in measure,^ yet a
reasonable measure in strength. If I could win a
lady at leap-frog, or by vaulting into my saddle
with my armour on my back, under the correction
of bragging be it spoken, I should quickly leap into
a wife. Or, if I might buffet for my love, or bound
my horse for her favours, I could lay on like a
butcher, and sit like ajack-an-apes, never off: but,
before God, I cannot look greenly,^ nor gasp out
my eloquence, nor I have no cunning in protesta-
tion ; only downright oaths, which I never use till
urged, nor never break for urging. If thou canst
love a fellow of this temper, Kate, whose face is not
worth sun-burning, that never looks in his glass for
love of any thing he sees there, let thine eye be thy
* and so clap hands y and a bargain .] See Vol. XI. p. 223,
n. 8. Reed.
* 710 strength in measure,] i. e. in dancing. So, in As
you like it .
" I am for other than for dancing measures.**
The word measurey signifying a stately dance so called, occurs
in Much Ado about Nothing, King Henry F///. and other plajjg
of our author. Steevens.
^ Zoo^ greenly,] i. e. like a young lover, aukwardly. The
same adverb occurs in Hamlet:
" and we have done but greenly^
** In hugger-mugger to inter him ." Steevens.
2 L 2
516 KING HENRY V. act r,
cook. I speak to thee plain soldier:' If thou
canst love me for this, take me : if not, to say to
thee that I shall die, is true ; but for thy love,
by the Lord, no; yet I love thee too. And while
thou livest, dear Kate, take a fellow of plain and
uncoined constancy; for he perforce must do thee
right, because he hath not the gift to woo in other
places: for these fellows of infinite tongue, that
can rhyme themselves into ladies* favours, they
do always reason themselves out again. What! a
speaker is but a prater ; a rhyme is but a ballad.
A good leg will fall f a straight back will stoop ; a
black beard will turn white ; a curled pate will
grow bald ; a fair face will wither ; a full eye will
wax hoUow : but a good heart, Kate, is the sun and
moon ; or, rather, the sun, and not the moon ; for
it shines bright, and never changes, but keeps his
course truly. If thou would have such a one, take
me : And take me, take a soldier ; take a soldier,
take a king: And what sayest thou then to my
love ? speak, my fair, and fairly, I pray thee.
' I speak to thee plain soldier:"] Similar phraseology has al-
ready occurred in King John :
" He speaks plain cannouy fire, and bounce, and smoke."
See Vol. X. p. 4-01. Steevens.
* take ajellow of plain and uncoined constancy/ }"] i. e.
A constancy in the ingot, that hath suffered no alloy, as all
coined metal has. Warburton.
I believe this explanation to be more ingenious than true ; to
coin is to stamp and to counterfeit. He uses it in both senses;
uncoined constancy signifies real and true constancy, unrefined
and unadorned. Johnson.
* Uncoined constancy," resembling a plain piece of metal
that has not yet received any impression. Katharme was the first
woman that Henry had ever loved. A. C.
' ' fo ^h] i. e. shrink, fall away. Steevens.
sc, II, KING HENRY V. 517
Kath. Is it possible dat I should love de enemy
of France ? ^
K, Hen. No ; it is not possible, you should love
the enemy of France, Kate : but, in loving me, you
should love the friend of France ; for I love France
so well, that I will not part with a village of it; I
will have it all mine : and, Kate, when France is
mine, and I am yours, then yours is France, and
you are mine.
Kath. I cannot tell vat is dat.
K. Hen. No, Kate ? I will tell thee in French ;
which, I am sure, wiU hang upon my tongue like a
new-married wife about her husband's neck, hardly
to be shook off. Quand j*ay la possession de
France, ^ quand vous avez le possession de mot,
(let me see, what then? Saint Dennis be my speed!)
done vostre est France, <- vous estes mienne. It
is as easy for me, Kate, to conquer the kingdom, as
to speak so much more French: I shall never move
thee in French, unless it be to laugh at me.
Kath. Saiif vostre honneur, le Frangois que vous
parlez, est meilleur que VAnglois lequelje parte.
K. Hen. No, 'faith, is't not, Kate : but thy
speaking of my tongue, and I thine, most truly
falsely, must needs be granted to be much at one.
But, Kate, dost thou understand thus much En
glish ? Canst thou love me ?
Kath. I cannot tell.
K. Hen. Can any of your neighbours tell, Kate?
1*11 ask them. Come, I know, thou lovest me : and
' Is it possible dat I should love de enemy of France?'^ So,
in the anonymous play of The famoris Victories of Henry the
Fifth : " Kate. How should I love thee, which is ray father'*
cnemie?" Steevens.
Sl9 KING HENRY V. act v.
at night when you come into your closet, you*ll
question this gentlewoman about me ; and I know,
Kate, you will, to her, dispraise those parts in me,
that you love with your heart : but, good Kate,
mock me mercifully ; the rather, gentle princess,
because I love thee cruelly. If ever thou be'st
mine, Kate, (as I have a saving, faith within me,
tells me, thou shalt,) I get thee with scambling,'^
and thou must therefore needs prove a good soldier-
breeder: Shall not thou and I, between Saint Dennis
and Saint George, compound a boy, half French,
half English, that shall go to Constantinople,^ and
take the Turk by the beard ? shall we not ? what
sayest thou, my fair flower-de-luce ?
Kath. I do not know dat. -
K. Hen. No ; 'tis hereafter to know, but now to
promise: do but now promise, Kate, you will en-
deavour for your French part of such a boy ; and,
for my. English moiety, take the word of a king
and a bachelor. How answer you, la plus belle
Katharine du monde, mon ires c/iere et divine
deesse ?
Kath. Your majeste 'avejausse French enough
to deceive de most sage damoiselle dat is en France.
K. Hen. Now, fye upon my false French ! By
mine honour, in true English, I love thee, Kate :
by which honour I dare not swear, thou lovest me;
yet my blood begins to flatter me that thou dost,
' tcith scambling,] i. e. scrambling. See Dr. Percy's note
in the first scene of this play, p. 279 ; and Vol. VI. p. 150,
n. 3. Steevens.
* go to Constantinople, ~\ Shakspeare has here committed
an anachronism. The Turks were not possessed of Constanti-
nople before the year 1453, when Henry V. had been dead
thirty-one years. Theobald.
Sc. n, KING HENRY V. 519
notwithetanding the poor and untempering effect*
of my visage. Now beshrew my father's ambition !
he was thinking of civil wars when he got me j
therefore was I created with a stubborn outside,
with an aspect of iron, that, when I come to woo
ladies, I fright them. But, in faith, Kate, the elder
I wax, the better I shall appear : my comfort is,
that old age, that ill layer-up of beauty, can do no
more spoil upon my face: thou hast me, if thou
hast me, at the worst ; and thou shalt wear me, if
thou wear me, better and better ; And therefore
tell me, most fair Katharine, will you have me ?
Put off your maiden blushes; avouch the thoughts
of your heart with the looks of an empress; take
me by the hand, and say Harry of England, I am
thine: which word thou shalt no sooner bless mine
ear withal, but I will tell thee aloud England is
thine, Ireland is thine, France is thine, and Henry
Plantagenet is thine ; who, though I speak it before
his face, if he be not fellow with the best king, thou
shalt find the best king of good fellows. Come,
your answer in broken musick ; for thy voice is
musick, and thy English broken : therefore, queen
of all, Katharine, break thy mind to me in broken
English, Wilt thou have me ?
* untempering effect ] Certainly tmtempting.
Warburton.
Untempering I believe to have been the poet's word. The
sense is, I conceive, that you love me, notwithstanding my face
hag no power to temper, i. e. soften you to my purpose :
" nature made you
" To teniper man ." Otivay.
So again, in Titus Andronicus, which may, at least, be quoted
as the work of an author contemporary with Shakspeare :
" And temper him with all the art I have."
Again, in King Henry IV. Part II: "I have him already
tempering between my thumb and finger ." Steevens.
520 KING HENRY V. actf,
.Kath, Dat is, as it shall please de roy monpere,
K, Hen. Nay, it will please him well, Kate j it
shall please him, Kate.
Kath. Den it shall also content me.
K. Hen. Upon that I will kiss your hand, and
I caU you my queen.
Kath. Laissez,- mon seigneur^ laissez, laissez :
ma foy, je ne veux point que xious abbaissez vostre
grandeur^ en baisant la main d^une vostre indigne
serviteure ; excusez mx)y, je vous supplie, mon tres
puissant seigneur.
K. Hen. Then I will kiss your lips, Kate.
Kath. Les dames, 8^ damoiselles, pour estre
baisees devant leur nopces, il n^ est pas le coutume de
France.
K. Hen. Madam my interpreter, what says she ?
Alice. Dat it is not be de fashion pour les
ladies of France, I cannot tell what is, baiser, en
English.
K. Hen. To kiss.
Alice. Your majesty entendre bettre que moy.
K. Hen. It is not the fashion for the maids in
France to kiss before they are married, would she
say?
Alice. Ouy, xnrayment.
K, Hen. O, Kate, nice customs curt'sy to great
kings. Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confined
within the weak list^ of a country's fashion : we
are the makers of manners, Kate ; and the liberty
that follows our places, stops the mouths of all
-iueah list ] i. e. slight barrier. So, in Othello :
* Confine yourself within a patient list.''* Steevens,
sc. II. KING HENRY V. 521
find-faults ; as I will do yours, for upholding the
nice fashion of your country, in denying me a kiss:
therefore, patiently, and yielding. \_Kissing her,'}
You have witchcraft in your lips, Kate : there is
more eloquence in a sugar touch of them, than in
the tongues of the French council; and they should
sooner persuade Harry of England, than a general
petition of monarchs/ Here comes your father.
Enter the French King and Queen, Burgundy,
Bedford, Gloster, Exeter, Westmoreland,
and other French and English Lords,
Bur, God save your majesty ! my royal cousin,
teach you our princess English ?
K, Hen. I would have her learn, my fair cousin,
how perfectly I love her ; and that is good English.
Bur. Is she not apt ?
K, Hen, Our tongue is rough, coz ; and my
condition is not smooth : "^ so that, having neither
the voice nor the heart of flattery about me, I can-
not so conjure up the spirit of love in her, that he
will appear in his true likeness.
Bur. Pardon the frankness of my mirth, ^ if I
^ your lipSy should sooner persuade Harry ofEngland^
than a general petition ofmonarchs.'] So, in the old anonymous
Henry V : " Tell thy father from me, that none in the world
should sooner have persuaded me," &c. Steevens.
^ my con6\i\on is not smooth:'] Condition ii temper. So,
in King Henry IV. Part I. Act I. sc. iii :
** my condition^
" Which has been smooth as oil," &c.
See Vol. XI. p. 213, n. 7. Steevens.
* Pardon the frankness of my mirth^] We have here but a
mean dialogue for princes ; the merriment is very gross, and the
sentiments are very worthless. Johnson.
522 KING HENRY V. act v.
answer you for that. If you would conjure in her
you must make a circle : if conjure up love in her in
his true likeness, he must appear naked, and blind:
Can you blame her then, being a maid yet rosed
over with the virgin crimson of modesty, if she
deny the appearance of a naked blind boy in her
naked seeing self? It were, my lord, a hard con-
dition for a maid to consign to.
K. Hen. Yet they do wink, and yield j as love is
blind, and enforces.
Bur. They are then excused, my lord, when they
see not what they do.
K. Hen. Then, good my lord, teach your cousin
to consent to winking.
Bur. I will wink on her to consent, my lord, if
you will teach her to know my meaning: for
maids, well summered and warm kept, are like flies
at Bartholomew-tide, blind, though they have their
eyes ; and then they will endure handling, which
before would not abide looking on.
K. Hen. This moral ^ ties me over to time, and
a hot summer ; and so I will catch the fly, your
cousin, in the latter end, and she must be blind too.
Bur. As love is, my lord, before it loves.
K. Hen. It is so : and you may, some of you,
thank love for my blindness ; who cannot see many
a fair French city, for one fair French maid that
stands in my way.
^ This moral ] That is, the application of this fable. The
moral being the application of a fable, our author calls any ap-
plication a moral. Johnson.
So, iii Much Ado about Nothing : " Benedictus ! why Bene-
dictuS? you have some moral in this Benedictus ?'* See Vol. VI.
p. 112, n. 1. Steevens.
sc, //. KING HENRY V. 52S
Fr. King. Yes, my lord, you see them perspec-
tively, the cities turned into a maid ; ^ for they are
all girdled with maiden walls, that war hath never
entered. ^
K. Hen. Shall Kate be my wife ?
Fr. King. So please you.
K. Hen. I am content ; so the maiden cities
you talk of, may wait on her : so the maid, that
stood in the way of my wish, shall show me the
way to my will.
Fr. King. We have consented to all terms of
reason.
K. Hen. Is't so, my lords of England ?
West. The king hath granted every article :
His daughter, first ; and then, in sequel, all,^
According to their firm proposed natures.
ExE. Only, he hath not yet subscribed this :
Where your majesty demands, That the king of
France, having any occasion to write for matter of
' -you s^e them perspectiviely, the cities turned into a inaid;2
So, in Tvoelflh-Nighty Act V. sc. i :
A natural perspective, that is, and is not.**
See Mr. Toilet's note on this passage, Vol. V. p. 469, n. 7.
Steevens.
thei/ are all girdled "with maiden ivalls, ^c."] We have
again the same allusion in The Rape ofLucrece :
" This moves in him more rage, and lesser pity,
*' To make the breach, and enter this sweet city.**
Again, in his Lover* s Complaint :
" And long upon these terms I held my cittjy
" Till thus he *gan to siege me."
See also AWs tvell that ends well. Vol. VIII. p. 214. Malone.
' and then, in sequel, all,~\ Then, which is not in the old
copy, was supplied, for the sake of the metre, by the editor of
the second foho. Malone.
524 KING HENRY V. act r.
grant, shall name your highness in this form, and
with this addition, in French, Notre tres cherfilz
Henry roy d*Angleterre, he re tier de France; and
thus in Latin, Prceclarissimus Jilius'^ noster Hen-
ricus, rex Anglice, S^ Jiceres Francice,
Fr. King. Nor this I have not, brother, so denied.
But your request shall make me let it pass.
K, Hen. I pray you then, in love a,nd dear alli-
ance.
Let that one article rank with the rest :
And, thereupon, give me your daughter.
Fr. King. Take her, fair son ; and from her
blood raise up
Jssue to me : that the contending kingdoms
Of France and England, whose very shores look pale
With envy of each other's happiness.
May cease their hatred ; and this dear conjunction
Plant neighbourhood and christian-like accord
In their sweet bosoms, that never war advance
His bleeding sword 'twixt England and fair France.
All. Amen !
* Notre tres cher Jilz and thus in Latin, Praecla-
rissimus Jilius ] What, is tres cher, in French, Prceclarissi'
mus in Latin ? We should read -prcecarissimus.
Warburton.
*' This is exceeding true," says Dr. Farmer, " but how came
the blunder? It is a typographical one in Holinshed, which
Shakspeare copied ; but must indisputably have been corrected,
had he been acquainted with the languages.'* Steevens.
In all the old historians that I have seen, as well as in Holin-
shed, I find this mistake ; but in the preamble of the original
treaty of Troyes, Henry is styled Prcecarissimus ; and in the22d
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 prcBcarissimus filius Henricus," &c. See
Rymer's Feed. IX. 893. Malone.
sc, Jl. KING HENRY V. 525
K. Hen, Now welcome, Kate : and bear me
witness all.
That here I kiss her as my sovereign queen.
\^Flou7ish,
Q. IsA. God, the best maker of all marriages.
Combine your hearts in one, your realms in one !
As man and wife, being two, are one in love.
So be there 'twixt your kingdoms such a spousal,
That never may ill office, or fell jealousy.
Which troubles oft the bed of blessed marriage.
Thrust in between the paction of these kingdoms,*
To make divorce of their incorporate league ;
That EngUsh may as French, French Englishmen,
Receive each other ! God speak this Amen !
All. Amen!
K. Hen. Prepare we for our marriage : on which
day,'^
My lord of Burgundy, we'll take your, oath.
And all the peers', for surety of our leagues.
Then shall I swear to Kate, and you to me ;
And may our oaths well kept and prosp'rous be !
\_Ea:eimt
* the paction of these kingdoms,'] The old folios have-
it the pation, which makes me believe the author's word was
paction ; a word, more proper on the occasion of a peace rtruck
up. A passion of two kingdoms for one another is an odd ex-
pression. An amity and political harmony may be fixed betwixt
two countries, and yet either people be far from having a passion
for the other. Theobald.
" Prepare xoe &c.] The quartos, 1600 and 1608, conclude
with the following speech :
" Hen. Why then fair Katharine,
" Come, give me thy hand :
" Our marriage will we present solemnize,
" And end our hatred by a bond of love.
" Then will I swear to Kate, and Kate to me,
" And may our vows once made, unbroken be.**
Steeveks.
526 KING HENRY V. . act r.
Enter Chorus.
Thus far, with rough, and all unable pen.
Our bending author'' hath pursued the story
In little room confining mighty men,
Mangling by starts^ tlie full course of their glory.
Small time, but, in that small, most greatly liv*d
This star of England : fortune made his sword ;
By which the world*s best garden-' he achiev'd,
And of it left his son imperial lord.
Henry the sixth, in infant bands crown'd king
Of France and England, did this king succeed ;
Whose state- so many had the managing.
That they lost France, and made his England
bleed :
Which oft our stage hath shown; and, for their sake,
In your fair minds let this acceptance take.
lExiL'
'' Our bending author ] By bending, our author meant
unequal to the weight of his subject^ and bending beneath it ;
or he may mean, as in Hamlet: " Here stooping to your cle-
mency.'* Steevens.
* Mangling by starts ] By touching only on select parts.
Johnson.
^ the "world's best garden ] i. e. France. A similar
distinction is bestowed, in The Taming of the Shrew, on Lom-
bardy :
" The pleasant garden of great Italy.'* Steevens.
' This play has many scenes of high dignity, and many of-
easy merriment. The character of the King is well supported,
except in his courtship, where he has neither the vivacity of Hal,
nor the grandeur of Henry. The humour of Pistol is very hap-
pily continued : his character has perhaps been the model of all
the bullies that have yet appeared on the English stage.
The lines given to the Chorus have many admirers ; but the
truth is, that in them a little may be praised, and much must be
KING HENRY V. 527
forgiven ; nor can it be easily discovered why the intelligence
given by the Chorus is more necessary in this play than in many
others where it is omitted. The great defect of this play is the
emptiness and narrowness of the last Act, which a very little di-
ligence might have easily avoided. Johnson.
END OF VOL. XII.
Printed by S. Hamilton, Weybridge.
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