ACT. I.Sc. I. KING JOHN. FALCONBRIDGE................ And to his shape were heir to all this land. The difficulty in this passage arises from a transposition of the words bis and this: it should run thus, And to this shape were heir to all his land. By this shape, Falconbridge means, the shape he had been just describing. ACT. III.-Sc. I. CONSTANCE............ Thou may'st, thou shalt; I will not go with thee, For grief is proud, and makes its owners stoop. Hanmer in the third line reads stout instead of stoop, an admirable amendment which renders this noble passage agreeable to the feelings of human nature, and consistent with the rest of the speech, which is perhaps the proudest and stoutest that ever was uttered. To the state of my great grief Let kings assemble; here I and Sorrow sit; Is it in such terms as those, that a grief would be expressed, which made the owners stoop? 1 am really surprised, that Mr. Malone should endeavour, by one elaborate argument, to support the old debasing reading; a pride which makes the owners stoop, is a kind of pride I have never heard of; and though grief in a weaker degree, and working in weaker minds, may depress the spirits, despair, such as the haughty Constance felt at this time, must naturally rouse them. This distinction is accurately pointed out by Johnson, in his observations on this passage. ACT IV.-Sc. 2. PEMBROKE...As patches set upon a little breach Serjeant Bettlesworth used to say, that to have a hole in his stocking was an accident which might happen to any man; but that a darn was deliberate poverty. ACT V.Sc. 6. HUBERT.................... That you might The better arm you to the sudden time, It appears to me, that at leisure means less speedily, after some delay. I do not clearly comprehend Mr. Malone's explanation the death of the king was not likely to reduce the kingdom to a state of composure and quiet, whilst there was a hostile army in the heart of it. RICHARD THE SECOND. ACT II.-Sc. 3. BOLINGBROKE.... To rouse his wrongs, and chase them to a bay. I supposed, in my former comments, that by his wrongs, Bolingbroke means the persons who wronged him; Mr. Steevens seems to approve of this explanation, which is supported by a passage in Fletcher's Double Marriage, where Juliana says, With all my youth and pleasure I'll embrace you, ACT 3.-Sc. 2. RICHARD.. And when they from thy bosom pluck a flower, Mr. Malone says, that to guard, means, to border, in which sense that word is frequently used; but I think that in this place it rather means, to watch or protect. ACT V.-Sc. 5. RICHARD........And love to Richard Is a strange brooch in this all-hating world. That the word brooch was applied to a particular kind of ornament is certain; but it also signifies a jewel in general; and it appears to me, that Richard means to say, That love to him was a strange jewel in an all-hating world, without any reference to the fashion of wearing brooches. Johnson supposes, that by an all-bating world, Richard means a world in which he was universally hated; but I think he rather means a world in which the spirit of hatred was pre valent. HENRY IVth. FIRST PART. ACT II.-Sc. 1. PRINCE....Wilt thou rob this leathern jerkin, chrystal buttons, not-pated, agat-ring, puke-stocking, caddisgarter, &c. Barret says that puke is a colour between russet and black, and he is right in this description of it, for puke is a corruption of the French word puce, which signifies a flea; puke stockings, therefore, means flea-coloured stockings. I remember that a few years ago the fashionable silks worn by the women were, couleur de puce:—that is the real meaning of the term. ACT III.-Sc. 3. Rob me the Excheque, the first thing thou dost, Steevens says, that this means, do it immediately, without staying to wash your hands; but I cannot accede to this explanation: it appears to me that Falstaff means to say, do it without retracting, or repenting of it. When a man is unwilling to engage in a business proposed to him, or to go all lengths in it, it is a common expression to say, I wash my hands of it; and in the gospel of St. Matthew, we find, that when Pilate was forced to condemn Christ, by the tumult of the multitude, " He took water, and "washed his hands, saying, I am innocent of the "blood of this just person." And in Richard III. the second murderer says, A bloody deed! How fain, like Pilate, would I wash my Of this most guilty murder! hands This explanation derives some confirmation. from Falstaff's preceding speech. OI do not like that paying back-'tis a double labour. ACT IV.Sc. 1. HOTSPUR....By heaven I cannot flatter, I defy The tongue of smoothers To defy means here to disdain. |