(Whofe foldier now, under whofe bleffed cross Weft. My liege, this hafte was hot in question, 8 But yefternight when, all athwart, there came and for Chriftians among others, to make war upon Mahometans, fimply as Mahometans, as men obliged by their own principles to make war upon Chriftians, and only lying in wait till opportunity fhall promife them fuccefs. JOHNSON. 5 - fhall we levy;] The firft quarto in 1598 has leavy, which was changed, in the fecond, to the word now in the text. Though "to levy a power, as far as to the fepulcher of Chrift," be, as Mr. Steevens obferves, a fingular expreffion, I have no doubt the text is right. Our author is not always fufficiently careful to make the end of his fentences agree in conftruction with the beginning. MALONE. 6 Therefore we meet not now:] i. e. not on that account do we now meet; we are not now afiembled, to acquaint you with our intended expedition. MALONE. 7 -expedience.] for expedition. WARBURTON. See p. 25, n. 7. MALONE. 8 And many limits] Limits, as the author of the Revifal abferves, may mean, out-lines, rough sketches or calculations. STEEVENS. Limits may mean the regulated and appointed times for the conduct of the bufinefs in hand. So, in Measure for Measure:-" between the time of the contract and limit of the folemnity, her brother Frederick was wreck'd at fea." Again, in Macbeth: I'll make fo bold to call, "For 'tis my limited fervice." MALONE. Leading Leading the men of Herefordshire to fight K. Hen. It feems then, that the tidings of this broil Weft. This, match'd with other, did, my gracious lord; For more uneven and unwelcome news Came from the north, and thus it did import. At Holmedon met, Where they did fpend a fad and bloody hour ; And shape of likelihood, the news was told; K. Hen. Here is a dear and true-induftrious friend, Betwixt that Holmedon and this feat of ours; 9 By thofe Welbwomen done] Thus Holinfhed, p. 528: "-such fhameful villanie executed upon the carcaffes of the dead men by the Welsh women; as the like (I doo believe) hath never or seldom been practifed." STEEVENS. the gallant Hotfpur there, Young Harry Percy,] Holinfhed's Hift. of Scotland, p. 249, fays, "This Harry Percy was furnamed, for his often pricking, Henry HotSpur, as one that feldom times refted, if there were anie fervice to be done abroad." TOLLET. 2 - Archibald,] Archibald Douglas, earl Douglas. STEEVENS. 3 Stain'd with the variation of each foil] No circumstance could have been better chofen to mark the expedition of Sir Walter. It is used by Falftaff in a fimilar manner: "As it were to ride day and night, and not to deliberate, not to remember, not to have patience to shift me, but to fland ftained with travel." HENLEY, VOL. V. I And And he hath brought us smooth and welcome news. Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, To beaten Douglas; and the earl of Athol, 4 Balk'd in their own blood,—] I should fuppofe, that the author might have written either batb'd, or bak'd, i. e. encrufted over with blood dried upon them. A paffage in Heywood's Iron Age, 1632, may countenance the latter of thefe conjectures : "Troilus-lieth embak'd "In his cold blood"-. Again, in Hamlet : horridly trick'd "With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, fons, Again, in Heywood's Iron Age: bak'd in blood and duft." STEEVENS." Balk is a ridge; and particularly, a ridge of land: here is therefore a metaphor; and perhaps the poet means, in his bold and careless manner of expreffion: "Ten thousand bloody carcaffes piled up together in a long heap."-" A ridge of dead bodies piled up in blood." T. WARTON. Balk'd in their own blood, I believe, means, lay'd in heaps or billocks, in their own blood. Blithe's England's Improvement, p. 118. obferves: "The mole raiseth balks in meads and paftures." In Leland's Itinerary, vol. V. p. 16. and 118. vol. VII. p. 10. a balk fignifies a bank or bill. Mr. Pope, in the Iliad, has the fame thought: "On heaps the Greeks, on heaps the Trojans bled, "And thick'ning round them rife the bills of dead." TOLLET. 5 Mordake earl of Fife, and eldeft fon To beaten Douglas;] Mordake earl of Fife, who was fon to the duke of Albany, regent of Scotland, is here called the fon of Earl Douglas, through a mistake into which the poet was led by the omiffion of a comma in the paffage of Holinfhed from whence he took this account of the Scottish prifoners. It ftands thus in the hiftorian: "and of prifoners, Mordacke earl of Fife, fon to the gouvernour Archembald earle Dowglas, &c." The want of a comma after gouvernour, makes thefe words appear to be the defcription of one and the fame perfon, and fo the poet understood them; but by putting the ftop in the proper place, it will then be manifeft that in this lift Mordake, who was fon to the governour of Scotland, was the first prifoner, and that Archibald earl of Douglas was the fecond, and so on. STEEVENS. The word earl is here used as a diffyllable. Mr. Pope, not perceiving this, reads the earl," in which he has been followed by all the fubfequent editors. MALONE. Of Of Murray, Angus, and Menteith". Weft. In faith, it is a conqueft for a prince In K. Hen. Yea, there thou mak'ft me fad, and mak’st me fin, envy that my lord Northumberland Should be the father of fo bleft a fon: A fon, who is the theme of honour's tongue; Of my young Harry. O, that it could be prov'd, To his own use he keeps; and fends me word, 6 and Menteitb.] This is a mistake of Holinshed in his English Hiftory, for in that of Scotland, p. 259, 262, and 419, he speaks of the earl of Fife and Menteith as one and the fame perfon. STEEVENS. 7 In faith, it is Thefe words are in the first 4to. 1598, by the inaccuracy of the tranfcriber, placed at the end of the preceding speech, but at a confiderable distance from the last word of it. Mr. Pope and the fubfequent editors read-'Faith 'tis &c. MALONE. 8 the prifoners,] Percy had an exclufive right to these prisoners, except the earl of Fife. By the law of arms, every man who had taken any captive, whofe redemption did not exceed ten thousand crowns, had him clearly for himself, either to acquit or ranfom, at his pleasure. It feems from Camden's Brit. that Pounouny-caftie in Scotland was built out of the ransom of this very Henry Percy, when taken prifoner at the battle of Otterburne by an ancestor of the prefent earl of Eglington. TOLLET. Percy could not refufe the earl of Fife to the king; for being a prince of the blood royal, (fon to the duke of Albany, brother to king Robert III.) Henry might justly claim him by his acknowledged military prerogative. STEEVENS. I shall have none but Mordake earl of Fife. ་ Weft. This is his uncle's teaching, this is Worcester, Malevolent to you in all afpécts; Which makes him prune himself, and bristle up K. Hen. But I have fent for him to answer this Coufin, on Wednesday next our council we SCENE II. [Exeunt. The fame. Another Room in the Palace. Enter Henry, Prince of Wales, and FALSTAFF. Fal. Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad? P. Hen. Thou art fo fat-witted, with drinking of old fack, and unbuttoning thee after fupper, and fleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to de 9 Malevolent to you in all aspects;] An aftrological allufion. Worcefter is reprefented as a malignant ftar that influenced the conduct of Hotfpur. HENLEY. Which makes bim prune himself,] The metaphor is taken from a cock, who in his pride prunes bimfelf; that is, picks off the loofe feathers to smooth the reft. To prune and to plume, fpoken of a bird, is the fame. JOHNSON. Dr. Johnfon is certainly right in his choice of the reading. So in Green's Metamorphofis, 1613: "Pride makes the fowl to prune his feathers fo. But I am not certain that the verb to prune is justly interpreted. In the Booke of Haukynge &c. (commonly called the Booke of St. Albans) is the following account of it: "The hauke proineth when the fetcheth oyle with her beake over the taile, and anointeth her feet and her fethers. She plumeth when the pulleth fethers of anie foule and cafteth them from her." STEEVENS. 2 Than out of anger can be uttered.] That is, "More is to be faid than anger will fuffer me to fay: more than can iflue from a mind difturbed like mine." JOHNSON. mand |