117 (You, coufin Nevil,' as I may remember,) My cousin Bolingbroke afcends my throne ;- tent ;+ But that neceffity fo bow'd the state, That I and greatnefs were compell'd to kifs :- WAR. There is a history in all men's lives, 3 -coufin Nevil,] Shakspeare has mistaken the name of the prefent nobleman. The earldom of Warwick was at this time in the family of Beauchamp, 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 defcended to Anne Beauchamp, (the daughter of the earl here introduced,) who was married to Richard Nevil, carl of Salisbury. STEEVENS. Anne Beauchamp was the wife of that Richard Nevil, (in her right,) earl of Warwick, and fon to Richard earl of Salisbury who makes fo confpicuous a figure in our author's Second and Third Parts of King Henry VI. He fucceeded to the latter title on his father's death in 1460, but is never distinguished by it. RITSON. 4 I had no fuch intent;] He means, I should have had no fuch intent, but that neceffity" &c. or Shakspeare has here alfo forgotten his former play, or has chofen to make Henry forget his fituation at the time mentioned. He had then actually accepted the crown. See King Richard II. A&t IV. fc.i: "In God's name, I'll afcend the regal throne." MALONE. With a near aim, of the main chance of things: As yet not come to life; which in their feeds, And weak beginnings, lie intreasured. Such things become the hatch and brood of time; King Richard might create a perfect guess, K. HEN. Are these things then neceffities?" Then let us meet them like neceffities: And that fame word even now cries out on us; They fay, the bishop and Northumberland Are fifty thousand strong. And, by the necessary form of this,] I think we might better read: the neceffary form of things, The word this has no very evident antecedent. JOHNSON. And, by the necessary form of thefe, i. e. the things mentioned in the preceding line. STEEVENS. And, by the neceffary form of this, is, I apprehend, to be underftood this hiftory of the times deceased. HENLEY. 6 Are these things then neceffities?] I fufpect that-things then are interpolated words. They corrupt the meafure, do not improve the fenfe, and the anticipation of then, diminishes the force of the fame adverb in the following line. STEEVENS. Then let us meet them like neceffities:] I am inclined to read: That is, with the refiftless violence of neceffity; then comes more aptly the following line: And that fame word even now cries out on us. That is, the word neceffity. JOHNSON. That is, let us meet them with that patience and quiet temper with which men of fortitude meet thofe events which they know to be inevitable.-I cannot approve of Johnfon's explanation. M. MASON. WAR. It cannot be, my lord; Rumour doth double, like the voice and echo, The powers that you already have fent forth, To comfort you the more, I have receiv'd K. HEN. [Exeunt. 8 that Glendower is dead.] Glendower did not die till after King Henry IV. Shakspeare was led into this error by Holinfhed, who places Owen Glendower's death in the tenth year of Henry's reign. See Vol. VIII. p. 494, n. 5. MALONE. 9 unto the Holy Land.] This play, like the former, proeeeds in one unbroken tenor through the first edition, and there is therefore no evidence that the divifion of the acts was made by the author. Since, then, every editor has the fame right to mark the intervals of action as the players, who made the prefent diftribution, I should propofe that this scene may be added to the foregoing act, and the remove from London to Glocestershire be made in the intermediate time, but that it would fhorten the next act too much, which has not even now its due proportion to the reft. JOHNSON. SCENE II. Court before Juftice Shallow's Houfe in Glocefter fhire.9 Enter SHALLOW and SILENCE, meeting; MOULDY, SHADOW, WART, FEEBLE, BULLCALF, and Servants, behind. SHAL. Come on, come on, come on; give me your hand, fir, give me your hand, fir: an early ftirrer, by the rood. And how doth my good cou fin Silence? 9 Juftice Shallow's Houfe in Glocestershire.] From the following paffage in The Return from Parnaffus, 1606, we may conclude that Kempe was the original Justice Shallow.-Burbage and Kempe are introduced inftructing fome Cambridge ftudents to act. Burbage makes one of the ftudents repeat fome lines of Hieronymo and King Richard III. Kempe fays to another," Now for you,methinks you belong to my tuition; and your face methinks would be good for a foolish Mayor, or a foolish Juftice of Peace."—And again: "Thou wilt do well in time if thou wilt be ruled by thy betters, that is, by myfelfe, and fuch grave aldermen of the playhoufe as I am."-It appears from Nafhe's Apologie of Pierce Pennilefs, 1593, that he likewife played the Clown: "What can be made of a ropemaker more than a clowne. Will. Kempe, I miftruft it will fall to thy lot for a merriment one of these dayes.” MALONE. 2 by the rood.] i. e. the crofs. POPE. Hearne, in his Gloffary to Peter Langtoft, p. 544, under the word cross, obferves, that although the cross and the rood are commonly taken for the fame, yet the rood properly fignified formerly the image of Chrift on the crofs; fo as to reprefent both the cross and figure of our bleffed Saviour, as he suffered upon it. The roods that were in churches and chapels were placed in thrines that were called rood lofts. Roodloft, (faith Blount,) is a fhrine whereon was placed the crofs of Chrift. The rood was an image of Chrift on the crofs, made generally of wood, and erected in a loft for that purpofe, juft over the paffage out of the church into the chancel." REED. SIL.3 Good morrow, good coufin Shallow. SHAL. And how doth my coufin, your bedfellow? and your faireft daughter, and mine, my goddaughter Ellen? SIL. Alas, a black ouzel, cousin Shallow. SHAL. By yea and nay, fir, I dare fay, my coufin William is become a good fcholar: He is at Oxford, ftill, is he not? SIL. Indeed, fir; to my coft. SHAL. He must then to the inns of court fhortly: I was once of Clement's-inn; where, I think, they will talk of mad Shallow yet. fin. SIL. You were call'd-lufty Shallow, then, cou SHAL. By the mafs, I was call'd any thing; and I would have done any thing, indeed, and roundly too. There was I, and little John Doit of Staffordshire, and black George Bare, and Francis Pickbone, and Will Squele a Cotswold man,-you had not four Bullokar, however, is a better authority than any of these, being contemporary with Shakspeare. In his English Expofitor, 8vo. 1616, he defines Roode thus: " In land it fignifies a quarter of an acre. It is fometimes taken for the picture of our Saviour upon the crofs." MALONE. 3 Sil.] The oldeft copy of this play was published in 1600. It must however have been acted fomewhat earlier, as in Ben Jonson's Every Man out of his Humour, which was performed in 1599, is the following reference to it: "No, lady, this is a kinfman to Juftice Silence." STEEVENS. Will Squele a Cotswold man,] The games at Cotswold were, in the time of our author, very famous. Of these I have feen accounts in feveral old pamphlets; and Shallow, by diftinguishing Will Squele, as a Cotfwold man, meant to have him underftood as one who was well verfed in manly exercifes, and confequently of a daring fpirit, and an athletic constitution. |