Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof! 4 Have, in these parts, from morn till even fought, That those, whom you call'd fathers, did beget you! Be copy now to men of groffer blood, And teach them how to war!--And you, good yeo men, Whose limbs were made in England, show us here The mettle of your pasture; let us fwear That you are worth your breeding: which I doubt not; For there is none of you fo mean and base, 4 Whofe blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!] Thus the folio, 1623, and rightly. So, Spenfer's Faery Queen, B. III: Whom ftrange adventure did from Britain fet." Again, in the prologue to Ben Jonfon's Silent Woman: Though there be none far-fet, there will dear bought." Again, in Lord Surrey's tranflation of the second book of Virgil's Aneid: "And with that winde had fet the land of Greece." The facred writings afford many inftances to the fame purpose. Mr. Pope first made the change, which I, among others, had inadvertently followed. STEEVENS. 5 argument.] Is matter, or fubject. JOHNSON. 6 like greyhounds in the flips,] Slips are a contrivance of leather, to ftart two dogs at the fame time. C. 7 Straining upon the ftart.] The old copy reads-Straying. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE. SCENE II. The fame. Forces pafs over; then enter NYM, BARDOLPH, PISTOL, and Boy. BARD. On, on, on, on, on! to the breach, to the breach! Nrм. 'Pray thee, corporal, ftay; the knocks are too hot; and, for mine own part, I have not a cafe of lives: the humour of it is too hot, that is the very plain-fong of it. 7 corporal,] We fhould 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 defign, made him a lieutenant, I think with Mr. Steevens, that we should read lieuteSee a former note, p. 306. The truth is, I believe, that the variations in his title proceeded merely from Shakspeare's inattention. MALONE. nant. 8- — a cafe of lives:] A fet of lives, of which, when one is worn out, another may ferve. JOHNSON. Perhaps only two; as a cafe of piftols; and, in Ben Jonson, a cafe of mafques. WHALLEY. I believe Mr. Whalley's explanation is the true one. A cafe of piftols, which was the current phrafe for a pair or brace of piftols, 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 alfo The Life of Jack Wilton, by Thomas Nafhe, 4to. 1594: "Memorandum, everie one of you after the perufal of this pamphlet is to provide him a cafe of ponyards, that if you come in companie with any man which fhall difpraife it,-you may straight give him the ftockado." MALONE. PIST. The plain-fong is most juft; for humours do abound; Knocks go and come; God's vaffals drop and die; And fword and shield, In bloody field, Doth win immortal fame. Bor. 'Would I were in an alehouse in London! I would give all my fame for a pot of ale, and fafety. PIST. And I: If wishes would prevail with me,' My purpose fhould not fail with me, Bor. As duly, but not as truly, as bird doth fing on bough.' Enter FLUELLEN.3 FLU. Got's plood!-Up to the preaches, you rafcals! will you not up to the preaches? [Driving them forward. 9 If wishes &c.] This paffage I have replaced from the first folio, which is the only authentick copy of this play. Thefe lines, which perhaps are part of a fong, Mr. Pope did not like, and therefore changed them in conformity to the imperfect play in quarto, and was followed by the fucceeding editors. For prevail I thould read avail. JOHNSON. 2 As duly, &c.] This fpeech I have restored from the folio. STEEVENS. This fhould be printed as verfe, being perhaps the remainder of Piftol's fong. DOUCE. 3 Fluellen.] This is only the Welsh pronunciation of Lluellyn. Thus alfo Flloyd instead of Lloyd. STEEVENS. 4 Up to the preaches, &c.] Thus the quarto, with only the difference of breaches inftead of preaches. Modern editors have been very liberal of their Welch dialect. The folio reads,-Up ta the breach, you dogges, avaunt, you cullions. STEEVENS. PIST. Be merciful, great duke,' to men of mould!" Abate thy rage, abate thy manly rage! Abate thy rage, great duke! Good bawcock, bate thy rage! ufe lenity, fweet chuck! Nrм. These be good humours!—your honour wins bad humours." [Exeunt NYM, PISTOL, and BARDOLPH, followed by FLUELLEN. s Be merciful, great duke,] That is, great commander. So, in Harrington's Orlando Furiofo, 1591: "And as herself the dame of Carthage kill'd, "When as the Trojan duke did her forfake,—." The Trojan duke is only a tranflation of dux Trojanus. So alfo in many of our old poems, Duke Thefeus, Duke Hannibal, &c. See Vol. V. p. 6, n. 6. In Pistol's mouth the word has here peculiar propriety. The author of REMARKS, &c. on the laft edition of Shakspeare, [Mr. Ritfon] fays, that "in the folio it is the duke of Exeter, and not Fluellen, who enters [here], and to whom Piftol addreffes himfelf." It is fufficient to fay, that in the only folio of any authority, that of 1623, this is not the cafe. When the king retired before the entry of Bardolph, &c. the duke of Exeter certainly accompanied him, with Bedford, Glofter, &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 fo roughly, fays, "abate thy rage, fweet knight." Had thefe words been preferved, I fuppofe this Remarker would have contended, that Nym's addrefs was not to the honeft Welchman, 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 confequence of the above-mentioned mifreprefentation of the ftate of the old copy, might be led to fuppofe that fome arbitrary alteration had here been made in the text. MALONE. to men of mould!] To men of earth, to poor mortal men. JOHNSON. So, in the Countefs of Pembroke's Yvychurch: At length man was made of mould, by crafty Prometheus.” wins bad humours.] In a former fcene Nym fays, "the 9 Bor. As young as I am, I have obferved thefe three fwafhers. 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 fuch anticks do not amount to a man. For Bardolph, he is white-liver'd, and red-faced; by the means whereof, 'a faces it out, but fights not. For Pistol,-he hath a killing tongue, and a quiet fword; by the means whereof 'a breaks words, and keeps whole weapons. For Nym,-he hath heard, that men of few words are the beft men; and therefore he fcorns to fay his prayers, left 'a fhould 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 poft, when he was drunk. They will fteal any thing, and call it,—purchase. Bardolph ftole a lute-cafe; bore it twelve leagues, and fold it for three halfpence. Nym, and Bardolph, are fworn brothers in filching; and in Calais they ftole a fire-fhovel: I knew, by that piece of fervice, the men would carry coals. They would have me as familiar with king hath run bad humours on the knight. We should therefore perhaps read runs here alfo. But there is little certainty in any conjecture concerning the dialect of Nym or Pitol. MALONE. 8 but all they three,] We fhould read, I think,-all the three. MALONE. They three, is a vulgarifm, to this day in conftant ufe. 9— STEEVENS. beft men;] That is, braveft; fo in the next lines, good deeds are brave actions. JOHNSON. 2 the men would carry coals.] It appears that in Shakspeare's age, to carry coals was, I know not why, to endure affronts. So, in Romeo and Juliet, one ferving-man aiks another whether he will carry coals. JOHNSON. See note on Romeo and Juliet, A&t I. sc. i. Cant phrafes are the ephemerons of literature. In the quartos, 1600 and 1608, the paffage ftands thus: "I knew by that they meant to carry coales." STEEVENS. |