66

"enough without his annotators pushing it to "bombast. Mr. Steevens must have a bold "heart, and certainly deserves to be made an "admiral for his notion, that a tempest that hangs waves in the top shrouds of a vessel is "a moderate tempest. Pray do turn poet, Mr. "Steevens, and give us an immoderate tempest "by all means, that we may know what it is to 'joke and be in earnest.'

""

"6

P. 548.-348.-113.

K. Hen. Why then, good morrow to you all, my lords.
Have you read o'er the letters that I sent you?

Though the French use the phrase à tous deux, I cannot think that Shakespeare made the king speak thus to two persons; I think, therefore, that Theobald's correction ought to be received.

P. 549.-349.-115.

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
The beachy girdle of the ocean,

Too wide for Neptune's hips; how chances mock,
And changes fill the cup of alteration

With divers liquors! O, if this were seen,

The happiest youth, viewing his progress through,
What perils past, what crosses to ensue,

Would shut the book, and sit him down and die.

The author of Douglas seems to have had this passage in his mind, when he wrote the following lines:

O! had I died when my lov'd husband fell!
Had some good angel op'd to me the book
Of providence, and let me read my life,
My heart had broke, when I beheld the sum
Of ills, which one by one I have endured.

P. 551-351.-118.

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.

I agree with Mr. M. Mason that Dr. Johnson's explanation is manifestly wrong.

P. 560.-361.-134.

Shal. And is Jane Night-work alive?
Fal. She lives, master Shallow.

Shal. She never could away with me.

Fal. Never, never: she would always say, she could
not abide master Shallow.

"I cannot away with is a phrase of dislike "used in the common prose translation of the psalms, and other places of the Bible more "than once." HERON.

It occurs Isaiah c. i. v. 13. Falstaff explains its meaning in the next speech; "Never, never; "she would always say she could not abide master Shallow.'

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22

P. 362.-363.-136.

Fal.
For you, Mouldy, stay at home still ;
you are past service.

I incline to agree with Malone.

P. 569.-368.-146.

Fal.

he was the very genius of famine; yet lecherous as a monkey, and the whores call'd him, mandrake: he came ever in the rearward of the fashion; and sung those tunes to the over-scutch'd huswives that he heard the carmen whistle, and sware-they were his fancies, or his good-nights.

Dr. Johnson's explanation of over-scutch'd, seems to me to be most suitable here.

P. 574.-373.-153.

West.
You, lord archbishop,
Whose see is by a civil peace maintain'd;
Whose beard the silver hand of peace hath touch'd;
Whose learning and good letters peace hath tutor'd;
Whose white investments figure innocence,
The dove and 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?

I do not agree with Mr. Tollet in supposing that the theatrical archbishop should be habited in his rochet. Westmoreland refers to that which was the proper habit of his office, not to what he then had on. He should be in armour; he is afterwards called by Lancaster "an iron "man." I know it may be urged that Lancaster there speaks metaphorically; but on considering all that is said, I think the archbishop ought to appear on the stage in armour. See too Steevens's note on "iron men" from Holinshed.

P. 575.-373.-153.

Turning your books to graves, your ink to blood,
Your pens to lances; and your tongue divine
To a loud trumpet, and a point of war?

I am persuaded that greaves is the right word.

P. 577.—374.—156.

Arch. 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.

I believe Mr. Steevens is right.

P. 578.-375.-157.

Arch. My brother general, the common wealth,
To brother born an household cruelty,
I make my quarrel in particular.

This passage (notwithstanding the pains bestowed on it by the commentators) I do not yet understand.

P. 581.-379.-162.

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 insinew'd to this action,
Acquitted by a true substantial form;
And present execution of our wills
To us, and to our purposes, consigned;
We come within our awful banks again,
And knit our powers to the arm of peace.

This passage too still remains unintelligible to me. I now incline to agree with Mr. M. Mason.

P. 582.-379.-163.

We come within our awful banks again.

I think we should read lawful with Warburton. Mr. Steevens was once of that opinion, though he appears to have relinquished it. If awful be the right word, Malone's is the true explanation.

P.-382.-168.

P. John.
Who hath not heard it spoken,
How deep you were within the books of God?
To us, the speaker in his parliament;
To us, the imagin'd voice of God himself.

I am quite of Mr. Steevens's mind.

P. 597.-393.-184.

K. Hen. For he is gracious if he be observ'd;
He hath a tear for pity, and a hand

Open as day for melting charity:

Yet notwithstanding, being incens'd, he's flint;
As humourous as winter, and as sudden

As flaws congealed in the spring of day.

I think Mr. Malone's remark is quaint, and

that Dr. Johnson has rightly explained this ex

pression.

P. 600.-396.-188.

West. The manner how this action hath been borne,
Here, at more leisure, may your highness read;
With every course, in his particular.

I agree with Mr. Steevens.

P. 606.-402.-197.

K. Hen. 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.

I prefer culling, the reading of the folio, to tolling the reading of the quarto.

P. 609.-405.-200.

O my poor kingdom, sick with civil blows!

When that my care could not withhold thy riots,
What wilt thou do, when riot is thy care?

This is rightly explained by Mr. Malone.

P. 610-405.-201.

P. Hen.
There is your crown;
And he that wears the crown immortally,
Long guard it yours! If I affect it more,
Than as your honour, and as your renown,
Let me no more from this obedience rise,
(Which my most true and inward-duteous spirit
Teacheth,) this prostrate and exterior bending!

Mr. M. Mason's is the true explanation. Mr. Malone's explanation appears to be the same.

P. 612.-407.-203.

K. Hen.
all these bold fears,
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.

Malone is right.