THE BEAUTIES O F SHAKESPEAR S The First Part of HENRY IV. ACT I. SCENE I. Peace after Civil War. O fhaken as we are, fo wan with care, pant, And breathe fhort-winded accents of new broils To be commenc'd in ftronds a-far remote. No more, the thirsty entrance of this foil (1) Shall damp her lips with her own children's blood: VOL. 11. B No (1) Shall damp.] i. e. wet, moisten: the old editions, and with them the Oxford, read dawb; there feems to me fomething greatly like Shakespear in that word, but I have kept damp, as it is generally approv'd. The word files, in the fourth line following, No more fhall trenching war channel her fields, SCENE. IV. Hotspur's Defcription of a finical Courtier. But I remember, when the fight was done, And 'twixt his finger and his thumb, he held following, is in the old editions eyes; and thus alter'd by Mr. Warburton: others read arms. I don't know whether eyes might See UPT. P. 334. not be justified, but I think files preferabie (2) Pouncet-box.] A fmall box for mufk, or other perfumes, then in fashion, the lid of which being cut with open work, gave it its name : from psinfoner, to prick, pierce, or engrave. So fays Mr. Warburton, and then condemns the next lines as a ftupid interpolation of the players: they are certainly not very eafy to be defended, but we find many fuch conceits as thefe in Shakespear. Took Took it in fnuff). And ftill he fmil'd and talk'd: He queftion'd me: amongst the reft, demanded (3) I then, all fmarting with my wounds, being cold, Out of my grief, and my impatience To be fo pefter'd with a popinjay, Answer'd, neglectingly, I know not what ; He should, or should not; for he made me mad, And talk fo like a waiting gentlewoman, Of guns, and drums, and wounds; (God fave the mark!) And telling me the fovereign'ft thing on earth (3) I then, &c.] When I first read this paffage, I mark'd the lines, as I have printed them, and turning to the ingenious Mr. Edwards's canons of Criticifm (p. 13.) I found he was of opinion, the lines fhould be fo tranfpofed: by this means the sense of the paffage is quite clear, and we have no occafion for any alteration. "Mr. Warburton in order to make a contradiction in the common reading, and fo make way for his emendation, mifreprefents Hotspur as at this time [when he gave this anfwer not cold, but bot. It is true, that at the beginning of the fpeech he defcribes himself as Dry with rage and extreme toil, Then comes in this gay gentleman, and holds him in an idle difcourfe, the heads of which Hotspur gives us; and it is plain by the context, it must have lafted a confiderable while. Now the more he had heated himself in the action, the more when he came to ftand fill any time, wou'd the cold air affect his wounds, &c." EDWARDS. B 2 On |