P. 620-415.-214.

Ch. Just. Sweet princes, what I did, I did in honour,
Led by the impartial conduct of my soul;
And never shall you see, that I will beg
A ragged and fore-stall'd remission.

I believe Malone is right.

P. 639.-431.-238.

Dol. I'll tell thee what, thou thin man in a censer! I
will have you as soundly swinged for this, you blue-
bottle-rogue!

Petruchio speaks of a censer in a barber's

shop.

P. 641.-433.-240.

Host. Thou atomy thou!

Dol. Come, you thin thing: come, you rascal !
i Bead. Very well.

Rascal, it is true, does sometimes mean lean deer, but I cannot think it does here. Mr. Steevens's note seems to me to merit Heron's animadversion.

P. 642.-434.-242.

Pist. "Tis semper idem, for absque hoc nihil est :
"Tis all in every part.

I agree with Mr. Steevens that this speech "accords but little with the phraseology of Falstaff; and, on the contrary, agrees well "with that of Pistol."

Chorus. O, for a muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention !

"Shakespeare (says Heron) knew nothing of "the allusions pointed out by his commentators. "What absurdity to imagine that Shakespeare, "whose learning they utterly deny, should be "skill'd in all the systems of philosophy!

A muse of fire is a fiery, ardent vein of poetry."
Letters of Literature, p. 175.

P. 4.-447.-264.

Can this cockpit hold

The vasty fields of France? or may we cram,
Within this wooden O, the very casques,
That did affright the air at Agincourt?

Mr. M. Mason is indisputably right. Dr. Johnson's criticism on this expression is injudicious in the extreme. It was certainly (as Mr. M. Mason observes) the poet's intention to represent the circle in which they acted in as contemptible a light as he could. He speaks in the same strain in the chorus to the fourth act.

"And so our scene must to the battle fly;

"Where (O for pity!) we shall much disgrace,

"With four or five most vile and ragged foils

F. 4.-447.-264.

The very casques

That did affright the air at Agincourt.

The word is spelt casks in some of the editions. I have doubted whether Shakespeare did not mean barrels of gunpowder, which I think may more properly be said to affright the air than the helmets. So understood, it reminds us of the following passage in Milton:

Immediate in a flame,

But soon obscured with smoke, all heav'n appear'd,
From those deep-throated engines belch'd, whose roar
Embowell'd with outrageous noise the air,
And all her entrails tore, &c.

P. L. Book 6, 584.

It is no objection to this explanation to say that no gunpowder was used at the battle of Agincourt. Shakespeare frequently falls into such mistakes. Hotspur talks of gunpowder in the First Part of Henry the Fourth; and afterwards in this play he speaks of "devilish cannon."

P. 5.-448.-265.

Suppose, within the girdle of these walls,
Are now confin'd two mighty monarchies,
Whose high upreared and abutting fronts
The perilous, narrow ocean parts asunder.

Mr. Steevens is certainly wrong; there should be a comma between perilous and narrow, as Mr. M. Mason has clearly shewn.

P. 5.-449-266.

Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i'the receiving earth.
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times;
Turning the accomplishments of many years
Into an hourglass.

Dr. Johnson's observation is not just. The passage is rightly explained by Steevens and Monk Mason.

Cant. The king is full of grace, and fair regard.
Ely. And a true lover of the holy church.
Cant. The courses of his youth promis'd it not.
The breath no sooner left his father's body,
But that his wildness, mortified in him,

Seem'd to die too.

The character of Henry V. reminds us of what Tacitus says of Titus: "Lætam voluptatibus "adolescentiam egit, suo quam patris imperio

"modestior." Hist. II. 2.

P. 13.-454.-274.

Ely. And so the prince obscur'd his contemplation
Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt,
Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night
Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty.

This reminds us of the following passage:

Non liquidi gregibus fontes, non gramina desunt;

Et quantum longis carpent armenta diebus,

Exiguâ tantum gelidus ros nocte reponet.

P. 16.-457.-277.

Georg. II. 200.

K. Hen. For God doth know, how many, now in health,
Shall drop their blood in approbation

Of what your reverence shall incite us to:

Therefore take heed how you impawn our person,

How you awake the sleeping sword of war.

Impawn is, I believe, rightly explained by Warburton.

P. 18.-459.-280.

Cant. Hugh Capet also,-that usurp'd the crown
Of Charles the Duke of Lorain, sole heir male
Of the true line and stock of Charles the great,
To fine his title with some show of truth,

(Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught,)
Convey'd himself as heir to the lady Lingare,
Daughter to Charlemain.

To fine his title is, I think, rightly explained by Mr. Steevens. I cannot think that find is the right word.

P. 19.-460.-282.

All appear

To hold in right and title of the female :

So do the kings of France unto this day;
Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law,
To bar your highness claiming from the female ;
And rather choose to hide them in a net,
Than amply to imbare their crooked titles
Usurp'd from you and your progenitors.

I am satisfied that imbare is the right word.

P. 21.-461.-284.

O noble English, that could entertain
With half their forces the full pride of France;
And let another half stand laughing by,

All out of work, and cold for action!

I see no reason to suspect that cold is not the right word, which is rightly explained by Mr. Malone himself, and by Mr. Steevens. I cannot suppose that Shakespeare thought of the more recondite meaning mentioned by Mr.

Steevens.

P. 21.-461.-285.

West. They know, your grace hath cause, and means, and might; So hath your highness; never king of England

Had nobles richer, and more loyal subjects.

I incline to Mr. Malone's explanation.