NOTES ON KING HENRY V.

In the old copies this play is entitled "The Life of Henry the Fift." Till some years after Shakespeare's time the word which we spell and pronounce fifth was almost invariably spelled, and, it would seem, pronounced, fift. It is worthy of note, in regard to the former pronunciation of th, which now represents a sound almost peculiar to our own among all modern tongues, that at the brightest period of our literature, and in the primal strength of our perfected language, the latter pronunciation was rare, and was avoided whenever it would produce a harsh or awkward effect. This cannot be better illustrated than by the manner in which the numeral adjectives and adverbs, after third,' were almost universally spelled and pronounced, as well in scholarly treatises on grammar and rhetoric as the literature which represented the popular usage of the day. (See, for instance, The Garden of Eloquence, conteyning the figures of grammar and rhetorik. By Henry Peacham, Minister. London, 1577. 4to. Section Gnome, Sig. viii. and passim.) This was fourth, fourthly; fift, fiftly; sixt, sixtly; seventh, sevently; eight, eightly; ninth, ninthly. Here we see that, in the Elizabethan period, the spelling of which was irregular chiefly because each person took the liberty of making it phonographically correct according to his practice and understanding, which in the nature of things is the only kind of phonography possible, although the numeral adjectives were formed in th, our ancestors, while they pronounced the comparatively smooth and easy sounds of rth and nth, avoided the harsh and awkward fth, xth, and (in eighth') teth; simplifying and softening them into ft, xt, and t; and that, although they preserved the nth in ninthly,' they dropped the aspirate in seventhly;' the reason for the variation appearing to be, that in the former case the th is preceded by a single long syllable with an open vowel sound, but

in the lattér by two syllables, the second of which being unaccented and having a close vowel sound, the sound nth becomes more difficult to speak and less pleasing to hear.

This pronunciation of th has been retained in some cases in this country; but the most striking is the name of the noble psalm tune, Old Hundred. The Rev. Mr. Havergal, Rector of St. Nicholas, Worcester, England, in his learned and very interesting History of the Old Hundredth Psalm Tune, (for which, by the way, he was obliged to seek, and for which he found, a publisher in America,) remarks, on pp. 11 and 12 of that work, that "from the days of the Reformation to the end of the seventeenth century it was commonly called in England The Hundredth Psalm Tune," but that "in America an inelegant variation is made, and the tune is commonly called Old Hundred.'" "Why such a departure," he adds, "from lingual custom and orthographic propriety should be made, does not appear." Mr. Havergal is, I think, in error when he states that "from the time of the Reformation to the end of the seventeenth century this tune was called the Hundredth Psalm tune;" for I am sure that till the middle of that century the sound dth was almost unknown in our language. Hundredth' and 'hundred' were both then spelled alike - hundreth, (and very rarely indeed hundred,) and pronounced hundret or hundred. For readers familiar with Elizabethan literature, it should be quite needless to sustain this position; but to place it beyond cavil, here are a few instances out of thousands that might be given : -"a hundreth lies," Guazzo's Civile Conversation, 1586, Sig. 168 b; "rulers over hundreths," Exodus xviii. 21; "a hundreth talents, and a thousand seven hundreth and seventy shekels," Exodus xxxviii. 25, and passim, Genevan version, 1576. Sometimes, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, the orthography hundred was used, as, -"the hundred psalm to the tune of Greensleeves," Merry Wives of Windsor, Act II. Sc. 1; and we have hundred and hundreth in the same paragraph ::-"But sometime now in places whereof the hundred hath the name no mention or memory of a Towne remayneth: such mutation time bringeth with it of all things. A hundreth hath one or two high constables," &c., Sir Thomas Smith's Commonwealth of England. Lond. 1621. 4to. Book II. Chap. 19, p. 76. But of hundredth' I have not found a single instance. We thus see that America has preserved the old Elizabethan English for the name of this venerable tune; and in view of the uniformity of pronunciation which the

old orthography indicates, it is at least a question whether fift, fiftly, sixt, sixtly, sevently, eight, eightly, and hundreth should not be retained in the text as old forms of those words.

ACT FIRST.

CHORUS.

The old stage direction is,

"Enter Prologue ; but the speech itself in the last line but two has "chorus; and in the subsequent Acts and at the end of the play the direction is, "Enter Chorus."

this wooden O":-i. e., the Globe Theatre, which was circular within and octagonal without.

SCENE I.

"With such a heady currance" : — Thus the folio, which the second folio changed to current.' This seems to have been only one of the many modernizations in that edition. 'Currance' is but the old French courance; and in Shakespeare's time, words having French forms and French pronunciation, wholly or in part, were in common use. Such, for instance, are rivage,' in the Chorus to Act III., and legerity,' in Act IV. Sc. 1 of this very play: egal,' too, was then constantly used instead of equal.'

6

"His companies": - i. e., companions. The passage is confirmatory of the reading "stranger companies,' Midsummer Night's Dream, Act I. Sc. 1.

66

in

and popularity":-i. e., intercourse with any body and every body. So Pistol, Act IV. Sc. 1 of this play: "Or art thou base, common, and popular? "The severals":— i. e., the details, particulars.

66

ing.

SCENE II.

in approbation":- i. e., in probation or prov

"To fine his title": - So the quarto; for which the reading of the folio, "to find his title," seems clearly to be a misprint, perhaps of the ear, perhaps because 'tine' was supposed to be an error. He might fine, or make specious, his title "with shews of truth;" but he would not find it with shews of truth. "Shews"- the plural

form being especially noteworthy - indicates a metaphor
taken from the visible; and I am much inclined to think
that there is a slight misprint even in the quarto, and
that we should read, "To line his title with some shews
of truth." See "We will not line his thin bestained
cloak," King John, Act IV. Sc. 3; " or did line the rebel
with hidden help and vantage," Macbeth, Act I. Sc. 3; and
I fear my brother Mortimer doth stir
About his title, and hath sent for you
To line his enterprise."

66

Indeed, I am quite sure that Shakespeare wrote 'line;' but as 'fine' has an appropriate meaning, I fear that it can be displaced only on a principle that would place the text at the mercy of every editor.

-99

the lady Lingare":·

:- No such person is known to the royal annals of France. Of this lineage, the germ of which is found in the Famous Victories, it is only necessary to say that it is equally confused and problematical. Shakespeare found it in Holinshed. "Lewis the Tenth" should be "Lewis the Ninth."

"Than amply to imbare their crooked titles": - The folio has, "Than amply to imbarr," &c. But, to say nothing of the occurrence of bar' in its proper sense two lines before, where it is adopted from Holinshed, 'imbar' has no signification suitable to the context. It cannot be properly qualified by amply,' or correctly predicated of crooked titles.' The difficulty is made only by the excess of a single letter; and as Warburton concluded, "we should read, Than amply to imbare,' i. e., lay open, make naked, expose to view." This reading is supported by that of the two earlier quartos, (1600 and 1602,)"imbace," where again there is an error but of a single letter. Imbare,' or an equivalent word, is also clearly required by 'hide' in the antecedent clause of the sentence, which is in the alternative.

..

a son,

When the man dies": — i. e., when he dies without the passage in Numbers, as cited by Holinshed, being, "When a man dieth without a sonne, let the inheritance descend to his daughter;" and, as Mr. Dyce remarks, the declaration was elicited by a case in which the deceased man had no sons. But the quarto having, "When the sonne dies," many editors retain that reading.

"Whiles his most mighty father on a hill":- At the Battle of Crescy, Edward III. stood on a hill by a windmill, and saw the Black Prince win the fight, refusing to

join in the contest, lest his son might lose some of the glory. See "Whiles that his mountain sire on mountain standing," Act II. Sc. 4.

"So hath your Highness": - i. e., says Malone, "your highness hath indeed what they think and know you have." A note setting forth so plain a sense is excusable only because there has been dispute about the passage, and much glory given to Coleridge for discovering what had been printed in every annotated edition of Shakespeare that was published after he himself was issued to the world.

"With blood": -The folio has, "With bloods;' a misprint hardly worth notice.

66

—a giddy neighbour to us": - Mr. Collier's folio plausibly has, "a greedy neighbour," &c.

"To fill King Edward's fame," &c.: - Mr. Collier's folio of 1632 has, "To fill King Edward's train," &c.

"And make her chronicle":-The quarto has, " your chronicle;" the folio, "their chronicle;" both of which are misprints of her,' as nearly every previous line of the speech makes plain.

"To tear and havoc": - The folio has, "to tame and havock;" manifestly a misprint for "to teare," &c.-the correction of Rowe and Mr. Collier's folio of 1632. The quartos have "to spoil."

"— a curs'd necessity": - So the quartos: the folio has "crush'd," which seems a plain misprint for the word in the text. A curst necessity is a sharp, a bitter necessity. 'Curst' is almost a synonyme of 'shrewd.'

66

and officers of sorts":- i. e., officers of various degrees. The quartos have "sort.' 'Sort' means a company or class of men whose lot (sors) is cast together. Used absolutely, without qualification of adverb or adjective, it meant high sort.

66- like merchants, venture," &c.: - As usual, spelled venter in the old copies. So Daniel, "What Merchaunt in one Vessell venters all." Cleopatra. This old pronunciation of ure is preserved in New England. "End in one purpose":- The folio misprints, " And in," &c.

"—a waxen epitaph":-The quartos, "a paper epitaph;" the intent being in either case a contemptuous allusion to ephemeral fame; and in the former, to the waxen tablets used by the ancients before the invention