I As by discharge of their artillery, And shape of likelihood, the news was told; King. Here is a dear, a true industrious friend, Betwixt that Homildon and this seat of ours; news. The Earl of Douglas is discomfited: Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see Mordake the Earl of Fife, and eldest son 70 57. "their artillery"; Holinshed says that "with violence of the English shot [the Scotch] were quite vanquished and put to flight." Holinshed means arrows, and Mr. Wright suggests that Shakespeare "may have misunderstood" the ambiguous word "shot." In another account of the battle, however (Hist. of Scotland, ii. 254, quot. Stone, p. 132), Holinshed speaks expressly of the "incessant shot of arrows.” It is probable that Shakespeare understood perfectly that Holinshed meant arrows, and chose himself to mean the more impressive discharge of cannon.-C. H. H. 64. No circumstance could have been better chosen to mark the expedition of Sir Walter. It is used by Falstaff in a similar manner, "to stand stained with travel.”—H. N. H. 71. "Mordake the Earl of Fife"; this was "Murdach Stewart, not the son of Douglas, but the eldest son of Robert, Duke of Albany, Regent of Scotland, third son of King Robert II” (“the” first supplied by Pope).—I. G. I And is not this an honorable spoil? It is a conquest for a prince to boast of. King. Yea, there thou makest me sad and makest me sin 80 In envy that my Lord Northumberland Of my young Harry. O that it could be That some night-tripping fairy had exchanged Then would I have his Harry, and he mine. 90 Of this young Percy's pride? the prisoners, 95. Percy had an exclusive right to these prisoners, except the earl of Fife. By the law of arms, every man who had taken any captive, whose redemption did not exceed ten thousand crowns, had him clearly to himself to acquit or ransom at his pleasure. But Percy could not refuse the earl of Fife; for, he being a prince of the royal blood, Henry might justly claim him, by his acknowledged military prerogative.-H. N. H. I West. This is his uncle's teaching: this is Worces ter, Malevolent to you in all aspects; up Which makes him prune himself, and bristle Cousin, on Wednesday next our council we [Exeunt. SCENE II London. An apartment of the Prince's. of old sack and unbuttoning thee after sup- 96. "Worcester"; Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester, younger brother of the Earl of Northumberland.-C. H. H. 97. An astrological allusion. Worcester is represented as a malignant star that influenced the conduct of Hotspur.-H. N. H. 107. That is, more is to be said than anger will suffer me to say.— H. N. H. Scene 2. The place of this scene, which cannot be made more specific, was first given thus by Theobald.-C. H. H. I that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou wouldst truly know. What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the day? Unless hours were cups of sack, and minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawds, and dials the signs of 10 leaping-houses, and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-colored taffeta, I see no reason why thou shouldst be so superfluous to demand the time of the day. Fal. Indeed, you come near me now, Hal; for we that take purses go by the moon and the seven stars, and not by Phoebus, he, 'that wandering knight so fair.' And, I prithee, sweet wag, when thou art king, as, God save thy grace, majesty I should say, for grace thou wilt have none, Prince. What, none? Fal. No, by my troth, not so much as will serve to be prologue to an egg and butter. Prince. Well, how then? come, roundly. roundly, 20 16. "the seven stars"; so in the first four quartos; the other old copies and modern editions generally omit the.-H. N. H. 17. "that wandering knight so fair"; an allusion to "El Donzel del Febo," the "Knight of the Sun," whose adventures were translated from the Spanish:-"The First Part of the Mirrour of Princely deeds and Knighthood: Wherein is shewed the Worthiness of the Knight of the Sunne and his brother Rosicleer. Now newly translated out of Spanish into our vulgar English tongue, by M(argaret) T(iler)"; eight parts of the book were published between 1579 and 1601. Shirley alludes to the Knight in the Gamester (iii. 1) :— "He has knocked the flower of chivalry, the very I Fal. Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let not us that are squires of the night's body be called thieves of the day's beauty: let us be Diana's foresters, gentle- 30 men of the shade, minions of the moon; and let men say we be men of good government, being governed, as the sea is, by our noble and chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we steal. Prince. Thou sayest well, and it holds well too; for the fortune of us that are the moon's Fal. By the Lord, thou sayest true, lad. And Prince. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad 50 29, 30. "night's"; "beauty"; Falstaff is an inveterate player upon words, as here between "night" and knight, and "beauty" and booty. A squire of the body originally meant an attendant on a knight, but became a sort of flash phrase for a pimp.—As to "Diana's foresters," Hall the chronicler tells of a pageant exhibited in the reign of Henry VIII wherein were certain persons called Diana's knights.-H. N. H. 50. "Of Hybla"; reading of Qq., omitted in Ff.; "my old lad of the castle"; probably a pun on the original name of Falstaff (cp. Preface).-I. G. |