I Which by thy younger brother is supplied, 40 That men would tell their children 'This is he;' And then I stole all courtesy from heaven, 50 That I did pluck allegiance from men's hearts, Ne'er seen but wonder'd at: and so my state, removed from the council for striking the Chief-Justice in 1403, some years after the battle of Shrewsbury.-I. G. 38. "doth"; Qq. and Ff., "do," which may be explained as due to the plural implied in "every man"; Rowe, "does"; Collier MS., "doth."-I. G. I The skipping king, he ambled up and down, 60 That, being daily swallow'd by men's eyes, 70 To loathe the taste of sweetness, whereof a More than a little is by much too much. 62. "carded his state"; "to card" is often used in Elizabethan English in the sense of "to mix, or debase by mixing" (e. g. "You card your beer if you see your guests begin to get drunk, half small, half strong," Green's Quip for an Upstart Courtier); Warburton suggested "carded"" 'scarded," i. e. "discarded"; but the former explanation is undoubtedly correct. "To stir and mix with cards, to stir together, to mix," the meaning is brought out by 1607 quotation from Topsell, Four-foot Beasts, "As for his diet, let it be warm mashes, sodden wheat and hay, thoroughly carded with woolcards."-I. G. Ritson took it to mean, that Richard played away his royalty at cards. Knight suggests yet another sense, that he fretted away his dignity, as a carder does locks of wool. Our own notion then, is, that "carded his state" means the same as the following clause, the latter being explanatory of the former.-H. N. H. 63. "capering"; the first quarto reads capring; the other old copies read carping, which agrees well with the context. "A carping momus" and "a carping fool" were common phrases in the Poet's time. But, though carping agrees thus with the context, it must be owned that "capering" bears a sense equally appropriate, as referring to the dancing sprigs that Richard II drew about him.-H. N. H. 67. That is, every beardless, vain young fellow who affected wit, or was a dealer in comparisons.-H. N. H. 69. "popularity"; plebeian intercourse.-C. H. H. like I So when he had occasion to be seen, He was but as the cuckoo is in June, Heard, not regarded; seen, but with such eyes Afford no extraordinary gaze, Such as is bent on sun-like majesty When it shines seldom in admiring eyes; 80 But rather drowzed and hung their eyelids Slept in his face and render'd such aspect And in that very line, Harry, standest thou; With vile participation: not an eye Which now doth that I would not have it do, 90 •yet you Save mine, which hath desired to see thee more; Prince. I shall hereafter, my thrice gracious lord, King. For all the world As thou art to this hour was Richard then Now, by my scepter and my soul to boot, For of no right, nor color like to right, 98. "to the state"; we should now write in the state, but this was the phraseology of the Poet's time.-H. N. H. I He doth fill fields with harness in the realm, Against renowned Douglas! whose high deeds, 110 Through all the kingdoms that acknowledge Thrice hath this Hotspur, Mars in swathling This infant warrior, in his enterprizes Discomfited great Douglas, ta'en him once, And shake the peace and safety of our throne. The Archbishop's grace of York, Douglas, Capitulate against us and are up. But wherefore do I tell these news to thee? Which art my near'st and dearest enemy? 120 103. The Poet with great dramatic propriety approximates the ages of the prince and Hotspur, for the better kindling of a noble emulation between them. So that we need not suppose him ignorant that Hotspur was about twenty years the older.-H. N. H. 123. "dearest"; so in Hamlet, Act i. sc. 2: "Would I had met my I 130 Thou that art like enough, through vassal fear, And that shall be the day, whene'er it lights, Would they were multitudes, and on my head 'dearest foe in heaven ere ever I had seen that day, Horatio."H. N. H. 136. "favors, features"; the plural is rare in this sense, but the association with a "mask" shows that the face is intended, not the scarf, gloves, or other "favors" worn by knights.-C. H. H. |