Then shall I swear to Kate, and you to me; And may our oaths well kept and prosperous be! CHORUS. Thus far, with rough and all unable pen, Our bending author hath pursued the story; In little room confining mighty men, Mangling by starts the full course of their glory. This star of England: fortune made his sword; Henry the sixth, in infant bands crown'd king Of France and England, did this king succeed; Whose state so many had the managing, [Exeunt. That they lost France, and made his England bleed: Which oft our stage hath shown; and, for their sake, In your fair minds let this acceptance take. VARIOUS READINGS "They have a king, and officers of state." Mr. Collier's MS. Corrector has state," in place of the folio, officers of sorts." (ACT I., Sc. 2.) The officers of sorts are officers of different degrees, as afterwards enumerated like magistrates, merchants, soldiers, and so down to poor mechanic porters. "As many arrows, loosed several ways, Come to one mark; as many ways unite." (ACT I., Sc. 2.) The original has "Come to one mark; as many ways meet in one town." The reading of the MS. Correc tor is given above. The original is a definite idea, and not a bald generality. "For his nose was as sharp as a pen on a table of green frieze." The passage in the folio reads thus: "For his nose was as sharp as a pen, and a table of greene fields." Theobald made the correction of "table" to "a babbled" (he babbled). The emendation of Theobald has been received wherever Shakspere is known. But it is now to be rejected on the authority of Mr. Collier's old Corrector. "Writing tables," says Mr. Collier, 'were, no doubt, at that period often covered with green cloth; and it is to the sharpness of a pen, as seen in strong relief on a table so covered, that Mrs. Quickly likens the nose of the dying wit and philosopher-'for his nose was as sharp as a pen on a table of green frieze.'” (ACT II., Sc. 3.) We have had such guesses as that of the old Corrector before now. One of the commentators, Smith, has a similar prosaic suggestion in defence of the original table, and would read "for his nose was as sharp as a pen upon a table of green fells;" for, says he, "On table-books silver or steel pens, very sharp pointed, were formerly, and still are, fixed to the backs or covers." Mr. Collier calls Theobald's emendation "fanciful;" ten years ago he called it "judicious." In our minds it is judicious because it is fanciful; and being fanciful is consistent with the excited imagination that often attends the solemn parting hour. What does Dame Quickly say in this sentence?" After I saw him fumble with the shects, and play with "I stay but for my guard. On to the field: This is the common text, which is evidently inaccurate. One cannot see how the banner taken from a trumpet would be a substitute for the Constable's guard. (ACT IV., Sc. 2.) The substitution of "guidon" for "guard on" was the ingenious conjecture of the late Dr. Thackeray, which was obligingly com municated to us. A guidon was a leader's standard. The Constable could not wait for his guidon; and took a banner from a trumpet. "Let us die instant." This is the ordinary reading. Malone would read, "Let us die in fight." The folio has, merely, "let us die in." A word of some sort has unquestionably been omitted; and that is to be found in the text of the quarto, upon which we found our reading, "Let's die in honour." (ACT IV., Sc. 5.) To justify and explain our reading we must exhibit the greatly altered scene of the quarto; which is also a curious example of the mode in which the text of the folio was expanded and amended,-and that certainly by the poet: GEBON. O diabello! CON. Mort de ma vie! ORL. O what a day is this! BOUR. O jour del honte! all is gone; all is lost! CON. We are enow yet living in the field To smother up the English, If any order might be thought upon. "In which array (brave The original has larding. The loading of the MS. Corrector is supported, because "it is nowhere said that the Duke of York was obese." BOUR. A plague of order! once more to the field; And he that will not follow Bourbon now, Let him go, &c. CON. Disorder, that hath spoil'd us, right us now! Come we in heaps, we'll offer up our lives Unto these English, or else die with fame. Come, come along: Let's die with honour; our shame doth last too long." soldier!) doth he lie, (ACT IV., Sc. 6.) To "lard" is not necessarily to enrich with fat, as Falstaff larded the lean earth. Of York the King says "From helmet to the spur, all blood he was;" And Exeter continues "In which array (brave soldier!) doth he lie, Larding the plain." His blood is mixing with, and en- "I come to thee for charitable licence, The original has "to book our dead." The above alteration of the MS. Corrector is advocated because the French were not in a condition to take and note down a particular account of their dead. Mr. Collier adds, "It was an English herald who made out a statement of the killed, wounded, and prisoners, on both sides, and afterwards presented it to the King." (ACT IV., Sc. 7.) Το "book our dead," is not necessarily to give a particular account of them, but to enumerate them previous to their burial. Mr. Collier mistakes about the English herald. The king says "Our heralds go with him; Bring me just notice of the numbers dead On both our parts." When the herald returns he presents two papers-one the French "book"-the other the English. ADVANTAGES. Act IV., Sc. 1. "Whose hours the peasant best advantages.” The use of advantage as a verb occurs several times in Shakspere. Thus, in Julius Cæsar'— "It shall advantage more, than do us wrong." ASTONISHED. Act V., Sc. 1. "You have astonished him." Astonished is still used among pugilists in the sense of stunned, the precise sense in which Gower uses it, and as Dr. Johnson has explained it. BARBASON. Act II., Sc. 1. "I am not Barbason, you cannot conjure me." Barbason is the name of an evil spirit in the 'Dæmonology.' BATE. Act III., Sc. 7. "'T is a hooded valour; and, when it appears, it will bate." BAWCOCK. Act III., Sc. 2. "Good bawcock, bate thy rage!" Bawcock, from the French beau coq, was a low phrase for a jolly fellow. It occurs also in 'Twelfth Night,' and in the 'Winter's Tale,' as well as again in this play (Act IV., Sc. 1). BUXOM. Act III., Sc. 6. "And of buxom valour." Buxom is obedient, disciplined. It is from the Anglo-Saxon buhsomenes, obedience. CALEN O CUSTURE ME. Act IV., Sc. 4. This is the refrain to the song of a lover in praise of his mistress, published in a 'Handeful of pleasant Delites' (1584), meaning, as Boswell says, "Little girl of my heart, for ever and ever." In the original folio it stands "calmie custure me." It has been said that the words have no great connection with the Frenchman's supplications, but Pistol is only guided by similarity of sounds. CASE. Act III., Sc. 2. "I have not a case of lives." A case is what contains more than one, as a case of pistols," a case of poniards," expressions in common use in the time of Elizabeth. |