One that hath ever been God's enemy: Shall be this cold corpse on the earth's cold face; [Exeunt. "False stones by foiles have many one abus'd." Steevens. England's chair means England's throne. Set is used equivocally. Malone. 7 quiti. e. requite. So, in Antony and Cleopatra: "To let a fellow who will take rewards, "And say, God quit you!" Steevens. the ransom of my bold attempt —] The fine paid by me in atonement for my rashness shall be my dead corse. Johnson. So, in Henry V, p. 297, Vol IX: 66 'My ransome is this frail and worthless trunk;" Am. Ed. 9 God, and Saint George!] Saint George was the common cry of the English soldiers when they charged the enemy. The author of the old Arte of Warre, printed in the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, formally enjoins the use of this cry among his military laws, p. 84: 66 Item, that all souldiers entring into battaile, assault, skirmish, or other faction of armes, shall have for their common cry and word, Saint George, forward, or upon them, saint George, whereby the souldiour is much comforted, and the enemy dismaied by calling to minde the ancient valour of England, which with that Hame has so often been victorious; and therefore he, who upon any sinister zeale, shall maliciously omit so fortunate a name, shall be severely punished for his obstinate erroneous heart, and perverse mind." Hence too the humour of the following lines in Marston's ner Re-enter King RICHARD, RATCLIFF, Attendants, and Forces. K. Rich. What said Northumberland, as touching Richmond? Rat. That he was never trained up in arms. K. Rich. He said the truth: And what said Surrey then? Rat. He smil'd and said, the better for our purpose. Tell the clock there.-Give me a calendar.- Rat. Not I, my lord. K. Rich. Then he disdains to shine; for, by the book, He should have brav'd the east1 an hour ago: A black day will it be to somebody. Ratcliff, Rat. My lord? K. Rich. The sun will not be seen to-day; The sky doth frown and lour upon our army. I would, these dewy tears were from the ground. vous but neglected satires, entitled The Scourge of Villainie, printed in 1599, Lib. III, Sat. viii: "A pox upon't that Bacchis' name should be "The watch-word given to the souldierie. "Goe troupe to field, mount thy obscured fame, Cry out Saint George, invoke thy mistresse' name; "Thy Mistresse and Saint George," &c. In Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of the Burning Pestle, that admirable and early ridicule of romance-writing, where the champion Ralph is going to attack the Barber, or the huge giant Barboroso, the burlesque is heightened, when, with much solemnity, and as if a real heroick encounter had been going forward, he cries out, "Saint George! set on before, march squire and page." Act III, sc. i. And afterwards, when the the engagement begins, Ralph says, "St. George for me:" and Barbaroso, "Garagantua for me." T. Warton. 1 brav'd the east -] i. e. made it splendid. So, Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, says to the Tailor: ". thou hast braved many men [i. e. invested them with finery] brave not me." The common signification of the verb-to brave, will, in my apprehension, hardly suit the passage before us; for with what pro- ̧ priety can the sun be said to challenge or set the East at defiance? Steevens. More than to Richmond? for the self-same heaven, Enter NORFOLK. Nor. Arm, arm, my lord; the foe vaunts in the field. K. Rich. Come, bustle, bustle;-Caparison my horse; Call up lord Stanley, bid him bring his power:- And thus my battle shall be ordered. My foreward shall be drawn out all in length,2 Our archers shall be placed in the midst: In the main battle; whose puissance on either side Nor. A good direction, warlike sovereign.- [Giving a Scrowl. 2 My foreward shall be drawn out all in length,] So Holinshed: "King Richard havyng all things in a readiness went forth with the army out of his tentes, and began to set his men in aray: first the forward set forth a marvellous length, both of horsemen and also of footemen,and to the formost part of all the bowmen as a strong fortresse for them that came after; and over this John duke of Norfolk was head captain. After him followed the king with a mighty sort of men." Malone. 3 — we ourself will follow—] The word—ourself, was judiciously supplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer, to complete the verse. Steevens. This, and Saint George to boot!] That is, this is the order of our battle, which promises success; and over and above this, is the protection of our patron saint. Johnson. To boot is (as I conceive) to help, and not over and above. Hawkins. Mr. Hawkins is certainly right. So, in King Richard II: "Mine innocence, and Saint George to thrive." The old English phrase was, Saint George to borrow. So, in A Dialogue, &c. by Dr. William Bulleyne, 1564: "Maister and maistres, come into this vallie,-untill this storme be past: Saincte George to borrowe, mercifull God, who did ever see the like?" Signat. K. 7, b. Malone. K. Rich. Jocky of Norfolk, be not too bold, [Reads. For Dickon thy master" is bought and sold. A thing devised by the enemy. - Go, gentlemen, every man unto his charge: If not to heaven, then hand in hand to heli.1 5 This found I in my tent this morning] Sir Thomas Hanmer supplies the deficiency in the metre of this line, by reading: This paper found I &c. 6 7 Steevens. be not too bold,] The quarto, 1598, and the folio, readso bold. But it was certainly an error of the press: for in both Hall and Holinshed, the words are given as in the text. Malone. Dickon thy master &c.] Diccon is the ancient vulgar familiarization of Richard. In Gammer Gurton's Needle, 1575, Diccon is the name of the Bedlam.-In the words-bought and sold, I believe, there is somewhat proverbial. So, in The Comedy of Errors: "It would make a man as mad as a buck, to be so bought and sold." Again, in King John: "Fly, noble English, you are bought and sold." Again, in Troilus and Cressida, with an addition that throws more light on the phrase: " Thou art bought and sold among those of any wit, like a Barbarian slave." Steevens. Again, in Mortimeriados, a poem, by Michael Drayton, no date: "Is this the kindness that thou offerest me? "And in thy country am I bought and sold?” Again, in Skelton's Colin Clout, 1568: "How prelacy is sold and bought, "And come up of nought." Again, in Bacon's History of King Henry VII: "- all the news ran upon the duke of Yorke, that he had been entertained in Ireland, bought and sold in France," &c. -The expression seems to have signified that some foul play has been used. The foul play alluded to here, was Stanley's desertion. Malone. 8 Let not our babbling dreams &c.] I suspect these six lines to be an interpolation; but if Shakspeare was really guilty of them in his first draught, he probably intended to leave them out when he substituted the much more proper harangue that follows. Torwhitt. 9 Conscience is but a word -] So the quarto, 1598. But being accidentally omitted in a later quarto, the editor of the folio supplied the omission by reading-For conscience is a word, &c. Malone. 1 If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell.] So, in Macbeth: What shall I say more than I have infer'd? "That summons thee to heaven, or to hell." Again, in King Henry VI, P. 1 II: "If not in heaven, you 'll surely sup in hell." Steevens. 2 A sort of vagabonds,] A sort, that is, a company a collection. See note on A Midsummer Night's Dream, Vol. II, p. 319, n. 2. Johnson. 3 ·ventures -] Old copies-adventures. Steevens. 4 They would restrain the one,] i. e. they would lay restrictions on the possession of your lands; impose conditions on the proprietors of them. Dr. Warburton for restrain substituted distrain, which has been adopted by all the subsequent editors. "To distrain," says he, "is to seize upon," but to distrain is not to seize generally, but to seize goods, cattle, &c. for non-payment of rent, or for the purpose of enforcing the process of courts. The restrictions likely to be imposed by a conquering enemy on lands, are imposts, contributions, &c. or absolute confiscation." And if he [Henry Earl of Richmond] should atchieve his false intent and purpose," (says Richard in his circular letter sent to the Sheriffs of the several counties in England on this occasion: Paston Letters, II, 321,) "every man's life, livelihood, and goods, shall be in his hands, liberty, and disposition." Malone. 5 Long kept in Bretagne at our mother's cost?] This is spoken by Richard, of Henry Earl of Richmond: but they were far from having any common mother, but England: and the Earl of Richmond was not subsisted abroad at the nation's public charge. During the greatest part of his residence abroad, he was watched and restrained almost like a captive; and subsisted by supplies conveyed from the Countess of Richmond, his mother. It seems probable, therefore, that we must read: Theobald. Long kept in Bretagne at his mother's cost. Our mother's cost?] Mr. Theobald perceives to be wrong: he reads, therefore, and all the editors after him: Long kept in Bretagne at his mother's cost. But give me leave to transcribe a few more lines from Holinshed, and you will find at once, that Shakspeare had been there before me: |