Mark'd by the destinies to be avoided,
'As venom toads, or lizards' dreadful stings."
RICH. Iron of Naples, hid with English gilt,8
Whofe father bears the title of a king,

(As if a channel fhould be call'd the fea,')

The word is likewife ufed in Drayton's Epiftle from Q. Margaret to W. de la Poole :

"That foul, ill favour'd, crook-back'd ftigmatick." Again, in Drayton's Epiftle from King John to Matilda: "Thefe for the crook'd, the halt, the ftigmatick."

STEEVENS.

7 lizards' dreadful ftings.] Thus the folio. The quartos

have this variation :

This is the fecond time that Shakspeare has armed the lizard (which in reality has no fuch defence) with a sting; but great powers feem to have been imputed to its looks. So, in Noah's Flood, by Drayton :

The lizard fhuts up his Sharp-fighted eyes,
"Amongst the serpents, and there fadly lies."

STEEVENS.

Shakspeare is here answerable for the introduction of the lizard's fting; but in a preceding paffage, Vol. XIII. p. 298, the author of the old play has fallen into the fame mistake.

8

gilt,] Gilt is a fuperficial covering of gold.

So, in King Henry V:

"Our gaynefs and our gilt are all befmirch'd."

66

MALONE.

STEEVENS.

9 (As if a channel should be call'd the fea,)] A channel, in our author's time, fignified what we now call a kennel. So, in Stowe's Chronicle, quarto, 1605, p. 1148: -fuch a ftorme of raine happened at London, as the like of long time could not be remembered; where-through, the channels of the citie fuddenly rifing," &c. Again, in King Henry IV. P. II: "-quoit him into the channel." MALONE.

Kennel is ftill pronounced channel in the North. So, in Marlowe's Edward II:

"Throw off his golden mitre, rend his stole,
"And in the channel chriften him anew."

Sham'ft thou not, knowing whence thou art ex

traught,

To let thy tongue detect' thy bafe-born heart?

2

EDW. A wifp of ftraw were worth a thousand

crowns,

Again :

Again :

"Here's channel water, as our charge is given."

"To which the channels of the caftle run." RITSON.

To let thy tongue detect-] To show thy meanness of birth by the indecency of language with which thou raileft at my deformity. JOHNSON.

To let thy tongue detect thy bafe-born heart ?] So the folio. The quartos:

"To parly thus with England's lawful heirs."

STEEVENS.

A wisp of fraw] I fuppofe, for an inftrument of correction that might difgrace, but not hurt her. JOHNSON.

I believe that a wisp fignified fome inftrument of correction used in the time of Shakspeare. The following instance seems to favour the fuppofition. See A Woman never Vexed, a comedy by Rowley, 1632:

Nay, worfe; I'll ftain thy ruff; nay, worse than that, "I'll do thus[Holds up a wifp.

doft wifp me thou tatterdemallion?"

Again, in Marfton's Dutch Courtezan, 1604:

"Thou little more than a dwarf, and fomething less than a woman!

"Crif. A wifpe! a wifpe! a wifpe!"

Barrett, in his Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionary, 1580, interprets the word wifpe by peniculus or σrovyos, which fignify any thing to wipe or cleanfe with; a cook's linen apron, &c. Pewter is ftill fcoured by a wifpe of straw, or hay. Perhaps Edward means one of thefe wisps, as the denotement of a menial fervant. Barrett adds, that, like a wafe, it fignifies a wreath to be laied under the veffel that is borne upon the head, as women ufe." If this be its true sense, the Prince may think that such a wifp would better become the head of Margaret, than a crown.

It appears, however, from the following paffage in Thomas Drant's tranflation of the seventh fatire of Horace, 1567, that a wifpe was the punishment of a scold:

To make this fhameless callet know herself.3-
*Helen of Greece was fairer far than thou,
* Although thy husband may be Menelaus ;4
*And ne'er was Agamemnon's brother wrong'd

"So perfyte and exacte a fcoulde that women mighte geve place

"Whofe tatling tongues had won a wifpe," &c.

STEEVENS.

See also, Nafhe's Apology of Pierce Pennileffe, 1593: "Why, thou errant butter-whore, thou cotquean and fcrattop of colds, wilt thou never leave afflicting a dead carcaffe? continually read the rhetorick lecture of Ramme-Alley? a wifpe, a wifpe, you kitchen-stuffe wrangler." Again, in A Dialogue between John and Jone, ftriving who shall wear the Breeches,-PLEASURES OF POETRY, bl. 1. no date :

"Good gentle Jone, with-holde thy hands,
"This once let me entreat thee,.
"And make me promise, never more
"That thou shalt mind to beat me;
"For feare thou weare the wifpe, good wife,

"And make our neighbours ride-." MALONE.

3 To make this Shameless callet know herself.] Shakspeare ufes the word callet likewife in The Winter's Tale, A&t II. fc. in: "A callat

"Of boundless tongue; who late hath beat her husband, "And now baits me.'

Callet, a lewd woman, a drab, perhaps fo called from the French calote, which was a fort of head-drefs worn by country girls. See Gloffary to Urry's Chaucer. So, in Chaucer's Remedy of Love, v. 307 :

"A cold old knave cuckolde himself wenyng,

"And of calot of lewd demenyng.”

So, Skelton, in his Elinour Rumming, Works, p. 133: "Then Elinour faid, ye callettes,

"I fhall break your palettes."

Again, in Ben Jonfon's Volpone:

66

Why the callet you told me of here,

"I have tane difguis'd." GREY.

* Menelaus ;] i. e. a cuckold. So, in Troilus and Crefida, Therfites, fpeaking of Menelaus, calls him " -the goodly transformation of Jupiter there,-the primitive statue and oblique memorial of cuckolds." STEEVENS.

* By that falfe woman, as this king by thee.
His father revell'd in the heart of France,
And tam'd the king, and made the Dauphin stoop;
And, had he match'd according to his ftate,
He might have kept that glory to this day:
But, when he took a beggar to his bed,

And grac'd thy poor fire with his bridal day;
"Even then that funfhine brew'd a fhower for him,
That wash'd his father's fortunes forth of France,

And heap'd fedition on his crown at home.

For what hath broach'd this tumult,5 but thy pride? Hadft thou been meek, our title ftill had flept;

And we, in pity of the gentle king,

Had flipp'd our claim until another age.

GEO. But, when we saw our funshine made thy

fpring,

And that thy fummer bred us no increase,
We fet the axe to thy ufurping root:

And though the edge hath something hit ourselves,
Yet, know thou, fince we have begun to strike,
'We'll never leave, till we have hewn thee down,
Or bath'd thy growing with our heated bloods.

EDW. And, in this refolution, I defy thee;
Not willing any longer conference,

5

-hath broach'd this tumult,] The quarto reads, "hath mov'd this,". &c. STEEVENS.

6

we faw our funfhine made thy fpring,

And that thy fummer bred us no increafe,] When we saw that by favouring thee we made thee grow in fortune, but that we received no advantage from thy fortune flourishing by our favour, we then refolved to deftroy thee, and determined to try fome other means, though our first efforts have failed.

The quartos read :

JOHNSON.

But when we saw our fummer brought thee gain, "And that the harvett brought us no increase."

STEEVENS,

Since thou deny'ft the gentle king to speak.

Sound trumpets!-let our bloody colours wave!— And either victory, or elfe a grave.

Q. MAR. Stay, Edward.

EDW. No, wrangling woman; we'll no longer ftay:

These words will coft ten thousand lives to-dav.

8

'WAR. Forfpent with toil, as runners with a race, I lay me down a little while to breathe:

A Field of Battle &c.] We fhould read near Towton. Shakspeare has here, perhaps, intentionally thrown three different actions into one. The Lord Fitzwater, being ftationed by King Edward, to defend the pafs of Ferrybridge, was affaulted by the Lord Clifford, and immediately flain, "and with hym" fays Hall "the baftard of Salisbury, brother to the earl of Warwycke, a valeaunt yong gentleman, and of great audacitie. When the earl of Warwicke," adds he, " was informed of this feate, he lyke a man defperated, mounted on his hackeney, and came blowing to kyng Edwarde, faiyng: Syr, I praye God have mercy of their foules, which in the beginning of your enterprise hath loft their lyfes, and because I fe no fuccors of the world, I remit the vengeance and punishment to God our creator and Redeemer; and with that lighted doune, and flewe his horfe with 'his fwourde, faying: let them flye that wyl, for furely I wil tarye with him that wil tarye with me, and kiffed the croffe of his fwourde." Clifford, in his retreat, was befet with a party of Yorkifts, when, "eyther," fays the hiftorian, " for heat or payne, putting off his gorget, fodainly with an arrowe (as fome