Or do you almost think, although you see, The height, the crest, or crest unto the crest, 4 That ever wall-ey'd wrath, or staring rage, Pem. All murders past do stand excus'd in this: Shall give a holiness, a purity, To the yet-unbegotten sin of time;5 Bast. It is a damned and a bloody work; Sal. If that it be the work of any hand?— Never to taste the pleasures of the world," 4 wall-ey'd wrath,] So, in Titus Andronicus, Lucius, addressing himself to Aaron the Moor: "Say, wall-ey'd slave." Steevens. 5 sin of time;] The old copy-of times. I follow Mr. Pope, whose reading is justified by a line in the celebrated soliloquy of Hamlet: "For who would bear the whips and scorns of time?" Again, by another in this play of King John, p. 401: "I am not glad that such a sore of time of times;] That is, of all future times. So, in King Hen ry V: "By custom and the ordinance of times." Again, in The Rape of Lucrece: "For now against himself he sounds his doom, Steevens. "That through the length of times he stands disgrac'd." Mr. Pope and the subsequent editors more elegantly read-sins of time; but the peculiarities of Shakspeare's diction ought, in my apprehension, to be faithfully preserved. Malone. Nor conversant with ease and idleness, Till I have set a glory to this hand, head Pem. Big. Our souls religiously confirm thy words. Hub. Lords, I am hot with haste in seeking you: a holy vow; Never to taste the pleasures of the world,] This is a copy of the vows made in the ages of superstition and chivalry. Johnson. 7 Till I have set a glory to this hand, By giving it the worship of revenge. The worship is the dignity, the honour. We still say worshipful of magistrates. Johnson. I think it should be-a glory to this head;-pointing to the dead prince, and using the word worship in its common acceptation. A glory is a frequent term: "Round a quaker's beaver cast a glory," says Mr. Pope: the solemn confirmation of the other lords seems to require this sense. The late Mr. Gray was much pleased with this correction. Farmer. The old reading seems right to me, and means,-till I have famed and renowned my own hand by giving it the honour of revenge for so foul a deel. Glory means splendor and magnificence in St. Matthew, vi, 29. So, in Markham's Husbandry, 1631, p. 353: "But if it be where the tide is scant, and doth no more but bring the river to a glory," i. e. fills the banks without overflowing. So, in Act II, sc. ii, of this play: "O, two such silver currents, when they join, "Do glorify the banks that bound them in.” A thought almost similar to the present, occurs in Ben Jonson's Catiline, who, Act IV, sc. iv, says to Cethegus: "When we meet again we 'H sacrifice to liberty. Cet. And revenge. That we may praise our hands once!" i. e. O! that we may set a glory, or procure honour and praise, to our hands, which are the instru ments of action. Tollet. I believe, at repeating these lines, Salisbury should take hold of the hand of Arthur, to which he promises to pay the worship of revenge. M. Mason. I think the old reading the true one. In the next Act we have the following lines: 66 I will not return, "Till my attempt so much be glorified "As to my ample hope was promised." The following passage in Troilus and Cressida is decisive in support of the old reading: Jove, let Æneas live, "If to my sword his fate be not the glory, "A thousand complete courses of the sun." Malone. Avaunt, thou hateful villain, get thee gone! Sal. Must I rob the law? [Drawing his sword. Bast. Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again.3 Sal. Not till I sheathe it in a murderer's skin. Hub. Stand back, lord Salisbury, stand back, I say; By heaven, I think, my sword 's as sharp as yours: I would not have you, lord, forget yourself, Nor tempt the danger of my true defence; Lest I, by marking of your rage, forget Your worth, your greatness, and nobility. Big. Out, dunghill! dar'st thou brave a nobleman? Hub. Not for my life: but yet I dare defend My innocent life against an emperor. Sal. Thou art a murderer. Hub. Do not prove me so; Yet, I am none:1 Whose tongue soe'er speaks false, Pem. Cut him to pieces. Bast. Keep the peace, I say. Sal. Stand by, or I shall gall you, Faulconbridge. Bast. Thou wert better gall the devil, Salisbury: If thou but frown on me, or stir thy foot, Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shame, I'll strike thee dead. Put up thy sword betime; Or I'll so maul you and your toasting-iron,2 That you shall think the devil is come from hell.2 Big. What wilt thou do, renowned Faulconbridge? 8 Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again ] i. e. lest it lose its brightness. So, in thello: "Keep up your bright swords; for the dew will rust them." Malone. 9 — true defence;] Honest defence; defence in a good cause. Johnson. 1 Do not prove me so; Yet, I am none:] Do not make me a murderer, by compelling me to kill you; I am hitherto not a murderer. Johnson. 2 your toasting-iron,] The same thought is found in King Henry V: "I dare not fight, but I will wink and hold out mine iron. It is a simple one, but what though? it will toast cheese." Again, in Fletcher's Woman's Prize, or the Tamer tamed: 66 dart ladles, toasting irons, "And tongs, like thunder-bolts." Steevens. Second a villain, and a murderer? Who kill'd this prince? Hub. 'Tis not an hour since I left him well: Big. Away, toward Bury, to the Dauphin there! [Exeunt Lords. Bast. Here's a good world!-Knew you of this fair work? Beyond the infinite and boundless reach Of mercy, if thou didst this deed of death, Art thou damn'd, Hubert. Hub Do but hear me, sir. Bast. Ha! I'll tell thee what; Thou art damn'd as black-nay, nothing is so black; As thou shalt be, if thou didst kill this child. 3 That you shall think the devil is come from hell.] So, in the ancient MS. romance of The Sowdon of Babyloyne: "And saide thai wer no men "But develis abroken oute of helle." Steevens. 4 Like rivers of remorse-] Remorse here, as almost every where in these plays, and the contemporary books, signifies pity. Malone. 5 Thou art more deep damn'd than prince Lucifer:] So, in the old play: "Hell, Hubert, trust me, all the plagues of hell There is not yet &c.] I remember once to have met with a book, printed in the time of Henry VIII, (which Shakspeare possibly might have seen) where we are told that the deformity of the condemned in the other world, is exactly proportioned to Hub. Upon my soul, Bast. If thou didst but consent To this most cruel act, do but despair, And, if thou want'st a cord, the smallest thread That ever spider twisted from her womb Will serve to strangle thee; a rush will be A beam to hang thee on; or would'st thou drown thyself," I do suspect thee very grievously. Hub. If I in act, consent, or sin of thought, 8 Bast. the degrees of their guilt. The author of it observes how difficult it would be, on this account, to distinguish betwen Belzebub and Judas Iscariot. Steevens. 71 - drown thyself.] Perhaps thyself is an interpolation. It certainly spoils the measure; and drown is elsewhere used by our author as a verb neuter. Thus, in King Richard III: "Good lord, methought, what pain it was to drown.” Steevens. 3 I am amaz'd,] i. e. confounded. So, King John, p. 382, says: I was amaz'd 66 "Under the tide." Steevens. To tug and scamble,] So, in King Henry V, sc. i: "But that the scambling and unquiet time." Scamble and scramble have the same meaning. See note on the passage quoted. Steevens. 1 The unowed interest] i. e. the interest which has no proper owner to claim it. Steevens. That is, the interest which is not at this moment legally possessed by any one, however rightfully entitled to it. On the |