P. 411. Persons represented. to King Henry Il. by Rosamond Clifford.

ACT I.

SCENE 1.

P. 411. c. 1, . 10. In my behaviour,] In my behaviour means, I think, in the words and action that I am now going to use. MALONE. Id l. 47. - the manage-] i. e. conduct, ad

ministration.

Id c. 2 1 40. But whe'r-] Whe'r for whether. Id.l. 51. He hath a trick of Caur-de-lion's face,]

By a trick, in this place, is meant some peculiarity of look or motion.

P. 412, c. 1, 1.7. With that half-face-] The poet sneers at the meagre sharp visage of the elder brother, by comparing him to a silver groat, that bore the king's face in profile, so showed but half the face: the groats of all our kings of England, and indeed all their coins of silver, one or two only excepted, had a full face crowned; till Henry VII. at the time abovementioned, coined groats, and half-groats, as also some shillings, with half faces, i. e. faces in profile, as all our coin has now. Id. 1. 24. took it on his death, i. e. 'entertained it as his fixed opinion, when he was dying.

Id. 1. 51. Lord of thy presence, and no land beside? Lord of his presence apparently signifies, great in his own person, and is used in this sense by king John in one of the following scenes.

Id.1 53. And I had his, sir Robert his, like him;] This is obscure and ill-expressed. The meaning is-If I had his shape, sir Robert's-as he has

Id. l. 57.

.my face so thin,

That in mine ear I durst not stick a rose, Lest men should say, Look, where threefarthings goes! In this very obscure passage our poet is anticipating the date of another silver coin; humorously to rally a thin face, eclipsed, as it were, by a full-blown rose. We must observe, to explain this allusion, that queen Elizabeth was the first, and indeed the only prince, who coined in England three-halfPence, and three-farthing pieces. Id. l. 58. And, to his shape, were heir to all this land.]"To his shape," means, in addition to the shape he had been just describing. Id. l. 61. I would not be sir Nob-] Sir Nob is used contemptuously for sir Robert.

Id.

c. 2. 1.7. Something about, a little from the
right, &c.] This speech, composed of allusive
and proverbial sentences, is obscure. I am.
says the sprightly knight, your grandson, a
little irregularly, but every man cannot get
what he wishes the legal way. He that dares
not go about his designs by day, must make
his motions in the night; he, to whom the door
is shut, must climb the window, or leap the
hatch. This, however, shall not depress me;
for the world never inquires how any man got
what he is known to possess, but allows that
to have is to have, however it was caught,
and that he who wins, shot well, whatever
was his skill, whether the arrow fell near the
mark, or far off it. JOHNSON,

Id. 1. 23. Good den,] i. e. a good evening.
Id. l. 27. 'Tis too respective, and too sociable,

For your conversion.] Respective, is respectful, formal. Conversion seems to mean, his late change of condition from a private gentleman to a knight. STEEVENS. Id. 1. 31. My picked man of countries:] i. e. my travell'd fop.

Id. 1 34.- like an ABC-book :] An ABC-book, or, as they spoke and wrote it, an absey-book, is a catechism.

Id. l. 45. For he is but a bastard to the time, &c.] He is accounted but a mean man in the present age.

P. 413, c.1, 1. 9. Knight, knight, good mother,

Basilisco-like: Faulconbridge's words here carry a concealed piece of satire on a stupid drama of that age, printed in 1599, and called Soliman and Perseda. In this piece there is a character of a bragging cowardly knight, called Basilico.

ACT II. SCENE I.

Id. l. 57. At our importance-] At our importunity.

Id. c. 2, 13. To cull the plots of best advantages:] i. e. to mark such stations as might over-awe the town.

Id. I 34. expedient-] Immediate, expe

dititious.

Id. l. 39. "the king's deceased :"-MALONE.
Id. l. 49. - scath-] Destruction, harm.
Id. 1.73. -under-wrought—] i. e. underworked,

undermined. P. 414, c. 1, l. 3. -this brief-] A brief is a short writing, abstract, or description. Id. l. 33. — an if thou wert his mother.] Constance alludes to Elinor's infidelity to her husband, Lewis the Seventh, when they were in the Holy Land; on account of which he was divorced from her. She afterwards (1151) married our king Henry II

Id. 1. 41. One that will play the devil, sir, with

to him.

Id. c. 2. l. 15, I have but this to say,

That he's not only plagued for her sin, But God hath made her sin and her the plague, &c.] The commentators have laboured hard to make out a meaning in this passage. The following by Mr. Henley seems as satisfactory as any. Young Arthur is here represented as not only suffering from the guilt of his grandmother; but also, by her, in person, she being made the very instrument of his sufferings. As he was not her immediate, but REMOVED issue-the second generation from her sin-conceiving womb-it might have been expected, that the evils to which, upon her account, he was obnoxious, would have incidentally befallen him; instead of his being punished for them all, by her immediate infliction.-He is not only plagued on account of her sin, according to the threatening of the commandment, but she is preserved alive to be the instrument of inflicting on her grandchild the penalty annexed to her sin: so that he is plagued on her account, and with her plague, which is, her sin, that is [taking, by a common figure, the cause for the consequence] the penalty entailed upon it. His injury, or the evil he suffers, her sin brings upon him, and HER injury, or, the evil she inflicts, he suffers from her, as the beadle to her sin, or executioner of the punishment annexed to it. Id. 1. 26. It ill beseems this presence, to cry aim-]

To cry aim is borrowed probably from archery, and means to incite notice, or raise attention.

Id. 1. 49. - your winking gates;] i. e. gates hastily closed from an apprehension of danger. Id. 1 67. Forwearied-li. e. worn out, Sax. P. 415, c. 1, 1. 3. To him that owes it;] i. e. owns it.

Id

means the same as the French rondeur, i. e. the circle.

SCENE II.

c. 2, l. 16. ——cannot be censured:] i. e. cannot be estimated. Our author ought rather to have written whose superiority, or whose inequality, cannot be censured.

Id. 1. 28. roam on?"-MALONE.

Id. 147. mousing the flesh," &c.-MALONE.
Id. 1 51. You equal potents,] Potents, for poten-

tates.

Id. 1. 67. King'd of our fears;] i. e. ruled by our fears. Id. l. 69.- these scroyles of Angiers-] Escroulles, Fr. i. e. scabby, scrophulous fellows. Id. l. 75. Do like the mutines of Jerusalem,] The mutines are the mutineers, the seditions. P. 416 c. 1, l. 1. Till their soul-fearing clamourt - i. e. soul-appalling.

Id. l. 46. -the lady Blanch,] The lady Blanch was daughter to Alphonse the Ninth, king of of Castile, and was niece to king John by his sister Eleanor.

Id. l. 71.- — at this match,

Id

Id.

Id.

With swifter spleen, &c.] Our author uses
spleen for any violent hurry, or tumultuous
speed.
1 79. Here's a stay.] Some of the commes-
tators think that stay means a hinderer, and
others, a supporter, ot partizan.

c. 2, l. 50. Drawn in the flattering table of
her eye.] Table is picture, or rather, the board
or canvas on which any object is painted. Ta-
1. 78.
bleau, Fr.

Volquessen.] This is the ancient name for the country Low called the Vesis; in Latin, Pagus Velocassinus. That part of it called the Norman Vexin, was in dispute between Philip and John.

P 417, e 1, l. 7. — I am well assur'd,

Id.

That I did so, when I was first assur'd.] Assur'd is here used both in its common sense, and in an uncommon one, where it signifies afL. 16. She is sad and passionate-] Passio fianced, contracted. nate, in this instance, does not signify disposed to anger, but a prey to mournful sensations. departed with a part:] To part and Id. l. 39. to depart were formerly synonymous. Id. 1. 41. — rounded in the ear-] i. e. whispered in the ear.

Id. 7 50. Commodity, the bias of the world;" Commodity is interest.

Id. 1. 67. But for-] i. e. because.

Nothing, the father of Hero, depressed by her disgrace, declares himself so subdued by grief. | that a thread may lead him. How is it that grief, in Leonato and lady Constance, produces effects directly opposite, and yet both agreeable to nature? Sorrow softens the mind while it is yet warmed by hope, but hardens it when it is congealed by despair. Distress, while there remains any prospect of relief, is weak and flexible, but when no succour remains, is fearless and stubborn; angry alike at those that injure, and at those that do not help; careless to please where nothing can be gained, and fearless to offend when there is nothing further to be dreaded. Such was this writer's knowledge of the passions. Johnson, "here I and sorrows sit;"

P. 417, c. 2 1. 72.

-MALONE.

Id. l. 18 But on this day,] that is, except on this day.

Id. L. 44. O Lymoges! O Austria !] The propriety

or impropriety of these titles, which every editor has suffered to pass unnoted, deserves a little consideration. Shakspeare has, on this occasion, followed the old play, which at once furnished him with the character of Faulconbridge, and ascribed the death of Richard I. to the duke of Austria. In the person of Austria he has conjoined the two well-known enemies of Coeur-de-lion. Leopold, duke of Austria, threw him into prison, in a former expedition [in 1193]; but the castle of Chaluz, before which he fell [in 1199] belonged to Vidomar, viscount of Limoges; and the archer who pierced his shoulder with an arrow (of which wound he died) was Bertrand de Gourdon. The editors seem hitherto to have understood Lymoges as being an appendage to the title of Austria, and therefore enquired no further about it. STEEVENS.

Id. c. 2, 1. 3. What earthly name to interrogatories

Can task the free breath, &c] i. e. What earthly name subjoined to interrogatories, can force a king to speak and answer them? Id. l. 72. --a new untrimmed bride.] i. e. undressed.

P. 419, c. 1, 7. 29. this kind regreet?] A reqreet is an exchange of salutation. Id. 1. 59. Is not amiss, when it is truly done;] i. e. that, which you have sworn to do amiss, is not amiss, (i. e. becomes right) when it is done truly (that is, as he explains it, not done at all); and being not done, where it would be a sin to do it; the truth is most done when do it not: Other parts of this speech you have puzzled the commentators, who have, in turn, puzzled their readers.

Id. c. 2, .15. - be measures-] The measures,

it has already been more than once observed, were a species of solemn dance in our author's time.

Id. 1. 30. I muse,] i. e. I wonder

SCENE III.

P. 420, c. 1, l. 24. Bell, book, and candle-] In an account of the Romish curse given by Dr. Grey, it appears that three candles were extinguished, one by one, in different parts of the

execration.

Id. l. 53 — full of gawds,] Gawds are any showy

ornaments.

but yesterday suspire,] i. e. breathe. ——a gracious creature born.] Gracious, graceful.

Id. l. 48. had you such a loss as I,

Id.

I could give better comfort-] This is a sentiment which great sorrow always dictates. Whoever cannot help himself casts his eyes on others for assistance, and often mistakes their inability for coldness. JOHNSON. 1. 57. There's nothing in this, &c.] The young prince feels his defeat with more sensibility

in the earlier years; a

than his father. Shame oh most strongly

can disgrace be less welcome than when a man is going to his bride? JOHNSON.

Id. l. 60. “sweet word's taste,”-MALONE: who says that the sweet word is life. Id. 1. 54. "strange actions :"-MALONE.

Id.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.

l. 58. Northampton.] The fact is, that Arthur was first confined at Falaise, and afterwards at Rouen, in Normandy, where he was put to death-Our author has deviated, in this particular, from the history, and brought king John's nephew to England; but there is no circumstance, either in the original play, or in this of Shakspeare, to point out the particular castle in which he is supposed to be confined. The castle of Northampton has been mentioned, in some modern editions, as the place, merely because, in the first Act, King John seems to have been in that town. In the old copy there is no where any notice of place.

P. 422, c. 1, 7. 62. "I would not have believ'd him; no tongue, but Hubert's " MALONE. Id. l. 37.tarre him on.] i. e. st mulate, set him on. Supposed to be derived from

excito.

Id 1 55. Go closely in with me.] i. e. secretly, privately.

SCENE II.

Id. 1. 73. To guard-] i. e. to fringe, or lace

LE

P. 423, c. 1, l. 13. They do confound their skill in covetousness:] i. e. not by their avarice, but in an eager emulation, an intense desire of excelling.

Id. 1. 33. To sound the purposes-] To declare, to publish the desires of all those.

Id. l. 45. —— good exercise?] In the middle ages, the whole education of princes and noble youths consisted in martial exercises, &c. These could not be easily had in a prison, where mental improvements might have been afforded as well as any where else; but this sort of education never entered into the thoughts of our active, warlike, but illiterate nobility. PERCY. Id. c_2, 1. 40. How wildly then walks my estate in France!] i. e. how ill my affairs go in France! -The verb, to walk, is used with great license by old writers.

Id. 1. 51. I was amaz'd-] i. e. stunned, confounded.

Id. 1. 61. And here's a prophet,] This man was a hermit in great repute with the common people. Notwithstanding the event is said to have fallen out as he had prophesied, the poor fellow was inhumanly dragged at horses' tails through the streets of Warham, and, together with his son, who appears to have been even more innocent than his father, hanged afterwards upon a gibbet. See Holinshed's Chronicle, under the year 1213.

Id. 173. Deliver him to safety,] That is, Give him into safe custody.

P. 424, c. 1, l. 27. five moons were seen tonight: &c.] This incident is mentioned by few of our historians. I have met with it no where but in Matthew of Westminster and Polydore Virgil, with a small alteration. These kind of appearances were more common about that time

than either before or since. GREY. Id. l. 45. - slippers, (which his nimble haste Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet).] Dr. Johnson says, "I know not how the commentators understand this important passage, which in Dr Warburton's edition, is marked as eminently beautiful, and, on the whole, not without justice. But Shakspeare seems to have confounded the man's shoes with his gloves. He that is frighted or hurried may put his hand into she wrong glove, but either shoe will equally admit either foot. The author seems to be

true defence. Honest defeize a fence in a good cause.

Id. l. 72. Do not prove me BD7

Yet, I am none;

Do not make me a ur derer, by compelling me to k you; 15 hitherto not a murderer.

Id. c. 2, l. 14. Like rivers of remorse-1 Bearhere, as almost every where in these p the contemporary books, sinthes para Id l. 49. I am amaz'd, L. e. confummare

Id. l. 55. To tug and scambe Sc

scramble have the same mean..

Id. l. 56. The unowed interest-Le, the ans which has no proper owner to cam & Id. l. 63. The imminent decay of wreslet v i. e. greatness obtained by rence, at Thin greatness wrested from its possessat.

ACT V.

SCENE L.

The commentators have produced many pas sages to prove the shoe, boot, &c. were right and left legged, as they are now.

Id. 1. 57. It is the curse of kings, &c ] This plainly hints at Davison's case, in the affair of Mary Queen of Scots.

Id. 1 63.-advis'd respect.] i. e. deliberate consideration.

Id. 172. Quoted,] i. e. observed, distinguished. Id. c. 2, 1.2. Hadst thou but shook thy head, &c.]

There are many touches of nature in this conference of John with Hubert. A man engaged in wickedness would keep the profit to himself, and transfer the guilt to his accomplice. These reproaches, vented against Hubert, are not the words of art or policy, but the eruptions of a mind swelling with a consciousness of a crime, and desirous of discharging its misery on another.

This account of the timidity of guilt is drawn ab ipsis recessibus mentis, from the intimate knowledge of mankind, particularly that line in which he says, that to have bid him tell his tale in express words, would have struck him dumb; nothing is more certain than that bad men use all the arts of fallacy upon themselves, palliate their actions to their own minds by gentle terms, and hide themselves from their

convertite is a convert.

SCENE II.

Id. c. 2, 1.7. the precedent, §ojiet
rough draft of the original treaty between t
Dauphin and the English lords.
Id. l. 34. -the spot of this enforced case

Spot probably means stain or disgrace. Id.l. 38.- clippeth thee about,, i, e. empracti Id. 1. 48. Between compulsion, and a brare re

spect!] This compulsion was the necessity a reformation in the state; which, acerti to Salisbury's opinion (who, in his spee preceding, calls it an enforced cause,c only be procured by foreign arms: and D brave respect was the love of his country. P. 427, c. 1, 7. 32. - as I have back`d the

towns? i. e. sailed along the banks of à river.

Id. 1. 36. "No, no, on my soul, &e "-MALONE. Id. . 41. drew this gallant head of war

i. e. assembled it, drew it out into the f Id. 1. 43. -outlook-] i. e. face down, ber down by a show of magnanimity.

Id

1. 68. -take the hatch: To take the hatch, is to leap the hatch To take a hedg or a ditch is the hunter's phrase.

P. 428, c. 1, l. 1. He means-] The Frenchman, i. e. Lewis, means, &c.

Id. l. 11. -even as a form of wax

Resolveth, &c.] This is said in allusion to the images made by witches. Holinshed observes, that it was alledged against dame Eleanor Cobham and her confederates, "that they had devised an image of wax, representing the king, which, by their sorcerie, by little and little consumed, intending thereby, in conclusion, to waste and destroy the king's person."

Id. 1. 24. . -rated treachery,] i. e. The Dauphin

has rated your treachery, and set upon it a fine, which your lives must pay. Id. 7. 48. happy newness, &c.] Happy innovation, that purposed the restoration of the ancient rightful government.

Id.

SCENE VI.

c. 2, 1. 32. The king, I fear, is poison'd by a monk:] Not one of the historians who wrote within sixty years after the death of king John, mentions this very improbable story. The tale is, that a monk, to revenge himself on the king for a saying at which he took offence, poisoned a cup of ale, and having brought it to his majesty, drank some of it himself, to induce the king to taste it, and Soon afterwards expired. Thomas Wykes is the first, who relates it in his Chronicle as a report, but a more particular account may be seen in Fox's "Acts and Monuments," vol. i. According to the best accounts, John died at Newark, of a fever.

SCENE VII.

Id. l. 75. "Leaves them invisible ;"-MALONE. P. 429, c. 1, l. 28. -so strait,] i. e. narrow, avaricious; an unusual sense of the word. Id. 1. 46. And module of confounded royalty.] i. e model. Id. 1. 52. Were in the washes all unwarily, &c.] This untoward accident really happened to king John himself. As he passed from Lynn to Lincolnshire, he lost by an inundation all his treasure, carriages, baggage, and regalia. Id. c. 2, l. 35. At Worcester must his body be interr'd:] A stone coffin, containing the body of king John, was discovered in the cathedral church of Worcester, July 17, 1797. STEE

VENS.