(Which, heaven defend, a knight should violate!) [He takes his seat. Trumpet sounds. Enter BOLINGBROKE, in armour; preceded by a Herald. K. Rich. Marshal, ask yonder knight in arms, 4 And formally according to our law Depose him in the justice of his cause. Mar. What is thy name? and wherefore com'st thou hither, Before king Richard, in his royal lists? Boling. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, Am I; who ready here do stand in arms, To prove, by heaven's grace, and my body's valour, 3 - my succeeding issue,] His is the reading of the first folio; other editions read-my issue. Mowbray's issue, was by this accusation, in danger of an attainder, and therefore he might come, among other reasons, for their sake: but the reading of the folio is more just and grammatical. Johnson. The three oldest quartos read my, which Mr. M. Mason prefers, because, says he, Mowbray subjoins "To prove him, in defending of myself, and my succeeding issue,] Thus the first quarto. The folio reads-his succeeding issue. The first quarto copy of this play, in 1597, being in general much more correct than the folio, and the quartos of 1608, and 1615, from the latter of which the folio appears to have been printed, I have preferred the elder reading. Malone. 4 Marshal, ask yonder knight in arms,] Why not, as before: Marshal, demand of yonder knight in arms. The player, who varied the expression, was probably ignorant that he injured the metre. The insertion, however, of two little words would answer the same purpose: Marshal, go ask of yonder knight in arms. Ritson In lists, on Thomas Mowbray duke of Norfolk, Mar. On pain of death, no person be so bold, Boling. Lord marshal, let me kiss my sovereign's hand, And bow my knee before his majesty: And loving farewel, of our several friends. Mar. The appellant in all duty greets your highness, And craves to kiss your hand, and take his leave. K. Rich. We will descend, and fold him in our arms. The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet: 5 waxen coat,] Waxen may mean soft, and consequently penetrable, or flexible. The brigandines or coats of mail, then in use, were composed of small pieces of steel quilted over one ano And furbish new the name of John of Gaunt, Gaunt. Heaven in thy good cause make thee pros perous! Be swift like lightning in the execution; Nor. [rising] However heaven, or fortune, cast my lot, Go I to fight; Truth hath a quiet breast. ther, and yet so flexible as to accommodate the dress they form to every motion of the body. Of these many are still to be seen in the Tower of London. Steevens. The object of Bolingbroke's request is, that the temper of his lance's point might as much exceed the mail of his adversary, as the iron of that mail was harder than wax. Henley. 6 And furbish] Thus the quartos, 1608 and 1615. The folio reads-furnish. Either word will do, as to furnish in the time of Shakspeare signified to dress. So, twice in As you Like it: "furnished like a huntsman." -" - furnished like a beggar." Steevens, 7 Fall like amazing thunder on the casque ] To amaze, in ancient language, signifies to stun, to confound. Thus, in Arthur Hall's translation of the third Iliad, 4to. 1581: "And striking him upon the helme, his foe amazed makes." See also, King John, Act IV, sc. iii. Steevens. 8 Mine innocency,] Old copies-innocence. Corrected by Mr. Steevens. Malone. 9 This feast of battle - "War is death's feast," is a proverbial saying. See Ray's Collection. Steevens. 1 As gentle and as jocund, as to jest,] Not so neither. We should read to just; i, e. to tilt or tourney, which was a kind of sport too. Warburton. K. Rich. Farewel, my lord: securely I espy Virtue with valour couched in thine eye.Order the trial, marshal, and begin. [The King and the Lords return to their seats. Mar. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, Receive thy lance; and God defend the right! Boling. [rising] Strong as a tower in hope, I cry amen. Mar. Go bear this lance [to an Offi.] to Thomas duke of Norfolk. 1 Her. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, Stands here for God, his sovereign, and himself, On pain to be found false and recreant, To prove the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray, A traitor to his God, his king, and him, And dares him to set forward to the fight. 2 Her. Here standeth Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, On pain to be found false and recreant, Mar. Sound, trumpets; and set forward, combatants. [A charge sounded. Stay, the king hath thrown his warder down.2 The sense would perhaps have been better if the author had written what his commentator substitutes; but the rhyme, to which sense is too often enslaved, obliged Shakspeare to write jest, and obliges us to read it. The commentators forget that to jest sometimes signifies in old language to play a part in a mask. Thus, in Hieronimo: "He promised us in honour of our guest, "To grace our banquet with some pompous jest." and accordingly a mask is performed. Farmer. Dr. Farmer has well explained the force of this word. So, in The Third Part of King Henry VI: 66 as if the tragedy "Were play'd in jest by counterfeited actors." Tollet. 2- hath thrown his warder down.] A warder appears to have been a kind of truncheon carried by the person who presided at these single combats. So, in Daniel's Civil Wars, &c. B. I: K. Rich. Let them lay, by their helmets and their spears, And both return back to their chairs again:- Draw near, [A long flourish. [To the Combatants. And list, what with our council we have done. To wake our peace, which in our country's cradle 6 "When lo, the king, suddenly changed his mind, 3 With that dear blood which it hath fostered;) The quartos read With that dear blood which it hath been foster'd. I believe the author wrote With that dear blood with which it hath been foster'd. The quarto, 1608, reads, as in the text. Steevens. Malone. 4 And for we think the eagle-winged pride &c.] These five verses are omitted in the other editions, and restored from the first of 1598. Pope. 5-set you on -) The old copy reads-on you. Corrected by Mr. Pope. Malone. 6 To wake our peace, Which so rous'd up Might-fright fair peace,] Thus the sentence stands in the common reading absurdly enough; which made the Oxford editor, instead of fright fair peace, read, be affrighted; as if these latter words could ever, possibly, have been blundered into the former by transcribers. But his business is to alter as his fancy leads him, not to reform errors, as the text and rules of criticism direct. In a word then, the true original of the blunder |