ALEXANDER DYCE'S NOTES

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THE LIFE OF KING HENRY V

PROLOGUE.

12. The vasty fields. Altered in the second folio to "The vasty field," which some modern editors prefer. This is not in the quartos.

16. little place.

W. N. Lettsom conjectures "little

Collier's Ms. Corrector, and Dyce read "possessions."

This is not in the quartos.

So the folio. The

34. With such a heady currance. second folio has "current" for "currance," which change Dyce adopts. This is not in the quartos. W. N. Lettsom says: 66 Knight and Grant White derive ‹ currance from the old French courance, but this means a flux; and, though Macbeth talks of scouring the English out of Scotland with purgative drugs, it is plain from the context that in our passage the scouring of a river is meant. 'Current,' therefore, seems much the safer reading."

52. this theoric. Walker (Crit. Exam. ii. 222) says: "Possibly [with the third folio] 'his theoric;' at any rate, 'this' seems odd."

86. The severals and unhidden passages. Johnson says: "This line I suspect of corruption, though it may be fairly enough explained; the passages of his titles are the lines of succession by which his claims descend. Unhidden is open, clear." Pope printed "The several and," etc.

SCENE II. 27. the swords. The folio reading. This is not in the quartos. Dyce reads "sword," comparing line 22 above, "our sleeping sword of war."

72.

To find his title. So the folio. The quarto and Dyce have To fine," etc. Dyce says: "Very probably the right reading is To line his title,' which was first suggested by Johnson."

94. Than amply to imbar their crooked titles. The first two quartos have "Then amply to imbace,” etc.; the third quarto has" Then amply to embrace," etc. The folio has “Then amply to imbarre,” etc. Rowe, in his first edition, printed "Than amply to make bare," etc., but in his second edition restored the reading of the folio. Pope substituted "Than openly imbrace," etc. Theobald, at Warburton's suggestion, gave “Than amply to imbare [that is, lay bare]," etc., which lection Dyce adopts, as he says, "for want of a better," thinking it not the only doubtful reading in this line; indeed, W. N. Lettsom pronounces "amply" to be "as sheer nonsense as 'imbarre.'

98-100. For in the Book of Numbers is it writ,

When the man dies, let the inheritance

Descend unto the daughter.

By the second line we are to understand, When the man dies, and has no son, let the inheritance, etc. The usual modern reading is that of the quartos," When the sonne

dyes," etc.; but, whatever had been the authority of the quartos (and they present only a skeleton of the play, though their assistance on some occasions is by no means to be slighted), I should have adopted, with Knight and Collier, the reading of the folio. The passage in Numbers (xxvii. 8) as cited by Holinshed is, "When a man dieth without a sonne, let the inheritance descend to his daughter;" and, as given in our common version, “If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter.” There is not a word in Scripture about the contingency of the son dying; and the law was declared in consequence of a claim put in by the daughters of Zelophehad, "who had no sons." Grant White and the Cambridge Editors agree with me in reading "When the man dies," etc.

125.

West. They know your grace hath cause and means and might. So the folio, which alone has the present passage. Walker (Crit. Exam. ii. 186) and Dyce make it the last line in Exeter's previous speech.

145. giddy. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitutes "greedy."

162. fame. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitutes "train.” 163. her chronicle. The quartos have " "your chronicle;" the folio has "their chronicle." The correction is Capell's (Johnson's conjecture).

175. crush'd necessity. So the folio. The quartos and Dyce have "curst necessity; that is, says Walker, "froward, perverse.”

177. pretty traps. Rann (Steevens's conjecture) reads "petty traps."

189.

The act of order. The folio reading; in defence of which Malone cites the corresponding passage of the quartos,

"creatures that by awe

Ordaine an act of order to a peopeld Kingdome."

W. N. Lettsom remarks: "Malone's quotation merely shows that the corruption is an old one; but what can we think of a critic who imagines that the phrase 'ordain an act' justifies the phrase teach the act'?" Pope, Collier's Ms. Corrector, and Dyce have "The art of order."

207-209. As many arrows, loosed several ways,

Come to one mark; as many ways meet in one town ;
As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea, etc.

So the folio. The quarto has

"As many Arrowes losed seuerall wayes, flye to one marke:

As many seuerall wayes meete in one towne:

As many fresh streames run in one selfe sea;

Dyce arranges the passage thus:

“As many arrows, loosed several ways,
Fly to one mark ;

As many several streets meet in one town ;

As many fresh streams run in one salt sea,"

and says: "That in this passage the word 'ways' was repeated [in the second line] by mistake can hardly be doubted; and I have substituted 'streets' at the suggestion of W. N. Lettsom, who compares The Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 5. 15, 16,

This world 's a city full of straying streets,

And death 's the market-place where each one meets.'

1 may add that run in one self sea is good old English, 'in' being formerly often used as equivalent to 'into.""

225. or there. The folio reading. Pope and Dyce omit "or." This is not in the quartos.

231-233.

or else our grave,

Like Turkish mute, shall have a tongueless mouth,

Not worshipp'd with a waxen epitaph.

So the folio. The quartos have

"Or else like toonglesse mutes

Not worshipt with a paper Epitaph.”

Walker and Dyce read "mutes."

248. King Edward the Third. Pope omitted “ King.” Walker (Crit. Exam. iii. 140) says: "I would expunge 'the,' and perhaps King.""

270. living hence. The folio reading, which Mason thinks" cannot be reconciled to sense.' This is not in the quartos. Dyce gives Hanmer's reading, "living here." Henry," observes W. N. Lettsom, "means that poor beggarly England was not his home, but that France was." Perhaps the original Ms. had "heere," which the compositor mistook for " hence."

274. Be like a king, and show my sail of greatness. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitutes "my soul of greatness ;” to which Singer (Shakespeare Vindicated, p. 123) says "there is little objection." But may not the metaphorical use of "sail" in the present line be defended by the following passage concerning another royal personage in 3 Henry VI. iii. 3. 4–6,