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table,] Portable, i. e, bearable.=40:) From over-credulous || place, is meant some peculiarity of look or motion. haste:] From over hasty credulity. = 41:) convinces-} With that half face-] The poet sneers at the meagre sharp i. e. overpowers, subdues. = 42:) The mere despair of survisage of the elder brother, by comparing him to a silver gery, he cures ;] Dr. Percy, in his notes on The Northum- groat, that bore the king's face in profile, so showed but berland Houshold Book, says, "that our ancient kings even half the face: the groats of all our kings of England, and in those dark times of superstition, do not seem to have indeed all their other coins of silver, one or two only exaffected the cure of the king's evil. This miraculous gift cepted, had a full face crowned; till Henry VII. at the time was left to be claimed by the Stuarts: our ancient Planta- above-mentioned, coined groats, and half-groats, as also genets were humbly content to cure the cramp." In this some shillings, with half-faces, i. e. faces in profile, as all assertion, however, the learned editor of the above curious our coin has now, = 7:) took it on his death,] i. e. envolume has been betrayed into a mistake, by relying too tertained it as his fixed opinion, when he was dying 8:) implicitly on the authority of Mr. Anstis. The power of Lord of thy presence, and no land besides?] Lord of his curing the king's evil was claimed by many of the Planta- presence apparently signifies, great in his own person, and genets,= 43:) - a golden stamp, &c.] This was the coin is used in this seuse by king John in one of the following called an angel, of the value of ten shillings. = 44:) My scenes.=9:) And I had his, sir Robert his, like him ;] This countryman; but yet I know him not.] Malcolm discovers is obscure and ill-expressed. The meaning is If I had Rosse to be his countryman, while he is yet at some dis. his shape, sir Robert's — as he has. = 10:) --my face so tance from him, by his dress. This circumstance loses its thin, That in mine ear I durst not stick a rose, || Lest propriety on our stage, as all the characters are uniformly men should say, Look, where three-farthings goes?] In this represented in English habits. STEEVENS. 45:) should very obscure passage our poet is anticipating the date of not latch them.] To latch any thing, is to lay hold of it.= another silver coin; humorously to rally a thin face, ec46:)-fee-grief] A peculiar sorrow; a grief that bath a lipsed, as it were, by a full-blown rose. We must observe, single owner. The expression is, at least to our cars, very to explain this allusion, that queen Elizabeth was the first, harsh. It must be allowed that, in both the foregoing in- and indeed the only prince, who coined in England threestances, the attorney has been guilty of a flat trespass on half-pence, and three farthing pieces. 11:) And, to his the poet. 47:) Were, on the quarry of these murder'd shape, were heir to all this land,] "To his shape," means, deer, Quarry is a term used both in hunting and falconry. in addition to the shape he had been just describing. =12:) In both sports it means the game after it is killed. = 48:) I would not be sir Nob-] Sir Nob is used contemptuously At one fell swoop?] Swoop is the descent of a bird of prey for sir Robert.13:) "but rise more great;"MALONE.= on his quarry. =49:) Cut short al intermission;] i. e. all|| 14:) Arise sir Richard, and Plantagenet.] It is a common pause, all intervening time. 50:) if he 'scape, Hea- opinion, that Plantagenet was the surname of the royal ven forgive him too! That is, if he escape my vengeance, house of England, from the time of King Henry II., but it let him escape that of Heaven also. == is, as Camden observes, in his Remaines, 1614, a popular mistake. Plantagenet was not a family name, but a nickname, by which a grandson of Geffrey, the first Earl of ACT V. = 1:) Since his majesty went into the field,] Anjou, was distinguished, from his wearing a broom stalk in his bonnet. But this name was never borne either by the This is one of Shakspeare's oversights. He forgot that he first Earl of Anjou, or by King Henry II., the son of that had shut up Macbeth in Dunsinane, and surrounded him with besiegers. 2:) "are shut." MALONE. = 3:) — Hell is earl by the Empress Maude; he being always called Henry murky!] Murky is dark. Lady Macbeth is acting over, in Fitz-Empress; his son, Richard Coeur-de-lion; and the a dream, the business of the murder of Duncan, and enprince who is exhibited in the play before us, John sanscouraging her husband as when awake. She, therefore, terre, or lack-land. MALONE. 15:) Something about, a would not have even hinted the terrors of hell to one whose little from the right, &c.] This speech, composed of allusive conscience she saw was too much alarmed already for her and proverbial sentences, is obscure. I am, says the sprightly purpose. She certainly imagines herself here talking to knight, your grandson, a little irregularly, but every man Macbeth, who, (she supposes,) had just said, Hell is murky, cannot get what he wishes the legal way. He that dares (i. e. hell is a dismal place to`go to in consequence of such not go about his designs by day, must make his motions in a deed,) and repeats his words in contempt of his cowarthe night; he, to whom the door is shut, must climb the dice. 4:) window, or leap the hatch. This, however, shall not deyou mar all with this starting.] Alluding to the terrors of Macbeth, when the ghost broke in on the press me; for the world never inquires how any man got what he is known to possess, but allows that to have is to festivity of the banquet. = 5:) My mind she has mated,] i, e. amated, dismayed. 6:) Excite the mortified man.] í. e. a have, however it was caught, and that he who wins, shot well, whatever was his skill, whether the arrow fell near religious, an ascetic. 7:)-unrough youths ] i. e. smoothfaced, unbearded. = 8:) When all that is within him does the mark, or far off it. JoHNSON. 16:) Good den,] i. e. a condemn Itself, for being there? That is, when all the fa- For your conversion.] Respective, is respectful, formal. good evening. 17:) 'Tis too respective, and too sociable, culties of the mind are employed in self-condemnation.= 9:)—the medeciu-] i. e. physician. 10:) "All mortal conConversion seems to mean, his late change of condition sequences have pronounced, &c.- MALONE. = 11:) "upon picked man of countries:] i. e. my travell'd fop. from a private gentleman to a knight. STEEVENS.=18:) My 19:) thee." -MALONE. = 12:) Shall never sagg with doubt,] To like an ABC-book:] An ABC-book, or, as they spoke and sag, or swag, is to sink down by its own weight, or by an overload. = 13:)-loon!] At present this word is only used wrote it, an absey book, is a catechism. : 20:) For he is but a bastard to the time, &c.] He is accounted but a mean in Scotland, and signifies a base fellow.=14:) I have liv'd long enough: my way of life, &c.] As there is no relation man in the present age. 21:) Colbrand-] Colbrand was a between the way of life, and fallen into the sear, I am inDanish giant, whom Guy of Warwick discomfited in the clined to think that the IV is only au M inverted, and that presence of King Athelstan. = 22:) Good leave, &c.] Good leave means a ready assent. = 23:) Philip? — sparrow!] A it was originally written: - my May of life I am now passed from the spring to the autumn of my days: but I sparrow is called Philip. 24:) There's toys abroad; &c.] um without those comforts that should succeed the spright-ie. rumours, idle reports. 25:) Knight, kuight, good mother, - Basilisco-like:] Faulconbridge's words here carry a liness of bloom, and support me in this melancholy season. The author has May in the same sense elsewhere. JoHNconcealed piece of satire on a stupid drama of that age, SON. This opinion, however, has been ably controverted by printed in 1599, and called Soliman and Perseda. In this some of the commentators. 15:) -the sear,] Sear is dry. piece there is a character of a bragging cowardly knight, 16:)skirr the country round;] To skirr, signifies to scour, to ride hastily. 17:) cast The water of my land, To cast the water was the phrase in use for finding out disorders by the inspection of urine. = 18:) — arbitrate:] i. e. determine. = 19:)-fell of hair-] My hairy part, my capillitium. Fell is skin. 20:) "do't." — MALONE. 21:) Till famine cling thee:] Clung, in the Northern counties, signifies any thing that is shrivelled or shrunk up. = Seems bruited. From bruit, Fr. To bruit is to report with clamour; to noise.=23:) As easy may'st thou the intrenchant air-] That is, air which cannot be cut. =24:) — palter with us in a double sense;] That shuffle with ambiguous expressions. 25:) "And so," &c. - MALONE. = 26:)—thy king dom's pearl,] Thy kingdom's pearl means thy kingdom's wealth, or rather ornament. 27:) "Hail, king of Scotland!"- MALONE.=

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XVI. KING JOHN.

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ACT II. =1:) At our importance-] At our importunity. 2:) To cull the plots of best advantages:] i. e. to mark such stations as might over awe the town. = = 3:) - expedient- Immediate, expeditious. 4:) "the king's deceased:"- MALONE. = 5:)—scath-] Destruction, harm.

underwrought-i.e. underworked, undermined = 7:) scription. = 8:)this brief-] A brief is a short writing, abstract, or de- 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.=9:) One that will play the devil, sir, with you, An 'a may catch your hide and you alone.] The story is, that Austria, who killed king Richard Coeur-de-lion, wore, as the spoil of that prince, a lion's hide, which had belonged to him. 10:) 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,

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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 her second generation, to be the instrument of inflicting on her grand child 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.=11:) It ill bescems this presence, to cry aim-] To cry aim is borrowed probably from archery, and means to incite notice, or raise attention.

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12:)-your winking gates;] i. e. gates hastily closed from an apprehension of danger. 13:) Forwearied-] i. e. worn out, Sax.= 14:) To him that owes it;] i. e. owns it.=15:) Tis not the roundure, &c.] Roundure means the same as the French rondure, i. e. the circle. 16:) cannot be censur'd:] i. e. cannot be estimated. Our author ought rather to have written whose superiority, or whose inequality, cannot be censured. 17:) "roam on?”. MALONE. 18:) "mousing the flesh," &c. - MALONE. 19:) You equal po tents,] Potents, for potentates.=20:) King'd of our fears;] i. e. ruled by our fears. =21:)- these scroyles of Angiers-] Escroulles, Fr. i. e. scabby, scrophulous fellows. 22:) Do like the mutines of Jerusalem,] The mutines are the mutineers, the seditious. 23:) Till their soul-fearing clamours] i. e. soul-appalling.=24:) the lady Blanch,] The lady Blanch was daughter to Alphonso the Ninth, king of Castile, and was niece to king John by his sister Eleanor. =25:) at this match, || With swifter spleen, &c.] Our author uses spleen for any violent hurry, or tumultuous speed. =26:) Here's a stay,] Some of the commentators think that stay means a hinderer, and others, a supporter, or parti= 27:) Drawn in the flattering table of her eye.] Table is picture, or rather, the board or canvas on which any object is painted. Tableau, Fr. = 28:) — Volquessen,] This is the ancient name for the country now called the Vexin; in Latin, Pagus Velocassinus. That part of it called the Norman Verin, was in dispute between Philip and John. 29:) I am well assur'd, || 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 affianced, contracted.30:) She is sad and passionate-] Passionate, in this instance, does not signify disposed to anger, but a prey to mournful sensations.—31:) - departed with a part: To part and to depart were formerly synonymous. 32:) rounded in the ear-] i. e. whispered in the ear. = 33:) Commodity, the bias of the world;] Commodity is interest. =34:) But for -] i. e. because. =

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ACT III. = 1:) For I am sick, and capable of fears;] i. e. I have a strong sensibility; I am tremblingly alive to apprehension. = 2:) sightless-] The poet uses sightless for that which we now express by unsightly, disagreeable to the eyes. 3:) swart,] Swart is brown, inclining to black.4:)-prodigious,] That is, portentous, so deformed as to be taken for a foretoken of evil. 5:) "and makes its owner stoop."-MALONE. 6:) To me, and to the state of my great grief, Let kings assemble;] In Much Ado about 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 softeus 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. 7:) "here I and sorrows sit;-MALONE. 8:) - high tides,] i. e. solemn seasons. 9:) prodigiously be cross'd:] i. e. be disappointed by the production of a prodigy, a monster.=10:) But on this day,] that is, except on this day. =11:) 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 Cœur-de-lion. Leopold, duke of Austria, threw him into prison, in a former expedition [in 1198]; 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 ap pendage to the title of Austria, and therefore enquired no further about it. STEEVENS. =12:) 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?-13:)-a new untrimmed bride.] i. e. undressed. 14:)-this kind regreet?] A regreet is an exchange of salutation. 15:) is not amiss when it is truly done;] i. e. that, which you have sworn to do amies, is not

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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 you do it not: Other parts of this speech have puzzled the commentators, who have, in turn, puzzled their readers. = 18) be measures-] The measures, it has already been more than once observed, were a species of solemn dance in ear author's time. = 17:) I muse,] i. e. I wonder. 18:) Bell, book, and candle-1 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. = 19:) - full of gawds,] Gawds are any showy ornaments. 20:) "Sound one into," &c. MALONE. 21:) — using conceit alone,] Conceit here, as in many other places, sigur fies conception, thought. = 22:) Remember.] This is one of the scenes to which may be promised a lasting commend ation. Art could add little to its perfection; no change in dramatic taste can injure it; and time itself can subtract nothing from its beauties. STEEVENS. 23:) "For England, cousin, go."- MALONE. 24:)-of convicted sail-] Overpowered, baffled, destroyed. 25:) No, I defy, &c.] To defy anciently signified to refuse. 26:) Misery's love, de Thou, death, who art courted by misery, to come to his relief, O come to me.=27:)-modern invocation.] i. e. trite, common. 28:) Bind up those tresses;] It was necessary that Constance should be interrupted, because a passion so violent cannot be borne long. I wish the following speeches had been equally happy; but they only serve to show how difficult it is to maintain the pathetic long. JOHNSON.=2% but yesterday suspire,] i. e. breathe. 30:)—a gracious creature born.] Gracious, i. e. graceful.=31:) - -had you such a loss as I, || 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. = 32:) There's nothing in this, &c.] The young prince feels his defeat with more sensibility than his father. Shame. operates most strongly in the earlier years; and when cas disgrace be less welcome than when a man is going to his bride? JOHNSON. 33:) "sweet word's taste," — MALONE: who says that the sweet word is life. = 34:) “strange actions:"-1 - MALONE. =

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ACTIV. =1:) 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 Shat speare, 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 i that town. In the old copy there is no where any notice of place. 2:) "I would not have beliey'd him; no tongue, bat Hubert's." MALONE. 3:) tarre him on.] i. e. stimulate, set him on. Supposed to be derived from ragazza, exeito. = 4:) - Go closely in with me.] i. e. secretly, privately. = 5:) To guard-] i. e. to fringe, or lace. 6) They do confound their skill in covetousness:] i. e. not by their avarice, but in an eager emulation, an intense desire of excelling. 7:) To sound the purposes-] To declare, to publish the desires of all those. 8:) - good exercise?] In the middle ages, the whole education of princes and noble youths con sisted 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.=9:) 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 li- ' ceuse by old writers. 10:) I was amaz'd—] i. e. stunned, confounded. 11:) 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 Holiushed's Chronicle, under the year 1213.=12:) Deliver him to safety,] That is, Give him into safe custody. = 13:) — five moons were seen to-night: &c.] This incident is men tioned 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. Gast. 14:) -- slippers, (which his nimble haste || Had falsely thrust upon contráry feet,)] Dr. Johnson says, “I know net 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 Shak speare seems to have confounded the man's shoes with his gloves. He that is frighted or hurried may put his hand | into the wrong glove, but either shoe will equally admit either foot. The author seems to be disturbed by the disorder which he describes." The commentators have produced many passages to prove the shoe, boot, &c. were right and left legged, as they are now. = 15:) It is the curse of kings, &c] This plainly hints at Davison's case, in the af fair of Mary queen of Scots.=1t:)—adois'd respect.] i. e.

deliberate consideration. = 17:) Quoted-] i. e. observed, distinguished. 18:) 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 own detection in ambiguities and subterfuges. JoHNSON. =19:) "And bid," &c.— MALONE. 20:) The dreadful motion of a murd'rous thought,] Nothing can be falser than what Hubert here says in his own vindication; for we find, from a preceding scene, the motion of a murd'rous thought had entered into him, and that very deeply; and it was with difficulty that the tears, the entreaties, and the innocence of Arthur had diverted and suppressed it. WARBURTON.=21:) Whose private, &c.] i. e. whose private account of the Dauphin's affection to our cause is much more ample than the letters. = = 22:) - distemper'd -] e. ruffled, out of humour. = 23:) reason now.] To reason, in Shakspeare, is not so often to argue, as to talk. = 24:) — — 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. = 25:) · -true defence Honest defence; defence in a good cause. =26:) 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. 27:) Like rivers of remorse-] Remorse here, as almost every where in these plays, and the contemporary books, signifies pity.=28:) I am amaz'd,] i, e. confounded. 29:) To tug and scamble,] Scamble and scramble have the same meaning. 30:) The unowed interest-] i. e. the interest which has no proper owner to claim it. 31:) The imminent decay of wrested pomp.] i. e. greatness obtained by violence; or rather, greatness wrested from its pos

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ACT V. 1:) — a gentle convertite,] A convertite is a convert. = 2:) the precedet, &c.] i. e. the rough draught of the original treaty between the Dauphin and the English lords.—3:) — the spot of this enforced cause,)] Spot pro bably means, stain or disgrace. 4:) clippeth thee about,] i. e. embraceth. = 5:) Between compulsion, and a brave respect! This compulsion was the necessity of a reformation in the state; which, according to Salisbury's opinion, (who, in his speech preceding, calls it an enforced cause,) could only be procured by foreign arms: and the brave respect was the love of his country. 6:) as I have bank'd their towns?] i. e. sailed along the banks of the river.=7:) “No, no, on my soul, &c."— MALONE. = 8:) drew this gallant head of war,] i. e. assembled it, drew it out into the field. 9:)-outlook-1 i. e. face down, bear down by a show of magnanimity.=10:) - take the hatch;] To take the hatch, is to leap the hatch. To take a hedge or a ditch is the hunter's phrase. = 11:) — in concealed wells;] Concealed wells are wells in concealed or obscure situations; viz. in places secured from public notice. 12:) of your nation's crow,] i. e. at the crowing of a cock; gallus meaning both a cock and a Frenchman. 13:) his aiery towers,] An aiery is the nest of an eagle.=14:) Their neelds to lances,] i. e. needles. 15:) - Swinstead,] í. e. Swineshead. = 16:) · Richard-] Sir Richard Faulconbridge;- and yet the king, a little before, (Act III. sc. ii.) calls him by his original name of Philip. STEEVENS. =17:) He means-] The Frenchman, i. e. Lewis, means, &c. 18:) - 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, in tending thereby, in conclusion, to waste and destroy the king's person." 19:)-rated treachery,] i. e. The Dauphin has rated your treachery, and set upon it a fine, which your lives must pay. = 20:) happy newness, &c.] Happy innovation, that purposed the restoration of the ancient rightful government. 21:) "tattering" MALONE. 22:) keep good quarter,] i. e. keep in your allotted posts. =23:) 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. = 24:) "Leaves them invisible;"-MALONE.25:)-80 strait,] i. e. narrow, avaricious; an unusual sense of the word. 26:) And module of confounded royalty.] i. c. model.=27:) Were in the washes, all unwarily, &c.] This untoward accident really happened to king John himself. As he passed

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from Lynn to Lincolnshire, he lost by an inundation all his treasure, carriages, baggage, and regalia.=28:) 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. STEEVENS.=

XVII. KING RICHARD II.

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ACT I 1:) Duke of Aumerle,] Aumerle, or Aumale, is the French for what we now call Albemarle, which is a town in Normandy. The old historians generally use the French title. STEEVENS.=2:) Earl Berkley.] It ought to be Lord Berkley. There was no Earl Berkley till some ages after. STEEVENS. 8:) Lord Ross.] Nowelt Roos, one of the duke of Rutland's titles. STEEVENS.=4:) Our ancestors appear to have considered men as old, whom we should esteem middle-aged. John of Gaunt was at this time only 58 years old. 5:)—thy oath and band,] i. e. bond. 6:) right-drawn-] Drawn in a right or just cause. = 7:)-inhabitable-] That is, not habitable, uninhabitable.: that can inherit us, &c.] To inherit is no more than to possess, though such a use of the word may be peculiar to Shakspeare. 9:)-for lew'd-] Lewd, in our author, sometimes signifies wicked, and sometimes idle. 10:) Suggest -] i. e. prompt. 11:) this slander of his blood,] i. e. reproach to the king's ancestry.=12:)—my scepter's awe,] The reverence due to my scepter. = 13:) "no month to bleed." MALONE. 14:) - no boot.] That is, no use in delay, or refusal. 15:)- Lions make leopards tame.] There is a peculiar allusion here which has not been noticed. The Norfolk crest was a golden leopard. MALONE. In the next line Mr. Malone reads "his spots."—16:) · — atone you,] i. e. reconcile you.17:) Justice design-j i. e. mark out. = 18:) "Lord Marshal," —- MALONE. 19:) Duchess of Gloster.] The Duchess of Gloster was Eleanor Bohun, widow of duke Thomas, son of Edward III. =20:) the part-] That is, my relation of consanguinity to Gloster. 21:)-thou dost consent, &c.] i. e. assent. =22:) A caitiff-] Caitiff originally signified a prisoner; next a slave, from the condition of prisoners; then a scoundrel, from the qualities of a slave. 23:) Lord Marshal,] Shakspeare has here committed a slight mistake. The office of lord marshal was executed on this occasion by Thomas Holland, duke of Surrey. Our author has inadvertently introduced that nobleman as a distinct person from the marshal, in the present drama. Mowbray duke of Norfolk was the earl marshal of England; but being himself one of the combatants, the duke of Surrey officiated as earl marshal for the day. 24:)- Aumerle.] Edward duke of Aumerle, so created by his cousin german, King Richard II., in 1397. He was the eldest son of Edward of Langley duke of Norfolk, fifth son of Edward the Third, and was killed in 1415, at the battle of Agincourt. He offi ciated at the lists of Coventry, as high constable of England. =25:) "As so," i. e. as you hope that heaven and your valour may defend you. MALONE. 26:)-waxen coat,] 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. = 27:) Fall like amazing thunder on the casque-] To amaze, in ancient language, signifies to stun, to confound. = 28:) As gentle and as jocund, as to jest,] To jest sometimes signifies in old language to play a part in a mask. 2o:) — hath thrown his warder -] A warder appears to have been a kind of truncheon carried by the person who presided at these single combats. 30:) [And for we think the eaglewinged pride, &c.] These five verses are omitted in some editions, and restored from the first of 1598. Pore. 81:) "The sly-slow hours" MALONE. 32:) - compassionate; for plaintive. = 33:) (Out part, &c.] It is a question much debated amongst the writers of the law of nations, whether a banished man may be still tied in his allegiance to the state which sent him into exile. Tully and lord chancellor Clarendon declare for the affirmative: Hobbes and Puffendorf hold the negative. Our author, by this line, seems to be of the same opinion. WARBURTON. = 84:) advised-] i. e. concerted, deliberated. =35:) Norfolk, so far, &c.] Perhaps the author intended that Hereford, in speaking this line, should show some courtesy to Mowbray; and the meaning may be: So much civility as an enemy has a right to, I am willing to offer to thee.36:) And pluck nights from me, but not lend a morrow:] It is matter of very melancholy consideration, that all human advantages confer more power of doing evil than good. JOHNSON.37:)- Upon good advice,] Upon great consideration. 38:) A partial slander-] That is, the reproach of partiality. This is a just picture of the struggle between principle and affection. = 89)-the presence strew'd;] An allusion to the ancient practice of strewing rushes over the floor of the presence chamber.40:)-measure,] A measure was a formal court dance. 41:)-yet a trueborn Englishman.] Here the first Act ought to end, that between the first and second Acts there may be time for John of Gaunt to accompany his son, return, and fall sick. Then the first scene of the second Act begins with a natural conversation, interrupted by a message from John of Gaunt, by which the king is called to visit him, which visit is paid in the following scene. the play is now divided, more time passes between the two last scenes of the first Act, than between the first Act and

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the second. JOHNSON. = 42:) "Faith, none for me," i. e. none
43:) -
on my part. MALONE.
the tribute of his supple
knee,] To illustrate this phrase, it should be remembered
that courtesying, (the act of reverence now confined to wo-
men,) was anciently practised by men.44:) Expedient·
i. e. expeditious. = 45:) — for our coffers —] i. e. because.

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thered between two beds. =36:) "What, are there no posts,” &c.-MALONE.=37:) Come, sister, cousin, I would say:] This is one of Shakspeare's touches of nature. York is talking to the queen his cousin, but the recent death of his sister is in his mind, = 38:) "Thas disorderly "PALONR-39%) "Gentlemen, go," &c.— MALONE. thrust". =40:) "Will the hateful commons' MALONE. 41:) “gracious regent" MALONE. 42:) the absent time,] i. e. ACT II. 1:) the Duke of York,] was Edmund, son time of the king's absence. 43:) But then more why:] of Edward III. 2:) Report of fashions in proud Italy;]|| But, to add more questions =44:) And ostentation of des Our author, who gives to all nations the customs of Eng-pised arms?] The meaning of this probably a boastful land, and to all ages the manners of his own, has charged || display of arms which we despise. = 45:)—indifferent eye; the times of Richard with a folly not perhaps known then, i. e. with an impartial eye. = 46:) To rouse his wrongs. but very frequent in Shakspeare's time, and much lamented i. e. the persons who wrong him.=47:)—to sue my livery by the wisest and best of our ancestors. = = 3:) Where will here,] A law phrase belonging to the feudal tenures.=48) doth mutiny with wit's regard.] Where the will rebels against It stands your grace upon, to do him right.] i. e. it is your the notices of the understanding.=4:) “Against infestion," interest, it is matter of consequence to you. =49:) Mr. MaMALONE. = 5:) Fear'd by their breed,] i. e. by means of lone adds "In thee" to the preceding line.=50:) The bay their breed. = 6;) With inky blots,] Inky blots are written trees, &c.] This enumeration of prodigies is in the highest restrictions. = 7:) rotten parchment bonds;] Alluding to degree poetical and striking. JOHNSON. = the circumstances of Richard having actually farmed out his royal realm. And it afterwards appears that the persou who farmed the realm was the earl of Wiltshire, oue of his own favourites. = 8:) — Queen ;] Shakspeare, as Mr. Walpole suggests, has deviated from historical truth in the introduction of Richard's queen as a woman in the present piece; for Anne, his first wife, was dead before the play commences, and Isabella, his second wife, was a child at the time of his death. :) - Aumerle,] was Edward, eldest son of Edmund duke of York, whom he succeeded in the title. He was killed at Agincourt. 10:) - Ross,] was William lord Roos, (and so should be printed,) of Hamlake, afterwards lord treasurer to Henry IV. 11:) - Willough by,] was William lord Willoughby of Eresby, who afterwards married Joan, widow of Edmund duke of York.=12:)|| Which art possess'á now to depose thyself. Possess'd, in this second instance, was probably designed to meanafflicted with madness, occasioned by the internal operation of a dæmon. = 13:) Love they-] That is, let them love. =14:) "I do beseech". MALONE. 15:) · Northumberland.] Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland. 16:) "What says he?" MALONE. 17:)-where no venom else,] This alludes to a tradition that St. Patrick freed the kingdom of Ireland from venomous reptiles of every kind. 18:) Nor the prevention of poor Bolingbroke || About his marriage,] When the duke of Hereford, after his bauishment, went into France, he was honourably entertained at that court, and would have obtained in marriage the only daughter of the duke of Berry, uncle to the French king, had not Richard prevented the match. 19:) Accomplish'd with the number of thy hours;] i. e. when he was of thy age.= =20:) deny his offer'd homage,] that is, refuse to admit the homage, by which he is to hold his lands.=21:) "And quite lost their hearts:"-MALONE. =22:) And yet we strike not,]|| To strike the sails, is, to contract them when there is too much wind. = 23:) but securely perish.] We perish with too great confidence in our security. —— 24:) And unavoided—] for unavoidable. =25:) [The son of Richard earl of Arundel,] That late broke from the duke of Exeter,] I suspect that some of these lines are transposed, as well as that the poct has made a blunder in his enumeration of persons. No copy that I have seen, will authorize me to make an alteration, though according to Holinshed, whom Shakspeare followed in great measure, more than one is necessary, STEEVENS. For the insertion of the line included within crotchets, Mr. Malone is answerable; it not being found in the old copies. 26:) — archbishop late of Canterbury,] Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, brother to the earl of Arundel who was beheaded in this reign, had been banished by the parliament, and afterwards deprived by the pope of his see, at the request of the king; whence he is here called,|| late of Canterbury, = 27:) Imp out -] As this expression frequently occurs in our author, it may not be amiss to explain the original meaning of it. When the wing feathers of a hawk were dropped, or forced out by any accident, it was usual to supply as many as were delicient. This operation was called, to imp a hawk. 28:) gilt,] i. e. gilding; superficial display of gold. 29:) Like perspectives, &c.] The perspectives, here mentioned, were not pictures, but round crystal glasses, the convex surface of which was cut into faces, like those of the rose-diamond; the concave Jeft uniformly smooth. These crystals which were sometimes mounted on tortoise-shell box-lids, and sometimes fixed into ivory cases-if placed as here represented, would exhibit the different appearances described by the poet. The word shadows is here used in opposition to substance, for reflected images, and not as the dark forms of bodies, occasioned by their interception of the light that falls upon them. HENLEY.=30:) — might have retired his power,] Might have drawn it back. A French sense. == 31:) "And all the rest of the revolted faction, traitors?" MALONE. =32:) "the commons they are cold," MALONE. 33:) Get thee to Plashy,] The lordship of Plashy, was a town of the duchess of Gloster's in Essex. Its history and antiquities were published some years ago by Mr. Gough; but this work does not appear to have been consulted by the commentators. = 34:) untruth-] that is, disloyalty, treachery. 35:) The king had cut off my head with my brother's.] None of York's brothers had his head cut off, either by the king or any one else. The duke of Gloster, to whose death he probably alludes, was secretly murdered at Calais, being smo

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ACT III. 1:) Dispark'd my parks,] To dispark is to throw down the hedges of an enclosure, or to divest a park of its name and character by destroying the inclosures, and laying it open. =2:) From my own windows torn my household coat,] It was the practice when coloured glass was in use, of which there are still some remains in old seats and churches, to anneal the arms of the family in the windows of the house. 3:) Raz'd out my impress, &c.] The impress was a device or motto. = 4:) "call they,”—MALONE. = "After your late tossing" MALONE. 6:) "rebellion's arms. MALONE. 7:) He fires the proud tops of the eastern pines,] It is not easy to point out an image mort striking and beautiful than this, in any poet whether as cient or moderu. STEEVENS. = = 8:) Mine ear is open, ke It seems to be the design of the poet to raise Richard to esteem in his fall, and consequently to interest the reader in his favour. He gives him only passive fortitude, the virtue of a confessor, rather than of a king. In his presperity we saw him imperious and oppressive; but in his distress he is wise, paticnt, and pious. JOHNSON. = 9) Of double-fatal yew-] From some of the ancient statutes it appears that every Englishman, while archery was practised, was obliged to keep in his house either a bow of gee ot some other wood. It should seem therefore that yers were not only planted in church-yards to defend the churches from the wind, but on account of their use in making bors; while by the benefit of being secured in enclosed places, their poisonous quality was kept from doing mischief to cattle. STEEVENS. = = 10:)—there the autic sits,] Here is an allusion to the antic or fool of old farces, whose chief part is to deride and disturb the graver and more splendid personages. JOHNSON.=11:) Tradition,] This word seems here used for traditional practices: that is, established, or eustomary homage.: 12:) "wise men ne'er sit and wail their woes, MALONE. 13:) —— I'll hate him everlastingly, " That bids me be of comfort-] This sentiment is drawa from nature. Nothing is more offensive to a mind convinced that its distress is without a remedy, and preparing to submit quictly to irresistible calamity, than those petty and conjectured comforts which unskilful officiousness thinks it virtue to administer. 14:) To ear-] i. e. to plough it.= 15:) For taking so the head,] To take the head is, to art without restraint, to take undue liberties. = 16:) — — “and oppose not myself || "Against their will."- MALONE. = 12 the flower of England's face;] Dr. Warburton says, by the flower of England's face is meant the choicest youths of England, who shall be slaughtered in this quarrel, er have bloody crowns. The flower of England's face, to design her choicest youth, is a fine and noble expression, but Mr. Steevens is of opinion that the flower of England's face, means England's flowery face, the flowery surface of England's soil.=18:) With words of sooth!] Sooth is sweet as well as true. In this place sooth means sweetness or softness, a signification yet retained in the verb to sooth. JoHNSON. = 19:) on their sovereign's head:] Shakspeare is very apt to deviate from the pathetic to the ridiculous. Had the speech of Richard ended at this line, it had exhibited the natural language of submissive misery, conforming its intention to the present fortune, and calmly ending its purposes in death. JOHNSON, 20:)-base court-] Bas cour, Fr. 21:) Against a change: Woe is forerun with woe. The poet, according to the common doctrine of prag.. nostication, supposes dejection to forerun calamity, and a kingdom to be filled with rumours of sorrow when any great disaster is impending. The sense is, that public evils are always presignified by public pensiveness, and plastive conversation. JOHNSON.=22:) Her knots disorder'd,] Knots are figures planted in box, the lines of which frequently intersect each other. = 23:) "0, I am press'd to 'death, through want of speaking! || Thou, old Adam's likeness, set to dress this garden, || How dares thy harsh-rude,” &e. MALONE. = 24:) "Here did she fall a tear;” — MALONE.

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ACT IV. — 1:) — - Surrey,] Thomas Holland, earl of Kent. He was brother to John Holland duke of Exeter, and was created duke of Surrey in the 21st year of king Richard the Second, 1397. = 2:) Thus pointed by Mr. Malone. "If thou deny'st it twenty times, thou liest:" =3;;

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"I task the earth," &c.— MALONE.=4:) “"Tis very true:"
MALONE. 5:) — in this new world,] In this world where
I have just begun to be an actor. Surrey, a few lines above,
called him boy. 6:) — nobless~] i, e. nobleness; a word
now obsolete, but used both by Spenser and Ben Jonson,
7:) "O, forfend it, God," MALONE. 8:) "If you raise"
MALONE.= 9:)
his conduct.] i. e. conductor.
10:
"And little look for". MALONE. 11:) "bend my limbs:"
MALONE. 12:) The favours, &c.] The countenances,
the features. 13:) "on this side, my hand: and on that
side, thine."- MALONE. = 14:) The emptier ever dancing —]
This is a comparison not easily accommodated to the sub-
ject, or very naturally introduced. The best part is this
line, in which he makes the usurper the empty bucket.
JOHNSON. = 15:) My care is loss of care, by old care
done;] Shakspeare often obscures his meaning by playing
with sounds. Richard seems to say here, that his cares are
not made less by the increase of Bolingbroke's cares; for
this reason, that his care is the loss of care,- - his grief is,
that his regal cares are at an end, by the cessation of the
care to which he had been accustomed. JOHNSON.= 16:) -
my balm,] The oil of consecration. He has mentioned it
before. JOHNSON. = 17:) "all duty's rites:" -- MALONE.
18:) "unbroke, that swear to thee! MALONE. 19:) "look
upon" MALONE. 20:) a sort-] A pack, a company.
WARBURTON. = 21:) haught,] i. e. haughty. = 22) Mr.
Malone omits why. 23:) Conveyers are you all,] To
convey is a term often used in an ill sense, and so Richard
understands it here. Pistol says of stealing, convey the
wise it call; and to convey is the word for sleight of hand,
which seems to be alluded to here. Ye are all, says the
deposed prince, jugglers, who rise with this nimble dexter-
ity by the fall of a good king. JOHNSON. = 24:) To bury -]
To conceal, to keep secret. 25:) "but also to effect"
MALONE.

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is now no longer worn. = 22:) — sometimes_master's face.] Sometimes was used for formerly, as well as sometime, which the modern editors have substituted. Mr. Malone reads, "sometimes royal master's face."=23:) ~ by jauncing Bolingbroke.] Jaunce and jaunt were synonymous words. =

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XVIII. KING HENRY IV.
PART I.

ACT I. 1:) Prince John of Lancaster.] The persons of the drama were originally collected by Mr. Rowe, who has given the title of Duke of Lancaster to Prince John, a mistake which Shakspeare has been no where guilty of in the first part of this play, though in the second he has fallen into the same error. King Henry IV. was himself the last person that ever bore the title of Duke of Lancaster. But all his sons, (till they had peerages, as Clarence, Bedford, Gloucester,) were distinguished by the name of the || royal house, as John of Lancaster, Humphrey of Lancaster, &c. and in that proper style, the present John (who became afterwards so illustrious by the title of Duke of Bedford,) is always mentioned in the play before us. STEEVENS.=2:) Find we a time for frighted peace to pant,|| And breathe short-winded accents of new broils –] That is, let us soften peace to rest awhile without disturbance, that she may recover breath to propose new wars. JoHNSON.3:) No more the thirsty Erinnys-] The fury of discord; but Mr. MaJone prefers "the thirsty entrance," a reading which is argued with insufferable tediousness by the commentators. == 4:) Therefore we meet not now:] i. e. not on that account do we now meet; we are not now assembled, to acquaint you with our intended expedition. = 5:) this dear_expeACT V. = 1:) To Julius Cæsar's ill-erected tower,] dience.] For expedition. = 6:) And many limits-] Limits The Tower of London is traditionally said to have been the for estimates; or perhaps, outlines, rough sketches, or calwork of Julius Cæsar. By―ill-erected, perhaps, is meant culations. = 7:) "A thousand," &c.— MALONE. = 8:) - Ar-erected for bad purposes. = 2:) Join not with grief,] Do chibald,] Archibald Douglas, earl Douglas. = 9:) Stain'd not thou unite with grief against me; do not, by thy addi- with the variation of each soil-] No circumstance could tional sorrows, enable grief to strike me down at once. My have been better chosen to mark the expedition of sir Walown part of sorrow I can bear, but thy affliction will imme- ter. It is used by Falstaff in a similar manner: “As it were diately destroy me. JOHNSON.3:) "and the king of beasts?" to ride day and night, and not to deliberate, not to remem-MALONE. 4:) - to quit their grief,] To retaliate their ber, not to have patience to shift me, but to stand stained mournful stories. = = 5:) Hallowmas, All-hallows, or allwith travel." = 10:) Balk'd in their own blood,] Either hallow-tide; the first of November. 6:) Better far off, bath'd, or piled together in a heap. = 11:) "Mordake earl than-near, be ne'er the near'.] The meaning is, it is betof Fife," MALONE.=12:) "to so blest a son:"- MALONE. ter to be at a great distance, than being near each other, = 13:) — the prisoners,] [Percy had an exclusive right to to find that we yet are not likely to be peaceably and hap- these prisoners, except the earl of Fife. By the law of pily united. 7:) With painted imag'ry, had said at once,] arms, every man who had taken any captive, whose reOur author probably was thinking of the painted clothes demption did not exceed ten thousand crowns, had him that were hung in the streets, in the pageants that were clearly for himself, either to acquit or ransom, at his pleaexhibited in his own time; in which the figures sometimes sure. 14:) Malevolent to you in all aspects;] An astrolohad labels issuing from their mouths, containing sentences gical allusion. Worcester is represented as a malignant star of gratulation. 8:) As in a theatre, &c.] "The painting of That influenced the conduct of Hotspur.=15:) Which makes this description (says Dryden, in his preface to Troilus and him prune himself,] The metaphor is taken from a cock, Cressida,) is so lively, and the words so moving, that I have who in his pride prunes himself; that is, picks off the loose scarce read any thing comparable to it, in any other lan- feathers to smooth the rest. To prune and to plume, spoguage.' = 9;) Aumerle that was;] The dukes of Aumerle, ken of a bird, is the same. 16:) Than out of anger can Surrey, and Exeter, were, by an act of Henry's first par- be uttered.] That is, “more is to be said than anger will liament, deprived of their dukedoms, but were allowed to suffer me to say: more than can issue from a mind disturbed retain their earldoms of Rutland, Kent, and Huntingdon. like mine."=1 :)-got with swearing-lay by ;] i. e. swear10:) "thou wooldest" MALONE. 11:) "If on the first," ing at the passengers they robbed, lay by your arms; or i. e. if your first stand only on intention. MALONE. = 12:) rather, lay by was a phrase that then signified stand still, Thou sheer, immaculate, &c.] Sheer is pellucid, transparent. addressed to those who were preparing to rush forward. 13:) digressing son.] deviating from what is right. To lay by, is a phrase adopted from navigation, and signi14:) The Beggar and the King.] The King and the Beg-fies, by slackening sail to become stationary 18:) and gar seems to have been an interlude or song, well known spent with crying — bring in:] i.e. more wine.=19) And in the time of our author, who has alluded to it more than is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of durance?] To unonce.15:)-pardonnez moy.] That is, cxcuse me, a phrase derstand the propriety of the prince's answer, it must be used when any thing is civilly denied. The whole passage remarked that the sheriff's officers were formerly clad in is such as I could well wish away. JOHNSON.=16:) But for buff. So that when Falstaff asks, whether his hostess is not our trusty brother-in-law,] The brother-in-law was John a sweet wench, the prince asks in return whether it will not duke of Exeter and earl of Huntingdon (own brother to king be a sweet thing to go to prison by running in debt to this Richard II.) and who had married with the lady Elizabeth, sweet wench. 20:) For obtaining of suits?] Suit, spoken sister of Henry Bolingbroke. = 17:)—people this little world ;] of one that attends at court, means a petition; used with i. e, his own frame; -"the state of man;" which in our respect to the hangman, means the clothes of the offender. author's Julius Cæsar is said to be "like to a little king- = 21:) — a gib cat,] A gib cat means, old cat, or perhaps dom." 18:) -- the word itself || Against the word:] By an he-cat.= 22:) Lincolnshire bagpipe.] By the drone of the word, probably, is meant, the holy word. 19:) For a Lincolnshire bagpipe, is meant the dull croak of a frog, now hath time made me his numb'ring clock; || My thoughts one of the native musicians of that waterish county. In the are minutes; and, with sighs, they jar || Their watches on neighbourhood of Boston, in Lincolnshire, the noisy frogs to mine eyes, the outward watch, &c.] It should be recol- are still humourously denominated "the Boston waits.' lected, that there are three ways in which a clock notices 23:) — a hare—] The Egyptians in their hieroglyphics exthe progress of time; viz. by the libration of the pendulum, pressed a melancholy man by a hare sitting in her form. the index on the dial, and the striking of the hour. To these, the king, in his comparison, severally alludes; his sighs corresponding to the jarring of the pendulum, which, at the same time that it watches or numbers the seconds, marks also their progress in minutes on the dial or outward-watch, to which the king compares his eyes; and their want of figures is supplied by a succession of tears, or, (to use an expression of Milton,) minute drops: his finger, by as regularly wiping these away, performs the office of the dial's point:- his clamorous groans are the sounds that tell the hour.= 20:) - his Jack o'the clock.] That is, I strike for him. One of these automatons is alluded to in King Richard III. - 21:) Is a strange brooch in this all-hating world.] i. e. is as strange and uncommon as a brooch which

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24:) — the melancholy of Moor-ditch? It appears from Stowe's Survey, that a broad ditch, called Deep ditch, formerly parted the hospital from Moor-fields; and what has a more melancholy appearance than stagnant water? 25:) -damnable iteration:] i, e. a wicked trick of citation or recitation. 26:)—have set a match.] i. e. made an appointment. = 27:) if thou darest not stand, &c.] Falstaff is quibbling on the word royal. The real or royal was of the value of ten shillings. Almost the same jest occurs in a subsequent scene. == 28:) All-hallown summer.] All-ballows is All-hallown-tide, or All-saints' day, which is the first of November. Shakspeare's allusion is designed to ridicule an old man with youthful passions. 29:)—for the nonce,] For the nonce is an expression in daily use amongst the

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