ALEXANDER DYCE'S NOTES

TO

FIRST PART OF KING HENRY IV

ACT I.

SCENE I.- -4. stronds. Dyce has "strands," and says: "Here Malone and some other editors retain the old spelling' stronds,' though in The Merchant of Venice, i. 1. 171, they print 'Colchos' strand.' [The Cambridge editors, however, retain strond.'] In early books we frequently meet with passages where the word is spelt 'strond,' and yet is to be pronounced strand: for example, in The Taming of the Shrew, i. 1. 164, 165, the folio has

That made great Ioue to humble him to her hand,
When with his knees he kist the Cretan strond.'”

22. levy. Capell printed "lead." Gifford, in his Note on Jonson's Works, v. 138, says: “To levy a power as far as to the sepulchre of Christ,' subjoins Mr. Steevens, 'is an expression quite unexampled, if not corrupt,' — and he accordingly proposes to read lead for levy. But there is no occasion. The expression is neither unexampled nor corrupt, but good authorized English. One instance of it is before me (Gosson's School of Abuse, 1587, E 4): Scipio, before he levied

his force to the walles of Carthage, gave his soldiers the print of the citie in a cake to be devoured.''

28, 30. But this our purpose now is twelvemonth old, And bootless 'tis to tell you we will go:

Therefore we meet not now.

Dyce, in the first line, reads with the folio, “But this our purpose is a twelvemonth old," and says: "I may notice that the reading of the two earliest quartos, 'But this our purpose now is twelue month old,' is objectionable on account of the following meet not now.""

42. A thousand.

"And a thousand.”

So the quartos. The folio has

43. corpse. That is, corpses. Here the old editions

have "corps" and "corpes," which perhaps might be considered as the plural of "corp," if other passages in our author's writings did not forbid us to suppose so; for example, the folio has in Twelfth Night (Song), ii. 4. 61, "My poore corpes" (that is, corpse); in The Winter's Tale, v. 1. 58, 66 Againe possesse her corps" (that is,

corpse).

70. On Holmedon's plains. Walker (Crit. Exam. i. 253) queries "Holmedon plains"?

71, 72. Mordake the Earl of Fife, and eldest son To beaten Douglas; and the Earl of Athol.

The old editions omit "the" in the first line; added by Pope. Steevens says: "Mordake, earl of Fife, who was son to the Duke of Albany, regent of Scotland, is here called the son of Earl Douglas, through a mistake into which the poet was led by the omission of a comma in the passage of Holinshed from whence he took this

account of the Scottish prisoners." In the second line the old editions have "Earl; Pope and Dyce have "Earls."

76, 77.

West. In faith,

It is a conquest for a prince to boast of.

The old editions, by mistake, make “ In faith it is” the conclusion of the preceding speech. Most probably Shakespeare wrote " West. Faith, 'tis a conquest,” etc.

'that wandering knight so fair.

Per

SCENE II. 14. haps a quotation from some ballad about the Knight of the Sun (El Donzel del Phebo), whose adventures were translated from the Spanish by Margaret Tyler, under the title of The Mirror of Princely Deeds and Knighthood. 24. thieves of the day's beauty. Theobald substituted "booty" for "beauty." Malone has no doubt that here a pun was intended, "beauty (booty).”

103. Poins. Dyce spells, with the folio, " Pointz,” as also in The Merry Wives of Windsor, iii. 2. 62: "he kept company with the wild prince and Poins [Pointz]."

135, 136. nor thou camest not of the blood royal, if thou darest not stand for ten shillings. Steevens says: "Falstaff is quibbling on the word 'royal.' The real or royal was of the value of ten shillings. The quibble, however, is lost, except the old reading be preserved. [Pope's reading] 'cry, stand,' will not support it.”

152. thou latter spring. The old editions have "the latter spring." Corrected by Pope.

156. Bardolph, Peto. The old editions have " Haruey, Rossill," the names of the actors, it would seem. 185. to-morrow night. The old reading. Dyce have "to-night."

Capell and

196. Of vapours. The old reading. Dyce reads " vapour; Hudson, "And vapours.”

Of

SCENE III. 3. And you have found me. W. N. Lettsom conjectures "As" for " And.”

14. My lord. The old reading. Pope, Collier's Ms. Corrector, Walker (Shakespeare's Versification, p. 24), and Dyce read "My good lord.”

15. Worcester. Walker (Shakespeare's Versification, p. 235, where he cites the present line) says: "[Worcester] is sometimes, I think, a trisyllable.”

33. neat and trimly. The old reading. Pope and Dyce omit "and.”

50, 51. To be so pester'd with a popinjay

Out of my grief and my impatience.

These two lines are thus arranged in the old editions. A transposition was suggested by Edwards and Johnson, and made by Capell and Dyce.

53. He should, or he should not; for he made me mad. Here the folio omits the second "he," - and rightly, perhaps.

87. and indent with fears. Hanmer and Collier's Ms. Corrector substitute "foes" for "fears;" but the alteration is at least a rash one, since "fears" may be equivalent to "objects of fear." As to Knight's emendation, "feres" (that is, companions), it is neither more nor less than ridiculous. Collier boldly asserts that in two passages of Beaumont and Fletcher, and in one of Marlowe, the reading of the old copies "fears" is a misprint for "foes." Now, to take only the first of the said passages,