Which, like the meteors of a troubled heaven,

All of one nature, of one substance bred,-
Did lately meet in the intestine shock

And furious close of civil butchery,

Shall now, in mutual, well-beseeming ranks,
March all one way;

-those opposed eyes,] The similitude is beautiful; but what are 66 eyes meeting in intestine shocks, and marching all one way?" The true reading is, files; which appears not only from the integrity of the metaphor," well-beseeming ranks march all one way;" but from the nature of those meteors to which they are compared; namely long streaks of red, which represent the lines of armies; the appearance of which, and their likeness to such lines, gave occasion to all the superstition of the common people concerning armies in the air, &c. Out of mere contradiction, the Oxford editor would improve my alteration of files to arms, and so lose both the integrity of the metaphor and the likeness of the comparison. WARB.

This passage is not very accurate in the expression, but I think nothing can be changed. JOHN.

"those opposed eyes." For " opposed eyes," I would substitute " gies," the old word for regulators, directors. The context will shew that this is the right reading. The king's meaning is, that they who ought to assist in the management of the state, who might be considered as its directors or regulators, should no longer be opposed to each other: that there should be an end to all civil commotion. Warburton's" files" is too unlike the word in the text. B.

K. Henry. Therefore, friends, As far as to the sepulchre of Christ,

(Whose soldier now, under whose blessed cross We are impressed and engag'd to fight)

Forthwith a power of English shall we levy;

As far as to the sepulchre, &c.] The lawfulness and justice of the holy wars have been much disputed; but perhaps there is a principle on which the question may be easily determined. If it be part of the religion of the Mahometans to extirpate by the sword all other religions, it is, by the laws of self-defence, lawful for men of every other religion, and for Christians among others, to make war upon Mahometans, simply as Mahometans, as men obliged by their own principles to make war upon Christians, and only lying in wait till opportunity shall promise them success.

Јону.

"As far as to the sepulchre," &c. Defensive war is always justifiable. But the doctrine of Johnson is really singular when he talks of making war upon others, and on the principle of 'self-defence.' There is here a contradiction in terms: for can offensive and defensive war ever be considered as equally just.? Puffendorf, Grotius, or Vattel, might have undeceived him on this point. B.

shall we levy ;] To levy a power of English as far as to the sepulchre of Christ, is an expression quite unexampled, if not corrupt. We might propose lead, without violence to the sense or too wide a deviation from the traces of the letters. STEEV.

"Shall we levy." Mr. Steevens has taken alarm without a cause; the passage gives no such meaning as levy a power of English as far as to the sepulchre of Christ.' A slight alteration of the text, with a different punctuation, will set the matter right.

West. My liege, this haste was hot in question,

And many limits of the charge set down

But yesternight

And many limits- -] Limits for estimates. WARB.

Limits, as the author of the Revisal observes, may mean, outlines, rough sketches or calculations. STEEV.

"And many limits." "Limits of charge," must mean particular ordinances, regulations made or settled. B.

Fal. Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let not us, that are squires of the night's body, be call'd thieves of the day's beauty; let us be-Diana's foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the moon.

-let not us, that are squires of the night's body, be called thieves of the day's beauty:] This conveys no manner of idea to me. How could they be called thieves of the day's beauty? They robbed by moonshine; they could not steal the fair day-light. I have ventured to substitute booty: and this I take to be the meaning. Let us not be called thieves, the purloiners of that booty, which, to the proprietors, was the purchase of honest labor and industry by day. THEOB.

It is true, as Theobald has observed, that they could not steal the fair day-light; but I believe our poet by the expression, thieves of the day's beauty, meant only, let not us, who are body squires to the night, i. e. adorn the night, be called a disgrace to the day. To take away the beauty of the day, may probably mean, to disgrace it. A squire of the body signified originally, the attendant on a knight; the person, who bore his head-piece, spear, and shield. STEEV.

Diana's foresters, &c.]

"Exile and slander are justly mee awarded,

My wife and heire lacke lands and lawful right; "And me their lord made dame Diana's knight."

So lamenteth Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk in The Mirror for Magistrate

HEND.

Squires of the night's body &c.' Theobald's conceit in regard of stealing the fair day light is truly ridiculous and his booty is nothing worth. We must read-" Let not us who are squires of the night :-'sbody! let not us be called thieves." Mr. S. is totally wrong in respect to thieves of the day's beauty.' Let us attend to the context and to the reasoning of the facetious knight. "When thou art king (says Falstaff) let not us who are squires of the might be called thieves: let not this be suffered of [by] the day's beauty."-The meaning is this"though we are squires of the night (i. e. thieves): yet let us not be termed thieves: no, let us have an honorable distinction let us be-Diana's foresters, minions of the moou &c." Shakspeare, metonymically, calls Henry (being King) 'day's beauty' i. e. the Sun, as giving warmth and animation unto all. A bold and magnificent image! finely expressive, indeed, of a great Prince, of such a Prince as Henry; and as it also will be of him whom the present annotator has the honor and the happiness to call master.'

P. Henry.

sweet robe of durance?

And is not a buff jerkin a most

-And is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of durance?] To understand the propriety of the prince's answer, it must be remarked that the sheriff's officers were formerly clad in buff. So that when

He was appointed by the Prince Regent (1806) to the place of ViceLibrarian at Carlton house: and as such his name, for four successive years, was seen in the indubitable red-book. Thanks, with his humble duty, were returned to the gracious giver personally and by letter at the time. They were, it is hoped, expressive of a grateful heart;-yet is he happy in an opportunity, thus publicly to make acknowledgments for so particular a mark of the Royal favor. It is to be observed, however, that the said appointment has been merely honorary; but this no doubt PROCEEDS FROM CAUSES UTTERLY UNKNOWN TO THE PRINCE.

Falstaff asks, whether his hostess is not a sweet wench, the prince asks in return, whether it will not be a sweet thing to go to prison by running in debt to this sweet wench. JOHN.

-robe of durance.' There is a play on the word 'durance—which signifies imprisonment, and (as Mr. S. has rightly supposed) a cloth or stuff, formerly much in use.

Fal.

B.

'Sblood, I am as melancholy

as a gib cat, or a lugg'd bear.

— a gib cut· -] "As melancholy as a gib'd cat" is a proverb enumerated among others in Ray's Collection. In a Match at Midnight, 1633, is the following passage: "They swell like a couple of gib'd cats, met both by chance in the dark in an old garret." So, in Bulwer's Artificial Changeling, 1653: "Some in mania or melancholy madness have attempted the same, not without success, although they have remained somewhat melancholy like gib'd cats." I believe after all, a gib'd cat is a cat who has been qualified for the seraglio, for all animals so mutilated, become drowsy and melan. choly. STEEV.

As melancholy as a gib'd Cat.' It is not the well known domestic animal that is here spoken of, though the Editors seem so to think. Cat' is contracted of Catin fr. a drab, a common woman. Gib'd' is jeered, flouted, derided: as perhaps might be practised towards such unhappy females. Melancholy had not in Shakspeare's time the precise and definite meaning that it has with us. It is here merely expressive of vexation, trouble. In like manner, and immediately afterwards we find as melancholy as a Harr,' i. e. as sorrowful as an old Harridon. Falstaff says that he is "as melancholy as a hooted harlot." The Prince observes--" or what sayst thou to a Harridon for melancholy?" (See the following note) thereby implying, that from being old, she might be rather instanced than the younger cat or drab: that she would form the better comparison. Mr. Steevens's conjecture (a notable one it is!) that a "gib'd cat is a cat who has been qualified for the seraglio"should not however be struck from the margin. It will always create a laugh.

Catin, has another and a chaster sense (Baby, puppet.) See note, Twelfth night Act 2 Sc. 3.

It must not be forgotten that the 'gib'd cat' of the text is of totally different meaning from the gib'd cat' as instanced in the notes. With Shakspeare 'gib'd cat,' as I have already said, is jeered, flouted drab. In the passages quoted, 'gib'd cat,' or as it ought to be printed, gibb cat,' is in allusion to the feline beast familiar to almost every house. Gibb (which is contracted and corrupted of Gilbert,) signifies male. It was used in the 15th century as Tom Cat is now with us, and is spoken in

reference to an order of friars called Gilbertines, instituted anno 1100 by a man of the name of Gilbert. Hence the propriety of the epithet melancholy, as far as it relates to the Religionist. Be it at the same time noted that gib is no way expressive of age, though it has been often so set down. But why, it may be asked, is a male cat represented as being melancholy? To this it is answered that Gibb must be supposed a Lover: and that the word 'melancholy' is employed as hinting at his unrewarded passion, and not as speaking of a morbid affection, though such is the ordinary signification of the term.

As' gib'd Cat' is,-in my opinion, and as I have just shown, -wrong interpreted, so 'lugg'd bear' appears not to be the poet's expression;-to say the truth, it is wretchedly unmeaning. I would therefore read-"'Sblood, I am as melancholy, as lugubre, as a gibb cat."-Lugubre (fr.) heavy, dull. We may suppose the letters to have been misplaced, so that the word was written lugbear; of which a printer unacquainted with the French language would easily make, either from the appearance or the sound, lugg'd bear. B.

P. Henry. What say'st thou to a hare, or the melancholy of Moor-ditch?

-a hare,—] A hare may be considered as melancholy, because she is upon her form always solitary; and, according to the physic of the times, the flesh of it was supposed to generate melancholy. JOHN.

-the melancholy of Moor-ditch?] This I do not understand, unless it may allude to the croaking of frogs. JOHN.

I rather believe this to have been said in allusion to its situation in respect of Moorgate the prison, and Bedlam the hospital. It appears likewise 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? STEEV.

'A hare, or the melancholy of Moor-ditch - Melancholy as a hare' might by many be thought right from the passages adduced in support of it. The remark of Falstaff, however, -unsavory similies '-leads us to a different reading, since it will by no means apply to the 'hare' of the text, and for which I would substitute, Harr' contracted of Harridon,--a woman, who from her situation in life as well as from age and infirmities may well be supposed to be melancholy. "What sayst thou to a melancholy Harr of Moor ditch?" When, therefore, we read-As melancholy as a Harridon of Moor-ditch,' the epithet used by the Knight will have force: the comparison is unsavory indeed! The like abbreviations are common with our author, as Jew' for Jewel-Anchor' for anchoret, Aunct' for ancient, &c.; and the same may be observed of all the earlier wri