SECOND PART OF King Henry IV. ACT I. SCENE I. North. As the wretch, whose fever-weaken'd joints, Out of his keeper's arms: even so my limbs, -even so my limbs, Weaken'd with grief, being now enrag'd with grief, Northumberland is here comparing himself to a person, who, though his joints are weakened by a bodily disorder, derives strength from the distemper of the mind. Weaken'd with pain I therefore suspect that Shaks MAL. "Weaken'd with grief, being now enrag'd with grief." Any kind of change would destroy the beauty of the thought and expression. Grief,' means not in either instance pains of the body, but those of the mind. The sense of the whole is-that his former grief, the lesser grief, had weakened him in body; but that this latter grief, this greater grief, was so powerful that it had subdued or driven away the other, and had roused him to a strength of limb, which, though it might not be lasting, was yet great: for, "As the wretch, even so," &c. B. Fal. Pregnancy is made a tapster, and hath his quick wit wasted in giving reckonings; Pregnancy, &c.] Pregnancy is readiness. STEEV. Pregnancy" is something more than readiness. It means liveliness, great abilities. B. Ch. Just. Is not your voice broken? your wind short? your chin double? your wit single? and every part about you blasted with antiquity? your wit single?] We call a man single-witted, who attains but one species of knowledge. This sense, I know not how to apply to Falstaff, and rather think that the Chief Justice hints at a calamity always incident to a grey-hair'd wit, whose misfortune is, that his merriment is unfashionable. His allusions are to forgotten facts; his illustrations are drawn from notions obscured by time; his wit is therefore single, such as none has any part in but himself. JouN. Single" is poor, weak. Single beer is the weakest kind of malt liquor. B. Fal. If it be a hot day, an I brandish any thing but my bottle, I would I might never spit white again. —would I might never spit white again.] i. e. May I never have my stomach inflamed again with liquor; for, to spit white is the consequence of inward heat. STEEV. "May I never spit white again" is a vulgarism. The meaning simply is, may I never spit again-may I die. For it should be remembered, that if a man spits at all, he must spit white. B. Bard. Yes, in this present quality of war, Indeed of instant action: Yes, if this present quality of war, Indeed the instant action: These first twenty lines were first inserted in the folio of 1623. The first clause of this passage is evidently corrupted. All the folio editions and Mr. Rowe's concur in the same reading, which Mr. Pope altered thus: Yes, if this present quality of war Impede the instant act. This has been silently followed by Mr. Theobald, Sir Thomas Hanmer, and Dr.Warburton; but the corruption is certainly deeper; for in the present reading Bardolph makes the inconvenience of hope to be that it may cause delay, when indeed the whole tenor of his argument is to recommend delay to the rest that are too forward. I know not what to propose, and am afraid that something is omitted, and that the injury is irremediable. Yet, perhaps, the alteration requisite is no more than this: Yes, in this present quality of war, Indeed of instant action.. It never, says Hastings, did harm to lay down likelihoods of hope. Yes, says Bardolph, it has done harm in this present quality of war, in a state of things such as is now before us, of war, indeed of instant action. This is obscure, but Mr. Pope's reading is still less reasonable. JoHN. "Yes, of this present quality of war." I read and point as follows "Yes, in this present quality of war. He uses instant for late, recent, Let us attend to the argument. Bardolph says. Of aids uncertain, should not be admitted." To this Hastings replies: "But by your leave, it never yet did hurt, To lay down likelihoods and forms of hope." Bardolph answers : Yes, in this present quality of war. Instance the instant action." Meaning "yes, in the raging disposition for war, it does hurt. Witness the recent action," in which Hotspur had been engaged; and in which, we must remember, from his impetuosity and from having "lin'd himself with hope," he lost the battle and his life. Thus the whole of the reasoning is just and proper. B. P. Henry. I do allow this wen to be as familiar with me as my dog. -this wen-] This swoln excrescence of a man. JOHN. "Wen" I think should be "wem"-i. e. belly or guts. B. Poins. The answer is as ready as a borrower's cap. -the answer is as ready as a borrow'd cap; But how is a borrow'd cap so ready? Read a borrower's cap, and then there is some humour in it for a man that goes to borrow money, is of all others the most complaisant; his cap is always at hand. WARB. Perhaps the old reading a borrowed cap-might be right. Falstaff's followers, when they stole any thing, called it a purchase. A borrowed cap might be a stolen one; which is sufficiently ready, being as Falstaff says, to be found on every hedge. MAL Perhaps we should read, as ready as borrow'd crap. Crap, in vulgar language, is money. The expression is such as may well be expected from Poins. The meaning will be, that borrowed money, as it is easily gotten, so it is frequently squandered with little thought; or, according to the proverb, lightly come, lightly go." B. L. Percy. To abide a field, Where nothing but the sound of Hotspur's name Did seem defensible ;] Defensible does not in this place mean capable of defence, but bearing strength, furnishing the means of defence; the passive for the active participle. MAL. The meaning is, that nothing but the name of Hotspur gave strength or support to the cause. So in Richard III. "Beside, the king's name is a tower of strength, &c." B. Dol. Thou whorson little tidy Bartholomew boar-pig. little tidy Bartholomew boar-pig,-] For tidy Sir Thomas Hanmer reads tiny; but they are both words of endearment, and equally proper. Bartholomew boar-pig is a little pig made of paste, sold at Bartholomew fair, and given to children for a fairing. John. "Tidy (tiddy) is also tender, dainty, delicate, [ryssen Sax.] and that is the sense required here. We now say a tid bit, for something delicate. B. K. Henry. Then, happy low, lie down! Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. Then happy low, lie down!] Evidently corrupted from happy lowly clown. These two lines making the just conclusion from what preceded. "If sleep will fly a king and consort itself "with beggars, then happy the lowly clown, and uneasy the crown'd head." WARB. Dr. Warburton has not admitted this emendation into his text: I am glad to do it the justice which its author has neglected. JOHN. The sense of the old reading seems to be this: "You, who are happy in your humble situations, lay down your heads to rest! the head that wears a crown lies too uneasy to expect such a blessing." Had not Shakspeare thought it necessary to subject himself to the tyranny of rhime, he would probably have said:" then happy low, sleep on!" STEEV. —'happy low, lie down. Happy low'-what nonsense !— Warburton's emendation should undoubtedly be admitted. It is, without the smallest question, right. B. Shal. Better accommodated!--it is good. "Better accommodated" here signifies well furnished or well stocked with harlots. A bawd has always been called an accommodating lady. B. Rum. Rumour is a pipe Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures; And of so easy and so plain a stop, That the blunt monster with uncounted heads, My well-known body to anatomize? ·Rumour is a pipe.] Here the poet imagines himself describing Rumour, and forgets that Rumour is the speaker. JOHN. "Rumour is a pipe, &c." Not so. The poet merely would make rumour say “I rumour am as a pipe"-This is evident by what immediately follows. But what need I thus My well known body to anatomize.' B. West. Turning your books to graves, your ink to blood, Your pens to lances; and your tongue divine To a loud trumpet, and a point of war? -graves,-] For graves Dr. Warburton very plausibly reads glaives, and is followed by Sir Thomas Hanmer. JOHN. "Glaives" is unquestionably the true reading. The metamorphosis (as Mr. Steevens calls it) of the covers of books into boots, is certainly more easy than the changing of them into swords. But "turning your books to glaives," is not to be taken literally-the meaning is, quitting your books to take up arms. B. York. My brother-general, the common-wealth, To brother born an household cruelty, I make my quarrel in particular. My brother general, &c.— I make my quarrel in particular] The sense is this: "My brother general, the commonwealth, which ought to distribute its benefits |