To fine his title, &c.] This is the reading of the quarto of 1608, that of the folio is, To find his title. I would read:

To line his title with some shew of truth.

To line may signify at once to decorate and to strengthen. In Macbeth:

"He did line the rebels with hidden help and vantage." Dr. Warburton says, that to fine his title is to refine or improve it. The reader is to judge.

I now believe that find is right; the jury finds for the plaintiff, or finds for the defendant: to find his title is, to determine in favor of his title with some shew of truth. JOHN.

Both the quartos, 1600 and 1608, read-To fine his title, i. e. to make it shewy or specious by some appearance of justice.

STEEV.

To fine his title.'-It seems to be the French fin. "In order to fix, or put an end to all question respecting his right or title, he convey'd himself, &c." B.

Cant. And rather chuse to hide them in a net, Than amply to imbare their crooked titles, Usurp'd from you and your progenitors.

-imbare their crooked titles,] Mr. Pope reads:

Than openly imbrace] But where is the antithesis betwixt hide in the preceding line, and imbrace in this? The two old folios read, Than amply to imbarre.-We certainly must read, as Mr. Warburton advised me, Than amply to imbarclay open, display to view. I am surpriz'd Mr. Pope did not start this conjecture, as Mr. Rowe had led the way to it in his edition; who reads:

Than amply to make bare their crooked titles. THEOB. Mr. Theobald might have found, in the quarto of 1608, this reading:

Than amply to embrace their crooked causes;

out of which line Mr. Pope formed his reading, erroneous indeed, but not merely capricious. JoHN.

The 4to 1600, reads-imbace.

I know of no such word as imbare. To unbar is to open, which I suppose to be the word set down by the poet, and was probably opposed to bar.

"I'll unbolt to you."

So, in the first scene of Timon, the poet says, To embar, however, seems, from the following passage in the first book of Stanyhurst's translation of Virgil, 1582, to signify to break or cut off abruptly:

"Heere Venus embarring his taie, &c."

Yet, as to bar, Much Ado about Nothing, is to strengthen, "that is stronger made

Which was before barr'd up with ribs of iron."

So, amply to unbar may mean to weaken by an open display of inva lidity. STEEV.

-imbare their crooked titles.' The reading of the old folio-imbarre' is surely right. The meaning will be, to stop, to put a check to. Mr. S. must not object to the reading, because he cannot find the word in his dictionary. Or the reading of the 4to. imbace may be adopted. The sense will be --" rather hide their titles in a net :" for by attempting to prove the right they would pretend to, the baseness of the titles will be found. The word must be written imbase. B.

Eve. Yet that is but a curs'd necessity;

Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries,

We

Yet that is but a curs'd necessity;] So the old quarto. The folios read crush'd: neither of the words convey any tolerable idea; but give us a counter-reasoning, and not at all pertinent. should read, 'scus'd necessity. It is Ely's business to shew there is no real necessity for staying at home :. he must therefore mean, that though there be a seeming necessity, yet it is one that may be well ercus'd and got over. WARB.

Neither the old readings nor the emendations seem very satisfactory. A curs'd necessity has no sense; a 'scus'd necessity is so harsh that one would not admit it, if any thing else can be found. A crush'd necessity may mean a necessity which is subdued and overpowered by contrary reasons. We might read a crude necessity, a necessity not complete, or not well considered and digested, but it is too harsh.

Sir T. Hanmer reads:

Yet that is not o'course a necessity. JOHN.

A curs'd necessity means, I believe, only an unfortunate necessity. Curs'd in colloquial phrase, signifies any thing unfortunate. So we say, such a one leads a cursed life: another has got into a cursed scrape. It may mean, a necessity to be execrated. STEEV.

Mr. Steevens is for adhering to the reading of the quarto, "curs'd necessity," but it is impossible that it should be right. We may read, and with no more harshness than is frequently found in Shakspeare- accust necessity.' Accust contracted of accustomed: i. e. a common; and by implication, a pretended necessity" since we have locks, &c." B.

Cant. They have a king, and officers of sorts; Where some, like magistrates, correct at home;

They have a king and officers of sorts:] The quarto of 1600 reads, I think rightly, officers of sort; i. e. of rank or quality. So, in Measure for Measure:

"Give notice to such men of sort and suit,

As are to meet him."

Again, in this play of K. Henry V.

"What prisoners of good sort are taken?"

Again: "It may be his enemy is a gentleman of great sort." MAL

Officers of sorts means officers of different degrees. In a London haberdasher's bill to his customer in the country I lately saw the following charge, "To thread of sorts," i. e. of different kinds. STEEV.

a king and officers of sorts.' 'Officers of sorts,' and 'threads of sorts' are equally unmeaning. If Mr. Steevens's haberdasher is a blockhead, does it necessarily follow that Shakspeare must be so too? Officers of sort' will be the right reading; and such must be easily understood. B.

Cant. The civil citizens kneading up the honey;

The civil citizens kneading up the honey;] This may possibly be right but I rather think that Shakspeare wrote-heading up the honey; alluding to the putting up merchandize in casks. And this is in fact the case. The honey being headed up in separate and distinct cells by a thin membrane of wax drawn over the mouth of each of them, to hinder the liquid matter from running out. WARB.

To head the honey can hardly be right; for though we head the cask, no man talks of heading the commodities. To knead gives an easy sense, though not physically true. The bees do in fact knead the wax more than the honey, but that Shakspeare perhaps did not know. JOHN.

The old quartos read-lading up the honey. STEEV.

'kneading up the honey'-Lading up the honey—and which is actually the practice of the bee, we may suppose the true reading. B.

Cant. So may a thousand actions, once afoot, End in one purpose, and be all well borne

Without defeat.

Without defeat.-] The quartos 1600 and 1608 read, without defect. STEEV.

Without defeat.' Defect should certainly be restored to the text. To say that actions well borne shall end without defeat, is the language of folly and presumption, but to observe that they shall be borne without defect, i. e. maintained with ability and resolntion, is that of wisdom and courage combined. B.

K. Henry. Either our history shall, with full mouth, Speak freely of our acts; or else our grave, Like Turkish mute, shall have a tongueless mouth, Not worship'd with a waxen epitaph.

epitaph.

with a waxen epitaph. The quarto 1608 reads, with a paper

Either a waren or a paper epitaph is an epitaph easily obliterated or destroyed; one which can confer no lasting honor on the dead.

Shakspeare employs the former epithet in a similar sense in K. Richard II:

"That it may enter Mowbray's waren coat." STEEV. The second reading is more unintelligible, to me at least, than the other: a grave not dignified with the slightest memorial. JOHN.

'Waxen' is hardly right; for to say that his tomb should not have a waxen epitaph, i. e. one that is easily obliterated, is entirely adverse to the meaning of Henry. We must, therefore, read,

"Not worshipp'd with a wissen epitaph."

To wisse is to teach, to instruct.

The meaning is, without an epitaph, to set forth his virtues or his deeds in arms.

After all, however, "a paper epitaph" may be right. But paper epitaph must not be interpreted literally: it means not an epitaph written on paper to be placed on a tomb-but an history, the memoirs of Henry's life. Unless we effect the business in hand (says the king), we wish not to be honored, or to have our memory respected. Thus the reasoning is just and pertinent. B:

Amb. And bids you be advis'd, there's nought in France,

That can be with a nimble galliard won ;

-a nimble galliard won :] A galliard was an ancient dance, now obsolete. STEEV.

'A nimble galliard won.' Gaillarde,' is certainly a dance. But gaillard is a good fellow, a boon companion. Let any one who has attended to the character of Henry, in the former part of his life, determine in which of these significations, in which particular sense the word should here be taken; that is, whether the passage is to be understood as speaking of a country which may be gained with a nimble dance; or if a country likely to be conquered by a boon companion; a bon-vivant. 'With' is by. B.

K. Henry. We never valu'd this poor seat of England;

And therefore, living hence, did give ourself

To barbarous licence; As 'tis ever common,
That men are merriest when they are from home.

And therefore, living hence,-] This expression has strength and energy: he never valued England; and therefore lived hence; i. e. as if absent from it. But the Oxford editor alters hence to here. WARB.

Living hence means, I believe, withdrawing from the court, the place in which he is now speaking. STELV.

'Living hence.' Hence' is the proper word, but all the editors have mistaken its meaning in the present instance. The sense of it is accordingly, in consequence of. The King observes to the ambassador, in a jocular way, that he never valued England in the proportion that he did France, and therefore lived accordingly; that is, he gave himself up to barbarous licence. He then goes on, with the like kind of pleasantry, to remark that men are ever merriest when from home-Thereby intimating that he considered France as his proper seat, and should in a little time lay claim to it. B.

Chor.

For, if we may,

We'll not offend one stomach with our play..

We'll not offend one stomach-] That is, you shall pass the sea without the qualms of sea sickness. JOHN.

'We'll not offend one stomach.' The true meaning is, we would not offend any Critic by the irregularities of our scene; and hence the introduction of the Chorus, by way of apology. B.

Quick. O well-a-day, lady, if he be not drawn now! O well-a-day, lady, if he be not hewn now!] I cannot understand the drift of this expression. If he be not hewn must signify, if he be not cut down; and in that case the very thing is supposed which Quickly was apprehensive of. But I rather think her fright arises upon seeing the swords drawn, and I have ventured to make a slight alteration accordingly. If he be not drawn, for, if he has not his sword drawn, is an expression familiar to our poet. THEOB.

I have not disturbed Mr. Theobald's emendation; but yet I think we might read-if he be not hewing. To hack and hew is a common vulgar expression. STEEV.

'Hewn' should be 'hewin.' Hewin or hewid, in Chaucer, is colored. Mrs. Quickly would say-if he be not colored! if he be not in a passion! Hence hue, the word now in use.

That drawn is not the proper word may be seen, by turning to a subsequent scene of the play, in which Pistol is made to say, 'O braggard vile, &c.' and at which speech, in the old copies, is the following stage direction-(they drawe.) B.

Pist. I do retort the solus in thy bowels :

For I can talk;

For I can take;-] I know not well what he can take. The quarto reads talk. In our author to take, is sometimes to blast, which sense may serve in this place. JOHN.