GLO. Winchester goose?! I cry-a rope! arope'!Now beat them hence, Why do you let them stay?Thee I'll chase hence, thou wolf in sheep's array.Out, tawny coats!-out, scarlet hypocrite 2! Here a great Tumult. In the midst of it, Enter the Mayor of London, and Officers. MAY. Fye, lords! that you, being supreme magistrates, Thus contumeliously should break the peace! GLO. Peace, mayor; thou know'st little of my wrongs: Here's Beaufort, that regards nor God nor king, WIN. Here's Gloster too, a foe to citizens1; Because he is protector of the realm; And would have armour here out of the Tower, To crown himself king, and suppress the prince. GLO. I will not answer thee with words, but [Here they skirmish again. MAY. Nought rests for me, in this tumultuous strife, blows. 9- Winchester goose,] A strumpet, or the consequences of her love, was a Winchester goose. JOHNSON. -a rope! a rope!] See The Comedy of Errors, vol. iv. p. 238, n. 7. 2 MALONE. out, SCARLET hypocrite!] Thus, in King Henry VIII. the Earl of Surrey, with a similar allusion to Cardinal Wolsey's habit, calls him-" scarlet sin." STEEVENS. 3the Mayor of London,] I learn from Mr. Pennant's London, that this Mayor was John Coventry, an opulent mercer, from whom is descended the present Earl of Coventry. STEEVENS. 4 Here's Gloster TOO, &c.] Thus the second folio. The first folio, with less spirit of reciprocation, and feebler metre,-Here is Gloster, &c. STEEVENS. But to make open proclamation:- OFF. All manner of men, assembled here in arms this day, against God's peace and the king's, we charge and command you, in his highness' name, to repair to your several dwelling-places; and not to wear, handle, or use, any sword, weapon, or dagger, henceforward, upon pain of death. GLO. Cardinal, I'll be no breaker of the law : But we shall meet, and break our minds at large. WIN. Gloster, we'll meet; to thy dear cost, be 6 Thy heart-blood I will have for this day's work. WIN. Abominable Gloster! guard thy head; [Exeunt. MAY. See the coast clear'd, and then we will de part. Good God! that nobles should such stomachs' bear! I myself fight not once in forty years. [Exeunt. 5 Gloster, we'll meet; to thy DEAR cost, be sure :] Thus the second folio. The first omits the epither-dear. STEEVENS. 6 I'll call for CLUBS, if you will not away:] This was outcry for assistance, on any riot or quarrel in the streets. hath been explained before. WHALLEY. an It So, in King Henry VIII. : - and hit that woman, who cried out, clubs!" STEEVENS. In That is, for peace-officers armed with clubs or staves. affrays, it was customary in this author's time to call out clubs, clubs! See As You Like It, vol. vi. p. 490, n. 3. MALONE. 7-stomachs -] Stomach is pride, a haughty spirit of resentment. So, in King Henry VIII.: 66 he was a man "Of an unbounded stomach. -." STEEVENS. SCENE IV. France. Before Orleans. Enter, on the Walls, the Master-Gunner and his Son. M. GUN. Sirrah, thou know'st how Orleans is be sieg'd; And how the English have the suburbs won. SON. Father, I know; and oft have shot at them, Howe'er, unfortunate, I miss'd my aim. M. GUN. But now thou shalt not. by me: Be thou rul'd Chief master-gunner am I of this town; 8 -THAT nobles should such stomachs bear! I myself fight not once in forty year.] Old copy-these nobles. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE. The Mayor of London was not brought in to be laughed at, as is plain by his manner of interfering in the quarrel, where he all along preserves a sufficient dignity. In the line preceding these, he directs his Officer, to whom without doubt these two lines should be given. They suit his character, and are very expressive of the pacific temper of the city guards. WARBURTON. I see no reason for this change. The Mayor speaks first as a magistrate, and afterwards as a citizen. JOHNSON. Notwithstanding Warburton's note in support of the dignity of the Mayor, Shakspeare certainly meant to represent him as a poor, well-meaning, simple man, for that is the character he invariably gives to his Mayors. The Mayor of London, in Richard III. is just of the same stamp. And so is the Mayor of York, in the Third Part of this play, where he refuses to admit Edward as King, but lets him into the city as Duke of York, on which Gloster says "A wise stout captain! and persuaded soon. "Hast. The good old man would fain that all were well." Such are all Shakspeare's Mayors. M. MASON. Such seems to have been the general representation of mayors on our ancient stage. Kempe, in The Return from Parnassus, describes himself as being accustomed to play a foolish mayor. MALONE. Something I must do to procure me grace. 9 How the English, in the suburbs close intrench'd, And thence discover, how, with most advantage, A piece of ordnance 'gainst it I have plac'd; Now, do thou watch, for I can stay no longer 2. 9 The prince's ESPIALS-] Espials are spies. So, in Chaucer's Freres Tale: "For subtilly he had his espiaille." STEEVENS. The word is often used by Hall and Holinshed. MALONE. I WONT, through a secret grate of iron bars, &c.] Old copy -went. See the notes that follow Dr. Johnson's. STEEVENS. That is, the English went not through a secret grate,' but 'went to over-peer the city through a secret grate which is in vonder tower.' I did not know till of late that this passage had been thought difficult. JOHNSON. I believe, instead of went, we should read—wont. The third person plural of the old verb wont. The English-wont, that is, are accustomed to over-peer the city. The word is used very frequently by Spenser, and several times by Milton. TYRWHITT. The emendation proposed by Mr. Tyrwhitt is fully supported by the passage in Hall's Chronicle, on which this speech is formed. So, in The Arraignment of Paris, 1584: 2 66 the usual time is nie," "When wont the dames of fate and destinie "In robes of chearfull colour to repair-." MALOne. For I can stay no longer.] The first folio reads: Part of this line being in the old copy, by a mistake of the transcriber, connected with the preceding hemistich, the editor of the second folio supplied the metre by adding the word-boy, in which he has been followed in all the subsequent editions. MALONE. If thou spy'st any, run and bring me word; [Exit. SON. Father, I warrant you; take you no care; I'll never trouble you, if I may spy them. Enter in an upper Chamber of a Tower, the Lords SAL. Talbot, my life, my joy, again return'd! Once, in contempt, they would have barter'd me: As I cannot but entertain a more favourable opinion than Mr. Malone of the numerous emendations that appear in the second folio, I have again adopted its regulation in the present instance. This folio likewise supplied the word-fully. STEEVENS. 3-Talbot,] Though the three parts of King Henry VI. are deservedly numbered among the feeblest performances of Shakspeare, this first of them appears to have been received with the greatest applause. So, in Pierce Penniless's Supplication to the Devil, by Nash, 1592: "How would it have joyed brave Talbot (the terror of the French,) to thinke that after he had lien two hundred years in his tombe, he should triumph againe on the stage, and have his bones new embalmed with the teares of ten thousand spectators at least (at several times,) who in the tragedian that represents his person, imagine they behold him fresh bleeding?" STEEVENS. -SO PIL'D esteem'd.] Thus the old copy. Some of the modern editors read, but without authority-" so vile-esteem'd." -So pill'd, may mean-so pillag'd, so stripp'd of honours; but I suspect a corruption, which Mr. M. Mason would remedy, by reading either vile or ill-esteemed. It is possible, however, that Shakspeare might have written |