Scambling (i. I. 4; v. 2. 200). Scrimmaging.' Traced from Lat. ex and campus, 'field'; O.F. escamper='run away, whence our scamp: runaway,' 'vagabond,' scamper and scamble scample. = Sconce (iii. 6. 71). 'Breastwork.' Seat (i. 1. 88; 2. 270). 'Throne'; (iii. 5. 47) ' position.' Shrewdly (iii. 7. 133). 'Sorely.' Der. schrewe, ‘wicked.' So shrewd (1) 'cunning,' 'long-headed'; (2) 'bitter,' 'severe.' Cf. "A shrewd blow,' 66 The air bites shrewdly." (v. 2. 241)=lit. 'call wicked.' So 'curse.' Signs (ii. 2. 192). 'Standards.' Lat. signa. Beshrew In Sinister (ii. 4. 83). 'Unjust.' Der. Lat. sinister=(1) 'lefthanded' (cf. awkward, q.v.); (2) 'of evil omen,' because in Greek augury the left hand was the hand of ill-omen. modern use the word is almost confined to this sense, ominous. Here there is also a suggestion of the heraldic use of the bend sinister to indicate illegitimacy. Skirr (iv. 7. 57). 'Scurry.' Slough (iv. 1. 23). reptiles. 'The old skin cast annually by Speculation (iv. 2. 31). 'Looking on.' 'watch-tower.' Lat. specula, Spital (ii. 1. 72; v. I. 75). 'Hospital.' A vulgar corruption. Suggest (ii. 2. 114). 'Tempt.' Sur-reined (iii. 5. 19). Over-ridden,' 'hurt in the reins.' Not from the bridle, but the anatomical reins. Sutler (ii. 1. 108). 'Provision dealer.' Tempered (ii. 2. 118). Managed.' To temper is to make pliable,' to 'bring into working order.' Lat. tempero. Tike (ii. 1. 29). 'Cur.' Tucket (passim). A call or flourish on the trumpet.' Der. Ital. toccata, ‘prelude,' lit. ‘touch.' U Untempering (v. 2. 219). Either (1) merely not tempering;' i.e. not softening'; or (2) more actively='distempering'; i.e. 'hardening '='harsh,' 'alarming.' W Whifflers (v. Prol. 12). 'Officers who headed processions to clear the way.' Der. either (1) whiffle='fife,' from fifers heading procession; or (2) wyfle= 'twi-bill,' i.e. 'double-bladed bill,' a weapon which might have been used by the original whifflers. At this time, however, a whiffler was neither a fifer nor a bill-man; or (3) possibly from a corruption of huissier, 'usher,' into 'whistler,' for which 'whiffler'="fifer" would be easily substituted. Whitsun (ii. 4. 25); i.e. at Whitsuntide,' or, more correctly, 'Whitsunday-tide.' Der. White Sunday (not Whitsun day), no doubt from the season being specially appointed (Christmas being too cold in northern latitudes) for christenings, at which white garments were worn. The first Sunday after Easter, or Low-Sunday, was for a like reason called Dominica in albis; but from the later festival being more popular, the name was more commonly applied and finally altogether appropriated to it, in the vulgar tongue. Those who favour the Whitsun-day theory derive the word through elaborate corruptions from TEVTηKOσтn, whereby they entirely fail to account for the Icelandic form. Withal. An intensive form of with-(1) prepositional (i. 1. 81); (2) elliptical='therewith' (i. 2. 216); (3) conjunctional= 'moreover,' ''besides' (ii. 3. 34). Y Yearn (ii. 3. 3). 'Grieve,' intransitive; (iv. 3. 26) 'grieve,' transitive. They is merely the prefix ge; and perhaps we should spell ern; der. M.E. ermen, 'grieve,' and in no way connected with yearn='long,' 'desire,' which comes from a different root. Yerk (iv. 7. 76). 'Jerk.' APPENDIX § 1. Singular verb with plural subject. THIS Construction is frequent in Elizabethan writings, and very common in the First Folio. In many cases where the Quarto is of high authority it gives the verb the plural inflexion where Folio has singular. But after making full allowance for this, and also for the fact that s was often misprinted for a hyphen, or even inserted without provocation, the frequency of instances points to extremely loose usage. The following lines from a Christ Church M.S. (which I copy from Mr. Bullen's Selected Lyrics from Elizabethan Song Books, p. 93) seem almost conclusive, as there is no "explanation" possible of either instance : 66 Yet those beams from her eyes Dims Apollo at his rise; Doctor Abbott (Shakspearian Grammar, §§ 247 and 332-338) quotes a host of cases from Shakspeare; yet from Henry V. alone, where there is no authoritative quarto to check by, he omits-- “The flat unraised spirits that hath dared." (i. Prol. 9.) "'Gainst him whose wrongs gives edge unto the swords.' (i. 2. 27.) "Unto whose grace our passion is as subject As is our wretches fettered in our prisons." (i. 2. 243.) Doctor Abbott considers that the loose usage was due to a survival of the South English plural form in -eth, and North English plural form in -es. Whether this be the true account or not, seems to me that no rule can be laid down for rejecting the folio reading when there is no authoritative quarto; and I have therefore retained the folio reading generally, against the Cambridge editors. The construction is especially common (1) where a singular substantive intervenes between the subject and the verb (cf. v, 2. 18, note); (2) where the subject is a relative with a plural antecedent; (3) where the subject, though plural, conveys a single idea; e.g. "tidings," "the English"="the English army." There are also other explanations applicable to many separate cases; but it appears to me that they would none of them be adequate without a general looseness of usage which forbids us without some specific reason to regard any given instance of the construction as a mere printer's error. § 2. The claim to the French throne, and possible claimants for the English throne. When Henry IV. ascended the English throne he was not by direct descent the nearest heir to the deposed King Richard II. Edmund Mortimer, then a minor, was descended from John of Gaunt's elder brother. Henry's claim to the English throne was based on three grounds-descent from the royal house, parliamentary election, and right of conquest. Therefore, as against Henry V., Edmund Mortimer had the better claim by descent, and after him his sister Anne; but she and her husband could have no claim while Edmund was alive, and he seems to have had no intention of urging his title. But there was always a chance that in the future the claims of his branch might be put forward, and that in the event of his death without issue his sister Anne, or her issue, might claim the crown, as afterwards happened. With this plan in view, Richard of Cambridge, himself of the royal house, married Anne. The purpose of his conspiracy, as narrated in the play, undoubtedly was to place Edmund on the throne, and thereby himself become heir presumptive. It is an open question how far the parliamentary title of Henry IV. could constitutionally bar the Yorkist claims; but evidently by descent Henry V. was not the heir of Edward III. Now such claim as Edward had been able to make to the French throne rested entirely on a particular interpretation of the law of inheritance being strictly enforced. According to French law, known as the Salic law, and ratified by the French nation, succession to the throne must be through males only. Edward, denying this, had claimed through his mother Isabella as against Philip, son of Charles of Valois; and by an obscure technicality he excluded the claims of other possible claimants through females (who do not appear on the tables preceding). Had Edward's claim been valid, Edmund Mortimer might have renewed it. Henry certainly could not. The curious thing is, that Henry-not only as represented in the play, but as an actual historical fact-seems to have sincerely persuaded himself that his title to both crowns was valid. |