6. your retirement. Dunbar, the Earl of March, had withdrawn the King from that part of the field where Hotspur and Douglas made their attack upon the royal standard. Ib. do amaze your friends, throw them into confusion. 14. triumph. See v. 3. 15. 15. We breathe, we stay to take breath. See i. 3. 102; ii. 4. 15. 21. at the point. Steevens aptly quotes Holinshed's account of the encounter between Henry of Richmond and Richard (iii. 759) : 'the earle of Richmond withstood his violence, and kept him at the swordes point without aduantage, longer than his companions either thought or indged.' 22. lustier maintenance, stouter endurance or resistance. 25. like Hydra's heads, which grew as fast again as they were cut off. 41. Shirley was Sir Hugh Shirley, Master of the Hawks to Henry IV. His nephew was ancestor of the present Earl Ferrers. (French, Shakspeareana Genealogica, p. 74.) 45. Sir Nicholas Gawsey appears to have been Sir Nicholas Goushill of Hoveringham, co. Notts, who with his son Sir Robert was killed at Shrewsbury. Sir Robert was not killed in the battle, but being wounded he was murdered by one of his own servants. His tomb, though much injured, is still in Hoveringham church. 46. Clifton was Sir John Clifton, Knight of the Shire of Nottingham, 4 Henry IV. (French, p. 75.) 48. opinion. See iii. 2. 42; iv. i. 77. 49. makest some tender of, hast some regard for. The King had given a hint of his suspicion of his son's loyalty in iii. 2. 122-128. 65. sphere, orbit; as in Hamlet, i. 5. 17: 'Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres.' 75. Well said, well done! So in As You Like It, ii. 6. 14: 'Well said! thou lookest cheerly.' 77. of my youth, that is, not only of my young vigorous life, but of all the honours it has brought me. There is no need to change youth' to' 'worth' or 'growth' or 'height' or ‘fame' as has been proposed. 81-83. But thought's... stop. Johnson's interpretation is the only possible one. The glory of the Prince wounds his thoughts; but thought, being dependent on life, must cease with it, and will soon be at an end. Life, on which thought depends, is itself of no great value, being the fool and sport of time; of time which, with all its dominion over sublunary things, must itself at last be stopped.' There is no allusion, as Steevens suggested, 'to the Fool in our ancient farces.' 82. survey. v. 3. 16: The accent is on the last syllable, as in All's Well, 'Whose beauty did astonish the survey Of richest eyes.' 88. Ill-weaved ambition, like badly-woven cloth, loose in texture and therefore liable to shrink. 93. stout, bold, valiant, resolute. This is the only sense in which the word was originally used. See 1 Henry VI, i. 1. 106: 'I must inform you of a dismal fight Betwixt the stout Lord Talbot and the French.' 95. so dear, so hearty or sincere. This is the reading of the first quarto. All the other old authorities read 'great.' Vaughan unnecessarily conjectured 'clear.' 96. my favours. The Prince covers Hotspur's face with a scarf, as Johnson correctly explains in opposition to Warburton, who reads 'favour,' and says, 'He is stooping down here to kiss Hotspur.' See note on iii. 2. 136. 100. ignominy is the reading of half the quartos and folios. The other half, apparently for metrical reasons, read' ignomy,' which has early authority for its use. 105. a heavy miss. There is of course a play upon the two senses of the word 'heavy,' which also means sad or sorrowful. 112. to powder, to salt, pickle. Cotgrave (Fr. Dict.) has, ‘Saulpouldrer. To salt, corne or powder with salt, lay in brine or salt.' Coghan, in his Haven of Health (p. 131, ed. 1636), says 'Yet biefe light poudered, is more wholesome than fresh biefe.' 114. scot and lot, according to Jacob's Law Dictionary, 'signifies a customary contribution laid upon all subjects according to their ability.' Falstaff evidently thought the Douglas was able to pay heavily. 127. sirrah is certainly here used as a term of familiarity. See note on i. 2. 160. 139. a Jack. See iii. 3. 81, 131. 146. at an instant, at the same moment. So in As You Like It, i. 3. 76: See ii. 1. 65. 'We still have slept together, Rose at an instant, learn'd, play'd, eat together.' 149, 150. I'll take it upon my death. See note on ii. 4. 8, 9. 156. do thee grace, get thee favour. 159. the highest of the field, the highest ground from which the whole field of battle could be seen. It would have been unnecessary to note this had not Schmidt (Shakespeare Lexicon) interpreted 'highest' to mean the farthest visible part (as the horizon seems to be raised).' 6 N Scene V. 6. Three knights. Holinshed enumerates ten. 7. A noble earl, the Earl of Stafford. 14. the death, as the consequence of a judicial sentence. See Richard II, iii. 1. 29: This and much more, much more than twice all this, Condemns you to the death.' In the present passage the article is omitted in the folios. 30. Hath taught us. Malone reads 'Hath shewn us,' with a note Thus the quarto 1598. In that of 1599, shewn was arbitrarily changed to taught, which consequently is the reading of the folio. The repetition is much in our author's manner.' But the quarto of 1598, like all the rest, reads 'taught.' 32, 33. Lan. I thank . . . immediately. These lines are in the first four quartos only. 36. dearest, most earnest, utmost. See v. 4. 95. 43. business, a trisyllable, as in A Midsummer Night's Dream, i. 1. 124: 'I must employ you in some business.' |