Henry the fifth, too famous to live long!" GLO. England ne'er had a king, until his time. Virtue he had, deferving to command: His brandith'd fword did blind men with his beams; EXE. We mourn in black; Why mourn we not in blood? and in The Chances, Antonio, fpeaking of the wench who robbed him, fays: "And also the fiddler who was confenting with her." meaning the fiddler that was her accomplice. The word appears to be used in the fame fenfe in the fifth scene of this act, where Talbot fays to his troops: "You all confented unto Salisbury's death, For none would ftrike a ftroke in his revenge." M. MASON. Canfent, in all the books of the age of Elizabeth, and long afterwards, is the ufual spelling of the word concent. See Vol. XI. p. 85, n. 3 and Vol. XIII. p. 211, n. 2. In other places I have adopted the modern and more proper spelling; but, in the prefent inftance, I apprehend, the word was used in its ordinary fense. In the second act, Talbot, reproaching the foldiery, ufes the fame expreffion, certainly without any idea of a malignant configuration: 7 "You all confented unto Salisbury's death." MALONE. Henry the fifth, ] Old copy, redundantly,-King Henry &c. STEEVENS too famous to live long!] So, in King Richard III: "So wife fo young, they fay, do ne'er live long.' STEEVENS. His arms fpread wider than a dragon's wings; ] So, in Troilus and Greffida: "The dragon wing of night o'erfpeads the earth." Henry is dead, and never fhall revive: WIN. He was a king blefs'd of the King of kings. His thread of life had not fo foon decay'd: WIN. Glofter, whate'er we like, thou art protector; And lookest to command the prince, and realm. Thy wife is proud; fhe holdeth thee in awe, More than God, or religious churchmen, may. GLO. Name not religion, for thou lov'ft the flesh; And ne'er throughout the year to church thou go'ft, Except it be to pray against thy foes. 6 the fubtle-witted French &c.] There was a notion prevalent a long time, that life might be taken away by metrical charms. As fuperftition grew weaker, thefe charms were gined only to have power on irrational animals. In our author's time it was fuppofed that the Irish could kill rats by a song. ima JOHNSON. So, in Reginald Scot's Difcoverie of Witchcraft, 1584: "The Irishmen addict themselves, &c. yea they will not flicke to affirme that they can rime either man or beaft to death." STEEVENS. BED. Ceafe, cease these jars, and reft your minds in peace! Let's to the altar:-Heralds, wait on us:- Since arms avail not, now that Henry's dead.- 8 When at their mothers' moift eyes' babes fhall fuck; moift eyes] Thus the fecond folio. The firft, redundantly,-moiften'd. STEEVENS. Our ife be made a nourish of falt tears,] Mr. Pope-marish. All the old copies read, a nourish and confidering it is faid in the line immediately preceding, that babes fhall fuck at their mothers' moift eyes, it feems very probable that our author wrote, a nourice, i. e. that the whole ile fhould be one common nurse, or nourisher, of tears and those be the nourishment of its miferable iffue. THEOBALD. Was there ever fuch nonfenfe! But he did not know that marish is an old word for marsh or fen; and therefore very judiciously thus corrected by Mr. Pope. WARBURTON. We should certainly read—marish. So, in The Spanish Tragedy: "Made mountains marsh, with fpring-tides of my tears.' RITSON. I have been informed, that what we call at present a few, in which fish are preferved alive, was anciently called a nourish. Nourice, however, Fr. nurfe, was anciently fpelt many different ways, among which nourish was one. So, in Syr Eglamour of Artois, bl. 1. no date: "Of that chylde fhe was blyth, "After noryshes the fent belive." A nourish therefore in this paffage of our author may fignify a nurse, as it apparently does in the Tragedies of John Bochas, by Lydgate, B. I. c. xii: "Athenes whan it was in his floures Spenfer, in his Ruins of Time, ufes nourice as an English word: "Chaucer, the nourice of antiquity." MALONE. Profper this realm, keep it from civil broils! Enter a Meffenger. MESS. My honourable lords, health to you all! Sad tidings bring I to you out of France, Of lofs, of flaughter, and discomfiture; Guienne, Champaigne, Rheims, Orleans, Paris, Guyfors, Poitiers, are all quite lost. - Than Julius Cæfar, or bright- I can't guess the occafion of the hemiftich and imperfe& fenfe in this place; 'tis not impoffible it might have been filled up with-Francis Drake, though that were a terrible anachronism (as bad as Hedor's quoting Ariftotle in Troilus and Creffida); yet perhaps at the time that brave Englishman was in his glory, to an English-hearted audience, and pronounced by fome favourite actor, the thing might be popular, though not judicious; and, therefore, by fome critic in favour of the author afterwards ftruck out. But this is a mere flight conjedure. POPE. To confute the flight conje&ure of Pope, a whole page of vehement oppofition is annexed to this paffage by Theobald. Sir Thomas Hanmer has ftopped at Cafar-perhaps more judiciously. It might, however, have been written,-or bright Berenice. JOHNSON. Pope's conjecture is confirmed by this peculiar circumftance, that two blazing ftars (the Julium fidus) are part of the arms of the Drake family. It is well known that families and arms were much more attended to in Shakspeare's time, than they are at this day. M. MASON. This blank undoubtedly arose from the transcriber's or compofitor's not being able to make out the name. So, in a fubfequent paffage the word Nero was omitted for the fame reason. See the Differtation at the end of the third part of King Henry VI. MALONE. Guienne, Champaigne, Rheims, Orleans,] This verfe might be completed by the infertion of Rouen among the places loft, as Glofter in his next fpeech infers that it had been mentioned with the reft. STEEVENS. BED. What fay'ft thou, man, before dead Henry's coife? Speak foftly; or the lofs of those great towns If Henry were recall'd to life again, Thefe news would caufe him once more yield the ghoft. EXE. How were they loft? what treachery was us'd? MESS. No treachery; but want of men and money. Among the foldiers this is muttered, That here you maintain feveral factions; And, whilft a field fhould be defpatch'd and fought. One would have ling'ring wars, with little coft; EXE. Were our tears wanting to this funeral, 2 A third man thinks,] Thus the fecond folio, The firft omits the word-man, and confequently leaves the verfe imperfect. 3 STEEVENS. her flowing tides. ] i. e. England's flowing tides. MALONE. their intermissive miferies. ] i. e. their miseries, which have |