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So he that doth redeem her thence might wear
Without corrival all her dignities:
But out upon this half-faced fellowship!
Wor. He apprehends a world of figures here,

But not the form of what he should attend.
Good cousin, give me audience for a while.
Hot. I cry you mercy.

Wor.

Hot.

Wor.

Hot.

Those same noble Scots
That are your prisoners,—

I'll keep them all;
By God, he shall not have a Scot of them;
No, if a Scot would save his soul, he shall not:
I'll keep them, by this hand.

You start away
And lend no ear unto my purposes.
Those prisoners you shall keep.

210

215

Nay, I will; that's flat:

He said he would not ransom Mortimer;

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207. corrival] corriuall Qq; Coriuall Ff 1-3; Co-rival F 4. while.] Qq; a-while, And list to me. line). 212, 213. Those . 213. prisoners,-] Capell; prisoners214. God] heauen Ff.

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207. corrival] partner, associate, as in IV. iv. 31. Cf. the use of " competitor" in Tamburlaine, Part I. 1. ii. "Corrival" Occurs frequently in the sense of rival.

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208. half-faced fellowship] wretched sharing of dignities. A "half-face " signified originally a face as seen in profile (as in coins), and then a thin, pinched face; hence "half-faced was applied contemptuously to a person or thing in the sense of miserable-looking, wretched. Cf. H. Peacham, Compleat Gentleman, 1622: "looke upon them side-wayes and consider well their halfe-faces, as all coynes shew them"; Marston, Histrio-Mastix, IV. i: "yon halfe-fac'd minion"; Nashe, Foure Letters Confuted (McKerrow, i. 208): "your conscious minde, with all other odde ends of your halfe fac'd english," and Dekker, Olde Fortunatus (Pearson, i. 98). See also King John, 1. i. 92, and 2 Henry IV. III. ii. 283. And Middleton and Rowley, The Spanish Gipsy, Iv. iii. M. Mason thought that the allusion might be to half-faces on medals where, as in the coins of Philip and Mary, the profiles

211. a

Ff (reading And me as a separate prisoners] divided as in F; one line Qq. Rowe; prisoners Qq 1, 2; prisoners. the

of two sovereigns were represented. For the thought cf. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, A. 1625, 1626:—

"Ful sooth is seyd that love ne lordshipe

Wol... have no felaweshipe." 209. apprehends] conceives, as in Midsummer-Night's Dream, v. i. 5. 209. figures] imaginary forms, fancies, as in Love's Labour's Lost, IV. ii. 68. 210. attend] attend to, as in Tempest, 1. ii. 78.

212. I... mercy] I beg your pardon. Middleton, Your Five Gallants, IV. vi: "I cry you mercy, sir; I pray, pardon me." The expression occurs as early as Chaucer, and is common in Elizabethan drama.

214, 215. he... not] Cf. The Play of Stucley (Simpson, School of Shakspere, i. 210, 211): "Gov. . . . I will have them, every horse of them. Stuc.

...

Sirra thou gets not one of them, an a hair would save thy life." Possibly a quibbling allusion to the saying cited in Fuller's Worthies and Ray's Proverbs: "We will not lose a Scot," i.e. "anything, how inconsiderable soever, which we can save or recover" (Fuller).

Forbad my tongue to speak of Mortimer;
But I will find him when he lies asleep,
And in his ear I'll holla "Mortimer!"
Nay,

I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak
Nothing but "Mortimer," and give it him,
To keep his anger still in motion.

Wor. Hear you, cousin; a word.

220

225

Hot. All studies here I solemnly defy,

Save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke:

And that same sword-and-buckler Prince of Wales,
But that I think his father loves him not

230

And would be glad he met with some mischance,

I would have him poison'd with a pot of ale.

Wor. Farewell, kinsman: I'll talk to you

When you are better temper'd to attend.

North. Why, what a wasp-stung and impatient fool

235

223, 224. Nay, 233. him poison'd] 236. wasp-stung] Q1; waspe

222. holla] Ff; hollow (hollo or hallow) Qq. speak] divided as by Steevens (1793); one line Qq, Ff. Pope; him poisoned Qq; poyson'd him Ff. tongue Qq 2-6; waspe tongue Qq 7, 8; waspe-tongu'd Ff. 222. And .. "Mortimer !"] An echo of Marlowe, Edward II. 11. ii:Younger Mortimer. Cousin, an if he will not ransom him, I'll thunder such a peal into his

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228. defy] renounce, as in King John, III. iv. 23.

230. that Wales] The epithet "sword-and-buckler" implies that the Prince was a sword-and-buckler man or swashbuckler. Cf. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, Induction; "he has ne'er a sword and buckler-man in his Fair"; The Play of Stucley (Simpson, School of Shakspere, i. 183): "Stuc. A good sword and buckler man is of no reckoning amongst ye"; and Tarlton's Jests (ed. Hall, p. 9): "a little swaggerer, called Blacke Davie, who would at sword and buckler fight with any

gentleman or other for twelve pence."
See E. Howes' account (Howes' Stow,
ed. 1631, p. 1024) of the frays with
sword and buckler that were of frequent
occurrence in the streets on Sundays
and holidays till the rapier superseded
the sword about the twentieth year of
Queen Elizabeth. From that date
gentlemen wore rapiers, while serving
men continued to carry sword and
buckler. See V. Saviola, his Practise ;
Florio's Firste Fruites, 1578, and
Second Fruites, 1591 (p. 117); and
Porter, Two Angry Women of Abing-
ton, 1599 (Hazlitt's Dodsley, vii. 295) ;–
"Where's
your sword and

buckler, sir? Get you such like habit for a serving-man."

Also Middleton, The Phoenix, II. iii. 233. a pot of ale] An allusion to the Prince's taste for tavern life.

234. To regularise the metre Capell reads Fare you well for Farewell, and I will for I'll. S. Walker would scan "Farewell " as a trisyllable.

the

235. temper'd] disposed, in mood. So in Troilus and Cressida,

v. iii. I.

236. wasp-stung] Malone adopts the wasp-tongue of Qq 2-6 and refers, in

Art thou to break into this woman's mood,

Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own!

Hot. Why, look you, I am whipp'd and scourged with rods,
Nettled, and stung with pismires, when I hear
Of this vile politician, Bolingbroke.

240

In Richard's time,-what do you call the place?—

A plague upon it, it is in Gloucestershire;
'Twas where the madcap duke his uncle kept,

245

His uncle York; where I first bow'd my knee
Unto this king of smiles, this Bolingbroke,--
'Sblood!-

When you and he came back from Ravenspurgh.
North. At Berkley-castle.

Hot. You say true:

Why, what a candy deal of courtesy

This fawning greyhound then did proffer me!

242. do you] de'ye Ff. Ff; begins line 248 Qq.

250

243. upon it] upon't Ff. 247. 'Sblood] omitted 251. candy] caudie Ff 1, 2; gaudie Ff 3, 4.

support of it, to The Taming of the Shrew, II. i. 210-19. Wasp-tongue is almost certainly a misprint, the second syllable being caught from line 238; or the printer's ear may have been at fault.

240. Nettled] whipped with nettles. Beaumont and Fletcher, Philaster, ii; and Heywood, Loues Mistris, iv: "Venus. Ile whip you for't, with nettles steept in wine. Cupid. So you'l nettle mee, and I must smart for't." Cf. Dekker, Satiro-Mastix (Pearson, i. 232): "whipt them so with nettles."

240. pismires] ants.

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241. politician] A word used almost invariably in a bad sense by Elizabethan writers. See Sir W. Raleigh (Remains, 1660, p. 46): a cunning Polititian, or a Machiavilian at the least"; and L. Machin, The Dumb Knight, 1608 (Hazlitt's Dodsley, x. 170).

244. madcap] The Duke of York is described by Holinshed (Historie of England, iii. 485) as "a man rather coueting to liue in pleasure, than to deale with much businesse, and weightie affaires of the realme." Hardyng (Chronicle, ed. 1812, pp. 340, 341) tells us that he was "glad and mery "and loved hunting and hawking:

"All gentyll disporte [as to a lord]
appent,
He vsed aye."

The epithet "madcap " may have been traditionary. Wright, however, suggests that it is only intended to be a part of Hotspur's random language.

244. kept] lived, as in 1 Henry VI. III. i. 47, and frequently elsewhere. 245. York] Edmund Langley, fifth son of Edward III.

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245, 246. where I .] See Richard II. II. iii. 41-50.

248. Ravenspurgh] A harbour, near Spurn Head, on the Yorkshire coast, where Henry IV. landed in 1399 on his return from exile. The place has since been submerged by the sea.

251. candy courtesy] deal of sugarcandy courtesy. Cf. The Return from Parnassus (Hazlitt's Dodsley, ix. 172): "give him some sugarcandy terms"; and Wily Beguiled (Hazlitt's Dodsley, ix. 285); "he speaks nothing but almond-butter and sugarcandy. The epithet "candy" is transferred from "courtesy to "deal." Puttenham (Arte of English Poesie, iii. 22) in a paragraph devoted to "Your misplacing and preposterous placing of words," instances "A corall lippe of hew" for "A lippe of corall hew."

252. fawning greyhound] So in Coriolanus, 1. vi. 38. The greyhound was formerly its master's chamber companion, and it is described by A. Fleming (Of English Dogs, 1576) as "being simply and absolutely, the best

Look, "when his infant fortune came to age,"

And "gentle Harry Percy," and "kind cousin ;"

O, the devil take such cozeners! God forgive me! 255
Good uncle, tell your tale; I have done.

Wor. Nay, if you have not, to it again;

We will stay your leisure.

Hot.
I have done, i' faith.
Wor. Then once more to your Scottish prisoners.
Deliver them up without their ransom straight,
And make the Douglas' son your only mean
For powers in Scotland; which, for divers reasons
Which I shall send you written, be assured,
Will easily be granted. You, my lord,
Your son in Scotland being thus employ'd,
Shall secretly into the bosom creep

Of that same noble prelate, well beloved,
The archbishop.

Hot. Of York, is it not?

Wor. True; who bears hard

260

[To North.

265

His brother's death at Bristow, the Lord Scroop.

270

253. his] this Qq 3, 4. 256. I have] for I haue Ff. 257. to it] too 't or to 't Ff. 258. We will] Wee'l or We'l Ff. 258. i' faith] insooth Ff. 264. granted. You, my lord,] Thirlby conj., Theobald; granied you my Lord. Qq 1, 4; granted you, my Lord. Qq 2, 3, 5, 6, Ff. 264. To North.] Theobald. 269. is it] is 't Ff. 271. Bristow] Qq, Ff; Bristol Pope.

of the gentle kind of hounds" (Arber, English Garner, iii. 264). Grey conjectured spaniel for greyhound.

255. cozeners] cheats, deceivers, as in Merry Wives of Windsor, IV. v. 67. Two derivations have been suggested, one from "cousin" (cf. Cotgrave: "Cousiner. To claim kindred for advantage, or particular ends "), the other from It. cozzonare, "to play the horsebreaker or courser. . . . Also, to play the craftie knaue" (Florio). A pun on "cousin" and "cozen occurs in Richard III. v. iv. 222, and elsewhere. 261. the Douglas' son] See 1. i. 7072. The definite article designated the heads of distinguished Scottish families. In the border ballads the prefix is applied indiscriminately to Scottish and English leaders. So in Chevy Chase, ii. 25: "At last the Duglas and the Persè met." See also v. i. 116 post.

261. mean] means. Cf. Two Gentlemen of Verona, Iv. iv. 113, and Drayton, England's Heroical Epistles, xv. 38:

"Make this a mean to raise the Nevils' Brood."

262. For powers] for raising forces. 266. into... creep] wind yourself into the confidence, into the counsels. So in Edwards, Damon and Pythias (Hazlitt's Dodsley, iv. 37): "When I spied my time . I crept into the king's bosom "; and Greene, James IV. 1. I. J. Howell, English Proverbs, 1659 (p. 16): "He is mealy-mouth'd, he will creep into your bosom."

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270, 271. who death] See Richard II. 111. ii. 142. Bears hard: ill, resents.

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271. His brother's Scroop] This construction is not uncommon in M.E. See Chaucer, Boke of the Duchesse, 142: "Seys body the kyng," and ibid., 282: "The kynges metyng, Pharao." Also Towneley Plays, x: "hys fader sete, dauid."

271. Bristow] The reading of Qq and Ff. This form, which is not yet obsolete, is that found in Holinshed.

I speak not this in estimation,

As what I think might be, but what I know

Is ruminated, plotted and set down,

275

And only stays but to behold the face

Of that occasion that shall bring it on.

Hot. I smell it upon my life, it will do well.
North. Before the game is afoot, thou still let'st slip.
Hot. Why, it cannot choose but be a noble plot:
And then the power of Scotland and of York,
To join with Mortimer, ha?
Wor.
And so they shall.
Hot. In faith, it is exceedingly well aim'd.
Wor. And 'tis no little reason bids us speed,
To save our heads by raising of a head;
For, bear ourselves as even as we can,
The king will always think him in our debt,
And think we think ourselves unsatisfied,
Till he hath found a time to pay us home:

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280

285

wond'rous well as one 281. ha?] 282. In faith] Infaith

277. well] wond'rous well Ff (reading Upon line). 278. game is] Qq 1-4; game's (gam's F 2) the rest. Capell; ha! Rowe; ha!- Theobald; ha. Qq, Ff. Ff 1-3.

271. the Lord Scroop] William le Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire. He was the youngest son of Henry le Scrope, first Baron Scrope of Masham, and only brother to Sir Stephen Scrope. Shakespeare has followed Holinshed in the common error of making him a brother of the Archbishop of York. The Archbishop was the second son of Richard, Lord Scrope of Bolton.

272. in estimation] in supposition, conjecturally. New Eng. Dict. quotes Paston Letters (ed. 1872-5, i. 12), No. 4: "To the noumbre of four score and more by estimacioun." Cf. Massinger, The Guardian, III. v:—

"what you are Stands yet in supposition." 277. I smell it] So Lyly, Mother Bombie, 1. i: "I smell your deuice, it will be excellent"; and Brome, A Mad Couple well Match'd, Iv. iii: "This is some waggery plotted by my wife, I smell it."

278. still constantly, as often in Shakespeare.

278. let'st slip] "To let slip " is to let a greyhound loose from the slip or leash by which he is held. Cf. Coriolanus, I.

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