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from Henry the Fifth's death to my coming amongst them. WARBURTON.

P. 127, 1.24. Having full scarce six thousand in his troop,] The modern editors read, scarce full, but, I think, unnecessarily. So, in The Tempest:

- Prospero, master of a full poor cell."

STEEVENS. P. 128, 1..10. If sir John Fastolfe had not play'd the coward]. Mr. Pope has taken notice, "That Falstaff is here introduced again, who was dead in Henry V. The occasion whereof is, that this play was written before King Henry IV. or King Henry V." But it is the historical Sir John Eastolfe (for so he was called by both our Chroniclers) that is here mentioned; who was a lieutenant' general, deputy regent to the Duke of Bedford in Normandy, and knight of the garter; and not the comick character afterwards introduced by our author, and which was a creature merely of his own brain. Nor when he named him. Falstaff do I believe he had any intention of throwing a slur on the memory of this renowned old warrior. THEOBALD.

Mr. Theobald might have seen his notion éontradicted in the very line he quotes from. Fas tolfe, whether truly or not, is said by Hall and Holinshed to have been degraded for cowardice. Dr. Heylin, in his Saint Gearge for England, tells us, that "he was afterwards, upon good reason by him allegded in his defence, restored to his honour." "This Sir John Falstoff" continues he, was without doubt, a valiant and wise captain, notwithstanding the stage hath made merry with him." FARMER.

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For an account of this Sir John Fastolfe, see

the fifth volume of the Biographia Britannica. NICHOLS. P. 128, l.ii. He being in the vaward, (plac'd behind,] Some of the editors seem to have considered this as a contradiction in terms, and have proposed to read the rearward, but without necessity. part of the van must have been behind the foremost line of it. We ofteu say the back front of a house. STEEVENS."

Some

P. 129, last lines. The King from Eltham I intend to send,

And sit at chiefest stern of public weal.] The King was not at this time so much in the power of the Cardinal, that he could send him where he pleased. I have therefore no doubt but that there is an error in this passage, and that it should be read thus:

The King from Eltham I intend to steal. And sit at chiefest stern of publick weal. This slight alteration preserves the sense, and the rhyme also, with which many scenes in this play conclude. The King's person, as appears from the speech immediately preceding this of Winchester, was under the care of the Duke of Exenot of the Cardinal; ›

ter,

1

"Exe. To Eltham will I, where the young

King is,

"Being ordain'd his special governor."

M. MASON.

The second charge in the Articles of Accusation preferred by the Duke of Gloster against the Bishop, (Hall's Chron. Henry VI. f. 12, b.) countenances this conjecture. MALONE.

The disagreeable clash of the words

intend

and send, seems indeed to confirm the propriety of Mr. M. Mason's emendation. STEEVENS.

P. 131, 1. 12. as their hungry prey] I believe it should be read:

-as their hungred prey." JOHNSON.

I adhere to the old reading, which appears to signify the prey for which they are hungry.

STEEVENS.

P. 151, 1. 15. England all Olivers and Rowlands bred,] These were

two of the most famous in the list of Charlemag ne's twelve peers; and their exploits are rendered so ridiculously and equally extravagant by the old romancers, that from thence arose that saying amongst st our plain and sensible ancestors, of giving one a Rowland for his Oliver, to signify the matching one incredible lye with another. WARBURton.

2

Rather, to oppose one hero. to another, i. e to give a person as good a one as he brings. STEEVENS. P. 131, 1. 24. And hunger will enforce them to be more eager:] The preposition to should be omitted, as injurious to the measure, and unnecessary in the old elliptical mode of writing. STEEVENS.

| P. 131, 1. 28. A gimmal is a piece of jointed ework, where one piece moves within another, whence it is taken at large for an engine. It is now by the vulgar called a gimcrack. JOHNSON.

In the inventory of the jewels, &c. belonging to Salisbury cathedral, taken in 1536, 28 Henry VIII. is, "A faire chest with gimmals and key.” STEEVENS.

P. 131, 1. 30. Their arms are set, like clocks, still to strike on,]

Per

haps the author was thinking of the clocks in which figures in the shape of men struck the hours. Of these there were many in his time. MALONE.

To go like clockwork, is still a phrase in common use, to express a regular and constant motion. STEEVENS.

P. 132, first 1. Bastard] That this in former times was not a term of reproach, see Bishop Hurd's Letters on Chivalry and Romance, in the third volume of this Dialogues, p. 233, who observing on circumstances of agreement between the heroic and Gothick manners Bassays that tardy was in eredit with both. " One of William the Conqueror's charters begins, "Ego Gulielmus cognomento Bastardus. And in the reign of Edward I. John Earl Warren and Surry being called before the King's Justices to show by what title he held his lands, produxit in medium gladium antiquum evaginatum - et ait, Ecce Domini mei, ecce warrantum meum! Antecessores mei cum Willo Bastardo, venientes conquesti sunt terras suas, &c. Dugd. Orig. Jurid. p. 13. Dugd. Bar. of Engl. Vol. I. Blount 9.

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"Le Bastarde de Savoy "is inscribed over the head of one of the figures in a curious picture of the Battle of Pavia, in the Ashmolean Museum. In Fenn's Paston Letters, Vol. III. p. 72-3, in the articles of impeachment against the Duke of Suffolk, we read of the "Erle of Danis, bastard of Orlyaunce"" VAILLANT T. 132, 1. 7. Cheer is jollity, gaiety.

M. MASON.

Cheer, rather signifies

countenance.

STEEVENS. P. 132, f. 16. - the nine sibyls of old Rome;} There were no tine sibyls of Rome; but he confounds things, and mistakes this for, the nine books of Sibylline oracles, brought to one of the Tarquins. WARBURTON.

P. 132, 1. 18. Believe my words,] It should

be read:

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I perceive no need of change. The Bastard-calls upon the Dauphin to believe the extraordinary account he has just given of the prophetic spirit and prowess of the Maid of Orleans. MALONE. P. 153, I. 25. Resolve on this] firmly persuaded of it. STEEVENS.

..e. be

P. 133, fast line. Deck'd with five flower-deeach side; }

-

luces on

Old copy -fine; but we should read, according to Holinshed, five flower- de - luces. "in a secret place there among old iron, appointed she hir sword to be sought out and brought her, that with five fioure-de-lices was graven on both sides," &c. STEEVENS.

The same mistake having happened in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and in other places, I have not hesitated to reform the text, according to Mr. Steevens's suggestion. In the MSS. of the age of Queen Elizabeth, u and n are undistinguishable. MALONE.

P. 134, I. 19. the French Dauphin] The Dauphin in the preceding play is John, the elder brother of the present speaker. He died in 1416, the year after the battle of Agincourt. RITSON,

P. 135, 1. 10. Expect saint Martin's summer,} That is', expect prosperity after misfor

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