[The fon of Richard Earl of Arundel,] That late broke from the duke of Exeter, 4 [The fon of Richard earl of Arundel,] That late broke from the duke of Exeter,] I fufpect that fome of these lines are tranfpofed, as well as that the poet has made a blunder in his enumeration of perfons. No copy that I have feen, will authorize me to make an alteration, though according to Holinfhed, whom Shakspeare followed in great measure, more than one is necessary. All the perfons enumerated in Holinfhed's account of those who embark'd with Bolingbroke, are here mentioned with great exactnefs, except Thomas Arundell, fonne and heire to the late earle of Arundell, beheaded at the Tower-hill." See Holinfhed. And yet this nobleman, who appears to have been thus omitted by the poet, is the perfon to whom alone that circumftance relates of having broke from the duke of Exeter, and to whom alone, of all mentioned in the lift, the archbishop was related, he being uncle to the young lord, though Shakspeare by mistake calls him his brother. See Holinfhed, p. 496. From thefe circumstances here taken notice of, which are applicable only to this lord in particular, and from the improbability that Shakspeare would omit fo principal a perfonage in his hiftorian's lift, I think it can scarce be doubted but that a line is loft in which the name of this Thomas Arundel had originally a place. Mr. Ritfon, with fome probability, fuppofes Shakspeare could not have neglected fo fair an opportunity of availing himself of a rough ready-made verfe which offers itself in Holinfhed: [The fon and heir to the late earl of Arundel,] STEEVENS. For the infertion of the line included within crotchets, I am anfwerable; it not being found in the old copies. The paffages in Holinfhed relative to this matter run thus: "Aboute the fame time the Earl of Arundell's fonne, named Thomas, which was kept in the Duke of Exeter's house, escaped out of the realme, by meanes of one William Scot," &c. "Duke Henry, chiefly through the earneft perfuafion of Thomas Arundell, late Archbishoppe of Canterburie, (who, as before you have heard, had been removed from his fea, and banished the realme by King Richardes means,) got him downe to Britaine:-and when all his provifion was made ready, he tooke the fea, together with the faid Archbishop of Canterburie, and his nephew Thomas Arundell, fonne and heyre to the late Earle of Arundell, beheaded on Towerhill. There were also with him Reginalde Lord Cobham, Sir Thomas Erpingham," &c. His brother, archbishop late of Canterbury,' All thefe, well furnish'd by the duke of Bretagne, There cannot, therefore, I think, be the smallest doubt, that a line was omitted in the copy of 1597, by the negligence of the tranfcriber or compofitor, in which not only Thomas Arundel, but his father, was mentioned; for his in a fubfequent line (His brother) muft refer to the old Earl of Arundel. Rather than leave a lacuna, I have inserted fuch words as render the paffage intelligible. In Act V. fc. ii. of the play before us, a line of a rhyming couplet was paffed over by the printer of the firft folio: "Ill may'ft thou thrive, if thou grant any grace." It has been recovered from the quarto. So alfo, in K. Henry VI. Part II. the first of the following lines was omitted, as is proved by the old play on which that piece is founded, and (as in the prefent inftance) by the line which followed the omitted line: "[Suf. Jove fometimes went difguis'd, and why not I?] Cap. But Jove was never flain, as thou fhalt be." In Coriolanus, Act II. fc. ult. a line was in like manner omitted, and it has very properly been fupplied. The chriftian name of Sir Thomas Ramfton is changed to John, and the two following perfons are improperly defcribed as knights in all the copies. Thefe perhaps were likewife mistakes of the prefs, but are scarcely worth correcting. MALONE. sarchbishop late of Canterbury,] Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, brother to the Earl of Arundel who was beheaded in this reign, had been banished by the parliament, and was afterwards deprived by the Pope of his fee, at the requeft of the King; whence he is here called, late of Canterbury. STEEVENS, 6 Imp out-] As this expreffion frequently occurs in our author, 1 Redeem from broking pawn the blemish'd crown, Ross. To horfe, to horfe! urge doubts to them that fear. WILLO. Hold out my horfe, and I will first be [Exeunt. there. it may not be amifs to explain the original meaning of it. When the wing-feathers of a hawk were dropped, or forced out by any accident, it was ufual to fupply as many as were deficient. This operation was called, to imp a hawk. So, in The Devil's Charter, 1607: "His plumes only imp the mufe's wings." Again, in Albumazar, 1615: "Time's hafte, he seems to lofe a match with lobsters; Turbervile has a whole chapter on The Way and Manner howe to ympe a Hawke's Feather, how-foever it be broken or broofed. 7 STEEVENS. -gilt,] i. e. gilding, fuperficial display of gold. So, in Timon of Athens: STEEVENS. SCENE II. The fame. A Room in the Palace. Enter Queen, BUSHY, and BAGOT. BUSHY. Madam, your majesty is too much fad: You promis'd, when you parted with the king, To lay afide life-harming heaviness,' And entertain a cheerful difpofition. QUEEN. To please the king, I did; to please myfelf, I cannot do it; yet I know no caufe 7 -life-harming heaviness,] Thus the quarto, 1597. The quartos 1608, and 1615-halfe-harming; the folio-felf-harming. STEEVENS. With nothing trembles: at fomething it grieves,] The following line requires that this fhould be read juft the contrary way: With fomething trembles, yet at nothing grieves. All the old editions read: my inward foul With nothing trembles; at fomething it grieves. WARBURTON. The reading, which Dr. Warburton corrects, is itself an innovation. His conjectures give indeed a better fenfe than that of any copy, but copies must not be needlessly forfaken. JOHNSON. I fuppofe it is the unborn forrow which the calls nothing, because it is not yet brought into existence. STEEVENS. Warburton does not appear to have understood this paffage, nor Johnfon either. Through the whole of this scene, till the arrival BUSHY. Each fubftance of a grief hath twenty shadows, Which show like grief itself, but are not fo: of Green, the Queen is defcribing to Bufhy, a certain unaccountable defpondency of mind, and a foreboding apprehenfion which fhe felt of fome unforeseen calamity. She fays," that her inward foul trembles without any apparent caufe, and grieves at something more than the King's departure, though fhe knows not what." He endeavours to perfuade her that it is merely the confequence of her forrow for the King's abfence. She fays it may be so, but her foul tells her otherwife. He then tells her it is only conceit; but fhe is not fatisfied with that way of accounting for it, as the fays that conceit is ftill derived from fome fore-father grief, but what The feels was begot by nothing; that is, had no preceding cause. Conceit is here ufed in the fame fenfe that it is in Hamlet, when the King fays that Ophelia's madness was occafioned by "" conceit upon her father." M. MASON. 9 Like perspectives, which, rightly gaz'd upon, Show nothing but confufion; ey'd awry, Diftinguish form:] This is a fine fimilitude, and the thing meant is this. Amongft mathematical recreations, there is one in optics, in which a figure is drawn, wherein all the rules of perspective are inverted: fo that, if held in the fame pofition with those pictures which are drawn according to the rules of perfpective, it can present nothing but confufion: and to be feen in form, and under a regular appearance, it must be looked upon from a contrary station; or, as Shakspeare fays, ey'd awry. WARBURTON. Dr. Plot's Hiftory of Staffordshire, p. 391, explains this perfpective, or odd kind of "pictures upon an indented board, which, if beheld directly, you only perceive a confufed piece of work; but, if obliquely, you fee the intended perfon's picture ;" which, he was told, was made thus: "The board being indented, [or furrowed with a plough-plane,] the print or painting was cut into parallel pieces equal to the depth and number of the indentures on the board, and they were pafted on the flats that ftrike the eye holding it obliquely, fo that the edges of the parallel pieces of the print or painting exactly joining on the edges of the indentures, the work was done." TOLLET. |