On Holmedon's plains: Of prifoners, Hotfpur took piled up in blood." If this be the meaning of balked, for the greater exactnefs of conftruction, we might add to the pointing, viz. Balk'd, in their own blood, &c. "Piled up in a ridge, and in their own blood," &c. But without this punctuation, as at prefent, the context is more poetical, and prefents a stronger image. A balk, in the fenfe here mentioned, is a common expreffion in Warwickshire, and the northern counties. It is used in the fame fignification in Chaucer's Plowman's Tale, p. 182, edit. Urr. v. 2428, WARTON, Balk'd in their own blood, I believe, means, lay'd in heaps or hillocks, in their own blood. Blithe's England's Improvement, p. 118, obferves: "The mole raifeth balks in meads and paftures." In. Leland's Itinerary, Vol. V. p. 16 and 118, Vol. VII. p. 10, a balk fignifies a bank or bill. Mr. Pope in the Iliad, has the fame thought: "On heaps the Greeks, on heaps the Trojans bled, "And thick'ning round them rife the hills of dead." 7 Mordake the earl of Fife, and eldeft fon TOLLET. To beaten Douglas;] The article-the, which is wanting in the old copies, was fupplied by Mr. Pope. Mr. Malone, however, thinks it needlefs, and fays "the word earl is here used as a diffyllable." Mordake earl of Fife, who was fon to the duke of Albany, regent of Scotland, is here called the fon of earl Douglas, through a mistake into which the poet was led by the omiffion of a comma in the paffage of Holinfhed from whence he took this account of the Scottish prifoners. It ftands thus in the hiftorian: "—and of prifoners, Mordacke earl of Fife, fon to the gouvernour Archembald earle Dowglas, &c." The want of a comma after gouvernour, makes these words appear to be the defcription of one and the fame perfon, and fo the poet understood them; but by putting the ftop in the proper place, it will then be manifeft that in this lift Mordake who was fon to the governor of Scotland, was the first prifoner, and that Archibald earl of Douglas was the second, and fo on. STEEVENS. 8- and Menteith.] This is a mistake of Holinshed in his English Hiftory, for in that of Scotland, p. 259, 262, and 419, he fpeaks of the earl of Fife and Menteith as one and the fame perfon. STEEVENS, And is not this an honourable spoil?. It is a conqueft for a prince to boast of. K. HEN. Yea, there thou mak'ft me fad, and mak'ft me fin In envy that my lord Northumberland A fon, who is the theme of honour's tongue; Of my young Harry. O, that it could be prov'd, Of this young Percy's pride? the prifoners,* "In faith, 2 It is- Thefe words are in the firft quarto, 1598, by the inaccuracy of the tranfcriber, placed at the end of the preceding fpeech, but at a confiderable distance from the laft word of it. Mr. Pope and the subsequent editors read-'Faith 'tis &c. MALONE. the prifoners,] Percy had an exclufive right to these prifoners, except the earl of Fife. By the law of arms, every man who had taken any captive, whofe redemption did not exceed ten thousand crowns, had him clearly for himself, either to acquit or ranfom, at his pleasure. It feems from Camden's Britannia, that Pounouny castle in Scotland was built out of the ranfom of this very Henry Percy, when taken prifoner at the battle of Otterbourne by an ancestor of the prefent earl of Eglington. TOLLET. Percy could not refuse the Earl of Fife to the King; for being a prince of the blood royal, (fon to the Duke of Albany, brother to King Robert III.) Henry might juftly claim him by his acknowledged military prerogative. STEEVENS, Which he in this adventure hath furpriz'd, WEST. This is his uncle's teaching, this is Worcefter, Malevolent to you in all afpécts; * Which makes him prune himself,' and briftle up The crest of youth against your dignity. K. HEN. But I have fent for him to answer this; Coufin, on Wednesday next our council we WEST. I will, my liege. [Exeunt. 2 Malevolent to you in all aspects;] An aftrological allufion. Worcester is reprefented as a malignant ftar that influenced the conduct of Hotspur. HENLEY. 3 Which makes him prane himself,] The metaphor is taken from a cock, who in his pride prunes himself; that is, picks off the loose feathers to fmooth the reft. To prune and to plume, spoken of a bird, is the fame. JOHNSON. Dr. Johnson is certainly right in his choice of the reading. So, in The Cobler's Prophecy, 1594: "Sith now thou doft but prune thy wings, "And make thy feathers gay." Again, in Green's Metamorphofis, 1613: "Pride makes the fowl to prune his feathers fo." But I am not certain that the verb to prune is justly interpreted. In The Booke of Haukynge, &c. (commonly called The Booke of St. Albans) is the following account of it: "The hauke proineth when she fetcheth oyle with her beake over the taile, and anointeth her feet and her fethers. She plumeth when she pulleth fethers of. anie foule and casteth them from her." STEEVENS. 4 Than out of anger can be uttered.] That is, "More is to be faid than anger will fuffer me to say: more than can issue from a mind disturbed like mine." JOHNSON. SCENE II. The fame. Another Room in the Palace. Enter HENRY, Prince of Wales, and Falstaff. FAL. Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad? P. HEN. Thou art fo fat-witted, with drinking of old fack, and unbuttoning thee after fupper, and fleeping upon benches after noon, that thou haft forgotten to demand that truly which thou would'ft truly know. What a devil haft thou to do with the time of the day? unless hours were cups of fack, and minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawds, and dials the figns of leaping-houfes, and the bleffed fun himself a fair hot wench in flamecolour'd taffata; I fee no reason, why thou should'st be so superfluous to demand the time of the day. FAL. Indeed, you come near me, now Hal: for we, that take purfes, go by the moon and seven stars; and not by Phoebus,-he, that wandering knight fo fair. And, I pray thee, fweet wag, when thou art S —to demand that truly which thou would't truly know.] The Prince's objection to the queftion feems to be, that Falstaff had afked in the night what was the time of the day. JOHNSON. This cannot be well received as the objection of the Prince; for prefently after, the Prince himfelf fays: "Good morrow, Ned," and Poins replies: "Good morrow, fweet lad." The truth may be, that when Shakspeare makes the Prince wifh Poins a good morrow, he had forgot that the scene commenced at night. STEEVENS. Phœbus, he, that wandering knight fo fair.] Falstaff starts the idea of Phœbus, i. e. the fun; but deviates into an allufion to El Donzel del Febo, the knight of the fun in a Spanish romance tranflated (under the title of The Mirror of Knighthood, &c.) during the age of Shakspeare. This illuftrious perfonage was "moft excellently faire," and a great wanderer, as thofe who travel after him throughout three thick volumes in 4to. will difcover. Perhaps the words "that wandering knight fo fair," are part of fome for king,-as, God fave thy grace, (majesty, I should fay; for grace thou wilt have none,) P. HEN. What! none? FAL. No, by my troth; not fo much as will ferve to be prologue to an egg and butter. P. HEN. Well, how then? come, roundly, roundly. FAL. Marry, then, fweet wag, when thou art king, let not us, that are fquires of the night's body, be call'd thieves of the day's beauty; let us be-Diana's forefters, gentlemen of the fhade, gotten ballad on the fubject of this marvellous hero's adventures. In Peele's Old Wives Tale, Com. 1595, Eumenides, the wandering knight, is a character. STEEVENS. 7 let not us, that are fquires of the night's body, be call'd thieves of the day's beauty;] This conveys no manner of idea to me. How could they be called thieves of the day's beauty? They robbed by moonshine; they could not steal the fair day-light. I have ventured to fubftitute booty: and this I take to be the meaning. Let us not be called thieves, the purloiners of that booty, which, to the proprietors, was the purchase of honeft labour and industry by day. THEOBALD. It is true, as Mr. Theobald has obferved, that they could not steal the fair day-light; but I believe our poet by the expreffion, thieves of the day's beauty, meant only, let not us who are body fquires to the night, i. e. adorn the night, be called a difgrace to the day. To take away the beauty of the day, may probably mean, to difgrace it. Afquire of the body fignified originally, the attendant on a knight; the perfon who bore his head-piece, fpear, and fhield. It became afterwards the cant term for a pimp; and is fo used in the fecond part of Decker's Honeft Whore, 1630. Again, in The Witty Fair One, 1633, for a procurefs: "Here comes the Squire of her miftrefs's body.' Falstaff however puns on the word knight. See the Curialia of Samuel Pegge, Efq. Part I. p. 100. STEEVENS. There is alfo, I have no doubt, a pun on the word beauty, which in the western counties is pronounced nearly in the fame manner as booty. See K. Henry VI. Part III: "So triumph thieves upon their conquer'd booty." MALONE. 8 Diana's forefters, &c.] "Exile and flander are juftly mee awarded, My wife and heire lacke lands and lawful right; "And me their lord made dame Diana's knight." |