[The fon of Richard Earl of Arundel, ] That late broke from the duke of Exeter, [The Son of Richard earl of Arundel, ] That late broke from the duke of Exeter, ] I fufpect that some of thefe 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 neceffary. All the perfons enumerated in Holinfhed's account of those who embark'd with Bolingbroke, are here mentioned with great exacnefs, except Thomas Arundell, fonne and hire to the late earle of Arundell, beheaded at the Tower-hill. See Holinfhed. And yet this nobleman, who appears to bave 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 aloue, 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 these circumftances 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, supposes Shakspeare could not have neglected fo fair an opportunity of availing himself of a rough ready-made verfe which offers itfelf in Holinthed: [The fon and heir to the late earl of Arundel,] STEEVENS. For the infertion of the line included within crotchets, I am answerable; 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 earnest 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 bim downe to Britainę: and when all his provifion was made ready, he tooke the fea, together with the laid Archbishop of Canterburie, and his nephew Thomas Arundell, fonne and heyre to the late Earle of Arundell, beheaded on Tower. bill. There were alfo with him Reginalde Lord Cobham, Sir Thomas Erpingham," &c. - 5 His brother, archbishop late of Canterbury, All thefe, well furnifh'd by the duke of Bretagne, 6 There cannot, therefore, I think, be the fmalleft 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 inferted fuch words as render the passage intelligible. In A& V. sc. 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 [?] Cap. But Jove was never flain, as thou shalt be. In Coriolanus, A& 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 fcarcely worth correcting. Malone. 5 archbishop 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 request of the King; whence he is here called, late of Canterbury. 7 Redeem from broking pawn the blemish'd crown, Ross. To horfe, to horfe! urge doubts to them that fear. WILLO. Hold out my horse, 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 lose 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. , STEEVENS. gilt, i. e. gilding, fuperficial difplay of gold. So, in Timon of Athens: When thou waft in thy gilt and thy perfume, " &c. STEEVENS. SCENE II. The fame. A Room in the Palace, BUSHY. Madam, your majefty is too much fad: QUEEN, To please the king, I did; to please my- I cannot do it; yet I know no cause Why I fhould welcome fuch a guest as grief, 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 itfelf an innovation. His conjectures give indeed a better fenfe than that of any copy, but copies muft not be needlessly forfaken. JOHNSON. I fuppofe it is the unborn forrow which fhe calls nothing, because it is not yet brought into exiftence. STEEVENS. Warburton does not appear to have understood this paffage, nor Johnfon neither. Through the whole of this fcene, till the arrival BUSHY. Each fubftance of a grief hath twenty fhadows, Which fhow like grief itself, but are not so: 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 fomething more than the King's departure, though she 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 fo, 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 fhe fays that conceit is ftill derived from fome fore-father grief, but what fhe feels was begot by nothing; that is, had no preceding caufe. Conceit is here ufed in the fame fenfe that it is in Hamlet, when the King fays that Ophelia's nadnefs was occafioned by "conceit upon her father. M. MASON. 9 Like perfpectives, 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 thofe pictures which are drawn according to the rules of perspective, it can prefent nothing but confufion: and to be feen in form, and under a regular appearance, it must be looked upon from a contrary flation; or, as Shakspeare fays, ey'd awry. WARBURTON. Dr. Plot's Hiftory of Staffordshire, p. 391, explains this perfpective, or odd kind of " pi&ures upon an indented board, which, if beheld direaly, you only perceive a confufed piece of work; but, if obliquely, you see 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 exa&ly joining on the edges of the indentures, the work was done. TOLLET. |