75. That my lance may pierce Mowbray's coat of mail as if it were a coat of wax.

76. John a Gaunt. bald John o' Gaunt.'

Capell and later editors read John of Gaunt,' Theo-
The 'a' no doubt is a corruption of 'o.' So we have

in Hamlet, ii. 2. 595, John-a-dreams.'

77. baviour, carriage, bearing. In Hamlet, i. 2. 81, it means rather aspect:

'Nor the dejected haviour of the visage.'

80. redoubled is to be pronounced as a quadrisyllable. Pope reads awkwardly redoubled on.' We have the same reduplication in Macbeth, i. 2. 38:

'Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe.'

81. amazing, bewildering, confounding. See v. 2. 85, and Hamlet, ii. 2.591:

'Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
The very faculties of eyes and ears.'

See also Richard III. v. 3. 341, and King John, iv. 2. 137.

Ib. casque, helmet. See Henry V. Prologue 13:

The very casques

That did affright the air at Agincourt.'

82. adverse. Except in this passage Shakespeare always accentuates 'adverse' on the first syllable. The folios here read 'amaz'd,' which is

obviously a printer's error.

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84. to thrive, i. e. help me to succeed. The old copies read innocence ;' Pope read innocence, God;' Capell introduced innocency,' which is a familiar Shakespearian word and restores the rhythm with slight change. 91. More is here superfluous.

95. to jest had in Shakespeare's time a wider signification than now, to take part in any merrymaking and specially to act in a masque or interlude. The substantive jest' was also used in the same sense. It is derived from the word gesta applied to collections of tales frequently of a comic nature. The word was spelt variously gest,' 'jeast,' &c. In Chaucer, to jest means to relate amusing stories.

97. securely, surely, certainly.

112. approve, prove. See Merchant of Venice, iii. 2. 79:

'What damned error, but some sober brow

Will bless it and approve it with a text?'

and 2 Corinthians vii. II: 'In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.'

115. free, unconstrained.

116. Attending, awaiting (the original meaning of the word). See 2 Henry IV. i. I. 3:

Tell thou the earl

That the Lord Bardolph doth attend him here.'

118. warder, the truncheon which he held as president of the combat. In 2 Henry IV. iv. I. 125, the same incident is spoken of thus:

'O, when the king did throw his warder down

His own life hung upon the staff he threw.'

At Agincourt, Sir Thomas Erpingham led the English vanguard with a

warder in his hand, and when he cast vp his warder all the army shouted, but that was a signe to the archers in the meadow,' &c. Holinshed, p. 1180,

col. 2.

120. chairs. A chair was provided for each combatant; that of Bolingbroke was of green velvet, that of Norfolk of crimson velvet curtained about with white and red damask. During the king's discussion with his council, they were commanded 'to repaire againe to theire chaires, where they remayned .ij. long houres.' Holinshed, p. 1101, col. I.

121. Withdraw with us.

the council standing behind.

These words are addressed to the members of

122. While, e. in the meantime, till. See iv. I. 269. Compare Macbeth, iii. I. 44:

We will keep ourself

Till supper-time alone: while then, God be with you!' 'While' can only, we think, be properly used for 'till,' when it follows a verb expressing a continuous action, an action which lasts over the interval of time designated. While' is commonly used for 'till' in the northern counties of England, but without the limitation which we have mentioned as characterizing the usage of Shakespeare.

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Ib. return these dukes, report, or announce, to these dukes the sentence which is the answer to their appeal. See iii. 3. 121.

124. list, listen, hear. Compare Merry Wives, v. 5. 46:

Elves, list your names.'

125. Because our kingdom's earth ought not to be soiled.

For' in this and

the following lines is used in the sense of 'because' as in Othello, iii. 3. 263: Haply, for I am black

And have not those soft parts of conversation

That chamberers have, or for I am declined

Into the vale of years.'

According to Holinshed the sentence was read by Sir John Bushy, the king's secretary.

129-133. These five lines are omitted in the folios. Probably they had been erased in some acting copy, to avoid the tautology to wake our peace,' 'fright fair peace.' But then the words which so roused up,' have no proper antecedent.

...

131. set on you, urged you on, incited you.

The

140. pain of life. So the quartos: the folios read 'pain of death.' sense is the same. In line 153 the folios as well as quartos read‘pain of life.' Holinshed has pain of death' in both cases.

142. regreet. See note on i. 3. 67.

150. sly slow. The second folio alone of the earlier editions reads 'flye slow,' whence Pope read 'fly-slow.' 'Sly' is an epithet suitable enough to the hours that pass with stealthy and noiseless step, and to the exile they would be 'slow' also. The first epithet is found in Chapman's Odyssey, ii. 164:

'But when the fourth year came, and those sly hours
That still surprise at length dames' craftiest powers.'
And in Henry More, Philosophicall Poems, p. 97, ed 1647:
The Moons sly gate

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Had cross'd the middle line.'

150. determinate. A legal word applied to a bond. Compare Sonnet lxxxvii. 4:

'My bonds in thee are all determinate.'

The expression determinate the dateless limit' is pleonastic. used in a legal sense in Romeo and Juliet, v. 3. 115:

A dateless bargain to engrossing death.'

'Dateless' is

151. thy dear exile, the exile which will touch thee so nearly, will engross all thy thoughts. The original sense of dear' seems to be 'precious,' 'rare,' thence carefully treasured,' 'much thought of. See Timon of Athens, v. 1. 231:

'Let us return,

And strain what other means is left unto us
In our dear peril,'

where dear' has the same sense as in our text.
Some dear cause

King Lear, iv. 3. 53:

Will in concealment wrap me up awhile.'

Cymbeline, v. 5. 345: Their dear loss.'

156. a dearer merit, a more precious reward. The word does not appear to have been used by Shakespeare elsewhere in this sense, but conversely he uses 'meed' in the sense of merit. Johnson, defining one sense of 'merit' to be reward deserved,' quotes an instance from Prior, Ode to Queen Anne: Those laurel groves, the merits of thy youth.'

159. these forty years. Shakespeare is not careful about dates. John Mowbray, the elder brother of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, was only born in 1365, so that Norfolk, like Richard and Bolingbroke, could not be more than three-and-thirty at the time of this scene.

161. forego should, consistently, be spelt 'forgo.'

162. viol, a six-stringed guitar. This speech is entirely Shakespeare's own invention. It is not probable that Norfolk was ignorant of French and Latin, as he had been sent on an embassy to France and Germany.

163. a cunning instrument, cunningly constructed and requiring cunning in the player. So Cymbeline, iv. 2. 186: My ingenious instrument !' 170. I am too old to begin learning a new language, as a child learns from the nurse it fondles.

174. compassionate. There appears to be no other instance of the word 'compassionate' used in the sense of having pity on oneself. But it rather signifies loudly lamenting' like the simple passionate.' King John, ii. 1. 544: She is sad and passionate at your highness' tent.'

As 'plain' and 'complain,' 'plot' and 'complot,' are used with identical meaning, so may 'passionate' and 'compassionate,' the latter being somewhat stronger. Theobald's conjecture to become passionate,' though sanctioned by Mr. R. G. White, seems tame.

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179. Compare Hamlet, i. 5. 154: 'Swear by my sword.' The guard of the sword, being at right angles to the hilt and blade, formed a cross, hence those who swore by a sword swore by the cross.

181. Richard releases them from their allegiance during their exile. Shakespeare had no warrant in Holinshed for thus deciding a moot point in the law of nations.

185. nor never. So the quartos. The double negative is very common

in our author and his contemporaries. The folios read 'nor ever.' So also

in lines 186, 188.

186. write, regreet.

Delius reads 'write regreet,' taking 'regreet' as a substantive. All the old editions have a comma or semicolon. 188. advised, deliberate. See Merchant of Venice, i. I. 142: more advised watch.'

• With

189. plot, contrive, or complot. This almost tautological language is used, as in legal documents, to include every form of conspiracy in the oath, 190. our state, our royal dignity. See Tempest, i. 2. 76:

The government I cast upon my brother,

And to my state grew stranger;'

and Merchant of Venice, v. 1. 95.

193. The quartos and first folio read so fare;' the second and third folios, 'so farre;' the fourth, so far.' In all likelihood the 'fare' of the earlier editions was a misprint for 'farre,' i. e. ' far.' The meaning of the broken sentence seems to be: so far as I am allowed to speak to you as my enemy, my oath having bound me not to speak to you as a friend.'

196. sepulchre, usually accentuated by Shakespeare on the first syllable. 205. rue, rue his knowledge.

209. aspect, always accented by Shakespeare on the last syllable. In 'exile' the accent is variable.

211. It was at Eltham, according to Holinshed, that Bolingbroke took leave of the king and had four years of his exile remitted.

222. extinct is only used by Shakespeare here and in Hamlet, i. 3. 118; in both places in its literal sense. Extinguished' does not occur in his plays

at all.

231. Time accepts the mere word of a king as sufficient warrant for a man's death.' The metaphor is taken from coinage stamped with the king's image. Compare 'sterling,' iv. 1. 264.

233. upon good advice, after due deliberation.

234. Richard says that Gaunt, as a member of the council, gave his assent to his son's banishment. Shakespeare had no authority in Holinshed for this

statement.

239-242. These lines are omitted in the folios.

240. smooth, palliate. See 3 Henry VI. iii. 1. 48: Smooths the wrong.' 241. A partial slander, an imputation of partiality. So in Julius Cæsar, i. 2.9, sterile curse,' means 'curse of sterility.'

244. to make, in making.

257. dolour, grief, from Fr. douleur. See King Lear, ii. 4. 54: Thou shalt have as many dolours for thy daughters as thou canst tell in a year.' 262. a travel, a journey. The word is rarely found in this modern sense with the indefinite article. The two senses 'travel' and 'travail' were not in Shakespeare's time distinguished by different spelling.

266. foil, from Fr. feuille, Lat. folium, gold or silver leaf put behind a looking-glass or transparent precious stone. See 1 Henry IV. i. 2. 239: 'And like bright metal on a sullen ground,

My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil to set it off.'

H

268-293. These twenty-six lines are omitted in the folios. 269. remember, remind. See Winter's Tale, iii. 2. 231:

'I'll not remember you of my own lord.'

Ib. a deal. So the first and second quartos. The third and fourth omit the article, helping the metre at the expense of the grammar.

272. foreign passages, wanderings abroad. Bolingbroke compares himself to an apprentice who, after serving his time, is made free of his craft or guild. In line 274 'journeyman,' originally a workman hired by the day, seems to be used as if it were an apprentice in his wanderjahre.

276. wise man. In the first two quartos written as one word, 'wiseman.” It was pronounced as one word with the accent on the first syllable. See v. 5. 63. We still use 'madman.' In Shakespeare's time this usage was much more extended, as for instance, 'deadman, oldman, richman, sickman, youngman.' In all these cases, as Sidney Walker says, 'man' had an enclitic force. Crit. Exam. ii. 136.

282. purchase, acquire, win. See Merchant of Venice, ii. 9. 43:

'O that estates, degrees and offices

Were not derived corruptly, and that clear honour
Were purchased by the merit of the wearer !'

283. exiled. Shakespeare accentuates this word sometimes on the first, and sometimes on the second syllable. Compare Macbeth, v. 8. 66: 'As calling home our éxiled friends abroad.'

'Exile' in this scene, lines 151, 217, has the accent on the last syllable, while in Coriolanus v. 3. 45 it is on the first:

Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge.'

'Envy' is used with the same varying accentuation.

Ib. suppose, imagine.

289. the presence strew'd, the reception-room strewed, as even palace floors were, with rushes. See Henry VIII. iii. 1. 17:

The two great cardinals

Wait in the presence.'

And Romeo and Juliet, v. 3. 86:

This vault a feasting presence full of light.'

And for the rushes, Taming of the Shrew, iv. i. 48: Is supper ready, the house trimmed, rushes strewed, cobwebs swept?' and Romeo and Juliet, i. 4. 36:

'Let wantons light of heart

Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels.'

291. measure, a stately dance. See Richard III. i. 1. 8:
'Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.'

292. gnarling, snarling, growling. See 2 Henry VI. iii. 1. 192.
'And wolves are gnarling who shall gnaw thee first.'

293. sets it light, esteems it lightly.

294. fire is here, as often, a dissyllable.

299. fantastic summer's heat, summer's heat which is merely imaginary, the creature of fancy. Compare Macbeth, i. 3. 139:

'My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,'

and line 53 of the same scene.