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P. 7, 1. 15. 16.. and not by Phoebus, he, that wandering knight so fair.] `Fal-* staff starts the idea of Phoebus, i. e. the sun; but deviates into an allusion to El Donzel del Febo, the knight. of the sun in a Spanish romance translated (under the title of The Mirror of Knighthood, &c.) during the age of Shak-” speare. This illustrious personage was most excellently faire," and a great wanderer, as those who travel after him thronghont three thick volumes in 4to. will discover. Perhaps the words that wandering knight so fair," are part of some forgotten ballad on the subject of this marvellons hero's adventures. STEEVENS.

be call'd This con

- Pagh 125.26 let not us, that are squires of the night's body, thieves of the day's beauty i veys no, manner of idea to ane. How could they be called thieves of the day's beauty? They rohhed by moonshine; they could not steal the fair day-light. I have ventured to substitute booty, and this I take to be the meaning Let us not be called thieves, the purloiners of that a booty, which, to the proprietors, was the purchase of honest labour and industry by day. THEOBALD.

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It is true, as Mr. Theobald has observed, that they could not steal the fair daylight; but I believe our poet by the expression, thieves a of the day's beauty, meant only, let not us who are body squires to the night, i. e. adorn the night be called a disgrace to the day's To: take away the beauty of the day, may probably mean, to disgrace it. A squire of the body signified originally, the attendant on a knight; the person who bore his head - piece, spear, and

shield. It became afterwards the cant term for a pimp. Falstaff however puns on the word knight. See Pegge's Curialia, Part I. p. 100. STEEVENS.

There is also, I have no doubt, a pun on the word beauty, which in the western counties is pronounced nearly in the same manner as booty. MALONE. Diana's foresters,] "Exile and slander are justly mee awarded, "My wife and heire lacke lands and lawful I right;

P.

.7, 1. let us be
27.

"And me their lord made dame Diana's knight2ng A So lamentheth Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, in The Mirror for Magistrates.

HENDERSON.

We learn from Hall, that certain persons who appeared as foresters in a pageant exhibited in the reign of King Henry VIII. were called Diana's knights. MALONE

P. 81. 2. got with swearing lay by ;] i. e. swearing at the passengers they robbed, lay by your arms; or rather, lay by was a phrase that then signified stand still, addresses to those who were preparing to rush forward. But the Oxford editor kindly accommodates these old thieves with a new cant phrase, taken from Bagshotcheath or Finchley - common, of lug-out.

WARBURTON. To lay by, is a phrase adopted from navigation, and signifies, by slackening sail to become stationary. STEEVENS.

ต P. 8, 1. 3.
i. e. more wine.

and with crying
MALONE.).

De rod

598 0f bed

bring in:]

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P. 8, 1, 7. And is not my hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench?] We meet with the same kind of humour as is contained in this and the three following speeches, in The Mostellaria of Plautus.

In the want of connection to what went before, probadly consists the humour of the Prince's question. STEEVENS. Aud a whirl

This kind of humour is often met with in old plays.

Ben Johnson calls it a game at vapours.
FAHMER.

P. 8. 1. 9. As the honey of Hybla, my cold lad of the castle.] Mr. Rowe took notice of a tradition, that this part of Falstaff was written originally under the name of Oldcastle. An ingenious correspondent hints to me that the passage above quoted from our author, proves what Mr.Rowe tells us was a tradition. Old lad of the castle seems to have a reference b Oldcastle. Besides, if this had not been the fast, why, in the epilogue to The Second Part of Henry IVwhere our autor promises to continue his story with Sir John in it, should he Where, for any thing I know, Falstaff shall die of a sweaty unless already he be killed with your hard opinions: for Oldcastle died a marty and this is not the man" This looks like declining a point that had been made an objection to him. I'll give a farther matter in proof, which seems almost to fix the charge. I have read an old play, called, The famous Victories of Henry the Fifth, containing the honourable battle of Agincourts The action of this piece commences about the 14th year of K. Henry the Fourth's reign, and ends with

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Henry the Fifth's marrying Brincess Catharine of France. The scene opens with Prince Henry's robberies. Sir John Oldcastle is one of the gang, and called Jockie; and Ned and Gadshill are two other comrades 4 From this old imperfect sketch, I have a suspicion, Shakspeare might "form his two parts of Henry IV, and his history of Henry V, and consequently it is not improbable, that he might continue the mention of Sir John Oldsastle, till some descendant of that family moved Queen Elizabeth to command him · to change the name THEOBALDI A This alludes to the name Shakspeare first gave to this buffoon character, which was Sir John Oldcastle; and when he changed the name he forgot to strike out this expression that alluded to it. The reason of the change was this; one Sir John Oldcastle having suffered in the time of Henry the Fifth for the opinions of Wickliffe, it gave offence, and therefore the poet altered it to Falstaff, and endeavouts to remove the scandal in the epilogue to The Second Part of Henry

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Fuller takes notices of this matten in this Church History of Stage poets have themselves been very bold with gas and others very merry at the inemory of Sir John Oldcastle, whom they have fancied aboon companion a jovial royster, and a coward to boot The best is, Sir John Falstaff hath relieved the memory of Sir John Oldcastle,ands of late is substituted buffoon in his place." Book V.ap. 16. But, to be candid, I believe there was no malice in the matter. Shakspeare wanted a droll name to his character, and never considered whom it belonged to We have alike instance in The Merry Wives of Windsor, where he calls his

Freneh quack, Caius, a name at that time very respectable, as belonging to an eminent and learned physician, one of the founders of Caius College in Cambridge. WARBURTON.

"The propriety of this note the reader will find contested at the beginning of K. Henry V. Si Oldcastle was not a character ever introduced by Shakspeare, nor did he ever occupy the place of Falstaff. The play in which Old

castle's name occurs, was not the work of our poet. Old lad is likewise a familiar compellation to be found in in some of our most, ancient gramatis

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pieces. STEEVENS.

lad of

the

castle, is the same with Old

lad Castile, a Castilian. Meres reckons Oliver of the castle

is romances: and 36 Gabriel Harvey tells us Old lads of the Castell with their rapping babble."" roaring V boys, This is therefore no argument for Fal0 staff's appearing first under the name of Oldcastle. There is however a passage in a play called Amends for Ladies, by Field the player, 1613, which may to prove it, unless he confounded the different performances: Did you never see

castle

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The play where the fat kuight, hight Old

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