He ne'er lift up his hand, but conquered. EXE. We mourn in black; Why mourn we not in blood? [Henry is dead, and never shall revive: Upon a wooden coffin we attend; WIN. He was a king bless'd of the King of Unto the French the dreadful judgment day His thread of life had not so soon decay'd: None do you like but an effeminate prince, tector; And lookest to command the prince, and realm. 8— the subtle-witted French, &c.] There was a notion prevalent a long time, that life might be taken away by metrical charms. As superstition grew weaker, these charms were imagined only to have power on irrational animals. In our author's time it was supposed that the Irish could kill rats by a song. JOHNSON. So, in Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1584: "The Irishmen addict themselves, &c. yea they will not sticke to affirme that they can rime either man or beast to death." STEEVENS. GLO. Name not religion, for thou lov'st the flesh; And ne'er throughout the year to church thou go'st, Except it be to pray against thy foes. BED. Cease, cease these jars, and rest your minds in peace! Let's to the altar-Heralds, wait on us :— Since arms avail not, now that Henry's dead.— When at their mothers' moisten'd eyes' babes shall suck; Our isle be made a nourish of salt tears', 9- MOIST eyes] Thus the second folio. The first, redundantly,-moisten'd. STEEVENS. : 1 Our isle be made a NOURISH of salt tears,] Mr. Pope-marish. All the old copies read, a nourish and considering it is said in the line immediately preceding, that babes shall suck at their mothers' moist eyes, it seems very probable that our author wrote, a nourice, i. e. that the whole isle should be one common nurse, or nourisher, of tears and those be the nourishment of its miserable issue. THEOBALD. : Was there ever such nonsense! But he did not know that marish is an old word for marsh or fen; and therefore very judiciously thus corrected by Mr. Pope. WARBURTON. We should certainly read-marish. So, in The Spanish Tragedy: "Made mountains marsh, with spring-tides of my tears." RITSON. I have been informed, that what we call at present a stew, in which fish are preserved alive, was anciently called a nourish. Nourice, however, Fr. a nurse, was anciently spelt many different ways, among which nourish was one. So, in Syr Eglamour of Artois, bl. 1. no date: "Of that chylde she was blyth, "After noryshes she sent belive." A nourish therefore in this passage of our author may signify a nurse, as it apparently does in The Tragedies of John Bochas, by Lydgate, b. i. c. xii. : "Athenes whan it was in his floures "Was called nourish of philosophers wise." Jubæ tellus generat, leonum Arida nutrix. STEEVENS. And none but women left to wail the dead.- Enter a Messenger. MESS. My honourable lords, health to you all! Sad tidings bring I to you out of France, Of loss, of slaughter, and discomfiture: Guienne, Champaigne, Rheims, Orleans 3, 3 Spenser, in his Ruins of Time, uses nourice as an English word: "Chaucer, the nourice of antiquity." MALONE. 2 Than Julius Cæsar, or bright-] I can't guess the occasion of the hemistich and imperfect sense in this place; 'tis not impossible it might have been filled up with-Francis Drake, though that were a terrible anachronism (as bad as Hector's quoting Aristotle in Troilus and Cressida); yet perhaps at the time that brave Englishman was in his glory, to an English-hearted audience, and pronounced by some favourite actor, the thing might be popular, though not judicious; and, therefore, by some critick in favour of the author, afterwards struck out. But this is a mere slight conjecture. POPE. To confute the slight conjecture of Pope, a whole page of vehement opposition is annexed to this passage by Theobald. Sir Thomas Hanmer has stopped at Cæsar-perhaps more judiciously. It might, however, have been written-or bright Berenice. JOHNSON. Pope's conjecture is confirmed by this peculiar circumstance, that two blazing stars (the Julium sidus) are part of the arms of the Drake family. It is well known that families and arms were much more attended to in Shakspeare's time, than they are at this day. M. MASON. This blank undoubtedly arose from the transcriber's or compositor's not being able to make out the name. So, in a subsequent passage the word Nero was omitted for the same reason. See the Dissertation at the end of the third part of King Henry VI. MALONE. 3 Guienne, Champaigne, Rheims, Orleans,] This verse might be completed [as Mr. Capell observes] by the insertion of Rouen Paris, Guysors, Poictiers, are all quite lost. BED. What say'st thou, man, before dead Henry's corse? Speak softly; or the loss of those great towns If Henry were recall'd to life again, These news would cause him once more yield the ghost. EXE. How were they lost? what treachery was us'd? MESS. No treachery; but want of men and mo ney. Among the soldiers this is muttered,— That here you maintain several factions; And, whilst a field should be despatch'd and fought, One would have ling'ring wars, with little cost; Let not sloth dim your honours, new-begot: 5 EXE. Were our tears wanting to this funeral, These tidings would call forth her flowing tides 3. BED. Me they concern; regent I am of France :Give me my steeled coat, I'll fight for France.— Away with these disgraceful wailing robes! among the places lost, as Gloster in his next speech infers that it had been mentioned with the rest. STEEVENS. 4 A third MAN thinks,] Thus the second folio. The first omits the word-man, and consequently leaves the verse imperfect. STEEVENS. 5- HER flowing tides.] i. e. England's flowing tides. MALONE. Wounds I will lend the French, instead of eyes, Enter another Messenger. 2 MESS. Lords, view these letters, full of bad France is revolted from the English quite; EXE. The Dauphin crowned king! all fly to him! O, whither shall we fly from this reproach? GLO. We will not fly, but to our enemies' throats: Bedford, if thou be slack, I'll fight it out. BED. Gloster, why doubt'st thou of my forward- An army have I muster'd in my thoughts, Enter a third Messenger. 3 MESS. My gracious lords,—to add to your laments, Wherewith you now bedew king Henry's hearse,— I must inform you of a dismal fight, Betwixt the stout lord Talbot and the French. WIN. What! wherein Talbot overcame ? is't so? 3 MESS. O, no; wherein lord Talbot was o'erthrown: The circumstance I'll tell you more at large. 6 their intermissive miseries.] i. e. their miseries, which have had only a short intermission from Henry the Fifth's death to my coming amongst them. WARBURTON. |