Upon the Maidenhead of our affairs. Wor. But yet I would your father had been here; 8 And breed a kind of queftion in our cause; This abfence of your father draws a curtain, Hot. You ftrain too far; I rather of his abfence make this use, 7 The quality and hair of our attempt.] The bair feems to be the complexion, the character. The metaphor appears harsh to us, but, perhaps, was familiar in our authour's time. We of th' offending fide.] All the later editions have this reading, but all the older copies which I have feen, from the first quarto to the edition of Rowe, read, we of the off'ring fide. Of this reading the fenfe is obfcure, and therefore the change has been made; but fince neither offering nor offending are words likely to be mistaken, I cannot but fufpect that offering is right, especially as it is read in the first copy of 1599,which is more correctly printed than any fingle edition, that I have yet feen, of a play written by Shakespeare. The offering fide may fignify that party, which, acting in oppofition to the law, ftrengthens itself only by offers; encreases its numbers only by promifes. The King can raife an army, and continue it by threats of punishment; but thofe, whom no man is under any obligation to obey, can gather forces only by offers of advantage: and it is truly remarked, that they, whofe influence arifes from offers, muft keep danger out of fight. The offering fide may mean fimply the affailant, in oppofition to the defendant, and it is likewife true of him that offers war, or makes an invafion, that his caufe ought to be kept clear from all objections. " It lends a luftre, and more great opinion, Than if the Earl were here; for men must think, SCENE E II. Enter Sir Richard Vernon. Hot. My cousin Vernon, welcome, by my foul! Ver. Pray God, ny news be worth a welcome, lord. The Earl of Westmorland, fev'n thousand strong, Is marching hither, with Prince John of Lancaster. Hot. No harm; what more? Ver. And further, I have learn'd, The King himself in perfon hath fet forth, Or hitherwards intended fpeedily, With ftrong and mighty preparation. Hot. He fhall be welcome too: where is his fon? The nimble-footed mad-cap Prince of Wales, Ver. All furnifht, all in arms, 9 All furnifht, all in arms, Brited ke Eagles] To bait with the wind appears to me an improper expreffion. To bait is in the ftyle of falconry, to beat the swing, from the French battre, that is, to flutter in preparation for flight. All Befides, what is the meaning of Estrides, that baited with the wind like Engles; for the relative that, in the usual conftruction, muft relate to Efridges. Sir Thomas Hanmer reads, the bulls. All plum'd like Eftridges, that with the wind And witch the world with noble horfemanship. Hot. No more, no more; worfe than the Sun in March, This praise doth nourish agues; let them come. All furnish'd, all in arms, All plum'd like Eftridges that wing the wind Baited like Eagles. This gives a ftrong image. They were not only plum'd like Eftridges, but their plumes fluttered like thofe of an Eftridge on the wing mounting against the wind. A more lively reprefentation of young men ardent for enterprize perhaps no writer has ever given. Ifa young Harry, with his beaver ON.] We should read, beaver UP. It is an impropriety to fay on: For the beaver is only the vifiere of the Helmet, which, let down, covers the face. When the foldier was not upon action he wore it up, fo that his face might be feen, (hence They come like Sacrifices in their trim, And yet not ours. Come, let me take my horse, 4 Harry to Harry fhall, hot horfe to horse- Ver. There is more news: I learn'd in Worcester, as I rode along, He cannot draw his Pow'r this fourteen days. Hot. Forty let it be; HECA My father and Glendower being both away, 4 Harry to Harry hall, hot berje to borse, Meet, and ne'er part.] This reading I have restored from the first edition. The fecond edition in 1622, reads, [Exeunt mer, who, july remarking the Harry to Harry hall, and herfe Harry to Harry hall, not horfe But the unexampled expreffion of meeting to, for meeting with or fimply meeting, is yet left. The ancient reading is furely right. SCENE Fal. Changes to a publick Road, near Coventry. Enter Falstaff and Bardolph. thee before to Coventry; fill me a bottle of fack. Our foldiers fhall march through; we'll to Sutton-cold-field to night. Bard. Will you give me mony, captain ? Fal. Lay out, lay out. Bard. This bottle makes an angel. Fel. And if it do, take it for thy labour; and if it make twenty, take them all, I'll answer the coynage. Bid my lieutenant * Peto meet me at the town's end. Bard. I will, captain; farewel. [Exit. Fal. If I be not afham'd of my foldiers, I am a fowc'd gurnet. I have mif-us'd the King's Prefs damnably; I have got, in exchange of an hundred and fifty foldiers, three hundred and odd pounds. I I prefs me none but good houfholders, yeomens fons; enquire me out contracted batchelors, fuch as had been afk'd twice on the banns; fuch a commodity of warm flaves, as had as lieve hear the devil, as a drum; fuch as fear the report of a culverin, worse than a ftruck fowl, or a hurt wild duck. I prefs me none but such * Lieutenant Peto.] This paffage proves that Pero did not go with the prince. 5 Sore'd gurnet.] I believe a forced gurnet is a pickled anchovy. Much of Falstaff's humour confifts in comparing himself to fomewhat little. Werfe than a truck-fowl, or a hurt wild duck.] The repetition of the fame image difpofed Sir Tho. Hanmer, and after him Dr. Warburton, to read, in op 6 pofition to all the copies, a ftruck Deer, which is indeed a proper expreffion, but not likely to have been corrupted. Shakespeare, perhaps, wrote a ftruck forel, which, being negligently read by a man not killed in hunter's language, was eafily changed to truck fowl. Sorel is ufed in Love's labour loft for a young deer, and the terms of the chase were, in our authour's time, familiar to the ears of every gentleman. toafts |