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And would have armour here out of the Tower, To crown himself king, and fupprefs the prince. GLO. I will not answer thee with words, but [Here they fkirmish again.

blows.

MAY. Nought refts for me, in this tumultuous

ftrife,

But to make open proclamation:

Come, officer; as loud as e'er thou canft.

OFF. All manner of men, affembled here in arms this day, against God's peace and the king's, we charge and command you, in his highness' name, to repair to your feveral dwelling-places; and not to wear, handle, or use, any fword, weapon, or dagger, henceforward, upon pain of death.

GLO. Cardinal, I'll be no breaker of the law: But we fhall meet, and break our minds at large. WIN. Glofter, we'll meet; to thy dear coft, be fure: 8

Thy heart-blood I will have, for this day's work. MAY. I'll call for clubs, if you will not away: 9 This cardinal is more haughty than the devil.

8

Glofter, we'll meet; to thy dear coft, be fure:] Thus the fecond folio. The firft omits the epithet dear; as does Mr. Malone, who fays that the word-fure "is here ufed as a diffyllable.

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STEEVENS.

I'll call for clubs, if you will not away:] This was an outcry for affiftance, on any riot or quarrel in the ftreets. It hath been explained before. WHALLEY.

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and hit that woman, who cried

That is, for peace-officers armed with clubs or flaves. In affrays, it was cuftomary in this author's time to call out clubs, clubs! See As you like it. Vol. VIII. p. 319, n. 2.

VOL. XIV.

MALONE.

D

GLO. Mayor, farewell: thou doft but what thou

may'st.

WIN. Abominable Glofter! guard thy head; For I intend to have it, ere long.

[Exeunt. MAY. See the coaft clear'd, and then we will

depart.

Good God! that nobles fhould fuch ftomachs

bear!

8

I myself fight not once in forty year. 9 [Exeunt.

Stomachs Stomach is pride, a haughty fpirit of refentment. So, in King Henry VIII:

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that nobles should fuch fomachs bear!

STEEVENS.

I myself fight not once in forty year.] Old copy-thefe nobles. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

The mayor of London was not brought in to be laugh'd at, as is plain by his manner of interfering in the quarrel, where he all along preserves a fufficient dignity. In the line preceding these, he directs his officer, to whom without doubt these two lines fhould be given. They fuit his character, and are very expreffive of the pacific temper of the city guards. WARBURTON.

I fee no reason for this change. The mayor fpeaks firft as a magiftrate, and afterwards as a citizen. JOHNSON.

Notwithstanding Warburton's note in fupport of the dignity of the Mayor, Shakspeare certainly meant to represent him as a poor, well-meaning, fimple man, for that is the chara&er he invariably gives to his Mayors. The Mayor of London, in Richard III. is juft of the fame ftamp. And fo is the Mayor of York, in the Third Part of this play, where he refufes to admit Edward as king, but lets him into the city as Duke of York, on which Glofter lays

"A wife ftout captain! and perfuaded foon.

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Haft. The good old man would fain that all were well." Such are all Shakipeare's Mayors. M. MASON.

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Enter, on the walls, the Mafter-Gunner and his

Son..

M. GUN. Sirrah, thou know'ft how Orleans is befieg'd;

And how the English have the fuburbs won.

SON. Father, I know; and oft have fhot at them, Howe'er, unfortunate, I mifs'd my aim.

M. GUN. But now thou fhalt not. Be thou rul'd by me:

2

Chief mafter-gunner am I of this town:
Something I muft do, to procure me grace.
The prince's efpials have informed me,
How the English, in the fuburbs clofe intrench'd,
Wont, through a fecret grate of iron bars

In yonder tower, to overpeer the city; 3

The prince's efpials] Efpials are fpies. So, in Chaucer's Freres Tale:

went.

STEEVENS.

Old copy STEEVENS.

I

. For fubtilly he had his efpiaille. The word is often ufed by Hall and Holinfhed. MALONE. 3 Wont, through a secret grate of iron bars &c.] See the notes that follow Dr. Johnson's. That is, the English went not through a fecret grate, but went to: over-peer the city through a fecret grate which is in yonder tower. did not know till of late that this paffage had been thought difficult. JOHNSON. -I believe, inftead of went, we fhould read wont, the third perfon plural of the old verb wont. The English wont, that is, are accustomed - to over-peer the city. The word is used very frequently by Spenser, and several times by Milton.

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TYRWHITT.

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And thence difcover, how, with moft advantage,
They may vex us, with fhot, or with affault.
To intercept this inconvenience,

A piece of ordnance 'gainst it I have plac'd;
And fully even these three days have I watch'd,
If I could fee them. Now, boy, do thou watch,
For I can stay no longer. 4

If thou spy'f any, run and bring me word;
And thou fhalt find me at the governor's.

[Exit. SON. Father, I warrant you; take you no care;

I'll never trouble you, if I may fpy them.

Enter, in an upper chamber of a Tower, the Lords SALISBURY and TALBOT, 5 Sir WILLIAM GLANSDALE, Sir THOMAS GARGRAVE, and Others.

SAL. Talbot, my life, my joy, again return'd! How wert thou handled being prifoner?

The emendation propofed by Mr. Tyrwhitt, is fully fupported by the paffage in Hall's Chronicle, on which this fpeech is formed. So, in The Arraignment of Paris, 1584:

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the ufual time' is nie,

"When wont the dames of fate and deftinie
"In robes of chearfull colour to repair,

Now, boy, do thou watch,

For I can say no longer. ] The firft folio reads:
And even these three days have I watch't

If I could fee them. Now do thou watch,
For I can tay no longer. STEEVENS.

MALONE.

Part of this line being in the old copy by a miftake of the tranfcriber connected with the preceding hemiftich, the editor of the fecond folio supplied the metre by adding the word boy, in which he has been followed in all the subsequent editions. MALONE.

As I cannot but entertain a more favourable opinion than Mr. Malone of the numerous emendations that appear in the fecond folio, I have again adopted its regulation in the prefent inftance. This folio like wife fupplied the word fully. STEEVENS.

5 Talbot,] Though the three parts of King Henry VI. are

Or by what means got'ft thou to be releas'd?
Difcourfe, I pr'ythee, on this turret's top.

TAL. The duke of Bedford had a prifoner, Called the brave lord Ponton de Santrailles; For him I was exchang'd and ranfomed. But with a bafer man of arms by far, Once, in contempt, they would have barter'd me: Which I, difdaining, fcorn'd: and craved death Rather than I would be fo pil'd efteem'd. "

6

defervedly numbered among the feebleft performances of Shakfpeare, this firft of them appears to have been received with the greatest applause. So, in Pierce Penniless's Supplication to the Devil, by Nash, 1592: "How would it have joyed brave Talbot (the terror of the French,), to thinke that after he had lien two hundred years in his tombe, be fhould triumph againe on the ftage, and have his bones new embalmed with the teares of ten thousand spectators at least (at several times,) who in the tragedian that represents his perfon, imagine they behold him fresh bleeding?" STEEVENS.

-

--fo pil'd efteem'd.] Thus the old copy. Some of the modern editors read, but without authority-fo vile efteem'd. So pill'd, may mean-fo pillag'd, so fripp'd of honours; but I susped a corruption, which Mr. M. Mafon would remedy, by reading either vile or ill-efteemed.

It is poffible, however, that Shakspeare might have written Philiftin'd; i. e. treated as contumelioully as Sampson was by the Philiftines. Both Sampfon and Talbot had been prifoners, and were alike infulted by their captors.

Our author has jocularly formed more than one verb from a proper name; as for inftance, from Aufidius, in Coriolanus:

I would not have been so fidius'd for all the chefts in Corioli. "Again, in King Henry V. Piftol fays to his prifoner: "Mafter Fer? I'll fer him, &c. Again, in Hamlet, from Herod, we have the verb "out-herod."

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Shakspeare therefore, in the prefent inftance, might have taken a fimilar liberty. To fall into the hands of the Philiftines has long, been a cant phrafe, expreffive of danger incurred, whether from enemies, affociation with hard drinkers, gamefters, or a lefs welcome acquaintance with the harpies of the law.

--

Talbot's idea would be fufficiently expreffed by the term - Philiftin'd, which (as the play before us appears to have been copied by the ear) was more liable to corruption than a cominon verb.

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