The cardinal of Winchester forbids: From him I have exprefs commandement, Arrogant Winchefter? that haughty prelate, Whom Henry, our late fovereign, ne'er could brook? Thou art no friend to God, or to the king: 1 SERV. Open the gates unto the lord protector; Or we'll burst them open, if that you come not quickly. Enter WINCHESTER, attended by a Train of Servants in tawny Coats.3 3 WIN. How now, ambitious Humphry? what means this ?4 tawny coats.] It appears from the following paffage in a comedy called, A Maidenhead well loft, 1634, that a tawny coat was the drefs of a fummoner, i. e. an apparitor, an officer whofe business it was to fummon offenders to an ecclefiaftical court: "Tho I was never a tawny-coat, I have play'd the fummoner's part." Thefe are the proper attendants therefore on the Bishop of Winchefter. So, in Stowe's Chronicle, p. 822: "—and by the way the bishop of London met him, attended on by a goodly company of gentlemen in tawny-coats," &c. Tawny was likewife a colour worn for mourning, as well as black; and was therefore the fuitable and fober habit of any perfon employed in an ecclefiaftical court: "A croune of bayes shall that man weare "That triumphs over me; "For blacke and tawnie will I weare, "Whiche mournyng colours be." The Complaint of a Lover wearyng blacke and tawnie; by E. O. [i. e. the Earl of Oxford.] Paradife of Dainty Devises, 1576. STEEVENS. How now, ambitious Humphry? what means this?] The GLO. Piel'd prieft,5 dost thou command me to be fhut out? WIN. I do, thou moft ufurping proditor, And not protector of the king or realm. GLO. Stand back, thou manifest conspirator; Thou, that contriv'dft to murder our dead lord; Thou, that giv'ft whores indulgences to fin:" firft folio has it-umpheir. The traces of the letters, and the word being printed in Italicks, convince me that the Duke's christian name lurked under this corruption. THEOBALD. 5 Piel'd priest,] Alluding to his fhaven crown. POPE. In Skinner (to whose Dictionary I was directed by Mr, Edwards) I find that it means more: Pill'd or peel'd garlick, cui pellis, vel pili omnes ex morbo aliquo, præfertim è lue venerea, defluxerunt. In Ben Jonfon's Bartholomew Fair, the following inftance Occurs: "I'll fee them p-'d firft, and pil'd and double pil'd." STEEVENS. In Weever's Funeral Monuments, p. 364, Robert Baldocke, bifhop of London, is called a peel'd priest, pilide clerk, feemingly in allufion to his fhaven crown alone. So, bald-head was a term of scorn and mockery. TOLLET. The old copy has-piel'd priest. Piel'd and pil'd were only the old fpelling of peel'd. So, in our poet's Rape of Lucrece, 4to, 1594: "His leaves will wither, and his fap decay, "So muft my foul, her bark being pil'd away." See alfo Florio's Italian Dictionary, 1598: "Pelare. To pill or pluck, as they do the feathers of fowle; to pull off the hair or skin." MALONE. 6 Thou, that giv'ft whores indulgences to fin:] The public ftews were formerly under the district of the bishop of Winchester. РОРЕ. There is now extant an old manuscript (formerly the officebook of the court-leet held under the jurifdiction of the bishop of Winchester in Southwark,) in which are mentioned the several fees arifing from the brothel-houses allowed to be kept in the bifhop's manor, with the customs and regulations of them. One of the articles is: “De his, qui cuftodiunt mulieres habentes nefandam infirmi tatem." I'll canvas thee in thy broad cardinal's hat," WIN. Nay, ftand thou back, I will not budge a foot; This be Damafcus, be thou cursed Cain,3 "Item. That no ftewholder keep any woman within his house, that hath any fickness of brenning, but that the be put out upon pain of making a fyne unto the lord of C fhillings." UPTON. 7 I'll canvas thee in thy broad cardinal's hat,] This means, I believe I'll tumble thee into thy great hat, and shake thee, as bran and meal are shaken in a fieve. So, Sir W. D'Avenant, in The Cruel Brother, 1630: "I'll fift and winnow him in an old hat." To canvas was anciently used for to fift. So, in Hans Beerpot's invifible Comedy, 1618: We'll canvas him. I am too big.” 66 Again, in the Epiftle Dedicatory to Have with you to Saffron Walden, or Gabriel Harvey's Hunt is up, &c. 1596: -canvaze him and his angell brother Gabriell, in ten sheets of paper," &c. STEEVENS. Again, in The Second Part of King Henry IV. Dol Tearsheet fays to Falstaff" If thou doft, I'll canvas thee between a pair of fheets." M. MASON. Probably from the materials of which the bottom of a fieve is made. Perhaps, however, in the paffage before us Glofter means, that he will tofs the cardinal in a fheet, even while he was invested with the peculiar badge of his ecclefiaftical dignity.-Coarfe sheets were formerly termed canvas fheets. See K. Henry IV. P. II. A& II. fc. iv. MALOne. 8 This be Damafcus, be thou curfed Cain,] About four miles from Damascus is a high hill, reported to be the fame on which Cain flew his brother Abel. Maundrel's Travels, p. 131. РОРЕ. Sir John Maundeville says: "And in that place where Damafcus was founded, Kaym floughe Abel his brother." Maundeville's Travels, edit. 1725, p. 148. REED. "Damafcus is as moche to faye as fhedynge of blood. For there Chaym flowe Abell, and hydde hym in the fonde." Polychronicon, fo. xii. RITSON. GLO. I will not flay thee, but I'll drive thee back: Thy scarlet robes, as a child's bearing-cloth WIN. Do what thou dar'ft; I beard thee to thy face. GLO. What am I dar'd, and bearded to my face? Draw, men, for all this privileged place; Blue-coats to tawny-coats. beard; Priest, beware your [GLOSTER and his Men attack the Bishop. I mean to tug it, and to cuff you foundly: pope. GLO.Winchester goofe, I cry-a rope! a rope!1Now beat them hence, Why do you let them ftay? Thee I'll chafe hence, thou wolf in fheep's array. Out, tawny coats!-out, fcarlet hypocrite!2 9- Winchester goofe,] A ftrumpet, or the confequences of her love, was a Winchester goose. JOHNSON. I a rope! a rope!] See The Comedy of Errors, A& IV. fc. iv. MALONE. 2 -out, fcarlet hypocrite!] Thus, in King Henry VIII. the Earl of Surrey, with a fimilar allufion to Cardinal Wolfey's habit, calls him-"Scarlet fin." STEEVENS, Here a great Tumult. In the midst of it, Enter the Mayor of London,3 and Officers. MAY. Fye, lords! that you, being fupreme magiftrates, Thus contumeliously should break the peace! GLO. Peace, mayor; thou know'ft little of my wrongs: Here's Beaufort, that regards nor God nor king, Hath here diftrain'd the Tower to his use. WIN. Here's Glofter too, a foe to citizens ;4 One that still motions war, and never peace, O'ercharging your free purfes with large fines; That feeks to overthrow religion, Because he is protector of the realm; 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 blows. [Here they fkirmish again. MAX. Nought refts for me, in this tumultuous ftrife, But to make open proclamation: Come, officer; as loud as e'er thou can'ft. 3 the Mayor of London,] I learn from Mr. Pennant's LONDON, that this Mayor was John Coventry, an opulent mercer, from whom is defcended the prefent Earl of Coventry. STEEVENS. 4 Here's Glofter too, &c.] Thus the second, folio. The firft folio, with lefs fpirit of reciprocation, and feebler metre,-Here is Glofter &c. STEEVENS. |