pikes fo."In Heywood's comedy, Euftace, the grocer's prentice, is introduced courting the daughter of the King of France: and, in the frontispiece, the four prentices are reprefented in armour, tilting with javelins. Immediately before the last quoted fpeeches, we have the following inftances of allufion. "Cit. Let "the Sophy of Perfia come, and "chriften him a child. Boy. Be"lieve me, fir, that will not do "fo well; 'tis ftale: it has been "before at the Red Bull." A circumftance in Heywood's comedy; which, as has been already specified, was acted at the Red Bull. Beaumont and Fletcher's play is pure burlesque. Heywood's is a mixture of the droll and ferious, and was evidently intended to ridicule the reigning fashion of reading romances. Mr. WARTON. P. 304. Ledon by bloody youth--] Bloody youth, with which I puzzled myself in the note, is only fanguine youth, or youth full of blood, and of thofe paflions which blood is fuppofed to produce and incite or nourish. P. 332. vets up.] See the preparation for the battle between Palamon and Arcite in Chaucer. "And on the morrow when "day gan fpring P. 347. In the note, I had confounded the character of Silence with that of Slender, and drawn an inference from a falfe fuppofition. Dele the whole note. P. 383. But till the king come forth, and not till then,] The Canons of Criticism read, -And but till then; Of horse and harneis, noise "and clattering, "There was in the hofteliries ́s all about, "The foaming fteyds on the si goldin bridyl And the Revifal approves the correction. P. 396. -chrifom child.] The old quarto has it crifomb'd child. The chryfom was no more than the white cloth put on the new baptifed child. See Johnson's Canons of Ecclef. Law, 1720. And not a cloth anointed with holy unguent, as defcribed under that article in Johnfon's Dictionary, that of the chrifm being a feparate operation, and was itself no more than a compofition of oil and balfam blessed by the bishop. I have fomewhere (but cannot recollect where) met with this farther account of it; that the chryfom was allow'd to be carried out of the church, to enwrap thofe children which were in too weak a condition to be borne thither, the chryfom being fuppofed to make every place holy. Thiscuftom would rather ftrengthen the allufion to the weak condition of Faiftaff. Mr. STEEVENS. P. 396. Quickly. For his nofe was as sharp as a pen on a table of green fields,] Here our editors not knowing what to make of a table of green fields, Mr. Pope and Kk 2 and Mr. Warburton have caft it out of the text; others have turned it into," and have bab"bled of green fields." But had they been appriz'd that table in our author, fignifies a pocket-book, I believe they would have retained it, with the following alteration. "For his nofe was as fharp as a pen upon a table of green "fells." On table-books, filver or fteelpens, very sharp-pointed, were formerly, and are still fixed either to the backs or covers. Mother Quickly compares Falfaff's nole (which in dying perfons grow thin and sharp) to one of thofe pens, very properly, and fhe meant probably to have faid, on a table-book with a fhagreencover, or hagreen-table, but, in her ufual blundering way, fhe calls it a table of green fells, or a table covered with green fkin, which the blundering transcriber turn'd into green-fields; and our editors have turned the prettiest blunder in Shakespeare, quite out of doors. Mr. SMITH. P. 398. Clear thy crystals—] May, I think, better mean, in this place, wash thy glasses. P.398. Pitch and pay-] Seems to be an expreffion taken from the language used to porters, who are ordered to throw down their burdens before they are paid for carrying them. This, I believe, is the first instance of worldly prudence, to be found in the character of Piftol. The caution he leaves behind him, was a very proper one to Mrs. Quickly, who had fuffered before, by letting Falstaff run in her debt. Trust none, immediately follows it, which fufficiently explains the expreffion, which is, to this days a P. 420. Pift. Fortune is Bar- hang'd muft be.] 'Tis pax in folios 1623 and 1632; but altered to pix by Mr. Theobald and Sir Thomas Hanmer. But they fignified the fame thing. See Pax at Mafs, Minshew's Guide into the Tongues. Pix, or pax, was a little box, which were kept the confecrated wafers. in P. 426. For ches les narines, read, avec les narines. P. 428. For chein, read chien. P. 442. In the note, for pafty, read puffy. P. 445. The Revifal reads, Dau. Le ciel-coufin Orleans. This is well conjectured, nor does the paffage deserve that more should be done, yet I know not whether it might not ftand thus. Dau. Voyez les eaux et la terre. Orleans. L'air et le feu-Bien puis? P. 454. For I will fetch thy rym out of thy throat In drops of crimson blood-] Rym, I am told, is a part in the throat. Was a monofyllable wanted in the room of it, I would offer rheum, and then the expreffion, in Pistol diction, would mean no more than, I will make thee Spit blood. Mr. STEEVENS. P. 454. French Soldier. Et il impoffible d' efchapper la force de ton bras. Pistol. Brafs, cur?] Either Shakespeare had very little knowledge in the French language, or his over-fondness for punning led him in this place, contrary to his judgment, into an error. Almost any one knows that the French word bras is pronounced brau; and what refemblance of found does this bear to brass, that Pistol fhould reply, Brefs, cur? The joke may appear to a reader, but would fcarce be difcovered in the performance of the play. Mr. HAWKINS. If the pronounciation of the French language be not changed fince Shakespeare's time, which is not unlikely, it may be fufpected fome other man wrote the French scenes. P. 465. bis payment into plows.] The Revifal reads, very reasonably, in two plows. P. 476. Like prifoners wildly overgrown with hair.] The incongruity of the comparison I continue to cenfure, but the expreffion, wildly overgrown with hair, is juftifiable; the hair may be wild, though the prifoner be confined. P. 505. I'll canvas thee in the broad cardinal's hat.] This means, I believe, I'll tumble thee into thy great hat, and shake thee as bran and meal are haken in a fieve. P. 508. -The English Went through a fecret grate of iron bars, In yonder tower, to overpeer the city.] That is, the English went, not through a fecret grate, but went to overpeer the city through a Jecret grate which is in yonder tower. I did not know till of late that this paffage had been thought difficult. The day approacheth of ther returning, "That everich should a hun"dred knights bring, "The battaile to darrien, as I 66 you told." Chaucer. Skelton ufes the word in the fame fenfe. Speaking of the duke of Albany, Works, p. 83. "Thou durft not felde de "rayne, "Nor a battayle mayntaine, "With our ftronge Cap66 tayne. For you ran home agayne." P. 107. Ay, Clifford, bed- the king.] The word bedlam not used in the reign of king Henry VI. nor was Bethlehem hofpital (vulgarly called Bedlam) converted into a house, or hofpital, for lunatics, till the reign of king Henry VIII. who gave it to the city of London for that purpose. Dr. GRAY. P. 107. vils, earls of Waravick, had a bear and ragged staff for their cognifance; but the Talbots, who were formerly earls of Salisbury, had a lion, and the prefent earl of Telbot, a defcendant of that family, has the fame. Collins's Peerage. Mr. HAWKINS. P. 128. In the note, for tier, read tirer. Bears.] The Ne P. 143. P. 151. To make this shameless caliat know herself.] Shakefeare uses the word callat likewife in the Winter's Tale, act ii. fc. iii. Leonatus of Paulina. “A cal"lat "Of boundless tongue, who Callat, a lewd woman, a drab, perhaps fo called from the French calote, which was a fort of headdrefs, worn by country girls. See Glory to Urry's Chaucer. "A cold old knave cuckolde "himself winying. "And of calot of lewd de 66. menyng." Chaucer's Prologue to the Remedy of Love, 308. So Skelton, in his Elinour Ramming. Works, p. 133. "Then Elinour faid, ye cal64 lettes, "I fhall break your palettes." And again, p. 136. "She was a cumiye callet." Gammar. "Vengeance on "thofe callets, whofe confcience "is fo large." Gammar Gurton's Needle, act iii. fc. iii. Old Plavs, published 1744, vol. i. p. 154. "A cart for a callet." Id. ib. "Why the callet you told me "of here, "I have tane difguis'd." Ben Johnson's Volpene, act iv. fc. iii. Dr. GRAY. P. 204. Meed.] This word fignifies merit, both as a verb and a fubitantive; that it is ufed as a verb, is clear from the following foolish couplet, which I re"And feide, that if ye done member to have read. Thus Chau er; * us both to dien." Deem if I me d A fpecimen of verfes that read the fame backward and forward. Mr. HAWKINS. P. 253. Queen Margaret to the marquis of Dorfet. Q. Marg. Peace, mafler mar- is fcarce current.] ShakeSpeare may either allude to the late creation of the marquis of Dorfet, or to the inftitution of the title of marquis here in England, as a special dignity; which was no older than Richard II. Robert Vere, earl of Oxford, was the firft, who, as a distinct dignity, received the title of marquis, ft December, anno nono Ricardi Secundi. See Afmole's Hiftory of the Order of the Garter, p. 456. P. 320. Because that like a jack thou keep ft the ftroke between thy begging and my meditation.] An image like thofe at St. Dunfan's church in Fleet-ftreet, and at the market-houfes of feveral towns in this kingdom, was ufually called a jack of the clockboufe. See Cowley's Difcourfe on the Government of Oliver Cromwel. Richard refembles Buckingham to one of these automatons, and bids him not fufpend the ftroke on the clock bell, but ftrike, that the hour may be paft, and himfelf be at liberty to purfue his meditations. Mr. HAWKINS. P. 324. Pufellow is a word yet in ufe. Mr. HAWKINS. P. 331. demife.] I think it fhould be devife; but not in the fenfe you fuppofe. Devife, as a mode of conveyance, is appropriated to wills, but take it as a fynomine, to imagine, contrive, or invent, and it fuggefts a new idea, and fuch a one as the text feems to warrant. Mr. HAWKINS. ther, too tender. P. 335. Whom now two tender bedfellows.] Read raREVISAL. P. 356. Sound drums and trumpets, boldly, chearfully, God, and St. George, &c.] St. George was the common cry of the English foldiers, when they charged the enemy. The author of the old Arte of Warre, cited above, printed in the latter end of queen Elizabeth's reign, formally enjoins the ufe of this cry among his military laws. 84. Item, that all fouldiers entring into battaile, affault, "fkirmish, or other faction of armes, fhall have for their common cry and word, St. George, St. George, forward, "or upon them, St. George, "whereby the fouldier is much "comforted, and the enemy "difmaid by calling to minde "the antient valour of England, "which with that name has fo "often been victorious: and "therefore, he that upon any 66 66 66 66 66 finifer zale, hall maliciously "omit fo fortunate a name, fhall "be feverely punished for his ob"ftinate erroneous heart, and perverfe mind." p. 47. 86 Mr. WARTON. P. 357. This and St. George to hoo', is to help;] As I conceive not over and above. Mr. HAWKINS. P. 368. The life and death of king Richard the Third.] Te oldest known edition of this tra gedy is printed for Andrew Wife, 1597 but Harrington, in his KK 4 Аром |