135. Ween, to suppose, think. A.S. wénan; wén, an expectation, originally a striving after. 146. To commit you, that is, to prison, to the Tower. 164. Desires you to visit her and to make the acquaintance of the young stranger. 168. The coin called a mark was worth 13s. 4d. SCENE 2. 3. All fast, that is, the doors all closed. 7. Butts. Hunter notes that Sir William Butts was the principal physician to Henry VIII., one of the founders of the Coliege of Physicians, and a man of great learning and judgment. He died in 1545. 8. Happily, opportunely. 12. Sound, to fathom, discover. 14. Sought, did anything to earn. 23. Pursuivants, state messengers, attendants on heralds. 27. Parted, shared. 33. Curtain, that is, the curtain of the balcony. The king and Dr. Butts were standing at a window overlooking the lobby of the council-chamber. This transaction, so far from occurring at the moment of the birth of Queen Elizabeth, did not occur till the year 1543, when Catherine Parr was queer. 45. Capable of our flesh, subject to the temptations of our fleshly nature. 56. Pace 'em not. Do not lead them about with a slack hand in order to make them gentle. 63-65. Alluding, says Grey, to the heresy of Thomas Münzer, which sprung up in Saxony in the years 1521 and 1522.— -The upper Germany, the people of Upper Germany.- Can dearly witness, can witness to their cost. 72. A single heart, a heart free from duplicity. 82. Urge, press their accusations. 84. By that virtue, by virtue of that office. 98. Modesty, moderation. 99-100. That I shall clear myself with whatever weight of accusation you load my patience, I have as little doubt as you have few conscientious scruples in doing injustice daily. 136. Reed says that in early times, before the regal power experienced the restraints of the law, it was a common thing that the tem porary possession of a king's ring gave the holder for the time the same authority as the owner himself. The production of it was sufficient to suspend the execution of the law. The traditional story of the Earl of Essex, Queen Elizabeth, and the Countess of Nottingham is a well-known instance. 143. On 't, of it. My mind gave me, my mind misgave me. 153. Dear respect, great respect. 160. To me (whom) you cannot reach you play the spaniel. 180. Mean, means, the power. 200. You wish by your plea of poverty to be saved the expense of giving your spoons. This is said playfully, of course. It was an ancient custom for the sponsors at a christening to present silver spoons as a gift to the child. 210. A shrewd turn, an evil turn. 212. Made a Christian, christened, baptised. SCENE 3. 2. Paris Garden, a celebrated bear-garden in Southwark, near London Bridge; so called, according to Malone, from Robert de Paris, who had a house and garden there in the time of King Richard II. Steevens observes that the Globe Theatre, in which Shakespeare was a performer, stood on the southern side of the river Thames, and was contiguous to this noted place of tumult and disorder. Gaping, shouting, bawling. 3. I belong to the larder, that is, of the palace. 7. Ale and cakes, what was usually offered at christenings and other festive occasions. 12. May-day morning. Our forefathers of all ranks used to go a-Maying on the morning of the first of May. At an early hour they went out into the fields to gather flowers and hawthorn branches, which they brought home about sunrise, and fixed to all the doors and windows. This ceremony was called bringing home the May. 13. Paul's, St. Paul's Cathedral. 16. Four foot. Many nouns in the oldest English, originally neuter, and flexionless in the plural, have the same form for the singular and the plural, as winter, night, deer, folk, thing, horse, foot, etc. We still say a fortnight (= fourteen night), six foot high, ten score, twelve stone weight. 19. Sir Guy of Warwick was one of the most famous heroes of the old romances. -Colbrand was a Danish giant whom he slew at Winchester. The combat is described in Drayton's Polyolbion. 22. Chine, a piece of the backbone of a beast, with the adjoining parts. 28. Moorfields. Here the trainbands of the city were exercised. 36. Under the line, under the equator, and therefore in great heat 37. Fire-drake, fiery dragon. 39. Mortar, a short and wide piece of ordnance. 41. Pinked, pierced in small holes. 42. Porringer, a cap looking like a porringer. 46. The hope of the Strand, the youthful heroes (that is, the apprentices) of that part of the Strand where she lived. 51. Loose shot, loose or random shooters. 55. The apprentices used to be the terror of the actors. They frequented either the twopenny gallery or the sixpenny pit, the lat ter place being a yard, unseated, in the middle of the theatre, open to the sky, where its occupiers were called groundlings. 57. Tribulation of Tower-Hill. Dr. Johnson supposed this to have been a puritanical meeting-house.- -Limbs of Limehouse. Steevens notes that Limehouse was the locality in London where were the residences of those who furnish ships' stores, and that the place has always been famous for the variety of its sects, and the turbulence of its inhabitants. 59. In Limbo Patrum, in confinement. Literally, in the purgatory of the Fathers. 61. The running banquet, a public whipping. 66. Hand, business. 77. Baiting of bombards, tippling. A bombard is a large leathern vessel to carry liquors. 82. The Marshalsea was a prison on the south side of the Thames, in a district called the Borough. 85. Camlet, hair-cloth. 86. I shall throw you over the fence if you do not. SCENE 4. The Palace here is that at Greenwich to which the procession was made to the church of the Friars. 5. Partners, fellow-sponsors. 13. Gossips, sponsors at baptism, now meaning merely a crony. The word stands for god-sib, related in God. 24. Saba, the form in the Vulgate for Sheba, meaning the Queen of Sheba, who came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. 41. The maiden phoenix. The phoenix was a fabulous Arabian bird which remained single, and rose again from its own ashes. The allusion here is to Elizabeth's dying a virgin, herself appointing, however, her successor on her throne. 52. And make new nations. There is an allusion here to the comparatively recent discovery of America, and especially to the colonisation of Virginia. The first English settlement in North America was that of James Town, in 1607. 66. All the good which I got before was nothing to this. EXAMINATION PAPERS. [The following series of questions are drawn up as Specimen Papers for those preparing for the English Civil Service, the University, Local and other Examinations.] A. 1. Give some account of the discussion about the authorship of Henry VIII. 2. Whence did the author derive his materials for this play? Does it differ anywhere from known historical facts? 3. Paraphrase, pointing out all allusions and grammatical pecul iarities, and explaining fully : : (a) My surveyor is false; the o'er-great cardinal Hath show'd him gold: my life is spann'd already : Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on, (6) You have, by fortune and his highness' favors, (c) If we live thus tamely To be thus jaded by a piece of scarlet, 4. Explain the following words and phrases: Clinquant; targets; a motley coat guarded with yellow; keech; masque; cherubins; practice; putter-on; spinsters; a trembling contribution; a fit or two o the face; parcels; spavin; springhalt; mincing; cheveril; is it bitter? forty pence, no; the king in this perceives him how he coasts and hedges; stomach; letters-patents; convented; indurance; fire-drake: stands in the gap and trade of more prefer ment: Paris-garden; gaping; plain-song; baiting of bombards; blistered breeches; chine; clubs; a pinked porringer; camlet; gossips; chambers; thou scarlet sin. 5. Give some instances from Henry VIII. (1) of subjective geni tives; (2) of metonymy: (3) of Shakespeare's quibbling with words. 6. What are the principal elliptical constructions that occur in Henry VIII.? B. 1. Discuss the character (1) of Queen Katharine; (2) of Cardinal Wolsey. 2. What are the special points of contrast between Henry VIII. and the other undoubted historical plays of Shakespeare? 3. Explain fully any grammatical peculiarities that occur in the following passages: (a) Each following day (b) Your worship shall along. (c) My father, king of Spain, was reckon'd one (d) To me you cannot reach you play the spaniel. This many summers. Witnesses which the duke desir'd To have brought viva voce to his face. For living murmurers There's places of rebuke. () I say again there is no English soul (k) More stronger to direct you than yourself. Sir, your queen Desires your visitation, and to be Acquainted with this stranger. (7) An hundred marks! By this light, I'll ha' more. 4. Explain fully the allusions in the following passages :→ (a) That former fabulous story, Being now seen possible enough, got credit (b) I am not Samson nor Sir Guy nor Colbrand. (d) I were unmannerly to take you out And not to kiss you. (e) Wherever the bright sun of heaven shall shine, |