A scaly gauntlet now, with joints of steel, Must glove this hand: and hence, thou sickly quoif; Thou art a guard too wanton for the head, Which princes, flesh'd with conquest, aim to hit. Now bind my brows with iron; And approach 5 The ragged'st hour that time and spite dare bring, mind, I formerly proposed to read-" Weakened with age," or "Weakened with pain." When a word is repeated, without propriety, in the same or two succeeding lines, there is great reason to suspect some corruption. Thus, in this scene, in the first folio, we have " able heels," instead of "armed heels," in consequence of the word able having occurred in the preceding line. So, in Hamlet: "Thy news shall be the news," &c. instead of "Thy news shall be the fruit." Again, in Macbeth, instead of "Whom we, to gain our place," &c. we find "Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace." In this conjecture I had once some confidence; but it is much diminished by the subsequent note, and by my having lately observed that Shakspeare elsewhere uses grief for bodily pain. Falstaff, in King Henry IV. Part I. vol. xvi. p. 387, speaks of "the grief of a wound." Grief, in the latter part of this line, is used in its present sense, for sorrow; in the former part, for bodily pain. row. MALONE. Grief, in ancient language, signifies bodily pain, as well as sorSo, in A Treatise of Sundrie Diseases, &c. by T. T. 1591: "he being at that time griped sore, and having grief in his lower bellie." Dolor ventris is, by our old writers, frequently translated "grief of the guts." I perceive no need of alteration. STEEVENS. 4 nice] i. e. trifling. So, in Julius Cæsar : "That every nice offence should bear his comments." STEEVENS. 5 The RAGGED'ST hour-] Mr. Theobald and the subsequent editors read-The rugged'st. But change is unnecessary, the expression in the text being used more than once by our author. In As You Like It, Amiens says, his voice is ragged; and rag is employed as a term of reproach in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and in Timon of Athens. See also the Epistle prefixed to Spenser's Shepherd's Calender, 1579: as thinking them fittest for the rustical rudeness of shepheards, either for that their rough sound would make his rimes more ragged, and rustical," &c. The modern editors of Spenser might here substitute the word rugged with just as much propriety as it has been substituted in 66 To frown upon the enrag'd Northumberland! TRA. This strained passion' doth you wrong, my lord. BARD. Sweet earl, divorce not wisdom from your honour. the present passage, or in that in As You Like It: "My voice is ragged." See vol. vi. p. 396, n. 7. Again, in The Rape of Lucrece : 66 66 Thy secret pleasure turns to open shame,— Thy smoothing titles to a ragged name.” Again, in our poet's eighth Sonnet: "Then let not Winter's ragged hand deface Again, in the play before us : "A ragged and fore-stall'd remission." MALONE. 6 And DARKNESS be the burier of the dead!] The conclusion of this noble speech is extremely striking. There is no need to suppose it exactly philosophical; darkness, in poetry, may be absence of eyes, as well as privation of light. Yet we may remark, that by an ancient opinion it has been held, that if the human race, for whom the world was made, were extirpated, the whole system of sublunary nature would cease. JOHNSON. A passage resembling this speech, but feeble in comparison, is found in The Double Marriage of Beaumont and Fletcher: 66 That we might fall, "And in our ruins swallow up this kingdom, 66 Nay the whole world, and make a second chaos." 7 This strained passion] This line, in the quarto, where alone it is found, is given to Umfrevile, who, as Mr. Steevens has observed, is spoken of in this very scene as absent. It was on this ground probably rejected by the player-editors. It is now, on the suggestion of Mr. Steevens, attributed to Travers, who is present, and yet (as that gentleman has remarked)" is made to say nothing on this interesting occasion." Malone. MOR. The lives of all your loving complices Lean on your health; the which, if you give o'er To stormy passion, must perforce decay. You cast the event of war, my noble lord, And summ'd the account of chance, before you said, 9 Let us make head. It was your presurmise, 8 You cast the event of war, &c.] The fourteen lines, from hence to Bardolph's next speech, are not to be found in the first editions, till that in the folio of 1623. A very great number of other lines in this play were inserted after the first edition in like manner, but of such spirit and mastery generally, that the insertions are plainly by Shakspeare himself. POPE. To this note I have nothing to add, but that the editor speaks of more editions than I believe him to have seen, there having been but one edition yet discovered by me that precedes the first folio. JOHNSON. Dr. Johnson was perhaps not altogether correct. See the Preliminary Remarks. 9 BOSWELL. in the DOLE of blows-] The dole of blows is the distribution of blows. Dole originally signified the portion of alms (consisting either of meat or money) that was given away at the door of a nobleman. STEEVENS. See vol. xvi. p. 248, n. 1. Malone. You knew, he walk'd o'er perils, on an edge, More likely to fall in, than to get o'er :] So, in King Henry IV. Part I.: "As full of peril and adventurous spirit, 2 You were ADVIS'D, his flesh was capable-] So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona : MALOne. i. e. you knew. "How shall I doat on her with more advice —." i. e. on further knowledge. MAlone. Thus also, Thomas Twyne, the continuator of Phaer's translation of Virgil, 1584, for haud inscius, has advis'd: 66 'He spake and straight the sword advisde into his throat It is still used in mercantile correspondence. TALBOT. Of wounds and scars; and that his forward spirit BARD. We all, that are engaged to this loss 3, I hear for certain, and do * speak the truth,- * Quartos, dare. 3 We all, that are engaged to this loss,] We have a similar phraseology in the preceding play : "Hath a more worthy interest to the state, "Than thou the shadow of succession." MALONE. The gentle, &c.] These one-and-twenty lines were added since the first edition. JOHNSON. This and the following twenty lines are not found in the quarto, 1600, either from some inadvertence of the transcriber or compositor, or from the printer not having been able to procure a perfect copy. They first appeared in the folio, 1623; but it is manifest that they were written at the same time with the rest of the play, Northumberland's answer referring to them. MALONE. Seem'd on our side, but, for their spirits and souls, Suppos'd sincere and holy in his thoughts, This present grief had wip'd it from my mind. The aptest way for safety, and revenge: Get posts, and letters, and make friends with speed: Never so few, and never yet more need. [Exeunt. SCENE II. London. A Street. Enter Sir JOHN FALSTAFF, with his Page bearing his Sword and Buckler. FAL. Sirrah, you giant, what says the doctor to my water?? 66 5 Tells them, he doth BESTRIDE a bleeding land,] That is, stands over his country to defend her as she lies bleeding on the ground. So Falstaff before says to the Prince, Hal, if thou see me down in the battle, and bestride me, so; it is an office of friendship." JOHNSON. 6 And MORE, and LESS,] More and less mean greater and less. So, in Macbeth : "Both more and less have given him the revolt." STEEVENS. 7 what says the doctor to my WATER?] The method of |