band-dog; or rather the first d is suppressed here, as in other com pound words. Cole, in his Dict. 1679, renders ban-dog, canis catenatus. MALONE.

Line 695. -What shall of him become?] Here is another proof of what has been already suggested. In the quarto 1600, it is concerted between mother Jourdain and Bolingbroke that he should frame a circle, &c. and that she should "fall prostrate to the ground," to "whisper with the devils below." (Southwell is not introduced in that piece.) Accordingly, as soon as the incantations begin, Bolingbroke reads the questions out of a paper, as here. But our poet has expressly said in the preceding part of this scene that Southwell was to read them. Here, however, he inadvertently follows his original as it lay before him, forgetting that consistently with what he had already written, he should have deviated from it. He has fallen into the same kind of inconsistency in Romeo and Juliet, by sometimes adhering to and sometimes deserting the poem on which he formed that tragedy. MALONE.

Line 727. Lord Buckingham, methinks, &c.] This repetition of the prophecies, which is altogether unnecessary, after what the spectators had heard in the scene immediately preceding, is not to be found in the first edition of this play. POPE.

ACT II. SCENE I.

Line 1. for flying at the brook,] The falconer's term for hawking at water-fowl. JOHNSON. Line 4.

-the wind was very high;

And, ten to one, old Joan had not gone out.] I am told by a gentleman, better acquainted with falconry than myself, that the meaning, however expressed, is, that the wind being high, it was ten to one that the old hawk had flown quite away; a trick which hawks often play their masters in windy weather.

JOHNSON.

Line 45. -blessed are the peacemakers, &c.] Vide Matthew's Gospel, ch. 5. v. 9.

-crying, A Miracle!] This scene is founded on a story which sir Thomas More has related, and which he says was communicated to him by his father. The imposter's name is

not mentioned, but he was detected by Humphrey duke of Gloster, and in the manner here represented. See his Works, p. 134, edit. 1557. MALONE. Line 121. —who said—Simpcox, &c.] The former copies: -who said, Simon, come;

Come, offer at my shrine, and I will help thee. Why Simon? The chronicles, that take notice of Gloster's detecting this pretended miracle, tell us, that the imposter, who asserted himself to be cured of blindness, was called Saunder Simpcox-Simon was therefore a corruption. THEOBALD. Line 218. A sort of naughty persons, lewdly bent,] Lewdly generally means wickedly.

Line 230. Your lady is forthcoming-] That is, Your lady is in custody. JOHNSON.

ACT II. SCENE II.

Line 268. Which is infallible,] I know not well whether he means the opinion or the title is infallible.

JOHNSON.
MALONE.

Surely he means his title.

Line 294. -as all you know,] In the original play the words are 66 as you both know." This mode of phraseology, when the speaker addresses only two persons, is peculiar to Shak

speare.

MALONE. Line 335. And, in this private plot,] Sequestered spot of ground. MALONE.

ACT II. SCENE III.

Line 373. after three days' open penance-] In the original play the king particularly specifies the mode of penance: "Thou shalt two days do penance barefoot, in the streets, with a white sheet," &c. MALONE.

Line 385. Sorrow would solace, and mine age would ease.] That is, Sorrow would have, sorrow requires, solace, and age requires JOHNSON.

ease.

Line 409. This staff of honour raught:] Raught the old pret. and part. pass. of to reach.

Line 426. I never saw a fellow worse bested,] In a worse plight.

JOHNSON.

with a sad-bag fastened to it;] As, according to the old laws of duels, knights were to fight with the lance and sword; so those of inferior rank fought with an ebon staff or battoon, to the farther end of which was fixed a bag crammed hard with sand. To this custom Hudibras has alluded in these humorous lines:

"Engag'd with money-bags, as bold

"As men with sand-bags did of old."

WARBURTON.

Line 432. -a cup of charneco.] A common name for a sort of sweet wine: charneca is, in Spanish, the name of a kind of turpentine-tree, and I imagine the growth of it was in some district abounding with that tree; or that it had its name from a certain flavour resembling it. WARBURTON. . Line 463. -as Bevis of Southampton fell upon Ascapart.] Ascapart-the giant of the story-a name familiar to our ancestors, is mentioned by Dr. Donne:

"Those Ascaparts, men big enough to throw
"Charing-cross for a bar," &c.

JOHNSON.

The figures of these combatants are still preserved on the gates of Southampton.

STEEVENS.

ACT II. SCENE IV.

Line 486. -as seasons fleet.] Dr. Johnson in his Dictionary supposes to fleet (as here used) to be the same as to flit; that is, to be in a flux or transient state, to pass away.

MALONE. Line 491. Uneath may she endure-] Uneath, i. e. scarcely. Pope.

·516. Mail'd up in shame,] Wrapped up; bundled up in disgrace; alluding to the sheet of penance. JOHNSON. Line 552. Thy greatest help is quiet,] The poet has not endeavoured to raise much compassion for the duchess, who indeed suffers but what she had deserved. JOHNSON.

Line 569. —the world may laugh again;] That is, The world may look again favourably upon me. JOHNSON.

Line 605. I long to see my prison.] This impatience of a high spirit is very natural. It is not so dreadful to be imprisoned, as it is desirable in a state of disgrace to be sheltered from the scorn of gazers.

JOHNSON.

VOL. X.

FF

This is one of those touches that certainly came from the hand of Shakspeare; for these words are not in the old play.

MALONE.

ACT III.

SCENE I.

Line 26. Me seemeth-] That is, seemeth to me, a word more grammatical than methinks, which has, I know not how, intruded into its place. JOHNSON.

Line 48.

your grace's tale.] Suffolk uses highness and grace promiscuously to the queen. Majesty was not the settled title till the time of king James the First. JOHNSON. Line 102. But I will remedy this gear ere long,] Gear was a general word for things or matters. JOHNSON. these faults are easy,] Easy is s'ight, inconsiderable, as in other passages of this author.

Line 153.

JOHNSON.
JOHNSON.

Line 187. My liefest liege-] Is dearest.
And as the butcher takes away the calf,

240.

And binds the wretch, and beats it when it strays,] I am inclined to believe that in this passage, as in many, there is a confusion of ideas, and that the poet had at once before him a butcher carrying a calf bound, and a butcher driving a calf to the slaughter, and beating him when he did not keep the path. Part of the line was suggested by one image, and partly by another, so that strice is the best word, but stray is the right.

JOHNSON.

Line 295.

Line 278. 'Tis York that hath more reason for his death.] Why York had more reason than the rest for desiring Humphrey's death, is not very clear; he had only decided the deliberation about the regency of France in favour of Somerset. JOHNSON. No; let him die, in that he is a for, By nature prov'd an enemy to the flock, Before his chaps be stain'd with crimson blood; As Humphrey, prov'd by reasons, to my liege.] The meaning of the speaker is not hard to be discovered, but his expression is very much perplexed. He means that the fox may be lawfully killed, as being known to be by nature an enemy to sheep, even before he has actually killed them; so Humphrey may be properly destroyed, as being proved by arguments to be the king's enemy, before he has committed any actual crime.

Some may be tempted to read treasons for reasons, but the drift of the argument is to show that there may be reason to kill him before any treason has broken out. JOHNSON.

Line 302.

for that is good deceit

Which mates him first, that first intends deceit.] To mate, I believe, means here, as in many other places in our author's plays, to confound or destroy; from matar, Span. to kill. Line 311. -I will be his priest.] I will be the attendant on his last scene; I will be the last man whom he will see.

JOHNSON. Line 315. -and censure well the deed,] That is, approve the deed, judge the deed good. JOHNSON. -mad-bred flaw,] Flaw is a sudden violent gust JOHNSON.

Line 404.

of wind.

Line 411.

-a troop of Kernes;] Irish infantry.. -415. -a while Mórisco,] A Moor in a military dance, now called Morris, that is, a Moorish dance.

JOHNSON.

ACT III. SCENE II.

Line 498.

right now— -] Just now, even now. JOHNS. 524. Be woe for me,] That is, let not woe be to thee for Gloster, but for me.

JOHNSON.

Line 571. To sit and witch me, as Ascanius did,

When he to mudding Dido would unfold

His father's acts, commenc'd in burning Troy?] Old copy to sit and watch me, &c. STEEVENS.

The poet here is unquestionably alluding to Virgil (Æncid I.), but he strangely blends fact with fiction. In the first place, it was Cupid in the semblance of Ascanius, who sat in Dido's lap, and was fondled by her. But then it was not Cupid who related to her the process of Troy's destruction; but it was Æneas himself who related this history. Again, how did the supposed Asca❤ nius sit and watch her? Cupid was ordered, while Dido mistakenly caressed him, to bewitch and infect her with love. To this circumstance the poet certainly alludes; and, unless he had wrote, as I have restored to the text

To sit and witch me,