horses, by our habits, and by every other appoint- Poins. Tut! our horses they shall not see; I'll tie them 175 ments. 180 Prince. Yea, but I doubt they will be too hard for us. Poins. Well, for two of them, I know them to be as truebred cowards as ever turned back; and for the third, if he fight longer than he sees reason, I'll forswear arms. The virtue of this jest will be, the incomprehensible lies that this same fat rogue will tell us 185 when we meet at supper: how thirty, at least, he fought with; what wards, what blows, what extremities he endured; and in the reproof of this lives the jest. Prince. Well, I'll go with thee: provide us all things 190 necessary and meet me to-morrow night in East Prince. I know you all, and will a while uphold The unyoked humour of your idleness: 180. Yea, but] But Ff. these Qq 6-8. 185. same] omitted Qq 5-8, Ff. [Exit. 195 188. this] 189. lives] Q I; lies the rest. 194. a while] a-while Ff 1, 2. 180. too hard for us] more than a match for us. Cf. Henry VIII. v. i. 57: "I will play no more to-night; you are too hard for me." 184-185. incomprehensible] illimit able. An English Expositor, 1684 (7th edit.): Incomprehensible. Which cannot be comprehended, or contained." New Eng. Dict. quotes Nashe, Have with you: "He is asham'd of the incomprehensible corpulencie thereof" [i.e. of his book]. 187. wards] guards, positions on guard. The words "he lay at" may be supplied after "wards." 187-188. extremities] extremes of danger. 188. reproof] disproof, confutation. 189. lives] The reading of Q I receives support from Much Ado About Nothing, iv. i. 190; and King John, IV. ii. 72. See also Coriolanus, IV. iii. 26; and iv. i. 56 post. 191. to-morrow night] Capell reads to-night, but change is unnecessary. The Prince's appointment with Poins is made for the evening following the robbery. So Poins in lines 129-130 ante: "I have bespoke supper to-morrow night in Eastcheap." Knight removes any ambiguity by pointing meet me. To-morrow night in Eastcheap, 195. unyoked] unrestrained, whether the metaphor be that of an animal disporting itself when relieved of the yoke (cf. "unyoke," to leave off work, in Hamlet, v. i, 59), or of a steed un Yet herein will I imitate the sun, Who doth permit the base contagious clouds To sport would be as tedious as to work; 200 But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come, 205 By how much better than my word I am, 210 214. foil] foile Qq 1-3; soile, soyle or soyl the rest. 216. Exit.] omitted Ff. tamed, that has never submitted to the yoke, as in 2 Henry IV. iv. ii. 103: "Like youthful steers unyoked." Cotgrave: "Desaccouplé... Uncoupled, unyoaked." 195. humour] inclination. 196-202. the sun... him] Malone compares Sonnets, xxxiii. Cf. also Nashe, Preface to Sidney's Astrophel and Stella (1591): "The Sunne for a time may maske his golden head in a cloud, yet in the end the thicke vaile doth vanish, and his embellished blandishment appeares"; Spenser, Faerie Queene, 1. vi. 6; and Dekker, If this be not a good Play (Pearson, iii. 279) : "Thou art a sunne, And let no base cloudes muffle thee." Then those, which come by sweet contingences"; and Sonnets, cii. 12. For "accidents," 211. sullen ground] dark background. Steevens compares Richard II. 1. iii. 265. 214. foil] a leaf of dull metal that "sets off" a brighter metal or a precious stone in a jewel. Massinger, The Guardian, II. v:— "all these are 215. a skill] an art. See in J. Dennys, Secrets of Angling, 1613, the lines by J. Davies entitled In due praise of this praise-worthy Skill and Worke. The verses open with: "In skils that all doe seeke, but few doe finde,” and conclude with: "Who thinke this skill's too low than, for the high, 215 [Exit. I'll so offend, to make offence a skill; SCENE III.-London. The Palace. Enter the KING, NORTHUMBERLAND, WORCESTER, HOTSPUR, SIR WALTER BLUNT, with others. King. My blood hath been too cold and temperate, Unapt to stir at these indignities, And you have found me; for accordingly I will from henceforth rather be myself, Which the proud soul ne'er pays but to the proud. And that same greatness too which our own hands North. My lord, King. Worcester, get thee gone; for I do see 5 ΙΟ 15 3. The Palace] Scene changes to an Apartment in the Palace. Theobald. me; for] Keightley read me so. 8. that] the Ff 2-4. 9. soul] omitted Ff 2-4. 14. My lord,-] Capell; My Lord Qq 4, 5; My Lord. the rest. This Angler reade, and they'l be 216. Redeeming] making amends for time misspent. See Ephesians v. 16. SCENE III. London. The Palace] The scene should perhaps be laid at Windsor, where, in Holinshed, the Percys beard the King, requiring him to cause the deliverance, by ransom or otherwise, of Edmund Mortimer. See also 1. i. 103, 104 ante. 3. found me] found me out, taken my measure. So in Othello, 11. i. 253. Cf. Sidney, Arcadia, II: "Philoclea had streight found her," i.e. read her secret; and Holland, Plutarch's Morals, 1603: "Fulvius soone found him and conceived presently what hee meant thereby.' 4. You tread patience] So in The Birth of Merlin, ii. ii: "Šir, you tread too hard upon my patience," 5, 6. I will ... condition] I will rather be the king I am than follow the mildness of my disposition. Condition, disposition, temper, as in Coriolanus, v. iv. 10: "Is't possible that so short a time can alter the condition of a man," and Middleton and Rowley, A Fair Quarrel, II. i: "Capt. Ager. You know he's hasty,- Lady Ager. So are the best conditions." 8. title of respect] claim to respect, respect to which I have a title. 13. portly] stately, majestic. So in Marlowe, Tamburlaine (Dyce, p. 11): "this Soldan's daughter rich and brave Danger and disobedience in thine eye : O, sir, your presence is too bold and peremptory, The moody frontier of a servant brow. You have good leave to leave us: when we need 20 Your use and counsel, we shall send for you. [Exit Wor. North. [To North. Yea, my good lord. Were, as he says, not with such strength denied 25 Either envy, therefore, or misprision Is guilty of this fault and not my son. Hot. My liege, I did deny no prisoners. But I remember, when the fight was done, 30 19. servant] servants Qq 6-8. 22. To North.] Rowe. 23. name] omitted Ff. 27. Either envy, therefore] Who either through 17. O, sir,] separate line S. Walker conj. 21. Exit Wor.] omitted Ff. 26. is] he Qq 5-8; was Ff. enuy Ff. 28. Is] Was Ff. 17. O, sir,] S. Walker would give a separate line to O, sir. Steevens (1793), reading I see in line 15, ends lines 15, 16, at danger and sir. 17. peremptory] overbearing, as in Love's Labour's Lost, Iv. iii. 226. 19. The moody brow] the sullen or angry menace of a subject's louring brow. "Frontier " signified a barricade or rampart, as in II. iii. 54, or a strongly fortified place on the border of an enemy's country or a vassal's domains (as in Hamlet, IV. iv. 16); whence in metaphor the general sense of something presenting a formidable aspect, threatening opposition ΟΙ danger. Rolfe and Wright note that a similar figure occurs in Henry V. III. i. 9-11. For "frontier" in the sense of a fortified town or fortress on a frontier, see Bernardo de Mendoza, Theorique and Practise of Warre (trans. Sir E. Hoby, 1599, p. 118): "It is likewise to bee marked whether the place be fortified alreadie being a frontire, or had neede to be fortified anewe.' Halliwell explains frontier as front or border; Steevens as forehead, comparing Stubbes, Anatomic of Abuses: "their bolstred heir, which standeth crested round their frontiers, and hanging over their faces"; but, as Nares remarks, "the moody forehead of a servant brow" is not sense. 20. good leave] So in Merchant of Venice, III. ii. 327. 25. with such strength denied] so stubbornly refused. 26. deliver'd] reported, as frequently. Cf. v. ii. 26 post. 27, 28. Either envy. • son] my son is not guilty of this fault, and the offence to your majesty lies at the door of one who made a false report whether through malice or an honest misunderstanding of my son's meaning. Wright compares Measure for Measure, III. ii. 149: "Either this is envy in you, folly or mistaking.' "Either," a monosyllable, as in Midsummer-Night's Dream, 11. ii. 156. Envy, malice, as often. Misprision, mistaking; cf. Cowell, Interpreter: "Misprision . . signifieth, in our common law, neglect, or negligence, or over-sight . . . also a mistaking " and Travels of Capt. John Smith (ed. Arber, p. 326): "[they] desired there might be a token given them to be known by, lest he might hurt them by misprision." The whole passage is much corrupted in Ff, is in line 26 being altered into was When I was dry with rage and extreme toil, And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held He (he Q 5), Either envy, therefore_into 31. dry] thirsty. North's Plutarch, Caius Marius: "he was very dry, and asked for cold water to drink.' 33-48. Came there .] A curious parallel to this incident will be found in Roman-British history. Tacitus, Annals, xiv. 39, and Milton, History of Britain (Bohn, v. 212): “Polycletus, no Roman but a courtier, was sent by Nero to examine how things went. He admonishing Suetonius .. to the Britons gave matter of laughter, Who so much even till then were nursed up in their native liberty, as to wonder that so great a general should be at the rebuke and ordering of a courtservitor." ... 33. neat] spruce, foppish. See the description of a "neat fellow" in Porter, Two Angry Women of Abing ton (Hazlitt's Dodsley, vii. 286). And Brome, The Northern Lasse, Iv. i: "His neatness consists most diverslie sir. Not only in the decent wearing of those cloaths and clean linnen, pruning his hair, ruffling his boots, or ordering his shooe-tyes.' To regularise the verse Pope read trimly for and trimly, Capell and trim; but no change is required, Hotspur's impatience, here as often, breaking through the restraints of metre. 33. trimly] finely, elegantly. 34. Fresh as a bridegroom] Cf. 3 Henry VI. II. i. 23, 24, and Marston, What You Will, 11. i: "He is . . neate as a bride-groome, fresh as a new-minted sixpence." 34. new reap'd] newly trimmed, close clipped. The beard was worn short by men of fashion at the date of the play, 66 35 40 36. He was milliner] See Florio's Montaigne, II. xii: a perfumed quaint courtier"; The_Return from Parnassus (Hazlitt's Dodsley, ix. 184): "There is no fool to... the perfumed fool"; and Middleton, The Old Law, 11. ii: "So passing well perfum'd too! who's your milliner?" "Milliner" signified in Shakespeare's time a tradesman who dealt in gloves, purses and other perfumed wares imported originally from Milan. See A Warning for Fair Women, 1: "The gloves you showed me and the Italian purse are both well made. but trust me, the perfume I am afraid will not continue "; and W. Rowley, A Search for Money, 1609 (Percy Soc. ed., ii. 17): "the milliners threw out perfumes to catch him by the nose, and ... sweete gloves to fit his hand." See also W. Stafford, A briefe Conceipt of English pollicy, 1581 (ed. Furnivall, p. 51). 38. pouncet-box] a box for containing pounce, a fine aromatic powder. F. ponce, L. pumicem. The word has no connection with the verb pounce, to perforate. Warburton observes that long before tobacco was introduced aromatic powder was used as snuff. 41. Took it in snuff] snuffed it up, with a play on the meaning "was incensed at it." The same quibble occurs in H. Glapthorne, The Hollander, 1. i, where a Dutchman thought "to have purchas'd a monopoly for Tobacco; but that the Vintners tooke in snuffe, and inform'd the gallants, who had like to have smoak'd him for 't." Shakespeare's reference is probably not to tobacco, which was "first brought and made known in England by Sir John Hawkins about 1565, but not used by englishmen in many years after" (E. |