As many lines close in the dial's center; K. HEN. Call in the messengers sent from the [Exit an Attendant. The King ascends his Throne. Now are we well resolv'd: and, by God's help; 1 O'er France, and all her almost kingly dukedoms ; 9 Without defeat.] The quartos 1600 and 1608 read: Without defect. STEEVENS. 1 empery,] This word, which signifies dominion, is now obsolete, though formerly in general use. So, in Claudius Tiberius Nero, 1607: "Within the circuit of our empery." STEEvens. 66 ·with a waxen epitaph.] The quarto 1608 reads: Enter Ambassadors of France. Now are we well prepar'd to know the pleasure Either a waxen or a paper epitaph is an epitaph easily obliterated or destroyed; one which can confer no lasting honour on the dead. To the ancient practice of writing on waxen tablets Shakspeare again alludes in the first scene of Timon of Athens: -but moves itself 66 "In a wide sea of wax." See notes on this passage. Thus also, in G. Whetstone's Garden of Unthriftiness, 1576; "In waxe, say I, men easily grave their will; "In marble stone the worke with paine is wonne : "But perfect once, the print remaineth still, "When waxen seales by every browse are donne." STEEVENS. The second reading is more unintelligible, to me at least, than the other: a grave not dignified with the slightest memorial. JOHNSON. I think this passage has been misunderstood. Henry says, " he will either rule with full dominion in France, or die in the attempt, and lay his bones in a paltry urn, without a tomb, or any remembrance over him.” With a view to the alternative that he has just stated, he adds, by way of apposition and illustration, "either the English Chronicles shall speak, trumpettongued, to the world, of my victories in France, or, being defeated there, my death shall scarcely be mentioned in history; shall not be honoured by the best epitaph a prince can have, the written account of his achievements."A paper epitaph, therefore, or, in other words, an historical eulogy, instead of a slight token of respect, is mentioned by Henry as the most honourable memorial; and Dr. Johnson's objection founded on the incongruity of saying that his grave should not be dignified by the slightest memorial, falls to the ground. The misrepresentation, I conceive, arose from understanding a figurative expression literally, and supposing that a paper epitaph meant an epitaph written on a paper, to be affixed to a tomb. AMB. May it please your majesty, to give us leave Freely to render what we have in charge; Or shall we sparingly show you far off The Dauphin's meaning, and our embassy? K. HEN. We are no tyrant, but a Christian king; Unto whose grace our passion is as subject, As are our wretches fetter'd in our prisons: Therefore, with frank and with uncurbed plain ness, Tell us the Dauphin's mind. Waxen, the reading of the folio, when it is used by Shakspeare metaphorically, signifies soft, yielding, taking an impression easily; (so, in Twelfth-Night, "women's waxen hearts ;" and, in The Rape of Lucrece, "For men have marble, women waxen minds," &c.) and consequently might mean also easily obliterated: but this meaning is quite inconsistent with the context; for in the former part of the passage the event of Henry's being buried without a tomb, and without an epitaph, has been already stated, and therefore the want of an epitaph (in its literal acceptation) could not with propriety again be insisted on, in the latter member of the sentence, which relates to a different point; the question in this place being only, whether his deeds should be emblazoned by narration, or his actions and his bones together consigned to "dust and damn'd oblivion." If any alteration was made by the author, in this passage, he might perhaps have changed the epithet paper to lasting; and the transcriber who prepared the folio copy for the press, might have been deceived by his ear, and have written waxen instead of the latter word. There is not indeed much similarity in the sound of the two words; but mistakes equally gross are found in these plays, which, it is highly probable, happened in this way. Thus, in this very play, the folio has name for mare. See p. 321, n. 5. Our poet's 55th Sonnet furnishes a strong confirmation of my interpretation of this passage: "Not marble, nor the gilded monuments "Of princes, shall out-live this powerful rhyme; "Nor Mars his sword, nor war's quick fire, shall burn AMB. Thus then, in few. 3 Your highness, lately sending into France, 3 EXE. Tennis-balls, my liege.* -a nimble galliard won;] A galliard was an ancient dance, now obsolete. So, in All for Money, 1574: "Where shall we get a pipe, to play the devil a galliard?" STEEVENS. Galliards are thus described by Sir John Davis, in his called Orchestra: "But for more diverse and more pleasing show, "With passages uncertain to and fro, "Yet with a certain answer and consent "To the quick musick of the instrument. "Five was the number of the musick's feet, poem "Which still the dance did with five paces meet; "A gallant dance, that lively doth bewray 66 "A spirit and a virtue masculine, Impatient that her house on earth should stay, "Oft doth she make her body upward fine; Reed. *Tennis-balls, my liege.] In the old play of King Henry V. already mentioned, this present consists of a gilded tun of tennisballs and a carpet. STEEVENS. K.HEN. We are glad, the Dauphin is so pleasant with us;5 His present, and your pains, we thank you for: That all the courts of France will be disturb'd We are glad, the Dauphin is so pleasant with us;] Thus stands the answer of King Henry in the same old play : "My lord, prince Dolphin is very pleasant with me. "Yea, such balls as never were toss'd in France. "The proudest tennis-court in France shall rue it." The same circumstance also is thus expressed in Michael Drayton's Battle of Agincourt: "I'll send him balls and rackets if I live; STEEVENS. 6-chaces.] Chace is a term at tennis. JOHNSON. So, in Sidney's Arcadia, Book III: "Then Fortune (as if she had made chases enow on the one side of that bloody Tenis-court) went on the other side of the line" &c. The hazard is a place in the tennis-court into which the ball is sometimes struck. STEEVENS. 7 -this poor seat of England ;] By the seat of England, the King, I believe, means the throne. So, Othello boasts that he is descended "from men of royal siege." Henry afterwards says, he will rouse him in his throne of France. The words below, "I will keep my state," likewise confirm this interpre |