M. GUN. But now thou fhalt not. Be thou rul'd by me: Chief mafter-gunner am I of this town; And thence difcover, how, with most advantage, A piece of ordnance 'gainst it I have plac'd; 9 The prince's efpials-] Efpials are fpies. So, in Chaucer's Freres Tale: "For fubtilly he had his espiaille." STEEVENS. The word is often used by Hall and Holinfhed. MALONE. I Wont, through a fecret grate of iron bars &c.] Old copywent. See the notes that follow Dr. Johnfon's. STEEVENS. That is, the English went not through a fecret grate, but went to over-peer the city through a fecret grate which is in yonder tower. I did not know till of late that this passage had been thought difficult. JOHNSON. I believe, inftead of went, we fhould read-wont. The third perfon plural of the old verb wont. The English-wont, that is, are accustomed- -to over-peer the city. The word is used very frequently by Spenfer, and several times by Milton. TYRWHITT. The emendation propofed by Mr. Tyrwhitt is fully supported by the paffage in Hall's Chronicle, on which this speech is formed. So, in The Arraignment of Paris, 1584: "When wont the dames of fate and deftinie Now, boy, do thou watch, For I can ftay no longer.] The first folio reads: MALONE, If thou spy'ft any, run and bring me word; [Exit. SON. Father, I warrant you; take you no care; I'll never trouble you, if I may fpy them. Enter, in an upper Chamber of a Tower, the Lords SALISBURY and TALBOT, 3 Sir WILLIAM GLANSDALE, Sir THOMAS GARGRAVE, and Others. SAL. Talbot, my life, my joy, again return'd! How wert thou handled, being prifoner? Or by what means got'ft thou to be releas'd? Difcourfe, I pr'ythee, on this turret's top. TAL. The duke of Bedford had a prisoner, Called the brave lord Ponton de Santrailles; And even these three days have I watcht Part of this line being in the old copy by a mistake of the tranfcriber connected with the preceding hemiftich, the editor of the fecond folio fupplied the metre by adding the word-boy, in which he has been followed in all the subsequent editions. MALONE, As I cannot but entertain a more favourable opinion than Mr. Malone of the numerous emendations that appear in the second folio, I have again adopted its regulation in the present instance. This folio likewise supplied the word-fully. STEEVENS. 3 Talbot,] Though the three parts of King Henry VI. are defervedly numbered among the feebleft performances of Shakspeare, this firft of them appears to have been received with the greatest applaufe. So, in Pierce Penniless's Supplication to the Devil, by Nash, 1592: "How would it have joyed brave Talbot (the terror of the French,) to thinke that after he had lien two hundred years in his tombe, he should triumph againe on the ftage, and have his bones new embalmed with the teares of ten thousand spectators at least (at feveral times,) who in the tragedian that represents his person, imagine they behold him fresh bleeding?" STEEVENS." For him I was exchang'd and ransomed. But with a bafer man of arms by far, Once, in contempt, they would have barter'd me: Which I, difdaining, fcorn'd; and craved death Rather than I would be so pil'd esteem'd.4 So pil'd efteem'd.] Thus the old copy. Some of the modern editors read, but without authority-fo vile-esteem'd.So pill'd, may mean-fo pillag'd, fo ftripp'd of honours; but I fufpect a corruption, which Mr. M. Mason would remedy, by reading either vile or ill-esteemed. It is poffible, however, that Shakspeare might have writtenPhiliftin'd; i. e. treated as contumelioufly as Samfon was by the Philistines.-Both Samfon and Talbot had been prifoners, and were alike infulted by their captors. Our author has jocularly formed more than one verb from a proper name; as for inftance, from Aufidius, in Coriolanus: -I would not have been fo fidius'd for all the chefts in Corioli." Again, in King Henry V. Piftol fays to his prisoner: "Mafter Fer? I'll fer him," &c. Again, in Hamlet, from Herod, we have the verb "out-herod." Shakspeare, therefore, in the prefent inftance, might have taken a fimilar liberty.-To fall into the hands of the Philistines has long been a cant phrafe, expreffive of danger incurred, whether from enemies, affociation with hard drinkers, gamefters, or a less welcome acquaintance with the harpies of the law. Talbot's idea would be fufficiently expreffed by the term-Philiftin'd, which (as the play before us appears to have been copied by the ear,) was more liable to corruption than a common verb. I may add, that perhaps no word will be found nearer to the found and traces of the letters, in pil-esteem'd, than Philiftin'd. Philiftine, in the age of Shakspeare, was always accented on the first fyllable, and therefore is not injurious to the line in which I have hesitatingly proposed to infert it. I cannot, however, help fmiling at my own conjecture; and fhould it excite the fame fenfation in the reader who journeys through the barren defert of our accumulated notes on this play, like Addison's traveller, when he discovers a cheerful spring amid the wilds of fand, let him— 66 •bless his stars, and think it luxury." STEEVENS. I have no doubt that we should read-so pile-esteem'd: a Latinifm, for which the author of this play had, I believe, no occafion to go to Lily's Grammar: "Flocci, nauci, nihili, pili, ᎠᏎ In fine, redeem'd I was as I defir'd. But, O! the treacherous Faftolfe wounds my heart! Whom with my bare fifts I would execute, If I now had him brought into my power. SAL. Yet tell'ft thou not, how thou wert entertain'd. TAL. With fcoffs, and fcorns, and contumelious taunts. In open market-place produc'd they me, Here, faid they, is the terror of the French, My grifly countenance made others fly; &c. his verbis, æftimo, pendo, peculiariter adjiciuntur; ut,— Nec hujus facio, qui me pili æftimat." Even if we fuppofe no change to be neceffary, this furely was the meaning intended to be conveyed. In one of Shakspeare's plays we have the fame phrafe, in English,-vile-esteem'd. MALONE. If the author of the play before us defigned to avail himself of the Latin phrafe-pili æftimo, would he have only half tranflated it? for what correfpondence has pile in English to a fingle hair? Was a fingle hair ever called-a pile, by any English writer? STEEVENS. 5 the terror of the French, The fcare-crow that affrights our children fo.] From Hall's Chronicle: "This man [Talbot] was to the French people a very scourge and a daily terror, infomuch that as his person was fearful, and terrible to his adversaries present, so his name and fame was spiteful and dreadful to the common people abfent; infomuch that women in France to feare their yong children, would crye, the Talbot commeth, the Talbot commeth." The fame thing is faid of King Richard I. when he was in the Holy Land. See Camden's Remaines, 4to. 1614, p. 267. MALONE. So great fear of my name 'mongst them was spread, SAL. I grieve to hear what torments you endur'd; But we will be reveng'd fufficiently. Now it is fupper-time in Orleans : Here, through this grate, I can count every one, And view the Frenchmen how they fortify; Let us look in, the fight will much delight thee.-Sir Thomas Gargrave, and fir William Glansdale, Let me have your exprefs opinions, Where is beft place to make our battery next. GAR. I think, at the north gate; for there ftand lords. GLAN. And I, here, at the bulwark of the bridge. TAL. For aught I fee, this city must be famish'd, Or with light fkirmishes enfeebled." [Shot from the Town. SALISBURY and Sir THO. GARGRAVE fall. SAL. O Lord, have mercy on us, wretched finners! GAR. O Lord, have mercy on me, woeful man ! TAL. What chance is this, that fuddenly hath crofs'd us? Speak, Salisbury; at least, if thou canst speak; • Here, through this grate, I can count every one,] Thus the fecond folio. The firft, very harfhly and unmetrically, reads: Here, thorough this grate, I count each one. 7 STEEVENS. enfeebled.] This word is here used as a quadrifyllable. MALONE. |