I know thee well, though never seen before. REIG. She takes upon her bravely at first dash. Puc. Dauphin, I am by birth a shepherd's daughter, My wit untrain'd in any kind of art. 7 6 Lo, whilst I waited on my tender lambs, To shine on my contemptible estate:] So, in Daniel's Complaint of Rosamond, 1594: 8 ·66 thy king &c. Lightens forth glory on thy dark estate. STEEVENS. a vision full of majesty.] So, in The Tempest: "This is a most majestick vision" STEEVENS. which you see.] Thus the second folio. The first, injudiciously as well as redundantly, which you may see. STEEVENS. 9 Resolve on this: Thou shalt be fortunate, CHAR. Thou hast astonish'd me with thy high terms; Only this proof I'll of thy valour make,— Puc. I am prepar'd: here is my keen-edg'd sword, Deck'd with five flower-de-luces on each side;' The which at Touraine, in Saint Katharine's church-yard, Out of a deal of old iron I chose forth.? CHAR. Then come o'God's name, I fear no wo man. 9 Resolve on this:] i. e. be firmly persuaded of it. So, in King Henry VI. P. III: 66 I am resolv'd "That Clifford's manhood lies upon his tongue." STEEVENS. 1 Deck'd with five flower-de-luces &c.] Old copy--fine; but we should read, according to Holinshed,-five flower-de-luces. in a secret place there among old iron, appointed she hir sword to be sought out and brought her, that with five floure-delices was graven on both sides," &c. STEEVENS. The same mistake having happened in A Midsummer-Night's Dream, and in other places, I have not hesitated to reform the text, according to Mr. Steevens's suggestion. In the MSS. of the age of Queen Elizabeth, u and n are undistinguishable. MALONE. 2 Out of a deal of old iron &c.] The old copy yet more redundantly-Out of a great deal &c. I have no doubt but the original line stood, elliptically, thus: Out a deal of old iron I chose forth. The phrase of hospitals is still an out door; not an out of door patient. STEEVENS. Puc. And, while I live, I'll ne'er fly from a man. [They fight. CHAR. Stay, stay thy hands; thou art an Ama zon, And fightest with the sword of Deborah. Puc. Christ's mother helps me, else I were too weak. CHAR. Whoe'er helps thee, 'tis thou that must help me : Impatiently I burn with thy desire ;3 My heart and hands thou hast at once subdu❜d. Let me thy servant, and not sovereign, be; CHAR. Mean time, look gracious on thy prostrate thrall. REIG. My lord, methinks, is very long in talk. ALEN. Doubtless he shrives this woman to her smock; Else ne'er could he so long protract his speech. REIG. Shall we disturb him, since he keeps no mean? 3 Impatiently I burn with thy desire;] The amorous constitution of the Dauphin has been mentioned in the preceding play: "Doing is activity, and he will still be doing." COLLINS. The Dauphin in the succeeding play is John, the elder brother of the present speaker. He died in 1416, the year after the battle of Agincourt. RITSON. ALEN. He may mean more than we poor men do know: These women are shrewd tempters with their tongues. REIG. My lord, where are you? what devise you on? Shall we give over Orleans, or no? Puc. Why no, I say, distrustful recreants! Fight till the last gasp; I will be your guard. CHAR. What she says, I'll confirm; we'll fight it out. Puc. Assign'd am I to be the English scourge. This night the siege assuredly I'll raise: Expect Saint Martin's summer, halcyon days, Since I have entered into these wars. Glory is like a circle in the water, Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself, Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to nought.* 4 • Expect Saint Martin's summer,] That is, expect prosperity after misfortune, like fair weather at Martlemas, after winter has begun. JOHNSON. 5 Glory is like a circle in the water, Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself, Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to nought.] So, in Nosce Teipsum, a poem by Sir John Davies, 1599: "As when a stone is into water cast, "One circle doth another circle make, "Till the last circle reach the bank at last." The same image, without the particular application, may be found in Silius Italicus, Lib. XIII: "Sic ubi perrumpsit stagnantem calculus undam, Contingat geminas patulo curvamine ripas." MALONE. This was a favourite simile with Pope. It is to be found also With Henry's death, the English circle ends; CHAR. Was Mahomet inspired with a dove? Nor 8 yet Saint Philip's daughters, were like thee. in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, Book VIII. st. 63, of Sir John Harrington's translation: "As circles in a water cleare are spread, "When sunne doth shine by day, and moone by night, "Succeeding one another in a ranke, "Till all by one and one do touch the banke." I meet with it again in Chapman's Epistle Dedicatorie, prefixed to his version of the Iliad: 66 -As in a spring, "The plyant water, mov'd with any thing And the same image is much expanded by Sylvester, the translator of Du Bartas, 3d part of 2d day of 2d week. 6 like that proud insulting ship, HOLT WHITE. Which Cæsar and his fortune bare at once.] This alludes to a passage in Plutarch's Life of Julius Cæsar, thus translated by Sir Thomas North: "Cæsar hearing that, straight discovered himselfe unto the maister of the pynnase, who at the first was amazed when he saw him; but Cæsar, &c. said unto him, Good fellow, be of good cheere, &c. and fear not, for thou hast Cæsar and his fortune with thee." STEEVENS. 7 Was Mahomet inspired with a dove?] Mahomet had a dove, "which he used to feed with wheat out of his ear; which dove, when it was hungry, lighted on Mahomet's shoulder, and thrust its bill in to find its breakfast; Mahomet persuading the rude and simple Arabians, that it was the Holy Ghost that gave him advice." See Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World, Book I. P. I. ch. vi. Life of Mahomet, by Dr. Prideaux. GREY. Nor yet Saint Philip's daughters,] Meaning the four daughters of Philip mentioned in the Acts. HANMER. |