Heaven, and our Lady gracious, hath it pleas'd CHAR. Thou hast astonish'd me with thy high terms; Only this proof I'll of thy valour make, - 4 To Shine on my contemptible eftate:] So, in Daniel's Complaint of Rosamond, 1594: 5 6 thy king &c. " Lightens forth glory on thy dark eflate." STEEVENS. which you fee.] Thus the fecond folio. The firft, in judiciously as well as redundantly, which you may fee. STEEVENS. 7 Resolve on this:) i. e. be firmly persuaded of it. So, Vol. XV. p. 62: " That Clifford's manhood lies upon his tongue." STEEVENS. And, if thou vanquishest, thy words are true; Puc. I am prepar'd: here is my keen-edg'd church-yard, Out of a deal of old iron I chose forth. 9 CHAR. Then come o'God's name, I fear no wo man. man. Puc. And, while I live, I'll ne'er fly from a [They fight. CHAR. Stay, stay thy hands; thou artan Amazon, 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 defire;* 8 Deck'd with five flower-de-luces, &c.] Old copy-fine; but we should read, according to Holinthed, - five flower-de-luces. in a fecret place there among old iron, appointed the hir fword to be fought out and brought her, that with five floure-delices was graven on both fides," &c. STEEVENS. The same mistake having happened in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and in other places, I have not hefitated to reform the text, according to Mr. Steevens's fuggeftion. In the MSS. of the age of Queen Elizabeth, u and n are undiftinguishable. MALONE. 9 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 ftill an out door, not an out of door patient. STEEVENS. 2 Impatiently I burn with thy defire;) The amorous conftitution of the Dauphin has been mentioned in the preceding play: "Doing is activity, and he will ftill be doing." Collins. ) My heart and hands thou hast at once fubdu'd. Let me thy servant, and not fovereign, be; Puc. I must not yield to any rites of love, CHAR. Mean time, look gracious on thy proftrate thrall. REIG. My lord, methinks, is very long in talk. ALEN. Doubtless, he shrives this woman to her fmock; Else ne'er could he so long protract his speech. REIG. Shall we disturb him, since he keeps no mean? 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. Affign'd am I to be the English scourge. This night the siege assuredly I'll raise; Expect saint Martin's summer, halcyon days, The Dauphin in the preceding play is John, the elder brother of the present speaker: He died in 1416, the year after the battle of Agincourt. RITSON. Expect faint Martin's fummer, That is, expect prosperity after misfortune, like fair weather at Martlemas, after winter has begun. JOHNSON. Since I have entered into these wars. Glory is like a circle in the water, Dispersed are the glories it included. Now am I like that proud insulting ship, 4 Glory is like a circle in the water, Which never ceafeth to enlarge itself, 5 Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to nought.] So, in Nofce Teipfum, a poem by Sir John Davies, 1599: "As when a stone is into water caft, "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 perrumpfit staguantem calculus undam, "Exiguos format per prima volumina gyros, " Mox tremulum vibrans motu gliscente liquorem " Donec poftremo laxatis circulus oris, "Contingat geminas patulo curvamine ripas." MALONE. This was a favourite fimile with Pope. It is to be found also in Ariosto's Orlando Furiofo, Book VIII. ft. 63, of Sir John Harrington's Tranflation': "As circles in a water cleare are spread, "When funne 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 Epiftle Dedicatorie, prefixed to his version of the Iliad : As in a spring, "The plyant water, mov'd with any thing "Let fall into it, puts her motion out In perfect circles, that moue round about The gentle fountaine, one another raysing." And the same image is much expanded by Sylvefter, the translator of Du Bartas, 3d part of ad day of 2d week. HOLT WHITE. 5 like that proud infulting ship, Which Cæfar and his fortune bare at once.) This alludes to a passage in Plutarch's Life of of Julius Cæfar, thus tranflated by Sir CHAR. Was Mahomet inspired with a dove?" Thou with an eagle art inspired then. Helen, the mother of great Constantine, Nor yet faint Philip's daughters, were like thee. Bright star of Venus, fall'n down on the earth, How may I reverently worship thee enough? ALEN. Leave off delays, and let us raise the fiege.. REIG. Woman, do what thou canst to save our honours; Drive them from Orleans, and be immortaliz'd. CHAR. Presently we'll try: - Come, let's away about it; No prophet will I trust, if she prove false. [Exeunt. T. North: "Cæfar hearing that, straight discovered himselfe unto the maifter of the pynnase, who at the first was amazed when he saw him; but Cæfar, &c. faid unto him, Good fellow, be of good cheere, &c. and fear not, for thou hast Cæfar and his fortune with thee." STEEVENS. • 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 thruft its bill in to find its breakfast; Mahomet perfuading 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. Part I. ch. vi. Life of Mahomet, by Dr. Prideaux. GREY. 7 Nor yet faint Philip's daughters,) Meaning the four daughters of Philip mentioned in the Acts. HANMER. 8 How may I reverently worship thee enough? metrical line originally ran thus: Perhaps this un How may I reverence, worship thee enough? The climax rises properly, from reverence, to worship. STEEVENS. |