Richard of Bordeaux, by me hither brought. BOLING. Exton, I thank thee not; for thou hast wrought A deed of slander, with thy fatal hand, Upon my head, and all this famous land. EXTON. From your own mouth, my lord, did I this deed. To wash this blood off from my guilty hand;- [Exeunt. "In the devotion of a subject's love, Tendering the precious safety of my prince, This is the reading of the MS. Corrector of the folio of 1632, changing the original and received reading: "And free from other misbegotten hate." Mr. Collier asks, "What other misbegotten hate does he refer to ?" (ACT I., Sc. 1.) We ask, how can Bolingbroke say he is "free from wrath," when he directly after calls Mowbray 66 a traitor and a miscreant?" He does hate Mowbray; but he is free from any other hate than that which arises from "the devotion of a subject's love." His hate from this cause was legitimate, and not 'misbegotten." 66 "Desolate, desperate, will I hence, and die." (ACT I., Sc. 2.) Mr. Collier says, "the repetition of the word desolate" in the Duchess of Gloucester's speech is unlike Shakespeare, as given in the original: "Desolate, desolate, will I hence, and die." He adds: "She was desolate because a helpless widow, and desperate because she could not move Gaunt to revenge the death of her husband." as Desperate certainly means without hope, and in this sense the Duchess might use it; but the secondary meaning of reckless is what our poet generally attaches to it. In this very play Henry describes his son's character 66 dissolute as desperate." The word "desperate," so used, is incompatible with the Duchess's mournful resignation to her fate. Romeo, at the tomb of Juliet, says, " tempt not a desperate man,"-a man who has no regard to consequences. "Be confident to speak, Northumberland: Thy words are but our thoughts; therefore, be bold." The original has "Thy words are but as thoughts." Mr. Collier, justifying this correction, says," there was evidently no reason why Northumberland should be bold, merely because his' words were but as thoughts.'" (ACT II., Sc. 1.) There was great reason. Westmoreland had said "Nay, let us share thy thoughts, as thou dost ours." Ross, following up this appeal, says, "If you speak, your words will only be as thoughts. They are as safe, with us, as your own thoughts in your own bosc m." "So heavy sad, As though unthinking on no thought I think." MS. Corrector. As though in thinking on no thought I think." The original has "As though on thinking," &c. Mr. Collier says that "in thinking" seems just the opposite of what was intended, and that the Queen was so "unthinking" as not to think. (ACT II., Sc. 2.) JOHNSON. It is not necessary to write "in thinking," for, 66 on thinking" means thinking on. The poor Queen is not "unthinking," but thinks too much-her grief made her think, but she had no definite thought. A modern Frenchi writer, speaking of the effects of the English climate, says, "You are thoughtful without thinking." The MS. Corrector had no taste for metaphysical problems. "Boys, with women's voices, Strive to speak big, and clasp their feeble joints The Corrector is bold here. The original has clap for clasp, female for feeble, and arms for armour. (ACT III., Sc. 2.) Pope substituted clasp without any reason. The boys' joints might be girlish, but not necessarily feeble; and. armour is a needless substitute for arms. this very play we have "Thus knightly clad in arms." "1 LADY. I could weep, madam, would it do you good. QUEEN. And I could weep, would weeping do me good." In all editions Pope's " emendation" was followed, till the editor of the 'Pictorial Shakspere' fulowed the original "And I could sing," &c. POPE. In (ACT III., Sc. 4.) The Queen has been weeping and when the Lady says, "Madam, I'll sing," the Queen replies, that weeping would please her better. But in her rejoinder, "I could sing," she clearly means, If my griefs could be removed by weeping, I should be ready to sing, "And never borrow any tear of thee." Mr. White, in his 'Shakespeare's Scholar,' adopts our read ing. GLOSSARY. APRICOCKS. Act III., Sc. 4. "Go, bind up thou yon dangling apricocks." Our modern name apricot is from the French abricot, but the name came with the fruit from Persia-bricoc. Florio, in his New World of Words,' has "Berricocoli- Apricock plumbes," and Phillips, in his 'World of Words,' spells it Apricock. ATONE. Act I., Sc. 1. To cause you to be at one, to be agreed. There are several instances of this use of the word in Shakspere. BAND. Act I., Sc. 1. "According to thy oath and band.” Band and bond are each the past participle passive of the verb to bind; hence the substantive band, that by which a thing is confined, and bond, that by which one is constrained, are the same. BASE-COURT. Act III., Sc. 3. "My lord, in the base-court he doth attend." Base-court, from the French bas cour, is the lower court. BOOT. Act I., Sc. 1. "There is no boot." Boot is here used as compensation, from the Anglo-Saxon bot, with advantage, something in addition. The phrase means there is no remedy, nothing to be substituted. BROOCH. Act V., Sc. 5. 66 "Is a strange brooch in this all-hating world." The brooch was, it seems, out of fashion as an ornament in Shakspere's time. In 'All's Well that Ends Well,' we have the brooch and the tooth-pick, which wear not now." Richard, therefore, likens love to a strange brooch, a thing of value out of fashion. CAITIFF. Act I., Sc. 2. As the "A caitiff recreant to my cousin Hereford." Caitiff originally meant captive. Wickliffe has "he sithynge on high ledde caityftie caytif (captivity_captive). captive became formerly a slave, the word acquired a more degraded signification, that of a person in a servile con dition, a mean creature. The French chetif had anciently the meaning of captif. "The chopping French we do not understand." Chopping is changing, derived from cheaping, trafficking. A 66 COMPASSIONATE. Act I., Sc. 3. "It boots thee not to be compassionate." Compassionate is here used in the sense of complaining, perhaps the only instance of its being so used. COMPLAIN. Act I., Sc. 2. "Where then, alas! may I complain myself?" The verb is here used in the sense of the French se plaindre. CONVEYERS. Act IV., Sc. 1. Conveyer was sometimes used in an ill sense, as a fraudulent appropriation of property. Pistol uses the verb as a polite name for stealing: "Convey the wise it call;" and in Tindall's works we have, "What say you of this crafty conveyer, which feareth not to juggle with the Holy Scripture?" DEAR. Act I., Sc. 3. "The dateless limit of thy dear exile." The old English verb to dear is from the Anglo-Saxon der-ian, to hurt, to do mischief; whence dearth, that which hurteth, dereth, or maketh dear; what was spared was thence called dear, precious, costly, greatly coveted. In the expression dear exile, we have the primitive meaning of to dere, while in dear blood, in the previous speech of King Richard we have the secondary meaning. DESPISED. Act II., Sc. 3. "And ostentation of despised arms." The ostentation of arms which we despise. DESIGN. Act I., Sc. 1. "Justice design the victor's chivalry." Design is here used in the sense of designate, point out by a token. EAR. Act III., Sc. 2. "To ear the land that have some hope to grow." To ear the land is to plough it. In Shakspere's dedication of 'Venus and Adonis,' we have, "Never after ear so barren a land, for fear it yield me still so bad a harvest." Ear is |