Be foon collected; and all things thought upon, ACT II. Enter Chorus. Chor. Now all the youth of England are on fire 3, And filken dalliance in the wardrobe lies; Now 3 In this place, in all the editions hitherto, is inferted the chorus which I have poftponed. That chorus manifeftly is intended to advertise the spectators of the change of the fcene to Southampton, and therefore ought to be placed juft before that. change, and not here, where the fcene is still continued in London. POPE. Now all the youth of England-] I have replaced this chorus here, by the authority of the old folios; and ended the first act, as the poet certainly intended. Mr. Pope removed it, because, fays he, "This chorus manifeftly is intended to advertise the fpectators of the change of the fcene to Southampton; and therefore ought to be placed just before that change, and not here." It is true, the fpectators are to be informed, that, when they next fee the king, they are to suppose him at Southampton, But this does not imply any neceffity of this chorus being contiguous to that change. On the contrary, the very concluding lines vouch abfolutely against it: But till the king come forth, and not till then, Unto Southampton do we shift our Scene. For how abfurd is fuch a notice, if the fcene is to change, fo foon as ever the chorus quits the stage? Befides, unless this chorus be prefixed to the fcene betwixt Nym, Bardolph, &c. we fhall draw the poet into another abfurdity. Piftol, Nym, and Bardolph are in this fcene talking of going to the wars of France; but the king had but juft, at his quitting the stage, declared his resolution of commencing this war; and without the interval of an Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought O England !-model to thy inward greatness, What might'ft thou do, that honour would thee do, an act, betwixt the fcene and the comic characters entering, how could they with any probability be informed of this intended expedition? THEOBALD. I think Mr. Pope mistaken in tranfpofing this chorus, and Mr. Theobald in concluding the act with it. The chorus evidently introduces that which follows, not comments on that which precedes, and therefore rather begins than ends the act, and fo I have printed it. Dr. Warburton follows Mr. Pope. 4 For now fits Expectation in the air, And hides a fword, from bilts unto the point, JOHNSON. With crowns imperial, &c.] The imagery is wonderfully fine, and the thought exquifite. Expectation fitting in the air, defigns the height of their ambition; and the ford bid from the bilt to the point with crowns and coronets, that all fentiments of danger were loft in the thoughts of glory. WARBURTON. The idea is taken from the ancient reprefentations of trophies in tapestry or painting. Among these it is very common to fee fwords encircled with naval or mural crowns. Expectation is likewife perfonified by Milton, Par. Loft, b. vi. . 66 while Expectation stood "In horror.". In the horse armoury in the Tower of London, Edward III. is represented with two crowns on his fword, alluding to the two kingdoms, France and England, of both which he was crowned heir. Perhaps the poet took the thought from this representa tion. TOLLET. Were Were all thy children kind and natural! But fee thy fault! France hath in thee found out 6 ! And by their hands this grace of kings muft die, 4 (If the gilt of France] Gilt, which in our author, generally fignifies a difplay of gold (as in this play: "Our gaynefs and our gilt are all befinirch'd.") in the prefent inftance means golden money. So, in An Alarum for London, 1602: "To spend the victuals of our citizens, "Which we can scarcely compafs now for gilt.' 99 STEEVENS. 5 And by their hands this grace of kings must die, There is the play-boufe now,-] I fuppofe every one that reads thefe lines looks about for a meaning which he cannot find. There is no connection of fenfe nor regularity of tranfition from one thought to the other. It may be fufpected that fome lines are loft, and in that cafe the fenfe is irretrievable. I rather think the meaning is obfcured by an accidental tranfpofition, which I would reform thus: And by their hands this grace of kings must die, The abufe of distance, while we force a play. VOL. VI. D This (If hell and treafon hold their promises) This alteration reftores fenfe, and probably the true fenfe. The lines might be otherwife ranged, but this order pleases me beft. JOHNSON. 6-this grace of kings-1 i. e. he who does greatest honour to the title. By the fame kind of phrafeology the ufurper in Hamlet is called the Vice of kings, i. e. the opprobrium of them. WARBURTON. Shakespeare might have found this phrase in Chapman's tranfla tion of the first book of Homer, 1598: 66 with her the grace of kings, "Wife Ithacus afcended Again, in the 24th book: 7 Idæus, guider of the mules, difcern'd this grace of men." STEEVENS. -well digeft] The folio in which only these chorufes are found, reads, and perhaps rightly, we'll digeft. STEEVENS. 8 while we— -] Thefe two words have been added by the modern editors, and (as it should feem) very properly. To force a play, is to produce a play by compelling many circumstances. into a narrow compafs. STEEVENS." 9-charming the narrow feas] From the prologue to Every Man in his Humour, it appears, that Hen. V. though not printed till 1600, was performed before the year 1598.-Though Jonfon was indebted, as we are told, to the kindness of Shakespeare for the introduction of this his firft piece on the stage, and though Shakespeare himself played a part in it, he has in this, as in many other places, endeavoured to ridicule and depreciate him.. He rather prays you will be pleased to see, "One fuch to-day as other plays fhould be; "Where neither chorus wafts you o'er thefeas, &c." MALONE. We'll not offend one ftomach-] That is, you fhall pafs the fea without the qualms of fea-fickness. JOHNSON. But But, 'till the king come forth, and not 'till then, Unto Southampton do we fhift our scene. SCENE I. Before Quickly's houfe in Eaftcheap. Enter corporal Nym, and lieutenant Bardolph. 3 Bard. Well met, corporal. [Exit. Nym. Good morrow, lieutenant Bardolph. Bard. What, are ancient Piftol and you friends yet? Nym. For my part, I care not: I fay little; but 2 But, 'till the king come forth,-] Here seems to be fomething omitted. Sir T. Hanmer reads: But when the king comes forth, which, as the paffage now ftands, is neceffary. These lines, obfcure as they are, refute Mr. Pope's conjectures on the true place of the chorus; for they fhew that fomething is to intervene before the scene changes to Southampton. JOHNSON. The Canons of Criticism read: 66 —and but till then." And the Revifal approves the correction. STEEVENS. Bard. Well met, corporal.] I have chose to begin the fecond act here, because each act may clofe regularly with a chorus. Not that I am perfuaded this was the poet's intention, to mark the intervals of his acts, as the chorus did on the old Grecian ftage. He had no occafion of this fort: fince, in his time, the paufes of action were filled up, as now, with a leffon of mufic: but the reasons for this distribution are explained before. THEOBALD. I have already fhewn why in this edition the act begins with the chorus. JOHNSON. 4 lieutenant Bardolph.] At this fcene begins the connection of this play with the latter part of King Henry IV. The characters would be indistinct, and the incidents unintelligible, without the knowledge of what paffed in the two foregoing plays. JOHNSON. |