I'll have the current in this place damm'd up;
And here the smug and filver Trent shall run,
In a new channel, fair and evenly:

It shall not wind with fuch a deep indent,
To rob me of fo rich a bottom here.

GLEND. Not wind? it fhall, it must; you fee, it doth.

MORT. Yea,

But mark, how he bears his courfe, and runs me up
With like advantage on the other side;
Gelding the opposed continent as much,
As on the other fide it takes from you.

WOR. Yea, but a little charge will trench him. here,

And on this north fide win this cape of land
And then he runs straight and even.

Hor. I'll have it fo; a little charge will do it.
GLEND. I will not have it alter'd.

GLEND. I can fpeak English, lord, as well as you;

The fubftantive occurs in Drayton's Polyolbion, fong 1:

"Rude Neptune cutting in a cantle forth doth take."

Again, in a New Trick to cheat the Devil, 1636:

"Not fo much as a cantell of cheefe or cruft of bread."

STEEVENS.

Canton in heraldry is a corner of the fhield. Cant of cheese is now used in Pembrokeshire. LORT.

4 Let me not understand you then,] You, an apparent interpolation, deftructive to the metre, fhould, I think, be omitted.

STEEVENS,

For I was train'd up in the English court:
Where, being but young, I framed to the harp
Many an English ditty, lovely well,

And gave the tongue a helpful ornament;
A virtue that was never seen in you.

Hor. Marry, and I'm glad of't with all my heart;
I had rather be a kitten, and cry-mew,
Than one of these fame metre ballad-mongers:
I had rather hear a brazen canftick turn'd,

For I was train'd up in the English court:] The real name of Owen Glendower was Vaughan, and he was originally a barrister of the Middle Temple. STEEVENS.

Owen Glendower, whofe real name was Owen ap-Gryffyth Vaughan, took the name of Glyndour or Glendour from the lordfhip of Glyndourdwy, of which he was owner. He was parti cularly adverfe to the Mortimers, becaufe Lady Percy's nephew, Edmund earl of Mortimer, was rightfully entitled to the principality of Wales, (as well as the crown of England,) being lineally defcended from Gladys the daughter of Lhewelyn and fifter of David Prince of Wales, the latter of whom died in the year 1246. Owen Glendower himself claimed the principality of Wales.

He afterwards became efquire of the body to King Richard II. with whom he was in attendance at Flint castle, when Richard was taken prifoner by Henry of Bolingbroke, afterwards King Henry IV. Owen Glendower was crowned Prince of Wales in the year 1402, and for near twelve years was a very formidable enemy to the English. He died in great diftrefs in 1415. MALONE.

6 the tongue-] The English language. JOHNSON. Glendower means, that he graced his own tongue with the art of finging. RITSON.

I think Dr. Johnfon's explanation the true one. MALONE.

—a brazen canftick turn'd,] The word candleflick, which deftroys the harmony of the line, is written canftick in the quartos, 1598, 1599, and 1608; and fo it might have been pronounced. Heywood, and feveral of the old writers, conftantly fpell it in this manner. Kit with the canftick is one of the fpirits mentioned by Reginald Scott, 1584. Again, in The Famous Hiftory of Thomas Stukely, 1605, bl. 1: "If he have fo much as a canftick, I am a traitor." The noife to which Hotfpur alludes, is likewife mentioned in A New Trick to cheat the Devil, 1636:

Or a dry wheel grate on the axle-tree;
And that would fet my teeth nothing on edge,
Nothing fo much as mincing poetry;

'Tis like the forc'd gait of a fhuffling nag.

To

GLEND. Come, you shall have Trent turn'd.

Hor. I do not care: I'll give thrice fo much land any well-deferving friend;

But, in the way of bargain, mark

ye me, I'll cavil on the ninth part of a hair.

Are the indentures drawn? fhall we be gone? GLEND. The moon shines fair, you may away by night:

I'll hafte the writer, and, withal,

"As if you were to lodge in Lothbury,
"Where they turn brazen candlesticks.'

And again, in Ben Jonfon's mafque of Witches Metamorphofed:
"From the candlesticks of Lothbury,

"And the loud pure wives of Banbury." STEEVENS.

• I'll hafte the writer,] He means the writer of the articles.

I fuppofe, to complete the meafure, we should read:

I'll in and hafte the writer;

for he goes out immediately.

So, in The Taming of a Shrew:

"But I will in, to be reveng'd for this villainy." Again:

66

POPE.

My cake is dough: But I'll in, among the reft."
STEEVENS.

We fhould undoubtedly read

I'll in, and hafte the writer, and withalThe two fupplemental words which were fuggefted by Mr. Steevens, complete both the fenfe and metre, and were certainly omitted in the firft copy by the negligence of the transcriber or printer. Such omiffions more frequently happen than almost any other erroar of the prefs. The prefent restoration is fupported by various other paffages. So, in Timon of Athens, A&t I. fc. i:

"Lord. Shall we in?

"2 Lord. I'll keep you company."

Again, ibidem, A&t V. sc. iii:

In, and prepare."

Again, more appofitely, in K. Richard III:

"I'll in, to urge his hatred more to Clarence." MALONE.

Break with your wives of your departure hence: I am afraid, my daughter will run mad,

So much the doteth on her Mortimer. [Exit. MORT. Fie, coufin Percy! how you crofs my father!

Hor. I cannot choose: fometimes he angers me,
With telling me of the moldwarp and the ant,'
Of the dreamer Merlin, and his prophecies;
And of a dragon, and a finless fish,

A clip-wing'd griffin, and a moulten raven,
A couching lion, and a ramping cat,
And fuch a deal of fkimble-skamble stuff
As puts me from my faith. I tell you what,-

7 of the moldwarp and the ant,] This alludes to an old prophecy, which is faid to have induced Owen Glendower to take arms against King Henry. See Hall's Chronicle, fol. 20. POPE.

So, in The Mirror for Magiftrates, 1559, Owen Glendower is introduced speaking of himself:

"And for to fet us hereon more agog,

"A prophet came (a vengeaunce take them all!)
"Affirming Henry to be Gogmagog,

"Whom Merlyn doth a mouldvarp ever call,

"Accurs'd of God, that must be brought in thrall,

"By a wulf, a dragon, and a lyon ftrong,

"Which fhould devide his kingdome them among." The mould-warp is the mole, fo called because it renders the furface of the earth unlevel by the hillocks which it raises. Anglo-Saxon molde, and wearpan. STEEVENS.

So Holinfhed, for he was Shakspeare's authority: "This [the divifion of the realm between Mortimer, Glendower, and Percy,] was done (as fome have fayde) through a foolish credite given to a vaine prophecie, as though king Henry was the molderwarpe, curfed of God's owne mouth, and they three were the dragon, the lion, and the wolfe, which should divide this realm between them." MALONE. 8fkimble-skamble ftuff-] This cant word, formed by reduplication from feamble, occurs likewife in Taylor the waterpoet's Defcription of a Wanton:

Here's a fweet deal of fecimble-fcamble ftuff."

STEEVENS.

He held me, but last night, at leaft nine hours,"
In reckoning up the feveral devils' names,'
That were his lackeys: I cried, humph,—and well,
-go to,3-

But mark'd him not a word. O, he's as tedious
As is a tired horse, a railing wife;

Worfe than a fmoky houfe:-I had rather live
With cheese and garlick, in a windmill, far,
Than feed on cates, and have him talk to me,
In any fummerhoufe in Chriftendom.

MORT. In faith, he is a worthy gentleman;
Exceedingly well read, and profited

4

In ftrange concealments; valiant as a lion,
And wond'rous affable; and as bountiful
As mines of India. Shall I tell
Shall I tell you, coufin?

He holds your temper in a high refpect,

And curbs himself even of his natural scope,
When you do cross his humour; 'faith, he does:
I warrant you, that man is not alive,

Might fo have tempted him as you have done,
Without the tafte of danger and reproof;

But do not use it oft, let me entreat you.

9 He held me, but last night, at least nine hours,] I have inferted the conjunction-but, which is wanting in the ancient copies. Without fome fuch affiftance the metre would be defective.

STEEVENS.

2 In reckoning up the feveral devils' names,] See Reginald Scott's Difcovery of Witchcraft, 1584, Book XV. ch. ii. p. 377, where the reader may find his patience as feverely exercised as that of Hotfpur, and on the fame occafion. Shakspeare muft certainly have feen this book. STEEVENS.

3 go to,] Thefe two fenfelefs monofyllables feem to have been added by fome foolish player, purpofely to deftroy the measure.

In ftrange concealments;] Skilled in wonderful fecrets.

-profited

RITSON.

JOHNSON.