His temper, therefore, must be well observed: Chide him for faults, and do it reverently, When you perceive his blood inclined to mirth; But, being moody, give him time and scope, Till that his passions, like a whale on ground, Confound themselves with working. Thomas, 40 Learn this, And thou shalt prove a shelter to thy friends, 39. time] line Ff. New World of Words, cited in a note to 1 Henry IV. 1. i. 9: “Meteors, certain imperfectly mix't bodies, consisting of vapours drawn up into the Middle Region of the Air, and set out in different forms; as rain, hail, snow, wind, thunder and lightning, Blazing stars," etc. Spring of day, day-spring or dawn; cf. The Three Kings Sons (c. 1500), ed. Furnivall, p. 140:"at the sprynge of day"; Job, xxxviii. 12: "the dayspring"; Roister Doister, II. i: "From dayspring to midnight." Edwards explained "flaws" as "small blades of ice which are struck on the edges of the water in winter mornings," an explanation accepted by Malone and others. Onions gives: "flaw flake of snow." It may be noted that Jonson, in Every Man out of his Humour, IV. vi, has similes, exemplifying "sudden" and "humorous," in juxtaposition: "as sudden as lightning, and humorous as nectar." = 36. temper] disposition, mood. 38. blood] mood; cf. Much Ado, 1. iii. 30. 39. moody] angry. Prompt. Parv., 341/1: Mody or angry.' Cf. also "mood," anger, displeasure, as in Two Gentlemen of Verona, IV. i. 51. 39. time] I retain time partly in deference to the authority of Q, and partly because the line of Ff presents a metaphor which is ill-sorted with the simile of the stranded whale that immediately follows. If line be read, we must regard the simile as an afterthought suggested by the figure of the "line," but otherwise unconnected with it. The transition is, however, abrupt. "Line" is 45 frequently coupled with "way," but not, I think, with "scope," in metaphors from angling. Cf. Fletcher and Massinger, The Spanish Curate, 1. i: "Give them line and way"; Middleton, The Spanish Gipsy, III. ii; and Marston, The Dutch Courtezan, v. iii: "knowing that the hook was deeply fast, I gave her line at will, till, with her own vain strivings, see here's she's tired." "Scope" is never, I think, coupled with "line," but is used alone or together with "way" in metaphors unrelated with angling; cf. Middleton, A Mad World, My Masters, III. iii: "Give me scope, and hear me,” and Beaumont and Fletcher, Philaster, 1. ii: “give him scope and way." 40, 41. Till... working] A similar thought, perhaps borrowed from the text, occurs in T. Heywood, The WiseWoman of Hogsdon, 11. i: "Their rage, if stood against, growes violent; But suffred and forborne, confounds it selfe," Confound, waste, spend. Working, effort, as in As You Like It, 1. ii. 218. 40. like... ground] Boswell-Stone refers to Holinshed's account (Chronicles, ed. 2, iii. 1259) of the stranding of a whale on the coast of Kent, in July, 1573: "where for want of water, beating himselfe on the sands, he died on the next morning." On ground, aground. 43. hoop of gold] a golden ring. So in Dekker and Webster, Northward Hoe, 1. i: "that hoop of gold," i.e. a ring. suggestion] that 44, 45. That . the joint vessel of their united blood, As, force perforce, the age will pour it in- Clar. I shall observe him with all care and love. King. Why art thou not at Windsor with him, Thomas? 50 Is overspread with them: therefore my grief 55 The blood weeps from my heart when I do shape, In forms imaginary, the unguided days And rotten times that you shall look upon, 60 When I am sleeping with my ancestors. For when his headstrong riot hath no curb, ... that?] om. Q. 65 63. hot blood] 63. rage] violent passion, as in Rape of Lucrece, 424. For "hot blood," cf. The Tempest, iv. i. 53: "the fire i' the blood." 64. lavish] licentious. 65. affections] inclinations, as in Tempest, 1. ii. 478. 66. opposed decay] the downfall or ruin that is opposite, towards which he is heading. For " opposed," cf. 1 Henry IV. III. i. III, and for "decay," cf. King John, IV. iii. 154. War. My gracious lord, you look beyond him quite : Like a strange tongue, wherein, to gain the language, 70 Be look'd upon and learn'd; which once attained, But to be known and hated. So, like gross terms, 75 By which his grace must mete the lives of others, King. 'Tis seldom when the bee doth leave her comb Enter WESTMORELAND. Who's here? Westmoreland? 80 West. Health to my sovereign, and new happiness Prince John your son doth kiss your grace's hand: 85 90 72. further] farther Ff. 77. others] other Q. 79. seldom when] seldome when Q; seldome, when Ff (seldom F 4). 80. Enter W.] Ff, Q (after the end of the line). 84. Bishop Scroop] Theobald; Bishop, Scroope Q, Ff. 67. look beyond him] misjudge him by overlooking his purposes. Schmidt compares Hamlet, 11. i. 115. 69. strange] foreign, as in Henry VIII. 111. i. 44. 76. pattern] deterrent example; as in Peele, Edward I. xii: "to make thee pattern to the world of monstrous treason," and in The Marriage of Wit and Science (Haz. Dods., ii. 367). 79, 80. 'Tis ... carrion] The bee that has once stored her honey in the dead carrion, will seldom abandon it; and so it is improbable that the Prince will be able to resist the lure of the pleasure he has found in evil company. 87. Peace... olive] Cf. Antony and Cleopatra, IV. vi. 7. 88. action] enterprise. Cf. May, The Heir, ii: "this well-carried action"; and Massinger, The Duke of Milan, III. i: "the great action" (referred to, later, as "a noble enterprise"). Borne, conducted, as in Henry V. 1. ii. 212. 90. course] proceeding, as often. In his particular, in its details, or particulars; cf. London Prodigal, 1. i: "how is the course of his life? let 's heare his particulars"; and Hamlet, 11. ii, 248: "question more in particular.” King. O Westmoreland, thou art a summer bird, Enter HARCOURT. Look, here's more news. Har. From enemies heaven keep your majesty; This packet, please it you, contains at large. sick? Will Fortune never come with both hands full, I should rejoice now at this happy news; 93. Enter H.] enter Harcor. Q (after news.). 99. sheriff shrieue Q. 95 100 105 94. heaven] heauens Q. 102. And ... sick?] two lines, the first ending newes, in Ff. 104. write] wet Q. 104. letters] termes Q. ... 91-93. thou day] For the imagery, cf. Webster, Appius and Virginia, 1. i: "Were you now In prison all these swallows Would fly your stormy winter; not one sing; Their music is [in] the summer and the spring.' 91-93. a... day] some early migrant that arriving in the latter end of winter salutes with its song the coming of summer. The "summer bird" is, perhaps, the cuckoo. See The Merry Wives, II. i. 124: "ere summer comes, or cuckoo-birds do sing," where Hart refers to Holland's Pliny, xviii. 26: "that Summer-bird which they call the Cuckow." For "haunch of winter," cf. Love's Labour 's Lost, v. i. 94. 95. stand against] oppose in arms; cf. Icel. standa á móti, stand against. Fall, come to grief; cf. "fall down" in IV. ii. 44 ante. 99. the sheriff] Thomas de Rokeby, the Sheriff of Yorkshire. See Introd., p. xliv. 100. The... fight] the fashion of the fight and the way in which it was contested; cf. Edward the Third, III. i: "the manner of the fight." For "order," cf. 2 Henry VI. 111. ii. 129: "hear the order of his death," i.e. the way in which he died. IOI. at large] in full, as in Henry V. 1. i. 78. 106-108. or else . . . not] Middleton reflects in similar vein on the irony of the ways of providence with the rich, in a passage, prob. suggested by the present text, in Women Beware Women, I. i. 106, 107. ΟΥ . . . stomach] Cf. Lyly, Euphues, Anatomy of Wyt (Bond, i. 194): "as to the stomacke quatted with daynties, all delycates seeme quesie." And now my sight fails, and my brain is giddy: Clar. Are with his highness very ordinary. Stand from him, give him air; he'll straight be well. The incessant care and labour of his mind Unfather'd heirs and loathly births of nature: 112. Glou.] Glo. Ff; Hum. Q (throughout). 116. sland... well.] two lines, the first ending ayre: in Ff. 117. out these pangs:] out these pangs, Q; out: these pangs, Ff. 120. and... out] om. Q. moneths Q, Ff 1, 2; monthes F 3. III. much] Cf. Timon of Athens, III. iv. 31: "much deep," and Massinger, The Great Duke of Florence, III. i: "much ambitious." Sw. mycket. 116. Stand... air] The importance of air to a person in a swoon was well known to our ancestors. See Pericles, III. ii. 91; Measure for Measure, 11. iv. 24-26; and Middleton, Michaelmas Term, IV. iv: "Give her a little more air; tilt up her head." 117. hold out] sustain, as in King John, Iv. iii. 156. Dan. udholde, endure. 119, 120. wrought thin] worn so thin, made it so thin by continuous working. Shakespeare may have had in memory the lines in which S. Daniel, Civill Warres, III (1595), refers to the sickness of Henry IV. : "Wearing the wall so thin that now the mind Might well looke thorow, and his frailty find." Mure, wall, as in T. Heywood, The Brazen Age (Pearson, iii. 208): "I haue scal'd these mures, inuaded Troy," and the same author's Golden Age (Pearson, iii. 58). 120. life out.] Cf. Munday and Chettle, Death of Robert Earl of Huntingdon, 1. ii: "Three mortal wounds 124. months] have let in piercing air, And at their gaps his life is clean let out." 121. fear me] frighten me, as in Lyly, Sapho and Phao, v. ii, and Locrine, v. iv: "Think'st thou to fear me with thy taunting braves." 122. Unfather'd] supernaturally begotten. For the once general belief in the existence of "unfathered "children -a belief shared by Luther-Rolfe refers to Spenser, Faerie Queene, 111. iii. Merlin" was not the sonne Of mortall 13, where we read that the prophet Syre... But wondrously begotten By false illusion of a guilefull Spright On a faire Lady Nonne." Montaigne was sceptical on the subject, but records that " in Mahomet's religion ... are many Merlins found; That is to say, fatherles children." For "unfather'd" in the sense "not possessing fathers," cf. "ungodmother'd varlets," a gibe at the Puritans, in The Puritan, 1. iii. For" heirs," offspring, cf. Venus and Adonis, Ded.: "the first heir of my invention." monstrosities. 123, 124. The... |