Line 388. Well, lords, we have not got that which we have;] i. e. we have not secured, we are not sure of retaining, that which we have acquired. In our author's Rape of Lucrece, a poem very nearly contemporary with the present piece, we meet with a similar expression:

"That oft they have not that which they possess."

MALONE.

END OF THE ANNOTATIONS ON THE SECOND PART OF KING HENRY THE SIXTH.

ANNOTATIONS

ON

THE THIRD PART OF

KING HENRY VI.

ACT I. SCENE 1.

Third Part of King Henry VI.] THIS play is only divided from the former for the convenience of exhibition; for the series of action is continued without interruption, nor are any two scenes of any play more closely connected than the first scene of this play with the last of the former. JOHNSON.

Line 61. —if Warwick shake his bells.] The allusion is to falconry. The hawks had sometimes little bells hung upon them, perhaps to dare the birds; that is, to fright them from rising.

JOHNSON. Line 103. -as the earldom was.] York means, I suppose, that the dukedom of York was his inheritance from his father, as the earldom of March was his inheritance from his mother, Anne Mortimer, the wife of the earl of Cambridge; and by naming the earldom, he covertly asserts his right to the crown; for his title to the crown was not as duke of York, but earl of March.

MALONE. Line 140. I am son of Henry the fifth,] The military reputa

tion of Henry the Fifth is the sole support of his son. of Henry the Fifth dispersed the followers of Cade.

Line 186. Think you, 'twere prejudicial to his crown?] The phrase prejudicial to his crown, if it be right, must mean, detrimental to the general rights of hereditary royalty; but I rather think that the transcriber's eye caught crown from the line below, and that we should read—prejudicial to his son, to his next heir.

JOHNSON.

The name JOHNSON.

Line 243. They seek revenge,] They go away, not because they doubt the justice of this determination, but because they have been conquered, and seek to be revenged. They are not influenced by principle, but passion. JOHNSON.

Line 266. —I'll to my castle.] Sandal castle near Wakefield, in Yorkshire. MALONE. Line 304. What is it, but to make thy sepulchre,] The queen's reproach is founded on a position long received among politicians, that the loss of a king's power is soon followed by loss of life.

JOHNSON.

Line 342. Will cost my crown,] i. e. will cost me my crown; will induce on me the expence or loss of my crown. MALONE. Line 343. Tire on the flesh of me,] To tire is to fasten, to fix the talons, from the French tirer. JOHNSON.

Line 344. those three lords-] That is, of Northumberland, Westmoreland, and Clifford, who had left him in disgust. JOHNSON.

ACT I. SCENE II.

Line 352. -sons and brother,] It should be sons and brothers; my sons, and brothers to each other. JOHNSON. Line 378. An oath is of no moment,] The obligation of an oath is here eluded by very despicable sophistry. A lawful magistrate alone has the power to exact an oath, but the oath derives no part of its force from the magistrate. The plea against the obligation of an oath obliging to maintain a usurper, taken from the unlawfulness of the oath itself in the foregoing play, was rational and just. JOHNSON. Line 408. The queen, with all, &c.] I know not whether the author intended any moral instruction, but he that reads this has

a striking admonition against that precipitancy by which men often use unlawful means to do that which a little delay would put honestly in their power. Had York staid but a few mo. ments, he had saved his cause from the stain of perjury.

ACT I. SCENE III.

Line 447. Whose father-] i. e. the father of which brat, namely the duke of York. MALONE.

Line 456. So looks the pent-up lion-] That is, the lion that hath been long confined without food, and is let out to devour a man condemned. JOHNSON.

Line 497. Dii faciant, &c.] This line is in Ovid's Epistle from Phillis to Demophoon. STEEVENS.

ACT I. SCENE IV.

Line 504. My uncles both are slain in rescuing me ;] These were two bastard uncles by the mother's side, sir John and sir Hugh Mortimer. See Grafton's Chronicle, p. 649. PERCY.

Line 522. We bodg'd again;] To bodge might therefore mean, (as to botch does now) to do a thing imperfectly and aukwardly; and thence to fail or miscarry in an attempt. MALONE.

Line 539.

noontide prick.] Or, noontide point on the JOHNSON. Line 568. It is war's prize-] Read-praise. WARBURTON.

I think the old reading right, which means, that all 'vantages are in war lawful prize; that is, may be lawfully taken and used. JOHNSON. ➡stain'd this napkin-] A napkin is a handkerJOHNSON. Line 617. And will you pale-] i. e. impale, encircle with a

Line 593. chief.

crown.

MALONE.

MALONE.

dial.

JOHNSON.

Line 622.

-to do him dead,] To kill him.

648. 'Tis government, that makes them seem divine;] Government, in the language of that time, signified evenness of temper, and decency of manners.

JOHNSON.

ACT II. SCENE I.

Line 24. Methinks, 'tis prize enough to be his son.] Richard's sense is, though we have missed the prize for which we fought, we have yet an honour left that may content us. JOHNSON.

Line 26. And takes her farewell of the glorious sun!] Aurora takes for a time her farewell of the sun, when she dismisses him to his diurnal course. JOHNSON. Line 42. blazing by our meeds,] Illustrious and shining by the armorial ensigns granted us as meeds of our great exploits. Meed likewise is Merit. It might be plausibly read:

-blazing by our deeds.

JOHNSON. Line 55. 0, speak no more!] The generous tenderness of Edward, and savage fortitude of Richard, are well distinguished by their different reception of their father's death.

Line 59.

the hope of Troy-] Hector.

JOHNSON.
MALONE.

121. Is by the stern lord Clifford done to death.] Done to death for killed, was a common expression long before Shakspeare's time. Thus Chaucer:

GREY.

"And seide, that if ye done us both to dien." Line 150. like the night-owl's lazy flight,] Dr. Johnson objects to this comparison as incongruous to the subject; but I think, unjustly. Warwick compares the languid blows of his soldiers to the lazy strokes which the wings of the owl give to the air in its flight, which is remarkably slow. M. MASON.

Line 243. Why then it sorts,] Why then things are as they should be. JOHNSON

ACT II. SCENE II.

Line 295. Whose father &c.] Alluding to a common proverb: Happy the child whose father went to the devil.” JOHNSON.

Line 321. Darraign your battle,] That is, range your host, put your host in order. JOHNSON.

Line 322. I would, your highness would depart the field; The queen &c.] So Hall: "Happy was the queene in her two battayls, but unfortunate was the king in al