The Literary Remains of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume Ii Part 19

Act ii. sc. 1. Second Carrier's speech:--

... breeds fleas like a _loach_.

Perhaps it is a misprint, or a provincial p.r.o.nunciation, for 'leach,'

that is, blood-suckers. Had it been gnats, instead of fleas, there might have been some sense, though small probability, in Warburton's suggestion of the Scottish 'loch.' Possibly 'loach,' or 'lutch,' may be some lost word for dovecote, or poultry-lodge, notorious for breeding fleas. In Stevens's or my reading, it should properly be 'loaches,' or 'leeches,' in the plural; except that I think I have heard anglers speak of trouts like _a_ salmon.

Act iii. sc. 1.

'Glend.' Nay, if you melt, then will she run mad.

This 'nay' so to be dwelt on in speaking, as to be equivalent to a dissyllable--[Symbol: written as a U-shape, below the line], is characteristic of the solemn Glendower: but the imperfect line

_She bids you_ Upon the wanton rushes lay you down, &c.

is one of those fine hair-strokes of exquisite judgment peculiar to Shakspeare;--thus detaching the Lady's speech, and giving it the individuality and entireness of a little poem, while he draws attention to it.

HENRY IV. PART II.

Act ii. sc. 2.

'P. Hen'. Sup any women with him?

'Page'. None, my lord, but old mistress Quickly, and mistress Doll Tear-sheet.

'P. Hen'. This Doll Tear-sheet should be some road.

I am sometimes disposed to think that this respectable young lady's name is a very old corruption for Tear-street--street-walker, 'terere stratum (viam.)' Does not the Prince's question rather show this?--

'This Doll Tear-street should be some road?'

Act iii. sc. 1. King Henry's speech:

...Then, _happy low, lie down_; Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

I know no argument by which to persuade any one to be of my opinion, or rather of my feeling; but yet I cannot help feeling that 'Happy low-lie-down!' is either a proverbial expression, or the burthen of some old song, and means, 'Happy the man, who lays himself down on his straw bed or chaff pallet on the ground or floor!'

'Ib.' sc. 2. Shallow's speech:--

_Rah, tah, tah_, would 'a say; _bounce_, would 'a say, &c

That Beaumont and Fletcher have more than once been guilty of sneering at their great master, cannot, I fear, be denied; but the pa.s.sage quoted by Theobald from the Knight of the Burning Pestle is an imitation. If it be chargeable with any fault, it is with plagiarism, not with sarcasm.

HENRY V.

Act I. sc. 2. Westmoreland's speech:--

They know your _grace_ hath cause, and means, and might; So hath your _highness_; never King of England Had n.o.bles richer, &c.

Does 'grace' mean the king's own peculiar domains and legal revenue, and 'highness' his feudal rights in the military service of his n.o.bles?--I have sometimes thought it possible that the words 'grace' and 'cause'

may have been transposed in the copying or printing;--

They know your cause hath grace, &c.

What Theobald meant, I cannot guess. To me his pointing makes the pa.s.sage still more obscure. Perhaps the lines ought to be recited dramatically thus:--

They know your Grace hath cause, and means, and might:-- So _hath_ your Highness--never King of England _Had_ n.o.bles richer, &c.

He breaks off from the grammar and natural order from earnestness, and in order to give the meaning more pa.s.sionately.

'Ib.' Exeter's speech:--

Yet that is but a _crush'd_ necessity.

Perhaps it may be 'crash' for 'cra.s.s' from 'cra.s.sus', clumsy; or it may be 'curt,' defective, imperfect: anything would be better than Warburton's ''scus'd,' which honest Theobald, of course, adopts. By the by, it seems clear to me that this speech of Exeter's properly belongs to Canterbury, and was altered by the actors for convenience.

Act iv. sc. 3. K. Henry's speech:--

We would not _die_ in that man's company That fears his fellows.h.i.+p to die with us.