Part 23

Dr. Johnson would read _your person_, and then explain it, "take heed how you pledge your honour, &c. in support of bad advice." The archbishop might indeed pledge his _opinion_ in this case; but _person_ must in all events belong to the _king_. It was he who had the prerogative of making war; and as the impawning of a thing is generally attended with a risk of its future loss, so the king may here allude to the danger of his own person, which, from the practice at that time of sovereigns to engage in battle, might not be inconsiderable.

SCENE 2. Page 281.

CANT. ... Also king Lewis the _tenth_.

Shakspeare having here adopted _Holinshed's error_ in substituting Lewis the _Tenth_ for Lewis the _Ninth_, Mr. Malone has faithfully discharged his editorial duty in permitting it to remain. It was sufficient to point out the mistake in a note; and therefore Mr. Ritson's genealogy, designed to vindicate the text, but _manifestly erroneous_, should be omitted.

SCENE 2. Page 291.

CANT. They have a king, and officers of _sorts_.

_Sorts_, if the true reading, rather means _portions_ or _companies_, than _of different kinds_, according to Mr. Steevens; and such is the sense of the word in Mr. Reed's quotation, "drummes and _sortes_ of musicke," though adduced in support of Mr. Steevens. In that much disputed verse 13 of the 68th psalm, the Greek word _cleros_, very strangely introduced into the _Vulgate translation_, is rendered by Wicliffe _sortis_; and in another old translation, _lottes_.

SCENE 2. Page 295.

K. HEN. ... or else our grave Like Turkish mute, shall have a tongueless mouth, Not worship'd with a _waxen_ epitaph.

The question is whether _paper_, the reading of the quarto, or _waxen_ of the folio, should be adopted. Mr. Malone very justly remarks that the passage has been misunderstood, and, not finding any construction of waxen that agrees with the sense required, seems disposed to give the preference to _paper_ of which epithet he has offered a very ingenious explanation. The alteration in the folio was doubtless occasioned by some dissatisfaction with the former word, and made with a view to improvement: but no satisfactory meaning can be gathered from the term _waxen_, as connected with the noun _wax_; and the passages adduced by Mr. Steevens afford a sense entirely opposite to what is required. It seems to have been forgotten that _waxen_ is the participle to _wax_, to grow, to increase, to _expand_. Thus in _Hamlet_, Act I. Scene 3, we have,

"... but as this temple _waxes_, The inward service of the mind and soul _Grows_ wide withall----"

In _A Mids. N. Dream_, Act II. Scene 1,

"And then the whole quire hold their lips and loffe, And _waxen_ in their mirth----"

In _Titus Andronicus_, Act III. Scene 1,

"Who marks the _waxing_ tide _grow_ wave by wave."

A _waxen_ epitaph may be therefore a _long_ or _protracted_ one, such as a king would expect.

SCENE 2. Page 298.

K. HEN. Tell him he hath made a match with such a _wrangler_, That all the courts of France will be disturb'd With _chaces_.

Dr. Johnson informs us that _chace_ is a term at tennis. It is _often_, not always, necessary to know more of a term than that it belongs to some particular science. A _chace_ at tennis then is that spot where a ball falls, beyond which the adversary must strike his ball to gain a point or chace. At lawn tennis it is the spot where the ball leaves off rolling. We see therefore why the king has called himself a _wrangler_.

ACT II.

Page 304.

CHOR. And by their hands this grace of kings must die (If hell and treason hold their promises,) Ere he take ship for France, and in Southampton. Linger your patience on; and well digest The abuse of distance, while we force a play. The sum is paid; the traitors are agreed; The king is set from London; and the scene Is now transported, gentles, to Southampton.

An unnecessary transposition of these _most plain and intelligible_ lines has been offered by Dr. Johnson, on _his_ supposition that every one who reads them "looks about for a meaning which he cannot find." In confirmation of their original arrangement, we learn from Stowe and Holinshed, the historians whom Shakspeare followed, and Dr. Johnson perhaps never thought worth consulting, that the plot against the king was laid by the conspirators at Southampton: a circumstance that is weakened, if not altogether cancelled, by the proposed alteration. See a speech by King Henry in the ensuing act.

SCENE 1. Page 314.

PIST. No; to the _spital_ go, And from the powdering tub of infamy Fetch forth the _lazar kite of Cressid's kind_ Doll Tear-sheet, she by name----

This alludes to the punishment of Cressida for her falsehood to Troilus. She was afflicted with the leprosy, "like a _Lazarous_" and sent to the "spittel hous." See Chaucer's _Testament of Creseide_.

SCENE 2. Page 324.

K. HEN. If that same dæmon, that hath gull'd thee thus, Should with his _lion gait_ walk the whole world----

This very uncommon comparison of the devil to a lion seems to have been suggested by 1 Pet. v. 8. "The devil as a roaring _lion walketh about_, seeking whom he may devour."

SCENE 3. Page 329.

QUICK. 'A made a finer end, and went away, an it had been any _christom_ child.

It was the ancient practice at baptism not only to use water, but oil, which from the Greek was denominated chrism, whence the name of the _chrisome_ or white cloth in question. The priest first made the sign of the cross with the holy oil on the child's breast and between the shoulders, saying, "I anoint thee with the oil of health, in Christ Jesus our lord, that thou mayest inherit eternal life. Amen." After the usual immersion in water, he made another cross on its head with the oil. Then the chrisome was put on, the priest asking at the same time the child's name, and saying, "Receive this white, pure and holy vestment which thou shalt wear before the tribunal of our lord Jesus Christ that thou mayest inherit eternal life. Amen." This chrisome might be used a second time on a similar occasion, and then it was not to be applied to any common use, but brought back and deposited in the church. The _chrisome_ was an emblem of the Christian purity communicated by baptism, and which it was expected the party should maintain during life; and it might also, as Ducange conjectures, have been used for the purpose of preventing the oil from running off. It was sometimes ornamented with a sort of crown worked in crimson thread, alluding to the passion of Christ, and the crown or reward of eternal life obtained by his sacrifice. It was to be worn seven days, being taken off on the eighth, as symbolical of the seven ages of man's life; or, according to others, of the passage from the sabbath of mortal life to that of eternity. It was also thought to refer to the influence of the seven planets. The above ceremony took place _before_ the reformation; afterwards several changes were made. The use of oil was omitted, and the chrisome worn by the child till the mother's purification by the ceremony of churching, when it was returned to the church. If the child died before the latter rite, it was buried in the chrisome; and this is probably the reason why children were called chrisoms in the bills of mortality. Dame Quickly simply compares the manner of Falstaff's exit to that of a young infant.

ACT III.

SCENE 5. Page 369.

BOUR. They bid us--to the English dancing schools, And teach _lavoltas high_, and swift corantoes.

The _lavolta_, as the name implies, is of Italian origin. The man _turns_ the woman round several times, and then assists her in making a _high_ spring or cabriole. This dance passed from Italy into Provence and the rest of France, and thence into England. Monsieur Bodin, an advocate in the parliament of Paris, and a very savage and credulous writer on demonology, has gravely ascribed its importation from Italy into France, to the power of witches. The _naiveté_ with which that part of the _lavolta_ which concerns the management of the lady in making the _volta_ is described by Thoinot Arbeau, an author already quoted, is extremely well worth transcribing, particularly as the book is seldom to be met with. "Quand vouldrez torner, laissés libre la main gaulche de la damoiselle, et gettés vostre bras gaulche sur son dos, en la prenant et serrant de vostre main gaulche par le faulx du corps au dessus de sa hanche droicte, et en mesme instant getterez vostre main droicte au dessoubz de son busq pour layder à saulter quand la pousserez devant vous avec vostre cuisse gaulche: Elle de sa part mettra sa main droicte sur vostre dos, ou sur vostre collet, et mettra sa main gaulche sur sa cuisse pour tenir ferme sa cotte ou sa robbe, affin que cueillant le vent, elle ne monstre sa chemise ou sa cuisse nue: Ce fait vous ferez par ensemble les tours de la _volte_, comme cy dessus a esté dit: Et après avoir tournoyé par tant de cadances qu'il vous plaira, restituerez la damoiselle en sa place, ou elle sentira (quelque bonne contenance qu'elle face) son cerveau esbranlé, plain de vertigues et tornoyements de teste, et vous n'en aurez peult estre pas moins: Je vous laisse à considerer si cest chose bien seante à une jeusne fille de faire de grands pas et ouvertures de jambes: et si en ceste volte l'honneur et la santé y sont pas hazardez et interessez." And again: "Si vous voulez une aultre fois dancer la volte à main droicte, vous fauldra mettre vostre main droicte sur le doz de la damoiselle, et la main gaulche soubz son busq, et en la poussant de la cuisse droicte soubz la fesse, torner le revers de la tabulature cy dessus. Et nottez qu'il y a dexterité à empoigner et serrer contre vous la damoiselle, car il faut ce faire en deux mesures ternaires, desmarchant sur la premiere mésure pour vous planter devant elle, et sur la fin de la deuxieme mésure, luy mettant l'une des mains sur la hanche, et l'aultre soubs le busq pour à la troisième mésure commencer à torner selon les pas contenus en la tabulature."

SCENE 6. Page 379.

PIST. Die and be damn'd; and _figo_ for thy friendship.

The practice of thrusting out the thumb between the first and second fingers to express the feelings of insult and contempt has prevailed very generally among the nations of Europe, and for many ages been denominated _making the fig_, or described at least by some equivalent expression. There is good reason for believing that it was known to the ancient Romans. Winckelman in his letter from Herculaneum has described a bronze satyr as actually making the fig with his fingers, and such a character is among the engravings in the king of Naples's magnificent publication on the antiquities of the above city. The upper part of a similar bronze in a private collection is here copied in the last figure below. It is more likely that _making the fig_ was borrowed from this Roman custom, than from another with which it has been sometimes confounded. This is the _infamis digitus_ of Persius; or the thrusting out the middle finger, on that account called _verpus_. In many private as well as public collections of Roman antiquities there are still preserved certain figures in bronze, ivory, coral, and other materials, of the following forms.

These however are well known to have been used as amulets against fascination in general, but more particularly against that of the _evil eye_. They are sometimes accompanied with the common symbol of Priapus, but often consist of it exclusively. The connexion which this phallic figure had with the above-mentioned superstition is known to every classical reader. The introduction of the crescent or moon is not so easily explained. If these amulets were borrowed from the Egyptians, as some have supposed, the crescent may denote the influence of Isis or Venus, and the two symbols united may represent nature, or what the Hindus intend by their sacred Lingam: but every thing on this subject must be conjectural, the very essence of it being mysterious.

The Italian _fica_ seems more intimately and etymologically connected with the obscure disease known to the Romans by the name of _ficus_; a term, with its appendages, rather to be conceived than fully explained in this place. It has afforded matter for some of Martial's Epigrams. In one of these he thus dashes his mirth against an unlucky sinner:

"Gestari junctis nisi desinis, Ædyle, capris, Qui modo ficus eras, jam caprificus eris."

lib. iv. ep. 52.

In another he instructs those who delight in the chase how to avoid this affliction:

"Stragula succincti venator sume veredi: Nam solet a nudo surgere ficus equo."

lib. xiv. ep. 86.

And lastly, he thus expresses himself immediately to the present purpose:

"Ut pueros emeret Labienus, vendidit hortos: Nil nisi ficetum nunc Labienus habet."

lib. xii. ep. 32.

No one who has lived among Italians will fail to perceive the force of these quotations as applied to the feelings excited by this most offensive gesticulation, which is justly held in the greatest abhorrence. Whether it be abstractedly a symbol of the _ficus_ itself, and, in the use, connected with the very worst of its causes; whether it be the genuine remains of a custom actually known among the Romans; or whether a corruption of the _infamis digitus_, must be left to every one's own determination. The complicated ambiguity of the word _fica_ must be likewise attended to; and whoever is at a loss on this occasion may consult the _early_ Italian dictionaries.

The author of these remarks, pursuing the opinions of others, had already offered another explanation, viz. the story of the Milanese revolt against the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. This he desires to withdraw, as resting on the very weak authority of Albert Crantz, a credulous, and comparatively modern, historian; neither is it probable that an incident so local would have spread so widely throughout Europe. Again, whoever will take the trouble of comparing the Hebrew word _techor_ with the story itself, will feel very much inclined to reject the whole as a fabrication.

The earliest Italian authority for the use of this phrase is the _Inferno_ of Dante. In the twenty-fifth canto are the following lines:

"Al fine delle sue parole, il ladro Le mani alzò, con ambeduo _le fiche_ Gridando: togli Dio, ch'a te le squadro."

The miscreant who utters this blasphemy, refines on the gesticulation, and doubles the measure of it. It is also to be found in Sacchetti's hundred and fifteenth novel, and in the _Cento novelle antiche_, nov. 55.

Villani, in his Chronicle, relates that in 1228 the inhabitants of Carmignano insulted the Florentines by setting up a statue on a rock with the hand making the _fig_, and turned towards the city of Florence. Pope Paul II. made a law against this insult, which punished the offending party by a fine of twenty soldi.

In France the use of it may be traced to a very early period. It occurs in a satire by Guyot de Provins, a poet of the twelfth century. The Spaniards, in all probability, got it from the Romans. They use the phrase _higa para vos_ as a term of contemptuous insult and also as a spell against the consequences of satirical applause. See _Menckenii dissertationes_, p. 52. Amulets against fascination, or the evil eye, are still used in Spain by women and children, precisely in the same manner as formerly among the Romans. These are made of ivory, but more frequently of jet. A figure of one of the latter, from an original, is here exhibited.

It furnishes a very extraordinary combination of subjects: figures of the holy Virgin and the infant Jesus; the _manus lasciva_ or phallic hand; and a lunar crescent. It is indeed an obvious remnant of the ancient Roman amulet, the potency of which is strengthened by the addition of a Christian mystery. These things are said to be sometimes met with in nunneries, but the use which is there made of them does not seem generally known. One of these modern hands, well carved in ivory, and converted to the purpose of a snuff-box, was lately picked up by a curious traveller in Russia.

A very learned Spaniard, Ramirez de Prado, the author of a commentary on Martial and other ingenious works, adopting the opinion of Doctor Francis Penna Castellon, has fallen into a strange error respecting the etymology of _higa_. Speaking of it as well known among the Spanish women and children, he derives the name from _iynx_, the bird called the wryneck, concerning which the ancients had certain superstitions. From the _Pharmaceutria_ of Theocritus, it appears to have been regarded as a love philtre. The similitude of sound has doubtless contributed to this error. See Laurentij Ramirez de Prado ΠΕΝΤΗΚΟΝΤΑΡΧΟΣ, 1612, 4to, p. 248.

The Germans, the Dutch, and perhaps other Northern nations, possess equivalent terms; and it is remarkable that in those languages the signification of the Roman _ficus_, as a disease, has been preserved. How the phrase of _making the fig_ first came into the English language does not appear; it may perhaps be found only in translation. The Saxons had a term for the _ficus_, which they called ꝼɩc-aðle. With us the expression has happily dwindled altogether into a more innocent meaning. _Not to care a fig for one_, literally applies to the fruit so called, according to modern acceptation. In this sense it is sometimes used by Shakspeare, who makes Pistol say, "A _fico_ for the phrase."--_M. Wives of Windsor._ "And _figo_ for thy friendship."--_Henry the Fifth._ Again, in the _Second Part of Henry the Sixth_, we have, "A _fig_ for Peter." And in _Othello_, "Virtue? a _fig_!" In the _Second Part of Henry the Fourth_, Pistol says,

"When Pistol lies _do this_; and _fig me_, like The bragging Spaniard."

Here the phrase seems accompanied by some kind of gesticulation, which might either be the thrusting out of the thumb, or the putting of it into the mouth so as to press out the cheek, another mode of insult that perhaps originally alluded to the _ficus_, by presenting something like its form. Thus in Lodge's _Wit's miserie_, "Behold I see contempt marching forth, giving mee the _fico with his thombe in his mouth_."

In the present play, ancient Pistol, after spurting out his "_figo_ for thy friendship," as if he were not satisfied with the _measure_ of the contempt expressed, more emphatically adds, "the fig of _Spain_." This undoubtedly alludes to the poisoned figs mentioned in Mr. Steevens's note, because the quartos read, "the fig of Spain _within thy jaw_," and "the fig within thy _bowels and thy dirty maw_." Or, as in many other instances, the allusion may be twofold; for the _Spanish fig_, as a term of contempt only, must have been very familiar in England in Shakspeare's time, otherwise the translator of Della Casa's _Galateo_ would not, in the passage cited by Mr. Reed, have used such an expression, when it was neither in his original nor in Dante; a very strong circumstance in favour of Mr. Reed's opinion.

On the whole, there is no other way of extricating ourselves from the difficulties and ambiguities that attend the present subject, than by supposing some little confusion of ideas in our poet's mind, a weakness not more uncommon with him than with many of his commentators. Or, his phraseology might have been inaccurate; and it is to be feared that too much time and conjecture have been frequently expended on passages originally faulty, and which it might have been sufficient to have stated as such, to the exclusion of further comment or useless explanation.

ACT IV.

Page 399.

CHO. The armourers accomplishing the knights, With busy hammers closing _rivets_ up.

This does not solely refer to the business of rivetting the plate armour before it was put on, but as to the part when it was on. Thus the top of the cuirass had a little projecting bit of iron, that passed through a hole pierced through the bottom of the casque. When both were put on, the smith or armourer presented himself, with his rivetting hammer, _to close the rivet up_, so that the party's head should remain steady notwithstanding the force of any blow that might be given on the cuirass or helmet. This custom more particularly prevailed in tournaments. See _Varietés historiques_, 1752, 12mo, tom. ii. p. 73.

SCENE 2. Page 424.

GRAND. Their horsemen sit like _fixed candlesticks_, With torch-staves in their hands.

This fashion is of great antiquity, being mentioned in Homer's description of the palace of Alcinous. _Odys_. book 7.

"Youths forg'd of gold, at every table there, Stood holding flaming torches, that in night Gave through the house, each honour'd guest his light."

It is likewise thus alluded to in Lucretius, lib. ii.

"Si non aurea sunt juvenum simulacra per ædeis Lampadas igniferas manibus retinentia dextris, Lumina nocturnis epulis ut suppeditentur."

The practice might originate in a supposed indelicacy of placing candlesticks on a table. Gregory of Tours relates a story of a French nobleman named Rauching, who disgraced himself by an act of wanton and excessive cruelty. When a servant _held a candle before him_ at his supper, he made him uncover his legs, and drop the burning wax on them; if the man offered to move, the cruel master was ready with his sword to run him through; and the more the unfortunate sufferer lamented, the more his persecutor convulsed himself with savage laughter. Gregor. Turon. _Hist._ lib. v. cap. 3.

The favourite forms of these inanimate _candle-holders_ were those of armed warriors. Sometimes they were hairy savages, a fool kneeling on one knee, &c.

SCENE 4. Page 439.

PIST. Quality, call you me?--Construe me, art thou a gentleman?

The old copy reads _qualitee, calmie custure me_, and has been corrected or rather _corrupted anew_ into its present form. The proposed reading of Mr. Malone deserves a decided preference, as founded on the ingenious conjecture that Pistol is quoting, as he has elsewhere done, the fragment of an old ballad. It is exceedingly probable that, whenever chance shall disclose this ballad, we shall find in it this whole line,

"Calen, o custure me, art thou a gentleman."

Calen may be some proper name; the ballad itself may be provincial, and _custure_ the representative of _construe_. Nothing is more probable than that _calmie_ should be a misprint of _calen o_.

SCENE 4. Page 441.

FR. SOL. ... ayez pitié de _moy_!

PIST. _Moy_ shall not serve, I will have forty _moys_.

FR. SOL. O pardonnez _moy_!

PIST. Say'st thou me so? is that a _ton of moys_?

Dr. Johnson says that "_moy_ is a piece of money, whence moi-d'or, or moi of gold." But where had the doctor made this discovery? His etymology of _moidor_ is certainly incorrect. _Moidore_ is an English corruption of the Portuguese _moeda d'ouro_, i. e. _money_ of gold; but there were no moidores in the time of Shakspeare.

We are therefore still to seek for Pistol's _moy_. Now a _moyos_ or _moy_ was a measure of corn; in French _muy_ or _muid_, Lat. _modius_, a bushel. It appears that 27 moys were equal to a last or two _tons_. To understand this more fully, the curious reader may consult Malyne's _Lex mercatoria_, 1622, p. 45, and Roberts's _Marchant's Mapp of commerce_, 1638, chap. 272.

SCENE 4. Page 442.

FR. SOL. Est il impossible d'eschapper la force de ton _bras_?

PIST. _Brass_, cur. Thou damned and luxurious mountain goat, Offer'st me _brass_.