I'll canvas thee in thy broad cardinal's hat," WIN. Nay, ftand thou back, I will not budge a foot; This be Damafcus, be thou curfed Cain,8 To flay thy brother Abel, if thou wilt. " Item. That no ftewholder keep any woman within his house, that hath fickners of brenning, but that the be any out upon put pain of making a fyne unto the lord of C fhillings." UPTON. 7 I'll canvas thee in thy broad cardinal's hat,] This means, I believe—I'll tumble thee into thy great hat, and shake thee, as bran and meal are shaken in a fieve. So, Sir W. D'Avenant, in The Cruel Brother, 1630: "I'll fift and winnow him in an old hat.' To canvas was anciently used for to fift. So, in Hans Beerpot's invifible Comedy, 1618: 66 We'll canvas him. 66 I am too big————.” Again, in the Epiftle Dedicatory to Have with you to Saffron Walden, or Gabriel Harvey's Hunt is up, &c. 1596: 66 -canvaze him and his angell brother Gabriell, in ten sheets of paper," &c. STEEVENS. Again, in The Second Part of King Henry IV. Dol Tearsheet fays to Falstaff-“ If thou doft, I'll canvas thee between a pair of fheets." M. MASON. Probably from the materials of which the bottom of a fieve is made. Perhaps, however, in the paffage before us Glofter means, that he will tofs the cardinal in a fheet, even while he was invested with the peculiar badge of his ecclefiaftical dignity.-Coarfe sheets were formerly termed canvas fheets. See K. Henry IV. P. II. A& II. fc. iv. MALONE. 8 This be Damafcus, be thou curfed Cain,] About four miles from Damafcus is a high hill, reported to be the fame on which Cain flew his brother Abel. Maundrel's Travels, p. 131. POPE. Sir John Maundeville fays: "And in that place where Damafcus was founded, Kaym floughe Abel his brother." Maundeville's Travels, edit. 1725, p. 148. REED. Damafcus is as moche to faye as fhedynge of blood. For there Chaym flowe Abell, and hydde hym in the fonde." Polychronicon, fo. xii. RITSON. GLO. I will not flay thee, but I'll drive thee back: Thy scarlet robes, as a child's bearing-cloth I'll use, to carry thee out of this place. WIN. Do what thou dar'ft; I beard thee to thy face. GLO. What am I dar'd, and bearded to my Draw, men, for all this privileged place; beard; Prieft, beware your [GLOSTER and his Men attack the Bishop. I mean to tug it, and to cuff you foundly: Under my feet I ftamp thy cardinal's hat; In spite of pope or dignities of church, Here by the cheeks I'll drag thee up and down. WIN. Glofter, thou'lt answer this before the pope. GLO.Winchester goofe, I cry-a rope! a rope!!Now beat them hence, Why do you let them ftay? Thee I'll chase hence, thou wolf in sheep's array. Out, tawny coats!-out, fcarlet hypocrite!* 9 Winchester goofe,] A ftrumpet, or the confequences of her love, was a Winchester goofe. JOHNSON. I fc. iv. a rope! a rope!] See The Comedy of Errors, A& IV. MALONE. 2-out, fcarlet hypocrite!] Thus, in King Henry VIII. the Earl of Surrey, with a fimilar allufion to Cardinal Wolfey's habit, calls him—"fcarlet fin." STEEVENS, Here a great Tumult. In the midst of it, Enter the Mayor of London,3 and Officers. MAY. Fye, lords! that you, being fupreme magistrates, Thus contumeliously should break the peace! GLO. Peace, mayor; thou know'ft little of my wrongs: Here's Beaufort, that regards nor God nor king, Hath here diftrain'd the Tower to his use. WIN. Here's Glofter too, a foe to citizens ;4 One that still motions war, and never peace, O'ercharging your free purfes with large fines; That feeks to overthrow religion, Because he is protector of the realm; And would have armour here out of the Tower, To crown himself king, and suppress the prince. GLO. I will not answer thee with words, but blows. [Here they fkirmish again. MAY. Nought refts for me, in this tumultuous ftrife, But to make open proclamation: Come, officer; as loud as e'er thou can'ft. 3 the Mayor of London,] I learn from Mr. Pennant's LONDON, that this Mayor was John Coventry, an opulent mercer, from whom is defcended the prefent Earl of Coventry. STEEVENS. Here's Glofter too, &c.] Thus the second folio. The first folio, with lefs fpirit of reciprocation, and feebler metre,-Here is Glofter &c. STEEVENS. OFF. All manner of men, affembled here in arms this day, against God's peace and the king's, we charge and command you, in his highness name, to repair to your feveral dwelling-places; and not to wear, handle, or ufe, any fword, weapon, or dagger, henceforward, upon pain of death. GLO. Cardinal, I'll be no breaker of the law: But we shall meet, and break our minds at large. WIN. Glofter, we'll meet; to thy dear coft, be fure:5 you .6 Thy heart-blood I will have, for this day's work. WIN. Abominable Glofter! guard thy head; For I intend to have it, ere long. [Exeunt. MAY. See the coaft clear'd, and then we will depart. 5 Glofter, we'll meet; to thy dear coft, be fure:] Thus the fecond folio. The firft omits the epithet-dear; as does Mr. Malone, who fays that the word-fure " is here ufed as a diffyllable." STEEVENS. • I'll call for clubs, if you will not away] This was an outcry for affiftance, on any riot or quarrel in the streets. It hath been explained before. WHALLEY. So, in King Henry VIII: " cried out, clubs!" STEEVENS. and hit that woman, who In That is, for peace-officers armed with clubs or staves. affrays, it was cuftomary in this author's time to call out clubs, clubs! See As you like it, Vol. VIII. p. 166, n. 3. MALONE, Good God! that nobles fhould fuch ftomachs bear! I myself fight not once in forty year.8 SCENE IV. France. Before Orleans. [Exeunt. Enter, on the Walls, the Mafter-Gunner and his Son. M. GUN. Sirrah, thou know'ft how Orleans is be fieg'd; And how the English have the suburbs won. SON. Father, I know; and oft have shot at them, Howe'er, unfortunate, I mifs'd my aim. 7 ftomachs-] Stomach is pride, a haughty spirit of refentment. So, in King Henry VIII: 8 he was a man "Of an unbounded ftomach.” STEEVENS. that nobles should fuch ftomachs bear! I myself fight not once in forty year.] Old copy-these nobles. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE. The Mayor of London was not brought in to be laughed at, as is plain by his manner of interfering in the quarrel, where he all along preferves a fufficient dignity. In the line preceding these, he directs his Officer, to whom without doubt these two lines fhould be given. They fuit his character, and are very expreffive of the pacific temper of the city guards. WARBurton. I fee no reason for this change. The Mayor speaks first as a magiftrate, and afterwards as a citizen. JOHNSON. Notwithstanding Warburton's note in fupport of the dignity of the Mayor, Shakspeare certainly meant to represent him as a poor, well-meaning, fimple man, for that is the character he invariably gives to his Mayors. The Mayor of London, in Richard III. is juft of the fame ftamp. And fo is the Mayor of York, in the Third Part of this play, where he refuses to admit Edward as King, but lets him into the city as Duke of York, on which Glofter fays "A wife ftout captain! and perfuaded foon. Haft. The good old man would fain that all were well." Such are all Shakspeare's Mayors. M. MASON. |