Win. Nay, stand thou back, I will not budge a foot; This be Damascus, be thou cursed Cain, To slay thy brother Abel, if thou wilt. Glo. I will not slay 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'st; Ibeard thee to thy face. Glo. What? am I dar'd, and bearded to my face?— Draw, men, for all this privileged place; Blue-coats to tawny-coats. Priest, beware your beard: [GLOSTER and his men attack the Bishop. I mean to tug it, and to cuff you soundly: Under my feet I stamp thy cardinal's hat; In spite of pope or dignities of church, Here by the cheeks I'll drag thee up and down. Win. Gloster, thou'lt answer this before the pope. Glo. Winchester goose, I cry-a rope! a rope! Now beat them hence, Why do you let them stay? Thee I'll chase hence, thou wolf in sheep's array. Out, tawny coats!-out, scarlet hypocrite! grave) inflicted on such as commit gross absurdities.' Thus in Davenant's Cruel Brother, 1630: : 'I'll sift and winnow him in an old hat.' Canvassed also was occasionally used for beaten thoroughly, swinged out of doors.' See Cotgrave in v. Forbatu and Berné: where may be also seen the meaning of the word in Steevens's extract from Nash's Have with you in Saffron Walden, which has no bearing upon the present passage. Our old friend Cotgrave is here a better commentator than Messrs. Steevens and Malone. 8 A Winchester goose was a particular stage of the disease contracted in the stews, hence Gloucester bestows the epithet on the bishop in derision and scorn. A person affected with that disease was likewise so called. Thus in Troilus and Cressida, Act v. Sc. 2: my fear is this, Some galled goose of Winchester would hiss.' 9 In King Henry VIII. the earl of Surrey, with a similar allusion to Cardinal Wolsey's habit, calls him' scarlet sin.' Here a great Tumult. In the midst of it, Enter the Mayor of London 10, and Officers. May. Fye, lords! that you, being supreme magis trates, Thus contumeliously should break the peace! Glo. Peace, mayor: thou know'st little of my Here's Beaufort, that regards nor God nor king, Win. Here's Gloster too, a foe to citizens; Because he is protector of the realm; And would have armour here out of the Tower, Come, officer; as loud as e'er thou can'st. Off. All manner of men, assembled 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 several dwelling-places; and not to wear, handle, or use, any sword, 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. Gloster, we'll meet; to thy dear cost, be sure: Thy heart-blood I will have, for this day's work. 10 It appears from Pennant's London that this mayor was John Coventry, an opulent mercer, from whom the present earl of Coventry is descended. May. I'll call for clubs 11, if you will not away: This cardinal is more haughty than the devil. Glo. Mayor, farewell: thou dost but what thou may'st. Win. Abominable Gloster! guard thy head; For I intend to have it, ere long. [Exeunt. May. See the coast clear'd, and then we will de part. Good God! that nobles should such stomachs 12 bear! I myself fight not once in forty year. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. France. Before Orleans. Enter, on the Walls, the Master Gunner and his Son. M. Gun. Sirrah, thou know'st how Orleans is besieg'd: And how the English have the suburbs won. Son. Father, I know; and oft have shot at them, Howe'er, unfortunate, I miss'd my aim. M. Gun. But now thou shalt not. Be thou rul'd by me: 11 Malone erroneously thinks the mayor cries out for peace officers armed with clubs or staves. The practice of calling out Clubs! clubs! to call out the London apprentices upon the occasion of any affray in the streets, has been before explained, see As You Like It, Act v. Sc. 2. It should appear that the shopkeepers were generally provided with clubs for the purpose. Mr. Gifford remarks that the police of the city seems to have been wretchedly conducted, when private injuries were left to private redress, and public brawls composed by the interference of a giddy rabble.' 12 Stomach is pride, a haughty spirit of resentment. It is said of Wolsey, in King Henry VIII. :— he was a man Of an unbounded stomach, ever ranking Warburton would have this speech transferred to the officer, as beneath the dignity and gravity of the mayor; but Shakspeare does not generally intend his mayors for any thing but well meaning simple men. Chief master-gunner am I of this town; And thence discover how, with most advantage, A piece of ordnance 'gainst it I have plac'd; If thou spy'st any, run and bring me word; [Exit. Son. Father, I warrant you; take you no care: I'll never trouble if I you, may spy them. Enter, in an upper Chamber of a Tower, the LORDS Tal. The duke of Bedford had a prisoner, Once, in contempt, they would have barter'd me: 1 Favour. 2 Spies. Vide note on Hamlet, Act iii. Sc. 1. 3 The old copy reads went; the emendation is Mr. Tyrwhitt's. The English wont, i. e. are accustomed, to overpeer the city. It is the third person plural of the old verb wont. The emendation is fully supported by the speech in the Chronicles on which this is formed. Which I, disdaining, scorn'd; and craved death my heart! Sal. Yet tell'st thou not, how thou wert entertain❜d. taunts. In open market-place produc'd they me, To be a publick spectacle to all; Here, said they, is the terror of the French 5, The old copy reads 'pil'd esteem'd.' Steevens has a note. pour rire, at which he smiles himself, proposing to read Philistin'd! It should be remembered that vile was frequently spelt vild by Spenser and others of that age, and there can hardly be a doubt that it was the word; we find it thus in Shakspeare's one hundred and twenty-first Sonnet: "Tis better to be vile than vile-esteem'd.' 5 This man [Talbot] was to the French people a very scourge and a daily terror, insomuch that as his person was fearful and terrible to his adversaries present, so his name and fame was spiteful and dreadful to the common people absent; insomuch that women in France, to feare their yong children, would crye the Talbot cometh.' Hall's Chronicle. The same thing is said of King Richard I. when he was in the Holy Land; and Joinville adds, that when a Turk's horse started at a bush, he would chide him, saying cuides-tu qu'y soit le Roi Richard? |