Chapter LXXX: Act IV: SCENE 3. Page 174

COLE. I am a knight, sir; and my name is _Colevile of the dale_.

"At the king's coming to _Durham_, the Lord Hastings, _Sir John Colevile of the dale_, &c., being convicted of the conspiracy, were _there_ beheaded."--Holinshed, p. 530.

The above quotation has not been appositely made by Mr. Steevens. It appears very soon afterwards in this scene that _Colevile_ and his confederates were sent by prince John to _York_ to be beheaded.

It is to be observed that there are two accounts of the termination of the archbishop of York's conspiracy, _both_ of which are given by Holinshed, who likewise states that on the archbishop and the earl marshal's submission to the king and to his son prince John, there present, "their troupes skaled and fledde their wayes, but being pursued, many were taken, many slain, &c., the archbishop and earl marshal were brought to Pomfret to the king, who from thence went _to Yorke whyther the prisoners were also brought and there beheaded_." It is this account that Shakspeare has followed, but with some variation; for the names of Hastings and Colevile are not mentioned among those who were so beheaded at York.

Mr. Ritson, in an additional note, says it is not clear that _Hastings and Colevile_ were taken prisoners in _this_ battle; meaning, it is presumed, the skirmishes with "the scattered stray" whom prince John had ordered to be pursued, including Hastings and Colevile. It is however _quite clear_ from the testimony of the parliament rolls, that _they were taken prisoners_ in their flight from _Topcliffe_, on the borders of _Galtree forest_, where they had made head against the king's army, and were dispersed by prince John and the earl of Westmoreland.

SCENE 3. Page 176.

FAL. ... if you do not all shew like _gilt two-pences_ to me----

He means to say, "you will seem no more in comparison to me than a gilt twopence does to a coin of real gold." It was the practice to gild the smaller pieces of silver coin in the reign of Elizabeth.

SCENE 3. Page 178.

FAL. ... 'twere better than your _dukedom_.

Mr. Ritson justly observes that prince John had no dukedom, and in a former note pointed out a passage in Stowe's annals which had misled Shakspeare. The annalist repeated his error, strange as it is, in the account of the conspiracy. Holinshed always names prince John properly.