Chapter LXXX: Act I

SC. 1. "Forthwith a power of English shall we levy."

We might incline to read _lead_; but the text is right. Gifford quotes "Scipio before he _levied_ his forces to the walls of Carthage," from Gosson's School of Abuse, and other passages in its defence.

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"Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights,
Balk'd in their own blood did sir Walter see."

The explanations given of 'Balk'd' do not satisfy me. Steevens has given some good authority for _Bak'd_, the conjecture of Grey; but on the whole I incline to Heath's _Bath'd_. Still I have made no alteration.

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"Mordake, _the_ earl of Fife, and eldest son
To beaten Douglas, and the earls of Athol,
Of Murray, _and_ of Angus and Menteith."

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SC. 2. "If thou darest not stand for ten shillings."

Pope also read, as I do, '_cry_ stand.'

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SC. 3. "And you have found me; for accordingly
You tread upon my patience."

I read 'have found me _so_. Accordingly.' In Com. of Err. i. 1. and elsewhere we have _so_ for _for_.

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"I will from henceforth rather be myself,
Mighty and to be fear'd, than my condition."

What is the difference between 'myself' and 'my condition,' _i.e._ natural disposition? I read 'my condition _past_.'

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"Out of my grief and my impatience
To be so pestered with a popinjay."

So Edwards and Johnson properly transposed these lines.

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"Art thou not ashamed? But, sirrah, _from_ henceforth."

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"By Richard that dead is, the next of blood."

It is so printed in both 4tos and folio; but we surely should read 'is dead.'

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"As to o'erwalk a current roaring loud."

Perhaps the poet used the more forceable term, _torrent_.

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"But not the form of what he should attend _to_."

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"Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own."

Perhaps 'Tying' was not the poet's word. It may have been _Turning_, or some other.

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"Will easily be granted. You, my lord," etc.

Such is the proper punctuation, also proposed by Thirlby.

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"I'll steal to Glendower and Lord Mortimer."

There is evidently a line lost after this.