Act IV
Chor. “Thawing cold fear. Then, mean and gentle all.”
‘Then’ is Theobald’s correction, and a true and good one, of that of the folio. See Introd. p. 68.
Sc. 1
“Subject unto the breath of every fool.”
“What is thy soul of adoration?”
It would seem better to read source. Johnson read ‘O adoration!’
“He ne’er sees horrid Night, the child of Hell,” etc.
“The sense of reckoning of the opposed numbers.
Pluck their hearts from them not to-day, O Lord!
Oh, not to-day!—Think not upon the fault,” etc.
So I punctuate. Many editors follow Tyrwhitt in reading ‘if the’ for ‘of the’ in the first line. Theobald read lest for ‘of.’
Sc. 2
“And doubt them with superfluous courage.”
For ‘doubt’ Pope read daunt; Rowe, followed by Dyce and Cambridge editors, dout. As the ‘superfluous courage’ seems to be the blood spun out, the word may be daub.
“I stay but for my guard. On to the field!”
A most happy emendation was that made by Dr. Thackeray, and by an Anon. ap. Rann: “I stay but for my guidon.—To the field!” This is amply confirmed by the following line, and by this passage of Holinshed, “The Duke of Brabant, when his standard was not come, caused a banner to be taken from a trumpet and fastened to a spear, the which he commanded to be borne before him instead of a standard.” Guidon is a term still in use in the cavalry service.
Sc. 3
“He that shall see this day and live to old age.”
Pope, who has been usually followed, transposed ‘see’ and ‘live.’ I rather think to was omitted, and see no necessity for transposition.
“They’ll be in fresher robes; for they will pluck,” etc.
The 4to and folio both, which all the editors follow, read ‘or they’; my own and Hanmer’s conjecture is ‘for they,’ which alone gives sense, by explaining how they would be ‘in fresher robes.’ How easily might the f have been lost or omitted!
Sc. 4
“Calitay! Callinó castorè me!”
I have ventured to change the ‘Qualtitie’ of the folio to Calitay, the English mode of pronouncing qualité, with the accent on the last syllable; which suggests Callino, etc., for which see Index s. v. The French qualité would never suggest quality to an illiterate Englishman.
Sc. 5
“Let us die in... Once möre back again.”
By this punctuation the reading of the folio becomes clear. Knight, whom late editors follow, reads ‘in honour,’ which occurs in the 4to.
Sc. 7
“To book our dead and then to bury them.”
Collier’s folio reads look, which might seem preferable.
Sc. 8
“Now, Herald, are the dead all numbered?”
It might be better to read ‘the dead on both sides.’