Win. I do, thou most usurping proditor," And not protector, of the king or realm. 6 Glo. Stand back, thou manifest conspirator, Thou that contriv'dst to murder our dead lord;* Thou that giv'st whores indulgences to sin: I'll canvass thee in thy broad cardinal's hat, If thou proceed in this thy insolence. 7 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; I'll beard thee to thy face. • Betrayer. One of Gloster's charges against the bishop runs thus in Holinshed: "My said lord of Glocester affirmeth, that our sovreigne lord his brother, that was king Henrie the fift, told him on a time, that when, being prince, he was lodged in the palace of Westminster, there was a man spied and taken behind a hanging of the chamber; the which man, being examined upon the cause of his being there at that time, confessed that he was there by the stirring and procuring of my said lord of Winchester, ordeined to have slain the said prince there in his bed." H. The public stews in Southwark were under the jurisdiction of the bishops of Winchester. So that licenses for keeping them were of course issued on Beaufort's authority. 1 Cannabasser, French, is rendered by Cotgrave, to canvass, or curiously to examine, search, or sift out, the depth of a matter." And Skinner says the same word was used for “shaking or beating hemp." We have seen in a former note that Beaufort was not made a cardinal till 1427, which was two years after the rupture with Gloster. H. The allusion here is well explained by a passage in The Travels of Sir John Mandeville: "In that place where Damascus was founded, Kayn sloughe Abel his brother." And Ritson has another of like drift from the Polychronicon: "Damascus is as much as to say shedding of blood; for there Chaym slew Abel and hid him in the sand." H. Glo. What am I dar'd, and bearded to my face? Draw, men, for all this privileged place; Blue-coats to tawny-coats. beard; Priest, beware your [GLOSTER and his Men attack the Bishop. I mean to tug it, and to cuff you soundly: Here GLOSTER'S Men beat out the Cardinal's Men, and in the hurly-burly enter the Mayor of London, and Officers. May. Fie, lords! that you, being supreme magis trates, Thus contumeliously should break the peace! Glo. Peace, mayor! thou know'st little of my wrongs: Here's Beaufort, that regards nor God nor king, Hath here distrain'd the Tower to his use. Win. Here's Gloster too, a foe to citizens; It appears from this, that Gloster's servants wore blue coais, and Winchester's tawny. Such was the usual livery of servants in the Poet's time, and long before. Stowe informs us that on a certain occasion the bishop of London "was attended on by a goodly company of gentlemen in tawny coats." H. 10 A Winchester goose was a particular stage of the disease contracted in the stews; hence Gloster bestows the epithet on the bishop in derision and scorn. A person affected with that disease was likewise so called. One that still motions war, and never peace, 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 skirmish again. May. Nought rests for me, in this tumultuous strife, But to make open proclamation. Come, officer; as loud as ere thou canst, cry. Offi. 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. May. I'll call for clubs," if you will not away. This cardinal's 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. "The practice of calling out Clubs, clubs! to call out the London apprentices upon the occasion of any affray in the streets, has been explained in As You Like It, Act v. sc. 2, note 3. It should appear that the shopkeepers were generally provided with clubs for the purpose. Good God that nobles should such stomachs 12 bear! [Exeunt. SCENE IV France. Before Orleans. Enter, on the Walls, the Master-Gunner and his Son. Gun. Sirrah, thou know'st how Orleans is be sieg'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. Gun. But now thou shalt not. Be thou rul'd by me: Chief master-gunner am I of this town; How the English, in the suburbs close intrench'd, 12 Stomach is pride, a haughty spirit of resentment. 13 The account of this stormy brawl, as given in the old chron icles, runs substantially thus: The duke being absent a while, the bishop caused the Tower to be garrisoned, and committed to the care of Richard Woodville, with orders to admit no one more powerful than himself." The duke, at his return, demanding lodgings in the Tower, and being refused, forthwith ordered the mayor to close the gates of the city against the bishop, and to furnish him with five hundred horsemen, that he might visit in safety the young king at Eltham. The next morning the bishop's retainers undertook to burst open the gate on the bridge, and placed archers in the houses on each side of the road, declaring that, as their lord was excluded from the city, so they would keep the duke from leaving it. H. The old copy reads went; the emendation is Mr. Tyrwhitt's. The English wont, that is, are accustomed, to overpeer the city. It is the third person plural of the old verb wont. The eniendation is fully supported by the speech in the Chronicles on which this is formed. 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 you, if I may spy them. Enter, in an upper Chamber of a Tower, the Lords Sal. Talbot, my life, my joy, again return'd! Once, in contempt, they would have barter'd me: In fine, redeem'd I was as I desir'd. my heart! Here again the Poet transposes the order of events. The affair in the tower at Orleans, which ended in the death of Salis bury, took place October 23, 1428. The capture of Talbot by the French was at the battle of Patay, June 18, 1429; of Santrailles, by the English, in 1431. H. 3 The old copy reads "pil'd esteem'd." As vile was frequently spelt vild by Shakespeare and others, there can hardly be a doubt that it was the word. |