FullReads

Hall’s Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre and Yorke (1548) was freely used by Holinshed, but there is a passage in Henry VIII. which shows that the dramatist knew Hall’s chronicle at first hand.

193. Skelton. “His Poems are printed with the title of Pithy, Pleasaunt, and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate,” etc. Farmer then explains with his usual learning Skelton’s title of “poet laureate.”

Upton. Critical Observations, p. 47, n.

Pierce Plowman. This reference was added in the second edition. On the other hand, the following reference, which was given in the first edition after the quotation from Hieronymo, was omitted: “And in Dekker’s Satiro-Mastix, or the Untrussing of the humourous Poet, Sir Rees ap Vaughan swears in the same manner.”

Hieronymo, ii. 2. 87, 91-93 ( Works of Thomas Kyd, ed. Boas, p. 24).

Garrick. “Mr. Johnson’s edit., vol. viii., p. 171″ (Farmer). The following three pages, from ” a Gentleman ” (foot of p. 193) to the end of the Latin quotation at the top of p. 197, were added in the second edition.

194. Upton. Critical Observations, p. 300.

This villain here. 2 Henry VI., iv. 1. 106.

Grimald’s “Three Bookes of Duties, tourned out of Latin into English” appeared in 1555. “I have met with a writer who tells us that a translation of the Offices was printed by Caxton in the year 1481: but such a book never existed. It is a mistake for Tullius of Old Age, printed with the Boke of Frendshipe, by John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester. I believe the former was translated by William Wyrcestre, alias Botoner” (Farmer).

There is no bar. Henry V., i. 2. 35.

195. It hath lately been repeated, etc. In the Critical Review, xxiii., p. 50; cf. p. xxi, p. 21.

Guthrie, William (1708-1770), whose reports to the Gentleman’s Magazine were revised by Johnson. He wrote histories of England (4 vols., 1744, etc.), the World (12 vols., 1764, etc.), and Scotland (10 vols., 1767). His Essay upon English Tragedy had appeared in 1747. See note, p. 101.

196. All hail, Macbeth. 1. iii. 48-50.

Macbeth. The probable date of Macbeth is 1606.

Wake, Sir Isaac (1580-1632). The Rex Platonicus, celebrating the visit of James I. to Oxford in 1605, appeared in 1607.

197. Grey. Notes on Shakespeare, p. vii.; cf. vol. ii., p. 289, etc.

Whalley. Enquiry, p. v.

a very curious and intelligent gentleman. Capell: see below.

It hath indeed been said, etc. In the Critical Review, xxiii., p. 50. Accordingly the following passage (to “Mr. Lort,” foot of p. 199) was added in the second edition.

Saxo Grammaticus. ” ‘Falsitatis enim (Hamlethus) alienus haberi cupidus, ita astutiam veriloquio permiscebat, ut nec dictis veracitas deesset, nec acuminis modus verorum judicio proderetur.’ This is quoted, as it had been before, in Mr. Guthrie’s Essay on Tragedy, with a small variation from the Original. See edit. fol. 1644, p. 50″ (Farmer). The quotation was given in the Critical Review, xxiii., p. 50.