1. _Flourish_: The stage direction here is obscure. Clarke claims it
should read "flarish," thus changing the meaning of the passage to
"flarish" (that is, the King's), but most authorities have agreed that
it should remain "flourish," supplying the predicate which is to be
flourished. There was at this time a custom in the countryside of
England to flourish a mop as a signal to the passing vender of
berries, signifying that in that particular household there was a
consumer-demand for berries, and this may have been meant in this
instance. That Shakespeare was cognizant of this custom of flourishing
the mop for berries is shown in a similar passage in the second part
of King Henry IV, where he has the Third Page enter and say,
"Flourish." Cf. also Hamlet, IV, 7:4.
[Illustration: "Might be one of the hautboys bearing a box of
"trognies" for the actors to suck."]
2. _Hautboys_, from the French _haut_, meaning "high" and the Eng.
_boys_, meaning "boys." The word here is doubtless used in the sense
of "high boys," indicating either that Shakespeare intended to convey
the idea of spiritual distress on the part of the First
Lady-in-Waiting or that he did not. Of this Rolfe says: "Here we have
one of the chief indications of Shakespeare's knowledge of human
nature, his remarkable insight into the petty foibles of this
work-a-day world." Cf. T.N. 4:6, "Mine eye hath play'd the painter,
and hath stell'd thy beauty's form in table of my heart."
3. _and_. A favorite conjunctive of Shakespeare's in referring to the
need for a more adequate navy for England. Tauchnitz claims that it
should be pronounced "und," stressing the anti-penult. This
interpretation, however, has found disfavor among most commentators
because of its limited significance. We find the same conjunctive in
A.W.T.E.W. 6:7, "Steel-boned, unyielding _and_ uncomplying virtue,"
and here there can be no doubt that Shakespeare meant that if the King
should consent to the marriage of his daughter the excuse of Stephano,
offered in Act 2, would carry no weight.
4. _Torches_. The interpolation of some foolish player and never the
work of Shakespeare (Warb.). The critics of the last century have
disputed whether or not this has been misspelled in the original, and
should read "trochies" or "troches." This might well be since the
introduction of tobacco into England at this time had wrought havoc
with the speaking voices of the players, and we might well imagine
that at the entrance of the First Lady-in-Waiting there might be
perhaps one of the hautboys mentioned in the preceding passage bearing
a box of troches or "trognies" for the actors to suck. Of this
entrance Clarke remarks: "The noble mixture of spirited firmness and
womanly modesty, fine sense and true humility, clear sagacity and
absence of conceit, passionate warmth and sensitive delicacy, generous
love and self-diffidence with which Shakespeare has endowed this First
Lady-in-Waiting renders her in our eyes one of the most admirable of
his female characters." Cf. M.S.N.D. 8:9, "That solder'st close
impossibilities and mak'st them kiss."