Hot. And cuts me from the best of all my land,
A huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle.
The word in its strict sense, signifies a small piece of any thing, but here a portion or parcel. The French have chanteau and chantel, from the Latin quantulum.
Scene 1. Page 494.
Glen. ... I framed to the harp
Many an English ditty, lovely well,
And gave the tongue a helpful ornament,
A virtue that was never seen in you.
"Glendower means," says Mr. Ritson, "that he graced his own tongue with the art of singing." This is surely wrong. The meaning is, that, by setting the English ditties to Welsh music, he had embellished the language in a manner that Hotspur had never done, the roughness of his speech affording neither poetry nor music. Tongue was rightly explained by Dr. Johnson, the English language.
Scene 1. Page 499.
Mort. ... that pretty Welsh
Which thou pourest down from these swelling heavens
I am too perfect in; and but for shame,
In such a parley would I answer thee.
According to Mr. Steevens, swelling heavens are prominent lips. Are they not eyes swollen with tears? Glendower had just said that his daughter wept; and Mortimer tells his wife that he would answer the melting language of her eyes, if it were not for shame.
Scene 2. Page 508.
P. Hen. By smiling pick-thanks.