On the whole, there is no other way of extricating ourselves from the difficulties and ambiguities that attend the present subject, than by supposing some little confusion of ideas in our poet's mind, a weakness not more uncommon with him than with many of his commentators. Or, his phraseology might have been inaccurate; and it is to be feared that too much time and conjecture have been frequently expended on passages originally faulty, and which it might have been sufficient to have stated as such, to the exclusion of further comment or useless explanation.
ACT IV.
Page 399.
Cho. The armourers accomplishing the knights,
With busy hammers closing rivets up.
This does not solely refer to the business of rivetting the plate armour before it was put on, but as to the part when it was on. Thus the top of the cuirass had a little projecting bit of iron, that passed through a hole pierced through the bottom of the casque. When both were put on, the smith or armourer presented himself, with his rivetting hammer, to close the rivet up, so that the party's head should remain steady notwithstanding the force of any blow that might be given on the cuirass or helmet. This custom more particularly prevailed in tournaments. See Varietés historiques, 1752, 12mo, tom. ii. p. 73.
Scene 2. Page 424.
Grand. Their horsemen sit like fixed candlesticks,
With torch-staves in their hands.
This fashion is of great antiquity, being mentioned in Homer's description of the palace of Alcinous. Odys. book 7.
"Youths forg'd of gold, at every table there,
Stood holding flaming torches, that in night
Gave through the house, each honour'd guest his light."
It is likewise thus alluded to in Lucretius, lib. ii.