Note XIX

V. 1. 26. 'Not bolds the king' is usually interpreted as an elliptical phrase for 'Not as it emboldens the king.' This is however a very harsh construction, and the word 'bolds' occurs nowhere else in Shakespeare with this meaning, though we have, according to the most probable reading, 'dear'd,' for 'endear'd,' in Antony and Cleopatra, I. 4. 44. Possibly these words are corrupt and a line has dropped out before them. Albany ought to say something of this kind: 'I should be ready to resist any mere invader, but the presence in the invader's camp of the king and other Britons, who have just cause of enmity to us, dashes my courage.'