Alexander Dyce, A General Glossary to Shakespeare's Works

courtesy “from heaven—I stole all,” 1 HENRY IV., iii. 2. 50. On the words“Stole courtesy from heaven” in Massinger'sGreat Duke of Florence, act ii. sc. 3, Gifford remarks: “This is from Shakespeare, and the plain meaning of the phrase is, that the affability and sweetness of Giovanni were of a heavenly kind, that is, more perfect than was usually found among men; resembling that divine condescension which excludes none from its regard, and therefore immediately derived or stolen from heaven, from whence all good proceeds. In this there is no impropriety: common usage warrants the application of the term to a variety of actions which imply nothing of turpitude, but rather the contrary: affections are stolen—in a word, to steal, here, and in many other places, means little else than to win by imperceptible progression, by gentle violence, etc.” Note on Massinger's Works, vol. ii. p. 467, ed. 1813.