Alarums and Excurfions; then a Retreat. Enter a French Herald, with trumpets, to the gates.

F. HER. You men of Angiers, open wide your gates,"

And let young Arthur, duke of Bretagne, in;
Who, by the hand of France, this day hath made
Much work for tears in many an English mother,
Whose fons lye scatter'd on the bleeding ground:
Many a widow's husband groveling lies,
Coldly embracing the difcolour'd earth;
And victory, with little lofs, doth play
Upon the dancing banners of the French;
Who are at hand, triumphantly difplay'd,
To enter conquerors, and to proclaim
Arthur of Bretagne, England's king, and yours.

Enter an English Herald, with trumpets.

E. HER. Rejoice, you men of Angiers, ring your bells;7

King John, your king and England's, doth approach, Commander of this hot malicious day!

6 You men of Angiers, &c.] This fpeech is very poetical and fmooth, and except the conceit of the widow's husband embracing the earth, is juft and beautiful. JOHNSON.

7 Rejoice, you men of Angiers, &c.] The English herald falls fomewhat below his antagonist. Silver armour gilt with blood is a poor image. Yet our author has it again in Macbeth:

Here lay Duncan,

"His filver fkin lac'd with his golden blood." JOHNSON.

Their armours, that march'd hence fo filver-bright,
Hither return all gilt with Frenchmen's blood;
There stuck no plume in any English creft,
That is removed by a staff of France;

Our colours do return in those fame hands

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That did difplay them when we first march'd forth;
And, like a jolly troop of huntfmen, come
Our lufty English, all with purpled hands,
Died in the dying flaughter of their foes:
Open your gates, and give the victors way.

CIT. 9 Heralds, from off our towers we might behold,

From first to laft, the onset and retire
Of both your armies; whofe equality
By our best eyes cannot be cenfured: 2

Blood hath bought blood, and blows have answer'd blows;

Strength match'd with ftrength, and power confronted power:

Both are alike; and both alike we like.

One must prove greatest: while they weigh fo even, We hold our town for neither; yet for both.

8

And, like a jolly troop of huntfmen, &c.] It was, I think, one the favage practices of the chafe, for all to ftain their hands in the blood of the deer, as a trophy. JOHNSON.

Shakspeare alludes to the fame practise in Julius Cæfar:

Here thy hunters stand,

Sign'd in thy fpoil, and crimson'd in thy lethe."

STEEVENS.

9 Heralds, from off, &c.] Thefe three fpeeches feem to have been laboured. The citizen's is the best; yet both alike we like is a poor gingle. JOHNSON.

-cannot be cenfured:] i. e. cannot be estimated. Our author ought rather to have written-whofe fuperiority, or whofe inequality, cannot be cenfured. MALONE.

Enter, at one fide, King JOHN, with his power; ELINOR, BLANCH, and the Baftard; at the other, King PHILIP, LEWIS, AUSTRIA, and Forces.

K. JOHN. France, haft thou yet more blood to caft away?

Say, fhall the current of our right run on?' Whofe paffage, vex'd with thy impediment, Shall leave his native channel, and o'erfwell With course disturb'd even thy confining fhores; Unless thou let his filver water keep

A peaceful progress to the ocean.

K. PHI. England, thou haft not fav'd one drop of blood,

In this hot trial, more than we of France;
Rather, loft more: And by this hand I swear,
That sways the earth this climate overlooks,—
Before we will lay down our juft-borne arms,
We'll put thee down, 'gainst whom these arms we
bear,

Or add a royal number to the dead;

Gracing the fcroll, that tells of this war's lofs, With flaughter coupled to the name of kings. BAST. Ha, majefty! how high thy glory towers, When the rich blood of kings is fet on fire!

3 Say, fhall the current of our right run on?] The old copyroam on. STEEVENS,

The editor of the fecond folio substituted run, which has been adopted in the fubfequent editions. I do not perceive any need of change. In The Tempeft we have-" the wandering brooks." MALONE.

I prefer the reading of the fecond folio. So, in K. Henry V: "As many ftreams run into one self sea."

The King would rather defcribe his right as running on in a direct than in an irregular course, fuch as would be implied by the word roam. STEEVENS.

O, now doth death line his dead chaps with fteel;
The fwords of foldiers are his teeth, his fangs ;
And now he feafts, mouthing the flesh of men,
In undetermin'd differences of kings.-
Why stand these royal fronts amazed thus?
Cry, havock, kings!' back to the stained field,
You equal potents, firy-kindled fpirits!
Then let confufion of one part confirm

The other's peace; till then, blows, blood, and death!

K. JOHN. Whose party do the townsmen yet admit?

K. PHI. Speak, citizens, for England; who's your king?

I CIT. The king of England, when we know the king.

mouthing the flesh of men,] The old copy reads―mousing.

STEEVENS.

Moufing, like many other ancient and now uncouth expreffions, was expelled from our author's text by Mr. Pope; and mouthing, which he substituted in its room, has been adopted in the fubfequent editions, without any fufficient reafon, in my apprehenfion. Moufing is, I fuppofe, mamocking, and devouring eagerly, as a cat devours a moufe. So, in A Midsummer Night's Dream: " Well mous'd, Lion!" Again, in The Wonderful Year, by Thomas Decker, 1603: Whilst Troy was fwilling fack and fugar, and moufing fat venifon, the mad Greekes made bonfires of their houses."

MALONE.

I retain Mr. Pope's emendation, which is fupported by the following paffage in Hamlet: "— -firft mouth'd to be laft fwallowed." Shak fpeare defigned no ridicule in this fpeech; and therefore did not write, (as when he was writing the burlesque interlude of Pyramus and Thibe,)-moufing. STEEVENS.

5 Cry, havock, kings!] That is, command slaughter to proceed; fo, in Julius Cæfar:

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Cry, havock, and let flip the dogs of war." JOHNSON. You equal potents,] Potents for potentates. So, in Ane verit excellent and delectabill Treatife intitulit PHILOTUS, &c. 1603: " Ane of the potentes of the town,—— STEEVENS

K. PHI. Know him in us, that here hold up

right.

his

K. JOHN. In us, that are our own great deputy, And bear poffeffion of our perfon here; Lord of our presence, Angiers, and of you.

I CIT. A greater power than we, denies all this; And, till it be undoubted, we do lock Our former fcruple in our ftrong-barr'd gates: King'd of our fears; until our fears, refolv'd, Be by fome certain king purg'd and depos'd.

A greater power than we, denies all this ;-
King'd of our fears;] The old copy reads-

Kings of our feare- &c. STEEVENS.

A greater power than we, may mean, the Lord of hofts, who has not yet decided the fuperiority of either army; and till it be undoubted, the people of Angiers will not open their gates. Secure and confident as lions, they are not at all afraid, but are kings, i. e. masters and commanders, of their fears, until their fears or doubts about the rightful King of England are removed.

TOLLET. We fhould read, than ye. What power was this? their fears. It is plain, therefore we should read:

Kings are our fears;

i. e. our fears are the kings which at present rule us.

WARBURTON.

Dr. Warburton faw what was requifite to make this paffage fenfe; and Dr. Johnson rather too haftily, I think, has received his emendation into the text. He reads:

Kings are our fears; which he explains to mean,

prefent rule us."

As the fame fenfe may be obtained by a much flighter alteration, I am more inclined to read:

King'd of our fears;

King'd is ufed as a participle paffive by Shakspeare more than once, I believe. I remember one inftance in Henry the Fifth, Act II. fc. v. The Dauphin fays of England:

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fhe is fo idly king'd."

It is fcarce neceffary to add, that, of, here (as in numberless other places,) has the fignification of, by. TYRWHITT.