Page images
PDF
EPUB

I give you welcome with a powerless hand,
But with a heart full of unstained love:
Welcome before the gates of Angiers, duke.

LEW. A noble boy! Who would not do thee right?

AUST. Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kiss,
As feal to this indenture of my love;
That to my home I will no more return,
Till Angiers, and the right thou haft in France,
Together with that pale, that white-fac'd fhore,"
Whofe foot fpurns back the ocean's roaring tides.
And coops from other lands her islanders,
Even till that England, hedg'd in with the main,
That water-walled bulwark, ftill fecure.
And confident from foreign purposes,

Even till that utmoft corner of the weft,
Salute thee for her king: till then, fair boy,
Will I not think of home, but follow arms.

CONST. O, take his mother's thanks, a widow's

thanks,

Till your strong hand shall help to give him strength, To make a more requital to your love."

AUST. The peace of heaven is theirs, that lift their fwords

In fuch a juft and charitable war.

K. PHI. Well then, to work; our cannon fhall be bent

Against the brows of this refifting town.
Call for our chiefeft men of difcipline,

[ocr errors]

that pale, that white-fac'd fbore,] England is fuppofed

to be called Albion from the white rocks facing France.

JOHNSON.

6 To make a more requital, &c.] I believe it has been already obferved, that more fignified in our author's time, greater.

STEEVENS.

To cull the plots of beft advantages:-"
We'll lay before this town our royal bones,
Wade to the marketplace in Frenchmen's blood,
But we will make it fubject to this boy.

CONST. Stay for an answer to your embaffy,
Left unadvis'd you ftain your fwords with blood:
My lord Chatillon may from England bring
That right in peace, which here we urge in war;
And then we fhall repent each drop of blood,
That hot rafh hafte fo indirectly shed.

Enter CHATILLON.

K. PHI. A wonder, lady!-lo, upon thy wish, Our messenger Chatillon is arriv'd.What England fays, fay briefly, gentle lord, We coldly paufe for thee; Chatillon, speak.

CHAT. Then turn your forces from this paltry fiege,
And stir them up against a mightier task.
England, impatient of your juft demands,
Hath put himself in arms; the adverse winds,
Whofe leisure I have staid, have given him time
To land his legions all as foon as I:

His marches are expedient to this town,
His forces ftrong, his foldiers confident.
With him along is come the mother-queen,

1 To cull the plots of beft advantages:] i. e. to mark fuch stations as might moft over-awe the town. HENLEY.

8 A wonder, lady!] The wonder is only that Chatillon happened to arrive at the moment when Conftance mentioned him; which the French king, according to a fuperftition which prevails more or lefs in every mind agitated by great affairs, turns into a miraculous interpofition, or omen of good. JOHNSON.

9 — expedient-] Immediate, expeditious. JOHNSON. So, in K. Henry VI. Part II:

"A breach, that craves a quick, expedient ftop." STEEVENS,

An Até, ftirring him to blood and strife;2
With her her niece, the lady Blanch of Spain;
With them a bastard of the king deceas'd: '
And all the unfettled humours of the land,
Rash, inconfiderate, firy voluntaries,

With ladies' faces, and fierce dragons' fpleens,--
Have fold their fortunes at their native homes,
Bearing their birthrights proudly on their backs,*
To make a hazard of new fortunes here.
In brief, a braver choice of dauntless spirits,
Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er,'
Did never float upon the fwelling tide,

To do offence and fcath" in Chriftendom.

2 An Até, ftirring him, &c.] Até was the Goddess of Revenge. The player-editors read-an Ace. STEEVENS.

Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

[ocr errors]

This image might have been borrowed from the celebrated libel, called Leicester's Commonwealth, originally published about the year 1584: She ftandeth like a fiend or fury, at the elbow of her Amadis, to flirre him forward when occafion fhall ferve." STEEVENS. 3 With them a bastard of the king deceas' d:] The old copy, erroneously, reads-king's. STEEVENS.

This line, except the word ruith, is borrowed from the old play of King John, already mentioned. Our author fhould have written king, and fo the modern editors read. But there is certainly no corruption, for we have the fame phrafeology elsewhere. MALONE. It may as juftly be faid, that the fame error has been elsewhere repeated by the fame illiterate compofitors. STEEVENS. 4 Bearing their birthrights, &c.] So, in King Henry VIII:

[ocr errors]

O, many

"Have broke their backs with laying manors on them."

JOHNSON.

5 Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er,] Waft for rafted. So again in this play:

"The iron of itself, though heat red hot- -."

i. e. heated. STEEVENS.

6 Scath] Deftruction, harm. JOHNSON.

So, in How to chufe a good Wife from a Bad, 1602:

[ocr errors]

For these accounts, 'faith it shall seath thee fomething." Again :

"And it shall feath him fomewhat of my purfe." STEEVENS.

The interruption of their churlish drums

[Drums beat. Cuts off more circumftance: they are at hand, To parley, or to fight; therefore, prepare.

K. PHI. How much unlook'd for is this expedition!

AUST. By how much unexpected, by so much We must awake endeavour for defence;

For courage mounteth with occafion:

Let them be welcome then, we are prepar'd.

Enter King JOHN, ELINOR, BLANCH, the Baftard, PEMBROKE, and Forces.

K. JOHN. Peace be to France; if France in

permit

Our juft and lineal entrance to our own!

peace

If not; bleed France, and peace afcend to heaven!
Whiles we, God's wrathful agent, do correct
Their proud contempt that beat his peace to hea-

ven.

K. PHI. Peace be to England; if that war re

turn

From France to England, there to live in peace!
England we love; and, for that England's fake,
With burden of our armour here we fweat:
This toil of ours fhould be a work of thine;
But thou from loving England art so far,
That thou haft underwrought his lawful king,
Cut off the fequence of pofterity,
Outfaced infant ftate, and done a rape
Upon the maiden virtue of the crown.

7-underwrought-] i. e. underworked, undermined.

STEEVENS.

[blocks in formation]

Look here upon thy brother Geffrey's face ;-
Thefe eyes, these brows, were moulded out of his :
This little abftract doth contain that large,
Which died in Geffrey; and the hand of time
Shall draw this brief into as huge a volume.
That Geffrey was thy elder brother born,
And this his fon; England was Geffrey's right,
And this is Geffrey's: In the name of God,
How comes it then, that thou art call'd a king,
When living blood doth in these temples beat,
Which owe the crown that thou o'ermaftereft?
K. JOHN. From whom haft thou this great com-
miffion, France,

To draw my answer from thy articles?

K. PHI. From that fupernal judge, that stirs good thoughts

In any breast of strong authority,

To look into the blots and ftains of right.*

8 this brief-] A brief is a fhort writing, abstract, or defcription. So, in A Midsummer Night's Dream:

9

"Here is a brief how many fports are ripe."

England was Geffrey's right,

STEEVENS.

And this is Geffrey's:] I have no doubt but we fhould read"and his is Geffrey's." The meaning is, " England was Geffrey's right, and whatever was Geffrey's, is now his," pointing to Arthur. M. MASON.

To look into the blots and ftains of right.] Mr. Theobald reads, with the firft folio, blots, which being fo early authorized, and fo much better underftocd, needed not to have been changed by Dr. Warburton to bolts, though bolts might be used in that time for Spots: fo Shakspeare calls Banquo "Spotted with blood, the blood-bolter'd Banquo." The verb to blot is ufed figuratively for to difgrace, a few lines lower. And perhaps, after all, balts was only a typographical mistake. JOHNSON. Blots is certainly right.

The illegitimate branch of a family always carried the arms of it with what in ancient heraldry was

« PreviousContinue »