To make a faithlefs error in your ears:
Which truft accordingly, kind citizens,
And let us in, your king; whofe labour'd spirits,
Forwearied in this action of swift speed,
Crave harbourage within your city walls.

K.PHI. When I have faid, make answer to us both.
Lo, in this right hand, whofe protection
Is moft divinely vow'd upon the right
Of him it holds, ftands young Plantagenet;
Son to the elder brother of this man,

And king o'er him, and all that he enjoys:
For this down-trodden equity, we tread

In warlike march thefe greens before your town;
Being no further enemy to you,

Than the constraint of hofpitable zeal,

In the relief of this oppreffed child,
Religiously provokes. Be pleased then

Το

pay that duty, which you truly owe,

5

To him that owes it; namely, this young prince:
And then our arms, like to a muzzled bear,
Save in afpect, have all offence feal'd up;
Our cannons' malice vainly fhall be spent
Against the invulnerable clouds of heaven;
And, with a blessed and unvex'd retire,

With unhack'd fwords, and helmets all unbruis'd,
We will bear home that lufty blood again,
Which here we came to fpout against your town,
And leave your children, wives, and
you, in peace.
But if you fondly pafs our proffer'd offer,

4 Forwearied-] i. e. worn out. Sax. So, Chaucer, in his Ramaunt of the Rofe, fpeaking of the mantle of Avarice:

"And if it were for werid, the

"Would havin," &c.

STEEVENS.

5 To him that owes it ;] i. e. owns it. See our author and his contemporaries, paffim. So, in Othello:

that fweet fleep

"That thou ow'dft yesterday." STEEVENS.

'Tis not the roundure of your old-fac'd walls
Can hide you from our meffengers of war;
Though all these English, and their discipline,
Were harbour'd in their rude circumference.
Then, tell us, fhall your city call us lord,
In that behalf which we have challeng'd it?
Or fhall we give the fignal to our rage,
And ftalk in blood to our poffeffion?

1 CIT. In brief, we are the king of England's fubjects;

For him, and in his right, we hold this town. K. JOHN. Acknowledge then the king, and let me in.

I CIT. That can we not: but he that

king,

proves the

To him will we prove loyal; till that time,
Have we ramm'd up our gates against the world.
K. JOHN. Doth not the crown of England prove
the king?

And, if not that, I bring you witneffes,
Twice fifteen thousand hearts of England's breed,-
BAST. Baftards, and elfe.

K. John. To verify our title with their lives.
K. PHI. As many, and as well-born bloods as
thofe,

BAST. Some bastards too.

4 Tis not the roundure, &c.] Roundure means the same as the French rondeur, i. e. the circle.

So, in All's loft by Luft, a tragedy by Rowley, 1633:

66

will fhe meet our arms

"With an alternate roundure?"

Again, in Shakspeare's 21ft Sonnet:

all things rare,

"That heaven's air in this huge rondure hems.”

STEEVENS.

K. PHI. Stand in his face, to contradict his claim. I CIT. Till you compound whofe right is worthiest, We, for the worthiest, hold the right from both. K. JOHN. Then God forgive the fin of all those fouls,

That to their everlasting refidence,

Before the dew of evening fall, fhall fleet,
In dreadful trial of our kingdom's king!

K. PHI. Amen, Amen!-Mount, chevaliers! to arms!

BAST. St. George, that fwing'd the dragon, and e'er fince,

Sits on his horfeback at mine hoftefs' door,
Teach us fome fence!-Sirrah, were I at home,
At your den, firrah, [To AUSTRIA.] with your lionefs,
I'd fet an ox-head to your lion's hide,'

And make a monster of you.

AUST.

Peace; no more.

BAST. O, tremble; for you hear the lion roar. K. JOHN. Up higher to the plain; where we'll fet forth,

In best appointment, all our regiments.

BAST. Speed then, to take advantage of the

field.

K. PHI. It shall be fo;- [To LEWIS.] and at the

other hill

Command the reft to ftand.-God, and our right! [Exeunt.

I'd fet an ox-head to your lion's hide,] So, in the old fpurious play of K. John:

"But let the frolick Frenchman take no scorn,
"If Philip front him with an English horn."

STEEVENS.

SCENE II.

The fame.

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,

6

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,
Whofe 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;'

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.

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

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

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

Both are alike; and both alike we like.

One must prove greateft: 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 stain their hands in the blood of the deer, as a trophy. JOHNSON.

Shakspeare alludes to the fame practife in Julius Cæfar:

Here thy hunters stand,

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

STEEVENS.

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

2

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