AUST. O, that a man fhould fpeak those words

to me!

BAST. And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.

AUST. Thou dar'ft not fay fo, villain, for thy

life.

BAST. And hang a calf's-skin on thofe recreant limbs.7

K. JOHN. We like not this; thou doft forget thyfelf.

7 Here Mr. Pope inferts the following fpeeches from the old play of King John, printed in 1591, before Shakspeare appears to have commenced a writer :

"Auft. Methinks, that Richard's pride, and Richard's fall, "Should be a precedent to fright you all.

"Faule. What words are these? how do my finews shake! My father's foe clad in my father's fpoil!

"How doth Alecto whisper in my ears,

Delay not, Richard, kill the villain straight; Difrobe him of the matchless monument, "Thy father's triumph o'er the favages !"Now by his foul I swear, my father's foul, "Twice will I not review the morning's rife,

"Till I have torn that trophy from thy back,

"And split thy heart for wearing it fo long." STEEVENS.

I cannot by any means approve of the infertion of these lines from the other play. If they were neceffary to explain the ground of the Baftard's quarrel to Auftria, as Mr. Pope fuppofes, they fhould rather be inserted in the first scene of the second act, at the time of the firft altercation between the Baftard and Austria. But indeed the ground of their quarrel feems to be as clearly expreffed in the first scene as in these lines; fo that they are unnecessary in either place; and therefore, I think, fhould be thrown out of the text, as well as the three other lines, which have been inferted with as little reason in Act III. fc. ii: Thus hath king Richard's, &c. TYRWHITT.

Enter PANDULPH.

K. PHI. Here comes the holy legate of the pope.
PAND. Hail, you anointed deputies of heaven!-
To thee, king John, my holy errand is.

I Pandulph, of fair Milan cardinal,
And from pope Innocent the legate here,
Do, in his name, religiously demand,

Why thou against the church, our holy mother,
So wilfully doft fpurn; and, force perforce,
Keep Stephen Langton, chofen árchbishop
Of Canterbury, from that holy fee?
This, in our 'forefaid holy father's name,
Pope Innocent, I do demand of thee.

K. JOHN. What earthly name to interrogatories,
Can task the free breath of a sacred king?

What earthly, &c.] This must have been at the time when it was written, in our struggles with popery, a very captivating scene. So many paffages remain in which Shakspeare evidently takes his advantage of the facts then recent, and of the paffions then in mo tion, that I cannot but fufpect that time has obfcured much of his art, and that many allufions yet remain undiscovered, which perhaps may be gradually retrieved by fucceeding commentators.

JOHNSON.

The fpeech ftands thus in the old fpurious play: "And what haft thou, or the pope thy mafter to do, to demand of me how I employ mine own? Know, fir prieft, as I honour the church and holy churchmen, fo I fcorne to be fubject to the greatest prelate in the world. Tell thy mafter fo from me; and fay, John of England faid it, that never an Italian priest of them all, fhall either have tythe, toll, or polling penny out of England; but as I am king, fo will I reign next under God, fupreme head both over fpiritual and temporal: and he that contradicts me in this, I'll make him hop headlefs." STEEVENS.

What earthly name to interrogatories, ·

Can talk the free breath, &c.] i. e. What earthly name, fubjoined
VOL. VIII.

G

Thou canst not, cardinal, devise a name
So flight, unworthy, and ridiculous,
To charge me to an answer, as the pope.

Tell him this tale; and from the mouth of Eng

land,

Add thus much more,-That no Italian priest
Shall tithe or toll in our dominions;

But as we under heaven are fupreme head,
So, under him, that great fupremacy,
Where we do reign, we will alone uphold,
Without the affiftance of a mortal hand:
So tell the pope; all reverence fet apart,
To him, and his ufurp'd authority.

K. PHI. Brother of England, you blafpheme in

this.

K. JOHN. Though you, and all the kings of Chrif-
tendom,

Are led fo grofsly by this meddling priest,
Dreading the curfe that money may buy out;
And, by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust,
Purchafe corrupted pardon of a man,

Who, in that fale, fells pardon from himself:
Though you, and all the reft, fo grofsly led,

to interrogatories, can force a king to speak and answer them? The old copy reads-earthy. The emendation was made by Mr. Pope. It has alfo taft inftead of task, which was fubftituted by Mr. Thecbald. Breath for fpeech is common with our author. So, in a fubfequent part of this fcene:

"The latest breath that gave the found of words." Again, in The Merchant of Venice," breathing courtesy," for verbal courtefy. MALONE.

The emendation [task] may be justified by the following paffage in King Henry IV. P. Í :

"How fhow'd his talking? feem'd it in contempt?" Again, in King Henry V:

"That tok our thoughts concerning us and France."

STEEVENS.

This juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish; Yet I, alone, alone do me oppose

Against the pope, and count his friends my foes.

PAND. Then, by the lawful power that I have,
Thou shalt ftand curs'd, and excommunicate:
And bleffed fhall he be, that doth revolt
From his allegiance to an heretick;
And meritorious fhall that hand be call'd,
Canonized, and worship'd as a faint,
That takes away by any fecret course
Thy hateful life.'

CONST.
O, lawful let it be,
That I have room with Rome to curse a while!
Good father cardinal, cry thou, amen,

To my keen curfes; for, without my wrong,
There is no tongue hath power to curse him right.
PAND. There's law and warrant, lady, for my
curse.

CONST. And for mine too; when law can do no
right,

That takes away by any fecret courfe,

Thy hateful life.] This may allude to the bull published against Queen Elizabeth. Or we may fuppofe, fince we have no proof that this play appeared in its prefent ftate before the reign of King James, that it was exhibited foon after the popish plot. I have feen a Spanish book in which Garnet, Faux, and their accomplices, are registered as faints. JOHNSON.

If any allufion to his own times was intended by the author of the old play, (for this fpeech is formed on one in King John, 1591,) it must have been to the bull of Pope Pius the Fifth, 1569: "Then I Pandulph of Padua, legate from the Apoftolike fea, doe in the name of Saint Peter, and his fucceffor, our holy father Pope Innocent, pronounce thee accurfed, difcharging every of thy fubjects of all dutie and fealtie that they do owe to thee, and pardon and forgiveneffe of finne to thofe or them what foever which shall carrie armes against thee or murder thee. This I pronounce, and charge all good men to abhorre thee as an excommunicate person."

MALONE.

*

Let it be lawful, that law bar no wrong:
Law cannot give my child his kingdom here;
For he, that holds his kingdom, holds the law:
Therefore, fince law itself is perfect wrong,
How can the law forbid my tongue to curfe?

PAND. Philip of France, on peril of a curfe,
Let go the hand of that archheretick;

And raise the power of France upon his head,
Unless he do fubmit himself to Rome.

ELI. Look'st thou pale, France? do not let go
thy hand.

CONST. Look to that, devil! left that France re-
pent,

And, by disjoining hands, hell lofe a foul.

AUST. King Philip, liften to the cardinal.
BAST. And hang a calf's-fkin on his recreant
limbs.

AUST. Well, ruffian, I muft pocket up these
wrongs,

Becaufe

BAST.

Your breeches beft may carry them. * K. JOHN. Philip, what fay'ft thou to the cardi

nal?

CONST. What fhould he fay, but as the cardi-
nal?

LEW. Bethink you, father; for the difference
Is, purchase of a heavy curfe from Rome,'
Or the light lofs of England for a friend:
Forgo the easier.

BLANCH.

That's the curfe of Rome.

3 Is, purchase of a heavy curfe from Rome,]

It is a political

maxim, that kingdoms are never married. Lewis, upon the wedding,
is for making war upon his new relations. JoHNSON.

-Your breeches bes! may carry them.] Perhaps

this sarcasm. So,

there is somewhat proverbial in this old Play of King Leir, 1605:

Num. Well. I have a payre of flops for the nonce, with hold all your iöcké”

in

th