On this removed issue, plagu'd for her,

Her injury, the beadle to her sin,

All punish'd in the person of this child.

I point thus:

- plagu'd for her

And with her.-Plague her son! his injury
Her injury, the beadle to her sin.

That is; instead of inflicting vengeance on this innocent and remote descendant, punish her son, her immediate offspring: then the affliction will fall where it is deserved; his injury will be her injury, and the misery of her sin; her son will be a beadle, or chastiser, to her crimes, which are now all punish'd in the person of this child. Johnson.

Mr. Roderick reads:

plagu'd for her,

And with her plagu'd; her sin, his injury.
We may read:

But God hath made her sin and her the plague
On this removed issue, plagu'd for her;

And, with her sin, her plague, his injury

Her injury, the beadle to her sin.

i. e. God hath made her and her sin together, the plague of her most remote descendants, who are plagued for her; the same power hath likewise made her sin her own plague, and the injury she has done to him her own injury, as a beadle to lash that sin. i. e. Providence has so ordered it, that she who is made the instrument of punishment to another, has, in the end, converted that other into an instrument of punishment for herself. Steevens.

Constance observes that he (iste, pointing to King John," whom from the flow of gall she names not,') is not only plagued [with the present war] for his mother's sin, but God hath made her sin and her the plague also on this removed issue, [Arthur] plagued on her account, and by the means of her sinful offspring, whose injury [the usurpation of Arthur's rights may be considered as her injury, or the injury of her sin-conceiving womb; and John's injury may also be considered as the beadle or officer of correction employed by her crimes to inflict all these punishments on the person of this child. Tollet.

Plagued in these plays generally means punished. So, in King Richard III:

"And God, not we, hath plagu'd thy bloody deed." So, Holinshed: " they for very remorse and dread of the divine plague, will either shamefully flie," &c.

-.

Not being satisfied with any of the emendations proposed, I have adhered to the original copy. I suspect that two half lines have been lost after the words-And with her - If the text be right, with, I think, means by, (as in many other passages) and Mr. Tollet's interpretation the true one. Removed, I believe, here signifies remote. So, in A Midsummer Night's Dream: "From Athens is her house remov'd seven leagues." Malone.

And with her plague, her sin; his injury
Her injury, the beadle to her sin;
All punish'd in the person of this child,
And all for her; A plague upon her!

Eli. Thou unadvised scold, I can produce
A will, that bars the title of thy son.

Const. Ay, who doubts that? a will! a wicked will; A woman's will; a canker'd grandam's will!

K. Phi. Peace, lady; pause or be more temperate: It ill beseems this presence, to cry aim

Much as the text of this note has been belaboured, the original reading needs no alteration.

I have but this to say,

That he's not only plagued for her sin,

But God hath made her sin and her the plague

On this removed issue, plagued for her,
And with her plague, her sin; his injury,
Her injury, the beadle to her sin,

All punish'd in the person of this child.

The key to these words is contained in the last speech of Constance, where she alludes to the denunciation in the second commandment, of “visiting the iniquities of the parents upon the children, unto the THIRD and FOURTH generation," &c.

"Thou monstrous injurer of heaven and earth!

*

*

*

*

66 This is thy eldest son's son,

*

*

*

"Thy sins are visited in this poor child;
"The canon of the law is laid on him,
"Being but the second generation

"Removed from thy sin-conceiving womb."

Young Arthur is here represented as not only suffering from the guilt of his grandmother; but, also, by her, in person, she being made the very instrument of his sufferings. As he was not her immediate, but REMOVED issue—the second generation from her sin-conceiving womb—it might have been expected, that the evils to which, upon her account, he was obnoxious, would have incidentally befallen him; instead of his being punished for them all, by her immediate infliction.-He is not only plagued on account of her sin, according to the threatening of the commandment, but she is preserved alive to her second generation, to be the instrument of inflicting on her grandchild the penalty annexed to her sin; so that he is plagued on her account, and with her plague, which is, her sin, that is [taking by a common figure, the cause for the consequence] the penalty entailed upon it. His injury, or, the evil he suffers, her sin brings upon him, and HER injury, or, the evil she inflicts, he suffers from her, as the beadle to her sin, or executioner of the punishment annexed to it. Henley. D d

VOL. VII.

To these ill-tuned repetitions."———

Some trumpet summon hither to the walls
These men of Angiers; let us hear them speak,
Whose title they admit, Arthur's or John's.

Trumpets sound. Enter Citizens upon the walls. 1 Cit. Who is it, that hath warn'd us to the walls? K. Phi. 'Tis France, for England.

K. John. England, for itself: You men of Angiers, and my loving subjects, K. Phi. You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's subjects, Our trumpet call'd you to this gentle parle.

K. John. For our advantage;-Therefore, hear us first.1.

These flags of France, that are advanced here
Before the eye and prospect of your town,
Have hither march'd to your endamagement:
The cannons have their bowels full of wrath;
And ready mounted are they, to spit forth
Their iron indignation 'gainst your walls:
All preparation for a bloody siege,

And merciless proceeding by these French,
Confront your city's eyes, your winking gates; 3

9 It ill beseems this presence, to cry aim

To these ill-tuned repetitions.] Dr. Warburton has well observed, on one of the former plays, that to cry aim is to encourage I once thought it was borrowed from archery; and that aim! having been the word of command, as we now say present! to cry aim had been to incite notice, or raise attention. But I rather think that the old word of applause was 'aime, I love it, and that to applaud was to cry J'aime, which the English, not easily pronouncing Fe, sunk into aime, or aim. Our exclamations of applause are still borrowed, as bravo and encore. Johnson.

Dr. Johnson's first thought, I believe, is best. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Love's Cure, or The Martial Maid:

Can I cry aim

وو

"To this against myself? Again, in our author's Merry Wives of Windsor, Vol. III, p. 89, where Ford says; 66 - and these violent proceedings all my neighbours shall cry aim." See the note on that passage. Steevens.

1 For our advantage;-Therefore, hear us first.] If we readFor your advantage, it will be a more specious reason for interrupting Philip. Tyrwhitt.

2 Confront your city's eyes,] The old copy reads-Comfort, &c. Mr. Rowe made this necessary change. Steevens.

And, but for our approach, those sleeping stones,
That as a waist do girdle you about,

By the compulsion of their ordnance

4

By this time from their fixed beds of lime
Had been dishabited, and wide havock made
For bloody power to rush upon your peace.
But, on the sight of us, your lawful king,-
Who painfully, with much expedient march,
Have brought a countercheck before your gates,
To save unscratch'd your city's threaten'd cheeks,—
Behold, the French, amaz'd, vouchsafe a parle:
And now, instead of bullets wrapp'd in fire,
To make a shaking fever in your walls,
They shoot but calm words, folded up in smoke,6
To make a faithless error in your ears:
Which trust accordingly, kind citizens,
And let us in, your king; whose labour'd spirits,
Forwearied in this action of swift speed,
Crave harbourage within your city walls.

K. Phi. When I have said, make answer to us both. Lo, in this right hand, whose protection

Is most divinely vow'd upon the right
Of him it holds, stands 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

3 your winking gates;] i. e. gates hastily closed from an apprehension of danger. So, in King Henry IV, P. II:

"And winking leap'd into destruction."

Malone.

So, in Old Fortunatus, 1600: "Whether it were lead or latten that hasp'd those winking casements, I know not." Steevens. 4 dishabited,] i. e. dislodged, violently removed from their places:-a :—a word, I believe, of our author's coinage. Steevens. 5 — a countercheck -] This, I believe, is one of the ancient terms used in the game of chess. So, in Mucedorus, 1598:

"Post hence thyself, thou counterchecking trull." Steevens. 6 They shoot but calm words, folded up in smoke,] So, in our author's Rape of Lucrece:

"This helpless smoke of words, doth me no right."

Malone. Forwearied-] i. e. worn out, Sax. So Chaucer, in his Romaunt of the Rose, speaking of the mantle of Avarice:

And if it were forwerid, she

"Would havin," &c. Steevens.

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

Than the constraint of hospitable zeal,
In the relief of this oppressed child,
Religiously provokes. Be pleased then
To pay that duty, which you truly owe,

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

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

9

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

1 Cit. In brief, we are the king of England's subjects; For him, and in his right, we hold this town.

K. John. Acknowledge then the king, and let me in. 1 Cit. That can we not: but he that proves the king,

To him will we prove loyal; till that time,

Have we ramm'd up our gates against the world.

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

that sweet sleep

"That thou ow'dst yesterday." Steevens.

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

So, in All's lost by Lust, a tragedy, by Rowley, 1633:

66 I will she meet our arms

"With an alternate roundure?"

Again, in Shakspeare's 21st Sonnet:

all things rare,

"That heaven's air in his huge rondure hems." Steevens