Being an ordinary inundation;

But this effusion of such manly drops,

This shower, blown up by tempest of the soul3,
Startles mine eyes, and makes me more amaz'd
Than had I seen the vaulty top of heaven
Figur'd quite o'er with burning meteors.
Lift up thy brow, renowned Salisbury,

And with a great heart heave away this storm:
Commend these waters to those baby eyes,
That never saw the giant world enrag'd;
Nor met with fortune other than at feasts,
Full warm of blood, of mirth, of gossiping.
Come, come; for thou shalt thrust thy hand as
deep

Into the purse of rich prosperity,

As Lewis himself:-so, nobles, shall you all,
That knit your sinews to the strength of mine.
Enter PANDULPH, attended.

And even there, methinks, an angel spake°:
Look, where the holy legate comes apace,
To give us warrant from the hand of heaven;

5 This SHOWER, BLOWN UP BY TEMPEST of the soul,] So, in our author's Rape of Lucrece :

6

"This windy tempest, till it blow
up rain,

"Held back his sorrow's tide." MALone.

an angel SPAKE :] Sir T. Hanmer, and, after him, Dr. Warburton, read here-" an angel speeds," I think unnecessarily. The Dauphin does not yet hear the legate indeed, nor pretend to hear him; but seeing him advance, and concluding that he comes to animate and authorize him with the power of the church, he cries out," at the sight of this holy man, I am encouraged as by the voice of an angel." JOHNSON.

Rather, In what I have now said, an angel spake; for see, the holy legate approaches, to give a warrant from heaven, and the name of right to our cause. MALONE.

This thought is far from a new one. Thus, in Gower, De Con

fessione Amantis :

"Hem thought it sowned in her ere,
"As though that it an angell were."

STEEVENS.

And on our actions set the name of right,
With holy breath.

PAND.

Hail, noble prince of France! The next is this,-king John hath reconcil'd Himself to Rome; his spirit is come in, That so stood out against the holy church, The great metropolis and see of Rome: Therefore thy threat'ning colours now wind up, And tame the savage spirit of wild war; That, like a lion foster'd up at hand, It may lie gently at the foot of peace, And be no further harmful than in show.

LEW. Your grace shall pardon me, I will not
back;

I am too high-born to be propertied,
To be a secondary at control,

Or useful serving-man, and instrument,

To any sovereign state throughout the world.
Your breath first kindled the dead coal of wars.
Between this chástis'd kingdom and myself,
And brought in matter that should feed this fire;
And now 'tis far too huge to be blown out
With that same weak wind which enkindled it.
You taught me how to know the face of right,
Acquainted me with interest to this land",
Yea, thrust this enterprize into my heart;
And come you now to tell me, John hath made
His peace with Rome? What is that peace to me?
I, by the honour of my marriage-bed,

7 You taught me how to know the face of right,

Acquainted me with interest To this land,] This was the phraseology of Shakspeare's time. So again, in King Henry IV. Part II.:

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"He hath more worthy interest to the state,
"Than thou the shadow of succession."

Again, in Dugdale's Antiquities of Warwickshire, vol. ii. p. 927: in 4. R. 2. he had a release from Rose the daughter and heir of Sir John de Arden before specified, of all her interest to the manor of Pedimore." MALONE.

After young Arthur, claim this land for mine;
And, now it is half-conquer'd, must I back,
Because that John hath made his peace with
Rome ?

Am I Rome's slave? What penny hath Rome borne,

What men provided, what munition sent,
To underprop this action? is't not I,

8

That undergo this charge? who else but I,
And such as to my claim are liable,
Sweat in this business, and maintain this war?
Have I not heard these islanders shout out,
Vive le roy! as I have bank'd their towns ?
Have I not here the best cards for the game,
To win this easy match play'd for a crown?
And shall I now give o'er the yielded set?
No, no, on my soul, it never shall be said.
PAND. You look but on the outside of this work.
LEW. Outside or inside, I will not return
Till my attempt so much be glorified
As to my ample hope was promised
Before I drew this gallant head of war',

8 as I have BANK'D THEIR TOWNS?] "Bank'd their towns" may mean, throw up entrenchments before them.'

The old play of King John, however, leaves this interpretation extremely disputable. It appears from thence that these salutations were given to the Dauphin as he sailed along the banks of the river. This, I suppose, Shakspeare calls banking the towns. from the hollow holes of Thamesis

"Echo apace replied, Vive le roi!

"From thence along the wanton rolling glade,
"To Troynovant, your fair metropolis."

We still say to coast and to flank; and to bank has no less of propriety, though it is not reconciled to us by modern usage.

STEEVENS.

9 No, on my soul,] In the old copy, no, injuriously to the measure, is repeated. STEEVENS.

DREW this gallant head of war,] i. e. assembled it, drew it out into the field. So, in King Henry IV. Part I. :

"And that his friends by deputation could not
"So soon be drawn." STEEVENS.

And cull'd these fiery spirits from the world,
To outlook 2 conquest, and to win renown
Even in the jaws of danger and of death.—

[Trumpet sounds. What lusty trumpet thus doth summon us?

Enter the Bastard, attended.

BAST. According to the fair play of the world,
Let me have audience; I am sent to speak :
My holy lord of Milan, from the king

I come, to learn how you have dealt for him;
And, as you answer, I do know the scope
And warrant limited unto my tongue.

PAND. The Dauphin is too wilful-opposite,
And will not temporize with my entreaties;
He flatly says, he'll not lay down his arms.

BAST. By all the blood that ever fury breath'd, The youth says well :-Now hear our English king; For thus his royalty doth speak in me.

He is prepar'd; and reason too 3, he should:
This apish and unmannerly approach,

This harness'd masque, and unadvised revel,
This unhair'd sauciness, and boyish troops *,

2

4

outlook i. e. face down, bear down by a show of magnanimity. In a former scene of this play, p. 343, we have:

3

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outface the brow

"Of bragging horror." STEEVENS.

- and reason Too,]

Old copy-to. editor of the second folio. MALONE.

Corrected by the

4 This UNHAIR'D sauciness, and boyish troops,] The printed copies-unheard; but unheard is an epithet of very little force or meaning here; besides, let us observe how it is coupled. Faulconbridge is sneering at the Dauphin's invasion, as an unadvised enterprise, savouring of youth and indiscretion; the result of childishness, and unthinking rashness; and he seems altogether to dwell on this character of it, by calling his preparation "boyish troops, dwarfish war, pigmy arms," &c. which, according to my emendation, sort very well with unhair'd, i. e. unbearded sauciness. THEOBALD.

Hair was formerly written hear. Hence the mistake might

The king doth smile at; and is well prepar'd
To whip this dwarfish war, these pigmy arms,
From out the circle of his territories.

That hand, which had the strength, even at your door,

To cudgel you, and make you take the hatch 5;
To dive, like buckets, in concealed wells 6;
To crouch in litter of your stable planks;

To lie, like pawns, lock'd up in chests and trunks;
To hug with swine; to seek sweet safety out
In vaults and prisons; and to thrill, and shake,
Even at the crying of your nation's crow',

easily happen. Faulconbridge has already, in this Act, p. 344, exclaimed: "Shall a beardless boy,

"A cocker'd silken wanton, brave our fields?

So, in the fifth Act of Macbeth, Lenox tells Cathness that the English army is near, in which, he says, there are

66

many unrough youths, that even now

"Protest their first of manhood."

Again, in King Henry V.:

66

For who is he, whose chin is but enrich'd

"With one appearing hair, that will not follow

"These cull'd and choice-drawn cavaliers to France?"

MALONE.

take the hatch;] To take the hatch, is to leap the hatch. To take a hedge or a ditch is the hunter's phrase. Chapman has more than once employed it in his version of Homer. Thus, in the 22d Iliad :

66

Again, ibid:

66

take the town; retire, dear son," &c.

and take the town, not tempting the rude field." εἰσερχεο τεῖχος, Τείχεος ἐντὸς ἰών.

So, in Massinger's Fatal Dowry, 1632:

STEEVENS.

"I look about and neigh, take hedge and ditch,

"Feed in my neighbour's pastures." MALONE.

6 in CONCEALED wells;] I believe our author, with his accustomed licence, used concealed for concealing; wells that afforded concealment and protection to those who took refuge there. MALONE.

"Concealed wells are wells in concealed or obscure situations; viz. in places secured from public notice. STEEVENS.

7—of YOUR nation's crow,] Mr. Pope, and some of the sub