Hear him debate of common-wealth affairs,
You would fay,-it hath been all-in-all his ftudy;
Lift his difcourfe of war, and you shall hear
A fearful battle render'd you in mufic:
Turn him to any caufe of policy,

The Gordian knot of it he will unloofe,
Familiar as his garter; that, when he speaks,
The air, a charter'd libertine, is ftill,
And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,
To fteal his fweet and honey'd fentences;
So that the art, and practic part of life

Muft

Thofe who are folicitous that juftice fhould be done to the theological knowledge of our British Solomon, may very eafily furnish themfelves with fpecimens of it from a book entitled, Rex Platonicus, five de potentiffimi Principis Jacobi Britanniarum Regis ad illuftriffimam Academiam Oxonienfem adventu, Aug. 27, Anno 1605. In this performance we may still bear him reafoning in Divinity, Phyfic, Jurifprudence, and Philofophy. On the fecond of thefe fubjects he has not failed to exprefs his wellknown enmity to tobacco, and throws out many a royal witticifin on the Medici Nicotianifta," and "Tobacconista" of the age; infomuch, that Ifaac Wake, the chronicler of his triumphs at Oxford, declares, that "nemo nifi iniquiffimus rerum æftimator, bonique publici peffimè invidus, Jacobo noftro recufabit immortalem gloriæ aram figere, qui ipfe adeo mirabilem in Theologia, Jurifprudentie et Medicine arcanis peritiam eamque planè divinitus affecutus eft, ut &c." STEEVENS.

66

The air, &c.] This line is exquifitely beautiful JoHNSON. The fame thought occurs in As You Like It. Act II. fc. 7: I must have liberty

Withal, as large a charter as the wind,

"To blow on whom I pleafe." MALONE.

So that the art, and practic part of life,] All the editions, if I am not deceived, are guilty of a flight corruption in this paí fage. The archbishop has been fhewing what a matter the king was in the theory of divinity, war, and policy; fo that it muit be expected (as, I conceive he would infer) that the king fhould now wed that theory to action, and the putting the feveral parts of his knowledge into practice. If this be our author's meaning, I think, we can hardly doubt but he wrote,

So that the act and pract.c, &c.

Thus we have a confonance in the terms and sense. For theory

Must be the mistress to this theorique':

Which is a wonder, how his grace fhould glean it,
Since his addiction was to courses vain :

His companies unletter'd, rude, and shallow;
His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sports;
And never noted in him any study,

Any retirement, any fequeftration
From open haunts and popularity.

Ely. The ftrawberry grows underneath the nettle2;' And wholfome berries thrive, and ripen beft, Neighbour'd by fruit of bafer quality:

And fo the prince obfcur'd his contemplation
Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt,
Grew like the fummer grafs, fastest by night,
Unfeen, yet crefcive in his faculty 3.

Cant.

is the art and study of the rules of any fcience; and action, the exemplification of those rules by proof and experiment.

THEOBALD.

This emendation is received by Dr. Warburton, but it appears to me founded upon a mifreprefentation. The true meaning feems to be this. He difcourfes with fo much fkill on all fubjects, that the art and practice of life must be the mistress or teacher of bis theorique; that is, that his theory muft have been taught by art and practice; which, fays he, is ftrange, fince he could fee little of the true art or practice among his loofe companions, nor ⚫ ever retired to digeft his practice into theory: art is used by the author for practice, as diftinguished from Science or theory.

JOHNSON.

to this theorique: Theoric is what terminates in fpeculation. So, in The Valiant Welcbman, 1615:

-fon Caradoc,

""Tis yet unifit that on this fudden warning
"You leave your fair wife, to the theorique
"Of matrimonial pleafure and delight."

Bookish theorique is mentioned in Othello. STEEVENS.

2 The ftrawberry, &c.] i. e. the wild fruit fo called, that grows

in the woods. STEEVENS.

-crefcive in bis faculty.] Increafing in its proper power.

Grew like the fummer grafs, fafteft by night,

JOHNSON.

Unfeen, yet crefcive in his faculty.]

Crefcit

Cant. It must be fo: for miracles are ceas'd; And therefore we muft needs admit the means, How things are perfected.

Ely. But, my good lord,

How now for mitigation of this bill
Urg'd by the commons? Doth his majesty
Incline to it, or no?

Cant. He feems indifferent;

Or, rather, fwaying more upon our part,
Than cherishing the exhibiters against us:
For I have made an offer to his majefty,-
Upon our spiritual convocation;

And in regard of causes now in hand,
Which I have open'd to his grace at large,
As touching France,-to give a greater fum
Than ever at one time the clergy yet
Did to his predeceffors part withal.

Ely. How did this offer feem receiv'd, my lord?
Cant. With good acceptance of his majefty:
Save, that there was not time enough to hear
(As, I perceiv'd, his grace would fain have done)
The feverals, and unhidden paffages 4,

Of his true titles to fome certain dukedoms;
And, generally, to the crown and feat of France,
Deriv'd from Edward, his great grandfather.

Ely. What was the impediment that broke this off?

Cant. The French ambaffador, upon that inftant, Cray'd audience: and the hour, I think, is come,

Crefcit occulto velut arbor avo

Fama Marcelli.

Crefcive is a word ufed by Drant, in his tranflation of Horace's Art of Poetry, 1567:

"As lufty youths of crefcive age doe flourishe freshe and grow." STEEVENS,

The feverals, and unbidden paffages,] This line I suspect of corruption, though it may be fairly enough explained: the pafJages of his titles are the lines of fucceffion by which his claims defcend. Unbidden is open, clear. JOHNSON.

Το

To give him hearing; Is it four o'clock?
Ely. It is.

Cant. Then go we in, to know his embaffy;
Which I could, with a ready guefs, declare,
Before the Frenchman speaks a word of it.
Ely, I'll wait upon you; and I long to hear it.
[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Opens to the prefence.

Enter king Henry, Glofter, Bedford, Warwick, Wefmorland, and Exeter.

K. Henry. Where is my gracious lord of Canterbury?

Exe. Not here in prefence.

K. Henry. Send for him, good uncles.

Weft. Shall we call in the ambaffador, my liege? K. Henry. Not yet, my coufin'; we would be refolv'd,

Before we hear him, of fome things of weight, That task our thoughts, concerning us and France.

Enter the archbishop of Canterbury, and bishop of Ely.

Cant. God, and his angels, guard your facred throne,

And make you long become it!

Good Uncle.] John Holland, duke of Exeter, was married to Elizabeth the king's aunt. STEEVENS.

Shall we call in, &c.] Here began the old play. POPE. 7 Not yet, my coufin; &c.] The 4to. 1600 and 1608, read Not yet, my coufin; till we be refolv’d

Of fome ferious matters touching us and France.

STEEVENS.

-tak-] Keep bufied with fcruples and laborious difquifitions. JOHNSON.

K. Henry

K. Henry. Sure, we thank you.

My learned lord, we pray you to proceed;
And juftly and religioufly unfold,

Why the law Salique, that they have in France,
Or fhould, or fhould not, bar us in our claim.
And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord,
That you should fashion, wreft, or bow your reading;
"Or nicely charge your understanding foul
With opening titles' mifcreate, whofe right
Suits not in native colours with the truth;
For God doth know, how many, now in health,
Shall drop their blood in approbation

2

Of what your reverence fhall incite us to:
Therefore 3 take heed how you impawn our perfon,
How you awake the fleeping fword of war;
We charge you, in the name of God, take heed:
For never two fuch kingdoms did contend,
Without much fall of blood: whofe guiltless drops

Or nicely charge your understanding foul] Take heed left by nice and fubtle fophiftry you burthen your knowing foul, or know-ingly burthen your foul, with the guilt of advancing a falfe title, or of maintaining, by fpecious fallacies, a claim which, if shewn in its native and true colours, would appear to be falfe.

I

JOHNSON.

1- mifcreate,-] Ill begotten, illegitimate, fpurious.

JOHNSON.

2-in approbation] i. e. in proving and fupporting that title which fhall be now fet up. So, in Brathwaite's Survey of Hiftories, 1614. "Compoling what he wrote, not by report of others, but by the approbation of his own eyes." Again, in the Winter's Tale:

That lack'd fight only; nought for approbation "But only feeing." MALONE.

3 take heed bow you impawn our perfon,] The whole drift of the king is to imprefs upon the archbishop a due fenfe of the caution with which he is to fpeak. He tells him that the crime of unjust war, if the war be unjuft, fhall reft upon him.

Therefore take heed how you impawn your person. So, I think, it fhould be read, Take heed how you pledge yourself, your honour, your happinefs, in fupport of bad advice.

Dr. Warburton explains impawn by engage, and fo efcapes the difficulty. JOHNSON.

Are