K. John. Is this Afcenfion-day? Did not the prophet Say, that, before Afcenfion-day at noon, My crown I fhould give off? Even fo I have: I did fuppofe, it fhould be on constraint; But, heaven be thank'd, it is but voluntary. Enter Faulconbridge. Faulc. All Kent hath yielded; nothing there holds out, But Dover castle: London hath receiv'd, Like a kind hoft, the Dauphin and his powers: And wild amazement hurries up and down K. John. Would not my lords return to me again, After they heard young Arthur was alive? Faulc. They found him dead, and caft into the ftreets; An empty cafket, where the jewel of life, Be ftirring as the time; be fire with fire; And fright him there; and make him tremble there? Oh, Oh, let it not be faid!-Forage, and run K. John. The legate of the pope hath been with me, And I have made a happy peace with him; And he hath promis'd to difmifs the powers Led by the Dauphin. Faulc. Oh inglorious league! Shall we, upon the footing of our land, To arms invafive? fhall a beardless boy, Mocking the air with colours idly spread 6, They faw we had a purpose of defence. K. John. Have thou the ordering of this prefent time. Faulc. Away then, with good courage; yet, I know7, Our party may well meet a prouder foe. [Exeunt. S Forage, and run] To forage is here used in its original fenfe, for to range abroad. JOHNSON. "Mocking the air with colours] He has the fame image in Macbeth: "Where the Norwegian banners flout the fky, Let us then away with courage; yet I fo well know the faintnefs of our party, that I think it may eafily happen that they shall encounter enemies who have more fpirit than themselves. JOHNSON. Dr. Johnfon is, I believe, miftaken. Faulconbridge means; for all their boafting I know very well that our party is able to cope with one yet prouder and more confident of its ftrength than theirs. Faulconbridge would otherwife difpirit the king, whom he means to animate. STEEVENS, SCENE The Dauphin's camp at St. Edmund's-bury. Enter, in arms, Lewis, Salisbury, Melun, Pembroke, Bigot, and Soldiers. 9 Lewis. My lord Melun, let this be copied out, Sal. Upon our fides it never shall be broken. 8 at St. Edmund's-bury.] I have ventured to fix the place of the scene here, which is fpecified by none of the editors, on the following authorities. In the preceding act, where Salisbury has fixed to go over to the Dauphin; he fays: Lords, I will meet him at St. Edmund's-bury. And count Melun, in this last act, fays: and many more with me, Upon the altar at St. Edmund's-bury; Even on that altar, where we fwore to you And it appears likewife from The Troublesome Reign of King John, in two parts, (the first rough model of this play) that the interchange of vows betwixt the Dauphin and the English barons, was at St. Edmund's-bury. THEOBALD. 9 -the precedent, &c.] i. e. the original treaty between the Dauphin and the English lords. STEEVENS. Where Where honourable refcue, and defence, And follow unacquainted colours here? What, here?-O nation, that thou could'ft remove! Lewis. A noble temper dost thou fhew in this; And grapple thee &c.] The old copy reads: And cripple thee, &c. Perhaps our author wrote gripple, a word used by Drayton in his Polyolbion, fong : "That thrufts his gripple hand into her golden maw.” STEEVENS. * Between compulfion, and a brave refpect!] This compulfion was the neceffity of a reformation in the flate; which, according to Salisbury's opinion (who, in his fpeech preceding, calls it an enforced caufe) could only be procured by foreign arms: and the brave refpect was the love of his country. Yet the Oxford editor, for compulfion, reads compaffion. WARBURTON. That That filverly doth progrefs on thy cheeks: But this effufion of fuch manly drops, This fhower, blown up by tempeft of the foul, As Lewis himfelf:-fo, nobles, fhall you all, Enter Pandulph, attended. And even there, methinks, an angel spake 3 Pand. Hail, noble prince of France! 3 up, an angel fpake:] Sir T. Hanmer, and after him Dr. Warburton read here: an angel speeds. I think unneceffarily. The Dauphin does not yet hear the legate indeed, nor pretend to hear him; but feeing him advance, and concluding that he comes to animate and authorize him with the power of the church, he cries out, at the fight of this holy man, I am encouraged as by the voice of an angel. JOHNSON, And |