Pand. What can'ft thou fay, but will perplex thee more, If thou ftand excommunicate, and curft? K. Phil. Good reverend father, make my perfon yours, And tell me, how you would bestow yourself. Heaven knows, they were befmear'd and over-ftain'd Of true fincerity? O holy fir, My reverend father, let it not be fo: 5fo ftrong in both,] in both parties. JOHNSON. 6 believe the meaning is, love fo ftrong this kind regreet?] A regreet is an exchange of falutation. So, in Heywood's Iron Age, 1632: "So bear our kind regreets to Hecuba." STEEVENS. Pand. Pand. All form is formless, order orderless, Save what is oppofite to England's love. Therefore, to arms! be champion of our church! Or let the church, our mother, breathe her curse, A mother's curfe, on her revolting fon. France, thou may'ft hold a ferpent by the tongue, A cafed lion by the mortal paw, 7 A fafting tyger fafer by the tooth, Than keep in peace that hand which thou doft hold. A cafed lion] All the modern editors read, a chafed lion. 1 fee little reason for change. A cafed lion, is a lion irritated by confinement. So, in K. Henry VI. P. III. act I. fc. iii : "So looks the pent-up lion o'er the wretch The author might, however, have written, a chafed lion. STEEVENS. Cafed, I believe, is the true reading. So, in Rowley's When you fee Me you know Me, 1632: "The lyon in his cage is not fo fterne "As royal Henry in his wrathful fpleene." MALONE. Is not amifs, when it is truly done:] This is the conclufion de We should read: travers. Is yet amifs, The Oxford editor, according to his ufual cuftom, will improve it further, and reads, moft amifs. WARBURTON. I rather read: Is't not amifs, when it is truly done? as the alteration is lefs, and the fense which Dr. Warburton first difcovered, is preferved. JOHNSON, Is, to mistake again; though indirect, And falfhood falfhood cures; as fire cools fire, By But thou haft forn againft religion: &c.] In this long fpeech, the legate is made to fhew his fkill in cafuiftry; and the strange heap of quibble and nonfenfe of which it confifts, was intended to ridicule that of the fchools. For when he affumes the politician, at the conclufion of the third act, the author makes him talk at another rate. I mean in that beautiful paffage where he speaks of the mischiefs following the king's lofs of his fubjects hearts. This conduct is remarkable, and was intended, I fuppofe, to fhew us how much better politicians the Roman courtiers are, than divines. WARBURTON. I am not able to difcover here any thing inconfequent or ridiculoufly fubtle. The propofitions, that the voice of the church is the voice of heaven, and that the pope utters the voice of the church, neither of which Pandulph's auditors would deny, being once granted, the argument here ufed is irrefiftible; nor is it eafy, notwithstanding the gingle, to enforce it with greater brevity or propriety: But thou haft fworn against religion: By what thou wear ft, against the thing thou fwear'ft: To fwear, fwear only not to be forfworn. By what. Sir T. Hanmer reads, by that. I think it should be rather by which. That is, thou fwear'ft against the thing, by which thou fwear'ft; that is, againft religion. The most formidable difficulty is in these lines: To fwear, &c. This fir T. Hanmer reforms thus: And mak'ft an oath the furety for thy truth, Dr. Warburton writes it thus: Againft an oath the truth thou art unfure which leaves the paffage to me as obfcure as before. I know not whether there is any corruption beyond the omiffion of a point. The sense, after I had confidered it, appeared to me VOL. V. F only By which thou fwear'ft against the thing thou fwear'ft; And better conqueft never canft thou make, So heavy, as thou shalt not shake them off, Faulc. Will't not be ? Will not a calf's-fkin ftop that mouth of thine? Blanch. Upon thy wedding day? Against the blood that thou haft married? What, fhall our feast be kept with flaughter'd men? only this In fearing by religion against religion, to which thou baft already fworn, thou makeft an oath the fecurity for thy faith against an oath already taken. I will give, fays he, a rule for confcience in these cafes. Thou mayft be in doubt about, the matter of an oath; when thou fweareft thou mayft not be always fure to fwear rightly, but let this be thy fettled principle, wear only not to be forfworn; let not the latter oaths be at variance with the former. Truth, through this whole fpeech, means rectitude of conduct. JOHNSON. Upon Upon my knee I beg, go not to arms Conft. Oh, upon my knee, Made hard with kneeling, I do pray to thee, Blanch. Now fhall I fee thy love; What motive may Be stronger with thee than the name of wife? Conft. That which upholdeth him that thee up holds, His honour: Oh, thine honour, Lewis, thine honour! Conft. O fair return of banish'd majesty! K. John. France, thou fhalt rue this hour within this hour. Faulc. Old time the clock-fetter, that bald fexton time, Is it as he will? well then, France fhall rue. Blanch. The fun's o'ercaft with blood: Fair day, adieu ! Which is the fide that I must go withal? Lewis. Lady, with me; with me thy fortune lies. life dies. |