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 caftle: London hath receiv'd, 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 casket, where the jewel of life, Be stirring 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 5 Faule. Oh inglorious league! Shall we, upon the footing of our land, To arms invafive? fhall a beardless boy, Mocking the air with colours idly fpread 6, They faw we had a purpose of defence. K. John. Have thou the ordering of this prefent time. Faule. Away then, with good courage; yet, I know7, Our party may well meet a prouder foe. [Exeunt. -Forage, and run] To forage is here used in its original fenfe, for to range abroad. JOHNSON. 6 Mocking the air with colours] He has the fame image in Macbeth: "Where the Norwegian banners flout the sky, Let us then away with courage; yet I fo well know the faintnefs of our party, that I think it may easily happen that they hall encounter enemies who have more fpirit than themselves. JOHNSON. Dr. Johnfon is, I believe, mistaken. 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 strength than theirs. Faulconbridge would otherwise dispirit the king, whom he means to animate. STEEVENS, SCENE SCENE II. The Dauphin's camp at St. Edmund's-bury. Enter, in arms, Lewis, Salisbury, Melun, Pembrokes Lewis. My lord Melun, let this be copied out, Sal. Upon our fides it never fhall be broken. 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 Dear amity, and everlasting love. 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 rescue, and defence, What, here?-O nation, that thou could'ft remove! Lewis. A noble temper doft 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 Polyelbion, fong: That thrufts his gripple hand into her golden maw." STEEVENS. 2 Between compulfion, and a brave respect!] This compulfion was the neceflity 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 fpake3: Pand. Hail, noble prince of France! 3 an angel fpake:] Sir T. Hanmer, and after him Dr. Warburton read here: an angel fpeeds. 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 |