Richard, that robb’d the lion of his heart, And fought the holy wars in Palestine, By this brave duke came early to his grave ? ; And, for amends to his posterity, 3 At our importance hither is he come, To spread his colours, boy, in thy behalf; And to rebuke the usurpation Of thy unnatural uncle, English John: Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither.

Arthur. God fhall forgive you Caur-de-lion’s death, The rather, that you give his offspring life, Shadowing their right under your wings of war: I give you welcome with a powerless hand, But with a heart full of unitained love: Welcome before the gates of Angiers, duke.

Lewis. A noble boy! Who would not do thee right?

Auft. Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kiss,
As feal to this indenture of my love ;
That to my home I will no more return,
'Till Angiers, and the right thou hast in France,
Together with 4 that pale, that white-fac'd shore,
Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring tides,
And coops from other lands her islanders,

" Richard, that robb'd &c.] So, Rastal in his Chronicle: “ It is says that a lyon was put to kynge Richari, beynge in prison, to have devoured him, and when the lyon was gapynge he put his arme in his mouth, and pulled the lyon by the harte so hard that he flewe the lyon, and therefore some say he is called Rycharde Cure de Lyon ; but some say he is called Cure de Lyon, because of his boldness and hardy tomake." Gray,

I have an old black lettered history of lord Fauconbridge, whence Shakespeare might pick up this circumstance. FARMER.

2 By this brave duke came early to his grave:] The old play led Shakespeare into this error of afcribing to the duke of Austria the death of Richard, who lost his life at the fiege of Chaluz, long after he had been ransom'd out of Austria's power.

STEEVENS. 3 At our importance) At our importunity. Johnson,

* -that pale, that white-fat'd bore,] England is supposed to be called Albion from the white rocks facing France. JOHNSON.

Even 'till that England, hedg’d'iņ with the main,
That water-walled bulwark, still secure
And confident from foreign purposes,
Even 'till that utmost corner of the west,
Salute thee for her king : 'till then, fair boy,
Will I not think of home, but follow arms.

Conft. O, take his mother's thanks a widow's thanks,
'Till your strong hand shall help to give him strength,
To make a more s requital to your love.
Auft. The peace of heaven is theirs, that lift their

swords In such a just and charitable war. K. Philip. Well then, to work; our cannon shall be

bent
Against the brows of this resisting town.
Call for our chiefest men of discipline,
To cull the plots of best advantages :-
We'll lay before this town our royal bones,
Wade to the market-place in Frenchmen’s blood,
But we will make it subject to this boy.

Conft. Stay for an answer to your embassy,
Left unadvis'd you stain your swords with blood :
My lord Chatillon may from England bring
That right in peace, which here we urge in war;
And then we shall repent each drop of blood,
That hot raih haste so indirectly shed.

Enter Chatillon.
K. Philip. o A wonder, lady !--lo, upon thy wish,
Our messenger Chatillon is arriv’d,

? To make a more requital, &c.] I believe it has been already observed, that more signified in our author's time, greater.

Steevens. • A wonder, lady ! -] The wonder is only that Chatillon happened to arrive at the moment when Constance mentioned him; which the French king, according to a superstition which prevails more or less in every mind agitated by great affairs, turns into a iniraculous interposition, or omen of good. . Johnson,

What

What England says, say briefly, gentle lord,
We coldly pause for thee; Chatillon, speak.

Chat. Then turn your forces from this paltry fiege,
And stir them up against a mightier task.
England, impatient of your just demands,
Hath put himself in arms; the adverse winds,
Whose leisure I have staid, have given him time
To land his legions all as soon as I :
His marches are 7 expedient to this town,
His forces strong, his foldiers confident.
With him along is come the mother-queen,
An Até, stirring him to blood and strife 8

; With her, her niece, the lady Blanch of Spain; With them a bastard of the king deceas'd : And all the unsettled humours of the land, Rafh, inconfiderate, fiery voluntaries, With ladies' faces, and fierce dragons' spleens, Have sold their fortunes at their native homes, ? Bearing their birthrights proudly on their backs, To make a hazard of new fortunes here. In brief, a braver choice of dauntless spirits, Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er, Did never float upon the swelling tide, To do offence and 'fcath in Christendom. The interruption of their churlish drums (Drums beat, Cuts off more circumstance: they are at hand, To parly, or to fight; therefore, prepare.

-expedient-) Immediate, expeditious. Johnson. : An Até, stirring him &c.] Até was the Goddess of Revenge. The player-editors read- an Ace. Steevens. 9 Bearing their birth-rights, &c.] So, Hen. VIII: Many broke their backs with bearing manors on them.”

Johnson. fcath-] Destruction, harm. Johnson. So, in How to chufe a good Wife from a Bad, 1630 :

" For thefe accounts, faith it will feath thee fomewhat.". Again : “And it shall fiath him somewhat of my purse."

STEEVENS.
„K. Philip.

7

1

K. Philip. How much unlook'd for is this expedi

tion ! Auft. By how much unexpected, by so much We must awake endeavour for defence; For courage mounteth with occasion : Let them be welcome then, we are prepar'd. Enter King John, Faulconbridge, Elinor, Blanch, Pem

broke, and others. K. John. Peace be to France; if France in peace

permit Our juft and lineal entrance to our own! If not; bleed France, and peace ascend to heaven! Whiles we, God's wrathful agent, do correct Their proud contempt that beat his peace to heaven.

K. Philip. Peace be to England; if that war return From France to England, there to live in peace! England we love; and, for that England's sake, With burthen of our armour here we sweat : This toil of ours should be a work of thine; But thou from loving England art so far, That thou hast under-wrought its lawful king, Cut off the sequence of posterity, Out-faced infant state, and done a rape Upon the maiden virtue of the crown. Look here upon thy brother Geffrey's face ; These eyes, these brows, were moulded out of his: This little abstract doth contain that large, Which dy'd in Geffrey; and the hand of time Shall draw this brief into as huge a volume. That Geffrey was thy elder brother born, And this his fon ; England was Geffrey's right, And this is Geffrey's : In the name of God, How comes it then, that thou art call’d a king, When living blood doth in these temples beat,

-under-curought] i. e, underworked, undermined.

STEEYENS.

Which owe the crown that thou o'er-mastereft?
K. John. From whom hast thou this great commis-

sion, France, To draw my answer from thy articles ? K. Phil. From that supernal judge, that stirs good

thoughts
In any breast of strong authority,
3. To look into the błots and stains of right.
That judge hath made me guardian to this boy:
Under-whore warrant, I impeach thy' wrong;
And, by whose help, I mean to chastise it.

K. John. Alack, thou doft usurp authority.
K. Philip. Excuse it'; 'tis to beat usurping down.
Eli. Who is it, thou dost call usurper, France ?
Conft. Let me make anfwer;-thy usurping son.

Eli. Out, insolent! thy bastard shall be king; That thou may'st be a queen, and check the world !

Conft. My bed was ever to thy son as true,
As thine was toʻthy husband : and this boy
Liker in feature to his father Geffrey,
Than thou and John in manners; being as like,
As rain to water, or devil to his dam.
My boy a bastard ! By my soul, I think,
His father never was so true begot;
It cannot be, an if thou wert his mother.

3 To look into the blots and stains of right.) Mr. Theobald reads, with the first folio, blots, which being so early authorized, and fo much better understood, needed not to have been changed by Dr, Warburton to bolts, though bolts might be used in that time for spots: fo Shakespeare calls Banquo "spotted with blood, the blood-bolter'd Banquo.".. The verb to blot is used figuratively for to disgrace a few lines lower. And perhaps, after all, bolts was only a typographical mistake. Johnson.

Blot is certainly right. The illegitimate branch of a family always carried the arms of it with what in ancient heraldry was called a blot or difference. So, in Drayton's Epiftle from 2. Isabel to K. Richard II:

“ No bastard's mark doth blot his conq'ring shield," Blots and stains occur again together in the firit scene of the third act. STEEVENS.