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Heaven, and our Lady gracious, hath it pleas'd
To fhine on my contemptible eftate: 4
Lo, whilst I waited on my tender lambs,
And to fun's parching heat display'd my cheeks,
God's mother deigned to appear to me;
And, in a vifion full of majefty, 5
Will'd me to leave my base vocation,
And free my country from calamity:
Her aid the promis'd, and affur'd success:
In complete glory she reveal'd herself;
And, whereas I was black and swart before,
With those clear rays which she infus'd on me,
That beauty am I bless'd with, which you fee.
Ask me what question thou canft poffible,
And I will answer unpremeditated:
My courage try by combat, if thou dar'st,
And thou shalt find that I exceed my fex.
Resolve on this: Thou shalt be fortunate,
If thou receive me for thy warlike mate.

CHAR. Thou hast astonish'd me with thy high

terms;

Only this proof I'll of thy valour make, -
In fingle combat thou shalt buckle with me;

4 To Shine on my contemptible eftate:] So, in Daniel's Complaint of Rosamond, 1594:

5

6

thy king &c.

" Lightens forth glory on thy dark eflate." STEEVENS.
a vifion full of majesty, So, in The Tempest:
"This is a moft majestick vifion---." STEEVENS.

which you fee.] Thus the fecond folio. The firft, in

judiciously as well as redundantly, which you may fee. STEEVENS.

7 Resolve on this:) i. e. be firmly persuaded of it. So, Vol. XV. p. 62:

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" That Clifford's manhood lies upon his tongue."

STEEVENS.

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And, if thou vanquishest, thy words are true;
Otherwise, I renounce all confidence.

Puc. I am prepar'd: here is my keen-edg'd
fword,
Deck'd with five flower-de-luces on each fide;
The which, at Touraine, in saint Katharine's

church-yard,

Out of a deal of old iron I chose forth. 9

CHAR. Then come o'God's name, I fear no wo

man.

man.

Puc. And, while I live, I'll ne'er fly from a [They fight. CHAR. Stay, stay thy hands; thou artan Amazon, And fightest with the sword of Deborah.

Puc. Christ's mother helps me, else I were too

weak. CHAR. Whoe'er helps thee, 'tis thou that must help me:

Impatiently I burn with thy defire;*

8 Deck'd with five flower-de-luces, &c.] Old copy-fine; but we should read, according to Holinthed, - five flower-de-luces. in a fecret place there among old iron, appointed the hir fword to be fought out and brought her, that with five floure-delices was graven on both fides," &c. STEEVENS.

The same mistake having happened in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and in other places, I have not hefitated to reform the text, according to Mr. Steevens's fuggeftion. In the MSS. of the age of Queen Elizabeth, u and n are undiftinguishable. MALONE.

9 Out of a deal of old iron &c.] The old copy yet more redundantly-Out of a great deal &c. I have no doubt but the original line stood, elliptically, thus:

Out a deal of old iron I chose forth.

The phrase of hospitals is ftill an out door, not an out of door patient. STEEVENS.

2

Impatiently I burn with thy defire;) The amorous conftitution of the Dauphin has been mentioned in the preceding play:

"Doing is activity, and he will ftill be doing." Collins.

)

My heart and hands thou hast at once fubdu'd.
Excellent Pucelle, if thy name be so,

Let me thy servant, and not fovereign, be;
'Tis the French Dauphin sueth to thee thus.

Puc. I must not yield to any rites of love,
For my profeffion's sacred from above:
When I have chased all thy foes from hence,
Then will I think upon a recompenfe.

CHAR. Mean time, look gracious on thy proftrate thrall.

REIG. My lord, methinks, is very long in talk. ALEN. Doubtless, he shrives this woman to her fmock;

Else ne'er could he so long protract his speech. REIG. Shall we disturb him, since he keeps no mean?

ALEN. He may mean more than we poor men do know:

These women are shrewd tempters with their tongues. REIG. My lord, where are you? what devise

you on ?

Shall we give over Orleans, or no?

Puc. Why, no, I say, distrustful recreants! Fight till the last gasp; I will be your guard.

CHAR. What she says, I'll confirm; we'll fight

it out.

Puc. Affign'd am I to be the English scourge. This night the siege assuredly I'll raise; Expect saint Martin's summer, halcyon days,

The Dauphin in the preceding play is John, the elder brother of the present speaker: He died in 1416, the year after the battle of Agincourt. RITSON.

Expect faint Martin's fummer, That is, expect prosperity after misfortune, like fair weather at Martlemas, after winter has begun. JOHNSON.

Since I have entered into these wars.

Glory is like a circle in the water,
Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself,
Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to nought.
With Henry's death, the English circle ends;

Dispersed are the glories it included.

Now am I like that proud insulting ship,
Which Cæfar and his fortune bare at once.

4 Glory is like a circle in the water,

Which never ceafeth to enlarge itself,

5

Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to nought.] So, in Nofce

Teipfum, a poem by Sir John Davies, 1599:

"As when a stone is into water caft,

"One circle doth another circle make,

"Till the last circle reach the bank at last."

The same image, without the particular application, may be found in Silius Italicus, Lib. XIII:

" Sic ubi perrumpfit staguantem calculus undam,

"Exiguos format per prima volumina gyros,

" Mox tremulum vibrans motu gliscente liquorem
"Multiplicat crebros finuati gurgitis orbes;

" Donec poftremo laxatis circulus oris,

"Contingat geminas patulo curvamine ripas." MALONE.

This was a favourite fimile with Pope. It is to be found also in Ariosto's Orlando Furiofo, Book VIII. ft. 63, of Sir John Harrington's Tranflation':

"As circles in a water cleare are spread,

"When funne doth shine by day, and moone by night,

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Succeeding one another in a ranke,

"Till all by one and one do touch the banke."

I meet with it again in Chapman's Epiftle Dedicatorie, prefixed

to his version of the Iliad :

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As in a spring,

"The plyant water, mov'd with any thing

"Let fall into it, puts her motion out

In perfect circles, that moue round about

The gentle fountaine, one another raysing."

And the same image is much expanded by Sylvefter, the translator

of Du Bartas, 3d part of ad day of 2d week. HOLT WHITE.

5

like that proud infulting ship,

Which Cæfar and his fortune bare at once.) This alludes to a passage in Plutarch's Life of of Julius Cæfar, thus tranflated by Sir

CHAR. Was Mahomet inspired with a dove?" Thou with an eagle art inspired then. Helen, the mother of great Constantine, Nor yet faint Philip's daughters, were like thee. Bright star of Venus, fall'n down on the earth, How may I reverently worship thee enough?

ALEN. Leave off delays, and let us raise the

fiege..

REIG. Woman, do what thou canst to save our honours;

Drive them from Orleans, and be immortaliz'd. CHAR. Presently we'll try: - Come, let's away about it;

No prophet will I trust, if she prove false.

[Exeunt.

T. North: "Cæfar hearing that, straight discovered himselfe unto the maifter of the pynnase, who at the first was amazed when he saw him; but Cæfar, &c. faid unto him, Good fellow, be of good cheere, &c. and fear not, for thou hast Cæfar and his fortune with thee." STEEVENS.

Was Mahomet inspired with a dove?] Mahomet had a dove, " which he used to feed with wheat out of his ear; which dove, when it was hungry, lighted on Mahomet's shoulder, and thruft its bill in to find its breakfast; Mahomet perfuading the rude and simple Arabians, that it was the Holy Ghost that gave him advice." See Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World, Book I. Part I. ch. vi. Life of Mahomet, by Dr. Prideaux. GREY.

7 Nor yet faint Philip's daughters,) Meaning the four daughters of Philip mentioned in the Acts. HANMER.

8 How may I reverently worship thee enough? metrical line originally ran thus:

Perhaps this un

How may I reverence, worship thee enough? The climax rises properly, from reverence, to worship. STEEVENS.

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