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Why stand these royal fronts amazed thus?
Cry havock', kings! back to the ftained field,
You equal potents, fiery-kindled fpirits!

Then let confufion of one part confirm

The other's peace; till then, blows, blood, and death. K. John. Whofe party do the townfimen yet admit? K. Phil. Speak, citizens, for England; who's your king?

Cit. The king of England, when we know the king? K. Phil. Know him in us, that here hold up his right.

K. John. In us, that are our own great deputy,
And bear poffeffion of our perfon here;
Lord of our prefence, Angiers, and of you.
Cit. 2 A greater power, than ye, denies all this;
And, till it be undoubted, we do lock
Our former fcruple in our ftrong-barr'd gates.
Kings are our fears until our fears, refolv'd,
Be by fome certain king purg'd and depos'd.

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Faul.

Cry havock, kings!] That is, "command flaughter to proceed;" fo in another place." He with Atè by his fide, "Cries, havock!" JOHNSON.

2 In former copies :

A greater pow'r, than WE, denies all this;

Kings Of our fears ] We fhould read, than ye. What power was this? their fears. It is plain therefore we fhould read, Kings are our fears,- i. e. our fears are the kings which at prefent rule us. WARBURTON.

Dr. Warburton faw what was requifite to make this paffage fenfe; and Dr. Johnfon, rather too haftily, I think, has received his emendation into the text. He reads,

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As the fame fenfe may be obtained by a much flighter alteration, I am more inclined to read,

KING'D OF Our fears,

King'd is ufed as a participle paffive by Shakespeare more than once, I believe. I remember one inftance in Henry the Fifth, A&t. ii. Scene 5. The Dauphin fays of England,

VOL. V.

he is fo idly king'd.

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Faule. By heaven, these scroyles of Angiers 3 flour
you, kings;

And ftand fecurely on their battlements,
As in a theatre, whence they gape and point
At your induftrious fcenes and acts of death:
Your royal prefences, be rul'd by me;
Do like the mutines of Jerufalem,

Be friends a while 4, and both conjointly bend
Your sharpeft deeds of malice on this town.
By eaft and weft let France and England mount
Their battering cannon, charged to the mouths;
Till their foul-fearing clamours have brawl'd down
The flinty ribs of this contemptuous city.

I'd play inceffantly upon thefe jades ;
Even till unfenced defolation

Leave them as naked as the vulgar air.
That done, diffever your united strengths,
And part your mingled colours once again;
Turn face to face, and bloody point to point.
Then, in a moment, fortune fhall cull forth
Out of one fide her happy minion;

To whom in favour fhe fhall give the day,
And kifs him with a glorious victory.

How like you this wild counfel, mighty states?
Smacks it not fomething of the policy?

K. John. Now, by the fky, that hangs above our
heads,

I like it well. France, fhall we knit our powers,
And lay this Angiers even with the ground;
Then, after, fight who fhall be king of it?

It is fcarce neceffary to add, that, of, here (as in numberlefs other places) has the fignification of, by. Obfervations and Conjectures, &c. printed at Oxford, 1766. STEEVENS.

3-thefe feroyles of Angiers-] Eferouelles, Fr. i. e. fcabby, fcrophulous fellows.

Ben Jonfon ufes the word in Every Man in his Humour,

66

hang them foroyles!" STEEVENS.

4 Be friends a while, &c.] This advice is given by the Baftard in the old copy of the play, though comprized in fewer and lefs fp ir ed lines. STEEVENS.

Faulc.

Faulc. An if thou haft the mettle of a king, Being wrong'd, as we are, by this peevish town, Turn thou the mouth of thy artillery,

As we will ours, against these faucy walls:
And when that we have dafh'd them to the ground,
Why then defy each other; and, pell-mell,
Make work upon ourfelves, for heaven, or hell.
K. Phil. Let it be fo: fay, where will you affault?
K. John. We from the weft will fend deftruction
Into this city's bofom.

Auft. I from the north.

K. Phil. Our thunder from the fouth

Shall rain their drift of bullets on this town.

Faulc. O prudent difcipline! from north to fouth; Auftria and France fhoot in each other's mouth.[Afide. I'll stir them to it: come, away, away!

Cit. Hear us, great kings: vouchfafe a while to stay,

And I will fhew you peace, and fair-fac'd league;
Win you this city without ftroke, or wound;
Refcue those breathing lives to die in beds,
That here come facrifices for the field:
Perfever not, but hear me, mighty kings.

K. John. Speak on, with favour; we are bent to hear.

Cit.. That daughter there of Spain, the lady Blanch, Is near to England; look upon the years Of Lewis the Dauphin, and that lovely maid. If lufty love fhould go in queft of beauty, Where fhould he find it fairer than in Blanch? If 5 zealous love fhould go in fearch of virtue, Where fhould he find it purer than in Blanch? If love, ambitious, fought a match of birth, Whofe veins bound richer blood than lady Blanch? Such as she is, in beauty, virtue, birth,

Is the young Dauphin every way complete:

Zealous feems here to fignify pious, or influenced by motives of religion. JOHNSON.

If not complete, ch fay, he is not she;
And the again wants nothing (to name want)
If want it be not, that fhe is not he.
He is the half part of a bleffed man”,
Left to be finished by fuch a fhe:
And the a fair divided excellence,
Whofe fulness of perfection lies in him.
Oh! two fuch filver currents, when they join,
Do glorify the banks that bound them in:

And two fuch fhores, to two fuch ftreams made one,
Two fuch controlling bounds fhall you be, kings,
To these two princes, if you marry them.
This union fhall do more than battery can,
To our faft-closed gates; for at this match 3;
With fwifter fpleen than powder can enforce,
The mouth of paffage fhall we fling wide ope,
And give you entrance: but, without this match,
The fea enraged is not half fo deaf,

Lions fo confident, mountains and rocks

So free from motion; no, not death himself
In mortal fury half fo peremptory,

As we to keep this city.

Faulc. Here's a stay 9,

That shakes the rotten carcafs of old death

Out of his rags! Here's a large mouth, indeed,

That

6 If not complete of, fay, &c.] Sir T. HANMER reads, O! fay. JOHNSON.

He is the half part of a blessed man, Left to be finished by fuch as the:] Dr. Thirlby prefcrib'd that reading, which I have here reftored to the text. THEOBALD.

at this match,

With fwifter Spleen, &c.] Our author ufes fpleen for any violent hurry, or tumultuous fpeed. So in Midsummer Night's Dream he applies pleen to the lightning. I am loath to think that Shakespeare meant to play with the double of match for nuptial, and the match of a gun. JOHNSON.

9 Here's a fay,

That bakes the rotten carcass of old death

Out of his rags! I cannot but think that every reader withes for fome other word in the place of fay, which though

That fpits forth death, and mountains, rocks and feas;
Talks as familiarly of roaring lions,

As maids of thirteen do of puppy-dogs!
What cannoneer begot this lufty blood?

He fpeaks plain cannon-fire, and fmoak, and bounce;
He
gives the baftinado with his tongue :

Our ears are cudgel'd; not a word of his,

But buffets better than a fift of France:
Zounds! I was never fo bethumpt with words,
Since I first call'd my brother's father, dad.

Eli. Son, lift to this conjunction, make this match;
Give with our niece a dowry large enough:
For by this knot thou fhalt fo furely tie
Thy now unfur'd affurance to the crown,
That yon green boy fhall have no fun to ripe
The bloom, that promifeth a mighty fruit.
I fee a yielding in the looks of France;

Mark, how they whisper: urge them, while their fouls
Are capable of this ambition;

Left zeal, now melted, by the windy breath
Of foft petitions, pity, and remorfe,
Cool and congeal again to what it was.

Cit. Why answer not the double majefties

This friendly treaty of our threaten'd town?

it may fignify an hindrance, or man that hinders, is yet very improper to introduce the next line. I read,

Here's a flaw,

That fakes the rotten carcass of old death.

That is, here is a gust of bravery, a blast of menace. This fuits well with the fpirit of the fpecch. Stay and flaw, in a careless hand, are not eafily diftingui hed; and if the writing was obfcure, flaw being a word leis ufual was eafily miffed. JOHNSON.

Left zeal, now melted, We have here a very unusual, and, I think, not very juft image of zeal, which, in its highest degree, is represented by others as a flame, but by Shakespeare as a froft. To reprefs zeal, in the language of others, is to cool, in Shakefpeare's to melt it; when it exerts its utmoft power it is commonly faid to flame, but by Shakespeare to be congealed.

C 3

JOHNSON.

K. Phil.

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