What! canft thou not forbear me half an hour? Now, neighbour confines, purge you of your fcum: Be happy, he will trouble you no more: 2 England fhall double gild his treble guilt; appears to have been unacquainted with the poet's manner, firft added the word frail to fupply the fyllable which he conceived to be wanting. The quarto writes the word bower. The other editors have followed Rowe. STEEVENS. 2 England fhall double gild his treble guilt ;] Evidently the nonfenfe of fome foolish player: for we must make a difference between what Shakefpeare might be fuppofed to have written off hand, and what he had corrected. Thefe fcenes are of the latter kind; therefore fuch lines by no means to be esteemed his. But except Mr. Pope (who judiciou"y threw out this line) not one of Shakespeare's editors feem ever to have had fo reafonable and neceffary a rule in their heads, when they fet upon correcting this author. WARBURTON. I know not why this commentator should speak with so much confidence what he cannot know, or determine fo positively what fo capricious a writer as our poet might either deliberately or wantonly produce. This line is indeed fuch as difgraces a few that precede and follow it, but it fuits well enough with the daggers bid in thought, and whetted on the flinty hearts; and the answer which the prince makes, and which is applauded for wisdom, is not of a train much higher than this ejected line. JOHNSON. England England fhall give him office, honour, might; P. Henry. O pardon me, my liege! but for my tears, The moist impediments unto my fpeech, [Kneeling. I had fore-ftall'd this dear and deep rebuke, And never live to fhew the incredulous world 3 when riot is thy care?] i. e. Curator. A bold figure. So Eumæus is ftiled by Ovid, Epist i. immundæ cura fidelis haræ." T. T. 4 Let me no more, &c.] This is obfcure in the construction, though the general meaning is clear enough. The order is, this obedience which is taught this exterior bending by my duteous Spirit; or, this obedience which teaches this exterior bending to my inwardly duteous fpirit. I know not which is right. JOHNSON. S VOL. V. true-] Is loyal. JOHNSON. Hh I fpake I spake unto the crown, as having sense, And thus upbraided it: "The care on thee depend «ing "Hath fed upon the body of my father; "Therefore thou best of gold art worst of gold: "Other, lefs fine in carrat, is more precious, Preferving life in med'cine potable: "But thou, most fine, most honour'd, moft renown'd, "Haft eat thy bearer up." Thus, my most royal liege, Accufing it, I put it on my head; To try with it, as with an enemy But if it did infect my blood with joy, Or fwell my thoughts to any ftrain of pride; any rebel or vain spirit of mine If Did, with the leaft affection of a welcome, Heaven put it in thy mind to take it hence, Come hither, Harry, fit thou by my bed; And hear, I think, the very latest counfel That ever I fhall breathe. Heaven knows, my fon, in medicine potable:] There has long prevailed an opinion that a folution of gold has great medicinal virtues, and that incorruptibility of gold might be communicated to the body impregnated with it. Some have pretended to make potable gold among other frauds practifed on credulity. JOHNSON. Better opinion, better confirmation; For all the 3 foil of the atchievement goes My gain of it by their affiftances; Which daily grew to quarrel, and to blood-fhed, For all my reign hath been but as a scene Changes the mode: for what in me was purchas'd, Falls upon thee in a more fairer fort, So thou the garland wear'ft 2 fucceffively. Yet, though thou ftand'ft more fure than I could do, 7 foil-] Is fpot, dirt, turpitude, reproach. JOHNSON. • Wounding fuppofed peace.] Suppofed for undermined. WARBURTON. Rather counterfeited, imagined, not real. JOHNSON. All these bold fears] We fhould certainly read, All their bold feats, 9 i. e. Plots, commotions of confpirators. WARBURTON. There is no need of alteration. Fear is here ufed in the active fenfe, for that which caufes fear. JoHNSON. Changes the mode:-] Mode, here, does not fignify fashion, but time and measure in finging, or the pitch in fpeaking: Modus, a word peculiar to the ancient drama: for the metaphor is continued from the words immediately preceding, as a scene Ading that argument WARBURTON. Mode is here, in its ufual fenfe, the form or state of things. Nothing is more eafy than to make obfcurities and clear them. 2 JOHNSON. -fucceffively.] To order of fucceffion. Every ufurper fnatches a claim of hereditary right as foon as he can. To be again difplac'd: which to avoid I cut them off; and had a purpose now With foreign quarrels; that action, hence, borne out, You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me; Enter lord John of Lancaster, Warwick, &c. K. Henry. Look, look, here comes my John of Lancaster. Lan. Health, peace, and happiness to my royal father! K. Henry. Thou bring'ft me happiness and peace, fon John; But health, alack, with youthful wings is flown 3 To lead out many to the Holy Land;] As plaufible as this reading is, it is corrupt. Shakespeare, I think, wrote, To lead our many―our many or meiny, i. e. Our people. As plaufible as this emendation is, I think it wrong. The fenfe is: Of those who affifted my ufurpation, fome I have cut off, and many I intended to lead abroad. This journey to the Holy Land, of which the king very frequently revives the mention, had two motives, religion and policy. He durft not wear the ill-gotten crown without expiation, but in the act of expiation he contrives to make his wickednefs fuccefsful. JOHNSON. How I came, &c.] This is a true picture of a mind divided between heaven and earth. He prays for the prosperity of guilt while he deprecates its punishment. JOHNSON. From |