Thou little valiant, great in villainy!
Thou ever strong upon the ftronger fide!
Thou fortune's champion, that doft never fight
But when her humourous ladyfhip is by
To teach thee fafety! thou art perjur'd too,
And footh'st up greatness. What a fool art thou,
A ramping fool; to brag, and stamp, and swear,
Upon my party! thou cold-blooded flave,
Haft thou not spoke like thunder on my fide?
Been fworn my foldier? bidding me depend
Upon thy ftars, thy fortune, and thy ftrength?
And doft thou now fall over to my foes?
Thou wear a lion's hide! doff it for shame,
5 And hang a calve's-fkin on those recreant limbs.
Auft. Oh that a man would speak those words to me!
Faul. And hang a calve's skin on those recreant limbs.

domar, viscount of Limoges; and the archer, who pierced his fhoulder with an arrow (of which wound he died) was Bertrand de Gourdon. The editors feem hitherto to have understood Lymoges as being an appendage to the title of Austria, and therefore enquired no further about it.

With this note, I was favoured by a gentleman to whom I have yet more confiderable obligations in regard to Shakespeare. His extenfive knowledge of history and manners, has frequently fupplied me with apt and neceffary illuftrations, at the fame time as his judgment has corrected my errors; yet fuch has been his conftant folicitude to remain concealed, that I know not but I may give offence while I indulge my own vanity in affixing to this note, the name of my friend HENRY BLAKE, efq. STEEV.

s And hang a calve's-fkin on thofe recreant limbs.] When fools were kept for diverfion in great families, they were distinguished by a calve-skin coat, which had the buttons down the back and this they wore that they might be known for fools, and fcape the refentment of those whom they provoked with their waggeries.

In a little penny book, intitled, The Birth, Life, and Death Jobu Franks, with the Pranks he played though a meer Fool, mention is made in feveral places of a calve's-fkin. In chap. x. of this book, Jack is faid to have made his appearance at his Jord's table, having then a new calf-fkin fuit, red and white fpotted. This fact will explain the farcafm of Faulconbridge,' who means to call Auftria a fool.. HAWKINS.

I may add, that the cuftom is ftill preferved in Ireland; and the fool, in any of the legends which the mummers act at Chrißmas, always appears in a calf's or cow's skin. STEEVENS.

Auft. Thou dar'ft not fay fo, villain, for thy life. Faulc. And hang a calve's skin on those recreant limbs.

Auft. 7 Methinks, that Richard's pride and Richard's fall

Should be a precedent to fright you all.

Faulc. What words are these? how do my finews shake!

My father's foe clad in my father's fpoil!
How doth Alecto whisper in my ears,
"Delay not, Richard, kill the villain strait
"Difrobe him of the matchlefs monument,
"Thy father's triumph o'er the favages.
But arm thee, traitor, wronger of renown,
For by his foul I fwear, my father's foul,

دو

Methinks, that Richard's pride, &c.] What was the ground of this quarrel of the Baftard to Auftria is no where specified in the prefent play: nor is there in this place, or the scene where it is first hinted at (namely the second of act. 2.) the least mention of any reafon for it. But the ftory is, that Auftria, who killed king Richard Coeur-de-lion, wore, as the fpoil of that prince, a lion's hide which had belonged to him. This circumftance renders the anger of the Baltard very natural, and ought not to have been omitted. In the firft fketch of this play (which Shakespeare is faid to have had a hand in, jointly with William Rowley) we accordingly find this infifted upon, and I have ventured to place a few of thofe verfes here. POPE.

To the infertion of thefe lines I have nothing to obje&. There are many other paffages in the old play of great value. The omiflion of this incident, in the fecond draught, was natural. Shakespeare, having familiarized the ftory to his own imagination, forgot that it was obfcure to his audience; or, what is equally probable, the ftory was then fo popular, that a hint wast fufficient at that time to bring it to mind, and thefe plays were written with very little care for the approbation of pofterity.

JOHNSON.

The lines that compofe this fpeech are in the firft sketch of the play printed in 1611, though mixed up with a great number of others on the fame fubject of altercation, which were very judiciously rejected. STEEVENS.

I have reftored one line more, not merely for the fake of appearing to do fomething, but becaufe the infertion of it renders the alteration made by Mr. Pope in the fucceeding one unneceffary. STEEVENS.

VOL. V.

D

Twice

Twice will I not review the morning's rife,
Till I have torn that trophy from thy back;
And fplit thy heart, for wearing it fo long.

K. John. We like not this; thou doft forget thyself.
Enter Pandulph.

K. Phil. Here comes the holy legate of the pope.
Pand. Hail, you anointed deputies of heaven!
To thee, king John, my holy errand is.

I Pandulph, of fair Milan cardinal,
And from pope Innocent the legate here,
Do in his name religioufly demand

Why thou againft the church, our holy mother,
So wilfully doft fpurn; and, force perforce,
Keep Stephen Langton, chofen archbishop
Of Canterbury, from that holy fee?
This, in our 'forefaid holy father's name,
Pope Innocent, I do demand of thee.

K. John. What earthly name to interrogatories

Can tafk the free breath of a facred king?
Thou canst not, cardinal, devife a name
So flight, unworthy, and ridiculous,

To charge me to an anfwer, as the pope.

Tell him this tale, and from the mouth of England

Add thus much more, That no Italian priest

Shall tithe or toll in our dominions:

But as we under heaven are fupreme head,
So, under him, that great fupremacy,
Where we do reign, we will alone uphold,
Without the affiftance of a mortal hand.

What earthly name to interrogatories] This muft have been at the time when it was written, in our ftruggles with popery, a vc. y captivating fcene.

So many paffages remain in which Shakespeare evidently takes his advantage of the facts then recent, and of the paffions then in motion, tha I cannot but fufpect that time has obfcured much of his art, and that many allufions yet remain undifcovered, which perhaps may be gradually retrieved by fucceeding commentators. JOHNSON.

Sa

So tell the pope; all reverence fet apart
To him, and his ufurp'd authority.

K. Phil. Brother of England, you blafpheme in this. K. John. Tho' you, and all the kings of Christendom Are led fo grofly by this meddling prieft,

Dreading the curfe that money may buy out;
And, by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust,
Purchase corrupted pardon of a man,
Who, in that fale, fells pardon from himself:
Tho' you, and all the reft, fo grofly led,
This juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish;
Yet I alone, alone, do me oppose

Against the pope, and count his friends my foes.
Pand. Then by the lawful power that I have,
Thou shalt ftand curft, and excommunicate:
And bleffed fhall he be, that doth revolt
From his allegiance to an heretic;
And meritorious fhall that hand be call'd,
Canonized and worship'd as a faint,
That takes away by any fecret courfe
Thy hateful life.

Conft. O, lawful let it be,

That I have room with Rome to curfe a while!
Good father cardinal, cry thou, Amen,

Το

my keen curfes; for, without my wrong,

There is no tongue hath power to curfe him right.

Pand. There's law, and warrant, lady, for my curfe. Conft. And for mine too; when law can do no right, Let it be lawful that law bar no wrong: Law cannot give my child his kingdom here; For he, that holds his kingdom, holds the law :

1 That takes away by any fecret course, &c.] This may allude to the bull published againit queen Elizabeth. Or we may fuppofe, fince we have no proof that this play appeared in its prefent state before the reign of king James, that it was exhibited foon after the popish plot. I have feen a Spanish book in which Garnet, Faux, and their accomplices are registered as faints. JOHNSON.

Therefore, fince law itself is perfect wrong,
How can the law forbid my tongue to curfe?
Pand. Philip of France, on peril of a curse,
the hand of that arch-heretic;

Let go

And raise the power of France upon his head,
Unless he do fubmit himself to Rome.

Eli. Look'ft thou pale, France? do not let go thy hand.

Conft. Look to that, devil! left that France repent, And, by disjoining hands, hell lofe a foul.

Auft. King Philip, liften to the cardinal.

Faule. And hang a calve's-fkin on his recreant limbs. Aust. Well, ruffian, I must pocket up these wrongs, Becaufe

Faule. Your breeches beft may carry them.

K. John. Philip, what fay'ft thou to the cardinal?
Conft. What fhould he day, but as the cardinal?
Lewis. Bethink you, father; for the difference
Is, purchase of a heavy curfe from Rome 2,
Or the light lofs of England for a friend :
Forgo the eafier.

Blanch. That's the curfe of Rome.

Conft. Lewis, ftand faft; the devil tempts thee here 3 In likeness of a new untrimmed bride.

Blanch.

It is a political maxim, that kingdoms are never married. Lewis, upon the wedding, is for making war upon his new relations. JOHNSON.

3

the devil tempts thee here

In likeness of a new untrimmed bride.] Though all the copies concur in this reading, yet as untrimmed cannot bear any fignification to fquare with the fenfe required, I cannot help thinking it a corrupted reading. I have ventured to throw out the negative, and read,

In likeness of a new and trimmed bride.

i. e. of a new bride, and one decked and adorned as well by art as nature. THEOBALD.

a new untrimmed bride.] Mr. Theobald fays, that as untrimmed cannot bear any fignification to fquare with the fenfe required, it must be corrupt; therefore he will cafhier it, and read, and trimmed; in which he is followed by the Oxford editor;