He is a very ferpent in my way;

And, wherefoe'er this foot of mine doth tread,
He lies before me. Doft thou understand me?
Thou art his keeper.

Hub. And I'll keep him fo,

That he fhall not offend your majefty.
K. John. Death!

Hub. My lord?

K. John. A grave !

Hub. He fhall not live.

K. John. Enough.

I could be merry now: Hubert, I love thee;
Well, I'll not fay what I intend for thee:
+ Remember.Madam, fare you well.

[Returning to the queen. I'll send those powers o'er to your majefty. Eli. My bleffing go with thee!

K. John. For England, coufin, go.
Hubert shall be your man, attend on you
With all true duty. On, toward Calais, ho!

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

The French court.

Enter king Philip, Lewis, Pandulpho, and attendants.

K. Philip. So, by a roaring tempeft on the flood, A whole 5 armada of collected fail

Is fcatter'd and disjoin'd from fellowship.

Pand.

* This is one of the scenes to which may be promised a lafting commendation. Art could add little to its perfection, and time itself can take nothing from its beauties. STEEVENS.

A whole armada, &c.] This fimilitude, as little as it makes for the purpose in hand, was, I do not question, a very taking one when the play was firft reprefented; which was a winter or two at most after the Spanish invafion in 1588. It was in re

ference,

Pand. Courage and comfort! all fhall yet go well. K. Phil. What can go well, when we have run fo ill?

Are we not beaten? Is not Angiers loft?
Arthur ta'en prifoner? divers dear friends flain?
And bloody England into England gone,
O'er-bearing interruption, fpite of France ?
Lewis. What he hath won, that hath he fortify'd:
So hot a speed with fuch advice difpos'd,
Such temperate order 6 in fo fierce a course,
Doth want example; who hath read, or heard,
Of any kindred action like to this?

K. Phil. Well could I bear that England had this praise,

So we could find some pattern of our shame.

Enter Conftance.

Look, who comes here! a grave unto a foul,
Holding the eternal spirit against her will
In the vile prison of afflicted breath.-
I pr'ythee, lady, go away with me.

Conft. Lo, now, now fee the iffue of your peace! K. Phil. Patience, good lady! comfort, gentle Con stance!

ference likewife to that glorious period that Shakespeare concludes his play in that triumphant manner,

Thus England never did, nor never shall,
Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror, &c.

But the whole play abounds with touches relative to the then pofture of affairs WARBURTON.

This play, fo far as I can difcover, was not played till a long time after the defeat of the armada. The old play, I think, wants this fimile. The commentator fhould not have affirmed what he can only guefs. JOHNSON.

Armada is a Spanish word fignifying a fleet of war. The ar mada in 1588 was called fo by way of diftinction. STEEVENS. in fo fierce a CAUSE,] We fhould read COURSE, i.e. march. The Oxford editor condefcends to this emendation.

6

WARBURTON.

Conft.

Conft. No, I defy all counsel, all re refs,
But that which ends all counfel, true redress,
Death, death! Oh amiable, lovely death!
Thou odoriferous ftench! found rottennefs!
Arife forth from the couch of lafting night,
Thou hate and terror to profperity,
And I will kifs thy deteftable bones;

And put my eye-balls in thy vaulty brows;
And ring these fingers with thy houfhold worms;
And ftop this gap of breath with fulfome duft,
And be a carrion monster like thyself:

Come, grin on me, and I will think thou smil'ft,
And bufs thee as thy wife! mifery's love,
Oh, come to me!

K. Phil. Oh fair affliction, peace.

Conft. No, no, I will not, having breath to cry: Oh, that my tongue were in the thunder's mouth! Then with a paffion I would shake the world; And rouze from fleep that fell anatomy, Which cannot hear a lady's feeble voice, Which fcorns a 7 modern invocation.

Pand. Lady, you utter madness, and not forrow. Conft. Thou art unholy to belie me fo; I am not mad: this hair I tear, is mine; My name is Conftance: I was Geffrey's wife: Young Arthur is my fon, and he is loft! I am not mad; I would to heaven I were! For then, 'tis like, I fhould forget myself. Oh, if I could, what grief should I forget!Preach fome philofophy to make me mad, And thou fhalt be canoniz'd, cardinal; For, being not mad, but fenfible of grief, My reasonable part produces reason How I may be deliver'd of these woes,

7 · modern invocation.] It is hard to fay what Shakespeare means by modern: it is not opposed to ancient. In All's well, that ends well, fpeaking of a girl in contempt, he uses this word, ber modern grace. It apparently means fomething fight and inconfiderable. JOHNSON.

VOL. V.

E.

And

And teaches me to kill or hang myself.
If I were mad, I fhould forget my fon;
Or madly think a babe of clouts were he:
I am not mad; too well, too well I feel
The different plague of each calamity.

K. Phil. Bind up thofe treffes: Oh, what love I note In the fair multitude of thofe her hairs!

Where but by chance a filver drop hath fallen
Even to that drop ten thousand wiry friends *
Do.glew themselves in fociable grief;

Like true infeparable, faithful loves,
Sticking together in calamity,

Conft. To England, if you will-
K. Phil. Bind up your hairs.

Conft. Yes, that I will; and wherefore will I do it?
I tore them from their bonds; and cry'd aloud,
Oh that these hands could fo redeem my fon,
As they have given thefe hairs their liberty!
But now I envy at their liberty,

And will again commit them to their bonds,
Becaufe my poor child is a prifoner.-
And, father cardinal, I have heard you fay,
That we fhall fee and know our friends in heaven;
If that be true, I fhall fee my boy again;
For, fince the birth of Cain, the firit male-child,
To him that did but yesterday fufpire,

There was not fuch a gracious creature born 9.

But

Bind up thofe treffes:] It was neceffary that Conftance hould be interrupted, becaufe a paffion fo violent cannot be borne long. I with the following fpeeches had been equally happy; but they only ferve to fhew, how difficult it is to main tain the pathetic long. JOHNSON.

wiry friends] The old copy reads, wiry fiends.

STEEVENS. a gracious creature born.] Gracious, I believe, in this iuftance, as in fome others, means graceful. So in Albion's Triumph, a mafque, 1631.

on which (the freeze) were feftoons of several fruits, in their natural colours, on which, in gracious postures, lay children fleeping,"

But now will canker forrow eat my bud,
And chafe the native beauty from his cheek;
And he will look as hollow as a ghost;
As dim and meagre as an ague's fit;
And fo he'll die: and, rifing fo again,

When I fhall meet him in the court of heaven
I fhall not know him: therefore never, never,
Muft I behold my pretty Arthur more.

Pand. You hold too heinous a respect of grief. Conft. He talks to me, that never had a fon.K. Phil. You are as fond of grief, as of your child. Conft. Grief fills the room up of my abfent child; Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me; Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words, Remembers me of all his gracious parts; Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form; Then have I reafon to be fond of grief. Fare you well: had you fuch a lofs as I, 1 I could give better comfort than you do. I will not keep this form upon my head,

[Tearing off her head-cloaths. When there is fuch diforder in my wit. O Lord! my boy, my Arthur, my fair fon! My life, my joy, my food, my all the world! My widow-comfort, and my forrow's cure!

[Exit.

[Exit.

K. Phil. I fear fome outrage, and I'll follow her.

There's nothing in this world, can make

Lewis.

me joy :

Again, in the fame piece,

they stood about him, not in fet ranks, but in fe

"veral gracious poftures." STEEVENS.

had you fuch a lofs as I,

I could give better comfort -] This is a fentiment which great forrow always dictates. Whoever cannot help himself cafts his eyes on others for affiftance, and often mistakes their inability for coldnefs. JOHNSON.

2 There's nothing in this, &c.] The young prince feels his defeat with more fenfibility than his father. Shame operates moft ftrongly in the earlier years; and when can difgrace be lefs welcome than when a man is going to his bride? JOHNSON.

E 2

Life