Some fiery devil hovers in the fy,

And pours down mifchief. Auftria's head lie there.--
Thus hath King Richard's fon perform'd his Vow,
And offer'd Aufhia's blood for facrifice
Unto his father's ever-living foul.

Enter King John, Arthur, and Hubert.

K.fcbn.There, Hubert, keep this boy Richard,makeups My mother is affailed in our tent, And ta'en, I fear.

Faule. My Lord, I refcu'd her :

Her Highness is in fafety, fear you not.
But on, my Liege; for very little pains
Will bring this labour to an happy end.

[Exeunt.

Alarms, Excurfions, Retreat. Re-enter King John, Elinor, Arthur, Faulconbridge, Hubert, and Lords.

K. John. So fhall it be; your Grace shall stay behind So ftrongly guarded: Coufin, look not fad, [To Arthur. Thy grandam loves thee, and thy uncle will. As dear be to thee, as thy father was.

Arth. O, this will make my mother die with grief. -K. Joln. Coufin, away for England; hafte before, [To Faulc. And, ere our coming, fee thou shake the bags Of hoarding Abbots; their imprisoned angels Set thou at liberty: the fat ribs of Peace (18) Muft by the hungry war be fed upon.

Ufe our commiffion in its utmost force.

Faule. Bell, book, and candle, fhall not drive me back When gold and filver beck me to come on.

I leave your Highness: Grandam, I will pray,

(18)

the fat ribs of Peace

Muft by the hungry now be fed upon.] This word new feems a very idle term here, and conveys no fatisfactory idea. An Antithefis, and oppofition of terms, fo perpetual with our Author, requires; Muß by the bungry war be fed upon.

War, demanding a large expence, is very poetically faid to be hungry, and to prey on the wealth and fat of Peace. Mr. Warburton.

If

If ever I remember to be holy)
For your fair fafety; fo Ikifs your hand.
Eli. Farewel, my gentle coufin.

K. John. Coz, farewel.

TExit Faulc.

Eli. Come hither, little kinfman;-hark, a word.

[Taking him to one fide of the Stage. K. John. to Hubert on the other fide.] Come hither, Hubert. O my gentle Hubert, We owe thee much; within this wall of felh There is a foul counts thee her creditor, And with advantage means to pay thy love: And, my good friend, thy voluntary oath Lives in this bofom, dearly cherished. Give me thy hand, I had a thing to fay But I will fit it with fome better time. By heaven, Hubert, I'm almost asham'd To fay what good refpect I have of thee.

Hub. I am much bounden to your Majefty. K.John. Good friend, thou haft no caufe to fay fo yet, But thou shalt have-and creep time ne'er fo flow, Yet it fhall come for me to do thee good.

I had a thing to fay-but, let it go:
The fun is in the heav'n, and the proud day,
Attended with the pleafures of the world,
Is all too wantom, and too full of gawds,
To give me audience. If the midnight bell (19)

Did with his iron tongue, and brazen mouth,

Did

Sound on into the drowzy race of night;] I do not think, that found on gives here that idea of folemnity and horror, which, 'tis plain, our Poet intended to imprefs by this fine defcription; and which my emendation conveys. i. e. If it were the fill part of the night. or one of the clock in the morning, when the found of the bell frikes upon the ear with moft awe and terror. And it is very usual with our Shakespeare in other paffages to exprefs the horror of a midnight bell.

So, in Othello;

Silence that dreadful bell, it frights the isle.

what's the bufinefs,

That fuch an hideous trumpet calls to parley
The fleepers of the house?

R 2

Macbeth.

And

Did with his iron tongue and brazen mouth
Sound one unto the drowly race of night;
If this fame were a church-yard where we ftand,
And thou poffeffed with a thousand wrongs;
Or if that furly spirit melancholy

Had bak'd thy blood and made it heavy-thick,
Which elfe runs tickling up and down the veins,
Making that ideot laughter keep mens eyes,
And train their cheeks to idle merriment;
(A paffion hateful to my purposes)

Or if that thou could'ft fee me without eyes,
Hear me without thine ears, and make reply
Without a tongue, ufing conceit alone,

Without eyes, ears, and harmful sound of words;
Then, in defpight of broad-ey'd watchful day,
I would into thy bofom pour my thoughts:
But ah, I will not-yet Llove thee well;
And, by my troth, I think, thou lov'ft me well.
Hub. So well, that what you bid me undertake,
Tho' that my death were adjunct to my act,
By heav'n, I'd do't.

K. John. Do not I know, thou would'st ?
Good Hubert, Hubert, Hubert, throw thine eye
Cn yon young boy: I'll tell thee what, my friend:
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.

And fometimes, for the more folemnity, he is ufed to add the tir

cumftance of the particular hour.

The iron tongue of midnight hath toll's twelve.

The bell then beating one.

Midfum. Night's Dream.

Hamlet.

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

Remember:

[Returning to the Queen

I'll fend those pow'rs o'er to your Majefty.
Eli. My bleffing go with thee!

K. John. For England, coufin, go.

Hubert fall be your man, t'attend on you

With all true duty; on, toward Calais, ho! [Exeunt

SCENE changes to the French Court.

Enter King Philip, Lewis, Pandulpho, and Attendantsé
K. Philip. CO, by a roaring tempeft on the flood,
A whole Armado of collected fail
Is fcatter'd and disjoin'd from fellowship.

Pand. Courage and comfort, all shall yet go well. K. Philip. What can go well, when we have run fo ill Are we not beaten? Is not Angiers loft?

Arthur ta'en pris'ner? divers dear friends lain?.
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 temp'rate order in fo fierce a caufe,

Doth want example; who hath read, or heard,
Of any kindred action like to this?

K.Phil. Wellcould I bear that England had this praifa. So we could find fome pattern of our fhame.

Enter Conftance.

Look, who comes here? a grave unto a soul,
Holding th' eternal fpirit 'gainst her will
In the vile prifon of afflicted breath;

I pr'ythec, Lady, go away with me.

Conft. Lo, now, now fee the iffue of your peace. K.Ph.Patience,good Lady; comfort, gentle Conftances Conft. No, I defy all counfel, all redrefs,.

B 3:

But

But that, which ends all counfel, true redrefs,
Death, death; oh amiable, lovely death!
Thou odoriferous ftench, found rottennefs,
Arife forth from thy 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 thefe fingers with thy houfhold worms;.
And ftop this gap of breath with fulfome duft,
And be a carrion monfter, like thyself;
Come grin on me, and I will think thou fmil'ft,
And kifs thee as thy wife; mifery's love,
come to me!

K. Philip. O fair affliction, peace.

Conf. No, no, I will not, having breath to cry. O, that my tongue were in the thunder's month, Then with a paffion I would shake the world, And rouze from fleep that fell anatomy, Which cannot hear a Lady's feeble voice, And fcorns a modern invocation. (zc)

Pand. Lady, your utter madness, and not forrow. Conft. Thou art not holy to belye me fo; I am not mad; this hair I tear is mine; My name is Confiance, I was Gefrey'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 fhould I forget! Preach fome philofophy to make me mad, And thou shalt be canoniz'd, Cardinal. For, being not mad, but fenfible of grief, My reasonable part produces reafon

(20) And fcorns a modest invocation.] So Mr. Pope: but I have thought it to restore the reading of the old Copies. 'Tis certain, our Author employs this word, modern, in a great many places very ramply. But we shall always underftand him, if we but carry this remark with us; that he goncrally ufes it in the fignification of trifling, infignificant, not weighty, of jmall moment, &c. Thus his fenfe will be always clear to us; as it were, metaphorically, from thofe, who defpite modern things, and prefer the ancient to them,

How