K. John. France, thou shalt rue this hour within

this hour. Faulc. Old time the clock-setter, that bald sexton

time, Is it, as he will ? well then, France shall rue. Blanch. The sun's o'ercast with blood : fair day,

adieu !
Which is the side that I must go withal ?
I am with both: each army hath a hand;
And in their rage, I having hold of both,
They whirl asunder, and dismember me.
Husband, I cannot pray that thou may’st win:
Uncle, I needs must pray that thou may'st lose:
Father, I may not wish the fortune thine :
Grandam, I will not wish thy wishes thrive:
Whoever wins, on that fide shall I lose :
Assured loss, before the match be play'd.

Lewis. Lady, with me, with me thy fortune lies..
Blanch. There where my fortune lives, there my

life dies.
K. John. Cousin, go draw our puissance together.

[Exit Faulconbridge.
France, I am burn'd up with inflaming wrath;
A rage, whose hate hath this condition
That nothing can allay, nothing but blood,
The blood, and deareft-valu'd blood of France.
K. Phil. Thy rage shall burn thee up, and thou

shalt turn To ashes, ere our blood shall quench that fire: . Look to thyself, thou art in jeopardy. K. Jok n. No more than he that threats. To arms ! let's hie !

(Exeunt,

6 CENE

SCENE II.

Changes to a field of battle.
Alarms, excursions : enter Faulconbridge, with Austrid's

bead.

Faul. Now, by my life, this day grows wondrous

hot; & Some airy devil hovers in the sky, And pours down mischief. Austria's head lie there; 9 Thus hath king Richard's fon perform’d his vow,

& Some airy devil - We must read, Some fiery devil, if we will have the cause equal to the effect. WARBURTON.

There is no end of such alterations; every page of a vehement and negligent writer will affori opportunities for changes of terms, if mere propriety will justify them. Not that of this cbange the propriety is out of controversy. Dr. Warburton will have the devil fiery, because he makes the day hot; the author makes him airy, because he hovers in the sky, and the heat and mischief are natural consequences of his malignity

JOHNSON. Shakespeare here probably alludes to the distinctions and divisions of some of the demonologists, so much read and regarded in his time. They distributed the devils into different tribes and classes, each of which had its peculiar properties, attributes, &c.

These are described at length in Burton's Anatomie of Melancboly, part 1. fect. 2. p. 45. 1632.

“Of these sublunary devils--Psellus makes six kinds; fiery, " aeriall, terrestriall, watery, and subterranean devils, besides " those faieries, satyres, nymphes,” c.

“ Fiery spirits or divells are such as commonly worke by s blazing ftarres, fire-drakes, and counterfeit sunnes and “ moones, and fit on Tips mafts,” &c. &c.

“ Aeriall spirits or divells are such as keep quarter most part " in the aire, cause many tempefts, thunder and lightnings, “ teare oakes, fire steeples, houses, strike men and beasts, “ make it raine ftones,” &c. Percy

9 Thus hath king Richard's fon, &c.] This and the two following lines are taken from the old imperfect sketch by Mr. Pope. $T EEVENS,

And

And offer'd Austria’s blood for sacrifice
Unto his father's ever-living soul.

Enter king John, Arthur, and Hubert.
K. John. Hubert, keep this boy. Philip, make up ;

my mother Is affail'd in our tent, and ta’en, I fear.

Faulc. My lord, I rescu'd her; Her highness is in safety, fear you not : But on, my liege ; for very little pains Will bring this labour to an happy end. [Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Alarms, excursions, retreat. Re-enter king John, Eli

nor, Arthur, Faulconbridge, Hubert, and lords. , K. John. So shall it be ;-your grace shall stay behind,

[To Elinor. So strongly guarded.--Cousin, look not fad :

[To Arthur. Thy grandam loves thee; and thy uncle will As dear be to thee as thy father was.

Artb. O, this will make my mother die with grief.
K. John. Cousin, away for England : halte before,

[To Faulconbridge.
And, ere our coming, fee thou shake the bags
Of hoarding abbots; their imprison'd angels
Set at liberty: the fat ribs of peace'

Must

I the fat ribs of peace

Muft by the hungry now, be fed upon.] This word now seems a very idle term here, and conveys no satisfactory idea. An antithesis, and opposition of terms, so perpetual with our author, requires ;

Must by the hungry war be fed upon. War, demanding a large expence, is very poetically said to be hungry, and to prey on the wealth and fat of peace. WARBUR.

This emendation is better than the former, but yet not necessary, Sir 'T. HANMER reads, hungry marw, with less devia

Must by the hungry now, be fed upon.
Use our commission in its utmost force.
Faulc. 2 Bell, book, and candle shall not drive me

back,
When gold and silver becks me to come on.
I leave your highness._Grandam, I will pray
(If ever I remember to be holy)
For your fair safety; so I kiss your hand.

Eli. Farewell, gentle cousin.
K. John. Coz, farewell.

[Exit Faule. Eli. Come hither, little kinsman ;-hark, a word...

[Taking him to one side of the stage.
K. John. [To Hubert on the other side.
Come hither, Hubert. O my gentle Hubert,
We owe thee much ; within this wall of flesh
There is a soul, counts thee her creditor,
And with advantage means to pay thy love ;
And, my good friend, thy voluntary oath
Lives in this bosom, dearly cherished.
Give me thy hand, I had a thing to say
But I will fit it with some better time.
By heaven, Hubert, I am almost alham'd
To say what good respect I have of thee.

Hub. I am much bounden to your majesty.
K. John. Good friend, thou hast no cause to say so

yet:
But thou shalt have ;-and creep time ne'er so now,
Yet it shall come for me to do thee good.

tion from the common reading, but with not so much force or elegance as war. Johnson,

Either emendation is unnecessary. The hungry now is this bangry inftant. Shakespeare perhaps used the word now as a fub£antive, in Measure for Measure,

I had a thing to say,but, let it go : The sun is in the heaven; and the proud day Attended with the pleasures of the world, Is all too wanton, and too full of gawds, To give me audience: — if the midnight bell Did with his iron tongue and brazen mouth 3 Sound on unto the drowsy race of night; If this same were a church-yard where we stand, And thou possessed with a thousand wrongs; Or if that surly spirit melancholy Had bak'd thy blood and made it heavy, thick, (Which, else, runs tickling up and down the veins, Making that ideot, laughter, keep mens' eyes, And strain their cheeks to idle merriment; A passion hateful to my purposes) Or if that thou could'st see me without eyes, Hear me without thine ears, and make reply Without a tongue, using conceit alone, Without eyes, ears, and harmful sound of words; Then, in despight of broad-ey'd watchful day, I would into thy bosom pour my thoughts: But ah, I will not : - yet I love thee well; And, by my troth, I think, thou lov'st me well.

Hub. So well, that what you bid me undertake,
Tho' that my death were adjunct to my act, .
By heaven, I would do it.

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

3 Sound on unto the drowsy race of night ;] We should read, Sound ONE- WARBURTON.

I should suppose found on (which is the reading of the folio) to be the true one. The meaning seems to be this ; if the midright bell, by repeated Atrokes, was to hasien away the race of beings who are busy at that hour, or quicken night itself in its progress, the morning-bell (that is, the bell that strikes one) could not, with strict propriety, be made the agent ; for the bell has ceased to be in the service of night, when it proclaims the arrival of day. Sound on has a peculiar propriety, because by the repetition of the strokes at twelve, it gives a much more forcible warning than when it only strikes one. STEEVENS.

He