But this, which they produce from Pharamond,—
In terram Salicam mulieres nè fuccedant,
No woman fhall fucceed in Salique land:
Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze,
To be the realm of France, and Pharamond
The founder of this law and female bar.
Yet their own authors faithfully affirm,
That the land Salique lies in Germany,
Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe:

Where Charles the great, having fubdued the Sax

ons,

There left behind and fettled certain French;
Who, holding in difdain the German women,
For fome difhoneft manners of their life,
Establish'd there this law,-to wit, no female
Should be inheritrix in Salique land;

Which Salique, as I said, 'twixt Elbe and Sala,
Is at this day in Germany call'd-Meifen.
Thus doth it well appear, the Saliquè law
Was not devised for the realm of France:
Nor did the French poffefs the Salique land
Until four hundred one and twenty years
After defunction of king Pharamond,
Idly fuppos'd the founder of this law;
Who died within the year of our redemption
Four hundred twenty-fix; and Charles the great
Subdued the Saxons, and did feat the French
Beyond the river Sala, in the year

Eight hundred five. Befides, their writers fay,
King Pepin, which deposed Childerick,
Did, as heir general, being defcended

9

gloze,] Expound, explain, and fometimes comment upon. So, in Troilus and Creffida:

you have faid well;

"And on the cause and queftion now in hand,
"Have glox'd but fuperficially." REED.

Of Blithild, which was daughter to king Clothair, Make claim and title to the crown of France. Hugh Capet alfo,-that ufurp'd the crown

Of Charles the duke of Lorain, fole heir male
Of the true line and ftock of Charles the great,-
To fine his title with fome fhow of truth,'

(Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught,)
Convey'd himself as heir to the lady Lingare,
Daughter to Charlemain, who was the fon
To Lewis the emperor, and Lewis the fon

1 To fine his title &c.] This is the reading of the quarto of 1608; that of the folio is-To find his title. I would read: To line his title with fome Show of truth.

To line may fignify at once to decorate and to strengthen. So, in Macbeth:

did line the rebel

"With hidden help and vantage ;

Dr. Warburton fays, that to fine his title, is to refine or improve it. The reader is to judge.

I now believe that find is right; the jury finds for the plaintiff, or finds for the defendant; to find his title is, to determine in favour of his title with fome Show of truth. JOHNSON. To fine his title, is to make it Showy or Specious by fome appearance of juftice. STEEVENS.

title feem true, and appear good, though indeed it was stark. naught."-In Hall," to make &c.-though indeed it was both evil and untrue." MALONE.

I believe that fine is the right reading, and that the metaphor is taken from the fining of liquors. In the next line the speaker fays:

"Though in pure truth it was corrupt and naught." It is the jury that finds a verdict, not the plaintiff or defendant, and therefore a man cannot find his own title.

2 Convey'd himfelf-] Derived his title. this expreffion alfo in Holinfhed. MALONE.

M. MASON. Our poet found

Of Charles the great.3 Alfo king Lewis the tenth,+

3 the lady Lingare,

Daughter to Charlemain, &c.] By Charles the Great is meant the Emperor Charlemagne, fon of Pepin: Charlemain is Charlechauve, or Charles the Bald, who, as well as Charles le Gros, affumed the title of Magnus. See Goldafti Animadverfiones in Einhardum. Edit. 1711, p. 157. But then Charlechauve had only one daughter, named Judith, married, or, as fome fay, only betrothed, to our King Ethelwulf, and carried off, after his death, by Baldwin the forefter, afterward Earl of Flanders, whom, it is very certain, Hugh Capet was neither heir to, nor any way defcended from. This Judith, indeed, had a great-grand-daughter called Luitgarde, married to a Count Wichman, of whom nothing further is known. It was likewife the name of Charlemagne's fifth wife; but no fuch female as Lingare is to be met with in any French hiftorian. In fact, these fictitious perfonages and pedigrees feem to have been devised by the English heralds, to "fine a title with some fhow of truth," which," in pure truth was corrupt and naught.” It was manifeftly impoffible that Henry, who had no hereditary title to his own dominions, could derive one, by the fame colour, to another perfon's. He merely proposes the invafion and conqueft of France, in profecution of the dying advice of his father: to busy giddy minds

"In foreign quarrels; that action, thence borne out,
Might wafte the memory of former days :"

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that his fubjects might have fufficient employment to mislead their attention from the nakedness of his title to the crown. The zeal and eloquence of the Archbishop are owing to fimilar motives. RITSON.

Alfo king Lewis the tenth,] The word ninth has been inferted by fome of the modern editors. The old copies read tenth. Ninth is certainly wrong, and tenth certainly right. Ifabel was the wife of Philip the fecond, father of Lewis the ninth, and grandfather of Lewis the tenth. RITSON.

Lewis the tenth,] This is a mistake, (as is observed in The Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. LIII. P. II. p. 588,) into which Shakspeare was led by Holinfhed, (Vol. II. p 546, edit. 1577,) whom he copied. St. Lewis, (for he is the perfon here described,) the grandfon of Queen Ifabel, the wife of Philip II. King of France, was Lewis the Ninth. He was the fon of Lewis VIII. by the Lady Blanch of Caftile. In Hall's Chronicle, HENRY V. folio iiii. b. (which Holinfhed has clofely followed, except in

Who was fole heir to the ufurper Capet,
Could not keep quiet in his confcience,
Wearing the crown of France, till fatisfied
That fair queen Ifabel, his grandmother,
Was lineal of the lady Ermengare,

Daughter to Charles the forefaid duke of Lorain :
By the which marriage, the line of Charles the great
Was re-united to the crown of France.

So that, as clear as is the fummer's fun,
King Pepin's title, and Hugh Capet's claim,
King Lewis his fatisfaction,5 all appear
To hold in right and title of the female:
So do the kings of France unto this day;
Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law,
To bar your highnefs claiming from the female;
And rather choose to hide them in a net,
Than amply to imbare their crooked titles
Ufurp'd from you and
your progenitors.

6

this particular error, occafioned by either his own or his printer's inaccuracy,) Lewis is rightly called the Ninth. Here therefore we have a decifive proof that our author's guide in all his hiftorical plays was Holinfhed, and not Hall. See n. 8, p. 289. I have however left the error uncorrected, on the fame principle on which fimilar errors in Julius Cæfar, into which Shakspeare was led by the old tranflation of Plutarch, have been suffered to remain undisturbed; and also, because it ascertains a fact of fome importance. MALONE.

5 King Lewis his fatisfaction,] He had told us juft above, that Lewis could not wear the crown with a fafe conscience, "till fatisfied," &c. THEOBALD.

imbare their crooked titles-] Mr. Pope reads: Than openly imbrace

But where is the antithefis betwixt hide in the preceding line, and imbrace in this? The two old folios read:

Than amply to imbarre

We certainly muft read, as Mr. Warburton advised me:

Than amply to imbare

K. HEN. May I, with right and confcience, make this claim?

lay open, display to view. I am furprized Mr. Pope did not ftart this conjecture, as Mr. Rowe had led the way to it in his edition; who reads:

Than amply to make bare their crooked titles.

THEOBALD.

'Mr. Theobald might have found, in the 4to. of 1608, this reading:

Than amply to embrace their crooked causes: out of which line Mr. Pope formed his reading, erroneous indeed, but not merely capricious. JOHNSON.

The quarto, 1600, reads-imbace.

I have met with no example of the word-imbare. To unbar is to open, and might have been the word fet down by the poet, in oppofition to-bar.

So, in the first scene of Timon, the poet fays, "I'll unbolt to you."

To embar, however, feems, from the following paffage in the firft Book of Stanyhurft's tranflation of Virgil, 1583, to fignify to break or cut off abruptly:

"Heere Venus embarring his tale," &c.

Yet, as to bar, in Much Ado about Nothing, is to ftrengthen,that is ftronger made,

66

"Which was before barr'd up with ribs of iron,” fo, amply to unbar, may mean to weaken by an open display of invalidity.

As imbare, however, is not unintelligible, and is defended by the following able criticks, I have left it in the text.

STEEVENS.

I have no doubt but imbare is the right reading. Though the editor who has adopted it seems to argue against it, it makes the fenfe more clear than any of the other readings proposed. Imbare, in the last line, is naturally oppofed to hide in that which precedes, and it differs but little from the reading of the quarto 1600. The objection that there is no fuch word as imbare, can have but little weight. It is a word fo fairly deduced, and fo easily understood, that an author of much less celebrity than Shakspeare, had a right to coin it. M. MASON.

In the folio the word is fpelt imbarre. Imbare is, I believe, the true reading. It is formed like impaint, impawn, and many other fimilar words used by Shakspeare. MALONE.