Pand. What can'ft thou fay, but will perplex thee

more,

If thou ftand excommunicate, and curft?

K. Phil. Good reverend father, make my perfon

yours,

And tell me, how you would beftow yourself.
This royal hand and mine are newly knit ;
And the conjunction of our inward fouls
Marry'd in league, coupled and link'd together
With all religious ftrength of facred vows;
The latest breath, that gave the found of words,
Was deep-fworn faith, peace, amity, true love,
Between our kingdoms, and our royal felves;
And even before this truce, but new before,—
No longer than we well could wash our hands,
To clap this royal bargain up of peace,

Heaven knows, they were befmear'd and over-ftain'd
With flaughter's pencil; where revenge did paint
The fearful difference of incenfed kings:
And shall these hands, fo lately purg'd of blood,
So newly join'd in love, fo ftrong in both 5,
Unyoke this feizure, and this kind regreet?
Play faft and loofe with faith? fo jeft with heaven,
Make fuch unconftant children of ourfelves,
As now again to fnatch our palm from palm ;
Unfwear faith fworn; and on the marriage bed
Of fmiling peace to march a bloody hoft,
And make a riot on the gentle brow
Of true fincerity? O holy fir,

My reverend father, let it not be fo:

Out of your grace, devife, ordain, impose

Some gentle order; and then we fhall be bleft
To do your pleafure, and continue friends.

-fo ftrong in both,] I believe the meaning is, love fo firong in both parties. JOHNSON.

6

-this kind regreet?] A regreet is an exchange of faluta

tion. So, in Heywood's Iron Age, 1632:

"So bear our kind regreets to Hecuba." STEEVENS.

Pand.

Pand. All form is formlefs, order orderlefs, Save what is oppofite to England's love.

Therefore, to arms! be champion of our church! Or let the church, our mother, breathe her curse, A mother's curfe, on her revolting fon.

France, thou may'ft hold a ferpent by the tongue, A cafed lion by the mortal paw,

A fafting tyger fafer by the tooth,

Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold.
K. Phil. I may disjoin my hand, but not my faith.
Pand. So mak'ft thou faith an enemy to faith;
And, like a civil war, fet'ft oath to oath,
Thy tongue against thy tongue. O, let thy vow
First made to heaven, first be to heaven perform'd;
That is, to be the champion of our church!
What fince thou fwor'ft, is fworn against thyself,
And may not be performed by thyself:
For that, which thou haft fworn to do amifs,
Is't not amifs, when it is truly done?
And being not done, where doing tends to ill,
The truth is then moft done not doing it :
The better act of purposes miftook

A cafed lion -] All the modern editors read, a chafed lion. I fee little reafon for change. A cafed lion, is a lion irritated by confinement. So, in K. Henry VI. P. III. act I. fc. iii:

"So looks the pent-up lion o'er the wretch

"That trembles under his devouring paws &c." The author might, however, have written, a chafed lion.

STEEVENS.

Cafed, I believe, is the true reading. So, in Rowley's When you fee Me you know Me, 1632:

"The lyon in his cage is not fo ferne

"As royal Henry in his wrathful fpleene." MALONE, Is not amifs, when it is truly done:] This is the conclufion de travers. We fhould read:

Is yet amifs,

The Oxford editor, according to his ufual custom, will improve it further, and reads, moft amifs. WARBURTON.

I rather read:

Is't not amifs, when it is truly done?

as the alteration is lefs, and the fenfe which Dr. Warburton first difcovered, is preferved. JoHNSON.

Is, to mistake again; though indirect,
Yet indirection thereby grows direct,

And falfhood falfhood cures; as fire cools fire,
Within the fcorched veins of one new burn'd.
It is religion, that doth make vows kept;
But thou haft fworn against religion:

By

• But thou haft fworn againft religion : &c.] In this long speech, the legate is made to fhew his fkill in cafuiftry; and the strange heap of quibble and nonfenfe of which it confifts, was intended to ridicule that of the schools. For when he affumes the politician, at the conclufion of the third act, the author makes him talk at another rate. I mean in that beautiful paffage where he speaks of the mischiefs following the king's lofs of his fubjects hearts. This conduct is remarkable, and was intended, I fuppofe, to fhew us how much better politicians the Roman courtiers are, than divines. WARBURTON.

I am not able to difcover here any thing inconfequent or ridiculoufly fubtle. The propofitions, that the voice of the church is the voice of heaven, and that the pope utters the voice of the church, neither of which Pandulph's auditors would deny, being once granted, the argument here ufed is irrefiftible; nor is it easy, notwithstanding the gingle, to enforce it with greater brevity or propriety:

But thou haft fworn against religion:

By what thou fear'ft, against the thing thou fwear'ft:
And mak'ft an oath the furety for thy truth,
Against an oath the truth thou art unfure

To fwear, fwear only not to be forfvorn.

By what. Sir T. Hanmer reads, by that. I think it should be rather by which. That is, thou fear'ft against the thing, by which thou fwear'ft; that is, againft religion.

The most formidable difficulty is in these lines:
And mak'ft an oath the furety for thy truth,
Against an oath the truth thou art unfure

To fear, &c.

This fir T. Hanmer reforms thus:

And mak'ft an oath the furety for thy truth,
Againft an oath; this truth thou art unfure
To fwear, &c.

Dr. Warburton writes it thus:

Against an oath the truth thou art unfure

which leaves the paffage to me as obfcure as before.

1

I know not whether there is any corruption beyond the omiffion of a point. The fente, after I had confidered it, appeared to me VOL. V.

F

only

By which thou fwear'ft against the thing thou fwear'ft;
And mak'ft an oath the furety for thy truth
Against an oath: The truth thou art unfure
To fwear, fwear only not to be forfworn;
Elfe, what a mockery fhould it be to swear?
But thou doft fwear only to be forfworn;
And most forfworn, to keep what thou doft swear.
Therefore, thy latter vows, against thy firft,
Is in thyfelf rebellion to thyfelf:

And better conqueft never canft thou make,
Than arm thy conftant and thy nobler parts
Against thefe giddy loofe fuggeftions:
Upon which better part our prayers come in,
If thou vouchfafe them: but, if not, then know,
The peril of our curfes light on thee;

So heavy, as thou shalt not shake them off,
But, in defpair, die under their black weight.
Auft. Rebellion, flat rebellion!

Faule. Will't not be?

Will not a calf's-fkin ftop that mouth of thine?
Lewis. Father, to arms!

Blanch. Upon thy wedding day?

Against the blood that thou haft married?

What, fhall our feast be kept with flaughter'd men?
Shall braying trumpets, and loud churlifh drums,—
Clamours of hell,-be meafures to our pomp?
O husband, hear me !-aye, alack, how new
Is hufband in my mouth!-even for that name,
Which 'till this time my tongue did ne'er pronounce,

only this: In fivearing by religion against religion, to which thou baft already fworn, thou makeft an oath the fecurity for thy faith against an oath already taken. I will give, fays he, a rule for conscience in these cafes. Thou mayst be in doubt about the matter of an oath; when thou fweareft thou mayft not be always fure to fwear rightly, but let this be thy fettled principle, favcar only not to be forfworn; let not the latter oaths be at variance with the former.

Truth, through this whole fpeech, means rectitude of conduct.

JOHNSON.

Upon

Upon my knee I beg, go not to arms
Against mine uncle.

Conft. Oh, upon my knee,

Made hard with kneeling, I do pray to thee,
Thou virtuous Dauphin, alter not the doom
Fore-thought by heaven.

Blanch. Now fhall I fee thy love; What motive may Be ftronger with thee than the name of wife?

Conft. That which upholdeth him that thee up

holds,

His honour: Oh, thine honour, Lewis, thine honour!
Lewis. I mufe, your majefty doth feem fo cold,
When fuch profound refpects do pull you on.
Pand. I will denounce a curfe upon his head.
K. Phil. Thou shalt not need :-England, I'll fall
from thee.

Conft. O fair return of banish'd majesty !

Eli. O foul revolt of French inconftancy!

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

Faulc. Old time the clock-fetter, that bald fexton

time,

Is it as he will? well then, France shall rue.

Blanch. The fun's o'ercaft with blood: Fair day, adieu !

Which is the fide that I muft go withal?
I am with both: each army hath a hand;
And, in their rage, I having hold of both,
They whirl afunder, and difmember me.
Hufband, I cannot pray that thou may'ft win;
Uncle, I needs must pray that thou may'st lose;
Father, I may not with the fortune thine;
Grandam, I will not wish thy wishes thrive:
Whoever wins, on that fide shall I lose;
Affured lofs, 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.