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A hundred alms-houses, right well fupply'd;
And to the coffers of the king, befide,

A thousand pounds by the year: Thus runs the bill.
Ely. This would drink deep.

Cant. 'Twould drink the cup and all.

Ely. But what prevention?

Cant. The king is full of grace, and fair regard.
Ely. And a true lover of the holy church.
Cant. The courfes of his youth promis'd it not.
The breath no fooner left his father's body,
But that his wildnefs, mortify'd in him,
Seem'd to die too: yea, at that very moment,
'Confideration like an angel came,

And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him;
Leaving his body as a paradise,

To envelop and contain celeftial fpirits.
Never was fuch a fudden fcholar made:
Never came reformation "in a flood,
With fuch a heady current, fcouring faults;
Nor never " Hydra-headed wilfulness
So foon did lofe his feat, and all at once,
As in this king.

Ely. We are bleffed in the change.

Cant. Hear him but reafon in divinity,
And, all-admiring, with an inward wish
You would defire, the king were made a prelate :
Hear him debate of common-wealth affairs,
You would fay,-it hath been all-in-all his study:

1 Confideration, like an angel, &c.] As paradife, when fin and Adam were driven out by the angel, became the habitation of celeftial fpirits, fo the king's heart, fince confideration has driven out his follies, is now the receptacle of wisdom and of virtue.

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in a food,]-alluding to the river turn'd by Hercules through the Augean itables. Hydra-beaded wilfulness]-a criminal indulgence of every perverfe motion of the will.

Lift his difcourfe of war, and you shall hear
A fearful battle render'd you in mufic:
Turn him to any cause of policy,

The Gordian knot of it he will unloofe,
Familiar as his garter; that, when he speaks,
The air, a charter'd libertine, is still,
And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,
To steal his sweet and honey'd sentences!
So that the art, and practic part of life
Must be the mistress to this theorique :
Which is a wonder, how his grace fhould glean it,
Since his addiction was to courfes vain;
His companies unletter'd, rude, and shallow;
His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sports;
And never noted in him any study,

Any retirement, any fequeftration
From open haunts and popularity.

Ely. The ftrawberry grows underneath the nettle;
And wholfome berries thrive, and ripen beft,
Neighbour'd by fruit of bafer quality:
And fo the prince obfcur'd his contemplation
Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt,
Grew like the fummer grafs, fastest by night,
'Unseen, yet crefcive in his faculty.

Cant. It must be fo: for miracles are ceas'd;

"I must have liberty,

as large a charter as the wind."

As You LIKE IT. Vol. II. p. 210. Jaq.

So that the art,]-the knowledge, that masterly fkill which he displays in the theory of those sciences, muft have been the produce of experience; could not have been derived from books, but from his own commerce with the world.

popularity.]-converfation with vulgar perfons.

Unfeen, yet crefcive in his faculty.]—Exerting, though invifibly, his

powers of improvement.

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And therefore we must needs admit the means,
How things are perfected.

Ely. But, my good lord,

How now for mitigation of this bill

Urg'd by the commons? Doth his majesty
Incline to it, or no?

Cant. He feems indifferent;

Or, rather, 'fwaying more upon our part,
Than cherishing the exhibiters against us:
For I have made an offer to his majesty,

Upon our spiritual convocation,——

And in regard of caufes now in hand,
Which I have open'd to his grace at large,
As touching France,-to give a greater fum
Than ever at one time the clergy yet
Did to his predeceffors part withal.

Ely. How did this offer feem receiv'd, my lord?
Cant. With good acceptance of his majefty:
Save, that there was not time enough "to hear
(As, I perceiv'd, his grace would fain have done)
The feverals, and unhidden paffages,

Of his true titles to fome certain dukedoms;
And, generally, to the crown and feat of France,
Deriv'd from Edward, his great grandfather.

Ely. What was the impediment that broke this off?
Cant. The French ambaffador, upon that inftant,
Crav'd audience: and the hour, I think, is come,
To give him hearing; Is it four o'clock?

Ely. It is.

Cant. Then go we in, to know his embassy;

$ fwaying]-inclining.

Upon our Spiritual convocation ;]—when the clergy of this realm hall be affembled.

"to bear-The feverals, and anbidden paffages, &c.]-to attend minutely to all the clear traces. Several.

Which I could, with a ready guess, declare,
Before the Frenchman speaks a word of it.
Ely. I'll wait upon you; and I long to hear it.

SCENE II.

Opens to the prefence.

[Exeunt.

Enter king Henry, Glofter, Bedford, Warwick, Westmoreland, and Exeter.

K. Henry. Where is my gracious lord of Canterbury,? Exe. Not here in presence.

K. Henry. Send for him, "good uncle.

Weft. Shall we call in the ambaffador, my liege?

K. Henry. Not yet, my coufin; we would be refolv'd, Before we hear him, of some things of weight, That 'task our thoughts, concerning us and France.

Enter the archbishop of Canterbury, and bishop of Ely. Cant. God, and his angels, guard your facred throne, And make you long become it!

K. Henry. Sure, we thank you.

My learned lord, we pray you to proceed;
And justly and religiously unfold,

Why the law Salique, that they have in France,

Or fhould, or should not, bar us in our claim.

And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord,

That you should fashion, wreft, or bow your reading, 'Or nicely charge your understanding foul

"good unile.]-Thomas Beaufort, Earl of Dorfet, afterwards created Duke of Exeter.

* task our thoughts,]-occupy our chief attention.

"While other sports are taking of their minds."

MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, Vol. I. p. 250. Fent. Y Or nicely charge your understanding foul, &c.]-Or knowingly burthen your confcience, with the guilt of inventing, or fophiftically gloffing over a falfe title.

With opening titles mifcreate, whose right
Suits not in native colours with the truth;
For God doth know, how many, now in health,
Shall drop their blood in approbation

Of what your reverence fhall incite us to:
Therefore take heed how you impawn our perfon,
How you awake the fleeping fword of war;
We charge you in the name of God, take heed:
For never two fuch kingdoms did contend,
Without much fall of blood; whofe guiltless drops
Are every one a woe, a fore complaint,

'Gainst him, whofe wrong gives edge unto the fword
That makes fuch wafte in brief mortality.
Under this conjuration, speak, my lord;

For we will hear, note, and believe in heart,
That what you fpeak is in your confcience wash'd

As pure as fin with baptifm.

Cant. Then hear me, gracious fovereign, and you

peers,

That owe yourselves, your lives, and services,

To this imperial throne ;-There is no bar
To make against your highness' claim to France,
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,

impawn]-engage-your perfon-pledge yourself in fupport of a
ain brief mortality.]-among fhort-lived mortals.
gloze]-expound, interpret,

bad cause.
b Your lives, your faith, &c.

conftrue.

C

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