K. Henry. Sure, we thank you.

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

Why the law Salique, that they have in France,
Or fhould, or fhould not, bar us in our claim.
And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord,

8

That you fhould fashion, wreft, or bow your reading,

Or nicely charge your understanding foul

With opening titles' mifcreate, whofe 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:

2

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 guiltlefs drops

Or nicely charge your understanding foul] Take heed left by nice and fubtle fophiftry you burthen your knowing foul, or knowingly burthen your foul, with the guilt of advancing a falfe title, or of maintaining, by fpecious fallacies, a claim which, if shewn in its native and true colours, would appear to be false.

JOHNSON. 9-mifcreate,-] Ill-begotten, illegitimate, fpurious.

JOHNSON.

in approbation] i. e. in proving and fupporting that title which fhall be now fet up. So, in Brathwaite's Survey of Hiftories, 1614. "Compofing what he wrote, not by report of others, but by the approbation of his own eyes." Again, in the Winter's Tale:

2

That lack'd fight only ;-nought for approbation "But only feeing." MALONE.

-take heed how you impawn our perfon,] The whole drift of the king is to imprefs upon the archbishop a due fenfe of the caution with which he is to fpeak. He tells him that the crime of unjust war, if the war be unjust, shall rest upon him,

Therefore take heed how you impawn your person. So, I think it fhould be read. Take heed how you pledge yourself, your honour, your happiness, in support of bad advice,

Dr. Warburton explains imparon by engage, and fo escapes the difficulty. JoHNSON.

Are

Are every one a woe, a fore complaint,

'Gainft him, whofe wrong gives edge unto the fword That makes fuch wafte in brief mortality 3.

4 Under this conjuration, speak, my lord;
For we will hear, note, and believe in heart,
That what you speak is in your confcience wash'd
As pure as fin with baptifm.

Cant. Then hear me, gracious fovereign,—and you

peers,

That owe your lives, your faith, 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,
Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe :
Where Charles the great, having fubdu'd the Saxons,
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;

3

brief mortality.]

"Nulla brevem dominum fequetur. Hor.

STEEVENS

4 Under this conjuration,] The 4tos 1600 and 1608, read: After this conjuration. STEEVENS.

There is no bar &c.] This whole fpeech is copied (in a manner verbatim) from Hall's Chronicle Henry V. year the fex cond, folio 4. xx. xxx. xl, &c. In the first edition it is very imperfect, and the whole history and names of the princes are confounded; but this was afterwards fet right, and corrected from his original, Hall's Chronicle. POPE.

This fpeech (together with the. Latin paffage in it) may as well be faid to be taken from Holinfhed as from Hall. STEEVENS.

VOL. VI.

C

Which

Which Salique, as I faid, 'twixt Elbe and Sala,
Is at this day in Germany call'd-Meifen.
Thus doth it well appear, the Salique law
Was not devifed 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,
Subdu'd the Saxons, and did feat the French
Beyond the river Sala, in the year

Eight hundred five. Befides, their writers fay,
King Pepin, which depofed Childerick,

Did, as heir general, being defcended

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,7 To fine his title with fome fhew of truth,

(Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naughty
Convey'd himself as heir to the lady Lingare,
Daughter to Charlemain, who was the fon
To Lewis the emperor, and Lewis the fon
Of Charles the great. Alfo king Lewis the ninth,

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 fhew of truth.

To line may fignify at once to decorate and to strengthen. In Macbeth:

"He did line the rebels 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 fhew of truth. JOHNSON.

Both the quartos, 1600 and 1608, read-To fine his title, i. e. to make it shewy or Specious by fome appearance of justice.

STEEVENS,

Who

Who was fole heir to the ufurper Capet,
Could not keep quiet in his confcience,
Wearing the crown of France, 'till fatisfy'd
That fair queen Isabel, 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, 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 chufe to hide them in a net,
Than amply to imbare their crooked titles,
Ufurp'd from you and your progenitors.

K. Henry.

-imbare their crooked titles,] Mr. Pope reads: Than openly imbrace] But where is the antithefis betwixt bide in the preceding line, and imbrace in this? The two old folios read, Than amply to imbarre.We certainly must read, as Mr. Warburton advised me, Than amply to imbare lay open, display to view. I am furpriz'd Mr. Pope did not start 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 quarto 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 4to 1600, reads

imbace.

I know of no fuch word as imbare. To unbar is to open, which I fuppofe to be the word fet down by the poet, and was probably oppofed 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 first book of Stanyhurit's tranflation of Virgil, 1582, to fignify to break or cut off abruptly:

"Heere Venus embarring his tale, &c."

Yet,

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

Cant. The fin upon my head, dread sovereign! For in the book of Numbers is it writ

When the fon dies, let the inheritance

Defcend unto the daughter. Gracious lord,
Stand for your own; unwind your bloody flag;
Look back unto your mighty ancestors:

Go, my dread lord, to your great grandfire's tomb,
From whom you claim; invoke his warlike fpirit,
And your great uncle's, Edward the black prince;
Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy,
Making defeat on the full power of France;
Whiles his moft mighty father on a hill,
Stood fmiling, to behold his lion's whelp
Forage in blood of French nobility.-
O noble English, that could entertain
With half their forces the full pride of France;
And let another half ftand laughing by,
All out of work, and cold for action 9!

Ely. Awake remembrance of thefe valiant dead,
And with your puiffant arm renew their feats:
You are their heir, you fit upon their throne;
The blood and courage, that renowned them,
Runs in your veins; and my thrice-puiffant liege
Is in the very May-morn of his youth,
Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprizes.

Exe. Your brother kings and monarchs of the earth Do all expect that you should rouse yourself, As did the former lions of your blood.

Yet, as to bar, in Much Ado about Nothing, is to strengthen,

66

that is stronger made

19

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

9

cold for action!] The next fpeeches of Ely, Exeter, Westmoreland, and Canterbury, were added after the quartos 1600 and 1608. STEEVENS.

Weft.