Cant. Hear him but reason in divinity 5,
And, all admiring, with an inward wish

You would defire, the king were made a prelate:
Hear him debate of common-wealth affairs,
You'd fay, it hath been all-in-all his study.
Lift his difcourfe of war, and you fhall hear
A fearful battle render'd you in music.
Turn him to any caufe 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 ftill;
And the mute wonder lurketh in mens' ears,
To steal his sweet and hony'd sentences;
7 So that the art, and practic part of life,

Muft

5 Hear him but reafon in divinity, &c.] This fpeech feems to have been copied from king James's prelates, fpeaking of their Solomon when archbishop Whitgift, who, as an eminent writer fays, died foon afterwards, and probably doated then, at the Hampton-Court conference, declared himself verily perfuaded, that his facred majesty spoke by the jpirit of God. And, in effect, this fcene was added after king James's acceffion to the crown: fo that we have no way of avoiding its being efteemed a compliment to him, but by fuppofing it was a fatire on his bishops. WARBURTON.

Why thefe lines fhould be divided from the reft of the speech and applied to king James, I am not able to conceive; nor why an opportunity fhould be fo eagerly fnatched to treat with contempt that part of his character which was least contemptible. King James's theological knowledge was not inconfiderable. To prefide at difputations is not very suitable to a king, but to understand the questions is furely laudable. The poet, if he had James in his thoughts, was no fkilful encomiaft; for the mention of Harry's fkill in war, forced upon the remembrance of his audience the great deficiency of their prefent king; who yet with all his faults, and many faults he had, was fuch, that Sir Robert Cotton fays, he would be content that England foould never have a better, provided that it should never have a worse. JOHNSON.

The air, &c.] This line is exquifitely beautiful.

JOHNSON. 7 So that the art and practic part of life,] All the editions, if I am not deceived, are guilty of a flight corruption in this paffage. The archbishop has been fhewing what a mafter the

Must be the mistrefs to this theorique :

Which is a wonder how his grace fhould glean it,
Since his addiction was to courses vain,

His companies unletter'd, rude, and fhallow;
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 strawberry grows underneath the nettle, And wholfom 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,
Unfeen, yet crefcive in his faculty $.

king was in the theory of divinity, war, and policy: fo that it muit be expected (as, I conceive, he would infer) that the king fhould now wed that theory to action, and the putting the feveral parts of his knowledge into practice. If this be our author's meaning, I think, we can hardly doubt but he wrote,

So that the act, and practic, &c.

Thus we have a confonance in the terms and fenfe. For theory is the art, and study of the rules of any science; and action, the exemplification of thofe rules by proof and experiment. THEOBALD.

This emendation is received by Dr. Warburton, but it appears to me founded upon a misinterpretation. The true meaning feems to be this. He discourses with fo much skill on all fubjects, that the art and practice of life muft be the mistress or teacher of his theorique; that is, that his theory must have been taught by art and practice; which, fays be, is ftrange, fince he could fee little of the true art or practice among his loofe companions, nor ever retired to digeft his practice into theory: art is ufed by the author for practice, as diftinguished from Science or theory. JOHNSON.

8

crefcive in his faculty.] Increasing in its proper power.

Grew like the fummer grass, fastest by night
Unfeen, yet crefcive in his faculty.

Crefcit occulto velut arbor ævo
Fama Marcelli. STEEVENS.

JOHNSON.

Cant.

Cant. It must be fo: for miracles are ceas'd; 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 majefty,-
Upon our fpiritual 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 majesty :
Save that there was not time enough to hear
(As, I perceiv'd, his grace would fain have done)
The feverals, and unhidden paffages 9

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

9 The feverals, and unbidden passages] This line I fufpect of corruption, though it may be fairly enough explained: the paffages of his titles are the lines of fucceffion by which his claims defcend. Unhidden is open, clear. JOHNSON. SCENE

SCENE II,

Opens to the prefence.

Enter king Henry, Gloucester, Bedford, Clarence, War wick, Westmorland, and Exeter.

K. Henry. Where is my gracious lord of Cante bury?

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 cousin 2; we would be refolv'd,

Before we hear him, of fome things of weight, That 3 task our thoughts, concerning us and Franc

Enter the archbishop of Canterbury, and bishop of Ely Cant. God and his angels guard your facred thro 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 fhould 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

1 Shall we call in, &c.] Here began the old play. POPE. 2 Not yet, my coufin, &c.] The 4to. 1608, reads,

Not yet, my coufin, till we be refol·v'd

Of fome ferious matters touching us and France.

STEEVENS. 3-tak-] Keep bufied with fcruples and laborious difquifitions. JOHNSON.

4 Or nicely charge your understanding foul] Take heed let 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 falfe.

JOHNSON.

With opening titles 5 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 shall 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 guiltlefs 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, fpeak, my lord;

For we will hear, note, and believe in heart,
That what you speak is in your conscience wash'd,
As pure as fin with baptifm.

Cant. Then hear me, gracious fovereign, and you

peers,

That owe your lives, your faith, and fervices,
To this imperial throne.-There is no bar 3
To make against your highnefs' claim to France,

s-mifcreate-] Ill-begotten, illegitimate, fpurious.

6

--

JOHNSON.

take heed how you impawn cur 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 reft upon him.

Therefore take heed how you impawn your perfon. So I think it fhould be read. Take heed how you pledge yourfelf, your honour, your happinefs, in fupport of bad advice. Dr. WARBURTON explains impan by engage, and so escapes the difficulty. JOHNSON.

7 Under this conjuration,] The 4to. 1608, reads,

8

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 fecond, folio 4. xx, xxx, xl, &c. In the first edition it is very imperfect, and the whole hiftory and names of the princes are confounded; but this was afterwards fet right, and corrected from his original, Hall's Chronicle. POPE.