And, for amends to his pofterity,

At our importance hither is he come,

To spread his colours, boy, in thy behalf;
And to rebuke the ufurpation

Of thy unnatural uncle, English John:

Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither. ARTH. God fhall forgive you Coeur-de-lion's

death,

The rather, that you give his offspring life, Shadowing their right under your wings of war:

death of Richard, who loft his life at the fiege of Chaluz, long after he had been ranfomed out of Auftria's power. STEEVENS.

The producing Auftria on the scene is alfo contrary to the truth of history, into which anachronism our author was led by the old play. Leopold Duke of Auftria, by whom Richard I. had been thrown in prifon in 1193, died in confequence of a fall from his horfe in 1195, fome years before the commencement of the present play.

The original caufe of the enmity between Richard the First, and the Duke of Auftria, was, according to Fabian, that Richard "tooke from a knighte of the Duke of Oftriche the faid Duke's banner, and in defpite of the faid duke, trade it under foote, and did unto it all the fpite he might." Harding fays, in his Chronicle, that the cause of quarrel was Richard's taking down the Duke of Auftria's arms and banner, which he had fet up above those of the King of France and the King of Jerufalem. The affront was given, when they lay before Acre in Palestine. This circumftance is alluded to in the old King John, where the Bastard, after killing Auftria, fays,

"And as my father triumph'd in thy fpoils,

"And trod thine enfigns underneath his feet," &c.

Other hiftorians fay, that the Duke fufpected Richard to have been concerned in the affaffination of his kinfman, the Marquis of Montferrat, who was ftabbed in Tyre, foon after he had been elected King of Jerufalem; but this was a calumny, propagated by Richard's enemies for political purpofes. MALONE.

4 At our importance-] At our importunity. JOHNSON. So, in Twelfth Night:

66

Maria writ

"The letter at Sir Toby's great importance." STEEVENS.

I give you welcome with a powerless hand,
But with a heart full of unstained love:
Welcome before the gates of Angiers, duke.

LEW. A noble boy! Who would not do thee right?

AUST. Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kiss,
As feal to this indenture of my love;
That to my home I will no more return,

Till Angiers, and the right thou hast in France,
Together with that pale, that white-fac'd fhore,'
Whose foot fpurns back the ocean's roaring tides,
And coops from other lands her islanders,
Even till that England, hedg'd in with the main,
That water-walled bulwark, still secure
And confident from foreign purposes,
Even till that utmoft corner of the weft,
Salute thee for her king: till then, fair boy,
Will I not think of home, but follow arms.

CONST. O, take his mother's thanks, a widow's

thanks,

Till your strong hand fhall help to give him ftrength, To make a more requital to your love."

AUST. The peace of heaven is theirs, that lift their swords

In fuch a juft and charitable war.

K. PHI. Well then, to work; our cannon shall be bent

Against the brows of this refifting town.
Call for our chiefeft men of difcipline,

5that pale, that white-fac'd fhore,] England is fuppofed to be called Albion from the white rocks facing France.

JOHNSON.

6 To make a more requital, &c.] I believe it has been already obferved, that more fignified in our author's time, greater.

STEEVENS.

To cull the plots of beft advantages:-7
We'll lay before this town our royal bones,
Wade to the marketplace in Frenchmen's blood,
But we will make it subject to this boy.

CONST. Stay for an answer to your embaffy, Left unadvis'd you ftain your fwords with blood: My lord Chatillon may from England bring That right in peace, which here we urge in war; And then we shall repent each drop of blood, That hot rash hafte fo indirectly fhed.

Enter CHATILLON.

K. PHI. A wonder, lady!—lo, upon thy with, Our meffenger Chatillon is arriv'd.

What England fays, fay briefly, gentle lord,
We coldly paufe for thee; Chatillon, fpeak.
CHAT. Then turn your forces from this paltry fiege,
And stir them up against a mightier task.
England, impatient of your juft demands,
Hath put himself in arms; the adverse winds,
Whose leisure I have ftaid, have given him time
To land his legions all as foon as I:

His marches are expedient" to this town,
His forces ftrong, his foldiers confident.
With him along is come the mother-queen,

To cull the plots of beft advantages:] i. e. to mark such stations as might most over-awe the town. HENLEY.

8 A wonder, lady!] The wonder is only that Chatillon happened to arrive at the moment when Conftance mentioned him; which the French king, according to a fuperftition which prevails more or lefs in every mind agitated by great affairs, turns into a miraculous interpofition, or omen of good. JOHNSON.

—expedient-] Immediate, expeditious. JOHNSON.

So, in K. Henry VI. Part II:

"A breach, that craves a quick, expedient ftop." STEEVENS.

An Até, ftirring him to blood and ftrife;*
With her her niece, the lady Blanch of Spain;
With them a bastard of the king deceas'd: '
And all the unfettled humours of the land,—
Rash, inconfiderate, firy voluntaries,

With ladies' faces, and fierce dragons' fpleens,-
Have fold their fortunes at their native homes,
Bearing their birthrights proudly on their backs,+
To make a hazard of new fortunes here.
In brief, a braver choice of dauntless spirits,
Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er,'
Did never float upon the fwelling tide,

To do offence and fcath" in Chriftendom.

2 An Até, firring him, &c.] Até was the Goddess of Revenge. The player-editors read-an Ace. STEEVENS.

Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

This image might have been borrowed from the celebrated libel, called Leicefter's Commonwealth, originally published about the year 1584: She standeth like a fiend or fury, at the elbow of her Amadis, to firre him forward when occafion fhall ferve." STEEVENS. 3 With them a baftard of the king deceas'd:] The old copy, erroneously, reads-king's. STEEVENS.

This line, except the word with, is borrowed from the old play of King John, already mentioned. Our author should have written king, and fo the modern editors read. But there is certainly no corruption, for we have the fame phrafeology elsewhere. MALONE. It may as juftly be faid, that the fame error has been elsewhere repeated by the fame illiterate compofitors. STEEVENS. Bearing their birthrights, &c.] So, in King Henry VIII:

O, many

"Have broke their backs with laying manors on them." JOHNSON.

5 Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er,] Waft for wafted.

So again in this play:

"The iron of itself, though heat red hot

i. e. heated. STEEVENS.

6

-fcath-] Deftruction, harm. JOHNSON.

So, in How to chufe a good Wife from a Bad, 1602:

For thefe accounts, 'faith it shall scath thee something."

Again:

"And it fhall feath him fomewhat of my purfe." STEEVENS.

The interruption of their churlish drums

[Drums beat. Cuts off more circumftance: they are at hand, To parley, or to fight; therefore, prepare.

K. PHI. How much unlook'd for is this expedition!

AUST. By how much unexpected, by fo much
We must awake endeavour for defence;

For courage mounteth with occafion:
Let them be welcome then, we are prepar'd.

Enter King JOHN, ELINOR, BLANCH, the Baftard, PEMBROKE, and Forces.

K. JOHN. Peace be to France; if France in peace permit

Our juft and lineal entrance to our own!

If not; bleed France, and peace afcend to heaven! Whiles we, God's wrathful agent, do correct Their proud contempt that beat his peace to hea

ven.

K. PHI. Peace be to England; if that war re

turn

From France to England, there to live in peace!
England we love; and, for that England's fake,
With burden of our armour here we fweat:
This toil of ours fhould be a work of thine;
But thou from loving England art so far,
That thou haft underwrought his lawful king,
Cut off the fequence of pofterity,
Outfaced infant ftate, and done a rape
Upon the maiden virtue of the crown.

1 — underwrought-] i. e. underworked, undermined.

STEEVENS,

VOL. VIII.

D