And all for her; A plague upon her!

ELI. Thou unadvised scold, I can produce

A will, that bars the title of thy son.

CONST. Ay, who doubts that? a will! a wicked will;

A woman's will: a canker'd grandam's will!

K. PHI. Peace, lady; pause, or be more tempe

rate :

It ill beseems this presence, to cry aim
To these ill-tuned repetitions".-

Some trumpet summon hither to the walls
These men of Angiers; let us hear them speak,
Whose title they admit, Arthur's or John's.

beadle to her sin, or executioner of the punishment annexed to it. HENLEY.

9 It ill beseems this presence, to CRY AIM

To these ill-tuned repetitions.] Dr. Warburton has well observed, on one of the former plays, that to "cry aim" is to encourage. I once thought it was borrowed from archery; and that aim! having been the word of command, as we now say present! to cry aim had been to incite notice, or raise attention. But I rather think that the old word of applause was J'aime, I love it, and that to applaud was to cry J'aime, which the English, not easily pronouncing Je, sunk into aime, or aim. Our exclamations of applause are still borrowed, as bravo and encore. JOHNSON.

Dr. Johnson's first thought, I believe, is best. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Love's Cure, or The Martial Maid:

"To this against myself?"

Again, in Tarlton's Jests, 1611: "The people had much ado to keep peace but Bankes and Tarleton had like to have squared, and the horse by, to give aime." Again, in Churchyard's Charge, 1580, p. 8, b:

"Yet he that stands, and giveth aime,

"Maie judge what shott doeth lose the game; "What shooter beats the marke in vaine, "Who shooteth faire, who shooteth plaine." Again, in our author's Merry Wives of Windsor, where Ford says: 66 and to these violent proceedings all my neighbours shall cry aim." See vol. viii. p. 98, n. 7. STEEVENS.

Trumpets sound. Enter Citizens upon the walls. 1 CIT. Who is it, that hath warn'd us to the

walls?

K. PHI. 'Tis France, for England.

K. JOHN. England, for itself: You men of Angiers, and my loving subjects,— K. PHI. You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's subjects,

Our trumpet call'd you to this gentle parle.

K. JOHN. For our advantage;-Therefore, hear us first 1.

1

These flags of France, that are advanced here
Before the eye and prospect of your town,
Have hither march'd to your endamagement;
The cannons have their bowels full of wrath:
And ready mounted are they, to spit forth
Their iron indignation 'gainst your walls:
All preparation for a bloody siege,

3

And merciless proceeding by these French, Confront your city's eyes, your winking gates 3 ; And, but for our approach, those sleeping stones, That as a waist do girdle you about,

By the compulsion of their ordnance

By this time from their fixed beds of lime
Had been dishabited, and wide havock made

If we For OUR advantage ;-Therefore, hear us first.] read-" For your advantage," it will be a more specious reason for interrupting Philip. TYRWHitt.

3

2 CONFRONT your city's eyes,] The old copy reads-Comfort, &c. Mr. Rowe made this necessary change. STEEVENS. your WINKING gates ;] i. e. gates hastily closed from an apprehension of danger. So, in King Henry IV. Part II. : "And winking leap'd into destruction." MALONE. So, in Old Fortunatus, 1600: "Whether it were lead or latten that hasp'd those winking casements, I know not," STEEVENS. 4- dishabited,] i. e. dislodged, violently removed from their places a word, I believe, of our author's coinage. STEEVENS,

5

For bloody power to rush upon your peace.
But, on the sight of us, your lawful king,
Who painfully, with much expedient march,
Have brought a countercheck before your gates,
To save unscratch'd your city's threaten'd cheeks,-
Behold, the French, amaz'd, vouchsafe a parle :
And now, instead of bullets wrapp'd in fire,
To make a shaking fever in your walls,

They shoot but calm words, folded up in smoke,
To make a faithless error in your ears:

Which trust accordingly, kind citizens,
And let us in, your king; whose labour'd spirits,
Forwearied' in this action of swift speed,

Crave harbourage within your city walls.

K. PHI. When I have said, make answer to us both.

Lo, in this right hand, whose protection
Is most divinely vow'd upon the right
Of him it holds, stands young Plantagenet;
Son to the elder brother of this man,

And king o'er him, and all that he enjoys:
For this down-trodden equity, we tread

In warlike march these greens before your town;
Being no further enemy to you,

Than the constraint of hospitable zeal,
In the relief of this oppressed child,
Religiously provokes. Be pleased then

5

a COUNTERCHECK-] This, I believe, is one of the ancient terms used in the game of chess. So, in Mucedorus, 1598: "Post hence thyself, thou counterchecking trull."

STEEVENS.

6 They shoot but calm WORDS, FOLDED UP IN SMOKE,] So, in our author's Rape of Lucrece :

"This helpless smoke of words, doth me no right."

MALONE.

7 Forwearied-] i. e. worn out, Sax. So, Chaucer, in his Romaunt of the Rose, speaking of the mantle of Avarice:

"And if it were forwerid, she

To pay that duty, which you truly owe,

8

To him that owes it ; namely, this young prince:
And then our arms, like to a muzzled bear,
Save in aspéct, have all offence seal'd up;
Our cannons' malice vainly shall be spent
Against the invulnerable clouds of heaven;
And, with a blessed and unvex'd retire,

With unhack'd swords, and helmets all unbruis'd,
We will bear home that lusty blood again,
Which here we came to spout against your town,
And leave your children, wives, and you, in peace.
But if you fondly pass our proffer'd offer,
'Tis not the roundure 9 of your old-fac'd walls
Can hide you from our messengers of war;
Though all these English, and their discipline,
Were harbour'd in their rude circumference.
Then, tell us, shall your city call us lord,
In that behalf which we have challeng'd it?

8 To him that owes it;] Owes is here, as in other books of our author's time, used for own. MALONE.

See our author and his contemporaries, passim. So, in Othello: that sweet sleep

66

"That thou ow'dst yesterday." STEEVENS.

This use of the word continued till the time of Charles II. I am possessed of a volume containing Legh's Accedens of Armory, and Bossewell's Works of Armorie, bound up together, which is ascertained to have been formerly the property of Randle Holme (I suppose the antiquary), by these whimsical lines written in a flyleaf at the beginning:

"Randle Holme this book doth owe,

"William Holme the same doth knowe;

"R. Holme junier will testefie,

"That William Holme doth not lye." BOSWELL.

9 "Tis not the ROUNDURE, &c.] Roundure means the same as the French rondeur, i. e. the circle.

So, in All's Lost by Lust, a tragedy by Rowley, 1633 :

66

will she meet our arms

"With an alternate roundure?"

Again, in Shakspeare's 21st Sonnet:

66

all things rare,

"That heaven's air in this huge rondure hems."

STEEVENS.

Or shall we give the signal to our rage,
And stalk in blood to our possession ?

1 CIT. In brief, we are the king of England's subjects;

For him, and in his right, we hold this town. K. JOHN. Acknowledge then the king, and let me in.

1 CIT. That can we not: but he that proves the king,

To him will we prove loyal; till that time,
Have we ramm'd up our gates against the world.
K. JOHN. Doth not the crown of England prove
the king?

And, if not that, I bring you witnesses,

Twice fifteen thousand hearts of England's breed,BAST. Bastards, and else.

K. JOHN. To verify our title with their lives. K. PHI. As many, and as well-born bloods as those,

BAST. Some bastards too.

K. PHI. Stand in his face, to contradict his

claim.

1 CIT. Till you compound whose right is worthiest,

We, for the worthiest, hold the right from both. K. JOHN. Then God forgive the sin of all those souls,

That to their everlasting residence,

Before the dew of evening fall, shall fleet,

In dreadful trial of our kingdom's king!

K. PHI. Amen, Amen !-Mount, chevaliers to arms!

BAST. St. George,—that swing'd the dragon, and
e'er since,

Sits on his horseback at mine hostess' door,
Teach us some fence!-Sirrah, were I at home,
At your den, sirrah, [TOAUSTRIA.] with your lioness,