Enter CHORUS. O, for a muse of fire, that would ascend Crouch for employment. But pardon, gentles all, Suppose, within the girdle of these walls I O, for a muse of fire, &c.] This goes, says Warburton, upon the notion of the Peripatetic system, which imagines several heavens one above another; the last and highest of which was one of fire. It alludes likewise to the aspiring nature of fire, which, by its levity, at the separation of the chaos, took the highest seat of all the elements. JOHNSON. 2 - princes to act, And monarchs to behold] Shakspeare does not seem to set distance enough between the performers and spectators. 3 Within this wooden O,] An allusion to the theatre where this history was exhibited, being, from its circular form, called The Globe. 4 the very casques,] The helmets. imaginary forces-] Imaginary for imaginative, or your powers of fancy. Active and passive words are by this author frequently confounded. JOHNSON. Are now confin'd two mighty monarchies, 6 Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth: For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings, Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times; Who, prologue-like, your humble patience pray, 6 And make imaginary puissance:] This shows that Shakspeare was fully sensible of the absurdity of showing battles on the theatre, which, indeed, is never done, but tragedy becomes farce. Nothing can be represented to the eye, but by something like it, and within a wooden O nothing very like a battle can be exhibited. KING HENRY V, ACT. I. SCENE I. London. An Ante-chamber in the King's Palace. Enter the Archbishop of Canterbury,' and Bishop of Ely. Cant. My lord, I'll tell you, that self bill is urg'd, Which, in the eleventh year o' the last king's reign Ely. But how, my lord, shall we resist it now? Would they strip from us; being valued thus,- of Canterbury,] Henry Chicheley, a Carthusian monk, recently promoted to the see of Canterbury. 8 Ely.] John Fordham, consecrated 1388; died 1426. A hundred alms-houses, right well supplied; A thousand pounds by the year: Thus runs the bill. Cant. "Twould drink the cup and all. Ely. But what prevention? Cant. The king is full of grace, and fair regard. And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him To envelop and contain celestial spirits. With such a heady current, scouring faults; So soon did lose his seat, and all at once, Ely. We are blessed in the change. You would desire, the king were made a prelate: You would say,-it hath been all-in-all his study: 9 Never came reformation in a flood,] Alluding to the method by which Hercules cleansed the famous stables, when he turned a river through them. Hercules still is in our author's head, when he mentions the Hydra. JOHNSON. ་ The air, a charter'd libertine, is still,' And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears, His companies unletter'd, rude, and shallow; Any retirement, any sequestration Ely. The strawberry grows underneath the nettle: And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best, Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality: And so the prince obscur'd his contemplation Cant. It must be so: for miracles are ceas'd; Ely. But, my good lord, 1 The air, &c.] This line is exquisitely beautiful. 2 So that the art and practick part of life-] He discourses with so much skill on all subjects, that the art and practice of life must be the mistress or teacher of his theorick; that is, that his theory must have been taught by art and practice; which, says he, is strange, since he could see little of the true art or practice among his loose companions, nor ever retired to digest his practice into theory. Art is used by the author for practice, as distinguished from science, or theory. JOHNSON. 3 companies-] is here used for companions. It is used by other authors of Shakspeare's age in the same sense. 4 - popularity.] i. e. plebeian intercourse; an unusual sense of the word. 5 crescive in his faculty.] Increasing in its proper power. |