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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 highness claiming from the female;
And rather choose to hide them in a net,
Than amply to imbare their crooked titles *
Ufurp'd from you and your progenitors.

grandfon of Queen Ifabel, the wife of Philip II. king of France, was Lewis the Ninth. He was the fon of Lewis VIII. by the Lady Blanch of Caftile. In Hall's Chronicle, HENRY V. folio iiii. b. (which Holinfhed has clofely followed, except in this particular error, occafioned by either his own or his printer's inaccuracy,) Lewis is rightly called the Ninth. Here therefore we have a decifive proof that our author's guide in all his hiftorical plays was Holinfhed, and not Hall. See n. 8, p. 280. I have however left the error uncorrected, on the fame principle on which fimilar errors in Julius Cæfar, into which Shakspeare was led by the old tranflation of Plutarch, have been fuffered to remain undisturbed; and also, because it ascertains a fact of fome importance. MALONE.

3 King Lewis his fatisfaction,] He had told us just above, that Lewis could not wear the crown with a fafe confcience," till fatisfy'd," &c. THEOBALD.

-imbare their crooked titles-] Mr. Pope reads: Than openly imbrace

But where is the antithefis betwixt hide in the preceding line, and imbrace in this? The two old folios read:

Than amply to imbarre

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

CANT. The fin upon my head, dread fovereign! For in the book of Numbers is it writ,When the fon dies, let the inheritance

We certainly muft read, as Mr. Warburton advised me:
Than amply to imbare-

lay open, difplay to view. I am furprized 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 4to. 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 quarto, 1600, reads-imbace.

I have met with no example of the word-imbare. To unbar is to open, and might have been the word fet down by the poet, in oppofition to-bar.

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So, in the firft fcene of Timon, the poet fays, "I'll unbolt to you.' To embar, however, feems, from the following paffage in the firft book of Stanyhurft's tranflation of Virgil, 1583, to fignify to break or cut off abruptly:

"Heere Venus embarring his tale," &c.

Yet, as to bar, in Much Ado about Nothing, is to strengthen,- that is ftronger made,

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"Which was before barr'd up with ribs of iron,”

fo, amply to unbar, may mean to weaken by an open display of invalidity.

As imbare, however, is not unintelligible, and is defended by the following able criticks, I have left it in the text. STEEVENS.

I have no doubt but imbare is the right reading. Though the editor who has adopted it, feems to argue against it, it makes the fenfe more clear than any of the other readings propofed. Imbare in the laft line, is naturally oppofed to hide in that which precedes, and it differs but little from the reading of the quarto 1600. The objection that there is no fuch word as imbare, can have but little weight. It is a word fo fairly deduced, and fo eafily understood, that an author of much lefs celebrity than Shakspeare, had a right to coin it. M. MASON.

In the folio the word is fpelt imbarre. Imbare is, I believe, the true reading. It is formed like impaint, impawn, and many other fimilar words used by Shakspeare. MALONE.

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!

5 Whiles his most mighty father on a bill

Stood Smiling, &c.] This alludes to the battle of Creffy, as defcribed by Holinfhed: "The earle of Northampton and others fent to the king, where he food aloft on a windmill-bill; the king demanded if his fonne were flaine, hurt, or felled to the earth. No, faid the knight that brought the meffage, but he is fore matched. Well, (faid the king,) returne to him and them that fent you, and faie to them, that they fend no more to me for any adventure that falleth, fo long as my fon is alive; for I will that this journeye be his, with the honour thereof. The flaughter of the French was great and lamentable at the fame battle, fought the 26th August, 1346." Holinfhed, Vol. II. p. 372. Col. i.

BowLE.

6 and cold for action!] This epithet all the commentators have paffed by, and I am unable to explain. I cannot but fufpect it to be corrupt. A defire to distinguish themselves feems to merit the name of ardour, rather than the term here given to it.—If cold be the true reading, their coldness fhould arife from inaction; and therefore the meaning muft be, cold for want of action. So Lyly, in Euphues and his England, 1581: "- if he were too long for the bed, Procruftes cut off his legs, for catching cold,” i. e. for fear of catching cold. MALONE.

I always regarded the epithet cold as too clear to need explanation. The foldiers were eager to warm themselves by action, and were cold for want of it. A more recondite meaning indeed may

ELr. Awake remembrance of these 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.

WEST. They know, your grace hath caufe, and means, and might;

So hath your highness; never king of England Had nobles richer, and more loyal fubjects; Whose hearts have left their bodies here in England, And lie pavilion'd in the fields of France.

CANT. O, let their bodies follow, my dear liege,

be found; a meaning which will be beft illuftrated by a line in Strada's imitation of Statius:

Extremofque artus animofum frigus habebat. STEEVENS.
They know, your grace hath caufe, and means, and might ;
So hath your highness;] We fhould read:

— your race had cause,

which is carrying on the fenfe of the concluding words of Exeter: As did the former lions of your blood;

meaning Edward III. and the Black Prince. WARBURTON.

I do not fee but the prefent reading may ftand as I have pointed it. JOHNSON.

Warburton's amendment is unneceffary; but furely we'should point the paffage thus:

They know your grace hath caufe; and means, and might,
So bath your highness;

Meaning that the king had not only a good caufe, but force to fupport it. So, in this place, has the force of alfo, or likewife.

M. MASON.

So hath your highness;] i. e. your highness hath indeed what they think and know you have. MALONE.

With blood,' and fword, and fire, to win your right:
In aid whereof, we of the fpiritualty

Will raise your highnefs fuch a mighty fum,
As never did the clergy at one time

Bring in to any of your ancestors.

K. HEN. We must not only arm to invade the
French;

But lay down our proportions to defend
Against the Scot, who will make road upon us
With all advantages.

CANT.They of those marches, gracious fovereign, Shall be a wall fufficient to defend

Our inland from the pilfering borderers.

K. HEN. We do not mean the courfing fnatchers only,

But fear the main intendment of the Scot,'
Who hath been still a giddy neighbour to us;

9 With blood, &c.] Old copy-bloods. Corrected in the third folio. MALONE.

This and the foregoing line Dr. Warburton gives to Westmoreland, but with fo little reafon that I have continued them to Canterbury. The credit of old copies, though not great, is yet more than nothing. JOHNSON.

2 They of thofe marches,] The marches are the borders, the limits, the confines. Hence the Lords Marchers, i. e. the lords prefidents of the marches, &c. So, in the first canto of Drayton's Barons' Wars:

3

"When now the marchers well upon their way," &c. STEEVENS.

-the main intendment of the Scot,] Intendment is here perhaps used for intention, which in our author's time fignified extreme exertion. The main intendment may, however, mean, the general difpofition. MALONE.

Main intendment, I believe, fignifies-exertion in a body. The king oppofes it to the lefs confequential inroads of detached parties.

STEEVENS.

Agiddy neighbour-] That is, inconftant, changeable.

JOHNSON.

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