Heaven, and our Lady gracious, hath it pleas'd
To fhine on my contemptible estate:*
Lo, whilft I waited on my tender lambs,
And to fun's parching heat display'd my cheeks,
God's mother deigned to appear to me;
And, in a vision full of majesty,'
Will'd me to leave my base vocation,
And free my country from calamity :
Her aid the promis'd, and affur'd fuccefs:
In complete glory fhe reveal'd herself;
And, whereas I was black and fwart before,
With those clear rays which the infus'd on me,
That beauty am I blefs'd with, which you fee.
Afk me what question thou canft poffible,
And I will anfwer unpremeditated:
My courage try by combat, if thou dar'st,
And thou shalt find that I exceed my fex.
Refolve on this: Thou shalt be fortunate,
If thou receive me for thy warlike mate.

CHAR. Thou haft aftonish'd me with thy high

terms;

Only this proof I'll of thy valour make,—
In fingle combat thou shalt buckle with me;

4 To Shine on my contemptible eftate:] So, in Daniel's Complaint of Rofamond, 1594:

66

thy king &c.

Lightens forth glory on thy dark eftate." STEEVENS. 5-a vifion full of majefty,] So, in The Tempeft: "This is a moft majestick vifion.” -." STEEVENS. which you fee.] Thus the fecond folio. The firft, injudiciously as well as redundantly,-which you may fee. STEEVENS.

6

Refolve on this:] i. e. be firmly perfuaded of it. So, Vol. X.

I am refolv'd,

"That Clifford's manhood lies upon his tongue."

STEEVENS.

And, if thou vanquisheft, thy words are true;
Otherwife, I renounce all confidence.

Puc. I am prepar'd: here is my keen-edg'd fword,

Deck'd with five flower-de-luces on each fide;" The which, at Touraine, in faint Katharine's church-yard,

Out of a deal of old iron I chofe forth.9

CHAR. Then come o'God's name, I fear no wo

man.

Puc. And, while I live, I'll ne'er fly from a

man.

[They fight. CHAR. Stay, ftay thy hands; thou art an Amazon, And fighteft with the fword of Deborah.

Puc. Chrift's mother helps me, elfe I were too weak.

CHAR. Whoe'er helps thee, 'tis thou that must help me :

2

Impatiently I burn with thy defire; *

8 Deck'd with five flower-de-luces, &c.] Old copy-fine; but we fhould read, according to Holinfhed,-five flower-de-luces.in a fecret place there among old iron, appointed the hir fword to be fought out and brought her, that with five floure-delices was graven on both fides," &c. STEEVENS.

The fame mistake having happened in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and in other places, I have not hefitated to reform the text, according to Mr. Steevens's fuggeftion. In the MSS. of the age of Queen Elizabeth, u and n are undiftinguishable. MALONE.

9 Out of a deal of old iron &c.] The old copy yet more redundantly-Out of a great deal &c. I have no doubt but the original line ftood, elliptically, thus:

Out a deal of old iron I chofe forth.

The phrafe of hofpitals is ftill an out door, not an out of door patient. STEEVENS.

2 Impatiently I burn with thy defire;] The amorous constitution of the Dauphin has been mentioned in the preceding play:

"Doing is activity, and he will still be doing." COLLINS.

My heart and hands thou haft at once subdu'd.
Excellent Pucelle, if thy name be so,
Let me thy fervant, and not fovereign, be;
'Tis the French Dauphin fueth to thee thus.
Puc. I must not yield to any rites of love,
For my profeffion's facred from above:
When I have chafed all thy foes from hence,
Then will I think upon a recompense.

CHAR. Mean time, look gracious on thy proftrate thrall.

REIG. My lord, methinks, is very long in talk. ALEN. Doubtlefs, he fhrives this woman to her fmock;

Elfe ne'er could he fo long protract his speech. REIG. Shall we difturb him, fince he keeps no mean?

ALEN. He may mean more than we poor men do know:

These women are fhrewd tempters with their tongues. REIG. My lord, where are you? what devise you on?

Shall we give over Orleans, or no?

Puc. Why, no, I say, distrustful recreants! Fight till the laft gafp; I will be your guard. CHAR. What she says, I'll confirm; we'll fight

it out.

Puc. Affign'd am I to be the English scourge. This night the fiege affuredly I'll raife: Expect faint Martin's fummer,' halcyon days,

The Dauphin in the preceding play is John, the elder brother of the prefent fpeaker: He died in 1416, the year after the battle of Agincourt. RITSON.

3 Expe& faint Martin's fummer,] That is, expect profperity after misfortune, like fair weather at Martlemas, after winter has begun.

JOHNSON.

Since I have entered into thefe wars.
Glory is like a circle in the water,
Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself,

Till, by broad fpreading, it difperfe to nought." With Henry's death, the English circle ends;

Dispersed are the glories it included.

Now am I like that proud insulting ship,
Which Cæfar and his fortune bare at once.'

4 Glory is like a circle in the water, Which never ceafeth to enlarge itself,

Till, by broad spreading, it difperfe to nought.] So, in Nofce Teipfum, a poem by Sir John Davies, 1599:

"As when a ftone is into water caft,

"One circle doth another circle make,

"Till the laft circle reach the bank at laft."

The fame image, without the particular application, may be found in Silius Italicus, Lib. XIII:

"Sic ubi perrumpfit ftagnantem calculus undam,
Exiguos format per prima volumina gyros,
"Mox tremulum vibrans motu glifcente liquorem,
"Multiplicat crebros finuati gurgitis orbes;
"Donec poftremo laxatis circulus oris,

"Contingat geminas patulo curvamine ripas." MALONE This was a favourite fimile with Pope. It is to be found alfa in Ariofto's Orlando Furiofo, Book VIII. ft. 63, of Sir John Har rington's Tranflation:

"As circles in a water cleare are spread,

"When funne doth shine by day, and moone by night,
Succeeding one another in a ranke,

"Till all by one and one do touch the banke."

I meet with it again in Chapman's Epiftle Dedicatorie, prefixed to his version of the Iliad:

-As in a spring,

"The plyant water, mov'd with any thing
"Let fall into it, puts her motion out
"In perfect circles, that moue round about

"The gentle fountaine, one another rayfing.'

And the fame image is much expanded by Sylvefter, the tranflator of Du Bartas, 3d part of 2d day of zd week. HOLT WHITE. slike that proud infulting ship,

This alludes to a

Which Cafar and his fortune bare at once.] paffage in Plutarch's Life of Julius Cæfar, thus tranflated by Sir

CHAR. Was Mahomet infpired with a dove?" Thou with an eagle art inspired then. Helen, the mother of great Conftantine, Nor yet faint Philip's daughters,' were like thee. Bright star of Venus, fall'n down on the earth, How may I reverently worship thee enough?

ALEN. Leave off delays, and let us raise the fiege.

REIG. Woman, do what thou canft to fave our honours ;

Drive them from Orleans, and be immortaliz❜d. CHAR. Presently we'll try:-Come, let's away

about it:

No prophet will I truft, if she prove false.

[Exeunt.

T. North: "Cæfar hearing that, ftraight difcovered himselfe unto the maifter of the pynnafe, who at the first was amazed when he faw him; but Cæfar, &c. faid unto him, Good fellow, be of good cheere, &c. and fear not, for thou haft Cæfar and his fortune with thee." STEEVENS.

6 Was Mahomet inspired with a dove?] Mahomet had a dove, "which he used to feed with wheat out of his ear; which dove, when it was hungry, lighted on Mahomet's fhoulder, and thruft its bill in to find its breakfaft; Mahomet perfuading the rude and fimple Arabians, that it was the Holy Ghost that gave him advice." See Sir Walter Raleigh's Hiftory of the World, Book I. Part 1. ch. vi. Life of Mahomet, by Dr. Prideaux. GREY.

Nor yet faint Philip's daughters,] Meaning the four daughters of Philip mentioned in the Acts. HANMER.

8 How may I reverently worship thee enough?] Perhaps this unmetrical line originally ran thus:

How may I reverence, worship thee enough?

The climax rifes properly, from reverence, to worship. STEEVENS.