Phil. Brother by th' mother's fide, give me your hand; My father gave me honour, yours gave land. Now bleffed be the hour, by night or day, When I was got, Sir Robert was away. Eli. The very fpirit of Plantagenet! I am thy grandam; Richard, call me fo. Phil. Madam, by chance, but not by truth; what tho'? Something about, a little from the right, In at the window, or elfe o'er the hatch: K.John. Go, Faulconbridge, now haft thou thy defire; Phil. Brother, adieu; good fortune come to thee, For thou was got i'th' way of honefty. [Exe. all but Phil. A foot of honour better than I was, But many a many foot of land the worfe! For your converfing. Now your traveller, (4) My piked man of countries.] Thus Mr. Pope exhibits this paf fage, and interprets the word, formal, bearded. The old copies give it us, picked, by a flight corruption in the fpelling; but the Author certainly defign'd, picqued; (from the French verb, fe piquer) i, e. touchy, tart, apprehenfive, upon his guard. At At your employment, at your fervice, Sir: No, Sir, fays queftion, I, fweet Sir, at yours, And talking of the Alps and Apennines, The Pyrenean and the river Po; It draws towards fupper in conclufion, fo. And fits the mounting fpirit like myself: (Saving in dialogue-] In this fine fpeech Faulconbridge would fhew the advantages and prerogatives of men of worship. He particularly obferves, that he has the traveller at command. (And here we muft remember the time our Author wrote in; when travellers, by the daily discovery of new worlds, were in the greatest estimation.) At the first intimation ofhis defire to hear strange ftories, the traveller complies, and the answer comes as easy as an a, b, c, book. Now, Sir, fays the Knight, this is my question:-The over-ready traveller will fcarce give him leave to make it, but, e'er anfwer knows what question would,-What then? Why, according to the ftupidity of the hitherto receiv'd reading, it grows towards fupper-time. And is not this wor-fhipful fociety? to fpend all the time betwixt dinner and fupper, before either of them knows what the other would be at. So abfurdly is the fenfe vitiated, by putting the three lines in a parenthefis; which, we may fuppofe, was firft occafion'd by their blunder in the word, fawing, inftead of the true word, ferving. Now my emendation gives the text this turn; " And e'er answer knows what the queftion would "be at, my traveller ferves in his dialogue of compliment, which is "his ftanding difh at all tables, then he comes to talk of the Alpes "and Apennines, &c. and by the time this difcourfe concludes," it draws towards fupper." All now here is fenfe and humour; and the phrafe of ferving in is a very humorous one, to fignify that this was his worship's fecond courfe. Mr, Warburton. What What woman-) poft is this? hath fhe no husband, Enter Lady Faulconbridge, and James Gurney. Lady. Where is that flave, thy brother? where is he, That holds in chafe mine honour up and down? Phil. My brother Robert, old Sir Robert's fon, Colbrand the giant, that fame mighty man, Is it Sir Robert's fon, that you feek fo? Lady. Sir Robert's fon? ay, thou unrev'rend boy, Sir Robert's fon: why fcorn'ft thou at Sir Robert? He is Sir Robert's fon; and fo art thou. Phil. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave awhile Phil. Philip! Ipare me, James; (6) There's toys abroad; anon I'll tell thee more. [Ex.Jam. Sir Robert might have eat his part in me (6) Philip, fparrow, James.] Thus the old copies; and Mr. Pope has attempted to glofs this reading by telling us, that Philip is the common name for a tame sparrow. So that then Faulconbridge would fay, Call me Philip? You may as well call me Sparrow.- -The allufion is very mean and trifling: and every body, I believe, will chufe to embrace Mr. Warburton's emendation, which I have inferted into the text. Spare me, and forbear me, it may be observed, are our Au thor's accuftom'd phrases; either when any one wants another to leave him, or would be rid of a difpleafing fubject. So, in the Tempeft, Alonso, when his companions teaze him with unfeasonable difcourfe, fays; I pr'ythee, Spare. So, Imogen, in Cymbeline, when fhe wants to get rid of CLOTEN; I pray you, fpare me; faith, I shall unfold equal discourtesy To your beft kindness. So in Anthony and Cleopatra, when he difmiffes the messenger, that brings an account of his wife's death: Forbear me; There's a great spirit gone! And, in Measure for Measure, when the Duke would have Mariana leave him; I fhall crave your forbearance a little; may be, I will call upon you anon. Could Could he get me? Sir Robert could not do it; Sir Robert never holpe to make this leg. Lady. Haft thou confpir'd with thy brother too, I have disclaim'd Sir Robert, and my land; Then, good my mother, let me know my father ; Lady. King Richard Coeur-de-lion was thy father; (7) Knight, Knight,- good mother, Bafilifco like.] Thus muft this paffage be pointed; and, to come at the humour of it, I must clear up an old circumftance of Stage-history. Faulconbridge's words here carry a conceal'd piece of fatire on a ftupid Drama of that age, printed in 1599, and call'd Soliman and Perfeda. In this piece there is the character of a bragging cowardly Knight, call'd Bafilifco. His pretenfion to valour is fo blown and feen thro', that Pifton, a buffoon fervant in the Play, jumps upon his back, and will not difengage him, till he makes Bafilifco fwear upon his dugeon dagger to the contents, and in the terms, he dictates to him: as, for inftance. Baf. O, I fwear, I swear. Pift. By the contents of this blade, Baf. By the contents of this blade, Baf. I, the aforefaid Bafilifco, Knight, good fellow, knight, knight, Pift. Knave, good fellow, knave, knave, So that 'tis clear, our Poet is fneering at this Play; and makes Pbilip, when his mother calls him knave, throw off that reproach, by humorously laying claim to his new dignity of knight bood; as Bafilifce arrogantly infifts on his title of Knight, in the paffage above quoted. This old play is an execrable bad one; and, I fuppofe, was fufficiently exploded in the representation: which might make this circumftance so well known, as to become the butt for a stage-sarcasm. Thou Thou art the iffue of my dear offence, And they fhall fay when Richard me begot, If thou hadst faid him nay, it had been fin; Who fays, it was, he lies; I fay, 'twas not. [Exeunt. SCENE, before the Walls of Angiers in France. Enter Philip King of France, Lewis the Dauphin, the Archduke of Auftria, Constance, and Arthur. LEWIS. Bartbur that great fore-runner of thy blood Richard, that robb'd the lion of his heart, By this brave Duke came early to his grave: At our importance hither is he come, And |