The accent of his tongue affecteth him. K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his parts, And finds them perfect Richard. Sirrah, fpeak, What doth move you to claim your brother's land? Phil. Because he hath a half-face, like my father, With that half-face would he have all my land? A half-fac'd groat, five hundred pound a year! Rob. My gracious Liege, when that my father liv'd, Your brother did imploy my father much ; Phil. Well, Sir, by this you cannot get my land. Your tale must be, how he imploy'd my mother. Rob. And once dispatch'd him in an embaffie To Germany; there with the Emperor To treat of high affairs touching that time. Th' advantage of his abfence took the King, And in the mean time fojourn'd at my father's; Where, how he did prevail, I fhame to speak, 6 With half that Face.] But why with half that Face? There is no Question but the Poet wrote, as I have restored the Text, With that half-face- Mr. Pope, perhaps, will be angry with me for discovering an Anachronism of our Poet's. in the next Line; where he alludes to a Coin not ftruck till the Year 1504, in the Reign of King Henry VII. viz. a Groat, which, as well as the half Groat, bare but half Faces imprefs'd. Vide Stow's Survey of London, p. 47. Hollingthed, Cambden's Remains, &c. The Poet fneers at the meagre fharp Vifage of the elder Brother, by comparing him to a Silver Groat, that bore the King's Face in Profile, fo fhew'd but half the Face: The Groats of all our Kings of England, and, indeed, all their other Coins of Silver, one or two only excepted, had a full Face crown'd; till Henry VII. at the Time above-mentioned, coined Groats and half Groats, as alfo fome Shillings, with half Faces, that is, Faces in Frofile, as all our Coin has now. The first Groats of king Henry VIII. were like thefe of his Father; though afterwards he returned to the broad Faces again. These Groats, with the Impreffion in Profile, are undoubtedly here alluded to: though, as I faid, the Poet is knowingly guilty of an Anachronifm in it: for, in the Time of King John there were no Groats at all: they being firft, as far as appears, coined in the Reign of King Edward II, THEOBALD. Dd 4 But But truth is truth; large lengths of feas and shores Full fourteen weeks before the course of time. K. John. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate; Phil. Of no more force to difpoffefs me, Sir, Than was his will to get me, as I think. Eli. Whether hadit thou rather be a Faulconbridge, And, like thy brother, to enjoy thy land: Or the reputed fon of Caur-de-lion, Lord of thy prefence, and no land befide? 7 This concludes.] This is a decifive argument. As your father, if he liked him, could not have been forced to refign him, fo, not liking him, he is not at liberty to reject him. 8 Lord of THY prefence, and no land befide?] Lord of the And I had his, Sir Robert his, like him; And if my legs were too fuch riding rods, My arms fuch eel-fkins ftuft; my face fo thin, That in my ear I durft not stick a rofe, Left men fhould fay, Look, where three farthings goes! thy prefence can fignify only, Mafter of thyself; and it is a ftrange expreffion to fignify even that. However that he might be, without parting with his land. We should read, Lord of THE prefence, i. e. Prince of the Blood. WARBURTON. Lord of thy prefence may fignify fomething more diftinct than mafter of thyself. It means mafter of that dignity, and grandeur of appearance, that may fufficiently diftinguish thee from the vulgar without the help of fortune. Lord of his prefence apparently fignifies, great in his own perfon, and is used in this fenfe by King John in one of the following fcenes. three-farthings goes! ] In this very obfcure paffage our Poet is anticipating the Date of another Coin; humorously to rally a thin face, eclipfed, as it were, by a full-blown Roje. We must obferve, to explain this Allufion, that Queen Elizabeth was the firft, and indeed the only, Prince, who coined in England three-half-pence, and threefarthing Pieces. She at one and the fame Time, coined Shillings, Six-pences, Groats, Three-pences, Two-pences, Three-halfpence, Pence, Three-faithings, and Half-pence. And thefe Pieces all had her Head, and were alternately with the Rofe behind, and without the Reje. The shilling, Groat, Two-pence, Penny, and Half penny had it not: The other intermediate Coins, viz. the Six-pence, Three-per.ce, Three-half-pence, and Threefarthings had the Refe. THEOBALD. * That in mine ear I durft not fti k a rofe.] The ticking Rofes about them was then all the court-fashion, as appears from this paffage of the Confeffion Catholique du S. de Sancy, 1. 2. c. 1. Je luy ay appris à mettre des ROSES par tous les coins, i. e. in every place about him, fays the Speaker, of one to whom he had taught all the court-fashions. WARBURTON. And And to his fhape were heir to all this land; } Eli. I like thee well. Wilt thou forfake thy fortune, Bequeath thy land to him, and follow me? I am a foldier, and now bound to France. Phil. Brother, take you my land, I'll take my Your face hath got five hundred pound a year, Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me thither. Phil. Philip, my Liege, fo is my name begun; K. John. From henceforth bear his name, whole Kneel thou down Philip, but rife up more great; Phil. Brother by th' mother's fide, give me your My father gave me honour, yours gave land. I am thy grandam; Richard, call me fo. 2 Phil. Madam, by chance, but not by truth; what tho'? 2 Madam, by chance, but not by truth; what tho'? I am your grandfon, Madam, by chance, but not by honefly-what then? Something about, a little from, &c] This fpeech compofed of allufive and proverbial fen Some tences, is obfcure. I am, fays the spritely knight, your grandJon, a little irregularly, but every man cannot get what he wishes the legal way. He that dares nt go about his designs by day must make his motions in the might; be, to whom the door is fhut, mut 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; A landless Knight makes thee a landed 'Squire. Come, Madam, and come, Richard; we must speed For France, for France; for it is more than need. Phil. Brother, adieu; good fortune come to thee, For thou was got i'th' way of honesty. [Exeunt all but Philip. SCENE III. A foot of honour better than I was, Godamercy, fellow; For your converfing. Now your traveller, muft climb the window, or leap Now your traveller.] It is faid in All's we'l, that ends well, that a traveller is a good thing after dinn r. In that age of newly excited curiosity, one of the entertainments at great tables feems to have been the difcourfe of a traveller. 5 He and his tooth-pick.] It has been already remarked, that to pick the tooth, and wear a piqued beard, were, in that time, marks of a man affecting foreign fashions, And |