272 And, all-admiring, with an inward wish You would defire, the king were made a prelate: have been copied from King James's prelates, fpeaking of their Solomon; when archbishop Whitgift, who, as an eminent writer fays, died foon afterwards, and probably doated then, at the HamptonCourt conference, declared himself verily perfuaded, that his facred majefty pake by the Spirit of God. And, in effect, this fcene was added after King James's acceffion to the crown: fo that we have no way of avoiding its being efteemed a compliment to him, but by fuppofing it a compliment to his bishops. WARBURTON. Why thefe lines fhould be divided from the reft of the speech and applied to King James, I am not able to conceive; nor why an opportunity fhould be fo eagerly fnatched to treat with contempt that part of his character which was the leaft contemptible. King James's theological knowledge was not inconfiderable. To prefide at difputations is not very fuitable to a king, but to underftand the questions is furely laudable. The poet, if he had James in his thoughts, was no fkilful encomiaft; for the mention of Harry's fkill in war, forced upon the remembrance of his audience the great deficiency of their prefent king; who yet with all his faults, and many faults he had, was fuch, that Sir Robert Cotton fays, he would be content that England should never have a better, provided that it should never have a worse. JOHNSON. Those who are folicitous that justice should be done to the theological knowledge of our British Solomon, may very easily furnish themfelves with fpecimens of it from a book entitled, Rex Platonicus, five de potentiffimi Principis Jacobi Britanniarum Regis ad illuftriffimam Academiam Oxonienfem adventu, Aug. 27, Anno 1605. In this performance we may still hear him reafoning in Divinity, Phyfick, Jurifprudence, and Philofophy. On the fecond of thefe fubjects he has not failed to exprefs his well-known enmity to tobacco, and throws out many a royal witticifm on the "Medici Nicotianifta," and "Tobacconista" of the age; infomuch, that Ifaac Wake, the chronicler of his triumphs at Oxford, declares, that "nemo nifi iniquiffimus rerum æftimator, bonique publici peffimè invidus, Jacobo noftro recufabit immortalem gloriæ aram figere, qui ipfe adeo mirabilem in Theologiæ, Jurifprudentiæ, et Medicina arcanis peritiam eamque planè divinitùs affecutus eft, ut" &c. STEEVENS. Turn him to any caufe of policy, The Gordian knot of it he will unloofe, Which is a wonder, how his grace thould glean it, The air, &c.] This line is exquifitely beautiful. JOHNSON. The fame thought occurs in As you like it, A&t II. fc. vii: I must have liberty 66 "Withal, as large a charter as the wind, "To blow on whom I please." MALONE. 5 So that the art and practick part of life-] He difcourses with fo much skill on all fubjects, that the art and practice of life must be the mistress or teacher of his theorick; that is, that his theory muft have been taught by art and practice; which, fays he, is ftrange, fince he could fee little of the true art or practice among his loofe companions, nor ever retired to digeft his practice into theory. Art is ufed by the author for practice, as diftinguished from Science or theory. JOHNSON. 6 to this theorick:] Theorick is what terminates in speculation. So, in The Valiant Welshman, 1615: 66 fon Caradoc, " 'Tis yet unfit that, on this fudden warning, Bookish theorick is mentioned in Othello. STEEVENS. In our author's time, this word was always used where we now afe theory. See Vol. VI. p. 324, n. 8. MALONE. 7 companies is here ufed for companions. It is ufed by other authors of Shakspeare's age in the same sense. See Vol. V. p. 18, n. 4. MALONE. Any retirement, any fequeftration From open haunts and popularity." ELY.The ftrawberry grows underneath the nettle; And wholesome berries thrive, and ripen best, Neighbour'd by fruit of bafer quality: And fo the prince obfcur'd his contemplation Under the veil of wildnefs; which, no doubt, Grew like the fummer grafs, fastest by night, Unfeen, yet crefcive in his faculty." CANT. It muft be fo: for miracles are ceas'd; And therefore we muft needs admit the means, How things are perfected. ELr. But, my good lord, CANT. He feems indifferent; Or, rather, fwaying more upon our part,' 7 2 —popularity.] i. e. plebeian intercourfe; an unusual sense of the word: though perhaps the fame idea was meant to be communicated by it in King Henry IV. Part I. where King Richard II. is reprefented as having "Enfeoff'd himself to popularity." STEEVENS. 8 The Atrawberry &c.] i. e. the wild fruit fo called, that grows in the woods. STEEVENS. 9 crefcive in his faculty.] Increafing in its proper power. Grew like the fummer grafs, fafteft by night, Unfeen, yet crefcive in his faculty.] "Crefcit occulto velut arbor ævo "Fama Marcelli." JOHNSON. Crefcive is a word used by Drant, in his tranflation of Horace's Art of Poetry, 1567: "As lufty youths of crefcive age doe flourishe freshe and grow." STEEVENS. 2fwaying more upon our part,] Swaying is inclining. So, in King Henry VI. Part III: Now ways it this way, like a mighty fea,"Now ways it that way." MALONE. Than cherishing the exhibiters against us: And in regard of caufes now in hand, Did to his predeceffors part withal. ELY. How did this offer feem receiv'd, my lord? CANT. With good acceptance of his majesty; Save, that there was not time enough to hear (As, I perceiv'd, his grace would fain have done,) The feverals, and unhidden paffages,' Of his true titles to fome certain dukedoms; And, generally, to the crown and feat of France, Deriv'd from Edward, his great grandfather. ELY. What was the impediment that broke this off? CANT. The French ambaffador, upon that inftant, Crav'd audience: and the hour, I think, is come, To give him hearing: Is't four o'clock? Eur. It is. CANT. Then go we in, to know his embaffy; Which I could, with a ready guefs, declare, Before the Frenchman fpeak a word of it. Eur. I'll wait upon you; and I long to hear it. [Exeunt. 3 The feverals, and unhidden paffages,] This line I fufpect of corruption, though it may be fairly enough explained: the passages of his titles are the lines of fucceffion by which his claims defcend. Unhidden is open, clear. JOHNSON. I believe we should read, feveral, inftead of feverals. M. MASON. The fame. SCENE II. A Room of State in the fame. Enter King HENRY, GLOSTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, WARWICK, WESTMORELAND, and Attendants. K. HEN. Where is my gracious lord of Canterbury? EXE. Not here in presence. K. HEN. Send for him, good uncle.+ WEST. Shall we call in the ambaffador, my liege?" K. HEN. Not yet, my coufin; we would be refolv'd, Before we hear him, of fome things of weight, That task our thoughts, concerning us and France. 6 Enter the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop of Ely. CANT. God, and his angels, guard your facred throne, And make you long become it! 4 Send for him, good uncle.] The perfon here addreffed was Thomas Beaufort, earl of Dorfet, who was half-brother to King Henry IV. being one of the fons of John of Gaunt, by Katharine Swynford. Shakspeare is a little too early in giving him the title of duke of Exeter; for when Harfleur was taken, and he was appointed governour of the town, he was only earl of Dorfet. He was not made duke of Exeter till the year after the battle of Agincourt, Nov. 14, 1416. MALONE. Perhaps Shakspeare confounded this character with that of John Holland, duke of Exeter, who was married to Elizabeth the king's aunt. He was executed at Plashey in 1400: but with this circumftance our author might have been unacquainted. See Remarks &c. on the last edition of Shakspeare [i. e. that of 1778] p. 239. STEEVENS. 5 Shall we call in &c.] Here began the old play. POPE. task-] Keep bufied with fcruples and laborious difquifitions. JOHNSON. 6 |