A hundred alms-houses, right well supplied; A thousand pounds by the year: Thus runs the bill. Cant. 'Twould drink the cup and all. Ely. But what prevention? Cant. The king is full of grace, and fair regard. Ely. And a true lover of the holy church. Cant. The courses of his youth promis'd it not. And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him; To envelop and contain celestial spirits. With such a heady current, scouring faults; So soon did lose his seat, and all at once, Ely. And, all-admiring, with an inward wish You would desire, the king were made a prelate: You would say,-it hath been all-in-all his study : Turn him to any cause of policy, The Gordian knot of it he will unloose, • Never came reformation in a flood,] Alluding to the method by which Hercules cleansed the famous stables, when he turned a river through them. Hercules still is in our author's head, when he mentions the Hydra. JOHNSON. The air, a charter'd libertine, is still,' Which is a wonder, how his grace should glean it, His companies3 unletter'd, rude, and shallow; Any retirement, any sequestration Ely. The strawberry grows underneath the nettle; And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best, Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality: And so the prince obscur'd his contemplation Cant. It must be so: for miracles are ceas'd; Ely. But, my good lord, How now for mitigation of this bill Urg'd by the commons? Doth his majesty The air, &c.] This line is exquisitely beautiful. 2 So that the art and practick part of life-] He discourses with so much skill on all subjects, that the art and practice of life must be the mistress or teacher of his theorick; that is, that his theory must have been taught by art and practice; which, says he, is strange, since he could see little of the true art or practice among his loose companions, nor ever retired to digest his practice into theory. Art is used by the author for practice, as distinguished from science or theory. JOHNSON. 3 companies] is here used for companions. It is used by other authors of Shakspeare's age in the same sense. popularity.] i. e. plebeian intercourse; an unusual sense of the word. 5 crescive in his faculty.] Increasing in its proper power. Incline to it, or no? Cant. He seems indifferent; Or, rather, swaying more upon our part, And in regard of causes now in hand, Ely. How did this offer seem receiv'd, my lord? Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms; Ely. What was the impediment that broke this off? Cant. The French ambassador, upon that instant, Crav'd audience: and the hour, I think, is come, To give him hearing: Is it four o'clock? Ely. It is. Cant. Then go we in, to know his embassy; Which I could, with a ready guess, declare, Before the Frenchman speak a word of it. Ely. I'll wait upon you; and I long to hear it. [Exeunt. The severals, and unhidden passages,] This line I suspect of corruption, though it may be fairly enough explained: the passages of his titles are the lines of succession by which his claims descend. Unhidden is open, clear. JOHNSON. The same. SCENE II. A Room of State in the same. Enter King HENRY, GLOSTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, WARWICK, WESTMORELAND, and Attend ants. 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 ambassador, my liege? K. Hen. Not yet, my cousin; we would be resolv'd, Before we hear him, of some things of weight, That task' our thoughts concerning us and France. Enter the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop of Ely. Cant. God, and his angels, guard your sacred throne, And make you long become it! K. Hen. Sure, we thank you, My learned lord, we pray you to proceed; And justly and religiously unfold, Why the law Salique, that they have in France, ?-task-] Keep busied with scruples and laborious disqui sitions. Or nicely charge your understanding soul—] Take heed, lest by nice and subtle sophistry you burthen your knowing soul, or With opening titles miscreate, whose right Of what your reverence shall incite us to: We charge you in the name of God, take heed: 'Gainst him, whose wrongs give edge unto the swords That make such waste in brief mortality. Cant. Then hear me, gracious sovereign,-and you peers, That owe your lives, your faith, and services, knowingly burthen your soul, with the guilt of advancing a false title, or of maintaining, by specious fallacies, a claim which, if shown in its native and true colours, would appear to be false. miscreate,] Ill-begotten, illegitimate, spurious. in approbation -] i. e. in proving and supporting that title which shall be now set up. 2 upon. gloze,] Expound, explain, and sometimes comment |