"The arrogant deliverie of this fpeech "Unto th' impeachment of our royal right, "Did in our former love make fuch a breach, "That with contracted brow for fuch defpight, "We did in rage command him from our fight; "And did the cruel pain on him impose, "That he for fuch offence, his eyes fhould lofe. "But when fuch ready inftruments of ill, "Who for reward act any villanie, "To Rouen caftle came t' effect my will, "Hubert de Bourgh, a man of valliancie, "That then had Arthur in his cuftodie, "Withstood their purpose, and his part did take, Saying, that I thofe words in fury spake." Sc. 2. p. 445. 66 K. John. Here once again we fit, once again crown'd. Pembroke. This once again, but that your highnefs pleas'd, Was once fuperfluous.] King John was crown'd in England the 26th of May, 1199, by Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury. (Echard's Hiftory of England, Vol, 1. P. 231. Salmon, Vol. 1. p. 431.) crown'd a fecond time with his Queen Ifabella, after the peace was concluded between him and the King of France, in the year 1200. (Echard, p. 233. Salmon, p. 438.) Crown'd a third time the fame year at Canterbury, with a defign to put Hubert the Archbishop to great expence, who had fummoned a fynod, notwithstanding the king's prohibition to the contrary. (Echard, p. 234. Sal U 4 mon, p. 439.) Crown'd a fourth time, after the death of his nephew, Arthur Duke of Bretagne, 14th of April, 1202. (Echard, p. 337. Salmon, p. 462.) Act 4. fc. 3. p. 450. Falconbridge. And here's a prophet that I brought with me From forth the streets of Pomfret, whom I found Peter of Pomfret, a hermit, foretold, that the king fhould refign his crown upon Ascension day; which he did to Pandulph the Pope's legate upon that very day. Speed (Hiftory of Great Britain, p. 499.) obferves, that he was fuborn'd by the Pope's legate, the French king, and the Barons for that purpose.. K. John. Hubert, away with him, imprifen kim, And on that day at noon, whereon be fays I shall yield up my crown, let him be hang'd.] When Afcenfion day was paft, he com manded the forefaid Peter Hermite to be taken out of the caftle of Corke, to be bound to a horse's tail, drawn through the streets to Warbam, and there both he and his fon to be hang'd on a gibbet. Stow's Chronicle, by Howes, p. 171. Matthew Paris thinks the cafe a very hard one, as the prophefy was really fulfilled. Mul tis videbatur indignum quod tam crudeli morte pro affertione veritatis puniretur. Hiftor. Anglia, edit. 1579. p. 317. Sc. 4. P. 451. Hubert. My lord, they fay five moons were feen to night, Four fix'd, and the other did whirl about The other four in wondrous motion.] This incident is mention'd by few of our English hiftorians: I have met with it no where, but in (a) Matthew of Westminster, and Polydore Virgil, with a small alteration. These kind of appearances were more common about that time than either before or fince. In the fubfequent reign of Henry the Third, 7th of April, 1233, there appear'd four funs befides the natural one. Stow's Chronicle, p. 183. Funecins indeed, in his Chronology, mentions from Macrobius, the appearance of three Anno urbis condite 517. chronolog. 75 E. And Pliny, the appearance of moons at once. (a) Eodem anno [1200 Johannes Rex Anglia] ante nativitatem Dominicam apparuerunt de nocte quinque lunæ in cœlo, circa primam vigiliam noctis, prima in aquilone, fecunda in meridie, tertia in occidente, quarta in oriente, quinta in medio illarum. Flores Hiftoriarum per Matthæum Westmonafterienfem, lib. 2. p. 77. Polydore Virgil adds, Quo prodigio facile cuncti aufpicati funt ea detrimenta regno portendi, quæ mox a Franco per pigritiam Johannis accepta funt. Angliæ Hiftor, lib. 15. p. 266, three three at another time. Anno mundi 3840. lib. 2. 27. 32. Act 4. fc. 6. Faulconbridge to the Earl of Salisbury. Faulc. Or I'll fo mawl you, and your toafting iron, That you fhall think the devil is come from hell.] Shakespeare explains toafting iron, in his defcription of Corporal Nim's fword, King Henry the Fifth, A&t 2. "I dare not fight, but I " will wink, and hold out mine iron. It is "a fimple one, but what though; it will toast "cheese." -Put up thy fword betime, Sc. 7. p. 458. Thour't damn'd fo blacknay nothing is fo black.] "Thou'rt damn'd as black,” Folio 1632. Id. ib. p. 459. Now happy be whofe cloke and cinture can Hold out this tempeft.] Whose cloak and center, Folio 1632. A&t 5. fc. 1. p. 460. K. John. Thus I have yielded up unto your band The circle of my glory. Pand. Take again [Giving the crown.] From this my hand, as holding of the pope, Pandulph did not directly deliver up the crown, for he kept that, and the regalia, three or four days, and then refign'd them to the king; giving him to understand, that he was now become a fubject, and vaffal to the See of of Rome. Salmon's Hiftory of England, Vol. 1. p. 462. Sc. 4. p. 467. And to thrill and bake Even at the crying of our nation's crow, Thinking the voice an armed Englishman.] So it ftands in Mr. Rowe's, Mr. Theobald's, and the Oxford editions. Mr. Warburton reads his voice. The edition of 1632 reads it as follows: "Thinking this voice an armed Englishman.” It no doubt fhould be thus, which I think will plainly appear from the following emendation. Faulc. And to thrill and fhake As King Richard the First, brother to King John, had been call'd the fcare-crow of the Saracens; and the Saracen women (as our hiftorians obferve) when their children begun to cry, to make them filent, would fay to them, Richard cometh, and will have you. Shakespeare might, by poetical licenfe, style King John the fcare-crow of the French; from the signal victory he gained over them at the battle near Poitou, where no less than two hundred French knights were taken prisoners, with Duke Arthur himself, the Earl of Marche, and most of the nobility of Poitou and Anjou; who being put into fetters, were ignominiously sent away in carts, fome into Normandy, fome into England, to be kept close prisoners. The |