"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 detpight, "We did in rage command him from our fight, "And did the cruel pain on him impofe, "That he for fuch offence, his eyes fhould Icfe. "But when fuch ready inftruments of, "Who for reward act any villanie, "To Rouen caftle came effect my wi "Hubert de Bourgb, a man of vallancie, "That then had Arthur in his cuftodie, "Withstood their purpofe, and his part did take, "Saying, that I thofe words in fury fpake." Sc. 2. P. 445 K. John. Here once again we fit, once again crown'd. t 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 Can terbury. (Echard's Hißory of England, Vol. 1. P. 231. Salmon, Vol. 1. p. 431.) crówn’¿ a fecond time with his Queen Tabela, after the peace was concluded between him and the King of France, in the year 1200. (Eckard, 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 Lammoned a fynod, notwithstanding the king's pro hibition to the contrary. (Eckard, p. 234. Sül U 4 mon, p. 439) Crown'd a fourth: time, after the death of his nephew, Arthur Duke of Breng tagne, 14th of April, 1202. (Eckard, po 337g Salmon, p. 462.) "Act 4. fc. 3. p. 450. Falconbridge. And here's a prophet that I brought with me From forth the fireets of Pomfret, whom I found? Peter of Pomfret, a hermit, foretold, that the king fhould refign his crown upon Afcenfion 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 purpofe. Act 4. fc. 3. p. 450. K. John. Hubert, away with him, imprison him, And on that day at noon, whereon be fays Ifhall yield up my crown, let him be hang'd.] When Afcenfion day was paft, he commanded the forefaid Peter Hermite to be taken"out of the caftle of Corke, to be bound to a horfe's tail, drawn through the ftreets 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 tis videbatur indignum quod tam crudeli morte. pro affertione veritatis puniretur. Hiftor. Anglix, edit. 1579 p. 3171 hak to utar Sc. 4. P. 451. Hubert. My lord, they fay five moons were seen ságytodüight, rodeord no found be Four fix'd, and the other did whirl about The ather four in wondrous motion.] This incident is mention'd by few of our English biftorians I have met with it nowhere, 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 since. In the fubfequent reign of Henry the Third, 7th of April, 1233, there appear'd four funs besides the natural one. Stow's Chronicle, p. 183. Funecins indeed, in his Chronology, men tions from Macrobius, the appearance of three moons at once. Anno urbis conditæ 517. chronolog. 75 E. And Pliny, the appearance of (a) Eodem anno [1200 Johannes Rex Anglia] ante nativitatem Dominicam apparuerunt de nocte quinque lune 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, b. 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 -Hor. lib. 15. p.266.qug aft three three at another time. Anno mundi, g840. lib. 2. 27. 32. A& Act 4. fc. 6. Faulconbridge to the Earkof Salisbury. dt of Faulc. Put up thy fword betinie, 300 mA Or I'll fo mail you, and your teesting iron, red P That you shall think the devil is come from hell.] a Shakespeare explains toasting iron, in his de fcription of Corporal Nim's fword, King Henry the Fifth, A&tz: "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.” Sc. 7. p. 458. Tbour't damn'd so black nay nothing is fo black." Thou'rt damn'd as black, 2 sati gala sh Folio 1632. Id. ib. p. 459» Now happy he whose cloke and cincture can Hold out this tempest.] Whofe cloak and centers Folio 1632. A&t 5. fc. 1. p. 460. K. John. Thus I have yielded up unto your hand The circle of my glory. [Giving the crown.] Pand. Take again ag sa pretv From this my band, 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. 13 P. 462. 10 Sc. 4. p. 467. Faulconbridge. -And to thrill and fhake? 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." 2 It no doubt should be thus, which I think will plainly appear from the following emendation. Faulc. And to thrill and shake As King Richard the First, brother to King John, had been call'd the feare-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, Ri chard cometh, and will have you. Shakespeare might, by poetical licenfe, ftyle King John the feare-crow of the French; from the fignal victory he gained over them at the. battle near Poitou, where no lefs than two hun dred French knights were taken prifoners, with Duke Arthur himself, the Earl of Marche, and moft of the nobility of Poitou and Anjou ; who being put into fetters, were ignominioufly fent away in carts, fome into Normandy, fome into England, to be kept close prisoners:'n mod wor |